Background Notes The Restoration Period 1660 1800 In

Background Notes: The Restoration Period (1660 -1800)

�In 1660, the English monarchy was restored after nearly 20 years of civil war and repressive Puritan rule. �Then the plague descended, followed by a devastating fire in London. �The English were ready for a period of stability in which the conservative values of order, decorum, and clarity were of the utmost importance. �Despite the loss of the American Colonies, the reinvigorated British military forces established new settlements around the Globe. �Though life for many was wretched, the middle class grew.

William Hogarth Marriage a la Mode

�Throughout this period, British men and women also produced many brilliant works of philosophy, art, and literature. �This period has been given many names: The Restoration, the Age of Reason, The Neoclassical, and the Enlightenment. �Labels like “The Age of Reason” and “The Enlightenment” reveal how people were gradually changing their views of themselves and of the world. �People began asking how instead of simply why

� New scientific and rational explanations of phenomena gradually began to affect some people’s religious views. If comets, for example, were not sent by God to warn people, perhaps God didn’t interfere at all in human affairs. Perhaps, the universe was like an immense piece of clockwork, set in motion by a Creator who more or less withdrew from this perfect mechanism and let it run by itself. � This view led people to believe that “Whatever is, is right” as noted by Alexander Pope. This ideology is called deism. � The French writer Voltaire ridiculed this idea in his novel Candide though.

A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery Joseph Wright of Derby

�Politics determined people’s religion. Charles II reestablished the Anglican Church as the official church of the country. �Charles II had a number of illegitimate children, but no legal heir. When he died in 1685, he was succeeded by his brother James II, a practicing Roman Catholic. Most English people were utterly opposed to James. After all, it was widely believed that Roman Catholics had not only set fire to London and caused other disasters, but were also actively plotting to hand the country over to the pope.

Life among the Have-Nots: �For the poor, life is always hard, but during the Restoration and 18 th century, the poor lived in deplorable conditions, without the aid of doctors or police, and beyond the reach of education, religion, and charity. They also lived under the threat of debtor’s prisons, where torture was common. �Overcrowding in London’s tenements and workhouse reached an all-time high. Entire families lived in one-room garrets or cellars infested with rats, lice and bedbugs.

William Hogarth Gin Lane

�Adding to the filth and discomfort, household garbage and human waste were thrown out into the streets. Butcher shops and slaughterhouses tossed bloody remnants into open drains that intersected with streets and walkways. �In the worst years, more than 74 percent of London’s children died before the age of five. Many of those who survived were forced to work for a living as soon as physically able and they often suffered abuse from their guardians or employers.

The Age of Satire: Attacks on Immorality and Bad Taste �Today, Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift are regarded as the most accomplished literary artists of the early 18 th century. �Although Pope addressed his works exclusively to the educated and leisure classes, he also attacked the members of these classes for their immorality and their bad taste. �Pope loved order, discipline, and craftsmanship; both he and Swift were appalled by the squalor and shoddiness that underlay the surfaces of life.

�Swift shared many of Pope’s attitudes and ideals, and his exposure to the mean and sordid in human behavior. �Both writers hated the corrupt politics of the time and the growing commercialism and materialism of the English people. �Poets of this time wrote poetry of “wit. ” For example, a poet might decide that a certain type of behavior, or even a certain conspicuous person, should be exposed to public ridicule. The poet would then write a satire.

Jonathan Swift �Swift, who grew up poor but received an education thanks to his uncle, was fated to live in Ireland, though he desperately wanted a career in England. As a priest, he was assigned to remote parishes in the Irish countryside. Ireland seemed to be inhabited mainly by Roman Catholic natives-people whom Swift neither admired nor respected. �He did not write for fame or for money; most of his books and pamphlets were published anonymously. Nor did he write to entertain; Swift’s aim in writing was to improve human conduct.

�Gulliver’s Travels (a collection of satirical dystopias and utopias) attacks many different varieties of human misbehavior, vices and follies. �Eventually, Swift became pro-Irish and defended the Irish against the oppressive policies of their English rulers. �The most famous of his pamphlets is A Modest Proposal. Swift makes his proposal all the more outrageous by assuming the voice of an economic planner. It is the difference between Swift’s objective, sober, and straightforward style and the appalling content that gives Swift’s pamphlet its force.

Jonathan Swift