Academic literature on the topic 'London (England) – Intellectual life – 20th century'

One of the most striking features of the first decades of open Jewish resettlement in England is the speed with which Jews managed to integrate themselves into so many different spheres of English life. From the first appointment of a Jew as a broker on the Exchange in 1657 to the first Jewish knighthood in 1700, the story is one of a dramatic rise in the acquisition of rights, privileges and special consideration. So, too, had Jews long been a part of English intellectual and academic life, but before Cromwell's tacit permission of Jewish residence in 1656 only Jewish converts to Christianity dared to make their appearance at English universities. This pattern was broken with the Abendana brothers, Jacob (d. 1685) and Isaac (d. 1699), Hebrew scholars and bibliophiles who came to London from Holland after the Restoration. Jacob Abendana, in the last four years of his life, was rabbi of the Sephardic community in London; Isaac, from at least 1663, taught Hebrew at Oxford and Cambridge. Both men were very much in demand by English scholars, who turned to them to solve Hebraic problems of various kinds and to procure Hebrew books for themselves and for university libraries. Both brothers worked on the first translations of the Mishnah into European languages and thus helped make available to Christian scholars this central core of the Talmud, the Jewish ‘oral’ law. Finally, it was Isaac Abendana who invented the Oxford diary and thereby made a permanent mark on the social habits of the university in which he laboured.

Abstract This article recovers a dissonant voice from the nineteenth-century nahḍa. Antonius Ameuney (1821–1881) was a fervent Protestant and staunch Anglophile. Unlike his Ottoman Syrian contemporaries, who argued for religious diversity and the formation of a civil society based on a shared Arab past, he believed that the only geopolitical Syria viable in the future was one grounded in Protestant virtues and English values. This article examines Ameuney’s complicated journey to become a Protestant Englishman and his inescapable characterization as a son of Syria. It charts his personal life and intellectual career and explores how he interpreted the religious, cultural, political, and linguistic landscape of his birthplace to British audiences. As an English-speaking Ottoman Syrian intellectual residing permanently in London, the case of Antonius Ameuney illustrates England to have been a constitutive site of the nahḍa and underscores the role played by the British public in shaping nahḍa discourses.

The dissemination of the mechanical and Newtonian experimental philosophy in 18th-century England arose fascination in relation to the possible application of this new knowledge to the needs of productive life and the general welfare of the population. The activity of many independent and/or itinerant lecturers proved to be fundamental to spread the Newtonian philosophy and allow for the emergence of an ideal of applied science. In the present paper I discuss the intellectual trajectory of John Theophilus Desaguliers (1683-1744), who was the curator, or ‘official experimenter’, of the Royal Society of London and became a pioneer in the spreading of Newtonianism, as well as one of the most important and most respected independent lecturers on mechanical and experimental philosophy in the first half of the 18th century.

AbstractLesley Dingle, founder of the Eminent Scholars Archive at Cambridge, gives a further contribution in this occasional series concerning the lives of notable legal academics. On this occasion, the focus of her attention is Stroud Francis Charles (Toby) Milsom QC BA who retired from his chair of Professor of Law at the University of Cambridge in 2000 after a distinguished career as a legal historian at the universities of Oxford, London School of Economics and St John's College Cambridge. His academic life and contentious theories on the development of the Common Law at the end of the feudal system in England were discussed in a series of interviews at his home in 2009. At the core are aspects of his criticism of the conclusions of the nineteenth century historian Frederick William Maitland, upon which the teaching of the early legal history of England was largely based during much of the 20th century. Also included are insights into his research methods in deciphering the parchment Plea Rolls in the Public Records Office, and anecdotes relating to his tenure as Dean at New College Oxford (1956–64) as well as associations with the Selden Society: he was its Literary Director, and later President during its centenary in 1987. Professor Milsom also briefly talked of his memories of childhood during WWII and his inspirational studies as a student at the University of Pennsylvania (1947–48).

I.V. Zholtovsky’s name as well as his architecture are imagined as fully associated with Italian influences. Meanwhile, by the beginning of the 20th century, Italy was by no means the most significant country of palladianism: this stylistic movement had been developed much more in England, in addition the first monograph on Palladio was published in London (1902). Having studied the biographical documents of Zholtovsky, one can conclude that the “English theme” in his life was no less significant than the “Italian”. Moreover, this relation was not limited to the sphere of political or cultural preferences, but strongly affected the architect professional activities. By the example of Zholtovsky’s first independent work, the Horseracing Society house in Moscow, one can trace how the creative credo of Zholtovsky-neoclassicism was formed; how from imitation of the British Victorian style, through the study of English architectural books, he came to his own version of neoclassic style (that was so far from the patriotic-nostalgic features of the pre-revolutionary decades of Russian architecture).

Today we hear more and more that until our country realizes fundamental European values, it will not be able to become a full member of the “European family”. But it should be emphasized that this process began long before Ukraine gained independence and the leading role in this was played by foreign consuls of Europe and America. The countries that created the modern world as it is, where the foundations of modern statehood, civil society, an efficient market economy, and a system of social justice were laid. Therefore, this article is dedicated to highlighting the role of these representatives in the implementation of European values in the south of Ukraine in the late XIX – early XX centuries. Being in the port cities of the region, which then opened wide horizons for commercial activity, and using all opportunities to maximize the protection of the interests of their state and citizens, foreign consuls, through the development of public-social life of the region, contributed to the implementation of priority values. There were many consuls who made a significant contribution to the development of urban territories, their improvement, the enrichment of the spiritual and intellectual life of the townspeople. Consulates of Greece, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Italy, Belgium, England, Denmark, Portugal, Brazil and Argentina deserve special attention. Awareness of the importance of education, spiritual status of the population and the development of the city as a whole made positive changes. At the end of XIX – beginning of XX century the South of Ukraine began to occupy leading positions in the foreign economic activity of the Russian Empire. Of course, it cannot be said that this was done solely through the work of foreign representatives, but they nevertheless managed to prove that the unity of values is the foundation on which the European Union stands today.

Timothy Weston's study of Beijing University (hereafter, “Beida”) spotlights how modern Chinese intellectuals positioned themselves politically and socially in the early 20th century. Weston relies on the Beida archives, dailies, journals, and many other sources, to make four contributions. First, Beida's early history shows how literati humanists repositioned themselves during a period of great uncertainty. New style intellectuals had influence because they mastered Western and classical learning. Secondly, Beida's complex history did not break sharply with the past. Earlier accounts of the May Fourth movement obscure the efforts of intellectuals since 1898 to redefine their role. Weston suggests that May Fourth amplified a continuing progression of new and old ways of doing things. Thirdly, political tensions emerged when the university increasingly radicalized after 1911. No more than 20 per cent of Beida students were involved in the New Culture movement. A strong conservative undertow continually challenged radical agendas. Often we hear only the voices of the latter. Finally, Weston assesses Beida's history in light of how the May Fourth movement played out in different locations. In the 1920s, Shanghai replaced Beijing as the leading venue for urban China's cultural and intellectual leaders. Beijing increasingly lost status under warlordism, and the Nationalist shift of the capital to Nanjing refocused Chinese intellectual life on the Chang (Yangtze) delta.

Throughout the 20th century, there had been growing interest in Russian studies in the study of the phenomenon of an English town in the Middle Ages and early modern times, including the problems of communal services and landscaping. However, certain plots from urban history are still not sufficiently explored. The article analyses the sources that make it possible to study the main measures of the British government in the field of public utilities, the activities of municipal authorities in solving the issue of maintaining the sanitary state of significant urban objects, its improvement. The 14th to the 16th centuries are the period of the study. The authors examined various types of sources. These include documents of a national character, local municipal documents, a narrative source – “A Survey of London” by John Stow. A wide range of attracted local documents allow us to talk about general trends and patterns in the development of the communal sector in the capital and in the provincial cities of various regions of England, such as, for example, the southeast – Southampton; northwest – Manchester; West Midlands – Coventry; eastern region of England – Cambridge, Norwich. The analysis of local documents makes it possible to draw conclusions about regional features in the development of this sphere of town life. The statutes of the kingdom, acts of parliament, as well as annals and chronicles of cities testify to the implementation of the decisions of the central authorities of the kingdom on the ground. These sources are representative in reflecting the issue of the development of communal services in England in the 14th to the 16th centuries, maintaining its sanitary condition.

In the 18th century, questions abound on the new branch of sciencethat is the discipline of aesthetics. In connection with this, first inFrance and England, then also in the German sphere of thought,artistic genius as the producer of an aesthetically valued artworkbecomes an object of interest. The term ‘genius’ enters Germanvernacular in the middle of the 18th century, when the scholarand philosopher Johann Georg Hamann commences his life work.Interpretations of the works of Hamann, an influential irrationalistor anti-rationalist of the Enlightenment era, are topical even today.At the time, the Enlightenment-inspired, nascent German geniustheory is greatly influenced by the French tradition. However,Hamann becomes a radical changer of the concept of genius. Duringhis sojourn in London (1757–1758), Hamann undergoes a religiousconversion, which subsequently becomes a catalyst for his entireworks and philosophy. Influenced by the British empiricist geniustradition, from his first writings (Socratic Memorabilia and Aestheticsin a Nutshell), Hamann enters into dispute with the spirit of theEnlightenment that dominates German aesthetics, represented byGottsched, Mendelssohn, Lessing, etc., remaining in oppositionthroughout his creative career. In his innovative literary works, richin metaphors, he proposes his own holistic idea of genius, whichcentres around an artistic genius with a God-given talent, whosecreativity is directly connected to his faith in God and the perfectnature he created. Hamann’s poetic artist, who creates his worksthrough divine sensation, is not limited by a single rule or law, noris he bound by the taste preferences of his audience. Hamann doesnot see artistic creation as a pleasurable artefact which enhancesnature by rational rules, which has to adhere to the limits of goodtaste – that view was prevalent and dominant at the time, especiallyin the French and German Enlightenment ideology. He highlightsthe idea of art as a metaphysical creative process which stems fromfeelings and sensations through faith, which has a deep spiritual meaning. Hamann’s works, in which he addresses the questions ofart and genius, are not dry postulations, but the author’s originalvisions of ingenious creation, which stand out by their intriguinginnovative structure, and often by ironic and humorous undertones.Hamann’s concept of the artistic genius is one of the cornerstonesof German early romanticism, it has influenced numerous authorsin the 19th century and extended into the 20th century throughexistentialist literature. Hamann’s vision of genius does not haveequivalents in the list of genius treatments, it is unique in both contentand form. Hamann’s ideas of genius will remain topical in every erawhen subjective views of art are in focus, which stem from the innercreative freedom of the artist, a creative who crosses boundaries andignores conventions, whose aspiration is guided by something thatcannot be subjected to ordinary explanations. The time has arrivedon the spiral of history today when the phenomenon of the artist isyet again at the centre of discussions, and there is no reason to doubtthat artistic genius will continue revealing itself in times to come.

“Randy Harris has done a remarkable service to the intellectual world.” This is one of many positive reviews of Prof. Harris's work. Randy Allen Harris’ [1] Linguistic Wars. The book appeared in 1993 and even then challenged the academic world and theoretical linguistics, more precisely one of its branches, Noam Chomsky's generative grammar of the second half of the last century, which is an attempt to explain the concept of “human language”. “Randy Harris’ Linguistic Wars: Chomsky, Lakoff, and the Battle for Deep Structure [2] has been given new life with its updated 2021 edition. [3] It not only greatly expands our knowledge of language, it challenges all those interested in academic battles over knowledge, offered to us by some of the greatest minds in linguistics - the most influential American linguist and cognitive researcher Noam Chomsky and his talented colleagues and PhD students with whom he later diverged and entered into acrimonious controversy - George Lakoff [4], James McCauley [5], Paul Postal [6] and John Robert Ross. [7] They attempted to undermine his thesis of “deep structure” and did not accept the magister dixit principle. [8] They called themselves the “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.” [9] In contrast to Chomsky and his theory, known as “standard” [10] or “universal grammar,” Lakoff and his colleagues put the emphasis on semantics and created a very influential current that caused a furor as generative semantics. They were convinced that the meaning of words should be considered abstractly, at the semantic level, rather than at the syntactic level. Their hypothesis was later called “generative semantics”, which also attracted many linguists from Europe. It gave rise to alternative cognitive linguistics, which links the understanding of language to the concepts of cognitive psychology. The language wars actually began in 1967 and raged through the 1970s. At the heart of the heated debate is the answer to the question of how to approach the relationship between syntax and semantics. It is remarkable how Randy Harris achieves his main goal of introducing the complex matter of trans¬formational grammar [11] to a general readership with incredible ease. The histories of several prominent linguists and the controversies in American theoretical linguistics are presented in a way that makes the book accessible not only to professionally burdened linguists and specialists in communication and rhetoric. It goes far beyond the academic corset of the scholarly community and turns this complex subject of the relationship between semantics and syntax into a fascinating account of the intellectual and academic debates, theories, and concepts that not only shook the scholarly community in the second half of the last century, but also had a profound impact on contemporary linguistics at the turn of the 21st century. This book details the development of some of the theories and their characteristics that have influenced contemporary theories of language. Randy Harris's book has one undoubted and very important quality. It is written in a very engaging style that allows even those with no particular background in linguistics to gain an insight into the most important linguistic theories with an accurate analysis of the influence and legacy of the charismatic Noam Chomsky, who was ultimately the victor in the so-called linguistic wars. His terms “deep structure” and “surface structure” [12] are part of the toolkit of the great scientific adventure in the study of human cognitive abilities. Chomsky is convinced that syntactic structures are not learned, but “mastered”. His main conclusion is that “grammar is autonomous and independent of meaning.” [13] Chomsky's monograph Syntactic Structures is one of the most significant studies of the 20th century. Years later, in 2015, a team of neuroscientists at New York University exclaimed, “Chomsky was right: We do have a “grammar” in our head.” [14] “Language is the strangest and most powerful thing that ever existed on this planet. All other, more mundane and less powerful things, like nuclear weapons, quantum computers, and antibiotics, would be literally unthinkable without language” [15], writes Randy Harris. In fact, his book is not just about the history of battles in the field of theoretical linguistics or how certain theories evolved. It is above all a clever and exciting account of the way we think. In places, Randy Harris demonstrates a subtle sense of humor about the “har¬monious” scientific community that makes the book very appealing. The implications of the bitter linguistic disputes over theories and their alternatives in the 1960s and 1970s continue to influence us today. They brought much new knowledge to the field, and Harris's book is proof of the evolution of the theories. The intellectual argument between scholars enjoying their theories changed approaches, rethought theories of syntax and semantics, became the occasion for new ideas, and the cause of theoretical fame for teacher and students. Randy Harris’s fascinating and highly erudite account of the language wars is a book not only about history but also about the future of history, about trends in the understanding of language and knowledge, and about revolu¬tionizing linguistic research. It goes far beyond an inventive and remarkably balanced scholarly chronicle, and makes an undeniable contribution to linguistic and communication studies. The book offers an original analysis of language and thought, of the beauty of deep structure, of generative semantics, of ethos and collapse, of the vicissitudes of linguistic warfare, and of the transition from the linguistics of the 20th century to that of the 21st. It is no coincidence that the ninth chapter of the new edition of the book is entitled Linguistics of the 21st Century. Harris aptly quotes Shakespeare and the dialogue in which Hamlet tells Polonius that a cloud resembles a camel, and then convinces him that it is a weasel and even a whale. [16] To Harris, language is too complex to reveal its secrets in one fell swoop to a linguist, “hawk” though he may be. [17] “I wouldn’t bet against Chomsky,” Harris writes with a certain firmness, and casually conjures the reader’s association with Chomsky’s theoretical cloud war, in which he, like Hamlet, is not just an angel surrounded by devils. The philosophy implicit in Hamlet’s fateful question of “to be or not to be” shines through in the dramatic history of linguistics and its wars described by Randy Harris. And this is one of the many reasons for one of the most accurate characterizations of his book that we can read in Science, the scholarly journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Back in 1994, it called the first edition “intellectual history crossed with Shakespearean history play.” [18] Its updated and expanded edition, nearly thirty years later, is a truly remarkable service to the intellectual world and yet another endorsement of Randy Harris’s linguistic Shakespeare¬anism. References and Notes [1] Prof. Randy Allen Harris teaches linguistics, rhetoric, and professional writing in the English department at the University of Waterloo, and researches a smattering of things mostly around the cognitive and computational aspects of rhetorical figures. [2] Harris, Randy Allen, The Linguistics Wars: Chomsky, Lakoff, and the Battle over Deep Structure, 2nd ed. (New York, 2021; online ed., Oxford Academic, 18 Nov. 2021), https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199740338.001.0001, 2022. [3] Harris, Randy Allen, The Linguistics Wars: Chomsky, Lakoff, and the Battle over Deep Structure, 2nd edn (New York, 2021; online ed., Oxford Academic, 18 Nov. 2021), https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199740338.001.0001, accessed 3 Aug. 2022. [4] Lakoff, G. (1968). Instrumental Adverbs and the Concept of Deep Structure. Foundations of Language, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 4–29. [5] McCawley, J. D. (1976). Notes from the Linguistic Underground. Print version: Notes from the Linguistic Underground. Leiden Boston: BRILL, 1976 9789004368538. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/9789004368859. [6] Postal, P. M. (1972). The best theory. In S. Peters (Ed.), Goals of linguistic theory. Englewood Cliffs. NJ: Prentice-Hall. [7] Ross, J. R. (1972). Doubl-ing. In J. Kimball (Ed.), Syntax and semantics. (Vol. 1, pp. 157–186). New York: Seminar Press. [8] Това каза учителят (позоваване на безспорен авторитет). [This is what the teacher said (reference to unquestioned authority).] [9] Според Християнската есхатология тези четири конника на Апокалипсиса са предвестници на Страшния съд. [According to Christian eschatology, these four horsemen of the Apocalypse are harbingers of the Last Judgment.] [10] See. Chomsky, N. (1957). Syntactic structures. London: Mouton. [11] Early versions of Chomsky's theory can be called transformative grammar, and this term is still used as a collective term to include his subsequent theories. The theory is also known as transformational-generative grammar. [12] Chomsky, N. (1957). Syntactic Structures. The Hague: Mouton. [13] Chomsky, N. (1957). Syntactic Structures. The Hague: Mouton. [14] Chomsky Was Right, NYU Researchers Find: We Do Have a “Grammar” in Our Head. 07.12.2015. NYU. https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2015/ december/chomsky-was-right-nyu-researchers-find-we-do-have-a-grammar-in-our-head.html. Retrieved on 16.08.2022. [15] Harris, R. A. (2021). The Linguistics Wars: Chomsky, Lakoff, and the Battle over Deep Structure, 2nd ed. (New York, 2021; online ed., Oxford Academic, 18 Nov. 2021), https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199740338.001.0001, accessed 3 Aug. 2022., 1. [16] Harris, R. A. (2021). The Linguistics Wars: Chomsky, Lakoff, and the Battle over Deep Structure. (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford Academic, 363. [17] Harris, R. A. (2021). The Linguistics Wars: Chomsky, Lakoff, and the Battle over Deep Structure. (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford Academic, 363. [18] Berreby, D. (1994). Linguistics Wars. The Sciences, Vol. 34, Issue 1, January-February 1994. Bibliography Berreby, D. (1994). Linguistics Wars. The Sciences, 34(1). Chomsky, N. (1957). Syntactic Structures. The Hague: Mouton. Harris, R. A. (2021). The Linguistics Wars: Chomsky, Lakoff, and the Battle over Deep Structure (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford Academic. doi:https://doi.org/10. 1093/oso/9780199740338.001.0001. Lakoff, G. (1968). Instrumental Adverbs and the Concept of Deep Structure. Founda¬tions of Language, 4(1), 4–29. McCawley, J. D. (1976). Notes from the Linguistic Underground. New York: Academic Press. Postal, P. M. (1972). The best theory. In Goals of linguistic theory. New Jersey: Englewood Cliffs N.J. Prentice-Hall. Ross, J. R. (1972). Doubl-ing. Syntax and semantics, 1, 157–186. Shakespeare, W. (1998). (V. Petrov, transl.) Sofia: Zachary Stoyanov.

This thesis examines the literary journal Horizon, its editor Cyril Connolly, and a selection of its editorial articles, poems, short stories and essays in the context of the Second World War, from 1939-45. Analyses of these works, their representation of wartime experience, and their artistic merit, serve as evidence of a shared and sustained literary engagement with the war. Collectively, they demonstrate Horizon’s role as one of the primary outlets for British literature and cultural discourse during the conflict. Previous assessments of the magazine as an apolitical organ with purely aesthetic concerns have led to enduring critical neglect and misappraisal. This thesis shows that, contrary to the commonly held view, Horizon consistently offered space for political debate, innovative criticism, and war-relevant content. It argues that Horizon’s wartime writing is indicative of the many varied types of literary response to a war that was all but incomprehensible for those who experienced it. These poems, stories and essays offer a distinctive and illuminating insight into the war and are proof that a viable literary culture thrived during the war years. This thesis also argues that Horizon, as a periodical, should be considered as a creative entity in and of itself, and is worthy of being studied in this light. The magazine’s constituent parts, interesting enough when considered separately, are shaped, informed, and granted new shades of meaning by their position alongside other works in Horizon. Chapters in the thesis cover editorials and editing, poetry, short stories, political essays, and critical essays respectively. Analyses of individual works are situated in the context of larger concerns in order to demonstrate the coherence of debate and discourse that characterised Horizon’s wartime run. In arguing that Horizon is a singular creative entity worthy of consideration in its own right, this thesis locates itself within the emerging field of periodical studies. Further, by arguing that the magazine demonstrates the value of Second World War literature, it articulates with other recent attempts to reassess the scope and quality of that literature. More specifically, this thesis offers the first focused and in-depth analysis of Horizon’s formative years.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
This thesis examines the literary journal Horizon, its editor Cyril Connolly, and a selection of its editorial articles, poems, short stories and essays in the context of the Second World War, from 1939-45. Analyses of these works, their representation of wartime experience, and their artistic merit, serve as evidence of a shared and sustained literary engagement with the war. Collectively, they demonstrate Horizon’s role as one of the primary outlets for British literature and cultural discourse during the conflict. Previous assessments of the magazine as an apolitical organ with purely aesthetic concerns have led to enduring critical neglect and misappraisal. This thesis shows that, contrary to the commonly held view, Horizon consistently offered space for political debate, innovative criticism, and war-relevant content. It argues that Horizon’s wartime writing is indicative of the many varied types of literary response to a war that was all but incomprehensible for those who experienced it. These poems, stories and essays offer a distinctive and illuminating insight into the war and are proof that a viable literary culture thrived during the war years. This thesis also argues that Horizon, as a periodical, should be considered as a creative entity in and of itself, and is worthy of being studied in this light. The magazine’s constituent parts, interesting enough when considered separately, are shaped, informed, and granted new shades of meaning by their position alongside other works in Horizon. Chapters in the thesis cover editorials and editing, poetry, short stories, political essays, and critical essays respectively. Analyses of individual works are situated in the context of larger concerns in order to demonstrate the coherence of debate and discourse that characterised Horizon’s wartime run. In arguing that Horizon is a singular creative entity worthy of consideration in its own right, this thesis locates itself within the emerging field of periodical studies. Further, by arguing that the magazine demonstrates the value of Second World War literature, it articulates with other recent attempts to reassess the scope and quality of that literature. More specifically, this thesis offers the first focused and in-depth analysis of Horizon’s formative years.

The attitudes of selected memoir authors are surveyed with regard to their commentary on London Society ranging from the late Nineteenth century to the Nineteen Thirties. The experience of these Society participants is divided between aspects of continuity and change before and after the First World War. During this time-frame, London Society, as the community of a ruling class culture, may be seen to have undergone the transition from having been an aristocratic entity dominated by the political and social prestige of the landed classes, to that of an expanded body, more reflective of democratic evolution and innovation. The memoir testimony treated in this inquiry affords a means of reflecting not only Society's passage of experience but also more pointedly, its evaluation, shedding light on the values and vulnerability of a hitherto assured, discreet and otherwise adaptive class character at a time of accelerated change and challenge.

Christopher Smart's prose journalism has been absurdly neglected in scholarship. Until very recently, Smart's journal The Midwife, or, the Old Woman's Magazine had rarely been granted any extensive research or scholarly exploration. Min Wild's 2008 publication, Christopher Smart and Satire: 'Mary Midnight' and the Midwife, was the first book to look at the journal in detail, while Smart's other journals, including the Student and Lilliputian, remain rarely read or studied in any depth. This thesis seeks to redress that neglect through a literary reading of the Midwife, and an historical contextualisation. The thesis investigates the work thematically and discusses some themes that have been neglected in scholarship on the Midwife. Where they overlap, or provide additional information, Smart's work in the Student, the Lilliputian, and the Universal Visiter are also considered. If possible I have suggested attributions for anonymous articles and correlated themes with Smart's better known works. In Chapter One, I have given an overview of the four journals with which Smart was associated as editor during the limited period of 1750-1753. I discuss the contributors and co-authors, as well as the publisher, John Newbery. In Chapter Two, I explore the influences on the creation of Mary Midnight, the purported editor of the Midwife, including her beginnings in the Student. Chapter Three discusses politics and gender in the Midwife, including the foreign politics within Richard Rolt's contributions. Chapter Four explores the Midwife's views on social issues of the time, and social justice. Overall, the thesis aims to open up the world of Mary Midnight and to understand the Midwife in relation to the culture in which it has a provenance.

Abstract The eighteenth century marked the beginning of a reevaluation of Judaism. For the first time since Marcion, Jews were regarded as religiously unrelated to Christians. The deists, who dominated intellectual life in England at the beginning of the century and were the leaders of this reappraisal, portrayed Judaism as essentially pagan, unspiritual, unnecessary to Christianity, and in fact the source of all that was wrong with traditional Christianity. They learned from Johann Buxtdorf the Elder (1564—1629), whose guide to synagogue life depicts Judaism as a “con fused” and “disorderly” religion obsessively devoted to empty ritual. Voltaire, who studied the deists when in London in the 1720s, Bolingbroke, Gibbon, and other Enlightenment thinkers began to regard Jews as simply another political entity, unprotected by divine covenant. Pogroms against them were considered natural consequences of their creation of a cruel and irrational god. Gibbon, for example, argued that Rome fell because of the Jewish character in the Christian religion which had infected the empire. It was against this background of deist severance of the religious link between Christians and Jews that Jonathan Edwards argued for one covenant binding the two religions.