Knocking Down Hatfield
In a year when political writing is likely to be more partisan than scholarly, I find the pub- lication of Geoffrey Block's A Source Book of Conservatism by the Conservative Political Centre both soothing and refreshing. Part of this book is a bibliography for students of politics, prepared with admirable care. The rest of it consists of essays on historical themes. I doubt if anyone could read these essays without learning something about the origin of present- day institutions. How many Tories (for instance) are aware of the date of the first literary use of the term 'Conservative'? According to Mr. Block, it was 1834. It appeared in an epigram by Joseph Jekyll, a political wit of the day, when 'a minor mishap' occurred to the elderly Mar- chioness of Salisbury: ON LORD VERULAM KNOCKING DOWN LADY SALISBURY WHILE WALTZING Conservatives of Hatfield House Were surely 'harum scarum'; What could reforming Whigs do worse Than knocking down Old Sarum?
Mr. Block helpfully comments: 'Sarum is of course the Latin name for Salisbury and Old Sarum was the most notorious of the "pocket boroughs" abolished by the Whigs' Reform Act.'
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