"Ravenna, February 2. 1821.
"Your letter of excuses has arrived. I receive the letter, but do
not admit the excuses, except in courtesy; as when a man treads on
your toes and begs your pardon, the pardon is granted, but the
joint aches, especially if there be a corn upon it. However, I
shall scold you presently.
"In the last speech of the Doge, there occurs (I think, from
memory) the phrase
"'And Thou who makest and unmakest suns:'
change this to
"'And Thou who kindlest and who quenchest suns;
that is to say, if the verse runs equally well, and Mr. Gifford
thinks the expression improved. Pray have the bounty to attend to
this. You are grown quite a minister of state. Mind if some of
these days you are not thrown out. * * will not be always a Tory,
though Johnson says the first Whig was the devil.
"You have learnt one secret from Mr. Galignani's (somewhat tardily
acknowledged) correspondence: this is, that an _English_ author may
dispose of his exclusive copyright in _France_--a fact of some
consequence (in _time of peace_), in the case of a popular writer.
Now I will tell you what _you_ shall do, and take no advantage of
you, though you were scurvy enough never to acknowledge my letter
for three months. Offer Galignani the refusal of the copyright in
France; if he refuses, appoint any bookseller in France you please,
and I will sign any assignment you please, and it shall never cost
you a _sou_ on _my_ account.
"Recollect that I will have nothing to do with it, except as far as
it may secure the copyright to yourself. I will have no bargain but
with the English booksellers, and I desire no interest out of that
country.
"Now, that's fair and open, and a little handsomer than your
_dodging_ silence, to see what would come of it. You are an
excellent fellow, mio caro Moray, but there is still a little
leaven of Fleet Street about you now and then--a crum of the old
loaf. You have no right to act suspiciously with me, for I have
given you no reason. I shall always be frank with you; as, for
instance, whenever you talk with the votaries of Apollo
arithmetically, it should be in guineas, not pounds--to poets, as
well as physicians, and bidders at auctions.
"I shall say no more at this present, save that I am,
"Yours, &c.
"P.S. If you venture, as you say, to Ravenna this year, I will
exercise the rites of hospitality while you live, and bury you
handsomely (though not in holy ground), if you get 'shot or slashed
in a creagh or splore,' which are rather frequent here of late
among the native parties. But perhaps your visit may be
anticipated; I may probably come to your country; in which case
write to her Ladyship the duplicate of the epistle the King of
France wrote to Prince John."
* * * * *