8vo. 78pp, [2]. With an engraved frontispiece. Later brown paper wrappers. Very lightly rubbed. Old paper repair to verso and slight chipping to margins of frontispiece. Slight loss to final blank. endpapers browned, very light scattered spotting.

The only published work of William Grimston, 1st Viscount Grimston (1684-1756), presented in a vengeful reprint by Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough. Originally published in 1705, Grimston, fearing for his political career, attempted to suppress his lighthearted comedy by buying and destroying all copies in circulation. Incensed by Grimston's refusal to support her grandson, John Spencer, in court, the Duchess of Marlborough continued their long-running feud by reprinting the text, complete with a preface of vicious jibes at the author's 'un-experience'. The play would earn Grimston the title of a 'booby-Lord', coined later that year by Pope in the satirical couplet:

'Shades, that to Bacon could retreat afford,
Become the portion of a booby Lord'.