Allow me to thank you for your note and enclosure. The latter, which I return [a letter of Lord Byron’s], is full of wit and fancy, of satire and gaiety. Perhaps I enjoy it more than those whose reverence for the late King’s public character is greater than my own, and who will be shocked at his political delinquencies being made the vehicle for ridiculing an injudicious panegyrist [Southey’s ‘Vision of Judgment’]. Your letter is very obliging. The time I have devoted to Walpole’s work has been very amusing, and in some measure instructive to me, and I should feel very happy if I could believe my labours in any degree contributed to the success of the publication. I wrote a long letter to you yesterday on the subject of the MSS. of both Memoirs, Waldegrave’s and Walpole’s. As, however, the purport of it was to communicate to you Lord Waldegrave’s wishes and intentions, of which I am sure you will approve, I enclosed it for his perusal before I sent it to you, and he has not hitherto returned it.
