[FLEETWOOD], William, Lord Bishop of St. Asaph
Although a zealous whig, Fleetwood was appointed Bishop of St. Asaph by the Tory-leaning Queen Anne in 1708. Yet after he published this collection of his early sermons, the Tory ministry proposed to impeach him. The problem wasn't the sermons, but the Preface; eventually the House of Commons resolved that it was malicious and sentenced it be be burnt by the hangman. Even Jonathan Swift attacked it in a couple of papers. After its condemnation, however, the Preface was reprinted as a number of The Spectator and received wide circulation. Publisher's advertising at rear.