An entire letter from Napoleon Bonaparte’s brother, Lucien, of postal, historical and literary importance, with a Shrewsbury connection. Having been a supporter of the Revolution and of his brother, Napoleon, by 1810 that relationship had cooled and Lucien (Prince of Canino and Musignano) set sail with his family from Italy to start a new life in the USA. The ship sheltered in Sardinia from storms and he was taken prisoner by the British and brought to this country where he became a paroled prisoner. He spent time at Lord Powis’ house “Dinham” near Ludlow and then purchased “Thorngrove” near Worcester. As part of the parole arrangement he and his family were restricted to a 10 mile radius of Thorngrove and his mail was subject to inspection by his “minder” (Lt Col Francis Leighton of Shrewsbury, a retired army officer) before being posted. Leighton had an arrangement with the postmaster in Worcester whereby the latter would only accept mail that had Leighton’s “secret mark” to denote it had been inspected. This letter, in Lucien’s hand and with part of his LB seal remaining, was written at Thorngrove and posted in Shrewsbury on 25th November 1813 to Cambridge; received there 27 Nov. There is no trace of any “secret mark” so perhaps it was smuggled to Shrewsbury to avoid censorship. The letter is to Francis Hodgson, Fellow at Kings College, Cambridge and a friend of Byron. Hodgson had translated the poetry of Juvenal into English and Lucien was seeking his help to translate his own epic poem “Charlemagne” (or “The Church delivered”) into English. The request obviously bore fruit as Lucien’s epic 24 book poem was translated by Hodgson working with Samuel Butler and a copy eventually presented to King George IV whilst Prince Regent in 1815. To include a translation of the original French, various notes/pictures etc. The letter has been professionally conserved.