But English law, while the privilege of franking existed,
required also that the name of the place where the letter was pasted,
and the day on which it was posted, written at length, should appear in
the superscription. Take, for instance, the following frank of Burke in
this collection:--
"Margate July seventeenth, 1791
"Mr Swift,
"Mr Burke's Chambers
"4 Stone Buildings
"Lincoln's Inn
"London.
"Edm. Burke."
These letters have been recently published by Mr. Macknight, who says of
them that "they show how kind and familiar Burke was to the humblest
dependants with whom he was thrown into any human relationship"; they
also "show the statesman, when at the height of literary fame, as busy
and anxious in sending his sheets through the press, and making
corrections and alterations, as any young author with his first proofs";
and he adds, "These letters seem to me quite as important, as
illustrations of Burke's private character, as those which he wrote to
the Nagles in former years.
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