"The two ruling passions of this parliament, were zeal for liberty, and an aversion to the church; and to both of these, nothing could appear more exceptionable, than the court of high commission, whose institution rendered it entirely arbitrary, and assigned to it the defence of the ecclesiastical establishment."
— Hume, David (1711-1776)
Author
Place of Publication
Edinburgh
Publisher
Printed by Hamilton, Balfour, and Neill
Date
1754, 1762
Metaphor
"The two ruling passions of this parliament, were zeal for liberty, and an aversion to the church; and to both of these, nothing could appear more exceptionable, than the court of high commission, whose institution rendered it entirely arbitrary, and assigned to it the defence of the ecclesiastical establishment."
Metaphor in Context
The two ruling passions of this parliament, were zeal for liberty, and an aversion to the church; and to both of these, nothing could appear more exceptionable, than the court of high commission, whose institution rendered it entirely arbitrary, and assigned to it the defence of the ecclesiastical establishment. The star-chamber also was a court, which exerted high discretionary powers; and had no precise rule or limit, either with regard to the causes which came under its jurisdiction, or the decisions which it formed. A bill unanimously passed the houses to abolish these two courts; and, in them, to annihilate the principal and most dangerous articles of the king’s prerogative. By the same bill, the jurisdiction of the council was regulated, and its authority abridged.h Charles hesitated before he gave his assent. But finding that he had gone too far to retreat, and that he possessed no resource in case of a rupture, he at last affixed the royal sanction to this excellent bill. But to show the parliament, that he was sufficiently apprised of the importance of his grant, he observed to them, that this statute altered in a great measure the fundamental laws, ecclesiastical and civil, which many of his predecessors had established.
(pp. 328-9)
(pp. 328-9)
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Hume's history was published 1754-1762. Over 45 entries in the ESTC (1762, 1763, 1764, 1766, 1767, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, 1773, 1775, 1778, 1780, 1782, 1786, 1788, 1789, 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1795, 1796, 1797). [Published in 1754 as The History of Great Britain. Vol.I. Containing the Reigns of James I. and Charles I. The first volumes published became the last of the six in chronological ordering of the 1762 multi-volume work.]
See The History of England, from the Invasion of Julius Cæsar to the Revolution in 1688. in Six Volumes. By David Hume, a New Edition, Corrected. (London: Printed for A. Millar, in the Strand, M DCC LXII, 1762). <Link to ESTC>
See David Hume, The History of England from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution in 1688, Foreword by William B. Todd, 6 vols. (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund 1983). <Link to OLL> <Link to ECCOgt;
See The History of England, from the Invasion of Julius Cæsar to the Revolution in 1688. in Six Volumes. By David Hume, a New Edition, Corrected. (London: Printed for A. Millar, in the Strand, M DCC LXII, 1762). <Link to ESTC>
See David Hume, The History of England from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution in 1688, Foreword by William B. Todd, 6 vols. (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund 1983). <Link to OLL> <Link to ECCOgt;
Date of Entry
02/06/2011
