ABSTRACT

Edmund Burke's book reviews in the Annual Register reveal the diversity of his intellectual interests and the catholicity of his literary taste and judgment. He had a remarkable gift for choosing to review books which were to endure and become an important part of eighteenth-century thought. Among the following reviews, of special interest are those on Rousseau, which should be read in conjunction with Burke's later attack on Rousseau in his Letter to a Member of the National Assembly. Burke knew that Coke was the most eminent modern English jurist to defend the Natural Law. His general legal erudition takes on added significance as a measure of his knowledge of Natural Law. His review of David Hume's History of England contains comments on the limits of the royal prerogative under the Stuarts and Tudors, which are very significant when reading his arguments in opposition to George III during the period of the American Revolution.