Innocent Espionage
The La Rochefoucauld Brothers' Tour of England in 1785
Published on 18. May 1995
Book
Hardback
290 pages
978-0-85115-596-8 (ISBN)
Description
Three young Frenchmen vividly record the English economic landscape of the late 18th century.
This book is irresistible. TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT Ranks with Defoe and Cobbett, and fills the gap between them... in this wonderful book we have a portrait of England at its most beautiful and most vigorous, of Jane Austen'sidyllic countryside and Blake's Satanic mills. NIGEL NICOLSON, SPECTATOR We always have it in stock as it is such a marvellous book. HEYWOOD HILL BOOKSHOP
Looking at England in the early months of 1785, covering 20 or even 30 miles a day and making detailed and intelligent notes at night, the two brothers, Francois and Alexandre, and their tutor, saw landscapes still visible today; but the world of the momentous industrial revolution and optimism that, as patriots, they envied, is one we can only envy them for knowing and admire them for recording. Making good use of their time, the group travelled along rutted roads from inn to inn, visiting factories, plungingdown mines, exploring dockyards and cathedrals. One is glad that both boys survived the Revolution, but even more remarkable is the survival of their manuscripts, here presented with such scholarship and joy by Norman Scarfe.
NORMAN SCARFE best known for his studies of East Anglia, has also edited and translated the earlier travels of the brothers as A Frenchman's Year in Suffolk, 1794(Boydell & Brewer in 1988). There is nothing like the journals of contemporaries to bring into focus ...Magdalen bridge and the iron bridge at Coalbrookdale both freshly built, Adam's new furniture gleaming in Kedleston, the Bridgewater canals in full operation, Robert Bakewell inhis farm and Priestley in his laboratory... Nowhere have such experiences been more sharply recorded than in the letter-diaries of three intrepid foreigners who travelled this country in 1785 the book ranks in interestwith Defoe and Cobbett, and fills the gap between them... In this wonderful book we have a portrait of England at its most beautiful and most vigorous, of Jane Austen's idyllic countryside and Blake's Satanic mills. One might have expected three young foreigners with such aristocratic connecti
This book is irresistible. TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT Ranks with Defoe and Cobbett, and fills the gap between them... in this wonderful book we have a portrait of England at its most beautiful and most vigorous, of Jane Austen'sidyllic countryside and Blake's Satanic mills. NIGEL NICOLSON, SPECTATOR We always have it in stock as it is such a marvellous book. HEYWOOD HILL BOOKSHOP
Looking at England in the early months of 1785, covering 20 or even 30 miles a day and making detailed and intelligent notes at night, the two brothers, Francois and Alexandre, and their tutor, saw landscapes still visible today; but the world of the momentous industrial revolution and optimism that, as patriots, they envied, is one we can only envy them for knowing and admire them for recording. Making good use of their time, the group travelled along rutted roads from inn to inn, visiting factories, plungingdown mines, exploring dockyards and cathedrals. One is glad that both boys survived the Revolution, but even more remarkable is the survival of their manuscripts, here presented with such scholarship and joy by Norman Scarfe.
NORMAN SCARFE best known for his studies of East Anglia, has also edited and translated the earlier travels of the brothers as A Frenchman's Year in Suffolk, 1794(Boydell & Brewer in 1988). There is nothing like the journals of contemporaries to bring into focus ...Magdalen bridge and the iron bridge at Coalbrookdale both freshly built, Adam's new furniture gleaming in Kedleston, the Bridgewater canals in full operation, Robert Bakewell inhis farm and Priestley in his laboratory... Nowhere have such experiences been more sharply recorded than in the letter-diaries of three intrepid foreigners who travelled this country in 1785 the book ranks in interestwith Defoe and Cobbett, and fills the gap between them... In this wonderful book we have a portrait of England at its most beautiful and most vigorous, of Jane Austen's idyllic countryside and Blake's Satanic mills. One might have expected three young foreigners with such aristocratic connecti
Reviews / Votes
These texts [are] one of the most significant finds of recent years... They give splendid descriptions of the leading industrial processes in Leicester, Derby, Sheffield and Liverpool; then they came back past the salt-mines at Northwich, the Potteries, the works at Ironbridge and finally the factories of Birmingham. The remainder is devoted to their more conventional sightseeing, as far as Bristol and Plymouth, before the travellers head through Dorchester and Salisbury for London. * . * Industrial historians will find here a remarkably fresh description of a whole range of industrial activity over a short but crucial period prior to the signing of the Anglo-French Commercial Treaty. Excellent contemporary illustrations accompany the text... This book is irresistible. -- John Rogister 15/09/95 * THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Woodbridge
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
65 s/w Abbildungen
65 b/w illus.
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-85115-596-8 (9780851155968)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Content
Part 1 Leaving Suffolk: Huntingdon; "The George" at Spaldwick; Wellingborough; Northampton; "The Talbot" at Welford; Leicester; visiting Mr Bakewell at Dishley. Part 2 Getting into their stride: Derby and Mr Swift's mill; Kedleston; Matlock Bath; Chesterfield; Sheffield - getting to see a plated-button factory and a steel works. Part 3 Adventuring underground at Castleton and Worsley, and seeing black cotton velvet made in Manchester: Castleton - into the depths of the caves they called "le cul du diable"; Disley; Manchester; Worsley - by boat in Bridgwater's underground canals to the coal face. Part 4 The view of Liverpool Mount pleasant and the docks: twist-glass making at Warrington; Northwich - underground again into the salt-mines; near Sandbach - a little inn, a friendly old farmer, and a recipe for Cheshire cheese; Etruria; Shrewsbury. Part 5 Coalbrookdale - the iron bridge: broseley - Mr Wilkinson's works. Part 6 The edge of the industrial Midlands - Birmingham, Coventry, and then Warwick: Birmingham; coventry; Warwick. Part 7 Shakespeare and Stratford-Oxfordshire - reading, and the bath road, "the most beautiful road I've seen": Chapel house, the Shakespears Head inn; Heythrop house; Blenheim; Oxford; Nuneham Courtney, the house and garden; reading; Hungerford; Marlborough; a druid temple unfinished. Part 8 Avebury in the snow-Bristol-Bath-Glastonbury, and through Devon in fine weather: "A well-preserved Druid temple"; Bristol; Goldney house, Clifton; Bath; a ploughing wager at the Old Down Inn, Emburrow; Glastonbury; farming at the foot of the Quantocks; Taunton; Sunday at Exeter. Part 9 Plymouth and Mount Edgcumbe-homewards through Dorset: Plymouth; Axminster; Bridport; Dorchester; Blandford forum. Part 10 Salisbury, Stonehenge and Wilton - and back to London: Salisbury; Stonehenge; Wilton; Hook and the Whitewater Mill valley; Windsor castle. Part 11 Lazowski's views of London: streets, squares, "areas", street-lighting, an absence of police, highwaymen; Royal Society - society for the encouragement of the arts and agriculture; the arts - theatres and opera, the Pantheon, Ranelagh, music, poetry, engraving, the R A summer exhibition, the British museum; trade and politics - Westminster, parliament, Pitt versus Fox on the state of the revenue, a great London brewery, Chelsea Physic garden, Royal hospital, Chelsea. Part 12 The Dover road - a Chatham vantage-point - the character of Kent - a useless crypt - Dover Harbour: the Royal hospital, Greenwich; Chatham; Canterbury; Dover.