I write two lines to return you my thanks for what you say of my
book,[323] of which you are not indeed so good a Judge as you would
be of any written by another author. By a mistake you have received
_two_ bound books instead of one. Be so good as to return one of them
by coach or wagon, and I will give an order that an unbound one shall
go to-morrow to Brook Street. Your soiled one (honourable marks)
you will retain. But when will you flatter me in person in Bentinck
Street? March approaches.
I am, Dear Madam,
Ever yours,
E. GIBBON.
[323] _The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_,
by Edward Gibbon, Esq. Vol. i., London, 1776, 4to, was published
by W. Strahan and T. Cadell in February.
276.
_To his Stepmother._
London, March 26th, 1776.