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* * * * *
328.--To Thomas Moore.
September 8, 1813.
I am sorry to see Toderini again so soon, for fear your scrupulous
conscience should have prevented you from fully availing yourself of his
spoils. By this coach I send you a copy of that awful pamphlet _The
Giaour_, which has never procured me half so high a compliment as your
modest alarm. You will (if inclined in an evening) perceive that I have
added much in quantity,--a circumstance which may truly diminish your
modesty upon the subject.
You stand certainly in great need of a "lift" with Mackintosh. My dear
Moore, you strangely under-rate yourself. I should conceive it an
affectation in any other; but I think I know you well enough to believe
that you don't know your own value. However, 'tis a fault that generally
mends; and, in your case, it really ought. I have heard him speak of you
as highly as your wife could wish; and enough to give all your friends
the jaundice.
Yesterday I had a letter from _Ali Pacha!_ brought by Dr. Holland, who
is just returned from Albania [1]. It is in Latin, and begins
"Excellentissime _nec non_ Carissime," and ends about a gun he wants
made for him;--it is signed "Ali Vizir." What do you think he has been
about? H. tells me that, last spring, he took a hostile town, where,
forty-two years ago, his mother and sisters were treated as Miss
Cunigunde [2] was by the Bulgarian cavalry. He takes the town, selects
all the survivors of this exploit--children, grandchildren, etc.
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