Here is one of Robin's favorite old books--A 1743 edition of Volume One of Original Poems and Translations by John Dryden:
One of the many engaging parts of this book (in Robin's unlearned opinion) is the letter Dryden writes to his sponsor, Sir Robert Howard, presenting to him Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders, MDCLXVI,
An Historical Poem. Dryden writes, "Sir, I am so many ways obliged to you, and so little able to return your Favours, that, like those who owe too much, I can only live by getting farther into your Debt. You
have not only been careful of my Fortune, which was the effect of your Nobleness, but you have been solicitous of my Reputation, which is that of your Kindness. It is not long since I gave you the trouble of
perusing a Play for me, and now, instead of an acknowledgment, I have given you a greater, in the correction of a Poem. But since you are to bear this Persecution, I will at least give you the Encouragement of a
Martyr; you could never suffer in a nobler Cause. For I have chosen the most heroic Subject, which any Poet could desire. . . .
"And now, Sir, 'tis time I should relieve you from the tedious length of this Account. You have better and more profitable Employment for your Hours, and I wrong the Public to detain you longer. In Conclusion, I must leave my
Poem to you with all its Faults, which I hope to find fewer in the Printing by your Emendations. . . . I beg from you the greatest Favour you can confer upon an absent Person, since I repose upon your Management what is dearest
to me, my Fame and Reputation; and therefore I hope it will stir you up to make my Poem fairer by many of your Blots. . . . But since the Reproach of my Faults will light on you, 'tis but reason I should do you that Justice to
the Readers, to let them know, that, if there be any thing tolerable in this Poem, they owe the Argument to your Choice, the Writing to your Encouragement, the Correction to your Judgment, and the Care of it to your Friendship,
to which he must ever acknowledge himself to owe all things, who is, Sir, the most Obedient, and most Faithful of your Servants, John Dryden."
