Autograph letter signed : Cambridge, to R. W. Elliston, 1796 August 28.

Reporting on his recovery after an accident: "I am so far recovered as to be able to take an airing in my chaise: my bruises are going off gradually tho but slowly, and at times I feel pains, which make me suspect that I am hurt a little internally [...] I am far from able to say, when I shall venture to as a traveller. My first attempt ought to be the little excursion, which was unfinished by my fall"; saying that he thinks his nephew is acting prudently in declining to play Hamlet and quoting directly from his letter of August 19, 1796; writing that he has concerns, however, about his acceptance of a role in The Iron Chest (a play by George Colman): "surely there is a risk, should it fail, whatever may be the merit of your exertions. Will not the partiality of an Author be inclined to impute blame to any other rather than himself; and will not your splenetic brethren of the Sock unite with him, tho' from a very different motive?"; saying that the actor John Bannister's refusal "is a proof of his jealousy, & that he (and perhaps his friends too) think you a dangerous rival" (see MA 9513.11 for context); saying that he has received a letter from Elizabeth Rundall Elliston; advising his nephew about his reading on religious matters: "As you have begun Paley already, I think you may do without Addison [...] I would not needlessly multiply authors"; writing that he expects Elliston visits his Aunt Heath now and then, and asking him to "give my Love to her & tell her I am still in the land of the living; for I suppose she has heard of my accident."