"That Tory of a printer has omitted two lines of the opening, and
_perhaps more_, which were in the MS. Will you, pray, give him a
hint of accuracy? I have reinserted the _two_, but they were in the
manuscript, I can swear."

* * * * *

LETTER 147. TO MR. MURRAY.

"November 17. 1813.

"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.