“I return some books of yours which you lent me ‘sixty years since’ and I hope they will reach you safe. I write in great haste; and yet I must mention, that hearing ‘Waverley’ ascribed to you, I bought it, and read it with all impatience. I am now told it is not yours, but William Erskine’s. If this is so, pray tell him from me that I think it excellent in every respect, and that I believe every word of it. Ever yours,