Autograph letter signed : Olney, to Walter Bagot, 1786 Jan. 15.

Explaining why the publication of his Proposals has been delayed; discussing his translation of Homer's Iliad; commenting on his plan for publishing his translation of the Iliad by subscription; noting that his version of the Iliad will cost less than [Alexander] Pope's version; addressing the question of whether he expects his translation to be better than Pope's: "You may say perhaps ... do you place yourself on a level with Pope? I answer, or rather should answer -- By no means. Not as a poet. But as a Translator of Homer if I did not expect and believe that I should even surpass him, why have I meddled with this matter at all? If I confess inferiority, I reprobate my own undertaking."