London upon Monday, May the 21st, and that the MS. was returned to me the Saturday night before.
But not to insist upon that, I suppose it's sufficiently manifest from His Majesty's Patent, Mr Postlethwayt's and Mr Wright's testimonies, and the residence-rolls of the Church of Worcester, that the MS. was delivered, used, and returned, within the space of one month after I had the custody of the Library. So that the deposition of the bookseller, that he could not obtain the MS. till after about nine months solicitation, is demonstrated to be a notorious falsehood: and since he has further declared that it was in his intention a perjury, he has pilloried himself for't in print, as long as that book shall last.
I have been informed by several good hands, that when the starters of this calumny heard how I could disprove, from the very date of the Patent, this story of nine months solicitation, they betook themselves to this refuge, that though the Patent was not finished till about May, yet I had the power and trust of the Library for nine months before. But besides the folly of this evasion, which is visible at first view (for how could I demand the key of the Library before I had a
