The
Augustan age
The
Historical context:
The first two-third of the eighteenth century was a period of a relative
stability and prosperity. In this period the monarchy lost the power in favour
of Parliament. In 1688 James II was removed from the throne of England in a
Glorious revolt. William Orange had married one of James's daughters, Mary, was
invited by the Parliament to succed to the throne, but before that he accepted
the crown he had to sign the The Bill of Rights which limited the power of
monarchy. In 1707 with the Act of Union the power of Parliament were extended
because the Scottish Parliament was united to the English one. In 1714 Anne,
Mary's sister, was dead and so the crown passed from the Stuarts to the House
of Hannover. The new King was George I°, but he didn't speak English. In this
period the great important figure was the Prime minister; there was two
importants political parts: the Whigs and the Tories that consolidated their
position and alternated in government. The first Prime minister was Robert
Walpole that based his policy on mercantile expansion.
The
social context: Now
England was a commercial country because there was a progress of industry, of
agricolture and there was also the internal political stability, the towns
increased in size. This commercial expansion was good for the merchant class
infact this class in this period had the power, but the noble class remained
esclused by the power. The merchant class was culturless so the man of marchant
class was married with the daughters noble.
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