Literature and the Social Order in Eighteenth-Century England

Stephen Copley

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781000031065
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

Recent scholarship had emphasised the importance of a number of non-literary, economic and social debates to the understanding of Augustan Literature. Debates over the place of land, money, credit and luxury in society, as well as strands of radical thinking, are prominent throughout the period.

Originally published in 1984, this anthology of eighteenth century writings about contemporary society is divided into sections on the social order, economics, the poor and crime, with a general introduction identifying some of the dominant social discourses of the period. They reflect the emergence of an embryonic capitalist society, with its challenge to feudal ties, and of a nascent bourgeois class. This collection of writings is not intended to provide material for an empirical historical account of these changes, but to give some idea of the ideological terms in which they are perceived, endorsed or contested by contemporaries; and provide a set of discursive contexts in which the imaginative literature of the period can be read. The texts themselves repay close analysis as the bearers of complex ideological positions and it is interesting to observe how, for example, Pope accommodates Shaftesbury and Mandeville in the Moral Essays.

A fascinating anthology, Literature and the Social Order in Eighteenth-Century England, complete with editor's introduction and notes on the passages, aims to suggest lines of inquiry without offering a 'total' reading.

1 THE SOCIAL ESTABLISHMENT

Passages 1.1, 1.9 and 1.10 in this section provide accounts of the ‘traditional’ social order: the other passages discuss the relation between that order and the new middle classes. Passage 1.1, from Shaftesbury’s Characteristicks, together with passage 5.2 from the same source, describes a natural hierarchy in society and defines the duties of those within it. In passage 1.9 Bolingbroke takes this ‘natural’ hierarchy as an ideal, and uses it as the basis for a critique of the contemporary establishment. Passage 1.10 presents a later Tory description of the order of society, and this has been discussed in the introduction.

The other passages show the spokesmen for an articulate middle class challenging the social position of the aristocracy and claiming their own right to a place within the establishment. The most brusquely assertive of them are those by Defoe (passages 1.6, 1.7 and 1.8), which dismiss any claims of the gentry to be treated with special respect over and above that afforded to the successful tradesman. The essays from The Spectator, The Guardian and The Freeholder (passages 1.2, 1.3 1.4 and 1.5) are less aggressive in tone, emphasising the unity of purpose of all the members of the establishment, and ensuring that the middle class citizen has a prominent place in any account of that unity. The most elaborate discussion comes in the Spectator essays (passages 1.2 and 1.3). The first takes the form of a discussion between the members of the Spectator Club about the mutual dependence of land and trade. The second is a fascinating example of appropriation by the affluent middle class of the life and mythology of the gentry. In his letter on retirement Sir Andrew Freeport adopts all the postures of the paternalist aristocrat and redefines them in his own terms. His account of ‘being charitable in my way’, for instance, involves ‘setting my poor Neighbours to work, and giving them a comfortable Subsistence out of their own Industry’, a formulation which combines a description of the charitable largesse of the patron towards his dependants with a description of the relation between the employer and his independent wage labourers.

Passage 1.1

(from Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury, ‘An Inquiry concerning Virtue, or Merit’, Book 2, Part 2, Section 1, Characteristicks, 1711)

In Brutes, and other Creatures, who have not the Use of Reason or Reflection (at least not after the manner of Mankind) ’tis so order’d in Nature, that by their daily Search after Food, and their Application either towards the Business of their Livelihood, or the Affairs of their Species or Kind, almost their whole time is taken up, and they fail not to find full Imployment for their Passion, according to that degree of Agitation to which they are fitted, and which their Constitution requires. If any one of these Creatures be taken out of his natural laborious State, and plac’d amidst such a Plenty as can profusely administer to all his Appetites and Wants; it may be observ’d, that as his Circumstances grow thus luxuriant, his Temper and Passions have the same Growth. When he comes, at any time, to have the Accommodations of Life at a cheaper and easier rate than was at first intended him by Nature, he is made to pay dear for ’em in another way; by losing his natural good Disposition, and the Orderliness of his Kind or Species.

This needs not to be demonstrated by particular Instances. Whoever has the least knowledge of Natural History, or has been an Observer of the several Breeds of Creatures, and their ways of Life, and Propagation, will easily understand this Difference of Orderliness between the Wild and the Tame of the same Species. The latter acquire new Habits; and deviate from their original Nature. They lose even the common Instinct and ordinary Ingenuity of their Kind; nor can they ever regain it, whilst they continue in this pamper’d State: But being turn’d to shift abroad, they resume the natural Affection and Sagacity of their Species. They learn to unite in stricter Fellowship; and grow more concern’d for their Offspring. They provide against the Seasons, and make the most of every advantage given by Nature for the Support and Maintenance of their particular Species, against such as are foreign and hostile. And thus as they grow busy and imploy’d, they grow regular and good. Their Petulancy and Vice forsakes them with their Idleness and Ease.

It happens with Mankind, that whilst some are by necessity confin’d to Labour, others are provided with abundance of all things, by the Pains and Labour of Inferiours. Now, if among the superiour and easy sort, there be not something of fit and proper Imployment rais’d in the room of what is wanting in common Labour and Toil; if instead of an Application to any sort of Work, such as has a good and honest End in Society (as Letters, Sciences, Arts, Husbandry, publick Affairs, Oeconomy, or the like) there be a thorow Neglect of all Duty or Imployment; a settled Idleness, Supineness, and Inactivity; this of necessity must occasion a most relax’d and dissolute State: It must produce a total Disorder of the Passions, and break out in the strangest Irregularitys imaginable.

We see the enormous Growth of Luxury in capital Citys, such as have been long the Seat of Empire. We see what Improvements are made in Vice of every kind, where numbers of Men are maintain’d in lazy Opulence, and wanton Plenty. Tis otherwise with those who are taken up in honest and due Imployment, and have been well inur’d to it from their Youth. This we may observe in the hardy remote Provincials, the Inhabitants of smaller Towns, and the industrious sort of common People; where ’tis rare to meet with any Instances of those Irregularitys, which are known in Courts and Palaces, and in the rich Foundations of easy and pamper’d Priests.

Passage 1.2

(Richard Steele, The Spectator, no. 174, 19 September 1711)

(Meetings of the fictional Spectator Club, referred to here and in passage 1.3, are described at various points in the run of The Spectator. Its members are taken as representative spokesmen for the different interests in established society.)

Haec memini & victum frustra contendere Thyrsin

Virg.¹

There is scarce any thing more common than Animosities between Parties that cannot subsist but by their Agreement: This was well represented in the Sedition of the Members of the human Body in the old Roman Fable. It is often the Case of lesser confederate States against a superiour Power, which are hardly held together though their Unanimity is necessary for their common Safety: And this is always the Case of the landed and trading Interest of Great Britain; the Trader is fed by the Product of the Land, and the landed Man cannot be cloathed but by the Skill of the Trader; and yet those Interests are ever jarring.

We had last Winter an Instance of this at our Club, in Sir ROGER DE COVERLY and Sir ANDREW FREEPORT, between whom there is generally a constant, though friendly, Opposition of Opinions. It happened that one of the Company, in an historical Discourse, was observing, that Carthaginian Faith was a proverbial Phrase to intimate Breach of Leagues. Sir ROGER said it could hardly be otherwise: That the Carthaginians were the greatest Traders in the World; and as Gain is the chief End of such a People, they never pursue any other: The Means to it are never regarded; they will, if it comes easily, get Money honestly; but if not, they will not scruple to attain it by Fraud or Cosenage: And indeed what is the whole Business of the Trader’s Accompt, but to over-reach him who trusts to his Memory? But were that not so, what can there great and noble be expected from him whose Attention is for ever fixed upon ballancing his Books, and watching over his Expences? And at best, let Frugality and Parsimony be the Virtues of the Merchant, how much is his punctual Dealing below a Gentleman’s Charity to the Poor, or Hospitality among his Neighbours?

Captain SENTRY observed Sir ANDREW very diligent in hearing Sir ROGER, and had a Mind to turn the Discourse, by taking Notice in general from the highest to the lowest Parts of human Society, there was a secret, tho’ unjust Way among Men, of indulging the Seeds of ill Nature and Envy, by comparing their own State of Life to that of another, and grudging the Approach of their Neighbour to their own Happiness; and on the other Side, he who is the less at his Ease repines at the other who, he thinks, has unjustly the Advantage over him. Thus the civil and military List look upon each other with much ill Nature; the Soldier repines at the Courtier’s Power, and the Courtier rallies the Soldier’s Honour; or to come to lower Instances, the private Men in the Horse and Foot of an Army, the Carmen and Coachmen in the City-streets, mutually look upon each other with ill Will, when they are in Competition for Quarters or the Way in their respective Motions.

It is very well, good Captain, interrupted Sir ANDREW: You may attempt to turn the Discourse, if you think fit, but I must however have a Word or two with Sir ROGER; who, I see, thinks he has paid me off, and been very severe upon the Merchant. I shall not, continued he, at this Time remind Sir Roger of the great and noble Monuments of Charity and publick Spirit which have been erected by Merchants since the Reformation, but at present content my self with what he allows us, Parsimony and Frugality. If it were consistent with the Quality of so antient a Baronet as Sir Roger, to keep an Accompt or measure things by the most infallible Way, that of Numbers, he would prefer our Parsimony to his Hospitality. If to drink so many Hogsheads is to be hospitable, we do not contend for the Fame of that Virtue; but it would be worth while to consider, whether so many Artificers at work ten Days together by my Appointment, or so many Peasants made merry on Sir ROGER’S Charge, are the Men more obliged: I believe the Families of the Artificers will thank me, more than the Housholds of the Peasants shall Sir ROGER. Sir ROGER gives to his Men, but I place mine above the Necessity or Obligation of my Bounty. I am in very little Pain for the Roman Proverb upon the Carthaginian Traders; the Romans were their professed Enemies: I am only sorry no Carthaginian Histories have come to our Hands; we might have been taught perhaps by them some Proverbs against the Roman Generosity, in fighting for and bestowing other People’s Goods. But since Sir Roger has taken Occasion from an old Proverb to be out of Humour with Merchants, it should be no Offence to offer one not quite so old in their Defence. When a Man happens to break in Holland, they say of him that he has not kept true Accompts. This Phrase, perhaps, among us would appear a soft or humorous way of speaking, but with that exact Nation it bears the highest Reproach; for a Man to be mistaken in the Calculation of his Expence, in his Ability to answer future Demands, or to be impertinently sanguine in putting his Credit to too great Adventure, are all Instances of as much Infamy, as with gayer Nations to be failing in Courage or common Honesty.

Numbers are so much the Measure of every thing that is valuable, that it is not possible to demonstrate the Success of any Action or the Prudence of any Undertaking without them. I say this in Answer to what Sir ROGER is pleased to say, That little that is truly noble can be expected from one who is ever poring on his Cash-book or ballancing his Accompts. When I have my Returns from abroad, I can tell to a Shilling by the Help of Numbers the Profit or Loss by my Adventure; but I ought also to be able to shew that I had Reason for making it, either from my own Experience or that of other People, or from a reasonable Presumption that my Returns will be sufficient to answer any Expence and Hazard; and this is never to be done without the Skill of Numbers. For Instance, if I am to trade to Turkey, I ought beforehand to know the Demand of our Manufactures there as well as of their Silks in England, and the customary Prices that are given for both in each Country. I ought to have a clear Knowledge of these Matters before-hand, that I may presume upon sufficient Returns to answer the Charge of the Cargo I have fitted out, the Freight and Assurance out and home, the Customs to the Queen, and the Interest of my own Money, and besides all these Expences a reasonable Profit to my self. Now what is there of Scandal in this Skill? What has the Merchant done that he should be so little in the good Graces of Sir ROGER? He throws down no Man’s Enclosures, and tramples upon no Man’s Corn; he takes nothing from the industrious Labourer; he pays the poor Man for his Work; he communicates his Profit with Mankind; by the Preparation of his Cargo and the Manufacture of his Returns, he furnishes Employment and Subsistence to greater Numbers than the richest Nobleman; and even the Nobleman is oblig’d to him for finding out foreign Markets for the Produce of his Estate, and for making a great Addition to his Rents; and yet ’tis certain that none of all these things could be done by him without the Exercise of his Skill in Numbers.

This is the Oeconomy of the Merchant, and the Conduct of the Gentleman must be the same, unless by scorning to be the Steward, he resolves the Steward shall be the Gentleman. The Gentleman no more than the Merchant is able without the Help of Numbers to account for the Success of any Action or the Prudence of any Adventure. If, for Instance, the Chace is his whole Adventure, his only Returns must be the Stag’s Horns in the great Hall, and the Fox’s Nose upon the Stable Door. Without Doubt Sir ROGER knows the full Value of these Returns; and if before-hand he had computed the Charges of the Chace, a Gentleman of his Discretion would certainly have hang’d up all his Dogs, he would never have brought back so many fine Horses to the Kennel, he would never have gone so often like a Blast over Fields of Corn. If such too had been the Conduct of all his Ancestors, he might truly have boasted at this Day that the Antiquity of his Family had never been sullied by a Trade; a Merchant had never been permitted with his whole Estate to purchase a Room for his Picture in the Gallery of the COVERLYS, or to claim his Descent from the Maid of Honour. But ’tis very happy for Sir ROGER that the Merchant paid so dear for his Ambition. ’Tis the Misfortune of many other Gentlemen to turn out of the Seats of their Ancestors, to make Way for such new Masters as have been more exact in their Accompts than themselves; and certainly he deserves the Estate a great deal better who has got it by his Industry, than he who has lost it by his Negligence.

Passage 1.3

(Joseph Addison, The Spectator, No. 549, 29 November 1712)

Quamvis digressu veteris confusus amici,

Laudo tamen …

Juv.²

I believe most People begin the World with a Resolution to withdraw from it into a serious kind of Solitude or Retirement, when they have made themselves easie in it. Our Unhappiness is, that we find out some Excuse or ot...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Original Title Page
• Original Copyright Page
• Contents
• Series Editor’s Preface
• Introduction
• 1. The Social Establishment
• 2. Commerce and Industry
• 3. The Economy and the Social Order
• 4. The Poor
• 5. Crime
• Select Bibliography
• Subject Index