View of Society in Europe

by Gilbert Stuart, William Zachs (Editor)

This series reprints classic works illustrating the cultural and intellectual life of Scotland during one of its most creative and dynamic periods: the second half of the eighteenth century. It was the age of the mature Scottish Enlightenment, when Scotland, to the surprise of most Europeans, became one of the leading cultural and intellectual centres of the western world. Although the writings of some eighteenth-century Scottish thinkers, such as David Hume and Adam Smith, are widely available, many others are scarce. This series will regularly publish groups of thematically connected titles, most of which have not been reprinted for a century or more, many with specially commissioned new introductions.

434 pages, Hardcover

First published February 15, 1995

About the author

Gilbert Stuart (1742 – 1786) was a Scottish journalist and historian. He was educated at the High School in Edinburgh and then studied Classics and Philosophy at Edinburgh University, followed by a course in jurisprudence there.

In 1768 Stuart went to London, hoping for preferment through Lord Mansfield. In 1769 he lodged with Thomas Somerville in the house of Murdoch the bookseller, writing for the newspapers and reviews. He worked for the Monthly Review from 1768 to 1773. By June 1773 Stuart was back with his father at Musselburgh, working to launch the Edinburgh Magazine and Review. The first number came out about the middle of October 1773, and it was discontinued after the publication of the number for August 1776.

His first independent work was the anonymous Historical Dissertation on the Antiquity of the English Constitution (1768) in which he traced English institutions to a German source.

Stuart's major work, A View of Society in Europe, was published in 1778. In 1779 Stuart brought out, with a dedication to Lord Mount Stuart, Observations on the Public Law and Constitutional History of Scotland; and in 1780 he published his History of the Establishment of the Reformation in Scotland. It was followed in 1782 by The History of Scotland from the Establishment of the Reformation till the Death of Queen Mary.