nd _pair_ their rhymes as Venus yokes her doves--

is printed

"And _praise_ their rhymes, &c.

Also '_precarious_' for '_precocious_;' and this line, stanza 133.

"_And this strong extreme effect to tire no longer._

Now do turn to the manuscript and see if I ever wrote such a
_line_: it is _not verse_.

"No wonder the poem should fail (which, however, it won't, you will
see) with such things allowed to creep about it. Replace what is
omitted, and correct what is so shamefully misprinted, and let the
poem have fair play; and I fear nothing.

"I see in the last two numbers of the Quarterly a strong itching to
assail me (see the review of 'The Etonian'); let it, and see if
they sha'n't have enough of it. I do not allude to Gifford, who has
always been my friend, and whom I do not consider as responsible
for the articles written by others.

"You will publish the plays when ready. I am in such a humour
about this printing of Don Juan so inaccurately, that I must close
this.

"Yours.

"P.S. I presume that you have _not_ lost the _stanza_ to which I
allude? It was sent afterwards: look over my letters and find it."

* * * * *

LETTER 448.[48] TO MR. MURRAY.

"The enclosed letter is written in bad humour, but not without
provocation. However, let it (that is, the bad humour) go for
little; but I must request your serious attention to the abuses of
the printer, which ought never to have been permitted. You forget
that all the fools in London (the chief purchasers of your
publications) will condemn in me the stupidity of your printer. For
instance, in the notes to Canto fifth, 'the _Adriatic_ shore of the
Bosphorus' instead of the _Asiatic!!_ All this may seem little to
you, so fine a gentleman with your ministerial connections, but it
is serious to me, who am thousands of miles off, and have no
opportunity of not proving myself the fool your printer makes me,
except your pleasure and leisure, forsooth.

"The gods prosper you, and forgive you, for I can't."

[Footnote 48: Written in the envelope of the preceding Letter.]

* * * * *

LETTER 449. TO MR. MOORE.

"Ravenna, September 3. 1821.

"By Mr. Mawman (a paymaster in the corps, in which you and I are
pri