Mr. Harmony and the Events of January 1793: Elizabeth Inchbald's Every One Has His Fault

To appreciate the deft control with which Inchbald ventured political material on the Covent Garden stage, one must read EOHHF against the political events of the 1792Ð93 theatrical season. EOHHF engaged with several tenets proposed in An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, published by her new friend William Godwin just weeks after her play took the stage. Thus, Inchbald negotiated a common difficulty of "Jacobin" sympathizers who could not agree with all the details of reformist zeal. In particular, EOHHF challenged Godwin's insistence on absolute truth, his repudiation of marriage as an institution, and his indictment of aristocracy as the root of social justice.