"Sept. 4. 1817.
"Your letter of the 15th has conveyed with its contents the
impression of a seal, to which the 'Saracen's Head' is a seraph,
and the 'Bull and Mouth' a delicate device. I knew that calumny had
sufficiently _blackened_ me of later days, but not that it had
given the features as well as complexion of a negro. Poor Augusta
is not less, but rather more, shocked than myself, and says 'people
seem to have lost their recollection strangely' when they engraved
such a 'blackamoor.' Pray don't seal (at least to me) with such a
caricature of the human numskull altogether; and if you don't break
the seal-cutter's head, at least crack his libel (or likeness, if
it should be a likeness) of mine.
"Mr. Kinnaird is not yet arrived, but expected. He has lost by the
way all the tooth-powder, as a letter from Spa informs me.
"By Mr. Rose I received safely, though tardily, magnesia and
tooth-powder, and * * * *. Why do you send me such trash--worse
than trash, the Sublime of Mediocrity? Thanks for Lalla, however,
which is good; and thanks for the Edinburgh and Quarterly, both
very amusing and well-written. Paris in 1815, &c.--good. Modern
Greece--good for nothing; written by some one who has never been
there, and not being able to manage the Spenser stanza, has
invented a thing of his own, consisting of two elegiac stanzas, an
heroic line, and an Alexandrine, twisted on a string. Besides, why
'_modern_?' You may say _modern Greeks_, but surely _Greece_ itself
is rather more ancient than ever it was. Now for business.
"You offer 1500 guineas for the new Canto: I won't take it. I ask
two thousand five hundred guineas for it, which you will either
give or not, as you think proper. It concludes the poem, and
consists of 144 stanzas. The notes are numerous, and chiefly
written by Mr. Hobhouse, whose researches have been indefatigable;
and who, I will venture to say, has more real knowledge of Rome and
its environs than any Englishman who has been there since Gibbon.
By the way, to prevent any mistakes, I think it necessary to state
the fact that _he_, Mr. Hobhouse, has no interest whatever in the
price or profit to be derived from the copyright of either poem or
notes directly or indirectly; so that you are not to suppose that
it is by, for, or through him, that I require more for this Canto
than the preceding.--No: but if Mr. Eustace was to have had two
thousand for a poem on Education; if Mr. Moore is to have three
thousand for Lalla, &c.; if Mr. Campbell is to have three thousand
for his prose on poetry--I don't mean to disparage these gentlemen
in their labours--but I ask the aforesaid price for mine. You will
tell me that their productions are considerably _longer_: very
true, and when they shorten them, I will lengthen mine, and ask
less. You shall submit the MS. to Mr. Gifford, and any other two
gentlemen to be named by you, (Mr. Frere, or Mr. Croker, or
whomever you please, except such fellows as your * *s and * *s,)
and if they pronounce this Canto to be inferior as a _whole_ to the
preceding, I will not appeal from their award, but burn the
manuscript, and leave things as they are.
"Yours very truly.
"P.S. In answer to a former letter, I sent you a short statement of
what I thought the state of our present copyright account, viz. six
hundred _pounds_ still (or lately) due on Childe Harold, and six
hundred _guineas_, Manfred and Tasso, making a total of twelve
hundred and thirty pounds. If we agree about the new poem, I shall
take the liberty to reserve the choice of the manner in which it
should be published, viz. a quarto, certes."
* * * * *