Abstract

Abstract:

This article examines the political discourse surrounding Sir Robert Walpole's Norfolk Congresses—extended social gatherings held at his Norfolk residence of Houghton throughout his political ascendancy (1721–1742). By analyzing both pro-government and oppositional accounts, the article seeks to complicate traditional stereotypes of Court Whig corruption, revealing Walpole as a problematically hospitable figure and demonstrating how conflicting traditions of Whig sociability struggled for dominance in textual representations of the events.

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