`I can hardly believe, by the tranquillity of every thing about me, that we are a people who have just lost an empire. But it is so.' So wrote Edmund Burke on 30th May 1776. In the city about him duels, elopements, plays, highway robberies, masquerades and daily life continued much as usual while across the Atlantic cities burned and muskets blazed as the political order of the world was recast. Much has been written about events in America at this time, but what was it like to be living in London? This book seeks to answer that question by way of a daily chronicle in which the year's stories emerge through diaries, letters, newspaper reports, and a wealth of previously unpublished material, from state papers to Edward Gibbon's pocket-book. Among notable events were the trial of the Duchess of Kingston for bigamy, David Garrick's farewell to the stage, Captain Cook's setting out on his final voyage, and publication of Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations. These unfold alongside a host of forgotten stories, characters and incidents to create a revealing portrait of London in a momentous year.
Title: 1776: A London Chronicle, or How to Divert Oneself while Losing an Empire
Author:
ISBN: 9780956204615
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Publisher: The Bunbury Press
Publication Date: 2019-03-08
Number of Pages: 768
Weight: 1.3204 kg
`An excellent book ... I found it exhilarating to be thrust into the dangers of Dr Johnson's city. ... High and low, scandal and political philosophy, mix on every page ... It's a world tremendously enjoyable to be immersed in.' 5 stars. (Christopher Howse in the Sunday Telegraph, 31 March 2019); 'What was it like living in London and going about one's business as the American War of Independence raged across the Atlantic? This diverting and exquisitely produced chronicle shows us exactly how it was, capturing daily life through diaries, letters, newspaper reports and 370 contemporary illustrations. Among the events it describes are riots at Drury Lane Theatre, the fashion for elaborate head-dresses as it reached new heights, and cricket played on skates on the frozen Thames. Boutique publishing at its finest, it's also a salutary reminder of how daily life continues in the face of most turbulences.' (Caroline Sanderson in the Bookseller, 7 December 2018)