British Culture - User contributions [en]

Trinity College

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Francis Bacon

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January 22 1561- 9 April 1626. English philosopher and statesman.

== Life ==

At the age of thirteen, Francis Bacon together with his elder brother was sent to [[Trinity College]], Cambridge. This is where he became interested in philosophy and where he first met Queen [[Elizabeth I]] who was impressed by his intellect. After the death of his father in 1579, he was left with no fortune and in need to find a profession. He became a lawyer but never deserted his first interest, philosophy. In 1584 he entered the [[House of Commons]] where two years later he took part in urging the execution of [[Mary, Queen of Scots]]. In 1596 he was made a Queen's Counsel and one year later he published his first edition of essays. After the accession of [[James I]], Bacon's political career flourished and he became Lord Chancellor. Finally, he was able to fully concentrate on his philosophical work. However, his political career ended in disgrace in 1621, after he had fallen into debt and was deprived of all public offices. Bacon died in 1626.

== Philosophy ==

Bacon did not establish a philosophy but rather introduced a new method called the Baconian, scientific or empirical method. Up to Bacon's time, philosophy was not so much rooted in reason but in faith (or the sticking to tried and tested authorities, the writings of Aristotle, for example). But for Bacon, the philosopher is supposed to free his mind from false tendencies and notions. For him the importance of knowledge was empirically rooted in the natural world.

== Important Works ==

''The Elements of the Common Law of England'' (1597) [http://www.constitution.org/bacon/ecle.htm]

''The Proficience and Advancement of Learning'' (1605) [http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/b/bacon/francis/b12a/]

''Novum Organum'' (1620) [http://www.constitution.org/bacon/bacon.htm]

== Sources ==

"Francis Bacon." ''Luminarium: Anthology of English Literature'', http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/bacon/. Accessed 20 July 2009.

"Francis Bacon." ''Wikipedia'', http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Bacon. Accessed 18 July 2009.

Klein, Jürgen. "Francis Bacon." ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', first published 29 December 2003, Spring 2009 Edition, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/francis-bacon/. Accessed 21 July 2009.

Abraham Cowley

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William Congreve

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Born 24 January 1670, Bardsey, Yorkshire, England. Died 19 January 1729, London. Restoration playwright.

== Life ==
In 1674 Congreve's father joined the garrison at Youghal, in Ireland and so the family moved to Carrickfergus, where Congreve, was sent to school at Kilkenny (the Eton of Ireland) in 1681. Five years later, he entered Trinity College, Dublin. In 1690 Congreve's father became estate agent to the earl of Cork and in the following year, Congreve became a law student at the Middle Temple (London) and started writing and publishing. He rose to some fame instantly and thus the great [[John Dryden]] made him his protégé. They even published a translation of the satires of Juvenal and Persius together. In early 1693 Congreve’s production ''The Old Bachelour'' at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane earned him some respect. Congreve claimed to have composed this play to amuse himself during convalescence. In 1695 he became a manager of the new theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields.

When Congreve's masterpiece ''[[The Way of the World]]'' failed to be successful in 1700, he refrained from writing plays. But he did not desert the stage entirely, writing librettos for operas and collaborating on a translation of [[Molière]]'s ''Monsieur de Pourceaugnac'' in 1704.

Due to his substantial income, Congreve was able to pass the rest of his life quietly. When [[Voltaire]] paid him a visit and several compliments, Congreve supposedly replied that he only wanted to be known as English gentleman, not as writer (Bartlett).

== Works ==
=== Drama ===
Congreve's comedies are similar to [[George Etherege]]'s comedies of manner, but lack the Hobbesian nastiness. Congreve's first play ''[[The Old Bachelour]]'' (1693) was an enormous success, running for the then unprecedented length of a fortnight and commended even by [[John Dryden]]. Congreve's following play, ''[[The Double-Dealer]]'', played in the same year at the Drury Lane Theatre but unfortunately it was not very successful. As opposed to this, ''[[Love for Love]]'', which was first performed in 1695, was almost as successful as his first play. It was also the first production being staged in the new theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields, opening after several crises in the old Theatre Royal. Congreve had promised to write one play a year for the Lincoln's Inn Fields theatre but failed to do so and thus his next play ''The Mourning Bride'' was only performed in 1697. Nowadays his tragedies are his least regarded drama, however, during the Restoration they were his most famous plays. In March 1700, Congreve's ''[[Way of The World|The Way of the World]]'' was staged and failed to be successful. Its failure is often attributed to the complexity of the plot, which ropes around the lovers Mirabell and Millamant who have to overcome several difficulties in order to marry and secure Millamant's substantial inheritance.

=== Poetry ===
In 1695 Congreve turned to writing poetry, such as his pastoral on the death of Queen [[Mary II]], ''his Pindarique Ode, Humbly Offer'd to the King on his taking Namure'' and several poems. The volume containing these odes also contained ''Discourse on the Pindarique Ode'' (1706) and brought some order to a form that had become very unrestrained since the days of the poet [[Abraham Cowley]].

=== Narrative Prose ===
Rumor has it that Congreve also wrote Romances.

== Sources ==
*''Barlett's Book of Anecdotes''. Eds. Clifton Fadiman & André Bernard. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2002.
*Corman, Brian. “Comedy” in ''The Cambridge Companion to English Restoration Theatre''. Ed. D. Payne Fisk. Cambridge: CUP, 2003. <br />
*Korninger, Siegfried. ''The Restoration Period and the Eighteenth Century. 1660 – 1780.'' München: Österreichischer Bundesverlag Wien, 1964. <br />
*"Congreve, William." ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 22 May 2009 <http://www.search.eb.com/eb/article-1477>.

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Sir Daniel Harvey

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George Etherege

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Born in the 1640s. Died in the 1680s. Diplomat and [[Playwright]].

1654-1659: reading law; first play performed in 1663 ''The Comical Revenge'', due to this became renowned playwright, wit and courtier; 1668 ''She Wou’d If She Cou’d'' considered as one of the first genuine "[[Restoration]]" comedies; 1668-1671 secretary of [[Sir Daniel Harvey]] in Constantinople; 1676 ''[[The Man of Mode]]'', which is still considered one of the best (and funniest) Restoration comedies; 1685-1689 British envoy at the Everlasting Diet at Ratisbon (''Gesandter am Immerwährenden Reichstag in Regensburg''), where he started an affair with an actress, danced naked through the streets and drank a lot, which caused some raised eyebrows; 1689 after the [[Glorious Revolution]] he joined [[James II]] in exile in France, where he must have died.

==== Sources ====

Anette Pankratz, "Biogramm: George Etherege". ''Kindlers Literaturlexikon'', Third Edition (2009).

Eva Maria Veigel

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Charles Fleetwood

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David Garrick

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Jasminuhlmann:

Born in Hereford on February 19, 1717, died in London on January 20, 1779. Famous 18th-century actor, producer, dramatist, poet and co-manager of the [[Drury Lane|Drury Lane Theatre]]. A star of his times.

In 1737 Garrick moved from the family home at Lichfield to London in order to study law at Lincoln’s Inn but when he received a legacy of £1,000 from an uncle, he changed his plan. He had spent some time in Lisbon as an apprentice to his uncle, who was a vintner, and founded – together with his brother – the company Garrick and Co., wine merchants. Due to his business he found himself often in places of entertainment and met a lot of actors and also the manager of Drury Lane Theatre, [[Charles Fleetwood]].

Garrick started his profession as an actor in 1741 at an unlicensed theatre in Goodman’s Fields, anonymously and masked or with a blackened face. He kept his work a secret and even his family did not come to know about it until his success as Richard III on October 19, 1741. From this time on he became a very popular and much praised actor. Although Fleetwood rejected him when he was still unknown to the theatre sector, he then wanted Garrick for Drury Lane Theatre and offered him a salary larger than ever offered to an actor before. In the following years he also became very famous in Dublin.
In April of 1747 Garrick and his friends raised £8,000 which helped him with leasing and furnishing of Drury Lane Theatre. He became part owner of the theatre and was responsible for performing, and choosing plays and actors. The Drury Lane Theatre re-opened in September 1747 and presented a high number of [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]] plays.
David Garrick married the Viennese opera dancer [[Eva Maria Veigel]] on June 22, 1749.

In his last years, he was a member of [[Samuel Johnson]]’s Literary Club and at Hampton he was a squire.
After his death in 1779 he was buried in Poet’s Corner at [[Westminster Abbey]] at the foot of Shakespeare’s statue.

== Some of his works ==

*''Lethe: or, Esop in the Shades'' (1740)
*''Miss in Her Teens; or, The Medley of Lovers'' (1747)
*''The Male Coquette; or, Seventeen Fifty Sevent'' (1756)
*''A Peep Behind the Curtain, or The New Rehearsal'' (1767)
*''The Jubilee'' (1769)
*''A Christmas Tale'' (1773)

== Sources ==

*http://www.theatrehistory.com/british/garrick001.html
*http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/226188/David-Garrick

The Country Girl

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The Country Wife

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Jasminuhlmann:

Play by [[William Wycherley]], premiered in 1675 and said to be one of the most popular plays of Restoration comedy. Loosely adapted from ''[[The school for wives|L’École des femmes]]'' (''The School for Wives'', 1662) a play by the French writer [[Molière]].

In January 1675 ''The Country Wife'' was first performed at the Theatre Royal, [[Drury Lane]]. The play itself had a good start, although some scenes and Horner’s trick about his false impotence caused offence to some of the audience. The play became part of the repertory and was performed more or less unchanged until 1753. After this it was thought too obscene and risky and only revived in 1924. [[David Garrick]]'s ''[[The Country Girl]]'' (1766) provided a harmless version of the original with Margery a virgin and Horner as romantic lover.
Nowadays the original version of ''The Country Wife'' is one of the stage favourites again, while Garrick’s version of the play is almost completely forgotten.

'''Plot'''

The plot of Wycherley’s ''The Country Wife'' consists of three intertwining story lines:

1. The first plot is also the one that interlinks all three plots. It is the one in which Horner pretends to be impotent. Quack helps him to spread this rumour – he therefore successfully manages to convince society of his false impotence. The goal of this rumour is that Horner is able to meet other men’s wives, since he is now known as being harmless (not able to seduce and have sex anymore). But in reality this is just a trick to seduce all those married women. Horner’s dishonesty is already represented in his telling name which means that he “puts horns on” the women’s husbands.
In the end Horner manages to have sex with a lot of respectable women in town.

2. The second plot line presents Mr. Pinchwife and his wife Margery, who just came from the country into town. Mr. Pinchwife married a naive wife in the hope that she will not cheat on him as he expects a woman from town to do.
But as said before, the story lines are intertwined and Horner himself functions as the link between the plots. He is actually the one who teaches Margery about the facts of upper-class life, seduction and illegitimate sex.
This story line is also a good example for a humorous feature often used in Restoration comedies since it pictures the contrast between country and town.

3. The last plot is about Sparkish and how he loses his fiancée Alithea, who is Mr. Pinchwife’s sister. Sparkish actually allows one of his friends – Harcourt – to court his fiancée, because he is more interested in his appearance as a wit than in being a faithful lover.
In the beginning Alithea does not want to meet Harcourt who is seriously in love with her, even though she discovers that Sparkish is rather in love with her money than with her – this fact is still not reason enough for her to break the engagement.
But then Sparkish is led on the wrong track and believes that his fiancée is one of Horner’s lovers and therefore breaks the engagement himself. Alithea and Harcourt are thus free to marry each other, while Sparkish ends up all by himself.

Sources:

Salgado, Gamini (ed.).''Three Restoration Comedies''. London: Penguin Classics, 1986.

The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature
http://oxford-britishliterature.com/entry?entry=t198.e0503#head1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Country_Wife

The Christian Hero

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Drury Lane

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The Englishman

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The Crisis

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Joseph Addison

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Jasminuhlmann:

1672-1719. Scholar, politician, dramatist/poet, journalist/essayist and member of the Kit-Kat Club. Famous for his collaborations with [[Richard Steele]] on the moral weeklies ''The Tatler'' and ''The Spectator''.

== Life and work ==

Addison was part of the Charterhouse in London, where he met [[Richard Steele]]. He taught pupils and was admired by them for his elegant scholarship and his knowledge of Latin poetry. His classical reputation soon extended to the literary circles of London, where he was taking a place amongst professional authors. Addison also translated texts.

Between 1699 and 1703, he traveled a lot in the course of his Grand Tour. [was this before or after the start of his literary career?]

Addison turned from poetry to point a moral against Popery and arbitrary power [what does this mean concretely?]. In 1699, Addison became a member of the famous Kit-Kat Club, to which all the great [[Whigs]] belonged. [but: [[John Vanbrugh|not only]]]

His publication of "Remarks on several parts of Italy" in 1705 became so popular that it rose to 5 times the original price. The success of his poem "Campaign" was rewarded by a further promotion to an under-secretaryship of state in 1706. [why? who promoted him?]

When Richard Steele started ''The Tatler'' in 1709, Addison was not involved in it, but after a while he frequently contributed important papers. Steele founded another journal, ''The Spectator'', and general opinion was that Addison was the main reason for the success. Addison's essays were admired by all the critics of the 18th century. He wrote in a humorous, critical or serious style and touched upon the various follies of the day. Addison achieved that general attention was paid to a then despised branch of literature.

[[Whigs]] and [[Tories]] were not only united in admiring Addison, but were equally anxious to claim a right to his phrases about liberty in the play ''Cato''. [when first performed? what were these phrases? why were Whigs and Tories equally attracted?]

Addison published ''The Freeholder'', which was a political "Spectator" in defence of orthodox whig principles. [when? what are orthodox Whig principles?]

In 1716, he married the Countess of Warwick, but lead an unhappy marriage, so he went to coffee houses more often. Addison's health was getting worse and his last published work [title? date of publication?] was of a different character that brought him into conflict with his old friend Steele [why?]. On June 17th 1719 he died of asthma and dropsy.

== Sources ==

Joseph Addison, in: The Dictionary of National Biography. Volume I Abbadie-Beaden. Oxford University Press, 122-131.

The Conscious Lovers

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Jasminuhlmann: Created page with "''The Conscious Lovers'' is a Sentimental Comedy written by Richard Steele in 1722. As part of the Sensibility movement, ''The Conscious Lovers'' aims at educating society and teaching morality through creating exemplary characters to imitate. Steele states in the preface of the play, that he wrote the entire play around a dueling scene, in which Mr. Myrtle, filled with rage and jealousy, challenges Bevil Junior to a duel. After overcoming his rage, Bevil Junior..."

''The Conscious Lovers'' is a [[Sentimental Comedy]] written by [[Richard Steele]] in 1722. As part of the Sensibility movement, ''The Conscious Lovers'' aims at educating society and teaching morality through creating exemplary characters to imitate.
Steele states in the preface of the play, that he wrote the entire play around a dueling scene, in which Mr. Myrtle, filled with rage and jealousy, challenges Bevil Junior to a duel. After overcoming his rage, Bevil Junior calms himself and declines. Steele says, that with this scene he hopes to influence young men facing a duel to commit themselves to reason over impulse, thus declining a duel.

==== Plot ====
Bevil Junior, only son and heir to the estate of Sir John Bevil, is set to marry Lucinda, the only daughter of Old Sealand. However, neither Bevil Junior nor Lucinda want to be married to the other, as they are both in love is somebody else. Bevil Junior is in love with Indiana, Old Sealand's long lost daughter who is believed to be dead, and Lucinda is in love with Mr. Myrtle, a friend of Bevil Junior. Through various intrigues, the not-lovers succeed in dissolving the engagement. In the final revelation scene, Bevil admits to his father, that he is in love with Indiana, who is revealed to be Old Sealand long lost daughter. The play ends with the engagement of Bevil Junior to Indiana and Lucinda to Mr. Myrtle.

==== Criticism ====
Criticism evolved early on after the publication of the play. [[John Dennis]] for example critizes the play, arguing, that Bevil Junior's behaviour follows no sense of reason, and that the final [[Agnorisis|agnorisis]] is cheaply made. Such criticism underlines the close link between theatre and and society during the restoration period.

==== References ====

Dennis, John. "Remarks on The Conscious Lovers." ''Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Comedy''. 2nd ed., Norton Critical Editions, 1997.

Jucker, Andreas H. "The Eighteenth Century: Educational Literature." ''Politeness in the History of English: from the Middle Ages to the Present Day''. Cambridge UP, 2020. 135-159.

Steele, Richard. ''The Conscious Lovers''. 1722.