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London Theaters reopen; actresses appear onstage for the first time.
With the reopening of the theatres after the Restoration, women were for the first time allowed to act on the stage. Previously, female roles had been performed by young boys. The advent of women actors opened up a world of titillation and scandal, appreciated by audiences from all levels of society; from merchants to nobles and even King Charles II himself. It also brought about a variety of changes to the theatre. -
Charles II is proclaimed king of England (crowned in 1661)
Charles II's father, Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War. Although the Parliament of Scotland proclaimed Charles II King on 5 February 1649, England entered the period known as the English Interregnum or the English Commonwealth, and the country was a de facto republic, led by Oliver Cromwell. -
Plague claims more than 68,000 people in London.
Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, and other writers of their period were not only trying to create lasting works of art but also trying to raise awareness of societal problems. By reading the selections in this collection, students will become familiar with how writers viewed life during the Restoration and the eighteenth century. -
Great Fire destroys much of London.
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666.[1] The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall. It threatened, but did not reach, the aristocratic district of Westminster, Charles II's Palace of Whitehall, and most of the suburban slums -
Glorious: Revolution James II is succeeded by Protestant rulers of William and Mary.
William and Mary were the co-regents over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland, namely the Dutch Prince of Orange King William III (& II) and his spouse (and first cousin) Queen Mary II. Their joint reign began in February 1689 after they were offered the throne by the Convention Parliament irregularly summoned by William after his successful invasion of England in November 1688, the so-called Glorious Revolution. -
Alexander Pope publishes part of The Rape of the Lock.
published anonymously in Lintot's Miscellaneous Poems and Translations in May 1712 in two cantos (334 lines), but then revised, expanded and reissued in an edition "Written by Mr. Pope" on 4 March 1714, a five-canto version (794 lines) accompanied by six engravings. Pope boasted that the poem sold more than three thousand copies in its first four days. The final form of the poem was available in 1717 with the addition of Clarissa's speech on good humour. -
Swift publishes A Modest Proposal, protesting English treatment of the Irish poor.
Ireland (not an independent country) was far poorer than England. Most people born there were Roman Catholics and employed as agricultural labourers or tenant farmers. The landlords (landowners) were paid from the produce of the land, at rates which the workers could rarely afford. This ruling class were usually Protestants. Many of them were not born in Ireland, nor did they live there permanently. If the labourers lost their work, there -
Voltaire publishes Canidate.
Candide, who is living a sheltered life in an Edenic paradise and being indoctrinated with Leibnizian optimism (or simply "optimism") by his mentor, Professor Pangloss.[7] The work describes the abrupt cessation of this lifestyle, followed by Candide's slow, painful disillusionment as he witnesses and experiences great hardships in the world. Voltaire concludes with Candide, if not rejecting optimism outright, advocating a deeply practical precept, "we must cultivate our garden", in lieu of the -
George III is crowned king of England; becomes known as the king who lost the William and Mary.
as King of Great Britain and Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death. He was concurrently Duke and prince-elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg ("Hanover") in the Holy Roman Empire until his promotion to King of Hanover on 12 October 1814 -
British Parliament passes Stamp Act for taxing American Colonies.
The American Revolution was precipitated, in part, by a series of laws passed between 1763 and 1775 that regulating trade and taxes. This legislation caused tensions between colonists and imperial officials, who made it clear that the British Parliament would not address American complaints that the new laws were onerous. -
Phillis Wheatley's Poems on Various Subject, ReligiousAfrican American poet and Moral is published in London.
Born in West Africa, she was sold into slavery at the age of seven and transported to North America. She was purchased by the Wheatley family of Boston, who taught her to read and write, and encouraged her poetry when they saw her talent. -
Boston Tea Party.
The Tea Party was the culmination of a resistance movement throughout British America against the Tea Act, which had been passed by the British Parliament in 1773. Colonists objected to the Tea Act because they believed that it violated their rights as Englishmen to "No taxation without representation," that is, be taxed only by their own elected representatives and not by a British parliament in which they were not represented. Protesters had successfully prevented the unloading of taxed tea in -
Napolean heads revolutionagovernment in France.
France that lasted from 1789 until 1799, and was partially carried forward by Napoleon during the later expansion of the French Empire. The Revolution overthrew the monarchy, established a republic, experienced violent periods of political turmoil, and finally culminated in a dictatorship under Napoleon that rapidly brought many of its principles to Western Europe and beyond. -
Mary Wollstonecraft publishes A Vindication of The Rights of Women.
Wollstonecraft responds to those educational and political theorists of the 18th century who did not believe women should have an education. She argues that women ought to have an education commensurate with their position in society, claiming that women are essential to the nation because they educate its children and because they could be "companions" to their husbands, rather than mere wives. Instead of viewing women as ornaments to society or property to be traded in marriage, Wollstonecraf
