Ecclesfield.
_Sir Thomas Herbert's Memoirs of Charles I._ (Vol. iii., p. 157.).--My
friend, who is in possession of the original MS. of this work, is desirous
of ascertaining whether the volume published in 1702 be a complete and
exact copy of it. I will transcribe the commencing and concluding passages
of the MS., and shall be obliged if MR. BOLTON CORNEY will compare them
with the book in his possession, and tell me the result.
"S^r,
"By your's of the 22d of August last, I find you have receaved my
former letters of the first and thirteenth of May, 1678; and seeing
'tis your further desire," &c.
"This briefe narrative shall conclude with the king's owne excellent
expression: _Crowns and kingdoms are not so valuable as my honour and
reputation--those must have a period with my life; but these survive to
a glorious kind of immortality when I am dead and gone: a good name
being the embalming of princes, and a sweet consecrating of them to an
eternity of love and gratitude amongst posterity._"
The present owner of the MS. has an idea that an incorrect copy was
fraudulently obtained and published about 1813. Is there any foundation for
this supposition?