James Harrington (& Matthew Wren) The Prerogative of Popular Government 1658

Harrington & Wren were political economists, and as economists they necessarily disagreed. The first use is in Wren’s work criticising Harrington’s Oceana, from which Harrington quotes at length in order to refute it. Wren suggests that Harrington plans for an agrarian economy would leave “a commonwealth of cottagers” at “the beggars bush”. He is clearly not referring to an actual place, but to a state of poverty and powerlessness. Harrington clearly recognises the phrase and expects his readers to understand it, as he quotes it back in his response.  Both usages show the wide distribution of the phrase. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted: April 10th, 2011 | Filed under: Writers | Tags: Jamaica, James Harrington, Literary, Matthew Wren, St Thomas in the Vale | No Comments »