"January 8. 1814.
"As it would not be fair to press you into a dedication, without
previous notice, I send you _two_, and I will tell you _why two_.
The first, Mr. M., who sometimes takes upon him the critic (and I
bear it from _astonishment_), says, may do you _harm_--God
forbid!--this alone makes me listen to him. The fact is, he is a
damned Tory, and has, I dare swear, something of _self_, which I
cannot divine, at the bottom of his objection, as it is the
allusion to Ireland to which he objects. But he be d----d--though a
good fellow enough (your sinner would not be worth a d----n).
"Take your choice;--no one, save he and Mr. Dallas, has seen
either, and D. is quite on my side, and for the first.[8] If I can
but testify to you and the world how truly I admire and esteem you,
I shall be quite satisfied. As to prose, I don't know Addison's
from Johnson's; but I will try to mend my cacology. Pray perpend,
pronounce, and don't be offended with either.
"My last epistle would probably put you in a fidget. But the devil,
who _ought_ to be civil on such occasions, proved so, and took my
letter to the right place.
"Is it not odd?--the very fate I said she had escaped from * *, she
has now undergone from the worthy * *. Like Mr. Fitzgerald, shall I
not lay claim to the character of 'Vates?'--as he did in the
Morning Herald for prophesying the fall of Buonaparte,--who, by
the by, I don't think is yet fallen. I wish he would rally and
route your legitimate sovereigns, having a mortal hate to all royal
entails.--But I am scrawling a treatise. Good night. Ever," &c.
[Footnote 8: The first was, of course, the one that I preferred. The
other ran as follows:--
"January 7. 1814.
"My dear Moore,
"I had written to you a long letter of dedication, which I
suppress, because, though it contained something relating to you
which every one had been glad to hear, yet there was too much about
politics, and poesy, and all things whatsoever, ending with that
topic on which most men are fluent, and none very amusing--_one's
self_. It might have been re-written--but to what purpose? My
praise could add nothing to your well-earned and firmly-established
fame; and with my most hearty admiration of your talents, and
delight in your conversation, you are already acquainted. In
availing myself of your friendly permission to inscribe this poem
to you, I can only wish the offering were as worthy your acceptance
as your regard is dear to,
"Yours, most affectionately and faithfully,
"BYRON."
]
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