Intriguing jewellery: royal bodies and luxurious consumption

Vlncr nl Q ulnn end t er y ?r r cr I rt rt t t t o u t r S l rU n l t l rrl C a l h Sh a r r o ck R e vi e w i n g'th e Sp i r i t o f M a n - h o o d ':so d o m y, m a stu r b a ti o na n d th e b o d y ( p o l i ti c) i n e i g h te e n th - ce n tu r yEn g l a n d Ph i l i p C a r te r ' r 'e ffi ci e n t'n a ti o n ?M a scu l i n i tya n d e i g h te e n th - ce n tu r y An 'e ffe m i n a te o so ci a l d o cu m e n ta r y Mi l e s Og b o r n L o ca ti n gth e M a ca r o n i :l u xu r y,se xu a l i l ya n d vi si o n i n Va u xh a l lGa r d e n s I ex t u al Pract i ce R o b e r t W. Jo n e s N o te s o n Th e C a m p :w o m e n , e ffe m i n a cya n d th e m i l i ta r yi n l a te e ig h te e n th - ce n tu r yl i te r a tu r e Su e Wi se m a n Fr o m th e l u xu r i o u sb r e a stto th e vi r tu o u s b r e a st:th e b o d y p o l i ti c tr a n sl o r m e d M a r ci a Po i n to n In tr i g u i n gj e w e l l e r y:r o ya l b o d i e s a n d l u xu r i o u sco n su m p ti o n Br i a n Yo u n g Gi b b o n a n d se x V ol ume 11 l ssue 3 Wi nter 1997 Textual Practice Scc L)orinda Ourram on Mnrc l{olen..lin Ilrr llor/yirt rht, l.rrttc/t Reuolution: 5iex,(llus, and l)oliticaloulturc (New tl,rucrr,r..i r...<r.n: yalc Univcrsiry Pre ss,1 98 9) . 39 John Gabriel Stedman, Na.rntti,c ot''t fit,r.yt,trsr.rptlitiort ,tg,tinsttrtereuolted Negroesof Surinam (l.ondorr, l7()(r); l{ici[:rr.l liricc and'Sally I)rice (eds) Stedman's Surinarn(Balrinrorc:rntl [.ont|rn: fohrrsI lopkins LJnive rsity Irress, Marcia Pointon jewellery: Intriguing royalbodies and luxuriousconsumptionl 1r92). 4(l Ib id., p. xxx - x x x ii. 4l Ibid ., p. xxx ii. 42 Ibid ., p. xx x v i. 11.1 Ibid ., p. 4 0. 44 Yalo nr,pp . 12. 1- 5. Warn cr.p. 277. 4Io I)uirt tnd l)rnrstit l,'ictiort,A l,oliticrtl History,.f t/,e l:. \,]1r_.i..Ar1s!ro.ng: ly'alel(Oxfirrd: ()xfirrd Ur.riversirv Press,1987). 'I'he idea of royal femininity and thar of jewellcry appcar ro be inseparable. A queen stripped of her jewels is no lorrger identifiable as scprrare and differcnt fiom a comrnon nrorral. 'l'herein lies one of thc factors conrributing to the troubles of royaltv in late rwenrieth-cenrury Brirain: we all know in our hearr of hearts thar those who would be queens wear .jewels, not tracksuits.Jewels worn :rbout the body have traditionally constitured the nrost spectacularway of displaving extr:rorclinarywealrh rvhile simulraneou.slydi.sguisingcapital as ,rt;-stry.Conflontcd rvith .sorneonc' wearing a diarnond pdrurt", norions of aesthetic value fuse with speculatior-rsof financial worth. Jewellery significs, however, in rnuch more c.rmplex ways than this simple equarion nright srrggest.Jewelsraise issucsof rhc Larv, for coLrrtsocietiesin Europe have, since earliesttinrcs, depencledupon gifts of v:rluablejewellery as the nredium of narional and inrernational diplonracv. Vhereas money changing hands is undersrood to be a tirhe, a le,,y or a bribe, jewellery made up of precious srones and rnetals compressesinro o n e o b j e c t t h a t ca n b e d i sp l a ye d u p o n :l n i n d i vi d u a l b o d r ', m a r ks o f wealth, of esteem, and of syrnbolic possession.ln the 'ludor periocl, firr ex:rmple, presentsgiverr on spccial occasions,rnd, under Queen Elizabetlr I, particularly at rhe New Year fcstivities, were a well-establishedfirrrn of levy in anticipation of fivours ro come. (lifis included clothes and f u r n i t u r e b u t a l so n o ta b l e j e w e l s.: (-hief among rhe occ:rsionsupon which jervellerychangcs hands ,rrc nrlrriages and birtlrs. -l'heseare ternporal evenrs perraining to the body, events that are both juridical and individLral. While the bodies of the subjects involved in such exchangesare consunred by the passageof rinre, gem stones, virtuallv indestructible, and gold, ourlive their owners and stand, whcther in old serr;ngsor in new as nrarkcrs of fleshlv fiailry and the relative permrn€nce of the nrineral worlcl. For rhese relrsons,jewcllcry is a key European cultural componenr in symbolic and economic exchangc T'cxtualP ntdi ce I l (.1), 1997, 1+ 93-51(r () | 997 l{outlcdgc0950,236X Textual Practice Marcia Pointon Royalbodies and luxuriousconsumption ritualss and as a textual field is heavily invested in ideological significance relative to bodies, and by extension also to colonialism, gender and sexualiry. Indeed jewellery not only stands as a symbol of the special occasions it commemorates (its economic worth translated by the act of giving into transcendent value), but may actually represent those occasionsby as yet uncrowned George III.l0 Charlotte knew no English and set eyes on her husband to be for rhe 6rst time as she descended from the coach acting as a place for inscribing texts which literally act as mnemonics (as artifices to aid the memory). Thus, for example, heart-shapedbrooches are known to have been popular as engagernentor marriage tokens since the fourteenth century and surviving examples date from the seventeenth. In shape they stand for the idea of love but they were also inscribed with words: one example reads 'l fancie non but the[e] alone.'a In such General David Graeme, who had spent the previous weeks in Charlotte's home territory commissioning elaborate personal ornaments fiom local iewellers as well as from craftsmen in Berlin and Hamburg.rr Meanwhile in England, George III had been purchasing even more jewellery with which Charlotte was presented upon her arrival in episodes represented instances jewellery designed to be worn on the body becomes a field for inscription that interprets the body which, in interactive relationship. both frames and supports it. Posy rirrgs (rings inscritred,with rhymes or exhortations) and mourning rings (inscribed with the uarnes of deceasedindividuals) work to bridge time, linking bodies through the epigrammatic inscription of a sentiment. 'Divinely knit by grace are we, / Late nvo, now one, ye pledge here see' written inside a ring linguistically glossesthe form of the jewellery - a ring whose circulariry symbolizes eternity.s In these inrroductory paragraphs I have indicated something of the complexiry of jewellery as material artefact. But jewellery, made up of gem stones and settings, is also a site of cosmological myth and symbol. This is not the place for an exploration of the linguistic richnessof gemmology, but it is none the less worth drawing attention to ancient traditions (whether religious and deriving frorn the Book of'Reuelations,or Pagan and related to medicine) through which gem stones are highly invested in systems oF belief.(' My topic is the discourse of iewels and of jewellery within the practice of court politics in lare eighteenth-century England; none the less the traditions o[ gemmology have a bearing on this study since, if we are to understand fbrrnulaic similes like'teeth white as pearls', we need to recognize that within irny invocation of jewels or gems is that had brought her from Gravesend via Colchester through the Ciry of London to St James'sPalace.However, she arrived with an impressive array of jewellery with which she had been equipped through the efforts of and re-representedacrossa range of media.rr Thus, as a historical subject she was in years to come described as a prisoner, albeit a well-ornamented one who was frequently in receipt of gifts of diamonds.rl Access to the historical subject is, of course, through texts. In the case of Queen Charlotte, the question I wish to ask is how the textuality of jewellcry informs and shapesan understanding of the royal consort. The jewellery worn by the Queen when she appears either at court or in public functions both as a personal attribute and as a measure oF the status and significanceof the event, enters into discourseas exemplary and unique on the one hand and, on the other, as typical and indicative. In addition to regalia (as with the crown which was one of George III's gifts)la which does not belong to the wearer, Charlotte was widely represented in word and in image wearing personal jewellery.The composition of .iewellery,its dimensions, and the parts of the body to which it is attached are foregrounded in a nerwork of descriptive prose that crisscrossesprivate correspondence,.journalism and court circulars. Thus, as part of her bridal attire, Charlotte wore a diamond stomacher,an elaborate and expensive item that dominated the wedding images in the popular pressat home and abroad (Plate l): The Fond lground] is a Nerwork as fine as Cat Gtrt of Small Diamonds & the rest is a large pattern of Natural Flowers, cornposed o f v e r y l ar g e D i a m o n d s, o n e o [w h i ch i s 1 8 , a n o th e r l 6 & a th i r d implied an allusion to cosnrological order.; My concern is, however, ro examine the connection berween the evaluation of jewellerv as part o[ the processof luxurious consumption and the construction of the f'eminine as royal. I shall ltocuson Queen Charlotte, consort of George III. Scholarship on kingship has establishedthe norv widely recognized actual and conceptual split berween the king's rwo bodies (the natural and Charlotte was the 6rst English queen since the early seventeenth century to possessjewels rivalling those of continental royalry.r6 In addition to her wedding ring, the King had had made, we are told, a diamond hoop ring 'of a size not to stand higher than the wedding ring, the political) and the importance oFthis concept for our understanding of the function of representation.8OF the ways in which the symbolic body of a queen consort may have functioned we know much less.')Charlotte arrived in England fiom the German principaliry o[ Mecklenburg Strelitz on 8 September 1761 and, at the age of 18, married that same evening the to which it was to serve as guard'.r7 A third new ring, which she was to wear on the little finger o[ her right hand at the marriage ceremony, 'bore a likenessof the king in miniature, done exquisitely beautiful' bv Jeremiah Meyer.l8 At the coronation on 22 September, the Queen is described as wearing a: l0 Thousand pounds price.l5 MarciaPointonRoyalbodiesand luxurious consumption Textual Practice stifl-enbodyU Robe silverernbroideredfwith gold] Tissuepetticoat, Diamond Ston.racher, PurpleVelvetSleeves Diamds,pearlsas big as Cherrys,Girdle,Petricoats Diamds,PurpleVelvetSurcoatand Mantle with E,rmineand Lace,PurpleVelvetCap, only one stringof Diamds & Crown Aigrette,FanMother of Pearl,Ernerald,Rubys& Diamds.r') jewelsultimatelyfinds its watershedin The spectacle oF the Queen'.s the itemizedsalecatalogueo[ Queen charlotte'spossessions. occasioned by the Queen'sdeath,the salecatalogue with irs technicalminuriae- each object describedand numbered- is rhe apogeeof rhe narrativerhat commencesin MecklenburgStrelitz,and its nromenrof aurhcntication, the momenr when history and text converge.For the perfbrmanceocca, sioned by the Queen'sdeath, and predicaredupon rhe very absence of her body, manifbststhe plenitudeof jcwellerywhich gavethat body its visiblew.rth; tl-reir'agi'ary body of the Queen therefbrehas its finest and most complete showingoncerhe historicaland biologicalbody hasdisi'tegratcd (literallyso,sinceshelefi instrucrionsi' her will that her corpse should not be crnb:rhned). Irr a seriesof salesc-herlorre's personal.if.it., i'cludi'g her jewels,carvings,tri.kers, ;rlate,drawingsa'c{ paintings,and her distinguishedlibrary passedunder Christie'shamnrerbetweenMay and Jul y l 8l 9. r ( r By f ar t he gr ear esr nur nberof object s: r r e r hoset hat had co.tinued to adorn her Personinto old age (Plate2). -fhc pearlswhich, when vicwed on the Queen'sbody were 'big as cherries'are in the sale cataloguedefinedin the languageofthe rnarkct: C]NAR,L(}T"TA' M,rr:l l}'rt$n frrrrn', rt |lrhrrr' Rr'Strrrr "o,\';H <:f*., 1'tl,:il!,'l '\L't , " a r '. ) d " !i r : *r o r i - r i ,.L i ;,- , Plate 1 Portrait of Queen Charlotte by John Elias Nilson, engraving, Aug sb urg , 1761. Plat e s iz e 22 r 16 c m . T h e y o u n g q u e e n , s u r r o u n d e d by amorini, and accompanied by Apollo (to whom she is pleasing),is portrayed in an oval framed in flowers and superimposedon a rococo cartoucheinscribedwith the initialsof the royalcouple.She is represented wearing the famous stomacher. Copyright c; The British Museum {18 95 -6-1 7- 187\ 39 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 A pair of largesingle-droppcarlcar-ringswith brillianr roserrerops A row of rwo l.rundredancleighteenpearls A row of rwo hundredand rwentvdirto A ptir of threeloop err-ring, of pc.rrls,a 2 partsof a pearlbow A pair of <Scotch>pearlstops,and a pair of ditto <Pearl>drops Fifty-eighrlargepearls,and a cluantityof seedditto A pair of pearllink bracelets, and pearlpurse An enamel fiame fbr a locket, set round with large pearls,and a turcluoisebroachsetwith pearls 52 60 A necklaceolr sixty-eight pearls, chieflv large and fine A necklace,consisting ofeighty-five large pearls A pair oF buckles composed of large pearls A necklirceor row, consisting of sevcnty-one round and white pear A d i t t o o l - se ve n r v- r i xtl i r to A gold buckle, bordered with rwenty large pearls, arrd a broach of pearlsas a serpent, with large drop pearl susper.rcled from its mourh Three oblong and three oval ditto scluarepcarl broaches 6r 74 75 /t) 77 84 A small water-colour drawing, ser round with thirry-seven very large and fine pearls and pearl looprr Marcia Pointon Rovalbodiesand luxuriousconsumption TextualPractice rQ-^1"*t 1't { t-,/ '}n *grd tr"r (tLirt t6! . } , /'"th'- ! I "llV'{t**"&.y';/*hoi.*i4d'*'/'!'7-/f 3 The Royal Dozen; or the King and Queen of Great Britain with the 1O R oyal C hil dren, anon engrav i ng, 17 x 1O c m. C opy ri ght O The B ri ti s h Plate Pfate 2 Portrait of Queen Charlotte,engravingafter W. M. Craig's 1815 O portrait, published in 1820,two yearsafterherdeath.18 x 12 cm.Copyright T heB r it is hM us e u m(1 8 6 1 -3 -8 -7 9 ) The Queen consort'sfunction is to breed heirs to the throne; this Charlotteaccomplishedmagnificently(Plate3), bearingfifteenchildrenof whom thirteen survived. Indeed, her fecundity was a source not only of public interestbut also of ribaldry: she was regularlyshown as visibly pregnantin caricatures(seePlate9).22Moreoverthe forms of her.iewellery symbolically reiteratedthe notion of fecundity. The famous stomacher of diamonds servedto draw attention to the queent materiality,to her role as mater for the nation; it was a dazzlingornament and also one that The elaborate confirmed Charlottet reputation as a lover of diamonds.23 seriesof rings given to her by GeorgeIII - one of which borc a portrait of the monarch and anotherof which servedto protect the wedding ring while standingno higher than it - evokesthe martial art of defendingthe citadel by the erection of concentriccirclesof fortification. Furthermore, jewelleryeventsin Queen Charlotte'sbiographiesarenarratedinteractively with pregnancies,thus ritually inscribing the connection between economic and generativeroles.2a Museum(1877-'l0-1 3-1 185) Rings are symbols of eternity, their circularity an emblem of associations with female well-established continuity, but they also possess genitals.Allusions to sexualacts articulatedin terms oF ring and finger narrativesare widespreadin English seventeenth-and eighteenth-century wearing literatures.25 However,Queen Charlotte is alsowidely represented pearls;one set of pearlswas said to have descendedfrom Mary Queen of Scots,through Georgel'.smother, the ElectressSophia.Charlotte had them re-strungand added the pearl drop she had brought with her from Thus Germany with her pearl ear-ringsframed in diamond chains.26 engravingof 1799 basedon Sir William Beechy'sportrait (ar.rd Bartolozzi'.s affixed to R. J. Thornton's fempleof-Floraof 1807) showsthe Queen, as patronessof botany and the fine arts, in a Frameof clouds surroundedby cosmic rays of light and being adorned with flowersand pearlsby putti, one of which holdsher crown. On her head,shewearsa fewelledtiara in of the goddessDiana, while pinned the shapeof a sicklemoon, suggestive ro her breastis a portrait of GeorgeIII in Roman profile surroundedby pearls(Plate4). fhe farniliarityof this kind of displaythroughsubsequent I I TextualPractice T-- Marcia Pointon Rovalbodies and luxuriousconsumotron representation in descriptive accounrs as well as through popular prints situates the queen'.sbocly within an honorific narrative of Protestant victory over the Jacobite threat, and the triun.rph of the Housc of llanover. The failure of those earlier queens - both Elizabeth and Mary, as well as Anne - to produce adequate heirs For the nation is finally (and, so ir seems)conclusively compensated by the prolific wornb of Charlotte. The efficacy of female jcwellery ir.r endorsing :r monarchy that was widely viewed as lack-lustre needs little explanation; the King and Queen establishedelaboratecourt rituirls in their earlv yearsl on rhe King's birrhday the Queen appeared in the most surrlptuolrs costunre and ornaments b u t o n h e r o w n b i r th d a v sl r e d r e sse dd o w n . Th u s, o n 1 8 Ja n u a r y 1 7 8 2 , Charlotte's oflicial birthday, 'Her Majesty, as usual, was plainly dressed, without her jewel.s,in a boue de Paris .sltin, trimmcd with gold, crape, &c.'. The King, on the other hand, 'wore a rich suit of black velvet, d e c o r a r e d w i t h a b r i l l i a n r Ii .e . d i a m o n d ] st:r r a n d g a r te r l o o p ', w h i l e th e PritrcessRoyal 'had a white and gold, with a green spor, the beautiful manufacture of E,ngland,superbly ornanrented with a profirsion oI jewels'. On the King's official birthday, by contrasr, he rvas as usual 'rather plainly attired' while the Queen was 'most splendidly ornamented with jewels'.2t But these rituals, and their repeated representation, suggest also the profound uneasewith which these all-too-necessarysunrptuary practices were accompanied. If conrmcrcc wrls neccsslrryfbr thc good of the n;rtion but luxury was inevitably a dreaded conscquence,'18 a sirnilarly precarious balance was nraintained benveen the recuirement that a oueen be b e l e w e l l c d . r n d th e p r o vo cl ti vc a sso ci :r ti o r rish r t tl r " r e l :r ti o n sh i pb e r w e e n f-emalcbodies and jcrvellert,invoked. -fhe Qr.reen'sidentity rapidly came to rest upon the jewelled artefacts in which .shervasrepre.sented. Thu.s. fbr example, she is readily identifiable in caricatures by the large cross oF rose and brilliant cut diamonds on a diamond chain which shc wears,onc oFthc King's wedding gifts.r')Moreover, we may remark that, as the plates for some of the many popular portrait prints gradually wore out and were retouchec{in order to lengthen the print-runs, it is not the lace or hands that are re-worked. but rhe jewellery which is givcn addcd definition by the engraver.'fl.re processwhereby a coronation portrait drawn ad uiuttm;rnA engraved (reproduced) i n r n e z z o t i n t by'fh o m a s Fr ye ( 1 7 1 0 - 6 2 ) a s a p l a te ca p a b l eo f p r o d u ci n g multiple copies (Plate 5)r0 is then re-engravedselectivelyat a later date Pfate 4 Portrait of Her Majesty, patroness of Botany, and of the Fine Arts, publishedby Dr Thornton,London, 1 299. 45 x 30 cm. copyright rc)lhs gsilisn Mu se um (M.M. 1 5-2 0) by Boydetl, literally highlighting the jewellery and nraking it more prominent (Plate 6) - points up borh the nrrture r:lFpopularizing prints as palimpsests and the frrnction of popular visual imagcry in mythologization. The text is the Queen's body, stnrctured anrl shou,n forth in the officially sanctioned portrait, the engrevings:rr.:'authorized' copies for her subject-s,the overwritine bl' .sulr.setluent engr:rvcrslnark.sthe a;rpropriation i lilii;til:igl'i3l1ii a:;tlititEl: fiti:l= -.i44- (ZZa-rL-g-Ol8t) Lunesn4qsrlugoql O lq6u,{do3 'Luc96 x 9e 'p'u '11epr{og '1 ,{q peqsrlqnd 'efu3seu"roql ,(q lurlozzeu ''cp ureytg learg p ueano ellopeqC ,(1sa[eyyualla"xJ tsory JeH ]o teryod 9 epld , *,,4 r11 | (, 1,7.'. nt',ifi,, u t,/,t"/y',2,77",;,,/ 7,'' 1 11, (8t t8- I t-0 t-606 l) runesnl Llsrtug 'r.rJc oql 9 1q6u,(doC gd x 6e'Zgtf /reryVZ'ef,tJseuroql ,{q (a1e1s}sr!}) }urlozzsLu '3? ulellrg parg }o uaanO oqolreqCIlsafeyyNallecxJ tsory )aH ]o ]rcJtJod9 "pld ^ ' il./ ".//,;, rl . ; ' ;r.t t.,ilrrr tt ) q .lt 7,117'. TextualPractice Marcia Pointon Royalbodies and luxuriousconsumption u DianrornHr.,irns. 1{orrin lVtonsrs,ns-r Pfate 7 The Diamond Eaters,Horrid Monsters!, anon engraving, May 1788, showing Warren Hastings,impeachedGovernorof Bengal,pouring diamonds into the open mouths of Thurlow,Oueen Charlotteand King George lll. 19 x 15.8 cm. Copyright O The British Museum (7288) account, the Queen's virginity.l(' As we have secn (Plate 4), pearls are parr of the mise-en-sc)nethat associates the Queen with the r.ratural world through her adornment by putti (who can be understood both as amorini and as babies, in both casessuggesriveof gencrative powers). Moreovcr, in Francis Cotes'.sportrait of Queen Charlotte r.rursing the Prirrcess Royal (Plate 8), diamonds have been compluely clisplacedby pearls, while the crown is laid aside in the interests of a maternal authority as rhe Queen warns viewers not to wake the baby. But the more general association oF pearls with Venus and prof:rne love opens up a ser of ambiguities that pertain to the siruaring of a royal female subject within debates about luxury. By considering also the origins of pearls, in mythology rathcr than topography, :rnd not around rhe neck of a queen but in the oce:rn,as told in Plinyt classicirccount, wc rnay begin to understand the discoursesof Plate 8 Portrait of Charlotte Queen of Great Britain and the Princess Royal, engravedby W. Wynne Rylandafter FrancisCotes RA, 31 July 1770. 59 x 39 cm. Copyright o The British Museum (O 2-4) TextualPractice jewelleryas they pertain to the queenlybody and ro represenrarion ofrhat body. In his Natural History, Book IX, Pliny introducesa discussiono[ pearlswithin the context of a diatribe againsrluxury. An examinationof the biological processes through which a pearl is produced enablesPliny to draw a seriesof connectionsberweenthe human 6ody (totum corpus anima hominir) and the desirefbr luxury which endangersnor merely rhe individual but, most imporrantly,the nation. The generativepowersof oystersand the capacityof pearlsto mirror natural changesin the universe are describedin a passagethrough which Pliny also establishesa female underwatereconomy: Oyster shells. . . when stimulated by the generariveseasonof the year gape open as it were and are filled with dewy pregnancy,and subsequentlywhen heavy are delivered,and the oflspring o[ rhe shellsare pearlsthar correspondto the quirliry of the de\v re,ceived. . . . If the sky was lowering(they say)the pearlis pale in colour: fbr it is certain it was conceivedfrom the sky, and that pearls have more connexionwith the sky than with rhe !ea, and derive from it a cloudy hue, or a clear one correspondingwith a brillianr morning.3T In this account the production of the pearl is part of the organic world of femaleparturition; the product, on rhe other hand, receivesirs determiningcharacterfrom the universaland temporalconditionsof the natural world. If it thunders,Pliny tells us, 'wind pearls'are produced. These are 'only inflated with an empry, unsubstantialshow: rhese are the pearls'miscarriages'.r8 \Uhen a shellseesa hand, it shutsitselfup and concealsits treasures. Moreover,ir is Foundin deepwarerand hasseadogs in attendance. But - and herePliny changestack to link manifesrations o[ parturitionand protecrionof progenywith the (seeminglycontradictory) idea of woman as predatorand perpetratorof luxury - neverrheless rhese 'do not protectit againstwomen'sears!';it is a brilliant move rhar enables a constructionof femininity as simultaneouslyuniversaland biological, and conrrolledand wasteltul,greedyand implicirly dangerousto the male subjectand the masculinerepublic.'D.*y preBnancy' as a femaleprocess is, through the universalizingphenomenalization of meteorological and marine data, split off from femininity,which can then be construedas grasping,destructiveand luxurious. From this disjuncture,Pliny can then move easily into a discussionof Roman luxury in generaland to the paradigmaticcaseof the 'abandonedexrravagance' of women who, whether rich or poor, covet pearlswhile trearingthem with scandalous disregardfor their natural propcrties.The rexr thus efflectively separates the discourseof universalknowledge(Plinys terrain) from that of gross consumptionoFartefacts(rhe fenrininedomain): MarciaPointonRovalbodiesand luxurious consumption There is no doubt that pearlsareworn away by use,and that lack of caremakesthem changetheir colour. . . . The highestpraisegiven to their colour is for them to be calledalum-coloured.The longer ones also have a charm of their own. Those that end in a wider circle, tapering lengthwise in the shape of perfume-caskets,are termed 'probes.'\7omen glory in hanging theseon their fingersand using rwo or three for a single earring,and foreign namesfbr this luxury occur, names invented by abandoned extravagence,inasmuch as when they havedone this they call them'castanets',asif they enjoyed even the sound and the mere rattling together of the pearls; and now-a-dayseven poor people covet them - it is a common saying that a pearl is as good as a lackeyfor a lady when she walks abroad! And rhey evenuse them on their feet,and fix them not only to the lacesof their sandalsbut all over their slippers.In flct, by this time they are not contentwith wearingpearlsunlessthey treadon them, and actuallywalk on theseunique gems!3') From such generalcensure- the femalesubjectguilty of debasingthe oyster'soffspring by walking on it - it is a short step to the story of Lollia Paulinawho appearednot at a grand ceremonybut at an 'ordinary bethrothalbanquet'covered'with emerald.s and pearlsinterlacedalternatelyand shiningall overher head,hair,neckand fingers'.Lollia Paulina, accordingto Pliny, carriedaround with her the documentaryproof of her entitlement to thesejewelswhich were not a presentto her but 'ancestal acquiredin fact with the spoil of the provinces'. This, as Pliny possessions, 'is the final outcomeolt plunder': declares, Now let some one reckon on up on one side of the accounthow much Curius or Fabriciuscarriedin their triurnphs,and picture to himself the spoils they displayed,and on the other side Lollia, a single little lady reclining at the Emperort side - and would he not think it betterthat they should havebeendraggedfrom their chariots than have won their victories with this result?Nor are these the topmost instancesof luxury. There have been two pearlsthat were the largestin the whole of history; both were owned by Cleopatra.ao From this point, Pliny can move into his finale with the story of Cleopatrasdestruction not only of one of the largestpearlsever found, but also of one of the greatestmen ever known. This completesthe loop that connectswoman as producer (of offspring) with woman as consumer of male vitaliry: the produceo[ the femalebody (like the pregnanciesand miscarriageso[ oysters)may be a necessarypart of nature but the female subject'sclaim to statusthrough her reproductiveorgansis cancelledour by her key role in the processes of depradationand excess. TextualPractice To sum up so far, we may observethat the hisrorical relationship berweenQueen Charlotte and thc jewelleryshe is representedas wearing, a relationshipthar borh definesher physicalbody and transcendsit, is linked to ideas and principlesof generationthat are both economic (colonial)and physiological.At rhe levelof myth and rheory,while female fertility is - as in the caseof oystersproducing pearls- a beneficentpart of the naturalworld - femaleconsumprionis unnarural(literallycannibalistic)and destructive.Vomen transform the beaury of the natural world into luxury and excess, exposingas futile the martialexploitsof the male subject.In rhe caseof a qu€en theselinked quesrionsof fbrriliry and excessare also quesrionsof nationalism.Luxuria, as she appears in iconographictradirions, signals both sexual excessand economic consumptionand is personifiedby a f-emalefigure.arSo, underlyingthe connectionberweenthe benign universewhere pearlsare generatedand rhe dangerous[eminizationoFa socierypredicatedupon cori.urnption,is \Wharis acceptable a fbarof uncontrolledfbmalesexuality. in oystersis not permissiblein humans,or such is the implication. Eighteenth-cenrury texts offer ample evidenceof the wi<lespread identificationwith jewellery as a signifring sysremunderstoodto be universal- and timeless.As Rouquerpurs ir in 1755: we would fhin attracrthe attention of orhers,as we do our own; we useall sortsof meansto encompass this end: we coverourselves wit h lit t le t h i n p l a te so f g o l d a n d s i l v e r... we rry everyrhi ngthat i s capableof procuringa little homagero our dear individual,evenif it be extorted.The brilliancyand valueof jewelsis one of rhe surest meansof adding somerhingro rhe importanceof our being.ar On the other hand, not only were rhe associations of jewelswith excess (of the kind established in Pliny'.saccounr)commonplace;,jewellery also stagedthroughmetonymythe disjunctureberweenthe timelessperpetuity of gem stonesand the frailryof human flesh.Jewelleryasan artefactmade of gem stonesendeavours, in a manifbstlyfurile project,to disguisethis raw truth. \ilomen are positionedwithin |ewel narrativesas key elements in a world of disintcgrationand instabiliryfiom which (by implication) masculinesubjectswith their more conrainedhabitsoF.jewel,bearing (hilts of swords,buttons and shoe buckles)mighr have been thought to be immune. One example,recounredby Mrs Delany,will suffice: Lady Bute [?] and her daughter,lady Weymouth, mostsplendidin jewels,but in came Mrs. Montagu, who riualld Drr in sparkling gems.I could not help callingto mind (on seeingher so besetwith jewells)Lady Clarendon'sanswerto Lady Granville when she askd her 'what was becomeof her jewells?'Thev are in my cabinet.When Marcia Pointon Rovalbodies and luxuriousconsumption my eyes outshone my diamonds I wore them; now they outshine my eyes I lock them up', and I thought if Mrs. M's coronetof brilliants which crownldher topeehad been in her cabinet it would have been t h e i r p r op e r p l a ce.a ' If women are defined by jewellery - in their fundamental roles of producers (of children) and as excessiveconsumers (of rnen'swealth both economic and sexual) - how is the bejewelled female body situated on the axis oF the temporal? The apparent disjuncture berween flesh and ornament unsettled observers of ageing women; Walpole remarks of a woman visiting an elderly f-emalefriend in ltaly, a country renowned fbr its antiquities, 'whose ruins she has not discovered;but with few teeth, few hairs, sore eyesand wrinkles, goes bare necked and crowned with jewels!'a' Jewellery worn by a young woman signals the position she occupies at the nexus of the reproductive cycles,economic on the one hand and biological on the other. Jewellery could be understood as a continuation of the body since it melded with female flesh, as with the piercing of ears, for example. While men have, at certain times in history, worn ear-rings' forms of jewellery as systematicallyfunctioning to regulatethe social body are particular to women. I will cite, as an example, the caseof Grace Boyle, who wrote oI her arrival in London: Many things have happened to n.resince I came here viz: the borring of my Ears, Papas giving me a pair of f100 Earrings, a pink Diamond ring, & a pair of gold buckles . . . with 4 guineas fbr my pocket. Mama is giving me a pair of star Errings, a set of stay buckles' & an Ermine muff. So I think I came to town to some purpose.a5 Here jewellery points up the equivalence berween the young {:emale body and marriage as an economic act; but what of jewellery on the aged or ageing body, the post-menopausaland no lonpler (re)productive body? The practice of comparing female physical attributes with gem stones is commonplace; it is a mode of fattery that derives From the long traditions of attributing properties to gem stones. ln f)elany's account of Mrs Montagu, however, an account written from a wontan's point of view, the body is in competition with the stones; what enhances the Presencein youth, threatensit in age.The hypothesizedcontinuity berween body and ornament in the case of a young woman broke down at a certain point, producing a hiatus that threatens the social organiz-ationof the female body. Thus, in the caseof the ageing Mrs Montagu, iewels that outshine the eyes should be locked up in a woman's cabinet. In other words, they should ceaseto be seen in public on her body. I shall now return to Queen Charlotte to ask, in the caseof a clueen known to have loved and owned jewellery and, arguably,publicly identified TextualPractice with jewelsand excessiveconsumprion, what strategieswere devisedto secureher royal personage(as opposed ro her individual body which, as we saw from a reading o[ her will was inelucrablylinked to ornament) from the contaminating effectsof jewellery narrarives?-l-hesenarrarives commenced,as I haveesrablished, wirh Charlotte'.s arrivalin Englandbut they reacheda climax in 1787wirh accusations of bribery implicaringthe royal pair in eventsthat led ro the impeachmentof 'W'arrenHasringsat the sametime as the scandalof the diamond necklacewas unravellingin Franceand threateningthe very survivalof rhe Frenchmonarchy.46 One of the many caricaruresfrom this period shows George III, a bulse of diamonds under his arm, standing by Charlorte whose pregnanr belly matchesthe bulse, gazingin consrernarionas \Tarren Hastings is hauled on to a gibberby Major Scott,his agent(Plare9).{- Ir is perhapsironic rhat the connection of preciousjewels and pregnanciesthat iq unravelled in Pliny'saccounr,and which is satirizedby Gillray.shouldbe re-ihflected as a containingdevicewithin rhe textualnarrariveof Charlotte,Queeno[ England.But ir is surelynot accidenral:the replayof classicalnarrarives lent much-neededgravitasro rhe institution of the English monarchy and wrapped up the repeatedimagesof excessin an alternativerrope of materniry.\il4renCharlorregavebirrh to the PrinceoF\Wales on l2 August 1762'all wasjoy, merriment,and gladness in London'.a8 But the gladness related nor only to the birth of a royal heir but also,we are told, to the arrivalin London of the immenserichesrakenirr a Spanishgalleon.\(hile the carriages carryingrhe treasurepassed QueenCharlottelay at SrJames's, under her windows on rhe way ro the Bank.a') This much-repeated story offbrsnot only a satis$'ingcoincidence - and an omen of good forrunefor the futureof the stateon rwo levels- but it alsoreinrerprets the connection berweenartefactsof preciousmarerialsand the Queen'.s fertiliry. The most daring and successfirl deviceof this kind was rhe casringof Charlotte as Cornelia, an identificationthat servedto eraserhe unpleasant narrativesolt excessand disintegrationraisedby Pliny and contemporary writerson luxury,and reinscribedin satiricaldiscourse, while reaffirming the link berween.iewelleryand femininiry. The story of Cornelia,Morher of the Gracchi,is one of rhe great jewellerynarrarives(alongwith Pliny'saccountof Cleopatraswallowing the pearl, John Donne'.spoem Tlte Relique,Bizer'sopera The Pearl Fishers, Anita Loos's GentlemenPrefer Blondes,and Ian Fleming's Diamonds are Foreuer).Cornelia was a model Roman marron, morher of the social refbrmersCaius and TiberiusGracchus(2000 BC).\X/hena visitor asked to seeher jewels,she had her rwo boys broughr in and said:'These ar€ my jewelsl'The story was well known and was used by Angelica Kauffmann for a painting exhibitedat the Royal Academyin 1285.50In a poem by SrephenEgletonpublishedon Queen Charlorte'.s birthday in 1780, an t Marcia Pointon Royalbodies and luxuriousconsumption d t I i Pfate9 JamesGillray,The FriendlyAgent,9 June1787,published by S. W. Fores.21.5 x 17.1cm. CopyrightG)The BritishMuseum(7169) analogyis made berweenthe Queen and Cornelia;5rit is reiteratedin the Memoirsof the Queen publishedin 1819 in a way clearlydesignedto counteractthe popular view of a queen 'whosevirtues make the soul of Envy sick,/ Strongas her snufl, and as her di'mondsthick:52 . . . the Queen of Englanddid not affectsplendourin her apparel. . . she seldomwore jewelsexcepron public ceremonies; and . . . so Far Textual Practice f-romdevoring hours to her dress,she studied nearnessand simpliciry. Her conduct exactly resembled rhat of Cornelia, who, beinc asked by a Roman lady of rank for a sighr of her roiler. waved the-subiecr till her children came from school, and then said: 'J'hese, Madam, are my ornamenrs.' In like manner did Her Majesty look upon the progeny which surrounded her, as a circle more valuabl. ,^h"n Marcia Pointon Royalbodies and luxuriousconsumption myth, of jewels into children, a move that produces the queen as arbiter of her own moral position in her rejection oF luxury (both sexual and economic) but also as, again, engaged in mimicry of a pre-ordained, elegant and well-orchestrated script sanctioned by Antiquiry. DeptoJ'ArtHistoryandArchaeology, Uniuersity of Manchester diamonds.5r corneliat jewels are displacedon ro her children. They may rherefore _ be understood as the osrensiveevidence of her gendcr in de-sexualized form. The exisrenceof the children renders not only invisible, bur also uneccessary'the notion ofrhe queen as possessingjewels,and as possessing sexuality. I[ cor'elia possessedjewels she kept then.r hidden, ,. *n-.n d'un certain agewere being exhorred ro.io in eighrecnrh-ccn.ruryEngland. Qu ee n Cha rlortc w as r he owner of ar . * c "Pr i, , nr ll y b c a u t i t i r l 'j e w e l. , l b i n . r , purpose-built in 1761 ro conrai. the large number of jewels she possessed including all the weddi'g and coronation gifts fiom the King.5a This was known to be kept in the Queen'.sbedroorn where an obserier co-mented on the twentv-{ive warches all adorned with jewels as well as the gilt plate and innumerable knick-knacks.55$7omen were provided with jewel cabinets,securecontainers whcreirr their pre.it_ruspo.r...rio,.,.thcir jewelsa nd by e xre r s ion t lr c ir s c x ualir y c or r lc lbc , . . u r . j . ', ' So whar nrighr this rnean? How rnighr we explain these connections berween culture and scxual politics?As Irigaray poi.ts out, the articulation oFfemale -"r.iirl sex is impossible in discourse 'and for a strucrural, eidetic reason'. She proposesthat rhe enunciarior.ro[fernale scxuality involves mimickine what does not correspond to woman'.sown rnodel.tt Th. .,rimetic role, "".gu., Irigaray,is complex,'fbr it presupposesrhat one can lend oneself to "u..yth.ing, if nor to everyo.e. Thar one c:lr copy anvthing at all, any one ar all, can receive all impressio^s, witbout appropriating them tu oneself and without adding ary.'58 | wish to s.rggesrthat the jewelled r.emalebojy is a receptivefbrm of the kind Irigaray suggesrs,capableof bearing impressionsl insofar as or'arlent produces a' illusory surflce fbt th" body, the body in turn mimics through its ex.tic discoursesa universalizing 'fhat other. surfacc is legible withi. the social conrexrs of court culture, matrimony, generatirn and genealogy.'l'hcproblern is first, how the f-emale body can be wrested fion.r its impressions,its suppler'ents, when it is no longer neededfor rhose social functi''s, and sccond, how this mimicry can be co'tained, can be prcver.rtedfron"r being taken fbr rhe real, held back from appearing to be a substiturion fbr the universal phallic. The caseof Qu ce n (lha rlortc d e m . r s t r ar es lr . w t lc vi c c sm , b i l i z c a r r e f a c r .r ' r r r r iv e the interests oF this process. Locki.g^arup jewels in cabinets is one srage towards reassertingphallic arrthority.-l'he is rhe transposition, throush 'ext Notes in locatingmaterialForthis I I would like to thank l.ucy Peltzfor her assistance finding time to readand comment article,and l.indsaySmith lor generously uoon a first drafi. 2 SeeJ. [.. Nevinson,'New Year'sgiFrsto Queen ElizaberhI, 1584', Costume, v o l . 9 ( 1 9 7 5 ) ,p p .2 7 - 3 1 . -l I draw hereon J. Baudrillard,'For a critiquc of the politicaleconornyof the sign' in M. Poster (ed,.)Jean Baudrillard: Selected\Yritings(Cambridge and Oxford: Poliry, 1990),but seealsoM. Mauss,'l'heGift (1950),trans.\W. D. 'l-ime: Counterfeit Halls (London: Routledge, 1990) and J. Derrida, Giuen Money (Chicago:(ihicago UP, 1992). 4 R. K. Marshall and G. R. Dalgleish, 7'he Art of Jewellery in Scotland ( E d i n b u r gh :H M SO, Sco tti shN a ti o n a lPo r tr a i tGa l l e r y,l 9 9 l ) , p .4 1 . 5 For a range of such inscriptions,seeJ. Evans, English Posiesand PosyRings ( l . o n d o n :OU P/H u m p h r e y M i l fo r d , l 9 3 l ) ( th i sq u o te o n p . xi x) . 'fetzli 6 For a lascinatingexplorationof jewelleryas literaryimagery,seeKurt von Rosador,'Gemsand iewelleryin Victorianfiction', R.E.A.L.,vol.2, 1984. I am gratefulto Judy Rudoe for drawing my attention to this important article. Seealso\W. Jones,I;inger-ringLore (London: Chatto, 1877). 'l'hereis a largeliteratureoFancientoriginson this topic. SeeJ.Evansand M. 7 S. Serjeantson,EnglisltMedieualLapidaries(Oxfbrd: OUP, 1933, repr. 1960). 8 See, especially,Fl. H. Kantorowicz, 7-lte King's Ttuo Bodies:A Study m MedieualPolitical I'heolog (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1957). Europe. There is, however,a 9 l'his is, at least,true of eighteenth-century See,in particular, significantand growing body of work on Marie-Antoinette. S. Maza, PriuateLiuesand Public Affiirs. The CausesClllbres of Prereuolutionary France(Berkeleyand Los Angeles:UC Press,1993), and C. 'l'homas, La Reine scdkrate:Marie-Antoinetteet lespamphlrrs(Paris:Editions du Seuil, 1989). l0 AccountsoF the liFeof Queen Charlottedate from the period immediately following her death and include W. C. C)ulton, The Memoirs of Her Late MajestyQueenCharlotr (London: J. Robinson& Co., t8l9); J. Watkins, Memoirs of Her Most ExcellentMajestySophia-CharlotteQueenof (|reat Britain, ([-ondon: Hcnry Colburn, l8l9); (). Hedley, Queen fom authenticdocuments Cbarlotte(London: John Murray, 1975). All are dependentupon the memoirs of Delany,Papendiekand Walpole(seebelow,nn. 17, 32, 43). I I Invoiceslor some oF the jewellcrypurchasedthus are in the British Library, Add.MSS.38333, Ff. r26-37. l2 For example, l-he Diaries of' d Duchess.Extractsfon the Diaries of the /irst Duchessof Norrhumberlttnd,ed. l. Clreig (London, 1926), p. 28, <luoted in Hedlev,p. 42. Textual Practice l3 H. Walpole, Memoirs of the Reignof King Georgethe'l'hird, ed. G. F. Russell Barker(London and NewYork: l.awrenceEr Bullen/ Putnams,1894),pp. i, 56-7. l4 E. F. Twining, A History tf'tlrc Croun Leu,elsu1 p-rrorr (London: Batsfbrd, 1 96 0),p. 1 59. 15 The Diariesof a Duchess..., quored in Hedley, p.43. See alsoC)entleman\ Magazine,78, part 2 ( I 808), p. l 069, quoting a letteroF I 76 I :'-I'he lustreof her h e r sstomacher t o m a c h er was wa s in inconceivable, co n ce iva b le , b bcine cin g o one n e of the presents shereceived oresenrs whilst Princess oFMecklenburg,on which was represenred, by rhe vastproFusionof diamondsplacedon it, rhe magnificence artendingso greara king. . . . ' 16 D. Scarisbrick,/ewelleryin Britain 1066-t837 (Norwich: Michael Russell, 1994),p. 227. 17 Court and Priuate Life in the 'l-ime of Queen Charlotte, being the journals of Mrs. Papandiek,usisnnt heeperof the u,ardrohcnnd readerto Her Majesty, ed. Mrs Vernon Delvesllroughton (Lontion: privatelyprinrcd, 1887) (hereafier Pa pa nd iek)i., p. 12, quor ed in Hc dlc y , p. 43 w i t h d e t a i l s .I t w a s c o m m o n p r a c t i c e t o p r o te cr th e we d d in g r in g in th is wa y l8 rbid. lo Northurnberland,quoted in Hedley,p. 51. The jewelsappearedin rhe salesat Christie's17-19 Mry, and,24-26 May 1 81 9. Ib id., Mon day l7 J ! 1ay1819. (laricatureson rhe Warren Hastings affair are discussedin M. Pointon, 'lntrigue,jewelleryand economics:courr cultureand displayin Englandand Francein rhe l7B0s' (forthcoming). Many caricaruresallude to rhis atrribure.See, for example, The Queenof Hedrts couere'dwith Diamonds, c. 178(t, anonvmous caricarure (British Museum,London, 6978). This is evident, For example,in V. C. C)ulton, where each jewcllew gift eplsooe e p i s o d e ls i s counteracted c o u n te r a cte d wlth with the th e prcgnanc\/ p rde tollowlng lollowing lt. eplsode it. See,for example,Middleton's and Rowlcy's play, The Charigeling(1623) in which w h i c h notions n o t i o ns of f? r n a le sexuality o f f?rnale se xu a lity are a r e articulated a r ticu lated throush through the the exchanse exchange of of and in particularof rings.In onc-exchange, the jealousdocrorA'lbius iewellery, worries about his young wifb's fidelitv, saying:'l would wear my ring on my own 6nger;/ whilst it is borrowedir is none of mine, / But his that useth it', to which his servantreplies:'You rnusr keep it on rhen; if ir bur lie by, one or / Other will be thrusting into it' (T. Middleton and T. Rowley, 7'heChangelinged. N. Bawcutt (Manchester:MUP, 1958), II, iv, i). I am grateFulto JonathanL)ollimorefor drawirrgmy arrenrionto this text. Scarisbrick. o. 227. C)ulton,p. l4it; she is describedas wearing'a beautifulcrown of brilliants, with elevenlargediarnondsstuck in her hair; her stomacher,bouquer,and sleeve-bows werealso irnrriense ly rich'. On the political and moral discoursesoI luxury in eighteenth-cenrury England, see J. Sekora, Luxury. Thc Concept in lYestern Thoryht, Edrn to Smollett(Baltinroreand Lonclon:Johns Hopkins UP, 1977),rnd C. B..ry, The ldea of Luxury (Carnbridge:CIUP, 1994). Diamond crosses wereextremelyFashionable during the earlyGeorgianperiod and were more high-fashionitems than a sign of religiousdevourness. Queen Victoria, Statemrnt on behalf of'Her Majesty in Answer to the Clains made on behalf of His ,+lajestl the King of Hnnouet to Certain Jewels (181+4,p. 39), 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Marcia Pointon Royalbodies and luxuriousconsumption quoted in D. Scarisbrick,Jewelleryin Britain 1066-18i7 (Norwich: Michael Russell,1994),p.260. 30 Frye is recordedas having produced his mezzotint in three diFFerentsiz.esat, presumably, three different prices (H. Bromley, A Catalogueof Engraued British Portraits(London: T. Payneet al., 1793)).Boydell musi havereworked the plates that had worn out afier the death o[ Frye which occurred in the sameyearas he issuedhis prinr. 3l The quesriono[royal involvementin the WarrenHastingsaffairis the subject of work in progress. My research on all thesequestionsis parr o[an ongoing proiecrfor a book on the displaycultureof jewelsand jewellery. 32 A. Smith, The Vealrh of Naions (1776), Book I, Ch. XI (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 198(r),pp. 277-8; in Lectureson Justice,Police,Reuenucand Arms (c. 1763-4), ed. E. (lannan (Oxford: Clarendon,1896) ('0f the naturalwants of mankind', f)iv. ii, part ii, p. 159);Smith statesthat: 'Varieryof objecrsalso rendersthem agreeable.Vhat we are every day accustomedr<ldoes but very indifferenrlyaltfectus. (]ems and dianronds are on rhis accounr much esteemed bv us. In like rnannerour pinchbeckand many of our toys wereso much valuedby the Indians,that in barteringrheirjewelsand diamondsfor them they thoughtthey had madeby much the betterbargain.'Seealsomany references in Horace\flalpole'scorrespondence to diamondsand lndia (e.g. to Mary Berryon 22 October 1790on goodsf'romPeruand Mexico,'though we shouldconreby them a little more honestlythan we did the diamondsof Bengaf' (The Yalr Edition of Horace lVa/pole\ Oorrespondcnce, ed. W. S. [,ewis, 48 vol.s(London: OUP and New Haven: Yale UniversiryPress,1937-80), vol. I I (1944), pp. 122-t). Popular prinr and doggerel,especiallyat the time of the impeachmentof ]J 'Warren Hastingsin 178(r,places6learernphasis on the Indian originsoFthe brilliantsthat contributedso much ro the l-ondon sccnc. J 4 It is appropriate hereto recallthe longirraditionlor visualizingthe nationstare as a human body, eventhough Englandwas not a singlenation. where obscrvations such 35 As, fbr exanrple, in lUalpole's Correspondence, as '[-ady Bctty Montagu's iewelsare very pretry; she had berter have non. Mrs. Donaldson'sdaughter [Anna N4ariaMontagu] is coveredwith rhem e n r u t b o t ( L e tte r fi o m C e o r g e M o n ta g u , 7 M a r ch 1 7 6 6 , vo l . l 0 ( 1 9 4 1 ) , pp. 203-5). 36 On Queen ElizabethI and the symbolismof her depictionsseeF. A. Yates, Astraea. T'heImperial 'l-hemein tlte Sixteenth Century (London and Boston: Routledge,1975). 37 Pliny, Natural History,Book IX (LIV), trans. H. Rackham, l0 vols ([.ondon and Cambridge:-fhe Loeb ClassicalLibrary), 1938-57, iii (1940). 38 rbid. 39 rbid.(LVr). 40 Ibid.(LVIrr). Luxury is represented as a wonlan with a mirror in the rosewindow of Notre Dame, Paris,and lockedin lascivious embracein a reliefwhich pairsherwith C h a s r i r ye , t Am i e n s. 42 J. Rouquet, The PresentSrate o/' the Arts in England (London, 1755), pp. 89-90. 43 R. Brimfey Johnson (ed.) Mrs. Deldn-yat Court and Among the Wits (London: S t a n l e yP a u l & C o ., 1 9 2 5 ) .p p .2 2 9 - - 3 0 .M r s D e l e n y to M r s Po r t, 2 Ja n u a r y 1773. 4l Textual Practice vol.20 (19(r0), 44 H. Walpoleto 'I'. Mann, 22 [)eccmber 175O,Corrcspondence, pp .22 t 6. 4 5 Stra flbrd Pap er s ,l8 Sept em bc rl7. lt , RM Ad d . M S 2 2 , 2 5 6 ( 3 ( r ) . I a m gratefulto KarenStanworthfbr drarvingnry attentionto this correspondencc. 46 | will addressthis in my lorthcorling study of jcwelleryancldisplayculturein England. eighteenth-century 47 Scott'sdetailedrcstinronywas widcly cxpcctedto lead to Hastings'indictment. 4tl Papandiek,i, p. 27. 49 Valpole is just one rvho rc'portson thesesirnultaneous eventsof l2 August when the Quccn wasdcliveredof thc Princeof Walesand'the samemorning thc treasureof that capital priz-c,the Hernrione,arrived in town in many waggons:rnd passedthroughthe (liry tr>the'Iirwer.'l'hesum takenamounted to neareight hundrcd thousandpounds'(H. Valpole, Memoirs,i, p. 150). 50 Cornelia, the Mother of'tlte Gracchi, l)ointing to her Chi/dren as her'l'retsuresis one of a group of paintingsexecutedby Kauflmanfor (ieorgE.Bowles in 1785 in Novcmber 1788 and shownat the Iloyal Academyin lTll(r; it w:rsengravecl by Bartolozziand published by I{vland. See V-. W. Roworth, Angelica Kaufiiun. A OontinentalArtist itt ()rorgian I:ngland(1.<lnd,on, 1992), pp. 91, 187.-fhe subjectwas repeatccl fbr Hcr Majestvthe (]ueerrof Naplesin 1785 and fbr l)rince Poni:rtowskyin 1788; scc l.adv V. Manncrs and Dr. C. (1. Williarnscrn,AngelicaKtufnanu, ll. A. Her Ltfe dnd lVorhs(London: John I-ane& the Bodlcy Hcacl. 1924), p. 149. Lucy l)eltz has kincily drawn mv attentionto a copy of l.ucan'sl)harsalitpublishcdat StrawberryHill in 1760 and bound n,irh a vcry cxprcnsivc decorativcvcllunr binding by F.dwardsof Halifax, the back board of which containsa grisaillerepresentation of the (lorneliasubject.(llarissaCanrpbcll-Orrhasdrawn attcntionto the inclusion of this story in Mrnc tle la lrite's Qutstionsto be resolued or, d n(ut methodof' exercisingt/rc attentiortof'.younepeople(Lontlon, 1790) dedicated to Queen (lharlotte. 5l S. F.glcton,A l)oem.fitrQueeuChulotte'slllRT-H-DAY; WhichJitr the Goodol' I-RADI;, is Appointed n be Kept on tbe Eightccnth of JANUARY: But r Originally o/t the Nin?teentho/'Mt1 ([-ondon: l)rinteclby the Author for the Relicfof Hirnsclf,an infirm Wife, an<lSix small(lhildren, who will gratefullv a ckno wled ge t he s r lalles tlr av our ,n. d. ( 17u0 ?) ) . 52 'lhc tilorhsof'l)aterPindar, Esq. (l.ontion: F. (1. & J. Rivington, J. Nunn er al., ltll6 ), ii, p. 120. 5.1 Wetkins.o. 2 80. 54 Mad c bv Williar l Vilc and J ohn O obb, it is s t i l l i n t h e r o y a lc o l l e c t i o n S . ee M. Snodin (etl.) RococoArt tnd [)esigrt irt Hogtrth's England (L.ondon: Victo rie en d Albc r t M us eum , l9t l4, c et alog u e ,[ . o n d o n : 'l 'r e f b i l , 1 9 8 4 ) , no. [.60. 55 Mrs. 1..I)owys,tluotcclin Hcdlcy, p. 102. 5(r 'l'he irnageryof jewelboxesanclfi'nralescxtraliryis widcsprcad;in thc literary field onc thinks inrmcdiatclyof the division of iewclsfrom Dorothea'sand (lelia's nrother's jewel 6<tx in Midd/en,rrclt rn,J the significanceof L)ora's mother'sjewclcasein Freucl's casehistoryof [)ora (seel)enguinFreudl.ibrary vol. 8, (lasc Histories,l, 'Dora'and 'l,itle Hans). 57 L. Irigaray,T-ltisSexu,hichis ilot lile(\977), trans.(1. Porter(lthaca:(brnell UP, l9ttt), D. 149. 5U Ibid ., n. 15 1. eut hor ' sit alic s . Brian Young Gibbonand sex on the nremory will fbrce themselves A crowd of disgracefulPassagcs of the classicreadcr.l Sex is all-pervasivein the writings of Edwarcl Gibbon' while sex in his personal life, at least as mirrored in his letters and memoirs, is marked by a cultivated absence.Fertiliry and abundance characterizeboth his style and his subiect matter, especially in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, steriliry and a marmoreal anxiety mark his Personal existence. He begins his Autobiographlrs with a family hisrory replere wirh excursions into cadet branches and an extended cousinage,and he closesthem as a bachelor only child whose nearestrelativeshad long been a widowed stepmother and rwo maiden aunts. Sex is also deeplv entangled with history in Gibbon's writings, as opulenr culrures of display are richly delineated in an empire of the sensesas much as of men and of nations. Explicit sexual selfldisclosure is not something one should expect o[ an eighteenth-century memoir, and in this respect Gibbon's Autobiographies were typically as Far removed from the proto-Romantic example of ih..on-rp,,lsively confissional Rousseauas it was possible |tor them to be. It may be possible to make the occasional inference concerning Gibbon's broader views on sexual moresfrom the argumenr of The Decline and Fall, but again this can be achieved only with great caution. Gibbon devoted his lifi to becoming 'the historian oF the Roman Empire', and that is the persona one can be most sure of recovering fiom his writings, including rhe Autobiograp,birs.Sacrifices may well have been entailed in achieving this ambition, but it is not the place of the historian ro assurne what cannot be known. An examination of ccrtain o[ the preoccupations and themes developed in the argumenr of The Decline and Fall serves ro demonstrate the centrality of sex to Gibbon's understanding of the past, but it cannot be made to substantiate the infi'rences regarding his own sexuality which modern critics rnight otherwise want to make of an eighteenth-century text as richlv suggestiveas Gibbon's history. Textual Prattirc I l(3), 1997, 517-537 0950-216X A 1997Routledge