The Sham-Patriot Unmasked; or, An exposition of the fatally successful arts of demagogues, to exalt themselves by flattering and swindling the people in a variety of pertinent facts drawn from sacred and profane history

Disbound 8vo, 47pp. Exceedingly temperamental, entirely loose with outer leaves chipping along the edges and threatening to defect if breathed on too heavily. Loss along the upper edge of the last leaf affecting one word in the first line of text, which is otherwise complete and intact. American Imprints 9306.

"An author, much celebrated for his wisdom, has said, 'The thing, which hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done, is that which shall be done; and there is no new thing under the sun.' There is nothing, perhaps, to which this observation more pertinently applies, than to the means, by which, from time to time, the wisest and the best political institutions are undermined, and tumbled into ruin. Among the means, which have been employed, hitherto, to accomplish this end, none have been more successful than the arts and intrigues, which have been practiced, by aspiring and unprincipled demagogues, to corrupt the minds of the multitude; to withdraw their confidence from their best friends, whose talents, whole fortunes, and whose lives, have been devoted to their service; and to secure an unbounded confidence in themselves; so that, in the end, the people may, with their own hands, drive out wisdom and virtue from almost every place of influence and authority, and replace them with folly and wickedness." (Preface)