1773

//The London Magazine// or //The Gentleman’s Monthly Intelligencer// is a magazine published from 1732 to the present day, and is considered England’s oldest literary periodical. The magazine was founded in 1732 to oppose the Tory publication //Gentleman’s Magazine//. The publication did go out of print for a time between 1785 and 1820, but was resurrected by the publishers Baldwin, Craddock & Joy. Though the publication was small when it started, it went on to publish works by famous writers such as William Wordsworth and John Keats. During the year 1773, as it did during other years, the periodical mostly focused on the British Theatre and different writings of the time. The magazine printed summaries and reviews of different plays that were put on during that month. Strangely enough, the February issue contained the answer to a math problem that was published in the December 1772 issue. Theoretically, the reader was meant to try to solve the math problem and then check the periodical again in 2 months to see if they got the right answer, not unlike crosswords in the current day. The answer in the February issue was to a problem that concerned figuring out degrees of angles based on meridian lines on a map. Apparently, the title of this periodical does not lie, and this magazine really is an intelligencer. The periodical publishes Marriages and death announcements on the last pages of each issue, as well as a brief column on foreign affairs. The column on foreign affairs mostly concerned France and other European countries in the winter and spring months of 1773, but shifted to focus on the brewing American Revolution in the later months. //The London Magazine// does contain a review of //She Stoops to Conquer//, which lauded it for being creative but admonishes its numerous inaccuracies.
 * Background**

The Tea Act of 1773 was passed in April of 1773. This act, passed by British Parliament without input from American colonists, gave The British East India Company a monopoly hold on importing tea in North America. This act was, in part, to force American colonists to pay taxes on their tea and to cut down on illegally smuggled tea in the colonies. American colonists were outraged by this infringement on their rights by the British government, especially because they had no political representation in the passing of this act. This culminated in the Boston Tea Party, which took place in December of 1773. Colonists who opposed the tea tax took to the Boston harbor, boarded British ships, and dumped all of their tea into the sea. This was an important watershed moment in the political relationship between Britain and it’s American colonists that would eventually lead to the Revolutionary War. However, this event was not mentioned at all in //The London Magazine//. One conjecture as to why events as important as these were left out of the publication would be that because this was a magazine focused on arts and leisure, bringing up sensitive political topics could have offended readers who were just looking for reviews of the theatre scene and other neutral topics.
 * The British East India Company and the Boston Tea Party**

1773 was quite a big year for the British theatre. //The Beggar’s Opera// was performed again even though Justice Fielding had put forth that this play had a mal effect on the youth, specifically that it encouraged delinquency. However, as they say, the show must go on, and so it did. One playwright experimented with a new staging of //Macbeth// with new costuming, but the play incited a riot in the Covent Garden theatre house and the playwright was dismissed from his post. Playwright Dr. Goldsmith puts on //She Stoops to Conquer// and produced another play entitled //Occasional Prelude. She Stoops to Conquer// would go on to be a great hit during it’s time, as well as be one of the few Restoration era comedies to still be performed on the stage in the current day.
 * Summary of the Theatre Season in 1773**

During Act I, most of the plot is set up for the rest of the play. Mr. and Mrs. Hardcastle are wealthy people living in the country who have a daughter named Kate. Kate is very close with her father and wants to please him, so much so that she changes out of her fancy clothes that she wears for her friends in the morning to more plain clothes that she wears in the evening because she knows her father prefers plain clothes. Mr. and Mrs. Hardcastle and Kate are waiting for the arrival of Marlow, the son of Mr. Hardcastle’s friend. The Hardcastle’s think that he might be a good match for Kate for a husband. Mrs. Hardcastle’s niece Constance is also staying with them. Mrs. Hardcastle is keeping Constance’s small inheritance safe for her until she finds a suitable husband to marry. Mrs. Hardcastle hopes that Constance will marrying Tony Lumpkin, who is Mrs. Hardcastle’s son from an earlier marriage. Neither Tony nor Constance like each other enough to marry, and in fact Constance already has another lover, Hastings, who will be coming with Marlow later that night. When Marlow and Hastings arrive, they go to a pub and Tony plays a practical joke on them.
 * Summary of //She Stoops to Conquer//**

In Act II, Marlow and Hastings arrive at the Hardcastle’s house, but are rude to Mr. Hardcastle, who they think is the keeper of the inn because of Tony’s practical joke. Hardcastle is not pleased with Marlow’s rude behavior. Constance meets up with Hastings and she tells him who Hardcastle really is, but they both decide not to tell Marlow because the news that he had been tricked might upset him. Constance and Hastings resolve to steal Constance’s inheritance and elope. It is also revealed that Marlow is very nervous around high-born women and has trouble courting them, while has no problem hitting on women who are lower class. Marlow meets Kate, who is dressed in fancy clothing, so Marlow is unable to string sentences together well enough to speak to her. Even though Marlow comes off as a bumbling fool, Kate takes an interest in him. Hastings convinces Tony that Tony should steal Constance’s inheritance and give it to Hastings and Constance so they can run away together.

Kate dresses in plain dress to appease her father one night and when she runs into Marlow, he mistakes her for a maid. She see’s this as an opportunity to get Marlow out of his shell, so she plays along and they have a wonderful conversation which ends with Marlow embracing Kate. However, Marlow is continually rude to Hardcastle, who he still thinks is the innkeeper, and so Hardcastle eventually throws him out of his house. During this fight, Marlow begins to realize what is actually going on in this situation. Marlow also leaves Kate because, though he is starting to fall in love with her, she is not a good marriage for him in terms of her wealth. However, Sir Charles Marlow comes into town and clears everything up, and Kate and Marlow are allowed to marry. Tony Lumpkins realizes that his mother has been lying to him about being of age to get his inheritance, so he realizes that he can now refuse to marry Constance of his own volition. Because Tony refuses to marry Constance, Mrs. Hardcastle agrees to let her marry Hastings. All is well.

Though //The London Magazine// does not mention very many major current events like other contemporary periodicals, it does serve a distinct purpose in society at this time that is just as important, if not more, than any other periodical. Perhaps it did not provide practical information on the wars going on or the rebellions in the colonies, but this periodical provided something potentially more valuable; it provided a distraction for readers from the world around them that was fraught with violence and bloodshed. It provided reviews of plays and writings, as well as small puzzles that could distract readers from their everyday lives. In the same way, plays like //She Stoops to Conquer// distracted audiences from their everyday lives and the issues going on in foreign affairs. This play does not deal with heavy subjects like war or taxes, but instead focuses on marriage and petty practical jokes. In this way, these works were able to distract readers and audiences alike from the world around them, and give them a short reprieve from all of the less pleasant things going on in the world during this time period.
 * Conclusions**

"The Tea Act | Boston Tea Party Facts | 1773." The Tea Act | Boston Tea Party Facts | 1773. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 July 2016. “London Stage”. The London Stage, 1660-1800, Part 1, 1660-1700: ‪A Calendar of Plays, Entertainment and Afterpieces Together with Casts, Box-Receipts and Contemporary Comment. Ed. William Van Lennep. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois UP, 1965. Print. Goldsmith, Oliver, Vincent F. Hopper, and Gerald B. Lahey. She Stoops to Conquer. Great Neck, NY: Barron's Educational Series, 1958. Print.