"Oct. 12. 1813.
"You must look The Giaour again over carefully; there are a few
lapses, particularly in the last page.--'I _know_ 'twas false; she
could not die;' it was, and ought to be--'I _knew_.' Pray observe
this and similar mistakes.
"I have received and read the British Review. I really think the
writer in most points very right. The only mortifying thing is the
accusation of imitation. _Crabbe_'s passage I never saw[76]; and
Scott I no further meant to follow than in his _lyric_ measure,
which is Gray's, Milton's, and any one's who likes it. The Giaour
is certainly a bad character, but not dangerous; and I think his
fate and his feelings will meet with few proselytes. I shall be
very glad to hear from or of you, when you please; but don't put
yourself out of your way on my account."
[Footnote 76: The passage referred to by the Reviewers is in the poem
entitled "Resentment;" and the following is, I take for granted, the
part which Lord Byron is accused by them of having imitated:--
"Those are like wax--apply them to the fire,
Melting, they take th' impressions you desire;
Easy to mould, and fashion as you please,
And again moulded with an equal ease:
Like smelted iron these the forms retain;
But, once impress'd, will never melt again."
]
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