Return of Charles II (Stuart) after “Interregnum” of Cromwell family, during which country run by puritans or “dissenters”

Anglican bishops -> not tolerant of dissent Test ACT Anti-catholicism

James II – catholic - ousted Bloodless Revolution (William of Orange, Mary) Jacobites – esp. in Scotland Succession settled on German Sophia, Electress

of Hanover and her descendents (granddaughter of James I)

War of Spanish Succession (1702) Rivals weakened

Tensions between old and new money

Continuous fight Whigs,

tolerated dissenters; supported new moneyed interests (bankers, etc.); centralized government

Tories, supported monarchy, established church, affirmed land ownership as proper basis of wealth, suspicious of centralized government that rewarded followers with wealth

First prime ministers (Walpole and Pitt) expand British power and commerce overseas

Britain becomes colonial power, ruling Canada and India, though they lose American colonies.

Slave trade enriches nation; opposition to slavery widespread by both Anglicans and Methodists

Great wealth does not spread to poor; women remain disenfranchised

1780 London riots turn the poor (Catholic and Protestant) against each other

Popular king George has 60-year rule, but inherited madness increasingly harms rule

Fear of radicals who call for new democracy contributes to British reaction against French revolution

All anxious to avoid strife of 1640-60 All dogma unpopular: puritan enthusiasm,

papal infallibility, divine right of kings, modern Cartesian philosophy

Pursuit of absolute certainty is “vain, mad, and socially calamitous.”

For religious people and cynics, faith can take up where reason and sensory evidence fails

New theories: Hobbes supports absolute government because of scientific theory of matter in motion: human desire for power leads to “state of war”

Atomic theory Advancement of empirical study by

careful, systematic observation is the great contribution of 18th c. England to the world

Natural history (collection & description of natural facts) & Natural philosophy (study of those facts)

Microscope and telescope expand complexity of universe

Aphra Behn translates Fontenelle’s “Conversation on the Plurality of Worlds” suggesting alternate universes

Exploration and colonization increase apetite for “wondrous facts” about new flora

Discovery of electricity led to fashionable experiments with electrocution

Matthew Boulton creates first factories powered by steam engines

Chemistry allowed new market by Wedgewood in domestic porcelain

Newton’s discoveries suggest “universal order in creation” created by God like watchmaker and watch

Encounter with other non-Christian peoples led to “universal” religious tenets that could be embraced by rational beings

Deism: Reason recognizes goodness and wisdom of God and natural law; no need for mystery or bible

Deism’s God winds world like a watch and then withdraws. American Founders like Ben Franklin embraced Deism, which seemed like a better foundation for new nation than religious division

Berkeley: we know the world only through our senses; we cannot prove that material things exist; reliance on faith

Hume: causes and effects are discernable by experience, not reason

Locke examines “limits of human understanding” to help us avoid wasting time with things that exceed our comprehension

Mary Astell argued for women’s educational institutions and criticized marital violence; mocks Locke’s insistence on political rights for men only.

Richard Steele and others advocates improvement in women’s education and “sociability.”

Methodism—evangelical sect promoted by John Wesley et al, preached salvation through faith, not works (unlike Anglicans)

New emphasis on individual and personal God: diary keeping, letter writing, and novel “all testify to importance of private, individual life”

Government licensing relaxed and replaced by laws against sedition, libel, obscenity, and treason

Stage licensing remained; all but two royal theatres closed down

Copyright vested with publishers and authors begin to profit by subscription; Pope earns 5000 pounds for Iliad translation

Stamp acts allowed taxation of newspapers; put some out of business but others thrived

Market also appealed to literary elite; few now wrote without pay

Subscription allowed new wealth but also helped women’s writing, which otherwise had trouble finding publishers

Mostly wealthy or middle class, but some poor authors made it into print, e.g. Mary Collier’s “The Woman’s Labor”

Increase in literacy (male literacy as much as 75% by end of period, perhaps 25% for women; literacy mostly urban and surrounded the bible)

Women were barred from universities; all were self-educated

Aristocratic women published widely, especially poems

Some “scandalous” writers of popular stories of sex, satire, seduction were denounced by men as immoral Pope’s Dunciad depicts pissing contest of “scurrilous male booksellers” won by Eliza Haywood

Bluestockings: intellectual women who favored moral literature, esp novels about young women approaching marriage

Books were still too expensive for laborers, as were lending libraries

Poor sometimes taught to read as a religious activity by aristocratic masters

Patrons interested in letters, travel literature, and novels

Change of printing: capitalization reserved for proper names instead of nouns; fewer italics for emphasis suggests more sophisticated reading public

New interest in “nature”—external nature of landscapes; human nature’s “enduring, universal truths”

Study of the ancients seemed synonymous with study of nature: combine method with wit, and judgment with fancy