The Great Mirror of Same-Sex Love - Prose - 109. Edward Slocum "Poets and Authors of the Eighteenth Century"

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Poets and Authors of the Eighteenth Century

Isaac Newton (1642-1727)

John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester (1647-1680)

John Vanbrugh (1664-1726)

Alexander Pope (1688-1744)

John Cleland (1707-1789)

Thomas Gray (1716-1771)

Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford (1717-1797)

Tobias Smollett (1721-1771)

The enthusiasm of the Elizabethan and early Stuart authors over young men had been frowned upon by the Puritan element, and suppressed by the Commonwealth. It survived in the era of the Restoration mainly in that school of Cambridge Platonists who avowedly set out to restore the ideals of Plato and Socrates.

But the Eighteenth Century saw the nadir of this devotion. This prim era, with its hostility to all “enthusiasm” was alien to a heartfelt devotion to any ideal, be it boy or hero, God or devil. Hence it was typically the age of frigid bachelordom. The more frivolous and wealthy made long trips to Naples and Venice, where the name of Englishman came to be closely linked with the idea of lad-infatuation.

But some right-minded friendships and ideals stand out in contrast to the age. Sir Isaac Newton, one of the greatest of English scientists, was noted for his long and steadfast friendships. He never displayed the slightest interest in women and died unmarried in 1727.

Alexander Pope is understood to have had a deep and a lasting affection for a young friend, but the regard was not reciprocated. He died unmarried in 1744.

Horace Walpole appears to have had a very ardent devotion to his friend Conway, and to the poet Thomas Gray, as shown in various passages in his letters. His biographer Austin Dobson speaks of that “mixture of effeminacy [sic] and real genius that made up Horace Walpole’s character.” His brother Edward Walpole was attacked in 1751 by a gang of blackmailers. Horace Walpole, although a younger son, finally inherited his father’s Earldom of Orford but died unmarried in 1797.

Thomas Gray, the foremost English poet of the Eighteenth Century, became very intimate with Horace Walpole while at Eton. The friendship reminds one very strikingly of that later friendship at the same school between Dolben and Manning. In both cases, books were much preferred to sports. At Cambridge, Gray was very unhappy and unpopular. His uncle Rodgers despised him because he preferred reading to hunting and solitary strolls around the countryside to riding to the hounds!

In 1739, Gray and Walpole left England together for a tour on the Continent. Walpole had made a will leaving Gray all his property. But at Reggio, the two friends quarreled and parted. Fortunately the friendship was later renewed. Gray’s first poem “Ode on a distant Prospect of Eton College” was published in 1742 at Walpole’s urgent suggestion. This poem mentions, it will be remembered, the Eton lads swimming in the River Thames.

There is no sign of a romantic interest in women in any of Gray’s poetry. Leslie Stephens, his biographer, says “Gray was bored to extinction by a crowd of women, and hardly ever opened his mouth in such a company.” Says Stephens: “There is not the slightest suggestion of a romance with a woman in Gray’s life, even of the most shadowy kind.” Gray died unmarried in 1771.

Tobias Smollett, who had been a ship’s surgeon in the British navy for three years, published his first novel “Roderick Random” in 1742. In Chapter XXXIV, Smollett describes (probably from some recollections of his naval career) the sexual intimacies between the commander of a man-of-war and one of his lower-ranking officers. Later, in Chapter LI, a British nobleman, Earl Strutwell, utters a long panegyric of “Greek Love” being ideally healthful and fashionable.

One of the most brilliant dramatists of the [Seventeenth] Century, [John] Vanbrugh, has a scene in his play “The Relapse” showing the amorous advances of an older man toward a younger.

John Cleland was the author of one of the most celebrated Eighteenth Century novels (published 1747), “The Adventures of Fanny Hill.” This picturesque novel contains a very charming and striking description of the affection of an older lad toward a younger boy.

The Earl of Rochester wrote some very striking verse on this affection. One of his plays on this subject was performed privately before the King and a number of his courtiers. The following is an example of his verse.

But a dear Boy’s disinterested Flame

Gives Pleasure and for mere Love gathers Pain –

In him alone Fondness sincere does prove;

And the kind, tender, naked Boy is Love!

—Edward Slocum, [i]

1924

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