1813.]

DEFERENCE TO GIFFORD.

279

enough, more than enough, if you read; you are not to be bored with the fatigue of answers.

A word to Mr. Murray will be sufficient, and send it either to the flames or

"A hundred hawkers' load,

On wings of wind to fly or fall abroad."

It deserves no better than the first, as the work of a week, and scribbled stans pede in uno1 (by the by, the only foot I have to stand on); and I promise never to trouble you again under forty cantos, and a voyage between each. Believe me ever,

Your obliged and affectionate servant,

BYRON.

347.-To John Murray.

Nov. 12, 1813.

Two friends of mine (Mr. Rogers and Mr. Sharpe) have advised me not to risk at present any single publication separately, for various reasons. As they have not seen the one in question, they can have no bias for or against the merits (if it has any) or the faults of the present subject of our conversation. You say all the last of The Giaour2 are gone—at least out of your hands. Now,

1. Horace, Sat. I. iv. 10.

2. In Accepted Addresses; or, Præmium Poetarum, pp. 50-52 (1813), Address xvii. is from "Lord B- -n to J. M-y, Book"seller." The address itself runs as follows:

"A Turkish tale I shall unfold,

A sweeter tale was never told;
But then the facts, I must allow,

Are in the east not common now;
Tho' in the olden time,' the scene

My Goaour (sic) describes had often been.
What is the cause? Perhaps the fair
Are now more cautious than they were;

if you think of publishing any new edition with the last additions which have not yet been before the reader (I mean distinct from the two-volume publication), we can add "The Bride of Abydos," which will thus steal quietly into the world:1 if liked, we can then throw off some copies for the purchasers of former "Giaours;" and, if

Perhaps the Christians not so bold,
So enterprising as of old.

No matter what the cause may be,
It is a subject fit for me.

"Take my disjointed fragments then,
The offspring of a willing pen.
And give them to the public, pray,
On or before the month of May.
Yes, my disjointed fragments take,
But do not ask how much they'll make.
Perhaps not fifty pages-well,
I in a little space can tell
Th' adventures of an infidel;
Of quantity I never boast,
For quality's approved of most.

"It is a handsome sum to touch,
Induces authors to write much;
But in this much, alas! my friend,
How little is there to commend.
So, Mr. M- -y, I disdain,
To sacrifice my muse for gain.
I wish it to be understood,
The little which I write is good.

"I do not like the quarto size,
Th' octavo, therefore, I advise.
Then do not, Mr. M- y, fail,
To publish this, my Turkish Tale;
For tho' the volume may be thin,
A thousand readers it will win;
And when my pages they explore,

They'll gladly read them o'er and o'er ;
And all the ladies, I engage,

With tears will moisten every page."

1. John Murray writes, in an undated letter to Byron, "Mr. "Canning returned the poem to-day with very warm expressions of "delight. I told him your delicacy as to separate publication, of "which he said you should remove every apprehension."

1813.]

CORRECTIONS FOR THE BRIDE.

281

not, I can omit it in any future publication. What think you? I really am no judge of those things; and, with all my natural partiality for one's own productions, I would rather follow any one's judgment than my own.

P.S.-Pray let me have the proofs. I sent all to-night. I have some alterations that I have thought of that I wish to make speedily. I hope the proof will be on separate pages, and not all huddled together on a mile-long, balladsinging sheet, as those of The Giaour sometimes are: for then I can't read them distinctly.

348.-To John Murray.

Nov. 13, 1813.

Will you forward the letter to Mr. Gifford with the proof? There is an alteration I may make in Zuleika's speech, in second canto (the only one of hers in that canto). It is now thus―

And curse-if I could curse-the day.

It must be

And mourn-I dare not curse-the day,
That saw my solitary birth, etc., etc.

Ever yours,

B.

In the last MS. lines sent, instead of "living heart," correct to "quivering heart." It is in line 9th of the

MS. passage.

Ever yours again,

B.

349-To John Murray.

Alteration of a line in Canto 2nd.

Instead of

Print

And tints to-morrow with a fancied ray

And tints to-morrow with prophetic ray.

The evening beam that smiles the clouds away,
And tints to-morrow with prophetic ray;

Or,

And

Sgilds
tints

the hope of Morning with its ray;

Or,

And gilds to-morrow's hope with heavenly ray.

DEAR SIR,-I wish you would ask Mr. G. which of them is best, or rather not worst.

Ever yours,

B.

You can send the request contained in this at the same time with the revise, after I have seen the said revise.

350.-To John Murray.

Nov. 13, 1813.

Certainly. Do you suppose that no one but the Galileans are acquainted with Adam, and Eve, and Cain,1 and Noah ?-Surely, I might have had Solomon, and

I. "Some doubt had been expressed by Murray as to the "propriety of his putting the name of Cain into the mouth of a Mussulman" (Moore).

1813.]

A STICKLER FOR COSTUME.

283

Abraham, and David, and even Moses, or the other. When you know that Zuleika is the Persian poetical name for Potiphar's wife, on whom and Joseph there is a long poem in the Persian, this will not surprise you. If you want authority look at Jones, D'Herbelot, Vathek, or the notes to the Arabian Nights; and, if you think it necessary, model this into a note.

Alter, in the inscription, "the most affectionate "respect," to "with every sentiment of regard and "respect."

351.-To John Murray.

Nov. 14, 1813.

I send you a note for the ignorant, but I really wonder at finding you among them. I don't care one lump of Sugar for my poetry; but for my costume, and my correctness on those points (of which I think the funeral was a proof), I will combat lustily.

Yours ever,

B.

352.-To John Murray.

November 15, 1813.

DEAR SIR, Mr. Hodgson has looked over and stopped, or rather pointed, this revise, which must be the one to print from. He has also made some suggestions, with most of which I have complied, as he has always, for these ten years, been a very sincere, and by no means (at times) flattering critic of mine. He likes it (you will think flatteringly, in this instance) better than The Giaour, but doubts (and so do I) its being so popular; but, contrary to some others, advises a separate publication. On this we can easily decide. I confess I like the double form