ul memory, and particularly for things of that kind. His
certificate of Mrs. Delany's veracity will therefore be probably of some
weight with you. As to the letter-writing powers of Mrs. Delany, the
specimen inclines me to doubt. Her style seems stiff and formal, and
though these two letters, which describe a peculiar kind of scene, have
a good deal of interest in them, I do not hope for the same amusement
from the rest of the collection. Poverty, obscurity, general ill-health,
and blindness are but unpromising qualifications for making an agreeable
volume of letters. If a shopkeeper at Portsmouth were to write his life,
the extracts of what relates to the two days of the Imperial and Royal
visit of 1814 would be amusing, though all the rest of the half century
of his life would be intolerably tedious. I therefore counsel you not to
buy the pig in Miss Hamilton's bag (though she is a most respectable
lady), but ask to see the whole collection before you bid."

The whole collection was obtained, and, with some corrections and
elucidations, the volume of letters was given to the world by Mr. Murray
in 1821.

In May 1820 Mr. Murray requested Mr. Croker to edit Horace Walpole's
"Reminiscences." Mr. Croker replied, saying: "I should certainly like
the task very well if I felt a little better satisfied of my ability to
perform it. Something towards such a work I would certainly contribute,
for I have always loved that kind of tea-table history." Not being able
to undertake the work himself, Mr. Croker recommended Mr. Murray to
apply to Miss Berry, the editor of Lady Russell's letters. "The Life,"
he said, "by which those letters were preceded, is a beautiful piece of
biography, and shows, besides higher qualities, much of that taste which
a commentator on the 'Reminiscences' ought to have." The work was
accordingly placed in the hands of Miss Berry, who edited it
satisfactorily, and it was published by Mr. Murray in the course of the
following year.

Dr. Tomline, while Bishop of Winchester, entered into a correspondence
with Mr. Murray respecting the "Life of William Pitt." In December
1820, Dr. Tomline said he had brought the Memoirs down to the
Declaration of War by France against Great Britain on February I, 1793,
and that the whole would make two volumes quarto. Until he became Bishop
of Lincoln, Dr. Tomline had been Pitt's secretary, and from the
opportunities he had possessed, there was promise here of a great work;