[LASCELLES, Richard.]

THE LAST PRAYER-BOOK OF A CATHOLIC MONARCH IN ENGLAND?

[LASCELLES, Richard.] A Collection of Prayers Containing the Mass in Latin and English.

London, Printed for Mat[thew]. Turner, 1687-8

£4,250.00

12mo. pp. (ii) 523 [i]. Roman and blackletter. Half-title to A2r, divisional t-ps with typographical ornaments, t-p and calendar of A Little Manual printed in red and black, typographical headpieces. A few ll. at start and end trimmed, just touching text, a very good copy in C19 black calf, edges stained red. C19 inkstamp to t-p of St. Peter’s College, Glasgow, shelfmark label to front pastedown, bookseller’s label of E. Dillon, Fulham Road, one or two modern notes in pencil.

Very rare third edition, ‘revised, corrected, and enlarged,’ of this extremely scarce parallel Latin and English mass by the Roman Catholic priest, traveller and author Richard Lascelles (c.1603-68), first published 1686, this edition containing A Little Manual of Devout Prayers with a calendar of the Catholic year for 1687. By the end of 1688 James II had been deposed and William of Orange was on the throne as Protestant King of England, making this one of the very last prayer-books issued during the reign of a Catholic English monarch.

In addition to the parallel Latin and English mass, Lascelles’ book contains: the Mass for the Dead; the Confession; an Explanation of the Holy Ornaments and Ceremonies of the Mass; an Examen of Conscience; a Little Manual of Devout Prayers; the Jesus Psalter; Prayers of St. Bridget; parallel Latin versions of Vespers and Even-song (i.e. compline); the Rosary; Prayers for the King and Queen; and Prayers for the Virgin.

Earlier editions of the English mass had been produced by Lascelles under the title the Most Excellent Way of Hearing Mass, first published 1686 (claiming to be the fifth edition), which opened with the erroneous ‘I will not go unto the Altar of God.’ A second 1686 ed. greatly expanded the work to include most of the extraneous material here, with an updated version of the English mass, though some elements of Lascelles’ work are recycled from the first 1686 ed., including the parallel Latin and English psalms to be used at vespers and compline (evensong), and the Examen of Conscience. This last is Lascelles’ guide in English to confessing well, which asks the reader a series of questions, including: ‘Have you ever gone to Witches and Cunning-men to know your Fortune, or to find some things you have lost;’ Whether you have gone to Balls, Plays, and Dances, or to any other Company with danger?’; and ending, ominously, ‘Whether you have not, etc…’

Lascelles was educated and taught at Douai, where he was ordained a priest. He went to Paris, where he was Latin secretary to Cardinal Richlieu. He undertook several tours of Italy with young royalist and Catholic noblemen and women, which he continuously updated to become a standard travel guide for Englishmen on the Grand Tour, ‘The Voyage of Italy,’ published posthumously in Paris in 1670, with Lascelles’ Catholic sensibilities suppressed.

ESTC notes three copies only, at the BL, Downside Abbey, and in a UK private collection; OCLC records no copies of this ed. in North America. Of the 1686 ed., ESTC records four copies, at the BL, Downside, Folger and Yale. ESTC R176259. Not in Glisson or Darlow and Moule.

Stock Number: L4349 Categories: Early Books, English, Europe, Religion Tags: Early Books, English, Latin, Prayers, Religion

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