Autograph letter signed : London, to Paul Benfield, 1782 Jan. 15.

Macpherson writes from his home in Manchester Buildings in London and addresses "My dear friend," Paul Benfield. A former employee of the East India Company, Benfield had built a successful career in India as a contractor and ruthless speculator. Benfield was at the time trying to clear his name from charges of embezzlement relating to his time in India and the "letters" referred to may be in connection with this. This letter reveals Macpherson's involvement in Benfield's shady world at a time when the poet and former colonial governor was himself making a fortune through his Indian connections. The document is possibly a covering letter for other papers now lost: Macpherson writes that "The enclosed letters were opened at My House by Mr Wraxall, Mr Atkinson and myself." (Sir Nathaniel Wraxall was a fellow MP and another former employee of the East India Company; Richard Atkinson was Benfield's business partner.) Macpherson goes on to reassure Benfield of his good faith, promising that: "We did not read a syllable of their contents. I refer for other particulars, to my letter by this conveyance. I am My dear friend, Yours most faithfully J. Macpherson."