british literature romantic period

8 T H E R O M A N T I C P E R I O D

moment when demand for manufactured goods. until now augmented bv

the needs of the military, fell dramatically. The result u'as an unemployment

crisis that Dersisted throush the 1820s. Since the $'orkers had no vote and

were preve;ted by law from unionizing, their only recourses were Petitions' proteit meetings, and riots, to which the ruling class responded with even

rno." ,"p."rrive measures. The introduction of neu' machinery into the rnjlls

resulted in further loss ofjobs, provoking sporadic attempts by the displaced

workers to destroy the machines. After one such outbreak of "Luddite"

machine-breaking, the House of Lords-despite Byron's eloquent Protest- passed a bill (f 8l j) making death the penalty for destroying the_frames used

ior *.a.,ing in the stocking industry. In 1819 hundreds of thousands of

workers organized meetings to demand parliamentary reform. In August of

that year, u h.tg" but orderly assembly at St. Peter's Fields, Manchester, was

charged by sater-wielding troops, who killed nine and injured hundreds

more; this was the notorious "Peterloo Massacre," so named with sardonic

reference to the Battle of Waterloo. Suffering was largely confined to the poor, hou,ever, while the landed

classes ani industriulittr pr.rrp"red. So did many merchants, who pro{ited

from thc new markets opened up as the British Empire expanded aggres-

sively, compensating with victories against the French for the traumatic

loss of America in iZS:. England's merchants profited, too, thanks to the

marketing successes that, over time, converted once-exotic imports from

these colonies into everyday fare for the English. ln the eighteenth century

tea and sugar had becn transformed in this way, and in the nineteenth cen-

tury other commodities followed suit: thc Indian muslin, fbr instance, that

*u, th" fabric of choice for gentlemen's cravats and fashionable ladies'

gowns, and the laudanum (Indian opium clissolved in alcohol) that so many

ailing writers of the period appear to have found irresistible. The West Encl

of London and new ieaside resorts like Brighton became in the early nine-

teenth century consumers' paradises, sites where West Indian planters ancl

nabobs (a Hindi word that enterecl English as a name for thosc who owecl

their fortunes to lndian gain) could be glimpsed displaying their purchas-

ing power in a manner that made them moralists' f'avorite examples of nou-

,re-a., riche vulgarity. The word shop\ting czrme into English us:rge in this

era. Luxurv villas sprang up in London, and thc prince regent, rvho in 1820

became G"o.g" IV, buill himself palaces and pleasurc domes, retrezrts from

his not very onerous public responsibilities. But even, or especially, in private life at home, the prosperous could not

escape being touched by the great events of this period. French revolution-

ary irinciples were feared by English conservatives almost as much lor their

chalenge-to the ,,proper" ordering of the relations between men and women

as for th"ir "hull"ng"

tu traditional political arrangements. Yet the

account of what it meant to be English that developed in reaction to this

challenge-an account emphasizing the special virtues of the English

,"r-r." o? home and familr'-u'as in its way equally revolutionary' In an

unprecedented u,a-v, the nar that the English waged almost without inter-

miision between I793 and 1815 had a "home front." The menaced sanctuary

of the domestic fireside became the symbol of what the nation's military

might was safeguarding. \\rhat popularity the monarchy held on to during

thii turbulent period riis thus a function not of the two King Georges' tra-

ditional exercise of a monarch's sovereign powers but instead of the public-

. t a i l o r e d t o s u i t t h i s r r ' r c s t i t ' b l i s s w i t h i n a

: . r e d a s u , e l l u n d e r t h e r :

: r o f t h e h o m e , t h i s P l t , r o f o u r c o u n t r v u ' i t h , I

\ n c l t h a t a l t c r a t i o n b o t l - , o p p o r t u n i t i e s . A s i r r ' i o c i r l e r e p r o v i c l c d o l r l ' , . t - r u a l b e h a v i o r , a n c l i , ' '

' : h i s p e r i o d u ' o m c n b t ' . -

. r a z i n e a r t i c l c s t h a t i r " ' ( n c e s b e t w e e n t h e s t ' . ' ' L l ' e n c c s . I h e 1 s l r , r t r l t l

. r s c k c ' e p i n g , a n d n o t h : r

, t e l " s o f f e m a l e c l o n r e ' t ' , t i n c l u s t r i a l i s t s i r n p o . r .

. , ' p i r r a t l o r i t ' r r l b r 1 ' r ' ' ' .

r , , r i t l b r g c d h c t r t c t t t t i t l e r r t i t 1 o l ' t h c I ) , r l r . .

- t i n t : t t t . t o c l l r i r r l . \ \

; l i s h r r r r t i o n i t l i ( l ( n l i 1 . ' , , ' . I l r c r l r t r t l l , t l t , -

- l r t r r t ' l l l l e t r t ; r n t f t * t '

L r \ i r n ( l s o f r , r o t l l t ' t t i t t ' , l c t ' l i n g s r , l p i t r t l r , i

r , o t t l < l I r t ' t t t r n t ' t l t , '

! l t . ' n t ' r r i t l t ' : r t h ; r t . ' '

: . r ' \ \ : r s r r o t s i l t l P l r i l l . , , r s t e \ t ( ' l l l l l l l c t l r ' t r r l r l i t r r l i o t t - I t r , r r '

r , ' s l t r t k i n l l s " - t ' , i t t , . ' . r e h i l t ' t ' s c e n .

' f h i s l l . , -

. l t u , , n t t ' n r r r i t t ' r t '

- - . 1 l i t c r a r . v r e l l t t t t t t i o r l ' ' , . t o r t v o i t l s t t g l l t ' s t i r ' -

'

i , , r r ' s " r r l ' [ i ' t t i ( ) n i r l ( ' \ \ ' I l r o s t ' t l i n t o " s t t t t l i ' '

- . . \ \ r r l l s t o n e c r a f t , r i h , ,

. - , r c a l p r o p o s i l l a b o t r t q . : ' : c c l L t c a t i o n u / o m e l l I l r

. ( t ' \ \ 0 l l l e n \ A r i t e r s t ( l l ' :

' , : n s c h ' e s a g a i n s t i t . , ) r ' r h i n t h c V i c t o r i i r r r

r r I

_ r t \ f i l l l v e n ( ) t l g n s t l l r l l

e c s s n ' o u l c l n o t b e t r , ' r r ' t e c n t h c c n t u r v t h c I l

r . . r : d i s t i n t t I r o t t t r r ' ' \ \ ' i l l i a m P i t t ( r v h o r i o

r a b i l l { i r r p t r r l i a n r e r r

: r r i n g i n t o s t r a t e g i c i l l

. R r i t i s h e l e c t o r a l s v s t t