Literature and Crime in Augustan England

261 Pages·1991·87.936 MB·English

by  Ian A. Bell

ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS:
18TH CENTURY LITERATURE
Volume 2
LITERATURE AND CRIME
IN AUGUSTAN ENGLAND
&
Taylor Francis
Taylor & Francis Group
http://taylorandfrancis.com
LITERATURE AND CRIME
IN AUGUSTAN ENGLAND
IAN A. BELL
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LONDON AND NEW YORK
Firstpublishedin1991byRoutledge
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Literature and Crime
in Augustan England
Ian A. Bell
ll
~~
London and New York
First published 1991
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
a division of Routledge, Chapman and Hall, Inc.
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
© 1991 Ian A. Bell
Typeset in 10/12 Times by
Columns Ltd, Reading
Printed in Great Britain by
TJ Press (Padstow) Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Bell, Ian A. (Ian Arthur)
Literature and crime in Augustan England.
1. English literature 1702-1745. Critical studies
I. Title
820.9005
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
also available
ISBN 0-415-02231-2
For Seona and Lewis
Buttock and Twang, which is walking to be picked up, and, frightening
him that does it with her pretended husband, after she has picked his
pocket, so that the fool runs gladly away without his watch or money.
Buttock and File, which is the same with the other; only this is the
better-natured beast of the two, and performs her stage before she
takes her wages, which may be some satisfaction to the ass she carries.
From the Memoirs of the Right Villainous John Hall, 1708
Contents
Acknowledgements viii
Introduction: Buttock and Twang 1
1 Literature/crime/society
Talking about the law 6
Talking about crime 12
Reading about crime 18
Industry and idleness 28
2 Representing the criminal
Relentless ruffians 47
Trials and Tyburn 64
Newgate pastoral 79
3 The harlot's progress
Double standards 92
The whore's rhetorick 106
Modest proposals 122
Women of pleasure 133
4 Satire's rough music
The grammar of punishment 147
Shame, shame, shame 159
A hymn to the pillory 170
5 Fielding and the discipline of fiction
The magistrate and the mob 183
The appeal of comedy 197
Law and disorder 213
6 Postscript: Buttock and File 228
Notes 231
Index 246