ABSTRACT
Are we in England? or are we in hell?' thundered William Cobbett despairingly towards the end of his life, his beloved country in claws of an unfeeling financial aristocracy, the reformed parliament which owed no small debt to his efforts in his eyes a dismal failure, riveting yet more chains upon the labouring classes. The chapter focuses on two aspects of Cobbet's descriptions of society disappearing around him. In embracing radicalism Cobbett increasingly understood present as an age of degeneration, and sought another era more consonant with his sympathies. In so doing he presented a vision which termed 'utopian'. When conceived realistically as an imaginary space of greater contentment and enhanced sociability, utopia requires at least two components: an alternative space and time to flourish and a means of sustaining improved manners, which define much of the utopian ethos. Though Hazlitt lampooned his constant inconsistency in political ideas, and resolute contrariness of spirit, Cobbett in fact provides with both components.
