Difference between revisions of "Remarks on the History of England"

Revision as of 16:51, 18 November 2013

by Henry St. John Bolingbroke

Henry St. John, the first Viscount Bolingbroke, lived from September 16, 1678 to December 12, 1751. While he was a skilled and passionate man, Bolingbroke had a tenuous career in English politics and government.^[1] He served in Parliament for the Tory party and in government as secretary at war and secretary of state.^[2] After the Whigs had a favorable election in 1715 and without support from the newly ascended King George I, Bolingbroke feared repercussions of his involvement with peace negotiations that had taken place with France and fled England.^[3] While he evaded arrest, an act of attainder found him guilty and, as a result, he lost the rights to his property and title.^[4] In 1723, Bolingbroke received a pardon that allowed him to purchase new property in England.^[5]

Still concerned with politics and determined to undermine King George’s chief minister, Robert Walpole, Bolingbroke wrote twenty-two essays for The Craftsman under the name Humphrey Oldcastle between 1730 and 1731.^[6] The Remarks on the History of England comprises these twenty-two essays.^[7] In this work, Bolingbroke provided examples “of royal favourites and corrupt ministers undermining the constitution by corrupt methods, financial jobbery, crown patronage, continental alliances, and military adventures. The reader was always meant to equate Walpole and his methods with those of previous evil counsellors who had threatened the true interests of the people.”^[8] Bolingbroke’s works were designed to “to weld the disparate elements of the opposition to Walpole into a new Country Party, which would protect the independence of Parliament against the encroachments of a corrupt government.”^[9]

Bibliographic Information

Author: Henry St. John Bolingbroke.

Title: Remarks on the History of England: From the Minutes of Humphry Oldcastle.

Published: London: Printed for R. Francklin, 1743.

Edition: ; xv, 328, [6] pages.

Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library

Listed in the Jefferson Inventory of Wythe's Library as [Bolingbroke]’s Oldcastle’s remarks 8vo. and given by Thomas Jefferson to his son-in-law, Thomas Mann Randolph. Later appears on Randolph's 1832 estate inventory as "'Olecastle's remarks on H. of England' ($1.50 value)." We do not have enough information to conclusively identify which edition Wythe owned. George Wythe's Library^[10] on LibraryThing indicates this, adding "Octavo editions were published at London in 1743, 1747, 1754, and 1776. " The Brown Bibliography^[11] lists the first edition published in 1743 and this is the edition purchased by the Wolf Law Library.

Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy

Bound in full contemporary brown calf over cords, covers ruled in gilt. Purchased from D&D Galleries.

View this book in William & Mary's online catalog.

References

1. ↑ H. T. Dickinson, "St John, Henry, styled first Viscount Bolingbroke (1678–1751)" in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004- ), accessed 2 Oct 2013]
2. ↑ Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "Henry Saint John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke," accessed October 02, 2013, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/72043/Henry-Saint-John-1st-Viscount-Bolingbroke-Baron-Saint-John-of-Lydiard-Tregoze.
3. ↑ Dickinson, ‘St John, Henry, styled first Viscount Bolingbroke."
4. ↑ Ibid.
5. ↑ Ibid.
6. ↑ Ibid.
7. ↑ Ibid.
8. ↑ Ibid.
9. ↑ Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "Henry Saint John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke."
10. ↑ LibraryThing, s. v. "Member: George Wythe," accessed on November 18, 2013, http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe
11. ↑ Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433