This thesis examines the figure of the rake as portrayed in the eighteenth-century English novel, a character strangely neglected in critical studies. The first chapter examines 'libertine' writers of the later seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, notably Bernard de Mandeville; and the dilemma faced by educators of the day over the benefits of virtue on the one hand, and of worldly wisdom on the other. While Mandeville and other lesser defenders of the rake were very much a scandalous minority early in the eighteenth century, it appears that by about mid century a more moderate strain of libertinism received wider, but by no means universal acceptance (Johnson, Chesterfield, Smith, Hume). The second chapter seeks to define the classic conception of the rake as a young upper-class prodigal, and the standard anti-libertine view that gentleman rakes, by their neglect of social and political duties, were a serious threat to established social and political order. The chapter concludes with various examples of the standard rake in minor eighteenth-century novels that both defend and vilify him. Chapters III to V concentrate on each of the three principal novelists of mid century (Henry Fielding, Samuel Richardson, Tobias Smollett), and their par- ticular uses of and moral conclusions about the conventional rake. The sixth chapter suggests some conclusions to be drawn, mainly from the previous three chapters, and especially the ways in which Fielding, Richardson and Smollett com- ment on the rakes in each other's fiction; and examines the continued use of the rake topos right to the end of the century and at least into the early nineteenth, in differing types of fiction (novels of manners, of Sentiment and of radical ideas, the Gothic novel).

Italian opera gained an odd resonance in eighteenth-century British sensibility. By turns loved and hated, it acted on the British imagination as a catalyst both for some of the age's most brilliant satire, and for some of the century's most unusual musical extravagances. This dissertation argues that, despite (or in some ways because of) the eventual failure of Italian serious opera and its English hybrid forms to attain status within the musical canon, the progress of opera played a vital role in shaping and reflecting the formation of British national identity, and that, reciprocally, attempts to find a national identity played a large part in opera's fate in Britain. For the competing forces and factions of Italian and English opera in 1730s London, the bid for supremacy was inevitably linked with an appeal to authority (whether that of royalty, the nobility, the populace, or ideologies of the nation) that involved stressing their link with the national interest. The first chapter examines the relationship between the consistently politicised language used to discuss opera and the mode of civic action and public spiritedness still requisite amongst the Nobility, charting ways in which aristocratic support of this foreign genre might be reconciled to British concerns. The second chapter looks to a particularly problematic instance of opera's apparent politicisation in the 1730s Lord Hervey's analysis of the division between Handel and the 'Opera of the Nobility' to propose a possible 'solution' through the two Ariannas of 1734. In so doing, it shows opera's role within a culture of emulation, emphasising the flexibility and social contingency of operatic interpretation. Coterminous with Italian opera, but of a lower status, were ballad and burlesque opera, their critique of national cultural identity all the sharper for their role as cultural and formal boundary markers. Chapter three demonstrates though exploration of the curious and much-criticised English 'opera', Hurlothrumbo (1729), that British dislike of opera was bound up with the deep-seated fear of luxury. While 'Hurlothrumbo' was used as a derogatory epithet until the end of the century, this operatic work also provides a fascinating example of how opera producers might try to negotiate British unease. Chapter four examines the concerted attempt in the 1730s to associate English opera and musical theatre with topics of national interest through composers' and playwrights' appropriation of the stories of historical British ballads as the local equivalents of the venerable texts of Italian opera. The fact that many of the works discussed are 'problem pieces', considered generically, authorially or hermeneutically unstable, points not only to the reason for indigenous opera's failure to achieve canonical status, but also to a more fundamental problem with the role of opera (and, indeed, music in general) in the still-forming British identity. In the final chapter I turn from the problems of opera to the undoubted success of Handel, who himself made the transition from opera to oratorio; I evaluate the composer's apotheosis as a national hero through examining manifestations of his image in the 1730s and at the time of his death.

The intention of this thesis is to make a contribution to the understanding of the eighteenth-century Church of England within the community in which it existed. Recognising the enormous variation that existed within the Church during the period, this study provides a close comparison of two archdeaconries, (something which is rarely undertaken in the historiography of the Church), both of which have never received attention from historians. In order to study the Church in these regions, the archdeaconries of Buckingham and Gloucester, detailed consideration is given to the role and activities of the parochial clergy in each archdeaconry. By concentrating upon the community, and the clergy's place within it, this thesis is able to provide a detailed picture of the social, political and economic integration of the clergy within these two specific regions, as well as their pastoral work and family life, the latter much neglected by historians. It devotes much attention to the property of the clergy, as a means of locating the clergy within local communities, and because of the great effect their property and income had upon other spheres of their everyday life. In doing this, this thesis demonstrates the diversity of experience of clergy within each archdeaconry, but it also shows some overall trends which marked the experience of parochial clergy in the period. It argues that the eighteenth-century clergyman was immersed in almost every aspect of community life, and although conscious of his distinctiveness as a parson, such integration represented a fusion of the ecclesiastical and secular, the incumbent's pragmatic response to the circumstances of the community of which he was a part.

This thesie is the first biography of Samuel Wyatt to be written. It attempts to establish the range and importance of his activity as an architect and engineer by using contemporary documentary sources and the evidence of his surviving buildings. In the past, Samuel Wyatt's reputation has been overshadowed by that of his more prolific and famous younger brother James. A whole chapter, therefore, is devoted to their relationship in order to establish the differences in their architectural interests and style. James and Samuel Wyatt were closely associated at the beginning of their careers up to 1774. After that date they were almost entirely independent of each other. Samuel Wyatt's work has been seen by many as a pale reflection of his brother's, and his achievement has thus been undervalued. Samuel was however an important architect in his own right. He was an interesting neo-classical designer with a refined decorative style. He was also an original planner. Many of his contemporaries thought highly of him. They were struck by two aspects of his architecture, its 'elegant simplicity' and its 'ingeniousness'. These are indeed the two dominant characteristics of his work. The ' ingeniousness' is expressed in his use of new materials and constructional techniques, and in his engineering projects. 'Elegant simplicity' perfectly sums up hie austerely refined decorative style. The way in which his work combines engineering and the most elegant neo-classicism is typical of the period. Wyatt's architecture is the exact equivalent of Wedgwood's pottery and Boulton's metal-ware. Several of Samel Wyatt's buildings have previously been attributed mistakenly to James Wyatt. It was essential, therefore, to establish which works were definitely Samuel's. The resulting list, with the sources for each attribution, is included as an appendix. Although hi a architectural output did not rival that of James Wyatt or Robert Adam, it was nonetheless substantial, surpassing that of such contemporaries as Henry Holland and equalling that of the younger George Dance. In addition to the catalogue, many photographs have been assembled to illustrate the range and quality of his work as fully as possible. Various chapters deal with his more important types of buildings. The longest of these describes his country houses, which formed the largest part of his architectural practice. They differ considerably from those of James Wyatt, being more restrained and consistent in scale and style. The majority are Greco-Roman, of moderate size. There are no fully-fledged gothick mansions by him. He only used the style when he had no option as, for instance, at Panshanger and Penrhyn. His few gothick works are vapid and of no interest. On the other hand, his classical country houses are of high quality and some originality. He evolved two personal types of house. One of these was his own version of the Anglo-Palladian villa with a main facade composed of a central domed bow flanked by overarched tripartite windows. The other, which can be called his 'belvedere house', has a main facade flanked by two domed bows. It was designed to take advantage of the prospect as is particularly obvious at Belmont (Kent) where each bow has a little glazed gazebo on top of the dome. Domed bows are the most distinctive single feature of Wyatt's houses. He was obsessed by then and used them on all possible occasions. The interiors of his houses are distinguished for their refined decoration and their novel plans. His decoration was amongst the most elegant of the period. It was even more attenuated and refined than that of Robert Adam and James Wyatt, although derived from the same sources and executed by the same craftsmen. The most important feature of his houses were their plans. Some of them show a great preoccupation with geometry culminating in that for Sundridge Park (Kent) where rooms of all shapes are packed round a circular staircase hall within a pre-existing shell. His plans also display a trend towards greater freedom and fluidity. This is expressed in asymmetrical office iwings and orangeries and the random siting of bow windows on side elevations. After his country houses the most important of Wyatt's buildings were those he designed for public clients including Trinity House in London and the Commissioner's House in the Royal Dockyard at Portsmouth. Another long chapter is therefore devoted to his public employment and works. The ingenious- ness as well as the elegance of his style is particularly apparent in this field, for it includes several of his engineering works suh as the designs for Ramsgate Harbour and for lighthouses. Lighthouses were one of Wyatt's special interests, and he designed four completely new ones, thoroughily remodelled a fifth, and repaired and altered several others. Wyatt was a reliable and competent civil engineer but not a great original like Smeaton or Rennie, his predecessor and successor at Ramsgate. The description of Wyatt's public career also reinforces the picture of an independence from James Wyatt. The latter was surveyor-general, and it might have been expected that his brother's public employment owed something to his influence. This was not the case. All Samuel Wyatt's important public employments were received before James became surveyor-general. Samuel received only one public carpentry contract directly from James Wyatt. An important and unusual aspect of Samuel Wyatt's architectural activity was the designing of subsidiary estate buildings. The design of late eighteenth century farm-buildings has not been explored hitherto. A whole chapter is devoted therefore to this aspect of Wyatt's career. It may be thought eccentric to deal at length with farm-buildings while ignoring Wyatt's London houses. Although he executed much work in London, most of it was not exceptional by contemporary standards. Wyatt made no novel contribution to town house plans. Most of his work in London consisted of alterations to existing buildings and expensive redecoration. Much of it has been destroyed without record. Mention in the appendix together with photographs of the best surviving decoration at Lichfield House seemed to be adequate treatment. On the other hand, his farm-buildings are of considerable architectural and historic interest. He worked for many of the foremost agricultural improvers of the time, including the celebrated 'Coke of Norfolk'. His farms therefore perfectly reflect the great development in agriculture in late eighteenth century England. Some of them are neo-classical designs of considerable originality. They manifest that preoccupation with geometry that is also found in his country house plans. The rise of the Wyatt family in the late eighteenth century is interesting socially and historically. It is symptomatic of the development of agriculture and industry in the north Midlands following the great improvement in communications with London after 1750, particularly the making of canals and turnpike roads. The emergence of Samuel Wyatt as a fashionable architect is part of the same movement in art and science that produced the Lunar Society, Derby Porcelain, Wedgwood's pottery, Boulton's metal ware, and artists like Paul Sandby of Nottingham, Joseph Wright of Derby or the actor David Garrick of Birmingham. This aspect of Wyatt's career is discussed in the preliminary biographical chapter where it is shown how much the success of the Wyatts was due to the encouragement of local landowners and industrialiste such as Lord Scarsdale of Kedleston, the Bagots of Blithfield and Matthew Boulton. A further chapter is devoted entirely to Wyatt's friendship with Boulton and the works that grew out of it.

This thesis examines the reception of the works of Adam Ferguson, a major thinker of the Scottish Enlightenment, by a range of German readers in the late eighteenth century. It provides a survey of Ferguson's main political ideas, and argues that many of his prominent German readers did not come to terms with them. The thesis contrasts the political realities and concerns of Ferguson's Scotland with the profoundly different political concerns of his German readers, and their often vague and inaccurate ideas of Scotland, and of the British constitution. Their documented responses to Ferguson's works are brought as evidence for a cumulative and complex case of misreception. The terms in which Ferguson expressed his political ideas can be fruitfully analyzed as a political language, a vocabulary of recognizable and mutually complementing political terms. After a close examination of this particular vocabulary, the thesis proceeds to show in detail how Ferguson's German translators, commentators, reviewers and readers unwittingly dismantled this vocabulary, lost or ignored its republican and activist elements, and sometimes shifted it into other vocabularies which were far removed from the author's political intentions. However, the differences between the individual readers are emphasized, not only with respect to their varied intellectual backgrounds and works, but also touching on their personal profiles as readers and thinkers. The thesis aims especially to highlight three aspects of this Scottish- German encounter: the capacity of Ferguson's texts to be removed from their contexts and misread; the failure of civic humanist ideas to make a serious entry into German political discourse; and the merits of close textual analysis for supporting a type of explanation, which may supplement or counter-balance other explanations, about the limited effect of "imported" political ideas in eighteenth-century German discourse.

This thesis examines the development of the novel in the eighteenth century in relation to changing attitudes to death, and looks at how far shifting notions of the moral purpose of the novel and subsequent changes in its treatment of deathbed scenes, murders, duels, suicides and speculations about heaven and hell reflect changing beliefs and the modification of strict Christian ideals to accommodate or combat new feelings and philosophies. In establishing this background, the thesis draws upon popular devotional literature, sermons, minor novelists (such as Sarah Fielding and Henry Mackenzie), periodicals, plays, poetry, biography, paintings and funeral iconography. Each chapter attempts to establish the typicality and individuality of a particular author in relation to the period in which he was writing. My starting-point is Richardson, who uses the novel to question both old and new attitudes, paving the way for the novel's predominantly emotional approach to mortality. Fielding's comic novels provide a striking contrast to this, whilst also revealing a concern for emotional comfort which is at once typical of the period and highly individual. Sterne is seen as questioning not only the ways in which we evade and find consolation for our mortality but also our self-indulgent response to death in fiction. The last two chapters deal with the closing decades of the century, when hopes and fears roused by revolutionary ferment led to fresh uncertainties concerning death and the afterlife. In Ann Radcliffe's sentimental-Gothic novels, religious uncertainty is exploited as a source of sublime terror, while the English Jacobins, Godwin, Holcroft and Bage, attempt to modify the conventions of death in the novel in order to communicate a wholly secular philosophy in which Clarissa's hope of heaven is replaced by the hope of man's perfectibility on earth.

The end of the seventeenth century and the beginning of the eighteenth saw many women writers from numerous social ranks, political affiliations and religious denominations reading, writing, circulating and publishing polemical prose and poetry in defence of their sex. During this surge of protofeminist activity, many of these women decried 'Customs Tyranny' by advocating a more egalitarian status for themselves, especially in regard to marriage, education and religion. This thesis, then, is a socio-historic study of the lives and writings of several polemical women writers, namely, Mary Astell (1666-1731), Mary, Lady Chudleigh (1656-1710) and Elizabeth Thomas (1675-1731). It also considers how and why protofeminism evolved in the late seventeenth century and reached a climax between 1694, when Astell published A Serious Proposal to the Ladies, and 1710, when Chudleigh published Essays upon Several Subjects. Until now, scholars of early women writers have labelled Astell the foremost English feminist of her day. Consequently, many of her contemporary protofeminist writers have been neglected. By contextualizing their lives and texts within the political and literary activity at the turn of the eighteenth century, this thesis ultimately argues that women polemicists, such as Chudleigh and Thomas, who followed Astell into print, were not merely echoes and disciples. Rather, they furthered the evolution and secularization of a genre that anticipates feminism proper, which began to develop in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In order to uncover and rediscover the personal and professional details of these women's lives their class, education, friendships and patronage relationships this thesis relied heavily upon material evidence such as letters, parish records, legal records, prison records and wills. As a result, it combines feminist, materialist inclinations with traditional methodology, such as historical and archival research.

No description available.

Fra Carlo Lodoli (1690-1761) was a priest and teacher with the Franciscans in Venice. His work encompassed a range of ideas concerning politics, history and architecture. Although he did not personally record his philosophy, his teachings became extremely influential to the period through the writings of his disciples: Memmo, Algarotti, and Milizia. His work was to question the codification of architectural theory as implemented in building. This was done through a critical investigation of the dynamic relationship between nature and human nature. Lodoli's architectural elements were created by a process of substitution which recognized the physical properties of materials and their adaptation into form through the course of culture. Echoing Vico's notion of the poetic, Lodoli used storytelling to express his idea. For Lodoli imagination was fundamental to the integration of program and built form. This role of imagination remains an important synthetic element in the formation of culture, linking memory, invention and making.

This dissertation investigates the properties of sentimentality by analyzing the move in British literature from a fascination with heightened affect to a celebration of Gothic excess during the period 1768--1796. This study develops an account of sentimentality as a model of agency, theorizes the relationship of sentimental ideology to sentimental narrative form, and traces continuities between the sentimental and Gothic modes through an examination of texts that share a preoccupation with the aesthetics and ethics of sentimentalism. By examining representations of sentimental agency in prose fiction narratives by Laurence Sterne, Henry Mackenzie, Ann Radcliffe, and Matthew Lewis, this dissertation argues that sentimentalism was a contradictory cultural discourse rooted in an unstable complex of assumptions about the ontological status and political implications of social identity. Sentimental narrative dramatizes the parodic potential of a code of behavior predicated on the display of a character's virtue in sympathetic response to suffering. Intrinsic to this display is a dynamic tension between the altruistic ideals of the sentimental ethos and the aestheticized, exploitative and self-consciously theatrical mode that often marks its practice. Torn between disinterest and self-interest, between public duty and private desire, the sentimentalist is a conflicted figure whose aggressive aesthetic is increasingly shown to be at once comically bathetic and darkly menacing.