James Howell

(?1593–1666),

held diplomatic and administrative posts under Charles I and was imprisoned in the Fleet as a Royalist, 1643–51; at the Restoration he became Historiographer Royal. He wrote a number of political and historical pamphlets and other works but is chiefly remembered for his Epistolae Ho‐Elianae: Familiar Letters Domestic and Forren (1645–55). These letters to correspondents, most of whom are imaginary, were written largely during his imprisonment; their intimate ‘back‐stairs’ view of history had a lasting appeal.