Bang-Up! Theatricality and the ‘Diphrelatic Art’ in De Quincey’s English Mail-Coach

Abstract

Examines implicit connections between De Quincey’s work and the English popular stage during the first two decades of the nineteenth century and farcical commentary on the so-called “Four-in-Hand” or “Driving” mania that seized the city early in 1809. Notes that De Quincey’s work in seeing Wordsworth’s Convention of Cintra pamphlet through the press made him well-schooled in the campaigns of the Peninsular War that figure prominently in the section of his essay called “Going Down with Victory.” Argues that given the long-standing preference of De Quincey and his college-age peers for riding “on the box,” he is unlikely to have overlooked this new frenzy for coach-driving in the nation’s capital; believes the fundamental crisis shaping the entire essay concerns skill in driving coaches, not just in sitting atop them. Claims the “diphrelatic” or “charioteering art,” as De Quincey calls it, links three contemporary arenas or “theaters” for testing and evaluating equestrian skill: The London popular stage, the streets and highways of England, and the “theater” of war.