Gifford himself nor to any one else? Ever yours,

"N."

* * * * *

LETTER 122. TO W. GIFFORD, ESQ.

"June 18. 1813.

"My dear Sir,

"I feel greatly at a loss how to write to you at all--still more to
thank you as I ought. If you knew the veneration with which I have
ever regarded you, long before I had the most distant prospect of
becoming your acquaintance, literary or personal, my embarrassment
would not surprise you.

"Any suggestion of yours, even were it conveyed in the less tender
shape of the text of the Baviad, or a Monk Mason note in Massinger,
would have been obeyed; I should have endeavoured to improve myself
by your censure: judge then if I should be less willing to profit
by your kindness. It is not for me to bandy compliments with my
elders and my betters: I receive your approbation with gratitude,
and will not return my brass for your gold by expressing more fully
those sentiments of admiration, which, however sincere, would, I
know, be unwelcome.

"To your advice on religious topics, I shall equally attend.
Perhaps the best way will be by avoiding them altogether. The