Letter from Francis Douce, place not identified, to Isaac Disraeli, 1822 May 1: autograph manuscript signed.

Thanking him for the loan of two volumes, "both of which have disappointed me;" criticizing the Reverend Samuel Tillbrook's critique of Robert Southey's poem, A Vision of Judgment: "Tillbrook's is very dull, but might I think have been rendered less so notwithstanding the subject. As far as regards Southey it is a very odd sort of criticism: under the masque of great politeness & liberality of feeling he belabours him sorely;" adding that he thinks "Davis's book [most likely John Francis Davis's Chinese Novels Translated from the Originals] is still duller [...] The tales or novels are dull & stupid [...] Had they remained untranslated till the end of time we should have lost nothing nor those who shall succeed us;" commenting on Southey's use of hexameter and asking about a reference to Dante's use of hexameter; commenting on the way Tillbrook spells Petrarch's name and other aspects of Tillbrook's text.