Love, Intimacy and Power

Nostalgia, homesickness and emotional formation on the eighteenth-century Grand Tour

“…51 As Katie Barclay observes, identifying how forms of expression were socially constructed is not to suggest that the feelings described in letters were not real. 52 To fully investigate the physically and emotionally felt experiences of the Grand Tour, we need to shift away from the well-known discourses of patriotism and the cult of sensibility. Grand Tourists' emotions of longing and homesickness also closely correlated to the emotional and physical state of nostalgia.…”

Women, love and power in Enlightenment Scotland

“…As a result, discussions of love and emotion become increasingly frequent within the correspondence of the Scottish elites. 64 shall direct you to my arms, it shall direct you to a friend without reserve, to a lovers heart', in 1752 Dorothy Hobart still felt free to express after her elopement that 'I can figure but one situation more insupportable than being deprived of the friendship & affection of all my family, which is living without a hope or prospect of marrying him'. 65 Courting women were assertive in voicing their feelings and promoting their interests against their suitor or occasionally their families.…”

Illicit Intimacies: The Imagined ‘Homes’ of Gilbert Innes of Stow and his Mistresses (1751–1832)

“…Similarly, economic provision by husbands, embedded within the wedding vows, had long been understood to represent husbandly love. 47 Here the legal duties placed upon a husband to provide for his wife and children were articulated and justified through a framework of natural affection, collapsing the distinction between love and economic obligation. 48 Gilbert's provisioning was a central theme within his correspondence, reflecting that it was his finances that maintained many of his mistresses and children either completely or in part, but also that it was a key dimension of marriage.…”

“…In this, Gilbert's loving control was an extreme form of the fatherly and husbandly love idealised during the era, where love was both an act of male power and the exercise of benevolent self-control of that power -a love that required affectionate care, provision and discipline. 72 It was not unique to him, but was learned from his father and modelled by other anxious parents and husbands throughout the country. 73 Determining the balance of power between parent and child was a topic of ongoing debate.…”

“…In practice, management of the household budget was usually left to wives and considerable interference was viewed as a lack of trust that was detrimental to the marital union. 74 Gilbert's mistresses had very little leverage to counteract his control; they could not demand greater trust or authority as 'wives'. Nor was their financial support required by law, especially after their children were old enough to work.…”