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

Keep Out These

Personal Attacks, Murray Would Take Care To Send Him Articles By Mr.

Frere, Mr. Barrow, And Others, Which Would Enhance The Popularity And

Respectability Of The Publication.

 

 

 

In October Of This Year Was Published An Anonymous Pamphlet, Entitled

"Hypocrisy Unveiled," Which Raked Up The Whole Of The Joke Contained In

The "Translation From An Ancient Chaldee Manuscript," Published A Year

Before. The Number Containing It Had, As We Have Already Seen, Been

Suppressed, Because Of The Offence It Had Given To Many Persons Of

Celebrity, While The General Tone Of Bitterness And Personality Had Been

Subsequently Modified, If Not Abandoned. Murray Assured Blackwood That

His Number For October 1818 Was One Of The Best He Had Ever Read, And He

Desired Him To "Offer To His Friends His Very Best Thanks And

Congratulations Upon The Production Of So Admirable A Number." "With

This Number," He Said, "You Have Given Me A Fulcrum Upon Which I Will

Move Heaven And Earth To Get Subscribers And Contributors." Indeed,

Several Of The Contributions In This Surpassingly Excellent Number Had

Been Sent To The Edinburgh Publisher Through The Instrumentality Of

Murray Himself.

 

 

 

"Hypocrisy Unveiled" Was A Lampoon Of A Scurrilous And Commonplace

Character, In Which The Leading Contributors To And The Publishers Of

The Magazine Were Violently Attacked. Both Murray And Blackwood, Who

Were Abused Openly, By Name, Resolved To Take No Notice Of It; But

Lockhart And Wilson, Who Were Mentioned Under The Thin Disguise Of "The

Scorpion" And "The Leopard," Were So Nettled By The Remarks On

Themselves, That They, In October 1818, Both Sent Challenges To The

Anonymous Author, Through The Publisher Of The Pamphlet. This Most

Injudicious Step Only Increased Their Discomfiture, As The Unknown

Writer Not Only Refused To Proclaim His Identity, But Published And

Circulated The Challenges, Together With A Further Attack On Lockhart

Chapter 18 (Alliance With Blackwood--Blackwood's "Edinburgh Magazine"--Termination Of Partnership) Pg 6

And Wilson.

 

 

 

This Foolish Disclosure Caused Bitter Vexation To Murray, Who Wrote:

 

 

 

_John Murray To Mr. Blackwood_.

 

 

 

_October_ 27, 1818.

 

 

 

My Dear Blackwood,

 

 

 

I Really Can Recollect No Parallel To The Palpable Absurdity Of Your Two

Friends. If They Had Planned The Most Complete Triumph To Their

Adversaries, Nothing Could Have Been So Successfully Effective. They

Have Actually Given Up Their Names, As The Authors Of The Offences

Charged Upon Them, By Implication Only, In The Pamphlet. How They Could

Possibly Conceive That The Writer Of The Pamphlet Would Be Such An Idiot

As To Quit His Stronghold Of Concealment, And Allow His Head To Be

Chopped Off By Exposure, I Am At A Loss To Conceive....

 

 

 

I Declare To God That Had I Known What I Had So Incautiously Engaged In,

I Would Not Have Undertaken What I Have Done, Or Have Suffered What I

Have In My Feelings And Character--Which No Man Had Hitherto The

Slightest Cause For Assailing--I Would Not Have Done So For Any Sum....

 

 

 

In Answer To These Remonstrances Blackwood Begged Him To Dismiss The

Matter From His Mind, To Preserve Silence, And To Do All That Was

Possible To Increase The Popularity Of The Magazine. The Next Number,

He Said, Would Be Excellent And Unexceptionable; And It Proved To Be So.

 

 

 

The Difficulty, However, Was Not Yet Over. While The Principal Editors

Of The Chaldee Manuscript Had Thus Revealed Themselves To The Author Of

"Hypocrisy Unveiled," The London Publisher Of _Blackwood_ Was, In

November 1818, Assailed By A Biting Pamphlet, Entitled "A Letter To Mr.

John Murray, Of Albemarle Street, Occasioned By His Having Undertaken

The Publication, In London, Of _Blackwood's Magazine_." "The Curse Of

His Respectability," He Was Told, Had Brought The Letter Upon Him. "Your

Name Stands Among The Very Highest In The Department Of Literature Which

Has Fallen To Your Lot: The Eminent Persons Who Have Confided In You,

Chapter 18 (Alliance With Blackwood--Blackwood's "Edinburgh Magazine"--Termination Of Partnership) Pg 7

And The Works You Have Given To The World, Have Conduced To Your

Establishment In The Public Favour; While Your Liberality, Your

Impartiality, And Your Private Motives, Bear Testimony To The Justice Of

Your Claims To That Honourable Distinction."

 

 

 

Other Criticisms Of The Same Kind Reached Mr. Murray's Ear. Moore, In

His Diary (November 4, 1818), Writes: "Received Two Most Civil And

Anxious Letters From The Great 'Bibliopola Tryphon' Murray, Expressing

His Regret At The Article In _Blackwood_, And His Resolution To Give Up

All Concern In It If It Contained Any More Such Personalities."

[Footnote: "Memoirs, Journal, And Correspondence Of Thomas Moore," Ii.

210. By Lord John Russell.]

 

 

 

Finally The Hazlitt Action Was Settled. Blackwood Gave To Murray The

Following Account Of The Matter:

 

 

 

_December_ 16, 1818.

 

 

 

"I Have Had Two Letters From Mr. Patmore, Informing Me That Mr. Hazlitt

Was To Drop The Prosecution. His Agent Has Since Applied To Mine

Offering To Do This, If The Expenses And A Small Sum For Some Charity

Were Paid. My Agent Told Him He Would Certainly Advise Any Client Of His

To Get Out Of Court, But That He Would Never Advise Me To Pay Anything

To Be Made A Talk Of, As A Sum For A Charity Would Be. He Would Advise

Me, He Said, To Pay The Expenses, And A Trifle To Hazlitt Himself

Privately. Hazlitt's Agent Agreed To This." [Footnote: I Have Not Been

Able To Discover What Sum, If Any, Was Paid To Hazlitt Privately.]

 

 

 

Notwithstanding Promises Of Amendment, Murray Still Complained Of The

Personalities, And Of The Way In Which The Magazine Was Edited. He Also

Objected To The "Echo Of The _Edinburgh Review's_ Abuse Of Sharon

Turner. It Was Sufficient To Give Pain To Me, And To My Most Valued

Friend. There Was Another Ungentlemanly And Uncalled-For Thrust At

Thomas Moore. That Just Makes So Many More Enemies, Unnecessarily; And

You Not Only Deprive Me Of The Communications Of My Friends, But You

Positively Provoke Them To Go Over To Your Adversary."

 

 

 

It Seemed Impossible To Exercise Any Control Over The Editors, And

Murray Had No Alternative Left But To Expostulate, And If His

Expostulations Were Unheeded, To Retire From The Magazine. The Last

Course Was That Which He Eventually Decided To Adopt, And The End Of The

Partnership In _Blackwood's Magazine_, Which Had Long Been Anticipated,

Chapter 18 (Alliance With Blackwood--Blackwood's "Edinburgh Magazine"--Termination Of Partnership) Pg 8

At Length Arrived. Murray's Name Appeared For The Last Time On No. 22,

For January 1819; The Following Number Bore No London Publisher's Name;

But On The Number For March The Names Of T. Cadell And W. Davies Were

Advertised As The London Agents For The Magazine.

 

 

 

On December 17, 1819, L1,000 Were Remitted To Mr. Murray In Payment Of

The Sum Which He Had Originally Advanced To Purchase His Share, And His

Connection With _Blackwood's Magazine_ Finally Ceased. He Thereupon

Transferred His Agency For Scotland To Messrs. Oliver & Boyd, With Whose

Firm It Has Ever Since Remained. The Friendly Correspondence Between

Murray And Blackwood Nevertheless Continued, As They Were Jointly

Interested In Several Works Of Importance.

 

 

 

In The Course Of The Following Year, "Christopher North" Made The

Following Statement In _Blackwood's Magazine_ In "An Hour's Tete-A-Tete

With The Public":

 

 

 

"The Chaldee Manuscript, Which Appeared In Our Seventh Number, Gave Us

Both A Lift And A Shove. Nothing Else Was Talked Of For A Long While;

And After 10,000 Copies Had Been Sold, It Became A Very Great Rarity,

Quite A Desideratum.... The Sale Of The _Quarterly_ Is About 14,000, Of

The _Edinburgh_ Upwards Of 7,000.... It Is Not Our Intention, At

Present, To Suffer Our Sale To Go Beyond 17,000.... Mr. Murray, Under

Whose Auspices Our _Magnum Opus_ Issued For A Few Months From Albemarle

Street, Began To Suspect That We Might Be Eclipsing The _Quarterly

Review_. No Such Eclipse Had Been Foretold; And Mr. Murray, Being No

Great Astronomer, Was At A Loss To Know Whether, In The Darkness That

Was But Too Visible, We Were Eclipsing The _Quarterly_, Or The

_Quarterly_ Eclipsing Us. We Accordingly Took Our Pen, And Erased His

Name From Our Title-Page, And He Was Once More Happy. Under Our Present

Publishers We Carry Everything Before Us In London."

 

 

 

Mr. Murray Took No Notice Of This Statement, Preferring, Without Any

More Words, To Be Quit Of His Bargain.

 

 

 

It Need Scarcely Be Added That When Mr. Blackwood Had Got His Critics

And Contributors Well In Hand--When His Journal Had Passed Its Frisky

And Juvenile Life Of Fun And Frolic--When The Personalities Had Ceased

To Appear In Its Columns, And It Had Reached The Years Of Judgment And

Discretion--And Especially When Its Principal Editor, Mr. John Wilson

(Christopher North), Had Been Appointed To The Distinguished Position Of

Professor Of Moral Philosophy In The University Of Edinburgh--The

Journal Took That High Rank In Periodical Literature Which It Has Ever

Since Maintained.

Chapter 19 (Works Published In 1817-18--Correspondence, Etc.--) Pg 9

 

Scott Was Now Beginning To Suffer From The Terrible Mental And Bodily

Strain To Which He Had Subjected Himself, And Was Shortly After Seized

With The Illness To Which Reference Has Been Made In A Previous Chapter,

And Which Disabled Him For Some Time. Blackwood Informed Murray (March

7, 1817) That Mr. Scott "Has Been Most Dangerously Ill, With Violent

Pain Arising From Spasmodic Action In The Stomach; But He Is Gradually

Getting Better."

 

 

 

For Some Time He Remained In A State Of Exhaustion, Unable Either To

Stir For Weakness And Giddiness; Or To Read, For Dazzling In His Eyes;

Or To Listen, For A Whizzing Sound In His Ears--All Indications Of Too

Much Brain-Work And Mental Worry. Yet, As Soon As He Was Able To Resume

His Labours, We Find Him Characteristically Employed In Helping His

Poorer Friends.

 

 

 

_Mr. Blackwood To John Murray_.

 

 

 

_May_ 28, 1817.

 

 

 

"Mr. Scott And Some Of His Friends, In Order To Raise A Sum Of Money To

Make The Poor Shepherd Comfortable, Have Projected A Fourth Edition Of

"The Queen's Wake," With