A Letter to the Examiner

The Volume is in Very Good Condition re-bound in later marbled papered boards: Externally the boards and spine are lightly scuffed in general, with some paper peeling on the spine. Internally the leaves are generally clean and well margined, with some mild foxing and marginal toning, primarily at the title, and little else in the way of stains or tears.

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Of Henry St. John

Henry St John,1st Viscount Bolingbroke was an English politician, government official and political philosopher, and a friend of Jonathan Swift. Eagerly entering politics early in his life, St. John associated himself with Robert Harley, and set about fighting the Whig government prosecuting the War of Spanish Succession. The refusal of the Whigs to make peace with France in 1706, and again in 1709 when Louis XIV offered to yield every point for which the allies professed to be fighting, showed that the war was not being continued in the national interest, and the Queen, Parliament and the people supported the ministry in its wish to terminate hostilities.

It is this understanding of the continued war, and of the conduct of the Marlborough’s at court that fuel the frustration at the heart of this letter. Attributed to Bolingbroke, the letter calls on the Examiner’s editor (Swift) to continue to harangue the Whig Administration, and to address its shortcomings.