ABSTRACT
The development of a class consciousness and ideology in the English middle classes of the late eighteenth century relied heavily on its self-representation as the moral and productive center of English society, and on its self-differentiation from the classes above and below. This concern manifested itself repeatedly in the children's literature of the period, which presented young middle-class readers with countless representations of the poor and the rich, and with narratives depicting how they should (and should not) interact with each. Children were taught by example to avoid the potential hazards of excessive contact with the lower orders (particularly the servant class), to resist the temptation of emulating the profligate vices of the gentry and upper classes, and to be charitable and respectful to the industrious and deserving laboring poor.
