356—to John Murray
November 23, 1813.
Dear Sir
,—You wanted some
reflections
, and I send you
per Selim
(see his speech in Canto 2d, page 46.), eighteen lines in decent couplets, of a pensive, if not an
ethical
tendency. One more revise—poz. the
last
, if decently done—at any rate the
pen
ultimate. Mr.
approbation (
if
he did approve) I need not say makes me proud
.
As to printing, print as you will and how you will—by itself, if you like; but let me have a few copies in
sheets
.
Ever yours,
B.
Canning wrote the following note to Murray:
"I received the books, and, among them, The Bride of Abydos. It is very, very beautiful. Lord Byron (when I met him, one day, at dinner at Mr. Ward's) was so kind as to promise to give me a copy of it. I mention this, not to save my purchase, but because I should be really flattered by the present. I can now say that I have read enough of Mad. de Staël to be highly pleased and instructed by her. The second volume delights me particularly. I have not yet finished the third, but am taking it with me on my journey to Liverpool."