"[A]
[Footnote A: Macknight's _Life of Burke_, Vol. III. p. 737.]
There are also letters of Burke which from time to time have seen the
light, as they were communicated by their possessors. Among these none
equals in interest that addressed to Pitt with regard to his pension,
which has been printed recently by Lord Stanhope, in his small, but rich
and rare collection, entitled "Miscellanies." This important letter came
to light among the papers of Pitt, and has been described by Macaulay as
"interesting and very characteristic."
The manuscripts now before us are none of these. They have a history of
their own.
They constitute a thin volume in folio, neatly bound, having a
book-mark, and arms with the name of _Fillingham_. Here are four
familiar autograph-letters from Burke to his amanuensis, Swift, all of
them written from Margate, on the sea-shore, and bearing Burke's frank
as a member of Parliament. According to habit with us, the frank of a
member of Congress is written in the right-hand upper corner of the
superscription, while the old English frank is in the left-hand lower
corner.
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