The State Trial of Doctor Henry Sacheverell

The celebrated 1710 trial of Doctor Henry Sacheverell has been viewed as a classic example of the politicised ′state trial′. This work offers a critical edition of original texts and documents necessary for understanding the trial′s significance. Previous historians have largely accepted the printing by Jacob Tonson of the ′authorised version′ of the trial′s proceedings as authoritative. This edition sets the Tonson account in its proper historical, and polemical, context by showing that it was not the only account on offer in the early eighteenth century of the trial′s proceedings, and that it′s authoritative status was hotly contested, particularly by Tories, but also by radical Whigs. The texts collected in this edition consist of unique manuscripts and rare printed tracts, most existing in only one copy and never before reproduced. By consolidating them in one volume, it is now possible for scholars to consult and compare these accounts in a readily accessible volume. The sheer variety of different responses to the trial become apparent, and demonstrate that any quest to establish one authoritative account of the trial is unrealistic.

Table of Figures Acknowledgments Note on Style and Conventions Abbreviations/Contractions Chapter 1. Introduction: Reading the Trial of Dr Sacheverell Chapter 2. A Brief Chronology of the Sacheverell Controversies                    Chapter 3. The Osborn ‘Account’: Beinecke Library, MS S 13043               Chapter 4. ‘Proceedings in Parliament against Dr Henry Sacheverell’: Beinecke Osborn MS C171 Chapter 5. The Huntington Tryal Annotations   Chapter 6. Annotations to an Impartial Account  Chapter 7. Sacheverell’s Speech Relating to the Tumults Chapter 8. Resistance or Non–resistance Chapter 9. Description of the High Court of Judicature Chapter 10. Plan of the Scaffold Chapter 11. The Case of Henry Sacheverell Chapter 12. The Life, Character and Pious Deportment of Henry Sacheverell Chapter 13. An Alphabetical List Chapter 14. Debates in the House of Lords on Sacheverell’s Impeachment Chapter 15. Robert Walpole’s Manuscripts Relating to the Trial Chapter 16. Materials Relating to the Earl of Nottingham’s Contributions to the Trial Chapter 17. Ralph Bridges’ Correspondence with Sir William Trumbull Relating to Sacheverell Chapter 18. Major Figures Mentioned in the Text Index 

Brian Cowan holds the Canada Research Chair in Early Modern British History at McGill University in Montreal. He has written extensively on the history of the public sphere in early modern Britain, including his prize–winning monograph, The Social Life of Coffee: The Emergence of the British Coffeehouse (2005).  He edits the Journal of the British of Studies , with his colleague Elizabeth Elbourne, for the North American Conference on British Studies. This volume is the first publication resulting from his continuing research on the media politics surrounding the 1710 trial of Doctor Henry Sacheverell.