Only on pp. 8-9, in Chapter ii, do we come across surprising references to:
a railway;
semaphores;
smoke stacks;
factories;
tenements;
iron on the wind;
stamping;
grinding;
fumes;
soot;
Leeds and Bradford industrialized in the seventeenth century.
We already knew that history had taken a different course, with Prince Rupert captured at Marston Moor, but nothing had yet prepared us for this Puritan Industrial Revolution.
Morning sun lights clouds. Grass and leaves are multi-shaded green. Corn is gold. There are odors of flowers, soil and growth. Birds sing. Country contrasts with city. Conflict continues but, for now, Rupert is captive.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
It was probably only a series of accidents which prevented an Industrial Revolution from starting in the early 1600's instead of around 1790, as in our timeline. Given an early discovery of steam power and quick realization of its possible uses, something like what we see in MIDSUMMER might have happened in our world line.
Ad astra! Sean
Kaor, Sean!
I remember reading somewhere (Science News, perhaps) of archeological evidence that English Benedictines were experimenting with relatively large-scale steel production before Henry VIII despoiled the monasteries. Perhaps if the Reformation in England had gone a little differently, even if, as in A MIDSUMMER TEMPEST, it had still happened, the stage would have been set for an earlier industrial revolution. Or maybe not, maybe it couldn’t have happened, even with more and cheaper steel, if other technological and social factors weren’t right.
Best Regards,
Nicholas
Kaor, Nicholas!
Now that interests me, the idea Benedictine monks were taking an interest in metallurgy! It would fit in whit what Manse Everard said in "Delenda Est" about how it was Christian monks who invented the mechanical clock. To say nothing of the Catholic belief in the lawfulness of God. A belief which contributed to the developing of the scientific method.
And I have a vague recollection of reading somewhere that it was the Franciscans who invented double entry bookkeeping, yet another very basic tool.
All these things, plus grasping the uses of steam power, could have led to an Industrial Revolution happening earlier than in our timeline. Preferably in an England where the "Reformation" had not triumphed. I would like to thin an Industrial Revolution beginning in a Catholic England might have been somewhat less harsh and callous than what was seen in our UK and US (or by the Puritans of MIDSUMMER). Or, considering what humans too often are like, probably not.
But you are right, it took the right combination of individual genius, plus social, philosophical, and technological factors, before our Industrial Revolution started.
Ad astra! Sean
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