[Author Unknown]
[Published in the Pioneer, January 1843 (1:1)]
[Edited and Annotated by Dieu My Nguyen for the University of Arizona Antebellum Magazine Edition Project, May 4, 2015]
On the fourth of February, 1842, the manuscripts and copyright of the works of M. De Chateaubriand1 were sold at Paris by auction to M. Delandine de St. Esprit for the sum of thirty thousand dollars. It is difficult to conjecture the motives of the above named gentleman for making this purchase, as he is neither bookseller nor publisher. He is descended from one of the most ancient families of France, and during the latter years of Napoleon's2 reign, was distinguished for his attachment to the Bourbons3, and rendered their cause important services while Napoleon was marching to Paris on his return from Elba4. He is author of a work which has been translated into English under the title of “A Narrative of Operations of the Royalist Armies in the Interior of France, in 1815.”
There was lately published in London “A New History of England, from the earliest period to the close of the year 1832, in seven vols.” written by Rev. Henry Walter, F. R. S., “in which men and events are considered on Christian principles.”
We have long been of opinion that all history should be investigated and written according to such principles. The annals of the world hitherto have been but a record of the least instructive kind of events, or rather of those, a knowledge and admiration of which are decidedly pernicious. To those who believe in the superintendence of a deity, history, as heretofore written, has been a labyrinth which in itself contained no clue.
In July last, an extensive and varied assortment of armor and arms was sold at auction in London, among which were several curious specimens of mail and chain armor. One suit was said to have belonged to the famous Turkish Sultan Bajazet5: it was chiefly composed of rings and was a fine example of the construction of mailles, or flattened rings. The metal of it was so soft as to yield to a slight pressure of the finger. It is said to be a most curious and valuable suit; the breast-plate is formed of large lamina: extending across the person, engraved with what seems to be Persian or Arabic characters, and damasqued in gold and silver. The head-pieces of this and other suits in the collection were fitted with the nasal which was in use in England in the time of the conquest. The suit which belonged to Bajazet was bought for the tower collection at a price between six and seven hundred dollars.
A society was recently formed in Ireland, entitled the Irish Archaeological Society, whose object is to collect and print for the use of its members, rare or hitherto unpublished works and documents, illustrative of the history, literature and antiquities of Ireland. Each member pays an admission fee of three pounds sterling and a subscription of one pound per annum. They have already published among other works—
“The Circuit of Ireland by Muircheartach Mac Neill, Prince of Aileach: a poem written, A.D. 942, by Cormacan Eigeas, Chief Poet of the North of Ireland6.” Edited, with a translation and notes by John O'Donovan.7
“A Brief Description of Ireland in 1589, by Robert Payne.”8
“The Annals of Ireland, by James Grace of Kilkenny.”9
“The Book of Obits and Martyrology of the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, commonly called Christ Church, Dublin.”10
“The Battle of Moira, from an ancient manuscript in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin.”11
“A Treatise of Ireland, by J. Dimmok, from a manuscript in the British Museum.”
“The Annals of Multifernan, from a manuscript in the Library of Trinity College.”
“A Statute passed at a Parliament held at Kilkenny, A. D. 1367.”12
“An Account of the Tribes and Customs of the District of Hy-Many, commonly called O'Kelly's country, in the counties of Galway and Roscommon.”
“The Battle of Carn Chonaill, between Guaire, king of Aidhue, and Dermot, king of Ireland, A.D. 648. From a very ancient manuscript.”
An English journal of high authority states that it has been recently ascertained that the Berbers, or aboriginal tribes in the vicinity of Tangiers in the empire of Morocco, speak a dialect of the Celtic language.
Dr. Macpherson, who served with the expedition to China, in 1840 and 1841. Has just sent home a most interesting work, detailing the events of which he was there an eye witness. It is proceeding rapidly through the press, and will be published with the least possible delay. It is entitled, “Two years in China.”13
Some recent calculations by a respectable English writer, Mr. Charles Bray14, author of “the Philosophy of Necessity, &c.,” exhibit, in a startling light, the evils and dangers of the present social condition of Great Britain.
The population of England, Scotland and Wales, amounts to eighteen millions, among whom are about twelve millions of laborers and operatives.
The income of Great Britain is about fifteen hundred millions of dollars. Of this, the national revenue absorbs nearly two hundred and fifty millions. Of the remainder, four hundred and fifty millions, or rather less than one third of the whole, is allotted to the laborer. This allows only one hundred and fifty dollars a year, or about three dollars a week, for each family of the average number of four persons!
The general result of Mr. Bray’s statistical investigations on this subject is, that there are in Great Britain (exclusive of Ireland) 41,000 families, numbering 284,000 persons whose incomes will maintain them without labor; and 3,440,000 families with 16,800,000 persons, living on the product of their daily labor. Of paupers, criminals, and vagrants, there are nearly two millions, or one ninth part of the population!
The most fearful aspect of this state of things is, that it is rapidly and irresistibly augmenting.
Robert Cadell, bookseller, Edinburgh, is now publishing four distinct editions of the Waverley Novels15,one of which is in forty-eight volumes, and two editions of Scott's Poetry: likewise two editions of his Prose Writings -three of his Tales of a Grandfather16, and two of his Life by Lockhart17.
The thirteenth edition of Thomas Brown’s18 Philosophy of the Human Mind19, has lately been issued by William Tait, Edinburgh.
Among the new periodicals announced is “The Library Circular,” a valuable directory to readers and book clubs—a guide to new books, to be continued monthly. It is said to be ably conducted.
Fisher's Colonial Magazine, for November, published by Fisher, Son, and Co., Negate Street, London, contains several very interesting articles, and much new and valuable information respecting the British Colonial Possessions.20
On the First of January, 1843, will be published the first number of a New Tale of English Life and Manners21, by Charles Dickens22, to be completed in twenty numbers.
The subject of Bulwer's forthcoming novel, “The Last of the Barons,”23 is from English history, and the work delineates the characters and illustrates the manners of the English court, during one of its most important eras.
The following are some of the most important works recently published in Great Britain:
Narrative of Various Journeys in Balochistan, Afghanistan, and the Punjab24; including a residence in those countries from 1826 to 1838. By Charles Masson. Bentley. 3 vols. 8vo. with numerous plates, &c.
This is described as “a book of surpassing ability and of extraordinary interest. In historical notices, sketches of the chiefs, and personal adventure with the various tribes-in general portraiture of scenes and manners, and striking antiquarian research there is spirit, life, and movement in almost every page. Mr. Masson acted for years as a government agent beyond the Indus. His knowledge of Afghanistan was well known to European literati, and is now proved to the world, by the publication of this important work."
Socrates, A Tragedy: By Francis Bahram, which appeared originally in the pages of Herald’s Monthly Magazine, has been published in a separate form.
“Contributions of S. T. Coleridge to the Revival of Catholic Truths25," an article constituting the July number of the Christian Miscellany, published at Leeds, England, is said to be a very interesting collection of passages from the works of the great poet and philosopher. " Nothing can be more striking than these passages, viewed as the discovery of an original mind, purified by affliction from many errors and trials, arriving late in life at a serious consideration of religious questions, and laboring in the truth, after many perplexities and wanderings. From a writer, of so sad a life and experience, a perfectly harmonious and unobjectionable system of theology and religious ethics was not to be expected; but there is not a single passage in the little collection before us which may not be read, and, with a little deduction, acquiesced in with profit. It is quite a compendium, though of course a partial one, of Coleridge's religious views."
A Visit to Italy, in 1841. By Mrs. Trollope26. 2 vols. 8vo. Illustrated. Bentley.
"The Conciliator of Manasseh ben Israel,'' a reconcilement of the apparent contradictions of Holy Scripture. Translated by E. H. Lindo.
The Monthly Magazine, in a notice of this work, says. "Mr. Lindo has done himself much credit, and rendered much service to literature, by this able translation. Manesseh, of whom the present volume contains an etching, by Rembrandt, was a Portuguese Jew, born at Lisbon in the year 1605, and was the most learned and voluminous author among the Israelites of his age. He was a particular friend of Hugo Grotius27, and was greatly admired by Cromwell, who, after perusing his Plea for the Jews, granted them some considerable political privileges in this country. He was likewise dear to Moses Mendelssohn, who translated some of his works into German. When of late the Jews of Damascus were accused of offering human sacrifices, the Times newspaper printed four columns of Manesseh, in which lie shows the falseness of such charges, which have often been brought against the Hebrews, by the jealousy of the Christians.
One of the best of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, (the ‘Prioress,’ if we remember rightly,) is founded on this tradition.” There is an old Scotch ballad, of striking merit, founded upon the same prejudice, in the first volume of Percy’s Relies, p. 38. It is called the "Jew's Daughter." The tale in Chaucer is a favorite with Wordsworth, who has modernized it with exquisite fidelity to the simple pathos and picturesque primitiveness of the original.
An illustrated work, entitled "Sketches of Palestine,” by Mr. Roberts, published by John Murray, Albemarle Street, London, is thus spoken of by Dr. Robinson, author of the celebrated Biblical Researches in Palestine. "I cannot refrain from expressing to you the very high sense I entertain of the value of the work. I have seen, perhaps, most, if not all, the works which have been published professing to be views in the Holy Land, and have seen them only to be disappointed. It is, therefore, with the greatest pleasure that I can testify to the accuracy of Mr. Roberts's 'Sketches,' so far as laid before the public, as exhibiting the very counterpart of the scenes and objects themselves, in perfect truthfulness of outline, coloring, and expression. While beholding his views of Jerusalem, and the objects in and around it, I seem to be transported really to the very spot, and drink in again the vivid impressions which I once received from the reality. I shall take great pleasure in making known the very high merit of this work to my countrymen."
Sir Michael Paulet, a New Novel. By Miss Ellen Pickering28, author of Nan Darrell, the Fright, &c.
Athelwold: A Tragedy. By William Smith.
The London Examiner says of this work, "This tragedy is genuine. It has the broad and true mark; like the Saxon nature of the men through whom it speaks to us, it is cast in a mingled mould of strength and sweetness. The characteristic of that Saxon age was a war of mind and will against affections resolute as both, and it is this which gives power and beauty to the tragedy of Athelwold."
The Modern History And Condition of Egypt; its Climate, Diseases, and Capabilities; comprising the proceedings of Mohammed Ali Pasha, from 1829 to 1842, with illustrations of Scripture History, the Fulfilment of Prophecy, and the Progress of Civilization in the East. 2 vols, with numerous illustrations. Smith, Elder, and Co., 65, Cornhill, London.
Hints and Directions for Authors, in Writing, Printing, and Publishing their Works; detailing every requisite information on the subject. Price Is. 6d. Sterling. Mr. Bull, 19, Holes street.
The Poems of Robert Nicoll29, ‘late editor of the Leeds Times, with a Memoir of the Author. Wm. Tait, Edinburgh.
We quote the following from a notice in the London Examiner30, “'I have written my heart in my poems,' he wrote to a friend. This is the truth; and the poems will live because of it. It is a genuine man's heart-keen, austere, strong, and impassioned, yet full of love. In such a life as this of Robert Nicoll, we discover the best part of the influence of Burns."
Ebenezer Elliott, the Corn Law Rhymer, says of Nicoll, “unstained and pure, at the age of twenty-three, died Scotland's second Burns."
The Literary Ladies of England. By Mrs. Elwood.31 2 vols. 8vo. Colburn, 13, Great Marlborough street, London.
Narrative of the Expedition to China, from the Commencement of the War to the present period, with the Sketches of the Manners and Customs of the Chinese.32 By J.E. Bingham, First Lieutenant of H.M.S. Modeste. Colburn.
The following article published by the American periodical The Pioneer is a scattered list of the recently published contemporary literature from Europe. On a first reading, the piece reads like a mere list of names and literary works not built based on any system of organization, save that they are works of European literary intelligence. Such disorganization may also seem deliberate, and the reader is tempted to find patterns in the disconnected facts, for the tone of the article overall might hint at an organized chaos. Then, despite the scattered nature of the piece, some themes that run their threads through the article are as follows.
Orientalism is a prominent theme that underlies several works mentioned in this article: “Two Years in China” by Dr. Macpherson, “Narrative of Various Journeys in Balochistan, Afghanistan, and the Punjab” by Charles Masson, “An illustrated work, entitled Sketches of Palestine’” by Mr. Roberts, “Narrative of the Expedition to China…” by J.E. Bingham, and possibly others. As Europeans entered the postcolonialist era, they had found the geography of the East as well as their springing interest in the Orients. As Edward Said discusses in his critical study of Orientalism, Western scholarship and viewpoint of the East, in the book Orientalism (1978), Western discourse of the Orient generates a novel image of the Easterner. The discourse facilitates the distortion of the Orients: They are feminized, exoticized, sexualized, perhaps even made inferior to Westerners. The East became understood through European contact and correspondence, and as seen in this article, through travelogues of European travelers. The Orient then is knowable, not by themselves but through the European outsiders and their idea of the racial, non-white “other.”
This article’s accumulation of European literature also indicates the value of the written text as cultural artifacts. The Irish Archaeological Society published rare texts that illustrated “the history, literature and antiquities of Ireland.” Mr. Charles Bray’s population and economic statistics alarmed an augmenting socioeconomic gap in Britain, highlighting a problem of class disparities. E.H. Lindo translated “The Conciliator of Manasseh ben Israel” which attempted to reconcile the contradictions of the Hebrew Bible. Woman writers also contributed to European intelligence in this age: Mrs. Trollope wrote a travelogue on Italy and Mrs. Elwood wrote of female pens that were beginning to gain a literary voice in this period. Thus, as much as European discourse convened to discuss and to know the exotic Orients, its arts and literature also purposed to know its own culture and society.
Other themes are embedded in the text, but mostly, the fact that such an exhaustive list of European literature was disseminated in an American periodical may suggest that European thought had an enduring influence on American discourse in the antebellum era. Such implication reveals its interesting tension with the purpose of American periodicals to construct a conception of a “national character” as print culture gained prominence. Then, almost two centuries later now when print is more widespread than ever, the recovery of this article for a modern audience opens up the opportunities to deliberate on the characteristics of American literature today. Is it still heavily influenced by European thought, or has it gradually been mimicking a “melting pot” as American society professes to be? Lastly, has American literature given birth to a united “national character” that the antebellum periodicals sought?
Works Cited
Allingham, Philip V. “Charles Dickens, The Examiner, and ‘The Fine Old English Gentleman’.” Victorian Web, 2004. Web.
“Annales Hiberniae.” Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition. University College Cork. Web.
“Bajazet II.” Jewish Encyclopedia. Web.
Bertrin, Georges. "Françpois-René de Chateaubriand." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. Web.
“The Book of Obits and Martyrology of the Cathedral.” Retrieved from the Internet Archive.
“Catalogue Part I. Author-Catalogue of Printed Books in European Languages.” Imperial Library Vol 2. M-Z. Calcutta, India; 1904. Page 454. Web.
“The Circuit of Ireland by Muircheartach Mac Neill.” Electronic edition by Philip Irwin. Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition. University College Cork, 2010.
Collins, Philip. “Charles Dickens.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 2015.
Diniejko, Andrzeij. “Frances Trollope: a Maternal Feminist and Social Reformer.” The Victorian Web, 2014. Web.
"Elba". Parco nazionale dell'Arcipelago Toscano, 2009. Web.
Hadfield, Andrew. Edmund Spenser: A Life. Oxford University Press, 2012. Page 201. Print.
“Hugo Grotius 1583-1645.” Oregon State University, 2015. Web.
“Inquiry into the relation of cause and effect.” Retrieved from the Internet Archive. Web.
“The Last of the Barons.” Retrieved from Project Gutenberg, 2015. Web.
Lowndes, William Thomas; Bohn, Henry George. The Bibliographer's Manual of English Literature, Volume 6. 1865. Print.
Malcolm McKinnon. “Colonial and provincial government - The crown colony, 1840 to 1852.” Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, 2012. Web.
Mudge, Bradford Keyes. “Sara Coleridge, a Victorian Daughter: Her Life and Essays.” Yale University Press, 1989, page 129. Print.
“Narrative of Various Journeys…” Retrieved from LA Trobe University Research Online repository, 2015. Web.
Perdue, Peter C. “The First Opium War.” Massachusetts Institute of Technology Visualizing Cultures, 2011. Web.
“The philosophy of necessity…” Retrieved from the Internet Archive. Web.
Poovey, Mary. “Recovering Ellen Pickering.” The Yale Journal of Criticism, Vol 13, No 2, 2000. Pages 437-452. Print.
Radcliffe, David Hill. “John Gibson Lockhart: Memories of the Life of Sir Walter Scott.” Lord Byron and His Times Archive. Virginia Tech. Web.
“Robert Nicoll’s Life and Poems.” The Spectator Archive, 2013. Web.
Roberts, Andrew. Napoleon: A Life. Penguin Group, 2014. Print.
Royde-Smith, John Graham. “House of Bourbons.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 2014. Web.
Slater, Michael. Charles Dickens. Yale University Press, 2009. Page 205. Print.
“A Statute of the Fortieth Year of King Edward III.” Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition. University College Cork.
Strickland, Agnes. Lives of the queens of England: from the Norman conquest, Volume 12. 1848. Print.
“Tales of a Grandfather.” Edinburgh University Library, 2011. Web.
“Thomas Brown 1778-1820.” International Association for Scottish Philosophy. Web.
“Waverley.” Edinburgh University Library, 2011. Web.
Webb, Alfred. “John O’Donovan.” A Compendium of Irish Biography, 1878. Retrieved from Library Ireland. Web.
1 Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand (1768-1848) was a French writer, royalist politician, diplomat and historian. He is considered the father of French Romanticism for his descriptions of nature and analysis of emotion. “Le Genie du christianisme,” his work during exile in England, defended the superiority of Catholicism and made him famous. Napoleon used the book as political propaganda for the support of French Catholics, but years later sent the author to internal exile after political quarrels (Bertrin).
2 Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) was a French military and political leader who dominated European political affairs for nearly two decades. He is considered one of the greatest commanders in history. In civil affairs, Napoleon’s implementations were considered liberal at the time; they included: the abolition of feudalism, legal equality and religious toleration, and the legalization of divorce (Roberts).
3 The Bourbons were once a powerful ruling family in Europe when they rose to power in 1268 with royal marriages. King Louis XVI of the House of Bourbon was overthrown during the French Revolution (1789-1799). The regime was restored and was a constitutional regime after the fall of Napoleon in 1814. The Restoration lasted until Napoleon returned and forced the monarchy to flee France in 1830 (Royde-Smith).
4 A Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy (“Elba”).
5 Presumably referring to Bajazet II (1447-1512), a famous Sultan who ruled the Ottoman Empire form 1481-1512. He consolidated the empire and evacuated the Jews from Spain, allowing them a period of peace and prosperity during his reign (“Bajazet II”).
6 And chief poet to Muircheartach Mac Neill, King of Ulster. Eigeas wrote a poem celebrating the king’s tour of Ireland (“The Circuit”).
7 An Irish language scholar (1806-1861) who studied the archaeology and philosophy of the Irish language. He edited the poem by Eigeas for the Irish Archaeological Society in 1841 (Webb).
8 An example of Irish promotional literature during the colonialist period (1500s). In this article, Robert Payne attempted to persuade prospective colonists that Munster, a province in Ireland, was fertile with abundant crops, and thus a golden new opportunity to take on. His short treatise reveals the colonial rivalry occurring at this period, when some Irish undertakes like Payne wanted to convince English residents that the British Isles were more worthy of exploration than a risky journey across the Atlantic to the Americas (Hadfield 201).
9 It is probable that James Grace, a native of Kilkenny, composed these Annals on the history and antiquities of Ireland between 1537 and 1529 for the Irish Archaeological Society (“Annales Hiberniae”).
10 Published in either 1843 or 1844. Edited from the original in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, by Rev. John Clarke Crosthwaite with an introduction by James Henthorn Todd (“The Book”).
11 Edited in the Original Irish, with translations and notes, by John O’Donnovan, Dublin, 1842. The Battle of Moira occurred in the summer of 637, between the Gaelic King of Ireland Domnall II and his foster son King Congal of Ulster, who lost and died. It was one of the largest battles fought in Ireland (Lowndes).
12 Author unknown. The statue were a set of laws by the English government to separate the English from the Irish. The first English settlers (Anglo-Irish) had assimilated into the Irish world, by marriage, clothing, name use, etc. Edward III of England saw the increasing independence of the Anglo-Irish, and saw it as a threat to the control of English born nobles. These laws were an example of English control over Ireland (“A Statute”).
13 Published in 1842. The work is subtitled “Narrative of the Chinese Expedition from its formation in April, 1840, to the treaty of peace in August, 1842” (“Catalogue Part I”).
14 Charles Bray (1811-1884) was a prosperous English ribbon manufacturer, social reformer, and philosopher. The Philosophy of Necessity was published in 1841. Its preface states: “The object of the present Work is to inquire into the nature of the constitution of man; to ascertain his place in creation, the object and aim of his existence, and the boundaries of his mind: – “to vindicate the ways of God to man,” by tracing the Law of Consequences and pointing to the good of Evil: to inquire what sanction Nature affords to Morality, or what obligation she lays us under to regard the happiness of others: – to analyse the present constitution of Society; to trace the cause of its numerous evils; to suggest a remedy; and to show how we may best avail ourselves of our present knowledge and power to live together in the most happy manner possible” (“A Philosophy”).
15 A series of novels penned by Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) and published by Robert Cadell. Scott acknowledged his authorship in 1827. The historical novels were among the most popular in Europe for almost a decade. They were Scott’s attempt at prose fiction with similar themes of tolerance regardless of class, religion, politics, and ancestry; female protagonists; fear of civil wars; and Quixotism, the “impracticality in pursuit of ideals, especially those ideals manifested by rash, lofty and romantic ideas or extravagantly chivalrous action” (Waverley).
16 A series of historical books on Scotland, by Sir Walter Scott around 1827. The Tales received tremendous contemporary success (“Tales of a Grandfather”).
17 Memories of the Life of Sir Walter Scott was authored by John Gibson Lockhart (1794-1854), Scott’s son-in-law and literary executor. The biography of the poet and novelist was first published in 1837-8 after Scott’s death in 1832. The work includes personal memories, correspondence, and Scott’s own autobiography (Radcliffe).
18 Thomas Brown (1778-1820) was a physician and philosopher from Scotland. He defended David Hume’s doctrine of causality as not inimical to religion, criticized Immanuel Kant’s philosophy, and also criticized the theory of transmutation by Erasmus Darwin (“Inquiry into the relation of cause and effect”).
19 Thomas Brown’s major work that was published post-humorously in 1820. The philosophy textbook gained immense popularity and ran twenty editions. Throughout his writings and other works, Brown expresses his belief that there are no efficient causes in nature hidden from view (“Thomas Brown 1778-1820”).
20 In the 1840s, the British Empire was large and industrialized, with colonies around the world. Some colonies included: sugar colonies in British West Indies, Canada, Nova Scotia, and British North America. Great Britain also had land in the Mediterranean, the West African coast, and India (McKinnon).
21 Charles Dickens wrote this story after his immersion in America. He wanted to depict the English life (Slater).
22 An English writer and social critic regarded as one of the greatest Victorian novelists. Some of his works are the famous plays “A Tale of two Cities” and “A Christmas Carol” (Collins).
23 A historical novel published in 1843. The plot revolves around the conflict between King Edward IV and his minister Earl of Warwick. The king is effeminate and capricious, contrasted against the warrior and patriot Earl. Other themes that underlie this work are romance and Middle Ages science.
24 Published in 1844 by Charles Masson (1800-1853), pseudonym of James Lewis. He was a British soldier for the East India Company Army and the first European to discover the Harappa ruins in Punjab, now Pakistan (“Narrative”).
25 Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) was an English poet and philosopher who founded the Romantic Movement in England with William Wordsworth. This article was published in 1842 in the Christian Miscellany. His daughter, Sara Coleridge, contended that critics maligned his work as a theologian as impaired by profession in literature. She wrote that “it was the natural consequence of his having no predilection for any sect or party that parties and part organs have either neglected or striven against him” (Mudge 129).
26 Francs (Fanny) Trollope was an English writer of numerous travelogues, novels, articles, and poems. Her travelogue A Visit to Italy (1842) was once popular but now forgotten. This piece did not contain explicit social and feminist messages as her other works, such as Domestic Manners and the anti-slavery novel Johnathan Jefferson Whitlaw (Diniejko).
27 Hugo Grotius, also known as Huig de Groot or Hugo de Groot, was a jurist in the Dutch Republic. With Francisco de Vitoria and Alberico Gentili he laid the foundations for international law, based on natural law (“Hugo Grotius 1583-1645”).
28 Ellen Pickering was a British novelist. She was famous for her novel about gypsies (Nan Darrell, or The Gypsy Mother) when gypsy stories were common in Victorian literature (Poovey).
29 Robert Nicoll (1814-1837) was a Scottish poet. He grew up in impoverished home. He opened a library at Dundee, and became editor of the Leeds Times in 1836 (“Robert Nicoll’s Life and Poems”).
30 The Examiner was a weekly paper founded by Leigh and John Hunt. Since founded in 1808, it was the leading intellectual journal expounding independent and radical reformist reports on politics, economy, and theatricals. The editor claimed to pursue “truth for its sole object.” It published contemporary leading writers; some include: Lord Byron, Percy B Shelley, John Keats. From 1865 on, after repeated owner changes and political allegiance, it met its rapid decline in readership and purpose (Allingham).
31 Published in 1843. Anne Katherine Elwood was the first woman to travel to India, and acquired a reputation as a pioneer. Of the “Literary Ladies…” the Chronicle reviewed: “The literary ladies of England form a brilliant list, many of the most beautiful and permanently useful portions of our literature being the productions of female pens. A collection of memoirs of those eminent persons was much wanted, and Mrs. Elwood’s work supplies the desideratum. It will furnish, especially to young readers of her own sex, much instructive matter in an interesting form” (Strickland).
32 Published in London in 1843. This is John Elliot Bingham’s first-hand account of the first Opium War, also called the Anglo-Chinese war of 1839-1842. The war was fought between Britain and China over diplomatic and trading conflicts. It marked China’s new relations with the West. China’s defeat forced the ruler to sign the 1842 Treaty of Nanking, which opened many ports to foreign trade especially that of Britain. Opium became a regular trade, and flooded into China and penetrated its society. Foreign merchants accessed China’s interiors. Christian missionaries attempted to proselytize. China’s one aloof relationship with the world was challenged and internal and external upheaval lay ahead (Perdue).
Issue:
- January 1843