The Palladium of Great Britain and Ireland, or Historical Strictures of Liberty, from Before the Reformation Down to the Present Times, etc

Caleb Fleming

London : C. Henderson, 1762

First ed. Octavo.  Bound in contemporary leather backed boards.  Shelf worn.  xii, 162, [2] pages. Title page loose.  Generally sound internally. "Fleming was a dissenting minister and zealous Socinian. Several of his tracts are curious and valuable. Some were published without his name." - Lowndes II, page 809; BM 9: 417 (249)   Provenance: Engraved book plate of Dan L. Milliken, Boston 1876, New Hampshire Antiquarian Society.  Caleb Fleming, D.D. (1698 – 1779) was an English dissenting minister and Polemicist. Fleming's basic premise is that the liberty enjoyed in Britain resulted from the development of Protestantism.  Interestingly, Fleming argues that true religious liberty demands unlimited toleration.  He cites Hume's argument that Puritan opposition to the excess of the royal prerogative preserved the fire of liberty within the English polity.  An interesting work.