William Pitt the Younger there is much evidence of a "popular conservative movement" that rallied in defense of King and Country. Evans wrote there were about 200 prosecutions of "radicals" suspected of sympathy with the French revolution in British courts in the 1790s, which was much less than the prosecutions of suspected Jacobites after the rebellions of 1715 and 1745. However, the spy network maintained by the government was efficient. In Jane Austen's novel "Northanger Abbey"-which was written in the 1790s, but not published until 1817-one of the characters remarks it is not possible for a family to keep secrets in these modern times
Northanger Abbey gives a unique insight into Austen's thoughts at the time, which is particularly important due to the fact that a large portion of her letters were burned, at her request, by her sister upon her death. A reviewer in 2016 said "Austen’s "Northanger Abbey" was in part a playful response to what she considered “unnatural” in the novels of her day: Instead of perfect heroes, heroines and villains, she offers flawed, rounded characters who behave naturally and not just according to the demands of the plot." Several Gothic novels and authors are mentioned in the book, including Fanny Burney and