‘My dear Sir,—I have at length achieved the “Conquest of Mexico,” after a good deal more time than it took Cortes to do the work. I have directed my bookseller, Mr. Rich, to deliver you a copy on its publication in London, which will be early in November. Should it not be sent to you, you will greatly oblige me by letting me know it, as these things, I have found, sometimes miscarry.
‘I hope this second bantling of mine may find the favour in your eyes with which you have been kind enough to regard its elder brother; and, at all events, that you will receive it as a testimony of the great esteem I feel for one with whom I may, perhaps, never have the pleasure of being personally acquainted.
