| Description | Commonplace book compiled by Sir William Drake. A collection of mostly short notes on 'politic' behaviour taken from works by John Preston, Ralegh, Bacon, Lorenzo Ducci, Roger Ascham, Bartolome Felippe, Justus Lipsius, Thomas Fitz-Herbert and Paolo Sarpi. Interspersed with these are a note on Franscesco Sforza's motto, a note on dissimulation, notes on flattery and forms of speech, extracts from an English translation of Machiavelli's "The prince" (not the 1640 Dacre edition) and various other notes.
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The volume can be dated from the Machiavelli extracts which are dated 29 Aug 1627 and a note on the "building at Mantles", which was a manor inherited by William Drake and his aunt in 1626. |