“Plain Mat / Has been doing at Paris, The Lord knows what”: Matthew Prior and Harleyite diplomacy in the year 1711

Abstract

In the year 1711, Harleyite diplomacy was driven by two major concerns: the credit crisis precipitated by the ministerial change of 1710, and the matter of the British engagement in the War of the Spanish Succession. Both issues were intimately linked, and their resolution well illustrates Robert Harley’s political vision, as a cross-partisan moderate, as well as his manipulation of public opinion for political gain. This article focuses on the role of Matthew Prior – poet, diplomat and propagandist – and the crisis generated by the revelation of secret peace negotiations between France and Britain in the summer of 1711. Based on extracts from the press, ballads, and a secret history, this article discusses the intermingling of politics and literature, the communication strategies put in place by the Harley administration and its opposition, and the consequences of this diplomatic incident.

Keywords

• Matthew Prior
• Robert Harley
• Jonathan Swift
• Arthur Mainwaring
• War of the Spanish Succession