Cambridge texts in the history of political thought

Montesquieu

Charles de Montesquieu

Charles de Secondat Montesquieu

The Spirit of the Laws is, without question, one of the central texts in the history of eighteenth-century thought, yet there has been no complete, scholarly English-language edition since that of Thomas Nugent, published in 1750. This lucid translation renders Montesquieu's problematic text newly accessible to a fresh generation of students, helping them to understand quite why Montesquieu was such an important figure in the early enlightenment and why The Spirit of the Laws was, for example, such an influence upon those who framed the American constitution. Fully annotated, this edition focuses attention upon Montesquieu's use of sources and his text as a whole, rather than upon those opening passages towards which critical energies have traditionally been devoted, and a select bibliography and chronology are provided for those coming to Montesquieu's work for the first time.

Montesquieu: The Spirit of the Laws

David Lowenthal

Charles de Secondat baron de Montesquieu

"It is wonderful to have David Lowenthal's splendid translation of Montesquieu's Considerations on the Causes of The Greatness of the Romans and Their Decline back in print. This neglected masterpiece deserves attention from all who are concerned with self-government -- whether their focus is on its history or on its prospects in our own time." -- Paul A Rahe, Jay P Walker Professor of History, University of Tulsa.

Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and Their Decline

The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars. Western literary study flows out of eighteenth-century works by Alexander Pope, Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding, Frances Burney, Denis Diderot, Johann Gottfried Herder, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and others. Experience the birth of the modern novel, or compare the development of language using dictionaries and grammar discourses. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++ Bodleian Library (Oxford) T177494 Anonymous. By Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu. Parallel French and English titlepages and text, the French title being 'Le temple de Gnide'. With a final advertisement leaf. Dublin: printed by S. Powell, 1750. 155, [3]p.; 12°

The Temple of Gnidus

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1773 edition. Excerpt: ...must not this noble emulation be wholly ex tinct in the heart of your Persians, among whom employments and honours are only derived from the caprice of the sovereign? Reputation and virtue are there only considered as imaginary, if not accompanied by the favour of the prince, with which alone they spring up, and die. A man who enjoys the public esteem, is never sure that he shall not be dishonoured the next day. You see him to-day the general of an army; it may be the next the prince makes him his cook, ., and leaves him no other praise to hope for, but' that of having made a good ragout. LETTER XC. Usbaek to the Same, at Smyrna. From this general passion which the French nation have for glory, there is sprung up m the minds of the people, a certain--I know not what, which they call a point of honour: this is properly the character of every profession, but more remarkable in the men of the sword; and among them it is the point of honour by way of excellence. It will be very difficult to me to make thee understand what this is, because we have not a right idea of it. The French, formerly, especially the nobility, followed scarcely any other laws than those of this point of honour: they regulated the whole conduct of their lives; and they were so strict, that they could not, without suffering what was worse than death, I I do not say infringe, but not even elude, the least punctilio of them. When they had occasion to settle any difference, they seldom prescribed more than one method to decide it, that was by duel, which cut off all difficulties. But what was the worst part of it, was, that frequently the trial was made between other parties besides those who were interested in the affair. How little soever a person might know another, he

Persian Letters

The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars. Western literary study flows out of eighteenth-century works by Alexander Pope, Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding, Frances Burney, Denis Diderot, Johann Gottfried Herder, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and others. Experience the birth of the modern novel, or compare the development of language using dictionaries and grammar discourses. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++ Bodleian Library (Oxford) N002453 With an index. Edinburgh: printed by Alexander Donaldson. Sold at his shop, London; and at Edinburgh, 1773. 2v.(xxiii, [1],360, [24]p.); 12°

Persian Letters. by M. de Montesquieu. Translated from the French. in Two Volumes. ... the Sixth Edition. with Several New Letters and Notes. of 2;

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1873 edition. Excerpt: ... security which was called firmitas;* but this could not be an homage, since the kings gave it to another, f And though the abbot SugerJ makes mention of a chair of Dagobert, in which according to the testimony of antiquity, the kings of France were accustomed to receive the homage of the nobility; it is plain that he expresses himself agreeably to the ideas and language of his own time. "When the fiefs descended to the heirs, the acknowledgment of the vassal, which at first was only an occasional service, became a regular duty, It was performed in a more solemn manner, and attended with more formalities because it was to be a perpetual monument of the reciprocal duties of the lord and vassal. I should be apt to think, that homages began to be established under King Pepin, which is the time I mentioned that several benefices were given in perpetuity, but I should not think thus without caution, and only upon a supposition that the authors of the ancient annals of the Franks were not ignorant pretenders, who in describing the fealty professed byTassillon, duke of Bavaria, to King Pepin, spoke according to the usages of their own time. Chap. XXXIV.-- The same Subject continued. When the fiefs were either precarious or for life, they seldom had a relation to any other than the political laws; for which reason in the civil institutions of those times there is very little mention made of the law of fiefs. But when they were become hereditary, when there was a power of giving, selling, and bequeathing them, they had a relation both to the political and the civil laws. The fief, considered as an obligation of performing military service, depended on the political law; considered as a kind of commercial property, it depended on the civil...

Charles de Secondat Montesquieu

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