This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This book examines the impact of French society on English culture in the second half of the eighteenth century. In an age when many historians suggest the inexorable rise of the middle classes was being driven forward by industrialization, the English aristocracy stood apart from the trend towards commercial respectability, and revelled in all that was best in cosmopolitan fashion and ideas. Welcoming the French Revolution as a re-enactment of 1688, they watched aghast as their world descended into the Terror, and the onslaught of Bonaparte.