Literary Activism: James Montgomery, Joanna Baillie, and the Plight of Britain's Chimney Sweeps

To Montgomery, however, Scott penned a regret that he "had been so long out of the habit of writing poetry that my Pegasus has become very restive. Besides at my best, I was never good at writing occasional verses. The Morning Chronicle (London, 11 January 1775), for example, reported that a co...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Studies in romanticism 2012-04, Vol.51 (1), p.59-76
Main Author: SLAGLE, JUDITH BAILEY
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activists
Authors
Baillie, Joanna
Blake, William (1757-1827)
British & Irish literature
Children
Children & youth
Chimney sweeps
Chimneys
Cleaning
Climbing
Committees
Dickens, Charles (1812-1870)
Employment
English literature
Literary criticism
Males
Poetry
Poets
Scott, Walter (1771-1832)
Scottish literature
Soot
Writers
Writing
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Summary:To Montgomery, however, Scott penned a regret that he "had been so long out of the habit of writing poetry that my Pegasus has become very restive. Besides at my best, I was never good at writing occasional verses. The Morning Chronicle (London, 11 January 1775), for example, reported that a correspondent overheard a chimney-sweeper's boy beseeching his neighbor, " 'For God's sake he might be permitted to sweep the chimneys for the soot', for if he did not carry home a bushel he should be 'half murdered.'" The correspondent verified the boy's report in general.36 In response to this coveted commodity, a new type of trader emerged in the early nineteenth century: . . . the manure merchant, who purchased soot from master sweeps which was then resold to farmers and gardeners.
ISSN:0039-3762
2330-118X
2330-118X
DOI:10.1353/srm.2012.0041