A conversation in May
1660
Written by Maurice Cranston
Produced by Douglas Cleverdon
This conversation between champions of different political philosophies is imagined to have taken place in May 166o, when England was awaiting the return of Charles II after his proclamation as King by both Houses of Parliament.
An unyielding republican, Colonel John Hutchinson, challenges both the ardent royalism of John Evelyn and the calculating liberalism of Anthony Ashley
Cooper, neither of whom can stomach the views of the other, and all are confronted,- if not confounded, by the mordant realism of Thomas Hobbes.
John Aubrey, never too attached to one idea to cease to be curious about others, animates the dialogue, and the participants are pressed to make exphat their beliefs about the theoretical basis of the monarchy.