List of characters . . ix 
Chronology . . xi 
List of Figures . . xv 
List of Abbreviations . . xix 
Note to the Reader . . xxi 

INTRODUCTION . . 1

1. THE TRIAL OF SPENCER COWPER . . 10
Dead Bodies Float . .  14 
Scientific Reputations . . 18 
An Anatomy of London Doctors . . 22
Dead Dogs and Public Science . . 25 
False Man's Cruelty . . 30 
Summing up . . 34 
Zara's story . . 37 

2. PARTISAN FEUDS . . 45 
The Whigs . . 46 
The Tories . . 54 
Hertford Tories . . 59 
Popular Politics and Party Rivalries . . 63 

3. QUAKERS . . 70 
Persecution . . 71 
Spiritual Warfare . . 77 
The Lustful Quaker . . 82
The Trial Verdict and its Aftermath . . 89 
Consequences . . 95 

4. MORAL PANIC AND MARITAL AFFAIRS . . 98 
Rethinking Religion . . 100 
Rethinking Marriage . . 109 
The Quakers, Marriage, and Morality . . 113 
Sarah Cowper and the Slavery of Marriage . . 116 
Will Bigamy . . 125 
Justifying Polygamy . . 132
Manley and the New Atalantis . . 138 

5. FANATICS AND FALSE BRETHREN . . 142 
Sacheverell and his Sermons . . 144 
The Trial . . 148 
Hypocrisy . . 160 
Sacheverell and Print Fever . . 166 
Censorship and Censuring . . 181 
Fanaticism . . 186 
Sacheverell's Longer-term Legacy . . 190 

6. DESPAIR AND DEMONISM . . 193 
Melancholic Despair and Suicide . . 197 
The Despair of the Deist and Atheist . . 202
Shifting Attitudes . . 206
Animal Spirits . . 207
A Political Witch-hunt . . 213 
Jane Wenham . . 220
The Debate over the Impossibility of Witchcraft . . 228 
Vindicating Jane Wenham . . 237 

CONCLUSION: AN EXCEPTIONAL STORY? . . 241

Glossary . . 247
Endnotes . . 253 
Further Reading . . 267 
Index . . 273