A forest of masts: the image of the River Thames in the long eighteenth century

The visual image of the River Thames was central to the identity of London in the long eighteenth century. Art historical engagement with the subject has been dominated by refined upriver views, especially depictions of sites of royal residence and scenes of pageantry. This focus eclipses a significant untapped body of contemporary Thames imagery which suggests the existence of a more complex relationship between the visualisation of London’s river and the larger social, ideological and economic contexts of Britain’s rapidly developing global maritime and imperial power. This thesis proposes that only by reconnecting these works with the more familiar visual culture of eighteenth-century maritime London, can the full extent to which the river was identified as a signifier of national and imperial consciousness be fully understood. This identification is most apparent in depictions of the commercial and naval activity in the mercantile environs of the port to the east of London Bridge which effectively constitute a visual concordia discors with aggrandised upriver subjects. Thames imagery is also prevalent in the genre of satire where the countercultural nature of the port, characterised via its stereotypical portrayal of a bawdy labour force, undermines the polite pretensions of high art. In topographical views of the capital the dramatic physical rationalisation of the Thames in terms of new bridges and docks was harnessed to raise the profile of London and its river to that of an efficient cosmopolitan port suited for commercial empire. Above all, the image of the Thames evolved into a powerful and widely understood symbol reflecting a patriotic national identity constructed around maritime trade and naval power. This thesis argues for an alternative, more complex image of the Thames in the long eighteenth century which is informed by a range of ideological issues centred around the meaning of commerce and empire from a period when the river became the emblem of London’s increasing self-identification as the centre of a maritime nation of unprecedented scale

Infectious Fear: The Rhetoric of Pestilence in Middle English Didactic Texts on Death

This article examines literary references to bubonic plague in a sample of late fourteenth- and fifteenth-century English texts that are didactic in tone and address the theme of death, including Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Pardoner’s Tale”, John Lydgate’s “Danse Macabre” and the anonymous The Castle of Perseverance and “A Disputation between the Body and Worms”. Although there have been broad surveys of bubonic plague in Middle English literature, as well as studies of isolated texts, this article is the first to examine the role of pestilence in a group of texts linked by theme and authorial intention. It contributes to current understanding of the disease in late medieval literature and culture, showing how authors utilised the idea of pestilence as a frightening cause of sudden death and as a form of rhetoric serving to encourage readers to reflect on mortality, the spiritual health of the soul and the prospect of salvation. Whereas previous research has shown that doctors, priests and writers interpreted the pestilence as a divine punishment for sin, this study demonstrates how that belief could be exploited for rhetorical purposes. The rhetoric of pestilence emerges as a powerful contemplative tool urging readers to practise self-examination, penitence and a more active, strategic approach to death

Analysis of Outcomes in Ischemic vs Nonischemic Cardiomyopathy in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation A Report From the GARFIELD-AF Registry

IMPORTANCE Congestive heart failure (CHF) is commonly associated with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (AF), and their combination may affect treatment strategies and outcomes