Autograph letter signed : London, to James Sykes, 1799 December 26.

Asking about the truth of a report of a scandal concerning her aunt; saying "I am very sorry to address you on a subject, which must appear to you, as shameful in its origin, as it will be serious in its consequences, but I have no alternative, as it is from you only, I can learn the truth of the report. Miss Dent has circulated a story at Balham as imprudent as it is unaccountable. According to the account, you have told her that Miss Byron assured you, my Aunt Mrs. Stewart, had taken in a passion, the dose of Laudanum, which by the most unfortunate accident, was the occasion of her swallowing, & she gives me, as the authority for the scandal she has invented. I must beg from you, the favor of a line, just to say, if Miss Byron really did assert such a falsehood: as Mrs. Stewart will take immediate measures, to make her prove her words, or make a public recantation."