This is an analysis of English political thought in the 18th and 19th centuries, organized around the concept of a Whig tradition. Arguing that the study of 19th-century liberal thought has taken too little account of its 18th-century antecedents, Burrow considers the central ideas of Liberalism and how they evolved from the early 18th to the late 19th century, and examines the main points of continuity, analogy, and difference in the progress of society, public opinion, individuality, and the idea of balance. A concluding chapter looks at the early 20th century.