By 1832 Britain was ripe for a book like
Domestic Manners of the Americans. Two years earlier, Earl Grey, a Whig, became prime minister of England and by the time of Trollope's first book, the empire was at the apex of controversy over his proposed Reform Act. It would eliminate the rotten boroughs, those boroughs that had shrunk in size but still elected members to the House of Commons. Newton, once a thriving market town on the Isle of Wright, in 1830 consisted of only fourteen houses. Due to coastal erosion, Dunwich in Suffolk was left with only thirty-two people. Old Sarum, itself, believed to have been first settled 5,000 years before and was the site of the first Roman garrison in Britain, now had only three houses and a population of fifteen people. Yet Old Sarum still had two…
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Citation: Ayres, Brenda. "Domestic Manners of the Americans". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 April 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=16892, accessed 18 December 2024.]
