Christopher J. Fauske

Charles Ivar McGrath

"This collection gathers the expertise of scholars in several disciplines to examine the manner in which financial and economic arguments were expressed in pamphlets, broadsides, and longer works of literature in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and to assess to what extent the political realities of the day were informed by these debates or, alternatively, shaped by that rhetoric. The contributors to the volume draw upon an extensive variety of contemporary sources and modern analyses of the formative years of the financial revolution to reexamine many of the existing conventional ideas about the relationship between money, power, and print, and to suggest that the subject is far more complex and interrelated than most studies up to now have indicated. Particular attention is paid to the fact that the financial revolution did not occur in London in isolation from the various regions of the British Isles." "The essays address the question of how money, power, and print influenced the contemporary emergence of a radically different public finance structure in the British empire and how retrospective understanding of the results have influenced historical readings of the texts and the events. A number of contributions offer detailed analyses of particular moments or structures in the reshaping of the public financial sphere, such as the parliamentary and pamphlet debate over the establishment of the Bank of England and proposals for a land bank as an alternative. Other essays focus on broader themes illustrative of larger trends during the period, such as the Scottish support for an expedition to Madagascar to take advantage of presumed pirate treasure on the island."--BOOK JACKET.

Interdisciplinary Studies on the Financial Revolution in the British Isles

Money, Power, and Print

In the years between 1714 and 1724, Jonathan Swift published little. This hiatus in his work is often dismissed as a consequence of personal disillusionment, and studies of Swift commonly move from 1714 to 1724 with barely a mention of his activities in that decade. This examination demonstrates a consistency of purpose on Swift's part, and uses his continuous dedication to the preservation and promotion of the privileges of the Church of Ireland to examine that fissure within contemporary Irish society. The unpublished, overlooked, and otherwise neglected writings of Swift, studied in the light of contemporary political and economic events in England and Ireland, reveal a politically astute observer and wise, if wary, commentator on events.

Jonathan Swift and the Church of Ireland, 1710-1724

Heidi Kaufman

In recent years, Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849) has been the subject of increasing interest. This collection of essays builds on scholarship that has helped canonize Edgeworth's writing. It also raises new questions about her place in English and Irish history, literary history, and women's history. In many ways, Edgeworth's entire adult life was an attempt to reconcile the irreconcilable, an attempt to justify and preserve her own privileged position even as she acknowledged the tenuousness of that position and as she sought to claim other privileges denied her. Edgeworth's writing challenges readers to understand her historical contexts as much as it obliged her to confront the politics of her literary authority.

Maureen Paley (Gallery)

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