A BRIEF REPLY TO THE HISTORY OF STANDING ARMIES IN ENGLAND. With some Account of the Authors.
Pp. [vi]+24(last blank); small f'cap. 4to; modern half dark brown calf, spine with gilt lettered maroon leather title label, light brown cloth boards; all edges sprinkled red; bookplate of David Levine, Sydney, on upper pastedown, binder's ticket at foot of lower pastedown, the endpapers slightly browned, tiny chip to top edge of title page, archival tape repair to closed tear at fore-edge of pp. 7/8, a couple of spots of foxing and occasional slight soiling; London, 1698. First edition. Wing D829; ESTC R9669; Moore 19. *Defoe's reply to John Trenchard's A Short History of Standing Armies in England was part of a political debate over whether England should maintain a permanent army. He describes Trenchard (1662-1723) as one of the 'Murmurers, Grumbletonians and the like' [Preface] and argues that keeping a limited peacetime force is necessary for national security: 'to me it seems one of the most ridiculous things in the world to be wholly disarm'd at such a time, when all the nations in the world have forces in pay' [p. 9]. Item #169863
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