Burke, Edmund

Autograph letter signed ('EB'), 2 pages (9 x 7 3/8 in.; 230 x 188 mm), Bath, 21 May 1797, to Dr. Walker King; integral address leaf with seal tear and small paper loss at top left corner, affecting one character of one word on verso; matted, double-glazed and framed.

On the decline. Written just seven weeks before his death, Burke writes of his failing health to his dear friend from youth: " I . . . propose God willing, towards the middle of next week at latest to return or more properly to be returned to Beaconsfield, to linger for some time further in pain & weakness; or depart as it should seem best to the great disposer . . . it w[oul]d be more convenient . . . for me to see my Skeleton for the last time at Beaconsfield." The Irish statesman also makes mention of the "truly deplorable" condition of Lord FitzWilliam in addition to the question of French ecclesiastics.