Volume 1 - Electric Scotland

A HANDSOME INDUCEMENT. 313
follows : I was carelessly speaking of the worthlessness in the
market of poetry such as mine, half in jest, half in earnest, and
next morning a gentleman, who had been of the company,
offered me four hundred guineas for the copyright of all my
poems. I never thought of taking it, as I felt at the time it
was meant as a handsome inducement for me to give that
gentleman something else ; neither did I then mention it to
you, for, if I had, I thought it might either put you under the
necessity of offering the same, which would have been unjust,
or at least my speaking of having rejected an offer on your
account, which would also not have been agreeable.
Things for me are much better as they are, and I hope, too,
that neither will you suffer in any respect by your ready
acquiescence in my proposal.
We have already remarked upon the extraordinary
irregularities and delays that made the intercourse
between the publisher and writer all through their
long connection a constant succession of risks and
alarms. There are sheaves of notes like the follow-
ing in the correspondence :
However painful to myself, and I fear also to you, I am
obliged to give up the attempt to do a 'Noctes.' I have
tried as earnestly as I could, and I cannot. If I could I
would, on all accounts, my own as well as yours. I have sat
up three nights till 3 o'clock and done nothing but utter heavy
nonsense, which I have thrown into the fire; a bad 'Noctes'
would do more harm than any one thing else. My mind has
been incapable of doing what it was my most anxious wish to
do ; and that being the case truly, it must be put up with, and
nothing said on the subject, except a hope that it will be otherwise
next month, and any heaviness of this number redeemed
then. It will pain me to see you annoyed at this. I will do
what I can : nobody can do more.
—
For more than two months I have not had more than two
entire days of anything like peace of mind. I cannot write