The True Meaning of the Fable of the Bees: in a Letter to the Author of a Book entitled An Enquiry whether a general Practice of Virtue tends to the Wealth or Poverty, Benefit or Disadvantage of a People? Shewing that he has manifestly mistaken the True Meaning of The Fable of the Bees, in his Reflections on that Book. London: William and John Innys, 1726.

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Rare first and only edition of this anonymous criticism of Mandeville - or rather, of the attack on Mandeville by George Blewitt, which had been published the previous year. 'Although, like many critics, Blewitt took Mandeville too literally, some of his criticisms are valid. He believes Mandeville s distinction between virtues and vices is too rigid, and takes the latter to task for apparently rejecting morality; a state run on these principles, he says, would be an unhappy one. In his view Mandeville mistakes the difference between wealth and luxury. Wealth is one of the things that makes a state great, but expenditure of wealth in pursuit of luxury inevitably drags a state down. But although Blewitt criticizes Mandeville for excessive rigidity, he is himself in danger of excess when he condemns all public vice and advocates that states be governed on entirely virtuous principles; he rejections any notion of the utility of evil' (Dictionary of Eighteenth-Century British Philosophers, Thoemmes Press, 1999). PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 8vo, 96, 95-110 pp., slightly spotted, a light waterstain running through, some leaves a bit dusty, otherwise a good copy in modern boards. N° de ref. del artículo ABE-1689418620303

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