Cabinet 02: The Monarchy

Samuel Cobb, The Female Reign: An Ode. London: Printed by H. Hills, 1709. DeB Eb 1709 C

During 1688 to 1815, the period known as the long eighteenth century, the British people were at war almost continuously. There was the Nine Years' War (1689-97), the War of the Spanish Succession (1702-13), the War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718-20), the War of Jenkins's Ear (1739-48), the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-8), the Seven Years' War (1756-63), the War of Independence (1775-83), the war with Revolutionary France (1793-1802), and the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). Successful battles such as Blenheim (1704) under the leadership of the Duke of Marlborough reflected well on the reign of Anne, Queen of England, Ireland and Scotland from 1702 to 1714. Laudatory war poems often puffed up morale. In his much-printed jingoistic poem The Female Reign, Samuel Cobb (1675-1713) called her 'O Anna, British heroine!' She was married to Prince George of Denmark.

John Fitz-Gibbons, The Reports of Several Cases in the Courts of Chancery…King George II. [London] In the Savoy: Printed by E. and R. Nutt, and R. Gosling, (assigns of Edw. Sayer, Esq;) for J. Walthoe, 1732. DeB Ec 1732 G

By the time George I (1660-1727), King of Great Britain and Ireland, and Elector of Hanover, took the throne in 1714, various Acts such as the Toleration Act (1689), the Blasphemy Act (1698), and the Naturalisation Act (1709; later repealed) had been passed to legitimate political and social freedoms and define the state's role. In general, government was still expected to protect people and their property, suppress disorder, and provide justice - even in gaol. Witness the Warden of the Fleet prison and his 'heavy' indicted for murder of one Edward Arane, who was not only assaulted but left in a room to die 'without fire, candle, [or] chamber-pot.'

Verses on the Coronation of their late Majesties King George II and Queen Caroline. London: Printed for W. Bowyer, 1761. DeB Eb 1761 V

George II was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1717 to 1760, and like his father, was an Elector of Hanover. He married Caroline of Ansbach, an extremely intelligent woman who had the privilege of corresponding with Leibniz. Unfortunately, she was the victim of the eighteenth century's notorious medical treatment, which was often painful, if not dangerous. She underwent an operation for a rupture while fully conscious and died of complications in November 1737. In 1760, George III was inaugurated as King. This occasion sparked a recall of past splendours which resulted in the reprinting of celebratory verses on George II and Caroline's coronation in 1727. It was a grand occasion, and included the anthem specially written by the German George Frederick Handel.