|
James Ralph
James Ralph (1705 – 24 January 1762) was an Thirteen Colonies, American-born English political history, political writer, historian, reviewer, and Grub Street hack writer known for his works of history and his position in Alexander Pope's ''Dunciad, Dunciad B.'' His ''History of England'' in two volumes (1744–46) and ''The Case of the Authors by Profession'' of 1758 became the dominant narratives of their time. Life in America The ''Dictionary of American Biography'' places Ralph's birth in New Jersey, and probably in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, Elizabethtown and the year as 1705 (Kenny 331), but Okie gives a fifteen-year range for birth (1695–1710) and suggests that he was born near Philadelphia (Okie 873). These two Colonial cities were separated by seventy miles of indifferent roads, so the distance is considerable. One reason for the different locations is that the first solid fact about Ralph is his marriage to Mary Ogden in 1724 in Elizabethtown and the birth of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thirteen Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies were the British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America which broke away from the British Crown in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), and joined to form the United States of America. The Thirteen Colonies in their traditional groupings were: the New England Colonies (New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut); the Middle Colonies ( New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware); and the Southern Colonies (Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia). These colonies were part of British America, which also included territory in The Floridas, the Caribbean, and what is today Canada. The Thirteen Colonies were separately administered under the Crown, but had similar political, constitutional, and legal systems, and each was dominated by Protestant English-speakers. The first of the colonies, Virginia, was established at Jamestown, in 1607. Maryland, Pennsylvania, and the New England Colon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Fielding
Henry Fielding (22 April 1707 – 8 October 1754) was an English writer and magistrate known for the use of humour and satire in his works. His 1749 comic novel ''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'' was a seminal work in the genre. Along with Samuel Richardson, Fielding is seen as the founder of the traditional English novel. He also played an important role in the history of law enforcement in the United Kingdom, using his authority as a magistrate to found the Bow Street Runners, London's first professional Police, police force. Early life Henry Fielding was born on 22 April 1707 at Sharpham Park, the seat of his mother's family in Sharpham, Somerset. He was the son of Lt.-Gen. Edmund Fielding and Sarah Gould, daughter of Sir Henry Gould. A scion of the Earl of Denbigh, his father was nephew of William Fielding, 3rd Earl of Denbigh. Educated at Eton College, Fielding began a lifelong friendship with William Pitt the Elder. His mother died when he was 11. A suit for custod ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
House Of Commons Of The United Kingdom
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 members known as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), members of Parliament (MPs), who are elected to represent United Kingdom constituencies, constituencies by the First-past-the-post voting, first-past-the-post system and hold their seats until Dissolution of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, Parliament is dissolved. The House of Commons of England began to evolve in the 13th and 14th centuries. In 1707 it became the House of Commons of Great Britain after the Acts of Union 1707, political union with Scotland, and from 1801 it also became the House of Commons for Ireland after the Acts of Union 1800, political union of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922, the body became the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and No ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patriot Whig
The Patriot Whigs, later the Patriot Party, were a group within the Whig Party in Great Britain from 1725 to 1803. The group was formed in opposition to the government of Robert Walpole in the House of Commons in 1725, when William Pulteney (later 1st Earl of Bath) and seventeen other Whigs joined with the Tory Party in attacks against the ministry. By the mid-1730s, there were over one hundred opposition Whigs in the Commons, many of whom embraced the Patriot label. For many years, they provided a more effective opposition to the Walpole administration than the Tories were. The Whig Patriots believed that under Walpole, the executive had grown too powerful by the abuse of patronage and government placemen in the Parliament of Great Britain. They also accused Walpole personally of being too partisan, too important and too eager to keep competent potential rivals out of positions of influence. He was further suspected of enriching himself from the public purse. Discontent with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tory Party
The Tories were a loosely organised political faction and later a political party, in the Parliaments of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom. They first emerged during the 1679 Exclusion Crisis, when they opposed Whig efforts to exclude James, Duke of York from the succession on the grounds of his Catholicism. Despite their fervent opposition to state-sponsored Catholicism, Tories opposed his exclusion because of their belief that inheritance based on birth was the foundation of a stable society. After the succession of George I in 1714, the Tories had no part in government and ceased to exist as an organised political entity in the early 1760s (although the term continued to be used in subsequent years as a term of self-description by some political writers). About twenty years later, a new Tory party arose and participated in government between 1783 and 1830, with William Pitt the Younger followed by Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
War Of Jenkins' Ear
The War of Jenkins' Ear was fought by Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and History of Spain (1700–1808), Spain between 1739 and 1748. The majority of the fighting took place in Viceroyalty of New Granada, New Granada and the Caribbean Sea, with major operations largely ended by 1742. It is considered a related conflict of the 1740 to 1748 War of the Austrian Succession. The name derives from Robert Jenkins (master mariner), Robert Jenkins, a British sea captain whose ear was allegedly severed in April 1731 by Spanish coast guards searching his ship for contraband. In 1738, opposition politicians in the Parliament of Great Britain, British Parliament used the incident to incite support for a war against Spain. The most significant operation of the war was a failed British attack on Battle of Cartagena de Indias, Cartagena in 1741, which resulted in heavy casualties and was not repeated. Apart from minor actions in Spanish Florida, Province of Georgia, Georgia, and Havan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Walpole
Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford (; 26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745), known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British Whigs (British political party), Whig statesman who is generally regarded as the ''de facto'' first Prime Minister of Great Britain, serving from 1721 to 1742. His formal titles included First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leader of the House of Commons. Although the exact dates of Walpole's dominance, dubbed the "Robinocracy", are a matter of scholarly debate, the period 1721–1742 is often used. He dominated the Walpole–Townshend ministry, as well as the subsequent Walpole ministry, and holds the record as the List of prime ministers of the United Kingdom by length of tenure, longest-serving British prime minister. W. A. Speck, W. A. Speck wrote that Walpole's uninterrupted run of 20 years as prime minister "is rightly regarded as one of the major feats of British political history. Explanations a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Licensing Act 1737
The Licensing Act 1737 ( 10 Geo. 2. c. 28) or the Theatrical Licensing Act 1737 was an act in the Kingdom of Great Britain, and a pivotal moment in British theatrical history. Its purpose was to control and censor what was being said about the British government through theatre. The act was repealed by the Theatres Act 1843 ( 6 & 7 Vict. c. 68), which was, in turn, replaced by the Theatres Act 1968. The Lord Chamberlain was the official censor and the office of Examiner of Plays was created under the act. The examiner assisted the Lord Chamberlain in the task of censoring all plays from 1737 to 1968. The examiner read all plays which were to be publicly performed, produced a synopsis and recommended them for licence, consulting the Lord Chamberlain in cases of doubt. The act also created a legal distinction between categories of "legitimate theatre" and "illegitimate theatre". Forerunner The function of censorship of plays for performance (at least in London) fell to the Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, Northamptonshire to the west, and Bedfordshire to the south-west. The largest settlement is the city of Peterborough, and the city of Cambridge is the county town. The county has an area of and had an estimated population of 906,814 in 2022. Peterborough, in the north-west, and Cambridge, in the south, are by far the largest settlements. The remainder of the county is rural, and contains the city of Ely, Cambridgeshire, Ely in the east, Wisbech in the north-east, and St Neots and Huntingdon in the west. For Local government in England, local government purposes Cambridgeshire comprises a non-metropolitan county, with five Districts of England, districts, and the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Crowne
John Crowne (6 April 1641 – 1712) was a British dramatist. His father "Colonel" William Crowne, accompanied the earl of Arundel on a diplomatic mission to Vienna in 1637, and wrote an account of his journey. He emigrated to Nova Scotia where he received a grant of land from Cromwell, but the French took possession of his property, and the home government did nothing to uphold his rights. Biography He was born in London on 6 April 1641, and emigrated to Nova Scotia in 1657 with his father, a joint proprietor of the colony, aboard the ship ''Satisfaction'', and studied at Harvard College. While studying at Harvard, Crowne lived with Puritan divine John Norton. Crowne left without graduating, however, and returned to England with his father in 1660. When the son came to England his poverty compelled him to act as gentleman usher to an independent lady of quality, and his enemies asserted that his father had been an Independent minister. He began his literary career with a rom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Fashionable Lady
''The Fashionable Lady'' is a 1730 comedy play by James Ralph. It premiered at the Goodman's Fields Theatre in Whitechapel with a cast that included William Giffard as Meanwell, James Lacy as Drama, Thomas Smith as Whim and Anna Marcella Giffard as Mrs Sprightly. The play has been described as "a hyperbolic take-off on ''The Beggar's Opera ''The Beggar's Opera'' is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay with music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It is one of the watershed plays in Augustan drama and is the only example of the once thriving genre of sati ...''." It was a moderate success and poked fun at the sorry state of English drama, uncritical acceptance of Italian opera, and the stupidity of theater managers. References Bibliography * Burling, William J. ''A Checklist of New Plays and Entertainments on the London Stage, 1700-1737''. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1992. * Nicoll, Allardyce. ''A History of Early Eighteenth Century D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ballad Opera
The ballad opera is a genre of England, English ''comic opera'' stage play that originated in the early 18th century, and continued to develop over the following century and later. Like the earlier ''comédie en vaudeville'' and the later ''Singspiel'', its distinguishing characteristic is the use of tunes in a popular style (either pre-existing or newly composed) with spoken dialogue. These English plays were 'operas' mainly insofar as they satirized the conventions of the imported ''opera seria''. Music critic Peter Gammond describes the ballad opera as "an important step in the emancipation of both the musical stage and the popular song." Earliest ballad operas Ballad opera has been called an "eighteenth-century protest against the Italian conquest of the London operatic scene."M. Lubbock, ''The Complete Book of Light Opera'' (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1962), pp. 467–68 It consists of racy and often Satire, satirical spoken (English) dialogue, interspersed with songs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
