At the time of writing in the early 1820s, Cobbett was a radical anti-Corn Law campaigner, newly returned to England from a spell of self-imposed political exile in the United States.
Cobbett disapproved of proposals for remedies for agricultural distress suggested in Parliament in 1821. He made up his mind to see rural conditions for himself, and to "enforce by actual observation of rural conditions" the statements he had made in answer to the arguments of the landlords before the Parliamentary Agricultural Committee.
He embarked on a series of journeys by horseback through the countryside of Southeast England and the English Midlands. He wrote down what he saw from the points of view both of a farmer and a social reformer. The result documents the early 19th-century countryside and its people, as well as giving free vent to Cobbett's opinions.
He first published his observations in serial form in the Political Register, between 1822 and 1826. Four rides – from 1822, 1823, 1825 and 1826 – were first published in book form in two volumes in 1830. In 1853, his son James published an expanded edition, including rides from 1821, as well as his father's 1830–32 political tours to the Midlands, North and Scotland.
Editions
Rural Rides in the Southern, Western and Eastern Counties of England; edited by G. D. H. and Margaret Cole; Vol. 1. London: Peter Davies, 1930; title page
Lucy Aikin was an English historical writer, biographer and correspondent. She also published under pseudonyms such as Mary Godolphin. Her literary-minded family included her aunt Anna Laetitia Barbauld, a writer of poetry, essays and children's books.
William Cobbett was an English pamphleteer, journalist, politician, and farmer born in Farnham, Surrey. He was one of an agrarian faction seeking to reform Parliament, abolish "rotten boroughs", restrain foreign activity, and raise wages, with the goal of easing poverty among farm labourers and small land holders. Cobbett backed lower taxes, saving, reversing commons enclosures and returning to the gold standard. He opposed borough-mongers, sinecurists, bureaucratic "tax-eaters" and stockbrokers. His radicalism furthered the Reform Act 1832 and gained him one of two newly created seats in Parliament for the borough of Oldham. His polemics range from political reform to religion, including Catholic emancipation. His best known book is Rural Rides. He argued against Malthusianism, saying economic betterment could support global population growth.
George Grote was an English political radical and classical historian. He is now best known for his major work, the voluminous History of Greece.
John Galt was a Scottish novelist, entrepreneur, and political and social commentator. Galt has been called the first political novelist in the English language, due to being the first novelist to deal with issues of the Industrial Revolution.
Lucius Bentinck Cary, 10th Viscount Falkland GCH, PC, styled Master of Falkland until 1809, was a British colonial administrator and Liberal politician.
Everyman's Library is a series of reprints of classic literature, primarily from the Western canon. It began in 1906. It is currently published in hardback by Random House. It was originally an imprint of J. M. Dent, who continue to publish Everyman Paperbacks.
John Lindley FRS was an English botanist, gardener and orchidologist.
George Darley (1795–1846) was an Irish poet, novelist, literary critic, and author of mathematical texts. Friends with such literary luminaries as Charles Lamb, Thomas Carlyle, and John Clare, he was considered by some to be on a level with Tennyson in “poetic possibilities” in the 1840s, but in the words of famous literary critic George Saintsbury “he had the marks of a talent that never did what it had it in it to do.”
The Swing Riots were a widespread uprising in 1830 by agricultural workers in southern and eastern England in protest of agricultural mechanisation and harsh working conditions. The riots began with the destruction of threshing machines in the Elham Valley area of East Kent in the summer of 1830 and by early December had spread through the whole of southern England and East Anglia. It was to be the largest movement of social unrest in 19th-century England.
Richard Carlile was an English radical publisher and writer. He was an important agitator for the establishment of universal suffrage and freedom of the press in the United Kingdom.
John Farmer was an American historian and genealogist, born in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. He was the son of John Farmer and Lydia Richardson. He is buried at Concord, New Hampshire.
The following is a list of the published works of Mary Martha Sherwood. Because it relies on M. Nancy Cutt's annotated bibliography of Sherwood's books in Mrs. Sherwood and her Books for Children, this list does not include her many periodical articles, such as those she wrote for The Youth's Magazine. The list follows Cutt's generic divisions.
Franz Mone was a historian and archaeologist.
The New Monthly Magazine was a British monthly magazine published from 1814 to 1884. It was founded by Henry Colburn and published by him through to 1845.
William Benbow was a nonconformist preacher, pamphleteer, pornographer and publisher, and a prominent figure of the Reform Movement in Manchester and London. He worked with William Cobbett on the radical newspaper Political Register, and spent time in prison as a consequence of his writing, publishing and campaigning activities. He has been credited with formulating and popularising the idea of a general strike for the purpose of political reform.
Johann Martin Augustin Scholz was a German Roman Catholic orientalist, biblical scholar and academic theologian. He was a professor at the University of Bonn and travelled extensively throughout Europe and the Near East in order to locate manuscripts of the New Testament.
William Carpenter was a 19th-century theological and political writer, journalist, and editor.
A Treatise on Political Economy; or The Production, Distribution, and Consumption of Wealth, known as Traité d'économie politique in French, is an industrial economics book written by Jean-Baptiste Say.
At 249 metres (817 ft), Wheatham Hill is one of the highest hills in the county of Hampshire, England. It is part of the North Hampshire Downs.
Samuel Rowe was a farmer's son who became a bookseller, vicar and antiquarian of Devon, England. He is known for his Perambulation of Dartmoor, which for many years was the standard work on the prehistoric and later sites to be found on the moor.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
