Eighteenth-Century Characters

ELAINE M. McGIRR is Lecturer in English and Drama at Royal Holloway University of London, UK, teaching in both the Department of English and the Department of Drama and Theatre. She has previously taught in the English and History departments at Washington University in St. Louis, USA, and was a visiting lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire, UK, in 2003-4.

• List of IllustrationsChronologyIntroductionPART I: MEN: THE MAKINGS OF AN ENGLISHMANThe RakeThe FopThe Country GentlemanThe CitPART II: WOMEN: 'MOST WOMEN HAVE NO CHARACTERS AT ALL'The Heroine; or Dwindle into a WifeThe Coquette and the PrudeThe Country Maid and the Town LadyLearned Ladies and Female WitsPART III: OTHERSThe Catholic Other: Monsieurs and MacaronisThe Protestant Other: Low and High DutchThe British Other: The ScotEndnotesPrimary Works CitedBibliography and Further ReadingIndex.

'The 'characters' assembled by Elaine McGirr are figures that anyone who studies the Eighteenth century is certain to encounter; the particular history out of which each arises and the multiple uses to which all are put in literary texts are among the necessary questions about them that everyone who reads this book will have the tools to tackle.' - Peter Merchant, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK 'A rich and gripping approach to Eighteenth-century literary history.' - Helen Thompson, Northwestern University, USA