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Eighteenth-Century Satires of Science and Social Innovation

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Eighteenth-Century Satires of Science and Social Innovation Burlesque Natural Philosophers: Eighteenth-Century Satires of Science and Social Innovation by Matthew Risling A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy Department of English University of Toronto © Copyright by Matthew Risling 2017 Burlesque Natural Philosophers: Eighteenth-Century Satires of Science and Social Innovation Matthew Risling Doctorate of Philosophy Department of English University of Toronto 2017 Abstract This dissertation examines the socio-political underpinnings of the satires about science that proliferated in British literature from 1660 to 1800. Most scholarship on the topic assumes that frequent literary assaults reflected a prevailing scepticism about science, and this assumption continues to prejudice analyses of satires like The Virtuoso (1676), Blazing World (1668), and the Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus (pub.1741). However, science was widely embraced as a reliable mode of investigation, and people were generally enthusiastic about it. Why then are there so many farcical natural philosophers in eighteenth century literature and so few respectable ones? I argue that the satirical virtuoso served as a focal point for new forms of social conflict. His zeal for scientific innovation registered broader, often unacknowledged, anxieties about England’s emerging cultural of innovation. Thus, burlesque natural philosophers, who strive to topple traditional hierarchies of knowledge, serve as proxies for the dynamic middle orders, who were seen to threaten traditional social hierarchies. The dissertation is composed of five case studies focusing on different moments of intersection between science and social hierarchies. The first study is of Margaret Cavendish, whose !ii fantastical travelogue Blazing World and its companion treatise on Experimental Natural Philosophy (1668) articulate the perceived link between epistemic and political revolution in a manner that most eighteenth-century satires merely imply. Next I examine Dr. John Woodward, perpetual butt of the Scriblerian group, whose satires fashioned him as an embodiment of social ambition and cultural degeneration. I then discuss three scientific parodies by Henry Fielding and how they reflected the growing presence of science in popular culture. The fourth chapter is on the surprising prevalence of science in oriental tales, and how stories like Rasselas (1759) and Vathek (1786) used the imaginative east to reflect on prospective technological advances like manned flight and large-scale engineering projects. The final chapter, on Elizabeth Hamilton’s anti-Jacobin novel Memoirs of Modern Philosophers (1800), explores the paradox of late-century conservatives who embraced scientific and economic progress, but who continued to regard such progress as threatening traditional social structures. !iii Acknowledgments I am extremely grateful to my mentors at the University of Toronto. My largest debt is to Thomas Keymer who encouraged me through every step of this long process. This dissertation would not have been possible without his boundless knowledge of eighteenth-century literature and invaluable insights into my work, which he shared with unending patience and generosity. I cannot possibly imagine a better supervisor. Thank you also to thank Simon Dickie and Carol Percy who held me to the highest standards in my research and writing, always believing I could achieve them. I owe to you all more than I can express. I would also like to extend my deepest gratitude to Betty Schellenberg at Simon Fraser University for introducing me to joys of the eighteenth century. It would be nearly impossible to name all of the people who motivated and supported me over the past several years. I am tremendously fortunate for the love and encouragement from my parents, my brother, and my sisters. I thank all of my friends and colleagues who toiled alongside me at libraries and coffee shops, including Thom Bryce McQuinn, Christina Foisy, Isabella Huberman, Nathan Murray, Kate Siklosi, Myka Tucker-Abramson, and Richard Welch, as well as my fellow fellows at the Jackman Institute, Jean Mathieu-Lessard, and Youcef Soufi. And a very special thank you to Adleen Crapo, for her camaraderie, her translations, and especially for helping me with the crocodiles. I would additionally like to thank Caleigh McEachern, John Kerr, Adie Todd, and the rest of Chapman’s Homers, as well as Melissa Auclair, Mike Baker, Luke Lockyer, Santina Macri, Shelley Nixon, Catherine St. John, and, of course, Miyoko Okamoto. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the generous financial support from the Social Science Research Council of Canada and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship, as well as the unique research opportunities offered to me by the Lewis Walpole Library, and the Jackman Humanities Institute. !iv Contents Acknowledgments .........................................................................................................................iv Figures ...........................................................................................................................................vii Introduction ......................................................................................................................................1 1. Eighteenth-Century “Science”: A Case for Anachronism ........................................................8 2. Gimcrack’s Influence .............................................................................................................14 3. “This Watery Science”: Dissolving Natural Hierarchies .......................................................19 4. Science and Social Innovation ...............................................................................................28 5. Chapter Summary ..................................................................................................................35 Chapter 1 Philosophy of the Wrong Sort: Margaret Cavendish’s Royalist Opposition to Experimental Science ......................................................................................................................................40 1. Cavendish and the Politics of Science ...................................................................................43 2. Philosophy from the Centre: Cavendish’s Royalist Identification .........................................46 3. Leviathan and the Authoritarian Nature of Blazing World ....................................................52 4. Ignoble Artists and the Rhetoric of Utility .............................................................................62 Chapter 2 Woodward and the Scriblerians ................................................................................................70 1. Woodward as the Ideal Natural Philosopher ..........................................................................75 2. Scriblerus, Fossile, and the Bastards of Modernity ...............................................................83 3. Woodward’s Metamorphoses .................................................................................................91 3.1. Woodward and the Years of Miracle ................................................................................95 Chapter 3 Burlesque Natural Philosophers: Henry Fielding and Popular Science ..................................105 1. Parody and Polyps: Terrestrial Chrysipus in Context ..........................................................110 1.1. Ants, Polyps, and Hanover Rats: Fielding’s Scientific Burlesques ................................118 !v 2. Periodicals and Popular Science ..........................................................................................126 3. The Providence of Science in Tom Jones ............................................................................130 Chapter 4 Luxurious Knowledge: Science, Progress, and the Oriental Chronotope ...............................139 1. The Orient in England’s Cultural Imagination .....................................................................142 2. Chronotopes and Crocodiles ................................................................................................149 3. Western Science in Eastern Tales .........................................................................................154 3.1. Rasselas and the Inevitability of Progress ......................................................................156 3.2. Beckford’s Unresolved Dialectics on Science ...............................................................167 Chapter 5 Elizabeth Hamilton and the Political Scientists: The Paradox of Progress in Memoirs of Modern Philosophers ..............................................................................................................184 1. Hamilton’s Ambivalence about Science and Reform ..........................................................190 2. Science and Culture War in Late- Eighteenth-Century Britain ............................................193 3. Science or Nature’s God ......................................................................................................202 3.1. Dissenting Politics and the New Jerusalem ...................................................................205 4. Science, Sex, and Family Breakdown ..................................................................................208 5. Vital Energies and Radical Science .....................................................................................212 6. Progress without
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