[Footnote 28:  It was the fear of this sort of back-water current to which so rapid a flow of fame seemed liable, that led some even of his warmest admirers, ignorant as they were yet of the boundlessness of his resources, to tremble a little at the frequency of his appearances before the public.  In one of my own letters to him, I find this apprehension thus expressed:—­“If you did not write so well,—­as the Royal wit observed,—­I should say you write too much; at least, too much in the same strain.  The Pythagoreans, you know, were of opinion that the reason why we do not hear or heed the music of the heavenly bodies is that they are always sounding in our ears; and I fear that even the influence of your song may be diminished by falling upon the world’s dull ear too constantly.”

The opinion, however, which a great writer of our day (himself one of the few to whom his remark replies) had the generosity, as well as sagacity, to pronounce on this point, at a time when Lord Byron was indulging in the fullest lavishment of his powers, must be regarded, after all, as the most judicious and wise:—­“But they cater ill for the public,” says Sir Walter Scott, “and give indifferent advice to the poet, supposing him possessed of the highest qualities of his art, who do not advise him to labour while the laurel around his brows yet retains its freshness.  Sketches from Lord Byron are more valuable than finished pictures from others; nor are we at all sure that any labour which he might bestow in revisal would not rather efface than refine those outlines of striking and powerful originality which they exhibit when flung rough from the hand of a master.”—­Biographical Memoirs, by SIR W. SCOTT.]

* * * * *

LETTER 180.  TO MR. MURRAY.

     “2.  Albany, April 29. 1814.

     “Dear Sir,

     “I enclose a draft for the money; when paid, send the copyright.  I
     release you from the thousand pounds agreed on for The Giaour and
     Bride, and there’s an end.

“If any accident occurs to me, you may do then as you please; but, with the exception of two copies of each for yourself only, I expect and request that the advertisements be withdrawn, and the remaining copies of all destroyed; and any expense so incurred I will be glad to defray.

     “For all this, it might be as well to assign some reason.  I have
     none to give, except my own caprice, and I do not consider the
     circumstances of consequence enough to require explanation.

“In course, I need hardly assure you that they never shall be published with my consent, directly, or indirectly, by any other person whatsoever,—­that I am perfectly satisfied, and have every reason so to be, with your conduct in all transactions between us as publisher and author.

     “It will give me great pleasure to preserve your acquaintance, and
     to consider you as my friend.  Believe me very truly, and for much
     attention,