Pagodas and Pregnant Throes: Orientalism, Millenarianism and Robert Southey

Abstract

1 August 1814. After a long day’s work, the Prince Regent’s carpenters had put the finishing touches to the great pagoda that was to feature in the celebrations of the Grand Jubilee.¹ The pagoda, a wooden structure rising from a Chinese bridge, was the centerpiece of the lavish party Prince George was throwing in St. James’s Park. As evening drew on, thousands of Londoners crammed together to mark their new ruler’s splendor. The climax was a massive firework display and the crowd gasped in astonishment as, at its height, the pagoda burst into flames, lighting up the sky and then collapsing into the water. What the crowd did not realize was that the burning of the pleasure dome was not a pyrotechnic plan but an accident. Gaslight had set the flimsy timber tower on fire. Several of the carpenters were burnt to death.²