Robert Bage
Robert Bage was an English novelist and paper manufacturer born in 1728 in Derbyshire, England. He faced early hardships, including the loss of his mother and stepmother at a young age. Despite a lack of formal education, he became self-taught, excelling in languages and mathematics, and eventually took over his father's paper business. Bage began writing novels as a means to recover from business losses, publishing his first work, *Mount Henneth*, in 1782, which showcased his unique humor and progressive views on topics like interracial marriage and women's virtue.
His subsequent works, including *Barham Downs* and *Man as He Is*, reflected his liberal political stance, supporting American colonists during the Revolutionary War and expressing antislavery sentiments. Bage's writing style incorporated satirical dialogue and picaresque elements, drawing inspiration from contemporaries like Tobias Smollett and Voltaire. His final novel, *Hermsprong*, is noted for its critique of European values through a uniquely humorous lens. While his works were well-received in critical circles, Bage believed he faced persecution for his political beliefs. He continued to manage his business until his death in 1801, leaving behind a legacy of progressive thought and literary experimentation.
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Robert Bage
Writer
- Born: February 28, 1728
- Birthplace: Darley, Derbyshire, England
- Died: September 1, 1801
- Place of death: Tamworth, England
Biography
Robert Bage was born in 1728 to George, a paper manufacturer, in the village of Darley, Derbyshire, in the English North Midlands. His mother died when he was only a few months old, and his first stepmother passed away when he was only four. He was a precocious child, mastering Latin by the time he was seven. Nevertheless, he did not receive an academic education and was largely self-taught, especially in modern languages and mathematics. In fact, he learned his father’s trade, and on his marriage in 1751 to Elizabeth Woolley, was able to use some of her money to set up business in his own. In 1756, he found a wholesaler who undertook to buy all his output. Nevertheless, the business did only moderately well, and some ill-advised ventures into an iron foundry meant he had to sell the business to the Earl of Donegal, and lease it back again from him.
By his own admission, it was to compensate for business losses that he first undertook novel writing, though his first novel, published anonymously like all his later ones, only gained him thirty pounds. This was Mount Henneth, published in two volumes in 1782. It had a sprawling, ill-defined plot, but is interesting for its humor and wit, and its treatment of inter- racial marriages and its refusal to condemn women who had “lost their virtue” through rape or seduction, as was the case in the sentimental novels of the time. Barham Downs (1784) follows Bage’s epistolatory fiction, allowing ample time to discuss ideas of the day, and to satirize conventional political wisdom. He uses lengthy dialogues to discuss the issues, and the plots remain undefined. Bage showed himself to be on the American colonists’ side in the Revolutionary War then raging, later demonstrating strong antislavery sentiments. He was also sympathetic to the Irish in the crisis of the 1780’s.
The Fair Syrian was published in 1787 and James Wallace in three volumes in 1788. The former novel contains a long American episode, where the hero, a young officer, realizes he is fighting on the wrong side and is glad the British lose. Such liberal views won him the friendship of a number of leading intellectuals of the day, including Erasmus Darwin. He was living at this time near Tamworth, Staffordshire, not far from Birmingham, where there were regular meetings of Enlightenment societies, though it is not clear if he attended any of them. He was distressed by the reactionary Birmingham riots of 1791, which affected his wholesaler and friend, Robert Hutton. This was because of their mutual support for the early stage of the French Revolution.
These views are reflected in his next novel, Man as He Is (1792). Though satiric, it is also optimistic, and is considered by many to be his best work. It is a picaresque novel, in the form adopted by Tobias Smollett and Henry Fielding earlier in the century, but owing a good deal to the French writer Voltaire. Many of the characters are drawn upon real-life characters: Colerain is based upon Thomas Hibbert, a leading slave owner in Jamaica, for example. Voltaire is also the influence in his final novel, Hermsprong: Or, Man as He Is Not (1796), where a European, raised among Native Americans, visits Europe and is able to naively to question its values. It turned out as an antiestablishment satire, though instead of Voltaire’s caustic wit, Bage’s is a more kindly humor. It was well received by critics, even by Sir Walter Scott, though Scott deprecates Bage’s liberal views.
Hermsprong alone among Bage’s novels continued to be popular. He became convinced the government were persecuting him through his business for his political views. However, Bage managed to run his business almost until his death in 1801. Two of his three sons survived him.