Читать книгу William Hogarth: The Cockney's Mirror - Bowen Marjorie - Страница 11

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The labourers lived in hovels of mud, with unglazed windows rudely shuttered at night; they slept in lofts reached by ladders; in London entire districts of slums rotted amid filth and decay; sanitation of the crudest rendered the palace inconvenient and the mean dwelling dangerous; though some care was taken of personal cleanliness, general cleanliness in street, public place, hospital, prison, barracks or asylum, was utterly neglected.

Personal service was cheap, even if notably inefficient, and the wealthy obtained ease and luxury by means of a large number of servants under the direction of a majordomo or steward; these had a bad name for dishonesty, idleness and insolence.

A galaxy of brilliant men had adorned the reign of Anne, and in that of George I literature flourished with many famous names; native pictorial art was ignored, while huge quantities of Italian pictures and statues were imported to adorn the mansions of the wealthy; the school of English portraiture was in its infancy, the school of English landscape-painting was yet to be; native music had been silent, since Purcell died, and a swarm of foreign musicians and singers fattened on the fees of the English dilettanti. Drama was at a low ebb; turgid tragedies, mutilated versions of Shakespeare's plays, licentious comedies, were presented at the famous London theatres; among the actors were men of high character and talent, who were respected and courted, but David Garrick was the first to raise his profession above reproach, and charming, clever, witty as the actresses might be, none of them was admitted to the station of a gentlewoman nor escaped sneers, unless she married into the peerage, which unprecedented success was achieved by Lavinia Fenton.