An Account of Denmark (The Thomas Hollis Library)

The Liberty Fund edition of An Account of Denmark, with its related texts, is the first modern edition of Molesworth s writings. This volume presents not only An Account, a text that for most of the eighteenth century was recognized as one of the canonical works of Whiggism, but also his translation of Francogallia and Some Considerations for the Promoting of Agriculture and Employing the Poor. These texts encompass Molesworth s major political statements on liberty as well as his important and understudied recommendations for the application of liberty to economic improvement, all presented here with editorial apparatus to provide historical and contextual background for the reader.

In An Account of Denmark, "Robert Molesworth famously diagnosed the causes of a disordered commonwealth," writes Champion in the introduction. "Unlike the reception of Locke, Molesworth's writings provided insight into processes of corruption rather than simply a set of prescriptive juristic values. In the Account of Denmark, especially, Molesworth established how tyranny worked, identifying the contaminating ideologies and institutions."

Robert Molesworth (1656–1725) was an Irish politician and diplomat.

Justin Champion is Chair of the History Department at Royal Holloway College, University of London.

David Womersley is Thomas Warton Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford.