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_. The next struggle was on the 28th of Jan., on the Chippenham election, when the minister was defeated by one, and his friends advised him to resign; but it was not till after the 3rd of Feb., when the majority against him upon the renewal of the last question had increased to sixteen, that he intimated his intention to retire. These facts, coupled with the inferences drawn by your correspondent P.C.S.S. as to the suspicious style of the letter, and the imprudence of such a communication, go far to prove that it was a forgery: but the passage in _Walpole's Reminiscences_, vol. i. p. cviii. ed. 1840, with which I will now conclude my remarks, seems to set the question at rest:-- "Sir Robert, before he quitted the king, persuaded his Majesty to insist, as a preliminary to the change, that Mr. Pulteney should go into the House of Lords, his great credit lying in the other House: and _I remember my father's action when he returned from Court, and told me what he had done; 'I have turned the key of the closet upon him,' making that motion with his hand_." Braybrooke. Audley End, March 18. 1850. * * * * * PORTRAITS OF ULRICH OF HUTTEN. It is pleasant to see that an answer to a query can sometimes do more than satisfy a doubt, by accidentally touching an accordant note which awakens a responsive feeling. I am much pleased that my scanty information was acceptable to "R.G."; and wish it was in my power to give him more certain information respecting the portraits of _Hutten_, who is one of my heroes, although I am no "hero-worshipper."