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  Sex

  Money and Personal Character in Eighteenth-Century British Politics

  How

  and why

  did the Anglo-American world become so obsessed with the private lives and public character of its political leaders? Marilyn Morris finds answers in eighteenth-century Britain

  when a long tradition of court intrigue and gossip spread into a much broader and more public political arena with the growth of political parties

  extra-parliamentary political activities

  and a partisan print culture.\n\nThe public’s preoccupation with the personal character of the ruling elite paralleled a growing interest in the interior lives of individuals in histories

  novels

  and the theater. Newspaper reports of the royal family intensified in intimacy and its members became moral exemplars—most often

  paradoxically

  when they misbehaved. Ad hominem attacks on political leaders became commonplace; politicians of all affiliations continued to assess one another’s characters based on their success and daring with women and money. And newly popular human-interest journalism promoted the illusion that the personal characters of public figures could be read by appearances.

  Sex

  Money and Personal Character in Eighteenth-Century British Politics

  Marilyn

  University of North Texas

  Associate Professor

  University of London

  Ph.D.

  History