BENJ. DISRAELI.
At length Mr. Milman's letter arrived, expressing his judgment on the work, which was much more satisfactory than that of Mr. Lockhart.
The Rev. H.H. Milman to John Murray.
READING, March 5, 1832.
MY DEAR SIR,
I have been utterly inefficient for the last week, in a state of almost complete blindness; but am now, I trust, nearly restored. Mrs. Milman, however, has read to me the whole of the MS. It is a very remarkable production—very wild, very extravagant, very German, very powerful, very poetical. It will, I think, be much read—as far as one dare predict anything of the capricious taste of the day—much admired, and much abused. It is much more in the Macaulay than in the Croker line, and the former is evidently in the ascendant. Some passages will startle the rigidly orthodox; the phrenologists will be in rapture. I tell you all this, that you may judge for yourself. One thing insist upon, if you publish it-that the title be changed. The whole beauty, of the latter part especially, is its truth. It is a rapid volume of travels, a "Childe Harold" in prose; therefore do not let it be called "a Romance" on any account. Let those who will, believe it to be a real history, and those who are not taken in, dispute whether it is truth or fiction. If it makes any sensation, this will add to its notoriety. "A Psychological Auto-Biography" would be too sesquipedalian a title; but "My Life Psychologically Related," or "The Psychology of my Life," or some such title, might be substituted.
H.H. MILMAN.
Before Mr. Milman's communication had been received, another pressing letter arrived from Mr. Disraeli.
Mr. Disraeli to John Murray.