Catherine Talbot to Elizabeth Carter, 24 October 1751: 'I am sick of all human greatness and activity, and so would you be if you had been turning over with me five great folios of Montfaucon's French Antiquities, where warriors, tyrants, queens, and favourites, have past before my eyes in a quick succession, of whose pomp, power, and bustle, nothing now remains but quiet Gothic monuments, vile prints, and the records of still viler actions [...] [later comments, in same letter] Let me do justice to human nature and French history; my last night's reading afforded some instances of most charming generosity [...] and of real goodness.'