_Cambridge, February_ 11, 1751. As you have brought me into a little
sort of distress, you must assist me, I believe, to get out of it as
well as I can. Yesterday I had the misfortune of receiving a letter from
certain gentlemen who have taken the "Magazine of Magazines" into their
hands. They tell me that an "ingenious" poem, called "Reflections in a
Country Church-* yard," has been communicated to them, which they are
printing forthwith; that they are informed that the "excellent" author
of it is I by name, and that they beg not only his "indulgence," but the
"honour" of his correspondence, etc.
As I am not at all disposed to be either so indulgent or so
correspondent as they desire, I have but one bad way left to escape the
honour they would inflict upon me; and therefore am obliged to desire
you would make Dodsley print it immediately (which may be done in less
than a week's time) from your copy, but without my name, in what form is
most convenient for him, but on his best paper and character. He must
correct the press himself, and print it without any interval between the
stanzas, because the sense is in some places continued beyond them; and
the title must be, "Elegy, written in a Country Churchyard." If he would
add a line or two to say it came into his hands by accident, I should
like it better.