The entire letter is given in both Walter and Turnbull’s _Memoirs of Southwell_, and has been extravagantly praised as being the composition of Sir Walter Raleigh, among whose _Remains_ it is frequently reprinted. Mr. Grosart, a Protestant clergyman, says of it: “I know nothing comparable with the mingled affection and prophetlike fidelity, the wise instruction, correction, reproof, the full rich scripturalness and quaint applications, the devoutness, the insistence, the pathos of this letter.” The edition of Sir Walter Raleigh’s _Remains_, published in London in 1675, was the subject of an article in the _Retrospective Review_ for 1820, in which the reviewer remarks: “‘The Dutiful Advice of a Loving Son to his Aged Father’ is supposed to be a libel on Sir Walter, written by his enemies. It will be seen, however, that it bears a strong resemblance to his style, although the metaphor is more profuse and ornamental, and seems to be rather engrafted on his thoughts than to spring up with them. That this piece should be dictated by personal hostility is strange. It contains exhortations that might with the greatest propriety be directed to any man. “It is possible that it might be written by another in imitation of Sir Walter Raleigh’s ‘Advice to his Son’; _yet if he was an enemy, he was of a most uncommon description_. As the advice, however, is worth quoting for its own merit, and is written with great force and beauty, we shall give our readers an opportunity of judging for themselves.” This letter is Southwell’s earliest dated prose, and was followed by a variety of treatises, epistles, and pamphlets, printed on the “private press” at his own house in London. Besides these, there remain several English and a large number of Latin prose writings still in manuscript. “Mary Magdalene’s Funerall Teares,” although prose in form, is in fact far more fervid and impassioned than the greater part of his poetry. SOUTHWELL’S POETRY.