1728


 * The Year 1728 During the Enlightment **
 * //__The Present State of the Republic of Letters, __//****__A Journal Discussing the Happenings of 1728 __**

In 1728, William and John Innys started circulating //The Present State of the Republic of Letters// in London to inform the public of happenings in the Republic, and it continued to circulate monthly until 1736. The title of the journal itself stems from a circulation of letters between enlightened or educated men to discuss ideas focused on the Englightment, or the “Age of Reason.” Characterized by the Englightment movement, the essays of the journal question established systems of order such as religion, science, and history. The authors compare their journal to one of the original journals focusing on Englightment ideas, //Journal des Scavans//¸ which was published previously in 1665 by Mr. Sallo in the Parliament of Paris. According to the authors, England served the public by encouraging the arts and sciences. By perpetuating their own liberties and freedom with mild government censorship in terms of balancing church and state, England welcomed the import of foreign works to satisfy the public’s curiosity. This contrasted favorably with other nations who dismissed imported knowledge from their enemies and their citizens would throw up arms in an uproar.



While discussing the freedoms English citizens enjoy, the authors also interject to their audience, “But I think it proper to declare beforehand, that I will have nothing to do with scandal or satyr, or whatever reflects upon any one's person or reputation nor will I engage in any party quarrels” (IV). Maintaining a nonbiased viewpoint allows the authors to enrapture a wide variety of readers in order to uphold their purpose of educating the public on the happenings of the Republic. Publishing the journal every month allows the authors to encapsulate an array of topics ranging from religious history to scientific developments. Within the six months of the journal analyzed during its first year of publication, //The Present State of the Republic of Letters// focuses on religious history and questions of religious establishments, scientific developments, and connections to other histories within world history.

Essays concerning religion in the journal vary between historical elaborations on the religion of the Gauls and arguments concerning the validity or morality of existing religious orders. The religion of Gauls was questioned regarding its points of origin, contributions to society, and its own development as a religion over time. Because ancient religions organized around societal groups and vice versa, the people of Gauls or Gallic (Irish) origin spread across what is now most of Western Europe originating from a blend of Egyptian, Greek, and Roman religious traditions. The Gauls established their own government, family system, land ownership and competition, and honors and traditions that spread throughout Europe with the conquering of different empires and kingdoms. In addition to the establishment of society and religion, various authors of the journal question the authority and liberty of religion. Mr. Chandler argues in his essay concerning the civil establishment of religion that civil society requires religion and laws of such civil establishment typically intertwine with an established religion, giving them authority (149). With Mr. Chandler’s argument, other authors continue to question the validity of English priest ordinations (not done by Roman priests) and the authority given to Catholic priests in doctrinal principles. Both the elaboration of the history of the religious Gauls and the questioning of existing religious orders exhibits characteristics of the Enlightment questioning of order.

Of the scientific developments of the time period, Sir Isaac Newton resembles a god within the journal with a variety of his experiments and renaissance-like interest in subjects. Certain essays by Newton himself in the journal express his experiments, varying from theories on light and colors to principles of physics and mathematics, with background information on the basis of his discoveries and in-depth details of such experiments. Newton explains his most famous discovery of gravity and applies the concept to the rotation and position of planets in the solar system after elaborating on previous theories of Galileo. Transitioning into other scientific theories explained in the journal, Ben Robins writes in opposition of the theories of Mr. Bernoulli on the communication of movement from a treatise printed in Paris at the Royal Academy of Science. Laying out the flaws in Bernoulli’s hypotheses concerning the force and power of bodies aligns Robins with the constant questioning and evolution of existing theories during the Enlightment (365).



//The Present State of the Republic of Letters //discusses world history in terms of religion, as discussed earlier, and regardless of religious consideration in the establishment of kingdoms and empires. As Newton argues in his amendments to ancient kingdoms, ancient critics and historians that set a precedent for those in the future with a historical chronology, for which Newton and others have found evidence to amend. The four time periods established for the purpose of chronological order including the return of Heraclides into Peloponnesus II, the taking of Troy, the Argonautic Expeditions, and the return of Sesostris lack correct time measurement. Newton works to correct this problem by defining a system for accurate time measurement involving the mean length of the Reigns and Kings and the mean values of the generational gap between reigns (266). With these corrections to the chronological order, the much-praised Newton corrects the time definition of important events throughout ancient history over the course of 100 pages consuming the entirety of an issue of //The Present State of the Republic of Letters.//


 * __Eighteenth Century Article Connections to //Gulliver’s Travels// and Jonathan Swift __**

Selecting a variety of eighteenth century articles concerning Jonathan Swift or //Gulliver’s Travels// enhanced the reading of the novel with more contextual knowledge than when originally read in class. Jonathan’s Swift reputation as a writer during the eighteenth century led to critiques of him and his opinions, which were typically expressed within his works, //Gulliver’s Travels// included. Such critiques varied from traditional academic papers to creating another chapter of //Gulliver’s Travel// in order to criticize Swift in his own traditional, satirical manner. Jonathan Smedley, another author of the eighteenth century, wrote //Gulliveriana: Or, a Fourth Volume of Miscellanies// in an attempt to offend Swift’s character in the same manner he defamed other authors, including Smedley. In his dedication to himself, Smedley jokingly offers to give the other “genius” authors a vacation from their typical brilliance and moves into a preface filled with lashing out at Swift and his friend, Alexander Pope. After sending himself and an “army of authors” to Grub Street in London, Smedley declares a “Paper War” against Pope and Swift after building a career defaming others works (X). The conclusion of the preface includes Smedly naming all the possible beneficial traits of Gulliver and still determining his status, and indirectly Swift, as a writer with no focus in his tales.



//Gulliver’s Travels //alluded to a large number of real events, people, and places relating to London and England in the eighteenth century. Although some of the connections were alluded to in class, Signor Corolini’s text, //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">A Key, Being Observations and Explanatory Notes, Upon the Travels of Lemuel Gulliver¸ //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">elaborates upon some direct references in Swift’s novel. Corolini specifically discusses the connections to the island of Lilliput that Gulliver first travels to. One of the first observations the author makes states the direct allegory of //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Gulliver’s Travels //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">when he writes, “For you are to know, that, under the Allegory of a Voyager, Mr. Gulliver gives us an admirable System of modern Politics. And I dare say you will agree with me, that so remote are his Nations […] Therefore we must allow Mr. Gulliver to be the Columbus of the present Age” (5). The references vary from specific places in London, like the ancient Lilliputian temple resembling the White Hall where King Charles I was beheaded, to the ridicule of the “three most noble orders of the Garter, the Thistle, and the Bath” (16). In relation to other countries, the relationship between Blefuscu and Lilliput corresponds to that of England and Scotland, which Corolini accounts for with further comparisons of Gulliver’s motivation to leave and fear to return to Lilliput.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Because //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Gulliver’s Travels //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">displays many of Swift’s political opinions, Swift’s publication of other political editorial pieces seems predictable in his case. Interestingly enough, Swift chooses to publish his piece, //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Some Free Thoughts upon the Present State of Affairs //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">,as “the Author of Gulliver’s Travels,” which indicates Swift wanted the public to acknowledge that his opinions in //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Gulliver’s Travels //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">match his opinions in this piece. Written preceding Queen Anne’s death and published some time later, Swift argues the majority of mankind is offered to be governed by reason, and therefore, makes politics common sense. Swift utilizes the metaphor of double-edged sword to describe the problems that arise from government keeping secrets from the public. Rumors and misjudgments fuel public pamphlets and coffeehouses and public mistrust, but secrecy leads to more secrecy and a form of Master Politics (3). Political factions and lack of separation between Church and State also serve as main issue areas because they both threaten the Constitution, become irritated with any loss of power, and appear as the only trusted ones to successors; Swift offers the solutions of regulating the army, securing a Protestant succession in the House of Hanover. Throughout his argument, Swift positions the audience to agree with his choice of a successor after Queen Anne’s death and choose King William III to align with Swift’s political positions.

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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">//The London Stage// accounts for every day that London theaters hosted plays throughout 1728 with notes on numbers of attendance, the cast listing, location, and other factors. The prominent theaters covered in //The London Stage// include Lincoln Inn’s Fields, Drury Land, New Haymarket, and King’s Theater. Early in the season, Lincoln Inn’s Fields and Drury Lane mainly competed for attendance, but Haymarket began a new era of acrobatic entertainment at first and ballad operas to follow; the King’s Theater held a series of mostly unsuccessful operas by the Royal Academy of Music. Each theater typically had principal companies of actors and actresses to perform the plays of that particular theater. With each performance listed, the number of attendees within each seating section, which was determined by price, was constructed by the income calculation for each section from the receipts of Lincoln Inn Fields preserved in //Rich’s Register// from the 18th century and the Harvard Theater Collection manuscripts. Pertaining to the notes of the audience, royalty attendance was typically recorded, as well as the majesty’s request of a particular play to be performed. Plays could also be requested by frequent theater-goers of the upper class, as //The London Stage// notes, “particular desire of several Ladies of Quality.”
 * //__<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The London Stage- __//****__<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Theater Scene in London in 1728 __**

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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The rotation of the plays performed depended upon their popularity and determined whether plays were performed once or carried on for months. Technically, the theater season ran from September to September so the modern day calendar year of 1728 actually encompasses the latter half of the 1727 theater season and the earlier part of the 1728 theater season. Major hits of 1728 with large numbers of performances include “The Beggar’s Opera” and “The Provoked Husband,” and some plays with a smaller degree of popularity performed include “Merry Wives of Windsor,” “Siroe,” “The Recruiting Officer,” and “The Orphan.” “The Beggar’s Opera” set a record for an unprecedented number of running performances at Lincoln’s Inn Fields, while “The Provoked Husband” also enjoyed a fair amount of success at Drury Lane. Shakespearean plays like Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Henry the Fifth rotated in and out of the theater with no more than a few performances at a time.

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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">With the increasing number of journal and newspaper publications in 18th century London, the bills of every performance were published in publications, normally depending upon the theater. //The Daily Journal// released bills of Lincoln’s Inn Fields; //The Daily Post// posted bills for Drury Lane and New Haymarket, and //The Daily Courant// made announcements of the operas at the King Theater. Although the content of such bills remains unclear in //The London Stage,// notes are made about reviews, advertisements, and rosters of particular shows. Other notes mention //The Universal Spectator,// which also commented on particular plays as a part of its current events. The popularity of each of the publications changed over the course of the year and served as a factor in determining where particular theater advertisements were placed.


 * __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Final Conclusions and Connections __**

//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Present State of the Republic of Letters //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">proved to be a journal of intellect and discussion for issues and topics concerning the Enlightment. Contrary to other traditional newspapers and journals that reported current events mainly in a journalistic type fashion, the premise of this particular journal derives from the “Republic of Letters” that was circulated between educated men during the time period. Religion, history, and science that were discussed in the journal did not translate to the 18th century articles concerning //Gulliver’s Travel// because such articles largely covered the interpretation of politics in the novel. //The Present State of the Republic of Letters// rarely discusses literature, aside from listing new releases in major European cities. Therefore, a wide array of the conversation topics examined in this journal translates to those discussed in coffee houses and salons that we have alluded to in class. In comparison to the works in //The Commerce of Everyday Life//, the readers of this journey would have been involved in the conversations and critiques that the authors of //Tatler// and //The Spectator// propose; such readers were the men in the coffeehouses whose conversations were written about for those in the commonwealth.

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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">In my dissection of the 1728 theater season, //The London Stage// exhibits the importance of the theater during the Enlightment period, in opposition to previous time periods that focused mainly on religion and discipline with little room for art and leisure. The public’s attraction to theater and other arts displays the diversion from accepted notions of government, religion, and history because art, like plays, expanded the conversation concerning such matters of public concern. Large attendance numbers to such plays also exhibits the broadening of class leisure time. Prior to the 18th century, mainly the upper class only had time for leisure time, but the introduction of leisure time led to more theater attendance and numerous journal and novel publications for those who now could enjoy the same arts that were once reserved for the upper class.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">As mentioned previously, the articles concerning //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Gulliver’s Travels //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">and its author, Jonathan Swift, largely focus on the political statements that fill the novel. Similarly to the arts & leisure from the theater discussion and the correspondence between educated men within //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Present State of the Republic of Letters //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">, political commentary through satire demonstrates Enlightment characteristics. Political philosophers of the 18 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">th <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> century like John Locke sparked conversation about the best form of government for the public. Swift’s other political opinion pieces, not in the allegorical form of an adventure traveler like in //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Gulliver’s Travels //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">, comments on political factions and the separation of Church and State. The satires exhibited within the different books of //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Gulliver’s Travel //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">are not necessarily all political and largely critique English society as a whole. As discussed in class, the novel captures the consumption of the individual within a particular culture, cases of physical and intellectual abuse, and the overarching question in the last book if the betterment of society trumps the individual. The themes in the satire of //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Gulliver’s Travels //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> display the conversations and topics of the Enlightment period, connecting Swift to a period that affected every aspect of society, including the theater, literature, and mass media and news publications

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">**Works Cited** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Bantley, Doctor (R.B). Critical remarks on Capt. Gulliver's travels. By Doctor Bantley. Published from the author's original MSS. [Cambridge], 1735. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Gale. University of Maryland College Park. 3 Dec. 2012

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">C. D. M. (Corolini di Marco). A key, being observations and explanatory notes, upon the travels of Lemuel Gulliver. By Signor Corolini, a noble Venetian now residing in London. In a letter to D---n S--t. Translated from the Italian original. Dublin, MDCCXXVII. [1727]. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Gale. University of Maryland College Park. 3 Dec. 2012

<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Innys, William, and John Innys. //The Present State of the Republic of Letters// 1.1-6 (1728): n. pag. //Eighteenth Century Journals Portal//. Web. 27 Nov. 2012.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Scouten, Arthur H. //The London Stage 1660 - 1800//. 1st ed. Vol. 2. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1960. Print.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Smedley, Jonathan. Gulliveriana: or, a fourth volume of miscellanies. Being a Sequel of the Three Volumes, published by Pope and Swift. To which is added, Alexanderiana; or, A Comparison between the Ecclesiastical and Poetical Pope. And many Things, in Verse and Prose, relating to the latter. With an ample Preface; and a Critique on the Third Volume of Miscellanies lately publish'd by those two facetious Writers. London, M.DCC.XXVIII. [1728]. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Gale. University of Maryland College Park. 3 Dec. 2012

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Swift, Jonathan. Some free thoughts upon the present state of affairs. By the author of Gulliver's travels. [London], 1741. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Gale. University of Maryland College Park. 3 Dec. 2012