Letters on the English Nation: By Batista Angeloni, A Jesuit, Who Resided Many Years in London.

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1st ed, 2 Vols complete, VG. In contemporary dark calf, corners and edges lightly bumped & worn. Spines, raised bands, gilt tooling and Vol numbers in gilt, lacking title label. Vol 1, [3], (iv-lx), [4], [1], 2-228 pp, ink note to ep, bookplate to fpd (Lady Mitchell), small worm hole to margin of a few leaves, ink name to fep (WA Bruce?). Vol 2, [8], [1], 2-296 pp, lacks fep, bookplate to fpd, ink name to fep. (ESTC T88373. Sabin 80053). 59 letters commenting on the state of the English Nation. Shebbeare, physician and political writer, and his Letters on the English Nation was an epistolary fiction allegedly written by an Anglicized Italian Jesuit, whose long residence in England and analytical nature had endowed him with the insight and neutrality to develop a sweeping analysis of the decline of the English constitution, morals, manners, and culture under the corrupt rule of the whigs. The selection of a Jesuit as a narrative persona encouraged allegations that Shebbeare was a Jacobite at heart. For a full bio see ODNB.