68 — To William Bankes 1
For my own part, I have suffered severely in the decease of my two greatest friends, the only beings I ever loved (females excepted); I am therefore a solitary animal, miserable enough, and so perfectly a citizen of the world, that whether I pass my days in Great Britain or Kamschatka, is to me a matter of perfect indifference. I cannot evince greater respect for your alteration than by immediately adopting it — this shall be done in the next edition. I am sorry your remarks are not more frequent, as I am certain they would be equally beneficial.
Since
my last, I have received two critical opinions from Edinburgh, both too flattering for me to detail. One is from Lord Woodhouselee
, at the head of the Scotch literati, and a most
voluminous
writer (his last work is a
Life
of Lord Kaimes); the other from Mackenzie, who sent his decision a second time, more at length. I am not personally acquainted with either of these gentlemen, nor ever requested their sentiments on the subject: their praise is voluntary, and transmitted through the medium of a friend, at whose house they read the productions.
Contrary to my former intention, I am now preparing a volume for the public at large: my amatory pieces will be exchanged, and others substituted in their place. The whole will be considerably enlarged, and appear the latter end of May. This is a hazardous experiment; but want of better employment, the encouragement I have met with, and my own vanity, induce me to stand the test, though not without
sundry palpitations
. The book will circulate fast enough in this country from mere curiosity; what I prin — — ...
[letter incomplete]
Footnote 1:
This fragment refers, like the previous letter, to Byron's volume of verse,
Poems on Various Occasions
.
Footnote 2:
Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee, one of the Senators of the College of Justice in Scotland, and a friend of Robert Burns. Besides the
Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the Hon. Henry Home of Kames
(1807), he published
Elements of General History
(1801),
Essay on the Principles of Translation
, etc. He died in 1813. His
Universal History
, in six vols., appeared in 1834.
