Drummond was a writer in Edinburgh. He was friends with Ben Jonson, the English poet and playwright. Jonson stayed with him for two weeks, and Drummond made notes of their gossipy conversations in his diary.

Two hundred years later, the diary was discovered, and the gossip was published.

Is it an interview if neither person involved intended the conversation to be published? Not really, no. But in what meaningful sense is the publication different? Both men were dead, of course, but they both suffered reputational damage.