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12mo, 155 x 95 mms., pp. [v] vi -xii, 298. BOUND WITH: The Eloquence of the Pulpit, An Ordination-Sermon. To which is added a Charge by James Fordyce., The Fourth Edition. Glasgow: Printed for R. Banks, Bookseller in Stirling, 1755. 12mo, 155 x 95 mms., pp. 70. BOUND WITH: The Methods of Promoting Edification by Public Institutions: An Ordination-Sermon. To Which is added a Charge by James Fordyce. Glasgow: Printed for R. Banks, Bookseller in Stirling, 1755. 8vo (in 4s), 155 x 95 mms. pp. 68, with page 68 mis-numbered as 99, pages 47-48 repeated in pagination, but text and register are continuous. BOUND WITH: The Tenoke if Virtue, A Dream. Published from an original Manuscript. Bt James Fordyce. London: Printed for the Author, And sold by T. Field, in Pater-noster Row, 1757. 8vo, 155 x 95 mms., pp. [iv], 91 [92 Errata]; without engraved frontispiece and engraved vignette before title-page. Four volumes bound in 1, contemporary half calf, marbled boards, rebacked witgh plain calf; joints and hinges a little tender, binding slight worn. David Fordyce (1711 - 1751) published his first book in 1745, Dialogues concerning Education; it was much admired and favourably reviewed. This book was written shortly before his death and edited for the press by his brother, James Fordyce. The sermon on eloquence appears here for the first time. The Temple of Virtue was actually written by David Fordyce (1711 - 1751) and edited by his younger brother, James Fordyce (1720 - 1796), who made some additions to the text. David Fordyce was a prominent figure in the Scottish Enlightenment, making his reputation in 1745, with his first book, Dialogues Concerning Education, which was followed in 1754 by his Elements of Moral Philosophy. He drowned on a voyage from Rotterdam to Leith in 1751. The Monthly Review in 1757 described it as an "instructive and entertaining little piece.written in a very elegant manner"; and concluded, "all we shall say therefore concerning it is, that an elegance and simplicity of manner appears through the whole composition; with a neatness and purity of language that must recommend it to every Reader of taste." The Monthly Review for the same years was somewhat less enthusiastic, beginning with a description of it as an "ingenious allegory," but concluding, "Mr. Fordyce's temple of Virtue is, upon the whole, no contemptible edifice, though there seems to be more strength and usefulness than taste and elegance in its structure. There is not, to drop the metaphor, that liveliness of fancy and creative power of imgaination, which is, in our opinion, essentially necessary to works of this kind.". Seller Inventory # 10289
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