Chapter XXVI: Probably May 1796

My Dear Sir,--Inclosed is a certificate which (although little different from the model) I suppose will amply answer the purpose, and I beg you will prosecute the miscreants[149] without mercy. When your publication is finished, I intend publishing a collection, on a cheap plan, of all the songs I have written for you, The Museum, and others--at least, all the songs of which I wish to be called the author. I do not propose this so much in the way of emolument as to do justice to my muse, lest I should be blamed for trash I never saw, or be defrauded by false claimants of what is justly my own. The post is going.--I will write you again to-morrow. Many thanks for the beautiful seal.

R. B.

[Footnote 149: For infringement of copyright.]

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