Addison's Royal Exchange: Commerce, Pride, and Empire
This paper examines Joseph Addison's essay "The Royal Exchange," published as No. 69 in The Spectator on May 19, 1711. The discussion traces Addison's enthusiastic attitude toward London's center of international commerce, including his proto-economic observations on comparative advantage, England's resource poverty, and the civilizing power of trade. The paper also places Addison's views in historical context by comparing early 18th-century optimism about commercial exchange with the more complicated social and geopolitical realities of the modern era, ultimately questioning how Addison might regard the Royal Exchange's contemporary equivalent.
- Introduction and Background: History of the Royal Exchange institution
- Addison and the Royal Exchange: Addison's enthusiasm and observations at the Exchange
- Commerce, National Identity, and Natural Resources: England's resource poverty and dependence on trade
- Trade as a Force for Peace and Prosperity: Commerce as civilizing and internationally unifying force
- Conclusion: Contrasting Addison's era with modern London
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper grounds its literary analysis in historical context, providing a brief but useful history of the Royal Exchange before engaging with Addison's essay directly.
- It uses well-chosen direct quotations from Addison's original text to support each analytical claim, letting the primary source speak for itself.
- The contrast drawn between 18th-century commercial optimism and modern geopolitical realities gives the analysis a comparative dimension that sharpens the argument.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates effective use of primary source quotation integrated with secondary scholarly commentary. By weaving together Addison's original prose, historian observations (Beljame, Dobree, and Lorimer; Humphreys), and the student's own interpretation, the paper models how to build a layered literary-historical argument without allowing any single voice to dominate.
Structure breakdown
The essay opens with a brief institutional history of the Royal Exchange, then moves into Addison's personal attitude toward the venue. Subsequent sections address his economic thinking — touching on comparative advantage and England's reliance on trade — before considering his view of commerce as an instrument of international goodwill. The conclusion pivots to a modern contrast, reflecting on how much London and global commerce have changed since 1711.
Introduction and Background
In a series of essays in The Spectator, Joseph Addison provided contemporary commentary on the life and times of the English. This paper discusses the author's attitude toward his subject matter as evinced in The Spectator, No. 69 — on the subject of the Royal Exchange — in order to determine how and whether modern attitudes might differ from their early 18th-century counterpart.
The Royal Exchange was a famous financial institution formerly located in the City of London. Before it closed in 1939, it served as an important forum for the business dealings of London merchants and traders, who had previously conducted their transactions in the street or in crowded shops. The institution that Addison knew was actually the second of three such incarnations. The first exchange had been officially opened in 1570 and was burned to the ground in the Great Fire of London in 1666. The second Royal Exchange opened in 1669 and became the subject of Addison's essay; many of its offices were rented to private companies, and its basement vaults were used for the storage of pepper from the East India Company. This second building was also destroyed by fire in 1838.
Works Cited
Addison, Joseph. Spectator, No. 69, May 19, 1711. [Royal Exchange.]
Beljame, Alexandre, Bonamy Dobree, and E.O. Lorimer. Men of Letters and the English Public in the Eighteenth Century, 1660–1744: Dryden, Addison [and] Pope. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1948.
Humphreys, A.R. Steele, Addison and Their Periodical Essays. London: Longmans, Green, 1966.
"Royal Exchange." Encyclopedia Britannica. 2006. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 7 Oct. 2006. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9094014.
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