1731

Dearest Cousin,
==== What a beautiful summer it’s been in London these past few months – aside from the heat of course! I’m so sorry that we had to postpone your annual visit because you’re feeling under the weather, but I will happily catch you up on what you’ve missed. There have been so many magnificent shows running this summer, and the King’s Theater is still presenting Italian operas like it did last summer as well(9) so Father and I have spent many evenings going to the different shows. There was a fairly decent mix of comedies and tragedies, and operas and concerts as well (9) so you really have to scan papers for what’s playing where – Drury Lane posts its upcoming theatrical performances in the //Daily Post// whileLincoln’s Inn Fields and the King’s Theater usually posts in the //Daily Journal,// and The Haymarket and Goodman’s Field tend to post in //Daily Post// or the //Daily Advertiser.// Father buys all the papers for reading so it’s not a problem for us, but it does require some organization! Anyway, we try to vary it up because the same shows play at each theater and it can get kind of pricey to go all the time, so we tried to stick with the comedies – warm weather makes you want to laugh, you know? We mostly stayed away from Drury Lane because it was mainly showing //The London Merchant,// which is a definite tragedy, to say the least (this was a little sad for me though, because Drury Lane is my favorite theater in terms of asthetics). ====

==== My favorite was when we saw //The Conscious Lovers// in late July. I appreciate that all the characters get a happy ending, and Tom and Phillis kept Father laughing until his sides ached – he said Chapman and Mrs. Morgan were his favorite actors to play the silly servant couple yet (9). As always, I must note that I greatly appreciate that most of theatrical performances incorporate a significant amount of song and dance.9 While operas and concerts are a little bit //too much// music for my taste, when I can get a play that includes a hearty compilation of several different art forms //and// a funny plotline to follow, I am one happy girl. The new theater in Tottenham Court was showing //Amurath, The Great Emperor of the Turks// for several weeks in August, but Father wouldn’t let us go because it was too far to travel and we couldn’t make it back to the house before dark – since curtain time is 6:30 or 7:00pm in the summer, instead of 6:00pm like in winter (9), the shows let out later, and he feels it’s dangerous to travel that late at night – so I unfortunately wasn’t able to see it. Hopefully it’ll come to a closer theater soon! ====

==== As usual, Mother spent most of her summer in the house avoiding the sun, with her nose buried in her political newspapers. I often spend my down time reading with her in the kitchen – at Father’s request, of course. Though I would much rather spend my time outdoors, Father says he likes his women to be ‘politically well-versed’ and that it’s helping ‘further my education.’ I think it’s mostly because he’s hoping that the boys of London won’t be keen to fancy smart girls – we’ll have to see about that I suppose *wink wink.* Anyhow, Mother’s favorite publication right now is //The Free Briton.// It is written by Arnall William (he uses quite a funny pen name though: Francis Walsingham) and is published quite regularly. So far, Arnall has spent most of his writing doing what most politicians do best – arguing. He has spent the majority of the summer issues writing aggressive response pieces that squabble with his competitor //The Craftsman// over issues about the current ministry. There has been a lot of political tension about how the ministry is handling our foreign affairs, particularly with France, since our alliance with them was dissolved with the Treaty of Vienna back in March.1 Arnall defends the current administration from a very “pro-Walpolean,” pro-ministry position, cutting down The //Craftsman// who are viewed as ‘country’ whigs (7). Their opposition alleges that the current system is a “corrupt, immoral, and tyrannous ministry” (7). For example, in a July issue, Arnall responds to //The Craftsman// criticism of the late Queen Anne's ministries, and how many of those same economic and foreign policy issues have been augmented and continue to resonate in King George II's current ministry.(1) Williams acknowledges that there were problems with Queen Anne's ministry, but claims that this current ministry along with the George I’s before that has taken great strides to correct them. His evidence is conveyed very passionately in his writing, particularly when he lists lots of things that no longer exist to complain about: "Where are the Canada Expeditions; the Catalonian Breach of Faith; the Grand Alliance betrayed; the Dutch and the Empire sacrificed to the French?…where have we seen the like since?" (**1).** Mother agrees with much of his evidence when he de-bunks //Craftsman// arguments, but she usually reserves judgment on whether or not Arnall’s pro-ministry position is the better one. Arnall is against monarchical limitation – for example, in one of his August publications, Arnall steadfastly opposes the The Limitation of the Act of Settlement, saying that this act, which restrains the king by requiring the monarch to get Parliament’s consent when declaring war, was a “violent invasion” of the king’s rights and “was also doe against all truth and decency; without any regard to common justice” (2) – which Mother does not necessarily support. She’s basically distrustful of all political agendas, which is why she reads so much – as she puts it, she has to keep up with how the political tensions are progressing so she can know “Who’s propagating what” – oh, how it must be so stressful to worry about such things all the time. Yet another reason she should come to the theater with Father and me! ====

Dearest Cousin,
==== I’m so sorry to hear that you’re still not in good health – and right as the leaves have begun to change colors! I hope you can at least see them from where you rest in your bed. Well rest assured, I am happy to continue to fill you in on what you are missing here in London. The theater scene continues to entice me. These past two months, we’ve seen a swell in Shakespeare plays, mainly at Lincoln’s Inn Fields and Goodman’s Fields – they’ve been tragedies mostly, but it’s mainly been the undoing of men, so my feminist side remains satisfied: Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth, Henry IV Part 1, to name a few (9). They also preformed my favorite, Wycherley’s //The Country Wife,// at Drury Lane in late September, which was such a great way to close out the summer months and transition into fall. Wilks does a brilliant Horner – the china scene gets me roaring with laughter every time!9 I also saw that //A Bold Stroke For A Wife// by Susanna Centlivre was being preformed at Goodman's Fields, which always ignites a lot of controversial discussions among people in the city. I didn’t actually go to the performance though – I’ve yet to be allowed to see it, because according to Father, it is "too politically charged.” Apparently Centlivre expresses a lot of overt support for the Whig Party (9), which tends to get people talking about the current state of Parliament and whether or not they support the ministry and what not. ====

==== Oo, I almost forgot, Father and I finally got around to seeing The London Merchant – what a play! Now I know why it’s so popular – it’s practically showing once a week here, at Goodman’s Fields (9). Written by English playwright George Lillo, the play centers on George Barnwell, a young (and clearly naive) apprentice who falls victim to Sarah Millwood, a prostitute who uses her female wiles to seduce Barnwell with the hope that she can later exploit him for his money. Sarah tricks George into being disloyal to his master, Thorowgood – first by disobeying his curfew to spend the night with her, and then by stealing from Thorowgood when Sarah says that their night together got her evicted from her home. George feels so guilty for taking advantage of his master that he runs away after leaving a written confession. When he comes to Sarah, she tricks him //again,// persuading him to rob and kill his uncle Barnwell to get his money – which then George goes off and does!He feels even more guilty and upset afterwards, and when Sarah realizes that he didn't get the money, she turns him in to the police – though that backfires on her a little bit because they both get arrested and sentenced to death. I honestly felt really bad for George – by the end the poor boy is completely undone by this woman. The play ends with a semi-silver lining: George is incredibly remorseful, so his master Thorowgood and friend Trueman forgive him, and he is able to find peace within himself before his execution (10). ====

==== Overall, the play explores some pretty deep themes. One that really stood out to me is loyalty and respect. I feel like the play reinforces this theme of hierarchal obedience that I've seen most recently in //The Conscious Lovers,// which was playing a week earlier at Drury Lane//.// George’s real-life and internal problems stem from his disobedience and disrespect – he’s burdened by guilt and later on by real-life consequences for stealing from his superiors, Thorowgood and Barnwell. Both Thorowgood and Barnwell’s kind-hearted responses to George’s mistakes imply that if George had come to them with his problems instead of breaking rules to solve them, they would have kindly helped him – it was in challenging the hierarchy that George ends up getting completely taken down. ====

==== Father enjoyed that this play deals with class tensions as well – it focuses on mostly middle-class merchant characters, which Father found both refreshing and innovative. He says that simply by engaging with merchants in the first place, similar to the way Steele engages with the merchant and servant class in //The Conscious Lovers,// Lillo is helping to create a dialogue about this class of people and contributing to the negotiation of the relationship between the elite members of society and the merchant class. His play reinforces the values of hard, honest work and ethical monetary exchange, asserting his ideals for the merchant class in our society through the character of Thorowgood, and showing the audience what happens to merchant characters like George when you don't abide by these ideals. Overall, we found it to be a very thought-provoking play! ====

Dearest Cousin,
==== Though I do not take pleasure in the fact that you continue to feel ill, I have grown to really love our correspondence – it’s fun to update you on the goings-on here in London. Father’s and my theater attendance has slowed down with the cold weather. Colley Cibber’s plays are very popular right now, with performances of The Provok’d Husband, The Carless Husband, She Wou’d and She Wou’d Not, and Damon and Phillida playing at Drury Lane, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, //and// Goodman’s Fields all throughout November and December (9). Shakespeare’s tragedies continue to be popular as well – Othello and King Henry IV Part 1 are still playing fairly regularly, and King Henry the Eighth starting playing in late November as well. I also got to see the Tempest at Drury Lane for my birthday on the evening of December 2nd. It was quite a treat because the text had been altered from Shakespeare’s original piece by Sir William Davenant and Mr. Dryden, and the adaptation was //fantastic.// Even more fun to watch than the original, dare I say it (9). ====

==== As usual, Mother did not attend with us. She continues to spend her time at home, keeping house and reading her papers. She’s still very much hooked on Arnall’s //The Free Briton.// I must say, I’ve noticed that its subject matter has opened up as time goes on. Throughout the winter months he has started to move away from only attacking rival publications, and moved into publishing letters he receives from citizens in the community and providing social commentary on the issues they raise, or providing his own opinion and analysis of community issues that he feels raise important questions about our government (3-6). For example, in November, Arnall wrote on what he thinks of Common Council rejecting the petition to put up a statue of King William III – short version: he thinks that the Common Council was grossly unjust in not considering the petition for this 'great Prince' and that citizens should be //outraged// by their lack of support (5). Though I do not necessarily back this cause (I could not care less if we get a King William III statue), I understood his general point, which was that the government is supposed to represent the needs of the people – and that it is dangerous for us to allow the Common Council to disregard a petition, because it is sending them a message that they do not have to listen to us, when in fact it is supposed to be government’s main purpose to servethe people it represents (5). ====

==== Arnall also publishes response letters and essays from community members that he finds intriguing or evocative, and doesn’t analyze at all – he just lets the work speak for itself. For example, in the last week of December he recently printed a intellectually engaging essay written by William Temple on Popular Discontents where Temple analyzes what he sees as the human needs that govern men's passions and drive them to action, and how the government relates to this, getting into reasons why he believes men are dissatisfied with specific aspects of our current governing system (6). I really like Arnall’s inclusion of outside commentators because I feel that he’s giving an authentic voice to citizens of London by making their thoughts and concerns a matter of public discourse, but Mother is on the fence about it (I think she’d be more inclined to like it if he published one of //her// response letters). Overall, //The Free Briton// has shaped up to be a pretty diverse publication, dealing with many different aspects of political engagement in London – from a macro-level of critiquing the policies of Parliament and the ministry, to a micro-level of commenting on more local issues happening in the city and the giving voice to the citizens who reside here. I definitely wouldn’t skip the theater to read it like Mother does, but Arnall’s definitely proved to me that he’s got some interesting things to offer. ====

6. Arnall, William. "News." //The Free Briton.// London, Dec. 1731. //Eighteenth Century Journals.// Web. 21 Apr. 2014.
==== 7. Carter, Philip. “Arnall, William (//d.// 1736).” //Oxford Dictionary of National Biography//. Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. Online ed. Ed. Lawrence Goldman. May 2010. 21 Apr. 2014 . ====

8. "Interior of Theatre Royal, Drury Lane." Drawing. //Wikimedia Commons.// Web. 21 Apr. 2014.
==== 9. Lennep, William. //The London Stage, 1660-1800: A Calendar of Plays, Entertainments & Afterpieces, Together with Casts, Box-Recipets and Contemporary Comment.// Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1960. Print. ==== ==== 10. Lillo, George. //The London Merchant: or the history of George Barnwell. As it is acted at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane. By His Majesty's servants.// London: 1731. //Eighteenth Century Collections Online.// 21 Apr 2014. ====