Essay on Government, An.
The Author’s Annotated Copy
[Legal issues]. [Lee, Rachel Fanny Antonina]. An Essay on Government. By Philopatria. London: Printed for the author, by T. Gillet, Crown-Court and sold by William Earle, Circulating Library, Albemarle-Street, 1808.
8vo.; endpapers heavily foxed; contemporary ownership label affixed to front pastedown; illegible writing in black ink on front endpaper; contemporary calf-backed boards, stamped in gilt; spine rubbed. In a specially made cloth slipcase.
First edition of the author’s annotated copy, with original errata slip included. The word “baser” has been added on page ix of the preface and “creatures” is crossed out and replaced with “subjects” on page 48. A lengthy note appears on the uncut margins of the last two leaves, which have been folded to protect Lee’s addition to the text. In the note, Lee explains what she means by “Parties” (p. 228):
By Parties, I mean Factions, like those which distracted the Government of France, after the Revolution, and prevented any beneficial effects which might have resulted from the labours and struggles of men who only wished for a change of measures and a virtuous Government: who even when Louis XVI like Richard II had broke his word with his nobles and his people still endeavoured to save the nation from the horrors of anarchy.
Published under the pseudonym “Philopatria,” which Lee explains in her introduction is the “national name” she has adopted, Lee dedicates her essay to the British Nation and divides her argument into 42 brief chapters, including “Of the education of women,” “Of property” and “Of the dignity of the plebian character.” In each chapter, she examines various tenets of the British government and monarchy, tracing laws back to their philosophical origins. With regards to women, Lee describes the history of their subordination and then explains the ideological backlash: “Many [women], however, imagined that they were, in reality, of a nature different from that of man, i.e. possessing a superior form and degree of animation to that of brutes, but divested of an intellectual principle. This notion was soon destroyed among the greater part of mankind, and one of a totally opposite kind arose” (p. 132). Lee posits that women should be allowed “to acquire a sufficient portion of learning to make them useful and agreeable companions to men, and to enable them to superintend the education of their children” (p. 136).
Rachel Fanny Antonina Lee (1773-1829) was raised and classically educated in a French convent. She returned to her native England during the French Revolution and soon became known as one of the more radical writers of her day. Essayist and literary critic Thomas De Quincey compared Lee to Mary Shelley and An Essay on Government was praised by William Wordsworth, who claimed to have read it twice. As her career blossomed, however, Lee’s personal life grew increasingly tumultuous. She married Matthew Lee in 1794 only to leave him a year later and in 1804, she either eloped or was abducted by two brothers from the Gordon family. The Gordon brothers were put on trial, but found not guilty, and Lee published her account of what happened, entitled Vindication, in 1807. Her Memoirs, published in 1812, reveal an onset of paranoia and mental instability that characterized the last years of her life (Dictionary of English Literature, by Marion Wynne-Davies, Bloomsbury, 1997). OCLC and RLG locate no other copies.
(#9288)
Print Inquire
