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The 2nd edition was first published in 1928, with an Introduction by The First Earl of Balfour
Long since established as a classic on account both of its importance as history and its quality as literature, Bagehot's The English Constitution is a lucid and most readable exposition of a fundamental subject.
Lord Balfour's special Introduction to this edition, the estimate of one who read the book when it first appeared, and saw it through the changes of sixty years, is invaluable. 'He who thinks Bagehot's English Constitution dull', he wrote, 'must have brought a dull mind to its perusal. The theme no doubt is weighty. But the author has treated it with an easy originality of manner and method...
Critics may perhaps allege that the style wants finish; but they must be hard to please if they deny that it is forcible, rapid high-spirited and clear'
WALTER BAGEHOT Born at Langport, Somersetshire, 3 February 1826 Died at Langport, Somersetshire, 24 March 1877 The English Constitution was first published in 1867, a second edition, with an additional chapter, appeared in 1872. In The World's Classics it was first published in 1928, and reprinted in 1929, 1933, 1936, 1942, 1944, 1949, 1952, 1955, 1958, 1961, 1963, and then again in 1968.
