Dying Merrily: or, historical and critical Reflexions on the Conduct of great Men in all Ages, who, in their last Moments, mock'd Death, and died facetiously . translated from the French by T. W. . A.M. …

DESLANDES, André-François Boureau.

Verlag: London: Printed for M. Cooper . 1745., 1745

Beschreibung

12mo, pp. viii, 133, [3 (blank)]; a good copy in slightly later calf, gilt title-piece to spine; boards lightly scuffed, spine chipped at head.First edition of this translation of Réfléxions sur les grands hommes que sont morts en plaisantant (1712), by the philosopher and naval official André-François Deslandes (1670 1757), an important precursor of the Encyclopédistes. The translator T.W. has not been identified. A different translation by Abel Boyer, interspersed with English verse (presumably at the suggestion of Boyer), had appeared in 1713 under the opaque title APhilological Essay. When published originally Deslandes's Réfléxions was a contribution to the contemporary controversy between free-thinkers and the religious establishment: the former did not believe in an afterlife and could thus face death 'merrily', that is, without fear. Montaigne was one inspiration ('I cannot say whether Montagne [sic] died merrily, but . in a hundred Places of his Essays, [he] speaks advantageously of a merry Death'), elaborated upon in the appended 'Extract from some of Montagne's [sic] Thoughts'. Deslandes offers numerous examples from classical times, but also 'Of the Dutchess of Mazarin's last Moments', 'Of Gassendi's Death, and that of the celebrated Hobbes', and passages on Machiavelli and Rabelais. There is one brief chapter on 'Women who have died facetiously', among whom he numbers Anne Boleyn, reporting her supposed laughter on the scaffold.ESTC records copies at BL (2), NLS, Bodley, Huntington, UCLA, San Francisco Public Library, and McMaster. Language: English. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers E3579

Bibliografische Details

Titel: Dying Merrily: or, historical and critical ...

Verlag: London: Printed for M. Cooper . 1745.

Erscheinungsdatum: 1745

Einband: Hardcover

Auflage: 1. Auflage