Edward Herbert’s A Dialogue between a Tutor and his Pupil, and Karl Ludwig, Elector of the Palatinate

Abstract

ABSTRACT A hitherto unnoted manuscript of A Dialogue between a Tutor and his Pupil (Kassel 2° Ms. philos. 12) puts beyond doubt that it is a canonical work of Edward, Lord Herbert of Cherbury. The Dialogue offers the most radical presentation of Herbert’s thoughts on religious pluralism, and the emendations in the Kassel manuscript show the original composition was even bolder than that found in other manuscripts and finally published in 1768. The provenance of the manuscript is also significant: it survived in the collection of Karl Ludwig I, Elector Palatine (1617–80), grandson of King James I. He nearly certainly obtained the manuscript during his extended stay in England in the 1640s, and it reflects his relationship with Herbert and a wide range of major (and often radical) English thinkers of the 1640s. Finally, his policy of religious toleration during his direct rule of the Palatinate is consistent with Herbert’s ideas.