Chapter LXX: Letter 463: To Mr. Murray

"October 20. 1821.

"If the errors _are_ in the MS. write me down an ass: they are
_not_, and I am content to undergo any penalty if they be. Besides,
the _omitted_ stanza (last but one or two), sent _afterwards_, was
that in the MS. too?

"As to 'honour,' I will trust no man's honour in affairs of barter.
I will tell you why: a state of bargain is Hobbes's 'state of
nature--a state of war.' It is so with all men. If I come to a
friend, and say, 'Friend, lend me five hundred pounds,'--he either
does it, or says that he can't or won't; but if I come to Ditto,
and say, 'Ditto, I have an excellent house, or horse, or carriage,
or MSS., or books, or pictures, or, &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. honestly
worth a thousand pounds, you shall have them for five hundred,'
what does Ditto say? why, he looks at them, he _hums_, he
_ha's_,--he _humbugs_, if he can, to get a bargain as cheaply as he
can, because _it is_ a bargain. This is in the blood and bone of
mankind; and the same man who would lend another a thousand pounds
without interest, would not buy a horse of him for half its value
if he could help it. It is so: there's no denying it; and therefore
I will have as much as I can, and you will give as little; and
there's an end. All men are intrinsical rascals, and I am only
sorry that, not being a dog, I can't bite them.

"I am filling another book for you with little anecdotes, to my own
knowledge, or well authenticated, of Sheridan, Curran, &c. and such
other public men as I recollect to have been acquainted with, for I
knew most of them more or less. I will do what I can to prevent
your losing by my obsequies.

"Yours," &c.

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