Exploring European Frontiers: British Travellers in the Age of Enlightenment (Electronic book text)

Casanova's belief that England 'is different in every aspect from the rest of Europe' was increasingly shared in the eighteenth century by England's body politic. But just what was it that made it - or, indeed, not just England but Britain more generally - different? Swelling patriotism led increasing numbers of British travellers to comb the far reaches of Europe and make assessments, comparisons, analyses and judgements about the relative state of civility between themselves and their neighbours. This study examines a range of British travellers' perceptions of Europe and charts their quests to explore and contrast far-flung European frontiers - to Lapland, to the eastern provinces of the Russian empire, the Levant. Using a wide range of eighteenth-century travel accounts, Dolan demonstrates how these narratives were often informed by and designed to address contemporary historical and scientific assessments of the status of modern European civilisation.