Table Of ContentTHOMAS DE QUINCEY
“DeQuincey and Dickens have not moderation enough.
They never stutter; they flow too readily.”
–JOURNAL, September 8, 1851
ATTITUDES ON DE QUINCEY
ATTITUDES ON DICKENS
“NARRATIVE HISTORY” AMOUNTS TO FABULATION,
THE REAL STUFF BEING MERE CHRONOLOGY
“Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Thomas De Quincey
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THOMAS DE QUINCEY THOMAS DE QUINCEY
1785
August 15, Monday: Thomas “De” Quincey was born in Manchester, England, son of Thomas Quincey, a textile
importer, and Elizabeth Penson Quincey (it would only be at a later date that his parent would add this “De”
into the family name).
Just over a year after the original assignation after midnight on the grounds of the palace of Versailles, the
Queen’s Necklace Affair was brought into the open. Immediately before he was to say mass on Assumption
Day, Louis, prince de Rohan, cardinal bishop of Strasbourg was detained and brought before King Louis to be
questioned by him personally. He was then escorted to imprisonment in the Bastille. The Cardinal, duped by
his mistress Jeanne de Saint-Rémy de Valois, Madame de La Motte (who had been taking money from him in
the name of Queen Marie Antoinette), had purchased in the name of the queen a diamond necklace worth
1,600,000 livres.
NOBODY COULD GUESS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN NEXT
Thomas De Quincey “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project
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THOMAS DE QUINCEY THOMAS DE QUINCEY
1790
Thomas “De” Quincey was four or five years of age when his little sister Jane, age three, died.
LIFE IS LIVED FORWARD BUT UNDERSTOOD BACKWARD?
— NO, THAT’S GIVING TOO MUCH TO THE HISTORIAN’S STORIES.
LIFE ISN’T TO BE UNDERSTOOD EITHER FORWARD OR BACKWARD.
“Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Thomas De Quincey
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THOMAS DE QUINCEY THOMAS DE QUINCEY
1792
Thomas De Quincey was six or seven when his big sister Elizabeth, age nine, died.
THE FUTURE IS MOST READILY PREDICTED IN RETROSPECT
“Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Thomas De Quincey
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THOMAS DE QUINCEY THOMAS DE QUINCEY
1793
Thomas De Quincey was seven or eight when his father died.
THE FUTURE CAN BE EASILY PREDICTED IN RETROSPECT
“Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Thomas De Quincey
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THOMAS DE QUINCEY THOMAS DE QUINCEY
1796
The widowed mother of the Quincey family changed the family’s name to “De Quincey” and relocated to Bath,
where Thomas Quincey was registered as Thomas De Quincey at King Edward’s School.
DO I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION? GOOD.
Thomas De Quincey “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project
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THOMAS DE QUINCEY THOMAS DE QUINCEY
1799
“That boy,” Thomas De Quincey’s master at King Edward’s School in Bath reported, “that boy could harangue
an Athenian mob better than you or I could address an English one.” His mother, somehow displeased by
this, promptly packed him off to an inferior establishment, the Winkfield School at Wiltshire. There, however,
Thomas would encounter William Wordsworth’s and Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s recently published LYRICAL
BALLADS — which later he would characterize as “the greatest event in the unfolding of my own mind.”
WHAT I’M WRITING IS TRUE BUT NEVER MIND
YOU CAN ALWAYS LIE TO YOURSELF
Thomas De Quincey “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project
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THOMAS DE QUINCEY THOMAS DE QUINCEY
1800
At age 15, Thomas De Quincey’s translation from Horace’s TWENTY-SECOND ODE won 3d prize in a contest
and was published in The Monthly Preceptor. Accidentally, he encountered King George III in the Frogmore
gardens near Windsor Castle. During his summer holiday he went to Ireland. He was sent to the Manchester
Grammar School because in that establishment he might after studying for 36 months qualify for a scholarship
to Brasenose College, Oxford (he would not, however, complete this agenda, for after 19 months he would run
away in an attempt to make contact with William Wordsworth).
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THOMAS DE QUINCEY THOMAS DE QUINCEY
1801
Summer: Thomas De Quincey, age 15, spent this summer in Everton near Liverpool, England, where he was
able to meet various noted Whig intellectuals such as William Roscoe and James Currie.
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THOMAS DE QUINCEY THOMAS DE QUINCEY
1802
July: Thomas De Quincey had run away from the Manchester Grammar School with the intention of seeking
out the author of LYRICAL BALLADS. He had discovered himself unable to actually complete such an act, and
instead had turned up in Chester where his family was staying, trying to make secret contact with a sister. He
was caught during this attempt by older members of the family. An uncle, Colonel Penson, defused the
situation by promising to provide him with a guinea a week so he could go off on a solitary walk through the
Wales countryside.
November: Provided with a guinea a week for his expenses, Thomas De Quincey had gone off on a solitary
summer walk through the Wales countryside. However, because he neglected to keep the family informed of
his whereabouts, the guinea per week stopped arriving. He borrowed some money to get to London, and there
for five months he lived in the streets.
