The Constitution of England, or an account of the English government, in which it is compared with the republican form. And occasionally with the other monarchies in Europe. By J.L. de Lolme
Authors of source text
Contributions
- Francis Maseres
- translator
- Jean-Louis de Lolme
- translator
- George Kearsley
- publisher
- Thomas Spilsbury
- publisher
Related resources
- is translation of
- Constitution de l'Angleterre, ou état du gouvernement anglois, comparé avec la forme républicaine & avec les autres monarchies de l'Europe. Par M. de Lolme has translation
- has other edition
- The Constitution of England, or an account of the English government, in which it is compared with the republican form. And occasionally with the other monarchies in Europe. By J.L. de Lolme translation
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Notes
"De Lolme's book… was widely praised as a superior account of the British constitution, comparable with the eleventh book of Montesquieu's 'L'esprit des lois' and William Blackstone's 'Commentaries on the Laws of England'. The circumstances in which the work appeared in English are somewhat obscure. Parts of the study first appeared in English as an anonymous pamphlet, 'A Parallel between the English Constitution and the Former Government of Sweden' (1772). Generally treated as de Lolme's work, though translated by another hand, the pamphlet attracted considerable attention in London political circles. An anonymous response attacked its factual inaccuracies while respecting its 'acuteness of comprehension'. At the same time, de Lolme was seeking subscriptions for the publication of a translation of his book, only to find that one had already been begun by two booksellers. He paid £10 for them to drop their undertaking, and the first full and credited English edition was published as 'The Constitution of England, or, An Account of the English Government' in 1775.
It has been suggested that he was assisted in the translation by Baron Maseres, and the quality of the translation would appear to support this assertion. It is striking that a passage from this edition appeared previously in the preface to the [collected edition of the] Junius letters (1772), written as early as November 1771. This coincidence led to the conjecture that de Lolme and Junius were the same person… It is impossible to determine whether Junius saw the translation before publication or whether de Lolme adopted Junius's translation of the passage.
The Constitution of England, which reached a fourth (revised) edition in 1784, proved a great success. For a time de Lolme was fêted by the London political establishment. Proceeds from the sale of the book should have given de Lolme a comfortable income, but through improvidence and, it was rumoured, dissipation, gambling, and speculation, he remained in almost constant poverty [later receiving relief from the Royal Literary Fund]."
This translation went through multiple editions until at least 1807, with the appearance of a newly edited version by Dr Charles Coote. The URL is to the 1788 edition and the translators are suggested by the ONDB entry.
For further information, see the cited entry on John Louis de Lolme by G.P. Macdonell (2004), revised by Adam I.P. Smith (2009) in the ONDB (online).