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

Chapter 20 (Hallam Basil Hall--Crabbe--Hope--Horace And James Smith-) Pg 20

 

 

 

_John Murray To Lady Abercorn_.

 

 

 

"I Am Now Printing Captain Hall's Account (He Commanded The _Lyra_), And

I Will Venture To Assure 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

Godwin'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

Manuscript 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

Chapter 20 (Hallam Basil Hall--Crabbe--Hope--Horace And James Smith-) Pg 21

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 Saturday 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 L2 2s."] And He Set Up In Print A Specimen Copy.

Many Of His Correspondents Offered To Assist 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

Chapter 20 (Hallam Basil Hall--Crabbe--Hope--Horace And James Smith-) Pg 22

In Shipbuilding. I Am Sorry To Say Your _Register_ Has, In My Opinion, A

Great Many Weak Parts. It Is For Nobody's Use; It Is Too Popular And

Trivial For The Learned, And Too Abstruse And Plodding For The

Multitude. 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 Assertion Of A Fact

Of Which I Was Profoundly Ignorant, Namely, That The Physical

Constitution 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 Sex 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 Constitution 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 Passed 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

Chapter 20 (Hallam Basil Hall--Crabbe--Hope--Horace And James Smith-) Pg 23

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 L3,000

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 L3,000 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 L1,000 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 L3,000, 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 L1,900 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 Asserted

To Be The Work Of Lord Byron, As