Rare first and only Dutch edition of a sermon on the dangers of succumbing to the temptations of whores and adulteresses, first delivered in Oxford in 1740 and published by Thomas Robins in London in that year under the title, Royal folly: or, the danger of being tempted by harlots. A sermon preached at Oxford before a Friendly Society at their annual meeting. Although the only kings named in the text are the biblical Kings David and Solomon, who both succumbed to the temptations of women, and the sermon is built around Solomon's Proverbs VII:19-21, it is certainly not coincidence that it was delivered and published in England in 1740, the year King George II granted a life peerage to his mistress Amalie von Wallmoden of Hanover, creating her Countess of Yarmouth. Any English reader would certainly understand that this was the "Royal folly" of the title, even though King George is never named in the text. The sermon also minces no words in putting ninety percent of the blame on women and presenting the men as their victims.
With a few marginal water stains and the edges of the leaves slightly tattered, but still in very good condition and wholly untrimmed. The wrappers are tattered at the edges and the front and back have separated at the fold of the spine, but they still reveal the pamphlet's form as it was issued. KVK & WorldCat (6 copies); Picarta (5 of the same 6 copies); STCN (4 of the same 5 copies); not in Knuttel.