Self-preservation in Early Eighteenth-Century London

Abstract

The idea of self-preservation has long been examined in intellectual histories of the early modern period. This article relates the history of the idea to the history of London in the early eighteenth century. It traces the formation of a language of self-preservation within three bodies of urban texts: the Ordinary's accounts of criminals condemned to death at Tyburn, discussions of maidservants, and descriptions of the masquerades. In each of these literatures, a worldly discourse of self-preservation posed a challenge to prevailing moralities. Hence, notions of suspicion, avoidance, self-advancement, reinvention and verbal sophistication created tension in a society invested in charity, trust, obedience, submissiveness, and modesty. By tracing this development, this article identifies a culture of enlightenment emerging from the intellectually productive milieu of urban modernity.