I. Review the material of Section 2 and do the following test. Check yourself by the key at the end of the book.

Test 2

1. The Renaissance in England falls on the _____ century.

a. 14^th; b. 15^th; c. 16^th; d. 17^th

2. The Invincible Armada was defeated by ___

a. Francis Drake; b. Charles I; c. Admiral Nelson

3. The Fairy Queen was written by ___

a. W. Shakespeare; b. Ch. Marlowe; c. E. Spenser

4. W. Shakespeare was ____

a. an actor; b. a playwright; c. a literary critic

5. The Gunpowder plot was in ___

a. 1515; b. 1605; c. 1649

6. The Pilgrim Fathers were___

a. Catholics; b. Protestants; c. Puritans

7. The King who dismissed Parliament several times was___

a. Henry VIII; b. James I; c. Charles I

8. After the establishment of the Commonwealth, O. Cromwell was proclaimed

a. King; b. Lord Protector; c. Lord Chancellor

9. John Milton wrote ____

a. Paradise Lost; b. The Fairy Queen; c. Much Ado About Nothing

10. “The Father of the English Opera” was ____

a. William Byrd; b. Henry Purcell; c. John Bull

11. As a result of the Civil War, England became ____

a. a parliamentary monarchy; b. a republic; c. an absolute monarchy

12. The Great Fire of London was in _______ .

a. 1666; b. 1605; c. 1649

II. Get ready to speak on the following topics:

1. Reformation in England. Henry VIII. Mary Tudor (“Bloody Mary”).

2. The Elizabethan age. England’s relations with Spain. The geographical discoveries in 16^th century. The development of philosophy, literature and the theatre (Thomas More, Edmund Spenser, Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare).

3. The reign of James I: the Gunpowder plot, the Pilgrim Fathers.

4. The Civil War and the Commonwealth, Oliver Cromwell. The Restoration.

5. The Great Fire of London. The development of literature (John Milton), arts (William Dobson, Christopher Wren, Henry Purcell) and science (Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton, Edmund Halley) in the 17^th century.

3. Topics for presentations:

· The history of the English language.

· The Elizabethan age.

· Science in the 17^th century England.

Britain in the New Age.

Modern Britain.

In Europe the 18^th century was a turbulent age marked with revolutions, a tremendous upheaval in literature, philosophy and science all over the continent. It was the age when England gained the dominant place in the Channel and in the seas and became the world’s main market. It was the age of the Industrial Revolution which resulted in England’s economic growth. It was also the age of continental and colonial wars. The wars waged on the continent were the War of the Spanish Succession (1702-1713), the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748) and the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763). The wars for colonial expansion in India and North America went on without interruption. England’s rivals were Holland, France and Spain. The 18^th century was a period of transition which saw the transfer of political power in Britain from absolute to parliamentary monarchy.

But before we turn to the 18^th century we must speak about the event which laid the basis for England’s further development – the Glorious Revolution. For different reasons (mainly political and economic), many English historians consider the late 1680s as the beginning of the 18^th century in the history of England.

In 1688, the bourgeoisie managed to bring the royal power, the armed forces and taxation under the control of Parliament. The arrangement is known as the Revolution of 1688, or the Glorious Revolution. King James II who succeeded to the throne after the death of his brother, Charles II, introduced pro-Catholic reforms and, finally, converted to Catholicism himself. All that which provoked Protestant hostility in the country. James II’s opponents sparked off the Glorious Revolution by inviting a Protestant – William, the Prince of Orange, to take the English crown. William of Orange arrived with an invasion force. In fact, William II, as he came to be known, was one of the legal heirs to the throne: he was the grandson of Charles I, and his wife Mary was James II’s daughter and Charles I’s granddaughter. King James II had to flee to France in 1689. Parliament declared that James II had abdicated and William and Mary accepted the throne. The attempts to restore James II to the throne failed in 1690.

William III proved to be an able diplomat but a reserved and unpopular monarch. In 1689, William and Mary accepted the Bill of Rights curbing royal power and granting the rights of parliament. It also restricted succession to the throne only to Protestants. The Bill of Rights laid the basis for constitutional monarchy. William and Mary ruled jointly until Mary’s death in 1694. Her husband died after a fall from his horse in 1702. The most important result of the Glorious Revolution is the transition from absolute to parliamentary monarchy. In 1707, during the reign of Queen Anne, Act of the Union created a single Parliament for England and Scotland.

The 18^th century was a sound-thinking and rational age. Life was ruled by common sense. It was the proper guide to thought and conduct in commerce and industry. This period saw a remarkable rise in the fields of philosophy, natural sciences and political economy. Adam Smith (1723 – 1790), the Scottish economist, wrote his Wealth of Nations in 1776. His ideas dominated the whole of industrial Europe and America until the revival of opposing theories of state control and protection. Adam Smith was one of the founders of political economy which evolved, as a science, in the 18^th century. Smith’s ideas were further developed by David Ricardo.

During the reign of George I, government power was increased because the new king spoke only German and relied on the decisions of his ministers. The most influential minister, who remained the greatest political leader of Britain for twenty years, was Robert Walpole. He is considered to have been Britain’s first Prime Minister. Moreover, it was R. Walpole who fathered the idea of using banknotes. As Britain was waging a series of costly wars with France, the government had to borrow money from different sources. In 1694, a group of financiers agreed to establish a bank if the government pledged to borrow from it alone. The new bank, called the Bank of England, had authority to raise money by printing ‘bank-notes’. But the idea was not entirely new. For hundreds of years, ever since the 12^th century, money dealers had been giving people so-called ‘promissory notes’ signed by themselves. The cheques that are used today developed from those promissory notes. Walpole also promoted a parliamentary act, which obliged companies to bear responsibility to the public for the money, which they borrowed by the sales of shares.

In politics, Walpole was determined to keep the Crown under a firm parliamentary control. He realized that with the new German monarchy that was more possible than ever before. Walpole stressed the idea that government ministers should work together in a small group called the Cabinet. He insisted that all Cabinet ministers should bear collective responsibility for their decisions. If any minister disagreed with a Cabinet decision, he was expected to resign. The rule is still observed today. Walpole opposed wars, and increased taxes on objects of luxury including tea, coffee and chocolate.

R. Walpole’s most influential enemy was William Pitt who stressed the importance of developing trade and strengthening Britain’s position overseas even by armed force. His policies lead to a number of wars with France. In the war of 1756, Pitt declared that the target was French trade which was to be taken over by Britain. In Canada, the British army took Quebec, which gave Britain control over fish, fur and timber trades. The French army was also defeated in India and a lot of Britons went to India to make their fortunes. Britain became the most powerful country in the world. British pride was expressed in a national song written in 1742, Rule, Britannia.

At the beginning of the 18^th century, England was becoming the main commercial centre of Europe. In 1700 England and Wales had a population of about 5.5 million people. By the end of the century it reached 8.8. million. Including Ireland and Scotland, the total population was about 13 million people.

England was still a country of small villages. The big cities of the future were only beginning to emerge. After London, the second largest city was Bristol. Its rapid growth and importance was based on the triangular trade: British-made goods were shipped to West Africa, West African slaves were transported to the New World, and American sugar, cotton and tobacco were brought to Britain.

By the middle of the century Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield and Leeds were already big cities. But administratively and politically, they were still treated as villages and had no representation in Parliament.

All towns, old and new, had no drainage system; dirt was seldom or never removed from the streets. Towns often suffered from epidemics. In London, only one child in four grew up to become an adult. The majority of the poorer population suffered from drinking as the most popular drink was gin. Quakers started developing the beer industry and promoting the spread of beer as a less damaging drink. Soon beer drinking became a national habit.

As England was becoming the main commercial centre of Europe, London was turning into the centre of wealth and civilization. Ships came up the Thames which resembled a forest of masts. There was a great deal of buying, selling and bargaining in the open.

The City, or the Square Mile of Money, became the most important district of London. The Lord Mayor was never seen in public except in his rich robe, a hood of black velvet and a golden chain. He was always escorted by heralds and guards. On great occasions, he appeared on horseback or in his gilded coach. A commonly used phrase said, “He who is tired of London is tired of life”. But the 18^th century London was, naturally, different from what it became later. The streets were so narrow that wheeled carriages had difficulty in passing each other. Houses were built of brick or stone, as well as of wood and plaster. The upper part of the houses was built much further out than the lower part, so far out that people living on the upper floors could touch each other’s hands by stretching out over the street. Houses were not numbered as the majority of the population were illiterate. Shops, inns, taverns, theatres and coffee-houses had painted signs illustrating their names. The most typical names and pictures were “The Red Lion”, “The Swan”, “The Golden Lamb”, “The Blue Bear”, “The Rose”.

Londoners preferred to walk in the middle of the streets so as to avoid the rubbish thrown out of the windows and open doors. In rainy weather the gutters that ran along the streets, turned into black torrents, which roared down to the Thames, carrying to it all the rubbish from the City. The streets were not lighted at night. Thieves and pickpockets plied their trade without fear of being punished. It was difficult to get about even during the day, let alone at night.

Wealthier Londoners preferred using the river. The boatmen dressed in blue garments waited for customers at the head of the steps leading down to the waterside. Another way of getting about London was in a sedan-chair. It was put on two long horizontal poles which were carried by two men. When ladies went out to pay visits, the lid of the sedan-chair had to be opened to make room for the fashionable hair-dresses and hats.

The introduction of coffee, tea and chocolate as common drinks led to the establishment of coffee-houses. These were a kind of first clubs. Coffee-houses kept copies of newspapers, they became centres of political discussion. Every coffee-house had its own favourite speaker to whom the visitors listened with great admiration. Each rank and profession, each shade of religious or political opinion had its own coffee-house. There were earls and clergymen, university students and translators, printers and index-makers. Men of literature and the wits met at a coffee-house which was frequently visited by the poet John Dryden. Here one could also meet Sir Isaac Newton, Dr. Johnson and other celebrities.

The 18^th century gave birth to the Industrial Revolution: it brought about the mechanization of industry and the consequent changes in social and economic organization. The change from domestic industry to the factory system began in the textile industry. It was transformed by such inventions as Kay’s flying shuttle (1733), Hargreave’s spinning jenny (1764) and others. Newcomen’s steam engine (1705) perfected by Watt (1765) provided a power supply. Communications were improved by the locomotives invented by Stephenson. The 18^th century improvements in agricultural methods freed rural labour for industry and increased the productivity of the land. That was followed by the rapid growth of towns, mostly near coal-fields. Miserable working and housing conditions later inspired the Luddites,or workers who deliberately smashed machinery in the industrial centres in the early 19^th century. The followers of Ned Ludd, an 18^th century riot leader, believed that the use of machines caused unemployment. They fought against unemployment in a most primitive way which, to them, seemed effective.

At the end of the 18^th century the struggle of the 13 American colonies for independence from British rule turned into the War of American Independence (1775 – 1783). The war was caused by the British attempts to tax the colonies for revenue and to make them pay for a standing army. The colonies revolted under George Washington and declared their independence in 177. In 1778 – 1780 France, Spain and the Netherlands, one by one, declared war on Britain. Military operations were held on the American continent. In 1781 Britain lost command of the sea, and her army was finally defeated at Yorktown. In 1783 the war ended with the Treaty of Paris, in which the independence of the USA was officially recognized. George Washington became the country’s first president. The war discredited the government of George III, weakened France financially, and served as an inspiration for the French Revolution and for revolutions in the Spanish colonies in America.

It should be noted that the War of Independence was won by the Americans largely due to the French support. The famous poet and playwright Bomarchet, who was a secret agent of the French government, shipped arms and ammunition over the Atlantic Ocean to the insurgents. In Paris, he met Benjamin Franklin, who was the American ambassador to France. Franklin is one of the prominent figures in American history. To begin with, he helped to draft the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Besides being one of the founding fathers of the American nation, Franklin gained a worldwide reputation for his scientific discoveries, which included a new theory of the nature of electricity, and for his inventions, among which there was the lightning conductor.

· Painting

Britain’s naval supremacy in the 18^th century gave rise to marine painting. Victories at sea led to a steady demand for pictures of sea-battles, and marine painters made a good living from naval commissions. Another factor that promoted marine painting was a changing attitude towards the sea and the seashore. Many of the novelists, poets and artists turned to the sea as a source of inspiration.

The 18^th century was also the great age of British landscape and portrait painting. Sir Joshua Reynolds, William Hogarth and Thomas Gainsborough were the greatest masters of the century. They debated whether painting should follow poetry.

Sir Joshua Reynolds was more academic in his views and manner of painting. That English portrait painter dominated English artistic life in the middle and late 18th century. Through his art and teaching, he attempted to lead British painting away from the indigenous anecdotal pictures of the early 18th century toward the formal rhetoric of the continental Grand Style. With the founding of the Royal Academy in 1768, Reynolds was elected its first president and knighted by King George III.

Thomas Gainsborough was known for his portraits of fashionable society in the late 18th century and for his landscapes of the English countryside. His art could be described as “natural”. One of Gainsborough’s celebrated works is his portrait of Mr. and Mrs. Andrews featuring a wealthy Suffolk landowner and his wife against the background of their estate.

William Hogarth was a major English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic and editorial cartoonist. He is best known for his moral and satirical engravings and paintings and may well be called a painter and engraver of modern moral subjects.

All three of them unmistakably are recognized as the 18^th century greatest English artists whose pictures belong to the treasure-trove of European painting.

· Music

In music, the leading musician of the century was George Frederick Handel (1685 – 1759). He was a musician and composer of German birth and a naturalized Englishman. He composed with extreme facility. For example, “Messiah” was written in 21 days. His immense output includes over 40 operas (the best known of which is “Rinaldo”), about 20 oratorios, organ concertos, vocal and choral music and a great mass of chamber and instrumental music. Even his religious and formal music is dominated by the influence of the theatre. His music expresses the full range of human feelings; it is profoundly psychological and subtle.

As Handel was patronized by the king, he sometimes fell victim to the intrigues of courtiers and politicians who wanted him to support their cause in front of the king. Handel was bitterly criticized by a group of playwrights and composers who promoted a national way in English music. Among them was John Gay(1685 – 1732), a poet and playwright. His most famous work, a lyrical drama “The Beggar’s Opera” was turned into a music piece by John Pepusch,another German composer, mostly known for his vocal music. The new musical comedy, based on the plot suggested by Jonathan Swift, was a bitter political satire on politicians, witty and joyful. Handel was mocked at in the second act, when a group of robbers marched to the music from his opera “Rinaldo”. “The Beggar’s Opera” was a tremendous success. During the winter season of 1728 it was performed 62 times.

The problem of vital importance for the 18^th century philosophers and writers was the study of man and the origin of his good and evil qualities. Human nature, they claimed, was virtuous and any deviation from virtue was due to the influence of a vicious society. Formulated in this way, the problem acquired social importance. The survivals of feudalism, on the one hand, and the evils of the new system of production, on the other hand, were to be seen everywhere. Progressive writers explained that vice was caused by ignorance and the way out was to enlighten the people. Thus, the 18^th century English writers started a public movement of Enlightenment. They hoped to improve the world by teaching and bringing the light of knowledge to the population. The enlighteners rejected Church dogmas and class distinctions.

The movement of the Enlightenment appeared in England, and then spread to the Continent. Later, France produced eminent writers who fought for enlightening the people: Voltaire, Rousseau and others In every country, supporters of the Enlightenment shared the same views: a deep hatred for feudalism and its survivals, systematic education for all, self-government and liberty. They all spoke up for the ordinary people particularly for peasants whose fate was to be decided in the 18^th century.

Notwithstanding these common features, there was a difference between the ideas expressed by the English and those expressed by the French writers of the period: an intellectual calm is felt in English literature because the English were past their revolution, while in France the turbulent spirit of the fight for freedom was only beginning. The French literature of the Enlightenment prepared the French for the Great Revolution which broke out at the end of the 18^th century.

· Literature of the Enlightenment

In England, the period saw the transition from the poetic age of Shakespeare to the prosaic age of essayists. The style of prose became clear, graceful and polished. Writers accepted such literary forms as were intelligible to all. Satire gained popularity. The period also saw the rise of the political pamphlet. Most of the authors of the time wrote political pamphlets, but the best came from the pens of Daniel Defoe and Jonathan Swift. Among the best known essayists were Steele and Addison. Periodical newspapers had been published since the Civil War, and in 1702 the first daily newspaper was established.

Much of the drama was written in prose, and the leading form of literature was the novel. The hero of the novel was no longer a prince, but a representative of the middle class. That had never happened before – ordinary people had usually been represented only as comical characters.

Towards the middle of the century there appeared a new literary trend – sentimentalism. Richardson, Goldsmith, Fielding – those names evoked a lively response in the hearts of readers both in Europe and across the Atlantic. The first writer of the sentimental school in Europe was Samuel Richardson. His novels Pamela, Clarissa and History of Sir Charles Grandison were the works that showed the inner world of the characters. Richardson appealed to the hearts of the readers and made them sympathize with his unfortunate heroes. The novels were a tremendous success in the 18^th and 19^th centuries all over Europe.

We can say that the English writers of the Enlightenment formed two groups. Those who hoped to better the world merely by teaching were Joseph Addison (who wrote essays), Richard Steele (who wrote essays, comedies), Daniel Defoe (the author of Robinson Crusoe), Alexander Pope (the author of The Rape of the Lock), Samuel Richardson (the author of Pamela). The other group included the writers who openly protested against the vicious social order. Those were Jonathan Swift (the author of Gulliver’s Travels), Henry Fielding(who wrote The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling), Oliver Goldsmith (the author of The Vicar of Wakefield), Richard Sheridan (the author of The School for Scandal), Tobias Smollett (the author of Peregrine Pickle), Robert Burns (who wrote Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect).

The poetryof the 18^th century was didactic and satirical. It was the poetry of the town and its fashionable life as well as the poetry of worldly wisdom. The leading poet of the century was Alexander Pope –one of the first English classicists. He had little contact with the average reader because in order to read and enjoy Pope one had to be familiar with the works of Horace, Virgil and the Greek poet Theocritus. In 1715 Pope published his translations of the Iliad and the Oddysey by Homer, which made him famous. Pope had a delicate sense of style, which he polished to the last degree of gleaming finish. His poems, such as The Rape of the Lock, are notable for their elegant style.

Pope organized a society of literary men who called themselves the “Martin Scriblerus’ Club”. Martin Scriblerus was an imaginary personage: anyone who wished to publish a satire in a magazine was allowed to use the name of Martin Scriblerus as a pseudonym. Pope hoped that when put together those stories would make an interesting book. But they remained isolated compositions. Yet, it was Martin Scriblerus that inspired Swift to write the famous novel Gulliver’s Travels.

· Robert Burns (1759-1796)

Robert Burns, who is rightly considered to be the national pride o f Scotland, began writing poetry at the age of 15. But it was only 10 years later that his first volume of poems was published – Poems: Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. The book won him immediate success. The source of Burns’ poetry is Scottish folklore. Burns was deeply aware of the dignity and equality of men. He wrote epigrams on idle noblemen and at the same time composed tender lyrical verses.

Oh my luve’s like a red, red rose…, John Barleycorn, The Tree of Liberty, Auld Lang Syne – these famous poems and songs have been popular for two centuries. The Burns festival is held every year with people coming from all over the world.

Most of Burns' poems were written in Scots. They document and celebrate traditional Scottish culture. Burns wrote in a variety of forms: letters to friends, ballads, and songs. He is well known for the over three hundred songs which celebrate love, friendship, work, and drink with often hilarious and tender sympathy. Even today, he is often referred to as the National Bard of Scotland.

· Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

Doctor Johnson is little known outside Britain. But in his time he was a popular English poet, essayist, biographer, lexicographer and a critic of English Literature.

In the words of a modern scholar, he was a “great literary personality”. He compiled and published the Dictionary of the English Language (1755). Despite common assumptions that Dr. Johnson wrote the first dictionary of the English language, there had been nearly twenty "English" dictionaries in the preceding 150 years. Johnson's dictionary was to rise above all these because of his meticulous research; his depth and breadth of definitions and his careful use of description.

Samuel Johnson was the son of a poor bookseller. He attended Lichfield Grammar School and a few weeks after he turned nineteen, he became a student of Oxford University. After thirteen months, however, poverty forced him to leave Oxford without taking a degree and he returned to Lichfield. Just before the publication of his Dictionary, Oxford University awarded Johnson the degree of Master of Arts. In 1775, Oxford University awarded him an honorary doctorate.

The two outstanding figures in the 18th century literature of England were Daniel Defoe and Jonathan Swift.

· Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)

Swift was an Irish-born Englishman who spent a large part of his life in Ireland. He got a Bachelor’s degree in 1686 and for a long time had to work as a private secretary and accountant to Sir William Temple, a statesman and a courtier, who resided at Moor Park, not far from London. And although Sir William liked the young man, the ambitious Swift considered that he was treated just a little better than a servant. In 1692 he went to Oxford to take his Master’s degree. After that he became a vicar at a little parish church in Ireland. Later, he returned to Sir William Temple and continued working for him and writing pamphlets and satires in his spare time. Swift was one of the most critical and sarcastic journalists of the time. One of his best-known pamphlets was The Tale of the Tub.

Swift was wonderfully popular in England and especially in Ireland. The Lord Governor of Ireland once said that all he managed to do in Ireland was done with the kind permission of Mr. Swift. But his life could hardly be called happy. By the end of his life he became even more embittered and satirical than before. Swift's misfortunes and the death of his wife undermined his health. In 1740 his memory and reason were gone. He became completely deaf. He wouldn't touch food if there was anyone present in the room. He died in Dublin in 1745.

What brought Swift real fame was his book Gulliver's Travels. In that book Swift satirized the evils of the existing society. It was altogether a novelty in English literature.

At first Swift intended to publish the book as the story of Martin Scriblerus. But later he heard of a farmer called Gulliver, who was a real giant, so strong and tall that he could carry a horse across a fence. That impressed Swift tremendously, and that is how his favourite character got his name.

The first two travels – to the land of Lilliputs and to the land of Brobdingnag (the giants) – are well-known as children's entertaining reading. In the description of the third voyage – to the floating island of Laputa, and the fourth – the land of the intelligent horses, Swift abandons delicate fancy and unmasks the selfish and brutal nature of humanity. He shows the stupidity of the so-called academicians and the true nature of human civilization. In the land of the intelligent horses, humans, called Yahoos, are shown as filthy degenerated creatures, unable to speak clearly or do any decent work. The book is written with wonderful energy and polemical skill. It has been translated into many languages and is read and enjoyed by thousands of readers.

· Daniel Defoe (1661-1731)

D. Defoe was born in London to the family of a butcher who was a Dissenter, that is, a non-conformist. Their family name was Foe. Daniel was about 40 years of age when he first changed his signature of D. Foe into De Foe and then Defoe. Daniel got the best education his father could afford. The boy was to become a minister in the Nonconformist Church; therefore, at the age of 14, he was placed in an academy for a full course of five years. But when his training was completed, he refused to devote himself to the Church. In his opinion, it was neither honourable and pleasant, nor profitable. He decided to start business as a merchant. But though he was energetic and practical, a businessman to his fingertips, Defoe never succeeded in business. He went bankrupt several times. What he used to say was, “Thirty times I was rich and poor”. The only branch of business in which he proved to be successful was journalism and literature.

When Defoe was 23, he started writing pamphlets. Usually he was very outspoken and wrote what he thought. That’s why his pamphlets sometimes got him into trouble. In 1685 he took part in the revolt led by the Duke of Monmouth, the illegitimate son of Charles II, against James II.Monmouth hoped to get the Crown with the help of the Protestants. The rebellion was put down, and Defoe had a narrow escape.

When the Protestant king, William III, came to power in 1688, Defoe wrote pamphlets praising his policy. It was the beginning of his literary career. Defoe anticipated the greatest public improvement of modern times; higher education for women, the protection of seamen, the construction of highways and the opening of savings-banks. He urged the establishment of a special academy to study literature and languages.

Owing to the fact that William III was the king of the Whig party, he was attacked by the Tories, who called him Dutch William. Some Tories demanded in pamphlets that the English race should be kept pure. Opposing this foolish idea, Defoe wrote the pamphlet The True-Born Englishman in which he proved that a true-born Englishman did not exist, since the English nation consisted of Danes, Picts, Scots, Angles, Saxons, Normans and other peoples. He said “A true-born Englishman is a contradiction in speech, an irony, in fact, a fiction.” The king personally thanked Defoe for the pamphlet.

During the reign of Queen Anne, persecution of the Dissenters began again. In 1702 Defoe wrote a pamphlet in defence of the Dissenters (The shortest Way With the Dissenters) in which he attacked the Tories and the established Church. But the irony was so subtle that the enemy did not recognize it at first. They considered it to be next best to the Bible. When they realized the real character of the pamphlet, Defoe was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment. To disgrace him even more, the Tories subjected him to standing in the pillory in a public square. Before he went to prison, he wrote his Hymn to the Pillory, in which he demanded a fair trial. Though the Hymn was not published, Defoe’s friends made it popular. It was sung on street corners on the day of the public execution. Many of the poorer Londoners, who knew Defoe well, gathered round the pillory, forming a live fence and preventing the crowd from tormenting him. Women threw flowers to him. When the time came to set him free, people cheered him and carried him from the square on their shoulders. That was the climax of his political career - and the end of it.

After his release he worked as an editor of a journal, which supported the ruling party - his former enemies. After the death of Queen Anne, the Whigs came to power, and Defoe continued serving the new ruling party. All this time he was regularly receiving money from the government. But the English government never paid money for nothing - only for some services. Later, it turned out that Defoe had been in her Majesty’s Secret Service.

In 1719 he tried his hand in fiction and wrote the famous novel about the adventures of Robinson Crusoe. The idea of writing about a man who had to live on a desert island was taken from a story published in Steele's magazine “The Englishmen”. It was about a sailor Alexander Selkirk, who had spent four years and four months on a desert island. Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe spent 26 years alone on his island. The novel is praise to human labour and the triumph of man over nature. Labour and fortitude help Robinson to endure hardships. They save him from despair. The very process of hard work gives him satisfaction.

Defoe is a great master of realistic detail. When reading his description of Crusoe’s life and work, one feels that the author must have lived through all the adventures himself. The charm of the novel lies in Robinson as a person. He develops into a strong-willed man, able to withstand all the calamities of life.

The novel is a study of man, a great work showing man in relation to nature and civilization.

When Robinson Crusoe was published, Defoe became famous and came into money. He was now able to pay his debts. He built himself a house and kept a coach and a pleasure-boat.

It is said that not long before his death Defoe fell victim to a serious mental disease. In 1729 he was at work on a new book. Part of it was in print when he broke off abruptly and fled. He was very fond of his wife and daughters, but did not want them to know his hiding-place. For two years he lived in poverty and quite alone, and died in 1731. The inscription on his gravestone says, "Daniel Defoe. Author of Robinson Crusoe..."

In the 1790s, the wars of the French Revolution turned into the Napoleonic wars, as Napoleon Bonaparte took over the French government. The war caused a boom in farm production and in certain industries. At the same time, it caused rapid inflation. In 1797 the Bank of England was forced to stop payment of gold for paper currency, and Parliament voted the first income tax.

The war did not go well for Britain. During the Napoleonic wars it had to form four coalitions. Three coalitions collapsed and Napoleon was planning to invade Britain. It was Admiral Nelson's victory in the dramatic battle of Trafalgar in 1805 that prevented the invasion. The battle was won at the price of Nelson's life, but the French forces never stepped on the British soil. Admiral Nelson was buried in Westminster Abbey, and the column set up in Trafalgar Square in the center of London is topped with a bronze statue of the national hero.

Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812 led to the fourth coalition, which brought together the armies of Britain, Russia, Austria and Prussia. Britain's contribution included an army led by The Duke of Wellington, who first fought in Spain and later won the Battle of Waterloo. Well­ington proved to be a capable commander early in the war. Unlike the majority of the officers of the allied forces, he did not believe either in the genius of Napoleon himself or in the invincibility of his army. He insisted that Napoleon usually won his victor­ies largely due to the psychological effect produced by his army and his personality. On his appointment as commander of the British army he wrote about the French, “I am not afraid of them. I suspect that all the continental armies were more than half beaten before the battle was begun. I, at least, will not be frightened beforehand.” At the beginning of March 1815, the Emperor Napoleon escaped from Elba and return­ed to France. He reformed his army with astonishing speed, and determined to conquer Holland as the first move in rebuilding his empire. The representatives of the allied European countries that met at the Congress of Vienna mobilized their armies to stop him, but only two armies could be brought to Flanders in time: the Prussian army commanded by Marshal Blucher, and a mixed army of British, Dutch and German troops under the command of the Duke of Wellington. They were all divided in their languages, loyalties and experience, so it was largely due to Wellington's military talent that the allied forces defeated Napoleon at Waterloo, in Belgium, on June 18, 1815. The battle of Waterloo brought about Napoleon's downfall. Wellington is rightly considered to be a national hero, like Admiral Nelson.

At the beginning of the century Britain enlarged its colonial territories, adding to the empire the former Dutch possessions of Ceylon and the Cape of Good Hope.

In the 1820s, Prime Minister Robert Peel turned his attention to the problem of crime by establishing a regular police force for London in 1829. The government employed a specially trained army of men to catch criminals. Although at first Londoners laughed at the blue-uniformed men in their top-hats, during the next thirty years almost every other town and country started a police force of their own. The new police units soon proved themselves successful, as much crime was pushed out of larger cities, then out of towns and finally out of the countryside. Robert Peel was able to show that certainty of punishment was far more effective than cruelty of punishment.

The beginning of the century also saw the innovations of Robert Owen, a factory owner from Scotland, who gave his workers shorter working hours and encouraged trade unions. He built his factory in the countryside, away from the smog and dirt of the big cities, and provide d good housing for workers and a school for their children. Owen was able to prove that his workers produced more goods in less time than those forced to work longer hours. Better working and living conditions resulted in an increase in labour productivity.

Owen’s ideas and example were supported and put into life by other reformers, like Authur Cadbury, the owner of the famous Birmingham chocolate factory, who built first-class housing for workers.

The main political issue of the 1830s was the Reform Bill, which became law in 1832. The bill set up a system of registration that encouraged political party organization, both locally and nationally. That measure weakened the monarch and the House of Lords. Other reforms came in a quick succession. In 1833 slavery was abolished. By the New Poor Law of 1834 workhouses were opened. They were meant to provide the homeless people with work and shelter. Abandoned children were also taken care of in workhouses. But although the new system involved supervision by a central board (or Committee), working and living conditions of people in workhouses were even worse than those of slaves. As the country's industry was rapidly developing, child labour became common practice. Children from poor families started working at the age of 4 or 5. They worked in textile factories and in mines for 16 hours a day. There were cases when little workers had to stay at work for 18 hours. They worked and slept in the same place. But the worst fate was of those children who worked as chimneysweeps. They seldom lived to become adults. It was only in 1849, during the reign of Queen Victoria, that an act of Parliament limited the working hours of children under the age of 10 – to 10 hours a day.

In 1836 a special law placed the registration of births, deaths and marriages in the hands of the state rather than the Church. All attempts on the part of the state to influence and subsidize education were strongly opposed by the Church.

During the economic depression of 1837 the reform spirit declined. Working conditions became even worse. The protest organization, known in history as the
Chartist movement, came into being. The Chartists demanded the immediate adoption of the People's Charter, which might have transformed Britain into a political democracy with universal male suffrage, equal electoral districts and the secret ballot. It was also expected to improve living standards. Millions of workers signed Charter petitions in 1839, 1842 and 1848. Some Chartist demonstrations turned into riots. Parliament repeatedly rejected the People's Charter and the idea was never realized.

In the 1820s Britain welcomed the independence of Spain's South American colonies and aided the Greek rebellion against the Turkish rule. The events in Greece were praised and supported by Romantic writers and poets. Extending from about 1789 until 1837, the Romantic age stressed emotion over reason. In English literature the Romantic age was characterized by the subordination of reason to intuition and passion, as well as the cult of nature (much as the word is understood now). Individual will was superior to social norms of behaviour, immediate experience was more important than generalized and typical experience.

The first Romantics were the poets William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Wordsworth adored and idealized the countryside and nature. Another Romantic poet and novelist was Sir Walter Scott. At the beginning of his literary career he wrote poetry. After the publication of the poem The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805), Scott became the most famous poet of the day. Later though,
he turned to novels. Walter Scott is known as the founder of the historical novel in English literature.

Walter Scott was a faithful son of Scotland and studied the past of his native land through documents, history and legends. His most famous novels are Ivanhoe, Rob Roy and Quentin Durward. When his business partner died leaving Scott to pay the debts, the writer had to start working day and night. That explains the fact why Scott's later novels are less elaborately worked out than the earlier ones.

Unlike Coleridge, Wordsworth and Scott the next generation of Romantic poets were full of revolutionary spirit. George Gordon Byron (1788-1824) exemplifies a personality in tragic revolt against society. Byron was born to an aristocratic family and educated at Harrow College. The boy was not very tall and, what is more, he was lame. That is why he gave much of his time to sports – in order to compensate for his physical deficiency. He also traveled a lot – both in England an on the Continent. When his first book of poems (Hours of idleness) was published in 1807, he was bitterly criticized in the press. But that didn’t stop him. He retorted with an epigram and continued writing.

Byron traveled a lot – both in England an on the Continent. In 1809-1811 he travelled to Portugal, Spain, Turkey and Greece. The earliest fruits of his travels were the first two cantos of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812). The poem brought him immediate success and established his reputation as a great poet of England. Childe Harold's Pilgrimage is partly autobiographical. The hero is a disillusioned rebel, demanding absolute personal freedom, who quickly became the symbol of the vanguard literary thought in Europe. Byron let his hero travel from country to country, filling the poem with vivid descriptions and satirical remarks.

Between 1813and 1816 Byron wrote Oriental Tales, which included 4 pieces. In 1816 he left England and up to 1823 lived in Switzerland and Italy, where he at first supported and later joined the Carbonari movement. He wrote two more cantos of Childe Harold, Manfred and the most famous of his poems, Don Juan, which was not finished.

In the 1820s Byron got particularly interested in the struggle of Greece against Turkey. He financed the buying of medicines and arms for the Greeks and then joined them in person. He participated in the defence of the Fortress of Missolungui. There he went down with a fever and died.

Byron produced a tremendous impact on A. Pushkin, M. Lermontov, W. Goethe and other European poets. They translated and imitated Byron's poems. Pushkin described Oneguin as “москвич в гарольдовом плаще”, “вторым Онегин Чильд Гарольдом”. Byron's poem My Soul Is Dark was wonderfully well translated by M. Lermontov.

The Romantic movement was also reflected in art. Landscape painting especially acquired new importance, notably in Britain, and its greatest exponents were among the leaders of Romanticism. It was the time of the great English painters John Constableand William Turner.They are both famous for their landscapes, but Turner is especially known for his remarkable light effects. Sketching all over Europe during a long life, Turner produced a succession of water-colours and oil painting of great subtlety and power. Constable reinvented the medium of oil paint as a vehicle for his personal sensations in front of English rural scenery. And though his painting met with little success at the Royal Academy exhibitions, his idea of making art from direct observation of nature brought profound changes to painting later in the 19^th century. Unlike Constable, Turner was hugely successful in his own time, partly because the works he exhibited basically corresponded to the prevailing academic theory that in art landscape should be transformed by the artist's imagination. Even so, his extraordinary use of colour and light, and his dramatic innovations in the painting of stormy seas and effects of weather, made him controversial throughout his career.

Other artists set out to explore the inner world of the mind. William Blakedeveloped a whole private mythology to investigate the meaning of human life and its place in God's creation. Blake was a poet, an artist, a professional engraver and a mystic. His early works (Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience), although Romantic, were never free from symbolism. Some of his poems were published only in 1925. Most of his books were self-illustrated.

During the Victorian Age, the British Empire reached its height and covered about a fourth of the world's land. Industry and trade expanded rapidly, and railways and canals crossed the country. Science and technology made great advances. The size of the middle class grew enormously. By the 1850s, more and more people were getting an education. In addition, the government introduced democratic reforms.

· Monarchy

By the late 1830s the monarchy was beginning to look a disreputable and even unnecessary institution. Kings were not expected to rule but to reign. From this low point the monarchy was rescued by Queen Victoria, one of the most notable figures in British royal history. She came to the throne in 1837 and reigned u ntil her death in 1901. Her achievement was restoring respect and usefulness to the Crown, and then going further by becoming the symbol of the nation.

Victoria first learned about her future role during a history lesson when she was 10 years old. The future queen reacted to the discovery by declaring, "I will be good." She took an active interest in the policy of her ministers. Her relations with Prime ministers Peel and Disraeli were excellent but she was not on good terms with Palmerston and Gladstone. The Queen’s conscientious approach to her duties did much to raise the reputation of the monarchy.

One should never forget about the impact of Victoria’s private life on the country’s policy. In 1839 Victoria fell in love with her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. They were married in February 1840, and Albert soon developed a keen interest in governing his new country. Prince Albert served as his wife’s private secretary. Being an active patron of the arts and sciences he was the prime organizer of the Great Exhibition of 1851. Albert also favored the expansion of education, and he served as chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He became a great champion of strengthening and modernizing Britain's armed forces. Though Prince Albert was respected by most of his new countrymen, he was not loved; many resented him because he was a foreigner. For Victoria, however, her husband represented perfection, and the two were very happy together. The royal couple offered an example of family life that contrasted sharply with the images of the previous British monarchs. They took an intense personal interest in the upbringing of their children, and enjoyed a private family life.

Victoria partly owed her success to the fact that she possessed shrewd commonsense and high principles. In many ways the Queen was a very contradictory person. She idolized family life, but felt uncomfortable in the presence of little children. She had no interest in social issues, and yet the 19th century in Britain was an age of reform. She resisted technological change at the time when technological innovations reshaped the face of European civilization. And a lot of technological initiatives came from Britain. Most significantly, Victoria was a queen determined to retain political power; yet unwillingly she greatly contributed to the transformation of the monarch’s political role into a ceremonial one and thus preserved the English monarchy. In a period when middle-class values were of greatest importance, Victoria embodied the qualities that the middle classes most admired – devotion to family and friends, integrity and reliability. Everything that was summed up in the word “respectability”. Nowadays we use the word “Victorian” not only in the meaning of “old-fashioned”, but also to characterize efficiency, high morals and good business practice. But Victoria’s most important asset was her devotion to the nation. Even when she became an elderly woman, she continued to execute her duties.

Victoria early became a widow as Prince Albert died of typhoid fever in 1861. The Queen wanted to retire from public life completely but the sense of duty and responsibility made her emerge from retirement to perform her royal duties. In the last 20 years of her reign she became as completely loved and idolized as Elisabeth I had been. Victoria was often called “the grandmother of Europe” because by her children’s marriages she was related to every royal house of Europe.

· Home and Foreign Policy

In the 19th century the British Empire was constantly expanding and reforming its political relations with old colonies. In 1837 there was a rebellion in Canada. That led to working out the system of self-government for Canada. In 1855, a similar system was applied to the other two territories with white populations, Australia and New Zealand. Later, Prime Minister Gladstone became convinced that there should be Home Rule for Ireland and introduced a Bill in Parliament in April 1886. But the Bill was lost.

The British Empire managed to acquire new territories in various regions of the world. Particularly successful was the conquest of India. Due to internal disputes India’s rulers found themselves completely unprepared for a well-elaborated British invasion. It was Prime Minister Disraeli and his government that gave Queen Victoria the title of Empress of India in 1877.

The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the purchase of a half-share in the enterprise aroused British interest in the affairs of Egypt and the Sudan. In fact, the British government did not have any elaborated policy towards Africa until the end of the century. They did not want extra territories to administer at great coast. Muсh of the exploration of Africa was left to private individuals: missionaries and businessmen. David Livingstone, a Scottish missionary explored much of East and Central Africa. Cecil Rhodes, an explorer, businessman and settler, aimed to establish a great empire for Britain in Africa and to build a railroad from Cairo to the Cape. British influence was similarly extended to Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda through private companies.

The situation in the Near East was also far from being stable. There were serious collisions between the Russian and British Empires about the control other the territory of Afghanistan. Neither of the two succeeded in conquering the country, but a very bitter feeling remained and affected the relations between Russia and Britain.

· The Crimean War (1854-1856)

Britain’s only war with a great power in the 19th century was the Crimean War with Russia. It lasted from 1854 to 1856 and was aimed at the reduction of Russian influence in the Balkan region. The war revealed that the British army was very inefficient compared to other European armies.

The most important battles were fought at Alma, Balaclava and Inkerman. The first Victoria crosses were awarded. The siege and defence of Sevastopol brings to the Russian mind the names of admirals Kornilov, Nakhimov, and the first Russian nurse Daria Mikhailova. To the English mind, it brings the name of Florence Nightingale, the first English nurse. Her work in organizing field hospitals in the Crimea pioneered modern nursing methods and promoted the recognition of nursing as a respected profession.

After a long siege Sevastopol was taken by the allies in 1855 and the war was ended by the Treaty of Paris (1856). The Treaty provided for the demilitarization of the Black Sea. Neither Russia nor Turkey was allowed to have a fleet of ships in the Black Sea. The position of the British Empire was strengthened again. The Russian Black Sea fleet was rebuilt only 16 years later.

· The Boer War

At the end of the century (1899 – 1901), Britain waged a war in South Africa known as the Boer War. The presence of British emigrants in the two Dutch Boer republics, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal, and the question of their civic rights under the Boer rule, worsened Anglo-Boer relations. In 1899, the Boers under Kruger, the Transvaal President, declared war on Britain. It was the first war overseas to split the public opinion. Moreover, public opinion in Europe and America turned against Britain as in opened the first internment camps. The war led to a demand for army reform and to a reaction against imperialism.

The war was won by Britain and the two Dutch republics became part of the British Empire, but Queen Victoria did not live to celebrate the victory. She died in 1901, and her death marked the end of an age – Britain’s summer.

· The development of industry and science.

Victoria’s reign saw the rapid industrialization of Britain, and a vast growth of national wealth, reflected in the imperialism of the late 19^th century. Britain became the strongest colonial power in the world. Its trade with colonies flourished. British businessmen wanted to buy cheap and sell dear, but they were blocked by various preferences granted to colonial produce. Thus foreign markets were growing more important than colonial.

The development of industrial production and trade stimulated the development of transport. The railroad network more than doubled during the mid-Victorian years. And although originally the railroads were built to carry goods, they also catered for passengers. The number of passengers carried annually increased 7 times by the middle of the century. A boom in steamship building began in the 1860s. The value of British exports went up 3 times and overseas capital investments increased 4 times.

The Great Exhibition of 1851, held at Crystal Palace in London, was the first world's fair and symbolized Britain’s industrial supremacy.

Working class living standards improved. The growth of trade unionism led to the establishment of the Trades Union Congress in 1868.

The Victorian age was the peak of the so-called “English summer”. And not only due to the industrial development and colonial expansion of the country. It was also the age of rapid development of science. Charles Darwin and Michael Faraday are two of the most distinguished figures in the history of British science.

In 1857 Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species. His theory of evolution based upon scientific observation, was welcomed by many as proof of mankind’s ability to find a scientific explanation for everything. But for religious people, who made the majority of the middle class, the idea that all living-beings, including human-beings, had developed from simpler creatures was intolerable. It led to a crisis in the Church. The battle between “faith” and “reason” lasted for the rest of the century.

· Reforms in education

The country’s developing economy needed skilled workers, technicians and engineers to meet the demands of the growing industrial centres. From the 1870s to the 1890s, several Education Acts were passed by Parliament. In 1870 schooling was made compulsory. All children up to the age of 13 were supposed to go to school, where they were taught reading, writing, arithmetic and sometimes – elementary science. In Scotland, there had been a state education system since the time of the Reformation. There were 4 Scottish universities, three of them dating from the Middle Ages. In Wales, schools had begun to grow rapidly in the middle of the 19^th century, partly for nationalist reasons. By the middle of the century Wales had a university and a smaller university college.

The government began to build “redbrick” universities (and schools) in the new industrial centres. The term “redbrick” distinguished the new universities, usually built of red brick, from older, mainly stone-built universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The new universities had a more pragmatic approach to education, and taught more science and technology to feed Britain’s industries.

· Social life

From the early 1850s to the early 1870s, with occasional years of high unemployment and business failure, almost all sections of the population seemed to be benefiting from relative prosperity. Profits rose, and so did wages and incomes from land. Indeed, those supporters of protection who had argued in the 1840s that free trade would ruin British agriculture were mocked by the mid-Victorian prosperity of agriculture. It was during these years that Victorianism, came to represent a cluster of moral attributes such as “character”, “duty”, “will”, earnestness, hard work and respectable behaviour. These virtues were not only embraced by the striving bourgeoisie, but all of them also made an appeal to other class sections of the population, aristocratic or trade-unionist. But in spite of that, there was always a Victorian underworld. Belief in the family was accompanied by the spread of prostitution, and in every large city there were districts where every Victorian value was ignored. Many Victorians were as eager to read about crime as to read the Bible.

The Late Victorian period was a time of security, the age of house parties and long weekends