--To John Murray.
Monday evening, Dec. 6, 1813.
Dear Sir,--It is all very well, except that the lines are not numbered
properly, and a diabolical mistake, page 67., which _must_ be corrected
with the _pen_, if no other way remains; it is the omission of "_not_"
before "_disagreeable_" in the _note_ on the _amber_ rosary. This is
really horrible, and nearly as bad as the stumble of mine at the
Threshold--I mean the _misnomer_ of bride. Pray do not let a copy go
without the "_not_;" it is nonsense, and worse than nonsense, as it now
stands. I wish the printer was saddled with a vampire.
Yours ever, B.
P.S.--It is still _hath_ instead of _have_ in page 20.; never was any
one so _misused_ as I am by your Devils of printers.
P.S.--I hope and trust the "_not_" was inserted in the first Edition. We
must have something--any thing--to set it right. It is enough to answer
for one's own bulls, without other people's.
* * * * *
373.--To Thomas Moore.
December 8, 1813.
Your letter, like all the best, and even kindest things in this world,
is both painful and pleasing. But, first, to what sits nearest. Do you
know I was actually about to dedicate to you,--not in a formal
inscription, as to one's _elders_,--but through a short prefatory
letter, in which I boasted myself your intimate, and held forth the
prospect of _your_ poem; when, lo! the recollection of your strict
injunctions of secrecy as to the said poem, more than _once_ repeated by
word and letter, flashed upon me, and marred my intents.
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