The following letter is of especial interest, as fixing the date of an
event which has given rise to much discussion--the birth of Benjamin
Disraeli.

_Mr. Isaac D'Israeli to John Murray_.

_December_ 22, 1804. [Footnote: Mr. D'Israeli was living at this time in
King's Road (now 1, John Street), Bedford Row, in a corner house
overlooking Gray's Inn Gardens.]

MY DEAR SIR,

Mrs. D'Israeli will receive particular gratification from the
interesting note you have sent us on the birth of our boy--when she
shall have read it. In the meanwhile accept my thanks, and my best
compliments to your sister. The mother and infant are both doing well.

Ever yours.

I. D'I.

Some extracts from their correspondence will afford an insight into the
nature of the friendship and business relations which existed between
Isaac D'Israeli and his young publisher as well as into the characters
of the two men themselves.

From a letter dated Brighton, August 5, 1805, from Mr. D'Israeli to John
Murray:

"Your letter is one of the repeated specimens I have seen of your happy
art of giving interest even to commonplace correspondence, and I, who am
so feelingly alive to the 'pains and penalties' of postage, must
acknowledge that such letters, ten times repeated, would please me as
often.

We should have been very happy to see you here, provided it occasioned
no intermission in your more serious occupations, and could have added
to your amusements.

With respect to the projected 'Institute,' [Footnote: This was a work at
one time projected by Mr. Murray, but other more pressing literary
arrangements prevented the scheme being carried into effect.] if that
title be English--doubtless the times are highly favourable to patronize
a work skilfully executed, whose periodical pages would be at once
useful information, and delightful for elegant composition, embellished
by plates, such as have never yet been given, both for their subjects
and their execution. Literature is a perpetual source opened to us; but
the Fine Arts present an unploughed field, and an originality of
character ... But Money, Money must not be spared in respect to rich,
beautiful, and interesting Engravings. On this I have something to
communicate. Encourage Dagley, [Footnote: The engraver of the
frontispiece of "Flim-Flams."] whose busts of Seneca and Scarron are
pleasingly executed; but you will also want artists of name. I have a
friend, extremely attached to literature and the fine arts, a gentleman
of opulent fortune; by what passed with him in conversation, I have
reason to believe that he would be ready to assist by money to a
considerable extent. Would that suit you? How would you arrange with
him? Would you like to divide your work in _Shares_? He is an intimate
friend of West's, and himself too an ingenious writer.

How came you to advertise 'Domestic Anecdotes'? Kearsley printed 1,250
copies. I desire that no notice of the authors of that work may be known
from _your_ side.

       *       *       *       *       *

At this moment I receive your packet of poems, and Shee's letter. I
perceive that he is impressed by your attentions and your ability. It
will always afford me one of my best pleasures to forward your views; I
claim no merit from this, but my discernment in discovering your
talents, which, under the genius of Prudence (the best of all Genii for
human affairs), must inevitably reach the goal. The literary productions
of I.D['Israeli] and others may not augment the profits oВЈ your trade in
any considerable degree; but to get the talents of such writers at your
command is a prime object, and others will follow.

I had various conversations with Phillips [Footnote: Sir Richard
Phillips, bookseller. This is the publisher whose book on philosophy
George Borrow was set to translate into German, and who recommended him
to produce something in the style of "The Dairyman's Daughter"!] here;
he is equally active, but more _wise_. He owns his _belles-lettres_
books have given no great profits; in my opinion he must have lost even
by some. But he makes a fortune by juvenile and useful compilations. You
know I always told you he wanted _literary taste_--like an atheist, who
is usually a disappointed man, he thinks all _belles lettres_ are
nonsense, and denies the existence of _taste_; but it exists! and I
flatter myself you will profit under that divinity. I have much to say
on this subject and on him when we meet.

At length I have got through your poetry: it has been a weary task! The
writer has a good deal of fire, but it is rarely a very bright flame.
Here and there we see it just blaze, and then sink into mediocrity. He
is too redundant and tiresome.... 'Tis a great disadvantage to read them
in MS., as one cannot readily turn to passages; but life is too short to
be peeping into other peoples' MSS. _I prefer your prose to your verse_.
Let me know if you receive it safely, and pray give no notion to any one
that I have seen the MS."


_Mr. D'Israeli to John Murray_.

"It is a most disagreeable office to give opinions on MSS.; one reads
them at a moment when one has other things in one's head--then one is
obliged to fatigue the brain with _thinking_; but if I can occasionally
hinder you from publishing nugatory works, I do not grudge the pains. At
the same time I surely need not add, how very _confidential_ such
communications ought to be."


_Mr. I. D'Israeli to John Murray_.

I am delighted by your apology for not having called on me after I had
taken my leave of you the day before; but you can make an unnecessary
apology as agreeable as any other act of kindness....

You are sanguine in your hope of a good sale of "Curiosities," it will
afford us a mutual gratification; but when you consider it is not a new
work, though considerably improved I confess, and that those kinds of
works cannot boast of so much novelty as they did about ten years ago, I
am somewhat more moderate in my hopes.

What you tell me of F.F. from Symond's, is _new_ to me. I sometimes
throw out in the shop _remote hints_ about the sale of books, all the
while meaning only _mine_; but they have no skill in construing the
timid wishes of a modest author; they are not aware of his suppressed
sighs, nor see the blushes of hope and fear tingling his cheek; they are
provokingly silent, and petrify the imagination....

Believe me, with the truest regard,

Yours ever,

I. D'ISRAELI.

_Mr. D'Israeli to John Murray_. _Saturday, May_ 31, 1806. KING'S ROAD.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

It is my wish to see you for five minutes this day, but as you must be
much engaged, and I am likely to be prevented reaching you this morning,
I shall only trouble you with a line.

Most warmly I must impress on your mind the _necessity_ of taking the
advice of a physician. Who? You know many. We have heard extraordinary
accounts of Dr. Baillie, and that (what is more extraordinary) he is not
mercenary....

I have written this to impress on your mind this point. Seeing you as we
see you, and your friend at a fault, how to decide, and you without some
relative or domestic friend about you, gives Mrs. D'I. and myself very
serious concerns--for you know we do take the warmest interest in your
welfare--and your talents and industry want nothing but health to make
you yet what it has always been one of my most gratifying hopes to
conceive of you.

Yours very affectionately,

I. D'ISRAELI.

A circumstance, not without influence on Murray's future, occurred about
this time with respect to the "Miniature," a volume of comparatively
small importance, consisting of essays written by boys at Eton, and
originally published at Windsor by Charles Knight. Through Dr. Kennell,
Master of the Temple, his friend and neighbour, who lived close at hand,
Murray became acquainted with the younger Kennell, Mr. Stratford
Canning, Gally Knight, the two sons of the Marquis Wellesley, and other
young Etonians, who had originated and conducted this School magazine.
Thirty-four numbers appeared in the course of a year, and were then
brought out in a volume by Mr. Knight at the expense of the authors. The
transaction had involved them in debt. "Whatever chance of success our
hopes may dictate," wrote Stratford Canning, "yet our apprehensions
teach us to tremble at the possibility of additional expenses," and the
sheets lay unsold on the bookseller's hands. Mr. Murray, who was
consulted about the matter, said to Dr. Rennell, "Tell them to send the
unsold sheets to me, and I will pay the debt due to the printer." The
whole of the unsold sheets were sent by the "Windsor Waggon" to Mr.
Murray's at Fleet Street. He made waste-paper of the whole bundle--there
were 6,376 numbers in all,--brought out a new edition of 750 copies,
printed in good type, and neatly bound, and announced to Stratford
Canning that he did this at his own cost and risk, and would make over
to the above Etonians half the profits of the work. The young authors
were highly pleased by this arrangement, and Stratford Canning wrote to
Murray (October 20, 1805): "We cannot sufficiently thank you for your
kind attention to our concerns, and only hope that the success of the
_embryo_ edition may be equal to your care." How great was the
importance of the venture in his eyes may be judged from the naГЇve
allusion with which he proceeds: "It will be a week or two before we
commit it to the press, for amidst our other occupations the business of
the school must not be neglected, and that by itself is no trivial
employment."

By means of this transaction Murray had the sagacity to anticipate an
opportunity of making friends of Canning and Frere, who were never tired
of eulogizing the spirit and enterprise of the young Fleet Street
publisher. Stratford Canning introduced him to his cousin George, the
great minister, whose friendship and support had a very considerable
influence in promoting and establishing his future prosperity. It is
scarcely necessary to add that the new edition of the "Miniature"
speedily became waste paper.




CHAPTER III


MURRAY AND CONSTABLE--HUNTER AND THE FORFARSHIRE LAIRDS--MARRIAGE OF
JOHN MURRAY

The most important publishing firm with which Mr. Murray was connected
at the outset of his career was that of Archibald Constable & Co., of
Edinburgh. This connection had a considerable influence upon Murray's
future fortunes.

Constable, who was about four years older than Murray, was a man of
great ability, full of spirit and enterprise. He was by nature generous,
liberal, and far-seeing. The high prices which he gave for the best kind
of literary work drew the best authors round him, and he raised the
publishing trade of Scotland to a height that it had never before
reached, and made Edinburgh a great centre of learning and literature.

In 1800 he commenced the _Farmer's Magazine_, and in the following year
acquired the property of the _Scots Magazine,_ a venerable repertory of
literary, historical, and antiquarian matter; but it was not until the
establishment of the _Edinburgh Review_, in October 1802, that
Constable's name became a power in the publishing world.

In the year following the first issue of the _Review_, Constable took
into partnership Alexander Gibson Hunter, eldest son of David Hunter, of
Blackness, a Forfarshire laird. The new partner brought a considerable
amount of capital into the firm, at a time when capital was greatly
needed in that growing concern. His duties were to take charge of the
ledger and account department, though he never took much interest in his
work, but preferred to call in the help of a clever arithmetical clerk.

It is unnecessary to speak of the foundation of the _Edinburgh Review_.
It appeared at the right time, and was mainly supported by the talents
of Jeffrey, Brougham, Sydney Smith, Francis Horner, Dr. Thomas Brown,
Lord Murray, and other distinguished writers. The first number
immediately attracted public attention. Mr. Joseph Mawman was the London
agent, but some dissatisfaction having arisen with respect to his
management, the London sale was transferred to the Messrs. Longman, with
one half share in the property of the work.

During the partnership of Murray and Highley, they had occasional
business transactions with Constable of Edinburgh. Shortly after the
partnership was dissolved in March 1803, Murray wrote as follows to Mr.
Constable:

_April_ 25, 1803.

"I have several works in the press which I should be willing to consign
to your management in Edinburgh, but that I presume you have already
sufficient business upon your hands, and that you would not find mine
worth attending to. If so, I wish that you would tell me of some
vigorous young bookseller, like myself, just starting into business,
upon whose probity, punctuality, and exertion you think I might rely,
and I would instantly open a correspondence with him; and in return it
will give me much pleasure to do any civil office for you in London. I
should be happy if any arrangement could be made wherein we might prove
of reciprocal advantage; and were you from your superabundance to pick
me out any work of merit of which you would either make me the publisher
in London, or in which you would allow me to become a partner, I dare
say the occasion would arise wherein I could return the compliment, and
you would have the satisfaction of knowing that your book was in the
hands of one who has not yet so much business as to cause him to neglect
any part of it."

Mr. Constable's answer was favourable. In October 1804 Mr. Murray, at
the instance of Constable, took as his apprentice Charles Hunter, the
younger brother of A. Gibson Hunter, Constable's partner. The
apprenticeship was to be for four or seven years, at the option of
Charles Hunter. These negotiations between the firms, and their
increasing interchange of books, showed that they were gradually drawing
nearer to each other, until their correspondence became quite friendly
and even intimate. Walter Scott was now making his appearance as an
author; Constable had published his "Sir Tristram" in May 1804, and his
"Lay of the Last Minstrel" in January 1805. Large numbers of these works
were forwarded to London and sold by Mr. Murray.

At the end of 1805 differences arose between the Constable and Longman
firms as to the periodical works in which they were interested. The
editor and proprietors of the _Edinburgh Review_ were of opinion that
the interest of the Longmans in two other works of a similar
character--the _Annual Review_ and the _Eclectic_--tended to lessen
their exertions on behalf of the _Edinburgh_. It was a matter that might
easily have been arranged; but the correspondents were men of hot
tempers, and with pens in their hands, they sent stinging letters from
London to Edinburgh, and from Edinburgh to London. Rees, Longman's
partner, was as bitter in words on the one side as Hunter, Constable's
partner, was on the other. At length a deadly breach took place, and it
was resolved in Edinburgh that the publication of the _Edinburgh Review_
should be transferred to John Murray, Fleet Street. Alexander Gibson
Hunter, Constable's partner, wrote to Mr. Murray to tell of the rupture
and to propose a closer alliance with him.

Mr. Murray replied:

_John Murray to Mr. A.G. Hunter.

December 7, 1805_.

"With regard to the important communication of your last letter, I
confess the surprise with which I read it was not without some mixture
of regret. The extensive connections betwixt your house and Longman's
cannot be severed at once without mutual inconvenience, and perhaps
mutual disadvantages, your share of which a more protracted
dismemberment might have prevented. From what I had occasion to observe,
I did not conceive that your concerns together would ever again move
with a cordiality that would render them lasting; but still, I imagined
that mutual interest and forbearance would allow them to subside into
that indifference which, without animosity or mischief, would leave
either party at liberty to enter upon such new arrangements as offered
to their separate advantage. I do not, however, doubt but that all
things have been properly considered, and perhaps finally settled for
the best; but Time, the only arbitrator in these cases, must decide.

"In your proposed engagements with Mr. Davies, you will become better
acquainted with a man of great natural talents, and thoroughly versed in
business, which he regulates by the most honourable principles. As for
myself, you will find me exceedingly assiduous in promoting your views,
into which I shall enter with feelings higher than those of mere
interest. Indeed, linked as our houses are at present, we have a natural
tendency to mutual good understanding, which will both prevent and
soften those asperities in business which might otherwise enlarge into
disagreement. Country orders [referring to Constable & Co.'s 'general
order'] are a branch of business which I have ever totally declined as
incompatible with my more serious plans as a publisher. But _your_
commissions I shall undertake with pleasure, and the punctuality with
which I have attempted to execute _your first order_ you will, I hope,
consider as a specimen of my disposition to give you satisfaction in
every transaction in which we may hereafter be mutually engaged."

It was a great chance for a young man entering life with a moderate
amount of capital, to be virtually offered an intimate connection with
one of the principal publishing houses of the day. It was one of those
chances which, "taken at the flood, lead on to fortune," but there was
also the question of honour, and Mr. Murray, notwithstanding his desire
for opening out a splendid new connection in business, would do nothing
inconsistent with the strictest honour. He was most unwilling to thrust
himself in between Constable and Longman. Instead, therefore, of jumping
at Constable's advantageous offer, his feelings induced him to promote a
reconciliation between the parties; and he continued to enjoin
forbearance on the part of both firms, so that they might carry on their
business transactions as before. Copies of the correspondence between
Constable and the Longmans were submitted to referees (Murray and
Davies), and the following was Mr. Murray's reply, addressed to Messrs.
Constable & Co.:

_John Murray to Messrs. Constable & Co_.

_December_ 14, 1805.

GENTLEMEN,

Mr. Hunter's obliging letter to me arrived this morning. That which he
enclosed with yours to his brother last night, Charles gave me to read.
The contents were very flattering. Indeed, I cannot but agree with Mr.
H. that his brother has displayed very honourable feelings, upon hearing
of the probable separation of your house, and that of Messrs. Longman &
Co. Mr. Longman was the first who mentioned this to him, and indeed from
the manner in which Charles related his conversation upon the affair, I
could not but feel renewed sensations of regret at the unpleasant
termination of a correspondence, which, had it been conducted upon Mr.
Longman's own feelings, would have borne, I think, a very different
aspect. Longman spoke of you both with kindness, and mildly complained
that he had perceived a want of confidence on your part, ever since his
junction with Messrs. Hurst & Orme. He confessed that the correspondence
was too harsh for him to support any longer; but, he added, "_if we must
part, let us part like friends_." I am certain, from what Charles
reported to me, that Mr. L. and I think Mr. R. [Rees] are hurt by this
sudden disunion.

Recollect how serious every dispute becomes upon paper, when a man
writes a thousand asperities merely to show or support his superior
ability. Things that would not have been spoken, or perhaps even thought
of in conversation, are stated and horribly magnified _upon paper_.
Consider how many disputes have arisen in the world, in which both
parties were so violent in what they believed to be the support of
truth, and which to the public, and indeed to themselves a few years
afterwards, appeared unwise, because the occasion or cause of it was not
worth contending about. Consider that you are, all of you, men who can
depend upon each other's probity and honour, and where these essentials
are not wanting, surely in mere matters of business the rest may be
palliated by mutual bearance and forbearance. Besides, you are so
connected by various publications, your common property, and some of
them such as will remain so until the termination of your lives, that
you cannot effect an entire disunion, and must therefore be subject to
eternal vexations and regrets which will embitter every transaction and
settlement between you.

You know, moreover, that it is one of the misfortunes of our nature,
that disputes are always the most bitter in proportion to former
intimacy. And how much dissatisfaction will it occasion if either of you
are desirous in a year or two of renewing that intimacy which you are
now so anxious to dissolve--to say nothing of your relative utility to
each other--a circumstance which is never properly estimated, except
when the want of the means reminds us of what we have been at such pains
to deprive ourselves. Pause, my dear sirs, whilst to choose be yet in
your power; show yourselves superior to common prejudice, and by an
immediate exercise of your acknowledged pre-eminence of intellect,
suffer arrangements to be made for an accommodation and for a renewal of
that connexion which has heretofore been productive of honour and
profit. I am sure I have to apologize for having ventured to say so much
to men so much my superiors in sense and knowledge of the world and
their own interest; but sometimes the meanest bystander may perceive
disadvantages in the movements of the most skilful players.

You will not, I am sure, attribute anything which I have said to an
insensibility to the immediate advantages which will arise to myself
from a determination opposite to that which I have taken the liberty of
suggesting. It arises from a very different feeling. I should be very
little worthy of your great confidence and attention to my interest upon
this occasion, if I did not state freely the result of my humble
consideration of this matter; and having done so, I do assure you that
if the arrangements which you now propose are carried into effect, I
will apply the most arduous attention to your interest, to which I will
turn the channel of my own thoughts and business, which, I am proud to
say, is rising in proportion to the industry and honourable principles
which have been used in its establishment. I am every day adding to a
most respectable circle of literary connexions, and I hope, a few months
after the settlement of your present affairs, to offer shares to you of
works in which you will feel it advantageous to engage. Besides, as I
have at present no particular bias, no enormous works of my own which
would need all my care, I am better qualified to attend to any that you
may commit to my charge; and, being young, my business may be formed
with a disposition, as it were, towards yours; and thus growing up with
it, we are more likely to form a durable connexion than can be expected
with persons whose views are imperceptibly but incessantly diverging
from each other.

Should you be determined--_irrevocably_ determined (but consider!) upon
the disunion with Messrs. Longman, I will just observe that when persons
have been intimate, they have discovered each other's vulnerable points;
it therefore shows no great talent to direct at them shafts of
resentment. It is easy both to write and to say ill-natured, harsh, and
cutting things of each other. But remember that this power is _mutual_,
and in proportion to the poignancy of the wound which you would inflict
will be your own feelings when it is returned. It is therefore a maxim
which I laid down soon after a separation which I _had_, never to say or
do to my late colleague what he could say or do against me in return. I
knew that I had the personal superiority, but what his own ingenuity
could not suggest, others could write for him.

I must apologise again for having been so tedious, but I am sure that
the same friendliness on your part which has produced these hasty but
well-meant expostulations will excuse them. After this, I trust it is
unnecessary for me to state with how much sincerity,

I am, dear sirs,

Your faithful friend,

JOHN MURRAY.

Ten days after this letter was written, Mr. Murray sent a copy of it to
Messrs. Longman & Co., and wrote:

_John Murray to Messrs. Longman & Co_,

_December_ 24, 1805.

GENTLEMEN,

The enclosed letter will show that I am not ignorant that a
misunderstanding prevails betwixt your house and that of Messrs.
Constable & Co. With the cause, however, I am as yet unacquainted;
though I have attempted, but in vain, to obviate a disunion which I most
sincerely regret. Whatever arrangements with regard to myself may take
place in consequence will have arisen from circumstances which it was
not in my power to prevent; and they will not therefore be suffered to
interfere in any way with those friendly dispositions which will
continue, I trust, to obtain between you and, gentlemen,

Your obedient servant,

J. MURRAY.

But the split was not to be avoided. It appears, however, that by the
contract entered into by Constable with Longmans in 1803, the latter had
acquired a legal right precluding the publication of the _Edinburgh
Review_ by another publisher without their express assent. Such assent
was not given, and the London publication of the _Edinburgh_ continued
in Longman's hands for a time; but all the other works of Constable were
at once transferred to Mr. Murray.

Mr. Constable invited Murray to come to Edinburgh to renew their
personal friendship, the foundations of which had been laid during Mr.
Murray's visit to Edinburgh in the previous year; and now that their
union was likely to be much closer, he desired to repeat the visit. Mr.
Murray had another, and, so far as regarded his personal happiness, a
much more important object in view. This arose out of the affection
which he had begun to entertain for Miss Elliot, daughter of the late
Charles Elliot, publisher, with whom Mr. Murray's father had been in
such constant correspondence. The affection was mutual, and it seemed
probable that the attachment would ripen into a marriage.

Now that his reputation as a publisher was becoming established, Mr.
Murray grew more particular as to the guise of the books which he
issued. He employed the best makers of paper, the best printers, and the
best book-binders. He attended to the size and tone of the paper, and
quality of the type, the accuracy of the printing, and the excellence of
the illustrations. All this involved a great deal of correspondence. We
find his letters to the heads of departments full of details as to the
turn-out of his books. Everything, from the beginning to the end of the
issue of a work--the first inspection of the MS., the consultation with
confidential friends as to its fitness for publication, the form in
which it was to appear, the correction of the proofs, the binding,
title, and final advertisement--engaged his closest attention. Besides
the elegant appearance of his books, he also aimed at raising the
standard of the literature which he published. He had to criticize as
well as to select; to make suggestions as to improvements where the
manuscript was regarded with favour, and finally to launch the book at
the right time and under the best possible auspices. It might almost be
said of the publisher, as it is of the poet, that he is born, not made.
And Mr. Murray appears, from the beginning to the end of his career, to
have been a born publisher.

In August 1806, during the slack season in London, Mr. Murray made his
promised visit to Edinburgh. He was warmly received by Constable and
Hunter, and enjoyed their hospitality for some days. After business
matters had been disposed of, he was taken in hand by Hunter, the junior
partner, and led off by him to enjoy the perilous hospitality of the
Forfarshire lairds.

Those have been called the days of heroic drinking. Intemperance
prevailed to an enormous extent. It was a time of greater
licentiousness, perhaps, in all the capitals of Europe, and this
northern one among the rest, than had been known for a long period. Men
of the best education and social position drank like the Scandinavian
barbarians of olden times. Tavern-drinking, now almost unknown among the
educated and professional classes of Edinburgh, was then carried by all
ranks to a dreadful excess.

Murray was conducted by Hunter to his father's house of Eskmount in
Forfarshire, where he was most cordially received, and in accordance
with the custom of the times the hospitality included invitations to
drinking bouts at the neighbouring houses.

An unenviable notoriety in this respect attached to William Maule
(created Baron Panmure 1831). He was the second son of the eighth Earl
of Dalhousie, but on succeeding, through his grandmother, to the estates
of the Earls of Panmure, he had assumed the name of Maule in lieu of
that of Ramsay.

Much against his will, Murray was compelled to take part in some of
these riotous festivities with the rollicking, hard-drinking Forfarshire
lairds, and doubtless he was not sorry to make his escape at length
uninjured, if not unscathed, and to return to more congenial society in
Edinburgh. His attachment to Miss Elliot ended in an engagement.

In the course of his correspondence with Miss Elliot's trustees, Mr.
Murray gave a statement of his actual financial position at the time:

"When I say," he wrote, "that my capital in business amounts to five
thousand pounds, I meant it to be understood that if I quitted business
to-morrow, the whole of my property being sold, even disadvantageously,
it would leave a balance in my favour, free from debt or any
incumbrance, of the sum above specified. But you will observe that,
continuing it as I shall do in business, I know it to be far more
considerable and productive. I will hope that it has not been thought
uncandid in me if I did not earlier specify the amount of my
circumstances, for I considered that I had done this in the most
delicate and satisfactory way when I took the liberty of referring you
to Mr. Constable to whom I consequently disclosed my affairs, and whose
knowledge of my connexions in business might I thought have operated
more pleasingly to Miss Elliot's friends than any communication from
myself."

The correspondence with Miss Elliot went on, and at length it was
arranged that Mr. Murray should proceed to Edinburgh for the marriage.
He went by mail in the month of February. A tremendous snowstorm set in
on his journey north. From a village near Doncaster he wrote to
Constable: "The horses were twice blown quite round, unable to face the
horrid blast of cold wind, the like of which I have never known before.
There was at the same time a terrible fall of snow, which completely
obscured everything that could be seen from the coach window. The snow
became of great depth, and six strong horses could scarcely pull us
through. We are four hours behind time." From Doncaster he went to
Durham in a postchaise; and pushing onward, he at last reached Edinburgh
after six days' stormy travelling.

While at Edinburgh, Mr. Murray resided with Mr. Sands, one of the late
Charles Elliot's trustees. The marriage took place on March 6, 1807, and
the newly married pair at once started for Kelso, in spite of the roads
being still very bad, and obstructed by snow. Near Blackshields the
horses fell down and rolled over and over. The postboy's leg was broken,
and the carriage was sadly damaged. A neighbouring blacksmith was called
to the rescue, and after an hour and a half the carriage was
sufficiently repaired to be able to proceed. A fresh pair of horses was
obtained at the next stage, and the married couple reached Kelso in
safety. They remained there a few days, waiting for Mrs. Elliot, who
was to follow them; and on her arrival, they set out at once for the
south.

The intimacy which existed between Mr. Murray and Mr. D'Israeli will be
observed from the fact that the latter was selected as one of the
marriage trustees. A few days after the arrival of the married pair in
London, they were invited to dine with Mr. D'Israeli and his friends.
Mr. Alexander Hunter, whom Mr. Murray had invited to stay with him
during his visit to London, thus describes the event:

"Dressed, and went along with the Clan Murray to dine at Mr.
D'Israeli's, where we had a most sumptuous banquet, and a very large
party, in honour of the newly married folks. There was a very beautiful
woman there, Mrs. Turner, wife of Sharon Turner, the Anglo-Saxon
historian, who, I am told, was one of the Godwin school! If they be all
as beautiful, accomplished, and agreeable as this lady, they must be a
deuced dangerous set indeed, and I should not choose to trust myself
amongst them.

"Our male part of the company consisted mostly of literary
men--Cumberland, Turner, D'Israeli, Basevi, Prince Hoare, and Cervetto,
the truly celebrated violoncello player. Turner was the most able and
agreeable of the whole by far; Cumberland, the most talkative and
eccentric perhaps, has a good sprinkling of learning and humour in his
conversation and anecdote, from having lived so long amongst the eminent
men of his day, such as Johnson, Foote, Garrick, and such like. But his
conversation is sadly disgusting, from his tone of irony and detraction
conveyed in a cunning sort of way and directed constantly against the
_Edinburgh Review_, Walter Scott (who is a 'poor ignorant boy, and no
poet,' and never wrote a five-feet line in his life), and such other
d----d stuff."




CHAPTER IV

"MARMION"--CONSTABLES AND BALLANTYNES--THE "EDINBURGH REVIEW"


Mr. Murray was twenty-nine years old at the time of his marriage. That
he was full of contentment as well as hope at this time may be inferred
from his letter to Constable three weeks after his marriage:

_John Murray to Mr. Constable_.

_March 27, 1807_.

"I declare to you that I am every day more content with my lot. Neither
my wife nor I have any disposition for company or going out; and you may
rest assured that I shall devote all my attention to business, and that
your concerns will not be less the object of my regard merely because
you have raised mine so high. Every moment, my dear Constable, I feel
more grateful to you, and I trust that you will over find me your
faithful friend.--J.M."

Some of the most important events in Murray's career occurred during the
first year of his married life. Chief among them may perhaps be
mentioned his part share in the publication of "Marmion" (in February
1808)--which brought him into intimate connection with Walter Scott--and
his appointment for a time as publisher in London of the _Edinburgh
Review_; for he was thus brought into direct personal contact with those
forces which ultimately led to the chief literary enterprise of his
life--the publication of the _Quarterly Review_.

Mr. Scott called upon Mr. Murray in London shortly after the return of
the latter from his marriage in Edinburgh.

"Mr. Scott called upon me on Tuesday, and we conversed for an hour....
He appears very anxious that 'Marmion' should be published by the
King's birthday.... He said he wished it to be ready by that time for
very particular reasons; and yet he allows that the poem is not
completed, and that he is yet undetermined if he shall make his hero
happy or otherwise."

The other important event, to which allusion has been made, was the
transfer to Mr. Murray of part of the London agency for the _Edinburgh
Review_. At the beginning of 1806 Murray sold 1,000 copies of the
_Review_ on the day of its publication, and the circulation was steadily
increasing. Constable proposed to transfer the entire London publication
to Murray, but the Longmans protested, under the terms of their existing
agreement. In April 1807 they employed as their attorney Mr. Sharon
Turner, one of Murray's staunchest allies. Turner informed him, through
a common friend, of his having been retained by the Longmans; but Murray
said he could not in any way "feel hurt at so proper and indispensable a
pursuit of his profession." The opinion of counsel was in favour of the
Messrs. Longman's contention, and of their "undisputable rights to
one-half of the _Edinburgh Review_ so long as it continues to be
published under that title."

Longman & Co. accordingly obtained an injunction to prevent the
publication of the _Edinburgh Review_ by any other publisher in London
without their express consent.

Matters were brought to a crisis by the following letter, written by the
editor, Mr. Francis Jeffrey, to Messrs. Constable & Co.:

_June 1_, 1807.

GENTLEMEN,

I believe you understand already that neither I nor any of the original
and regular writers in the _Review_ will ever contribute a syllable to a
work belonging to booksellers. It is proper, however, to announce this
to you distinctly, that you may have no fear of hardship or
disappointment in the event of Mr. Longman succeeding in his claim to
the property of this work. If that claim be not speedily rejected or
abandoned, it is our fixed resolution to withdraw entirely from the
_Edinburgh Review_; to publish to all the world that the conductor and
writers of the former numbers have no sort of connection with those that
may afterwards appear; and probably to give notice of our intention to
establish a new work of a similar nature under a different title.

I have the honour to be, gentlemen,

Your very obedient servant,

F. JEFFREY.

A copy of this letter was at once forwarded to Messrs. Longman.
Constable, in his communication accompanying it, assured the publishers
that, in the event of the editor and contributors to the _Edinburgh
Review_ withdrawing from the publication and establishing a new
periodical, the existing _Review_ would soon be of no value either to
proprietors or publishers, and requested to be informed whether they
would not be disposed to transfer their interest in the property, and,
if so, on what considerations. Constable added: "We are apprehensive
that the editors will not postpone for many days longer that public
notification of their secession, which we cannot help anticipating as
the death-blow of the publication."

Jeffrey's decision seems to have settled the matter. Messrs. Longman
agreed to accept ВЈ1,000 for their claim of property in the title and
future publication of the _Edinburgh Review_. The injunction was
removed, and the London publication of the _Review_ was forthwith
transferred to John Murray, 32, Fleet Street, under whose auspices No.
22 accordingly appeared.

Thus far all had gone on smoothly. But a little cloud, at first no
bigger than a man's hand, made its appearance, and it grew and grew
until it threw a dark shadow over the friendship of Constable and
Murray, and eventually led to their complete separation. This was the
system of persistent drawing of accommodation bills, renewals of bills,
and promissory notes. Constable began to draw heavily upon Murray in
April 1807, and the promissory notes went on accumulating until they
constituted a mighty mass of paper money. Murray's banker cautioned him
against the practice. But repeated expostulation was of no use against
the impetuous needs of Constable & Co. Only two months after the
transfer of the publication of the _Review_ to Mr. Murray, we find him
writing to "Dear Constable" as follows:

_John Murray to Mr. Archd. Constable_.

_October 1, 1807_.

"I should not have allowed myself time to write to you to-day, were not
the occasion very urgent. Your people have so often of late omitted to
give you timely notice of the day when my acceptances fell due, that I
have suffered an inconvenience too great for me to have expressed to
you, had it not occurred so often that it is impossible for me to
undergo the anxiety which it occasions. A bill of yours for ВЈ200 was due
yesterday, and I have been obliged to supply the means for paying it,
without any notice for preparation.... I beg of you to insist upon this
being regulated, as I am sure you must desire it to be, so that I may
receive the cash for your bills two days at least before they are due."

Mr. Murray then gives a list of debts of his own (including some of
Constable's) amounting to ВЈ1,073, which he has to pay in the following
week. From a cash account made out by Mr. Murray on October 3, it
appears that the bill transactions with Constable had become enormous;
they amounted to not less than ВЈ10,000.

The correspondence continued in the same strain, and it soon became
evident that this state of things could not be allowed to continue.
Reconciliations took place from time to time, but interruptions again
occurred, mostly arising from the same source--a perpetual flood of
bills and promissory notes, from one side and the other--until Murray
found it necessary to put an end to it peremptorily. Towards the end of
1808 Messrs. Constable established at No. 10 Ludgate Street a London
house for the sale of the _Edinburgh Review_, and the other works in
which they were concerned, under the title of Constable, Hunter, Park &
Hunter. This, doubtless, tended to widen the breach between Constable
and Murray, though it left the latter free to enter into arrangements
for establishing a Review of his own, an object which he had already
contemplated.

There were many books in which the two houses had a joint interest, and,
therefore, their relations could not be altogether discontinued.
"Marmion" was coming out in successive editions; but the correspondence
between the publishers grew cooler and cooler, and Constable had
constant need to delay payments and renew bills.

Mr. Murray had also considerable bill transactions with Ballantyne & Co.
of Edinburgh. James and John Ballantyne had been schoolfellows of Walter
Scott at Kelso, and the acquaintance there formed was afterwards
renewed. James Ballantyne established the _Kelso Mail_ in 1796, but at
the recommendation of Scott, for whom he had printed a collection of
ballads, he removed to Edinburgh in 1802. There he printed the "Border
Minstrelsy," for Scott, who assisted him with money. Ballantyne was in
frequent and intimate correspondence with Murray from the year 1806, and
had printed for him Hogg's "Ettrick Shepherd," and other works.

It was at this time that Scott committed the great error of his life.
His professional income was about ВЈ1,000 a year, and with the profits of
his works he might have built Abbotsford and lived in comfort and
luxury. But in 1805 he sacrificed everything by entering into
partnership with James Ballantyne, and embarking in his printing concern
almost the whole of the capital which he possessed. He was bound to the
firm for twenty years, and during that time he produced his greatest
works. It is true that but for the difficulties in which he was latterly
immersed, we might never have known the noble courage with which he met
and rose superior to misfortune.

In 1808 a scheme of great magnitude was under contemplation by Murray
and the Ballantynes. It was a uniform edition of the "British
Novelists," beginning with De Foe, and ending with the novelists at the
close of last century; with biographical prefaces and illustrative notes
by Walter Scott. A list of the novels, written in the hand of John
Murray, includes thirty-six British, besides eighteen foreign authors.
The collection could not have been completed in less than two hundred
volumes. The scheme, if it did not originate with Walter Scott, had at
least his cordial support.

Mr. Murray not unreasonably feared the cost of carrying such an
undertaking to completion. It could not have amounted to less than
twenty thousand pounds. Yet the Ballantynes urged him on. They furnished
statements of the cost of printing and paper for each volume. "It really
strikes me," said James Ballantyne, "the more I think of and examine it,
to be the happiest speculation that has ever been thought of."

This undertaking eventually fell through. Only the works of De Foe were
printed by the Messrs. Ballantyne, and published by Mr. Murray. The
attention of the latter became absorbed by a subject of much greater
importance to him--the establishment of the _Quarterly Review_. This for
a time threw most of his other schemes into the shade.




CHAPTER V

ORIGIN OF THE "QUARTERLY REVIEW"


The publication of a Tory Review was not the result of a sudden
inspiration. The scheme had long been pondered over. Mr. Canning had
impressed upon Mr. Pitt the importance of securing the newspaper press,
then almost entirely Whiggish or Revolutionary, on the side of his
administration. To combat, in some measure, the democratic principles
then in full swing, Mr. Canning, with others, started, in November 1797,
the _Anti-Jacobin, or Weekly Examiner_.

The _Anti-Jacobin_ ceased to be published in 1798, when Canning, having
been appointed Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, found his
time fully occupied by the business of his department, as well as by his
parliamentary duties, and could no longer take part in that clever
publication.

Four years later, in October 1802, the first number of the _Edinburgh
Review_ was published. It appeared at the right time, and, as the first
quarterly organ of the higher criticism, evidently hit the mark at which
it aimed. It was conducted by some of the cleverest literary young men
in Edinburgh--Jeffrey, Brougham, Sydney Smith, Francis Horner, Dr.
Thomas Brown, and others. Though Walter Scott was not a founder of the
_Review_, he was a frequent contributor.

In its early days the criticism was rude, and wanting in delicate
insight; for the most part too dictatorial, and often unfair. Thus
Jeffrey could never appreciate the merits of Wordsworth, Southey, and
Coleridge. "This will never do!" was the commencement of his review of
Wordsworth's noblest poem. Jeffrey boasted that he had "crushed the
'Excursion.'" "He might as well say," observed Southey, "that he could
crush Skiddaw." Ignorance also seems to have pervaded the article
written by Brougham, in the second number of the _Edinburgh_, on Dr.
Thomas Young's discovery of the true principles of interferences in the
undulatory theory of light. Sir John Herschell, a more competent
authority, said of Young's discovery, that it was sufficient of itself
to have placed its author in the highest rank of scientific immortality.

The situation seemed to Mr. Murray to warrant the following letter:

_John Murray to the Right Hon. George Canning_.

_September 25, 1807._

Sir,

I venture to address you upon a subject that is not, perhaps,
undeserving of one moment of your attention. There is a work entitled
the _Edinburgh Review_, written with such unquestionable talent that it
has already attained an extent of circulation not equalled by any
similar publication. The principles of this work are, however, so
radically bad that I have been led to consider the effect that such
sentiments, so generally diffused, are likely to produce, and to think
that some means equally popular ought to be adopted to counteract their
dangerous tendency. But the publication in question is conducted with so
much ability, and is sanctioned with such high and decisive authority by
the party of whose opinions it is the organ, that there is little hope
of producing against it any effectual opposition, unless it arise from
you, Sir, and your friends. Should you, Sir, think the idea worthy of
encouragement, I should, with equal pride and willingness, engage my
arduous exertions to promote its success; but as my object is nothing
short of producing a work of the greatest talent and importance, I shall
entertain it no longer if it be not so fortunate as to obtain the high
patronage which I have thus taken the liberty to solicit.

Permit me, Sir, to add that the person who addresses you is no
adventurer, but a man of some property, and inheriting a business that
has been established for nearly a century. I therefore trust that my
application will be attributed to its proper motives, and that your
goodness will at least pardon its obtrusion.

I have the honour to be, Sir, Your must humble and obedient Servant,

John Murray.

So far as can be ascertained, Mr. Canning did not answer this letter in
writing. But a communication was shortly after opened with him through
Mr. Stratford Canning, whose acquaintance Mr. Murray had made through
the publication of the "Miniature," referred to in a preceding chapter.
Mr. Canning was still acting as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs,
and was necessarily cautious, but Mr. Stratford Canning, his cousin, was
not bound by any such official restraints. In January 1808 he introduced
Mr. Gifford to Mr. Murray, and the starting of the proposed new
periodical was the subject of many consultations between them.

Walter Scott still continued to write for the _Edinburgh_,
notwithstanding the differences of opinion which existed between himself
and the editor as to political questions. He was rather proud of the
_Review_, inasmuch as it was an outgrowth of Scottish literature. Scott
even endeavoured to enlist new contributors, for the purpose of
strengthening the _Review_. He wrote to Robert Southey in 1807, inviting
him to contribute to the _Edinburgh_. The honorarium was to be ten
guineas per sheet of sixteen pages. This was a very tempting invitation
to Southey, as he was by no means rich at the time, and the pay was more
than he received for his contributions to the _Annual Register_, but he
replied to Scott as follows:

_Mr. Southey to Mr. Scott_.

_December, 1807_.

"I have scarcely one opinion in common with it [the _Edinburgh Review_]
upon any subject.... Whatever of any merit I might insert there would
aid and abet opinions hostile to my own, and thus identify me with a
system which I thoroughly disapprove. This is not said hastily. The
emolument to be derived from writing at ten guineas a sheet, Scotch
measure, instead of seven pounds for the _Annual_, would be
considerable; the pecuniary advantage resulting from the different
manner in which my future works would be handled [by the _Review_]
probably still more so. But my moral feelings must not be compromised.
To Jeffrey as an individual I shall ever be ready to show every kind of
individual courtesy; but of Judge Jeffrey of the _Edinburgh Review_ I
must ever think and speak as of a bad politician, a worse moralist, and
a critic, in matters of taste, equally incompetent and unjust."
[Footnote: "The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey," iii. pp.
124-5.] Walter Scott, before long, was led to entertain the same opinion
of the _Edinburgh Review_ as Southey. A severe and unjust review of
"Marmion," by Jeffrey, appeared in 1808, accusing Scott of a mercenary
spirit in writing for money (though Jeffrey himself was writing for
money in the same article), and further irritating Scott by asserting
that he "had neglected Scottish feelings and Scottish characters."
"Constable," writes Scott to his brother Thomas, in November 1808, "or
rather that Bear, his partner [Mr. Hunter], has behaved by me of late
not very civilly, and I owe Jeffrey a flap with a foxtail on account of
his review of 'Marmion,' and thus doth the whirligig of time bring about
my revenges."