of course cannot be correct, but it is so
transcribed. In the transcript of this letter made by Malone, and
now in the possession of G. Thorn Drury, Esq., K.C., over the word
'Garth's' is written 'Q', and at the foot of the page a note by
Mitford says: 'This name seems to have been doubtful in the MSS.'
I have thought it best not to attempt any emendation.]

It is probable that about this date, 1683-4, she penned her little novel
_The Adventure of the Black Lady_, and also that excellent extravaganza
_The King of Bantam_.[42] Both these and _The Unfortunate Happy Lady_
are written as if they had certainly been completed before the death of
Charles II, in which case they must have lain by, MSS, in Mrs. Behn's
desk.

[Footnote 42: Neither of these was printed until eight years after
her death. They first appear, each with its separate title page,
1697, bound up in the Third Edition, 'with Large Additions,' of _All
the Histories and Novels, Written by the Late Ingenious Mrs. Behn,
Entire in One Volume_, 1698. After Nos. vii, viii, ix, _Memoirs of
the Court of the King of _Bantam_, _The Nun; or, the Perjured
Beauty_, _The Adventure of the Black Lady_ follows a note: 'These
last three never before published.' Some superficial bibliographers
(e.g. Miss Charlotte E. Morgan in her unreliable monograph, _The
English Novel till 1749_) have postulated imaginary editions of
1683-4 for _The Little Black Lady_ and _The King of Bantam_. _The
Nun; or, the Perjured Beauty_ is universally confounded with _The
History of the Nun_ (_vide_ Vol. V, p. 259, Introduction to that
novel) and dated 1689.

With reference to _The King of Bantam_ we have in the 1698
collected edition of the Novels the following '_Advertisement to the
_Reader_._ The Stile of the Court of the King of _Bantam_, being so
very different from Mrs. _Behn's_ usual way of Writing, it may
perhaps call its being genuine in Question; to obviate which
Objection, I must inform the Reader, that it was a Trial of Skill
upon a Wager, to shew that she was able to write in the Style of the
Celebrated _Scarron_, in Imitation of whom 'tis writ, tho' the Story
be true. I need not say any thing of the other Two, they evidently
confessing their admirable Author.']

The King, at the height of his power, after a short illness, died
6 February, 1685, an event that together with the accession of James
naturally evoked a plethora of