British Abolitionism and the Rhetoric of Sensibility argues that participants in the late eighteenth-century slavery debate developed a distinct sentimental rhetoric, using the language of the heart to powerful effect in the most important political and humanitarian battle of the time. Examining both familiar and unfamiliar texts, including poetry, novels, journalism, and political writing, Carey shows that salve-owners and abolitionists alike made strategic use of the rhetoric of sensibility in the hope of influencing a reading public thoroughly immersed in the 'cult of feeling'.

List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction The Rhetoric of Sensibility Arguing in Prose: Abolitionist Letters, and Novels Arguing in Verse: Abolitionist Poetry "Read this and blush": The Pamphlet War of the 1780s Feeling Out Loud: Sentimental Rhetoric in Parliament, the Pulpit, and the Court of Law Conclusion: Romanticism, Revolution, and William Wilberforce's Unregarded Tears Notes Bibliography Index

BRYCCHAN CAREY is Senior Lecturer in English at Kingston University in London. He has co-edited Discourses of Slavery and Abolition and Abolition: Britain and its Colonies, 1760-1838, and has published widely in the academic press, including articles on William Wilberforce, Ignatius Sancho, John Wesley, The Spectator, and the politics of Harry Potter.