The Archbishop of Cambray s dissertation on pure love with An Account of the Life and Writings of the Lady, for whose sake the Archbishop was banish d from Court. And the grievous Persecutions she suffer d in France for her Religion Fénelon, François de Salignac de la Mothe Religion

Octavo in 4s and 8s (7 7/8" x 4 3/4", 199mm x 120mm): [Full collation available upon request]. 120 leaves, pp. i-ii iii-xcvi, 1-144. Bound in contemporary paneled speckled calf and blind ornamentation to the boards. On the spine, seven raised bands. Boards rubbed. Loss to the corners and skinning at the extremities. Front board cracked along the joint. Title-leaf torn, partially repaired by an old hand with large stitching. Leaves generally tanned and occasionally soiled. Vertical tear to the lower margin of K8, not affecting the text. Wormhole to the lower margin from L2-L5, not affecting the text. Title-page inscribed "Antho Morris Subscriber to pay ye printer five shillings for this edition which he accordingly did make up 10 5 1738 and same day was dd unto him this Excellent Treatise." François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon (1651-1715) came from a noted ecclesiastical family in Périgord; fifteen generations of his family had served as bishop at nearby Sarlat. The author of the present work, however, rose to a greater height. He was tutor to the eldest son of the Dauphin, the Duke of Burgundy, who predeceased his grandfather, Louis XIV. With this role he became prominent at court, ingratiating himself with Madame de Maintenon and with the king himself. By 1696, he was nominated Archbishop(-Duke) of Cambrai, all while maintaining his tutorial responsibilities. Even before his rise at court, Fénelon had come under the influence of his cousin Madame Guyon (the Lady of the title), a proponent of many of the tenets of Quietism, a philosophy (declared heretical by Innocent XI in 1687) that propounded prayer rather than action as the route to salvation. Mme. Guyon won over Mme. de Maintenon, with the result that quietist principles -- with their object of Pure Love -- found a place, paradoxically, at the court of the Sun King. Such was Louis's influence that he was able to secure an archbishopric for a man who openly promulgated a heresy. Despite this acceptance, Fénelon's writings were condemned by Rome and he was banished to his bishopric of Cambray in 1699. The writings of Fénelon and Madame Guyon were quickly excerpted and translated in the United States, creating a small but dedicated faction of followers in New England. The teachings of Fénelon on abnegation of the self, disinterested love, and systematic spirituality coincided with the "practical spirituality" that characterized the popular piety of Quakers, Methodists, and Pietists. Accounts of his life were similarly published by small presses throughout Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, approaching the style of hagiographies and exempla vitaes of Catholicism. Fénelon achieved a saintly status among these religious subgroups and long-standing popularity with writers and abolitionists such as Louisa May Alcott, Lydia Maria Child, and Joseph Greenleaf Whittier. The present example belonged to Anthony Morris II (1682-1763), a brewer, judge, and mayor of Philadelphia. The city council first elected Morris in 1738 and attempted to re-elect him the following year, but he turned the position down. The council tried again in 1747, but when the messenger went to find Morris and relay the news, he had already fled the county. They searched for three days until throwing in the towel and re-electing the 1746 mayor, William Atwood. Morris's father -- Anthony Morris I -- was also mayor of Philadelphia. Described by William Penn as "one of the most sufficient as well as diligent magistrates," Morris led the city in 1704. A devoted Quaker, he served as clerk of the Monthly Meeting for the Society of Friends and raised funds for the many Quaker meeting houses cropping up around the Northeast in the early XVIIIc. ESTC W41286, Evans 4246. Cataloged by G.R. Murdock and J.L. Rosenberg