An Explanatory Defence of the Estimate of the Manners and Principles of the Times. Being an Appendix to That Work, Occasioned by the Clamours Lately Raised Against It Among Certain Ranks of Men.

84 pp. John Brown responds to criticisms of his work An Estimate of the Manners and Principles of the Times and Other Writings, originally published in 1756 after the loss of Minorca during the Seven Years' War, in which Brown argued that England was suffering from a moral crisis driven by luxury, selfishness, and corruption. The criticisms, unsurprisingly, came largely from high-ranking officials in the government Brown was accusing of corruption. John Brown was an English Anglican clergyman, playwright, and moralist, and argued that during Robert Walpole's premiership, preoccupation with commerce and political maneuvering had replaced genuine civic virtue with self-interest.