A Publisher and His Friends Part 31

_Mr. Barrow to John Murray_.

_August_ 18, 1823.

"I told him to look out for some one to conduct the _Review_, but he comes to no decision. I told him that you very naturally looked to him for naming a proper person. He replied he had--Na.s.sau Senior--but that you had taken some dislike to him. [Footnote: This, so far as can be ascertained, was a groundless a.s.sumption on Mr. Gifford's part.] I then said, 'You are now well; go on, and let neither Murray nor you trouble yourselves about a future editor yet; for should you even break down in the midst of a number, I can only repeat that Croker and myself will bring it round, and a second number if necessary, to give him time to look out for and fix upon a proper person, but that the work should not stop.' I saw he did not like to continue the subject, and we talked of something else."

Croker also was quite willing to enter into this scheme, and jointly with Barrow to undertake the temporary conduct of the _Review_. They received much a.s.sistance also from Mr. J.T. Coleridge, then a young barrister. Mr. Coleridge, as will be noticed presently, became for a time editor of the _Quarterly_. "Mr. C. is too long," Gifford wrote to Murray, "and I am sorry for it. But he is a nice young man, and should be encouraged."

CHAPTER XX

HALLAM BASIL HALL--CRABBE--HOPE--HORACE AND JAMES SMITH

In 1817 Mr. Murray published for Mr. Hallam his "View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages." The acquaintance thus formed led to a close friendship, which lasted unbroken till Mr. Murray's death.

Mr. Murray published at this time a variety of books of travel. Some of these were sent to the Marquess of Abercorn--amongst them Mr.

(afterwards Sir) Henry Ellis's "Proceedings of Lord Amherst's Emba.s.sy to China," [Footnote: "Journal of the Proceedings of the late Emba.s.sy to China, comprising a Correct Narrative of the Public Transactions of the Emba.s.sy, of the Voyage to and from China, and of the Journey from the Mouth of the Peiho to the Return to Canton." By Henry Ellis, Esq., Secretary of the Emba.s.sy, and Third Commissioner.] about which the Marchioness, at her husband's request, wrote to the publisher as follows:

_Marchioness of Abercorn to John Murray_,

_December_ 4, 1817.

"He returns Walpole, as he says since the age of fifteen he has read so much Grecian history and antiquity that he has these last ten years been sick of the subject. He does not like Ellis's account of 'The Emba.s.sy to China,' [Footnote: Ellis seems to have been made very uncomfortable by the publication of his book. It was severely reviewed in the _Times_, where it was said that the account (then in the press) by Clark Abel, M.D., Princ.i.p.al Medical Officer and Naturalist to the Emba.s.sy, would be greatly superior. On this Ellis wrote to Murray (October 19, 1817): "An individual has seldom committed an act so detrimental to his interests as I have done in this unfortunate publication; and I shall be too happy when the lapse of time will allow of my utterly forgetting the occurrence. I am already indifferent to literary criticism, and had almost forgotten Abel's approaching compet.i.tion." The work went through two editions.] but is pleased with Macleod's [Footnote: "Narrative of a Voyage in His Majesty's late ship _Alceste_ to the Yellow Sea, along the Coast of Corea, and through its numerous. .h.i.therto undiscovered Islands to the Island of Lewchew, with an Account of her Shipwreck in the Straits of Gaspar." By John MacLeod, surgeon of the _Alceste_.]

narrative. He bids me tell you to say the best and what is least obnoxious of the [former] book. The composition and the narrative are so thoroughly wretched that he should be ashamed to let it stand in his library. He will be obliged to you to send him Leyden's 'Africa.' Leyden was a friend of his, and desired leave to dedicate to him while he lived."

Mr. Murray, in his reply, deprecated the severity of the Marquess of Abercorn's criticism on the work of Sir H. Ellis, who had done the best that he could on a subject of exceeding interest.

_John Murray to Lady Abercorn_.

"I am now printing Captain Hall's account (he commanded the _Lyra_), and I will venture to a.s.sure your Ladyship that it is one of the most delightful books I ever read, and it is calculated to heal the wound inflicted by poor Ellis. I believe I desired my people to send you G.o.dwin's novel, which is execrably bad. But in most cases book readers must balance novelty against disappointment.

And in reply to a request for more books to replace those condemned or dull, he asks dryly:

"Shall I withhold 'Rob Roy' and 'Childe Harold' from your ladyship until their merits have been ascertained? Even if an indifferent book, it is something to be amongst the first to _say_ that it is bad. You will be alarmed, I fear, at having provoked so many reasons for sending you dull publications.... I am printing two short but very clever novels by poor Miss Austen, the author of 'Pride and Prejudice.' I send Leyden's 'Africa' for Lord Abercorn, who will be glad to hear that the 'Life and Posthumous Writings' will be ready soon."

The Marchioness, in her answer to the above letter, thanked Mr. Murray for his entertaining answer to her letter, and said:

_Marchioness of Abercorn to John Murray_.

"Lord Abercorn says he thinks your conduct with respect to sending books back that he does not like is particularly liberal. He bids me tell you how very much he likes Mr. Macleod's book; we had seen some of it in ma.n.u.script before it was published. We are very anxious for Hall's account, and I trust you will send it to us the moment you can get a copy finished.

"No, indeed! you must not (though desirous you may be to punish us for the severity of the criticism on poor Ellis) keep back for a moment 'Rob Roy' or the fourth canto of 'Childe Harold.' I have heard a good deal from Scotland that makes me continue _surmising_ who is the author of these novels. Our friend Walter paid a visit last summer to a gentleman on the banks of Loch Lomond--the scene of Rob Roy's exploits--and was at great pains to learn all the traditions of the country regarding him from the clergyman and old people of the neighbourhood, of which he got a considerable stock. I am very glad to hear of a 'Life of Leyden.' He was a very surprising young man, and his death is a great loss to the world. Pray send us Miss Austen's novels the moment you can. Lord Abercorn thinks them next to W. Scott's (if they are by W. Scott); it is a great pity that we shall have no more of hers. Who are the _Quarterly Reviewers_? I hear that Lady Morgan suspects Mr. Croker of having reviewed her 'France,' and intends to be revenged, etc.

"Believe me to be yours, with great regard,

"A.J. ABERCORN."

From many communications addressed to Mr. Murray about the beginning of 1818, it appears that he had proposed to start a _Monthly Register_, [Footnote: The announcement ran thus: "On the third Sat.u.r.day in January, 1818, will be published the first number of a NEW PERIODICAL JOURNAL, the object of which will be to convey to the public a great variety of new, original, and interesting matter; and by a methodical arrangement of all Inventions in the Arts, Discoveries in the Sciences, and Novelties in Literature, to enable the reader to keep pace with human knowledge. To be printed uniformly with the QUARTERLY REVIEW. The price by the year will be 2 2s."] and he set up in print a specimen copy.

Many of his correspondents offered to a.s.sist him, amongst others Mr. J.

Macculloch, Lord Sheffield, Dr. Polidori, then settled at St. Peter's, Norwich, Mr. Bulmer of the British Museum, and many other contributors.

He sent copies of the specimen number to Mr. Croker and received the following candid reply:

_Mr. Croker to John Murray_.

_January_ 11, 1818.

MY DEAR MURRAY,

Our friend Sepping [Footnote: A naval surveyor.] says, "Nothing is stronger than its weakest part," and this is as true in book-making as in shipbuilding. I am sorry to say your _Register_ has, in my opinion, a great many weak parts. It is for n.o.body's use; it is too popular and trivial for the learned, and too abstruse and plodding for the mult.i.tude. The preface is not English, nor yet Scotch or Irish. It must have been written by Lady Morgan. In the body of the volume, there is not _one_ new nor curious article, unless it be Lady Hood's "Tiger Hunt." In your Mechanics there is a miserable want of information, and in your Statistics there is a sad superabundance of American hyperbole and dulness mixed together, like the mud and gunpowder which, when a boy, I used to mix together to make a fizz. Your Poetry is so bad that I look upon it as your personal kindness to me that you did not put my lines under that head. Your criticism on Painting begins by calling West's very pale horse "an extraordinary effort of human _genius_." Your criticism on Sculpture begins by applauding _beforehand_ Mr. Wyatt's _impudent_ cenotaph. Your criticism on the Theatre begins by _denouncing_ the best production of its kind, 'The Beggar's Opera.' Your article on Engraving puts under the head of Italy a stone drawing made in Paris. Your own engraving of the Polar Regions is confused and dirty; and your article on the Polar Seas sets out with the a.s.sertion of a fact of which I was profoundly ignorant, namely, that the Physical Const.i.tution of the Globe is subject to _constant changes_ and revolution. Of _constant changes_ I never heard, except in one of Congreve's plays, in which the fair s.e.x is accused of _constant inconstancy_; but suppose that for _constant_ you read _frequent_. I should wish you, for my own particular information, to add in a note a few instances of the Physical Changes in the Const.i.tution of the Globe, which have occurred since the year 1781, in which I happened to be born.

I know of none, and I should be sorry to go out of the world ignorant of what has pa.s.sed in my own time. You send me your proof "for my boldest criticism." I have hurried over rather than read through the pages, and I give you honestly, and as plainly as an infamous pen (the same, I presume, which drew your polar chart) will permit, my hasty impression.

If you will call here to-morrow between twelve and one, I will talk with you on the subject.

Yours,

J.W.C.

The project was eventually abandoned. Murray entered into the arrangement, already described, with Blackwood, of the _Edinburgh Magazine_. The article on the "Polar Ice" was inserted in the _Quarterly_.

Towards the end of 1818, Mr. Crabbe called upon Mr. Murray and offered to publish through him his "Tales of the Hall," consisting of about twelve thousand lines. He also proposed to transfer to him from Mr.

Colburn his other poems, so that the whole might be printed uniformly.

Mr. Crabbe, who up to this period had received very little for his writings, was surprised when Mr. Murray offered him no less than 3,000 for the copyright of his poems. It seemed to him a mine of wealth compared to all that he had yet received. The following morning (December 6) he breakfasted with Mr. Rogers, and Tom Moore was present.

Crabbe told them of his good fortune, and of the magnificent offer he had received. Rogers thought it was not enough, and that Crabbe should have received 3,000 for the "Tales of the Hall" alone, and that he would try if the Longmans would not give more. He went to Paternoster Row accordingly, and tried the Longmans; but they would not give more than 1,000 for the new work and the copyright of the old poems--that is, only one-third of what Murray had offered. [Footnote: "Memoirs, Journals, Correspondence, of Thomas Moore," by Lord John Russell, ii.

237.]

When Crabbe was informed of this, he was in a state of great consternation. As Rogers had been bargaining with another publisher for better terms, the matter seemed still to be considered open; and in the meantime, if Murray were informed of the event, he might feel umbrage and withdraw his offer. Crabbe wrote to Murray on the subject, but received no answer. He had within his reach a prize far beyond his most sanguine hopes, and now, by the over-officiousness of his friends, he was in danger of losing it. In this crisis Rogers and Moore called upon Murray, and made enquiries on the subject of Crabbe's poems. "Oh, yes,"

he said, "I have heard from Mr. Crabbe, and look upon the matter as settled." Crabbe was thus released from all his fears. When he received the bills for 3,000, he insisted on taking them with him to Trowbridge to show them to his son John.

It proved after all that the Longmans were right in their offer to Rogers; Murray was far too liberal. Moore, in his Diary (iii. 332), says, "Even if the whole of the edition (3,000) were sold, Murray would still be 1,900 minus." Crabbe had some difficulty in getting his old poems out of the hands of his former publisher, who wrote to him in a strain of the wildest indignation, and even threatened him with legal proceedings, but eventually the unsold stock, consisting of 2,426 copies, was handed over by Hatchard & Colburn to Mr. Murray, and nothing more was heard of this controversy between them and the poet.

"Anastasius, or Memoirs of a Modern Greek, written at the Close of the 18th Century," was published anonymously, and was confidently a.s.serted to be the work of Lord Byron, as the only person capable of having produced it. When the author was announced to be Mr. Thomas Hope, of Deepdene, some incredulity was expressed by the _literati_.

The Countess of Blessington, in her "Conversations with Lord Byron,"

says: "Byron spoke to-day in terms of high commendation of Hope's 'Anastasius'; said he had wept bitterly over many pages of it, and for two reasons--first, that he had not written it; and, secondly, that Hope had; for that it was necessary to like a man excessively to pardon his writing such a book--a book, he said, excelling all recent productions as much in wit and talent as in true pathos. He added that he would have given his two most approved poems to have been the author of 'Anastasius.'" The work was greatly read at the time, and went through many large editions.

The refusal of the "Rejected Addresses," by Horace and James Smith, was one of Mr. Murray's few mistakes. Horace was a stockbroker, and James a solicitor. They were not generally known as authors, though they contributed anonymously to the _New Monthly Magazine_, which was conducted by Campbell the poet. In 1812 they produced a collection purporting to be "Rejected Addresses, presented for compet.i.tion at the opening of Drury Lane Theatre." They offered the collection to Mr.

Murray for 20, but he declined to purchase the copyright. The Smiths were connected with Cadell the publisher, and Murray, thinking that the MS. had been offered to and rejected by him, declined to look into it.

The "Rejected Addresses" were eventually published by John Miller, and excited a great deal of curiosity. They were considered to be the best imitations of living poets ever made. Byron was delighted with them. He wrote to Mr. Murray that he thought them "by far the best thing of the kind since the 'Rolliad.'" Crabbe said of the verses in imitation of himself, "In their versification they have done me admirably." When he afterwards met Horace Smith, he seized both hands of the satirist, and said, with a good-humoured laugh, "Ah! my old enemy, how do you do?"

Jeffrey said of the collection, "I take them, indeed, to be the very best imitations (and often of difficult originals) that ever were made, and, considering their extent and variety, to indicate a talent to which I do not know where to look for a parallel." Murray had no sooner read the volume than he spared no pains to become the publisher, but it was not until after the appearance of the sixteenth edition that he was able to purchase the copyright for 131.

Towards the end of 1819, Mr. Murray was threatened with an action on account of certain articles which had appeared in Nos. 37 and 38 of the _Quarterly_ relative to the campaign in Italy against Murat, King of Naples. The first was written by Dr. Reginald (afterwards Bishop) Heber, under the t.i.tle of "Military and Political Power of Russia, by Sir Robert Wilson"; the second was ent.i.tled "Sir Robert Wilson's Reply."

Colonel Macirone occupied a very unimportant place in both articles. He had been in the service of Murat while King of Naples, and acted as his aide-de-camp, which post he retained after Murat became engaged in hostilities with Austria, then in alliance with England. Macirone was furnished with a pa.s.sport for _himself_ as envoy of the Allied Powers, and provided with another pa.s.sport for Murat, under the name of Count Lipona, to be used by him in case he abandoned his claim to the throne of Naples. Murat indignantly declined the proposal, and took refuge in Corsica. Yet Macirone delivered to Murat the pa.s.sport. Not only so, but he deliberately misled Captain b.a.s.t.a.r.d, the commander of a small English squadron which had been stationed at Bastia to intercept Murat in the event of his embarking for the purpose of regaining his throne at Naples. Murat embarked, landed in Italy without interruption, and was soon after defeated and taken prisoner. He thereupon endeavoured to use the pa.s.sport which Macirone had given him, to secure his release, but it was too late; he was tried and shot at Pizzo. The reviewer spoke of Colonel Macirone in no very measured terms. "For Murat," he said, "we cannot feel respect, but we feel very considerable pity. Of Mr. Macirone we are tempted to predict that he has little reason to apprehend the honourable mode of death which was inflicted on his master. _His_ vocation seems to be another kind of exit."

Macirone gave notice of an action for damages, and claimed no less than 10,000. Serjeant Copley (afterwards Lord Lyndhurst), then Solicitor-General, and Mr. Gurney, were retained for Mr. Murray by his legal adviser Mr. Sharon Turner.

The case came on, and on the Bench were seated the Duke of Wellington, Lord Liverpool, and other leading statesmen, who had been subpoenaed as witnesses for the defence. One of the Ridgways, publishers, had also been subpoenaed with an accredited copy of Macirone's book; but it was not necessary to produce him as a witness, as Mr. Ball, the counsel for Macirone, _quoted_ pa.s.sages from it, and thus made the entire book available as evidence for the defendant, a proceeding of which Serjeant Copley availed himself with telling effect. He substantiated the facts stated in the _Quarterly_ article by pa.s.sages quoted from Colonel Macirone's own "Memoirs." Before he had concluded his speech, it became obvious that the Jury had arrived at the conclusion to which he wished to lead them; but he went on to drive the conclusion home by a splendid peroration. [Footnote: Given in Sir Theodore Martin's "Life of Lord Lyudhurst," p. 170.] The Jury intimated that they were all agreed; but the Judge, as a matter of precaution, proceeded to charge them on the evidence placed before them; and as soon as he had concluded, the Jury, without retiring from the box, at once returned their verdict for the defendant.

Although Mr. Murray had now a house in the country, he was almost invariably to be found at Albemarle Street. We find, in one of his letters to Blackwood, dated Wimbledon, May 22, 1819, the following: "I have been unwell with bile and rheumatism, and have come to a little place here, which I have bought lately, for a few days to recruit."