“The enclosed letter from Murray hath melted me; though I think it is against his own interest to wish that I should continue his connexion. You may, therefore, send him the packet of ‘Werner,’ which will save you all further trouble. And pray, can you forgive me for the bore and expense I have already put upon you? At least, say so—for I feel ashamed of having given you so much for such nonsense.
“The fact is, I cannot keep my resentments, though violent enough in their onset. Besides, now that all the world are at Murray on my account, I neither can nor ought to leave him; unless, as I really thought, it were better for him that I should.
“I have had no other news from England, except a letter from Barry Cornwall, the bard, and my old schoolfellow. Though I have sickened you with letters lately, believe me
“P.S. In your last letter you say, speaking of Shelley, that you would almost prefer the ‘damning bigot’ to the ‘annihilating infidel*.’ Shelley believes in immortality, however—but this by the way. Do you remember Frederick the Great’s answer to the remonstrance of the villagers whose curate preached against the eternity of hell’s torments? It was thus:—‘If my faithful subjects of Schrausenhaussen prefer being eternally damned, let them!’
“Of the two, I should think the long sleep better than the agonized vigil. But men, miserable as they are, cling so to any thing like life, that they probably would prefer damnation to quiet. Besides, they think themselves so important in the creation, that nothing less can satisfy their pride—the insects!”
