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William Cobbett, the Press and Rural England: Radicalism and the Fourth Estate, 1792–1835 PDF

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Preview William Cobbett, the Press and Rural England: Radicalism and the Fourth Estate, 1792–1835

Palgrave Studies in Nineteenth-Century Writing and Culture General Editor: Joseph Bristow, Professor of English, UCLA Editorial Advisory Board: Hilary Fraser, Birkbeck College, University of London; Josephine McDonagh, Kings College, London; Yopie Prins, University of Michigan; Lindsay Smith, University of Sussex; Margaret D. Stetz, University of Delaware; Jenny Bourne Taylor, University of Sussex Palgrave Studies in Nineteenth-Century Writing and Culture is a new monograph series that aims to represent the most innovative research on literary works that were produced in the English-speaking world from the time of the Napoleonic Wars to the fi n de siècle. Attentive to the historical continuities between ‘Romantic’ and ‘Victorian’, the series will feature studies that help scholarship to reassess the meaning of these terms during a century marked by diverse cultural, literary and political movements. The main aim of the series is to look at the increasing infl u- ence of types of historicism on our understanding of literary forms and genres. It refl ects the shift from critical theory to cultural history that has affected not only the period 1800–1900 but also every fi eld within the discipline of English litera- ture. All titles in the series seek to offer fresh critical perspectives and challenging readings of both canonical and non-canonical writings of this era. Titles include: Eitan Bar-Yosef and Nadia Valman (editors) ‘THE JEW’ IN LATE-VICTORIAN AND EDWARDIAN CULTURE Between the East End and East Africa Heike Bauer ENGLISH LITERARY SEXOLOGY Translations of Inversions, 1860–1930 Katharina Boehm BODIES AND THINGS IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY LITERATURE AND CULTURE Katharina Boehm CHARLES DICKINS AND THE SCIENCES OF CHILDHOOD Popular Medicine, Child Health and Victorian Culture Luisa Calè and Patrizia Di Bello (editors) ILLUSTRATIONS, OPTICS AND OBJECTS IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY LITERARY AND VISUAL CULTURES Deirdre Coleman and Hilary Fester (editors) MINDS, BODIES, MACHINES, 1770–1930 Eleanor Courtemanche THE 'INVISIBLE HAND' AND BRITISH FICTION, 1818–1860 Adam Smith, Political Economy, and the Genre of Realism Stefano Evangelista BRITISH AESTHETICISM AND ANCIENT GREECE Hellenism, Reception, Gods in Exile Trish Ferguson (editor) VICTORIAN TIME Technologies, Standardizations, Catastrophes Margot Finn, Michael Lobban and Jenny Bourne Taylor (editors) LEGITIMACY AND ILLEGITIMACY IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY LAW, LITERATURE AND HISTORY James Grande WILLIAM COBBETT, THE PRESS AND RURAL ENGLAND Radicalism and the Fourth Estate, 1792–1835 F. Elizabeth Gray (editor) WOMEN IN JOURNALISM AT THE FIN DE SIÈCLE ‘Making a Name for Herself’ Jason David Hall and Alex Murray (editors) DECADENT POETICS Literature and Form at the British Fin de Siécle Yvonne Ivory THE HOMOSEXUAL REVIVAL OF RENAISSANCE STYLE, 1850–1930 Colin Jones, Josephine McDonagh and Jon Mee (editors) CHARLES DICKENS, A TALE OF TWO CITIES AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION Jock Macleod LITERATURE, JOURNALISM, AND THE VOCABULARIES OF LIBERALISM Politics and Letters 1886–1916 Sean O’Toole HABIT IN THE ENGLISH NOVEL, 1850–1900 Lived Environments, Practices of the Self Tina O’Toole THE IRISH NEW WOMAN Virginia Richter LITERATURE AFTER DARWIN Human Beasts in Western Fiction 1859–1939 Laura Rotunno POSTAL PLOTS IN BRITISH FICTION, 1840–1898 Readdressing Correspondence in Victorian Culture Deborah Shapple Spillman BRITISH COLONIAL REALISM IN AFRICA Inalienable Objects, Contested Domains Laurence Talairach-Vielmas FAIRY TALES, NATURAL HISTORY AND VICTORIAN CULTURE Sara Thornton ADVERTISING, SUBJECTIVITY AND THE NINETEENTH-CENTURY NOVEL Dickens, Balzac and the Language of the Walls Paul Young GLOBALIZATION AND THE GREAT EXHIBITION The Victorian New World Order Palgrave Studies in Nineteenth-Century Writing and Culture Series Standing Order ISBN 978–0–333–97700–2 (hardback) (outside North America only) 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 us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBN quoted above. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England William Cobbett, the Press and Rural England Radicalism and the Fourth Estate, 1792–1835 James Grande British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, King’s College London, UK © James Grande 2014 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-1-137-38007-4 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identifi ed as the author of this work in accord- ance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2014 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries ISBN-978-1-349-47910-8 ISBN 978-1-137-38008-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9781137380081 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Grande, James, 1984– William Cobbett, the press and rural England : radicalism and the fourth estate, 1792– 1835 / James Grande, British Academy postdoctoral fellow, King’s College London, UK. pages cm — (Palgrave studies in nineteenth-century writing and culture) Summary: “William Cobbett, the Press and Rural England offers a thorough re-appraisal of the work of William Cobbett (1763–1835), examining his pioneering journalism, identifi cation with rural England and engagement with contemporary debates. It offers a new interpretation of Cobbett as a Burkean radical, whose work cuts across the ‘revolution controversy’ of the 1790s and combines Tom Paine’s common sense and transatlantic radicalism with Edmund Burke’s emphasis on tradition, patriotism and the domestic affections. To Hazlitt, Cobbett came to represent ‘a kind of fourth estate in the politics of the country’, becoming the virtual embodiment of both rural England and the campaign for parliamentary reform. This study draws on Cobbett’s published writings and unpublished correspondence to show how he achieved this status. Individual chapters focus on his writings as Peter Porcupine, publication of parliamentary debates, imprisonment in Newgat! e, exile on Long Island, role in the Queen Caroline affair, Rural Rides, his prosecution after the Captain Swing riots and his wide-ranging legacies”— Provided by publisher. ISBN 978-1-349-47910-8 1. Cobbett, William, 1763–1835. 2. Great Britain—Politics and govern- ment—1789–1820. 3. Politicians—Great Britain—Biography. 4. Journalists—Great Britain—Biography. 5. English newspapers—History—18th century. 6. English newspapers—History—19th century. 7. England—Social life and customs—18th century. 8. England—Social life and customs—19th century.—I. Title. DA522.C5G725 2014 942.07’3092—dc23 [B] 2014019306 Typeset by MPS Limited, Chennai, India. For my family This page intentionally left blank Contents List of Figures ix Acknowledgements xi List of Abbreviations xiii Introduction: Digging up the 1790s 1 1 From the Soldier’s Friend to Peter Porcupine 18 The Soldier’s Friend and the Revolution debate 19 Peter Porcupine in Philadelphia 26 2 William Windham and the Hampshire Hog 38 Burke’s ghost 39 The Botley farmer 51 3 Prison, Paper Money and Cobbett’s ‘Two-Penny Trash’ 60 The history of the debt 61 Between Burke and Paine 70 Newgate farming 80 4 Long Island Pastoral 92 From Adam to Crusoe 93 Grammar and emigration 99 Bones and seeds 110 5 Cobbett and Queen Caroline 114 Writing to the Queen 115 The Queen’s letter to the King 124 Addresses to the Queen 135 After the trial 141 6 Rural Rides and the 1820s 148 Writing on the road 150 Landscape, politics, aesthetics 156 Roadside meetings and Reformation history 162 7 ‘Rural War’ and the July Revolution 168 Letters from Paris 169 Swing letters 178 Reprisals 184 vii viii Contents Postscript: Cobbett’s Legacies 198 Notes 204 Bibliography 230 Index 244 List of Figures Cover Trans-Atlantic Luxury, engraving by Isaac Robert Cruikshank, from The Book of Wonders (London, 1821); reproduced by permission of Nuffield College, Oxford 1.1 View from Portsdown Hill, aquatint engraving by William Daniell, for A Voyage Round Great Britain (London, 1814–25); © Trustees of the British Museum 35 1.2 The Birth Place of William Cobbett, Farnham, Surrey, drawn and engraved for Dugdale’s England and Wales Delineated (c.1840) 36 2.1 Political-dreamings!-visions of peace!-perspective horrors!; James Gillray (1801); © Trustees of the British Museum 44 2.2 Site of Botley House (since demolished), on the River Hamble, Botley; author’s photograph 53 2.3 The Loyal Address!-or-the Procession of the Hampshire Hogs from Botley to St. James’s, James Gillray (1808); © Trustees of the British Museum 57 3.1 William Cobbett, mezzotint by William Ward, after the portrait by John Raphael Smith (1812); © Trustees of the British Museum 63 3.2 Midas, Transmuting all into Gold Paper; James Gillray (1797); © Trustees of the British Museum 71 3.3 The Blessings of Paper Money; George Cruikshank (1811); © Trustees of the British Museum 72 3.4 Plan of Hill Farm, Botley; Nuffield, XXIX/63/1; reproduced with permission 82 3.5 Sketch of a gate; Nuffield, XXX/26/9; reproduced with permission 83 3.6 Drawing of rural sports by William Cobbett jr; Nuffield, XXX/29/1; reproduced with permission 88 3.7 Cobbett’s gridiron on the masthead of the Political Register; reproduced by permission of Nuffield College 90 ix

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