A Sammelband volume of Sermons and Poetry celebrating the centenary anniversary of the Glorious Revolution.

1. MILNE (Colin). A Sermon preached at St. Margaret's, Westminster, before. a Society of Noblemen and Gentlemen, Friends to the Constitution...being the Hundreth Anniversary of the Glorious Revolution. First Edition. 4to (243 x 193mm). [4], 24 pp., with the half-title. lightly foxed throughout. London: by C. Macrae...for P. Elmsly, 1788. ESTC records a singly imperfect copy at the Clark Library UCLC.

 

2. PEGGE (Samuel). A Sermon Preached at Whittington in the County of Derby, on the Grand JubileeA Sermon preached at St. Margaret's, Westminster, or Centenary Commemoration of the Glorious Revolution. First Edition. 4to. 20pp. Very lightly browned. Chesterfield: by J. Bradley...sold also by H. Gardner...J. Drewry...G. Burbage...and J. Gales, [1788). ESTC records BL Cambridge (x2), Derby Central Library, Nottingham County Library and UCLA only in the USA.

 

3. ENFIELD (William). A Sermon on the Centennial Commemoration of the Revolution. Preached at Norwich, November 5, 1788. First Edition. 4to. [2, half title], 20, [2, advertisement leaf] pp. Some minor spotting in places. London: by T. Bensley; for J. Johnson, 1788. ESTC records Birmingham University, Dr Williams's (lacking half-title and advertisement) Library, Norwich Cathedral (lacking advertisement), John Rylands and Huntington (lacking advertisement) only in the USA.

 

4. HAYLEY (William). Occasional Stanzas, written at the request of the Revolution Society, and recited on their anniversary...to which is added Queen Mary to King William, during his campaign in Ireland, 1690; a Poetical Epistle. 4to. [2], 29, [1] pp. Lightly foxed in places. London: for T. Cadell, 1788. 

 

18th-century calf-backed marbled boards, red morocco and gilt spine label, vellum corner tips, plain endpapers, light blue edges (joints split but holding firm, boards a little faded, corners bumped).

The first item is the Scottish clergyman and botanist Colin Milne's c.1743-1815) sermon delivered in London to the Society of Noblemen and Gentlemen, Friends to the Constitution. The sole surviving copy at the Clark Library is described as "Imp. outer margins trimmed affecting text" and does not have the half-title. 

 

Samuel Pegge's Sermon is dedicated: "to his Grace the Duke of Devonshire, and the Noblemen & Gentlemen, that attended at Whittington the 5th of November, this discourse Preached and Printed at their Request, is humbly inscribed by their most obedient servant The Author". The first Duke of Devonshire, William Cavendish (1640-1707) was a supporter of the Glorious Revolution  and was one of the Immortal Seven who signed the invitation to William III of Orange retake the English throne. 

 

William Enfield's Sermon (1788) begins by sounding a note of caution in the celebrations. Enfield admits that "to compare the present times with the past is a useful and pleasing employment" but warns that now is the time, "for going on, with an accelerated motion, towards perfection". Arianne Chernock sees this sermon as being part of an important period of national self-reflection in this period when the Glorious Revolution and the outbreak of the French Revolution, "had the effect of polarising the British populace, pitting radicals against loyalists in a prolonged and vicious pamphlet war that threatened Britain's Revolution Settlement. The centennial commemoration of the Glorious Revolution renewed debate about the meaning of 1688-89..." (Chernock, Men and the Making of Modern British Feminism, Stanford UP, 2009, p. 12). 

 

Hayley's Occasional Stanzas comprises a poem "written at the request of the Revolution Society" (formed in 1788) and a poem "Queen Mary to King William" - "written several years ago, and arose from the recent publication of the Queen's original and most interesting letters, which Sir John Dalrymple inserted in the Appendix to this Memoirs of Great Britain". 

 

"In 1788 the celebration of the centenary of the Glorious Revolution - as the event was by then commonly called - was an important feature of the political landscape and also the first organised public centennial celebration of any historical event in history. The first published call for a national celebration apparently came in June 1788 from a contributor to the Gentleman's Magazine, who signed himself 'The Gleaner'. Plainly sympathetic to reform, this man praised the Revolution for securing Englishmen in their 'property and liberty,' described the Declaration of Rights as a 'compact between a whole people and their sovereign,' and compared the Revolution to the victory at Thermopylae. With even greater rhetorical flourish, another writer urged the 'People of Great Britain and Ireland' to celebrate the Revolution with 'enthusiasm', 'pride', 'exaltation and triumph', noting that it was a way to instruct the young, animate the old, and, significantly, recall to their 'duty' those have slipped 'into ministerial prostitution'. Inspired thus, or perhaps on their own initiative, leaders of political clubs issued calls for nation-wide observances and placed announcements of their plans in the now regularly published London and county newspapers from summer through autumn of 1788" (Lois G. Schwoerer, "Celebrating the Glorious Revolution, 1689-1989", Albion: A Quarterly Journal Concerned with British Studies, Vol. 22, No. 1 (Spring, 1990), pp. 1-20). 

 

Provenance: William Sherbrooke (1758-1831), signature "W Sherbrooke" on the front pastedown. Sherbrooke was educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge and later admitted to the Inner Temple. He later returned to his native Nottinghamshire and served as a magistarate and as High Sheriff in 1803.

 

Later Provenance: Alfred Walter Francis Fuller (1882-1961), anthropologist and collector of Polynesian artifacts, signature "A W F Fuller / 6 May 1957" on the front flyleaf. Fuller was born in Sussex (hence the interest in this Sussex items in this volume) and was educated at Dulwich College. His distinguished collection of over 6000 Pacific artefacts was purchased by the Field Museum in Chicago in the 1950's. Sound recordings of Fuller discussing his collection with a curator at the time of the acquisition were preserved by the museum and are now available online. Fuller has made numerous pencil notes throughout the volume elucidating the Sussex connections and biographical details. 

Stock Code: 229732