I feel very confident that I once read the letter attributed to Sir
R. Walpole (No. 19. p. 304.) in some magazine, long before I had ever
seen _Banks' Extinct and Dormant Peerage_. My impression is, also,
that I never believed the document to be authentic; and that opinion
is confirmed by a reference to the _Correspondence of Horace Walpole_,
vol. i. ed. 1840, and to the journals of the day. I find from these
authorities, that the first of the memorable divisions which drove
Sir Robert from the helm, took place on the 21st Jan. 1741-2, when
Pulteney's motion for a secret committee was lost by three voices
only. We are told that the speeches were very brilliant, and Sir
R. Walpole particularly distinguished himself. He might have been
tormented by his enemies, but not by the stone, (the excuse assigned
in the letter for his inability to attend the king), for Horace left
him at one o'clock in the morning, after the debate had terminated,
"_at supper all alive and in spirits," and he even boasted that he was
younger than his son_.
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