which belongs to you properly. I have a long and, I think, very good concluding note for Julius Cæsar ready to send when you give me advice it may be time for it. I have also made great additions to Augustus and the Augustan age, which I believe I have not yet sent you; and a very long note, or rather short essay, upon the Roman Constitution, for the conclusion of all.
I have added an entire new character of Octavia, sister of Augustus and wife of Anthony, to be inserted immediately after Anthony and Cleopatra. She was by all accounts a most amiable creature, and forms a good contrast to her husband’s harlot, Cleopatra. I hope you will like it. I see the speedy publication of Conteau[1] again advertised in the Whitehall Evening Post, but I have not heard from Reeves this long time. . . . . I send you Octavia, and hope you will treat her better than Anthony did.
Several letters follow upon the same theme. Additional notes were necessary; new lines to be introduced; re-arrangement of passages made; words altered for others of superior elegance or force; in short, all the processes common to inventive labourers in the workshop of literature.
In the summer of 1794, though at the end of the book season, the poem, closely revised, came out in an expensive form. The author wanted money much, but buyers were then few, and he must be content to wait for a more propitious moment. To Malone, who had taken a trip to Brighton for recreation, his obligations were freely acknowledged. They were now increased; for this good-natured friend had to send presents of copies to several influential noblemen; to propitiate or answer reviewers; circulate favourable notices; and
- ↑ Confessions of James Baptiste Conteau, also by Jephson, written in exposure of enormities of the French revolutionary leaders.
