15. 1814.

"Before any proof goes to Mr. Gifford, it may be as well to revise
this, where there are _words omitted_, faults committed, and the
devil knows what. As to the dedication, I cut out the parenthesis
of _Mr._[9], but not another word shall move unless for a better.
Mr. Moore has seen, and decidedly preferred the part your Tory bile
sickens at. If every syllable were a rattle-snake, or every letter
a pestilence, they should not be expunged. Let those who cannot
swallow chew the expressions on Ireland; or should even Mr. Croker
array himself in all his terrors them, I care for none of you,
except Gifford; and he won't abuse me, except I deserve it--which
will at least reconcile me to his justice. As to the poems in
Hobhouse's volume, the translation from the Romaic is well enough;
but the best of the other volume (of _mine_, I mean) have been
already printed. But do as you please--only, as I shall be absent
when you come out, _do_, _pray_, let Mr. _Dallas_ and _you_ have a
care of the _press_. Yours," &c.

[Footnote 9: He had at first, after the words "Scott alone," inserted,
in a parenthesis,--"He will excuse the _Mr._----'we do not say _Mr._
Caesar.'"]

* * * * *

TO MR. MURRAY.

["1814. January 16.]

"I do believe that the devil never created or perverted such a
fiend as the fool of a printer.[10] I am obliged to enclose you,
_luckily_ for me, this _second_ proof, _corrected_, because there
is an ingenuity in his blunders peculiar to himself. Let the press
be guided by the present sheet. Yours, &c.

"_Burn the other_.

"Correct _this also_ by the other in some things which I may have
forgotten. There is one mistake he made, which, if it had stood, I
would most certainly have broken his neck."

[Footnote 10: The amusing rages into which he was thrown by the printer
were vented not only in these notes, but frequently on the proof-sheets
themselves. Thus, a passage in the dedication having been printed "the
first of her bands in estimation," he writes in the margin, "bards, not
bands--was there ever such a stupid misprint?" and, in correcting a line
that had been curtailed of its due number of syllables, he says, "Do
_not_ omit words--it is quite enough to alter or mis-spell them."]

* * * * *

LETTER 158. TO