Maury, Abbé; Lake, John Neal [translator]. The Principles of Eloquence, adapted to the Pulpit and the Bar. New-York: Printed by D. and G. Bruce, for Thompson, Hart and Co., 1807. [5828]
Full calf with red calf spine title label, spine rules in gilt, 6 3/4 x 4 1/4 inches, binding firm with rubbed edges, crazing to spine, 1/2" crack at the top of the front hinge. 275 pp., light foxing, tight. Very good.
"In 1777 Maury published the Essai sur l'éloquence de la chaire which, with many editions and revisions, was to be his chief bid for literary fame. Stressing nature and good sense, it was written for a 'philosophical' audience, and praised eloquence where the author found it, in Bossuet and the church fathers, in Rousseau and Voltaire. He was admitted ot the French Academy in 1785." - Paul H. Beik, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, October, 1951.
Jean-Siffrein Maury (1746-1817), French Cardinal and statesman, sometime Archbishop of Nicea. Maury was held in high esteem by the French monarchy, and later by Napoleon, who granted him the See of Paris. Maury was imprisoned in the Castle of St. Angelo after the fall of Napoleon, and was later restored to his position of Cardinal, being reconciled to Pope Pius VII.
