Cheltenham, September 28, 1812.
My Dear Bankes
,—When you point out to one how people can be intimate at the distance of some seventy leagues, I will plead guilty to your charge, and accept your farewell, but not
wittingly
, till you give me some better reason than my silence, which merely proceeded from a notion founded on your own declaration of
old
, that you hated writing and receiving letters. Besides, how was I to find out a man of many residences? If I had addressed you
now
, it had been to your borough, where I must have conjectured you were amongst your constituents. So now, in despite of Mr. N. and Lady W., you shall be as "much better" as the Hexham post-office will allow me to make you. I do assure you I am much indebted to you for thinking of me at all, and can't spare you even from amongst the superabundance of friends with whom you suppose me surrounded.