“
indebted to you for this singular morsel of history which has given us a curtain view of kings, queens & princes disrobed
of their formalities. it is a peep into the stable of the Egyptian god Apis. it would not be easy to find grosser manners,
coarser vices, o
r more meanness in the poorest huts of our peasantry. the princess shows herself the legitimate sister of Frederic, cynical,
selfish, and without a heart. notwithstanding your wars with England, I presume you get the publications of that country.
the Memoirs of m
(
r~)
s Clarke and of her
Darling
prince, and the Book
, emphatically so called, because it is the Biblia Sacra Deorum et Dearum sub-coelestium, the Prince regent, his Princess
and the minor deities of his sphere, form a worthy sequel to the Memoirs of Bareuth; instead of the vulgarity and penury of
the court of Berlin, giving us the vulgarity & profusion of that of London, and the gross stupidity and profligacy of the
latter, in lieu of the genius and misanthropism of the former. the whole might be published as a Supplement to M. de Buffon,
under the title of the ‘Natural history of kings & Princes’, or as a separate work & called ‘Medicine for Monarchists’ . .
.
”
Frédérique Sophie Wilhelmine de Prusse, Margrave de Bayreuth, 1709-1758. The first edition of these Mémoires was published in 1810.
Adrienne-Catherine de Noailles, comtesse de Tessé, the wife of a Spanish Grandee and herself a Dame d’honneur de la Reine, was a great friend of Jefferson in Paris, with whom he had much correspondence. See the Index.
[271]
J. 133
Constitution of the Germanic body.
8
vo.
1815 Catalogue, page 14. No. 127, as above.
[
NECKER, Karl Friedrich.]
The Constitution and Government of the Germanic Body. Shewing how this State has subsisted for Three Hundred Years past, under
the Emperors of the House of Austria. . . Compiled from the Fundamental Laws of Germany; the Histories of the Empire, and
the best Authorities. Translated from the Original [by Stephen Whatley].
London: Printed for
J. Nourse,
1745.
JN3233 .N4
First Edition of this translation. 8vo. 154 leaves; publisher’s advertisement on the last leaf.
Halkett and Laing I, page 422 [translator’s name spelt
Whailey].
Old calf, gilt back, plain end papers. Initialled by Jefferson at sigs. I and T. The autograph signature of
Thomas M. Randolph. Cost 4/ stg. on the inside cover. With the Library of Congress 1815 bookplate.
Karl Friedrich Necker, d. 1760, was born in Custrin in Pomerania. In 1724 he became Professor of German law at Geneva, and in 1726 a citizen of
Switzerland. The original edition of this work was published in French at Geneva, in 1742.
Stephen Whatley [or Whately], fl. 1712-1741, English author and translator.
[272]
134
Abregé chronologique de l’hist. et du droit publique d’Allemagne par Pfeiffel.
2. v.
12
mo.
1815 Catalogue, page 9. no. 58, as above but with the reading
Pfeiffer.
PFEFFEL, Chretien Frédéric.
Nouvel Abrégé chronologique de l’Histoire et du Droit public d’Allemagne, par M. Pfeffel, Jurisconsulte du Roi au Départment des Affaires Etrangeres. Tome Premier [-Second.] A
Paris: chez
Delalain,
1777.
2 vol. 8vo. Vol. I, 368 leaves; vol. II, 348 leaves; the last with list of Errata.
Graesse V, page 247.
Quérard VII, page 113.
On June 27, 1787, Jefferson bought a copy in Paris from
Froullé, price
12 (livres). It is listed without price on the undated manuscript catalogue. He also bought for the Library of Congress a copy from Pougens on June 8, 1803, at the special price of 10, reduced from
30 (livres).
Chrétien Frédéric Pfeffel, 1726-1807, French historian and juriconsult.
[
sic
] This is the
fourth edition of his work, originally published in Paris in 1754.
[273]
