Slavery played an important part in early eighteenth-century English society. It created markets, provided goods and drove political decision. It also exerted an influence on the ways in which people behaved and thought. Some of the mental habits associated with slavery are to be found in the writing of the period. Slavery and Augustan Literature investigates slavery in the work of Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope and John Gay. These three writers were connected with a Tory ministry, which attempted to increase substantially the English share of the international slave trade. They all wrote in...
Slavery played an important part in early eighteenth-century English society. It created markets, provided goods and drove political decision. It also...
