ABSTRACT

The first applied research volume in Scottish Romanticism, this collection foregrounds the concept of progress as 'improvement' as a constitutive theme of Scottish writing during the long eighteenth century. It explores improvement as the animating principle behind Scotland’s post-1707 project of modernization, a narrative both shaped and reflected in the literary sphere. It represents a vital moment in Romantic studies, as a 'four-nations' interrogation of the British context reaches maturity. Equally, the volume contributes to a central concern in the study of Scottish culture, amplifying a critical synthesis of Romanticism and Enlightenment.

Chapter 9 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at https://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license. 

chapter |16 pages

Introduction

Mapping Cultures of Improvement in Scottish Romanticism

part I|75 pages

Print, Progress and Politeness

chapter 1|32 pages

Andrew Millar’s ‘Good Vouchers’

The Malt Tax Crisis and Trade in Controversy

chapter 2|23 pages

Let Scotland Flourish by the Printing of the Word

Commerce, Civic Enlightenment and National Improvement in the Glasgow Advertiser, 1783–1800

chapter 3|18 pages

‘Simplicity, Rightly Understood’

Improvement in the Collaboration of Robert Burns and George Thomson

part II|77 pages

Literature, Land and Commerce

chapter 5|21 pages

The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Improvement

David Dale, Robert Owen and New Lanark Cotton

chapter 6|20 pages

Pastoral Optimism at Improvement’s Frontier

James Hogg’s Highland Journeys

chapter 7|18 pages

‘Earth and Stone’

Improvement, Entailment and Geographical Futures in the Novel of the 1820s

part III|67 pages

Death, Legacy and Medicine

chapter 8|18 pages

Reading John Anderson’s Will

Improving Human Nature, Science and Scotland in a Commercial Society

chapter 10|20 pages

A Death in the Cottage

Spiritual and Economic Improvement in Romantic-Era Scottish Death Narratives

chapter 11|5 pages

Postscript

Varieties of Cultural Improvement in the Long Eighteenth Century