Ballantyne said that the author "promised to put the first volume in his hands by the end of August, and that the whole would be ready for publication by Christmas." Blackwood thought this reply was "humbug, as formerly." Nevertheless, he was obliged to wait.

At last he got the first sight of the manuscript.
_Mr.Wm.Blackwood to John Murray_.
_August_ 23, 1816.

_Midnight_.
"MY DEAR MURRAY,--I have this moment finished the reading of 192 pages of our book--for ours it must be,--and I cannot go to bed without telling you what is the strong and most favourable impression it has made upon me.

If the remainder be at all equal--which it cannot fail to be, from the genius displayed in what is now before me--we have been most fortunate indeed.

The title as, TALKS OF MY LANDLORD; _collected and reported by Jedediah Cleishbotham, Pariah Clerk and Schoolmaster of Gandercleugh_." Mr.Blackwood then proceeds to give an account of the Introduction, the commencement of "The Black Dwarf," the first of the tales, and the general nature of the story, to the end of the fourth chapter.