Wynn Wheldon

The Georgians feel closer to us now than the Victorians

Graceful architecture, scientific innovation and the novels of Jane Austen are just part of the 18th century’s much-loved legacy, says Patricia J. Corfield

Beauty and innovation: Ralph Allen’s Prior Park, Bath, Somerset, begun in the 1730s, with gardens designed by Capability Brown. In the foreground is one of the earliest railways, transporting quarried Bath stone to the River Avon. (From a drawing by Anthony Walker, 1750). [Getty Images]
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  • The Georgians: The Deeds and Misdeeds of 18th-Century Britain

    Penelope J. Corfield

    Yale, pp. 486, £25

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