John Wilkes was one of the most extraordinary and recognisable characters of the eighteenth century. In Parliament he was a fierce critic of the government and he used his newspaper, The North Briton, to help bring down the administration of Prime Minister Lord Bute. Expelled as an MP and prosecuted for libel, he staged a highly publicised return and became one of the key figures associated with securing freedom of the press.Throughout his life, Wilkes adopted multiple guises, unde...

This book re-examines spa and assembly culture as key venues for sociability in the eighteenth century.Focused chiefly on the eighteenth century, this book looks forward into the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. While many of the chapters concern aspects of the city of Bath, the book stretches beyond Bath’s confines, taking in comparative British towns such as Tunbridge Wells, European spa towns, such as Nice, and the impact Bath had on spa towns in America. The chapters n...

This book offers the first major reassessment of the life and work of Sir Henry Bennet, earl of Arlington, for over a century. Arlington was one of Charles II’s chief ministers and the book charts his early years through to the careers of his descendants, examining his political development as a courtier, diplomat, linguist and politician. Authored by a series of experts in the field, the book not only shines a light on his career, but also on Charles II’s reign as a whole, on the Cavalier...