Is it known who really translated that clever work, _Letters writ by a
Turkish Spy_? The work was originally written in Italian, by John Paul
Marana, a Genoese; but the English translation has been attributed to
several individuals.
Among Dr. Charlett's correspondence, preserved in the Bodleian
Library, is a letter inquiring after a Mr. Bradshaw. The writer says,
"he was servitor or amanuensis to Dr. Allesbree, and proved very
considerable afterwards, being the author of all the volumes of the
'Turkish Spy' but one; and that was the first, which, you remember,
was printed a considerable time before the rest, and not much
taken notice of till the second volume came out. The first volume
was originally wrote in Italian, translated into French, and made
English; and all the rest after carried on by this Bradshaw, as I am
undoubtedly informed: so that I think him well worth inquiring after
while in Oxford. Dr. Midgely had only the name and conveyance to the
press, beside what books he helped Bradshaw to, which, by his poverty,
he could not procure himself." In the margin of this letter Ballard
has added, "Sir Roger Manley, author of the 'Turkish Spy.'" Baker, of
St. John's College, Cambridge, has written on the cover of the first
volume of his copy of _Athenæ Oxoniensis_ (bequeathed to the Public
Library at Cambridge), "'Turkish Spy,' begun by Mr. Manley, continued
by Dr. Midgely with the assistance of others."
Edward F. Rimbault.
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