"]
* * * * *
361.--To John Murray.
November 29, 1813.
"_You have looked at it!_" to much purpose, to allow so stupid a blunder
to stand; it is _not_ "_courage_" but "_carnage_;" and if you don't want
me to cut my own throat, see it altered.
I am very sorry to hear of the fall of Dresden.
* * * * *
362.--To John Murray.
Nov. 29, 1813, Monday.
Dear Sir,--You will act as you please upon that point; but whether I go
or stay, I shall not say another word on the subject till May--nor then,
unless quite convenient to yourself. I have many things I wish to leave
to your care, principally papers. The _vases_ need not be now sent, as
Mr. W. is gone to Scotland. You are right about the Er[rata] page; place
it at the beginning. Mr. Perry is a little premature in his compliments
[1]: these may do harm by exciting expectation, and I think _we_ ought
to be above it--though I see the next paragraph is on the 'Journal' [2],
which makes me suspect _you_ as the author of both.
Would it not have been as well to have said in 2 cantos in the
advertisement? they will else think of _fragments_, a species of
composition very well for _once_, like _one ruin_ in a _view_; but one
would not build a town of them. 'The Bride', such as it is, is my first
_entire_ composition of any length (except the Satire, and be damned to
it), for 'The Giaour' is but a string of passages, and 'Childe Harold'
is, and I rather think always will be, unconcluded.
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