In turn, Tory minister, Jacobite renegade, English philosopher and anti-minister, Bolingbroke has elicited mixed reactions from his compatriots, both contempories and historians. Bernard Cottret discusses here his political writings in the context of contemporary thought in England and France. His analyses of 'A' Dissertation upon Parties' and 'The Idea of a Patriot King' are supported by a full mid-eighteenth-century political thought.

Introduction: Bolingbroke, or the Conservative Enlightenment - Death of a Philosopher: Bolingbroke's Last Trick - Great Expectations: Bolingbroke and the Extinction of Party Politics - The Swan's Song: A Patriot King or None! - A Dissertation upon Parties - The Idea of a Patriot King - Appendix - Chronology - Table: Skeleton Genealogy of the St Johns - Index