Romantic Period Writings 1798-1832: An Anthology

240 Pages·1998·2.3 MB·English

by  Zachary Leader

ROMANTIC PERIOD WRITINGS 1798–
1832: AN ANTHOLOGY
While the ‘Revolution Debate’ of the 1790s has been extensively covered by scholars and
critics, less attention has been given to the period which bridges the gap to the Victorian
era. Yet this was a period of crucial social, economic, political and cultural change.
Romantic Period Writings 1798–1832 provides a valuable insight into the condition of
Britain in the early part of the nineteenth century. It includes original documents from a
range of disciplines and discourses. Among the material assembled in the anthology are
writings by previously neglected or underrepresented women, working-class men, black
radicals, and conservative and evangelical polemicists, as well as several unfamiliar texts
by canonical writers. The writings are organised into sections on:
• Radical journalism
• Political economy
• Atheism
• Empire and race
• Nation and state
• Gender
• Literary institutions
Each section includes a scholarly introduction, select bibliography and annotations.
Contributors include Ian Haywood, John Seed, Martin Priestman, Kate Teltscher, Simon
Edwards, Susan Matthews, Catherine Boyle and Zachary Leader.
Zachary Leader and Ian Haywood both teach in the English Department of the
Roehampton Institute, London.

ROMANTIC PERIOD WRITINGS
1798–1832: AN ANTHOLOGY
edited by
Zachary Leader and Ian Haywood

London and New York
First published 1998 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.

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© 1998 the authors; reprinted material, see individual acknowledgements
The right of Zachary Leader and Ian Haywood to be identified as the Authors of this Work has
been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or
by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from
the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data Romantic period writings 1798–1832: an
anthology/[compiled by] Zachary Leader and Ian Haywood. p. cm. Includes bibliographical
references and index. 1. Great Britain—History—1800–1837—Sources. 2. Romanticism— —
Great Britain—Sources. I. Leader, Zachary. II. Haywood, Ian, 1958– DA535.R66 1998 941.081–
dc21 97–48907 CIP
ISBN 0-203-97987-7 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-415-15782-X (pbk)
ISBN 0-415-15781-1 (hbk)
CONTENTS

List of plates vi
List of contributors viii
Acknowledgements ix
Editorial note x

GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1
1 RADICAL JOURNALISM, 5

Ian Haywood
2 POLITICAL ECONOMY, 31

John Seed
3 ATHEISM, 55

Martin Priestman
4 EMPIRE AND RACE, 77

Kate Teltscher
5 NATION AND STATE, 104

Simon Edwards
6 GENDER, 125

Susan Matthews
7 LITERARY INSTITUTIONS, 152

Catherine Boyle and Zachary Leader

Notes 180
Index 217
PLATES

1 Front page of T.J.Wooler, Black Dwarf, Vol. 3, no. 34 (25 August 15

1819) (by kind permission of the British Library; PP3612ac)
2 Title page of Richard Carlile, An Address to Men of Science 69

(1821) (by kind permission of the British Library; 8309bbb24)
3 Front page of The Isis. A London Weekly Publication (1832) (by 73

kind permission of the British Library; PP5809)
4 Frontispiece of The Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. XCII, Part Two 147
(July 1822) (by kind permission of the British Library;
PP6004gzb)
5 George Cruikshank, ‘Making Decent’ (1822) (copyright British 148

Museum, Department of Prints and Drawings)
6 Title-page of Fisher’s Drawing Room Scrap-Book: With Poetical 168
Illustrations by L.E.L. (1832) (by kind permission of the British
Library; PP6930)
7 ‘Furness Abbey’, Plate 33, ibid. (by kind permission of the 169

British Library; PP6930)
8 ‘The African’, Plate 35, ibid. (by kind permission of the British 170

Library; PP6930)
9 ‘The House in which Roscoe was born’, Plate 41, ibid. (by kind 173

permission of the British Library; PP6930)
10 ‘Macao’, Plate 42, Fisher’s Drawing Room Scrap-Book: With 175
Poetical Illustrations by L.E.L. (1833) (by kind permission of the
British Library; PP6930)
11 ‘The Chinese Pagoda’, Plate 49, ibid. (by kind permission of the 177

British Library; PP6930)
CONTRIBUTORS
Catherine Boyle is a research student at Roehampton Institute London, where she is
completing a thesis on Shelley and radical publishing.
Simon Edwards is Principal Lecturer in English at Roehampton Institute London. He
has written and spoken widely on Scott and Dickens, and is currently completing a
book on the historical novel and the formation of nationalist politics.
Ian Haywood is Principal Lecturer in English at Roehampton Institute London. He is the
author of Faking It: Art and the Politics of Forgery (1987), The Making of History: A
Study of the Literary Forgeries of James Macpherson and Thomas Chatterton (1987),
The Literature of Struggle: An Anthology of Chartist Fiction (1995) and Working-
Class Fiction: from Chartism to Trainspotting (1997).
Zachary Leader is Professor of English Literature and Convener of the MA programme
in ‘Literature and Politics 1776–1832’ at Roehampton Institute London. He is the
author of Reading Blake’s Songs (1981), Writer’s Block (1991) and Revision and
Romantic Authorship (1996).
Susan Matthews is Senior Lecturer in English at Roehampton Institute London. She is
the author of essays and articles on the period, including a contribution to the Open
University reader Romantic Writings (1996).
Martin Priestman is Reader in English Literature at Roehampton Institute London. His
books include Cowper’s ‘Task’: Structure and Influence (1983), Detective Fiction and
Literature: The Figure in the Carpet (1990) and Crime Fiction from Poe to the
Present (1998).
John Seed is Senior Lecturer in History at Roehampton Institute London. He is author of
numerous essays and articles on Unitarianism and middle-class culture in this period,
including a book written with Janet Wolff, The Culture of Capital (1988).
Kate Teltscher is Lecturer in English Literature at Roehampton Institute London. Her
book India Inscribed: European and British Writing on India. 1600–1800 was
published in 1995.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book has been produced by tutors from the English and History Departments of the
Roehampton Institute, London. It grew, in part, out of work on Roehampton’s
interdisciplinary MA course ‘Literature and Politics 1776–1832’. The editors would like
to thank Isobel Armstrong, Marilyn Butler, John Lucas, Anne K.Mellor and Keith Nield,
who offered crucial assistance at the planning stages of the anthology; Mark Storey, who
helped in the deciphering of previously unpublished correspondence with Clare; Jane
Pringle, of the Department of English at Roehampton, who helped in the preparation of
the manuscript; and Talia Rodgers of Routledge, who has been a supporter of the
anthology from its inception.
Thanks are due to Pickering and Chatto Publishers Ltd, for their permission to use
William Godwin’s essay ‘Of Religion’ from Mark Philp, ed., Political and Philosophic
Writings of William Godwin, Vol. 7: Religious Writings (1993). The four letters of John
Clare taken from The Letters of John Clare edited by Mark Storey, are reproduced by
permission of Curtis Brown Ltd, London (copyright Eric Robinson 1985). Thanks to the
staff at the British Library reproductions department who provided images for inclusion
in this book.