[DUDLEY, Robert, Earl of Leicester].
SECRET
MEMOIRS OF ROBERT DUDLEY, EARL OF LEICESTER, PRIME MINISTER AND FAVORITE
OF QUEEN ELIZABETH. Recent, most attractive, re-bind in 1/2 leather
over marbled boards. Published by Samuel Briscoe, London. 1706. Small 8vo,
pp.(34), 218. (The title page continues): "Written during his Life, and
now Published from an
Old Manuscript. With a Preface
by Dr. Drake."
Dudley (1532?-1588) was a favorite
of Queen Elizabeth, although previously
married to Amye Robsart (1550).
He is supposed by some, including the author of LEICESTER'S COMMONWEALTH
(printed 1584), to have brought about the murder of his wife (1560). He
attempted, with the queen's consent, to obtain Spanish support for his
projected marriage with Elizabeth at the price of acknowledging papal supremacy
(Concise Dictionary of National Biography, p. 851). Dudley's presumptuousness
sporadically incurred royal displeasure. He died of fever (some say he
was poisoned) in 1588. On a blank preliminary page, there is written in
an old "copper plate" hand, the following: "Mr. D'Israeli informs us that
in one instance at least Dr. Drake condescended to practise literary imposition.
He reprinted Father Parson's famous libel against the earl of Leicester
in Q Eliz. reign under the title secret memoirs of Rob Dudley 1706 with
a preface pretending it was printed from an old MS. instead of being literally
taken from
Leicester's Commonwealth. [signature]
Chalmers [indecipherable]". This is the
"Second Edition Corrected". Dr.
[James] Drake (1667-1707) was a political writer educated at Eton and Cambridge,
who was prosecuted for his Tory pamphlet "The
History of the Last Parliament",
but acquitted. This copy very nicely re-bound in half leather, over marbled
boards, with raised bands and gilt rules to the spine, and fresh endpapers.
Contents typically age-toned, but now tight and easily readable. A handsome
book. Mispagination at p. 160 and pp. 211 to 218 (incorrectly printed p.
111 to 118).
Price: $575 Cdn./$375 US (#2439)
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