Overview

This selection of documents attempts to give an idea of eighteenth-century institutions as they are seen by historians. Much of the British constitution notoriously exists only in the minds of men, and it is hoped that this volume will enable some glimpses of it to be seen in the language of men used from William III to William Pitt. There are sections on the Revolution of 1688, the central government, parliament, local government, the church, and the liberties of the subject. The documents are drawn from a wider range of published and unpublished sources than usual. They include: diaries; letters; cabinet minutes; pamphlets; sermons; newspapers; parish; borough; and county records; parliamentary debates; state trials; and statutes. The whole collection reflects advances in our understanding of the eighteenth-century constitution, and presents a modern survey in the words of men of the time.