"When a man is tired of London ....
Starting from Smollett’s view of London in Humphry Clinker, you will finally discuss Johnson's famous quotation : "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life ..."
http://www.18thc-cities.paris-sorbonne.fr/spip.php?article178
a) Entertainments :
http://www.18thc-cities.paris-sorbonne.fr/spip.php?article59#3
b)-Describe Vauxhall Gardens, The Ranelagh, Saddler’s Wells.
http://www.18thc-cities.paris-sorbonne.fr/spip.php?article52
http://www.18thc-cities.paris-sorbonne.fr/spip.php?article178
Matt. Bramble, London, May 29.
“the capital is become an overgrown monster ...”
a)- Analyse Smollett’s account of the depopulation of the countryside and of the consequences on cities.
b)- Comment on this specific extract from Matthew Bramble’s lettre to Doctor Lewis :
c)-What are the amusements at Ranelagh ?
"One half of the company are following one another’s tails, in an eternal circle ; like so many blind asses in an olive-mill ; where they can neither discourse, distinguish, nor be distinguished ; while the other half are drinking hot water, under the denomination of tea, till nine or ten o’clock at night, to keep them awake for the rest of the evening. As for the orchestra, the vocal musick especially, it is well for the performers that they cannot be heard distinctly."
d)-Do you agree with this description of Vauxhall by Matthew Bramble?
“Vauxhall is a composition of baubles, overcharged with paltry ornaments, ill-conceived, and poorly executed ; without any unity of design, or propriety of disposition. It is an unnatural assembly of objects, fantastically illuminated in broken masses ; seemingly contrived to dazzle the eyes and divert the imagination of the vulgar”....
e) Compare with the view of Lydia : (after making sure you know all the vocabulary … “wherries”? for instance …)
“But even these superb objects are not so striking as the crowds of people that swarm in the streets. I at first imagined, that some great assembly was just dismissed, and wanted to stand aside till the multitude should pass ; but this human tide continues to slow, without interruption or abatement, from morn till night. Then there is such an infinity of gay equipages, coaches, chariots, chaises, and other carriages, continually rolling and shifting before your eyes, that one’s head grows giddy looking at them ; and the imagination is quite confounded with splendour and variety. Nor is the prospect by water less grand, and astonishing than that by land : you see three stupendous bridges, joining the opposite banks of a broad, deep, and rapid river ; so vast, so stately, so elegant, that they seem to be the work of giants : betwixt them, the whole surface of the Thames is covered with small vessels, barges, boats, and wherries, passing to and fro ; and below the three bridges, such a prodigious forest of masts, for miles together, that you would think all the ships in the universe were here assembled. All that you read of wealth and grandeur in the Arabian Night’s Entertainment, and the Persian Tales, concerning Bagdad, Dialbekir, Damascus, Ispahan, and Samarkand, is here realized.
Ranelagh looks like the inchanted palace of a genie, adorned with the most exquisite performances of painting, carving, and gilding, enlightened with a thousand golden lamps, that emulate the noon-day sun ; crowded with the great, the rich, the gay, the happy, and the fair ; glittering with cloth of gold and silver, lace, embroidery, and precious stones.....
In about half an hour after we arrived we were joined by my uncle, who did not seem to relish the place. People of experience and infirmity, my dear Letty, see with very different eyes from those that such as you and I make use of---...........................
Besides Ranelagh and Vauxhall, I have been at Mrs. Cornely’s assembly, which, for the rooms, the company, the dresses, and decorations, surpasses all description ; but as I have no great turn for card-playing, I have not yet entered thoroughly into the spirit of the place : Indeed I am still such a country hoyden, that I could hardly find patience to be put in a condition to appear, yet I was not above six hours under the hands of the hair-dresser, who stuffed my head with as much black wool as would have made a quilted petticoat ; and, after all, it was the smallest head in the assembly, except my aunt’s---
She, to be sure, was so particular with her rumpt gown and petticoat, her scanty curls, her lappet-head, deep triple ruffles, and high stays, that every body looked at her with surprise ; some whispered, and some tittered ; and lady Griskin, by whom we were introduced, flatly told her, she was twenty good years behind the fashion.”
f)-What are the centers of interest of the different characters? Why are their opinions so different? What is Smollet’s purpose in using this narrative technique .
You will do a similar exercise in Bath and in Edinburgh and see how interesting the comparisons can be between an old Hypochondriac criticising the unhealthiness of London and Bath, to the paradise of living in the unspoilt air and countryside of Scotland.
This website can give suggestions but you can find out more yourself by reading the book itself:
http://drc.usask.ca/projects/eng803/heather/smollett/humphryclinker.html
g)- 'When a man is tired of London he is tired of life ; for there is in London all that life can afford.'
Discuss
(Samuel Johnson to Boswell, 20 September 1777)
You can make a comparison with Northanger Abbey ( by Jane Austen) in the extract of the film :
http://www.18thc-cities.paris-sorbonne.fr/spip.php?article261&lang=en#1
Here are the online versions of the novels presented on the website in extracts:
Defoe,D. The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders (1722).
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/370
Smollett’s Humphry Clinker, (1771)
http://www.gasl.org/refbib/Smollett__Humphry_Clinker.pdf
or
It can be read on http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2160
Or
Fielding’s Tom Jones or the History of a Foundling, (1749)
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6593
https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/f/fielding/henry/f45h/index.html
Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey.(1803)
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/121/121-h/121-h.htm
Jane Austen Persuasion 1817
It can be read on https://www.planetebook.com/ebooks/Persuasion.pdf
Thomas Sheridan, The Rivals, 1820
https://archive.org/stream/rivalsacomedyby00adamgoog/rivalsacomedyby00adamgoog_djvu.txt
Or