Social Position Reflected in Roxana and Emma There were serious conflicts between the City party and the Country party in 18th century Britain. The country party, composed mainly of nobles, was based on landed interests and the city party earned through trade and was based on monetary interests. The Country party passed the Landed Property Qualification Act to maintain its power. However, this act only encouraged more wealthy men to purchase country property, in many cases displacing the old landed families who truly represented the landed interest. We can see this shift in power through these two works. , Rossana and Emma. Daniel Defoe was born in London, so he naturally got involved in the City's party scene. Roxana's background is mainly urban, while Emma's is the small country society called Highbury. As we can see the difference in the background of the two works, we can also find in these two works a different attitude towards the City and the Countryside. I will write about these differences in the conception of the gentleman, of rank and of the different attitude towards city life. Defoe indicates that younger sons who have careers in law and commerce are the backbone of the English nation. The ignorant eldest son is an insult to the word gentleman: he is a man who is of no use to himself or others.[2][2] He thinks trade is more important than land. We can find this attitude in Roxana. Roxana says: ¡°a thoroughbred Merchant is the best Gentleman in the Nation; that in Knowledge, in Behavior, in Judgment of things, the Merchant has surpassed many nobles¡± (Roxana 170, page numbers of further references to Roxana will be placed in parentheses in the text). He also says ¡°That an estate is a pond; but that a Trade was a Spring¡±(170). The Dutch merchant also says that "the merchants of London, speaking of the best kind of trades, could spend more money in their families, and yet give better fortunes to their children, than, in general, the nobility of England." of 1000 l¡±(170). From this we can know that Roxana has a very positive outlook towards a trader. He thinks a merchant is better than a noble. However, it is seen differently, as shown in Emma. When Emma talks about Mrs. Elton's father, she says this: ¡°a Bristol? merchant, of course, one must call him; but, since the total profits of his mercantile life appeared so modest, it was not unfair to suppose that the dignity of his merchant life had also been very moderate¡±(Emma, 164).