"Maidenhead, June 13. 1813.
"* * * I have read the 'Strictures,' which are just enough, and not
grossly abusive, in very fair couplets. There is a note against
Massinger near the end, and one cannot quarrel with one's company,
at any rate. The author detects some incongruous figures in a
passage of English Bards, page 23., but which edition I do not
know. In the _sole_ copy in your possession--I mean the _fifth_
edition--you may make these alterations, that I may profit (though
a little too late) by his remarks:--For '_hellish_ instinct,'
substitute '_brutal_ instinct;' '_harpies_' alter to '_felons_;'
and for 'blood-hounds' write 'hell-hounds.'[72] These be 'very
bitter words, by my troth,' and the alterations not much sweeter;
but as I shall not publish the thing, they can do no harm, but are
a satisfaction to me in the way of amendment. The passage is only
twelve lines.
"You do not answer me about H.'s book; I want to write to him, and
not to say any thing unpleasing. If you direct to Post Office,
Portsmouth, till _called_ for, I will send and receive your letter.
You never told me of the forthcoming critique on Columbus, which is
not _too_ fair; and I do not think justice quite done to the
'Pleasures,' which surely entitle the author to a higher rank than
that assigned him in the Quarterly. But I must not cavil at the
decisions of the _invisible infallibles_; and the article is very
well written. The general horror of '_fragments_' makes me
tremulous for 'The Giaour;' but you would publish it--I presume, by
this time, to your repentance. But as I consented, whatever be its
fate, I won't now quarrel with you, even though I detect it in my
pastry; but I shall not open a pie without apprehension for some
weeks.
"The books which may be marked G.O. I will carry out. Do you know
Clarke's Naufragia? I am told that he asserts the _first_ volume of
Robinson Crusoe was written by the first Lord Oxford, when in the
Tower, and given by him to Defoe; if true, it is a curious
anecdote. Have you got back Lord Brooke's MS.? and what does Heber
say of it? Write to me at Portsmouth. Ever yours, &c.
"N."
[Footnote 72: In an article on this Satire (written for Cumberland's
Review, but never printed) by that most amiable man and excellent poet,
the late Rev. William Crowe, the incongruity of these metaphors is thus
noticed:--"Within the space of three or four couplets, he transforms a
man into as many different animals. Allow him but the compass of three
lines, and he will metamorphose him from a wolf into a harpy, and in
three more he will make him a blood-hound."
There are also in this MS. critique some curious instances of oversight
or ignorance adduced from the Satire; such as "_Fish_ from
_Helicon_"--"_Attic_ flowers _Aonian_ odours breathe," &c. &c.]
* * * * *