Amphibious Thing: The Adventures of a Georgian Rake (Paperback)

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Amazon.co.uk Review
As vice chamberlain to George II, a favourite of the Queen and a loyal supporter of the prime minister, Lord Hervey was one of the most famous and influential aristocrats of the early 18th century. But behind the respectable public persona lay a disreputable private life. Scandalously for the time, Hervey had an almost open relationship with another man. Although publicly scorned and satirised (most famously by poet Alexander Pope), Hervey refused to retaliate; and retained a dignified and defiant silence. As a consequence, Hervey is remembered today as his detractors portrayed him over two-and-a-half centuries ago. Lucy Moore's Amphibious Thing sets about trying to readdress Hervey's negative press. By including extracts from private letters and two volumes of memoirs, Moore presents Hervey's posthumous defence. "They reveal a man more complex than the caricatures drawn up by his enemies, which are circumscribed by their topicality as well as their spite." According to Moore (author of the critically acclaimed The Thieves' Opera) Hervey's bisexuality just exemplified the ambiguity of his personality. "He hid behind a web of artifice and deception, of affectation and wit, never letting anyone get close enough to see his innermost self." Meticulously researched, Moore's book helps the reader to understand the make-up of an exceptionally modern man "who lived beyond the parameters of his age". An age Moore manages to recount so colourfully it is as if you were there. --Christopher Kelly --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
Lord Hervey was one of the most controversial figures of the Georgian age. The consummate courtier - strikingly handsome, elegant and witty - he was both the favourite of the Queen and right-hand man to Walpole. Painted by Hogarth, satirized by Fielding and Pope, and confidant of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Hervey counted among his friends and enemies some of the most brilliant men and women of the age. Yet for all his hard-won public fame, there was a scandalous private side to Hervey. He was certainly a rake (rumour had it that he shared a mistress with the Prince of Wales), but such behaviour was quite normal among the 18th-century aristocracy. Less usual, however, was his ten-year affair with another man. From the outset, Hervey was fascinated by Stephen Fox. His engaging, delightfully witty letters reveal the depth of their passion for one another, and the lengths to which they were driven in order to escape detection. Finally, theirs became an "open secret", one of many factors that was to contribute to Hervey's downfall. In this biography, Lucy Moore brings to life an entire age, with its shimmering artifice and its poisonous deceit, its highly wrought melodrama and its grand passions.

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6 Reviews 5 star:  (3) 4 star:  (1) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:  (2) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 3.8 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   5 of 5 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Brings the Eighteenth Century Alive, 6 Oct 2000 By A Customer This review is from: Amphibious Thing: The Life of Lord Hervey (Hardcover) Having recently read Henry Fielding's 'Tom Jones' my curiosity to find out more about life in the 18th Century was aroused, and 'Amphibious Thing' has proved the perfect antidote. Hervey had an amazing life, but what Moore does so brilliantly is to make him such a real character that one can identify with today. She also spends considerable time on the details of day-to-day life at that time and how the court and politics worked. 'Amphibious Thing' was really well written, utterly entertaining, and I finished it feeling many of my questions about the period had been answered. I can't recommend this enough. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   4 of 4 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Compulsive and well written, 10 April 2001 By A Customer This review is from: Amphibious Thing: The Life of Lord Hervey (Hardcover) 'Amphibious Thing' is a rarity in the world of historical biography in that it is both scholarly and entertaining. Lord Hervey was by no means an endearing character, but Lucy Moore manages to make his story truly compulsive through her intelligent writing style and broad knowledge of the eighteenth century. Anyone with an interest in this period will delight in her skilful recreation of the aristocratic horrors of the age. Top marks. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   3 of 3 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating insight into life in the 18th Century, 27 Sep 2000 By A Customer This review is from: Amphibious Thing: The Life of Lord Hervey (Hardcover) Lucy Moore has produced an absolutely fascinating and totally absorbing book about one of the most interesting characters of the 18th Century. Lord Hervey (a relation of the Marquis of Bristol) was a wit, courtier, and politician - right-hand man to Walpole, (the first Prime Minister), and Royal confidente. But despite fathering eight children, he was also bi-sexual and his affair with Stephen Fox, (unlce of Whig leader Charles James Fox), ultimately helped bring about his downfall. These are very real characters that Moore writes about, and as she brilliantly demonstrates, human character and motivations have changed very little since then. Also, it becomes perfectly clear that people loved a public scandal then as much as we do now. But the book is so much more than just a biography - by the end I felt I had learned something about court life, the politics of the age, letter writing and it's importance, as well as attitudes towards homosexuality and various other aspects of day-to-day life at that time. As a piece of social history, this is hard to beat. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this) Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review › See all 6 customer reviews...		Most Recent Customer Reviews 4.0 out of 5 stars Sporus no Longer trembling!! The Life and Times of Hervey: an Eighteenth Century Bisexual Lucy Moore has done a remarkable job of rescuing... Read more Published on 5 Mar 2003 by James Dubro 2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing I have to agree with my fellow-reader from Ireland. Lord Hervey gets the story of his life told in almost 400-page detail, while never having been the kind of player on history's... Read more Published on 3 April 2002 2.0 out of 5 stars Somewhat over-rated ... While the book is well written, and obviously painstakingly researched, I felt it was a bit dull. Read more Published on 8 Dec 2001 Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews › See all 6 customer reviews...

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