Swift was wonderfully popular in England and especially in Ireland. The Lord Governor of Ireland once said that all he managed to do in Ireland was done with the kind permission of Mr. Swift. But his life could hardly be called happy. By the end of his life he became even more embittered and satirical than before. Swift's misfortunes and the death of his wife undermined his health. In 1740 his memory and reason were gone. He became completely deaf. He wouldn't touch food if there was anyone present in the room. He died in Dublin in 1745.
What brought Swift real fame was his book Gulliver's Travels. In that book Swift satirized the evils of the existing society. It was altogether a novelty in English literature.
At first Swift intended to publish the book as the story of Martin Scriblerus. But later he heard of a farmer called Gulliver, who was a real giant, so strong and tall that he could carry a horse across a fence. That impressed Swift tremendously, and that is how his favourite character got his name.
The first two travels to the land of Lilliputs and to the land of Brobdingnag (the giants) are well-known as children's entertaining reading. In the description of the third voyage to the floating island of Laputa, and the fourth the land of the intelligent horses, Swift abandons delicate fancy and unmasks the selfish and brutal nature of humanity. He shows the stupidity of the so-called academicians and the true nature of human civilization. In the land of the intelligent horses, humans, called Yahoos, are shown as filthy degenerated creatures, unable to speak clearly or do any decent work. The book is written with wonderful energy and polemical skill. It has been translated into many languages and is read and enjoyed by thousands of readers.
Daniel Defoe (1661-1731)
D. Defoe was born in London to the family of a butcher who was a Dissenter, that is, a non-conformist. Their family name was Foe. Daniel was about 40 years of age when he first changed his signature of D. Foe into De Foe and then Defoe. Daniel got the best education his father could afford. The boy was to become a minister in the Nonconformist Church; therefore, at the age of 14, he was placed in an academy for a full course of five years. But when his training was completed, he refused to devote himself to the Church. In his opinion, it was neither honourable and pleasant, nor profitable. He decided to start business as a merchant. But though he was energetic and practical, a businessman to his fingertips, Defoe never succeeded in business. He went bankrupt several times. What he used to say was, Thirty times I was rich and poor. The only branch of business in which he proved to be successful was journalism and literature.
When Defoe was 23, he started writing pamphlets. Usually he was very outspoken and wrote what he thought. Thats why his pamphlets sometimes got him into trouble. In 1685 he took part in the revolt led by the Duke of Monmouth, the illegitimate son of Charles II, against James II.Monmouth hoped to get the Crown with the help of the Protestants. The rebellion was put down, and Defoe had a narrow escape.
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When the Protestant king, William III, came to power in 1688, Defoe wrote pamphlets praising his policy. It was the beginning of his literary career. Defoe anticipated the greatest public improvement of modern times; higher education for women, the protection of seamen, the construction of highways and the opening of savings-banks. He urged the establishment of a special academy to study literature and languages.
Owing to the fact that William III was the king of the Whig party, he was attacked by the Tories, who called him Dutch William. Some Tories demanded in pamphlets that the English race should be kept pure. Opposing this foolish idea, Defoe wrote the pamphlet The True-Born Englishman in which he proved that a true-born Englishman did not exist, since the English nation consisted of Danes, Picts, Scots, Angles, Saxons, Normans and other peoples. He said A true-born Englishman is a contradiction in speech, an irony, in fact, a fiction. The king personally thanked Defoe for the pamphlet.
During the reign of Queen Anne, persecution of the Dissenters began again. In 1702 Defoe wrote a pamphlet in defence of the Dissenters (The shortest Way With the Dissenters) in which he attacked the Tories and the established Church. But the irony was so subtle that the enemy did not recognize it at first. They considered it to be next best to the Bible. When they realized the real character of the pamphlet, Defoe was sentenced to seven years imprisonment. To disgrace him even more, the Tories subjected him to standing in the pillory in a public square. Before he went to prison, he wrote his Hymn to the Pillory, in which he demanded a fair trial. Though the Hymn was not published, Defoes friends made it popular. It was sung on street corners on the day of the public execution. Many of the poorer Londoners, who knew Defoe well, gathered round the pillory, forming a live fence and preventing the crowd from tormenting him. Women threw flowers to him. When the time came to set him free, people cheered him and carried him from the square on their shoulders. That was the climax of his political career - and the end of it.
After his release he worked as an editor of a journal, which supported the ruling party - his former enemies. After the death of Queen Anne, the Whigs came to power, and Defoe continued serving the new ruling party. All this time he was regularly receiving money from the government. But the English government never paid money for nothing - only for some services. Later, it turned out that Defoe had been in her Majestys Secret Service.
In 1719 he tried his hand in fiction and wrote the famous novel about the adventures of Robinson Crusoe. The idea of writing about a man who had to live on a desert island was taken from a story published in Steele's magazine The Englishmen. It was about a sailor Alexander Selkirk, who had spent four years and four months on a desert island. Defoes Robinson Crusoe spent 26 years alone on his island. The novel is praise to human labour and the triumph of man over nature. Labour and fortitude help Robinson to endure hardships. They save him from despair. The very process of hard work gives him satisfaction.
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Defoe is a great master of realistic detail. When reading his description of Crusoes life and work, one feels that the author must have lived through all the adventures himself. The charm of the novel lies in Robinson as a person. He develops into a strong-willed man, able to withstand all the calamities of life.
The novel is a study of man, a great work showing man in relation to nature and civilization.
When Robinson Crusoe was published, Defoe became famous and came into money. He was now able to pay his debts. He built himself a house and kept a coach and a pleasure-boat.
It is said that not long before his death Defoe fell victim to a serious mental disease. In 1729 he was at work on a new book. Part of it was in print when he broke off abruptly and fled. He was very fond of his wife and daughters, but did not want them to know his hiding-place. For two years he lived in poverty and quite alone, and died in 1731. The inscription on his gravestone says, "Daniel Defoe. Author of Robinson Crusoe..."
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| The Bank of England was founded in 1694 by William Paterson, a Scotsman. The Bank of Scotland was founded in 1695 by John Holland, an Englishman. The first English coffeehouse, named Angel, was established in Oxford, be a certain Jewish entrepreneur named Jacob, in 1650. Oxford coffeehouses developed into penny universities, which occupied a significant position in Oxford academic life | ? |
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In the 1790s, the wars of the French Revolution turned into the Napoleonic wars, as Napoleon Bonaparte took over the French government. The war caused a boom in farm production and in certain industries. At the same time, it caused rapid inflation. In 1797 the Bank of England was forced to stop payment of gold for paper currency, and Parliament voted the first income tax.
The war did not go well for Britain. During the Napoleonic wars it had to form four coalitions. Three coalitions collapsed and Napoleon was planning to invade Britain. It was Admiral Nelson's victory in the dramatic battle of Trafalgar in 1805 that prevented the invasion. The battle was won at the price of Nelson's life, but the French forces never stepped on the British soil. Admiral Nelson was buried in Westminster Abbey, and the column set up in Trafalgar Square in the center of London is topped with a bronze statue of the national hero.
Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812 led to the fourth coalition, which brought together the armies of Britain, Russia, Austria and Prussia. Britain's contribution included an army led by The Duke of Wellington, who first fought in Spain and later won the Battle of Waterloo. Wellington proved to be a capable commander early in the war. Unlike the majority of the officers of the allied forces, he did not believe either in the genius of Napoleon himself or in the invincibility of his army. He insisted that Napoleon usually won his victories largely due to the psychological effect produced by his army and his personality. On his appointment as commander of the British army he wrote about the French, I am not afraid of them. I suspect that all the continental armies were more than half beaten before the battle was begun. I, at least, will not be frightened beforehand. At the beginning of March 1815, the Emperor Napoleon escaped from Elba and returned to France. He reformed his army with astonishing speed, and determined to conquer Holland as the first move in rebuilding his empire. The representatives of the allied European countries that met at the Congress of Vienna mobilized their armies to stop him, but only two armies could be brought to Flanders in time: the Prussian army commanded by Marshal Blucher, and a mixed army of British, Dutch and German troops under the command of the Duke of Wellington. They were all divided in their languages, loyalties and experience, so it was largely due to Wellington's military talent that the allied forces defeated Napoleon at Waterloo, in Belgium, on June 18, 1815. The battle of Waterloo brought about Napoleon's downfall. Wellington is rightly considered to be a national hero, like Admiral Nelson.
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At the beginning of the century Britain enlarged its colonial territories, adding to the empire the former Dutch possessions of Ceylon and the Cape of Good Hope.
In the 1820s, Prime Minister Robert Peel turned his attention to the problem of crime by establishing a regular police force for London in 1829. The government employed a specially trained army of men to catch criminals. Although at first Londoners laughed at the blue-uniformed men in their top-hats, during the next thirty years almost every other town and country started a police force of their own. The new police units soon proved themselves successful, as much crime was pushed out of larger cities, then out of towns and finally out of the countryside. Robert Peel was able to show that certainty of punishment was far more effective than cruelty of punishment.
The beginning of the century also saw the innovations of Robert Owen, a factory owner from Scotland, who gave his workers shorter working hours and encouraged trade unions. He built his factory in the countryside, away from the smog and dirt of the big cities, and provide d good housing for workers and a school for their children. Owen was able to prove that his workers produced more goods in less time than those forced to work longer hours. Better working and living conditions resulted in an increase in labour productivity.
Owens ideas and example were supported and put into life by other reformers, like Authur Cadbury, the owner of the famous Birmingham chocolate factory, who built first-class housing for workers.
The main political issue of the 1830s was the Reform Bill, which became law in 1832. The bill set up a system of registration that encouraged political party organization, both locally and nationally. That measure weakened the monarch and the House of Lords. Other reforms came in a quick succession. In 1833 slavery was abolished. By the New Poor Law of 1834 workhouses were opened. They were meant to provide the homeless people with work and shelter. Abandoned children were also taken care of in workhouses. But although the new system involved supervision by a central board (or Committee), working and living conditions of people in workhouses were even worse than those of slaves. As the country's industry was rapidly developing, child labour became common practice. Children from poor families started working at the age of 4 or 5. They worked in textile factories and in mines for 16 hours a day. There were cases when little workers had to stay at work for 18 hours. They worked and slept in the same place. But the worst fate was of those children who worked as chimneysweeps. They seldom lived to become adults. It was only in 1849, during the reign of Queen Victoria, that an act of Parliament limited the working hours of children under the age of 10 to 10 hours a day.
In 1836 a special law placed the registration of births, deaths and marriages in the hands of the state rather than the Church. All attempts on the part of the state to influence and subsidize education were strongly opposed by the Church.
During the economic depression of 1837 the reform spirit declined. Working conditions became even worse. The protest organization, known in history as the
Chartist movement, came into being. The Chartists demanded the immediate adoption of the People's Charter, which might have transformed Britain into a political democracy with universal male suffrage, equal electoral districts and the secret ballot. It was also expected to improve living standards. Millions of workers signed Charter petitions in 1839, 1842 and 1848. Some Chartist demonstrations turned into riots. Parliament repeatedly rejected the People's Charter and the idea was never realized.
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In the 1820s Britain welcomed the independence of Spain's South American colonies and aided the Greek rebellion against the Turkish rule. The events in Greece were praised and supported by Romantic writers and poets. Extending from about 1789 until 1837, the Romantic age stressed emotion over reason. In English literature the Romantic age was characterized by the subordination of reason to intuition and passion, as well as the cult of nature (much as the word is understood now). Individual will was superior to social norms of behaviour, immediate experience was more important than generalized and typical experience.
The first Romantics were the poets William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Wordsworth adored and idealized the countryside and nature. Another Romantic poet and novelist was Sir Walter Scott. At the beginning of his literary career he wrote poetry. After the publication of the poem The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805), Scott became the most famous poet of the day. Later though,
he turned to novels. Walter Scott is known as the founder of the historical novel in English literature.
Walter Scott was a faithful son of Scotland and studied the past of his native land through documents, history and legends. His most famous novels are Ivanhoe, Rob Roy and Quentin Durward. When his business partner died leaving Scott to pay the debts, the writer had to start working day and night. That explains the fact why Scott's later novels are less elaborately worked out than the earlier ones.
Unlike Coleridge, Wordsworth and Scott the next generation of Romantic poets were full of revolutionary spirit. George Gordon Byron (1788-1824) exemplifies a personality in tragic revolt against society. Byron was born to an aristocratic family and educated at Harrow College. The boy was not very tall and, what is more, he was lame. That is why he gave much of his time to sports in order to compensate for his physical deficiency. He also traveled a lot both in England an on the Continent. When his first book of poems (Hours of idleness) was published in 1807, he was bitterly criticized in the press. But that didnt stop him. He retorted with an epigram and continued writing.
Byron traveled a lot both in England an on the Continent. In 1809-1811 he travelled to Portugal, Spain, Turkey and Greece. The earliest fruits of his travels were the first two cantos of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812). The poem brought him immediate success and established his reputation as a great poet of England. Childe Harold's Pilgrimage is partly autobiographical. The hero is a disillusioned rebel, demanding absolute personal freedom, who quickly became the symbol of the vanguard literary thought in Europe. Byron let his hero travel from country to country, filling the poem with vivid descriptions and satirical remarks.
Between 1813and 1816 Byron wrote Oriental Tales, which included 4 pieces. In 1816 he left England and up to 1823 lived in Switzerland and Italy, where he at first supported and later joined the Carbonari movement. He wrote two more cantos of Childe Harold, Manfred and the most famous of his poems, Don Juan, which was not finished.
In the 1820s Byron got particularly interested in the struggle of Greece against Turkey. He financed the buying of medicines and arms for the Greeks and then joined them in person. He participated in the defence of the Fortress of Missolungui. There he went down with a fever and died.
Byron produced a tremendous impact on A. Pushkin, M. Lermontov, W. Goethe and other European poets. They translated and imitated Byron's poems. Pushkin described Oneguin as , . Byron's poem My Soul Is Dark was wonderfully well translated by M. Lermontov.
The Romantic movement was also reflected in art. Landscape painting especially acquired new importance, notably in Britain, and its greatest exponents were among the leaders of Romanticism. It was the time of the great English painters John Constable and William Turner. They are both famous for their landscapes, but Turner is especially known for his remarkable light effects. Sketching all over Europe during a long life, Turner produced a succession of water-colours and oil painting of great subtlety and power. Constable reinvented the medium of oil paint as a vehicle for his personal sensations in front of English rural scenery. And though his painting met with little success at the Royal Academy exhibitions, his idea of making art from direct observation of nature brought profound changes to painting later in the 19th century. Unlike Constable, Turner was hugely successful in his own time, partly because the works he exhibited basically corresponded to the prevailing academic theory that in art landscape should be transformed by the artist's imagination. Even so, his extraordinary use of colour and light, and his dramatic innovations in the painting of stormy seas and effects of weather, made him controversial throughout his career.
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Other artists set out to explore the inner world of the mind. William Blake developed a whole private mythology to investigate the meaning of human life and its place in God's creation. Blake was a poet, an artist, a professional engraver and a mystic. His early works (Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience), although Romantic, were never free from symbolism. Some of his poems were published only in 1925. Most of his books were self-illustrated.
During the Victorian Age, the British Empire reached its height and covered about a fourth of the world's land. Industry and trade expanded rapidly, and railways and canals crossed the country. Science and technology made great advances. The size of the middle class grew enormously. By the 1850s, more and more people were getting an education. In addition, the government introduced democratic reforms.
Monarchy
By the late 1830s the monarchy was beginning to look a disreputable and even unnecessary institution. Kings were not expected to rule but to reign. From this low point the monarchy was rescued by Queen Victoria, one of the most notable figures in British royal history. She came to the throne in 1837 and reigned u ntil her death in 1901. Her achievement was restoring respect and usefulness to the Crown, and then going further by becoming the symbol of the nation.
Victoria first learned about her future role during a history lesson when she was 10 years old. The future queen reacted to the discovery by declaring, "I will be good." She took an active interest in the policy of her ministers. Her relations with Prime ministers Peel and Disraeli were excellent but she was not on good terms with Palmerston and Gladstone. The Queens conscientious approach to her duties did much to raise the reputation of the monarchy.
One should never forget about the impact of Victorias private life on the countrys policy. In 1839 Victoria fell in love with her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. They were married in February 1840, and Albert soon developed a keen interest in governing his new country. Prince Albert served as his wifes private secretary. Being an active patron of the arts and sciences he was the prime organizer of the Great Exhibition of 1851. Albert also favored the expansion of education, and he served as chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He became a great champion of strengthening and modernizing Britain's armed forces. Though Prince Albert was respected by most of his new countrymen, he was not loved; many resented him because he was a foreigner. For Victoria, however, her husband represented perfection, and the two were very happy together. The royal couple offered an example of family life that contrasted sharply with the images of the previous British monarchs. They took an intense personal interest in the upbringing of their children, and enjoyed a private family life.
Victoria partly owed her success to the fact that she possessed shrewd commonsense and high principles. In many ways the Queen was a very contradictory person. She idolized family life, but felt uncomfortable in the presence of little children. She had no interest in social issues, and yet the 19th century in Britain was an age of reform. She resisted technological change at the time when technological innovations reshaped the face of European civilization. And a lot of technological initiatives came from Britain. Most significantly, Victoria was a queen determined to retain political power; yet unwillingly she greatly contributed to the transformation of the monarchs political role into a ceremonial one and thus preserved the English monarchy. In a period when middle-class values were of greatest importance, Victoria embodied the qualities that the middle classes most admired devotion to family and friends, integrity and reliability. Everything that was summed up in the word respectability. Nowadays we use the word Victorian not only in the meaning of old-fashioned, but also to characterize efficiency, high morals and good business practice. But Victorias most important asset was her devotion to the nation. Even when she became an elderly woman, she continued to execute her duties.
Victoria early became a widow as Prince Albert died of typhoid fever in 1861. The Queen wanted to retire from public life completely but the sense of duty and responsibility made her emerge from retirement to perform her royal duties. In the last 20 years of her reign she became as completely loved and idolized as Elisabeth I had been. Victoria was often called the grandmother of Europe because by her childrens marriages she was related to every royal house of Europe.
Home and Foreign Policy
In the 19th century the British Empire was constantly expanding and reforming its political relations with old colonies. In 1837 there was a rebellion in Canada. That led to working out the system of self-government for Canada. In 1855, a similar system was applied to the other two territories with white populations, Australia and New Zealand. Later, Prime Minister Gladstone became convinced that there should be Home Rule for Ireland and introduced a Bill in Parliament in April 1886. But the Bill was lost.
The British Empire managed to acquire new territories in various regions of the world. Particularly successful was the conquest of India. Due to internal disputes Indias rulers found themselves completely unprepared for a well-elaborated British invasion. It was Prime Minister Disraeli and his government that gave Queen Victoria the title of Empress of India in 1877.
The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the purchase of a half-share in the enterprise aroused British interest in the affairs of Egypt and the Sudan. In fact, the British government did not have any elaborated policy towards Africa until the end of the century. They did not want extra territories to administer at great coast. Muh of the exploration of Africa was left to private individuals: missionaries and businessmen. David Livingstone, a Scottish missionary explored much of East and Central Africa. Cecil Rhodes, an explorer, businessman and settler, aimed to establish a great empire for Britain in Africa and to build a railroad from Cairo to the Cape. British influence was similarly extended to Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda through private companies.
The situation in the Near East was also far from being stable. There were serious collisions between the Russian and British Empires about the control other the territory of Afghanistan. Neither of the two succeeded in conquering the country, but a very bitter feeling remained and affected the relations between Russia and Britain.
The Crimean War (1854-1856)
Britains only war with a great power in the 19th century was the Crimean War with Russia. It lasted from 1854 to 1856 and was aimed at the reduction of Russian influence in the Balkan region. The war revealed that the British army was very inefficient compared to other European armies.
The most important battles were fought at Alma, Balaclava and Inkerman. The first Victoria crosses were awarded. The siege and defence of Sevastopol brings to the Russian mind the names of admirals Kornilov, Nakhimov, and the first Russian nurse Daria Mikhailova. To the English mind, it brings the name of Florence Nightingale, the first English nurse. Her work in organizing field hospitals in the Crimea pioneered modern nursing methods and promoted the recognition of nursing as a respected profession.
After a long siege Sevastopol was taken by the allies in 1855 and the war was ended by the Treaty of Paris (1856). The Treaty provided for the demilitarization of the Black Sea. Neither Russia nor Turkey was allowed to have a fleet of ships in the Black Sea. The position of the British Empire was strengthened again. The Russian Black Sea fleet was rebuilt only 16 years later.
The Boer War
At the end of the century (1899 1901), Britain waged a war in South Africa known as the Boer War. The presence of British emigrants in the two Dutch Boer republics, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal, and the question of their civic rights under the Boer rule, worsened Anglo-Boer relations. In 1899, the Boers under Kruger, the Transvaal President, declared war on Britain. It was the first war overseas to split the public opinion. Moreover, public opinion in Europe and America turned against Britain as in opened the first internment camps. The war led to a demand for army reform and to a reaction against imperialism.
