Reading Gossip in Early Eighteenth-Century England PDF
Preview Reading Gossip in Early Eighteenth-Century England
PalgraveStudiesintheEnlightenment,RomanticismandCulturesofPrint GeneralEditors:ProfessorAnneK.MellorandProfessorCliffordSiskin Editorial Board: Isobel Armstrong, Birkbeck; John Bender, Stanford; Alan Bewell, Toronto; Peter de Bolla, Cambridge; Robert Miles, Stirling; Claudia L.Johnson,Princeton;SareeMakdisi,UCLA;FelicityNussbaum,UCLA;Mary Poovey,NYU;JanetTodd,Glasgow PalgraveStudiesintheEnlightenment,RomanticismandCulturesofPrintwillfeature work that does not fit comfortably within established boundaries—whether between periods or between disciplines. Uniquely, it will combine efforts to engage the power and materiality of print with explorations of gender, race, andclass.Byattendingaswelltointersectionsofliteraturewiththevisualarts, medicine,law,andscience,theserieswillenablealarge-scalerethinkingofthe originsofmodernity. Titlesinclude: ScottBlack OFESSAYSANDREADINGINEARLYMODERNBRITAIN ClaireBrock THEFEMINIZATIONOFFAME,1750–1830 BrycchanCarey BRITISHABOLITIONISMANDTHERHETORICOFSENSIBILITY Writing,sentiment,andslavery,1760–1807 E.J.Clery THEFEMINIZATIONDEBATEIN18TH-CENTURYENGLAND Literature,CommerceandLuxury AdrianaCraciun BRITISHWOMENWRITERSANDTHEFRENCHREVOLUTION CitizensoftheWorld PeterdeBolla,NigelLeaskandDavidSimpson(editors) LAND,NATIONANDCULTURE,1740–1840 ThinkingtheRepublicofTaste InaFerrisandPaulKeen(editors) BOOKISHHISTORIES Books,Literature,andCommercialModernity,1700–1900 IanHaywood BLOODYROMANTICISM SpectacularViolenceandthePoliticsofRepresentation,1776–1832 AnthonyS.Jarrells BRITAIN’SBLOODLESSREVOLUTIONS 1688andtheRomanticReformofLiterature MichelleLevy FAMILYAUTHORSHIPANDROMANTICPRINTCULTURE RobertMiles ROMANTICMISFITS TomMole BYRON’SROMANTICCELEBRITY IndustrialCultureandtheHermeneuticofIntimacy NicolaParsons READINGGOSSIPINEARLYEIGHTEENTH-CENTURYENGLAND ErikSimpson LITERARYMINSTRELSY,1770–1830 MinstrelsandImprovisersinBritish,IrishandAmericanLiterature MaryWaters BRITISH WOMEN WRITERS AND THE PROFESSION OF LITERARY CRITICISM, 1789–1832 DavidWorrall THEPOLITICSOFROMANTICTHEATRICALITY,1787–1832 TheRoadtotheStage PalgraveStudiesintheEnlightenment,RomanticismandCulturesofPrint SeriesStandingOrderISBN978–1–4039–3408–6hardback 978–1–4039–3409–3paperback (outsideNorthAmericaonly) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to usattheaddressbelowwithyournameandaddress,thetitleoftheseriesand theISBNquotedabove. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke,HampshireRG216XS,England Reading Gossip in Early Eighteenth-Century England Nicola Parsons ©NicolaParsons2009 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2009 978-0-230-54671-4 Allrightsreserved.Noreproduction,copyortransmissionofthis publicationmaybemadewithoutwrittenpermission. Noportionofthispublicationmaybereproduced,copiedortransmitted savewithwrittenpermissionorinaccordancewiththeprovisionsofthe Copyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988,orunderthetermsofanylicence permittinglimitedcopyingissuedbytheCopyrightLicensingAgency, SaffronHouse,6-10KirbyStreet,LondonEC1N8TS. Anypersonwhodoesanyunauthorizedactinrelationtothispublication maybeliabletocriminalprosecutionandcivilclaimsfordamages. Theauthorhasassertedherrighttobeidentified astheauthorofthisworkinaccordancewiththeCopyright, DesignsandPatentsAct1988. Firstpublished2009by PALGRAVEMACMILLAN PalgraveMacmillanintheUKisanimprintofMacmillanPublishersLimited, registeredinEngland,companynumber785998,ofHoundmills,Basingstoke, HampshireRG216XS. PalgraveMacmillanintheUSisadivisionofStMartin’sPressLLC, 175FifthAvenue,NewYork,NY10010. PalgraveMacmillanistheglobalacademicimprintoftheabovecompanies andhascompaniesandrepresentativesthroughouttheworld. Palgrave®andMacmillan®areregisteredtrademarksintheUnitedStates, theUnitedKingdom,Europeandothercountries. ISBN 978-1-349-36113-7 ISBN 978-0-230-24476-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230244764 Thisbookisprintedonpapersuitableforrecyclingandmadefromfully managedandsustainedforestsources.Logging,pulpingandmanufacturing processesareexpectedtoconformtotheenvironmentalregulationsofthe countryoforigin. AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. AcatalogrecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheLibraryofCongress. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 Transferred to Digital Printing in 2014 for Jill, Jim and Andrew Parsons Contents ListofIllustrations ix Acknowledgements x Introduction:QueenAnne’sBounty 1 Thepublicsphere 3 Thereadingpublic 6 Readinggossip 8 1 GossipandGovernment:DecipheringtheBodyofthe State 11 QueenAnne’sJanusface:somaticanddiscursivemodels ofpower 13 Publicisingsecrets:gossipandscandal 19 Papercrowns:print,lawandroyalauthority 23 Creatingpublics:gossipandreading 34 2 ReadingSecretsofState:DelarivierManleyandtheNew Atalantis 38 Ascandalousgenre:definingthesecrethistory 40 UnlockingtheNewAtalantis:thekey,thetextandthe reader 48 AtalanticIntelligence 56 RevealingIntelligence:courtpoliticsandSarahChurchill 62 3 ReformingReference:TrialsandTexts 69 ThereadingpublicandthespectacleofDrHenry Sacheverell 72 (Re)Formingreference:readingTheSecretHistoryofthe WhiteStaff 79 4 LucubratingLondon:TheTatlerandtheFemaleTatler 92 ‘Fair-Sexingit’:locatingtheTatleranditsaudience 94 Tellingnews,talkingpolitics 101 TheFemaleTatlerandthefemalereader 107 vii viii Contents 5 ANewerAtalantis:PoliticalandGenericRevolutions 119 Atalantisrevived:JacobitehopesandtheHanoverian succession 121 ‘Curlicism’:somaticpublishingpracticesanddiscursive authorship 128 Publicscreens,privatetexts:patchwork,politics,and literature 136 Printandpolitics 147 Conclusion:Anne’sLegacy 149 Notes 154 SelectBibliography 185 Index 206 List of Illustrations 1 DelarivierManley,NewAtalantis(London:JohnMorphew, 1709),pp.50,267.BypermissionoftheHoughtonLibrary, HarvardUniversity.EC7.MC3148.709svol.2. 53 2 SirGodfreyKneller,Sarah,DuchessofMarlborough,[1700], Petworth,TheEgremontCollection(acquiredinlieuoftax byH.M.Treasuryin1957andsubsequentlytransferredto TheNationalTrust).(cid:2)c NTPL/TimStephens. 64 3 BernardLens,IsaacBickerstaff,Esq.,[1709].Bycourtesyof SpecialCollections,SpencerResearchLibrary,Universityof KansasLibraries. 96 4 MastheadoftheFemaleTatler,no.21(24Aug.1709). CourtesyoftheHoughtonLibrary,HarvardCollegeLibrary. 15493.52.20F. 112 5 ‘TheARTandMYSTERYorPrinting,Emblematically Displayed’,TheGrub-StreetJournalno.148(Mon.30Oct. 1732).BycourtesyofSpecialCollections,SpencerResearch Library,UniversityofKansasLibraries. 134 ix Acknowledgements This book has been a long time in the making. I have been sustained throughoutbyanumberofinstitutionsandindividuals,whosesupport Iampleasedtoacknowledgehere. TheUniversityofMelbourne’sEnglishDepartmentprovidedastimu- latingenvironmentformydoctoralwork.IowespecialthankstoClara Tuite, for her astute advice and warm encouragement, and to Marion Campbell,forhercarefulcommentariesonmyargumentsastheytook shape. Readings of my work by Steven Zwicker, Rachel Weil, and the anonymous readers at Palgrave challenged me to think harder, and highlighted the book I wanted to write. Colleagues at the University of Sydney, especially Will Christie, Kate Lilley, and Deirdre Coleman, provided a supportive environment in which to bring this book to completion. I have received research support from an Australian Postgraduate Award, the English Department and School of Graduate Studies at the University of Melbourne, the School of Letters Art and Media, and the FacultyofArtsattheUniversityofSydney,andamgladtoexpresshere my gratitude to these bodies. I also wish to thank librarians at a num- ber of institutions: the British Library, the Beinecke Manuscript and Rare Book Library at Yale University, the Spencer Research Library at the University of Kansas, the Houghton Library at Harvard University, theHertfordshireRecordsOffice,andtheNationalArchivesinLondon. I would especially like to thank the Inter-Library loan service at the FisherLibraryattheUniversityofSydneyforinvaluableassistance. More personal thanks go to the individuals who have counselled, challenged, and assisted me in a variety of ways as I wrote this book: VictoriaLoy,KateHorgan,KateMitchell,HelenCameron,HuwDavies, Jennifer Wawrzinek, Katherine Bode, Rebecca Johinke. The love and confidence of my parents, Jill and Jim Parsons, sustains me; while my brother,AndrewParsons,providestheverybestexampleofclearthink- ing. Cameron Davies has been helping me finish this book for what mustseemlikeaverylongtimeindeed.Withouthim,thisbookwould notexist. The author and publisher wish to thank the following for per- mission to reproduce copyright material: Library Services, Univer- sity of Wales, Lampeter, for ‘The Coffeehous Mob’, from Edward x
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