The Spleen An Epistle Matthew Green Poetry

"Though pleased to see the dolphins play / I mind my compass and my way." GREEN, Matthew (1696-1737). The Spleen An Epistle Inscribed To His Particular Friend Mr. C. J. [believed to be Cuthbert Jackson] By The Late Mr. Matthew Green, Of The Custom-House, London. 'Orandum est, ut sit mens fana in corpore sano." Juvenal. Sat. X. v. 356. London: Printed And Fold By A. Dodd, Without Temple-Bar; And At All The Pamphlet-Shops In Town. 1737. 2nd Edition [1st Edition also published in 1737]. 8vo (185x120mm), iv, 46pp. Good. Unbound, this copy is the text block only and some evidence of the previously bound spine can be seen. Stitching can be seen, and the textblock is tightly bound. Very minor tear at the top of the textblock which runs to page 10. Light foxing at either end of the textblock, approximately up to page 9 and then from page 33-46, the other pages and clean. The paper feels in excellent condition and very solid given the age of the book. Page 3 has a red stamp from "Mercantile Library Philada". Marks in pencil from a previous bookseller can be seen on the front page. This is a 2nd edition of Matthew Green's poem advising the pleasures of rural life as a remedy to melancholy, first published posthumously in 1737. Green was known for his witty poetry and approach to life, when the government cut off funds that paid for milk in custom house, Green penned a petition in the name of the cats, winning the return of the funding and the milk. The Spleen was supposedly not initially intended for publication, only for the viewing of his friend Cuthbert Jackson (Mr. C. J.) This work is by far Green's most famous, with some even considering him a one-poem poet, leading to him being known colloquially as 'Spleen-Green'.