LETTER ATTRIBUTED TO SIR R. WALPOLE

There are many reasons, drawn from style and other internal evidence, which induce P.C.S.S. to entertain strong doubts as to the authenticity of the letter attributed to Sir Robert Walpole (and reprinted from Bankes) in No. 19. Among others it seems very unlikely that a prime minister, confidentially addressing his sovereign (and that sovereign George II.!) on a matter of the greatest import, would indulge in a poetical quotation. And it is remarkable that neither the quotation in question, not any thing at all resembling it, in thought or expression, is to be found in any part of Fenton's pri…