first edition Rebound in modern brown cloth with gilt-lettered spine.
1741 · Cambridge:
by Squire, Samuel
Cambridge: Printed by J. Bentham, Printer to the University, for W. Thurlbourn, Bookseller in Cambridge, and J. Beecroft, 1741 First edition. Rebound in modern brown cloth with gilt-lettered spine. . Octavo. . Includes twenty-two pp. of chronological tables. Rebound in modern brown cloth with gilt-lettered spine. Samuel Squire (1714-1766) was the Bishop of St. David's and a scholar of language and history. Among the languages he studied were Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Icelandic, Old English, and Gothic. After completing his education at Cambridge, he was openly supportive of the court whigs, as it would help to further his ecclesiastical career. The most public of Squire's contributions to court whiggery were his five political essays, which included Letter to a Young Gentleman of Distinction (1740) and A Letter to a Tory Friend (1746). According to William Orme's Biblioteca Biblica, Squire's Two Essays "maintains the credit of the ancient Greek chronology in opposition to Sir Isaac Newton and others. His Chronological Synopsis is chiefly extracted from the Parian Marbles, Eusebius, Usher, Petavius, Newton, and Marshall. On the origin of the Greek language, he ascends to the remotest antiquity, and endeavours, with considerable success, to show its oriental nativity, or Hebrew parentage. His argument is ably supported, and well deserving of attention" (p. 417). Squire's standing as a scholar of language and history was twice recognized, first in 1746 when he was elected fellow of the Royal Society, and then in 1748 when he was elected fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. (Oxford DNB).
(Inventory #: 16269)