Dear Doctor, I have read your play,
\nWhich is a good one in its way,
\nPurges the eyes, and moves the bowels,
\nAnd drenches handkerchiefs like towels
\nWith tears that, in a flux of grief,
\nAfford hysterical relief
\nTo shatter’d nerves and quicken’d pulses,
\nWhich your catastrophe convulses.
\nI like your moral and machinery;
\nYour plot, too, has such scope for scenery!
\nYour dialogue is apt and smart;
\nThe play’s concoction full of art;
\nYour hero raves, your heroine cries,
\nAll stab, and everybody dies;
\nIn short, your tragedy would be
\nThe very thing to hear and see;
\nAnd for a piece of publication,
\nIf I decline on this occasion,
\nIt is not that I am not sensible
\nTo merits in themselves ostensible,
\nBut–and I grieve to speak it–plays
\nAre drugs–mere drugs, Sir, nowadays.
\nI had a heavy loss by Manuel —
\nToo lucky if it prove not annual–
\nAnd Sotheby, with his damn’d Orestes
\n(Which, by the way, the old bore’s best is),
\nHas lain so very long on hand
\nThat I despair of all demand;
\nI’ve advertis’d–but see my books,
\nOr only watch my shopman’s looks;
\nStill Ivan , Ina and such lumber
\nMy back-shop glut, my shelves encumber.
\nThere’s Byron too, who once did better,
\nHas sent me–folded in a letter–
\nA sort of–it’s no more a drama
\nThan Darnley , Ivan or Kehama :
\nSo alter’d since last year his pen is,
\nI think he’s lost his wits at Venice,
\nOr drain’d his brains away as stallion
\nTo some dark-eyed and warm Italian;
\nIn short, Sir, what with one and t’other,
\nI dare not venture on another.
\nI write in haste; excuse each blunder;
\nThe coaches through the street so thunder!
\nMy room’s so full; we’ve Gifford here
\nReading MSS with Hookham Frere,
\nPronouncing on the nouns and particles
\nOf some of our forthcoming articles,
\nThe Quarterly –ah, Sir, if you
\nHad but the genius to review!
\nA smart critique upon St. Helena,
\nOr if you only would but tell in a
\nShort compass what–but, to resume;
\nAs I was saying, Sir, the room–
\nThe room’s so full of wits and bards,
\nCrabbes, Campbells, Crokers, Freres and Wards,
\nAnd others, neither bards nor wits–
\nMy humble tenement admits
\nAll persons in the dress of Gent.,
\nFrom Mr. Hammond to Dog Dent.
\nA party dines with me today,
\nAll clever men who make their way:
\nCrabbe, Malcolm, Hamilton and Chantrey
\nAre all partakers of my pantry.
\nThey’re at this moment in discussion
\nOn poor De Sta{:e}l’s late dissolution.
\nHer book, they say, was in advance–
\nPray Heaven she tell the truth of France!
\n‘Tis said she certainly was married
\nTo Rocca, and had twice miscarried,
\nNo–not miscarried, I opine–
\nBut brought to bed at forty nine.
\nSome say she died a Papist; some
\nAre of opinion that’s a hum;
\nI don’t know that–the fellow, Schlegel,
\nWas very likely to inveigle
\nA dying person in compunction
\nTo try the extremity of unction.
\nBut peace be with her! for a woman
\nHer talents surely were uncommon.
\nHer publisher (and public too)
\nThe hour of her demise may rue,
\nFor never more within his shop he–
\nPray–was she not interr’d at Coppet?
\nThus run our time and tongues away;
\nBut, to return, Sir, to your play;
\nSorry, Sir, but I cannot deal,
\nUnless ’twere acted by O’Neill.
\nMy hands are full–my head so busy,
\nI’m almost dead–and always dizzy;
\nAnd so, with endless truth and hurry,
\nDear Doctor, I am yours,<\/p>\n
JOHN MURRAY<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Published 1830 Dear Doctor, I have read your play, Which is a good one in its way, Purges the eyes, and moves the bowels, And drenches handkerchiefs like towels With tears that, in a flux of grief, Afford hysterical relief To shatter’d nerves and quicken’d pulses, Which your catastrophe convulses. I like your moral and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}