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London, Harvey and Darton, 1838 [first edition]. Duodecimo, viii, 136 pages. Original full dark green leather (extensively decorated in blind on both sides), recently reback in dark green calf retaining an early cloth backstrip and small leather title-label (with slight loss); new marbled endpapers; leather worn at the extremities, with the corners of the boards rounded off; all edges gilt; minor signs of age and use (including some early pencilling, most of it lightly erased); overall, a very good copy. A presentation copy in a presentation binding, inscribed on the flyleaf to 'The Revd. H.M. Villiers, with the author's best regards'. Robert Gouger (1802-1846), 'Earnest, persistent and practical, . [with] a pleasant manner and a persuasive tongue, but he was inclined to exaggerate his own republican views and the virtues of South Australia. With his youthful looks and boyish ardour he was often thought to be brash and reckless, yet he was South Australia's most devoted promoter' ('Australian Dictionary of Biography'). 'The South Australian Act was passed in August 1834 and a month later Gouger presented his library of colonial books to the South Australian Literary and Scientific Association. After much delay and more hard work by Gouger the South Australian Colonization Commission was gazetted in May 1835. Its first appointment was Gouger as colonial secretary, a recognition of faithful service that was affirmed even by the Colonial Office'. He arrived on the 'Africaine' in November 1836. His young wife and new-born son both died five months later. He 'bought eight town acres (3.2 ha) at Adelaide's first land sale, and began to build a house, but was soon entangled in the party factions that bedevilled the new settlement. He quarrelled with Osmond Gilles; after a public brawl they were both arrested and Gouger was suspended. By way of Hobart Town he left in November 1837 for England where he was reinstated by the Colonization Commission, raised funds for a Congregational chapel in Adelaide and published "South Australia in 1837; in a series of letters, with a postscript as to 1838". In October 1838 he married his cousin Sarah Whittem of Kenilworth. Gouger returned to Adelaide in June 1839 and resumed office, but his health began to fail. Soon after Governor (Sir) George Grey arrived he was appointed colonial treasurer. He bore the brunt of Grey's economic reorganization until August 1844 when he had to apply for leave because of mental affliction. He had also suffered in the depression but his claims for a pension and repayment of salary lost during his suspension were refused by the Colonial Office. Although Gouger had £1700 worth of securities, the sale of his effects yielded barely enough for him to return to London with his family. He died at Kensington on 4 August 1846, survived by his widow, two sons and a daughter'. Ferguson 2497. Provenance: Henry Montagu Villiers (1813-1861), bishop of Durham, fifth son of George Villiers (1759-1827), and younger brother of George William Frederick Villiers, fourth earl of Clarendon . In 1836 he was ordained to the curacy of Deane, Lancashire, and on 25 Jan. 1837 was removed to the vicarage of Kenilworth, Warwickshire. The lord chancellor (Lord Lyndhurst) gave him the wealthy rectory of St. George's, Bloomsbury, London, in 1841, and it was as rector of St. George's that he made his reputation, displaying great ability and untiring zeal in the management of his large parish. He was an extreme low churchman, and especially appealed as a preacher to the poor. The dissenters in his vestry eagerly supported him, and with men of every sect and stamp who belonged to the evangelical order he avowed the fullest sympathy. He introduced an admirable system of management into his parochial schools. From 26 March 1847 to 1856 he was a canon of St. Paul's Cathedral. In June 1860 he was translated to the see of Durham. Great things were expected from his energy and tact in Durham, where the spirit. Seller Inventory # 140755
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