"Venice, July 20. 1817.
"I write to give you notice that I have completed the _fourth_ and
_ultimate_ Canto of Childe Harold. It consists of 126 stanzas, and
is consequently the longest of the four. It is yet to be copied and
polished; and the notes are to come, of which it will require more
than the _third_ Canto, as it necessarily treats more of works of
art than of nature. It shall be sent towards autumn;--and now for
our barter. What do you bid? eh? you shall have samples, an' it so
please you: but I wish to know what I am to expect (as the saying
is) in these hard times, when poetry does not let for half its
value. If you are disposed to do what Mrs. Winifred Jenkins calls
'the handsome thing,' I may perhaps throw you some odd matters to
the lot,--translations, or slight originals; there is no saying
what may be on the anvil between this and the booking season.
Recollect that it is the _last_ Canto, and completes the work;
whether as good as the others, I cannot judge, in course--least of
all as yet,--but it shall be as little worse as I can help. I may,
perhaps, give some little gossip in the notes as to the present
state of Italian literati and literature, being acquainted with
some of their _capi_--men as well as books;--but this depends upon
my humour at the time. So, now, pronounce: I say nothing.
"When you have got the whole _four_ Cantos, I think you might
venture on an edition of the whole poem in quarto, with spare
copies of the two last for the purchasers of the old edition of the
first two. There is a hint for you, worthy of the Row; and now,
perpend--pronounce.
"I have not received a word from you of the fate of 'Manfred' or
'Tasso,' which seems to me odd, whether they have failed or
succeeded.
"As this is a scrawl of business, and I have lately written at
length and often on other subjects, I will only add that I am,"
&c.
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