Autograph Letter Signed to Sir Francis Freeling (1764-1836), Secretary to the Post Office.

Two pages, quarto. On slightly stained, aged paper, with a few closed tears and some wear to extremities. Black wax seal adhering to second leaf of bifolium. Docketed 'March 1814 | Manchester | Revd. R. H. Whitelocke', but the signature appears to read 'Whitelock'. He is sending 'the only Publication that has at present appeared in Print respecting the unfortunate Miss Robinson - The wretch who drove her to the fit of desperation has been desired for the Peace of the Town to quit it for the fury of the Populace is very great - & he did leave it for a few days but has had the effrontery to return. - I saw one of the Surgeons after the investigation who assured me that it was a most remarkable instance that there was every satisfactory proof of her virginity.' Recounts what the 'man in his Defence said'. His 'conduct deprived her of her reason'. He is sending Davies's Catalogues: 'there is nothing very scarce'. The news that the report of Louis XVIII's proclamation is unfounded is 'a woeful disappointment'. He hopes Freeling's son will write a few lines if anything extraordinary occurs. The British Library contains a pamphlet entitled 'Some Account of the Circumstances attendant on the Death of the late Miss Lavinia Robinson' (Manchester: Joseph Aston, 1814).