''Epistolae Ho-Elianae'' (or ''Familiar Letters'') is a literary work by the 17th-century
Anglo-Welsh
Welsh writing in English ( Welsh: ''Llenyddiaeth Gymreig yn Saesneg''), (previously Anglo-Welsh literature) is a term used to describe works written in the English language by Welsh writers.
The term ‘Anglo-Welsh’ replaced an earlier atte ...
historian and writer,
James Howell
James Howell (c. 1594 – 1666) was a 17th-century Anglo-Welsh historian and writer who is in many ways a representative figure of his age. The son of a Welsh clergyman, he was for much of his life in the shadow of his elder brother Thomas How ...
. It was mainly written when Howell was in the
Fleet Prison, during the 1640s; but its content reflects earlier travels he made from 1616 on behalf of a London glass factory. It appeared in three volumes from 1645 to 1650. A fourth volume was added in a collected edition of 1655.
It has been suggested that some of the letters are fictional. The selection of the recipients has also been attributed to patronage relationships. A "Mrs. A. W." who occurs as recipient has been fitted to another letter by Howell to provide a tentative deductive identification of the author of ''A Continuation of Sir Philip Sydney's Arcadia'' (1651) as
Anna Weamys
Anna Weamys, sometimes referred to as Anne Weamys ( fl. 1651) was an English author. Weamys has been identified as the author of ''A Continuation of Sir Philip Sydney's Arcadia'' (1651), which appeared under the name "Mistress A. W." Little i ...
, who is not otherwise traced as a writer.
As travel literature, Howell's work largely neglects scenic description. But some of the language used has been described as a possible source for the work of
Joshua Poole
Joshua () or Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' lit. 'Yahweh is salvation') ''Yēšūaʿ''; syr, ܝܫܘܥ ܒܪ ܢܘܢ ''Yəšūʿ bar Nōn''; el, Ἰησοῦς, ar , يُوشَعُ ٱبْنُ نُونٍ '' Yūšaʿ ...
on epithets.
[Marjorie Hope Nicolson, ''Mountain Gloom and Mountain Glory: the development of the aesthetics of the infinite'' (1997), pp. 60–1]
Google Books
The fourth edition (1678) was published by
Thomas Guy
Thomas Guy (1644 – 27 December 1724) was a British bookseller, investor in the South Sea Company, member of Parliament, and the founder of Guy's Hospital, London.
Early life
Thomas Guy was born in Horselydown in Southwark, in south London, th ...
, and profits went to founding
Guy's Hospital
Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre.
...
in London.
Notes
External links
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Anglo-Welsh literature
1645 books
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