and such unabated certainty of immortality. The first two details to be
attended to were the printing of what were modestly termed
_Proposals_--i.e., advertisements of the projected volume, calling for
pledges of subscription--and, still more important, securing the
permission of some prominent person to accept a dedication of the book.
The jolly old days of literary patronage were then in the sere and
saffron, but it was still esteemed an aid to the sale of a volume if it
might be dedicated to some marquis of Carabas. Accordingly the
manuscript was despatched to London, and Neville, the philistine
brother, was called upon to leave it at the residence of the Duchess of
Devonshire. A very humble letter from honest Henry accompanied it,
begging leave of her Grace to dedicate his "trifling effusions" to her.

Henry's letters to Neville while his book was in preparation are very
entertaining, as those of minor poets always are under such
circumstances. Henry was convinced that at least 350 copies would be
sold in Nottingham. He writes in exultation that he has already got
twenty-three orders even before his "proposals" are ready:

"I have got twenty-three, without making the affair public at all, among
my immediate acquaintance: and mind, I neither solicit nor draw the
conversation to the subject, but a rumour has got abroad, and has been
received more favourably than I expected."

But the matter of the dedication unfortunately lagged far behind the
poet's hopes. After the manuscript was left at the house of her Grace of
Devonshire there followed what the Ancient Mariner so feelingly calls a
weary time. Poor Henry in Nottingham hung upon the postman's heels, but
no word arrived from the duchess. She was known to be assaulted from all
sides by such applications: indeed her mail seems to have been very