Lunatick Visions: Prophecy,Signs and Scientific Knowledge in 1790s London

Blake William , “Annotations to Richard Watson, An apology for the Bible in a series of letters addressed to Thomas Paine” (written 1798), in Blake: Complete writings, ed. by Keynes Geoffrey (London, 1966), 391.

Paine Thomas , The age of reason, being an investigation of true and fabulous theology, part first (1794), in Paine: Political writings, ed. by Kiblick Bruce (Cambridge, 1989), 256.

Macalpine Ida Hunter Richard , George III and the mad-business (New York, 1970), 35–36, 41.

For the manufacture of madness and psychiatry, see Porter Roy , Mind forg'd manacles (London, 1990).

Febvre Lucien , The problem of unbelief in the sixteenth century, transl. by Gottlieb Beatrice (Cambridge, Mass., 1982), 441.

Bourdieu Pierre , “The peculiar history of scientific reason”, Sociological forum, vi (1991), 3–26, p. 9. For histories of the marvellous in relation to natural philosophy “proper” and attempts to exclude wonder from science, see Park Katherine Daston Lorraine , Wonders and the order of nature, 1150–1750 (New York, 1998).

Golinski Jan , Science as public culture: Chemistry and enlightenment in Britain, 1760–1820 (Cambridge, 1992), 3.

Eagleton Terry , The function of criticism (London, 1984), 36.

Klancher Jon , The making of English reading audiences, 1790–1832 (Madison, 1987), 12. For Joseph Johnson, see Chard L. F. , “Joseph Johnson: Father of the book trade”, Bulletin of the New York Public Library, lxxix (1975–76), 51–82. For Newgate prison, see McCalman Iain , “Newgate in revolution: Radical enthusiasm and romantic counterculture”, Eighteenth-century life, xxii (1998), 95–110. For the London Corresponding Society, see Thompson E. P. , The making of the English working class (London, 1980).

The pomp of display is discussed in Klancher , op. cit. (ref. 9), 6; see also Robbins Bruce , “Introduction: The public as phantom”, in The phantom public sphere , ed. by Robbins Bruce (Minneapolis, 1993); cited in Gilmartin Kevin , “Popular radicalism and the public sphere”, Studies in Romanticism, xxxiii (1994), 549–57, p. 551. For debates about the existence of the public sphere and counter-publics in the 1790s see also, for example, Habermas Jurgen , The structural transformation of the public sphere: An inquiry into a category of bourgeois society, transl. by Burger Thomas (Cambridge, Mass., 1989); Calhoun Craig , “Introduction: Habermas and the public sphere”, in Habermas and the public sphere, ed. by Calhoun Craig (Cambridge, Mass., 1992), 1–48.

Stewart Larry , The rise of public science: Rhetoric, technology, and natural philosophy in Newtonian Britain (Cambridge, 1993); Stafford B. M. , Artful science: Enlightenment education and the eclipse of visual education (London, 1994); Fara Patricia , Sympathetic attractions: Magnetic practices, beliefs, and symbolism in eighteenth-century England (Princeton, 1996). See also the many fine papers in “Science lecturing in the eighteenth century”, special issue of The British journal for the history of science, xxviii/1 (1995).

McCalman Iain , “New Jerusalems: Prophecy, dissent and radical culture in England, 1786–1830”, in Enlightenment and religion: Rational dissent in eighteenth-century Britain, ed. by Haakonssen Knud (Cambridge, 1997), 312–35, p. 317.

Herschel William , “On nebulous stars, properly so called”, Philosophical transactions, lxxxi (1791), 71–78.

For the King's confusion, see [ Withers Philip ], History of the royal malady, with a variety of entertaining anecdotes (London, 1789), 16; see also Plumb J. H. , England in the eighteenth century (London, 1958), 192. For the patronage showered upon Herschel, see Dreyer J. L. E. (ed.). The collected papers of Sir William Herschel (2 vols, London, 1912), pp. xxxv–lxiii.

W. W. Grenville to the Marquis of Buckingham, 8 November 1788, cited in McCalpine Hunter , op. cit. (ref. 3), 29. As Roy Porter has written, madness was often interpreted as a “positive phase of spirituality” in eighteenth-century England, but this was certainly not the case with the monarch. See Porter , Mind forg'd manacles (ref. 4), 268.

For reasons for contentment, see Paley William , Reasons for contentment; addressed to the labouring part of the British republic (Carlisle, 1792). For the political disputes of the 1790s, see, for example, Thompson , The making of the English working class (ref. 9); Colley Linda , Britons: Forging the nation, 1707–1837 (London, 1992); and Haakonssen Knud (ed.), Enlightenment and religion: Rational dissent in eighteenth-century Britain (Cambridge, 1997).

James Lord Monboddo Burnet , Of the origin and progress of language (3 vols, Edinburgh, 1773–92). For the “pestilential breath”, see Bentham Jeremy , Fragment on government (1776; Cambridge, 1988), 21. For the necessity of grammar, see Tooke John Horne , , or, the diversions of Purley (2 vols, London, 1786, 1805). As Tooke griped, “Philosophers have calculated the difference between sound and light: But who will attempt to calculated the difference between speech and thought” (Diversions, i, 27).

Hutton James , The theory of the Earth with proofs and illustrations (Edinburgh, 1795). For Huttonianism, see Dean Dennis , James Hutton and the history of geology (Ithaca, 1992). For responses to Hutton, see Porter Roy , The making of geology: Earth science in Britain, 1660–1815 (Cambridge, 1977), 196–202. For mathematical debates, see Pycior Helena , Symbols, impossible numbers, and geometric entanglements: British algebra through the commentaries on Newton's universal arithmetick (Cambridge, 1997). For chemical debates, see Golinski , Science as public culture (ref. 7). For astronomical concerns, see, for example, Guicciardini Niccolò , “Stars and gravitation in 18^th century Newtonian astronomy”, in Copernico e la questione copernicana in Italia dal XVI al XIX, ed. by Pepe Luigi (Florence, 1996), 263–80.

See Genuth Sara Schechner , Comets, popular culture, and the birth of modern cosmology (Princeton, N.J., 1997).

For comets and the Gentleman's magazine, see, for example, vol. lxxxiii (1812), 432.

For Caroline Herschel's astronomical work, see Herschel John Mrs , Memoirs and correspondence of Caroline Herschel (London, 1879); for her comet-sweeping telescopes, see Hoskin Michael Warner Brian , “Caroline Herschel's comet sweepers”, Journal for the history of astronomy, vii (1981), 27–34.

For George's comment to the archbishop, see “Herschel, William” in the Dictionary of national biography. For Herschel's matter theory and construction of the heavens, see Schaffer Simon , ‘“The great laboratories of the universe’: William Herschel on matter theory and planetary life”, Journal for the history of astronomy, xi (1980), 81–111.

For Herschel's telescope, see Herschel William , “Description of a forty-feet reflecting telescope”, Philosophical transactions, lxxxv (1795), 347–409; see also Bennett J. A. , ‘“On the power of penetrating into space’: The telescopes of William Herschel”, Journal for the history of astronomy, vii (1976), 75–108. Herschel's comments to the Royal Society concerning extra-terrestrial life in “On the nature and the construction of the Sun and fixed stars”, Philosophical transactions, lxxxv (1795), 46–72; and Herschel to Maskelyne , 12 June 1780, Collected works (ref. 14), i, pp. xc–xci. Herschel's extra-terrestrial speculations and their relation to lunacy, natural history and matter theory are discussed in three papers by Schaffer Simon : “Uranus and the establishment of Herschel's astronomy”, Journal for the history of astronomy, xii (1981), 11–26; ‘“The great laboratories of the universe’” (ref. 22); and “Herschel in Bedlam: Natural history and stellar astronomy”, The British journal for the history of science, xiii (1980), 211–39.

Both critiques of Herschel are cited in Schaffer , “Great laboratories”, (ref. 22), 93, 104.

Jones William , The description and use of a new portable orrery (London, 1784), 17–18. Harrington Robert , A new system on fire and planetary life (London, 1796), iii, 50. Paine , Age of reason (ref. 2), 247–51. For Jones's trade in London, see King H. Milburn J. , Geared to the stars: The evolution of planetariums, orreries, and astronomical clocks (Toronto, 1978), 205–9.

Brothers Richard , Revealed knowledge of the prophesies and times wrote under the direction of the Lord God (London, 1794).

Brothers , Revealed knowledge (ref. 26), 48.

Harrison J. F. C. , The second coming: Popular millenarianism, 1780–1850 (New Brunswick, 1979), 3. For Burke's mob, see, for example, Burke Edmund , “Letter to a member of the National Assembly (1791)”, in The philosophy of Edmund Burke, ed. by Bredvold L. Ross R. (Ann Arbor, 1960), 246–55, p. 254.

Halhed Nathaniel Brassey , A calculation on the commencement of the Millenium … pointing out those parts of Mr. Brothers' prophecies that have already been fulfilled (London, 1795), 5. For the concord between Brothers and enlightened philosophers, see also, for example, Spencer Henry , A vindication of the prophecies of Mr. Brothers, and the Scripture expositions of Mr. Halhed (London, 1795), 31; Bicheno James , Explanation of scripture prophecy: The signs of the times (Wet Springfield, 1796), 8–11; and Anon., The illuminator, or looking-glass of the times (London, 1797).

Nicholson's journal of natural philosophy, chemistry and the arts, iv (1803), 6. For Davy's recollection, see The collected works or Sir Humphry Davy , ed. by Davy John (9 vols, London, 1839–40), ix, 367. For Woulfe's life and work, see Brande William Thomas , A manual of chemistry (2 vols, London, 1830), i, pp. xix–xx.

van Butchell Martin , Causes of crim. con. also barrenness – and the King's evil: Advice – new – guinea; come from ten till one: For I go to none. The anatomist & sympathizer, who never poisons, – nor sheds humane blood (London, 1795), 16–17.

Spencer , Vindication of… Brothers (ref. 29), 8, 26.

[ Oulton Walley Chamberlain ], Sound argument dictated by common sense; in answer to Nathaniel Brassey Halhed's testimony (3rd edn, Oxford, 1795).

[ Williams Thomas ], The age of credulity: A letter to Nathanial Brassey Halhed …in vindication of the Scripture prophecies (London, 1795). Williams was the publisher of Paine's Age of reason.

Levi David , Letters to Nathaniel Brassey Halhed, MP (London, 1795), 47; cited in McCalman , “New Jerusalems” (ref. 12), 323.

“Carthusianus”, Gentleman's magazine, lxv (1795), 208–9, 223–4.

Anon., An enquiry into the pretensions of Richard Brothers, in answer to Nathanial Brassey Halhed. By a Freethinker (London, 1795); “Country-Curate”, Strictures on the prophecies of Richard Brothers, and the publications and parliamentary conduct of Nathanial Brassey Halhed (Oxford, 1795).

“Old Woman”, A letter to Nathaniel Brassey Halhed, Esq. M.P. (London, 1795).

Huntington William , The lying prophet examined, and his false predictions discovered (2nd edn, London, 1802).

For Brothers's prophecies, see Harrison , The second coming (ref. 28), 57–85; see also Barrell John , “Imagining the King's death”, History workshop journal, xxxvii (1994), 1–32.

[ Sales William ], Truth or not truth; or a discourse on prophets (London, 1795); Whitchurch Samuel , Another witness! Or further testimony in favor of Richard Brothers (London, 1795); Richard “Citizen” Lee, The happy reign of George the last (London, 1795); Bicheno , Signs of the times (ref. 29); Offley Francis , Richard Brothers, neither madman nor imposter (London, 1795). Many of Brothers's converts published anonymously: See, for example, Anon., God's awful warnings to a giddy, sinful world (London, 1795); Anon., Glad tidings to Great Britain (Edinburgh, 1795?); Crease J. , Prophecies fulfilling … addressed to all scoffing sectarians who … despise and reject Richard Brothers (London, 1795); Anon., The world's doom: Or, the cabinet of fate unlocked (London, 1795). Support from women also spewed from the presses: See, for example, Green Sarah , A letter to the publisher of Brothers's prophecies (London, 1795); Flaxmer Sarah , Satan revealed; or the dragon overcome. … And also, a testimony that Richard Brothers, is a prophet sent from the Lord (London, 1795); Southcott Joanna , On the fast day, 1797, the following was given to Joanna Southcott (London, 1797).

Priestley Joseph , The present state of Europe compared with antient prophesies, a sermon (London, 1794); The conjuror's magazine, or, magical and physiognomical mirror (London, 1791–95); Anon., Every lady's own fortune-teller, or, an infallible guide to the hidden decrees of fate, being a new & regular system for foretelling future events, by astrology, physiognomy, palmistry, moles, cards, and dreams (London, 1793); “Astrologus”, The celestial telegraph, or the almanack of the people, for the year of human redemption 1796 (London, 1795); Coleridge Samuel Taylor , “Religious musings”, Oxford authors: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, ed. by Jackson H. J. (Oxford, 1985), 13–23; Blake William , “Europe: A prophecy”, Blake: Complete writings (ref. 1), 237–44.

Anon., An impartial account of the prophets in the beginning of this century (London, 1795); Willison John , A prophecy of the French Revolution, and the downfall of Antichrist; Forbes William , The Christian soldier in complete armour (Montrose, 1799); Anon., Wonderful prophesies, a dissertation on the prophetic powers in the human mind (4th edn, London, 1795); Love Christopher , The strange and wonderful predictions of Mr. Christopher Love, … who was beheaded on Tower Hill, in the time of Oliver Cromwell's government of England (Dublin, 1792); Fleming Robert , Apocalyptical key (London, 1701; reprinted London, 1795).

Sprat Thomas , The history of the Royal Society of London, for the improving of natural knowledge (London, 1667), Section xviii. For Boyle, see, for example, Boyle Robert , A free enquiry into the vulgarly received notion of nature, ed. by Davis E. Hunter M. (1686; Cambridge, 1996).

[ Wolcott John ], Peter's prophecy; or the president and poet, or, an important epistle to Sir J. Banks (London, 1788), 22, 24, 27. The satire of “maggot-mongers Hall” is in Ward Ned , “London spy-compleat”, cited in Fara , op. cit. (ref. 11), 159.

Harrington Robert in Gentleman's magazine, lxvi (1796), 10–12.

“Old Hubert” (i.e. James Parkinson), Account of some peculiar manners and customs of Bull-Land, or the island of contradictions (2nd edn, London, 1795?), 6.

Gray Edward W. , “Account of the earthquake felt in various parts of England, Nov. 18, 1795”, Philosophical transactions, lxxxv (1796), 353–81, pp. 355, 361, 367.

For different interpretations of the Royal Society in the eighteenth century, see Miller D. P. , “Into the valley of darkness: Reflections on the Royal Society in the eighteenth century”, History of science, xxvii (1989), 155–66, pp. 161–2.

The wonderful magazine, and marvellous chronicle (5 vols, 1794–98), i, 173. Worsdale John , Genethliacal astrology, comprehending an enquiry into, and defence of the celestial science (Newark, 1796). Worsdale's requirement cited in Curry Patrick , “John Worsdale and late 18th century astrology”, History and astrology: Clio and Urania confer, ed. by Kitson Annabella (London, 1989), 237–42, p. 241.

Sibly Ebenezer , A new and complete illustration of the celestial sciences … in four parts (London, 1784–88).

The conjuror's magazine (ref. 42) is discussed in Patrick Curry, “Astrological literature in late 18th century England”, in Kitson (ed.), History and astrology (ref. 50), 243–52.

See, for example, Golinski , Science as public culture (ref. 5), passim; McEvoy John , “Causes and laws, powers and principles: The metaphysical foundations of Priestley's concept of phlogiston”, Science, medicine and dissent: Joseph Priestley, ed. by Anderson R. G. W. Lawrence C. (London, 1987), 39–54; Schaffer Simon , “Priestley and the politics of spirit”, ibid., 55–72; Lawrence Christopher , “Priestley in Tahiti”, ibid., 1–10.

For Priestley's chemical politicking, see, for example, Schaffer Simon , “Priestley's questions: An historiographic survey”, History of science, xxii (1984), 151–83.

Harrington Robert , op. cit. (ref. 46), 10–12. See also Harrington's Death-warrant of the French system of chemistry (London, 1804). John Robison to James Watt, 9 September 1800; reprinted in Partners in science, ed. by Robinson E. McKie D. (London, 1970), 352.

Joseph Banks to William Herschel, 24 March 1800, in Lubbock C. , The Herschel chronicle (Cambridge, 1933), 266.

Priestley Joseph , Letters to the Jews: Inviting them to an amicable discussion on the evidences of Christianity (3rd edn, London, 1794).

Sayers James , “The repeal of the test acts: A vision” (BM Print 7628; London, 1790). For Cruikshanks and Gillray, see, for example, “The friends of the people” (BM Print 8131; London, 1792), “Self murder” (BM Print 7899; London, 1791), “The new morality” (BM Print 9240; London, 1798).

Gunning Henry , Reminiscences of Cambridge (2 vols, London, 1854), i, 277.

Priestley , Present state of Europe (ref. 42), 28, 44, 48. For Priestley's millenarianism, see also Fruchtman J. Jr , The apocalyptic politics of Richard Price and Joseph Priestley: A study in late eighteenth-century English republican millenianism (Philadelphia, 1983).

Colley , Britons (ref. 16), 283–320.

Burke Edmund , Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790; London, 1970), 173. For a discussion of the phrase “swinish multitude”, see Smith Olivia , The politics of language, 1791–1819 (Oxford, 1984), 79–91.

For unheard voices and porcine authors, see Smith , op. cit. (ref. 62), 80–81. For the protracted struggle over the meanings of red caps, see Epstein James , Radical expression: Political language, ritual, and symbol in England, 1790–1850 (New York, 1994).

Priestley's letter to William Pitt cited in Kramnick I. , “Eighteenth-century science and radical social theory: The case of Joseph Priestley's scientific liberalism”, Journal of British studies, xxv (1986), 1–30, p. 13.

For Priestley's comments, see Experiments and observations on different kinds of air (2nd edn, 3 vols, London, 1775–77), i, Preface. For Priestley's materialism, see Yolton John , Thinking matter: Materialism in eighteenth-century Britain (Minneapolis, 1983); see also Schaffer , “Priestley and the politics of spirit” (ref. 53).

For the Unitarian project to re-translate the Bible, see Roe Nicholas , Wordsworth and Coleridge: The radical years (Oxford, 1988), 84–110.

For Maseres, see Dictionary of national biography, and Wallace W. Stewart (ed.), The Maseres letters, 1766–1768 (Toronto, 1919), Preface.

For the profane pamphlet, see Frend William , Peace and union recommended to the associated bodies of republicans and anti-republicans (St Ives, 1793). For the proceedings against Frend, see his An account of the proceedings in the University of Cambridge (Cambridge, 1793); see also his A sequel to the account … (London, 1795).

Frend , Account of proceedings (ref. 68), 89–90.

Frend William , The principles of algebra (London, 1796), Preface.

See Maseres Francis , A dissertation on the use of the negative sign in algebra (London, 1758), 2; Tracts on the resolution of affected algebraick equations (London, 1800); The moderate reformer (London, 1791).

Paine , Age of reason (ref. 2), 223.

Frend William , Address to the inhabitants of Cambridge (Cambridge, 1788), 3–7.

Frend William , “Farther remarks on St. John”, Gentleman's magazine, lxx (1800), 92–96. See also, A letter to the vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge (Cambridge, 1798), 1–13.

Frend William , Tangible arithmetic (2nd edn, London, 1806), 169–73.

Frend William , What is an album?, Cambridge University Library MS Add.7886.300. Later, imagining himself as a goldfinch — A symbol of Christ — Frend poetically predicted the demise of Newtonianism: See his Memoirs of a goldfinch (London, 1819).

Frend , A letter to the vice-chancellor (ref. 74), 13; see also his Principles of algebra (ref. 70), Preface, and his “Remarks on the number of negative and impossible roots in algebraick equations”, Tracts on the resolution of affected algebraick equations, ed. by Maseres Baron Francis (London, 1800), 473–9.

Pigott Charles , A political dictionary, explaining the true meaning of words (London, 1795), 106.

Frend William , The effect of paper money (London, 1801), 9. Burke Edmund , “Speech on the Nabob of Arcot's debts”, cited in Brantliger Patrick , Fictions of state: Culture and credit in Britain, 1694–1994 (Ithaca, 1996), 107.

Wollstonecraft Mary , A vindication of the rights of woman (London, 1792; New York, 1994), 12.

For the treason trials, see Wharam Alan , The treason trials, 1794 (Leicester, 1992); see also Barrell , “Imagining the King's death” (ref. 40).

Tooke , Diversions of Purley (ref. 17). For the debates about language, see Smith , Politics of language (ref. 62).

Beddoes Thomas , Observations on the nature of demonstrative evidence; with an explanation of certain difficulties occuring in the elements of geometry: And reflections on language (London, 1793), 12, 15. For the career of Beddoes, see Porter Roy , Doctor of society: Thomas Beddoes and the sick trade in late enlightenment England (New York, 1992).

Beddoes Thomas , A letter to Erasmus Darwin, M.D. on a new method of treating pulmonary consumption (London, 1794), 29n; see also his Notice of some observations made at the Pneumatic Institution (Bristol, 1799), 34–38, cited in Golinski , Science as public culture (ref. 7), 159.

Beddoes , Observations (ref. 83), 151.

Sheridan Thomas , A dissertation on the causes of the difficulties which occur in learning the English tongue (London, 1761), 36; cited in Smith (ref. 62), 99.

Spence Thomas , The grand repository of the English language (Newcastle, 1775).

Spence Thomas , The important trial of Thomas Spence (London, 1801), 4. For the utopian vision, see Spence , A description of Spensonea (London, 1793); see also The constitution of Spensonea; a country in Fairy Land situated between Utopia and Oceania (London, 1803).

Spence , Important trial (ref. 88), 76, 9.

Spence , Constitution of Spensonea (ref. 88), Epilogue.

Nicolai , “A memoir on the appearance of spectres or phantoms occasioned by disease, with psychological remarks”, Nicholson's journal of natural philosophy, chemistry and the arts, viii (1803), 161–78, p. 165.

Thomson E. P. , The making of the English working class (ref. 9).

Brewer John , “The most polite age and the most vicious; Attitudes towards culture as a commodity, 1660–1800”, in The consumption of culture , ed. by Bermingham Ann Brewer John (London, 1995), 341–61, p. 348. For studies of low-high scientific entertainment that corroborate Brewer's work, see Stafford , op. cit. (ref. 11); Fara , op. cit. (ref. 11); and Schaffer Simon , “The consuming flame: Electrical showmen and Tory mystics in the world of goods”, in Consumption and the world of goods, ed. by Brewer John Porter Roy (London, 1993), 489–526.

For example, William Frend chaired several sessions of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and was a founding member of the Royal Astronomical Society; meanwhile William Herschel's telescope served as the Society's emblem. Samuel Taylor Coleridge was also involved in the initial stages of the BAAS, while James Parkinson was a founding member of the Geological Society.

Wollstonecraft , op. cit. (ref. 80), 23, 149. Bentham Jeremy , The theory of fictions, ed. by Ogden C. K. (London, 1932).

Burke , Reflections (ref. 62), passim. For the debates concerning the signs of lunacy, see Porter , Mind forg'd manacles (ref. 4).

For attacks upon Oxbridge, see, for example, Gascoigne John , Cambridge in the Age of Enlightenment (Cambridge, 1989), passim. For salons, see Roe Nicholas , Wordsworth and Coleridge: The radical years (Oxford, 1988), 118–98.

Klancher , op. cit. (ref. 9), 24.