Science in the 19th Century Periodical

The Black Dwarf, A London Weekly Publication [1st]

Introductory Essay
Volume 1  (January to December 1817)
Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), [i].

Prospectus

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Anon

Genre:

Miscellaneous

Subjects:

Invertebrate Zoology, Radicalism


    A 'Prospectus' on the title-page enquires into the identity of the 'Black Dwarf' that constitutes the editorial persona of the journal. Proceeds to state his objectives: 'Secure from his invisibility, and dangerous from his power of division, (for like the polypus he can divide and redivide himself, and each division remain a perfect animal) he will be engaged at the same instant, in listening for evil at the portals of the temple, under the canopy of the throne, and in the gallery of the lower house; in weighing the patriotism of our patriots, in comparing the disinterested independence of our journalists; besides the stranger occupation of seeking for honesty in the mazes of the law, and humility on the bench of bishops'.



Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 3–4.

The Two Lords Camden

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Anon

Genre:

Miscellaneous

Subjects:

Politics, Natural Law, Medical Treatment, Government, Radicalism


    The first Lord Camden (i.e. Charles Pratt (1st Earl Camden) Pratt, Charles, 1st Earl Camden (1714–94) ODNB
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), is quoted as claiming that the constitution is 'founded on the eternal and immutable law of nature; a constitution whose foundation and centre is liberty', in which taxation and representation are 'inseparably joined'. The quotation ends, however, with the regretful wish that 'men's minds were cool enough to enter upon the task' of reform. The second (and present) Lord Camden (i.e. John J Pratt (1st Marquess Camden) Pratt, Sir John Jeffreys, 2nd Earl and 1st Marquess of Camden (1759–1840) ODNB
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), 'was born a lord, and is not vulgar enough to be useful in defence of popular rights', 'Yet he has his merits too'. He saw that minds were not cool enough still: 'The body politic had surfeited on roast beef, plumb [sic] pudding, and strong beer, until it became affected with a delirious fever. The state physicians were called in, and they prescribed leeches in abundance, to reduce the habit, and soften the inflammatory symptoms'. With diligent leeches, the 'mass of the population' have now been rendered 'quite cool'. The leeches continue to be applied to 'prevent the return of inflammatory symptoms' so that reform 'may proceed as steadily as hunger and depressed spirits will allow'. (3) However, the nation may yet be grateful to the younger Camden 'for bringing it, even in beggary to its senses; and uniting every honest man against the noble and illustrious hirelings of a system, as mischievous in its consequences to public freedom, as it is destructive to private property in its operation' (4).



Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 5–6.

Country Magistrates

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Anon

Genre:

Miscellaneous

Subjects:

Natural History, Politics, Radicalism, Instruments, Microscopy


    'This class of animals has lately become conspicuous among the political naturalists of the day, for a quality hitherto unobserved among the species. Every body knows that this genus has always been deemed gregarious, and so fond of herding in flocks, as to be proverbial for the propensity.' Now, however, they have 'taken a dislike to such assemblies, and call them unconstitutional, and dangerous'. (5) 'Some situations incapacitiate [sic] a man from judging correctly. [... G]ive him a microscope, and it will make a mole-hill appear a mountain. [...] These Country Magistrates seem to judge as falsely [...] with a ministerial microscope in their hands, they magnify the ebullition of hunger into the excesses of anarchy and rebellion. They must be reduced to a proper level, and furnished with better optics' (5–6).



Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 7.

"Let all Start Equal in the Race of Life"

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Anon

Genre:

Miscellaneous

Subjects:

Theology of Nature, Natural Law, Class, Radicalism


    States that this 'is the only motto worthy of the enlightened politician'. 'The power that bade the sinew of the peasant be as important in the general chain of creation, as the powers of sage; that power—"Which sees with equal eye, as God of all, / A hero perish, or a sparrow fall;" HE has stamped his fiat upon the law of nature; that all created beings are equal in his sight'.



Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 9.

Princely Employments

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Anon

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Natural History, Instinct, Taxonomy, Politics


    Begins by observing: 'A similarity of tastes, and particularly of those tastes which may for distinction sake be called instinctive, because the mode in which they are acquired is not very apparent, indicates a similarity of genus, and often supplies the naturalist with a better system of classification, than an outward similarity of appearances'.



Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 15–16.

Political Price Current

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Anon

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Phrenology, Discovery


    Gives the state of trade in various political 'commodities'. Observes that there is no honour available 'in the market'. 'It has been also recently discovered, by the analysis of the head of a very great officer, that bravery may exist without any particle of honour. This is considered as a most fortunate discovery'. (15)



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 24–26.

Regent's George IV, King of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover (1762–1830) ODNB
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Message—Suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act

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Anon

Genre:

Reportage, News-Commentary

Subjects:

Natural Law, Radicalism


    Claims that the suspension of the act is designed to visit the 'sins of a designing administration [...] upon the head of an unoffending multitude, whose only crime has consisted in yielding to the suggestions of nature, and asking for an alteration of the system, which denies them the bread for which they intreat permission only to toil in quiet' (26).



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Section: Theatricals

Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 48.

Drury Lane

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Anon

Genre:

Reportage

Subjects:

Electricity, Race, Radicalism


    Reports that the play 'Oroonoko' contains so much about 'liberty, and the right even of blacks to be free' that the reporter is 'afraid the Managers will get sent to prison'. Relates the 'force of reality' given to the play by the actors. Reports that when one actor addressed the slave, 'who cursed himself and his masters, for having been some years in bondage', his question '"And do you only curse?" went like electricity through every bosom'.



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 65–72.

The Nation Against the Ministry. Public Examination of the Report of the Secret Committee

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Anon

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Politics


    Reports that the Committee of Secrecy Committee of Secrecy
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has been alarmed by reports that 'in some of the supposed disaffected societies the question had been debated "whether a loyalist or a jacobin were the most useful man to society?" [...] But if these gentleman had heard the debate on such an occasion, they would have found out that by this loyalist was meant to be designated one of those leeches of the state who are fixed firmly on the abuses of the system, and only wish to be at rest, that they may suck their unhallowed meal of blood in quiet' (68).



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 81–88.

The Suspension of the Habeas Corpus

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Anon

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Radicalism, Natural Law, Theology of Nature


    Observes that Emperor Napoleon I Napoleon I, Emperor of France (1769–1821) CBD
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'was conquered alone by the uncontrollable laws of nature, against which no human prudence, or foresight could avail. The arm of heaven only could arrest his progress. He fell the Victim of the Highest'. (87)



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 97–102.

Grounds for Resisting the Ministry

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Anon

Genre:

Miscellaneous

Subjects:

Politics, Epidemiology, Medical Treatment, Quackery, Menageries, Natural History


    Considers the present administration to form 'a political plague, which extinguishes all patriotism, all virtue; and the contagion of their pestilential influence penetrates into every recess'. Asserts that, if they are 'permitted still to prescribe for our maladies, there is no alternative but death. Like impudent quacks they will proceed until the tomb shall have silenced their patients. Under their guidance, we can have no resource, but to dig "ourselves dishonourable graves"'. (98) Observes that the nation despises them, but it should be 'upon its guard to prevent them from doing mischief'. Continues: 'We may laugh at the idol [sic] pranks of monkies, in the open forest; but we chain them, when we introduce them into scenes, where their antics would be dangerous to what is of more value than themselves'. (99) Speculates that the ministers may soon claim that 'they are a part of the constitution, and that to petition for their removal is to overturn the constitution'. Observes: 'it is said, some learned L. L. D. and A. S. S. is already at work to prove that caterpillars that eat up the leaves of the gooseberry bushes, are an essential part of the constitution of such gooseberry bushes'. (101)



Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 103–08.

Letters of the Black Dwarf. Consolation for Englishmen

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The Black Dwarf, pseud.  [Thomas J Wooler] Wooler, Thomas Jonathan (1786–1853) ODNB
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ODNB: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison, 60 vols, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
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Genre:

Regular Feature, Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Nutrition, Adulteration


    Observing that some of the readers look 'mighty cadaverous and lean', ironically urges them: 'you had better get into flesh, or the semblance of flesh; and for the latter purpose, you will find red ochre is cheaper than roast beef' (108).



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 113–17.

Assemblages of Sixty Thousand Men Against the Ministry

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Anon

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Politics, Disease


    Writes that, had the nation been in 'vigour', it would have 'risen at once' to protest against the behaviour of the ministry in response to its petitions: 'But we are fast verging on dissolution, and can only exhibit the fitful convulsion of an exhausting fever' (114).



Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 126–28.

Letters of the Black Dwarf. From the Black Dwarf, in London, to the Yellow Bonze at Japan. Cashman and Castlereagh Stewart, Robert, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry (formerly styled 'Viscount Castlereagh') (1769–1822) ODNB
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The Black Dwarf, pseud.  [Thomas J Wooler] Wooler, Thomas Jonathan (1786–1853) ODNB
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ODNB: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison, 60 vols, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
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Genre:

Regular Feature, Letter, Spoof, News-Commentary

Subjects:

Meteorology, Public Health, Epidemiology


    Relates that British seamen are 'always the first to turn out, as they call it, whether to fight, to drink, to dance, or to kick up a row' (126). Explains that the last of these, while not praiseworthy, is 'essential to a free state'. 'No one loves to walk in a tempest; but at the same time, it purifies the atmosphere, and scatters the contagion that would otherwise introduce a general pestilence, and hazard general destruction'. (127)



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 135–37.

Letters of the Black Dwarf. The Black Dwarf to the Yellow Bonze at Japan. Ministerial Responsibility

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The Black Dwarf, pseud.  [Thomas J Wooler] Wooler, Thomas Jonathan (1786–1853) ODNB
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ODNB: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison, 60 vols, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
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Genre:

Regular Feature, Letter, Spoof, News-Commentary

Subjects:

Human Species, Degeneration


    Observes: 'Man is surely degenerated. An alteration in his nature seems to have taken place. A million of animals, strong, vigorous, and six feet high, tremble before the arbitrary edicts of a set of responsible ministers' (137).



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 161–70.

Farewell of Mr. Cobbett Cobbett, William (1763–1835) ODNB
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Anon

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Natural Law, Politics, Meteorology, Instruments


    While criticizing William Cobbett's flight to America, the writer defends the 'abstract right of emigration'. The 'principles of government that pretend to a life-hold slavery in every man [...] are adverse to every law of nature: those laws have made MAN the HEIR OF CREATION; and his will is the only guide as to where he will choose to enjoy has lawful patrimony' (166). Remarks of Cobbett: 'He must not be considered as the thermometer of English feeling, or we shall have some little family of Indians embarking in an open boat to conquer us.' Britons may slumber in the sunshine, but they act in the storm: 'The rolling thunder is the music which precedes our march to battle, our banner is the streaming lightning, and our gage [sic] the blood of all who perish'. (170)



Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 171–74.

Letters of the Black Dwarf. From the Black Dwarf in London to the Yellow Bonze at Japan. Direct and Indirect Taxation

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The Black Dwarf, pseud.  [Thomas J Wooler] Wooler, Thomas Jonathan (1786–1853) ODNB
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ODNB: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison, 60 vols, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
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Genre:

Regular Feature, Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Political Economy, Radicalism


    Explains the British system of taxation as if to a foreigner and points out the injustice of indirect taxation.



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 183–86.

Letters of the Black Dwarf. The Black Dwarf in London to the Yellow Bonze at Japan

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The Black Dwarf, pseud.  [Thomas J Wooler] Wooler, Thomas Jonathan (1786–1853) ODNB
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ODNB: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison, 60 vols, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
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Genre:

Regular Feature, Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Political Economy, Class, Population, Radicalism


    Feels increasingly in danger in Britain, and is considering moving to Spain. He sometimes sees fearful happenings in his dreams: 'I see the poor forbidden to marry, lest their offspring should become clamorous to the rich for food. I see Mr. Malthus Malthus, Thomas Robert (1766–1834) DSB
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elected into a divinity, and the great and noble ones of the earth dancing round his altar, on which the comforts of the indigent are the only acceptable sacrifice' (183).



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 199–203.

Letters of the Black Dwarf. From the Black Dwarf to the Yellow Bonze. The Betters of the People

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The Black Dwarf, pseud.  [Thomas J Wooler] Wooler, Thomas Jonathan (1786–1853) ODNB
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ODNB: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison, 60 vols, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
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Genre:

Regular Feature, Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Class, Plenitude, Radicalism, Reading, Exploration, Medical Practitioners, Commerce, Light, Instruments


    Explains that by the term 'people' is meant 'all that mass of the labouring, and industrious, and ingenious mechanics, merchants, agriculturalists, and traders, whose toils are the wealth, and whose sinews are the strength of a nation [....] It means all that is valuable, all that is important in the scale of being' (199). Writing of lawyers, observes: 'No man in the whole course of a long life, did he do nothing but read, could get through half the laws which he is expected to obey. They rise like the Alps over each other. Volumes are piled on volumes; octavos refer you to quartos, which consign you for information to folios, and folios send you back again to abridgements in duodecimo' (200–01). Considers that the 'Church and the Law' provide a number of the 'people's betters', and that 'the remaining liberal profession of physic furnishes a trifling quota'. Observes that 'this class is declining in public estimation. Whether those who have no money to buy bread, deem it useless to apply to medicine, to continue the life they cannot support with necessaries; or having nothing wherewith to repay the doctor for keeping them sick, he abandons them to nature for a cure, it is not for me to say. Certain it is that the profession is not now so profitable'. Promises a subsequent account of 'those of the people's betters, who fill up the higher departments of the state'. These are so enveloped in a 'cloud of glory' that the narrator must first 'buy a pair of spectacles, an instrument ingeniously contrived to assist the organs of vision'. (203)



Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 204–05.

English Liberty of Discussion in the Nineteenth Century

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Anon

Genre:

Reportage, News-Commentary

Subjects:

Politics, Societies, Government


    Reports that 'the officers of the Academical Society Academical Society, Chancery Lane
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, held in Chancery Lane [London]', had appeared at the Middlesex quarter session the preceding Friday 'to solicit the license of the magistrates to hold their usual meetings'. The society, open only to members of universities or inns of court, made petition for a license 'for the investigation and discussion of philosophical, literary, historical, and political subjects'. The society had previously received a license 'under the prior bill for regulating public assemblies'. However, one of the aldermen objected to the word 'political' that it was too general and would 'open a door to debates of the most unlimited discussion'. (204) The writer reports the discussions among the bench, the unwillingness of the petitioners to submit to 'furnish a magistrate with the questions intended for discussion for his approval', and the final refusal of the petition. Notes that 'the gentlemen of this society applied for an exemption from the provisions of the act, while before the legislature; but they were referred to the Session, and believing themselves sure of their own license, they were not interested in the opposition of a measure'. Draws the moral that it is the 'safest policy, as well as the highest duty, to resist every incipient design of tyranny'. (205)



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 209–14.

Let Those Who Don't Like England, Leave It

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Anon

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Radicalism, Scientific Practitioners, Disease, Putrefaction


    Reports that five thousand people from the neighbourhood of Wolverhampton had petitioned Parliament Houses of Parliament
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requesting that they should be transported if no labour could be found for them. Observes that this situation has resulted from the petitioners' own 'credulity and ignorance'; 'Some of those who pray for transportation as a blessing [...] may probably recollect that the learned, just, and patriotic Priestly Priestley, Joseph (1733–1804) DSB
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[sic], was driven from that part of the country by a church and king mob' (210). Observes: 'The strength, the sinews of the nation, are in a state of unnatural relaxation that threatens immediate dissolution; and although some of the excrescences of the state seem to flourished [sic] like fungus upon a rotten tree, yet it is evident that all must ultimately sink into the vortex of misery' (211). Paraphrases government opinion as being that 'the poor, in a natural healthy state of society, bear all the burthens of the state' (213). Observes, on this premise, that 'when the labouring poor are destitute of the means of subsistence, there is a canker-worm eating into the Constitution, which will, if not extracted, find its way into the hear[t] of society, and unhinge the present frame' (213–14).



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 231–32.

The Advantages of Despotism

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J H G, State Room in the —— G, J H
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Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners


    A footnote highlights the paradoxical nature of Robert Southey's Southey, Robert (1774–1843) ODNB
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declaration that 'to gag, bind, and fetter the British press is the surest way to secure its freedom by preventing it from breaking out into acts of extravagance'. It is not disimilar to a physician deciding to 'bleed, blister, purge and sweat a man in perfect health, lest at some future time he might contract a disorder that would confine him to bed'. (232)



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 247–48.

Funded System

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Observer
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Genre:

Letter

Subjects:

Political Economy


    Criticizes the speculation of the 'monied tyrants of the Stock Exchange Stock Exchange
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' in the government stocks, and views the government as being merely their '(willing) puppets' (247). Contrasts the British government stocks with those in the United States and France.



Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 251–52.

Letters of the Black Dwarf. To the Yellow Bonze at Japan

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The Black Dwarf, pseud.  [Thomas J Wooler] Wooler, Thomas Jonathan (1786–1853) ODNB
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ODNB: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison, 60 vols, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
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Genre:

Regular Feature, Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Physics, Physiology


    Relates that, on arriving in London, he 'deemed all the caution of [... his] past life unnecessary', having been led to expect 'a race of free and rational beings'. Writes: 'I thought there was an elasticity in the air, that gave my lungs a more invigorating motion'. (252)



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 257–61.

The Continued Suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act; or, the Progress of Despotism

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Anon

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Pharmaceuticals, Politics


    'The soldier is the infallible nostrum for all state diseases; and we have at least the satisfaction of knowing that the remedy will either kill or cure' (259).



Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 271.

Want, Famine, and Mortality

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G K K, G
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Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Natural Law, Politics


    The poem considers the sad state of the nation. The last stanza asks: 'What adverse fate destroys our life? / Are nature's laws with man at strife? / Or is it man's delirious sway, / Destroys our wealth, and wastes our lives away?'.



Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 272.

Advertisement Extraordinary

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Anon

Genre:

Advertisement, Spoof

Subjects:

Invention, Commerce, Pharmaceuticals, Politics


    Advertises that Peter Puff 'has a variety of new inventions, admirably calculated to promote the happiness of Society in every department'. 'First, he begs leave to recommend his new mode of hatching chickens in corner cupboards; a plan for growing cucumbers behind the kitchen fire; a system of churning from cold water; and an amazingly economical family receipt, for going without four meals a day, without the least inconvenience. Also his newly-invented salve for the times, which enables a purchaser to live without any meat at all; and he may thus carry a twelve months' provisions bottled up in a two-ounce phial. An universal remedy for all disorders that arise from repletion, which would have been tried with more success, and its celebrity better appreciated, had not the scarcity of provisions proved an impediment'. The particulars are available from 'the State Doctor Jenkinson, Robert Banks, 2nd Earl of Liverpool (1770–1828) ODNB
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at D—— [i.e. Downing] street'.



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 289–96.

Celebration of the Birth Day of Mr. Pitt Pitt, William (1759–1806) ODNB
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. The Pitt Club

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Anon

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Political Economy, Radicalism


    Attacks at length the adherence of government ministers to 'the "Pitt system," of ruined commerce, despoiled agriculture, and stagnant manufactures' (291).



Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 299–302.

Letters of the Black Dwarf. Notice of Trial—Lament Over Strange Disappointments. From the Black Dwarf in the King's Bench, to the Yellow Bonze at Japan

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The Black Dwarf, pseud.  [Thomas J Wooler] Wooler, Thomas Jonathan (1786–1853) ODNB
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ODNB: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison, 60 vols, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
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Genre:

Regular Feature, Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Menageries, Wonder, Reason, Government, Cruelty, Medical Practioners, Animal Behaviour, Naturalists


    Observes that by being incarcerated, he (that is, Wooler, who was arrested for seditious libel in early May 1817) loses 'a great variety of amusements, and much opportunity of information' (299). Regrets that he cannot see the 'sapient professor of the most astonishing philosophy' who is currently in the metropolis, and whom all those who 'have not been committed for telling truth' are 'running to see' (299–300). If his powers are as described, he should be 'employed by the Government to discover the philosopher's stone'. It transpires that the philosopher 'is A PIG! A LEARNED PIG! and all the town are daily assembling to hear him grunt problems, solve state policy, and divine the thoughts of those who never had any'. Various matters of government policy are attributed to the pig. Reports: 'A committee, consisting of all those who have consulted him, is now framing a bill for the better protection of four-legged brutes; and a general association for the peculiar protection of asses is in a state of much forwardness.' (300) Speculates about the preferential treatment under law of four-legged over two-legged animals. 'A Grand Council will shortly determine how wise a pig must be, or how much philosophy he must understand, before he is exempt from the hands of the butcher. The president of this assembly will be the R——t [i.e. the Regent George IV, King of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover (1762–1830) ODNB
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], whose accurate definition and knowledge of philosophy was so excellent, before it was "so frittered away, that he could make nothing of it"'. Records that there has been a 'royal birth of twins' and observes: 'If thou art desirous of being remembered to them, thou must address thyself to the Grand Chamberlain of Exeter Change Exeter Exchange—Royal Menagerie
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, where the royal father, the royal mother, and the royal twins, are to be seen all alive, in the shape of royal lions, that old and legitimate race of the monarchs of the wood'. (301) In a political allegory, refers to the current fashion for 'ass-driving': 'Politician, divine, lawyer, and physician all mounted their asses [...]. Some are very cruelly used. [...] Some naturalists have been recently asserting, however, that ill-usage continued too long, will change even the temper of an ass; and that he will not bear beyond a certain limit of endurance' (302).



Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 303–04.

Progress of Liberty!

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Anon

Genre:

Reportage, News-Commentary

Subjects:

Race, Climatology, Radicalism


    Reports on the revolution in Brazil. Contrasts the situation with that in Europe, observing: 'Let it be said no more that climates and temperatures are hostile to human welfare, when the untutored inhabitant of the torrid zone braves the almost insufferable heat of his residence' to follow the image of liberty (303).



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 319–20.

To a Noble Statesman

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Brutus Brutus
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Genre:

Letter

Subjects:

Politics, Astronomy, Light


    Wishes that the Prime Minister, Robert B Jenkinson (2nd Earl of Liverpool) Jenkinson, Robert Banks, 2nd Earl of Liverpool (1770–1828) ODNB
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, were more conscious of posterity: 'The man who is convinced that his name will be remembered, and that his character will be scrutinized by after years, yet is not solicitous to preserve them unblemished, is destitute of those feelings which establish the dignity of human nature and confirm its superiority over the brutal creation'. Observes: 'When a man emerges from the gloom of obscurity, and by a rapid and eccentric progress attains the zenith of notoriety, the eye of the philosopher delights in contemplating the track of his glory, and the path of his declination'. Continues the astronomical imagery: 'the sattellite [sic] of —— attracted no notice, when Mr. Pitt Pitt, William (1759–1806) ODNB
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shone in the meridian of his glory'. (319)



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 321–28.

State Trials—Reported Tumults—&c.

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Anon

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Natural Law, Theology of Nature, Radicalism


    Reviewing the different forms of tyranny, observes that some 'standing armies have overawed popular opinion, and chastised into silence the murmurs, "not loud, but deep," that would have risen in appeal to the God of nature, against the oppressors of mankind' (323).



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 337–42.

Comparison Between the Government of Napoleon Buonaparte Napoleon I, Emperor of France (1769–1821) CBD
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, and a Certain Administration

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Anon

Genre:

Miscellaneous

Subjects:

Epidemiology, Providence, Radicalism


    Suggests that, at the end of the Napoleonic wars, tyranny was not destroyed, but considered 'the most valuable part of the spoil' for which the victorious nations all made claims (339). England made a claim for 'all the plagues that had heretofore desolated the rest of Europe' and 'we are now in unmolested possession of a greater collection of plagues than ever before were united in a bond of holy brotherhood for the pious purpose of counteracting the intentions of Providence, and destroying all the blessings intended by nature to contribute to the happiness of man' (340).



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 359–60.

A Vision

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Mirea Mirea
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Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Radicalism, Scientific Practitioners, Mechanics, Machinery, Publishing


    The poet celebrates the genii of freedom found in the Andes. Invokes the spirit of Columbus, Christopher (1451–1506) CBD
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'Colon' (i.e. Christopher Columbus Columbus, Christopher (1451–1506) CBD
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), and hears the revolutionary portents of South America coming to rouse the English in finding freedom. In a state of 'philosophic gloom' wanders forth 'to seek the sacred tomb, / Binding Archimedes Archimedes (c. 287–212 BC) DSB
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in chains of stone'. (359) Addresses him: 'thou hast smiled amid alarms / Dauntless, once braved the Roman arms, / And swift destruction hurled:— / Give me, thou cried'st, another sphere, / On which my engines vast to rear, / And I will move the world'. At length this thought has been brought to life: 'The force resistless of th' omniscient Press, / Mankind to move, to meliorate, and bless, / Now moves the world,—though fettered by the laws, / From branding vice, or pleading virtue's cause; / Yet shall this Saviour, burst his legal bands [...] Soon shall his blessings prove, how great his might, / Soon shall his power erect the reign of right, / And human misery sink in endless night'. (360)



Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 361–62.

Cross Readings in a Newspaper

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J H G G, J H
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Genre:

Miscellaneous, Satire

Subjects:

Menageries, Politics


    Includes the following: 'The ambassador appointed to represent the British Court at Madrid is we understand---Toby the sapient pig. Signor Jacki the celebrated monkey from Paris—has been appointed a Lord of the Bedchamber' (362).



Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 362–64.

Letters of the Black Dwarf. From the Black Dwarf OUT of the King's Bench, to the Yellow Bonze at Japan

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The Black Dwarf, pseud.  [Thomas J Wooler] Wooler, Thomas Jonathan (1786–1853) ODNB
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ODNB: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison, 60 vols, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
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Genre:

Regular Feature, Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Natural History, Politics, Menageries


    Describes his feelings on being released from prison. 'In resuming my active avocations, I have met with some little interruption. The fields have tempted me to wander among their freshness, and in listening to the lark, I have forgot the jar of politics [...]. I have gathered wild flowers and honeysuckles, instead of the briars of the political harvest, and the stinging-nettles of literary criticism'. Considers that he must awake and return to the 'customary haunts of men'; 'I must now visit the learned pig, and pay my respects to the legitimates at Exeter Change Exeter Exchange—Royal Menagerie
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'. The shows have closed, but 'Never mind! There is yet left us Signor Jacko, the celebrated monkey; and Bond Street is not quite deserted of its brethren'. (364)


See also:

Thomas J Wooler, 'Letters of the Black Dwarf. Notice of Trial—Lament Over Strange Disappointments. From the Black Dwarf in the King's Bench, to the Yellow Bonze at Japan', Black Dwarf, 1 (1817), 299–302


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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 375–78.

Letters of the Black Dwarf. From the Black Dwarf in London, to the Yellow Bonze at Japan. English Liberty

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The Black Dwarf, pseud.  [Thomas J Wooler] Wooler, Thomas Jonathan (1786–1853) ODNB
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ODNB: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison, 60 vols, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
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Genre:

Regular Feature, Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Evolution, Menageries, Politics


    The administration has used spies to detect treason everywhere. Believes that 'if the civilization of brutes had kept pace with the wishes of the Ministers, that every ass and every goose in the creation would join in the universal chorus: and be made spies, or pensioners at least [...]. But we cannot urge on the course of nature beyond the customary celerity of its unceasing wheels; and the geese must continue to hiss even Princes as they pass, and the ass to bray rudely his grievances even in the ears of the Ministers' (375). Observes that 'England must not expect to escape the consequences of having raised to power men who can only continue there by the degradation of the nation over which they preside. Suppose, Toby, the sapient pig, had been born the hereditary monarch of this land, should we not have expected that his privy counsellors, and his prime ministers, and his secretaries of state, and his bishops, and his archbishops, and his deacons, would have been congenial swine! [...] Pigs, in such a case, would have been objects of peculiar veneration. [...] Or suppose the ancestors of Signor Jacki, the monkey rope-dancer, had been seated on a throne? What a fortunate event for the young sprigs of nobility who render Bond-street the retreat of apes more fantastical than the inhabitants of Borneo! Every one of them would have been hereditary privy counsellors; and an ourang outang [...] would have been instantly elected Lord Chief Justice' (376–77). Ironically considers that, given that 'like loves like', it is astonishing that the present administration has found servants in disreputable spies (377).



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 395–98.

Letters of the Black Dwarf. From the Yellow Bonze, at Japan, to the Black Dwarf in London

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J H G G, J H
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Genre:

Regular Feature, Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Menageries, Politics


    Expresses a wish to live in Britain, 'where every species of merit is rewarded. Where even a pig of talent receives the honours due to a philosopher, and a tractable ass may become a minister of state. Where [...] an elephant that will graciously walk a few steps across a stage after a basket of food, draws many millions of spectators' (397).



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 405–12.

Letters of the Black Dwarf. From the Black Dwarf in London, to the Yellow Bonze, at Japan

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The Black Dwarf, pseud.  [Thomas J Wooler] Wooler, Thomas Jonathan (1786–1853) ODNB
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ODNB: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison, 60 vols, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
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Genre:

Regular Feature, Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Steam-power, Machinery, Politics


    Reviews the several classes of fools imposed upon by such newspapers as the Courier Courier (1792–1842) Waterloo Directory
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. Considers the number of impudent fools to be small; such folly is based on 'the most profound ignorance' (410). Observes: 'If the race should ever become extinct, it might be supplied by the powers of the steam engine; and a race of automata set in motion that would parade the streets, and fill up the public places without blushing before, or giving way to, any body' (411).



Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 415.

The Plot. A Letter to My Brother Robert in the Country

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Dick Dick
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Genre:

Poetry, Satire

Subjects:

Chemistry, Radicalism, Crime


    Reviews all the supposed rebellions of recent months. Observes of the 'Manchester Blankets' (protest hunger marchers who set out from Manchester to London in March 1817) that 'Old women were hired, with the wicked design, / These blankets together with stitches to join, / And over the Barracks at Knightsbridge, 'tis said, / The blankets at midnight were all to be spread! / Some sulphur popp'd under, they'd manage with ease, / The soldiers would die just like grandmother's bees'.



Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 416.

Cross Readings

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Anon

Genre:

Miscellaneous, Satire

Subjects:

Political Economy, Alchemy


    Includes the following: 'The three per cents. are confidently expected to rise—on the stomachs of the guests, and operate like poison. Government talk of paying off the four and five per cents. by—the discovery of the philosophers stone'.



Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 416.

[Impromptu]

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W N N, W
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Genre:

Epigram, Satire

Subjects:

Politics, Astronomy


    'The following IMPROMPTU was produced on the Question, If any comparison could be drawn between the person alluded to, and any heavenly body. As in a borrow'd light the moon we see; / So shines the wretch in borrow'd infamy; / CASTLE's Castle, Mr (government spy) (fl. 1817) BD1/1/26/4
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[a government spy] his hellish-sun .. his orb of day, / Reflects his rays, and is a—Castle-ray Stewart, Robert, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry (formerly styled 'Viscount Castlereagh') (1769–1822) ODNB
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'.



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 427–30.

Law of Libel.—Letter V.  [5/6]

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Fabricius Fabricius
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Genre:

Letter, Serial

Subjects:

Publishing, Religion, Politics, Scientific Practitioners, History of Science, Astronomy, Popularization


    Observes: 'Prosecutions for constructive libels, and prohibitions against the publication of speculative opinions, have been the characteristics of a barbarous age, or the resort of jealous tyrants; and such measures and their authors have been generally loaded with the execrations of succeeding ages [...]. The inquisitors who imprisoned Galileo Galilei, Galileo (1564–1642) DSB
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for making public his astronomical discoveries, were wise enough to perceive that the universal diffusion of knowledge must be fatal to them; and that the same reasoning which led to the discovery of errors in the prevailing system of astronomy, would lead to the discovery of errors in the prevailing systems of Government, and consequently to the overthrow of their dominion. The event has proved that they were right in their conjectures.' (428)



Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 431–32.

The Political Mouse (No. 3)  [3/3]

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Nip Nip
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Genre:

Poetry, Satire, Serial

Subjects:

Politics, Magic, Medical Practitioners, Crime, Medical Treatment


    Imagines the new breed of government spy and agents provocateurs as latter-day knights-errant. Describes the 'installation' of one such spy at a black magic ceremony, with 'the chief magician / A side-mouth Addington, Henry, 1st Viscount Sidmouth (1757–1844) ODNB
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-looking state physician, / Who every nostrum, but relief, / Applies to cure a nation's grief' (431). He advised the spy: 'Plots we must have for our security / We must have blood to prove their surety: / you must excite those plots, and urge, / Our victims to prepare a purge / For church and state; which we'll call poison, / As rank as e'er we clapt our eyes on: / Our antidote, a rope, produce, / And teach 'em all its instant use' (432).



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 438–41.

Letters of the Black Dwarf. From the Black Dwarf in London, to the Yellow Bonze, at Japan. Shocking Occurrence

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The Black Dwarf, pseud.  [Thomas J Wooler] Wooler, Thomas Jonathan (1786–1853) ODNB
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ODNB: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison, 60 vols, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
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Genre:

Regular Feature, Letter, Spoof, News-Commentary

Subjects:

Natural History, Politics, Ancient Authorities, Medical Practitioners, Medical Treatment, Pharmaceuticals


    Relates that Robert Stewart (Viscount Castlereagh) Stewart, Robert, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry (formerly styled 'Viscount Castlereagh') (1769–1822) ODNB
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has been bitten by his dog, and considers it a form of canine revolt. Observes: 'Why it is the act of a cannibal! If they are not the very same species, yet the bare resemblance should sanctify the two races from such savage proceedings to each other. Some people indeed will have recourse to conjecture in all cases, and they say that the doctrine of Pythagoras Pythagoras of Samos (c. 560–c. 480 BC) DSB
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must be true', and that the dog must be a reincarnated Irishman wreaking vengeance on Castlereagh (439). Ridicules the recommendation of the 'physician from town' that Castlereagh should go to bed because his finger was inflamed. Anyone might have prescribed this, although 'the ill-natured conspirator of a puppy might have snarled out, almost as wisely and intelligibly—"Go to the d—!"' (440). Suggests that the 'proper cataplasm' for the treatment of the bite 'ought to have been salt and gunpowder', an 'antidote to flesh wounds having been tried in Ireland with such astonishing effect, as to have rendered a reliance on its virtues perfectly safe' (440). Making lewd allusions to Castlereagh being 'put to bed', the writer fears that the 'unfortunate confinement of the noble lord' may result in the conception and delivery of new plans of administration involving further encroachments upon liberty. Considers the 'horrid thought' that the dog may have had hydrophobia: 'A dog that is mad must be hanged. A minister that is mad, must be—cured—if possible'. (441)



Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 448.

Grove at the Lyceum Lyceum, theatre
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Anon

Genre:

Advertisment, Spoof

Subjects:

Botany, Horticulture, Display


    Announces: 'TO BE SEEN ALIVE, at the Lyceum, during the summer season, SEVERAL REAL TREES'. The manager being anxious to please the 'natives of London' with 'novelties' has transplanted 'from the distant country of Hackney, a collection of very fine trees, most of them six or seven feet high'. They have been received with 'rapturous applause', despite being in a bad condition. The manager 'is not botanist sufficient himself to tell the names of the different species; but a gardener from Scotland attends to point them out to the company'. Following complaints, the leaves are 'carefully stitched on' and painted. They are going to be decorated with wooden apples and 'all the small summer fruits [...] cast in lead to last the winter'.



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 449–55.

Major Cartwright's Cartwright, John (1740–1824) ODNB
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New Mode of Petitioning

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Anon

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Magnetism, Radicalism


    Begins with a stanza on John Cartwright, including the lines: 'In age as ardent as in youth he moves, / And with a heart as warm his country loves; / True to her weal, as magnets to the pole, / With constant temper, and unshaken soul' (449).



Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 463–64.

The Dog Days

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W H H, W
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Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Meteorology, Natural History, Disease, Putrefaction, Politics, Radicalism


    The poem finds analogies between the languor of nature during the Dog Days and contemporary human affairs. During the Dog Days, the heat 'gathers all / Within its vortex, whether sanient breeze / Or renovating moisture; stopping thus / The vegetative veins, and killing life'. But 'potent Eurus [the east wind]' brings thunderstorms 'To rout the verminating blight, the germ / and spring of dearth portended, or disease'. (464) This inspires a rallying cry for England to arise from its torpor and reclaim its freedom.



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 465–76.

Letters of the Black Dwarf. From the Black Dwarf, to the Yellow Bonze, at Japan. Mr Owen's Plan for the Growth of Paupers.

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The Black Dwarf, pseud.  [Thomas J Wooler] Wooler, Thomas Jonathan (1786–1853) ODNB
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ODNB: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison, 60 vols, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
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Genre:

Regular Feature, Letter, Spoof, News-Commentary

Subjects:

Political Economy, Disease, Epidemiology, Agriculture, Class


    The problem of starvation among the poor is described as analogous to a plague: 'the poor remain nearly in the same state, and the distress gangrening into misery, threatens a national plague, that must carry off the infection, or the infected' (466). Goes on to relate Robert Owen's Owen, Robert (1771–1858) ODNB
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proposal for his 'Spence Spence, Thomas (1750–1814) ODNB
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an Plan' to combat starvation by creating pauper-barracks where the poor are 'to maintain themselves, by working in the agricultural department principally' (469).



Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 478–79.

Petitioning

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Amicus, Cheapside Amicus
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Genre:

Letter

Subjects:

Electricity, Radicalism


    In regard to John Cartwright's Cartwright, John (1740–1824) ODNB
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proposal that petitions should be presented Parliament Houses of Parliament
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by groups of twenty people, observes: 'The thing only requires a propitious commencement to make it spread like celestial electricity through the body of the nation, to rouse every one to a trial of the only legal shock still left for the salvation of suspended freedom, before she be dead and gone for ever from her once favoured abode—the British Isles' (479).



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 483–88.

Letters of the Black Dwarf. From the Black Dwarf in London, to the Yellow Bonze, at Japan. Riches of England

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The Black Dwarf, pseud.  [Thomas J Wooler] Wooler, Thomas Jonathan (1786–1853) ODNB
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ODNB: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison, 60 vols, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
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Genre:

Regular Feature, Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Disease, Pharmaceuticals, Medical Treatment, Radicalism, Political Economy


    Observes: 'The falling off of the taxes, my friend, may be called the consumption of the ministry; and consumptions in this country are particularly fatal. There is no plant indigenous to the climate that can relieve the afflicted. They groan through wasting life without the hope of succour. The only remedy is to send the patients abroad; and if the ministry should be disposed to try this remedy, perhaps the air of Botany Bay would be the only antidote to final dissolution' (484). Discusses at length the government's handling of the national economy, particularly in regard to the introduction of the gold sovereign.



Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 488–93.

Petitioning

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Amicus Amicus
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Genre:

Letter, Satire

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Medical Practioners Radicalism, Dissection, Botany, Population, Death


    Hopes that the zeal shown by the Royal Humane Society Royal Humane Society
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in restoring 'the suspended animation in some thousands of physical bodies' will 'yet be resuscitated among numerous corps of freemen, to restore the expiring moral soul of English liberty, by some operations, as simple but equally efficacious with those by which medical skill continues daily to raise the dead' (488). Observes of the recently established royalist society at Norwich, styled the 'Knights of Brunswick' Knights of Brunswick, Norwich
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, that, had they been 'blessed with an Esculapius at their head, instead of a starving Apothecary with which that association was cursed at its birth, the staff of life would have been their emblem of returning health and renovation, without that venemous [sic] reptile, who prescribes poison under the gilded pill, in order to keep the prominent snake in the grass alive as long as possible' (488–89). Refers to the British constitution as 'Lazarus'—not dead, but sleeping. Observes: 'How long the body may yet continue in the tomb of such legal despotism, is a question which the resurrection men enlightened by the long habit of selling and buying condemned carcases [sic] are best qualified to answer, though, persons, who are not inspired prophets, predict its revival on the great day of national judgment [sic]' (489). Recommends its revival by petitioning. Should the 'boroughmongers' then choose, Sampson-like, 'to bury themselves and foes amidst the ruins of the polluted temples of liberty', the blood would not be on the hands of the petitioners, 'whose hearts could not imagine the preposterous plan of hanging a poor patient to save his life, or mend his broken constitution, as the sapient doctors of the Crown have lately done' (492–93). Notes that, despite the persecution of William Cobbett Cobbett, William (1763–1835) ODNB
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, 'his register Cobbett's Annual Register (1802–03) Cobbett's Weekly Political Register (or Cobbett's Political Register) (1804–36) Waterloo Directory
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from abroad, is still a horrible thorny opuntium and eye sore among the Court lillies, evergreens, and Cabinet roses [...]; whence the tribe of reformers will naturally encrease with a geometrical celerity, that population does not surpass in any part of the globe' (493). Footnotes give botanical descriptions of the opuntium (prickly pear), and the other plants.



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 497–503.

Change of Public Opinion

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Anon

Genre:

Miscellaneous, Satire

Subjects:

Politics, Radicalism, Government


    Compares the current political climate favourably with the 'the tyranny of Mr Pitt Pitt, William (1759–1806) ODNB
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' in 1792. Refers to members of the government who can still 'imagine the science of governing to consist only in the lash, the gibbet, and the sword' (497–98)



Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 507–11.

New Mode of Adapting Mr Owen's Plan to the Exigencies of the Times

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Amicus, Cheapside Amicus
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Genre:

Letter

Subjects:

Human Species, Feeling, Radicalism, Alchemy, Adulteration, Quackery, Vaccination, Temperance


    A response to the outline of Robert Owen's Owen, Robert (1771–1858) ODNB
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proposal for his 'Spencean Spence, Thomas (1750–1814) ODNB
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Plan' which appeared in an earlier issue (Thomas J Wooler, 'Letters of the Black Dwarf. From the Black Dwarf, to the Yellow Bonze, at Japan. Mr Owen's Plan for the Growth of Paupers.', Black Dwarf, 1 (1817), 465–76). Proposes that 'Every work written expressly to promote the happiness of the human race [...] should be received with gratitude, and treated in the most candid, if not gentle manner; because the writer, if wrong, only demonstrates, what is physically true, that the heart is inferior to the head and there are many sapient animals, which in the moral acceptation of the term, want the lower organ altogether, and feel consequently no more for their fellow-creatures than a stone' (507–08). States: 'Were the power of nations honestly concentrated in one or more focuses to augment its effects beneficially for the whole community; a spring and its streams would prove the most appropriate comparison; on the contents of which the Alchymist might exert his talents, without the smallest danger, whereas at present, to purify living waters, flowing from an impure outlet of filth and corruption is a hopeless, if not a most deletereous [sic] experiment. Precipitation, fermentation, filtration and other processes certainly can purify the element in question, but why so much toil and trouble, if every person could drink it at once unadulterated at the common well, and therefore be under no necessity of searching for a wholesome draft at some huge artificial reservoir' (510). Concludes by stating that 'Mr Owen's meetings conjured up various nostrums, and, among the rest, an ample supply from Dr. Walker's Walker, John (1759–1830) ODNB
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laboratory, who is one of the respectable sect, termed among themselves friends Society of Friends
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, but of the whole, I prefer the good doctor's admirable advice, viz. temperence in eating and drinking for every afflicted patient' (511). Provides a brief description of Walker's views on abstinence.



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 525–28.

Mode of Attacking the Borough-Mongers Effectually

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Amicus, Cheapside Amicus
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Genre:

Letter

Subjects:

Mathematics, Class, Political Economy, Zoology, Animal Behaviour


    In ridiculing the recommendation that the poor attempt to save money for their future well-being, suggests that as '[t]he science of geometry owes much to the sublime discovery of a Scottish peer' (i.e. John Napier Napier, John (1550–1617) DSB
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), so the 'nobler cause of freedom will yet be equally indebted to an English commoner's judicious application of certain political logarithms in behalf of reform' (525). Later, when calling for petitions against the inevitable prospect of a property tax, likens the taxation system and the legal system to pilot fish following a shark. A footnote points out that pilot fish are incorrectly named by sailors due to 'a mistaken notion that the finny imps point out his prey, while in fact they suck the sea-tiger's own blood'. (528)



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 559–71.

Nature of Government

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Anon

Genre:

Miscellaneous

Subjects:

Natural History, Natural Law, Government, Class, Radicalism, Design, Theology of Nature


    Develops a comparison between the 'tyrants of the forest' (560) and the aristocracy. Asserts: 'Nature never made a slave. [...] What has never been made by nature, can have no natural existence. [...] The lion rules over the forest: and degrees of natural superiority are observed throughout various genera of creation. From this it is argued that similar degrees of inferiority exist amongst men' (559). Observes, however, that while lions may be kings of the forest, they are not 'kings over the lions' and they 'neither govern lions, nor plunder lions, nor eat up lions' (560). Argues that as 'Nature never made a slave' the obvious conclusion must be that 'one of the same species was never BORN to serve another. [...] This is the first link in the great chain of society' (560–61). Asserts that to argue otherwise would be to imply that 'the kings formed man' (561). Continues to argue against the divine right of kings and any supposedly natural need for their existence in society on the grounds that all men are born equal. Suggests that, while equality can be seen to exist in the 'savage state', usurpation accompanies the rise of civilization, usurpation having 'counteracted all the advancement of science, and combated the arts as its most deadly foes' (563). Argues that the members of the aristocracy are not created superior since, 'If heaven had intended to make hereditary kings or lords, it is probable from the amazing design evidenced in every particle of the creation, that kings and lords would have been as well adapted to their several situations, as spiders are to catch flies, even had they been designed to live by slaughter' (566–67). Discusses arguments against the divine right of kings. Considers that the 'CORRUPTING FACTION of BOROUGHMONGERS' has arisen in the place of an absolute monarch and powerful aristocracy to wrest power from the people. Concludes that 'having defeated the lion, and tied up the wolf, we are at last cheated by the monkey' (569–70).



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 591–97.

To The Livery of London on the Choice of a Lord Mayor

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T J W, pseud.  [Thomas J Wooler] Wooler, Thomas Jonathan (1786–1853) ODNB
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Genre:

Editorial

Subjects:

Politics, Astronomy


    In discussing the continued election of cohorts of 'witless' alderman in the Corporation of London Corporation of London
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, states that 'occasionally amid the ignorance of the host, a spark of feeling, or ray of genius, has been witnessed, brilliant as a meteor in surrounding gloom. But these fortunate accidents have not "redeemed the race"' (593).



Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 597–99.

Letters of the Black Dwarf. From the Black Dwarf, to the Yellow Bonze, at Japan.

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The Black Dwarf, pseud.  [Thomas J Wooler] Wooler, Thomas Jonathan (1786–1853) ODNB
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ODNB: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison, 60 vols, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
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Genre:

Regular Feature, Letter, Spoof, News-Commentary

Subjects:

Mental Illness, Medical Treatment, Hospitals, Commerce


    Relates that the Lord Chief Justice of England (Edward Law (1st Baron Ellenborough) Law, Edward, 1st Baron Ellenborough (1750–1818) ODNB
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) 'is now at Paris, and has visited all the mad houses and lunatic asylums, to observe the modes of treatment in practice, in order to carry home such ideas as may tend to improve that class of unfortunates in England!' (597). Questions whether Ellenborough is interested in asylum provision because he has 'contemplated the design of undertaking the care of the mad-men whose intellects have been impaired by the LAW' or if he has 'more enlarged views' and wishes to 'include all the bench, and the bar, as well as the victims and their clients, in one great asylum of lunatics, under his especial care'. Suggests that, in the latter eventuality, 'the courts of the LAW [might] be purified from the abuses that have made so many distracted by their prosperity, and so many more mad in their ruin'. Ridicules mutual accusations of madness from 'Prince, ministers, and people'. Suggests that the nation should be grateful if someone were to 'endeavour to put us in strait waistcoats, and proper cells before we do each other a more serious mischief than railing at each other, or venting our madness on paper'. (598)



Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 599–606.

On the Variety of Public Deceptions

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Amicus Amicus
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Genre:

Letter

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Political Economy, Vulcanology, Epidemiology, Disease, Medical Treatment, Politics


    Laments the proposed introduction of stock debentures, likening them to 'decoy ducks for the loyal boobies who have not yet deposited their nest eggs in the state rookery' (599). Refers to 'people of the Malthus Malthus, Thomas Robert (1766–1834) DSB
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school, who conceive that if poor men will perversely console themselves with the beggars benison, their brats may safely be hanged, drowned, burned, shot, or starved, pro bono publico' (600). Refers to the Terror as an evil '[w]hich Napoleon Napoleon I, Emperor of France (1769–1821) CBD
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terminated by a remedy almost as bad as the disease his nostrum having been adroitly converted into a confirmed lues, now spreading this French pest over the whole of Europe' (601). States that if 'the nearest heir to the expelled Stuarts were now palmed on us, [...] the supposed conflict would commence a scene of horrors, to which all former revolutionary volcanos would be only as the spurting of a gas lamp to the eruptions of mount Atna' (605).



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 623–33.

Reply to Lord Somers' Defence of a "Borough Despotism," Which He Calls "The Constitution,"

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Anon

Genre:

Miscellaneous, Satire

Subjects:

Heredity, Agriculture, Government, Radicalism, Class, Instrument Makers, Light


    Replies to an article in the Pamphleteer Pamphleteer (1813–28) Waterloo Directory
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by John S Cocks (2nd Baron Somers) Cocks, John Sommers, 1st Earl Som[m]ers and 2nd Baron Som[m]ers (1760–1841) Cokayne 1910–59
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defending taxation and the borough system. Starts by describing Somers as a 'worthy' illustration that 'patriotism is not more hereditary, than talent' (623). A footnote includes a table comparing the value of agricultural wages between 1760 and 1817 expressed in terms of loaves of bread, which was originally published by George Glover Glover, George (1778–1862) ODNB
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in an article entitled 'Observations on Pauperism' in the same issue of the Pamphleteer (624). States of Somers: 'how short-sighted he must be! Well, then, the people must furnish him with a pair of practical spectacles; and shew him what his defective borough-manufactured optics cannot discover' (627).



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 639–44.

State Prisoners. An Address to the Pious Lord Sidmouth Addington, Henry, 1st Viscount Sidmouth (1757–1844) ODNB
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, On the Refusal of the Reading Gaoler to Admit Lord Folkstone Bouverie, William Pleydell-, 3rd Earl of Radnor (formerly styled 'Viscount Folkestone') (1779–1869) ODNB
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to Certain Parts of the Prison

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Anon

Genre:

Miscellaneous, News-Commentary

Subjects:

Human Species, Prehistory, Mental Illness, Radicalism, Crime, Disease


    Discusses the improper imprisonment of men without charge due to the recent suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act and the potential therein for their murder in solitary confinement. Asserts that the passions leading to such crimes 'are yet alive in the human composition, as thirsty for blood, and as eager for revenge, as when the human savage prowled in relentless ferocity over pathless desart [sic], or through the deepening wood'. Urges Lord Sidmouth that 'the distraction of a long confinement may produce in the minds of your victims the despair that may lead to suicide'. (642) Further observes of secretly imprisoned men: 'Should the wretched being fall a victim to disease, will not his disease be attributed to the unmerited severity of his imprisonment? Is he a prey to any malady, will not the fatal termination of such a malady be assigned to the undeserved accumulation of his sufferings? Do you imagine that the public are not aware that there are modes of treatment as efficacious in procuring death as private assassination, or open murder' (343). Discusses the imprisonment of Thomas Evans Evans, Thomas (1763–1831) ODNB
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on spurious charges of high treason.



Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 644–50.

Letters of the Black Dwarf. From the Black Dwarf, to the Yellow Bonze, at Japan.

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The Black Dwarf, pseud.  [Thomas J Wooler] Wooler, Thomas Jonathan (1786–1853) ODNB
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ODNB: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison, 60 vols, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
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Genre:

Regular Feature, Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Political Economy, Agriculture, Population, Class, Government, Radicalism


    Writes that England is a country '[w]here famine mocks the labour that would earn its food—the land untilled and abandoned, presents a desert in the midst of civilization and refinement. Can there [...] be a stronger mark of some inherent defect in the government of a country, than to see millions of acres out of cultivation, and yet a great proportion of the populace clamouring in vain for food?' A footnote relates a report from The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
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of a man 'Found dead, STARVED TO DEATH'. Observes: 'Malthus Malthus, Thomas Robert (1766–1834) DSB
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, some years past alarmed the nation about the possibility of a want of food; and advised the people as a remedy not to marry, and procreate families, which certainly must be starved themselves [...]. The effect threatened has been realised; but not from the cause which was announced. Cultivation has not yet reached its height. [...] Nay much highly cultivated land is lying waste [...] the demands of the state render is an absolute loss for the farmer to cultivate his ground'. (645) Describes the taxes, poor rates, and tythes which contribute to the lack of cultivation of land and the excessive government spending that leads to such taxes.



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 655–63.

Trials at Derby

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Anon

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Hospitals, Mental Illness, Crime,


    Reports on the recent trials in Derby of a 'rebel army', in which a verdict of high treason was reached. Whilst arguing that the defendants were 'madmen', suggests that '[t]he cells of New Bethlem Bethlehem Royal Hospital
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will next be searched by the spies [... and] should any poor lunatic be found wielding a sceptre of straw, or wearing a crown of paper, he will be arrested forthwith as "levying war against his majesty in his realm"'. Asserts: 'A jury of mad prime ministers picked out of the other cells would think such conduct proof of a most horrible treason; and if an insane judge could be found, he might pronounce sentence of hanging drawing and quartering upon the lunatic' (655).



Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 664–67.

More of Dr Slop

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Humphrey Askem Askem, Humphrey
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Genre:

Letter, Drollery

Subjects:

Hospitals, Mental Illness, Publishing


    Recounts a fictional tale of trying to track down 'Dr Slop'. A clerk is said to have reported that '[h]e had heard of a man called Doctor Slop in the Old Times; who escaped from Old Bethlem Bethlehem Royal Hospital
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, and for some time raved about the streets, frightening everyone, and was thought to be incurably insane. The Clerk added, that the erection of the New Bethlem, had alarmed him a little for fear of being shut up again, and he had not been noticed much in the Day' (666). The allusion is to John Stoddart Stoddart, Sir John (1773–1856) ODNB
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, for whom 'Dr Slop' became a scurrilous sobriquet. Formally leader writer for The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
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, Stoddart left in February 1817 and started a rival daily entitled the New Times New Times (1817) Day and New Times (1817) New Times (1818–28) Morning Journal (1828–30) Waterloo Directory
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, which soon amalgamated with another newspaper, the Day Day (1809–17) Waterloo Directory
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, to become the Day and New Times.



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 676–82.

Letters of the Black Dwarf. From the Yellow Bonze at Japan, to the Black Dwarf in London

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The Yellow Bonze Bonze, Yellow
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Genre:

Regular Feature, Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Zoology, Matter Theory


    Writes of Robert Southey Southey, Robert (1774–1843) ODNB
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: 'he is enlightened enough to civilise the ourang-outang, or to preside at the assemblies of those mimics of the human race, called apes and monkies [sic], in the forest of Siam'. Warns the Black Dwarf to be careful in his political activities: a 'statesman may tread thee into atoms in the street, and plead accident for the adventure'. (681)



Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 685–86.

Appeal to Freedom

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W H H, W
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Genre:

Poetry, Satire

Subjects:

Light, Climatology, Ether, Electricity, Natural Law


    Poem on the nature of freedom begins: 'Sweet freedom heard th' Appeal, from her sojourn, / Where far beyond the stretch of mortal ken, / Blissful, she breathes pure Ether, highest far / Than giant Andes, or the top most Peak / Of sea-encircled Teneriffe, or where / Aurora teems with bright electric fire, / Bourne through the flashing concave, leading out / The boreal blast, o'er realms of arctic ice' (685).



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 691–94.

Letters of the Black Dwarf. From the Black Dwarf, to the Yellow Bonze, at Japan.

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The Black Dwarf, pseud.  [Thomas J Wooler] Wooler, Thomas Jonathan (1786–1853) ODNB
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ODNB: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison, 60 vols, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
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Genre:

Regular Feature, Letter, Spoof, News-Commentary

Subjects:

Obstetrics, Medical Treatment, Medical Practitioners


    In an article discussing the recent post-partum death of Princess Charlotte Charlotte Augusta, Princess of Great Britain and Ireland (1766–1828) ODNB
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, a footnote states: 'There is much of uncertainty and contradiction in the various accounts of the decease of the Princess'. Initially 'it was said she died of spasmodic affection: which frequently occurs, and is easily removed.' Discusses a contradictory account, based on the report 'published by those who opened the body', which stated: '"It appears that in the interior conformation of her Royal Highness, there was a want of muscular energy, which unhappily subjects her to pangs beyond what nature could endure; and from the same cause, the animation of the infant was suspended, very shortly before it should have seen the light." We very strongly suspect this is medical nonsense—but what shall we say of the following sentence—"The organs were all perfect, except in one or two particulars, not immediately connected with her situation." The account of the physicians retiring to bed is contradicted; but it is said that Dr. Croft Croft, Sir Richard, 6th Baronet (1762–1818) ODNB
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was engaged in attempting to restore animation to the child, when the princess was attacked, Dr. Sims Sims, John (1749–1831) ODNB
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was only consulted. He did not attend the princess' (694n–95n).



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 719–23.

Crime the Inevitable Result of Mis-Government

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Anon

Genre:

Miscellaneous

Subjects:

Human Species, Ethnography, Natural Law, Immorality, Crime, Class, Radicalism, Government


    Writes that 'it cannot be contended that there is in man any absolute tendency to vice alone. Man will frequently follow his passions into guilt [...] but this is not general. Such a principle carried to any extent would destroy natural society, and root out the human race. [... M]an is a kind and beneficent animal, in the savage state'. Observes: 'the London journals of one month frequently record more atrocities than would be heard among all the savage tribes of America in twelve'. (719) Argues that '[t]his is not a natural disposition. The disposition of man is to associate for mutual benefit, on a larger or a smaller scale of protection. The savage attacks none but his avowed enemies'. Observes that 'Ireland is an example of the horrid consequences of barbarising mankind, which results from the hand of oppression bearing unevenly upon the mass of the population'. (720) Discusses at length the role of excessive taxation of the poor and mis-government in forcing the masses into criminal activities.



Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 734.

A Pitt Pitt, William (1759–1806) ODNB
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ites' Reasons for Making War, Suited to All Times and Occasions

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Anon

Genre:

Miscellaneous, Satire

Subjects:

Mental Illness, Government, War


    Satirically lists five reasons which a government could use to argue the case for going to war. Then asks: 'One doubt arises, May not this social system bring the country to ruin? Answ. Not if the people of England are asserted to be in a state of madness, and their constitutional rights put under the tender guardianship of the administration'.



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 746–50.

Imlac on Reform: Letter III  [3/4]Imlac, 'Imlac on Reform: Letter IV', Black Dwarf, 1 (1817), 759–64

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Imlac, St. James's Imlac
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Genre:

Letter, Serial

Subjects:

Astronomy, Botany, Human Species, Climatology, Christianity, Radicalism, Surgery, Invention


    The correspondent laments the recantation by Charles Grey (2nd Earl Grey) Grey, Charles, 1st Baron Grey, 1st Viscount Howick, and 2nd Earl Grey (1764–1845) ODNB
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of his more reformist opinions, stating: 'However melancholy is the disappearance of that bright constellation which has shone on the annals of British history and sanctified the cause of the PEOPLE, I am not desponding'. Continues by pointing to the rejection by the late Charles Lennox (3rd Duke of Richmond) Lennox, Charles, 3rd Duke of Richmond, 3rd Duke of Lennox, Duke of Aubigny (1735–1806) ODNB
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of the French Revolution as another example of 'a mournful instance of the weakness of our nature when exposed to the poisonous atmosphere of the Upas Tree' (746). Later questions the game laws, suggesting that they will achieve 'the preservation of wild animals and the extinction of the human species' (747). Observes: 'The Royal Society Royal Society of London
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have told us much of a change of seasons, but there is yet more extraordinary change being effected by the Holy alliance. We are approaching that millennium, when all the nations of the globe will be one family, and the citizens of the world will intermingle in patriarchal fellowship. With the change of climates we have become unfitted for those countries in which God has placed us. Like swallows we are to migrate' (748). When discussing growing recognition of a right to representation, states: 'Many an imprudent act is committed before experience is bought, and because the first practitioners in surgery committed fatal errors, were we therefore to relinquish the science?' (749). In reference to the errors made after the French Revolution, quotes: '"Surely," says Lord Bacon Bacon, Francis, 1st Viscount St Alban (1561–1626) DSB ODNB
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, "Every medicine is an innovation, and he that will not apply new remedies, must expect new evils; for time is the greatest innovator; and if time of course alter things to be worse, and wisdom and counsel shall not alter them to be better, what shall be the end?"' (749).



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 751–55.

Succession of the Duke of York

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Anon

Genre:

Miscellaneous, News-Commentary

Subjects:

Disease, War, Astronomy


    Discussing the impoverished state of former seamen of the Royal Navy Royal Navy
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during peacetime, states that they 'are now the pity of those foreign enemies, who have so often shrunk in terror from the vigor of arms now palsied with famine and disease; and from the lightening of those eyes in which then sparkled the national vengeance, but which now scarcely emit the lambent flame that fortels approaching dissolution'. Comments on Frederick, Duke of York's Frederick, Duke of York and Albany (1763–1827) ODNB
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attempted resignation as Commander-in-Chief of the Army Army
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that 'His own sense of propriety which induced him to tender resignation, is a much safer guide for his conduct, than the opinions of men who may even now begin to offer incense to the star which it is possible may follow in ascension the present sun'. (754)



Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 755–57.

Letters of the Black Dwarf. From the Black Dwarf, to the Yellow Bonze, at Japan.

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The Black Dwarf, pseud.  [Thomas J Wooler] Wooler, Thomas Jonathan (1786–1853) ODNB
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ODNB: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison, 60 vols, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
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Genre:

Regular Feature, Letter, Spoof,

Subjects:

Temperance, Health, Nutrition


    In discussing the food provided in prison, states: 'They would bestow it in moderate proportion, but temperance promotes health, and they are too careful of my health to suffer me to eat too abundantly; but as water is a most excellent digestive, I may compensate for a necessary deficiency of food and drink to my souls content of the pure stream and health bestowing fountain' (756–57).



Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 759–64.

Imlac on Reform: Letter IV  [4/4]Imlac, 'Imlac on Reform: Letter III', Black Dwarf, 1 (1817), 746–50

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Imlac, Westminster Imlac
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Genre:

Letter, Serial

Subjects:

Political Economy, Population, Government, Radicalism, Disease, Medical Treatment, Surgery, Vulcanology


    Begins: 'There is an anomaly in our present situation, so totally opposed to all sound principles—so paradoxical in its nature, so ruinous in its effects, rivalling Mr. Malthus's Malthus, Thomas Robert (1766–1834) DSB
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geometrical progressive ratio, which cannot subsist without beggaring the great mass of the population, and finally ruining itself' (759). Discusses at length the government's handling of the national economy, especially with regard to funded property and national debt. Comments of the national constitution that 'Scrofula is the prevalent disease in our constitution, for which hitherto there has been found no specific' (761). Later draws an analogy between the national economy and cancer, stating: 'I fear we are already past all hope of recovery—backwards or forwards death stares us in the face. We have a cancer penetrating every corner of our bodies; to permit it to enlarge is certain dissolution; to extract it by the knife requires too much strength and firmness in the patient, and too bold and skillful an operator, to be reasonably expected'. Observes: 'Our future history will resemble that of the little Italian village of Toro del Greco [...] on the edge of Vesuvius [...] as no earthquake or eruption had happened in their day, they lived in stupid security. [...] Every now and then, a slight jet of lava frightened them, but the symptoms abating, "suspicion is again lulled asleep" and they relapse into their former infatuated security. 'Till after a few years the volcano, as if it had repressed its passion to a state of almost suffocation, suddenly bursts forth with the most impetuous fury, and buries in unexpected and total destruction their lives and property'. (763)



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Black Dwarf,  1 (1817), 780–81.

Approaching Election. To the Editor of the Black Dwarf

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A Minority Man of the Minority Minority Man of the Minority, A
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Genre:

Letter

Subjects:

Disease, Medical treatment, Radicalism


    The correspondent relates the argument from a pamphlet debating parlimentary reform which appeals to '[y]e, whose duty it is to apply at least the palliative, if not the caustic, to the sores which threaten death to the body politic' (780).



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