List of Illustrations Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction: The Spirits of the Age The Purgatorial Politics of the Catholic Question History, Sympathy, and Sectarianism in Elizabeth Inchbald's A Simple Story Wordsworth and Superstition Shelley's Conflicted Campaign for Catholic Emancipation Scott's Ivanhoe and the Saxon Question Conclusion: 'The Anxious Hour'- England in 1829 Works Cited Notes Index