Origins of the Libertine philosophy and its secularization into the “rake’s code.”
From Samuel Richardson Clarissa
Erin Mackey , “Historicizing Masculinity : The Criminal and the Gentleman” in
Rakes, Highwaymen and Pirates: The Making of the Modern Gentleman in the
Eighteenth-Century
-Viewing of BBC Clarissa episode 1 and Black Adder, Series 3, episode
3
Visit to Apsley House, Home of Duke of Wellington, Hyde Park
-Cream Tea at V and A

--Victoria Albert Museum, discussion of the fashion, weapons and cultural artifacts of the period
A letter to Clarissa
Take on the persona of a libertine either attempting to seduce the attentions of
Clarissa away from Lovelace, or confiding his scheme to do so to a fellow libertine. You must seduce her/ reveal your plot in exactly three pages of hand written text. Use the letter structure, vocabulary, imagery, and epistolary forms you have learned during our visit to the Victoria Albert Museum (cross writing, cover sheet etc.) I will provide the sealing wax and seal, but part of your task is to research, find, and purchase the appropriate paper for this letter. You will only need three sheets. (15 points)
Examples of the broadsheets and ballads popularized during this period on the lives of famous criminals. In the British Library Reading Room. Familiarize
Students with the Reading Room and get ID cards. (Students will be notified of all required supporting documentation in advance. This includes ID and proof of address)
Pamphlets and broadsheets, Dick Turpin etc. in BL
Donald Low, “Regency Rogues and Characters” in The Regency Underworld
Erin Mackie, “Romancing the Highwayman,” from Rakes, Highwaymen and
Pirates, The Making of the Modern Gentleman in the Eighteenth-Century
Dan Cruikshank, “Ladies of the town: The business of prostitution,” in London’s
Sinful Secrets
-Group trip to the British Museum Reading and MS Room
-Trip to Convent Garden and environs: background on Sir Francis
Dashwood, The Hell Fire and Gentleman’s clubs.
-The Viaduct Tavern for Lunch (remnants of Newgate Prison in basement) 126 Newgate Street, City of London, London EC1A 7AA
(map)
.
A Ballad to Newgate Prison
Write the lyrics to your own (short) ballad, celebrating the exploits of a famous London criminal or highwayman/woman. Do some research and write a 2-3 page essay, exploring the ways in which the “crime” you have chosen would be punished (or not) by society in the

eighteenth-century if perpetrated by two separate classes (and be sure to include the criminals gender) Need some inspiration? Try this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BArNYv9FoK0 from Horrible
Histories: Newgate Prison," Dick Turpin Highwayman" and http://londoninsight.wordpress.com/2011/02/01/newgate-prisonold-bailey-london/
(20 points)
Milton, Paradise Lost, Books I, II and IV
George Gordon, Lord Byron, The Corsair,
George Gordon, Lord Byron The Giaour
-Trip to John Murray Publishing House, Green Park: Reading Room
(I’m a member of the Byron Society)
-Trip to Newstead Abbey, Byron’s ancestral home and museum,
Nottingham -St. Mary Magdalene Church, Hucknall Torkard,
Nottinghamshire,
-BBC docu-drama, Byron
“Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven”
George Gordon, Lord Byron, From Don Juan, Books IV, V, VI, and the London books
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre
-Coach to Howarth, Bronte Country, Stay in gothic Youth Hostel -Hike across the moors in the morning, lunch in Howarth, Free time in town.
-Viewing of Jane Eyre in Youth Hostel, dinner at nearby pub (fish and chips)
Putting it all together, first draft and annotated bibliography
This is a more traditional research essay. You will have the opportunity to write a 15-20 page paper on whatever theme or writer most interests you. The essay must somehow engage with the issues and ideas covered in the class, and you must include at least one text by Byron. Issues might include subjects such as the satanic hero and

French revolutionary enthusiasm, sexual perversion and the poet, the problem of female desire, crime and discipline, the Regency preoccupation with madness and the imagination, representations of the male sexuality in literature. Must include an extensive bibliography in MLA style. Note ***I will not accept papers that employ research purely from web sources. You will be within easy distance of one of the best research libraries in the world. Use it!
(First draft and annotated bib. 15 points)
Wuthering Heights, Bronte
Feminine Masculinities , Halberstom
Maggie Berg, Heathcliff and Linton
Sam Mendes, Skyfall,
Final Draft of Paper
Class “snap talk” presentations. (30 points, final and presentation)
Final group dinner in Richmond.

NOTE: PARTICIPATION AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE 20
POINTS