Letters to a Lady Inclined to Enter in the Communion of the Church of Rome

London: Printed by J. Phillips...for H. Payne, 1779. First edition. Very Good +. Octavo. [iv], 98, [2] pp. Complete with the half-title and final leaf of advertisements. Contemporary brown paper wrappers, somewhat crinkled and chipped at edges. Clean and fresh throughout aside from some dustsoiling to first leaf and last couple leaves. Ink ownership signature ("Reigate Meeting 1801") to margin of title-page. Edges untrimmed. A remarkably clean, large copy, Very Good+

First edition, published eighteen year's after William Law's death, of these three letters likely written to Elizabeth Dodwell, the daughter of nonjuror and theologian Henry Dodwell (truncated) (1641 – 1711). Elizabeth Dodwell is described in a contemporary issue of The Gentleman's Magazine as "a lady who had long made the contemplation of divine subjects the principal employment of her life; but being, perhaps, studious over-much, had so bewildered herself in the labyrinth of polemical controversy, that her mind was filled with doubts of the sufficiency of God's grace." Dodwell had read books by Anglican theologians that had troubled her with the rigid piety they demanded: Law quotes one of Dodwell's original letters, in which she recounts, "I began to believe...the most innocent thought and word, and the most necessary trifling action, to be a crime, which kept me in continual terror night and day." Dodwell was unhappy and anxious, "seized" by "a deep and fixed melancholy," and was troubled both by personal issues and by recent Church of England controversies. She saw both her own struggles as a Church of England member and the Church's broader turmoil as evidence that God disapproved of Anglicanism, and considered converting to Catholicism as a solution to her personal and theological concerns. She sought Law's perspective on the topic and debated him in these letters. In their correspondence, they discussed Dodwell's belief in predestination; the works of Reverend George Hickes (1642 – 1715), which Dodwell admired; and scandals within the Catholic Church. Law, of course, ultimately argued against Catholicism and in favor of Anglicanism, though he did not dismiss Dodwell's perspective and engaged in detail with her ideas throughout the three letters, quoting her words at length and seriously considering her emotional and personal reasons for questioning Anglican doctrine.

We could not locate much information on Elizabeth Dodwell. Based on textual evidence, however, she was clearly well-versed in theology and aware of Christian history and contemporary doctrinal conflicts. She may have been influenced by the religious perspectives of the men in her family, including her brother Henry (1706 – 1784), the author of Christianity Not Founded on Argument (1741), which was a satire of Law's The Case of Reason (1731). Though contemporary reviews frame Dodwell and Law's correspondence as Dodwell reaching out for advice, it is possible, given the context of her brother's own criticism of Law, that Dodwell also sought to debate and critique his ideas. We do not have access to Dodwell's original letters, however, and can only guess at her motivations; closer textual analysis of these letters may reveal more hints towards her intentions and her own theological convictions. Regardless, Dodwell was not the only woman with whom Law discussed religious conversion: in late 1736, John Byrom (1692 – 1793) requested that Law write several letters to his friend Fanny Henshaw, a young woman who was considering Quakerism. Law was unable to convince Henshaw, though it is unclear whether he was able to dissuade Dodwell from her own conversion.

Oxford DNB. Very Good +. (Inventory #: 6844)