Literature, Religion, and the Evolution of Culture, 1660–1780

379 Pages·2013·3.608 MB·English

by  Howard D. Weinbrot

Literature, Religion,
and the Evolution of Culture
1660– 1780
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Literature, Religion,
and the Evolution of Culture
1660– 1780
HOWARD D. WEINBROT
The Johns Hopkins University Press
Baltimore
This book was brought to publication with the generous contribution of the
William Freeman Vilas Trust of the University of Wisconsin.
© 2013 The Johns Hopkins University Press
All rights reserved. Published 2013
Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper
2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1
The Johns Hopkins University Press
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Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Weinbrot, Howard D.
Literature, religion, and the evolution of culture, 1660– 1780 / Howard D.
Weinbrot.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978- 1- 4214- 0516- 2 (hardcover : acid- free paper) — isbn 978- 1- 4214-
0860- 6 (electronic) — isbn 1- 4214- 0516- 4 (hardcover : acid- free paper) — isbn
1- 4214- 0860- 0 (electronic)
1. En glish literature— Early modern, 1500– 1700—History and criticism.
2. En glish literature— 18th century— History and criticism. 3. Religion and
literature— Great Britain. 4. Literature and society— Great Britain. 5. Great
Britain— Intellectual life— 17th century. 6. Great Britain— Intellectual life—
18th century. I. Title.
PR428.R46W45 2013
820.9'382—dc23 2012035553
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For Dawn
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contents
Ac know ledg ments xi
Introduction. The Groundwork of Change 1
Eigh teenth- Century Evolutionary Theory 2
Practical Awareness 3
The Chapters and a Defi nition 11
A Note on Notes 16
Part I. Threats to the Species: Madness, Discontent, and the
Danger of Dissolution
Chapter 1. Causation and Contexts of Hatred: Savage Beasts
Mortal and Deadly 23
Conjuring Up Reasons: Original Sin, Fragile Connections,
Church and State 27
Aristocratic Historiography: Advocacy and Re sis tance 32
Meta phorical Enhancements: Floods, Propagation, Legions,
and Dutch Treats 36
Chapter 2. Madness, Extirpation, and Defoe’s Shortest Way with
the Dissenters 55
Madness 55
Root and Branch 57
Defoe’s Shortest Way, Sacheverell’s Po liti cal Union, and Religious Confl ict 66
The Shortest Way: The Bible and Other Clues beyond the Obvious 73
Response and Judgment 80
Defoe as a Character of His Own Creation 84
viii Contents
Part II. Taking the Cure and Improving the Species: Sermons,
Compulsion, and Methodists
Chapter 3. The Thirtieth of January Sermon: From Extermination
to Inclusion 105
The Thirtieth of January Sermon and Royalist Law 105
The High Church Response and the Beginning of Change 109
Higher Church and Moderate Responses to the High Church Response 116
Raising the Decibels in a Lowered Church 119
State, Not Church 123
God’s Hand, William’s Hand, and the Divine Right of Government 127
Retrospective 132
Chapter 4. “Compel Them to Come In,” Luke 14:23: From Persecution to
Persuasion; Against Augustinian Compulsion 144
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes: Response and Rage 146
Contexts Changed and Augustine Charged 156
Happy Had His Works Not Been Preserved 159
Persuade Them to Come In 165
Adopt Men From All the Nations of the Earth: Equiano’s Conversion 168
Chapter 5. Methodism: From Antagonist to Relation 181
The Spreading Fog 182
Reforming the Reformation? Reforming Reform? 188
Grudging Ac cep tance 200
Humphry Clinker: Joining the Family 207
Part III. Evolutionary Reversion: The Gordon Riots, Return to Rage,
and Reinventing a Cure
Chapter 6. Déjà Vu All Over Again? The Gordon Riots; Bedlam Revisited,
Restoration of Order, and a Trial on Trial 237
Repeal, No Popery, and the Gordon Riots: Destruction and the
Puritan Redivivus 238
Renovating the Language of Cultural Regress 243
Church, State, and Po liti cal Causation 249
Strategies of Defense and Alternative Responses 257
“What Is to Depose the Sword?”: The Return to Order; Debate, Arrest,
Trial, and Consequences 261
The Trial of Lord George Gordon for Treason, 1781 268
Contents ix
Chapter 7. A Very Near Thing: State Terrorism, the Fury of the Aggrieved, and
Incompatibility with the Safety of Millions 289
A River Too Far 291
The Trials of Lord George Gordon, 1786– 1787, and Excommunication 294
The Trials of Lord George Gordon, 1786– 1787: Libeling France and Britain 298
Aftermath: Flight, Conversion, and Sentence 310
True Colors: Robert Watson’s Life of Lord George Gordon 315
Chapter 8. Coping, Repairing, and Dickens’ Barnaby Rudge 330
How to Cope? The World after the Gordon Riots 330
Dickens’ Barnaby Rudge: To Point a Moral but Not Adorn a Tale;
The Victorian Retrospective and Punishment by Neglect 332
Conclusion, Summary, Implications: 343
A Brief Summary of a Long Book 343
Illustrating Evolution 346
Index 357
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