‘Have a Care of perverted Authorities’:¹ Parliament, Partisanship, and the Earl of Shaftesbury

This chapter discusses and addresses two main concerns. It starts by examining the controversy that surrounded the moving of Parliament from Westminster to Oxford in March 1681. It analyses the pamphlet discourse that circulated before and after it met, and considers the powerful strategy of invoking historical precedents in polemical debate. Finally, it looks at some representations of Antony Ashley Cooper, who was the Earl of Shaftesbury.

This chapter discusses and addresses two main concerns. It starts by examining the controversy that surrounded the moving of Parliament from Westminster to Oxford in March 1681. It analyses the pamphlet discourse that circulated before and after it met, and considers the powerful strategy of invoking historical precedents in polemical debate. Finally, it looks at some representations of Antony Ashley Cooper, who was the Earl of Shaftesbury.