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ED; E749| 45
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[To William Hayley]
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[28 May 1804]
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Dear Sir,
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I thank you heartily for your kind offer of reading, &c. I
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have read the book thro' attentively and was much entertain'd and
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instructed, but have not yet come to the Life of Washington.
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I suppose an American would tell me that
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Washington did all that was done before he was born, as the
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French now
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adore Buonaparte and the English our poor George; so the
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Americans will consider Washington as their god. This is only
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Grecian, or rather Trojan, worship, and perhaps will be revised
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[reversed?] in an age or two. In the meantime I have the
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happiness of seeing the Divine countenance in such men as Cowper
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and Milton more distinctly than in any prince or hero. Mr.
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Phillips has sent a small poem; he would not tell the author's
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name, but desired me to inclose it for you with Washington's
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Life.
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Mr. Carr called on me, and I, as you desired, gave him a
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history of the reviewing business as far as I am acquainted with
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it. He desires me to express to you that he would heartily
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devote himself to the business in all its laborious parts, if you
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would take on you the direction; and he thinks it might be done
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with very little trouble to you. He is now going to Russia;
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hopes that the negotiations for this business is not wholly at an
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end, but that on his return he may still perform his best, as
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your assistant in it. I have delivered the letter to
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Mr. Edwards, who will give it immediately to Lady Hamilton.
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Mr. Walker I have again seen; he promises to collect numerous
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particulars concerning Romney and send them to you; wonders he
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has not had a line from you; desires me to assure you of his wish
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to give every information in his power. Says that I shall have
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Lear and Cordelia to copy if you desire it should be
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done; supposes that Romney was about eighteen when he painted it;
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it is therefore doubly interesting. Mr. Walker is truly an
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amiable man; spoke of Mr. Green as the oldest friend of Romney,
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who knew most concerning him of any one; lamented the little
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difference that subsisted between you, speaking of you both with
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great affection. Mr. Flaxman has also promised to write all he
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knows or can collect concerning Romney, and send to you. Mr.
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Sanders has promised to write to Mr. J. Romney immediately,
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desiring him to give us liberty to copy any of his father's
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designs that Mr. Flaxman may select for that purpose; doubts not
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at all of Mr. Romney's readiness to send any of the cartoons to
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London you desire; if this can be done it will be all that could
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be wished. I spoke to Mr. Flaxman about choosing out proper
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subjects for our purpose; he has promised to do so. I hope soon
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to send you Flaxman's advice upon this article. When I repeated
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to Mr. Phillips your intention of taking the books you want from
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his shop, he made a reply to the following purpose: "I shall be
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very proud to have Mr. Hayley's name in my books, but please to
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express to him my hope that he will consider me as the sincere
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friend of Mr. Johnson, who is (I have every reason to say) both
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the most generous and honest man I ever knew, and with whose
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interest I should be so averse to interfere, that I should wish
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him to have the refusal first of anything before it should be
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offered to me, as I know the value of Mr. Hayley's connexion too
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well to interfere between my best friend and him." This Phillips
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spoke with real affection, and I know you will love him for it,
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and will also respect Johnson the more for such testimony; but to
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balance all this I must, in duty to my friend Seagrave, tell you
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that Mr. Rose repeated to me his great opinion of Mr. Johnson's
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integrity, while we were talking concerning Seagrave's printing;
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it is but justice, therefore, to tell you that I perceive a
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determination in the London booksellers to injure Seagrave in
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your opinion, if possible.
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Johnson may be very honest and very generous, too, where his own
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interest is concerned; but I must say that he leaves no stone
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unturn'd to serve that interest, and often (I think) unfairly; he
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always has taken care, when I have seen him, to rail against
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Seagrave, and I perceive that he does the same by Mr. Rose. Mr
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Phillips took care to repeat Johnson's railing to me, and to say
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that country printers could not do anything of consequence.
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Luckily he found fault with the paper which Cowper's
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Life is printed on, not knowing that it was furnish'd by
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Johnson. I let him run on so far as to say that it was
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scandalous and unfit for such a work; here I cut him short by
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asking if he knew who furnish'd the paper. He answered: "I hope
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Mr. J. did not." I assured him that he did, and here he left off,
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desiring me to tell you that the Life of Washington was
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not put to press till the 3rd of this month (May), and on the
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13th he had deliver'd a dozen copies at Stationer's Hall, and by
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the 16th five hundred were out. This is swift work if literally
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true, but I am not apt to believe literally what booksellers say;
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and on comparing Cower with Washington, must
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assert that, except paper (which is Johnson's fault),
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Cowper is far the best, both as to type and printing.
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Pray look at Washington as far as page 177, you will
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find that the type is smaller than from 177 to 308, the whole
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middle of the book being printed with a larger and better type
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than the two extremities; also it is carefully hot-pressed. I
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say thus much, being urged thereto by Mr. Rose's observing some
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defects in Seagrave's work, which I conceive were urged upon him
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by Johnson; and as to the time the booksellers would take to
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execute any work, I need only refer to the little job which Mr.
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Johnson was to get done for our friend Dally. He promised it in
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a fortnight, and it is now three months and is not yet completed.
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I could not avoid saying thus much in justice to our good
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Seagrave, whose replies to Mr. Johnson's aggravating letters have
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been represented to Mr. Rose in an unfair light, as I have no
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doubt; because Mr. Johnson has, at times, written such letters to
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me as would have called for the sceptre of Agamemnon rather than
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the tongue of Ulysses, and I will venture to give it as my
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settled opinion that if you suffer yourself to be persuaded to
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print in London you will be cheated every way; but, however, as
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some little excuse, I must say that in London every calumny and
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falsehood utter'd against another of the same trade is thought
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fair play. Engravers, Painters, Statuaries, Printers, Poets, we
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are not in a field of battle, but in a City of Assassinations.
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This makes your lot truly enviable, and the country is not only
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more beautiful on account of its expanded meadows, but also on
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account of its benevolent minds. My wife joins with me in the
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hearty wish that you may long enjoy your beautiful retirement,
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I am, with best respects to Miss Poole, for whose health we
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constantly send wishes to our spiritual friends,
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Yours sincerely,
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WILLIAM BLAKE
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P.S.--Mr. Walker says that Mr. Cumberland is right
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in his reckoning of Romney's age. Mr. W. says Romney was two
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years older than himself, consequently was born 1734.
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Mr. Flaxman told me that Mr. Romney was three years in
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Italy; that he
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returned twenty-eight years since. Mr. Humphry, the Painter, was
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in Italy the same time with Mr. Romney. Mr. Romney lodged at Mr.
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Richter's, Great Newport Street, before he went; took the house
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in Cavendish Square immediately on his return; but as Flaxman has
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promised to put pen to paper, you may expect a full account of
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all he can collect. Mr. Sanders does not know the time when
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Mr. R. took or left Cavendish Square house.
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[From the Gilchrist Life]
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