Sure, undergrads, go ahead and use Chat GPT to cheat on your undergrad papers in 18c literature. Your teachers will never notice.

In honor of #NationalHandwritingDay, a specimen of #penmanship from 1 of Boston's #18c writing schools. His instructor was keen to ensure that Samuel Bonner in 1751 would never forget that “Lamentation and mourning are the companions of Vice.” Samuel’s flourishes are pretty cool.

We are eating oysters for Christmas Eve dinner, and the cat is reminding us that the great Dr Johnson gave his cat, Hodge, oysters, & what is wrong with us that we are not doing the same?
#cats #Christmas #gourmet #18c

Here’s some colourful frippery on a grey winter solstice day. From #18c (1780s) #France, via the MFA, a #balloon themed châtelaine made from glass beads. Note the cupids guiding the balloon in its upward flight, the clouds at the top, & tiny figure in the basket. #acccessories

The call for PhD applications will soon be opening up around here (deadline 1 March 23): it's relatively competitive (only for top 10–15% of MA students & a detailed proposal needed), but it's also a VERY generous programme: 4y, excellent salary + bench fee, working conditions, independence. Are you (or do you know anyone) who'd be a great researcher, with a great idea—on #Romanticism, very (very!) long #19C #18C ; British and/or transnational/comparative? Do get in touch! #phd #academic

It is feeling a little too on the nose to have scheduled the sophomores’ first class on The Beggar’s Opera for today, US midterm Election Day: kleptocracy on the 18c page and stage, kleptocracy resurgent (I hope not!) in the Congress and Senate. On Thursday Brecht’s 3penny opera gets added to our class mix and our material will feel even more relevant (I wish that weren’t the case). #18C , #pedagogy