Amphibious Thing: The Adventures of a Georgian Rake Book

As vice chamberlain to George II, a favourite of the Queen and a loyal supporter of the prime minister, Lord Hervey was one of the most famous and influential aristocrats of the early 18th century. But behind the respectable public persona lay a disreputable private life. Scandalously for the time, Hervey had an almost open relationship with another man. Although publicly scorned and satirised (most famously by poet Alexander Pope), Hervey refused to retaliate; and retained a dignified and defiant silence. As a consequence, Hervey is remembered today as his detractors portrayed him over two-and-a-half centuries ago. Lucy Moore's Amphibious Thing sets about trying to readdress Hervey's negative press. By including extracts from private letters and two volumes of memoirs, Moore presents Hervey's posthumous defence. "They reveal a man more complex than the caricatures drawn up by his enemies, which are circumscribed by their topicality as well as their spite." According to Moore (author of the critically acclaimed The Thieves' Opera) Hervey's bisexuality just exemplified the ambiguity of his personality. "He hid behind a web of artifice and deception, of affectation and wit, never letting anyone get close enough to see his innermost self." Meticulously researched, Moore's book helps the reader to understand the make-up of an exceptionally modern man "who lived beyond the parameters of his age". An age Moore manages to recount so colourfully it is as if you were there. --Christopher KellyRead More