Editing Christopher Anstey (section)

==Literary influence==
===18th century===
Anstey was an innovator in more ways than one. He was the first to make tourism a poetic subject since the pilgrimage depicted by [[Thomas Chaucer]] in his [[Canterbury Tales]]. The epistolary mode which Anstey chose for his characters allowed their different voices to be distinguished in the same way as Chaucer's were through their narratives. But at the same time, the relaxed anapaestic measure united within it the work's impressionistic diversity.<ref>A.V. Seaton, "Getting socially on the road: the short, happy life of the anapaestic tourism narrative", in [https://books.google.com/books?id=2l_NCwAAQBAJ ''Travel Writing, Visual Culture, and Form, 1760-1900''], Palgrave Macmillan 2016, pp.115ff</ref>

Added evidence of the way that Anstey's social comedy had captured the general imagination is given by the large number of imitations that followed its publication. They were of several kinds, however, and at first were directly dependent on ''The New Bath Guide'' for their context, the earliest being the complimentary ''Poetical Epistles to the author of the New Bath Guide'' (London, 1767).<ref>The Critical Review, vol.23, [https://books.google.com/books?id=0vYvAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22%27%27poetical+epistles+to+the+author+of+the+new+bath+guide%27%27%22&pg=PA220 p.220]</ref> It was followed by a youthful imitation of Anstey's manner by [[Richard Brinsley Sheridan]], first published in ''[[The Bath Chronicle]]'' as a satirical account of the opening ball at the New Assembly Rooms in 1771. The convoluted title of this occasional piece was "The Ridotto of Bath, a Panegyrick written by a Gentleman, resident in that City: Being an Epistle from Timothy Screw, Under Server to Messrs Kuhf and Fitzwater, to his brother Henry, Waiter at Almack's" and was dependent on Anstey's work in several particulars.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=vPYlDwAAQBAJ&q=The+Ridotto+of+Bath "Introduction, The Ridotto of Bath"],  ''Delphi Complete Works of Richard Brinsley Sheridan'' (2017)</ref> Another close imitation was ''The Register of Folly, or characters and incidents at Bath'', containing twelve poetical epistles 'by an invalid' (London 1773).<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=a8lYAAAAcAAJ Google Books]</ref>

Anstey's ''An Election Ball'' (1776) and its reporting in three letters is not only an imitation of his own manner in the New Bath Guide but takes further Sheridan's later ballroom satire. Created initially for the amusement of the Batheaston set,<ref>Bishop 1994, p.68</ref> it also flattered the town in general by its use of local references. Much later there came another derivative reference to the Guide itself in [[John Williams (satirist)|John Williams]]' ''A Postscript to the New Bath Guide by Anthony Pasquin'' (1790).<ref>Bishop 1994, p.96</ref>

But other health resorts than Bath were coming into vogue, and to these Anstey's manner began to be applied by other authors, one of the earliest being the ''Tunbridge Epistles from Lady Margaret to the Countess of B'', mentioned in ''The Monthly Review'' for May 1767.<ref>''The Monthly Review'' Vol.36, [https://books.google.com/books?id=OwPhAAAAMAAJ&dq=imitation+of+the+New.+Bath+Guide+...%22&pg=PA409 p. 409)].</ref> Although the majority of such works lacked the charm of novelty, and often attracted scornful reviews, [[Sir George Dallas, 1st Baronet|George Dallas]] at least made his name with an exotic adaptation. This was ''The India Guide, or Journal of a Voyage to the East Indies in the Year 1780: In a Poetical Epistle to Her Mother by Emily Brittle'' (Calcutta 1785), which he dedicated to Anstey.<ref>''The Annual Biography and Obituary'', Volume 18, London 1834, [https://books.google.com/books?id=aNwxAQAAIAAJ&dq=%22the+bath+guide%22++-Anstey&pg=PA30 pp. 30–31].</ref>

As the new fad of [[sea-bathing]] replaced the hot springs at Bath, the pseudonymous Anthony Pasquin now found the success that eluded him with his ''Postscript to the New Bath Guide'' by bringing Anstey’s title up to date with ''The new Brighton guide, or companion for young ladies and gentlemen to all the watering-places in Great Britain: with notes, historical, moral, and personal'' (1796).<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101037621875&view=1up&seq=9 Hathi Trust]</ref> It immediately became a best-seller, but in succeeding editions the main emphasis was redirected to satire of the [[Prince regent#Prince regent in the United Kingdom|Prince Regent]], who had favoured [[Brighton]] as a resort. With that came an alteration of the poem's title to ''The New Brighton Guide; Involving a Complete, Authentic, and Honourable Solution of the Recent Mysteries of Carlton House'' that promised "Momentous Alterations and Additions".<ref>The 4th edition (of six),  [https://archive.org/details/newbrightonguide00pasqiala/page/n5 archived online]</ref> The work consisted of a series of epistles – moral, sentimental, serious and didactic – between the [[Royal Pavilion]] and the Regent’s associated London residences.

In the following year an anonymous work featured the alternative health resort of [[History of Ramsgate|Ramsgate]] in ''The Sea-Side, a Poem, in Familiar Epistles from Mr Simkin Slenderwit Summerising at Ramsgate, to His Dear Mother in Town'' (1797).<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=LahYAAAAcAAJ Google Books].</ref> Richard Scrafton Sharpe (c.&nbsp;1780 -1852) chose a nearby town for his imitation, ''The Margate new guide; or memoirs of five families out of six Who, in Town discontent with a good Situation, Make Margate the Place of their Summer Migration'' (1799). It too deployed Anstey's almost obligatory jogtrot rhythm in what a contemporary review summed up as "ten letters, humorously describing in lively verse the usual diversions of that place and the company who resort to it."<ref>''London Review, and Biographia Literaria'', 1799, [https://books.google.com/books?id=G3JKAQAAMAAJ&q=Margate p.391]</ref> Another reviewer, however, found it poorer by comparison with ''The New Bath Guide''.<ref>''[[The Critical Review (newspaper)|Critical Review]]'', 1799, [https://books.google.com/books?id=BB8FAAAAYAAJ&q=Margate p.472]</ref>

Several more authors had rushed in where Anstey had feared to tread and adapted his style, and even his characters, to political themes. They include [[Ralph Broome (pamphleteer)|Ralph Broome]]'s ''The Letters of Simkin the Second, poetic recorder of all the proceedings upon the trial of Warren Hastings'' (London 1789);<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/lettersofsimkins00brooiala#page/n7/mode/2up Online archive]</ref> followed by ''The New Parliamentary Register in a series of poetical epistles'' (1791),<ref>''The Analytical Review'', Vol.8, [https://books.google.com/books?id=1fwvAAAAYAAJ&dq=imitation+of+the+New.+Bath+Guide+...%22&pg=PA551 pp. 551–3].</ref> which was dedicated to Anstey and featured Simkin as a newly elected [[Unreformed House of Commons|Member of Parliament]].

===19th century===
[[File: Thomas_Rowlandson’s_caricature_of_Bath_diversions.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.6|Thomas Rowlandson’s caricature of Bath diversions, 1810]]
The trend of adaptations of Anstey’s manner to other themes extended into the nineteenth century. In the political sphere there was [[George Watson-Taylor]]'s ''The Cross-Bath Guide, being the Correspondence of a Respectable Family upon the subject of a late unexpected Dispensation of Honours'' (1815), although a reviewer found that "the imitation is not quite the equal, in point of wit, to the original" model by Anstey.<ref>''The Eclectic Review'', Vol.1 New Series, [https://books.google.com/books?id=RtsEAAAAQAAJ&q=imitation+of+the+New.+Bath+Guide&pg=PA397 p.397]</ref> There were also surveys of newly developing resort towns: by [[Barbara Hofland]] in ''A Season in Harrogate, in a series of poetical epistles by Benjamin Blunderhead Esquire to his mother in Derbyshire'' (1812)<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435000869594&view=1up&seq=5 Hathi Trust]</ref> and by William Henry Halpin in ''The Cheltenham Mailbag: or letters from Gloucestershire, edited by Peter Quince the Younger'' (1820).<ref>John Warren, London, [https://books.google.com/books?id=EZoVAAAAYAAJ Google Books]</ref>

Meanwhile Bath was again becoming fashionable as a spa town, a development underlined by the arrival of [[Queen Charlotte]] in 1817, leading a royal party.<ref>[http://bath.co.uk/they-came-to-bath/queen-charlotte Bath UK]</ref> The place had been newly celebrated already in [[John Cam Hobhouse]]'s ''The Wonders of a Week in Bath in a doggerel address'' in 1811.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=p2o3AAAAYAAJ Google Books]</ref> That poem was followed a few years later by two linked works: ''Rough Sketches of Bath by Q in the Corner'' (Bath 1817), described by a later critic as "little else than clever imitations of Anstey",<ref>David Macbeth Moir, ''Sketches of the Poetical Literature of the Past Half-century'', Blackwood & Son 1851, [https://books.google.com/books?id=QPFZAAAAcAAJ&dq=Bath+%22Thomas+Haynes+Bayley%22&pg=PA285 p.285]</ref> and by ''Epistles from Bath, or Q’s letters to his Yorkshire relations'' (1817).<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=iIg_AQAAMAAJ Google Books]</ref> Though these were published anonymously at the time, [[Thomas Haynes Bayly]] eventually identified himself as "Q" (and his target as Anstey) in a "Pastoral Duet between Robert Montgomery and Thomas Haynes Bayly", published in [[Fraser's Magazine]]:
:I sang about Bath till I bothered them really,
:And eclipsed was Kit Anstey by Thomas Haynes Bayly.<ref>''Fraser's Magazine'', Vol.4 (1831), [https://books.google.com/books?id=dSlNAQAAMAAJ&dq=Bath+%22Thomas+Haynes+Bayley%22&pg=PA52 p.52]</ref>

Imitative works were now being extended into series as their authors sought to outdo their predecessors. A further anonymous collection of letters in Anstey measure appeared as ''A Summer in Bath'' in 1822, but quoting Bayly at the start by way of "Advertisement".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=xPs5UpOjEpIC&dq=Bayley+%22Rough+Sketches+of+Bath+%22&pg=PP7 Google Books]</ref> However, [[Thomas Moore]]'s ''[[The Fudge Family in Paris]]'' (1818) marked an original departure and provided a more successful model for satirical imitation.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=AahbAAAAQAAJ&q=%22The+Fudge+family+in+Paris%22 Google Books]</ref> Moore's work brought Anstey's manner up to date and widened its scope. Four family members visit the completely different setting of Paris after the [[Bourbon Restoration in France|Bourbon restoration]]. Their various characters and points of view are reflected in more varied verse measures, in which the anapaestics of the family’s younger generation contrast with the iambics of their elders, and the politics treated are those that followed the [[Congress of Vienna]]. Just as important for the more straight-laced audience of the time, the love interest provided by Biddy Fudge and her suitor replaces with farcical social satire the coarseness once deplored in Anstey's treatment of Prudence Blunderhead. Later imitations were to transfer relatives of the Fudge family to the Scottish<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=4dUIAAAAQAAJ&q=%22+The+Fudge+Family+in+Edinburgh+in+a+series+of+Poetical+Epistles%22 ''The Fudge Family in Edinburgh'' (1820)], Google Books</ref> and American capitals<ref>[https://archive.org/details/fudgefamilyinwas00nimr/page/n5/mode/2up ''The Fudge Family in Washington'' (1820)], Internet Archive</ref> and to Ireland (1822).<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=28VUAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22+Fudge+in+Ireland%22&pg=PP2 ''Fudge in Ireland'' (1822)], Google Books</ref> Then a French Fudge turns the tables by visiting the English capital and describing life there to his exiled relative in France.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=tfgyAQAAMAAJ&q=The+Fudge+Family+in+England ''The Fudge Family in England ''(1823)], Google Books</ref>

At the decade's end, an inhabitant of Bath, refusing to be dazzled by the recent tourist preference for capital cities, called the strayed brood of imitators to heel with ''Eight Letters from Bath by the Fidget Family'' (Bath, 1830) in impeccable Anstey measure.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=YHRLAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Eight+Letters+from+Bath%22 Google Books]</ref> Nor was it until 1835 that the harassed and impecunious Moore could himself get round, much too late, to writing his own sequel, ''[[The Fudges in England]]''. That too was set, according to its preface, in "a well-known fashionable watering place".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ubxgAAAAcAAJ Google Books]</ref> But though the work sold well, the critical response was muted. "Mr Moore’s poetical ''[[rabies]]'' is incurable" commented the reviewer of ''The Dublin University Magazine''.<ref>Vol.VI, September 1835, [https://books.google.com/books?id=3BlJAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22The+Fudges+in+England%22+-selected++-sequel&pg=PA300 p.297]</ref> A modern judgment, comparing Moore's original work and its sequel, finds that while "in the first Fudge saga, the influence of Anstey is less evident", the story line of the second is much more derivative.<ref>Catherine Harrison, ''A Genealogy of the Verse Novel'', Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017, [https://books.google.com/books?id=mDI9DwAAQBAJ&dq=%22The+Fudges+in+England%22+-selected++-sequel&pg=PA73 pp.72-5]</ref> In any case, writers seem to have decided by now that enough was enough and no further imitations of Anstey followed.

===20th century===
A later tribute came from [[John Betjeman]] in 1973. As a trustee of the [[Bath Preservation Trust]] since the 1940s, he protested the depredations of philistine developers in "The Newest Bath Guide", quoting from and addressing Anstey.<ref>William S. Peterson, ''John Betjeman: A Bibliography'', Oxford University 2006, [https://books.google.com/books?id=2wLNathQPNgC&dq=%22The+Newest+Bath+Guide%22+in+the+manner+of+Christopher+Anstey%22&pg=RA1-PA1935 pp. 439–40].</ref> Its final couplet demonstrates how much Betjeman was indebted to him for his own art of satirical rhyming:
::Goodbye to old Bath! We who loved you are sorry
::They're carting you off by developer's lorry.<ref>[http://spcoll.library.uvic.ca/Digit/Betjeman/webcon/wholeweb/b10wrev.txt1.htm Betjeman Concordance]</ref>