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Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke (1678–1751)
Bolingbroke, Henry St. John, Viscount. A celebrated English statesman, orator, and author; born at Battersea in 1678; died there, Dec. 12, 1751. He entered Parliament in 1701; became Secretary of War 1704–8, and Secretary of State in 1710. In 1712 he entered the House of Lords, and in 1713 negotiated the Peace of Utrecht. On the accession of George I. he fled to the Continent, and in 1715 was attainted of treason; but in 1723 he was permitted to return. His chief works are: ‘A Dissertation on Parties’; ‘Letters on the Study of History’; ‘Letters on the Spirit of Patriotism’; and ‘The Idea of a Patriot King.’ He was a Deist, but taught that a statesman should profess the doctrines of the Church of England. He was an effective orator; but the style of his philosophical and political works, though polished, is heavy and declamatory.