Although many 17th century broadsides, popular ballads printed on a single sheet of paper and widely sold by street peddlers, were moralizing in nature, this is not evidence that most 17th century people were serious about moral values. While over half of surviving broadsides contain moralizing statements, and it is known that many people purchased such compositions, it is not widely known why they did so, nor is it known how their own beliefs related to what they read.
Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?
(A) like other forms of cheap 17th century popular literature, surviving broadsides seem mostly to have been rather low literary quality and to have been written by hack writers.
(B) In many moralizing ballads, the moral content was confined to a single stanza expressing a pious sentiment tacked onto a sensational account of crime and adultery
(C) Some 17th century ballad sellers also sold some sermons printed in pamphlet form
(D) The clergy occasionally stuck broadsides warning about the danger of strong drink on the doors of 17th century alehouses
(E) Well educated people of the 17th century held broadsides in contempt and considered broadside peddlers to be disreputable vagrants
