A Letter to the Bishop of London: Containing a Charge of Fornication.

1788. Charges of Immorality and Fornication Against the Lord High Chancellor Cassandra. [Thurlow, Edward (1731-1806), 1st Baron Thurlow]. A Letter to the Bishop of London. Containing a Charge of Fornication Against Edward, Lord Thurlow, Lord High Chancellor of England. With His Lordship's de bene esse Defence. London: Printed for the Author; and Sold by Ridgway, [1787?]. 50 pp. Octavo (8-1/4" x 5"). Disbound stab-stitched pamphlet in later plain wrappers. Light soiling and edgewear to wrappers, moderate toning to interior, light foxing in a few places, light soiling and faint offsetting to title page. $450. * Only edition. Thurlow was a lawyer and Conservative politician who served as Lord High Chancellor for fourteen years. He was known not only for his loyalty to George III and skill in the courtroom, but as the father of a number of illegitimate children. This wide-ranging polemic accuses him of fornication with a young woman named Mary Edmonds, anticipates his defense, and then moves on to a discussion of tax policy and the Test Acts. It draws on various classical, biblical and legal authorities, such as Blackstone, to support its assertions. (The pseudonym is likely a reference to the Cassandra of Greek mythology.) The ESTC assigns this pamphlet a provisional date of 1788, but a contemporary review appeared in a 1787 issue of The Monthly Review describing it as a "strange...performance" but noting that the editors were certainly "much amused." The Monthly Review Vol. 77 (August 1787) 167. Not in Halkett & Laing. English Short-Title Catalogue (ESTC) T38222. Rose, Register of Erotic Books 4545.