I am told that your Lordship continues to make heavy
complaints of the inconvenience you incur by making me the publisher of
‘Lord Dudley’s
Letters,’ in consequence of the great distance between St.
Paul’s Churchyard and Albemarle Street, and that you have discovered
another
| A DISCONTENTED AUTHOR. | 443 |
My Lord, when I had the honour to publish for Sir Walter Scott and Lord Byron, the one resided in Edinburgh, the other in Venice; and, with regard to the supposed advantages of a publisher, they were only such as custom has established, and experience proved to be no more than equivalent to his peculiar trouble and the inordinate risque which he incurs.
My long acquaintance with Lord Dudley, and the kindness and friendship with which he honoured me to the last, made me, in addition to my admiration of his talents, desire, and, indeed, expect to become the publisher of his posthumous works, being convinced that he would have had no other. After what has passed on your Lordship’s side, however, I feel that it would be inconsistent with my own character to embarrass you any longer, and I therefore release your Lordship at once from any promise or supposed understanding whatever regarding this publication, and remain, my Lord,
