THIRTY-SEVEN

HEY, Richard (1745-1835) Three related dissertations.

A Dissertation on the pernicious effects of Gaming. Cambridge: J. Archdeacon for J. & J. Merrill & T. Cadell, 1783. First edition. [Bound with]

A Dissertation on Suicide. Cambridge: J. Archdeacon for J. & J. Merrill & T. Cadell, 1783. First edition. Contemporary tree calf.

A Dissertation on Duelling. separately bound. Durham, Willliam Smith. 1801. Second edition. Bound separately in modern cloth.

¶ Richard Hey was an essayist and mathematician. He graduated BA from Magdalene College, Cambridge in 1768 and MA from Sidney Sussex College in 1771, the same year as he was called to the bar at Middle Temple. In 1792, he published Happiness and Rights, a response to Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man, but his Dissertation on the Pernicious Effects of Gaming (1783) is considered his “chief work” (ODNB) and won him a prize of 50 guineas from the University of Cambridge. Further prizes from his alma mater greeted his Dissertation on Duelling (1784) and his Dissertation on Suicide (1785), and the three essays were published together in 1812.

Hey’s ‘trilogy’ of linked dissertations is collected here: the first and last have been bound together, and the middle work (separately bound) is also included. Gambling addresses its topic under the broad headings of “Pernicious Effects upon the Fortune of the Gamester”, “Misery suffered by him”, and “Harm derived upon Others”, and concludes with mention of “Two points reserved” – points “sufficiently connected with what has gone before” but which “deserve a separate consideration”: duelling and suicide.

Hey’s two subsequent essays thus proceed from this first: the next, Dissertation on Duelling, treats duels as, in large measure, an outcome of many of the same vices as gaming. He laments the current “The Prevalence of Duels” and declares the worthiness of his mission to “remove a false Glare from a dazzling Vice”, he considers his subject with reference to factors such as “Equity between Individuals”, “the good Order of Society”, “Magnanimity”, and “Virtue”. Throughout, he strives to devalue the currency of “a peculiar Code which has obtained the title of, the Laws of Honour”, but which leave “the Merits of the Cause undecided”.

In the last essay, Dissertation on Suicide, Hey pursues his theme with notable compassion, advocating a “Gentleness of treatment” in dealing with “the persons whom we would retain from the commission of Suicide”. He nevertheless states the facts as he sees them, under headings including “The Guilt of Suicide”, “Suicide is Murder”, and “The Folly or Imprudence of Suicide”. Hey’s promotion, throughout all three dissertations of “Benevolence” in our dealings with others informs the conclusion of his final chapter, “The Prevention of Suicide”, when he advises: “when your good fortune presents you with an opportunity of relieving deep Distress, of conferring a great and durable Benefit, seize it with avidity”.

£950 Ref: 8158

[STEPHENSON, William (d.1723)] A True & p[er]fect Inventory of all & Singular the Goods & Chattells Rights & credits of William Stephenson late of Skelsmergh in the Parrish of Kirkby Kendall in the County of Westmorland. Blacksmith Deceased Taken & Appraised by Richard Smith Thomas Bracken & John Bracken all of Strickland roger and Thomas Fenton of Longsleddall all in the sd. County of Westmorland yeomen the Seventh day of May Anogh Domi 1723.

[Circa 1723]. Bifolium (410 x 162 mm). Ink on paper. 1 text page.

¶ In a grim ritual very familiar to the early modern period, the appraisers move through the late William Stephenson’s house with actuarial mien and begin their reckoning of his worldly goods with “His purse & Apparrell” before proceeding room-by-room to record the rest.

The necessities of sitting, sleeping and eating are well represented, but so too are “His Books” (valued at “1d 8s”) and “A Clock and Case” There are “Chairs & Stools in the Body Stead of the House”, “Bedding & Table Linnin in the Parlour loft”, several “Bedstocks”, then a “Brass Vessell”, an “Iron Pott”, a “Wood & Potter Vessell in the Kitchen” er “in the Buttery”, which also contains a “Pewther Vessell” and a Pan”. Stephenson’s outdoor activities are hinted at with the presence of Fowling piece”, then fleshed out with mention of such items as Husbandry Gear” and livestock including “Cow’s Heiffers & Steeres”, “Sheep”, and “Poultry”. Stephenson’s trade is acknowledged in the line “Smith Tooles Iron & Steele”, and his relative fiscal prudence is suggested by the two lines tallying his “Debts owing”, the value of which is happily exceeded by the “Book debts owing to the deceased”. After taking into account the “Debts and Funerall Expences in all”, the appraisers calculate his estate’s “Clear sums” to total “307 / 8 / 9¾” – a not insignificant amount for a blacksmith.