_Sir Robert Howard._--Can any reader assist me in finding out the author
of
"A Discourse of the Nationall Excellencies of England. By R.H.,
London. Printed by Thomas Newcomb for Henry Fletcher, at the
Three Gilt Cups in the New Buildings, near the west end of St.
Paul's, 1658. 12 mo., pp. 248."
This is a very remarkable work, written in an admirable style, and
wholly free from the coarse party spirit which then generally prevailed.
The writer declares, p. 235., he had not subscribed the engagement, and
there are internal evidences of his being a churchman and a monarchist.
Is there any proof of its having been written by Sir Robert Howard? A
former possessor of the copy now before me, has written his name on the
title-page as its conjectured author. My copy of Sir Robert's _Poems_,
published two years after, was published not by _Fletcher_, but by
"Henry Herringman, at the sign of the Anchor, in the lower walk of the
New Exchange." John Dryden, Sir Robert's brother-in-law, in the
complimentary stanzas on Howard's poems, says,
"To write worthy things of worthy men,
Is the peculiar talent of your pen."
I would further inquire if a reason can be assigned for the omission
from Sir Robert Howard's collected plays of _The Blind Lady_, the only
dramatic piece given in the volume of poems of 1660. My copy is the
third edition, published by Tonson, 1722.