Howell, James, an English writer, whose “Familiar Letters” have won a permanent place in English literature, born in Abernant, Carmarthenshire; travelled for many years on the Continent in a business capacity; entered Parliament in 1627; was for some years a Royalist spy, and suffered imprisonment at the Fleet; at the Restoration he was created Historiographer-Royal; his works are numerous, but his fame rests upon his entertaining “Instructions for Foreigne Travell” and his graceful and witty “Familiar Letters” (1593‒1666).
Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)
Howe, Richard, Earl * Howells, William Dean