John Cam Hobhouse, afterwards Lord
Broughton. Of this work the author wrote to Mr. Murray:
_January_, 1816.
"I must have the liberty of cancelling what sheets I please, for a
reason that I now tell you in the strictest confidence: the letters are
to go to Paris previously to publication, and are to be read carefully
through by a most intimate friend of mine, who was entirely in the
secrets of the late Imperial Ministry, and who will point out any
statements as to facts, in which he could from his _knowledge_ make any
necessary change."
The first edition, published without the author's name, was rapidly
exhausted, and Hobhouse offered a second to Murray, proposing at the
same time to insert his name as author on the title-page.
"If I do," he said, "I shall present the book to Lord Byron in due form,
not for his talents as a poet, but for his qualities as a companion and
a friend. I should not write 'My dear Byron,' _a la Hunt_." [Footnote:
Leigh Hunt had dedicated his "Rimini" to the noble poet, addressing him
as "My dear Byron."]
Mr. D'Israeli also was busy with his "Inquiry into the Literary and
Political Character of James the First.
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