Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies最新文献

In November 1744, a series of riots broke out at Drury Lane theatre, forcing its proprietor, Charles Fleetwood, to sell his majority share of the theatrical patent. Theatre scholarship has long held that the riots were caused by Fleetwood's attempt to raise admission prices for old pantomimes, yet also, somewhat contradictorily, has maintained that admission prices definitively increased at London's patent theatres in the period around 1740. This article shows both points to be mistaken: prices did not rise in the period, and Fleetwood was forced out due to a range of grievances that had developed over the preceding decade. By revealing how pricing practices, Fleetwood's tenure, and the riots developed, this article provides new insights on a crucial period in London's theatre history (the 1730s–40s) and on the wider social and economic dynamics of Georgian theatregoing.

The establishment of a Royal Naval Dockyard in Ferrol (Spain) favoured engagement in international activities and hence the development of useful connections with other European cities and towns. This article examines trade links between Scotland and Spain through the port of Ferrol during the 1770s, with particular emphasis on the British press and on Scottish customs accounts. Both data sources were used to address three research questions. First, what were the policies and mechanisms of this trade? Second, how important was this trade in terms of the industrial needs of Spain? Third, did this trade have any effect on economic development? The findings provide insight into Scottish industrial history and the relationship between the economy and political spheres during periods of war. They also reveal historical narratives that shed light on the supply of weaponry to Ferrol and the customs administration related to this trade.

Around 1788, Johann Friedrich Blumenbach compiled a list of notable contributions to the discussion on Kant's concept of race. This list included references to Kant's second and third essays on race, Georg Forster's 1786 response, and two essays by Johann Daniel Metzger. Blumenbach's compilation stands in stark contrast to contemporary discussions of Kant's racial theories. Despite the increasing interest in this subject, Metzger's critiques are still largely unnoticed. To gain a more comprehensive understanding of eighteenth-century discussions on race, it is crucial to broaden our perspective beyond the viewpoints of Johann Gottfried Herder and Forster and include Metzger's contributions. In this article, I aim to elucidate (the context surrounding) Metzger's endeavours to engage with Kant's concept of race.

This article examines the scientific background of Daniel Defoe's The Storm (1704). This work is a collection of letters on the Great Storm, a tempest which battered the south of England on 26–27 November 1703 causing casualties in the thousands and extensive damage. Like other extreme natural phenomena, the Great Storm was interpreted by many as divine warning. This article argues that, differently to Defoe's other works on the Great Storm, The Storm reconciles the traditional religious reading of catastrophes with recent breakthroughs in empiricist philosophy and early meteorology. In its concluding section, the article offers a reassessment of Defoe's interest in scientific ideas in The Storm so as to include early-eighteenth-century empiricism and examines Defoe's ambivalent attitude towards them.

The fate of diplomatic gifts after their presentation can reveal patterns of instability and shifting narratives on the items themselves and how they were perceived and received at the time. Often, these important pieces of material evidence disappear or are decontextualised from their exchange. This has been the case with the Persian embassy to Louis XIV's court at Versailles in 1715, where the gifts that were presented to the Sun King were thought to have been lost. This paper traces the afterlives of two of the gifted items: a string of pearls and two gold boxes of mumia. Each of these gifts were retained by the French administration and can be tracked through the eighteenth century. Their journeys reveal much about their evolving significances and the re-evaluations that occurred once they entered the French collections.