Description:
An Historical View of the English Government traces the development of the "great outlines of the English constitution"--the history of institutions of English liberty from Saxon antiquity to the revolution settlement of 1689. Millar demonstrates serious concern for the maintenance of liberties achieved through revolution and maintains that the manners of a commercial nation, while particularly suited to personal and political liberty, are not such as to secure liberty forever.
John Millar (1735-1801) attended Adam Smith's lectures at the University of Glasgow and later became a distinguished professor of law there.
Mark Salber Phillips is Professor of History at Carleton University in Ottawa.
Dale R. Smith completed his doctorate in history at the University of British Columbia.
Review Quotes: This oldie reaches back to 1787. Millar was a leading figure of the Scottish Enlightenment and a noted social analyst. He divides his history into three sections: the Saxons through the Normans, the Normans to James I, and James I to the Glorious Revolution.
Library JournalJanuary 2007 Much evidence stacked up on my bookshelves suggests--pace Hawes--a determination to scrutinize and respect claims for the Enlightenment: Liberty Press's ongoing series Natural Law and Enlightenment Classics (which saw new editions this year of John Millar's An Historical View of the English Government: From the Settlement of the Saxons in Britain to the Revolution in 1688 and The Origin of the Distinction of Ranks, Francis Hutcheson's Logic, Metaphysics, and the Natural Sociability of Mankind, and Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui's The Principles of Natural and Politic Law); the several books that revalue Enlightenment aspirations as they make philosophy the master key for unlocking cultural preoccupations. Studies in English Literature
Summer 2007