SKINNER'S LIFE OF MONK.

Reading for a different purpose in the domestic papers of Charles
II.'s reign in the State Paper Office, I came upon a letter from
Thomas Skinner, dated Colchester, Jan. 30. 1677, of which I will give
you what I have preserved in my notes; and that is all that is of any
interest.

It is a letter to the Secretary of State, asking for employment, and
recommending himself by what he had done for Monk's memory. He had
previously written some account of Monk, and he describes an interview
with Lord Bath (the Sir John Grenville of the Restoration); in which
his Lordship expressed his approval of the book.

"He [Lord Bath] professed himself so well satisfied, that he
was pleased to tell me there were two persons, viz. the King
and the Duke of Albemarle, that would find some reason to
reflect upon me."

Lord Bath gives Skinner a letter to the Duke of Albemarle (Monk's
son), who receives him very kindly, and gives him a handsome present.

"I have since waited on his Grace again, and then he proposed
to me (whether upon his own inclination or the suggestion of
some about him) to use my poor talent in writing his father's
life apart in the universal language; to which end, he would
furnish me with all his papers that belonged to his late
father and his secretaries. The like favour it pleased my Lord
of Bath to offer me from his own papers, some whereof I had a
sight of in his study."