The Battle of the Books; with selections from the literature of the Phalaris controversy/Letter of Dr Edm. Gibson
EDM. GIBSON'S LETTER.
MS. Ballard. 5. fol. 84. (Bodleian Library.)
[First page of a letter from Dr. Edm. Gibson (afterwards Bishop of London) to Dr. Charlett. Endorsed 'Dr Gibson 16945. . . ']
Honor'd Sir,
Of late I have had a lazy sort of indisposition upon me, which has made me less punctual in writing than I us'd to be. It still sticks by me, and there is some fear it may end in an Ague. The frosty weather put us a fortnight back in our business; but in three or four days we shall be able to work through it. I know not how to have access to my Lord, but either by Mr Martin or Dr Wall; nor how to come at them, but by the assistance of a Letter from you. Mr Bently, about 3 months agoe, seem'd uneasie to have the Phalaris return'd;[1] but I little dreamt he'd have carry'd it soe far as to oblige Mr Boyle to make such a publick Resentment. I found from the beginning Mr Pepys was mighty tender and reserv'd in ye matter; for what reason, is a mystery to me as much as to you. I press'd him to Particulars, more perhaps than became one in my circumstances; hoping that the cause of the publick might in some measure excuse the indecency.
The Saxon Types . . . [the rest of the letter is not concerned with the Phalaris controversy].
- ↑ The MS. was lent in May 1694 (see pp. xxii.-iii. of this vol.). Either the endorsement of the letter is wrong, or Dr Gibson's memory failed him as to the date of Bentley's 'uneasiness.'