Piercy Ravenstone: Tory democrat and physiocratic anti-capitalist

Noel W. Thompson

A chapter in English, Irish and Subversives among the Dismal Scientists, 2010, pp 303-327 from Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Abstract: Joseph Dorfman in his introduction to the 1966 edition of Ravenstone'sA Few Doubts on the Subjects of Population and Political Economyargued that Ravenstone was Rev. Edward Edwards, a major contributor on political economy to theQuarterly ReviewandBlackwood's Magazine. The case Dorfman made was circumstantial but nonetheless a strong one. First there was the fact that ‘articles in these Tory organs [were] roughly speaking in accordance with the views of “Ravenstone”’ (Dorfman, 1966). Both Ravenstone and Edwards were, for example, strongly critical of Malthusian population theory and its implications. Furthermore, on the basis of a reading of the 1821 work, Dorfman opined that Ravenstone was a trained theologian, something consistent with Edwards' clerical status, and that both had a predilection for historical reflection. Dorfman also believed he had found evidence in the files of John Murray, the publisher of theQuarterly Review, to substantiate his identification. Thus he cites a letter from Murray to William Gifford, a member of the publishing house, dated 3 November 1820, which makes reference to a manuscript sent to Murray shortly beforeA Few Doubtswas published by another house. Moreover, Murray's correspondence files show that Edwards thought highly of Henry Brougham, and there is a copy ofA Few Doubtsin the Goldsmiths' Library in London, which is inscribed from the author to him (Dorfman, 1966, p. 20).

Date: 2010
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (application/pdf)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... 4154(2010)000028B013
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:rhetzz:s0743-4154(2010)000028b013

DOI: 10.1108/S0743-4154(2010)000028B013

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().