"Pisa, February 8. 1822.
"Attacks upon me were to be expected, but I perceive one upon _you_
in the papers, which I confess that I did not expect. How, or in
what manner, _you_ can be considered responsible for what _I_
publish, I am at a loss to conceive.
"If 'Cain' be 'blasphemous,' Paradise Lost is blasphemous; and the
very words of the Oxford gentleman, 'Evil, be thou my good,' are
from that very poem, from the mouth of Satan, and is there any
thing more in that of Lucifer in the Mystery? Cain is nothing more
than a drama, not a piece of argument. If Lucifer and Cain speak as
the first murderer and the first rebel may be supposed to speak,
surely all the rest of the personages talk also according to their
characters--and the stronger passions have ever been permitted to
the drama.
"I have even avoided introducing the Deity as in Scripture, (though
Milton does, and not very wisely either,) but have adopted his
angel as sent to Cain instead, on purpose to avoid shocking any
feelings on the subject by falling short of what all uninspired men
must fall short in, viz. giving an adequate notion of the effect of
the presence of Jehovah. The old Mysteries introduced him liberally
enough, and all this is avoided in the new one.
"The attempt to _bully you_, because they think it won't succeed
with me, seems to me as atrocious an attempt as ever disgraced the
times. What! when Gibbon's, Hume's, Priestley's, and Drummond's
publishers have been allowed to rest in peace for seventy years,
are you to be singled out for a work of _fiction_, not of history
or argument? There must be something at the bottom of this--some
private enemy of your own: it is otherwise incredible.
"I can only say, 'Me, me; en adsum qui feci;'--that any proceedings
directed against you, I beg, may be transferred to me, who am
willing, and _ought_, to endure them all;--that if you have lost
money by the publication, I will refund any or all of the
copyright;--that I desire you will say that both _you_ and _Mr.
Gifford_ remonstrated against the publication, as also Mr.
Hobhouse;--that _I_ alone occasioned it, and I alone am the person
who, either legally or otherwise, should bear the burden. If they
prosecute, I will come to England--that is, if, by meeting it in my
own person, I can save yours. Let me know. You sha'n't suffer for
me, if I can help it. Make any use of this letter you please.
"Yours ever, &c.
"P.S. I write to you about all this row of bad passions and
absurdities with the _summer_ moon (for here our winter is clearer
than your dog-days) lighting the winding Arno, with all her
buildings and bridges,--so quiet and still!--What nothings are we
before the least of these stars!"
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