THE RESTORATION AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

1
THE RESTORATIONANDEIGHTEENTH CENTURY

• 1660-1798

2
The Restoration

• Began in 1660 with the return of King Charles II
  (1660-1685)
• The period is defined by general dislike of
  change

3
The Restoration

• By the middle of the 18th century, the old order
  began to break down
• Lyrical Ballads
• William Wordsworth (1770-1850) and Samuel Taylor
  Coleridge (1772-1834)
• Brought about the end of the Restoration

4
Puritan Rule

• Before the return of Charles II, England was
  controlled by the Puritan dictatorship
• By 1660, the British people believed the kings
  return would be a lesser evil than continued
  Puritan Rule

5
Stability

• With the Charles IIs return, political life was
  dominated by the desire to assure stability.

6
James II

• 1685-1688
• Brother of Charles II
• Catholic
• Expelled from the throne after only three years
• Glorious Revolution
• Actually, not a revolution at all, but an
  assertion of the status quo against a monarch who
  threatened to upset it.

7
Mary

• James IIs daughter
• Protestant
• Ruled jointly with her Dutch husband, William of
  Orange (1689-1702)

8
Queen Anne

• Marys sister
• 1702-1714
• Died childless

9
Who is Next?

• Normally, the throne would have been passed to
  James Stuart (later called the Old Pretender)
• Son of the exiled (and dead) James II
• But James Stuart, like his father, was Catholic,
  and Parliament had passed an act that the British
  sovereign must be Protestant

10
George I

• 1714-1727
• Rather than continue the Stuart succession,
  Britain would be ruled by the German Elector of
  Hanover (George I)
• There were many supports of Stuart
• Called Jacobites

11
George II

• son of George I
• 1727-1760
• Like his father, did not learn English well
• Showed greater interest in Hanover than in Great
  Britain

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George I George II

• These two Georges, because of their lack of
  interest in Great Britain, allowed control of the
  British government to all almost completely in to
  the hands of Parliament, where it remains to this
  day

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George III

• 1760-1820
• attempted to be a strong English king
• some unfortunate results
• most notably, the loss of thirteen of its
  American colonies

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Uprisings

• In 1715 and 1745, attempts were made to restore
  the Stuarts to the throne
• Both failed

15
The Parliament

• Although the king remained highly influential,
  the principle of parliamentary supremacy was
  becoming firmly established in England

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The Parliament

• Two-party political system
• The Whigs
• The Tories

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The Whigs

• Represented chiefly the financial and mercantile
  interests, the cities and towns, and the
  progressive element
• Strongly opposed to any interference in politics
  by the monarchy

18
The Whigs

• Dominated most of the eighteenth century
• Sir Robert Walpole
• prime minister from 1721-1742
• satirized by many of the great writers
• Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, John Gay, Samuel
  Johnson, Henry Fielding

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The Tories

• Many were Jacobites in the earlier years
• Represented the country squires and all the
  people who favored old traditions

20
The Parliament

• No real political democracy as we know it today
• sometimes people expressed their dissatisfaction
  by violent rioting that could be quelled only by
  military force

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The Nation of Great Britain

• England
• The center of political power
• Wales
• Scotland
• Eventually achieved something like equal
  partnership
• Ireland
• Treated by England as a colony for economic gain
• These hostilities finally brought about Irelands
  independence in the twentieth century

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Significant People Events

• Influence of France
• What was fashionable in Paris soon became
  fashionable in London
• Resulted in the imitation of the French classical
  style and manner

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Significant People Events

• Londons Two Major Disasters
• The Plague
• 1665
• The Great Fire
• 1666

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Significant People Events

• Scientific and Rational Age
• In 1662, the Royal Society, composed of
  distinguished scientists, philosophers, and
  scholars, was founded under the direct patronage
  of the kings

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Significant People Events

• Sir Isaac Newton
• 1642-1727
• mathematician and astronomer

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Significant People Events

• John Locke
• 1632-1704
• influence on the eighteenth century was enormous,
  especially regarding humans mental processes

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The Social Order

• Based on a stratified class system
• Most people regarded the class system as
  inevitable and as divinely ordained

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The Social Order

• Daniel Defoe summarized the hierarchy in 1709 in
  this way
• 1. The Great, who live profusely.
• 2. The Rich, who live very plentifully.
• 3. The Middle Sort, who live well.
• 4. The Working Trades, who labor hard, but feel
  no want.

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The Social Order

• Dafoe continued
• 5. The Country People, Farmer, etc., who fare
  indifferently
• 6. The Poor, that fare hard.
• 7. The Miserable, that really pinch and suffer
  want.

30
Literature

• Can be divided into three parts
• The Restoration
• The Age of Pope
• The Age of Johnson

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Literature

• The Restoration
• characterized by a small, privileged elite
  centered around the court and deeply influenced
  by French classical taste
• sustains traditional values
• admires wit
• a brilliance and quickness of perception combined
  with a cleverness of expression

32
Literature

• The Age of Pope
• named after Alexander Pope
• satire increasingly becomes the dominant form
• great concern for moral analysis

33
Literature

• The Age of Johnson
• named after Samuel Johnson
• the rise of the novel
• increasing demand for descriptions of actual life
  rather than of imaginary worlds
• much of the best writing was done in such forms
  as history, biography, philosophy, and political
  debate