I am easily delighted by satirical dictionaries of all types*, from Gustave Flaubert's
Dictionnaire des idées reçues** (
The Dictionary of Accepted Ideas) to Ambrose Bierce's
The Devil's Dictionary.
While I was reading David Duff's
Romance and Revolution: Shelley and the Politics of a Genre, I stumbled across the following quoted material:
Enquiry, -- according to the modern construction, signifies Sedition. In the old English dictionary, it was held a CONSTITUTIONAL PRIVILEGE, derived from MAGNA CHARTA and the BILL OF RIGHTS, for the people to enquire into the conduct of Kings or Ministers, and into the errors of their government; but all things now seem in a state of revolution, and, according to Mr. Pitt's new code, which is implicitly adopted by all the legal courts through the three kingdoms, enquiry implies disloyalty, sedition, or treason, and they who are audacious enough to claim this ancient obsolete privilege, expose themselves to the penalties of fine, pillory, or imprisonment, and if in Scotland, of transportation for fourteen years to BOTANY BAY. The people, however, begin to murmur at the revolution that the word has undergone, and to think that this is not altogether a FREE country.
This was quoted from Charles Pigott's
Political Dictionary published in 1795. And it's completely awesome-- an entirely undiscovered*** (by me, previously) book of satire that I'm totally justified in tracking down a copy of because it pertains to the literary eras I'm studying this semester. It also represents the political and cultural atmosphere that helped build up to the Victorian era, which may very well be the area of specialization I'm going into (post on that at a later date).
Also, you know, hooray satire! Boo reactionary government in Britain following in the wake of the French Revolution.
* Well, really, satire in all forms. It's one of my favorite things ever, satire.
** Link will take you to the French edition; I'm sorry, I couldn't find an English translation online. (Admittedly, I didn't look for very long. I have to write this academic book review!)
*** Speaking of undiscovered satirical dictionaries, in the course of writing this post I found out about Douglas Adams and John Lloyd's
The Meaning of Liff and am now excited over something completely different.
† Subject line brought to you by
Red Stripe. (This extra footnote brought to you because I just really wanted to use the little dagger graphic.)