Georgian Delights Author:J. H. Plumb “Increasingly from the last quarter of the seventeenth century in Britain there was a change in man’s attitude to himself and to the world about him. Men and women felt that happiness was to be found on earth as well as in heaven, that the works of a bountiful creator were to be enjoyed, not shunned. Indeed, this attitude strengthene... more »d so powerfully that Thomas Jefferson embodied in the Declaration of Independence the pursuit of happiness as an inalienable natural right, on the same terms as liberty and life ...” Thus begins this highly entertaining account of life in Georgian England, in which distinguished historian J. H. Plumb captures all the charm and humanity that characterized the age. It was a time of expansion and discovery in which new interests -- intellectual, artistic and sporting -- were taken up with delighted enthusiasm.
Many traditional British pleasures—concerts, race-meetings and seaside holidays among them -- have their origins in the eighteenth century, as do the Royal Academy, the London Zoo and Kew Gardens. Great talents emerged, men such as Handel, Gainsborough, Chippendale, Johnson and ‘Capability’ Brown, producing work of unparalleled genius and diversity.
A spirit of inquiry and adventure caused more people to read and to travel than ever before, and the enjoyment derived from their new-found knowledge changed the quality of life for millions of Georgian men and women. It brought them a more stimulating, more satisfying existence, and a happiness which had previously been the sole right of a narrow and aristocratic elite.
The enormous range of illustrations in Georgian Delights reflects the variety and vitality of this exceptionally fruitful period in England’s social history.« less