An epistle from Obadiah Meanwell, one of the people called Quakers, dwelling at Wycomb in Buckinghamshire, to Robert Meek, whose habitation is in London. In which epistle the conduct of a great man is friendly examined, and seemingly justified, from the revilings … which the envious-minded have raised against him.
London: T[homas] Cooper 1742. First Edition. [2], 29 pages. Disbound pamphlet. First leaf is half title (blank verso). Complete. 8vo. Good. Pamphlet. [24440]
Apparently one of a series of sixteen pamphlets of a political nature, in which authorship is unknown or disputed. The pamphlets, dubbed informally as the “Are These Things So?” series, are directed at the failing administration of Sir Robert Walpole. Walpole, generally regarded as Britain's first Prime Minister, resigned that post in 1742 after losing Parliament's confidence that he was capable of leading a vigorous military campaign against the Spanish crown during the so-called War of Jenkin's Ear.
At least one independent researcher, one Don Shelton, has argued the pamphlets are the work of sometime leading Scottish writer Tobias George Smollett, though his claim may represent a unique opinion. Briefly, the argument is that Smollet followed the “conversational” style of debate popular with writers such as Pope and Defoe, in which they would publish pamphlets promoting both sides of a given question. Smollett is known to have published with -Thomas Cooper, and also contributed to periodicals that Cooper printed. During the War of Jenkin's Ear, Smollett served as a naval surgeon aboard the HMS Chichester. Shelton argues that Smollett left manuscripts on Walpole and his administration to be published by booksellers Cooper and J. Roberts while he was serving with the Navy. Indeed, for much of the time the controversy regarding Walpole's fitness for office swirled in London, Smollett was sailing in the Caribbean or living in Jamaica! Smollett took part in the disastrous 1742 assault on the Spanish stronghold of Cartagena, in present-day Columbia. Walpole's resignation in February came months before news of heavy British losses suffered in that campaign during April and May of 1742. The Obadiah Meanwell letter, dated January 22, 1742, is critical of Walpole's bad management of the Navy. While Smollett's absence from London during much of the period these pamphlets were published hardly disqualifies him as their author, at best the question remains open.
Price: $250.00