first edition Contemporary panelled calf, rubbed. Edges sprinkled red.
1727 · London:
by Moyle, Walter
London: Printed for J. Knapton, A. Bettesworth…[et al.], 1727 First edition. Contemporary panelled calf, rubbed. Edges sprinkled red. . Octavo. Engraved title-page vignette. Lacks back free endpaper. A good, clean copy. Walter Moyle (1672-1721) was a Cornwall-born politician and writer of classical themes, and a friend of Congreve and Wycherley. His early translations of four dialogues by Lucian, written about 1693, were published with John Dryden's commentary and other translations in 1711. Moyle provided appropriate passages from Aristotle and Horace for Dryden's English version of Charles de Fresnoy's Art of Painting together with his own explanation of why imitation in art pleases. His translation of Xenophon's Discourse upon Improving the Revenue of the State of Athens was highly regarded, and appeared alongside Charles Davenant's Discourse upon the Public Revenues and on the Trade of England at the latter's request. His Essay on the Roman Government (1699) was "the most detailed study to date of the causes of the rise and fall of republican Rome" (D.N.B.) and drew the praise of Gibbon. It was probably an influence on Montesquieu as well. The present work. published posthumously, was edited by Anthony Hammond.
(Inventory #: 13464)