DOCSLIB.ORG

Landscape and History Since 1500 Ian D

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Landscape and History Since 1500 Ian D Landscape and History since IAND. WHYTE landscape and history globalities Series editor: Jeremy Black globalities is a series which reinterprets world history in a concise yet thoughtful way, looking at major issues over large time-spans and political spaces; such issues can be political, ecological, scientific, technological or intellectual. Rather than adopting a narrow chronological or geographical approach, books in the series are conceptual in focus yet present an array of historical data to justify their arguments. They often involve a multi-disciplinary approach, juxtaposing different subject-areas such as economics and religion or literature and politics. In the same series Why Wars Happen Mining in World History Jeremy Black Martin Lynch A History of Language China to Chinatown: Chinese Food Steven Roger Fischer in the West J. A. G. Roberts The Nemesis of Power Harald Kleinschmidt Geopolitics and Globalization in the Twentieth Century Brian W. Blouet Monarchies 1000–2000 W. M. Spellman A History of Writing Steven Roger Fischer The Global Financial System 1750 to 2000 Larry Allen Landscape and History since 1500 ian d. whyte reaktion books For Kathy, Rebecca and Ruth Published by Reaktion Books Ltd 79 Farringdon Road, London ec1m 3ju, uk www.reaktionbooks.co.uk First published 2002 Copyright © Ian D. Whyte 2002 All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers. Printed and bound in Great Britain by Biddles Ltd, Guildford and King’s Lynn British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Whyte, I. D. (Ian D.) Landscape and History since 1500. - (Globalities) 1.Human ecology - History 2.Landscape ecology - History I. Title 304.2 isbn 1 86189 138 5 Contents 1 Landscape and History 7 2 Early Modern Landscapes 27 3 Enlightenment, Picturesque and Romantic Landscapes 70 4 Industrial and Imperial Landscapes 122 5 Modern and Post-Modern Landscapes 164 references 219 bibliography 238 photographic acknowledgements 251 index 252 one Landscape and History Landscapes are important because they are the product of one of the most enduring sets of linkages: the relationships between the physical environment and human society.1 They are created by people through their engagement with the world around them. They are, then, social constructions, whether intentionally or unintentionally, but they need to be viewed within the context of their own natural and cultural histories in order to be properly understood. Landscapes are the result of attitudes as well as actions, so that ideologies are important in appreciating them. The history of landscape is inevitably grounded in the analysis of its visible features, but such structures are created and destroyed within ideological contexts that need to be appreciated for a full understanding of landscape.2 For individuals, landscapes may be real, lived-in places, or distant, half-fantasized ones. Landscapes can be familiar and comfortable, exotic or unattractive, valued or inspiring. They are the product of changes through time, often over thousands of years. Sometimes such changes occur slowly and subtly, at other times rapidly and dramatically. Landscapes are all around us, something we interact with daily, both physically and in our imaginations, forming backdrops to the whole stage of human activity.3 Landscapes are never unchanging, although the pace at which they change has varied through time and over space in the half millennium consid- ered by this book. Because of their time-depth, landscapes involve interactions between the present and the past, and give a sense of identity at individual, local, regional and national scales. Landscapes are multi-layered, and constitute a form of memory in which is stored the history of successive periods of human activity on the surface of the earth. They are 7 palimpsests that hark back to earlier engagements with the environment by different societies, emphasizing change, both ancient and recent. Because people have markedly different views about land- scapes, their nature is contested,4 which makes landscape ‘a concept of high tension’.5 Attitudes to landscape have changed markedly over time, as people’s perceptions and interpreta- tions have altered in the light of their own changing experience. Landscapes that today are valued for aesthetic or environmental reasons, and which now may be carefully man- aged, were not created intentionally, in the main, but have developed as a by-product of historical processes. Social struc- tures, cultural traditions, economic activities and political patterns have all played crucial roles in the shaping of land- scapes. The values placed on different types of landscape are not fixed, but have changed over time and may represent dif- ferent things to different people at any one period. The ways in which people interact with their environ- ments to produce landscapes depend on time, place and historical context, but also on age, gender, socio-economic status, ethnicity, race and other variables. Views of landscape can be contested by different groups within a society. The anti- enclosure sentiments in the poems of John Clare (1793–1864) indicate an opposition between elite views of landscape and more down-to-earth peasant viewpoints. At a personal level, they also highlighted internal tensions within Clare as a poet: he despised his uneducated fellow labourers, who in turn despised him for his education; he wrote about the injustices created by the imposition of enclosure by the landed elite, yet was forced to do so using the literary forms and conventions of this very group.6 Landscapes can be contested by different social, cultural and ethnic groups – the perspectives of North American Indians or Australian Aborigines versus European settlers, for example. A good modern instance of a contested landscape is Stonehenge and its environs, where archaeologists, tourists, Druids, New Age travellers, English Heritage and the National Trust all have their own images, symbolism and views regarding the ways in which the area should be preserved and its landscapes managed and consumed.7 8 . landscape and history But landscape is more than just a particular assemblage of natural and man-made features; any landscape is composed not only of what lies before our eyes but what lies within our heads.8 Perception specialists argue that landscapes cannot be defined simply by itemizing their parts. The landscape perceived by one person is not the same as that perceived by another, even within the same culture. Every individual has his or her own personality and cultural viewpoint, which filter and distort information, giving a selective impression of what a landscape is like; such views may be close to reality or may contain major misconcep- tions.9 D. W. Meinig has suggested that ten people might view a landscape in ten different ways, in terms of representing nature (the insignificance of human activity), habitat (people’s adjust- ment to nature), artefact (human impact on nature), system (the scientific view of the processes of interaction between society and environment), problems (which can be solved through social action), wealth (property), ideology (cultural values or social philosophy), history (chronology), place (the identity that loca- tions have) and aesthetics (the artistic qualities of place).10 So the interpretation of landscapes can depend upon the values and attitudes of individuals: a capitalist might interpret landscape in monetary terms, an artist in aesthetic terms and a scientist in ecological terms. Impressions of landscape can also vary between people who are detached observers, or ‘outsiders’, and those who are ‘insiders’, living and working within particu- lar landscapes and interacting with them on a daily basis. The outsiders see landscapes afresh, while to the insiders they are subservient to everyday life, work and social interactions. Understanding people’s perceptions of places is important in that what people do with their environment arises from how they see it. Considerations of landscape perception are not purely academic then; they are also important in practical terms.11 Decision makers operating in response to a particular landscape will base their decisions on the environment as they perceive it, rather than how it really is.12 Cultural factors condi- tion landscape perceptions to a considerable degree. Individuals have personalized attitudes to landscape, but there are also wider consensuses. Some influential perceptions of spatial differences that have landscape dimensions are ancient landscape and history . 9 and deep-rooted. For instance, the modern north–south divide in England has been traced back to the early thirteenth-century split between King John and his barons.13 In terms of a contrast in landscape as well as in society, this divide gained a peculiar slant in the nineteenth century with the rise of industrialization, when, as in Mrs Gaskell’s novel North and South of 1855, it referred to contrasting states of minds as well as contrasting landscapes and societies.14 Although some perceptions of landscapes can be enduring, popular tastes regarding which types of landscape are favoured change over time, as do the standards by which landscape is judged. In the modern world, it is hard to experience landscape without preconceived images. In the nineteenth and early twen- tieth centuries,
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Cultural Paradigms of British Imperialism in the Militarisation of Scotland and North America, C.1745-1775
    1 The Cultural Paradigms of British Imperialism in the Militarisation of Scotland and North America, c.1745-1775. Nicola Martin Date of Submission: 24th September 2018 This thesis is submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Arts and Humanities University of Stirling 2 3 Abstract This dissertation examines militarisation in Scotland and North America from the Jacobite Uprising of 1745-46 to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War in 1775. Employing a biographical, case study approach, it investigates the cultural paradigms guiding the actions and understandings of British Army officers as they waged war, pacified hostile peoples, and attempted to assimilate ‘other’ population groups within the British Empire. In doing so, it demonstrates the impact of the Jacobite Uprising on British imperialism in North America and the role of militarisation in affecting the imperial attitudes of military officers during a transformative period of imperial expansion, areas underexplored in the current historiography. It argues that militarisation caused several paradigm shifts that fundamentally altered how officers viewed imperial populations and implemented empire in geographical fringes. Changes in attitude led to the development of a markedly different understanding of imperial loyalty and identity. Civilising savages became less important as officers moved away from the assimilation of ‘other’ populations towards their accommodation within the empire. Concurrently, the status of colonial settlers as Britons was contested due to their perceived disloyalty during and after the French and Indian War. ‘Othering’ colonial settlers, officers questioned the sustainability of an ‘empire of negotiation’ and began advocating for imperial reform, including closer regulation of the thirteen colonies.
    [Show full text]
  • PEN (Organization)
    PEN (Organization): An Inventory of Its Records at the Harry Ransom Center Descriptive Summary Creator: PEN (Organization) Title: PEN (Organization) Records Dates: 1912-2008 (bulk 1926-1997) Extent: 352 document boxes, 5 card boxes (cb), 5 oversize boxes (osb) (153.29 linear feet), 4 oversize folders (osf) Abstract: The records of the London-based writers' organizations English PEN and PEN International, founded by Catharine Amy Dawson Scott in 1921, contain extensive correspondence with writer-members and other PEN centres around the world. Their records document campaigns, international congresses and other meetings, committees, finances, lectures and other programs, literary prizes awarded, membership, publications, and social events over several decades. Call Number: Manuscript Collection MS-03133 Language: The records are primarily written in English with sizeable amounts in French, German, and Spanish, and lesser amounts in numerous other languages. Non-English items are sometimes accompanied by translations. Note: The Ransom Center gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the National Endowment for the Humanities, which provided funds for the preservation, cataloging, and selective digitization of this collection. The PEN Digital Collection contains 3,500 images of newsletters, minutes, reports, scrapbooks, and ephemera selected from the PEN Records. An additional 900 images selected from the PEN Records and related Ransom Center collections now form five PEN Teaching Guides that highlight PEN's interactions with major political and historical trends across the twentieth century, exploring the organization's negotiation with questions surrounding free speech, political displacement, and human rights, and with global conflicts like World War II and the Cold War. Access: Open for research. Researchers must create an online Research Account and agree to the Materials Use Policy before using archival materials.
    [Show full text]
  • PUB DATE 96 NOTE 507P.; Photographs Will Not Reproduce Adequately
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 393 626 RC 020 510 TITLE Wisconsin Indian Treaties and Tribal Sovereignty. Classroom Activities. INSTITUTION Wisconsin State Dept. of Public Instruction, Madison. REPORT NO Bulletin No. 96156; ISBN-1-57337-024-X PUB DATE 96 NOTE 507p.; Photographs will not reproduce adequately. Prepared by the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Wisconsin Indian History, Culture and Tribal Sovereignty Project. AVAILABLE FROMPublication Sales, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, Drawer 179, Milwaukee, WI 53293-0179. PUB TYPE Guides Classroom Use Teaching Guides (For Teacher) (052) EDRS PRICE MF02/PC21 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Acculturation; American Indian Culture; *American Indian History; American Indians; Elementary Secondary Education; *Federal Indian Relationship; Instructional Materials; Learning Activities; Primary Sources; Resource Materials; *Social Studies; *Treaties; Tribal Government; *Tribal Sovereignty; Tribes; *Units of Study IDENTIFIERS *Wisconsin ABSTRACT This guide contains information and learning activities for teaching elementary and secondary school students about federal-Indian relations, treaty rights, and tribal sovereignty in Wisconsin. The guide was developed to meet provisions of the 1989 Wisconsin Act 31 that required social studies curriculum to include instruction on treaty rights and tribal sovereignty. The first three sections are self-contained teaching sections for elementary, middle, and higil school students that begin with a brief overview of Wisconsin Indian cultures, political structures, and relationships to the environment. Each section includes nine learning activities that address the nature of the federal-Indian relationship up to the end of the treaty-making era, examine reservations established for Wisconsin Indians and the status of nonreservation Indians, consider the relationship of acculturation to treaty rights, and explore the reaffirmation of treaty rights and the status of Wisconsin Indian peoples today.
    [Show full text]
  • A Society Wedding in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1910
    A society wedding in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1910. By the end of the 17th century, white had become identified with maidenly innocence. But pink, blue, and yellow bridal dresses persisted until the late 19th century, when "white weddings1'-with bridesmaids, the best man, and composer Richard Wagner's "Bridal Chorusw-became an established tradition. Defining "tradition" is no easy matter. Sociologist Edward Shils called it "anything which is transmitted or handed down from the past to the present." In Chinese weddings as in the U.S. Ma- rine Corps, beliefs, images, social practices, and institutions may all partake of the traditional. Yet the symbols and rituals are less important than the human motives that guide their transmission down through the ages. Tradition may simply function as a means of promoting social stability and continuity. On the other hand, scholars note, it may be deliberately developed and culti- vated as a way of rewriting the past in order to justify the present. Here, in two case studies, Hugh Trevor-Roper and Terence Ran- ger suggest that what we now regard as "age-old" traditions may have their origins in inventive attempts to "establish or legiti- mize . status or relations of authority." by Hugh Trevor-Roper Today, whenever Scotsmen gather together to celebrate their national identity, they wear the kilt, woven in a tartan whose colors and pattern indicate their clan. This apparel, to which they ascribe great antiquity, is, in fact, of fairly recent ori- gin. Indeed, the whole concept of a distinct Highland culture and tradition is a retrospective invention.
    [Show full text]
  • The Limits of Social Mobility: Social Origins and Career Patterns of British Generals, 1688-1815
    The London School of Economics and Political Science The Limits of Social Mobility: social origins and career patterns of British generals, 1688-1815 Andrew B. Wood A thesis submitted to the Department of Economic History of the London School of Economics for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, November, 2011 1 Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without the prior written consent of the author. I warrant that this authorization does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 88,820 words. 2 Abstract Late eighteenth-century Britain was dominated by two features of economic life that were a major departure from previous eras, the economic growth of the Industrial Revolution and almost constant warfare conducted on a previously unprecedented scale. One consequence of this was the rapid expansion, diversification and development of the professions. Sociologists and economists have often argued that economic development and modernisation leads to increasing rates of social mobility. However, historians of the army and professions in the eighteenth-century claim the upper levels of the army were usually isolated from mobility as the highest ranks were dominated by sons of the aristocracy and landed elite.
    [Show full text]
  • Klik Hier Voor De PDF-Versie
    Inventaris van de foto’s in de jaarboeken 1-1926 t/m 80-2013 van het Westfries Genootschap, in beheer van Stichting Projector. Opgemaakt door Bert Kölker INLEIDING. Dit register is geen index op de jaarboeken van het Genootschap, maar wil slechts een toegang verschaffen op de foto’s van het Genootschap, afgedrukt in onze jaarboeken en de door leden geschonken foto’s. Particuliere foto’s, welke door de makers na publicatie in de jaarboeken zijn terug gevraagd, zult u hier niet aantreffen, maar wel een vermelding van de publicatie met nummers van het jaarboek en de betreffende pagina. Dit laatste is soms wat moeilijk, omdat de oudste delen meestal beginnen met enige ongenummerde pagina’s of met een romeins cijfer. Ik heb deze laatste cijfers soms in onze cijfers gewijzigd. Bovendien telt de serie twee jaarboeken met als jaar 1950, nl. de nummers 14 en 15 en enige jaren zijn er geen delen verschenen. Omdat het weinig zin heeft om bij groepsfoto’s, zoals Westfriezendagen, of de oude en nieuwe Raadsleden van opgeheven en nieuw gevormde gemeenten, allen met naam te vermelden, heb ik volstaan met de groepsfoto en het betreffend jaar te vermelden. Hetzelfde uitgangspunt heb ik genomen voor grote familiefoto’s. Het is dus mogelijk, dat een enkel persoon bovendien ook nog eens te vinden is onder zijn familienaam. Om het register niet te overladen heb ik personen, welke in een artikel meerdere malen zijn afgebeeld, volstaan met de eerst vermelde en de laatst vermelde foto per artikel aan te geven met een “-“. Bijv. Bakker, JOS pg.
    [Show full text]
  • Antiquaries in the Age of Romanticism: 1789-1851
    Antiquaries in the Age of Romanticism: 1789-1851 Rosemary Hill Queen Mary, University of London Submitted for the degree of PhD March 2011 1 I confirm that the work presented in this thesis and submitted for the degree of PhD is my own. Rosemary Hill 2 Abstract The thesis concentrates on the work of fourteen antiquaries active in the period from the French Revolution to the Great Exhibition in England, Scotland and France. I have used a combination of the antiquaries’ published works, which cover, among other subjects, architecture, topography, costume history, Shakespeare and the history of furniture, alongside their private papers to develop an account of that lived engagement with the past which characterised the romantic period. It ends with the growing professionalistion and specialisation of historical studies in the mid-nineteenth century which left little room for the self-generating, essentially romantic antiquarian enterprise. In so far as this subject has been considered at all it has been in the context of what has come to be called ‘the invention of tradition’. It is true that the romantic engagement with history as narrative led to some elaboration of the facts, while the newness of the enterprise laid it open to mistakes. I have not ignored this. The restoration of the Bayeux Tapestry, the forged tartans of the Sobieski Stuarts and the creation of Shakespeare’s Birthplace are all considered. Overall, however, I have been concerned not to debunk but as it were to ‘rebunk’, to see the antiquaries in their historical context and, as far as possible, in their own terms.
    [Show full text]
  • KIJK OP DE RINGVAART Eenheid in Verscheidenheid
    VOORWOORD ADAM ELZAKALAI WETHOUDER RUIMTELIJKE ORDENING Met onze onderzoekspublicatie over de Ringvaart en Ringdijk maakt u kennis met onze twee historische iconen die de ruggengraat vormen van Haarlem- mermeer. Zonder de dijk en de vaart immers geen polder. Maar ook geen 150.000 inwoners, geen luchthaven Schiphol, geen economisch sterke gemeente en geen prachtig uitzicht over het water. Wat zijn we rijk met dit erfgoed. Sinds 1852 ligt het voormalige meer droog. En bouwen pioniers aan de Haarlemmermeerse toekomst. Inmiddels is dit uw toekomst geworden. Met deze waar- devolle publicatie draagt het huidige college bij aan de geschiedenis van Haarlemmermeer, door het verleden vast te leggen. Ik ben als wethouder Ruimtelijke Ordening ontzettend trots op en dank- baar voor het onderzoek dat gedaan is. Geniet van dit naslagwerk en beleef de zestig kilometerlange Ringdijk en Ringvaart vanaf papier of het scherm. ADAM ELZAKALAI DERK RENEMAN WETHOUDER RUIMTELIJKE ORDENING WETHOUDER CULTUUR De gemeente Haarlemmermeer heeft een betrekkelijk kort, maar rijk cultuurhistorisch verleden. De Ring- vaart en Ringdijk vormen het fundament van deze geschiedenis. Met de drie stoomgemalen was het midden 1800 een moderne uitdaging om een vaart te graven, een dijk aan te leggen en de polder droog te malen. Nadat de stoomgemalen drie jaar continu gedraaid hadden kon men het land in gebruik nemen. Waterbouwkundige Jan Adriaanszoon Leeghwater, die al in 1641 pleitte voor de drooglegging van het Haarlemmermeer, zou enorm tevreden zijn als hij zag waar we nu staan. Als wethouder Cultuur ben ik ontzettend trots op onze historische iconen de Ringdijk en Ringvaart. Het prachtige visitekaartje dat zo kenmerkend is voor onze gemeente.
    [Show full text]
  • Gaelic Views
    Gaelic views Follow the gold numbers on the floor to locate the featured objects and themes Gallery plan 16 15 14 17 18 13 Royal favour 12 19 11 A tour of 20 Scotland 10 21 A romantic vision 9 of Scotland 7 22 8 3873 6 4 23 5 3 The Highland ideal Scotland after Culloden 26 24 25 27 2 1 Wild and Majestic: Romantic visions of Scotland Wild and Majestic: Romantic Visions of Scotland 1 Wild and Majestic: Romantic Visions of Scotland Symbols of Scotland These images and objects tell us immediately how a culture came into being in Scotland that was rooted in the traditional culture of the Highlands. But these ‘roots’ are still a matter of contention. How deep do they really go? Do they derive from an ancient culture that was truly Gaelic? Or was this culture created in the Romantic era? We see weaponry, tartans, a painting and a bagpipe. To an extent each item is a new creation: the new tourist view over Loch Katrine in about 1815; sword designed in the 18th century; a dress sense growing out of army uniforms in the years when Highland dress and tartan was proscribed; and a Highland bagpipe in a new style created about 1790. Certainly, the impact of recent fashions was clear to see. But Gaels would still recognise that each piece, to a greater or lesser extent, formed part of their heritage. Wild and Majestic: Romantic Visions of Scotland 2 The Piper and Champion to the Laird of Grant In the wake of the Jacobites The British government had their reason to pass laws against Highland dress after Culloden.
    [Show full text]
  • Robertson's Rant
    ROBERTSON’S RANT The Newsletter of the Clan Donnachaidh Society —Mid- Atlantic Branch STRUAN RETURNS—1726 By James E. Fargo, FSA Scot VOLUME 9, ISSUE 2 English-Scottish relations after the 1707 Treaty of Union were strained at best. The imposition of new customs and excise duties on a wide range of commodi- MAY 2020 ties (including beer, home salt, linen, soap, etc.) previously untaxed was very unpopular. The previous level of taxation was not enough to cover the costs of Branch Officers the civil government. The English rightly believed that the Scots were evading taxation because of the enormous scale of smuggling and revenue fraud going President: on. Recent research has been able to confirm the scale of this evasion on one Sam Kistler product. Between 1707 and 1722, Scottish Glasgow merchants managed to evade duty on half of their tobacco imports from Virginia and Maryland. Vice President: Efforts along the coasts by the Board of Customs to collect unpaid taxes on Ron Bentz goods arriving by ships and found hidden in warehouses were met with violence against the customs officials. London needed custom revenue to pay down their Secretary/Treasurer: National Debt which had grown to finance the Spanish Succession War which Norman Dunkinson ended in 1713. In July 1724, King George I appointed General George Wade the new Command- er-in-Chief of His Majesty’s Forces in Scotland. That same year, the English gov- ernment of Sir Robert Walpole decided to implement a malt tax on Scotland to begin in June 1725. This attempt to generate more revenue raised the cost of ale and created a wave of popular anger with riots breaking out throughout the major cities.
    [Show full text]
  • SCOTLAND and the BRITISH ARMY C.1700-C.1750
    SCOTLAND AND THE BRITISH ARMY c.1700-c.1750 By VICTORIA HENSHAW A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY School of History and Cultures College of Arts and Law University of Birmingham September 2011 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT The historiography of Scotland and the British army in the eighteenth century largely concerns the suppression of the Jacobite risings – especially that of 1745-6 – and the growing assimilation of Highland soldiers into its ranks during and after the Seven Years War. However, this excludes the other roles and purposes of the British army, the contribution of Lowlanders to the British army and the military involvement of Scots of all origin in the British army prior to the dramatic increase in Scottish recruitment in the 1750s. This thesis redresses this imbalance towards Jacobite suppression by examining the place of Scotland and the role of Highland and Lowland Scots in the British army during the first half of the eighteenth century, at a time of change fuelled by the Union of 1707 and the Jacobite rebellions of the period.
    [Show full text]
  • PICKLE the SPY Or the Incognito of Prince Charles 'I
    PICKLE THE SPY or The Incognito of Prince Charles ‘I knew the Master: on many secret steps of his career I have an authentic memoir in my hand.’ THE MASTER OF BALLANTRAE PREFACE This woful History began in my study of the Pelham Papers in the Additional Manuscripts of the British Museum. These include the letters of Pickle the Spy and of JAMES MOHR MACGREGOR. Transcripts of them were sent by me to Mr. ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, for use in a novel, which he did not live to finish. The character of Pickle, indeed, like that of the Master of Ballantrae, is alluring to writers of historical romance. Resisting the temptation to use Pickle as the villain of fiction, I have tried to tell his story with fidelity. The secret, so long kept, of Prince Charles’s incognito, is divulged no less by his own correspondence in the Stuart MSS. than by the letters of Pickle. For Her Majesty’s gracious permission to read the Stuart Papers in the library of Windsor Castle, and to engrave a miniature of Prince Charles in the Royal collection, I have respectfully to express my sincerest gratitude. To Mr. HOLMES, Her Majesty’s librarian, I owe much kind and valuable aid. The Pickle Papers, and many despatches in the State Papers, were examined and copied for me by Miss E. A. IBBS. In studying the Stuart Papers, I owe much to the aid of Miss VIOLET SIMPSON, who has also assisted me by verifying references from many sources. It would not be easy to mention the numerous correspondents who have helped me, but it were ungrateful to omit acknowledgment of the kindness of Mr.
    [Show full text]