A Publisher And His Friends (Fiscle Part-4), Samuel Smiles [good beach reads txt] 📗

Ms. When He Had Scarcely

Reached His Eighteenth Year.

 

 

 

_Mr. Benjamin Disraeli To John Murray_. _August_ 1822.

 

 

 

Dear Sir,

 

 

 

I Ran My Eye Over Three Acts Of "Wallace," [Footnote: "Wallace: A

Historical Tragedy," In Five Acts, Was Published In 1820. Joanna Baillie

Spoke Of The Author, C.E. Walker, As "A Very Young And Promising

Dramatist."] And, As Far As I Could Form An Opinion, I Cannot Conceive

These Acts To Be As Effective On The Stage As You Seemed To Expect.

However, It Is Impossible To Say What A Very Clever Actor Like Macready

May Make Of Some Of The Passages. Notwithstanding The Many Erasures The

Diction Is Still Diffuse, And Sometimes Languishing, Though Not

Inelegant. I Cannot Imagine It A Powerful Work As Far As I Have Read.

But, Indeed, Running Over A Part Of A Thing With People Talking Around

Is Too Unfair. I Shall Be Anxious To Hear How It Succeeds. Many Thanks,

Dear Sir, For Lending It To Me. Your Note Arrives. If On So Slight A

Knowledge Of The Play I Could Venture To Erase Either Of The Words You

Set Before Me, I Fear It Would Be _Yes_, But I Feel Cruel And Wicked In

Saying So. I Hope You Got Your Dinner In Comfort When You Got Rid Of Me

And That Gentle Pyramid [Belzoni].

 

 

 

Yours Truly,

 

 

 

B.D.

 

 

 

Mr. Southey Was An Indefatigable And Elaborate Correspondent, And, As

His Letters Have Already Been Published, It Is Not Necessary To Quote

Them. He Rarely Wrote To Mr. Gifford, Who Cut Down His Articles, And, As

Southey Insisted, Generally Emasculated Them By Omitting The Best

Portions. Two Extracts May Be Given From Those Written To Mr. Murray In

1820, Which Do Not Seem Yet To Have Been Given To The World, The First

In Reference To A Proposed Life Of Warren Hastings:

 

Chapter 21 (Memoirs Of Lady Hervey And Horace Walpole--Belzoni--Milman--Southey --Mrs. Rundell, Etc.) Pg 40

 

 

"It Appears To Me That The Proper Plan Will Be To Publish A Selection

From Warren Hastings's Papers And Correspondence, Accompanying It With

His Life. That Life Requires A Compendious View Of Our Indian History

Down To The Time Of His Administration, And In Its Progress It Embraces

The Preservation Of Our Indian Empire And The Establishment Of The

Existing System. Something Must Be Interwoven Concerning The History Of

The Native Powers, Mahomedan, Moor, Mahratta, Etc., And Their

Institutions. I See How All This Is To Be Introduced, And See Also That

No Subject Can Afford Materials More Important Or More Various. And What

A Pleasure It Will Be To Read The Triumph Of Such A Man As Hastings Over

The Tremendous Combination Of His Persecutors At Home! I Had A Noble

Catastrophe In Writing The Life Of Nelson, But The Latter Days Of

Hastings Afford A Scene More Touching, And Perhaps More Sublime, Because

It Is More Uncommon. Let Me Have The Works Of Orme And Bruce And Mill,

And I Will Set Apart A Portion Of Every Day To The Course Of Reading,

And Begin My Notes Accordingly."

 

 

 

The Second Touches On His Perennial Grievance Against Gifford:

 

 

 

"You Will Really Serve As Well As Oblige Me, If You Will Let Me Have A

Duplicate Set Of Proofs Of My Articles, That I May Not _Lose_ The

Passages Which Mr. Gifford, In Spite Of Repeated Promises, Always Will

Strike Out. In The Last Paper, Among Many Other Mutilations, The Most

Useful _Fact_ In The Essay, For Its Immediate Practical Application, Has

Been Omitted, And For No Imaginable Reason (The Historical Fact That It

Was The Reading A Calumnious Libel Which Induced Felton To Murder The

Duke Of Buckingham). When Next I Touch Upon Public Affairs For You, I

Will Break The Whigs Upon The Wheel."

 

 

 

Mrs. Graham, Afterwards Lady Callcott, Then The Wife Of Captain Graham,

R.N., An Authoress And Friend Of The Murray Family, Wrote To Introduce

Mr. (Afterwards Sir) Charles Eastlake, Who Had Translated Baron

Bartholdy's "Memoirs Of The Carbonari."

 

 

 

 

_Mrs. Graham To John Murray_.

 

 

 

_February_ 24, 1821.

 

 

 

All Great Men Have To Pay The Penalty Of Their Greatness, And You,

Chapter 21 (Memoirs Of Lady Hervey And Horace Walpole--Belzoni--Milman--Southey --Mrs. Rundell, Etc.) Pg 41

Arch-Bookseller_ As You Are, Must Now And Then Be Entreated To Do Many

Things You Only Half Like To Do. I Shall Half Break My Heart If You And

Bartholdy Do Not Agree.

 

 

 

       

 

 

 

Now, Whether You Publish "The Carbonari" Or Not, I Bespeak Your

Acquaintance For The Translator, Mr. Eastlake. I Want Him To See The

Sort Of Thing That One Only Sees In Your House, At Your Morning

_Levees_--The Traffic Of Mind And Literature, If I May Call It So. To A

Man Who Has Lived Most Of His Grown-Up Life Out Of England, It Is Both

Curious And Instructive, And I Wish For This Advantage For My Friend.

And In Return For What I Want You To Benefit Him, By Giving Him The

_Entree_ To Your Rooms, I Promise You Great Pleasure In Having A

Gentleman Of As Much Modesty As Real Accomplishment, And Whose Taste And

Talents As An Artist Must One Day Place Him Very High Among Our Native

Geniuses. You And Mrs. Murray Would, I Am Sure, Love Him As Much As

Captain Graham And I Do. We Met Him At Malta On His Return From Athens,

Where He Had Been With Lord Ruthven's Party. Thence He Went To Sicily

With Lord Leven. In Rome, We Lived In The Same House. He Was With Us At

Poli, And Last Summer At Ascoli With Lady Westmoreland. I Have Told Him

That, When He Goes To London, He Must Show You Two Beautiful Pictures He

Has Done For Lord Guilford, Views Taken In Greece. You Will See That His

Pictures And Lord Byron's Poetry Tell The Same Story Of The "Land Of The

Unforgotten Brave." I Envy You Your Morning Visitors. I Am Really Hungry

For A New Book. If You Are So Good As To Send Me Any _Provision Fresh

From Murray's Shambles_, As Mr. Rose Says, Address It To Me, Care Of Wm.

Eastlake, Esq., Plymouth. Love To Mrs. Murray And Children.

 

 

 

Yours Very Gratefully And Truly,

 

 

 

Maria Graham.

 

 

 

P.S.--If Graham Has A Ship Given Him At The Time, And At The Station

Promised, I Shall Be Obliged To Visit London Towards The End Of March Or

The Beginning Of April.

 

 

 

 

Mr. Murray Accepted And Published The Book.

 

 

 

Chapter 21 (Memoirs Of Lady Hervey And Horace Walpole--Belzoni--Milman--Southey --Mrs. Rundell, Etc.) Pg 42

Lord Byron's Works Continued To Be In Great Demand At Home, And Were

Soon Pounced Upon By The Pirates In America And France. The Americans

Were Beyond Murray's Reach, But The French Were, To A Certain Extent, In

His Power. Galignani, The Paris Publisher, Wrote To Lord Byron,

Requesting The Assignment To Him Of The Right Of Publishing His Poetry

In France. Byron Replied That His Poems Belonged To Mr. Murray, And Were

His "Property By Purchase, Right, And Justice," And Referred Galignani

To Him, "Washing His Hands Of The Business Altogether." M. Galignani

Then Applied To Mr. Murray, Who Sent Him The Following Answer:

 

 

 

 

_John Murray To M. Galignani_.

 

 

 

_January_ 16, 1821.

 

 

 

Sir,

 

 

 

I Have Received Your Letter Requesting Me To Assign To You Exclusively

The Right Of Printing Lord Byron's Works In France. In Answer I Shall

State What You Do Not Seem To Be Aware Of, That For The Copyright Of

These Works You Are Printing For Nothing, I Have Given The Author

Upwards Of L10,000. Lord Byron Has Sent Me The Assignment, Regularly

Made, And Dated April 20, 1818; And If You Will Send Me L250 I Will Make

It Over To You. I Have Just Received A Tragedy By Lord Byron, For The

Copyright Of Which I Have Paid L1,050, And Also Three New Cantos Of "Don

Juan," For Which I Have Paid L2,100. What Can You Afford To Give Me For

The Exclusive Right Of Printing Them In France Upon Condition That You

Receive Them Before Any Other Bookseller? Your Early Reply Will Oblige.

 

 

 

Your Obedient Servant,

 

 

 

J. Murray.

 

 

 

M. Galignani Then Informed Mr. Murray That A Pirated Edition Of Lord

Byron's Works Had Been Issued By Another Publisher, And Was Being Sold

For 10 Francs; And That, If He Would Assign Him The New Tragedy And The

New Cantos Of "Don Juan," He Would Pay Him L100, And Be At The Expense

Of The Prosecution Of The Surreptitious Publisher. But Nothing Was Said

About The Payment Of L250 For The Issue Of Lord Byron's Previous Work.

 

Chapter 21 (Memoirs Of Lady Hervey And Horace Walpole--Belzoni--Milman--Southey --Mrs. Rundell, Etc.) Pg 43

 

 

Towards The End Of 1821 Mr. Murray Received A Letter From Messrs.

Longman & Co., Intimating, In A Friendly Way, "You Will See In A Day Or

Two, In The Newspapers, An Advertisement Of Mrs. Rundell's Improved

Edition Of Her 'Cookery Book,' Which She Has Placed In Our Hands For

Publication." Now, The "Domestic Cookery," As Enlarged And Improved By

Mr. Murray, Was Practically A New Work, And One Of His Best Properties.

When He Heard Of Mrs. Rundell's Intention To Bring Out Her Cookery Book

Through The Longmans, He Consulted His Legal Adviser, Mr. Sharon Turner,

Who Recommended That An Injunction Should At Once Be Taken Out To

Restrain The Publication, And Retained Mr. Littledale And Mr. Serjeant

Copley For Mr. Murray. The Injunction Was Duly Granted.

 

 

 

After Some Controversy And Litigation The Matter Was Arranged. Mr.

Murray Voluntarily Agreed To Pay To Mrs. Rundell L2,000, In Full Of All

Claims, And Her Costs And Expenses. The Messrs. Longman Delivered To Mr.

Murray The Stereotype Plates Of The Cookery Book, And Stopped All

Further Advertisements Of Mrs. Rundell's Work. Mr. Sharon Turner, When

Writing To Tell Mr. Murray The Result Of His Negotiations, Concludes

With The Recommendation: "As