Aristocratic Vice: The Attack on Duelling, Suicide, Adultery, and Gambling in Eighteenth-Century England
Donna T. Andrew
Abstract
This book examines the outrage against—and attempts to end—the four vices associated with the aristocracy in eighteenth-century England: dueling, suicide, adultery, and gambling. It also discusses how it was commonly believed that all four owed their origin to pride. Many felt the law did not go far enough to punish perpetrators when they were members of the elite. The book explores each vice's treatment by the press at the time and shows how a century of public attacks on aristocratic vices promoted a sense of “class superiority” among the soon-to-emerge British middle class.
Keywords: eighteenth-century england, dueling, suicide, adultery, gambling, british middle class, elite
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2013 | Print ISBN-13: 9780300184334 |
| Published to Yale Scholarship Online: October 2013 | DOI:10.12987/yale/9780300184334.001.0001 |
