his work frequently).

"A common Bible, of a good legible print (bound in russia). I
_have_ one; but as it was the last gift of my sister (whom I shall
probably never see again), I can only use it carefully, and less
frequently, because I like to keep it in good order. Don't forget
this, for I am a great reader and admirer of those books, and had
read them through and through before I was eight years old,--that
is to say, the _Old_ Testament, for the New struck me as a task,
but the other as a pleasure. I speak as a _boy_, from the
recollected impression of that period at Aberdeen in 1796.

"Any novels of Scott, or poetry of the same. Ditto of Crabbe,
Moore, and the Elect; but none of your curst common-place
trash,--unless something starts up of actual merit, which may very
well be, for 'tis time it should."

* * * * *

LETTER 463. TO MR. MURRAY.

"October 20. 1821.

"If the errors _are_ in the MS. write me down an ass: they are
_not_, and I am content to undergo any penalty if they be. Besides,
the _omitted_ stanza (last but one or two), sent _afterwards_, was
that in the MS. too?

"As to 'honour,' I will trust no man's honour in affairs of barter.
I will tell you why: a state of bargain is Hobbes's 'state of
nature--a state of war.' It is so with all men. If I come to a
friend, and say, 'Friend, lend me five hundred pounds,'--he either
does it, or says that he can't or won't; but if I come to Ditto,
and say, 'Ditto, I have an excellent house, or horse, or carriage,
or MSS., or books, or pictures, or, &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. honestly
worth a thousand pounds, you shall have them for five hundred,'
what does Ditto say? why, he looks at them, he _hums_, he
_ha's_,--he _humbugs_, if he can, to get a bargain as cheaply as he
can, because _it is_ a bargain. This is in the blood and bone of
mankind; and the same man who would lend another a thousand pounds
without interest, would not buy a horse of him for half its value
if he could help it. It is so: there's no denying it; and therefore
I will have as much as I can, and you will give as little; and
there's an end. All men are intrinsical rascals, and I am only
sorry that, not being a dog, I can't bite them.

"I am filling another book for you with little anecdot