of state, and excepted from acts of pardon, for whose arrest warrants were issued at the same time. Sir James wrote 'Noah's Dove,' 1645, and a 'Holy Oyl,' attributed in the British Museum Catalogue to James. Noble fuses the two lives. James Harrington was examined before Lauderdale and others, and Clarendon accused him in a conference of the houses of being concerned in a plot (Toland). His sisters petitioned for a trial, and had obtained a writ of habeas corpus when he was suddenly sent off to St. Nicholas Island in Plymouth harbour. He was afterwards allowed to move to Plymouth, where he was kindly treated by the authorities. By the advice of a Dr. Dunstan he drank guaiacum in such quantities, it is said, as to injure his health and finally disorder his brain. He was released and allowed to come to London for advice. He was never quite cured, even by the Epsom waters, and a curious paper illustrating his illusions is printed by Toland. He fancied that diseases were caused by evil spirits, whom, according to Aubrey, he identified with flies. He married, however, a daughter of Sir Marmaduke Dorrel or Dayrell, to whom he behaved with the 'highest generosity,' though a temporary quarrel followed the discovery that her intentions were not quite disinterested. He suffered much from gout, and finally died of paralysis at Westminster on 11 Sept. 1677. He had lived since his release at the Little Ambry, looking into Dean's Yard, and was buried on the south side of the altar of St. Margaret's Church, next to Sir Walter Raleigh.
Aubrey describes him as of middling stature, strong, well-set, with 'quick-hot fiery hazell eie and thick moist curled hair.'
His 'Oceana' was long famous, and is noticed in Hume's 'Essays' ('Idea of a Perfect Commonwealth') as the 'only valuable model of a commonwealth' extant. Harrington's main principle is that power depends upon the balance of property, and normally of landed property. His scheme is expounded in an imaginary history of Oceana (England), in which Olphaus Megaletor (Oliver Cromwell) founds a new constitution. An 'agrarian' limits landed estates to a value of 3,000l. a year. The senate proposes laws, which are voted upon by the people, and the magistracy execute them. Elaborate systems of rotation and balloting are worked out in detail; and the permanence of the system is secured by the equilibrium of all interests. His republic is a moderate aristocracy. Machiavelli is his great authority, and Venice (as with many of his contemporaries) his great model. For an interesting account of his political theories see Professor Dwight in 'Political Science Quarterly' for March 1887.
His works are:
- 'The Commonwealth of Oceana,' folio, 1656.
- 'The Prerogative of Popular Government' (defence of 'Oceana' against Matthew Wren's 'Considerations,' Dr. Seaman, and Dr. Hammond).
- 'The Art of Lawgiving' (abridgment of 'Oceana') 1659.
- 'Valerius and Publicola,' 1659.
- 'Aphorisms Political' [1659].
- 'A System of Politics, delineated in Short and Easy Aphorisms' (first printed by Toland from manuscript).
- 'Seven Models of a Commonwealth,' 1659.
- 'Ways and Means whereby an equal Commonwealth may be suddenly introduced …,' 1659.
- The Petition of Divers well-affected Persons …' (presented to the House of Commons 6 July 1659, and printed with answer), 1659.
The above are included in Toland's edition of the 'Works,' 1 vol. folio, 1700. An edition by Millar in 1737 included in addition:
- 'Pian Piano' (answer to Henry Ferne [q. v.]), 1656.
- 'A Letter unto Mr. Stubs, in answer to his Oceana Weighed,' 1659.
- 'A sufficient Answer to Mr. Stubb,' 1659
- A Discourse upon this Saying: the Spirit of the Nation is not yet to be trusted with liberty …,' 1659.
- ' A Discourse showing that the Spirit of Parliaments … is not to be trusted for a settlement,' 1659.
- 'A Parallel of the Spirit of the People with the Spirit of Mr. Rogers,' 1659..
- 'Pour enclouer le Canon, or the Nailing of the Enemy's Artillery,' 1659.
- 'A Proposition in order to the Proposing of a Commonwealth,' s.s., 1659. (The last five and Nos. 4 and 5 were collected with a common title-page as 'Political Discourses,' 1660, with a portrait by Hollar, after Lely.)
- 'The Stumbling-block of Obedience and Rebellion, cunningly imputed by Peter Heylin to Calvin, removed …,' 1659.
- 'Politicaster, or a Comical Discourse in Answer to Mr. Wren' (i.e. to Wren's 'Monarchy Asserted'), 1659.
- 'A Proposition in order to the Proposing of a Commonwealth,' 1659.
- 'The Rota' (extracted from ' Art of Lawgiving '), 1660. 'A Censure of the Rota upon Mr. Milton's ready … Way to Establish a Free Commonwealth,' 1660, may also be his.
The above all refer to the 'Oceana.' He published also in 1658 a translation of 'two of Virgil's "Eclogues" and (the first) two of his "Æneis,"' and in 1659 the next four books of the 'Æneid.'
