Before revision: Peacock in his 1831 novel Crotchet Castle satirised the "Steam Intellect Society" and linked the march explicitly to folly, rural protest , and the rise in crime: "the march of mind...marched in through my back-parlour shutters, and out again with my silver spoons".Thomas Love Peacock, Nightmare Abbey and Crotchet Castle (London 1947) p. 212-3, and p. 105-6, p. 219 He had earlier parodied the Utilitarian take on the role of the modern poet:M. H Abrams, The Mirror and the Lamp (Oxford 1953) p. 126 "The march of his intellect is like that of a crab, backward"Quoted in Ben Wilson, Decency and Disorder (London 2007) p. 317 Victorian accommodation The March of Mind was used by the Whigs as one argument for the Great Reform Act; and after a decade of reform and railway, the idea of progress became something of a Victorian truism.B.
After revision: In Peacock's 1831 novel Crotchet Castle satirised the "Steam Intellect Society" and linked the march explicitly to folly, rural protest , and the rise in crime: "the march of mind...marched in through my back-parlour shutters, and out again with my silver spoons".Thomas Love Peacock, Nightmare Abbey and Crotchet Castle (London 1947) p. 212-3, and p. 105-6, p. 219 Peacock had earlier parodied the Utilitarian take on the role of the modern poet:M. H Abrams, one character, Dr. Folliott, The Mirror and the Lamp (Oxford 1953) p. 126 "The march of his intellect is like that of a crab, backward"Quoted in Ben Wilson, Decency and Disorder (London 2007) p. 317 Victorian accommodation The March of Mind was used by the Whigs as one argument for the Great Reform Act; and after a decade of reform and railway, the idea of progress became something of a Victorian truism.B.