Preface

Abstract

Preface Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture publishes annually a selection of the papers read at regional and national conferences of the Ameri­ can Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies. The Editorial Board is honored to present the essays collected in volume seven which were carefully chosen from numerous and excellent submissions to represent the outstanding efforts of scholars from many fields in this bicenten­ nial year. With the exception of the ASECS prize article by Milton M. Klein, all of the papers in this volume were presented at the national confer­ ence of the ASECS held at the University of Virginia, April 8-10, 1976. Although the essays themselves have a common origin, the authors traveled from three countries and thirteen states to deliver them. In like fashion, although each paper contributes to the elucida­ tion of some aspect of the eighteenth century, the topics covered and the critical approaches employed are widely divergent. This diversity is appropriate, not only because it represents the broad range of scholarship fostered by a multidisciplinary society, but because it re­ flects the complexity of the eighteenth century, a period rich in cul­ tural and historical phenomena so varied that they often appear paradoxical. These phenomena are accompanied by a multiplicity of philosophical theories and concepts given voice by spokesmen of strik­ ing individuality in literary and artistic productions of abundant va­ riety. A philosopher is an observer and, in that sense, all of the con­ tributors to this volume are philosophers who have recorded and inxi xii / Preface terpreted their perceptions on some facet of the Enlightenment. Some deal with the printed word which is the external embodiment of thought; others with thought which, as Rivarol said, is itself a form of internalized expression. Perhaps the sole work which united eighteenth-century philosophers of disparate opinions and methods was the Encyclopedic. The present volume makes no pretense of estab­ lishing the internal relationships of human knowledge nor of recording or classifying all the essential details which form its substance. Rather than an aggregate of critical thought, the papers gathered here consti­ tute a continuing discussion and often pose more questions than they resolve. Yet, like the editors of the Encyclopedie, the editor ofStudies in Eighteenth'Century Culture is faced with the task of seeking a suitable order of presentation. In each case, the goals are the same. The parts must be related to the whole in such a manner as to communicate the ideas contained therein in a useful fashion. The editors of the Ency^ clopedie divided the objectives of human knowledge into three categories: history, philosophy, and the beaux-arts, which correspond to the different intellectual processes involved in their creation: mem­ ory, reason, and imagination. This volume follows this general outline to the extent that such a division is possible. However, overlap is inevitable and he who could separate objectively the gray areas in which thought, memory, and imagination intertwine, would un­ doubtedly be able to read the pages of the hermit’s book which ap­ peared blank even to Zadig, the most rational of men. Professor Klein’s article, “New York Lawyers and the Coming of the American Revolution,” the ASECS prize essay, opens this volume and calls attention to a gap in the historical knowledge of the Ameri­ can Revolution. Professor Klein explains the reasons for the relative neglect of the vital role played by the lawyers, a signally important intellectual group, in the coming of the Revolution, both in terms of the actual historical phenomenon and in terms of the concepts of contemporary schools of historiography. He also supplies an excellent scenario which clarifies the influence of the lawyers on the drama in which they were actors, and the influence of the script on the actors. This article is followed by Professor Peterson’s piece on “Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virgina,” which exposes the different aspects of Jefferson: philosopher, American, and eighteenth-century Preface I xiii man. Professor Baeumer’s article brings together aesthetic notions con­ cerning the noble and simple from French sources and from Winckelmann . It shows that these strains exist in Jefferson as well. His thesis is that Jefferson may have acquired...