Cayley, Cornelius. The Seraphical Young Shepherd [Methodist interest, Isaiah Thomas imprint]
Cayley, Cornelius. The Seraphical Young Shepherd [Methodist interest, Isaiah Thomas imprint]
Cayley, Cornelius. The Seraphical Young Shepherd [Methodist interest, Isaiah Thomas imprint]
Cayley, Cornelius. The Seraphical Young Shepherd [Methodist interest, Isaiah Thomas imprint]

Cayley, Cornelius. The Seraphical Young Shepherd [Methodist interest, Isaiah Thomas imprint]

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Cayley, Cornelius. The Seraphical Young Shepherd: Being a very remarkable account of a Shepherd in France, about eighteen years of age; Who, without any other Means than the Scriptures, and the Teachings of God's Holy Spirit, attained to a very uncommon and evangelical Knowledge of the true God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent; Now translated from the French, and enlarged with Notes; By Cornelius Cayley, Jun. Late Clerk in the Princess Dowager of Wales's Treasury. To which is added, by him, A small Bunch of Violets. Being a Collection of Letters, Poems, and Meditations, &c. on many evangelical Subjects; chiefly from natural Figures and Similitudes spiritualized. Boston: I. Thomas and E. T. Andrews, 1793.  [5119] 

Full leather, worn but with good outer hinges, lacks the spine title label, 17.5 x 10.5 cm (7 x 4 inches), xii., [1], 14-179, [1] pp., complete. One leaf with hand-sewn repair, a few others with short closed tears. Old stains in quite a few places, text block shaken yet nothing detached. The second part of the book has a separate title page; page numbers are continuous. Good. 

ESTC W29112; Evans 25270.

The preface is dated 1762, and in it Cayley describes the French work that he here translates, saying that the fourth edition of it was issued in 1648. "The following extraordinary account contains the substance of several conversations which passed in France, between a minister and a young shepherd, both of that country. They happened to meet together on a journey, which they continued together for some days." The minister was so impressed that he had their conversations published, and take up the first 67 pp. of this book.

The second part of the book, pp. 69-179, are Cayley's own writings. These are the "Letters, Poems, and Meditations" of the title.

Cornelius Cayley (1727-1779), b. Kingston-upon-Hull, England, great-grandson of Sir William Cayley, the first Cayley Baronet.  When 19 years of age, Cornelius Cayley was appointed clerk of Lord Scarborough, Treasurer to Frederick Prince of Wales. Young Cayley sought promotion to a diplomatic role, immersing himself in learning the necessary social and other skills requisite to good society, and ended up spending much of his time in sensual pursuits, and ran up debts. His conscience got the better of him and he could not find happiness in the way he was living, and faced a spiritual crisis.

"About 1751 he heard the Methodist George Whitefield preach. He responded instantly. There was now no turning back, and soon he began to preach himself. This took up more and more of his time, and in autumn vacations he went on a number of preaching tours in Wales and England." He eventually was given an ultimatum by his employers and he resigned his post and "thereafter devoted himself to proclaiming the gospel and Methodism, and religious writing, with the support of minor aristocrats." - DNB.