Rural rides

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Rural Rides is a book published in 1830 by the English writer William Cobbett .

Background and content

William Cobbett was one of the most notable characters of the 19th century . Born in Surrey and raised as a farm hand or human scarecrow in a little blue smock ("human scarecrow in a little blue smock") as he called it, became a soldier and later a political journalist , escaped the French Revolution and later lived in Philadelphia . After returning from the United States in 1821, he began a series of trips through southern England to see how the local landscape had changed since childhood.

The resulting book Rural Rides is a classic portrait of rural life shortly before the industrial revolution . Since it was first published in 1830, it has been reprinted time and again and has been honored by writers such as Matthew Arnold and the historian Alan JP Taylor .

These rides brought Cobbett back to its roots at a wonderfully familiar and leisurely walking pace. He traveled to Selborne , Hampshire , where a pastor had recently been shot, and to Thursley , Surrey, where the entire parish eagerly awaits a fox hunt , as happy as if everyone were young and everyone was going to their own wedding (“as happy as if all were young and all just going to be married ").

With the knowledge of a farmer , he notices the crops and the condition of the arable land, and he has a passion for the poor and what he perceives as a constant gradient in rural life from the perspective of urban growth. Although much of what he has listed has long since disappeared, other things are still relevant today, such as the losses made by farmers, the corruption of politicians and the devaluation of the currency .

In robust, pleasant and clear language, Cobbett pours mockery over the Martello towers built to repel Napoleon Bonaparte ( I dare to say that they cost MILLIONS ("I dare say they cost MILLIONS")), over the bullfrog ("bullfrog") ) or greedy big landowners and about "The Great Wen" or boil , as he disparagingly describes London . He eloquently describes the beauties of the English countryside and the importance of the three B's for the common worker: "Bacon, Bread and Beer" ( bacon, bread and beer ).

The journalist Richard Ingrams argues in a new edition of the book that Cobbett was obsessed with a markedly English disposition that combined radical beliefs with conservative instincts, a stubborn individuality and, above all, the ability to make his readers laugh (“an attitude of mind distinctly English, combining radical beliefs with conservative individuality and, above all, the ability to make his readers laugh ").

The book is a rich portrait of both an age and a great personality.

Gilbert Keith Chesterton described the book as follows:

The Rural Rides are pure literature ... Everything comes into this great monologue ("The Rural Rides are pure literature ... Eyerything comes into this great soliloquy").

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