How was the social and cultural life of Britain affected by the fear that the French Revolution would spread across the channel? This book argues that the fear of revolution produced a culture of surveillance and suspicion which penetrated every aspect of private life. It shows how it infiltrated the country cottage. Each of these richly researched essays could stand alone, but together their cumulative effect is a provocative and stimulating depiction of the cultural effects of government repression which Barrell has analysed in such depth elsewhere.