Pompey the Little, the canine narrator of this story, is a uniquely observant and witty guide to eighteenth-century culture, both high and low. In the course of the novel Pompey is passed from owner to owner, offering a panoramic vision of English and European societies in the period. Written with sparkling irony, The History of Pompey is an important example of an "it-narrative," or a narrative written from a non-human perspective; this genre allows the novelist to move between levels of society and to observe human behaviour from an outsider's perspective.

The rich selection of historical documents in the appendices to this Broadview edition includes a similar narrative told by a cat, along with other writings on eighteenth-century attitudes towards animals.

Nicholas Hudson is Professor of English at the University of British Columbia. He is the author of Samuel Johnson and the Making of Modern England (Cambridge University Press, 2003).

Table of Contents: [Back to Top]

Introduction

The History of Pompey the Little

Appendix A: Omitted Section from Book II, Chapters VI-VII in the Third Edition                                                                             

Appendix B: From Anon., The Life and Adventures of a Cat (1760)                                                                                               

Appendix C: Anon., An Essay on the New Species of Writing founded by Mr. Fielding (1751)                                     

Appendix D: Poems by Francis Coventry                  

1. Penshurst (1750)                         
   
2. "To the Hon. Wilmot Vaughan, Esq. in Wales" (1755)    
   

Appendix E: Eighteenth-Century Discussions of Animals

1. "Rorarius," from Pierre Bayle's The Dictionary Historical and Critical (1696)           
   
2. From Samuel Johnson, Idler, No. 24 (1758)                               
3. From Anon., A Dissertation on Mr. Hogarth's…The Four Stages of Cruelty (1751)