Author: Reddy, William M.

Source: Historical Reflections, Volume 34, Number 1, Spring 2008 , pp. 4-25(22)

Abstract:

Sentimentalism became a widely accepted practical code among the educated European elite in the late eighteenth century. In the 1790s, however, it went into rapid decline. One reason is that when Europeans tried to establish families and polities in line with the dictates of sentimentalism, these efforts often ended in failure. A noteworthy example is provided by the career of Benoît Leborgne, later known as Bennett de Boigne, who rose to fame as a soldier of fortune in India, founding a kind of anti-empire in collaboration with Mahadaji Sindhia between 1784 and 1795. The collapse of his state building efforts—and of his marriages—clearly demonstrate the pitfalls of "following one's heart" in the eighteenth-century manner.

Keywords: SENTIMENTALISM; SENSIBILITY; EMPIRE; MILITARY; LOVE; MARRIAGE

DOI: 10.3167/hrrh2008.340102

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