1732-1733

1st February 1733 Dear Edmond,

How is everything at home? These last few months have raced by us so quickly. I must say, the quick pace of the city has made the past seem so far away. London has been such a blessing thus far. The amount of liveliness and promise around communication and entertainment has left me in awe. I dare say the year of 1733 will bring about many surprises for me. I want to share everything with you as the year goes by—I don’t want to fall out of touch as we did last year.

 It is hard to admit, but it was terribly difficult finding a place for me in this city during the first few months of my stay. With all the hustle and bustle, I had no time to slow down or ask for help. Wouldn’t you know, however, that the newspaper is what ended up helping me? I know, there has been much controversy surrounding the price of these informational pamphlets. However, recently the prices have changed, and the content has grown! There are newspapers with as many as 8 pages—and none include that nefarious blank page! Yes, brother, the world of news is changing.

 I have grown quite attached to several newspapers, exchanging between new friends so as to soak up as much of the news as possible. Throughout the process, my most trusted source of news has to be //Parker’s Penny Post//. It has so much to offer in its weekly run. It includes chapters of popular novels, information on foreign affairs, and all of London’s happenings. It does quite literally feel like having the world in your hands with each new issue.

 It is not popularly known, but //Parker’s Penny Post// used to be //Parker’s London News or the Impartial Intelligencer//. Indeed, it did previously come out triweekly with many pages. As you are already aware of, however, the Stamp Act has added new taxations on publishers. Now it is only four pages, but the newspaper does not fail in giving its readers what it wants to read! Penny’s Post does a great service in continuing its weekly chapter installments of novels that are very expensive in their bound form. You would be glad to hear that //Gulliver’s Travels// has been one of those novels. Currently, the Penny Post is issuing installments of //The Life of Oliver Cromwell, once Lord Protector of England//.

 To say that this novel is a clear depiction of Oliver Cromwell’s impact on England is an understatement, to say the least. Being able to read about the great man who swore to protect our kingdom and our neighboring kingdoms brings electric delight to me. I am learning the strategies of war he used that I had never known before. It makes me think, Edmond, if just one inexperienced and ordinary man can help us win a civil war, what else is one man capable of?

 On that note, the ‘Foreign Affairs’ column never ceases to excite me—in both the good and bad sense. I always know what goes on in cities as far as Berlin, Prussia and Rome, Italy! Currently, the news surrounds the Powers of Europe. Specifically, I have seen much news on the current affairs of Poland, which every country, it seems, is following as well. After all, three main countries want to own the land, those being Russia, Prussia, and Austria. I hope you are hearing about all of this, Edmond. It is truly frightening to see violence progress over time, but important nonetheless. The commonwealth is suffering the most, with massive losses in population from constant warfare. It’s unsettling, to say the least, and seemingly never-ending. Before this issue, there was the war against Turkey by the Persians. 10,000 men were sent to attack the Turks with a command to attack with every ounce of force possible. I never realized how violent the world was…

 Well it seems that I have run out of parchment. I will write within the next month! Tell mother to stop fretting and that I will come home at the sign of any trouble.

Yours truly, Eric 30th March 1733 Dear Edmond,

 I promised I would keep you up to date with all that I experience. As such, Edmond, it is to my delight that I share with you my newest activity: enjoying the many plays being acted out! London is truly an entertaining city. It is nothing like the country, where you may see a play acted out once in a while. Here, one play may be featured multiple times throughout the year! This year’s lineup, in 1733, has not disappointed me in the slightest.

 The most popular plays from what I have gathered have been John Gay’s //The Beggar’s Opera,// Molière’s //The Miser, Achilles, //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">and even your personal favorite, William Shakespeare’s //Macbeth//! You already know the plot of most of these by now, but have you heard of //Love Makes a Man, The Careless Husband,// or //The Provok’d Husband//? Would you be astonished to find out that all three of those were created by the same playwright? It seems that what they say is true, that it is not the content but the writer’s abilities that determine the success of any piece of art.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The writer whom I speak of is Colley Cibber, a very talented man indeed. He specializes in combining well-known or abandoned plays and popularizing them, helping them to gain more speed than in their previous form. Quite extraordinary if you ask me. For example, //The Provok’d Husband// was an unfinished work by Jon Vanbrugh, and upon reworking it, the play, as well as Cibber’s name, grew larger in the playwright scene.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Edmond you must see //The Careless Husband//. It is said to be Cibber’s best work yet. It is a comedic play that revolves around a husband’s unfaithfulness. When I say unfaithful, it is as though the husband, Sir Charles Easy, married his wife as some punchline to a joke designed for his life. His desire for intimacy and lack of interest in commitment is so great that he even fools his mistresses into thinking that they are his one and only mistresses so as to preserve their intimate feelings. Of course, he is not careful during his deviant acts, and wonders if his wife suspects him of anything. This kind of carelessness makes you cringe, but is nonetheless amusing. Sir Charles’ outlandish beliefs and complete disrespect for female society is something you have to see to believe.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">From the beginning, he proves his idiocy by foolishly questioning his wife how she would feel if she found out he was cheating on her with half of the town. In my opinion, this is less of a careless inquiry and more a deliberate instigation, is it not? Perhaps it is the wife who was careless. After all, she was not mindful enough to figure out her husband’s affairs until seeing it firsthand.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Nevertheless, so careless is he in his sexual affairs, Sir Charles falls asleep in a chair with Lady Easy’s servant, Edging. This sets up the climax of the story, for when Lady Easy walks in on the scene. In a turn of events, Lady Easy does not wake the sleeping couple, and instead, she wraps a scarf around her husband’s head in place of his fallen wig. This action shows that she was aware of the situation, but decided not to say anything.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Upon this scene, I realized that an earlier scene may have foreshadowed Lady Easy’s reaction. When Sir Charles claims he is the best husband in the world because his wife does not know he is unfaithful, Lord Morelove suggests that it may just mean Lady Easy is the best wife in the world and is actually allowing him to think whatever makes him happy.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">From this point forward, Sir Charles sees the error of his ways and is thus able to love his wife wholeheartedly for her selfless and virtuous person. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Before I move on from this brilliant play, I want to express some lingering thoughts. Firstly, it is interesting how Sir Charles’ surname is ‘Easy,’ a way of characterizing him before assigning him any action. The word ‘easy’ coincides with the word ‘easygoing,’ a characteristic found in those who are foolish and careless. Thus, Sir Charles’ name itself is a comedic trope. Lady Easy, having taken on his surname, is instead ‘easy’ to fool, also careless if you note her oblivion to her husband’s folly. Furthermore, Lady Betty Modish bears the name ‘Modish,’ which is a pointed finger at the way she acts as an accessory to many men. Clearly, the characters’ names are signifiers to their unique qualities.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Overall, the play provokes a deeper conversation into the conducts of men and women, and of what lengths they both take in order to justify their personal vices. It dabbles over the forces of pride and power in both of the sexes, and how these forces may disrupt the harmonies within an otherwise perfect relationship. It is most interesting to hear Sir Charles and Lord Morelove speak about the recovery of their pride through violence, as though pride is something to preserve in order to control their wives and mistresses. It is also interesting to see Lady Easy and her Lady Betty speak of these same topics, assigning men to sense and women to beauty, and how any beautiful woman can make a fool out of the most sensible man. They, too, speak of how power is invariably the source of all happiness, and the struggle for power is one that takes effect in marriage.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">It very much puzzles me, Edmond, how the play is a comedy, and yet we are invited to think about these sort of topics. It makes me think of how the collection and distribution of news taking over the entirety of Europe can provoke conversations that we would otherwise not be speaking about. We enter the play as individuals with nothing and exit as individuals with something to defend, something to fight for. It reflects the very spirit of London, and even all of Britain. What are your beliefs, Edmond? What causes, or what ideas do you fight for?

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">I leave you with these questions to muse over. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: right;">With love, <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: right;">Eric <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">31st June 1733 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Dear Edmond,

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> It has been a long time. It seems that I have trouble with breaking bad habits. Well, I think I should fill you in on everything that has been going on and all that has been on my mind.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> War and conquest continued to be front page news every day for many months in the //Penny Post//. The countries of Spain, Holland, Germany, France, Italy, and many more continued to relay news of training new Men of War, building up better defense, and sending all resources of war out to display their powers. Even worse then what the news did know was what it did not know. There were always small snippets of secret Battalion trails and undisclosed battle tactics that were impossible to debunk. It has created an atmosphere of fear and restlessness.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Finally, however, things are calming down and peace acquisitions are being introduced—at least with the latest issue. It seems that the leaders of Europe are attempting to restore harmony to our kingdoms, at least for the good of our people. I am seeing more news on peaceful events, such as the arrival of the Spanish Royal Family in France and the signing of the Treaty of Alliance by Germany and Russia, with a strong invitation for Britain, Prussia and Holland to do the same. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Edmond, this year has exposed me to more than I have ever had the opportunity to experience. The popularity of plays on the London stage has created an outlet of important societal issues. Many people do not notice the satirical elements of these plays, but I see that these playwrights are moving with the tides of regional and even global changes and using the stage as a platform to express the reality of our lives.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">In the face of political war, we are experiencing a war within ourselves, one that beckons that we question our vices and virtues. I thoroughly enjoy the philosophical conversations about societal habits, and how they are all a performance practiced in order to keep certain groups of people in their social rankings. For example, the way men assume things about women is similar to the way women assume things about men, yet we know nothing of these assumptions outside of closed doors and hide them with our performances as gentlemen and gentlewomen. This way of thinking only separates us from linking our ideas together, and eradicates any chances of breaching new possibilities of prosperity or advancement. All in all, these conversations makes us question our way of living, as well as point out what we have long since been ignoring.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">As a people, we enjoy learning about past heroes, such as Oliver Cromwell, and of details of war that we have no access to. As a people, we enjoy knowing who suffers and how much of it is our fault, or how much of it is the next man’s fault. As a people, we enjoy pointing fun at ourselves and invoking commentary about what we have all been thinking. As a people, we enjoy sending each other letters. We enjoy knowing where we have travelled and what we have been waiting to tell each other. This is all saying something, Edmond. It’s saying that the world is changing into one where our voices can be heard. The best part is: our voices are //waiting// to be heard. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: right;">Your brother, <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: right;">Eric

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;">Works Cited <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Cibber, Colley. //The careless husband. A comedy. Written by C. Cibber//. 8th ed. Dublin: Addison’s Head. 1733. //Eighteenth Century Collections Online//. Web. 11 Apr. 2015.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Koon, Helene. //Colley Cibber: A Biography//. Lexington, Ky: University Press of Kentucky, 1986. Print.

//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Parker’s Penny Post //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">. January-June 1733. Eighteenth Century Journals: A Portal to Newspapers and Periodical, c1685-1835. Web. 11 Apr. 2015.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Souten, Arthur H. "Season of 1733-1734" //The London Stage, 1660-1800//: //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">A Calendar of Plays, Entertainments & Afterpieces, Together with Casts, Box-Receipts and Contemporary Comment, Part 3:1729-1747 //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">. 1st ed. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, Year. 260-352. Print.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Wiles, R M. //Serial Publication in England Before 1750//. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Print.