A Discourse of the Rise & Power of Parliaments, Of Law's, Of Courts..

1677. An Interesting Tract on Foreign Policy and Religious Freedom [Sheridan, Thomas (1646-1712)]. A Discourse of the Rise & Power of Parliaments, Of Law's, Of Courts of Judicature, Of Liberty, Property, And Religion, Of the Interest of England in Reference to the Desires of France; Of Taxes and of Trade. In a Letter from a Gentleman in the Country to a Member in Parliament. [London: S.n.], 1677. [xxxiv], 7-245, [3] pp. Octavo (6" x 3-1/2"). Contemporary mottled sheep, blind rules to boards, rebacked retaining portions of existing backstrip, blind tooling to board edges, edges of text block marbled. Light rubbing and faint gatoring to boards, which are moderately bowed, moderate rubbing to extremities, corners bumped, pastedowns loose and lightly edgeworn. Moderate toning to interior, early owner signature ("A: Mortyne Junr"?) to title page. $650. * Only edition, reissued with a cancel title page in 1685. Sheridan, an Irish pamphleteer, "argued that England needed to maximize its economic potential to counter the threat from France. He denounced religious persecution as economically damaging; laws were needed against religious dissidents, but they should be lightly and sensitively enforced. He argued that Ireland too needed to modernize economically, which would require both freedom of trade and the replacement of the Gaelic language by English" (ODNB). Despite the work's title, it does not discuss Parliament extensively. English Short-Title Catalogue R16270 (setting A). (Inventory #: 82156)