Note 55 — Chapter III
Reading edition
It is true, this letter of 1616 was first made public in the "General History" in 1624 (see Smith's Works, p. 530); so that Smith's detractors may urge that the letter is trumped up and was never sent to Queen Anne. If so, the question recurs, Why did not some enemy or hostile critic of Smith in 1624 call attention to so flagrant a fraud?