Letter from Henry Stebbing
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line 1: My dear Sir
line 2: I have considered
line 3: the subject of the Shakespearian
line 4: Dictionary and examined the spe-
line 5: cimen you sent me. One thing
line 6: is certain, namely, that the de-
line 7: mand for the copy-right is very
line 8: moderate, and I am inclined to
line 9: think that the work got up in
line 10: a small, neat form, would prove
line 11: an attraction to many an idler.
line 12: I am a great enemy to all bohemia
line 13: of selections or 'Beauties' but this
line 14: seems to be of a better kind
line 15: and, if the sentences be carefully
line 16: managed throughout might be as
line 17: useful to the careful enquirer
line 18: with the structure of our language
line 19: as to the learner of quotations.
line 20: The specimen sent affords a
line 21: favourable idea of the taste ofPage 2
line 1: the author, and induces me
line 2: to think that he was well qua-
line 3: lified for his task, but if he
line 4: intended the work to be illus-
line 5: trative of Shakespeare's phraseology
line 6: some deficiencies perhaps, might
line 7: be printed out which it would
line 8: have been better to avoid. There
line 9: are some words, for example,
line 10: in our Bard which he uses in a
line 11: peculiarly striking sense, and the
line 12: passages, I conceive, where they
line 13: are so used should have been
line 14: quoted – I do not see the word
line 15: organ in the index, but how
line 16: beautifully is it employed by Shake-
line 17: speare.
line 18: 'And every lovely organ of her life
line 19: Shall cause apparrell'd in more precious habit'
line 20: Heraldry is not mentioned, but we
line 21: read in a very lovely passage –
line 22: So with two seeming bodies, but one heart
line 23: Two of the first, like coats in heraldry,
line 24: Due but to one, and crowned with one crest.
line 25: Cockatrices
line 26: This will so fight them both, that they
line 27: will kill one another by the look, like
line 28: cockatrices.Page 3
line 1: I should have supposed
line 2: that words appearing in such
line 3: sentences as these should have
line 4: been mentioned, but your au-
line 5: thor may have limited him-
line 6: self to a certain kind of quo-
line 7: tation which did not render
line 8: it necessary for him to intro-
line 9: duce more than he has. He
line 10: must however, be particular
line 11: to state this in his preface.
line 12: Should you publish the work
line 13: I shall be happy to help
line 14: you in seeing it through the
line 15: press, if my assistance be re-
line 16: quired. I am sorry to have let
line 17: the season slip by for contribut-
line 18: ing to your annual, but till a
line 19: day or two ago when I finished
line 20: my lives of the Italian Poets I
line 21: forgot every thing but them – my
line 22: friends, and almost myself.
line 23: I am, dear Sir,
line 24: Yours faithfully
line 25: Henry Stebbing.
line 26: P.S. You have an
line 27: account against me, will
line 28: you be so good as to send me the bill, and I
line 29: will settle it.