ABSTRACT
E. Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France, published in late 1790, together with his persistent attacks on the French Revolution and its supporters during 1791, was the major factor which polarized the conservative and radical aspects of sensibility. W. Godwin's Letters of Mucius show his allegiance to constitutional politics up to 1790. In Political Justice the attack on aristocracy becomes an assault on the exclusivity of the partial affections and Godwin slipped neatly into the niche. Burke had prepared for those who undertook to criticize the 'natural feelings' of conservative sensibility. Godwin certainly studied Hutcheson at Hoxton, and his proposal for a seminary at Epsom in 1783 uses the language and ideas of a Hutchesonian cast which the authors associate with his work after 1793. Godwin and M. Wollstonecraft were both involved in issues which were debated within the movement of sensibility, and frequently use its terms, though redefined in more liberal or radical ways.
