Inscribed by the Author, in French and Latin, to Two Young Girls and a Boy

Mark Anthony Meilan (b. ca. 1743).
Sermons for Children; Being a Course of Fifty-two, on Subjects Suited to their Tender Age, and in a Style Adapted to the Understanding of the Rising Generation: Being an Attempt to Counsel and Improve the Heart by Occupying the Imagination. With a Hymn Annexed to each Discourse.
London: Printed for T. Hookham and T. Longman, 1789. Three volumes. (AEY1754)

A gift inscription in French (and a few words in Latin) from the author to two young girls and a boy is found in the first volume of this three-volume set of sermons for children: “Aux petites filles Agathe et Nanette (pueruloque eximio Carolo) l'enfans de Mons.^r et de Madame Barclay ce livre ci est amicalement presenté par l'auteur.” (“This book is presented with pleasure to the young girls Agatha and Nanette (and the excellent little boy Charles), children of Mr. and Mrs. Barclay, by the author.”)

The Rev. Mark Anthony Meilan of Westminster wrote this and other multi-volume religious and moral works for children published in London in the late eighteenth century, including The Friend of Youth (1788, twelve volumes) and Holy Writ Familiarized to Juvenile Conceptions (1791, four volumes), as well as well as dramatic works for the theater.