Author: BRAND (John):
Title: On Illicit Love. Written among the Ruins of Godstow Nunnery, Near Oxford.
Description: Newcastle Upon Tyne: Printed by T. Sain, or J. Wilkie..., 1775. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. 4to, 282 x 220 mms., pp. [iv], 20, including half-title, engraved (by Ralph Beilby) vignette on title-page, stitched as issued; half-title very soiled, al edges soiled, some staining of text; an insalubrious copy. The subject matter is the "illicit" romance between Henry II and Rosamund Clifford (before 1150 – c. 1176), often called "The Fair Rosamund" or the "Rose of the World." His assignations with her took place within a maze at his park at Woodstock. The Monthly Review in 1775 commented, "This poem has a moral purpose, and contains many good lines; the apostrophes, in particular, to Love and Woman are very pretty and poetical; yet there are some defective passages, and some obscurities in the verses; which evince no want of genius, but a hand not long accustomed to composition." The Critical Review in December, 1775, was also enthusiastic, claiming that the Royal Affair produced "productions both of the amorous and elegiac kind, but never any in which the criminality of an unlawful passion is more forcibly exposed, or chastity recommended in a warmer strain of poetry, than what now lies before us. The author appears to be inspired by all the enthusiastic ardour which the scenes of memorable transactions [sic!] are apt to excite in the imagination. The sentiments are glowing and just, the imagery is animated, and the poem is in general beautiful, pathetic, and moral."

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