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⁵ Smith, , De republica, p. 14 (1, 6)Google Scholar; p. 17 (1, 8); p. 30 (1, 16); p. 46 (1, 24); p. 19 (1, 9).

⁶ Ibid. p. 16 (1, 7); pp. 16–17 (1 8): P. 24 (1 12).

⁷ Ibid. p. 48 (11, 1); pp. 58–60 (ii, 3); pp. 64–5 (11, 5–8).

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¹¹ E.g. Coriolanus, III, i, 116; Timon of Athens, v, i, 167; King Lear, v, iii, 302; Cymbeline, III, vii, 10.

¹² Antony and Cleopatra, II, ii, 169; III, vi, 11.

¹³ E.g. Henry IV, Part One, iv, iii, 50; Part Two, IV, i, 186.

¹⁴ Macbeth, I, iv, 14; Antony and Cleopatra, iv, iii, 10; Coriolanus, III, i, 89; Macbeth, III, vi, 40; Measure for measure, III, i, 5; Coriolanus, III, ii, 39; Cymbeline, IV, ii, 106; Pericles prince of Tyre, II, ii, 19.

¹⁵ Merry wives of Windsor, III, iii, 66; Measure for measure, v, i, 54; Henry V, III, vii, 27; Hamlet, v, ii, iii; v, i, 147.

¹⁶ Coriolanus, iv, v, 142; Antony and Cleopatra, IV, xii, 117.

¹⁷ Younger, William, The unrighteous judge; or judex cretensis (1621)Google Scholar, n.p. Covell, William, Polimanteia, or the meanes, lawful and unlawful, to judge of the fall of a commonwealth (written 1595, published 1635), T 4.Google ScholarWright, Henry, The first part of the disquisition of truth, concerning political affairs (1616), 14.Google Scholar

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²² E.g. a message to the judges in the case of Commendams, and a royal proclamation. Willson, D. H., King James VI and I (London, 1959), p. 381.Google ScholarNichols, , Progresses of King James I (1828), I, 27.Google Scholar

²³ Tanner, J. R. (ed.), Constitutional documents of the reign of James I (Cambridge, 1930), pp. 337–41.Google Scholar

²⁴ Tanner, , Documents, p. 250, also pp. 249, 255, 258–9.Google Scholar

²⁵ Holdsworth, W. S., A history of English law (London, 1903–1924), IV, 206–7Google Scholar; VI, 21–66. Judson, M. A., The crisis of the constitution (New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1949Google Scholar; New York, 1964), chapter IV, is indispensable here, though the term ‘legal absolutism’ is used far too freely.

²⁶ See, for example, the ‘Commons Apology’ of 1604, and James Whitelocke's speech in 1610. Tanner, , Documents, pp. 226, 262.Google Scholar

²⁷ A complete collection of state trials, ed. Howell, T. B. (London, 1816), III, 1146, 1156, 1162Google Scholar, where Justice Croke, in giving judgement for Hampden, covers virtually the whole spectrum of meaning.

²⁸ State trials, III, 37 (Attorney-General Heath), 151 (Sergeant Ashley), 1016–23 (repeatedly, Attorney-General Bankes), 1114 (Justice Berkeley), etc.

²⁹ Chief Justice Finch, in State trials, III, 1226, 1231 (and Holborne, for Hampden, had used the same meanings, pp. 176–9). Digges quoted in Judson, , Crisis, p. 18.Google Scholar

³⁰ Vivat rex, p. 6. See also Tooker, William, Of the fabrique of the church and churchmen's livings (1604), pp. 99–100Google Scholar, where absolute is carefully contrasted with limited monarchy, and tyranny is one possible kind of absolute power. Greville, Fulke, A treatise of monarchy, stanzas 90, 314, 521.Google Scholar

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³² William Perkins, quoted in Mosse, G. L., The holy pretence (Oxford, 1957), p. 52.Google ScholarDowning, , A discourse, p. 91.Google Scholar And Downing was similarly conventional when he noted that absolute kings do not have to account for their actions, p. 43. His later adhesion to the rebels in the Civil War is not anticipated in this work.

³³ Judson, , CrisisGoogle Scholar, ch. v. It is clear that the divines' use of the term comes much closer than the lawyers' to a general concept of absolutism. See also Allen, , English politicai thought, pp. 161–96.Google Scholar

³⁴ Eliot, , The monarchie of man, ed. Grosart, A. B. (London, 1879), II, 46.Google Scholar On the discrepancies in Eliot's thinking about absolutism, see Hulme, Harold, The life of Sir John Eliot (London, 1957), pp. 375 ff.Google Scholar

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³⁶ Parker, Henry, Observations upon some of his majesties late answers and expresses (1642), pp. 4, 8, 10, 26, 34, 40.Google Scholar See also Jordan, W. K., Men of substance: A study of the thought of two English revolutionaries, Henry Parker and Henry Robinson (Chicago, 1942), pp. 140–78.Google Scholar

³⁷ Rutherford, Samuel, Lex rex: the law and the prince (1644), pp. 385, 184.Google Scholar

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³⁹ Hunton, Philip, A treatise of monarchy, Harleian miscellany (1801–11), VI, 330–1, 339, 357–60.Google Scholar See also Judson, , Crisis, 397–407.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ Goodwin, John, Anti-cavalierismeGoogle Scholar, passim; Os ossorianum, or, a bone for a bishop to pick (1643)Google Scholar, ‘29’ – ‘36’ (actually 31–8).

⁴¹ See, for example, The tenure of kings and magistrates, in Complete prose works of John Milton (New Haven and London, 1962, etc.), III, 199, 217, 233Google Scholar; Defence of the English people, in Work, IV, part I, 348, 490.

⁴² Gardiner, S. R. (ed.), Constitutional documents of the puritan revolution, 3rd ed. (1906, etc.), pp. 372, 377.Google Scholar

⁴³ Haller, William and Davies, Godfrey (ed.), The Leveller tracts, 1647–1653 (New York, 1944). PP. 148. 158. 162, 80, 413.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ Haller, and Davies, , Tracts, pp. 135–6, 141, 142, 139Google Scholar: The bloody project.

⁴⁵ Blitzer, Charles, An immortal commonwealth; the political thought of James Harrington (New Haven, 1960)Google Scholar, ch. IV. James Harrington's Oceana, ed. Liljegren, S. B. (Heidelberg, 1925), P. 47.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ See, for example, Leviathan, ed. Oakeshott, Michael (Oxford, 1960), pp. 126, 134.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ Among many such applications, Professor Plamenatz entitles a section ‘Hobbes's Argument for Absolute Monarchy’. Plamenatz, J. P., Man and society, I, 148.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Bramhall, John, The catching of leviathan, in Works (Oxford, 1843, etc.), IV, 560.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ Marvell, Andrew, Britannia and Rawleigh, I, 32.Google ScholarA concordance of the English poems of Andrew Marvell, compiled and edited by George R. Guffey (Chapel Hill, 1974) finds that this is the sole poetic use of the term.

⁵⁰ Hutchinson, Lucy, Memoirs of the life of Colonel Hutchinson (London, 1906), pp. 61–2.Google Scholar

⁵¹ The most notable exception to this rule is the case of the best known of all royalists, Sir Robert Filmer. I think I have been able to show, in an as yet unpublished manuscript, that Filmer's political thought was strikingly different from that of other royalists.

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⁵⁴ Ferne, , A reply unto several treatises (1643), P. 15.Google Scholar

⁵⁵ Ferne, , Reply, p. 12.Google Scholar Cf. Conscience satisfied (1642), pp. 20, 46; The resolving of conscience (1643), p. 3.

⁵⁶ SirSpelman, John, Certaine considerations upon the duties both of prince and people, Somers tracts, IV, 377–9.Google ScholarBramitali, John, The serpent-salve, Works, III, 359–60.Google Scholar

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⁵⁸ Dryden, John, His majesty's declaration defended (1681), pp. 9–10.Google ScholarBredvold, Louis J., The intellectual milieu of John Dryden (1934;Google Scholar Ann Arbor, 1956), pp. 148–9.

⁵⁹ Nalson, John, The common interest of king and people (1679), pp. 116, 142, 152–3.Google Scholar Nalson was the compiler of the Impartial collection of the great affairs of state, an answer to Rushworth's collection.

⁶⁰ E.g. Sanderson, Robert, preface to Archbishop Usher's Power communicated by god to the princeGoogle Scholar, in Sanderson, 's Works (Oxford, 1844), V, 207–8.Google ScholarSirL'Estrange, Roger, The parallel (1679), 10.Google Scholar

⁶¹ Johnston, Nathaniel, The excellency of monarchical government (1686), p. 71.Google Scholar

⁶² Williams, Griffith, The discovery of mysteries (1643), pp. 82–3, 96–7Google Scholar; Jura majestatis (1644), pp. 35–41, 123, 142–54. Quarles, Francis, The loyal convert (1644), p. 8.Google Scholar

⁶³ Bagshaw, Edward, The rights of the crown (published 1660, but written in the 1640s), pp. 101–2, 103–4Google Scholar; quotation on latter pages. Heylyn, Peter, The stumbling-block of disobedience (1658), pp. 38, 122, 225 ff., 242–9.Google ScholarCertamen epistolare (1659), p. 71.

⁶⁴ State trials, v, 990–2.

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⁶⁸ That the lawful successor cannot be debarr'd (1684), p. 13. Mackenzie especially emphasized the obligation of the crown to respect property rights, which it had not created and could only supervise. Jus regium, pp. 50–2.

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⁷⁰ Goddard, Thomas, Plato's demon (1684), p. 197.Google Scholar The motto is found on page 195.

⁷¹ Parrott, Thomas (ed.), The plays of George Chapman: the tragedies (New York, reprinted 1961), II, 637.Google Scholar

⁷² Sidney, Algernon, Discourses of government.Google Scholar His use of the term is frequent, and can be investigated in the indexes which are included in all the early editions.

⁷³ Tyrrell, James, Patriarcha non monarcha (1681), pp. 128–9.Google Scholar See also 95, 116* 129–30*, 135*, 259. The pagination of the edition used is incorrect; it goes from 1 to 136, then 97–160, then 209–60, leaving a duplication between 97 and 136. The asterisk means that the page will be found in the second group of pages between 97 and 136.

⁷⁴ Bibliotheca politica (1692, etc.), pp. 124–5.

⁷⁵ Both Anchitell Grey's and William Cobbett's records of the parliamentary debates are remarkably sparse in their mentions of the term. Perhaps the best source for an understanding of the prevalent whig theory is Furley, O. W., ‘The whig Exclusionists: pamphlet literature in the Exclusion campaign, 1679–81’, Cambridge Historical Journal, XIII (1959). 19–36.Google Scholar

⁷⁶ SirFilmer, Robert, The anarchy of a limited or mixed monarchy, in Patriarcha and other political works of Sir Robert Filmer, ed. Laslett, Peter (Oxford, 1949), pp. 291, 294, 306, 308:Google Scholar

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⁷⁸ On Locke's skilful handling of such men, see Seliger, M., The liberal politics of John Locke (London, 1968), pp. 39, 252–6.Google Scholar

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⁸³ MacFlecknoe, 1. 5–6. It is possible that he was referring to lines of Flecknoe's where ‘absolute’ had involved both notions of perfection and of power; if so, Dryden was intentionally narrowing towards the political implications. The works of John Dryden (Berkeley, etc., 1972), II, 314.Google Scholar

⁸⁴ A concordance to the poems of Alexander Pope, ed. Bedford, E. G. and Dilligan, Robert J. (Detroit, 1974), vol. I.Google Scholar

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⁸⁶ Bramhall, , The serpent-sabre, Works, III, 492.Google ScholarHeylyn, Peter, Microcosmos (1621), p. 249.Google ScholarHill, Captain Edmund, Digitus testium, or a dreadful alarm to the whole kingdom (1650).Google ScholarStarkey, , The dignity of kingship, p. 106.Google Scholar (Anon.), A letter from a gentleman of quality (1679), pp. 3, 11.

⁸⁷ Sir Ralph Hopton had called his royalist comrade Godolphin, Sidney ‘as perfect, and as absolute a piece of virtue as ever our country bred’.Google Scholar A half-century later Godolphin would probably have been ‘as absolutely perfect a piece of virtue…’. SirHopton, Ralph, Bellum civile: Hopton's narrative of his campaign in the west (1642–44) and other papers, ed. Healey, C. E. H. C., Somerset Record Society, XVIII (1902), 33.Google Scholar

⁸⁸ Good examples of such work are: Franklin, Julian H., Jean Bodin and the rise of absolutist theory (Cambridge, 1973)Google Scholar; G. R. Elton, introduction to the Harper Torchbook edition of Figgis, J. N., The divine right of kings (New York, etc., 1965), pp. vii–xxxviiiGoogle Scholar; Cooper, J. P., ‘Differences between English and continental governments in the early 17th century’, in Bromley, J. S. and Kossman, E. H. (eds.), Britain and the Netherlands (London, 1964), pp. 62–90.Google Scholar

⁸⁹ E.g. Plamenatz, , Man and society, IGoogle Scholar, ch. v, and Judson, Crisis, ch. IV.

⁹⁰ Walzer, Michael, The revolution of the saints (London, 1966), pp. 199, 228.Google Scholar

⁹¹ Fink, Zera, The classical republicans (Evanston, 1962), pp. 27, n. 113, 149.Google Scholar

⁹² Greenleaf, W. H., Order, empiricism and politics (Oxford, 1964), p. 41.Google Scholar The same author elsewhere appears to identify absolute monarchy with the divine right of kings: ‘The Thomasian tradition and the theory of absolute monarchy’, English Historical Review, LXXIX (1964), 748.

⁹³ Willson, D. H., King James VI and I, p. 51.Google Scholar

⁹⁴ Lee, Maurice Jr, The cabal (Urbana, 1968), pp. 3, 254.Google Scholar

⁹⁵ Jones, J. R., The revolution of 1688 in England (New York, 1972), pp. 4, 12, 17.Google Scholar

⁹⁶ Plumb, J. H., The growth of political stability in England 1675–1725 (London, 1969), pp. 29–31.Google Scholar

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⁹⁸ Though not many are apt to follow the Marxist tendency to see rule by great landowners as the hallmark of absolutism. On this see Cooper, , ‘Differences between English and Continental governments’Google Scholar, and, more recently, Behrens, Betty, ‘Feudalism and absolutism’, Historical Journal, XIX (1976), 245–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar