own text participates in the state of epistemological uncertainty it identifies Wollstonecraft’s in the mob, both in giving credit to aristocratic plots around which other “romantic” historians skeptically skirt, and by ensuring that its own suspicions regarding a bread shortage are raised in the reader too by leaving sufficient references to it to operate as a kind of – crumb trail to a mystery which the quite address or solve, until it is exploded text doesn’t with the decree for the free circulation of grain and the triumphant procession of wheat, flour (and King) to Paris. The coyness of the on the issue of bread and the grain trade masks the View specificity of personal, political, and professional relationships in France, Wollstonecraft’s where she had close links to those involved in grain importation; the symbolic significance of bread, and the desire for it, nevertheless runs through her text as a whole. Obscurity on mob’s such issues may indeed have been advisable at the time Wollstonecraft was writing, as, with the ascendency of the Jacobins in late 1793, the early revolutionary association of economic with political freedoms had been replaced by a climate in which commercial freedoms were not to be spoken of. However, on her first arrival at Paris, Wollstonecraft moved, like many British supporters of the Revolution, in Girondin circles, and would have heard much of the need for economic as well as political liberty. Such concerns were not only theoretical: Thomas Christie, co-founder of the to which Wollstonecraft contributed, Analytical Review and a close friend of hers, was acting in Paris as the agent of Turnbull, Forbes, and Co., London merchants who, until decree against the which in October 1793 “the English,” banned the import and sale of all merchandise originating in the British empire, imported flour from Britain to France. Indeed, this trade relationship was at least once the means for Wollstonecraft to receive money from Joseph Johnson, publisher at the Analytical Christie’s as she was able to draw bills from Johnson through As agent in Review, Turnbull’s account. the flour trade, Christie would evidently have had a professional interest in economic
Wollstonecraft’s own text participates in the state of epistemological uncertainty it identifies in the mob, both in giving credit to “romantic” aristocratic plots around which other historians skeptically skirt, and by ensuring that its own suspicions regarding a bread shortage are raised in the reader too – by leaving sufficient references to it to operate as a kind of crumb trail to a mystery which the text doesn’t quite address or solve, until it is exploded with the decree for the free circulation of grain and the triumphant procession of wheat, flour (and King) to Paris. The coyness of the View on the issue of bread and the grain trade masks the specificity of Wollstonecraft’s personal, political, and professional relationships in France, where she had close links to those involved in grain importation; the symbolic significance of bread, and the mob’s desire for it, nevertheless runs through her text as a whole. Obscurity on such issues may indeed have been advisable at the time Wollstonecraft was writing, as, with the ascendency of the Jacobins in late 1793, the early revolutionary association of economic with political freedoms had been replaced by a climate in which commercial freedoms were not to be spoken of. However, on her first arrival at Paris, Wollstonecraft moved, like many British supporters of the Revolution, in Girondin circles, and would have heard much of the need for economic as well as political liberty. Such concerns were not only theoretical: Thomas Christie, co-founder of the Analytical Review to which Wollstonecraft contributed, and a close friend of hers, was acting in Paris as the agent of Turnbull, Forbes, and Co., London merchants who, until “the decree against the English,” which in October 1793 banned the import and sale of all merchandise originating in the British empire, imported flour from Britain to France. Indeed, this trade relationship was at least once the means for Wollstonecraft to receive money from Joseph Johnson, Christie’s publisher at the Analytical Review, as she was able to draw bills from Johnson through Turnbull’s account. As agent in the flour trade, Christie would evidently have had a professional interest in economic
ERR256_Packham%20Editing%20in%20Progress.docx