Leading historians survey the impact of the history of political thought on the 'new' histories of Britain and Ireland; eminent literary scholars offer novel critical methods attentive to literary form, genre, and language; and distinguished political theorists treat the relationship of history and theory in studies of rights and privacy. The outstanding examples of critical practice collected here will encourage the emergence of new research on the historical, critical, and theoretical study of the English-speaking world in the period c. 1500-1800. This volume celebrates the contribution of the Folger Institute to British studies over many years.