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<p>Women in the eighteenth-century were faced with a systematic denial of their most basic human rights. This was accomplished through the institutions of the time. These same institutions were the objects of the criticism of the philosophes. Voltaire is commonly recognized as the father of the Enlightenment and it is, therefore, important to determine his attitude towards women as reflected in the genre for which he is best known, the conte.</p> <p>This thesis deals with Voltaire's depiction of women on three levels. The first chapter situates women in their social environment as portrayed by Voltaire and his depiction's philosophical implications. The second chapter deals with the female characters' mental and emotional reactions to their status. The third chapter deals with Voltaire's portrayal of women's bodies and its significance to his philosophy. A complete vision of women as portrayed by Voltaire is provided, along with the implications of his depiction of women.</p> / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

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This dissertation focuses on the many tales of distressed women found in mid-eighteenth-century British magazines and essay serials. On the one hand, I argue, scenes of “virtue in distress” and amatory fiction more generally demonstrate the increasing commercialization of literature and the rise of the sentimental reader. On the other hand, they reveal the periodical writers’ drive to educate readers both in and through the passions. I propose that two factors complicate the pathos of these narratives. In the first place, the periodical form was thought to work against the arousal of vehement passions. In the second place, even if such passions could be raised in the miscellaneous format, there were moral reasons why indolent, distracted periodical readers craving sympathetic identification should not be indulged. Driven by market forces and yet constrained by the unique nature of periodical publication, writers of miscellanies responded with ingenuity to these challenges, crafting and deploying literary depictions of “virtue in distress” that suited this compressed and constrained medium. In part because of the challenges and risks associated with raising powerful feelings on the limited canvas of the periodical, some periodicalists worked to suppress or otherwise complicate the most affecting aspects of their amatory fictions. Others strove to correct the reader’s passions in their operation; and others still called into question, elsewhere in their periodicals, the suitability of a passionate response. All attempted to justify their efforts on aesthetic and/or ethical grounds. Drawing on their knowledge of eighteenth-century aesthetic theory, classical models of rhetoric and composition, and early modern theories of the passions, periodical writers strove to raise useful, calm passions through their fictions—passions in some sense suited to the periodical form—and to suppress vehement, dangerous ones. By examining mid-century periodicals in relation to broad strands of enlightenment and also classical thought, my thesis uncovers an important proto-disciplinary moment in eighteenth-century Britain, when the fields of psychology, rhetoric, and moral theory were not yet separated. The organization of my study is, with some exceptions, chronological, with sections on Eliza Haywood’s Female Spectator (1744-46), Samuel Johnson’s Rambler (1750-52) and Idler (1758-60), Christopher Smart’s Student (1750-51) and Midwife (1750-53), John Hawkesworth’s Adventurer (1752-54), and Oliver Goldsmith’s Citizen of the World (1760-61). My purpose is not to chart a change over time, but to reveal the innovative ways mid-century periodical writers responded to a set of interrelated questions and concerns: is it possible to import the famously sentimental motif of “virtue in distress” into the miscellany, given the structural limitations of the form; which passions should, ethically speaking, be raised by depictions of distressed women and which suppressed; and what aesthetic and rhetorical resources can be mobilized to convey such depictions effectively to readers and thereby influence their passions?

An analysis of mid-eighteenth century trading centers reveals a distinct pattern different from that of earlier seventeenth century trading communities. Consumable items comprised the majority of internal and external commerce for many of these trading port cities. Albany, New York, a hinterland trading center, mirrored these changes and can act as a case study for many of the global transitions of the eighteenth century. Taken within the broader framework and understanding of the consumer revolution, it becomes clear that Albanian culture and society became crystallized around its food items and their trade, much as the coastal communities commonly studied. Due to the emphasis placed on it by Albanians, food and its trade became the culturally, socially, and economically homogenizing factor that began shaping the modern city as it transitioned from its seventeenth century roots. By the middle of the eighteenth century, Albanians had become active consumers and experienced traders in a global marketplace and had experienced marked cultural hybridization as seen via its food trade and consumption. / Master of Arts

The purpose of the author is to give a resume of Johnson's England and by examining The Rambler and Boswell's Life of Johnson, to determine what the Doctor thought concerning the prevailing conditions, social practices, and ideas of his time.

This thesis examines the role of microscope technology in informing medical and anatomical knowledge during the Enlightenment. Past historians have claimed that microscopy generally stagnated until the popularisation of achromatic microscopes and cell theory in the middle of the nineteenth century. As evidence for this decline, historians have pointed to the poor quality and slow development of microscope designs until the popularisation of achromatic microscopes in the 1820s. In contrast, this thesis highlights the role of specific Enlightenment-era microscopes in answering medical and anatomical questions. It suggests that medical microscopy was far more advanced than previous scholarship has ascertained. Thus far, instrument historians have focused more attention on competing instrument makers as opposed to rival instrument users. This thesis presents several case studies which explore both makers and users. These concern the histories of Enlightenment-era epidemiology, reproduction theory, anatomy, and physiology as well as the different types of microscopes which influenced these fields. In terms of methodology, this thesis neither follows nor casts doubt on any particular theory of historical development; rather, it attempts to shed further light on available primary sources and their contexts. Presenting key case studies illustrates the difficulties that early microscope users faced in acquiring and publishing new observations. To explore the practice of early microscopy further, this thesis presents re-enactments of these case studies using Enlightenment-era microscopes and modern tissue samples. Thus, this thesis is a call to broaden the scope of primary sources available to historians of science and medicine to include instruments and re-enactments. This thesis finds that technological advances did not correlate to microscopical discovery in medicine or anatomy. Both simple and complex microscope designs aided anatomical and medical research. Broader advances in anatomy, physiology, and medical etiology dictated the utility of medical microscopy. Although various groups, such as the French clinicians, saw little need for microscopy towards the end of the eighteenth century, microscope-based evidence continued to play a diagnostic role among lesser-known practitioners despite its lack of visibility in medical literature.