Review of 'Gender and Enlightenment Culture in Eighteenth-Century Scotland'

Allegory and Enlightenment in the Eighteenth Century

In a reading of William Blake's frontispiece to “There is no Natural Religion” that draws largely on the history of the allegorical mode, I offer a narrative that explores the creative ways in which Blake illuminated his ideas about the value of Enlightenment thought.

Women and Enlightenment in Eighteenth-century Britain

Virtuous discourse: sensibility and community in late eighteenth-century Scotland

Reappraisals of the history and historiography of the Scottish Enlightenment abound these days. Yet however much is produced, authors continue to find new and interesting things to say. John Dwyer has certainly proved this in his excellent, fairly short study of the Scottish moralists. Dwyer, thankfully, has not taken the high road to philosophy but has investigated the output of the eighteenth...

Smallpox inoculation and demographic trends in eighteenth-century Scotland.

The impact of inoculation on levels of mortality has always been a contentious issue. Was the practice of deliberately infecting patients with a mild case of smallpox so as to produce immunity to further attacks the first of a triumphal succession of techniques by which medical men conquered infectious diseases, or a dangerous procedure of little or no value? Historically, opinions have swung b...

Reading Sex in the Eighteenth Century: Bodies and Gender in English Erotic Culture

The ‘identity’ of eighteenth century England has provoked much debate, with discussion often turning on the relative vibrancy of features displaying ‘modernity’ or the lingering aspects of an ‘ancien regime’.3 The polite vision of Langford and the Enlightened, liberatedworld seen by Porter share an emphasis on the eighteenth century looking forward. Yet these are contrasting pictures: on the on...