Select Epistles and Letters out of M. Tullius Cicero; and several other of the best Roman, Greek, and French Authors, both Ancient and Modern: Adapted to the Humour of the Present Age. To which is added, Certamen Epistolare: or, Letters between an Attorney and a dead Parson. The whole Volume by Mr. Tho. Brown, never before Published

Book Description

London: Printed for Sam. Briscoe, 1702. [xxxii], 374pp., 8vo. Title printed in red and black, with the half-title, and a preliminary advertisement leaf. A nice fresh copy in contemporary panelled calf; joints partly cracked. First edition. Although the letters appear to be taken from distinguished authors, from Cicero and Aristaenetus to Fontanelle and de Pay, the "adapted to the Humour of the Present Age" statement in the title is the kicker. All the letters, not just Brown's acknowledged "Letters between an Attorney and a dead Parson," are essentially original, inspired by the named authors, but only nominally relying on them. Interspersed are characteristic Brown verses, like "Cupid turn'd Tinker," and accounts of such things as surprising "a famous Miss of the Town dining in her Lodgings in an undress - a Piss-pot brimfull in the chimney. . . a Tooth-brush, a Powder-puff, and a box of Pomatum in the Closet; a row of Pins, with the Academy of Compliments and one of Durfy's Song-books in the Window." NCBEL II, 1045.

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