" ('Life of George Ticknor', vol. i. P. 57).]
* * * * *
309.--To John Murray.
July 1st, 1813.
DEAR SIR,--There is an error in my dedication. [1] The word "_my_" must
be struck out--"my" admiration, etc.; it is a false construction and
disagrees with the signature. I hope this will arrive in time to prevent
a _cancel_ and serve for a proof; recollect it is only the "my" to be
erased throughout.
There is a critique in the 'Satirist', [2] which I have read,--fairly
written, and, though _vituperative_, very fair in judgment. One part
belongs to you, _viz_., the 4_s_. and 6_d_ charge; it is unconscionable,
but you have no conscience.
Yours truly,
B.
[Footnote 1: The dedication was originally printed thus:
"To Samuel Rogers, Esq., as a slight but most sincere token of my
admiration of his genius."]
[Footnote 2: 'The Satirist' for July 1, 1813 (pp. 70-88), reviews the
'Giaour' at length. It condemns it for its fragmentary character and
consequent obscurity, its carelessness and defects of style; but it also
admits that the poem "abounds with proofs of genius:"
"A word in conclusion. The noble lord appears to have an
aristocratical solicitude to be read only by the opulent. Four
shillings and sixpence for forty-one octavo pages of poetry! and those
pages verily happily answering to Mr. Sheridan's image of a rivulet of
text flowing through a meadow of margin.
Pages:
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324