Chapter LXXXVII: Letter 145: To Mr. Murray

"Nov. 12. 1813.

"Two friends of mine (Mr. Rogers and Mr. Sharpe) have advised me
not to risk at present any single publication separately, for
various reasons. As they have not seen the one in question, they
can have no bias for or against the merits (if it has any) or the
faults of the present subject of our conversation. You say all the
last of 'The Giaour' are gone--at least out of your hands. Now, if
you think of publishing any new edition with the last additions
which have not yet been before the reader (I mean distinct from the
two-volume publication), we can add 'The Bride of Abydos,' which
will thus steal quietly into the world: if liked, we can then throw
off some copies for the purchasers of former 'Giaours;' and, if
not, I can omit it in any future publication. What think you? I
really am no judge of those things, and with all my natural
partiality for one's own productions, I would rather follow any
one's judgment than my own.

"P.S. Pray let me have the proofs I sent _all_ to-night. I have
some alterations that I have thought of that I wish to make
speedily. I hope the proof will be on separate pages, and not all
huddled together on a mile-long ballad-singing sheet, as those of
The Giaour sometimes are; for then I can't read them distinctly."

* * * * *

TO MR. MURRAY.

"Nov. 13. 1813.

"Will you forward the letter to Mr. Gilford with the proof? There
is an alteration I may make in Zuleika's speech, in second Canto
(the only one of hers in that Canto). It is now thus:

"And curse, if I could curse, the day.

It must be--

"And mourn--I dare not curse--the day
That saw my solitary birth, &c. &c.

"Ever yours, B.

"In the last MS. lines sent, instead of 'living heart,' convert to
'quivering heart.' It is in line ninth of the MS. passage.

"Ever yours again, B."

* * * * *

TO MR. MURRAY.

"Alteration of a line in Canto second.

"Instead of--

"And tints to-morrow with a _fancied_ ray,

Print--

"And tints to-morrow with _prophetic_ ray.

"The evening beam that smiles the clouds away
And tints to-morrow with prophetic ray;

Or,

{_gilds_}
"And { tints } the hope of morning with its ray;

Or,

"And gilds to-morrow's hope with heavenly ray.

"I wish you would ask Mr. Gifford which of them is best, or rather
_not worst_. Ever, &c.

"You can send the request contained in this at the same time with
the _revise_, _after_ I have seen the _said revise_."

* * * * *

TO MR. MURRAY.

"Nov. 13. 1813.

"Certainly. Do you suppose that no one but the Galileans are
acquainted with _Adam_, and _Eve_, and _Cain_[109], and
_Noah_?--Surely, I might have had Solomon, and Abraham, and David,
and even Moses. When you know that _Zuleika_ is the _Persian
poetical_ name for _Potiphar_'s wife, on whom and Joseph there is a
long poem, in the Persian, this will not surprise you. If you want
authority, look at Jones, D'Herbelot, Vathek, or the notes to the
Arabian Nights; and, if you think it necessary, model this into a
note.

"Alter, in the inscription, 'the most affectionate respect,' to
'with every sentiment of regard and respect.'"

[Footnote 109: Some doubt had been expressed by Mr. Murray as to the propriety of his putting the name of Cain into the mouth of a Mussulman.]

* * * * *

TO MR. MURRAY.

"Nov. 14. 1813.

"I send you a note for the _ignorant_, but I really wonder at
finding _you_ among them. I don't care one lump of sugar for my
_poetry_; but for my _costume_ and my _correctness_ on those points
(of which I think the _funeral_ was a proof), I will combat
lustily.

"Yours," &c.

* * * * *

"Nov. 14. 1813.

"Let the revise which I sent just now (and _not_ the proof in Mr.
Gifford's possession) be returned to the printer, as there are
several additional corrections, and two new lines in it. Yours,"
&c.

* * * * *