James St 

Buckingham Gate

Jany 9th. 1811

My dear Sir

On Sunday Evening¹ Heber brought me your welcome letter; which I should have acknowledged immediately had I not been desirous of ascertaining the fate of Roscoe before I wrote. I believe that I told you G. Ellis had taken him up; Geo. however, was so busy with Huskisson² & so merry with Sir John,³ that this minor culprit escaped. I wrote to Sunning Hill on Monday, & have this instant recd an answer. He is well content to cede him to your friend,⁴ & I heartily wish that this had been done at first. I should regret it still more had not Roscoe's Evil Genius urged him to collect his tracts in the interim, & thus to afford us a further prisé on him. I asked George what his plan was, & this is his reply "My idea was to couple him with Goldsmith, who has challenged him as he has Lord Grey; to treat him with some quiet ridicule, and to shew that he is in general a very pitiful politician—to give him credit for a spirited attack on Lord Grey's plan of economical warfare: this I thought would be safe and serviceable." He then repeats that he shall be glad to see an attack on him by a volunteer &c. In this situation, I must beg of you to apply to your friend once more, and I heartily wish you may prevail on him to undertake it for the present No. I thank you for the mention of French literature. I should, indeed, be glad of some assistance in it.

I come now to your friendly attention to Falconer;⁵ you have much improved his essay, and your Introductory matter is very good indeed, & to the purpose. I really feel myself deeply obliged to your kindness and beg you to accept my sincere acknowledgments.

I shall be glad to receive your Article on our good friend Whitaker⁶ whose critique on Chalmers marks a powerful and discriminating mind. Nares, not much to his credit as a man of literature—admitted into a former No. of the British Critick, an illiberal piece of imbecility on the Dr's work, which quite disgusted me.⁷

Heber, who is truly what you stile him, our excellent friend, & whose zeal [seal tear] [and ac]tivity, are above all praise—is, [seal tear] [ ? ? ] "a jew an Ebrew jew⁸  [seal tear] in hand so long about going [seal tear] Oxford, and taking a line to Mr Davison for me⁹, that I put off writing till I was shamed to write at all; and now he tells me, that gentleman is not to be found at Oxford. Here again, I must beg you to step in, and if you see Mr Davison to intreat that he will "banish Poins, banish Bardolph, banish Heber; but not honest Jack Falstaff"¹⁰ who is not much to blame in this case, and think of something for us with his earliest leisure. Your congratulations are very welcome to me:—with your assistance, with the University on our side, which, I hope, it will cordially be, what may we not look forward to! It consoles though it vexes me to see the Edin. people who insult these Establishments unable to produce a learned Article which is not derived from them. With the truest esteem, I am

ever, my dear Sir, your obliged

& faithful servt

Wm Gifford.

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Address: For / The Revd. E. Copleston / Oriel Coll. / Oxford

Postmark: Jan. 9, 1811.