J. 3
Williams’s lectures on Montesquieu’s Political principles
8
vo.
1815 Catalogue, page 106. no. 93, as above.
WILLIAMS,
David.
Lectures on Political principles; the subjects of eighteen books, in Montesquieu’s Spirit of Laws; read to students under
the author’s direction . . . by the Rev. David Williams.
London: printed by
John Bell,
m dcc lxxxix
. [1789]
JC179 .M8 W48
First Edition. 8vo. 148 leaves including the last blank.
Not in Lowndes.
Watt III, 968.
Not in the Cambridge Bibl. of Eng. Lit.
Original calf. Initialled by Jefferson at sig. I and T and with the initials W. D. [William Duane] written at the end. The manuscript notes throughout the book are not by Jefferson. On the half-title is written by Duane:
This work has been published separately, and as the 4
th volume of Mr Williams Lectures on moral principles
. With the Library of Congress 1815 bookplate.
Presentation copy from William Duane.
On August 17, 1810, Duane wrote from Philadelphia to Jefferson: “. . . You have seen I make no doubt David Williams Lectures upon
Montesquieu, from whom indeed I first learned to think of Montesquieu, as your commentator seems to think . . .”
Jefferson replied on September 16: “
. . . I never before heard of Williams’s lectures on Montesquieu; but I am glad to hear of every thing which reduces that
author to his just level, as his predelection for monarchy, & the English monarchy in particular has done mischief every where.
& here also to a certain degree . . .
”
On October 29 Duane sent a copy of the book: “. . . I sent you along with the packet David Williams lectures on Montesquieu, they are not equal to the ideas and lucid illustrations,
nor to the genius that marks the
Review of Montesquieu [Destutt de Tracy]; but they were bold in England; I have a duplicate of it, and intend the copy sent as a
small mark of my wish to contribute even in the slightest degree to your rational gratification . . .”
To this Jefferson replied on November 13: “
. . . I thank you for the copy of Williams. I have barely dipped into it a little. enough however to see he is far short of
the luminous work you are printing
[Destutt de Tracy’s Commentary]
. indeed I think that the most valuable work of the present age. I recieved from Williams some years ago his book on the claims
of authors. I found him to be a man of sound and true principles but not knowing how he got at them and not able to trace
or develope them for others . . .
”
David Williams, 1738-1816, Welsh divine and educationalist, was the founder of the Royal Literary Fund. He became a friend of Benjamin Franklin,
who called him the “Priest of Nature.” For the work referred to by Jefferson above, see no. 3553.
This copy was from William Duane’s own library, and the initials W. D. at the end may have been his method of marking his
books.
[2326]
4
a Commentary & Review of Montesquieu’s Sp. of Laws.
8
vo.
Duane.
1811.
1815 Catalogue, page 93. no. 94, reading
Spirit for
Sp.
[DESTUTT
de TRACY, Antoine Louis Claude, comte.]
A Commentary and Review of Montesquieu’s Spirit of Laws. Prepared for press from the original manuscript, in the hands of
the publisher. To which are annexed, observations on the thirty-first book, by the late M. Condorcet: and two letters of
