The Letters of the British Spy.

Baltimore, Printed: London, Reprinted, for Share and Hailes..., 1812 1812. FIRST ENGLISH EDITION. 12mo, 170 x 95 mms., pp. viii, 214 [215 - 216 adverts], including half-title, contemporary half calf, marbled boards, gilt spine; front joint defective and tender. William Wirt (1772 - 1834), who later achieved fame as the Attorney General of the United States, published this work in Richmond, Virginia, 1803, as the work of a "meek and harmless young [English]man," visiting the United States. Asking his landlord one evening for something to read, he is presented with an odd volume of the Spectator: "Were I the sovereign of a nation which spoke the English language, and wished my subjects cheerful, virtuous, and enlightened, I would furnish every poor family in my dominions (and see that the rich furnish themselves) with a copy of the Spectator; and ordain that the parents or children should read or five numbers aloud every night in the year."