Will you, pray, give him a hint of
accuracy? I have reinserted the 2, but they were in the manuscript, I
can swear.
* * * * *
353.--To John Murray.
November 17, 1813.
My Dear Sir,--That you and I may distinctly understand each other on a
subject, which, like "the dreadful reckoning when men smile no more,"
[1] makes conversation not very pleasant, I think it as well to _write_
a few lines on the topic.--Before I left town for Yorkshire, you said
that you were ready and willing to give five hundred guineas for the
copyright of 'The Giaour'; and my answer was--from which I do not mean
to recede--that we would discuss the point at Christmas. The new story
may or may not succeed; the probability, under present circumstances,
seems to be, that it may at least pay its expences--but even that
remains to be proved, and till it is proved one way or the other, we
will say nothing about it. Thus then be it: I will postpone all
arrangement about it, and 'The Giaour' also, till Easter, 1814; and you
shall then, according to your own notions of fairness, make your own
offer for the two. At the same time, I do not rate the last in my own
estimation at half 'The Giaour'; and according to your own notions of
its worth and its success within the time mentioned, be the addition or
deduction to or from whatever sum may be your proposal for the first,
which has already had its success [2].
My account with you since my last payment (which I believe cleared it
off within five pounds) I presume has not _much_ increased--but whatever
it is have the goodness to send it to me--that I may at least meet you
on even terms.
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