The Norton Anthology of English Literature
1.
Tthe restoration and the 18th century
The period between 1660 and 1785 was a time of amazing expansion for England — or for "Great Britain,"
as the nation came to be called after an Act of Union in 1707 joined Scotland to England and Wales. Britain
became a world power, an empire on which the sun never set. But it also changed internally. The world
seemed different in 1785. A sense of new, expanding possibilities — as well as modern problems —
transformed the daily life of the British people, and offered them fresh ways of thinking about their
relations to nature and to each other. Hence literature had to adapt to circumstances for which there was no
precedent. The topics in this Restoration and Eighteenth Century section of Norton Topics Online review
crucial departures from the past — alterations that have helped to shape our own world.
One lasting change was a shift in population from the country to the town.
"A Day in Eighteenth-Century London" shows the variety of diversions
available to city-dwellers. At the same time, it reveals how far the life of the
city, where every daily newspaper brought new sources of interest, had
moved from traditional values. Formerly the tastes of the court had
dominated the arts. In the film Shakespeare in Love, when Queen
Elizabeth's nod decides by itself the issue of what can be allowed on the
stage, the exaggeration reflects an underlying truth: the monarch stands for
the nation. But the eighteenth century witnessed a turn from palaces to
pleasure gardens that were open to anyone with the price of admission. New
standards of taste were set by what the people of London wanted, and art joined with commerce to satisfy
those desires. Artist William Hogarth made his living not, as earlier painters had done, through portraits of
royal and noble patrons, but by selling his prints to a large and appreciative public. London itself — its
beauty and horror, its ever-changing moods — became a favorite subject of writers.
The sense that everything was changing was also sparked by a revolution in science. In earlier periods, the
universe had often seemed a small place, less than six thousand years old, where a single sun moved about
the earth, the center of the cosmos. Now time and space exploded, the microscope and telescope opened
new fields of vision, and the "plurality of worlds," as this topic is called, became a doctrine endlessly
repeated. The authority of Aristotle and Ptolemy was broken; their systems could not explain what Galileo
and Kepler saw in the heavens or what Hooke and Leeuwenhoek saw in the eye of a fly. As discoveries
multiplied, it became clear that the moderns knew things of which the ancients had been ignorant. This
challenge to received opinion was thrilling as well as disturbing. In Paradise Lost, Book 8, the angel
Raphael warns Adam to think about what concerns him, not to dream about other worlds. Yet, despite the
warning voiced by Milton through Raphael, many later writers found the new science inspiring. It gave
them new images to conjure with and new possibilities of fact and fiction to
explore.
Meanwhile, other explorers roamed the earth, where they discovered hitherto
unknown countries and ways of life. These encounters with other peoples often
proved vicious. The trade and conquests that made European powers like Spain
and Portugal immensely rich also brought the scourge of racism and colonial
exploitation. In the eighteenth century, Britain's expansion into an empire was
fueled by slavery and the slave trade, a source of profit that belied the national
self-image as a haven of liberty and turned British people against one another.
Rising prosperity at home had been built on inhumanity across the seas. This
topic, "Slavery and the Slave Trade in Britain," looks at the experiences of
African slaves as well as at British reactions to their suffering and cries for
freedom. At the end of the eighteenth century, as many writers joined the
abolitionist campaign, a new humanitarian ideal was forged. The modern world
invented by the eighteenth century brought suffering along with progress. We
still live with its legacies today.
Morning
Robert Dodsley, "The Footman. An Epistle to my Friend Mr. Wright"
In his poem, "The Footman," Robert Dodsley writes of what he knows. Dodsley (1703–1764) grew up in
rural England, and ran from an unhappy apprenticeship in stocking weaving to London, where he quickly
found work as a footman. He describes a footman's usual tasks in this poem, and, like its narrator, Dodsley
watched and learned from his employers. In Dodsley's case, one of his employer's dinner guests helped him
to begin a new career. Alexander Pope, impressed by this poem and by Dodsley's play, The Toy-Shop
(1735), gave Dodsley a hundred pounds to set himself up in the publishing business.
Dodsley's progress from that point on was meteoric. From his early job as a "fart-catcher" >> note 1
(eighteenth-century slang for a footman, who would customarily walk behind his master or mistress),
Dodsley grew to be one of the most prolific and influential publishers in the history of British literature. His
list of authors included not only Alexander Pope, but Samuel Johnson, Daniel Defoe, David Garrick,
Thomas Gray, Laurence Sterne, Samuel Richardson, Edward Young, Oliver Goldsmith, and Edmund
Burke. His anthology, A Collection of Poems. By Several Hands (1748–1758), popularly known as
"Dodsley's Collection," effectively created the canon of eighteenth-century English poetry.
A Servant's Day in London
Dear FRIEND,
Since I am now at leisure,
And in the Country taking Pleasure,
If it be worth your while to hear
A silly Footman's Business there,
I'll try to tell, in easy Rhyme,
How I in London spend my Time.
And first,
As soon as Laziness will let me,
To cleaning Glasses, Knives, and Plate,
And such-like dirty Work as that,
Which (by the bye) is what I hate.
This done; with expeditious Care,
To dress myself I strait prepare;
I clean my Buckles, black my Shoes;
Powder my Wig, and brush my Cloaths;
Take off my Beard, and wash my Face,
And then I'm ready for the Chace.
Down comes my Lady's Woman strait:
Where's Robin? Here. Pray take your Hat,
And go—and go—and go—and go—;
And this—and that desire to know.
The Charge receiv'd, away run I, And here, and there, and yonder fly,
With Services, and How-d'ye'does,
Then Home return full fraught with News.
Here some short Time does interpose,
'Till warm Efflucia's greet my Nose,
Which from the Spits and Kettles fly,
Declaring Dinner-time is nigh.
To lay the Cloth I now prepare,
With Uniformity and Care;
In Order Knives and Forks are laid,
With folded Napkins, Salt, and Bread:
The Side-boards glittering too appear,
With Plate, and Glass, and China-ware.
Then Ale, and Beer, and Wine decanted,
And all Things ready which are wanted,
The smoaking Dishes enter in
To Stomachs sharp a grateful Scene;
Which on the Table being plac'd,
And some few Ceremonies past,
They all sit down, and fall to eating,
Whilst I behind stand silent waiting.
This is the only pleasant Hour
Which I have in the Twenty-four;
For whilst I unregarded stand,
With ready Salver in my Hand,
And seem to understand no more
Than just what's call'd for, out to pour;
I hear, and mark the courtly Phrases,
And all the elegance that passes;
Disputes maintain'd without Digression,
With ready Wit, and fine Expression;
The Laws of true Politeness stated,
And what Good-breeding is, debated:
Where all unanimously exclude
The vain Coquet, the formal Prude,
The Ceremonious, and the Rude.
The flattering, fawning, praising Train;
The fluttering, empty, noisy, vain;
Detraction, Smut, and what's prophane.
This happy Hour elaps'd and gone,
The Time of drinking Tea comes on.
The Kettle fill'd, the Water boil'd,
The Cream provided, Biscuits pil'd,
And Lamp prepar'd; I strait engage
The Lilliputian Equipage
Of Dishes, Saucers, Spoons, and Tongs,
And all th' Et cetera which thereto belongs.
Which rang'd in order and Decorum,
I carry in, and set before 'em;
Then pour or Green, or Bohea out,
And, as commanded, hand about.
This Business over, presently
The Hour of visiting draws nigh;
The Chairman strait prepare the Chair,
A lighted Flambeau I prepare;
And Orders given where to go,
We march along, and bustle thro'
The parting Crouds, who all stand off
To give us Room. O how you'd laugh!
To see me strut before a Chair,
And with a stirdy Voice, and Air,
Crying—By your Leave, Sir! have a Care!
From Place to Place with speed we fly,
And Rat-tatat the Knockers cry:
Pray is your Lady, Sir, within?
If no, go on; if yes, we enter in.
Then to the Hall I guide my Steps,
Amongst a Croud of Brother Skips,
Drinking Small-beer, and talking Smut,
And this Fool's Nonsence puting that Fool's out.
Whilst Oaths and Peals of Laughter meet,
And he who'd loudest, is the greatest Wit.
But here amongst us the chief Trade is
To rail against our Lords and Ladies;
To aggravate their smallest Failings,
T'expose their Faults with saucy Railings.
For my Part, as I hate the Practice,
And see in them how base and black 'tis,
To some bye Place I therefore creep,
And sit me down, and feign to sleep;
And could I with old Morpheus bargain,
'Twou'd save my Ears much Noise and Jargon.
But down my Lady comes again,
And I'm released from my Pain.
To some new Place our Steps we bend,
The tedious Evening out to spend;
Sometimes, perhaps, to see the Play,
Assembly, or the Opera;
Then home and sup, and thus we end the Day.
Morning
Jonathan Swift, A Description of the Morning
Classical descriptions of dawn had idealized the beauty of nature. Jonathan Swift was a writer who loved to
mock romantic ideals, and this poem, first published in the Tatler in 1709, parodies the classical form by
focusing on realistic and grubby details of morning in the city.
5
10
15
Now hardly here and there a Hackney-Coach
Appearing, show'd the Ruddy Morn's Approach.
Now Betty from her Master's Bed had flown,
And softly stole to discompose her own.
The Slipshod 'Prentice from his Master's Dore,
Had par'd the Dirt, and sprinkled round the Floor.
Now Moll had whirl'd her Mop with dext'rous Airs,
Prepar'd to scrub the Entry and the Stairs.
The Youth with Broomy Stumps began to trace
The Kennel Edge, where Wheels had worn the Place. >> note 1
The Smallcoal-Man was heard with Cadence deep,
Till drown'd in shriller Notes of Chimney-sweep.
Duns at his Lordship's Gate began to meet,
And Brickdust Moll had scream'd through half the Street. >> note 2
The Turn-key new his Flock returning sees,
Duly let out a'Nights to steal for Fees. >> note 3
The watchful Bayliffs take their silent Stands;
And School-boys lag with Satchels in their Hands.
Morning
Joseph Addison, from The Spectator, No. 251
The Spectator, a popular series of periodical essays that appeared daily (except Sundays) in 1711–12 and
1714, was written by Addison and Richard Steele. In addition to influential social and literary criticism, it
popularized current philosophical and scientific notions, set standards of taste and manners, and appealed to
city readers (and readers who followed city fashions) by providing vivid descriptions of the life of the
town.
[The Cries of London]
There is nothing which more astonishes a Foreigner and frights a Country Squire, than the Cries of London.
My good Friend, Sir Roger, often declares that he cannot get them out of his Head, or go to sleep for them
the first Week that he is in Town. On the contrary, Will. Honeycomb calls them the Ramage de la Ville,
>> note 1 and prefers them to the Sounds of Larks and Nightingales, with all the Musick of the Fields and
Woods. * * *
The Cries of London may be divided into Vocal and Instrumental. As for the latter, they are at present
under a very great Disorder. A Freeman of London has the Privilege of disturbing a whole Street for an
hour together, with the twancking of a Brass Kettle or a Frying-Pan. The Watchman's Thump >> note 2 at
Midnight startles us in our Beds, as much as the breaking in of a Thief. * * *
Vocal Cries are of a much larger Extent, and indeed so full of Incongruities and Barbarisms, that we appear
a distracted City, to Foreigners, who do not comprehend the Meaning of such Enormous Outcries. Milk is
generally sold in a Note above Elah, >> note 3 and in Sounds so exceedingly shrill, that it often sets our
Teeth an edge. The Chimney Sweeper is confined to no certain pitch; he sometimes utters himself in the
deepest Base, and sometimes in the lowest Note of the Gamut. The same Observation might be made on the
Retailers of Small-cole, not to mention broken Glasses or Brick-dust. * * *
Some of these last-mentioned Musicians are so very loud in the Sale of
these trifling Manufactures, that an honest Splenetick Gentleman of my
Acquaintance bargained with one of them never to come into the Street
where he lived; But what was the effect of this Contract? why, the whole
Tribe of Cardmatch-makers which frequent that Quarter, passed by his Door
the very next Day, in hopes of being bought off after the same manner.
Afternoon
John Garretson, from The School of Manners. Or Rules for Childrens
Behaviour: At Church, at Home, at Table, in Company, in Discourse, at School, abroad, and among Boys.
With some other short and mixt Precepts (1701)
One's conduct or behaviour was a crucial marker of one's place within English society. Although courtesy
and advice literature had existed in various forms since the Middle Ages, the growth of the aspiring middle
classes in the eighteenth century fueled a corresponding rise in the number of conduct books. The writers of
conduct books are eager to advise men, women, and children on their social and religious duties, as well as
on the fine distinctions in behavior that distinguish one class from another. Learning such rules — from
how to educate one's children to how to make proper courtesies — offered readers of conduct books a way
to recognize class distinctions, as well as the hope that they might improve their own station in life through
imitating the behavior of their "betters."
The "Rules for Behaviour in Company" shown below are directed at forming polite behavior in children.
How many of these rules remain applicable today?
Chap. V.
Rules for Behaviour in Company
Enter not into the Company of Superiors without command of calling; nor without a bow.
Sit not down in presence of Superiors without bidding.
Put not thy hand in the presence of others to any part of thy body, not ordinarily discovered.
Sing not nor hum in thy mouth while thou art in company.
Play not wantonly like a Mimick with thy Fingers or Feet.
Stand not wriggling with thy body hither and thither, but steddy and upright.
In coughing or sneesing make as little noise as possible.
If thou cannot avoid yawning, shut thy Mouth with thine Hand or Handkerchief before it, turning thy Face
aside.
When thou blowest thy Nose, let thy Handkerchief be used, and make not a noise in so doing.
Gnaw not thy Nails, pick them not, nor bite them with thy teeth.
Spit not in the Room, but in a corner, and rub it out with thy Foot, or rather go out and do it abroad.
Lean not upon the Chair of a Superior, standing behind him.
Spit not upon the fire, nor sit too wide with thy Knees at it.
Sit not with thy legs crossed, but keep them firm and setled, and thy Feet even.
Turn not thy back to any, but place thyself conveniently, that none be behind thee.
Read not Letters, Books, nor other Writings in Company, unless there be necessity, and thou ask leave.
Touch not nor look upon the Books or Writings of any one, unless the Owner invite or desire thee.
Come not near when another reads a Letter or Paper.
Let thy Countenance be moderately chearful, neither laughing nor frowning.
Laugh not aloud, but silently Smile upon occasion.
Walking with thy Superior in the house or Garden, give him the upper or righthand, and walk not just even
with him cheek be joll, but a little behind him, yet not so distant as that it shall be troublesome to him to
speak to thee, or hard for thee to hear.
Look not boldly or willfully in the Face of thy Superior.
To look upon one in company and immediately whisper to another is unmannerly.
Stand not before Superiors with thine hands in thy pockets, scratch not thy Head, wink not with thine Eyes,
but thine Eyes modestly looking straight before thee, and thine Hands behind thee.
Be not among Equals froward and fretful, but gentle and affable.
Whisper not in company.
Afternoon
Thomas Jordan, News from the Coffeehouse
The first London coffeehouse opened in 1652. Though Charles II later tried to suppress them as
"places where the disaffected met, and spread scandalous reports concerning the conduct of His
Majesty and his Ministers," the public flocked to them. By 1739 there were 551 coffeehouses in
London, including meeting places for Tories and Whigs, people of fashion and haberdashers, wits
and clergymen, merchants and lawyers, booksellers and authors, stockjobbers and artists, doctors and
undertakers — and politicians of every kind. According to one French visitor, the Abbé Prévost,
coffeehouses, "where you have the right to read all the papers for and against the government," were
the "seats of English liberty."
Thomas Jordan (1612?–1685), an actor and poet, served as London city laureate from 1671 to 1685
and invented pageants for the annual lord mayor's shows.
You that delight in Wit and Mirth, and long to hear such News,
As comes from all parts of the Earth, Dutch, Danes, and Turks and Jews,
I'le send you a Rendezvous, where it is smoaking new:
Go hear it at a Coffee-house, — it cannot but be true — * * *
You shall know, there, what Fashions are; How Perrywiggs are curl'd;
And for a Penny you shall heare all Novells in the world;
Both Old and Young, and Great and Small, and Rich and Poore you'll see:
Therefore let's to the Coffee all, Come all away with me.
Afternoon
Joseph Addison, from The Spectator, No. 69
The Royal Exchange, in the heart of the City (financial district) of London, was not only a hub for business
and shopping but also a symbol of "globalization": the increasing importance of international commerce to
the British economy. Addison's idyllic picture of the Exchange, written in 1711, celebrates the way in
which the whole world seems to revolve around the blessings of trade. But many English people also
worried that foreign luxuries might sap the national spirit of independence and self-sufficiency.
[The Royal Exchange]
There is no Place in the Town which I so much love to
frequent as the Royal-Exchange. It gives me a secret
Satisfaction, and, in some measure, gratifies my Vanity, as I
am an Englishman, to see so rich an Assembly of Countrymen and Foreigners consulting together upon the private
Business of Mankind, and making this Metropolis a kind of
Emporium for the whole Earth. I must confess I look upon
High-Change >> note 1 to be a great Council, in which all
considerable Nations have their Representatives. Factors in
the Trading World are what Ambassadors are in the Politick
World; they negotiate Affairs, conclude Treaties, and
maintain a good Correspondence between those wealthy
Societies of Men that are divided from one another by Seas and Oceans, or live on the different Extremities
of a Continent. I have often been pleased to hear Disputes adjusted between an Inhabitant of Japan and an
Alderman of London, or to see a Subject of the Great Mogul entering into a League with one of the Czar of
Muscovy. I am infinitely delighted in mixing with these several Ministers of Commerce, as they are
distinguished by their different Walks and different Languages: Sometimes I am justled among a Body of
Armenians: Sometimes I am lost in a crowd of Jews, and sometimes make one in a Groupe of Dutch-men. I
am a Dane, Swede, or French-Man at different times, or rather fancy my self like the old Philosopher, who
upon being asked what Country-man he was, replied, That he was a Citizen of the World.
***
This grand Scene of Business gives me an infinite Variety of solid and substantial Entertainments. As I am
a great Lover of Mankind, my Heart naturally overflows with Pleasure at the sight of a prosperous and
happy Multitude, insomuch that at many publick Solemnities I cannot forbear expressing my Joy with
Tears that have stolen down my Cheeks. For this reason I am wonderfully delighted to see such a Body of
Men thriving in their own private Fortunes, and at the same time promoting the Publick Stock; or in other
Words, raising Estates for their own Families, by bringing into their Country whatever is wanting, and
carrying out of it whatever is superfluous.
Nature seems to have taken a particular Care to disseminate her Blessings among the different Regions of
the World, with an Eye to this mutual Intercourse and Traffick among Mankind, that the Natives of the
several Parts of the Globe might have a kind of Dependance upon one another, and be united together by
their common Interest. Almost every Degree produces something peculiar to it. The Food often grows in
one Country, and the Sauce in another. The Fruits of Portugal are corrected by the Products of Barbadoes:
The Infusion of a China Plant sweetned [sic] with the Pith of an Indian Cane: The Philippick Islands give a
Flavour to our European Bowls. The Single Dress of a Woman of Quality is often the Product of an
hundred Climates. The Muff and the Fan come together from the different Ends of the Earth. The Scarf is
sent from the Torrid Zone, and the Tippet from beneath the Pole. The Brocade Petticoat rises out of the
Mines of Peru, and the Diamond Necklace out of the Bowels of Indostan. * * * Nor is it the least part of
this our happiness, that whilst we enjoy the remotest Products of the North and South, we are free from
those Extremities of Weather which give them Birth; That our Eyes are refreshed with the green Fields of
Britain, at the same time that our Palates are feasted with Fruits that rise between the Tropicks.
For these Reasons there are not more useful Members in a Commonwealth than Merchants. They knit
Mankind together in a mutual Intercourse of good Offices, distribute the Gifts of Nature, find Work for the
Poor, add Wealth to the Rich, and Magnificence to the Great.
Afternoon
From The Female Tatler, No. 9
England, Napoleon scoffed, was a nation of shopkeepers. But the stylish and lavish shops that filled
eighteenth-century London were also a visible sign of growing national power. The cutting edge of a
consumer revolution, they showed the public that the modern world was to be welcomed, not feared. There
was something for everyone to desire and possess in this new world of fashion. When Percy Shelley gazed
at the shops, early in the next century, he saw the spirit of the future: "These are thy gods, O London!"
During the successful run of The Tatler (1709–11), Steele's and Addison's predecessor to The Spectator,
The Female Tatler was published three times a week, attributed to an imaginary "Mrs. Crackenthrope, a
Lady that knows every thing." Its authors, who probably included both women and men, aimed to amuse
and instruct female readers, as shown in the following piece on shops, from 1709.
[On Shops]
This afternoon, some ladies, having an opinion of my fancy in clothes, desir'd me to accompany 'em to
Ludgate-Hill, which I take to be as agreeable an amusement as a lady can pass away three or four hours in;
the shops are perfect gilded theatres. The variety of wrought silks, so many changes of fine scenes; and the
mercers are the performers in the opera, and instead of viviture ingenio, >> note 1 you have in gold
capitals, "No Trust by Retail." >> note 2 They are the sweetest, fairest, nicest dish'd out creatures, and by
their elegant address and soft speeches, you would guess 'em to be Italians. As people glance within their
doors, they salute 'em with: "garden silks, ladies, Italian silks, brocades, tissues, cloth of silver, or cloth of
gold, very fine Mantua silks, any right Geneva velvet, English velvet, velvets emboss'd" — and to the
meaner sort — "fine thread satins, both strip'd and plain, fine mohairs, silk satinets, burdets, perfianets,
Norwich crepes, auterines, silks for hoods and scarves — any camlets, drudgets, or sagathies; gentlemen,
nightgowns ready made, shalloons, durances and right Scotch plaids." We went into a shop which had three
partners, two of 'em were to flourish out their silks and, after an obliging smile and a pretty mouth made,
Cicero-like, to expatiate on their goodness; and the other's sole business was to be gentleman-usher of the
shop, to stand completely dress'd at the door, bow to all the coaches that pass by, and hand ladies out and
in. We saw abundance of gay fancies fit for sea captains wives, sherrifs feasts, and Taunton-Dean Ladies
— "This madam, is wonderful charming" — "This madam is so diverting a silk" — "This madam — my
stars! how cool it looks." "But this, madam, ye gods, would I had ten thousand yards of it" (then gathers up
a sleeve and places it to our shoulders), "It suits your ladyship's face wonderfully well." When we had
pleas'd ourselves, and bid him ten shillings a yard for what he ask'd fifteen, "Fan me, ye winds, your
ladyship rallies me! Shou'd I part with it at such a price, the weavers wou'd rise upon the very shop — Was
you at the park last night, madam? — Your ladyship shall abate me sixpence — Have you read The Tatler
today, pretty lady? A smart fellow I'll assure you." * * * These fellows are positively the greatest fops in
the kingdom.
Evening: Pleasure Gardens
Vauxhall and Ranelagh
Vauxhall Gardens, drawn by Thomas Rowlandson in 1784,
shows celebrities at an evening concert. In the supper box at
the lower left, the diners are supposed to be James Boswell,
Samuel Johnson, Hester Thrale, and Oliver Goldsmith. At
the center, the Duchess of Devonshire, known for her beauty
and social eminence, stands with folded arms and talks to
her sister, while gossips try to overhear what they are saying.
In front of the mass of people at the right, an elegant woman
in white, the actress Mary "Perdita" Robinson (later a
popular author) nestles with her young lover, the Prince of Wales (wearing a star), while her withered
husband glowers below.
Though Vauxhall was very popular, it could also be a place for "affrays and adventures." When the
respectable heroine of Frances Burney's Evelina (1778) makes the mistake of walking down a long, dark
alley, she is accosted by a large party of riotous gentlemen who assume she is for hire. Ranelagh, opened in
1742, was smaller and more exclusive, with a magnificent Rotunda. "When I first entered Ranelagh,"
Johnson told Boswell, "it gave an expansion and gay sensation to my mind, such as I never experienced any
where else."
Evening: Playhouses
From The Gentleman's Magazine
Patrons of the London theater in the eighteenth century expected to
have a good time. Throughout the century, critics complained that the
high art of drama had sold out to merrymaking and special effects.
The public came early — 5 p.m. — and stayed late; typically they
were entertained not only by a full-length play but by interludes of
music and dance, as well as an "afterpiece" such as a farce or
pantomime, a mythological tale enlivened by clowning, imaginative
costumes, and tricks of scenery and staging. London audiences were
also famously, or infamously, involved in the action, ready to jeer the
author or talk back to the actors. During much of the period, wealthier
patrons sat in boxes on the stage and young bucks on benches in the pit, just below, while high above, in
the upper gallery, "the gods" (one-shilling customers) often pelted the crowd and stage with orange peels.
Riots were not uncommon. An eighteenth-century London playhouse could be noisy, lewd, and factious;
but it was an exciting place to be.
In February 1763, a mob led by Thaddeus Fitzpatrick stormed the stage at Covent Garden to protest a new
policy of not allowing admission at half-price after the third act. The Gentleman's Magazine reported what
ensued.
A riot happened at Covent-Garden theatre, occasioned by a demand being made for full prices at the opera
of Artaxerxes. The mischief done was the greatest ever known on any occasion of the like kind: all the
benches of the boxes and pit being entirely tore up, the glasses and chandeliers broken, and the linings of
the boxes cut to pieces. The rashness of the rioters was so great, that they cut away the wooden pillars
between the boxes, so if the inside of them had not been iron, they would have brought down the galleries
upon their heads. The damages done amount to at least 2000 l. Four persons concern'd in the riot have been
committed to the Gatehouse.
Night
James Boswell, from The Life of Samuel Johnson
Topham Beauclerk (pronounced boclare) and Bennet Langton were young men about town whom Johnson
befriended when they were in their early twenties and he in his fifties. Although Boswell, in his Life of
Samuel Johnson (1791), places this escapade in 1752, it must have happened after 1760, when Johnson
took rooms in Inner Temple Lane, near the old law courts.
[A Night Ramble]
One night when Beauclerk and Langton had supped at a tavern in London,
and sat till about three in the morning, it came into their heads to go and
Knock up Johnson, and see if they could prevail on him to join them in a
ramble. They rapped violently at the door of his chambers in the Temple,
till at last he appeared in his shirt, with his little black wig on the top of his
head, instead of a nightcap, and a poker in his hand, imagining, probably,
that some ruffians were coming to attack him. When he discovered who
they were, and was told their errand, he smiled, and with great good
humour agreed to their proposal: ' What, is it you, you dogs! I'll have a frisk
with you.' He was soon drest, and they sallied forth together into CoventGarden, where the greengrocers and fruiterers were beginning to arrange
their hampers, just come in from the country. Johnson made some attempts
to help them; but the honest gardeners stared so at his figure and manner,
and odd interference, that he soon saw his services were not relished. They
then repaired to one of the neighbouring taverns, and made a bowl of that liquor called Bishop, >> note 1
which Johnson had always liked; while in joyous contempt of sleep, from which he had been roused, he
repeated the festive lines,
'Short, O short then be thy reign,
And give us to the world again!' >> note 2
They did not stay long, but walked down to the Thames, took a boat, and rowed to Billingsgate. Beauclerk
and Johnson were so well pleased with their amusement, that they resolved to persevere in dissipation for
the rest of the day: but Langton deserted them, being engaged to breakfast with some young Ladies.
Johnson scolded him for 'leaving his social friends, to go and sit with a set of wretched un-idea'd girls.'
Garrick being told of this ramble, said to him smartly, 'I heard of your frolick t'other night. You'll be in the
Chronicle.' Upon which Johnson afterwards observed, 'He durst not do such a thing. His wife would not let
him!'
1.
2.
Many of the works of art that represent city life in the eighteenth century seem internally
divided between two points of view, one strongly positive, one strongly negative. In the two
passages from Smollett's Humphry Clinker, for instance, Matthew Bramble describes
Vauxhall as a noisy, ugly, unhealthy Bedlam, and Lydia Melford describes it as a beautiful
place with something for everyone to enjoy. Other works share that conflicted response.
a. What signs of such a conflicted response do you find in poems such as Swift's
Description of the Morning and Pope's Rape of the Lock (NAEL 8, 1.2513), and
images such as Rowlandson's Vauxhall Gardens and Hogarth's Enraged Musician?
What might account for these divided points of view? Are citizens of London
proud of their rapidly changing city, or fearful of what the changes may bring?
b. To what extent do you find similar questions raised in a slightly earlier text,
Congreve's Way of the World (NAEL 8, 1.2228)?
c. Compare the attitudes in eighteenth-century works with your own attitudes toward
modern cities. Would it be possible to keep what is good in the city while getting
rid of what is bad, or are the good and bad integrally related?
Crowds and commerce fill almost all the texts and pictures in this topic. In earlier ages,
writers and artists often aimed to please a limited number of patrons and connoisseurs, but a
larger public seems to dominate eighteenth-century London, and making a living is often
the subject as well as the aim of its art.
a. Consider the satisfaction which Addison takes in The Royal Exchange. Why does
he love so much to visit it? Are you persuaded that his pleasure comes from being
"a great Lover of Mankind," or is wealth itself what stimulates him?
b. Many historians describe what happened in eighteenth-century England as The
Birth of a Consumer Society (the title of a 1982 book by Neil McKendrick, John
Brewer, and J. H. Plumb). According to this analysis, the widespread pursuit of
good and entertainment turned England into the first truly modern nation, in which
commercialization drives art as well as the economy. How well does this premise
account for what you see in this topic?
3. Joseph Addison and others described the city of London in a playfully scientific tone, as if
they were disinterested scholars or visiting anthropologists. Such writings are examples of
what can be called proto-ethnography, of which a later practitioner was the Victorian Henry
Mayhew.
a. What factors might account for the rise of proto-ethnography in Londoners'
descriptions of their home? When they imagine the city seen through others eyes,
whose eyes do they select and what do they hope (or fear) will be seen?
b. Compare Addison as a writer on the Cries of London and the Royal Exchange with
Addison as a writer on the "Plurality of Worlds" and the "Scale of Being" (NAEL
8, 1.2490).
4. The naïve visitor from the country was a popular figure of fun for London's wits. Yet while
Londoners laughed at figures like Addison's Sir Roger and Smollett's Matthew Bramble and
Lydia Melford, they also wanted to impress them, and worried about what they might think.
a. Consider Congreve's treatment of the country squire Sir Wilfull Witwould in The
Way of the World (NAEL 8, 1.2228). Is Sir Wilfull simply a butt of mockery, or
does he possess admirable qualities associated with his rural life?
b. How do such images of country yokels compare with the representation of rural
life in Thomas Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (NAEL 8, 1.2867),
which deals with those who never made the trip to London?
5. Although there had probably been a small Jewish community in London, even after the
expulsion of Jews from England in the thirteenth century, Jews were officially allowed to
reside in England after the mid-seventeenth century.
a. How do writers like Jordan and Addison respond to the presence of Jews in
London? Are they lumped with other foreigners, or is there a difference?
b. What parallels does Dryden in Absalom and Achitophel (NAEL 8, 1.2087) see
between contemporary London and old Jerusalem? Are there any tensions evident
in his equation of the English with Jews?
6. In Annus Mirabilis (NAEL 8, 1.2085), Dryden prophesies a glorious future for the city of
London reborn from the ashes of the great fire.
a. What aspects of London's future is Dryden most eager to celebrate? Does he imply
that anything of value has been lost?
b. To what extent do later observers such as Addison, Jordan, Smollett, and Swift
share Dryden's vision of London and confirm his prophesy?
7. Compare the description of shopkeepers in The Female Tatler with John Gower's medieval
description of the Merchant Fraud. To what extent does The Female Tatler seem to belong
to a tradition of anti-commercial satire? How has the perception of shopkeepers changed
since Gower's time, and what factors might be responsible for this?
8. Compare the image of an eighteenth-century playhouse with the picture of an Elizabethan
playhouse (NAEL 8, volume B, A-80).
a. What do differences in design suggest about the drama in these two eras? About
the interests of the audience? About the societies that built them?
b. Do the differences in design seem to confirm Johnson's account of the decline of
English drama, and if so, how? Are there other ways of interpreting the changes in
the shape of the theater? Search the Web for more information on and images of
the theater in this period.
9. How did women participate in the changing London scene? What social roles and behaviors
do Swift, Smollett, Rowlandson, Hogarth, and the writer in The Female Tatler allow or allot
to women? From what spheres do they seem to be excluded?
10. Read an exchange of Restoration pamphlets on the The First English Coffeehouses,
comparing them to Thomas Jordan's News from the Coffeehouse. What ideas about society
and politics seem to lie behind the arguments for and against the coffeehouses? Which side
is Jordan on?
2.
Slavery
In the early 1660s, when the events described in Behn's Oroonoko (NAEL 8, 1.2183) are supposed to
have taken place, England was not yet a major power in the slave trade. Portugal had been actively
engaged in the traffic in African slaves for more than two centuries; Spain had built a lucrative sugar
empire by importing slave labor to the New World; and as early as the 1560s, the English captain
John Hawkins had plundered slaves from Africa and Latin America. But only in 1660, when Charles
II helped found a new company, the Royal Adventurers into Africa, did England fully enter the
trade. The first ships took slaves from the African Gold Coast (Guinea) to Surinam and Barbados, a
flourishing sugar island in the Caribbean; by the early eighteenth century, the leading colony for
sugar and slaves was Jamaica. The trade continued to grow. In 1713 Great Britain was awarded the
contract (asiento) to import slaves to the Spanish Indies, and the South Sea Company, which bought
the contract, excited frenzied speculation. This was a risky business, but the profits could be
immense. Bristol, then Liverpool, developed into prosperous slave ports, trading manufactured
goods to Africa for human cargo, which crossed the Atlantic on ships that returned to England with
sugar and money. By the 1780s, when Britain shipped a third of a million slaves to the New World,
the national economy depended on the trade.
The human cost was terrible. Though slavery in Africa had long been
common, the deadly voyage — the Middle Passage — across the Atlantic
made it something unfamiliar, brutal, unendurable. Torn from their homes,
slaves were often packed into spaces too small to allow them to turn, with
barely enough food and drink and air to keep them alive. It is estimated
that 10 percent, on average, died on each crossing; on a bad voyage the
figure might rise above 30 percent. Revolts and mutinies were common,
though seldom successful (since the slaves had nowhere to go), and were
ruthlessly punished. Nor did those slaves who survived the crossing feel
fortunate for long. On the labor-intensive Caribbean sugar plantations, so
many died that new shiploads were constantly needed (the situation was
different in North America, where slaves lived on to reproduce and grow
in numbers). Black people also lost their ties to the cultures in which they
had been born. Mixed together from different regions of Africa, without a
common language or background, they came to be identified merely by the color of their skin. It was
convenient for owners of slaves to regard them as less than human.
The loss of humanity rebounded on Britain as well. The English had long
regarded themselves as a people uniquely devoted to liberty, whose spirit
was embodied in the rights of Magna Carta (1215). James Thomson spoke
for patriotic pride in the chorus of "Rule, Britannia" (NAEL 8, 1.2840):
"Rule, Britannia, rule the waves; / Britons never will be slaves." But British
rule meant slavery for others. The deep contradictions of this position were
reflected in the political philosophy of John Locke and the interpretations of
law by William Blackstone. Some Britons avoided shame by arguing that
slavery had uplifted negroes, since it had introduced them to Christianity and
civilization; one African American poet, Phillis Wheatley, expressed her
gratitude for this conversion. But many Britons were troubled. Humanitarian
feelings grew in strength throughout the later eighteenth century. A famous,
sentimental exchange of letters between the black writer Ignatius Sancho and
Laurence Sterne, the author of Tristram Shandy, displays their mutual
sympathy for the victims of the slave trade. Such cruelty was a libel on human nature.
By the 1780s a wave of abolitionist fervor swept through Great Britain, led by the Quakers and, in
Parliament, by William Wilberforce (1759–1833). The Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade,
founded in 1787, inspired many abolitionist poets to join the campaign. A few years later the French
Revolution, and the wars that followed, caused a conservative backlash in Britain. Boswell, who had
earlier argued the case for slavery against Samuel Johnson (NAEL 8, 1.2849), wrote a poem
advocating "No Abolition of Slavery" in 1791. But Wilberforce won in the end, and a bill abolishing
the British slave trade became law in 1807. That did not, of course, put an end to illegal trade, let
alone slavery itself. The conflict between boasts of liberty and the enslavement of human beings
passed from Britain to America, where its consequences would be written in blood. Yet the
eighteenth century, which witnessed the high tide of the slave trade, also gave rise to the ideals of
freedom, equality, and human rights that led to its doom.
The South Sea Company
The South Sea Company, chartered in 1711, was deeply involved with the British government, which
invested in the Spanish trade in the hope that profits would pay off the national debt. The first governor of
the company was Robert Harley, Chancellor of the Exchequer; when he fell from power in 1714, he was
succeeded at first by the prince of Wales, and then by King George I himself. The trade consisted primarily
of slaves; by contract, forty-eight hundred each year were shipped from Africa to the Spanish West Indies.
Although this business was not a great success, shares of the company kept soaring in price until, in 1720,
the bubble collapsed — the greatest stock-market crash in English history up to that time. Much of the
British elite lost large sums of money. The shareholders included such leading authors as Swift, Defoe,
Pope, Gay, and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. By luck and good management of the crisis, Robert Walpole
took control of the government; his dominance would last for more than twenty years.
Hubble Bubble; all is smoke,
Hubble Bubble; all is broke,
Farewell your Houses, Lands and Flocks
For all you have is now in Stocks.
— Anonymous pamphlet
The South Sea Scheme (1724), William Hogarth's first surviving print,
satirizes the City of London as a vast demonic casino and amusement
park. In the center, investors ride the financial merry-go-round; at the
left, the Devil throws haunches of Fortune to the crowd; at the bottom,
Self-Interest tortures Honesty on the Wheel; in the darkness at the
bottom right, a female Trade lies languishing.
The Middle Passage
John Newton, from Thoughts upon the African Slave Trade
Most accounts of the Atlantic crossing or Middle Passage are written by ship's officers or traders, who
describe the business of transporting and managing slaves and who often congratulate themselves on the
decent treatment of their own African cargo. But the point of view of the cargo must have been different.
Most slaves had not seen a ship or a white man before, nor did they have any idea where they were going.
They feared the worst; and the voyage often confirmed their fears. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of
Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself (1789) shocked its readers by
showing the Middle Passage through the eyes of someone who had survived it (see NAEL 8, 1.2851). Like
John Newton's protest against slavery (1788), it was published when a bill for abolishing the slave trade
was pending in Parliament. The bill was defeated, but passed in 1807.
John Newton (1725–1807) captained two Liverpool slave ships in his twenties and kept
detailed logs of his voyages. "During the time I was engaged in the slave trade," he later
wrote, "I never had the least scruple as to its lawfulness. . . . It is, indeed, accounted a
genteel employment and is usually very profitable." But later he became an Evangelical minister and
looked back at his early life with horror. "I once was lost, but now am found," he wrote in his great hymn
"Amazing Grace." In addition to powerful abolitionist preaching, Newton helped change attitudes toward
slavery with an influential account of the Middle Passage, based on his personal experience.
With our ships, the great object is, to be full. When the ship is there, it is thought desirable she should take
as many as possible. The cargo of a vessel of a hundred tons, or little more, is calculated to purchase from
two hundred and twenty to two hundred and fifty slaves. Their lodging-rooms below the deck, which are
three (for the men, the boys, and the women), besides a place for the sick, are sometimes more than five
feet high, and sometimes less; and this height is divided towards the middle, for the slaves lie in two rows,
one above the other, on each side of the ship, close to each other, like books upon a shelf. I have known
them so close that the shelf would not, easily, contain one more. And I have known a white man sent down,
among the men, to lay them in these rows to the greatest advantage, so that as little space as possible might
be lost.
Let it be observed, that the poor creatures, thus cramped for want of room, are likewise in irons, for the
most part both hands and feet, and two together, which makes it difficult for them to turn or move, to
attempt either to rise or to lie down, without hurting themselves, or each other. Nor is the motion of the
ship, especially her heeling, or stoop on one side, when under sail, to be omitted; for this, as they lie
athwart, or cross the ship, adds to the uncomfortableness of their lodging, especially to those who lie on the
leeward or leaning side of the vessel.
Dire is the tossing, deep the groans. —
The heat and smell of these rooms, when the weather will
not admit of the slaves being brought upon deck, and of
having their rooms cleaned every day, would be almost
insupportable to a person not accustomed to them. If the
slaves and their rooms can be constantly aired, and they are
not detained too long on board, perhaps there are not many
who die; but the contrary is often their lot. They are kept
down, by the weather, to breathe a hot and corrupted air,
sometimes for a week: this added to the galling of their
irons, and the despondency which seizes their spirits when thus confined, soon becomes fatal. And every
morning, perhaps, more instances than one are found, of the living and the dead, like the captives of
Mezentius, >> note 1 fastened together.
Epidemical fevers and fluxes, which fill the ship with noisome and noxious effluvia, often break out, and
infect the seamen likewise, and thus the oppressors, and the oppressed, fall by the same stroke. I believe,
nearly one-half of the slaves on board, have, sometimes, died; and that the loss of a third part, in these
circumstances, is not unusual. The ship, in which I was mate, left the coast with two hundred and eighteen
slaves on board; and though we were not much affected by epidemical disorders, I find by my journal of
that voyage (now before me), that we buried sixty-two on our passage to South Carolina, exclusive of those
which died before we left the coast, of which I have no
account.
I believe, upon an average between the more healthy, and
the more sickly voyages, and including all contingencies,
one fourth of the whole purchase may be allotted to the
article of mortality: that is, if the English ships purchase
sixty thousand slaves annually, upon the whole extent of the
coast, the annual loss of lives cannot be much less than
fifteen thousand.
The Middle Passage
William Snelgrave, from A New Account of Some Parts of Guinea, and the Slave Trade
The threat of a slave rebellion was always present during the
Middle Passage; some uprising seems to have occurred on
more than 10 percent of the voyages. In a few cases, the
slaves managed to take over the ship (as in Melville's Benito
Cereno, based on a true story, or in the famous journey of
the Amistad); but usually they died, often by torture. The
description that follows comes from A New Account of Some
Parts of Guinea, and the Slave Trade (1734) by Captain
William Snelgrave of Bristol. Snelgrave considered himself
a humane trader who was transporting his cargo to a better,
Christian life. In any case, the punishments he reports are
less severe than those in some other accounts.
I come now to give an Account of the Mutinies that have happened on board the Ships where I have been.
These Mutinies are generally occasioned by the Sailors ill usage of these poor People, when on board the
Ship wherein they are transported to our Plantations. Wherever therefore I have commanded, it has been
my principal Care, to have the Negroes on board my Ship kindly used; and I have always strictly charged
my white People to treat them with Humanity and Tenderness; In which I have usually found my Account,
both in keeping them from mutinying, and preserving them in health.
And whereas it may seem strange to those that are unacquainted with the method of managing them, how
we can carry so many hundreds together in a small Ship, and keep them in order, I shall just mention what
is generally practiced. When we purchase grown People, I acquaint them by the Interpreter, "That, now
they are become my Property, I think fit to let them know what they are bought for, that they may be easy
in their Minds: (For these poor People are generally under terrible Apprehensions upon their being bought
by white Men, many being afraid that we design to eat them; which, I have been told, is a story much
credited by the inland Negroes;) So after informing them, That they are bought to till the Ground in our
Country, with several other Matters; I then acquaint them, how they are to behave themselves on board
towards the white Men; that if any one abuses them, they are to complain to the Linguist, who is to inform
me of it, and I will do them Justice; But if they make a Disturbance, or offer to strike a white Man, they
must expect to be severely punished."
When we purchase the Negroes, we couple the sturdy Men together with Irons; but we suffer the Women
and Children to go freely about: And soon after we have sail'd from the Coast, we undo all the Mens Irons.
They are fed twice a day, and are allowed in fair Weather to come on Deck at seven a Clock in the
Morning, and to remain there, if they think proper, till Sun setting. Every Monday Morning they are served
with Pipes and Tobacco, which they are very fond of. The Men Negroes lodge separate from the Women
and Children: and the places where they all lye are cleaned every day, some white Men being appointed to
see them do it.
***
I have been several Voyages, when there has been no Attempt made by our Negroes to mutiny; which, I
believe, was owing chiefly, to their being kindly used, and to my Officers Care in keeping a good Watch.
But sometimes we meet with stout stubborn People amongst them, who are never to be made easy; and
these are generally some of the Cormantines, a Nation of the Gold Coast. I went in the year 1721, in the
Henry of London, a Voyage to that part of the Coast, and bought a good many of these People. We were
obliged to secure them very well in Irons, and watch them narrowly: Yet they nevertheless mutinied, tho'
they had little prospect of succeeding. I lay at that time near a place called Mumfort on the Gold-Coast,
having near five hundred Negroes on board, three hundred of which were Men. Our Ship's Company
consisted of fifty white People, all in health: And I had very good Officers; so that I was very easy in all
respects.
After we had secured these People, I called the Linguists, and ordered them to bid the Men-Negroes
between Decks be quiet; (for there was a great noise amongst them.) On their being silent, I asked, "What
had induced them to mutiny?" They answered, "I was a great Rogue to buy them, in order to carry them
away from their own Country, and that they were resolved to regain their Liberty if possible." I replied,
"That they had forfeited their Freedom before I bought them, either by Crimes or by being taken in War,
according to the Custom of their Country; and they being now my Property, I was resolved to let them feel
my Resentment, if they abused my Kindness: Asking at the same time, Whether they had been ill used by
the white Men, or had wanted for any thing the Ship afforded?" To this they replied, "They had nothing to
complain of." Then I observed to them, "That if they should gain their Point and escape to the Shore, it
would be no Advantage to them, because their Countrymen would catch them, and sell them to other
Ships." This served my purpose, and they seemed to be convinced of their Fault, begging, "I would forgive
them, and promising for the future to be obedient, and never mutiny again, if I would not punish them this
time." This I readily granted, and so they went to sleep. When Daylight came we called the Men Negroes
up on Deck, and examining their Irons, found them all secure. So this Affair happily ended, which I was
very glad of; for these People are the stoutest and most sensible Negroes on the Coast: Neither are they so
weak as to imagine as others do, that we buy them to eat them; being satisfied we carry them to work in our
Plantations, as they do in their own Country.
However, a few days after this, we discovered they were plotting again, and preparing to mutiny. For some
of the Ringleaders proposed to one of our Linguists, If he could procure them an Ax, they would cut the
Cables the Ship rid by in the night; and so on her driving (as they imagined) ashore, they should get out of
our hands, and then would become his Servants as long as they lived.
For the better understanding of this I must observe here, that these Linguists are Natives and Freemen of
the Country, whom we hire on account of their speaking good English, during the time we remain trading
on the Coast; and they are likewise Brokers between us and the black Merchants.
This Linguist was so honest as to acquaint me with what had been proposed to him; and advised me to keep
a strict Watch over the Slaves: For tho' he had represented to them the same as I had done on their
mutinying before, That they would all be catch'd again, and sold to other Ships, in case they could carry
their Point, and get on Shore, yet it had no effect upon them.
This gave me a good deal of Uneasiness. For I knew several Voyages had proved unsuccessful by
Mutinies; as they occasioned either the total loss of the Ships and the white Mens Lives; or at least by
rendring it absolutely necessary to kill or wound a great number of the Slaves, in order to prevent a total
Destruction. Moreover, I knew many of these Cormantine Negroes despised Punishment, and even Death it
self: It having often happened at Barbadoes and other Islands, that on their being any ways hardly dealt
with, to break them of their Stubbornness in refusing to work, twenty or more have hang'd themselves at a
time in a Plantation. However, about a Month after this, a sad Accident happened, that brought our Slaves
to be more orderly, and put them in a better Temper: And it was this. On our going from Mumfort to Annamaboe, which is the principal part on the Gold Coast, I met there with another of my Owner's Ships, called
the Elizabeth. One Captain Thompson that commanded her was dead; as also his chief Mate: Moreover the
Ship had afterwards been taken to Cape Lahoe on the windward Coast, by Roberts the Pirate with whom
several of the Sailors belonging to her had entered. However, some of the Pirates had hindered the Cargoe's
being plundered, and obtained that the Ship should be restored to the second Mate: Telling him, "They did
it out of respect to the generous Character his Owner bore, in doing good to poor Sailors."
When I met with this Vessel I had almost disposed of my Ship's Cargoe; and the Elizabeth being under my
Direction, I acquainted the second Mate, who then commanded her, That I thought it for our Owner's
Interest, to take the Slaves from on board him, being about 120, into my Ship; and then go off the Coast;
and that I would deliver him at the same time the Remains of my Cargoe, for him to dispose of with his
own after I was sailed. This he readily complied with, but told me, "He feared his Ship's Company would
mutiny, and oppose my taking the Slaves from him:" And indeed, they came at that instant in a Body on the
Quarter-deck; where one spoke for the rest, telling me plainly, "they would not allow the Slaves to be taken
out by me." I found by this they had lost all respect for their present Commander, who indeed was a weak
Man. However, I calmly asked the reason, "Why they offered to oppose my taking the Slaves?" To which
they answered, "I had no business with them." On this I desired the Captain to send to his Scrutore, for the
Book of Instructions Captain Thompson had received from our Owner; and he read to them, at my request,
that Part, in which their former Captain, or his Successor (in case of Death) was to follow my Orders.
Hereupon they all cried out, "they should remain a great while longer on the Coast to purchase more
Slaves, if I took these from them, which they were resolved to oppose." I answered, "That such of the
Ship's Company as desired it, I would receive on board my own; where they should have the same Wages
they had at present on board the Elizabeth, and I would send some of my own People to supply their
Places." This so reasonable an Offer was refused, one of the Men who was the Ship's Cooper telling me,
that the Slaves had been on board a long time, and they had great Friendship with them: therefore they
would keep them. I asked him, "Whether he had ever been on the Coast of Guinea before? He replied no.
Then I told him, "I supposed he had not by his way of talking, and advised him not to rely on the
Friendship of the Slaves, which he might have reason to repent of when too late." And 'tis remarkable this
very person was killed by them the next Night, as shall be presently related.
So finding that reasoning with these Men was to no Purpose, I told them, "When I came with my Boats to
fetch the Slaves, they should find me as resolute to chastise such of them as should dare to oppose me, as I
had been condescending to convince them by arguing calmly." So I took my leave of their Captain, telling
him, "I would come the next Morning to finish the Affair."
But that very Night, which was near a month after the Mutiny on board of us at Mumfort, the Moon shining
now very bright, as it did then, we heard, about ten a Clock, two or three Musquets fired on board the
Elizabeth. Upon that I ordered all our Boats to be manned, and having secured every thing in our Ship, to
prevent our Slaves from mutinying, I went my self in our Pinnace, (the other Boats following me) on board
the Elizabeth. In our way we saw two Negroes swimming from her, but before we could reach them with
our Boats, some Sharks rose from the bottom, and tore them in Pieces. We came presently along the side of
the Ship, where we found two Men-Negroes holding by a Rope, with their heads just above water; they
were afraid, it seems, to swim from the Ship's side, having seen their Companions devoured just before by
the Sharks. These two Slaves we took into our Boat, and then went into the Ship, where we found the
Negroes very quiet, and all under Deck; but the Ship's Company was on the Quarter-deck, in a great
Confusion, saying, "The Cooper, who had been placed centry at the Fore-hatch way, over the MenNegroes, was, they believed, kill'd by them." I was surprized to hear this, wondring that these cowardly
fellows, who had so vigorously opposed my taking the Slaves out, a few hours before, had not Courage
enough to venture forward, to save their Shipsmate; but had secured themselves by shutting the Quarterdeck door, where they all stood with Arms in their Hands. So I went to the fore-part of the Ship with some
of my People, and there we found the Cooper lying on his back quite dead, his Scull being cleft asunder
with a Hatchet that lay by him. At the sight of this I called for the Linguist, and bid him ask the Negroes
between Decks, "Who had killed the white Man?" They answered, "They knew nothing of the matter; for
there had been no design of mutinying among them:" Which upon Examination we found true; for above
one hundred of the Negroes then on board, being bought to the Windward, did not understand a word of the
Gold-Coast Language, and so had not been in the Plot. But this Mutiny was contrived by a few CormanteeNegroes, who had been purchased about two or three days before. At last, one of the two Men-Negroes we
had taken up along the Ship side, impeached his Companion, and he readily confessed he had kill'd the
Cooper, with no other View, but that he and his Countrymen might escape undiscovered by swimming on
Shore. For on their coming upon Deck, they observed, that all the white Men set to watch were asleep; and
having found the Cook's Hatchet by the Fire-place, he took it up, not designing then to do any Mischief
with it; but passing by the Cooper, who was centry, and he beginning to awake, the Negroe rashly struck
him on the head with it, and then jump'd overboard. Upon this frank Confession, the white Men would have
cut him to Pieces; but I prevented it, and carried him to my own Ship. Early the next morning, I went on
board the Elizabeth with my Boats, and sent away all the Negroes then in her, into my own Ship: not one of
the other Ship's Company offering to oppose it. Two of them, the Carpenter and Steward, desired to go with
me, which I readily granted; and by way of Security for the future success of the Voyage, I put my chief
Mate, and four of my under Officers (with their own Consent,) on board the Elizabeth; and they arrived,
about five Months after this, at Jamaica, having disposed of most part of the Cargoe.
After having sent the Slaves out of the Elizabeth, as I have just now mentioned, I went on board my own
Ship; and there being then in the Road of Anamaboe, eight sail of Ships besides us, I sent an Officer in my
Boat to the Commanders of them, "To desire their Company on board my Ship, because I had an Affair of
great Consequence to communicate to them." Soon after, most of them were pleased to come; and I having
acquainted them with the whole Matter, and they having also heard the Negroe's Confession, "That he had
killed the white Man;" They unanimously advised me to put him to death; arguing, "That Blood required
Blood, by all Laws both divine and human; especially as there was in this Case the clearest Proof, namely
the Murderer's Confession: Moreover this would in all probability prevent future Mischiefs; for by
publickly executing this Person at the Ship's Fore-yard Arm, the Negroes on board their Ships would see it;
and as they were very much disposed to mutiny, it might prevent them from attempting it." These Reasons,
with my being in the same Circumstances, made me comply.
Accordingly we acquainted the Negroe, that he was to die in an hour's time for murdering the white Man.
He answered, "He must confess it was a rash Action in him to kill him; but he desired me to consider, that
if I put him to death, I should lose all the Money I had paid for him." To this I bid the Interpreter reply,
"That tho' I knew it was customary in his Country to commute for Murder by a Sum of Money, yet it was
not so with us; and he should find that I had no regard to my Profit in this respect: For as soon as an HourGlass, just then turned, was run out, he should be put to death;" At which I observed he shewed no
Concern.
Hereupon the other Commanders went on board their respective Ships, in order to have all their Negroes
upon Deck at the time of Execution, and to inform them of the occasion of it. The Hour-Glass being run
out, the Murderer was carried on the Ship's Forecastle, where he had a Rope fastened under his Arms, in
order to be hoisted up to the Fore-yard Arm, to be shot to death. This some of his Countrymen observing,
told him, (as the Linguist informed me afterwards) "That they would not have him to be frightened; for it
was plain I did not design to put him to death, otherwise the Rope would have been put about his neck, to
hang him." For it seems they had no thought of his being shot; judging he was only to be hoisted up to the
Yard-arm, in order to scare him: But they immediately saw the contrary; for as soon as he was hoisted up,
ten white Men who were placed behind the Barricado on the Quarter-deck fired their Musquets, and
instantly killed him. This struck a sudden Damp upon our Negroe-Men, who thought, that, on account of
my Profit, I would not have executed him.
The Body being cut down upon the Deck, the Head was cut off, and thrown overboard. This last part was
done, to let our Negroes see, that all who offended thus, should be served in the same manner. For many of
the Blacks believe, that if they are put to death and not dismembred, they shall return again to their own
Country, after they are thrown overboard. But neither the Person that was executed, nor his Countrymen of
Cormantee (as I understood afterwards,) were so weak as to believe any such thing; tho' many I had on
board from other Countries had that Opinion.
When the Execution was over, I ordered the Linguist to acquaint the Men-Negroes, "That now they might
judge, no one that killed a white Man should be spared:" And I thought proper now to acquaint them once
for all, "That if they attempted to mutiny again, I should be obliged to punish the Ringleaders with death, in
order to prevent further Mischief." Upon this they all promised to be obedient, and I assured them they
should be kindly used, if they kept their Promise: which they faithfully did. For we sailed, two days after,
from Anamaboe for Jamaica; and tho' they were on board near four Months, from our going off the Coast,
till they were sold at that Island, they never gave us the least reason to be jealous of them; which doubtless
was owing to the execution of the white Man's Murderer.
After the Captain [Messervy, of Ferrers galley] had told me this story, he desired me to spare him some
Rice, having heard, I had purchased a great many Tuns to the Windward; where he had bought little, not
expecting to meet with so many Slaves. This request I could not comply with, having provided no more
than was necessary for my self, and for another of my Owner's Ships, which I quickly expected. And
understanding from him, that he had never been on the Coast of Guinea before, I took the liberty to observe
to him, "That as he had on board so many Negroes of one Town and Language, it required the utmost Care
and Management to keep them from mutinying; and that I was sorry he had so little Rice for them: For I
had experienced that the Windward Slaves are always very fond of it, it being their usual Food in their own
Country; and he might certainly expect dissatisfactions and Uneasiness amongst them for want of a
sufficient quantity."
This he took kindly, and having asked my Advice about other Matters, took his leave, inviting me to come
next day to see him. I went accordingly on board his Ship, about three a clock in the afternoon. At four a
clock the Negroes went to Supper, and Captain Messervy desired me to excuse him for a quarter of an hour,
whilst he went forward to see the Men-Negroes served with Victuals. I observed from the Quarter-Deck,
that he himself put Pepper and Palm Oyl amongst the Rice they were going to eat. When he came back to
me, I could not forbear observing to him, "How imprudent it was in him to do so: For tho' it was proper for
a Commander sometimes to go forward, and observe how things were managed; yet he ought to take a
proper time, and have a good many of his white People in Arms when he went; or else the having him so
much in their Power, might incourage the Slaves to mutiny: For he might depend upon it, they always aim
at the chief Person in the Ship, whom they soon distinguish by the respect shown him by the rest of the
People."
He thanked me for this Advice, but did not seem to relish it; saying, "He thought the old Proverb good, that
'The Master's Eye makes the Horse fat.'" We then fell into other Discourse, and among other things he told
me, "He designed to go away in a few days:" Accordingly he sailed three days after for Jamaica. Some
Months after I went for that place, where at my arrival I found his Ship, and had the following melancholy
account of his Death, which happened about ten days after he left the Coast of Guinea in this manner.
Being on the Forecastle of the Ship, amongst the Men-Negroes, when they were eating their Victuals, they
laid hold on him, and beat out his Brains with the little Tubs, out of which they eat their boiled Rice. This
Mutiny having been plotted amongst all the grown Negroes on board, they run to the forepart of the Ship in
a body, and endeavoured to force the Barricado on the Quarter-Deck, not regarding the Musquets or Half
Pikes, that were presented to their Breasts by the white Men, through the Loop-holes. So that at last the
chief Mate was obliged to order one of the Quarter-deck Guns laden with Partridge-Shot, to be fired
amongst them; which Occasioned a terrible Destruction: For there were near eighty Negroes kill'd and
drowned, many jumping overboard when the Gun was fired. This indeed put an end to the Mutiny, but most
of the Slaves that remained alive grew so sullen, that several of them were starved to death, obstinately
refusing to take any Sustenance: And after the Ship was arrived at Jamaica, they attempted twice to mutiny,
before the Sale of them began. This with their former Misbehaviour coming to be publickly known, none of
the Planters cared to buy them, tho' offered at a low Price. So that this proved a very unsuccessful Voyage,
for the Ship was detained many Months at Jamaica on that account, and at last was lost there in a
Hurricane.
British Views of Liberty
John Locke, from The First and Second Treatises of Government
John Locke (1632–1704), the philosopher whose theory of natural rights
helped to define the principles of modern democracy, wrote his First Treatise
of Government (1690) to refute Sir Robert Filmer's Patriarcha, or the Natural
Power of Kings (written ca. 1638; published 1680). Against Filmer's belief in
the absolute, God-given power of the monarch, Locke maintains the natural
liberty of human beings; all people are born free, and the attempt to enslave
any person creates a state of war (as opposed to the state of nature). Yet Locke
himself had invested in the slave trade and drafted the Fundamental
Constitutions of Carolina (1669), which granted absolute power over slaves.
This conflict is not Locke's alone; it represents the national conflict of theory
and practice, of espousing freedom while profiting from the slave traffic.
From The First Treatise of Government (1690)
1. Slavery is so vile and miserable an Estate of Man, and so directly opposite to the generous Temper and
Courage of our Nation; that 'tis hardly to be conceived, that an Englishman, much less a Gentleman, should
plead for't. And truly, I should have taken Sr. Rt: Filmer's Patriarcha as any other Treatise, which would
perswade all Men, that they are Slaves, and ought to be so, for such another exercise of Wit, as was his who
writ the Encomium of Nero, rather than for a serious Discourse meant in earnest, had not the Gravity of the
Title and Epistle, the Picture in the Front of the Book, and the Applause that followed it, required me to
believe, that the Author and Publisher were both in earnest. I therefore took it into my hands with all the
expectation, and read it through with all the attention due to a Treatise, that made such a noise at its coming
abroad, and cannot but confess my self mightily surprised, that in a Book, which was to provide Chains for
all Mankind, I should find nothing but a Rope of Sand, useful perhaps to such, whose Skill and Business it
is to raise a Dust, and would blind the People, the better to mislead them, but in truth is not of any force to
draw those into Bondage, who have their Eyes open, and so much Sense about them as to consider, that
Chains are but an ill wearing, how much Care soever hath been taken to file and polish them.
2. If any one think I take too much liberty in speaking so freely of a Man, who is the great Champion of
absolute Power, and the Idol of those who Worship it; I beseech him to make this small allowance for once,
to one, who, even after the reading of Sir Robert's Book, cannot but think himself, as the Laws allow him, a
Freeman: And I know no fault it is to do so, unless any one better skill'd in the Fate of it, than I, should
have it revealed to him, that this Treatise, which has lain dormant so long, was, when it appeared in the
World, to carry by strength of its Arguments, all Liberty out of it; and that from thenceforth our Author's
short Model was to be the Pattern in the Mount, and the perfect Standard of Politics for the future. His
System lies in a little compass, 'tis no more but this,
That all Government is absolute Monarchy.
And the Ground he builds on, is this,
That no Man is Born free.
3. In this last age a generation of men has sprung up among us, who would flatter princes with an Opinion,
that they have a Divine right to absolute Power, let the Laws by which they are constituted, and are to
govern, and the Conditions under which they enter upon their Authority, be what they will, and their
Engagements to observe them never so well ratified by solemn Oaths and Promises. To make way for this
doctrine they have denied Mankind a Right to natural Freedom, whereby they have not only, as much as in
them lies, exposed all Subjects to the utmost Misery of Tyranny and Oppression, but have also unsettled the
Titles, and shaken the Thrones of Princes: (For they too, by these Mens systeme, except only one, are all
born Slaves, and by Divine Right, are Subjects to Adam's right Heir); As if they had design'd to make War
upon all Government, and subvert the very Foundations of Human Society, to serve their present turn.
From The Second Treatise of Government (1690)
Chap. IV. Of Slavery.
22. The Natural Liberty of Man is to be free from any Superior Power on Earth, and not to be under the
Will or Legislative Authority of Man, but to have only the Law of Nature for his Rule. The Liberty of Man,
in Society, is to be under no other Legislative Power, but that established, by consent, in the Commonwealth, nor under the Dominion of any Will, or Restraint of any Law, but what the Legislative shall enact,
according to the Trust put in it. Freedom then is not what Sir R. F. tells us, A Liberty for every one to do
what he lists, to live as he pleases, and not to be tyed by any Laws: But Freedom of Men under
Government, is, to have a standing Rule to live by, common to every one of that Society, and made by the
Legislative Power erected in it; A Liberty to follow my own Will in all things, where the Rule prescribes
not; and not to be subject to the inconstant, uncertain, unknown, Arbitrary Will of another Man. As
Freedom of Nature is to be under no other restraint but the Law of Nature.
23. This Freedom from Absolute, Arbitrary Power, is so necessary to, and closely joyned with a Man's
Preservation, that he cannot part with it, but by what forfeits his Preservation and Life together. For a Man,
not having the Power of his own Life, cannot, by Compact, or his own Consent, enslave himself to any one,
nor put himself under the Absolute, Arbitrary Power of another, to take away his Life, when he pleases. No
body can give more Power than he has himself; and he that cannot take away his own Life, cannot give
another power over it. Indeed having, by his fault, forfeited his own Life, by some Act that deserves Death;
he, to whom he has forfeited it, may (when he has him in his Power) delay to take it, and make use of him
to his own Service, and he does him no injury by it. For, whenever he finds the hardship of his Slavery outweigh the value of his Life, 'tis in his Power, by resisting the Will of his Master, to draw on himself the
Death he desires.
24. This is the perfect condition of Slavery, which is nothing else, but the State of War continued, between
a lawful Conquerour, and a Captive. For, if once Compact enter between them, and make an agreement for
a limited Power on the one side, and Obedience on the other, the State of War and Slavery ceases, as long
as the Compact endures.
British Views of Liberty
William Blackstone, from Commentaries on the Laws of England
The jurist Sir William Blackstone (1723–1780) was appointed the first Vinerian Professor of English Law
at Oxford in 1758. After his Oxford lectures were published (1765), they were long regarded as the
standard authority on the development of English law, and were cited in order to demonstrate the wisdom
and justice of English institutions, which were deeply grounded in history and reason. Hence Blackstone's
opinions on liberty and slavery carried great weight in the judicial interpretation of legal rights.
The idea and practice of this political or civil liberty flourish in their highest vigour in these kingdoms,
where it falls little short of perfection, and can only be lost or destroyed by the folly or demerits of it's
owner: the legislature, and of course the laws of England, being peculiarly adapted to the preservation of
this inestimable blessing even in the meanest subject. Very different from the modern constitutions of other
states, on the continent of Europe, and from the genius of the imperial law; which in general are calculated
to vest an arbitrary and despotic power of controlling the actions of the subject in the prince, or in a few
grandees. And this spirit of liberty is so deeply implanted in our constitution, and rooted even in our very
soil, that a slave or a negro, the moment he lands in England, falls under the protection of the laws, and
with regard to all natural rights becomes eo instanti a freeman.
In the third edition (1768–69), the end of the final sentence was revised (after "laws") as follows: "and so
far becomes a freeman; though the master's right to his service may probably still continue." Blackstone did
not want the passage used to support the doctrine that a master would automatically lose his right to the
service of any slave brought to England.
In 1771 James Somerset, a slave who had been brought from Virginia to England, escaped from his master.
A month later he was recaptured and put on board a ship bound for Jamaica. But he and his case were
brought to the Court of King's Bench, and after a lengthy trial, in 1772 Lord Mansfield decided that,
whether or not there could be slaves in England, a master had no right to compel a slave to go into a foreign
country. Somerset was freed. Though the legal status of the case was far from clear, in practice it put an end
to slavery in England. For a later Scottish case, see Samuel Johnson's Brief to Free a Slave (NAEL 8,
1.2849).
Abolitionist Poets
Richard Savage, from Of Public Spirit in Regard to Public Works
Richard Savage (1697?–1743), a poet best known from the biography written by his friend Samuel
Johnson, attributed his love of liberty to his "Bastard's birth" — "Born to himself, by no possession led, / In
freedom fostered, and by fortune fed." Below is an excerpt from his 1737 poem.
Know, Liberty and I are still the same,
Congenial! — ever mingling flame with flame!
Why must I Afric's sable children see
Vended for slaves, tho' form'd by nature free,
The nameless tortures cruel minds invent,
Those to subject, whom nature equal meant?
If these you dare (albeit unjust success
Empow'rs you now unpunish'd to oppress)
Revolving empire you and yours may doom,
(Rome all subdu'd, yet Vandals vanquish'd Rome,)
Yes, empire may revolve, give them the day,
And yoke may yoke, and blood may blood repay.
Abolitionist Poets
William Cowper, The Negro's Complaint
William Cowper's (1731–1800) contribution to the antislavery movement was influenced by John Newton,
who had collaborated with him on Olney Hymns (1779) and who asked him to write ballads — which could
be set to music and sung in the streets — on behalf of the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade.
Behn's Oroonoko and Newton's horror stories of the Middle Passage play a part in Cowper's poem; so do
the poet's own feelings of being forsaken (see "The Castaway," NAEL 8, 1.2895).
Forc'd from home and all its pleasures,
Afric's coast I left forlorn;
To increase a stranger's treasures,
O'er the raging billows borne;
Men from England bought and sold me,
Paid my price in paltry gold;
But though theirs they have enroll'd me
Minds are never to be sold.
Still in thought as free as ever,
What are England's rights, I ask,
Me from my delights to sever,
Me to torture, me to task?
Fleecy locks and black complexion
Cannot forfeit nature's claim;
Skins may differ, but affection
Dwells in white and black the same.
Why did all-creating Nature
Make the plant for which we toil?
Sighs must fan it, tears must water,
Sweat of ours must dress the soil.
Think, ye masters iron-hearted,
Lolling at your jovial boards;
Think, how many backs have smarted
For the sweets your cane affords.
Is there, as ye sometimes tell us,
Is there one who reigns on high?
Has he bid you buy and sell us,
Speaking from his throne, the sky?
Ask him, if your knotted scourges,
Fetters, blood-extorting screws,
Are the means that duty urges
Agents of his will to use?
Strewing yonder sea with wrecks,
Wasting towns, plantations, meadows,
Are the voice with which he speaks.
He, foreseeing what vexations
Afric's sons should undergo,
Fix'd their tyrants' habitations
Where his whirlwinds answer — No.
By our blood in Afric wasted,
Ere our necks receiv'd the chain;
By the mis'ries which we tasted,
Crossing in your barks the main;
By our suff'rings since ye brought us
To the man-degrading mart;
All sustain'd by patience, taught us
Only by a broken heart:
Deem our nation brutes no longer
Till some reason ye shall find
Worthier of regard and stronger
Than the colour of our kind.
Slaves of gold! whose sordid dealings
Tarnish all your boasted pow'rs,
Prove that you have human feelings,
Ere you proudly question ours.
Pro-Slavery Perspectives
Nicholas Owen, from Journal of a Slave-Dealer. A View of Some Remarkable Axcedents in the Life of
Nics. Owen on the Coast of Africa and America from the year 1746 to the year 1757
Nicholas Owen (d. 1759) was an impoverished Irish sailor with little formal education. He kept a record of
"remarkable axcedents" that occurred during his sea voyages and during his life as a slave trader in Africa.
Owen sailed on slave ships that ran from the western coast of Africa to destinations including Rhode
Island, Liverpool, and Barbados. He later worked as a slave trader from stations on Sherbro Island (off the
coast of present-day Sierra Leone) and York Island, at first under the direction of an agent, and then later
on his own account. This was a somewhat unusual situation; most British trade in Africa was regulated by a
series of forts belonging to the Company of Merchants trading to Africa. Owen does not appear to have had
contact with the Company. As he explains in this excerpt, he could make a much more advantageous trade
for slaves as a local trader than many ships could manage to do. Owen is a middleman who trades
European goods including cloth, flints, and pans to the people of Sherbro in exchange for slaves and other
goods, such as ivory, palm oil, and rice.
Owen's perspective on the slave trade is that of a man who handles a valuable, but "troublesome"
commodity. Though Owen's journal does give some details of the lives of the African peoples amongst
whom he lives, he does not spend time reflecting on the moral questions raised by trafficking in human
beings, to whom he refers as "dry goods". For Nicholas Owen, slavery is merely business .
We are now to return to our history of Sherbrow where I am now an inhabatent. Our chiefest busness is in
the purchaceing of slaves, which is very troublesome. In the first place you are obliged to treate them all to
liquer before you purchase anything or not; at the same time you are liable to thier noise and bad langague
without any satisfaction. You are obliged to take all advantages and lave all bounds of justice when
tradeing with these creatures as they do by you, otherwise your goods ont fetch thier starling price at home.
Some people may think a scruple of congience in the above trade, but it's very seldom minded by our
European merchts. Our common goods here for a prime slave is as follows — ships' boats indeed give more
— goods for a slave up the river Sharbrow in the year 1755 (country money) stands thus:
C — Bars
4 guns
2 kegs bowder
1 piece blew baft
1 kettle
2 brass pans
1 duzn. knives
2 basons
2 iron bars
1 head beads
50 flints
1 silk handk.
Country bars
20
6
10
4
2
1
2
2
1
1
1
20
Which changed into ship's bars stands thus:
4 guns
2 kegs powder
1 baft
1 kettle
Bs. pans
Dzn. knives
2 basons
2 iron bars
Bars
16
4
6
2
1
0
1
2
S
0
0
0
2
2
4
2
0
D
0
0
0
6
8
6
66
0
5 flints
1 silk handr.
1 head beads
Ships bars
0
1
0
36
2
0
3
1
0
0
4
6
This is general goods on the coast of Guinea for slaves, considering your price in the country when sould
on board this pressent year which is B.80, so that your prfits is coniderable if the price stands with shiping.
Dye wood is much the same in trade, commonly giveing 3 country bars pr. quentall or 112, which will
amount to 6 on board a ship; but these proffits are brought down by the expences of the kings and you[r]
own people, which is verey unreasonable and great: as for example, in Sherbro there is 3 kings who divides
the country among them, vizd. K. Sherbro, King Shefra, K. Sumana and some others of less note; every one
of these expects custum from a white trader or ships boat, which comes to 14 or 20 bars each at your first
comeing and after perhaps 10 or 12 bars, if you bring a shallop or long boat. I say this takes considerable of
your proffits away.
Pro-Slavery Perspectives
From Elizabeth Donnan, Documents Illustrative of the History of the Slave Trade to America, Volume II:
The Eighteenth Century
Slavery was an integral part of the British economy during the eighteenth century, and it was especially
important to port towns such as Liverpool. A list of eighty-eight ships from Liverpool bound to Africa in
1752 notes the movement of over 24,730 slaves in that year alone (498). The petition below asks the House
of Commons to consider "public welfare" and, in the interests of the "wealth and prosperity of the kingdom
at large," to stop the political movement towards abolition.
Similar petitions were made by other towns that had a heavy involvement in the slave trade, or in related
naval commercial activities, such as boat building or chandlery. One petition of manufacturers, shipbuilders, ship-holders, and traders from Bristol urged the House:
[T]he Abolition of the Slave Trade, with the Effects it will necessarily have on Trade and Credit of the
West India Islands, will deprive the Port of Bristol of so great a Share of its present Commerce, Shipping
and Advantages, that the other general Branches of its Trade will necessarily sink with it, and altogether
will be attended with such ruinous Consequences to the Petitioners, and the People employed under them,
that it will involve Thousands in the utmost Difficulty and Distress, who, with their Families, ought not to
be the last Objects of Regard to those who are actuated by Motives of true Humanity * * * (606)
When British commerce, employment, and investment are at stake, these pro-slavery petitions claim,
abolition is not in every man's best "interest."
[A Petition of Liverpool to the House of Commons Regarding the Slave Trade]
February 14, 1788 [9?].
To the honourable the House of Commons, The humble petition of the Mayor etc.
Sheweth, That your petitioners as Trustees of the Corporate fund of the ancient and loyal town of Liverpool
have always been ready not only to give every encouragement in their power to the commercial interests of
that part of the Community more immediately under their care, but as much as possible to strengthen the
reins of Government and to promote the public welfare.
That the trade of Liverpool having met with the countenance of this honourable House in many Acts of
Parliament, which have been granted at different times during the present century, for the constructing of
proper and convenient wet docks >> note 1 for shipping, and more especially for the African ships,
>> note 2 which from their form require to be constantly afloat, your Petitioners have been emboldened to
lay out considerable sums of money and to pledge their Corporate Seal for other sums to a very large
amount for effectuating these goods and laudable purposes.
That your Petitioners have also been happy to see the great increase and different resources of trade which
has flowed in upon their town by the numerous canals and other communications from the interior parts of
this kingdom, in which many individuals, as well as public bodies of proprietors are materially interested.
And that from these causes, particularly the convenience of the docks, and some other local advantages,
added to the enterprizing spirit of the people, which has enabled them to carry on the African Slave Trade
with vigour, the town of Liverpool has arrived at a pitch of mercantile consequence which cannot but affect
and improve the wealth and prosperity of the kingdom at large.
Your Petitioners therefore contemplate with real concern the attempts now making by the petitions lately
preferred to your honourable House to obtain a total abolition of the African Slave trade, which has hitherto
received the sanction of Parliament, and for a long series of years has constituted and still continues to form
a very extensive branch of the commerce of Liverpool, and in effect gives strength and energy to the whole;
but confiding in the wisdom and justice of the British Senate, Your Petitioners humbly pray to be heard by
their Counsel against the abolition of this source of wealth before the Honourable House shall proceed to
determine upon a point which so essentially concerns the welfare of the town and port of Liverpool in
particular, and the landed interest of the kingdom in general, and which in their judgment must also tend to
the prejudice of the British manufacturers, must ruin the property of the English merchants in the West
Indies, diminish the public revenue and impair the maritime strength of Great Britain. . . . >> note 3
William Blake, The Little Black Boy
The Little Black Boy, plate #10 of Songs of Innocence (1789). William Blake. (Dover, 1971). Courtesy of
Dover Publications, Inc.
[Plate 10]
"For when our souls have learn'd the heat to bear
The cloud will vanish; we shall hear his voice,
Saying: 'Come out from the grove my love & care,
And round my golden tent like lambs rejoice.'"
Thus did my mother say and kissed me,
And thus I say to little English boy:
When I from black and he from white cloud free,
And round the tent of God like lambs we joy:
I'll shade him from the heat till he can bear
To lean in joy upon our father's knee.
And then I'll stand and stroke his silver hair,
And be like him and he will then love me.
1.
Modern terms such as "liberal" and "conservative" or "progressive" and "reactionary" are not very
useful for characterizing the politics of slavery in Restoration and eighteenth-century Britain.
"Progressive" views might encourage slavery, as a means not only for building the national
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
economy but also for bringing the virtues of enlightenment and Christianity to Africans — a view
endorsed by Phillis Wheatley and Ignatius Sancho. "Conservatives" might object to the slave trade
because its profits and global relocations created a new social order. Writers associated slavery
with their own political problems.
a. What political issues and cultural values seem most at stake in Restoration and
eighteenth-century writings on slavery and the slave trade?
b. Do the contradictions in the positions of John Locke and William Blackstone represent
their confusion, or do they respond to some genuine conflict of values?
c. Over the course of the eighteenth century, what changes do you perceive in assumptions
about slavery?
It is often said that slavery was founded on economics, not race. The word "slave" comes from
"Slav" (in the Middle Ages, many Slavs were enslaved), and white slaves were not uncommon
during the eighteenth century, especially in Muslim countries. But the trade in Africans gradually
led to associating black people with slaves, as well as to theories of race which justified slavery by
dwelling on the "natural" inferiority of blacks to whites?
a. What signs of race and racism do you find in the works on this Web site? Is the
enslavement of black Africans regarded merely as a business, or as a consequence of
race? What sort of evidence seems most important to you in trying to answer such
questions?
b. Compare the representation of Africans in these works with Borde's sixteenth-century
description of moors. How much of the eighteenth century's understanding of race is
rooted in older prejudices?
Aphra Behn's Oroonoko (NAEL 8, 1.2183) shows the horror of one slave's treatment without
openly condemning the institution of slavery; the color of the hero's skin seems less important to
Behn than his royal blood.
a. Why might Behn have chosen the tale of an African prince to express her royalist views?
What image of the slave trade does Oroonoko give, apart from the sufferings of its royal
hero?
b. Make a close comparison between Oroonoko's capture and transportation to slavery and
accounts of the Middle Passage by John Newton and William Snelgrave. In what respects
does Behn's version agree, and where does she deviate from these accounts?
c. The abolitionist Hannah More, writing a century later, associates Oroonoko's sufferings
with those of "millions." What does her poem suggest about changes in English society,
and about the reception and reputation of Behn's text, in the century after it was written?
Hannah More compares Africans to the ancient Romans, while Richard Savage links them to the
Vandals who vanquished Rome; in Behn's Oroonoko, the prince is renamed "Caesar" and
compared to Britain's ancient Picts (NAEL 8, 1.2183).
a. What views of history and cultural progress lie behind these comparisons? How do they
compare with the notion of a fixed racial hierarchy advanced by Hester Piozzi?
b. Compare these texts with the opening of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness (NAEL 8,
2.1890), which develops the analogy between Africans and the ancient inhabitants of
Britain. Judging from his remarks on Conrad, how might Chinua Achebe respond to
Behn and the abolitionist poets?
What do writings by Africans such as Olaudah Equiano (NAEL , 1.2850), Phillis Wheatley, and
Ignatius Sancho contribute to the political debate in Britain? Which aspects of their writing seem
most crucial to this debate, and why?
Read the exchange of letters between Ignatius Sancho and Laurence Sterne closely. Judging from
how they address one another, how does each man regard the other? To what extent do they hold
the same opinions about slavery? How might Sancho have responded to the passage from Tristram
Shandy describing a "poor negro girl"?
Eighteenth-century abolitionists opposed slavery on humanitarian grounds, as an institution which
inflicted great suffering on its victims, and on philosophical grounds, as an affront to natural
liberty. What elements of each argument do you find, and which seems most compelling in the
works of the abolitionist poets More, Savage, and Cowper, of Olaudah (NAEL 8, 1.2850) and
Ignatius Sancho, and of Locke, Blackstone, and Johnson (NAEL 8, 1.2849)?
Information about Phillis Wheatley is available for exploration on the Web.
a.
To what extent is slavery a theme in Wheatley's Poems on Various Subjects, Religious
and Moral (1773)? What images and terms does she employ to describe herself and her
sense of mission?
b. Wheatley was born in Africa, enslaved in New England, and published her one volume of
poetry in Britain. To what "tradition" does Wheatley belong, or what challenges does she
pose to the idea of tradition?
9. Anna Laetitia Barbauld was an abolitionist poet, yet her Epistle to William Wilberforce counsels
him to abandon the struggle for abolition.
a. Why does Barbauld make this apparently paradoxical proposal? Does this make her poem
more or less effective than those of the other abolitionist poets?
b. Compare Barbauld's Epistle with her poem on The Rights of Women (NAEL 8, 2.35).
What accounts for Barbauld's different approaches to the problems of slavery and
women's rights? Do the two poems seem contradictory, or are they part of a coherent
view of society?
10. Annie Besant's White Slavery in London (1888) draws a comparison between slavery and the
conditions of Victorian London's working poor. What is the basis for such a comparison? Does it
seem to you to get at the heart of what is wrong about slavery, or does it trivialize the issue?
11. Compare Olaudah Equiano's (NAEL 8, 1.2850) description of conditions on board slave ships with
John Ruskin's appreciation of Turner's painting The Slave Ship (NAEL 8, 2.1321). To what extent,
in Ruskin's view, does the power of this painting depend on its subject? Is there a conflict — for
Ruskin and for you — between aesthetic appreciation and contemplation of what the painting
depicts?
3.
The plurality of words
I saw new worlds beneath the water lie,
New people, and another sky.
— Thomas Traherne, On Leaping over the Moon (NAEL 8, 1.1772)
Human beings have always dreamed about other worlds, but in the seventeenth century many writers and
artists began to see them. An age of exploration helped bring about this giant leap in perspective. Since
1492, the New World had become an established fact, and the encounter of Europeans with other peoples
and cultures revealed that other ways of life were possible, perhaps even satisfying. More and more welldefined places filled the empty stretches on the map of the earth. Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels (1726)
reflects — and mocks — this interest in distant regions and outlandish customs, alternatives or mirror
images of Old World civilization. But the most amazing discoveries came from those who stayed at home
and looked through novel instruments, the microscope and telescope. There, in a drop of water or the
endless reach of the heavens, they found what human beings had never seen before: innumerable,
incredible new worlds.
These vistas changed humanity's view of itself, as a species at the center of the universe, with all other
things and beings proportioned to the visible, inhabited world — a comfortable human scale of values.
Perhaps we were not so important after all; perhaps these new microscopic and cosmic worlds had their
own inhabitants and justifications. This thought could be terrifying. Imagining himself engulfed between
infinity and nothingness, the great French scientist and theologian Blaise Pascal expressed the terror of the
interstellar spaces. Yet other writers enjoyed their contemplation of the infinite plurality of worlds within
us and around us. The possibility of traveling there, at least in imagination, could liberate the mind from its
dull rounds, from custom and authority; science could be as exciting as science fiction. To Margaret
Cavendish, the duchess of Newcastle, the multiplication of worlds was second nature — not least because
women as well as men could imagine worlds that were better suited to what they desired.
The fascination of seeing strange creatures and patterns
beneath the microscope — "To see a World in a Grain of
Sand," as William Blake recommended — or of looking
deeper into the sky also made science accessible to the
public. Knowledge was charming; it could provide new
sources of pleasure. One of the most popular books of the
age, in England as well as France, was Fontenelle's
Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds (1686), in which a
philosopher explains the universe to a beautiful and
intelligent, though uninformed, marquise. The line between
the professional scientist (or "natural philosopher") and the
amateur enthusiast was not yet firm. Some writers argued
that women, because of their natural curiosity and
detachment from the business of making a living, could be better than men at scientific pursuits. Hence The
Female Spectator encouraged ladies to take an active interest in peering through the microscope and
telescope.
What was the significance of these new worlds? One common reaction, epitomized by Joseph Addison,
was to celebrate the plenitude of God's creation, which crammed each bit of space, both great and small,
with spirit and life and being. Alexander Pope's Essay on Man (NAEL 8, 1.2541–48) and Christopher
Smart's Song to David both glory in the fruitfulness and generosity of the divine. Similarly, James
Thomson's Seasons (NAEL 8, 1.2860–62) describe an English day from every perspective, whether vast or
minute. Extraterrestrial life became an article of faith for many scientists, like the great Dutch physicist
Christiaan Huygens. But other writers took a more skeptical view of the new philosophy. Samuel Butler,
Cavendish, and Swift all ridiculed the scientific establishment embodied by the Royal Society; in one of
Butler's poems, an elephant spied in the moon turns out to be a mouse caught in the telescope. More down
to earth, the thresher poet Stephen Duck related mites to men.
Investigations of the worlds of the microbe and atom, the solar system and the Milky Way, eventually
changed the conditions of life on earth. In literature, however, perhaps the most lasting effect was a new
sense that reality has many different faces, that each of us might inhabit a different world. When the
novelist Laurence Sterne recounted A Dream of the plurality of worlds, the hope and panic of his dream
expressed the feelings of his century and those of centuries to come.
The Microscope
The microscope, like the telescope, dates from about 1600. One popular
story says that two children, playing in the shop of a Dutch spectaclemaker, put together two lenses, one concave and the other convex, and
looking through them, saw that the weathervane of the town church was
amazingly magnified. The early telescope was sometimes turned on tiny
things as well. Through his tube, Galileo saw "flies which look as big as
lambs." But by 1625 a more efficient device, the microscope, had been
crafted and named.
Robert Hooke's Micrographia (1665) proved that this device could
reveal minute new worlds. Curator of experiments at the Royal Society,
Hooke (1635–1703) made unprecedented and accurate drawings of the
diminutive creatures he had discovered. He also created a new taste for appreciating unheeded wonders of
nature, from the endlessly varied patterns of snowflakes to the strength and beauty of the flea or the life
cycles of mites. Other spectacular advances in seeing and understanding the world under the microscope
were made by the Dutch scientist Antony van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723), who first observed bacteria and
spermatozoa. When Alexander Pope considered "the Nature and State of Man," in Epistle 1 of An Essay on
Man (NAEL 8, 1.2541), the questions he asked were inspired by these new ways of looking at mites or the
eye of a fly.
Robert Hooke, from Micrographia
[Snowflakes]
Exposing a piece of black Cloth, or a black Hatt to the falling Snow, I have often with great pleasure,
observ'd such an infinite variety of curiously figur'd Snow, that it would be as impossible to draw the Figure
and shape of every one of them, as to imitate exactly the curious and Geometrical Mechanisme of Nature in
any one.
[The Flea]
The strength and beauty of this small creature, had it no other relation at
all to man, would deserve a description * * * As for the beauty of it, the
Microscope manifests it to be all over adorn'd with a curiously polish'd
suit of sable Armour, neatly jointed, and beset with multitudes of sharp
pinns, shap'd almost like Porcupine's Quills, or bright conical Steelbodkins; the head is on either side beautify'd with a quick and round
black eye K, behind each of which also appears a small cavity, L, in
which he seems to move to and fro a certain thin film beset with many
small transparent hairs, which probably may be his ears.
Antony van Leeuwenhoek, from a journal
[The Eye of a Fly]
In the month of August I saw, sitting on a glass, at the backside of my house, a Fly almost as large as a
bee * * * I dissected the tunica cornea of both eyes of this Fly, and, on examination, I found them to be
covered with a great number of wonderfully minute hairs, which did not cover the organs of sight but were
placed in the intermediate spaces between them * * * Upon repeatedly, and more carefully, examining this
spectacle, I was, to a certainty, assured that every one of that great quantity of particles like threads which
presented themselves to my sight, were no other than optic nerves * * * And who knows, whether that part
in which the optic nerves so terminate, may not be the brain itself, not yet discovered?
van Leeuwenhoek
Hooke
The Telescope
Galileo Galilei, The Phases of the Moon
In 1609 Galileo Galilei, a professor of mathematics at Padua, heard reports of an
exciting new instrument, the telescope. He soon made a much improved model
and turned it toward the heavens. What he saw there amazed the world and
changed it forever. The Starry Messenger (Sidereus Nuncius), a slim volume
published in March 1610, reported "great and marvellous sights": "the lofty
mountains and deep valleys" of the moon; a Milky Way revealed to be no dusty
haze of light but "a mass of innumerable stars" that had never been seen
distinctly before; and most astonishing of all, four satellites of Jupiter.
Copernicus had been right about the solar system. The challenge to the fixedearth doctrine of the church provoked Pope Urban VIII; eventually Galileo was
tried and imprisoned by the Inquisition, which forced him to recant. But the
revolution in the heavens continued. In the late 1660s, Isaac Newton greatly
improved the telescope by substituting concave mirrors for lenses; his six-inch-long reflecting telescope
could magnify forty times, surpassing a six-foot-long refractor. With the help of such instruments, Edmond
Halley was able to predict the return of the comet that bears his name, and William Herschel discovered
Uranus in 1781.
James Thomson, from The Seasons
Many amateurs also enjoyed the pleasures of gazing through a telescope at the night sky. It was a theme of
which eighteenth-century British poets never tired, as in James Thomson's appeal to Nature in his poem
The Seasons (1730).
From Autumn (lines 1354–59)
Snatch me to heaven; thy rolling wonders there,
World beyond world, in infinite extent
Profusely scattered o'er the blue immense,
Show me; their motions, periods, and their laws
Give me to scan; through the disclosing deep
Light my blind way.
Scales of Values
Blaise Pascal, from Pensées
Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) left at his death a mass of fragmentary writings later
edited by his family and friends, and published in 1670 as Pensées (Thoughts).
These scattered texts, associated with the theological doctrine called Jansenism,
are still considered the most brilliant of all defenses of religious faith against
skepticism — such as the skepticism that might arise from the new scientific
discoveries. The passage below is excerpted from fragment 230,
"Disproportion of man."
Let man contemplate all of nature in her exalted
and full majesty, let him distance his view from the low objects that surround
him, let him gaze at the dazzling light placed like an eternal lamp to illuminate
the universe, let the earth appear to him a mere point compared with the vast
circle that this star describes, and let him be amazed that the vast circle itself is
only a very tiny point in relation to those encompassed by the stars that roll
through the firmament. But if our view stops there, let imagination pass
beyond. It will sooner tire of conceiving than nature of providing. The whole
visible world is only an imperceptible speck in nature's ample bosom, no idea
comes near it. We have puffed up our conceptions beyond imaginable space,
we have only given birth to atoms compared with the reality of things. It is an infinite sphere whose center
is everywhere, whose circumference nowhere. In the end, the greatest palpable sign of the omnipotence of
God is that our imagination loses itself in thinking about it * * *
What is a man, within the infinite?
But to show him another, equally astonishing prodigy, let him inspect the tiniest things that he knows, such
as a mite that offers him, in the littleness of its body, parts incomparably more little, legs with joints, veins
in its legs, blood in its veins, humors in the blood, drops in its humors, vapors in the drops, which dividing
again to the final bit would exhaust the strength of his conceptions; and let the final object he is able to
reach become our topic now. He will think, perhaps, that nothing could be littler in nature.
I want to make him see, in there, a new abyss, I want to paint for him not only the visible universe but the
immensity that one can conceive of nature within the compass of this microcosmic atom. Let him see there
an infinity of universes, of which each has its firmament, its planets, its earth — in the same proportion as
the visible world — in this earth, animals, and finally mites, in which he will meet again what the first
provided, and find again in others the same thing without end, without rest. Let him lose himself in these
wonders, as astonishing in their littleness as the others by their expanse! For who will not marvel that our
body, which a moment ago was not perceptible in the universe, which is itself imperceptible in the bosom
of everything, should be at present a colossus, a world, or rather an everything, in relation to the
nothingness beyond our reach.
Whoever considers himself in this way will be terrifed at himself and, considering himself suspended in the
scale that nature has given him between the two abysses of infinity and nothingness, he will tremble at the
sight of these wonders * * *
Popularizing Science
Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle, from Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds
In 1680 a fiery comet caused superstitious panic in Europe.
Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle (1657–1757) wrote a
comedy making fun of such fear. In 1686 he responded
again by reporting the latest news about the cosmos, the
findings of Copernicus, Galileo, and other scientists, in a
book that any common reader could understand, Entretiens
sur la pluralité des mondes (Conversations on the Plurality
of Worlds). No work was more influential in popularizing
the facts and the philosophy empowered by the microscope
and telescope. Two English translations appeared in 1688.
The selections below are from the free and stylish version by
Aphra Behn, A Discovery of New Worlds.
We went one Evening after Supper to walk in the Park. * * * Do not you believe, madam, said I, that the
clearness of this Night exceeds the Glory of the brightest day? I confess, said she, the Day must yield to
such a Night. * * * I love the Stars, and could be heartily angry with the Sun for taking them from my sight.
Ah, cry'd I, I cannot forgive his taking from me the sight of all those Worlds that are there. Worlds, said
she, what Worlds? And looking earnestly upon me, asked me again, what I meant? I ask your Pardon,
Madam, said I, I was insensibly led to this fond discovery of my weakness. What weakness, said she, more
earnestly than before? Alas, said I, I am sorry that I must confess I have imagined to my self, that every
Star may perchance be another World, yet I would not swear that it is so; but I will believe it to be true,
because that Opinion is so pleasant to me, and gives me very diverting Idea's, which have fixed themselves
delightfully in my Imaginations, and 'tis necessary that even solid Truth should have its agreeableness.
Well, said she, since your Folly is so pleasing to you, give me a share of it; I will believe whatever you
please concerning the Stars, if I find it pleasant. * * *
I shou'd think it very strange, that the Earth shou'd be inhabited as it is; and the
other Planets shou'd be so entirely desolate and deserted: For you must not think,
that we see all the living Creatures that inhabit the Earth. For there are as many
several species and kinds of Animals invisible as there are visible. We see
distinctly from the Elephant to the Mite; there our sight is bounded, and there are
infinite numbers of living Creatures lesser than a Mite, to whom, a Mite is as big
in proportion, as an Elephant is to it. The late invention of Glasses call'd
Microscopes, have discover'd thousands of small living Creatures, in certain
Liquors, which we cou'd never have imagin'd to have been there. And it may be
the different tastes of these Liquors, proceed from these little Animals, who bite,
and sting our Tongues and Palates. If you mix certain ingredients in these
Liquors, (as Pepper in Water,) and expose 'em to the heat of the Sun, or let 'em
putrefie, you shall see other new species or living Creatures. Several Bodies,
which appear to be solid, are nothing else but Collections or little heaps of these
imperceptible Animals; who find there as much room, as is requisite for them to move in. The leaf of a
Tree, is a little World inhabited, by such invisible little Worms: To them this leaf seems of a vast Extent,
they find Hills and Valleys upon it: And there is no more Communication between the living Creatures on
the one side, and those on the other, than between us and the Antipodes. And I think there is more reason, to
believe a Planet (which is so vast a Body) to be inhabited. There has been found in several sorts of very
hard Stones, infinite multitudes of little Worms, lodg'd all over them in insensible varieties; and who are
nourish'd upon the Substance of these Stones which they eat. Consider the vast Numbers of these little
Animals, and how long a tract of Years they have liv'd upon a grain of Sand. And by this Argument, tho my
Moon were nothing but a confus'd heap of Marble Rocks, I wou'd rather make it be devour'd and consum'd
by its Inhabitants, than to place none at all in it.
To conclude, every thing lives, and every thing is animated; that is to say, if you comprehend the Animals,
that are generally known; the living Creatures lately discover'd, and those that will be discover'd herafter,
you will find that the Earth is very well Peopl'd; and that Nature has been so liberal in bestowing them, that
she has not been at the pains to discover half of 'em. After this, can you believe, that Nature, who has been
fruitful to Excess as to the Earth, is barren to all the rest of the Planets? My reason is convinc'd, said the
Marquiese, but my Fancy is confounded with the infinite Number of living Creatures, that are in the
Planets; and my thoughts are strangely embarass'd with the variety that one must of Necessity imagine to be
amongst 'em; because I know Nature does not love Repetitions; and therefore they must all be different.
But how is it possible for one to represent all these to our Fancy? Our Imaginations can never comprehend
this variety, said I, let us be satisfied with our Eyes, or we may easily conceive by a universal view, Nature
has form'd variety in the several Worlds. All the Faces of Mankind are in general near the same Form. Yet
the two great Nations of our Globe, the Europeans and Africans, seem to have been made after different
Models. Nay, there is a certain resemblance and Air of the Countenance peculiar to every Family or Race
of Men. Yet it is wonderful to observe how many Millions of Times, Nature has varied so simple a thing as
the Face of a Man. We, the Inhabitants of the Earth, are but one little Family of the Universe, we resemble
one another. The Inhabitants of another Planet, are another Family, whose Faces have another Air peculiar
to themselves; by all appearance, the difference increases with the distance, for cou'd one see an Inhabitant
of the Earth, and one of the Moon together, he wou'd perceive less difference between them, than between
an Inhabitant of the Earth, and an Inhabitant of Saturn. Here (for Example) we have the use of the Tongue
and Voice, and in another Planet, it may be, they only speak by Signs. In another the Inhabitant speaks not
at all. Here our Reason is form'd and made perfect by Experience. In another Place, Experience adds little
or nothing to Reason. Further off, the old know no more than the young. Here we trouble our selves more
to know what's to come, than to know what's past. In another Planet, they neither afflict themselves with
the one nor the other; and 'tis likely they are not the less happy for that. Some say we want a sixth Sense by
which we shou'd know a great many things we are now ignorant of. It may be the Inhabitants of some other
Planet have this advantage; but want some of those other five we enjoy; it may be also that there are a great
many more natural Senses in other Worlds; but we are satisfi'd with the five that are fal'n to our Share,
because we know no better. Our Knowledge is bounded to certain limits, which the Wit of Man cou'd never
yet exceed. There is a certain point where our Ingenuity is at a stand; that which is beyond it is for some
other World, where it may be some things, that are familiar to us, are altogether unknown. Our Globe
enjoys the Pleasure of Love; but is destroyed in several places by the fury of War. Another Planet enjoys
constant Peace, without the delights of Love, which must render their Lives very irksom. In fine, Nature
has done to the several Worlds in great, as she has done to us Mortals in little; by making some happy,
others miserable. Yet she has never forgot her admirable Art in varying all things, tho she has made some
equal in some respects, by compensating the want of any one thing, with another of equal value.
Are you satisfi'd, said I, Madam, very gravely; have not I told you Chimeras in abundance? Truly, I find not
so much difficulty to comprehend these differences of Worlds; my Imagination is working upon the Model
you have given me. And I am representing to my own Mind odd Characters and Customs for these
Inhabitants of the other Planets. Nay more, I am forming extravagant shapes and figures for 'em: I can
describe 'em to you; for I fansie I see 'em here. I leave these shapes, said I, Madam, to entertain you in
Dreams this Night.
Reactions to the New Philosophy
Joseph Addison, from The Spectator, Nos. 420 and 465
In Spectator 420 (1712), Joseph Addison points out that writers "who describe visible Objects of a real
Existence" can move the reader fully as much as writers of poetry and fiction.
But among this Sett of Writers, there are none who more gratifie and enlarge the Imagination, than the
Authors of the new Philosophy, whether we consider their Theories of the Earth or Heavens, the
Discoveries they have made by Glasses, or any other of their Contemplations on Nature. We are not a little
pleased to find every green Leaf swarm with Millions of Animals, that at their largest Growth are not
visible to the naked Eye. There is something very engaging to the Fancy, as well as to our Reason, in the
Treatises of Metals, Minerals, Plants and Meteors. But when we survey the whole Earth at once, and the
several Planets that lie within its Neighbourhood, we are filled with a pleasing Astonishment, to see so
many Worlds hanging one above another, and sliding round their Axles in such an amazing Pomp and
Solemnity. If, after this, we contemplate those wide Fields of Ether, that reach in height as far as from
Saturn to the fixt Stars, and run abroad almost to an Infinitude, our Imagination finds its Capacity filled
with so immense a Prospect, and puts it self upon the Stretch to comprehend it. But if we yet rise higher,
and consider the fixt Stars as so many vast Oceans of Flame, that are each of them attended with a different
Sett of Planets, and still discover new Firmaments and new Lights, that are sunk farther in those
unfathomable Depths of Ether, so as not to be seen by the strongest of our Telescopes, we are lost in such a
Labyrinth of Suns and Worlds, and confounded with the Immensity and Magnificence of Nature.
Later that year, in Spectator 465, Addison composed a famous ode on the glory of Creation.
5
10
15
20
The Spacious Firmament on high,
With all the blue Etherial Sky,
And spangled Heav'ns, a Shining Frame,
Their great Original proclaim:
Th' unwearied Sun, from Day to Day,
Does his Creator's Power display,
And publishes to every Land
The Work of an Almighty Hand.
Soon as the Evening Shades prevail,
The Moon takes up the Wondrous Tale,
And nightly to the list'ning Earth
Repeats the Story of her Birth:
Whilst all the Stars that round her burn,
And all the Planets, in their turn,
Confirm the Tidings as they rowl,
And spread the Truth from Pole to Pole.
What though, in solemn Silence, all
Move round the dark terrestrial Ball?
What tho' nor real Voice nor Sound
Amid their radiant Orbs be found?
In Reason's Ear they all rejoice,
And utter forth a glorious Voice,
For ever singing, as they shine,
'The Hand that made us is Divine.'
The Expanding Universe
Laurence Sterne, from A Dream
A French scholar, Paul Stapfer, first published this fantasy on the plurality of worlds in Laurence Sterne, sa
personne et ses ouvrages (Paris, 1870). His attribution to Sterne cannot be confirmed or refuted, since the
manuscript copied by Stapfer has not been recovered. But scholars think it probable that Sterne wrote the
piece (addressed to a "Mr. Cook") sometime in the 1750s.
As I walked in the Orchard last night by star light, I was raising my imagination to the sublime notions of
the modern philosophy, which makes the earth to be of the nature of a planet, moving round the sun, and
supposes all the fixed stars to be suns in their respective systems, each of them surrounded, like this of
ours, by a Quire of Planets. And why, thought I, may not all these Planets be inhabited, as well as this our
globe? Has not the microsope given us sensible evidence of a vast number of new worlds, if I may so
speak, which before were not imagin'd to exist? And what Limits can we set to the works of God and
Nature? Thus thinking, I stop'd close to a Plumb-tree, and went on with my Reverie thus —
* * * For ought I know, two nations on each side a Fibre of a green leaf may meet and perform actions as
truly great as any we read of in the history of Alexander. Their courage, resolution, and patience of Pain
may be as great, as that exhibited by the Macedonian army, nay and even the prize of the contest no way
inferior to that which animated the brave Greeks. The possession or conquest of the Leaf may gratify as
many and as strong desires in them, as that of the earth in us.
So far I had indulg'd the extravagance of my fancy when I bethought myself it was bedtime, and I dare
swear you will say it was high time for me to go to sleep.
I went to bed accordingly. From that time I know not what happen'd to me, till by degrees I found myself in
a new state of being, without any remembrance or suspicion that I had ever existed before, growing up
gradually to reason and manhood, as I had done here. The world I was in was vast and commodious. The
heavens were enlighten'd with abundance of smaller luminarys resembling stars, and one glaring one
resembling the moon; but with this difference that they seem'd fix'd in the heavens, and had no apparent
motion. There were also a set of Luminarys >> note 1 of a different nature, that gave a dimmer light. They
were of various magnitudes, and appear'd in different forms. Some had the form of crescents; others, that
shone opposite to the great light, appear'd round. We call'd them by a name, which in our language would
sound like second stars. Besides these, there were several luminous streaks >> note 2 running across the
heavens like our milky way; and many variable glimmerings >> note 3 like our north-lights.
After having made my escape from the follies of youth, I betook myself to the study of natural philosophy.
The philosophy there profess'd was reckon'd the most excellent in the world and was said to have receiv'd
its utmost perfection. After long and tedious study, I found that it was little else, than a heap of
unintelligible jargon. All I could make out of it was, that the world we liv'd on was flat, immensely
extended every way, and that the sky was spread over it like a tent.
Dissatisfy'd with this, I resolv'd to travel in quest of knowledge to a foreign country renown'd for wisdom;
but found there instead of knowledge only a vain affectation of mystery in order to gain the veneration of
the vulgar, and thereby serve the ends of government. Disappointed here, I resolv'd to travel further, and
continu'd the same route thro' infinite dangers and difficulties. By degrees I found a considerable alteration
in the heavens. The stars behind me were grown lower, those before me appear'd higher. A huge dusky veil
>> note 4 like a Cloud which was only tinsel'd over with a faint glimmer of light was rising upon the
heavens. In process of time, as I continu'd my journey, it quite covered the Hemisphere, the luminarys
having all successively set behind me. Still continuing my wearisome travels, I found the dusky veil began
in its turn to remove towards that part of the heavens behind my back. Stars arose before me, which I
recollected to have seen formerly. To be short, in process of time I found myself in the same country from
whence I set out, and the heavenly bodys all in the same position, as I had left them.
I no longer doubted that the world was globular, I openly declar'd my opinion, and the grounds of it. But it
being thought contrary to the doctrines of a religion which then prevail'd, I narrowly escap'd being burnt for
a Heretick.
I retired from the world to indulge my speculations. I began by degrees to perceive that I was exempt from
the Fate of the other inhabitants of that world, whose life was limited to a term, that seem'd about the length
of 3 or 4 score years, as time is reckon'd here. I spent in my solitude 3 or 4 ages. During this time I had
observ'd that the heavens had a motion, tho' slow, and found that celestial as well as terrestrial things were
in some measure subject to change. I even foresaw, with great grief, the time when the great light shou'd (as
I observ'd several stars had done), sink under the dark veil, and leave us in eternal night.
* * * At this time began to be heard all over the world a huge noise and fragor in the skys, as if all nature
was approaching to her dissolution. The stars seem'd to be torn from their orbits, and to wander at random
thro' the heavens. I observ'd however that they did not change their position with regard to each other; and
thence concluded from the depth of my philosophy, that this unnatural motion was to be ascrib'd rather to
the globe we liv'd on, than to the heavens, and that the former underwent some violent concussion. I fix'd
my attention on a constellation of the second stars. I found that they considerably chang'd their position
with regard to each other, and seem'd to suffer some cruel agitation. It was not long before I observ'd
several of them to separate from, and forsake the rest. I watch'd their motions carefully; mark'd on my
globe their courses among the stars, as one wou'd that of a comet. I perceiv'd their swiftness continually
increas'd, and by degrees saw them lost in the great dark veil.
And now the fragor increas'd; the world was alarm'd; all was consternation, horrour, and amaze; no less
was expected than an universal wreck of nature. What ensu'd I know not. All of a sudden, I knew not how, I
found myself in bed, as just waking from a sound sleep.
I recollected the bed, the hangings, the room, my last night's thoughts, the whole series of my former life.
All this wou'd seem to persuade me that I had been in a dream. On the other hand, my whole existence in
the present state appear'd so small and so inconsiderable, and there appear'd so much of solidity and
regularity in the other state, wherein I had spent thousands of years, that I could not be persuaded but I was
at present in a dream. I rub'd my face, pull'd myself by the nose and ears in order to awake myself. I got up,
ran into the house, enquir'd what was the name of the world we lived in, what nation this was call'd? what
king at present reign'd? I hurry'd into the orchard, and by a sort of natural instinct made to the plumb-tree
under which passed my last night's reverie. I observ'd the face of the heavens was just the same as it had
appear'd to me immediately before I left my former state; and that a brisk gale of wind, which is common
about sun rising, was abroad. I recollected a hint I had read in Fontenelle who intimates that there is reason
to suppose that the Blue on Plumbs is no other than an immense number of living creatures. I got into the
tree, examin'd the clusters of plumbs; found that they hung in the same position, and made the same
appearance with the constellations of second stars, I had been so familiarly acquainted with, excepting that
some few were wanting, which I myself had seen fall. I cou'd then no longer doubt how the matter was.
O the vanity of worldly things, and even of worlds themselves! o world, wherein I have spent so many
happy days! o ye comforts, and enjoyments I am separated from; the acquaintance and friends I have left
behind me there! O the mountains, rivers, rocks and plains, which ages had familiariz'd to my view! with
you I seem'd at home; here I am like a banish'd man; every thing appears strange, wild and savage! O the
projects I had form'd! the designs I had set on foot, the friendships I had cultivated! How has one blast of
wind dash'd you to pieces! * * * But thus it is: Plumbs fall, and Planets shall perish * * *
"And now a Bubble burst, and now a world." >> note 5 The time will come when the powers of heaven
shall be shaken, and the stars shall fall like the fruit of a tree, when it is shaken by a mighty wind.
 The discoveries made possible by the telescope and microscope were disturbing as well as exhilarating.
Early responses to what John Donne called the "new philosophy" included deep discomfort and attempts by
the Church to suppress scientific inquiry; in 1633, Galileo was forced by the Inquisition to recant his "false
opinion" that "the earth is not the center of the world and moves."
a.
b.
Why would the discoveries made with the telescope have appeared threatening to Christian belief?
How does John Donne respond to the "new philosophy" in his Anatomy of the World (NAEL 8,
1.1289)?
In Marlowe's Doctor Faustus (NAEL 8, 1.1022), a man asks a devil for the truth about "divine
astrology," while in Book 8 of Milton's Paradise Lost (NAEL 8, 1.1960–73) a man poses similar
questions to the angel Raphael. Compare these two episodes. What does each suggest about the
proper scope and limits of human knowledge?
 Although the Church's initial response was largely hostile, during the next few centuries the "new
philosophy" and its plurality of worlds became acceptable Christian doctrine. Most of the writers and artists
in this section of the Norton Topics Online Web site view the plurality of worlds as evidence for faith, not
as antagonistic to it.
a.
b.
c.
How do these writers and artists reconcile scientific knowledge with Christian faith? Why do
Pascal and Sterne, for instance, find their religious beliefs confirmed rather than refuted by the
new scientific discoveries?
What religious implications do you find in the pictures by Thomas Wright and Joseph Wright?
Have your own beliefs been at all affected by looking through microscopes and telescopes? What
ideas or lessons have been suggested by what you have seen there?
 "The world" is an ambiguous term, which can stand at once for the earth or universe as a whole and for a
particular social class, the privileged and fashionable people who set the tone of society. Many of the
writers who popularized the notion of a plurality of worlds seem to be thinking about society as well as
science.
a.
b.
c.
What is the relation between the cosmic or microscopic worlds discovered by the new science and
the elite social class that takes pleasure in them, according to Margaret Cavendish, Stephen Duck,
and The Female Spectator?
The illustration of Fontenelle's Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds graphically expresses the
collision of cosmic and social "worlds." Why would Fontanelle use a flirtation with an aristocrat to
popularize the new discoveries?
In the last analysis, is the plurality of worlds a democratic doctrine, or a doctrine that suggests that
certain people and classes are superior to others? What arguments can be made on both sides?
 Christiaan Huygens draws conclusions about the probable nature of extraterrestrial societies based on
comparison with "the barbarous people of America."
a.
b.
What similarities can you see between the discovery and conceptualization of "other worlds" in
space and the "New World" in the western hemisphere? Compare the texts in this Norton Topics
Online topic with some of those devoted to the world explored by Europeans in the sixteenth
century.
Make a comparison between Huygens's and Fontenelle's ways of reasoning about other worlds and
Michel de Montaigne's reflections on the society of cannibals.
 In his letter to the Royal Society (NAEL 8, 1.2156), Newton's report of his methods and deductions about
the nature of light is shot through with expressions of pleasure and wonder.
a.
b.
What aspects of Newton's findings elicit the most pleasure and excitement, and why? Are there
aspects of his discoveries which he or a reader might find disturbing or frightening?
What consequences might Newton's discovery that objects have no colors in themselves "but put
on all colors indifferently with which they are enlightened" have for thinking about society and
religion?
 When Sir Thomas Browne wrote that "there is all Africa and her prodigies in us" (NAEL 8, 1.1587), he
was not thinking of what could be seen through a microscope. To what extent did the new scientific
methods of inquiry make Browne's approach in Religio Medici and Hydriotaphia obsolete? Do you think
anything of value was lost in this transition? What echoes of Browne's concerns and his way of reasoning
do you find in the more "scientific" approach of the eighteenth century?
 In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, there was no clear line between scientific speculation and
what we now call "science fiction." Johann Kepler and John Wilkins wrote about possible life on the moon,
while Margaret Cavendish imagined infinite inhabited worlds in The Blazing World. Today, works that go
by the name of "science fiction" are rarely taken seriously either as science or as literature; but a number of
twentieth-century writers in other genres have reflected on science and its impact on our view of the world.
a.
What insight do contemporary science fiction books and films offer into modern sciences such as
astronomy and biology? What do they suggest about our view of the role of science in society?
b.
What role does scientific learning play in poems such Hugh MacDiarmid's We Must Look at the
Harebell (NAEL 8, 2.2467), Fleur Adcock's The Ex-Queen Among the Astronomers, and Craig
Raine's A Martian Sends a Postcard Home?
 Why would English women of the Restoration and eighteenth century have been interested in exploring
other worlds? Why and to what extent would men have regarded this as a suitable female pursuit? How
would Margaret Cavendish and the male Philo-Naturae have regarded each other's writings and views
about the role of women in science? How, given the views expressed in The Aims of the Spectator (NAEL
8, 1.2473), would Addison respond to both?
 When writers like Fontenelle and Huygens speculate on the inhabitants of other worlds, they consider
how extraterrestrials may differ from human beings, as well as ways in which they are likely to be similar.
Read their comments closely, noting as well aspects of human society which they simply do not bring up.
What do their speculations and their silences suggest about their views of nature and society?
 Addison's essay on "the Authors of the new Philosophy" emphasizes the pleasure and wonder aroused by
microscopic and astronomical discoveries, while his essay on the "Scale of Being" (NAEL 8, 1.2490) and
his ode on the glory of creation make these discoveries the basis of religious and moral contemplation.
What links, and what tensions, if any, do you perceive between the pleasure derived from the new science
and its moral value? You may consider this question in relation to:
a.
b.
c.
Addison's writings.
Pope's Essay on Man (NAEL 8, 1.2540).
The poems of Thomas Traherne (NAEL 8, 1.1769).
 What does Johnson's tale of the deluded Egyptian astronomer in chapters 40–47 of Rasselas (NAEL 8,
1.2730) suggest about the potential pitfalls of the new learning? Is the scientific method a corrective to the
astronomer's delusions, or their cause?
 Read about the lives and discoveries of two pioneers of the microscope, Robert Hooke and Antony van
Leeuwenhoek, on the Web. What significance do you find in the substances they chose to examine and
how they described them? What metaphors and similes drawn from this world do they employ to describe
the world under the microscope?
 View the images of distant stars and cataclysmic events taken in recent years by The Hubble
Telescope. How do you respond to these images, with and without reference to the accompanying
explanations? How might eighteenth-century stargazers have interpreted and responded to these
pictures?
4.
Travel, trade and the expansion of Empire
The international man of mystery who styled himself George Psalmanazar is perhaps the eighteenth
century's most notorious impostor. Psalmanzar (c. 1680–1763), who was likely born in the south of France,
successfully posed as a native of the island of Formosa (present-day Taiwan) in British society for three
years. His public displays of "Formosan" behavior and discourses on fictional "Formosan" religious
practices eventually culminated in a popular but spurious travelogue entitled An Historical and
Geographical Description of Formosa, An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan (1704; expanded second
edition, 1705). In this entertaining book, Psalmanazar "explains" to the reader such aspects of Formosan
life as wedding and funeral ceremonies and the Formosan language, based on an elaborate alphabet which
he had designed himself, and which he was invited to teach to Oxford students. Amidst growing scepticism
regarding the authenticity of his narrative, Psalmanazar was forced to reveal his deception in 1706.
Why should we consider the history of George Psalmanazar to be the substance of anything more than an
amusing footnote? As Jack Lynch and other scholars have noted, Psalmanazar's forgeries are not unique in
the eighteenth century. One could easily point to his fellow fakers: James Macpherson (1736–1796), who
concocted the Ossian poems (supposedly crafted by an ancient Scottish bard), or Thomas Chatterton
(1752–1770), who "discovered" a fifteenth-century English poet, Rowley. While Macpherson's and
Chatterton's projects may point to anxieties about British national identity, Psalmanazar's travelogue
interests precisely because Britons' initial acceptance of it is symbolic of their hunger for stories of exotic
encounters beyond Britain's borders. George Psalmanazar's self-representation as a learned foreign traveller
is one of many indicators of Britons' increased "planetary consciousness," to borrow Mary Louise Pratt's
term for the "construction of global-scale meaning through the descriptive apparatuses of natural history"
(Imperial Eyes, 15). The exposure of the fictional nature of Psalmanazar's travels draws our attention to the
way in which all travel narratives may be said to construct meaning.
The selected readings in "Trade, Travel, and the Expansion of Empire" offer one mapping of the ways in
which the English language fashioned and was itself fashioned by various categories of travel and trade.
One could also discuss, for instance, the talismanic objects on Arabella Fermor's dressing table (see
Alexander Pope, "The Rape of the Lock," NAEL 8, 1.2514) and trace a material history of common items of
trade; or conduct a journey organized along political borders, or one based on chronology, religion, literary
genre, gender definition, emotion, aesthetic theory, or some other equally intriguing rubric.
The tour begins with an examination of contemporary meanings of English words relating to travel and
trade, as defined in Samuel Johnson's landmark work, A Dictionary of the English Language (1755).
Johnson's words are both the products of earlier travel narratives and the means to define new cross-cultural
encounters. A second selection from Johnson's works, the essay published as Idler No. 97 (1760), or
"Narratives of Travellers considered," takes a critical look at travel writing as a genre, and suggests the
ways in which it might be improved.
Travelling for the benefit of one's health was a popular eighteenth-century diversion, and the practice is
represented in this collection by an account taken from The Journeys of Celia Fiennes (1697), which
describes Celia Fiennes's excursions to take the water cure. Although international diplomacy, not health,
was the primary reason for Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's travels, her observations of health practices in
Turkey had significant import for Britons. Two selections from Montagu's Turkish Embassy Letters (the
1717 letters concerning the Turkish method of inoculation for the small pox and the Turkish baths) appear
here.
Eighteenth-century tourists also realized the educative benefits of travel, and acknowledged the necessity of
receiving a sound education at home to achieving a rich travel experience abroad. As Joseph Addison
writes in his poem, "A Letter from Italy, to the Right Honourable Charles Lord Halifax in the Year
MDCCI," a person's response to foreign peoples and landscapes is conditioned by education and literature
at least as much as by the primary senses:
For wheresoe'er I turn my ravish'd eyes,
Gay gilded scenes and shining prospects rise,
Poetic fields encompass me around,
And still I seem to tread on classic ground;
For here the Muse so oft her harp has strung
That not a mountain rears its head unsung,
Renown'd in verse each shady thicket grows,
And ev'ry stream in heavenly numbers flows. (Lines 9–16)
Nowhere was the imaginative collusion of landscape and literature rendered more visible than on the Grand
Tour, as Bruce Redford has observed. The first of three contemporary views of the Grand Tour is a
prescriptive parental letter from Philip Dormer Stanhope, Fourth Earl of Chesterfield, to his son Philip
Stanhope (1749), then in Turin. Next, William Beckford rapturously charts the correspondence of Roman
history and Roman landscape in a letter from his work, Dreams, Waking Thoughts and Incidents, in a
Series of Letters, from Various Parts of Europe (1783). Third, a dialogue from The Gentleman's Pocket
Companion, for Travelling into Foreign Parts (1723) offers a practical perspective on the borders of
language.
Voyages for the purpose of scientific and geographic discovery — popular reading amongst merchants and
aristocrats alike — demonstrate the material and cultural importance of trade and exploration to Britons.
Here the reader may contrast extracts from James Cook's private journals from the voyage of the
Endeavour (1768–1771) with the polished-for-publication work of Cook's protégé George Vancouver, A
Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean and Round the World 1791–1795 (1798). Piracy's threat to
British naval traffic is represented too in the figure of Blackbeard, as depicted in A General History of the
Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates (1724) by "Captain Charles Johnson." Similarly,
English readers' growing sense of the importance of individual liberty produced a fearful fascination in
captivity narratives, such as that written by Joseph Pitts: A True and Faithful Account of the Religion and
Manners of the Mohammetans (1704).
As international companies such as the East India and the Hudson Bay Company expanded globally
throughout the eighteenth century, there was opportunity for increased contact with cultural groups who
possessed systems of writing — the form of literature recognized and privileged by Europeans. Curiosity,
admiration, and the exigencies of trade produced a marked interest in translating, understanding, and
sometimes exploiting "other" extant literatures. Sir William "Oriental" Jones's translation of "A Persian
Song of Hafiz" and the four ashlogues translated by Nathaniel Brassey Halhed in A Code of Gentoo Laws,
or Ordinations of the Pundits (1776) illustrate some of these impulses at work. The final act of translation
apparent in eighteenth-century writing about travel and trade is that of imagining, and in some cases
appropriating, the position of the "other." Oliver Goldsmith, in a letter from The Citizen of the World
(1760–1761), strategically occupies the stance of "foreigner" in order to satirize Britain's domestic political
problems.
Ultimately, the expansion of empire that occurred during the eighteenth century cannot be mapped only by
meridians crossed, acres gained, or flags planted; it exists, too, in records of the imaginative commerce that
passed between place and the written word.
Travel and Health
Celia Fiennes, from The Journeys of Celia Fiennes (1697)
One of the main reasons people travelled during the eighteenth century was to "take the waters" of a certain
spring for their health. Water cures were prescribed for diseases ranging from scrofula to gout to
melancholy. One could take the waters internally, by drinking them, or externally, by bathing in the spring;
most water cures involved both. In Tobias Smollet's novel, The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker (1771),
the character Matthew Bramble complains about this practice to his doctor, who has recommended a water
cure: "I can't help suspecting, that there is, or may be, some regurgitation from the bath into the cistern of
the pump. In that case, what a delicate beveridge is every day quaffed by the drinkers; medicated with the
sweat and dirt, and dandriff; and the abominable discharges of various kinds, from twenty different
diseased bodies, parboiling in the kettle below" (40). Travelling to take the waters was not only a medical
but a social experience; in between treatments, spa towns such as Harrogate, Bath, and Tunbridge Wells
amused their guests with a giddy whirl of diversions including plays, concerts, and balls.
Celia Fiennes (1662–1741) was the unmarried daughter of aristocratic Nonconformist parents; her
grandfather was the first Viscount Saye and Sele, and her family supported Cromwell in the English civil
war. Her travel narrative is replete with observations about politics, religion, mines, and other commercial
activity, gardens, and architecture. Fiennes's journeys, she writes, were undertaken "to regain my health by
variety and change of aire and exercise" (1).
As Fiennes observes in a note "To the Reader," her travel journal was not designed for publication, but for
private circulation within her family:
As this was never designed, soe not likely to fall into the hands of any but my near relations, there needs
not much to be said to excuse or recommend it. Something may be diverting and proffitable tho' not to
Gentlemen that have travelled more about England, staid longer in places, might have more acquaintance
and more opportunity to be inform'd. (1)
Yet Celia Fiennes clearly regards her own travels as a potential example to others. She recommends travel
and the study of one's own county to ladies, as a means of improving their conversation, and of passing
away "tedious dayes" in the care of "the poor among whome they dwell" (2). It is not water, but travel, that
Celia Fiennes prescribes to her reader as the ultimate cure for a variety of ills:
Now thus much without vanity may be asserted of the subject, that if all persons, both Ladies, much more
Gentlemen, would spend some of their tyme in Journeys to visit their native Land, and be curious to inform
themselves and make observations of the pleasant prospects, good buildings, different produces, and
manufactures of each place, with the variety of sports and recreations they are adapt to, would be a
souveraign remedy to cure or preserve from these epidemick diseases of vapours, should I add Laziness? It
would also form such an Idea of England, add much to its Glory and Esteem in our minds and cure the evil
itch of overvalueing foreign parts; at least furnish them with an equivalent to entertain strangers when
amongst us, or inform them when abroad of their native Country, which has been often a reproach to the
English, ignorance and being strangers to themselves. (1–2)
It was not until 1888 that Emily Griffiths published Celia Fiennes's Journeys under the title, Through
England on a Side Saddle in the time of William and Mary.
In the excerpt below, Celia Fiennes describes her often-repeated visits to springs near Harrogate and
Copgrove. She creates a composite account of her spa experiences there — writing from memory, not
writing to the moment. Fiennes recalls the medicinal and natural properties of various springs with
considerable sensory detail, and enthuses about the excellent effect that plunges in St. Mungo's Well seem
to have had on her persistent headaches.
["Travelling to take the Waters"]
From "The Northern Journey and the Tour of Kent" (1697)
From thence we went over to Haragate [Harrogate] which is just by the Spaw, two mile further over a
Common that belongs to Knarsborough, its all marshy and wett and here in the compass of 2 miles is 4 very
different springs of water: there is the Sulpher or Stincking spaw, not improperly term'd for the Smell being
so very strong and offensive that I could not force my horse near the Well, there are two Wells together
with basons in them that the Spring rises up in, which is furr'd with a White Scumm which rises out of the
water, if you keep it in a cup but a few hours it will have such a White Scumm over it, notwithstanding it
rises out of the Spring very cleare, and so being a quick Spring it soone purges it self cleare againe, it
comes from Brimstone mines for the taste and smell is much of Sulpher, tho' it has an additionall
offenciveness like carrion or a jakes; the Ground is Bitumus or the like that it runns over, it has a quality of
changing Silver into the coullour of Copper, and that in a few minutes, much quicker than the Baths in the
West County in Somersetshire; it's a quick purger and very good for all Scurbutick humours; some persons
drink a quart or two — I dranke a quart in a morning for two days and hold them to be a good sort of Purge
if you can hold your breath so as to drinke them down — within a quarter of a mile is the Sweete Spaw or
Chalibiet [Chalybeate], a Spring which rises off Iron and Steele like Astrup [Astrop] or Tunbridge and like
the German Spaw, this is a quick Spring and the Well made up with a bason, and a cover of stone over it
like an arch; this opperates as all iron springs does, tho I could not find them so strong or spiriteous as those
at Tunbridge; one thing I observ'd of the Stinking Spaw tho' its taste and opperation was like the
Sumersetshire Bathes, yet this was not warme in the least as those Bathes are. Just between these two
Spaws is a fine cleare and sweete Spring of Comon water very good to wash eyes and pleasant to drinke;
the fourth Spring which is but two mile off these, is of a petrifying quality, turnes all things into stone, it
rises in a banck on the top of a hill and so runns along in a little Channell about a foote over, and all the
ground it runns over is moorish and full of holes, with water standing in it, which stincks just like the
Sulpher Spaw, and will turn Silver to the coullour of Copper as that does, notwithstanding this clear spring
runns through it with a swift current to the brow of the hill and then it spreads it self all round the hill,
which is a Rock, and so runns down all over the brow of the hill continually, like a hasty shower of small
and great raine, and so it meetes in the bottom and runns all into the river Knarsborough; and this water as
it runns and where it lyes in the hollows of the rock does turn moss and wood into Stone, or rather crusts or
candys wood; I saw some which had a perfect Shell of stone about it but they tell me it does in tyme
penetrate through the Wood, I took Moss my self from thence which is all crisp'd and perfect Stone; all the
Grass Straws or any thing that the water falls on it does convert to hardness like Stone; the whole rock is
continually dropping with water besides the showering from the top which ever runns, and this is called the
dropping well; there is an arbour and the Company used to come and eat a Supper there in an evening, to
have the pleaseing prospect, and the murmuring shower to divert their eare; in a good space of tyme it will
harden Ribon like Stone or any thing else.
From Harragate to Cockgrave [Copgrove] is 6 mile, where is a Spring of an exceeding cold water called St
Mongers [Mungo] Well, the Story is of a Child that was laid out in the cold for the parishes care and when
the Church Wardens found it they took care of it, a new born Infant, and when it was baptised they gave it
the name of Amongust because they said the Child must be kept among them; and as the papist sayes he
was an ingenious Child and so attained learning and was a very religious man and used this spring to wash
himself; after sometymes that he had gotten prefferrment and so grew rich he walled the Spring about and
did many cures on diseased bodies by batheing in it, which caused after his death people to frequent the
Well which was an inconveniency to the owners of the ground and so they forbad people coming and
stopped up the Well and, the Story sayes, on that severall judgments came on the owners of the ground and
the Spring broke up all about his ground which forced him to open it again and render it usefull to all that
would come to washe in it — thus farre of the fable — now the Spring is in use and a high wall round it;
the Well is about 4 or 5 yards square, and round the brimm is a walke of broad stone round; there are 4 or 5
steps down to the bottom, it is no deeper at some places then a little above the waste not up to the shoulders
of a woman, and you may kneel on a flatt stone and it comes to your chin, this the papists made use of very
much; at one corner the Springs rise they are very quick and there is a Sluce that it continually runns off so
as to keep just at the same depth, and it runns off so fast and the Springs supply so fast that it clears the
Well presently after any body has been in; I allwayes chose to be just where the springs rise that is much
the coldest and it throws off any thing in the well to the Sluce.
Setting aside the Papists fancyes of it I cannot but think it is a very good Spring, being remarkably cold,
and just at the head of the Spring so its fresh which must needs be very strengthning, it shutts up the pores
of the body immeadiately so fortifyes from cold, you cannot bear the coldness of it above 2 or 3 minutes
and then you come out and walke round the pavement and then in againe, and so 3 or 4 or 6 or 7 as many
tymes as you please; you go in and out in Linnen Garments, some go in flannell, I used my Bath garments
and so pulled them off and put on flannell when I came out to go into the bed, which is best; but some came
at a distance, so did I, and did not go into bed but some will keep on their wet Garments and let them drye
to them and say its more beneficial, but I did not venture it; I dipp'd my head quite over every tyme I went
in and found it eased a great pain I used to have in my head, and I was not so apt to catch Cold so much as
before, which I imputed to the exceeding coldness of the Spring that shutts up the pores of the body; its
thought it runns off of some very cold Spring and from Clay, some of the Papists I saw there had so much
Zeale as to continue a quarter of an hour on their knees at their prayers in the Well, but none else could well
endure it so long at a tyme; I went in 7 severall seasons and 7 tymes every season and would have gone in
oftener could we have staid longer.
Travel and Health
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, from The Turkish Embassy Letters (1763)
The personal or familiar letter is a letter that is directed at a select, private audience; it is frequently
conversational in style and relatively unstructured in form; and its contents are not usually calculated to
interest anyone but the intended recipient. However, the collection now known as The Turkish Embassy
Letters is not just a casual compilation of personal correspondence; rather, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
carefully edited and polished the collection with a view to its publication after her death.
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689–1762) had a keen sense of the literary value of her letters. In a letter to
her sister, Lady Mar, Montagu writes of her pleasure in reading the letters of another celebrated letterwriter, Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Marquise de Sévigné: "very pretty they are, but I assert without the least
vanity that mine will be full as entertaining 40 years hence. I advise you therefore to put none of 'em to the
use of Wast[e] paper" (June 1726). Indeed, Montagu's epistles were held up as models of lively letterwriting for much of the eighteenth century, and our modern sense of what constitutes an effective,
entertaining personal letter has been guided by her epistolary style. She entrusted the letters to the Reverend
Benjamin Sowden, and despite the protests of her family, who purchased the manuscript from Sowden in
an attempt to prevent its publication, the letters were published from a rogue copy of the manuscript, under
the title Letters of the Right Honourable Lady M[ar]y W[ortle]y M[ontagu]e, written, during her travels in
Europe, Asia, and Africa to persons of distinction (1763).
The Turkish Embassy Letters were written while Montagu traveled with her husband, Edward Wortley
Montagu, who had been appointed Ambassador Extraordinary to the Court of Turkey. Edward Montagu
was also a representative of the London-based Levant Company, which traded in this region for items such
as tulips, coffee, and silk. Edward Montagu's double appointment (which might represent a conflict of
interest today) was made at a time when the Ottoman Empire's influence on trade and the movement of
goods was extremely powerful. The task of Edward Montagu's diplomatic appointment was, in part, to keep
trade functioning smoothly. Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful in effecting a truce between the warring
nations of Austria and Turkey, and he was quickly replaced. The Montagus left England in 1716, and
returned in 1718.
The Turkish Embassy Letters chronicle the encounters of a curious mind with numerous aspects of a
foreign culture in frank and witty language. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu wrote enthusiastically to her
friend, Alexander Pope, about the beauties of Turkish poetry, and set herself the task of learning Turkish
grammar so that she could translate poems. To other correspondents, she wrote that she was impressed by
the liberties given to women by Turkish cultural institutions, such as the veils that rendered a woman
incognita in the street (the better, she thought, to conduct secret love affairs). She was struck by the
unpretentious behavior of women in the Turkish baths, which she compared to English coffeehouses
because of the freedom of conversation they promoted. Likewise, as a small-pox survivor — she had
succumbed to the disease in 1715, and hid her smallpox scars under makeup, or paint, as it was called —
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was intrigued by the Turkish method of inoculation against this disease, and
later introduced these methods into England with the help of the physician Charles Maitland. Her letters
concerning inoculation and the Turkish baths appear below.
[The Turkish Method of Inoculation for the Small Pox]
Letter to [Sarah Chiswell], dated at Adrianople, 1 April 1717 >> note 1
***
A propos of Distempers, I am going to tell you a thing that I am sure will make you wish your selfe here.
The Small Pox so fatal and so general amongst us is here entirely harmless by the invention of engrafting
(which is the term they give it). There is a set of old Women who make it their business to perform the
Operation. Every Autumn in the month of September, when the great Heat is abated, people send to one
another to know if any of their family has a mind to have the small pox. They make partys for this purpose,
and when they are met (commonly 15 or 16 together) the old Woman comes with a nutshell full of the
matter of the best sort of small-pox and asks what veins you please to have open'd. She immediately rips
open that you offer to her with a large needle (which gives you no more pain than a common scratch) and
puts into the vein as much venom as can lye upon the head of her needle, and after binds up the little wound
with a hollow bit of shell, and in this manner opens 4 or 5 veins. The Grecians have commonly the
superstition of opening one in the Middle of the forehead, in each arm and on the breast to mark the sign of
the cross, but this has a very ill Effect, all these wounds leaving little Scars, and is not done by those that
are not superstitious, who chuse to have them in the legs or that part of the arm that is conceal'd. The
children or young patients play together all the rest of the day and are in perfect health till the 8th. Then the
fever begins to seize 'em and they keep their beds 2 days, very seldom 3. They have very rarely above 20 or
30 in their faces, which never mark, and in 8 days time they are as well as before their illness. Where they
are wounded there remains running sores during the Distemper, which I don't doubt is a great releife to it.
Every year thousands undergo this Operation, and the French Ambassador says pleasantly that they take the
Small Pox here by way of diversion as they take the Waters in other Countrys. There is no example of any
one that has dy'd in it, and you may beleive I am very well satisfy'd of the safety of the Experiment since I
intend to try it on my dear little Son. I am Patriot enough to take pains to bring this usefull invention into
fashion in England, and I should not fail to write to some of our Doctors very particularly about it if I knew
any one of 'em that I thought had Virtue enough to destroy such a considerable branch of their Revenue for
the good of Mankind, but that Distemper is too beneficial to them not to expose to all their Resentment the
hardy wight that should undertake to put an end to it. Perhaps if I live to return I may, however, have
courrage to war with 'em. Upon this Occasion, admire the Heroism in the Heart of your Freind, etc.
["The Ladys Coffeehouse"; or, the Turkish Baths]
To Lady — — — , Adrianople, 1 April 1717
I am now got into a new World where every thing I see appears to me a change of Scene, and I write to
your Ladyship with some content of mind, hoping at least that you will find the charm of Novelty in my
Letters and no longer reproach me that I tell you nothing extrordinary. I won't trouble you with a Relation
of our tedious Journey, but I must not omit what I saw remarkable at Sophia, one of the most beautifull
Towns in the Turkish Empire and famous for its Hot Baths that are resorted to both for diversion and
health. I stop'd here one day on purpose to see them. Designing to go incognito, I hir'd a Turkish Coach.
These Voitures are not at all like ours, but much more convenient for the Country, the heat being so great
that Glasses would be very troublesome. They are made a good deal in the manner of the Dutch Coaches,
haveing wooden Lattices painted and gilded, the inside being painted with baskets and nosegays of
Flowers, entermix'd commonly with little poetical mottos. They are cover'd all over with scarlet cloth, lin'd
with silk and very often richly embrodier'd and fring'd. This covering entirely hides the persons in them,
but may be thrown back at pleasure and the Ladys peep through the Lattices. They hold 4 people very
conveniently, seated on cushions, but not rais'd.
In one of these cover'd Waggons I went to the Bagnio about 10 a clock. It was allready full of Women. It is
built of Stone in the shape of a Dome with no Windows but in the Roofe, which gives Light enough. There
was 5 of these domes joyn'd together, the outmost being less than the rest and serving only as a hall where
the portress stood at the door. Ladys of Quality gennerally give this Woman the value of a crown or 10
shillings, and I did not forget that ceremony. The next room is a very large one, pav'd with Marble, and all
round it rais'd 2 Sofas of marble, one above another. There were 4 fountains of cold Water in this room,
falling first into marble Basins and then running on the floor in little channels made for that purpose, which
carry'd the streams into the next room, something less than this, with the same sort of marble sofas, but so
hot with steams of sulphur proceeding from the baths joyning to it, twas impossible to stay there with one's
Cloths on. The 2 other domes were the hot baths, one of which had cocks of cold Water turning into it to
temper it to what degree of warmth the bathers have a mind to.
I was in my travelling Habit, which is a rideing dress, and certainly appear'd very extrordinary to them, yet
there was not one of 'em that shew'd the least surprize or impertinent Curiosity, but receiv'd me with all the
obliging civillity possible. I know no European Court where the Ladys would have behav'd them selves in
so polite a manner to a stranger. I beleive in the whole there were 200 Women and yet none of those
disdainfull smiles or satyric whispers that never fail in our assemblys when any body appears that is not
dress'd exactly in fashion. They repeated over and over to me, Uzelle, pek uzelle, which is nothing but,
charming, very charming. The first sofas were cover'd with Cushions and rich Carpets, on which sat the
Ladys, and on the 2nd their slaves behind 'em, but without any distinction of rank by their dress, all being
in the state of nature, that is, in plain English, stark naked, without any Beauty or deffect conceal'd, yet
there was not the least wanton smile or immodest Gesture amongst 'em. They Walk'd and mov'd with the
same majestic Grace which Milton describes of our General Mother. There were many amongst them as
exactly proportion'd as ever any Goddess was drawn by the pencil of Guido or Titian, and most of their
skins shineingly white, only adorn'd by their Beautifull Hair divided into many tresses hanging on their
shoulders, braided either with pearl or riband, perfectly representing the figures of the Graces. I was here
convinc'd of the Truth of a Refflexion that I had often made, that if twas the fashion to go naked, the face
would be hardly observ'd. I perceiv'd that the Ladys with the finest skins and most delicate shapes had the
greatest share of my admiration, thô their faces were sometimes less beautifull than those of their
companions. To tell you the truth, I had wickedness enough to wish secretly that Mr Gervase could have
been there invisible. I fancy it would have very much improv'd his art to see so many fine Women naked in
different postures, some in conversation, some working, others drinking Coffee or sherbet, and many
negligently lying on their Cushions while their slaves (generally pritty Girls of 17 or 18) were employ'd in
braiding their hair in several pritty manners. In short, tis the Women's coffee house, where all the news of
the Town is told, Scandal invented, etc. They gennerally take this Diversion once a week, and stay there at
least 4 or 5 hours without geting cold by immediate coming out of the hot bath into the cool room, which
was very surprizing to me. The Lady that seem'd the most considerable amongst them entreated me to sit by
her and would fain have undress'd me for the bath. I excus'd my selfe with some difficulty, they being all so
earnest in perswading me. I was at last forc'd to open my skirt and shew them my stays, which satisfy'd 'em
very well, for I saw they beleiv'd I was so lock'd up in that machine that it was not in my own power to
open it, which contrivance they attributed to my Husband. I was charm'd with their Civillity and Beauty
and should have been very glad to pass more time with them, but Mr W[ortley] resolving to persue his
Journey the next morning early, I was in haste to see the ruins of Justinian's church, which did not afford
me so agreeable a prospect as I had left, being little more than a heap of stones.
Adeiu, Madam. I am sure I have now entertaind you with an Account of such a sight as you never saw in
your Life and what no book of travells could inform you of. 'Tis no less than Death for a Man to be found
in one of these places.
The Grand Tour
Three Views of the Grand Tour
The Grand Tour was an extended educational journey through Europe undertaken by aristocratic men in
their late teens or early twenties, who were accompanied by their tutors. While women including Mary
Wollstonecraft, Maria Edgeworth, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and Lady Anna Miller undertook tours of
Europe similar to the Grand Tour and wrote interesting accounts of their travels, the idea of the Grand Tour
did not occupy the same central position in a woman's education that it did in a man's education. Grand
Tours typically lasted from two to three years. The usual itinerary included stops at European cities
including Calais, Paris, Turin, Venice, Naples, Florence, and Rome, although the Tour could be contracted
or expanded to include other destinations.
Tutors, known as "bearleaders" — a title that hints at the unruly behavior of their charges — were supposed
to inculcate lessons along the way, pointing out the most important buildings, paintings, views, and
historical sites of note to the young men. In addition, tutors had the task of watching over their students'
recreation, to see that they did not gamble away their inheritances or contract syphilis by pursuing unwise
amours. Ideally, a young man sent on the Grand Tour would return home not just with souvenir portraits
painted against a backdrop of Roman monuments, but with new maturity, improved taste, an understanding
of foreign cultures, and a fresh appreciation of the benefits of being born British. However, bearleaders
were often poor but well-educated men who hoped for preferment or places in the church from their
patrician students, a circumstance that may have compromised their ability to enforce their pupils' good
behavior.
The selections below offer three views of the way that gentlemen on the Grand Tour engaged with English
literature and language. First, extracts from a letter written by Lord Chesterfield to his son Philip Stanhope
outline a parent's hopes and fears for his son's education while on the Grand Tour. Second, an enthusiastic
letter from young William Beckford demonstrates the kind of synergistic educational convergence of
literature and place that the Tour was designed to promote. The last inclusion is an excerpt from The
Gentlemans Pocket Companion, For Travelling into Foreign parts, a practical guidebook for those
undertaking the Tour, complete with maps and handy travelers' dialogues in any of the five foreign
languages that a gentleman might encounter on his way. Enjoy the tour!
View 1: A Parent's Fears and Hopes
Philip Dormer Stanhope, Fourth Earl of Chesterfield, from Letters Written by the Late Right Honourable
Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, to His Son, Philip Stanhope (1774)
The letters of Philip Dormer Stanhope, Fourth Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) to his illegitimate son
Philip Stanhope (1732–1768) were not originally intended for publication, but they quickly became classics
of conduct literature when they were published by Stanhope's widow in 1774 as Letters Written by the Late
Right Honourable Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, to His Son, Philip Stanhope, Esq.; Late
Envoy Extraordinary at the Court of Dresden. The quantity of advice dispensed in the letters is daunting:
Chesterfield wrote over four hundred letters to Philip during his son's lifetime.
Here, Lord Chesterfield writes from London to Philip, who is in Turin with his bearleader, Mr. Harte.
Walter Harte (1709–1774) was an Oxford scholar, a poet, and a friend of Alexander Pope. Chesterfield
counsels his son on the proper behavior of an Englishman abroad, concluding with the cry, "Adieu, my dear
child! Consider seriously the importance of the two next years, to your character, your figure, and your
fortune" (212). Young Philip — who was being groomed for a career in courtly diplomacy — is not the
only man addressed; observe Chesterfield's covert hints to his son's tutor, Mr. Harte, about his duties to
both father and son.
From Letter XCVII; London, May 15, 1749 (O.S.)
Dear Boy,
This letter will, I hope, find you settled to your serious studies, and your necessary exercises, at Turin, after
the hurry and dissipation of the Carnival at Venice. >> note 1 I mean, that your stay at Turin should, and I
flatter myself that it will, be an useful and ornamental period of your education; but, at the same time, I
must tell you, that all my affection for you has never yet given me so much anxiety as that which I now
feel. While you are in danger, I shall be in fear, and you are in danger at Turin. Mr. Harte will, by his care,
arm you as well as he can against it; but your own good sense and resolution can alone make you
invulnerable. I am informed, there are now many English at the Academy at Turin; and I fear those are just
so many dangers for you to encounter. Who they are I do not know, but I well know the general ill conduct,
the indecent behaviour, and the illiberal views of my young countrymen abroad; especially wherever they
are in numbers together. Ill example is of itself dangerous enough, but those who give it seldom stop there;
they add their infamous exhortations and invitations; and, if these fail, they have recourse to ridicule; which
is harder for one of your age and inexperience to withstand, than either of the former. Be upon your guard,
therefore, against these batteries, which will all be played upon you. You are not sent abroad to converse
with your own countrymen; among them, in general, you will get little knowledge, no languages, and, I am
sure, no manners. I desire that you will form no connections, nor (what they impudently call) friendships,
with these people; which are, in truth, only combinations and conspiracies against good morals and good
manners.
***
The length or shortness of your stay at Turin will sufficiently inform me (even though Mr. Harte should
not) of your conduct there; for, as I have told you before, Mr. Harte has the strictest orders to carry you
away immediately from thence upon the first and least symptom of infection >> note 2 that he discovers
about you; and I know him to be too conscientiously scrupulous, and too much your friend and mine, not to
execute them exactly. Moreover, I will inform you that I shall have constant accounts of your behaviour
from Comte Salmour, the governor of the Academy, whose son is now here, and my particular friend. I
have also other good channels of intelligence of which I do not apprise you. But, supposing that all turns
out well at Turin, yet, as I propose your being at Rome for the jubilee at Christmas, I desire that you will
apply yourself diligently to your exercises of dancing, fencing, and riding, at the Academy; as well for the
sake of your health and growth, as to fashion and supple you. You must not neglect your dress neither, but
take care to be bien mis >> note 3
***
View 2: A Young Man's Letter
William Beckford, from Dreams, Waking Thoughts and Incidents, in a Series of Letters, fromVarious Parts
of Europe (1783)
William Beckford (1760–1844) was the son of the lord mayor of London, and no expense was spared in his
education. To cite just a few examples of the resources available to this young man, one could note that
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was his music teacher, Sir William Chambers instructed him in architecture,
and that Beckford had pursued travels in Switzerland where he met Voltaire, who encouraged him to write,
even before embarking on his Grand Tour. Beckford, an early reader of the Arabian Nights'
Entertainments, was entranced by Oriental tales, and went on to write several, the best known of which is
Vathek (1787).
Beckford was clearly attracted to men, and it may be that his Grand Tour was designed by his family to
interrupt his homoerotic relationship with eleven-year-old William Courtenay. His family also appears to
have endeavored to suppress the publication of Beckford's romantic travelogue. The letters were published
anonymously as Dreams, Waking Thoughts and Incidents, in a Series of Letters, from Various Parts of
Europe in 1783, and received wider appreciation when revised in volume one of Beckford's Italy; with
Sketches of Spain and Portugal (1834). In this letter, Beckford juxtaposes the splendid imaginative visions
he has conceived of Rome from his classical education with the prospect of the city itself.
From Letter XXII. Rome, October 29, 1780
We set out in the dark. Morning dawned over the Lago di Vico; its waters of a deep ultramarine blue, and
its surrounding forests catching the rays of the rising sun. It was in vain I looked for the cupola of St.
Peter's upon descending the mountains beyond Viterbo. Nothing but a sea of vapours was visible.
At length they rolled away, and the spacious plains began to show themselves, in which the most warlike of
nations reared their seat of empire. On the left, afar off, rises the rugged chain of Apennines, and on the
other side, a shining expanse of ocean terminates the view. It was upon this vast surface so many illustrious
actions were performed, and I know not where a mighty people could have chosen a grander theatre. Here
was space for the march of armies, and verge enough for encampments. Levels for martial games, and
room for that variety of roads and causeways that led from the capital to Ostia. >> note 4 How many
triumphant legions have trodden these pavements! how many captive kings! What throngs of cars >> note 5
and chariots once glittered on their surface! savage animals dragged from the interior of Africa; and the
ambassadors of Indian princes, followed by their exotic train, hastening to implore the favour of the senate!
During many ages, this eminence commanded almost every day such illustrious scenes; but all are
vanished: the splendid tumult is passed away; silence and desolation remain. Dreary flats thinly scattered
over with ilex; >> note 6 and barren hillocks crowned by solitary towers, were the only objects we
perceived for several miles. Now and then we passed a few black ill-favoured sheep feeding by the wayside, near a ruined sepulchre, just such animals as an ancient would have sacrificed to the Manes. >> note 7
Sometimes we crossed a brook, whose ripplings were the only sounds which broke the general stillness,
and observed the shepherds' huts on its banks, propped up with broken pedestals and marble friezes. I
entered one of them, whose owner was abroad tending his herds, and began writing upon the sand, and
murmuring a melancholy song. Perhaps the dead listened to me from their narrow cells. The living I can
answer for: they were far enough removed.
***
I could have spent the whole day by the rivulet, lost in dreams and meditations; but recollecting my vow, I
ran back to the carriage and drove on. The road not having been mended, I believe, since the days of the
Caesars, would not allow our motions to be very precipitate. "When you gain the summit of yonder hill,
you will discover Rome," said one of the postillions: up we dragged; no city appeared. "From the next,"
cried out a second; and so on from height to height did they amuse my expectations. I thought Rome fled
before us, such was my impatience, till at last we perceived a cluster of hills with green pastures on their
summits, inclosed by thickets and shaded by flourishing ilex. Here and there a white house, built in the
antique style, with open porticos, that received a faint gleam of the evening sun, just emerged from the
clouds to discover themselves in the valley, and St. Peter's to rise above the magnificent roofs of the
Vatican. Every step we advanced the scene extended, till, winding suddenly round the hill, all Rome
opened to our view.
A spring flowed opportunely into a marble cistern close by the way; two cypresses and a pine waved over
it. I leaped up, poured water upon my hands, and then, lifting them up to the sylvan Genii of the place,
implored their protection. I wished to have run wild in the fresh fields and copses above the Vatican, there
to have remained till fauns might creep out of their concealment, and satyrs begin to touch their flutes in
the twilight, for the place looks still so wondrous classical, that I can never persuade myself either
Constantine, Attila or the Popes themselves have chased them all away. I think I should have found some
out, who would have fed me with milk and chestnuts, have sung me a Latin ditty, and mourned the woeful
changes which have taken place, since their sacred groves were felled, and Faunus ceased to be oracular.
Who can tell but they might have given me some mystic skin to sleep on, that I might have looked into
futurity?
Shall I ever forget the sensations I experienced upon slowly descending the hills, and crossing the bridge
over the Tiber; when I entered an avenue between terraces and ornamented gates of villas, which leads to
the Porto del Popolo, and beheld the square, the domes, the obelisk, the long perspective of streets and
palaces opening beyond, all glowing with the vivid red of sunset? You can imagine how I enjoyed my
beloved tint, my favourite hour, surrounded by such objects. You can fancy me ascending Monte Cavallo,
leaning against the pedestal which supports Bucephalus; >> note 8 then, spite of time and distance,
hurrying to St. Peter's in performance of my vow.
I met the Holy Father in all his pomp returning from vespers: trumpets flourishing, and a legion of guards
drawn out upon Ponte St. Angelo. Casting a respectful glance upon the Moles Adriani, >> note 9 I moved
on till the full sweep of St. Peter's colonnade opened upon me, and fixed me, as if spell-bound, under the
obelisk, lost in wonder. The edifice appears to have been raised within the year, such is its freshness and
preservation. I could hardly take my eyes from off the beautiful symmetry of its front, contrasted with the
magnificent though irregular courts of the Vatican towering over the colonnade, till, the sun sinking behind
the dome, I ran up the steps and entered the grand portal, which was on the very point of being closed.
I knew not where I was, or to what scene transported. A sacred twilight concealing the extremities of the
structure, I could not distinguish any particular ornament, but enjoyed the effect of the whole. The perfume
of incense was not yet entirely dissipated. No human being stirred. I heard a door close with the sound of
thunder, and thought I distinguished some faint whisperings, but am ignorant whence they came. Several
hundred lamps twinkled round the high altar, quite lost in the immensity of the pile. >> note 10 No other
light disturbed my reveries but the dying glow still visible through the western windows. Imagine how I felt
upon finding myself alone in this vast temple at so late an hour, and think whether I had not revelations.
It was almost eight o'clock before I issued forth, and, pausing a few minutes under the porticos, listened to
the rush of the fountains: then traversing half the town, I believe, in my way to the Villa Medici, under
which I am lodged, fell into a profound repose, which my zeal and exercise may be allowed, I think, to
have merited.
View 3: Encountering Borders in Language
From The Gentleman's Pocket Companion, For Travelling into Foreign parts (1723)
The Gentlemans Pocket Companion, For Travelling into Foreign parts is a guidebook for Grand Tourists,
published in the early 1720s, though the flyleaf of this particular volume is signed "H Stanley, 1760,"
which may indicate its continued usefulness over a longer period. The Companion contains maps, and is
bound together with another volume containing dialogues of "Necessary Conversation" for travelers.
Voyages of Exploration
Captain James Cook, from The Journals of Captain James Cook on his Voyages of Discovery
James Cook (1728–1779), the son of a farm laborer, volunteered for the navy in 1755. Although he had
little formal education, he taught himself the mathematics necessary to make accurate marine surveys, and
charted the St. Lawrence River and the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador. The first of his three famous
voyages of discovery (1768–1771) took Cook from England to Madeira to Rio de Janeiro, around Cape
Horn to George's Island, >> note 1 or Tahiti, through the Society Islands, around New Zealand, around the
east coast of what later became known as Australia, to Batavia, around the Cape of Good Hope, and back to
England.
The alleged purpose of the Endeavour's voyage was scientific: Lieutenant (later Captain) James Cook and
his passengers from the Royal Society, >> note 2 particularly Charles Green, an astronomical observer,
were to observe the transit of Venus from the island of Tahiti. It was hoped that their measurements of this
event would assist astronomers to calculate the earth's distance from the sun, and to complete a set of
astronomical tables that would allow sailors to calculate their longitude at sea more accurately. The transit
of Venus is an event like a solar eclipse, except that the planet Venus, not the moon, blocks out part of the
sun. Whereas solar eclipses are common, only a few transits of Venus occur each millennium (the next
transit of Venus will occur on June 8, 2004). Artists and botanists also formed part of Cook's entourage,
and helped to document the voyage.
However, Cook also received a second packet of instructions from the Admiralty. These instructions,
labeled "secret," authorized him to make "Discoverys of Countries hitherto unknown" for the "Honour of
this Nation as a Maritime Power" and for the advancement of its "Trade and Navigation" (Beaglehole,
CCLXXXII). Cook was to search for a great southern continent known as Terra Australis Incognita, and
claim it for Britain. Dr. John Campbell, editor of the 1744 edition of Navigantium atque Itinerantium
Bibliotheca, or a complete collection of voyages or travels, proposed that the lands seen by Captain Abel
Tasman in 1642 and 1644 (including New Guinea, New Holland, and Antony van Diemen's Land) were all
part of one gargantuan continent that stretched from the celestial equator to 44º south latitude, and from
122º to 188º longitude (Beaglehole, LXXV). Although he did not find Campbell's imaginary southern
continent, Cook did produce accurate surveys of the coast of New Zealand and the east coast of Australia.
The first report of Cook's voyage was the anonymous book, A Journal of a voyage round the world in His
Majesty's Ship Endeavour, in the years 1768, 1769, 1770, and 1771; undertaken in pursuit of natural
knowledge, at the desire of the Royal Society (1771). The best-known eighteenth-century rendition of the
voyage is probably John Hawkesworth's An Account of the voyages undertaken by the order of His Present
Majesty for making discoveries in the southern hemisphere, and successively performed by Commodore
Byron, Captain Wallis, Captain Carteret and Captain Cook, in the Dolphin, the Swallow, and the
Endeavour (1773), which was partly based on Cook's journals.
The coastal lands Cook surveyed were inhabited, and trade with the inhabitants was an important part of his
mission. While on Tahiti, Cook traded items such as glass beads, axes, spikes, large nails, looking-glasses,
and knives with the native inhabitants for provisions such as hogs and breadfruit. He formed a strict policy
for these transactions, based on his instructions from the Admiralty:
1st To endeavour by every fair means to cultivate a friendship with the Natives and to treat them with all
imaginable humanity.
2d A proper person or persons will be appointed to trade with the Natives for all manner of Provisions,
Fruit, and other productions of the earth; and no officer or Seaman, or other person belonging to the Ship,
excepting such as are so appointed, shall Trade or offer to Trade for any sort of Provisions, Fruit, or other
productions of the earth unless they have my leave so to do.
3d Every person employ'd a Shore on any duty what soever is strictly to attend to the same, and if by
neglect he looseth any of his Arms or woorking tools, or suffers them to be stole, the full Value thereof will
be charge'd againest his pay according to the Custom of the Navy in such cases, and he shall recive such
farther punishment as the nature of the offence may deserve.
4th The same penalty will be inflicted on every person who is found to imbezzle, trade or offer to trade
with any part of the Ships Stores of what nature soever.
5th No Sort of Iron, or any thing that is made of Iron, or any sort of Cloth or other usefull or necessary
articles are to be given in exchange for any thing but provisions.
J.C.
Rule 5, which hints at the Tahitians' desire of obtaining iron above all other trade goods, was given with
good reason. On a previous visit to the island, the crew of Captain Wallis's Dolphin had surreptitiously
pulled the iron nails out of their own ship to trade them for sexual favors with Tahitian women. The excerpt
below, taken from Cook's own journal, details a diplomatic incident arising from a similar cause, which
occurs when two of Cook's crew attempt to desert the Endeavour.
I. The Voyage of the Endeavour 1768–1771
[Tahiti; July 1769]
[For the first 2 or 3 days we was out upon this Excursion we labour'd under some difficulty for want of
Provisions, particularly Bread an Article we took but little of with us, not doubting but we should get Bread
fruit >> note 3 more than sufficient for a Boats Crew at every place we went to, but on the Contrary we
found the Season for that Fruit whole over & not one to be seen on the Trees, & all other Fruits & roots
very scarce; the Natives live now on Sour Paiste which is made from bread fruit, & some bread fruit &
Wild Plantains >> note 4 that they get from the Mountains where the Season is later, & on Nuts not unlike
a Chess Nutt, which are now in Perfection, but all these Articles are at present very scarce, & therefore it is
no wonder that the Natives have not supply'd us with these things of late. Upon my return to the Ship I
found that the Provisions had been all examin'd & the Water got on bad amounting to 65 Tuns, I now
determin'd to get every thing off from the Shore & leave the Place as soon as Possible, the geting the
several Articles on board & Scraping & Paying the Ships Sides >> note 5 took us up the whole of the
following week without anything remarkable happening until
SUNDAY 9th. When sometime in the Middle Watch Clement Webb & Saml Gibson both Marines &
young Men found means to get away from the Fort (which was now no hard matter to do) & in the morning
were not to be found, as it was known to every body that all hands were to go on board on the monday
morning & that the ship would sail in a day or 2, there was reason to think that these 2 Men intended to stay
behind, However I was willing to wait one day to see if they would return before I took any steps to find
them.
MONDAY 10th. The 2 Marines not returning this morning I began to enquire after them & was inform'd by
some of the Natives that they were gone to the Mountains & that they had got each of them a Wife &
would not return, but at the same time no one would give us any Certain intelligence] where they were,
upon which a resolution was taken to seize upon as many of the Chiefs as we could, this was thought to be
the readiest method to induce the other natives to produce the two men. We had in our Custody Obarea,
Toobouratomita, and two other Chiefs but as I know'd that Tootaha would have more weight with the
Natives then all these put together, I dispatch'd Lieutt Hicks away in the Pinnace >> note 6 to the place
where Tootaha was to endeavour to decoy him into the boat and bring him on board which Mr Hicks
perform'd without the least disturbance. We had no sooner taken the other Chiefs into Custody in Mr
Banks's Tent than they became as desireous of having the men brought back as they were before of keeping
them, and only desire'd that one of our people might be sent with some of theirs for them; accordingly I
sent a Petty Officer and the Corporal of Marines with three or four of their people not doubting but what
they would return with the two Men in the evening, but, they not coming so soon as I expected I took all
the Chiefs on board the Ship for greater safety. About 9 oClock in the evening Web the Marine was
brought in by some of the Natives and sent on board, he inform'd me that the Petty officer & the Corporal
that had been sent in quest of them were disarm'd and seiz'd upon by the Natives and that Gibson was with
them. Immidiatly upon geting this information I dispatch'd Mr Hicks away in the Long boat with a Strong
party of men to resque them but before he went, Tootaha and the other Chiefs was made to understand that
they must send some of their people with Mr Hicks to shew him the place where our men were, and at the
same time to send orders for their immidiate releasement for if any harm came to these men they, the
Chiefs, would suffer for it, and I believe at this time they wished as much to see the Men return in safty as I
did, for the guides conducted Mr Hicks to the place before daylight and he recover'd the men without the
least opposission and return'd with them about 7 oClock in the Morning of
TUESDAY 11th. I then told the Chiefs that there remaind nothing more to be done to regain their liberty
but to deliver up the Arms the people had taken from the petty Officer and Corporal and these were brought
on board in less then half an hour and then I sent them all a Shore, they made but a short stay with our
people there before they went away and most of the Natives with them but they first wanted to have given
us four Hogs, these we refus'd to accept as they would take no thing for them. Thus we are likly to leave
these people in disgust with our behavour towards them, owing wholy to the folly of two of our own people
for it doth not appear that the natives had any hand in inticeing them away and therefore were not the first
agressors, however it is very certain that had we not taken this step we never should have recover'd them.
The Petty officer whom I sent in quest of the deserters told me that the Natives would give him no
intellingence where they were nor those that went along with him, but on the contrary grew very
troblesome and as they were returning in the evening they were suddently Siezed upon by a number of
arm'd men that had hid themselves in the woods for that purpose; this was after Tootaha had been seized
upon by us so that they did this by way of retaliation in order to recover their Chief, but this method did not
meet with the approbation of them all, a great many condem'd these proceedings and were for having them
set at liberty, while others were for keeping them untill Tootaha was relase'd. The desputes went so far that
they came from words to blowes and our people were several times very near being set at liberty but at last
the party for keeping them prevail'd; but as they had still some friends no insult was offer'd them; a little
while after they brought Web and Gibson the two deserters to them as prisoners likwise but at last they
agree'd that Web should be sent to inform us where the others were.
When I came to examine these two men touching the reasons that induce'd them to go away, it appear'd that
an acquentence they had contracted with two Girls and to whome they had stron[g]ly attache'd themselves
was the sole reason of their attempting to Stay behind. * * * This day we got every thing off from the shore
and to night every body lays on board.
Note: The information in square brackets indicates material added from a transcript of Cook's journal (the
Mitchell Manuscript); the rest of the material is taken from Cook's holograph journal.
Translations
Nathaniel Brassey Halhed, from A Code of Gentoo Laws, or Ordinations of the Pundits (1776)
The English merchants of the East India Company trading out of India in the eighteenth century came into
contact with several rich extant bodies of literature. What works from India's indigenous literatures did the
colonizing culture choose to translate, and why? Nathaniel Brassey Halhed (1751–1830), the translator of A
Code of Gentoo Laws (1776), >> note 1 offers up one pragmatic political view of the purpose of
translation:
The Importance of the Commerce of India, and the Advantages of a Territorial Establishment in Bengal,
have at length awakened the Attention of the British Legislature to every Circumstance that may conciliate
the Affections of the Natives, or ensure Stability to the Acquisition. Nothing can so favourably conduce to
these two Points as a well-timed Toleration in Matters of Religion, and an Adoption of such original
Institutes of the Country, as do not immediately clash with the Laws or Interests of the Conquerors. ("The
Translator's Preface," ix)
Halhed, a writer in the employ of the East India Company, openly states that he translates the Gentoo Laws
in order to meld British and indigenous legal systems in Bengal, which in turn will facilitate Britain's
occupation of India for the purposes of trade. Warren Hastings, the Governor-General of India (1774–
1784), encouraged Halhed's project.
Halhed writes that, stylistically, he prefers the most literal and unobtrusive of all possible translations. Only
a literal translation, he suggests, will give the rest of the world a true "idea of the Customs and Manners of
these People, which, to their great Injury, have long been misrepresented in the Western World" (xi). His
own background in translation included a verse translation of Aristaenetus (with Richard Brinsley
Sheridan), and studies in Arabic at Oxford, where he met William Jones. Halhed was the first English
person to establish a press in India, and one of the first to study Sanskrit's affinities with other languages.
Halhed's texts are twice translated: originally written in Sanskrit, they were translated into Persian by a
group of Brahmin scholars (to whom Halhed gives full credit in his preface), then into English. Halhed
makes this process transparent for his reader by translating some examples of Sanskrit poetry in the
introduction to A Code of Gentoo Laws. Each poem is shown first in its original script, then in a phonetic
representation of Persian, and finally, in a word-for-word English translation, as shown below. "These
Specimens," he comments, "give us no despicable Idea of the old Hindoo Bards. The Images are in general
lively and pleasing, the Diction elegant and concise, and the Metre not inharmonious" (xxviii).
An ashlogue, according to Halhed, is a poetic stanza of four lines. A regular ashlogue has eight syllables in
each line, usually (but not always) with a rhyme at the end of alternate lines. It is the metre, not the rhyme,
that is most important to the ashlogue form, Halhed contends. However, as you can see by the descriptive
title for the ashlogue below, the original eleven-syllable-per-line form of the poem has been lost in Halhed's
literal translation.
An Ashlogue Cabee Chhund, or of eleven Syllables in each Line
On the Transmigration of Souls
Wasamsee jeernanee yet, ha weehaye
Newane grehnatee nero peranee,
Ter, ha shereeranee weehaye jeernan
Enyanee sumyatee newanee dâêhee
As throwing aside his old Habits,
A Man puts on others that are new,
So, our Lives quitting the Old,
Go to other newer Animals.
Halhed adds this explanatory note about the subject of the poem: "Their Creed then is, that those Souls
which have attained to a certain Degree of Purity, either by the Innocence of their Manners, or the Severity
of their Mortifications, are removed to Regions of Happiness, proportioned to their respective Merits: But
that those who cannot so far surmount the Prevalence of bad Example, and the forcible Degeneracy of the
Times, as to deserve such a Promotion, are condemned to undergo continual Punishment in the Animation
of successive animal Forms" (xlv–xlvi).
Here are three more examples of ashlogues translated by Halhed.
An Ashlogue Munnee hurreneh Chhund, or of nineteen Syllables
From the insatiable Desire of Riches, I have digged beneath the Earth; I
have sought by Chymistry to transmute the Metals of the Mountains.
I have traversed the Queen of the Oceans; I have toiled incessant for the
Gratification of Monarchs.
I have renounced the World, to give up my whole Heart to the Study of
Incantations; I have passed whole Nights on the Places where the Dead
are burnt. —
I have not gained one Cowry. — Begone, O Avarice, thy Business is over.
An Ashlogue Munnee hurreneh Chhund, or of twelve Syllables
The Night is for the Moon, and the Moon is for the Night:
When the Moon and the Night are together, it is the Glory of the Heavens.
The Lotus, or Water-Lilly, is for the Stream, and the Stream is for
the Water-Lilly:
When the Stream and the Water-Lilly meet, it is the Glory of the Canal.
Three Ashlogues Aryachhund, or irregular, from a Collection of Poems
A good Man goes not upon Enmity,
But is well inclined towards another, even while he is ill-treated by him:
So, even while the Sandal-Tree >> note 2 is felling,
It imparts to the Edge of the Axe its aromatic Flavour.
(xxix–xxx)
Imagining the Other
Oliver Goldsmith, from The Citizen of the World (1760–1761)
The Chinese philosopher named Lien Chi Altangi, "a native of Honan in China" (Letter I), is the invention
of Oliver Goldsmith (c. 1730–1774). Lien Chi Altangi is a scholar who has learned English through his
contact with the factor >> note 1 and other Englishmen at Canton, yet he is "entirely a stranger to their
manners and customs" (Letter I). Altangi's letters from London to his friend Fum Hoam, the president of
the Ceremonial Academy at Peking, "examine into opulence, buildings, sciences, arts, and manufactures,
on the spot" (Letter II), and in so doing, expose both England's most ridiculous customs and its defining
characteristics. For example, of the British reliance on sea-trade, Altangi exclaims: "I have known some
provinces [in China] where there is not even a name for the ocean. What a strange people therefore am I got
amongst, who have founded an empire on this unstable element, who build cities upon billows that rise
higher than the mountains of Tipartala, and make the deep more formidable than the wildest tempest"
(Letter II).
This device — using a foreign traveller as the naive narrator of a contemporary social satire — had been
popularized by many writers, most notably Charles.Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, in his
Persian Letters (1721). As a reviewer of Elizabeth Hamilton's novel, Translations of the Letters of a
Hindoo Rajah (1796), observed:
There is no better vehicle for local satire than that of presenting remarks on the manners, laws, and customs
of a nation, through the supposed medium of a foreigner, whose different views of things, as tinctured by
the particular ideas and associations to which his mind has been habituated, often afford an excellent scope
for raillery; and the mistakes into which such an observer is naturally betrayed, enliven the picture, and
furnish the happiest opportunity for the display of humour and fancy. [The Critical Review, vol. 17 (July
1796): 241–249]
In addition to these literary precedents, Goldsmith had journeyed through much of Europe as a young man,
and was familiar with the sense of cultural parallax or changed perspective that travel could induce in the
traveller. He exploited this discovery in The Citizen of the World, and in his later fictionalization of his own
travels, The Vicar of Wakefield (1766).
Although Goldsmith emphasizes Lien Chi Altangi's differences from that "strange people," the English,
Goldsmith also wants to establish his narrator's authority to conduct an enquiry into English manners. He
therefore constructs an idea of Chinese identity that stresses China's status as a civilized or "tutored" nation:
The truth is, the Chinese and we are pretty much alike. Different degrees of refinement, and not of distance,
mark the distinctions among mankind. Savages of the most opposite climates have all but one character of
improvidence and rapacity; and tutored nations, however separate, make use of the very same methods to
procure refined enjoyment. ("The Editor's Preface," iii–iv)
Altangi is given further credibility and depth as a character through the creation of a frame story concerning
his family in China. The frame story adds dramatic unity and tension to the letters, much like the frame of
another popular "oriental" narrative, the Arabian Nights' Entertainments (first translated into English c.
1706–1721 by an anonymous Grub Street hack).
Originally printed in a periodical called The Public Ledger (1760–1761), Goldsmith's "Chinese Letters"
were first collected and published as The Citizen of the World in 1762. The letter below satirizes the
brokering of European peace treaties, and explains how the British love of luxuries such as fur leads them
to pursue unsound colonial policy.
Letter XVII
WERE an Asiatic politician to read the treaties of peace and friendship that have been annually making for
more than an hundred years among the inhabitants of Europe, he would probably be surprised how it
should ever happen that Christian princes could quarrel among each other. Their compacts for peace are
drawn up with the utmost precision, and ratified with the greatest solemnity; to these each party promises a
sincere and inviolable obedience, and all wears the appearance of open friendship and unreserved
reconciliation.
Yet notwithstanding those treaties, the people of Europe are almost continually at war. There is nothing
more easy than to break a treaty, ratified in all the usual forms, and yet neither party be the aggressor. One
side, for instance, breaks a trifling article by mistake; the opposite party upon this makes a small but
premeditated reprisal; this brings on a return of greater from the other; both sides complain of injuries and
infractions; war is declared; they beat, are beaten; some two or three hundred thousand men are killed; they
grow tired, leave of[f] just where they began; and so sit coolly down to make new treaties.
The English and French seem to place themselves foremost among the champion states of Europe. Though
parted by a narrow sea, yet are they entirely of opposite characters; and from their vicinity, are taught to
fear and admire each other. They are at present engaged in a very destructive war, have already spilled
much blood, are excessively irritated; and all upon account of one side's desiring to wear greater quantities
of furs than the other.
The pretext of the war is about some lands a thousand leagues off; a country, cold, desolate, and hideous; a
country belonging to a people who were in possession for time immemorial. The savages of Canada claim a
property in the country in dispute; they have all the pretensions which long possession can confer. Here
they had reigned for ages without rivals in dominion, and knew no enemies but the prowling bear or
insidious tyger; their native forests produced all the necessaries of life, and they found ample luxury in the
enjoyment. In this manner they might have continued to live to eternity, had not the English been informed,
that those countries produced furs in great abundance. From that moment the country became an object of
desire; it was found that furs were things very much wanted in England; the ladies edged some of their
cloaths with furs, and muffs were worn both by gentlemen and ladies. In short, furs were found
indispensably necessary for the happiness of the state: and the king was consequently petitioned to grant,
not only the country of Canada, but all the savages belonging to it, to the subjects of England, in order to
have the people supplied with proper quantities of this necessary commodity.
So very reasonable a request was immediately complied with, and large colonies were sent abroad to
procure furs, and take possession. The French, who were equally in want of furs, (for they are as fond of
muffs and tippets as the English), made the very same request to their monarch, and met with the same
gracious reception from their king, who generously granted what was not his to give. Wherever the French
landed, they called the country their own; and the English took possession wherever they came, upon the
same equitable pretensions. The harmless savages made no opposition; and could the intruders have agreed
together, they might peaceably have shared this desolate country between them. But they quarrelled about
the boundaries of their settlements, about grounds and rivers, to which neither side could show any other
right than that of power, and which neither could occupy but by usurpation. Such is the contest, that no
honest man can heartily wish success to either party.
The war has continued for some time with various success. At first the French seemed victorious; but the
English have of late dispossessed them of the whole country in dispute. Think not, however, that success on
one side is the harbinger of peace: on the contrary, both parties must be heartily tired to affect even a
temporary reconciliation. It should seem the business of the victorious party to offer terms of peace; but
there are many in England, who, encouraged by success, are still for protracting the war.
The best English politicians, however, are sensible, that to keep their present conquests would rather be a
burden than an advantage to them, rather a diminution of their strength than an increase of power. It is in
the politic as in the human constitution; if the limbs grow too large for the body, their size, instead of
improving, will diminish the vigour of the whole. The colonies should always bear an exact proportion to
the mother-country; when they grow populous, they grow powerful, and by becoming powerful, they
become independent also. Thus subordination is destroyed, and a country swallowed up in the extent of its
own dominions. The Turkish empire would be more formidable, were it less extensive: Were it not for
those countries, which it can neither command, nor give entirely away, which it is obliged to protect, but
from which it has no power to extract obedience.
Yet, obvious as these truths are, there are many Englishmen who are for transplanting new colonies into
this late acquisition, for peopling the desarts of America with the refuse of their countrymen, and (as they
express it) with the waste of an exuberant nation. But who are those unhappy creatures who are to be thus
drained away? Not the sickly, for they are unwelcome guests abroad as well as at home; nor the idle, for
they would starve as well behind the Appalachian mountains, as in the streets of London. This refuse is
composed of the laborious and enterprising, of such men as can be serviceable to their country at home, of
men who ought to be regarded as the sinews of the people, and cherished with every degree of political
indulgence. And what are the commodities which this colony, when established, are to produce in return?
Why, raw silk, hemp, and tobacco: her hardy veterans and honest tradesman must be trucked for a box of
snuff or a silk petticoat. Strange absurdity? Sure the politics of the Daures >> note 2 are not more strange,
who sell their religion, their wives, and their liberty for a glass bead, or a paultry penknife. Farewel.
 Examine the criteria that Samuel Johnson uses to describe the "useful traveller" in Idler No. 97 (1760).
What are the qualities of effective travel writing in Johnson's view? Would the much earlier travel
narratives of Celia Fiennes and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu meet Johnson's expectations? Why or why
not?
 Explain, with reference to Samuel Johnson's Idler No. 97, what qualities you believe to be present in
good travel writing, using either modern or eighteenth-century examples to support your argument.
 Joseph Pitts's narrative, A True and Faithful Account of the Religion and Manners of the Mohammetans
(1704), is written for an audience with a significant prejudice against the religious practices he describes. In
your opinion, does Pitts accommodate this prejudice, or does he attempt to modify it? What techniques
does Pitts employ to accomplish his rhetorical aims?
 The history of the pirate Blackbeard (also known as Edward Thatch) written by "Captain Charles
Johnson" simultaneously glorifies and vilifies its "hero." Describe the imagery the writer uses in each case,
and explain why you believe it to be effective.
 Compare the reading on Blackbeard with the excerpt from Daniel Defoe's novel Roxana (NAEL 8,
1.2289–94). What stylistic similarities or differences do you perceive in these two pieces of writing? Could
you build the case that Defoe may be the author of A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the
Most Notorious Pyrates, using observations concerning syntax, diction, and style to substantiate your
argument?
 In what ways would your perception of the article on Blackbeard in A General History change if you
knew that a) Daniel Defoe was the author? b) Captain Charles Johnson was a real sea captain, and not a
fictitious persona?
 Consider the dialogue of "Common Talk in an Inn" in the Gentleman's Pocket Companion. Although this
dialogue can be read vertically, to form a narrative, it is also meant to be pulled apart into smaller syntactic
units. Each horizontal line contains one phrase; each vertical column gives the same short phrase in five
different languages. The idea behind the guide is that you could arrange these phrases into new sentences in
order to communicate. Try rearranging phrases from the English dialogue given to form new sentences.
How effective is this as a tool for communication? What would you add to improve the guide?
OR:
How might this dialogue change today? What dialogues are now "necessary to travellers"?
[e.g.,
"Please turn off
your cell phones
and laptop computers.
They have been shown
to interfere with
navigational devices."]
 What words would be included in a modern lexicon of travel? Make your own collection. Organize your
words in the same fashion as those included in Samuel Johnson's 1755 Dictionary of the English Language;
i.e., include the proper (and variant) spelling, pronunciation, etymological source, definition, and an
example of usage from "the best Writers."
 After reading the translations of Persian and Sanskrit poetry by Sir William Jones and Nathaniel Brassey
Halhed, write a translator's statement of your own, explaining what you feel are the most important
elements to preserve or change in a poetic translation. Which of the following elements is most important
to preserve in a poetic translation, in your opinion: original form, rhyme scheme, metre, diction, or theme?
Extra research: find a poem that has been translated in at least two versions, and explain which you find to
be the better translation, and why.
 Has our idea of what makes an effective poetic translation changed over time? Compare Seamus
Heaney's statement concerning his translation of Beowulf with the translators' statements given in the
introduction to the articles on Sir William Jones and Nathaniel Brassey Halhed.
 Oliver Goldsmith writes the letters of The Citizen of the World (1760–1761) from the imagined
perspective of a Chinese philosopher. Is Goldsmith's satire more trenchant because it comes from an
outsider's perspective? Compare this reading to Jonathan Swift's satire, A Modest Proposal (NAEL 8,
1.2462–68), and discuss.
 Does James Cook's description of the diplomatic negotiations with the natives of Tahiti following the
desertion of two of his crew demonstrate an awareness of the delicacy of the situation? In your view, does
Cook attempt to view the situation from all sides, or is he more concerned about the pragmatic task of
regaining his crew? Using a close reading of Cook's journal as your guide, speculate on the ideas the
Tahitians may have formed of Cook and his crew. You may wish to compare this reading to the earlier
account of Martin Frobisher's voyage to the Arctic.
 The excerpt from George Vancouver's A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean (1798)
describes coastal surveying in progress. Does Vancouver's assumption that the local peoples have been
trading with inland natives seem logical to you, given the evidence he presents? Why might the discovery
that coastal natives trade with other indigenous groups be important to Vancouver, or to other traders?
 In what ways does George Vancouver's account of his contact with indigenous coastal peoples
romanticize these peoples and the landscape that surrounds them? You may find it helpful to read the
Introduction to "The Romantic Period" (NAEL 8, 2.1–22) before commencing your analysis.
 Compare two paragraphs from each of James Cook's (unrevised) journal and George Vancouver's
Voyage of Discovery, which was revised for publication. What differences do you observe in terms of
vocabulary, sentence structure, register, and style? Further research: examine William Dampier's much
earlier exploration narrative, A New Voyage Round the World (1697), and add an example of his work to
your analysis.
 The excerpt from Celia Fiennes's Journeys describes her "water cure" in St. Mungo's Well. Does Fiennes
privilege the language of science or the language of faith in her account? Discuss.
 Make a travel journal of your exploration through these readings. You may arrange your journal
chronologically, geographically, or by some other method; in terms of narrative style, you may choose to
imitate James Cook's journals, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's letters, or Celia Fiennes's reflective
compilation. Which of the travel narratives in this section is your favorite, and why? In what ways did your
initial reactions to some readings change?