The Fool of Quality: or, The History of Henry Earl of Moreland
Contributions
- Henry Brooke
- author
- William Johnston
- publisher
Related resources
- has translation
- Théorie de la constitution de la Grande-Bretagne, ou de ses trois pouvoirs séparés et réunis: ouvrage traduit de l’anglais de Brooke, précédé d’un avertissement du traducteur, et d’un examen rapide des constitutions qui se sont succédées en France depuis 1791 jusqu’en 1814 translation has paratext
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Notes
Originally published in Dublin by Dillon Chamberlaine in five volumes (1765-70), then in London a year later, which is the version Barère obtained for his adapted translation. Further editions were published in 1777 ("enhanced and improved") by E. Johnston, 1781 by John Wesley, and 1792, in Edinburgh by Millar, Strand and Doig. Wesley published his own heavily abridged edition for his own evangelistic purposes, praising its promotion of humanitarian feelings and widely distributing it to his Methodist congregation alongside the Bible. Wesley's bowlderized version became the best known edition until the novelist Charles Kingsley organized the publication of the fully restored text version in 1859.
In Brooke's sentimental, picaresque, pedagogic novel, its hero, the young Harry Clinton, is abandoned by his decadent, aristocratic father and educated along Enlightenment principles by his philanthropic uncle. Suitably equipped, the innocent yet virtuous Clinton confronts the evils of the world, in between the author's philosophical digressions and commentaries on the action. It has been compared by one commentator to Rousseau's educational treatise, 'Emile', due to its idealization of the simple, natural life, its rejection of artificial society, its antipathy to class distinctions, its championing of the principles of liberty – through his study of the British constitution and government – and its attack on the limitations of formal education.
As part of his education, Clinton is given a tour of both sides of London, contrasting its cultured elegance with its squalid poverty in order to promote his natural empathy for those less well off than himself. For Brooke, the educated man must be a useful member of society, where his utility determines his true value, “let him learn from this day forward, to distinguish between natural and imaginary wants; and that nothing is estimable, or ought to be desirable, but so far as it is necessary, or useful to man”
For a good account of the author's intentions, see O’Driscoll, PhD, 2019.