He is, as one might believe, worst informed on the present times. He says eight hundred persons were put to death for the last Rebellion-I don't believe a quarter of the number were: and he makes the first Lord Derwentwater-who, poor man! was in no such high-spirited mood-bring his son, who by the way was not above a year and a half old, upon the scaffold to be sprinkled with his blood. However, he is in the right to expect to be believed: for he believes all the romances in Lord Anson's Voyage, and how Admiral Almanzor made one man-of-war box the ears of the whole empire of China!-I know nothing else new but a new edition of Dr. Young's Works. If your lordship thinks like me, who hold that even in his most frantic rhapsodies there are innumerable fine things, you will like to have this edition. more, my best lord! Adieu, once HIS OWN "ROYAL AND NOBLE AUTHORS." TO THE REV. HENRY ZOUCH.! STRAWBERRY HILL, August 3, 175S. SIR, I HAVE received, with much pleasure and surprise, the favour of your remarks upon my Catalogue; and whenever I have the opportunity of being better known to you, I shall endeavour to express my gratitude for the trouble you have given yourself in con 'Mr. Zouch was the squire and vicar of Sandhall, in Yorkshire. tributing to perfect a work, which, notwithstanding your obliging expressions, I fear you found very little worthy the attention of so much good sense and knowledge, Sir, as you possess. I am extremely thankful for all the information you have given me; I had already met with a few of the same lights as I have received, Sir, from you, as I shall mention in their place. The very curious accounts. of Lord Fairfax were entirely new and most acceptable to me. If I decline making use of one or two of your hints, I believe I can explain my reasons to your satisfaction. I will, with your leave, go regularly through your letter. As Caxton laboured in the monastery of Westminster, it is not at all unlikely that he should wear the habit, nor, considering how vague our knowledge of that age is, impossible but he might enter the order. I have met with Henry's institution of a Christian, and shall give you an account of it in my next edition. In that, too, I shall mention, that Lord Cobham's allegiance professed at his death to Richard II., probably means to Richard and his right heirs whom he had abandoned for the house of Lancaster. As the article is printed off, it is too late to say anything more about his works. In all the old books of genealogy you will find, Sir, that young Richard Duke of York was solemnly Mr. Zouch had expressed a doubt whether a portrait of a man in a clerical garb could possibly be meant for Caxton, and Mr. Cole and three of Walpole's literary correspondents suggested that it was probably a portrait of Jehan de Jeonville, Provost of Paris. married to a child of his own age, Anne Mowbray, the heiress of Norfolk, who died young as well as he. The article of the Duke of Somerset is printed off too; besides, I should imagine the letter you mention not to be of his own composition, for, though not illiterate, he certainly could not write anything like classic Latin. I may, too, possibly have inclusively mentioned the very letter; I have not Ascham's book, to see from what copy the letter was taken, but probably from one of those which I have said is in Bennet. Library. The Catalogue of Lord Brooke's works is taken from the volume of his works; such pieces of his as I found doubted, particularly the tragedy of Cicero, I have taken notice of as doubtful. In my next edition you will see, Sir, a note on Lord Herbert, who, besides being with the King at York, had offended the peers by a speech in his Majesty's defence. Mr. Wolseley's preface I shall mention, from your information. Lord Rochester's letters to his son are letters to a child, bidding him mind his book and his grandmother. I had already been told, Sir, what you tell me of Marchmont Needham. Matthew Clifford I have altered to Martin, as you prescribed; the blunder was my own, as well as a more considerable one, that of Lord Sandwich's deathwhich was occasioned by my supposing, at first, that the translation of Barba was made by the second Earl, whose death I had marked in the list, and forgot to alter, after I had writ the account of the father. I shall take care to set this right, as the second volume is not yet begun to be printed. Lord Halifax's Maxims I have already marked down, as I shall Lord Dorset's share in Pompey. The account of the Duke of Wharton's death I had from a very good hand-Captain Willoughby; who, in the convent where the Duke died, saw a picture of him in the habit. If it was a Bernardine convent, the gentleman might confound them; but, considering that there is no life of the Duke but bookseller's trash, it is much more likely that they mistook. I have no doubts about Lord Belhaven's speeches; but unless I could verify their being published by himself, it were contrary to my rule to insert them. If you look, Sir, into Lord Clarendon's account of Montrose's death, you will perceive that there is no probability of the book of his actions being composed by himself. I will consult Sir James Ware's book on Lord Totness's translation; and I will mention the Earl of Cork's Memoirs. Lord Leppington is the Earl of Monmouth, in whose article I have taken notice of his Romulus and Tarquin. Lord Berkeley's book I have actually got, and shall give him an article. There is one more passage, Sir, in your letter, which I cannot answer, without putting you to new trouble— a liberty which all your indulgence cannot justify me in taking; else I would beg to know on what authority you attribute to Laurence Earl of Rochester the famous preface to his father's history, which I have always heard ascribed to Atterbury, Smallridge, and Aldridge.2 The knowledge of this would be an additional favour; it would be a much greater, Sir, if coming this way, you would ever let me have the honour of seeing a gentleman to whom I am so much. obliged. HIS "ROYAL AND NOBLE AUTHORS”—LORD CLARENDON -SIR R. WALPOLE AND LORD BOLINGBROKE-THE DUKE OF LEEDS. TO THE REV. HENRY ZOUCH. STRAWBERRY HILL, Oct. 21, 1758. SIR, Every letter I receive from you is a new obligation, bringing me new information: but, sure, my Catalogue was not worthy of giving you so much trouble. Lord Fortescue is quite new to me; I have The Earl of Rochester was the second son of the Earl of Clarendon. He was Lord Treasurer under James II., but was dismissed because he refused to change his religion (Macaulay's "History of England," 6). C. Atterbury was the celebrated Bishop of Rochester, Smallridge was Bishop of Bristol, and Aldridge (usually written Aldrich) was Dean of Christchurch, Oxford, equally well known for his treatise on Logic and his five reasons for drinking Good wine, a friend, or being dry; Or any other reason why—— |