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Tag Archives: James Boswell
edinburgh: habits and hangovers
In eighteenth-century Edinburgh temperance was an unknown virtue…. To be sure, the inhabitants of Edinburgh probably felt they had good reason to imbibe. They had recently broken free from a stifling Calvinistic authority, which combined with the dreadful conditions on … Continue reading
high on the hog: boastful splendiferous types
…Of what there is no doubt is that this life was wasteful, extravagant, ostentatious- an appalling contrast, as Dr. Samuel Johnson noted, to the human wretchedness of rural or urban slums; yet it was saved both by its humanity and … Continue reading
Posted in Art History/Antiquity/Anthropology, Feature Article, Ideas/Opinion
Tagged David Garrick, Dr. Samuel Johnson, Earl of Egremont, George Macaulay Trevelyan, George Stubbs, Henry Fielding, James Boswell, Johann Zoffany, John Berger, Jonathan Jones Guardian, Madame Pickwick, Sir Robert Walpole, Thomas Gainsborough, William Hogarth
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land equaled power
Nowhere were the changes from barbarism to sophistication so clearly mirrored as in the houses, the furniture, the clothes, the style of life of the rich. By 1750 the Western world had captured a vast commerce unequaled in history and … Continue reading
Posted in Art History/Antiquity/Anthropology, Feature Article, Ideas/Opinion
Tagged Andrea Palladio, Christopher Wren, George Morland paintings, James Boswell, John Wootton paintings, Madame Pickwick, madame pickwick art blog, Robert Adam Architect, Sir Robert Walpole, William Kent Architect
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rubbing shoulders with the celestial emperor
The noble houses of eighteenth century England. Eventually the life blood of civilization began to flow through the veins of barbarized Europe. Gradually, a tide of wealth swept over the old noble warrior society. By 1750 the Western world had … Continue reading
Posted in Art History/Antiquity/Anthropology, Feature Article, Ideas/Opinion
Tagged Aubusson carpets, Capability Brown, Celestial Emperor, Dr. Samuel Johnson, England eighteenth century mansions, George Romney paintings, James Boswell, Jan Siberechts Dutch Artist, John Wootton paintings, Joshua Reynolds, Lord Scarsdale Kedleston, Madame Pickwick, madame pickwick art blog, Meisen porcelain, Sevres Porcelain, Sir Robert Walpole, Thomas Gainsborough
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like the highlands?
“Who can like the Highlands?” answered Dr. Johnson.And so the famous trip through the Scottish Highlands drew to a close, to be immortalized in James Boswell’s journal. It was a snapshot in time, of the wild ways of the Hebrides … Continue reading
highlands: linen in the seraglio
James Boswell and Dr. Samuel Johnson’s tour to the Scottish Highlands in 1773…. Boswell, too, was more concerned with the study of human character. Samuel Johnson was a more fascinating subject than any cliff or stream or ruined castle- the … Continue reading
meeting of the minds….
“Who can like the Highlands?” asked Dr. Johnson after James Boswell had dragged him from Edinburgh to Inverness to Skye and back to the Lowlands. Boswell could,and soon set about immortalizing the tour… At Auchinleck, Dr. Johnson, a vehement Tory, … Continue reading
Posted in Feature Article, Ideas/Opinion, Literature/poetry/spoken word
Tagged Charles H. Bennett, Dr. Samuel Johnson, Edmond Malone Shakespearian scholar, Frederick A. Pottle, James Boswell, Madame Pickwick, madame pickwick art blog, Oliver Cromwell, Samuel Collings, Thomas Osborne, Thomas Rowlandson
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going home: blades of grass
James Boswell induced Samuel Johnson in 1773, who pretended that he detested Scotsmen and despised their barren country, to venture across the Scottish border and, not only spend some days in Edinburgh, but penetrate the barbaric Highlands and undertake a … Continue reading
boswell: poonch and the holy resolutions
James Boswell’s major coup was the one that he achieved during August 1773 when he induced Samuel Johnson, who pretended that he detested Scotsmen and despised their barren country, to venture across the Scottish border and, not only to spend … Continue reading
boswell and johnson: mull-ing the coll of the wild
” that we might there contemplate a system of life almost totally different from what we have been accustomed to see,” and “find simplicity and wildness…” But it needed a great deal of quiet diplomacy to overcome Johnson’s natural sloth. … Continue reading