“As to Howell, I always was afraid of him. I know that he is what the French call ‘_un homme à grandes pretensions_;’ as, indeed, all your authors are.… They think that every book that is printed is so much money coined. They take the price, the full retail price, of a volume, say a guinea-and-a-half, then they take the number of copies, and hence they reckon that the bookseller has so many guineas and halves in his drawer, the moment the book is printed. You cannot beat this out of their brains. They will have it so. Then they are full of their college conceit, which is so intolerable.… With such people, a partnership would be, for you and me, a most uncomfortable thing. I greatly approve of the scheme of a ‘fag;’ and as to expense, four guineas a week would be cheap. But he must work and be obedient.… I would sooner give an additional guinea a week on the score of _obedience_, than on the score of _talent_: though there must be considerable talent too. If you can get rid of H., I shall be very happy. I know what your college gentlemen are. They always have, and will have, the insolence to think themselves our betters; and our superior talents, and industry, and power, and weight, only excite their envy. I am heartily sorry we ever had anything to do with H. All this may blow off; but I shall never have confidence in him.… “I will write to the major,[7] and to Holt White, upon the subject of the Trials. Two better men there are not in all England. The major is the very best writer that I know, though he has scarcely a drop of blood in his veins. Oh, that my mind, at his age, may be like his! “Be sure to send off _Register_ to Lord Cochrane, up to this time. He is not come home. And no one can tell when he will. Pray do not neglect this a day. I should like him to see that I did justice to him in this country. He, after all, is the best member for Westminster. “Nancy will copy the manuscript of which you spoke lately. She copied the whole of the Winchester proceedings, with only three errors.” The dissatisfaction with Mr. Howell would appear to have arisen partly from an extreme slackness in providing “copy;” and, with this, a disposition to consider his own remuneration as of the first importance. The difficulty, however, did blow over. The following refers to a letter of Major Cartwright’s on the affairs of Spain:-- “… Now, as to the major’s letter. Room I am ready to spare him for four or five columns. But, if you have the smallest doubt upon the libel subject, do not put it in. Mark well every word relating to the Parliament. Ferdinand, mind, must not be libelled; and _anything is a libel_. If you can, by leaving out, or altering, or adding, or qualifying, make it quite safe, put the letter in; but not else.…”