BENTLEY (Richard): The secular frippery of the pretended Spirits-Forts of England: or remarks of Phileleuthere of Leipsick on the discourse of freedom of thought. J. Wetstein G. Smith, in Amsterdam 1738, XXXVI, 581pp. (1), A large volume in-12 contemporary calf, spine ribbed and decorated with an engraved bookplate at the foot, red edges (one hinge cracked, slight foxing). First French edition translated by Arnaud de la Chapelle. Title page in red and black. Response to Collins' book : Discourse on the freedom of thought which caused a great indignation in the ecclesiastic world. In the preface, the editor underlines that the title is of his own making, but that he found it more accurate than the simple Remarks of the author, because it refers directly to the formula that Collins had used in his book, that religion and ecclesiastical knavery are two synonymous terms; and Collins had already written before : Ecclesiastical knavery brought to a head. Thomas Bentley was not the only one to write a response to Collins' book, but it is the work with the most constructed and rigorous criticism, in which the author seeks to methodically destroy all legitimacy of thought in Collins, ruining his references, and turning his Discourse into a crude satire. A good copy.
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