The Myth and the Man

There were three Bolingbrokes: (1) The politician and minister of Queen Anne's reign, whose career ended with his flight to France in April 1715; (2) The exile, after his brief service under "The Old Pretender," who was permitted in 1723 to return to England, but not to his seat in the House of Lords - the Bolingbroke of The Craftsman; and (3) The idealised Bolingbroke of the 19^th century - the work mainly of Disraeli.

In this pamphlet I am as much concerned with Bolingbroke as a contributor to political thought as with the politician though, obviously, the main stages in his political career require summarising.