What Blest Genius?: The Jubilee That Made Shakespeare

In September 1769, three thousand people descended on Stratford-upon-Avon to celebrate the artistic legacy of William Shakespeare. Attendees included the rich and powerful, the fashionable and the curious, and journalists and profiteers. For three days, they paraded streets, listened to songs and oratorios, and enjoyed masked balls. It was a unique cultural moment―a coronation elevating Shakespeare to the throne of genius. Except it was a disaster. The poorly planned Jubilee imposed an army of Londoners on a backwater hamlet peopled by hostile locals, unable and unwilling to meet their demands. Even nature refused to behave. Rain fell in sheets, flooding tents and dampening fireworks, and threatening to wash the whole town away. Author: Andrew McConnell Stott. Hardcover; 208 pages.

Item number 21108285