“Take a ‘poon, pig”: Property, Class, and Common Culture in Maria Edgeworth’s “Simple Susan”

This article explores the politics of Edgeworth’s “Simple Susan” (The Parent’s Assistant, 1800). While not unequivocally radical in tendency, Edgeworth’s tale is, I argue, far from complacently conservative in its representation of class. Through a network of allusions to popular May-day customs, unenclosed commons and bardic culture, Edgeworth suggests the importance of rejecting the extortions supposedly justified by established law and landlordism in favour of a more accountable, open and negotiable form of authority – one that recognises folk culture as an important repository and transmitter of history and the grievances of those without property as worthy of note.