343—to John Murray
Oct. 12, 1813.
Dear Sir,—You must look
The Giaour
again over carefully; there are a few lapses, particularly in the last page,—"I
know
'twas false; she could not die;" it was, and ought to be—"
knew
." Pray observe this and similar mistakes.
I
have
received and read the
British Review
.
I really think the writer in most parts very right. The only mortifying thing is the accusation of imitation.
Crabbe's passage
I never saw; and Scott I no further meant to follow than in his
lyric
measure, which is Gray's, Milton's, and any one's who likes it.
The Giaour
is certainly a bad character, but not dangerous: and I think his fate and his feelings will meet with few proselytes. I shall be very glad to hear from or of you, when you please; but don't put yourself out of your way on my account.
Yours ever,
B.
Footnote 1:
The British Review
(No. ix.) criticized
The Giaour
severely (pp. 132-145). "Lord Byron," it says, "has had the bad taste to imitate Mr. Walter Scott" (p. 135). Further on (p. 139) it charges him with borrowing a simile from Crabbe's
Resentment
. The passage to which the reviewer alludes will be found in lines 11-16 of that poem:
"Those are like wax—apply them to the fire,
Melting, they take th' impressions you desire:
Easy to mould, and fashion as you please,
And again moulded with an equal ease:
Like smelted iron these the forms retain;
But, once impress'd, will never melt again."
