By the mail I have sent two letters, two parcels, and two Reviews. Mr. Ridgway assures me that it is impossible to complete a copy of the new edition of ‘Adair on Diet’ before to-morrow or the day following.
The tardy engraver promises the portrait in ten days, and I shall do myself the pleasure of sending a copy, for your Lordship’s remarks, before it is prefixed to the poem, the demand for which proceeds with undiminished vigour. I have now sold, within a few copies, 4500 in less than six months, a sale so unprecedented, except in one instance, that you should cease to reproach the public and the publisher for “tardy editions.” You will readily believe that I am delighted to find you thinking of a new poem, for which I should be proud to give a thousand guineas, and I should ever gratefully remember the fame it would cast over my new establishment, upon which I enter at the close of the present month.
Since I had the pleasure of seeing you I have had occasion to visit Lucien Bonaparte, to make arrangements for his poem, which, with the translation, will form two volumes in quarto, and which I am to publish immediately if his brother will permit its circulation on the Continent. Lucien is commanding and interesting in his person and address.
Walter Scott has, I am informed by his
intimate friend Mr. Heber, retained very
closely the subject of his new poem, which is, perhaps,
not impolitic. The name of
| 216 | MEMOIRS OF JOHN MURRAY |
Indeed, my Lord, I hope that you will cut the tugging strings of care, and allow your mind to soar into its congenial element of poesy.
“From a delirious earth avert thine eyes And dry thy fruitless tears, and seek fictitious skies.” |
