"That you and I may distinctly understand each other on a subject, which, like 'the dreadful reckoning when men smile no more,' makes conversation not very pleasant, I think it as well to _write_ a few lines on the topic.--Before I left town for Yorkshire, you said that you were ready and willing to give five hundred guineas for the copyright of 'The Giaour;' and my answer was--from which I do not mean to recede--that we would discuss the point at Christmas. The new story may or may not succeed; the probability, under present circumstances, seems to be, that it may at least pay its expenses--but even that remains to be proved, and till it is proved one way or another, we will say nothing about it. Thus then be it: I will postpone all arrangement about it, and The Giaour also, till Easter, 1814; and you shall then, according to your own notions of fairness, make your own offer for the two. At the same time, I do not rate the last in my own estimation at half The Giaour; and according to your own notions of its worth and its success within the time mentioned, be the addition or deduction to or from whatever sum may be your proposal for the first, which has already had its success. "The pictures of Phillips I consider as _mine_, all three; and the one (not the Arnaout) of the two best is much at _your service_, if you will accept it as a present. "P.S. The expense of engraving from the miniature send me in my account, as it was destroyed by my desire; and have the goodness to burn that detestable print from it immediately. "To make you some amends for eternally pestering you with alterations, I send you Cobbett to confirm your orthodoxy. "One more alteration of _a_ into _the_ in the MS.; it must be--'The _heart whose softness_,' &c. "Remember--and in the inscription, 'To the Right Honourable Lord Holland,' _without_ the previous names, Henry," &c. * * * * * TO MR. MURRAY. "November 20. 1813. "More work for the _Row_. I am doing my best to beat 'The Giaour'--_no_ difficult task for any one but the author." * * * * * TO MR. MURRAY. "November 22. 1813. "I have no time to _cross_-investigate, but I believe and hope all is right. I care less than you will believe about its success, but I can't survive a single _misprint_: it _chokes_ me to see words misused by the printers. Pray look over, in case of some eyesore escaping me. "P.S. Send the earliest copies to Mr. Frere, Mr. Canning, Mr. Heber, Mr. Gifford, Lord Holland, Lord Melbourne (Whitehall), Lady Caroline Lamb, (Brocket), Mr. Hodgson (Cambridge), Mr. Merivale, Mr. Ward, from the author." * * * * * TO MR. MURRAY. "November 23. 1813.