Note 155 — V.

Lord John Russell, Memoir, Journal, and Correspondence of Thomas Moore, London 1860, p. 303.—In the first edition (1853) there is the following extract from the diary of Moore: Oct. 12:th, 1821,—‘Called on Mrs Smith; told me that the poem of The Universe is not Maturin’s, but a Mr. Wills’, who induced Maturin to lend his name to it by giving him the profit of the sale.’ The additional note in the second edition, which was included at the special request of Wills, is to the effect that it was Maturin who entreated Wills to allow him to publish the poem, as a production of his own.