Political History

Rude's social and political analysis of two events in London:
the agitation stirred up by Wilkes, and the occasion when gin
and intolerance nearly succeeded in reducing the city once
more to ashes.479 Ritcheson considers the effect which the
problems of America had upon politics after I76O.480 By study-
ing a single year (the year of crisis, 1780, when the loss of
America became in effect certain), Butterfield endeavours to
disentangle the interaction between government, parliament
and public opinion, but it has to be confessed that on occasion he
submerges in a morass of detail.481 A theme of precise cir-
cumscription - the political consequences of George Ill's
mental disturbance - offers Deny the opportunity for a pre-
cisely circumscribed book.482 Sutherland chooses a larger
ground in her study of the political activities of a solidly
founded 'interest5, a study which tells much of the political
attitudes of the time.483

As is always the case in English historical writing, much
political history comes out in the form of political biographies.
Plumb's massive biography of Walpole still lacks its third
volume in which (one may suppose) some of the gaps in the
story of political action will no doubt be filled.484 Walpole's
heir, Henry Pelham, has (it would appear) become the victim
of an inadequate and misleading book.485 A very special
biography deals with George Ill's mental health: the authors

479 George Rude, Wilkes and Liberty: a social study 0/1763 to 1774. O:
Clarendon: 1962. Pp. xvi, 240. Rev: EHR 79, 184^ - Idem, 'The
Gordon Riots: a study of the rioters and their victims', TRHS

480 Charles R. Ritcheson, British Politics and the American
Norman: U of Oklahoma P: 1954. Pp. xv, 320. Rev: AHR 60, 354^

481 Herbert Butterfield, George III, Lord North, and the People, 1779 -
1780. L: Bell: 1949. Pp. xi, 407, Rev: EHR 65, 5268*.

482 John W. Deny, The Regency Crisis and the Wings, 1788-1789.
CUP: 1963. Pp. viii, 244. Rev: EHR 80, $52f.

483 Lucy S. Sutherland, The East India Company in Eighteenth Century
Politics. O: Clarendon: 1952. Pp. xii, 430. Rev: EHR 70, 4608".

484 John H. Plumb, Sir Robert Walpole, 2 vols. (to date). L: Cresset:
1956, 1960. Pp. xv, 407; xii, 363. Rev: EHR 72, 3288".; 78, 5578;
CHJ 13, toff.

485 [John Wilkes, A Whig in Power. Evanston: Northwestern UP: 1964.
Rev: EHR 80,