Chapter LXXXIX: Letter 147: To Mr. Murray

"November 17. 1813.

"That you and I may distinctly understand each other on a subject,
which, like 'the dreadful reckoning when men smile no more,' makes
conversation not very pleasant, I think it as well to _write_ a few
lines on the topic.--Before I left town for Yorkshire, you said
that you were ready and willing to give five hundred guineas for
the copyright of 'The Giaour;' and my answer was--from which I do
not mean to recede--that we would discuss the point at Christmas.
The new story may or may not succeed; the probability, under
present circumstances, seems to be, that it may at least pay its
expenses--but even that remains to be proved, and till it is proved
one way or another, we will say nothing about it. Thus then be it:
I will postpone all arrangement about it, and The Giaour also, till
Easter, 1814; and you shall then, according to your own notions of
fairness, make your own offer for the two. At the same time, I do
not rate the last in my own estimation at half The Giaour; and
according to your own notions of its worth and its success within
the time mentioned, be the addition or deduction to or from
whatever sum may be your proposal for the first, which has already
had its success.

"The pictures of Phillips I consider as _mine_, all three; and the
one (not the Arnaout) of the two best is much at _your service_, if
you will accept it as a present.

"P.S. The expense of engraving from the miniature send me in my
account, as it was destroyed by my desire; and have the goodness to
burn that detestable print from it immediately.

"To make you some amends for eternally pestering you with
alterations, I send you Cobbett to confirm your orthodoxy.

"One more alteration of _a_ into _the_ in the MS.; it must be--'The
_heart whose softness_,' &c.

"Remember--and in the inscription, 'To the Right Honourable Lord
Holland,' _without_ the previous names, Henry," &c.

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TO MR. MURRAY.

"November 20. 1813.

"More work for the _Row_. I am doing my best to beat 'The
Giaour'--_no_ difficult task for any one but the author."

* * * * *

TO MR. MURRAY.

"November 22. 1813.

"I have no time to _cross_-investigate, but I believe and hope all
is right. I care less than you will believe about its success, but
I can't survive a single _misprint_: it _chokes_ me to see words
misused by the printers. Pray look over, in case of some eyesore
escaping me.

"P.S. Send the earliest copies to Mr. Frere, Mr. Canning, Mr. Heber,
Mr. Gifford, Lord Holland, Lord Melbourne (Whitehall), Lady
Caroline Lamb, (Brocket), Mr. Hodgson (Cambridge), Mr. Merivale,
Mr. Ward, from the author."

* * * * *

TO MR. MURRAY.

"November 23. 1813.

"You wanted some reflections, and I send you _per Selim_ (see his
speech in Canto 2d, page 46.), eighteen lines in decent couplets,
of a pensive, if not an _ethical_ tendency. One more
revise--positively the last, if decently done--at any rate the
_pen_ultimate. Mr. Canning's approbation (_if_ he did approve) I
need not say makes me proud.[110] As to printing, print as you will
and how you will--by itself, if you like; but let me have a few
copies in _sheets_.

"November 24. 1813.

"You must pardon me once more, as it is all for your good: it must
be thus--

"He makes a solitude, and calls it peace.

'_Makes_' is closer to the passage of Tacitus, from which the line
is taken, and is, besides, a stronger word than '_leaves_'

"Mark where his carnage and his conquests cease--
He makes a solitude, and calls it--peace."

[Footnote 110: Mr. Canning's note was as follows:--"I received the books, and, among them, The Bride of Abydos. It is very, very beautiful. Lord Byron (when I met him, one day, at dinner at Mr. Ward's) was so kind as to promise to give me a copy of it. I mention this, not to save my purchase, but because I should be really flattered by the present."]

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