I had projected an additional canto when I was in the
Troad and Constantinople, and if I saw them again, it would go on; but
under existing circumstances and 'sensations', I have neither harp,
"heart, nor voice" to proceed, I feel that 'you are all right' as to the
metaphysical part; but I also feel that I am sincere, and that if I am
only to write "ad captandum vulgus," I might as well edit a magazine at
once, or spin canzonettas for Vauxhall. [2]
My work must make its way as well as it can; I know I have every thing
against me, angry poets and prejudices; but if the poem is a 'poem', it
will surmount these obstacles, and if 'not', it deserves its fate. Your
friend's Ode [3] I have read--it is no great compliment to pronounce it
far superior to Smythe's on the same subject, or to the merits of the
new Chancellor. It is evidently the production of a man of taste, and a
poet, though I should not be willing to say it was fully equal to what
might be expected from the author of "'Horae Ionicae'." [4] I thank you
for it, and that is more than I would do for any other Ode of the
present day.
I am very sensible of your good wishes, and, indeed, I have need of
them. My whole life has been at variance with propriety, not to say
decency; my circumstances are become involved; my friends are dead or
estranged, and my existence a dreary void. In Matthews I have lost my
"guide, philosopher, and friend;" in Wingfield a friend only, but one
whom I could have wished to have preceded in his long journey.
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