Buckingham to some person whose ignorance of the events and persons of the period, and whose consequent incapacity for the work, almost exceed belief. Most of the errors of this scandalously incompetent editor have been already pointed out by a contemporary; but are nevertheless, with a few exceptions, faithfully reproduced in the new edition.† Before the con * Thus the strange blunder that the Marquis of Rockingham was 'succeeded in his title by his nephew, the Earl Fitzwilliam,' stands uncorrected in vol. i. p. 48. of the new and revised edition. Seeing that the present Earl Fitzwilliam is the son and immediate successor of the Earl Fitzwilliam who is supposed to have inherited the title of Rockingham, it might have occurred to the Editor to doubt the accuracy of his statement. Even after the rich harvest of blunders gathered in by the Quarterly Reviewer, a few still remain to be gleaned. Thus in vol. i. p. 185., Lord Grenville, in giving a rumoured list of the Coalition Cabinet, says, 'Lord Keppel to return. Query, whether he is by this 'means to be in the cabinet with Twitcher? I think he should 'appoint St. Hugh a Junior Lord.' By Twitcher is meant Lord Sandwich, who was supposed to have instigated the court-martial against Lord Keppel. St. Hugh is evidently a misprint for Sir Hugh; that is, Sir Hugh Palliser, whose bitter feud with Lord Keppel is well known. At the end of the letter, the quotation 'amicitia sempiternæ, inimicitiæ placabiles,' is used sarcastically in reference to Fox, who had cited the sentence in the House of Commons as a justification of the Coalition (17. Feb. 1783). In vol. i. p. 372., the following passage occurs in one of Lord Grenville's letters: 'We are a little uneasy on account of Tippoo, 'who had made peace with the Mahrattas, and was collecting his 'forces with a view of attacking the Nizam, or the Rajah of Gravan'core, whom we must protect, or the Camatre itself." For Gravancore read Travancore, and for Camatre read Carnatic. Again in p. 416. You have never sent me any answer about the 'Cranbourne chair proposal, by which means that business is de'layed;' where for chair read chase. In vol. ii. p. 52., Wm. Gerard Hamilton is, by the interposition of a comma, divided into two persons, Gerard and Hamilton. In vol. ii. p. 393., Lord Grenville writes on May 25. 1798, 'O'Connor's acquittal is imputed to Miller's charge, and that to his 'being completely exhausted, so as to omit some of the most material 'points in the evidence.' Who ever heard of Judge Miller at the end of the last century? The reference is to the celebrated case of O'Quigley, Arthur O'Connor, and three others, who were tried for treason at Maidstone, on May 21. and 22. 1798. The judge who summed up was Mr. Justice Buller; O'Quigley was convicted, and afterwards hanged; Arthur O'Connor, and the three others, were acquitted. In the following sentence from a letter written by Lord Grenville, |