Chatsworth,
October the 24th, 1668.
[B]. This letter is here printed from the autograph of Mr. Hobbes, now in the possession of Rowland Eyles Egerton Warburton, Esq. of Arley Hall, Cheshire. The same letter, with the variations hereafter noticed, was prefixed to Mr. Howard’s poem, “The British Princes,” published in 1669: it is there addressed “To the Honourable Edward Howard, Esq. on his intended impression of his poem of the 'British Princes,'” and is subscribed,
“I need say no more, but rest,
Your Honour’s most humble and obedient servant,
Thomas Hobbs.
Chatsworth, Nov. the 6th, 1668.”
[C]. The passage between brackets is omitted in the letter prefixed to the British Princes, and the following is substituted for it: “Besides 'tis a virtue in a poet to advance the honour of his remotest ancestors, especially when it has not been done before. What, though you out-go the limits of certain history? Do painters, when they paint the face of the earth, leave a blank beyond what they know? Do not they fill up the space with strange rocks, monsters, and other gallantry, to fix their work in the memory of men by the delight of fancy? So will your readers from this poem think honourably of their original, which is a kind of piety.”
[D]. This passage is omitted in the “British Princes.”
END OF VOL. IV.