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LEIBNIZ (GOTTFRIED WILHELM)Autograph letter signed ("Leibniz") to Thomas Burnett ("Monsieur"), in French, explaining that he is intending to write about the books received from him, and on the controversy between the Bishop of Worcester and Mr Locke, but has had no time to do so at present, enclosing some verses from Paris by M. Cresset ("...God save the King of Spain, otherwise everything will go completely haywire, and England won't feel at all happy about having being disarmed..."), confirming he has received the book on the Council of Trent from the Bishop of Salisbury (Thomas's kinsman Gilbert Burnet) and discussing the bookish tastes of the Electress of Brunswick whose books must "...show spirit, and have at the same time something cheerful about them..." owing to the recent loss of her husband Ernst August, Elector of Brunswick from which she is struggling to recover ("...the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak..."), mentioning having enjoyed Philosophical Transactions, with a lengthy postscript advising he is herewith enclosing an extract from a letter he recently sent to the Bishop of Salisbury "in confidence" in which he talks "...about matters of religion and the state, both of which are in the competence of the illustrious Bishop...", fearing "...'black practices' against the King, and that it is right to take every imaginable precaution for the preservation of his person..." and hoping "...France will finally resolve herself for good and all to peace. Perhaps she flatters herself that peace will break up the Grand Alliance... we in Germany are taking steps to help in assuring the public order... to prevent our being taken by surprise...", concluding by describing resolving a dispute about coinage of England and musing as to how the King should be designated, concluding with the couplet "...William First, Or Second, Or Third?/ Ask Not, Critics, Great's The Word..."; with a fair copy of Leibniz's letter to Gilbert Burnet, headed ("P.S."), beginning "...I have frequently the honour of attending the Electress of Brunswick, which great Princess sometimes puts up with my talk. We fall often into religion, and I have for a long time been interested in studying controversies...", curious about the "...separation of communions which one sees among the Protestants...", thinking the differences with Rome "...infinitely more important...", troubled by news that the House of Lords wavered in excluding "Romanistes" from the Crown and wondering why Burnet did not support this exclusion ("...everyone who has a concern for the True Religion must be involved in it..."), concerned that a future monarch who had the appearance of Protestantism could be working to destroy it, asking for his opinion and urging the matter be bought again before parliament, with amendments and hurried deletions throughout, 10 pages including postscript, on 2 bifolia and one single leaf, slight splitting and small holes at folds, 8vo (167 x 110mm.) and 4to (206 x 160mm.), Hanover, 8[/18] April, 1698Footnotes'...WILLIAM FIRST, OR SECOND, OR THIRD? ASK NOT, CRITICS, GREAT'S THE WORD...': THE REMAINING CORRESPONDENCE FROM LEIBNIZ TO THOMAS BURNETT OF KEMNAY, HITHERTO HELD AT KEMNAY HOUSE. This letter, and the three following, form part of the significant and extensive correspondence between Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) and Thomas Burnett 'un gentilhomme Ecossois' of Kemnay in Aberdeenshire (1656-1729). Their meeting at the Court of Hanover in 1695 led to an eighteen-year correspondence, with Burnett also mentioned in many other of Leibniz's writings, particularly with regards to his efforts to release Burnett from the Bastille as described in the following lot (see Patrick Riley, Leibniz's Scottish Connection: The Correspondence with Thomas Burnett of Kemney, Journal of Scottish Philosophy, I, (1), 2003, pp.69-85). The most recent Akademie edition of Leibniz correspondence accessible online includes some 29 letters from Leibniz to Burnett, and 51