The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero)/Poetry/Volume 7/To Mr. Murray (3)

by George Gordon Byron

For works with similar titles, see To Mr. Murray.

TO MR. MURRAY.

1.

For Orford^[1] and for Waldegrave^[2]
You give much more than me you gave;
Which is not fairly to behave,
⁠My Murray!

2.

Because if a live dog, 't is said,
Be worth a lion fairly sped,
A live lord must be worth two dead,
⁠My Murray!

3.

And if, as the opinion goes,
Verse hath a better sale than prose,—
Certes, I should have more than those,
⁠My Murray!

4.

But now this sheet is nearly crammed,
So, if you will, I shan't be shammed,
And if you won't,—you may be damned,
⁠My Murray!^[3]

August 23, 1821.
[First published, Letters and Journals, 1830, ii. 517.]

1. [Horace Walpole's Memoirs of the Last Nine Years of the Reign of George II.]
2. [Memoirs by James Earl Waldegrave, Governor of George III. when Prince of Wales.]
3. ["Can't accept your courteous offer [i.e.£2000 for three cantos of Don Juan, Sardanapalus, and The Two Foscari]. These matters must be arranged with Mr. Douglas Kinnaird. He is my trustee, and a man of honour. To him you can state all your mercantile reasons, which you might not like to state to me personally, such as 'heavy season'—'flat public'—'don't go off'—'lordship writes too much'—'won't take advice'—'declining popularity'—'deductions for the trade'—'make very little'—'generally lose by him'—'pirated edition'—'foreign edition'—'severe criticisms,' etc., with other hints and howls for an oration, which I leave Douglas, who is an orator, to answer."—Letter to Murray, August 23, 1821, Letters, 1901, v. 348.]