|19th May, 1675. |Ditto. |Ditto. |
|Ditto |28th October, 1676. |Ditto. |Ditto. |
|Ditto |2nd November, 1678. |Ditto. |Ditto. |
|James II.* |24th August, 1685. |Ditto. |Gregory Caraffa. |
|Ditto |10th day of Jan. 1686-7. |Ditto. |Ditto. |
|Ditto |9th April, 1687. |Ditto. |Ditto. |
|George I. |5th May, 1715. |Ditto. |Raymond Perellos. |
+-------------+-------------------------+-----------------------------+

* The letters of James II. are countersigned "Comes de Sunderland,"[7] and
that of George I. "I. Stanhope."

In our previous list an error occurred, which we would wish to correct. The
last letter of Henry VIII. was addressed to the Grand Master Pierre Du
Pont, and not to Nicholas Cotoner, who ascended the Maltese throne in 1663.
The translation of H. M.'s congratulatory letter to Du Pont, on his
election, we trust you have already received. We referred in our former
Note to a letter of Charles II., under date of "the last day of November,
1674," and since that came to our observation we have seen an _exact copy_
bearing the autograph of the king. This circumstance leads us to inquire at
what period, and with what English monarch, the custom of sending duplicate
letters originated? In the time of James II. it would appear to have been
followed, as one of H. M.'s letters is thus marked in his own handwriting.

We would state, before closing this Note, that the letters of James II. are
the earliest in date of any English royal letters filed away at this island
which are _countersigned, or bear the address_ of the Grand Master at the
foot of the first page, on the left-hand side, as is customary in writing
official letters to government officers at the present time.

Will any of your correspondents kindly inform us with what English monarch
the custom {334} originated of having his letters countersigned by a
minister, and of placing the address within the letter, as is the case in
those of James II. to which we have just referred?

WILLIAM WINTHROP.

La Valetta, Malta.

[Footnote 7: Robert Spencer, second Earl of Sunderland, K.G., was principal
Secretary of State during the latter years of Charles II. and the whole
reign of James II., and as such, when countersigning a royal letter, he
placed at the end of his signature the letter P.]

_Prince Charl