LORD BYRON and his TIMES
Documents Biography Criticism
Memoir of John Murray
Walter Scott to John Murray, 23 March 1818
INTRODUCTION & INDEXES
Vol. 1 Contents
Chap. XX.
Chap. XXI.
Chap. XXII.
Chap. XXIII.
Chap. XXVI.
Chap. XXVII.
Chap. XXVIII.
Chap. XXIX.
Chap. XXX.
Chap. XXXII.
Chap. XXXIII.
Chap. XXXIV.
Chap. XXXV.
Chap. XXXVI.
Chap. XXXVII.
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
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Abbotsford, March 23rd, 1818.
Dear Murray,
"Grieve not for me, my dearest dear,
I am not dead; but sleepeth here."
I have little to plead for myself, but the old and vile apologies of laziness and indisposition. I think I have been so unlucky of late as to have always the will to work when sitting at the desk hurts me, and the irresistible propensity to be lazy, when I might, like the man whom Hogarth introduces into Bridewell with his hands strapped up against the wall, "better work than stand thus." I laid Kirkton aside when half finished, from a desire to get the original edition of the 'Lives of Cameron,' &c., by Patrick Walker, which I had not seen since a boy, and now I have got it, and find, as I suspected, that some curious morceaux have been cut out by subsequent editors. I will, without loss of time, finish the article, and think you will like it. Blackwood kidnapped an article for his Magazine on the Frankenstein story, which I intended for you. A very old friend and school companion of mine, and a gallant soldier, Sir Howard Douglas, has asked me to review his work on 'Military Bridges.' I must get a friend's assistance for the scientific part, and add some Balaam of mine own (as printers' devils say) to make up four or five pages. I have no objection to attempt 'Lord Orford,' if I have time, and find that I can do it with ease. Though far from admiring his character, I have always had a high opinion of his talents, and am well acquainted with his works. The letters you have published are, I think, his very best—lively, entertaining, and unaffected. I am greatly obliged to you for these, and other literary treasures, which I owe to your goodness from time to time. Although not thankfully acknowledged as they should be in course, these things are never thanklessly received. I could have sworn
* A considerable part but not the whole of this letter is published in Lockhart's 'Life of Scott.'
10 MEMOIRS OF JOHN MURRAY
that 'Beppo' was founded on 'Whistlecraft,' as both were on 'Anthony Hall,' who, like 'Beppo,' had more wit than grace. I am not, however, in spirits at present for treating either of these worthies, or my friend Rose, though few have warmer wishes for any of the trio. But this confounded changeable weather has twice brought back my cramp in the stomach. Attacks, however, are not at all of the formidable description they were at first, still they only give way to laudanum, a medicine which disagrees with me particularly. We have had snow and frost alternately, and I have so much the habits of robust health that I am too apt to run after my workpeople in all weathers, but I suppose time and pain will make me wiser at last.
I do not know anything about Mr. Ballantyne's arrangements with Constable. I only understand generally that he had some unexpected difficulties in settling with Blackwood; and doing the best he can for an author who does not act for himself, I suppose he has tried to mend his market elsewhere. I have no reason to think my interference en the occasion could be of service in the way you mention.
The newspapers have been croaking, I hope inaccurately, respecting Lady Byron's health. I should like much to know how she is. Adieu. My next shall be with a packet.
Walter Scott.
P.S.—Direct to Edinburgh if anything occurs. How do you stand with 'Paul's Letters'? The other publishers are, I believe, out. I do not, however, mean to press a new edition unless I should go abroad again. Remember me kindly to Gifford.
James Ballantyne (1772-1833) Edinburgh printer in partnership with his younger brother John; the company failed in the financial collapse of 1826.
William Blackwood (1776-1834) Edinburgh bookseller; he began business 1804 and for a time was John Murray's Scottish agent. He launched Blackwood's Magazine in 1817.
Anne Isabella Noel Byron [née Milbanke] [Annabella] (1792-1860) The only child of Sir Ralph Milbanke; married Byron in 1815, separating shortly after the birth of their daughter Ada in January 1816.
Sir Howard Douglas, third baronet (1776-1861) Major general and governor of New Brunswick in Canada (1823-28) he published several works on military topics.
William Gifford (1756-1826) Poet, scholar, and editor who began as a shoemaker's apprentice; after Oxford he published The Baviad (1794), The Maeviad (1795), and The Satires of Juvenal translated (1802) before becoming the founding editor of the Quarterly Review (1809-24).
William Hogarth (1697-1764) English satirical painter whose works include The Harlot's Progress, The Rake's Progress, and Marriage à la Mode.
John Gibson Lockhart (1794-1854) Editor of the Quarterly Review (1825-1853); son-in-law of Walter Scott and author of the Life of Scott 5 vols (1838).
John Murray II (1778-1843) The second John Murray began the Quarterly Review in 1809 and published works by Scott, Byron, Austen, Crabbe, and other literary notables.
William Stewart Rose (1775-1843) Second son of George Rose, treasurer of the navy (1744-1818); he introduced Byron to Frere's Whistlecraft poems and translated Casti's Animale parlante (1819).
Sir Walter Scott, baronet (1771-1832) Scottish poet, novelist, antiquary, biographer, editor, and sheriff.
Patrick Walker (1666 c.-1745 c.) Scottish pedlar and biographer; he was of the Cameronian sect.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. (1817-1980). Begun as the Edinburgh Monthly Magazine, Blackwood's assumed the name of its proprietor, William Blackwood after the sixth number. Blackwood was the nominal editor until 1834.
George Gordon Byron, sixth Baron Byron (1788-1824) Beppo a Venetian Story. (London: Murray, 1818). A comic Venetian story in the ottava rima Byron adopted after reading Frere's Whistlecraft poems.
John Hookham Frere (1769-1846) Prospectus and Specimen of an intended National Work, by William and Robert Whistlecraft. 2 vols (London: Murray, 1817-1818). Given its impossible title, Frere's ottava-rima burlesque is sometimes referred to, more conveniently, as "The Monks and the Giants."
John Gibson Lockhart (1794-1854) Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, bart.. 7 vols (Edinburgh: R. Cadell, 1837-38).
Sir Walter Scott, baronet (1771-1832) Paul's Letters to his Kinsfolk. (Edinburgh: A. Constable, 1816). The letters describe Walter Scott's journey to Waterloo in 1815.
Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe (1781-1851) The Secret and True History of the Church of Scotland, from the Restoration to the year 1678. By James Kirkton. To which is added, An Account of the Murder of Archbishop Sharp, by James Russell. (Edinburgh: John Ballantyne, 1817). Edited by the arch-Tory antiquary, Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley [née Godwin] (1797-1851) Frankenstein, or, the Modern Prometheus. (London: Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mayor & Jones, 1818). Conceived in Switzerland, where the Shelleys were visiting with Byron.
Horace Walpole, fourth earl of Orford (1717-1797) Letters from the Hon. Horace Walpole to George Montagu, esq., from the Year 1736 to the year 1770. (London: Rodwell and Martin, and H. Colburn, 1818).
INFORMATION FROM TEI HEADER
Source Description:
Author: Smiles, Samuel, 1812-1904
Title: Memoir of John Murray 2 Vols (London: John Murray, 1891).
Electronic Edition:
Series: Lord Byron and his Times: http://lordbyron.org
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