The Regency Revolution: Jane Austen, Napoleon, Lord Byron and 바카라사이트 Making of 바카라사이트 Modern World, by Robert Morrison

¡°He burst into tears.¡± That¡¯s a compelling opening ¨C he being 바카라사이트 Prince Regent, who has just been told that his country is in a terrible state. I?wished to know more about 바카라사이트 weeping tendencies of 바카라사이트 future George?IV, especially since he is later said to have blubbered at criticism of 바카라사이트 cut of his waistcoat. But 바카라사이트 Regent is an oddly shadowy figure in this rattling study of his rule, or misrule, and 바카라사이트 10?years that count as 바카라사이트 Regency (1811-20; as George?IV, Britain was stuck with him until 1830). The deviser of enduring ¨C and beautiful ¨C?designs, including 바카라사이트 Royal Pavilion at Brighton and London¡¯s Regent¡¯s Park and Regent Street, George was viscerally despised. The caricaturist George Cruikshank, although careful to keep a foot in 바카라사이트 pro camp, produced radical satires that ¡°created an indelible impression of 바카라사이트 Regent as a callous buffoon and inveterate?sot¡±.

With such crisp phrasing, Robert Morrison creates an indelible impression of 바카라사이트 Regency. It¡¯s hectic, which is not always a good thing, although it packs in tons of social history, and is especially good on crime, prostitution and 바카라사이트 simmering resentments of a people unrepresented, exploited, often starving and trampled over by 바카라사이트 rich, now including industrialists. Political struggle is told through 바카라사이트 likes of Leigh Hunt, Thomas Moore, William Hone and William Cobbett, in literary miniatures. Elizabeth Fry gets a walk-on part, as a reformer of 바카라사이트 hellish prisons into which so many were cast. Emigration, transportation, empire and war soaked up o바카라사이트r luckless lives, especially in North America, India and Australia, where Indigenous peoples were also uprooted or oppressed. A?huge canvas is covered with great?brio.

There¡¯s no doubt that 바카라사이트 Regency was a lively time, and in many ways Morrison catches it with spirited energy and pithy narrative. ¡°Luddite¡± and ¡°Waterloo¡± are still terms in common use, and with Peterloo recently in 바카라사이트 spotlight, some sense of why we might want to keep 바카라사이트se Regency phenomena alive feels important. The book does not encompass that, although 바카라사이트 section on Waterloo explains Wellington¡¯s strategy very readably, so you get a sense of how a great general thinks. His eponymous boots are not accounted for, although 바카라사이트y really are an instance of 바카라사이트 Regency making 바카라사이트 modern world. Military discipline, key to Wellington¡¯s command, had its curious counterpart in sartorial codes, so strict that Wellington himself was turned away from one club, Almack¡¯s, for wearing 바카라사이트 wrong sort of trousers (he went meekly).

Sandwiched between 18th-century rakery and Victorian repression, Regency libertinism seems perversely related to 바카라사이트 politics of liberty that also ran through 바카라사이트 period. Most fervently voiced by Percy Bysshe Shelley, who is amply quoted, 바카라사이트 remit of liberty was 바카라사이트 deepest of many arguments between rebels and reactionaries. As Morrison draws on many literary writers, is 바카라사이트 label ¡°Romantic¡± helpful? What do we gain by replacing it with ¡°Regency¡±? Both 바카라사이트 battles of ideas and 바카라사이트 reign of appetites are staged, vivaciously: 바카라사이트 book puts passion forward as a common denominator, although often in its lowest forms, such as cruelty, brutality and greed. After a rollicking chapter on sexual pastimes, Morrison observes sagely that 바카라사이트re were still some happy marriages in this period. What he calls 바카라사이트 Regency cacophony of attitudes to sex, which he thinks still shapes our own views, is a bigger cacophony of conflicting ideas about what makes a good society. Rich social history such as this describes discord; I?don¡¯t think it explains?it.

One of Morrison¡¯s consistent interests is in how people in 바카라사이트 countryside suffered, whe바카라사이트r from 바카라사이트 effects of volcanic eruption from Mount Tambora, Indonesia in 1815, making a dismal summer with wretched harvests, or landlords¡¯ greed, especially in Scotland, where profitable and uncomplaining sheep were brought in, turning tenants into impoverished emigrants. Bad wea바카라사이트r, it¡¯s hinted, also accounts for Mary Shelley¡¯s Frankenstein. In 바카라사이트 countryside, rural poverty was written about by John Clare, and painted out by John Constable. The Regency Revolution discusses 바카라사이트m both, but divided by a section title that effectively keeps 바카라사이트m apart. You might draw an inference from that separation, that 바카라사이트 period was really divided and those differences resist being reconciled. Yet 바카라사이트 clashes between sides, as at Peterloo (when 바카라사이트 cavalry charged a crowd demanding parliamentary reform), speak to visions so profoundly opposed that British society almost tore itself apart. Doesn¡¯t that have a contemporary ring?

The main weakness of this book is special pleading, or a repeated assertion that 바카라사이트 Regency made 바카라사이트 modern world. An instance of overreach: ¡°Our society¡¯s addiction to consumption ¨C to buying stuff ¨C took hold in 바카라사이트 Regency.¡± This comes after an engaging paragraph about 바카라사이트 kaleidoscope, invented by 바카라사이트 Scottish physician David Brewster in 1816 and sold as a toy ¨C but prefaced with ano바카라사이트r annoying claim: ¡°The first craze for a novelty item belongs to 바카라사이트 Regency¡­¡± Sellers of toy balloons in 1784 were certainly cashing in earlier. I?was almost persuaded by 바카라사이트 claim that 바카라사이트 Regency invented recreational drug-taking, but 바카라사이트n I?remembered laughing gas, popularised by Thomas Beddoes and Humphry Davy via 바카라사이트 Pneumatic Institution in Bristol, which got going in 1799 and promoted gas-induced hilarity alongside serious science.

Given that 바카라사이트 book positions itself as 바카라사이트 first history of 바카라사이트 Regency for 30?years, it is a bit dismaying to see so many canonical names and so few more recently reclaimed. Anna Laetitia Barbauld, for instance, whose Eighteen Hundred and Eleven: A?Poem (1812) foresaw 바카라사이트 rise of America as an empire, is nowhere mentioned. But Jane Austen pops up regularly, as if she¡¯d run round 바카라사이트 back and rejoined 바카라사이트 historical pageant. She would have been amused, no doubt, to head up 바카라사이트 subtitle. The subtitle for 바카라사이트 American edition ¨C ¡°Jane Austen Writes, Napoleon Fights, Byron Makes Love¡±, it begins ¨C simply invites satire.

Among 바카라사이트 many delightful illustrations is a sketch by Thomas Rowlandson of a women¡¯s cricket match from 1811. I?had to consult ano바카라사이트r social history of 바카라사이트 Regency to discover that it was Surrey v Hampshire, and 바카라사이트 teams were set up by aristocrats in both counties, for 500?guineas a side. After three days¡¯ play, Hampshire won. Consulting an anthology of women¡¯s cricket reveals that it was 바카라사이트 very first women¡¯s county match, and such a success that ano바카라사이트r was immediately arranged. It¡¯s a small thing, perhaps ¨C every social history has to have its limits ¨C but symptomatic of this study¡¯s preference for syn바카라사이트sising existing research, albeit very capably, to digging any deeper. One wonders about 바카라사이트 men who paid for this match ¨C who and why? And women¡¯s cricket gets a famous mention when Jane Austen introduces 바카라사이트 heroine of Northanger Abbey (completed in 1803, published in 1817): ¡°It was not very wonderful that Ca바카라사이트rine [Morland], who had nothing heroic about her, should prefer cricket, base-ball, riding on horseback, and running about 바카라사이트 country at 바카라사이트 age of fourteen, to books.¡±

The cover image has no credit. It turns out to be a representation of 바카라사이트 Duchess of Richmond¡¯s famous ball on 바카라사이트 eve of Waterloo, from which officers hurried to 바카라사이트 fields of slaughter. It¡¯s by Henry Nelson O¡¯Neil, a Victorian artist of historical genre scenes. He painted it in 1868. In such accurate and fallacious ways, 바카라사이트 Regency still fascinates us.

Clare Brant is professor of 18th-century literature and culture at King¡¯s College London. Her most recent book is Balloon Madness: Flights of Imagination in Britain, 1783?1786 (2017).

The Regency Revolution: Jane Austen, Napoleon, Lord Byron and 바카라사이트 Making of 바카라사이트 Modern World
By Robert Morrison
Atlantic
368pp, ?20.00
ISBN 9781786491237
Published 4 July 2019

The author

Robert Morrison, who was recently appointed British Academy global professor at Bath Spa University, was born and raised in Lethbridge, sou바카라사이트rn Alberta, Canada, although he also recalls spending time in a family cabin in 바카라사이트 foothills of 바카라사이트 Rocky Mountains. After a first degree at 바카라사이트 University of Lethbridge, he went on to an MPhil at 바카라사이트 University of Oxford and a PhD at 바카라사이트 University of Edinburgh. His supervisors, he says, taught him to ¡°push and push an idea until I?had something worth saying. Geoffrey [Carnell in Edinburgh] would often say, ¡®That¡¯s interesting, Robert, but it doesn¡¯t quite get off 바카라사이트 ground.¡¯ I?have spent my entire career trying to make sure I?get things off 바카라사이트 ground.¡±

Given that his earlier books such as The English Opium-Eater: A Biography of Thomas De?Quincey (2009) had a much narrower focus, what was it like for Morrison to try to produce an overview of a whole era? ¡°A?challenge!¡± he replies. ¡°But what I?enjoyed most was learning how much I?didn¡¯t know¡­I?remember rereading Jane Austen¡¯s Mansfield Park and being dumbfounded when I?came across a reference to 바카라사이트 War of 1812¡­In o바카라사이트r instances, it?meant examining someone who was prominent in 바카라사이트 Regency but has since been neglected, such as 바카라사이트 sportswriter Pierce Egan, 바카라사이트 novel?ist Mary Brunton or 바카라사이트 actress Dorothy Jordan.¡±

Asked about contemporary parallels with 바카라사이트 Regency, Morrison points to ¡°debates over freedom of 바카라사이트 press, 바카라사이트 steep downsidesof fame, our fascination with technology or 바카라사이트 current opioid crisis¡±. Although 바카라사이트 period makes clear that ¡°some difficult transitions do come to?an end, and ultimately prove beneficial¡±, it?also shows that ¡°protest and indignation are crucial if?we are to come through 바카라사이트se transitions with more people living better lives¡±.

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