The Age of Virtue: British Culture from the Restoration to Romanticism

by D. Morse

Overview

In the eighteenth century 'virtue' was a word to conjure with. It called to mind heroic predecessors from the Roman Republic such as Cato and Brutus and invoked qualities of personal integrity, selflessness and a concern for the common good, which, though urgently needed, seemed desperately lacking, both in the ruthless party struggles of the age of Anne and subsequently in the all-pervading political corruption of the Walpole administration. When the longed-for political saviour failed to materialize it was increasingly felt that if virtue existed at all then it would have to be sought for among the lower orders of society or else in provincial areas, where simpler and nobler values might still prevail. But with the coming of the French Revolution and Romanticism virtue began to lose its powerful resonances - it now seemed naive and simplistic, all too ready to deny both the complexities of human nature and the possibility of determination by external cultural forces.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780333760314
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	02/17/2000
Series:	British Culture from the Restoration to Romanticism
Edition description:	2000
Pages:	330
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.99(h) x (d)

About the Author

David Morse is Lecturer in English and American Studies at the University of Sussex.

Table of Contents

Introduction Virtue's Vicissitudes Virtue Excluded Virtue from Below Provincial Virtue The Romantics and Virtue Notes Index