Gossip and Sexual Transgression in ‘English Society’ in 1790s’ Naples

Abstract

This essay analyses Lady Elizabeth Webster's journal, in which she chronicled her travels across Europe in the 1790s. Her journal suggests that there was an English community in Naples, whose codes of conduct were modelled on those that regulated elite society in England. Elite women who transgressed the rules could face consequences: Naples was not a place where women could hide from gossip and scrutiny. The journals also provide a fascinating insight into an elite woman's approach to sexual mores and demonstrate that, while attitudes towards sexual behaviour were highly internalised, how individuals put codes into practice was far more complex and open to discrepancies.