Author: SAMMELBAND. [KING (William)]:
Title: Tres Oratiunculae Habitae in Domo Convocationis Oxon.
Description: Londini, Apud C. Barhutrst, & G. Hawkins... Oxonii, Apud Jacobum Fletcher [no date] [?1743]. FIRST EDITION. 4to, 244 x 203 mms., pp. 32 [last page misnumberd 22], with ornament of two cherubs and a basket of fruit on title-page. ESTC T133386: "On occasion of the degree of D.C.L. being conferred upon James, Duke of Hamilton; George Henry, Earl of Lichfield; and J. Boyle, Earl of Orrery." 4to, BOUND WITH: KING [Guilelmum]: Epistola Objurgatoria. Ad Guilielmum King, LL. D. Londini, Apud M. Cooper..., 1744. pp. [ii], 20 [21 - 23] 24- 30, with ornament on the title-page depicting a vase of flowers.. additional title-page on p. [21], "Epistola Canonici Reverendi Admodum ad Archidiaconum Reverendum Admodum." ESTC T164835: "Ostensibly an attack on Dr. King but really a parody of his opponent's Latin by King himself." BOUND WITH: KING (William): Oratio in Theatro Sheldoniano Habita Idibus Aprilibus,MDCCXLIX. Die dedicationis Bibliothecae Radclivianae. Londini, Apud. J. Carke, & W. Owen. Oxonii, Apud J. Fletcher, & S. Parker, [1749]. 4to, pp. [vi[, 34, including half-title. ESTC T135699. BOUND WITH: [ROLLESTON (Samuel)]: Oinos Krithino. A Dissertation concering the Origin and Antiquity of Barley Wine. Oxford, Printedat the TAheatre for James Fletcher....and Sold by . and J. Rivington..., 1750. 4to, pp. [5] 6 - 38 [39 - 40 Index, 41 - 43 adverts, 44 blank-. 4 items in one volume, with ms. leaf of contents in contemporary hand bound before title-page of first item, recent half calf, marbled boards, gilt spine, red morocco labels. A very good copy. Of the three King items, ODNB notes, "Tres oratiunculae habitae in domo convocationis Oxon (1743), marking the granting of honorary DCL degrees to the sixth duke of Hamilton, the third earl of Lichfield, and John Boyle, fifth earl of Orrery, contrasted the virtues and patriotic independence of the honorands with the general corruption and servility of the times. Orrery was King's literary and political associate for many years, and his notable translation of Pliny's Epistles owed much to King's encouragement. King's most influential speech was undoubtedly that given on 13 April 1749 at the opening of the new Radcliffe Library, designed by King's friend James Gibbs. In this speech, printed in 1749 as Oratio in Theatro Sheldoniano habita idibus Aprilis, MDCCXLIX: die dedicationis Bibliothecae Radclivianae and reprinted in 1750, King praised the high-tory Radcliffe trustees, among whom were three Jacobites (the fourth duke of Beaufort, Sir Walter Wagstaffe Bagot, and Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn). He went on to expound familiar themes, condemning modern luxury and invoking nostalgia for ancient virtue, and rising to an enthusiastically received peroration in which six prayers for the delivery of the nation, all commencing 'REDEAT', were generally understood to signify the restoration of the exiled Stuart family." Although ESTC attributes the Dissertation to Sameul Rolleston (d. 1766), it is often attributed to Benjamin Buckler (1716/17–1780), who is the more likely author. William Prest in his Blackstone and his Commentaries: Biography, Law, History (2009) records his purchase of wine for college cellars, and confirms that this "brief parody of biblical and classical scholarship...purports to trace the development of 'strong Liquors' as the means by which after the Fall, mankind could 'raise a gaiety and briskness of spirit...'" Combining King's show-offy Latin parodies and satires in the same volume as Prest's English mock history of barley "wine" (more like a strong ale than wine) is probably some impenetrable Oxonian in-joke, not uncommon even in the Groves of Academe today.

Keywords: wine wit literature


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