Letters to Dead Authors | Page 3

warranties or the
exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the above
disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you may have
other legal rights.
INDEMNITY
You will indemnify and hold the Project, its directors, officers,
members and agents harmless from all liability, cost and expense,
including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the
following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this etext, [2]
alteration, modification, or addition to the etext, or [3] any Defect.
DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm"
You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by disk, book
or any other medium if you either delete this "Small Print!" and all
other references to Project Gutenberg, or:
[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this requires that
you do not remove, alter or modify the etext or this "small print!"
statement. You may however, if you wish, distribute this etext in
machine readable binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form,

including any form resulting from conversion by word processing or
hypertext software, but only so long as *EITHER*:
[*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and does *not*
contain characters other than those intended by the author of the work,
although tilde (~), asterisk (*) and underline (i) characters may be used
to convey punctuation intended by the author, and additional characters
may be used to indicate hypertext links; OR
[*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at no expense into
plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent form by the program that displays
the etext (as is the case, for instance, with most word processors); OR
[*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at no additional
cost, fee or expense, a copy of the etext in its original plain ASCII form
(or in EBCDIC or other equivalent proprietary form).
[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this "Small
Print!" statement.
[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Project of 20% of the gross
profits you derive calculated using the method you already use to
calculate your applicable taxes. If you don't derive profits, no royalty is
due. Royalties are payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation" the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were
legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax
return. Please contact us beforehand to let us know your plans and to
work out the details.
WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU
DON'T HAVE TO?
The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, public
domain etexts, and royalty free copyright licenses. If you are interested
in contributing scanning equipment or software or other items, please
contact Michael Hart at: [email protected]
*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN

ETEXTS*Ver.04.07.00*END*

This etext was prepared by A Elizabeth Warren MD, Sacramento, CA;
[email protected]

LETTERS TO DEAD AUTHORS
by Andrew Lang

Contents.
I. to W. M. Thackeray II. To Charles Dickens III. To Pierre De Ronsard
IV. To Herodotus V. Epistle to Mr. Alexander Pope VI. To Lucian of
Samosata VII. To Maitre Francoys Rabelais VIII. To Jane Austen IX.
To Master Isaak Walton X. to M. Chapelain XI. To Sir John
Manndeville, Kt XII. To Alexandre Dumas XIII. To Theocritus XIV.
To Edgar Allan Poe XV. To Sir Walter Scott, Bart. XVI. To Eusebius
of Caesarea XVII. To Percy Bysshe Shelley XVIII. To Monsieur De
Molie're, Valet De Chambre du Roi XIX. To Robert Burns XX. To
Lord Byron XXI. To Omar Khayya'm XXII. To Q. Horatius Flaccus

Preface.
Sixteen of these Letters, which were written at the suggestion of the
editor of the 'St. James's Gazette,' appeared in that journal, from which
they are now reprinted, by the editor's kind permission. They have been
somewhat emended, and a few additions have been made. The Letters
to Horace, Byron, Isaak Walton, Chapelain, Ronsard, and Theocritus
have not been published before.
The gem published for the first time on the title-page is a red cornelian
in the British Museum, probably Graeco-Roman, and treated in an
archaistic style. It represents Hermes Psychogogos, with a Soul, and

has some likeness to the Baptism of Our Lord, as usually shown in art.
Perhaps it may be post- Christian. The gem was selected by Mr. A. S.
Murray.
It is, perhaps, superfluous to add that some of the Letters are written
rather to suit the Correspondent than to express the writer's own taste or
opinions. The Epistle to Lord Byron, especially, is 'writ in a manner
which is my aversion.'

LETTERS TO DEAD AUTHORS

I.
To W. M. Thackeray.

Sir,--There are many things that stand in the way of the critic when he
has a mind to praise the living. He may dread the charge of writing
rather to vex a