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

Drove A Very Hard Bargain, And Endeavoured To

Obtain Better Terms From Other Publishers, But He Could Not, And

Eventually Mr. Murray Paid To Lord Waldegrave, Through Lord Holland, The

Sum Of L2,500 On November 1, 1821, For The Waldegrave And Walpole

Memoirs. They Were Edited By Lord Holland, Who Wrote A Preface To Each,

And Were Published In The Following Year, But Never Repaid Their

Expenses. After Suffering Considerable Loss By This Venture, Mr.

Murray's Rights Were Sold, After His Death, To Mr. Colburn.

 

 

 

The Last Of The _Memoires Pour Servir_ To Which We Shall Here Refer Was

The Letters Of The Countess Of Suffolk, Bedchamber Woman To The Princess

Chapter 21 (Memoirs Of Lady Hervey And Horace Walpole--Belzoni--Milman--Southey --Mrs. Rundell, Etc.) Pg 32

Of Wales (Caroline Of Anspach), And A Favourite Of The Prince Of Wales,

Afterwards George Ii. The Suffolk Papers Were Admirably Edited By Mr.

Croker. Thackeray, In His "Lecture On George The Second," Says Of His

Work: "Even Croker, Who Edited Her Letters, Loves Her, And Has That

Regard For Her With Which Her Sweet Graciousness Seems To Have Inspired

Almost All Men, And Some Women, Who Came Near Her." The Following Letter

Of Croker Shows The Spirit In Which He Began To Edit The Countess's

Letters:

 

 

 

 

_Mr. Croker To John Murray_.

 

 

 

_May_ 29, 1822.

 

 

 

Dear Murray,

 

 

 

As You Told Me That You Are Desirous Of Publishing The Suffolk Volume By

November, And As I Have, All My Life, Had An Aversion To Making Any One

Wait For Me, I Am Anxious To Begin My Work Upon Them, And, If We Are To

Be Out By November, I Presume It Is High Time. I Must Beg Of You To

Answer Me The Following Questions.

 

 

 

1st. What Shape Will You Adopt? I Think The Correspondence Of A Nature

Rather Too Light For A Quarto, And Yet It Would Look Well On The Same

Shelf With Horace Walpole's Works. If You Should Prefer An Octavo, Like

Lady Hervey's Letters, The Papers Would Furnish Two Volumes. I, For My

Part, Should Prefer The Quarto Size, Which Is A Great Favourite With Me,

And The Letters Of Such Persons As Pope, Swift, And Gay, The Duchesses

Of Buckingham, Queensberry, And Marlbro', Lords Peterborough,

Chesterfield, Bathurst, And Lansdowne, Messrs. Pitt, Pulteney, Pelham,

Grenville, And Horace Walpole, Seem To Me Almost To Justify The

Magnificence Of The Quarto; Though, In Truth, All Their Epistles Are, In

Its Narrowest Sense, _Familiar_, And Treat Chiefly Of Tittle-Tattle.

 

 

 

Decide, However, On Your Own View Of Your Interests, Only Recollect That

These Papers Are Not To Cost You More Than "Belshazzar," [Footnote: Mr.

Milman's Poem, For Which Mr. Murray Paid 500 Guineas.] Which I Take To

Be Of About The Intrinsic Value Of The _Writings On The Walls_, And Not

A Third Of What You Have Given Mr. Crayon For His Portrait Of Squire

Bracebridge.

 

 

Chapter 21 (Memoirs Of Lady Hervey And Horace Walpole--Belzoni--Milman--Southey --Mrs. Rundell, Etc.) Pg 33

 

2nd. Do You Intend To Have Any Portraits? One Of Lady Suffolk Is Almost

Indispensable, And Would Be Enough. There Are Two Of Her At Strawberry

Hill; One, I Think, A Print, And Neither, If I Forget Not, Very Good.

There Is Also A Print, An Unassuming One, In Walpole's Works, But A Good

Artist Would Make Something Out Of Any Of These, If Even We Can Get

Nothing Better To Make Our Copy From. If You Were To Increase Your

Number Of Portraits, I Would Add The Duchess Of Queensberry, From A

Picture At Dalkeith Which Is Alluded To In The Letters; Lady Hervey And

Her Beautiful Friend, Mary Bellenden. They Are In Walpole's Works; Lady

Hervey Rather Mawkish, But The Bellenden Charming. I Dare Say These

Plates Could Now Be Bought Cheap, And Retouched From The Originals,

Which Would Make Them Better Than Ever They Were. Lady Vere (Sister Of

Lady Temple, Which Latter Is Engraved In Park's Edition Of The "Noble

Authors") Was A Lively Writer, And Is Much Distinguished In This

Correspondence. Of The Men, I Should Propose Lord Peterborough, Whose

Portraits Are Little Known; Lord Liverpool Has One Of Him, Not, However,

Very Characteristic. Mr. Pulteney Is Also Little Known, But He Has Been

Lately Re-Published In The Kit-Cat Club. Of _Our Horace_ There Is Not A

Decent Engraving Anywhere. I Presume That There Must Be A Good Original

Of Him Somewhere. Whatever You Mean To Do On This Point, You Should Come

To An Early Determination And Put The Works In Hand.

 

 

 

3rd. I Mean, If You Approve, To Prefix A Biographical Sketch Of Mrs.

Howard And Two Or Three Of Those Beautiful Characters With Which, In

Prose And Verse, The Greatest Wits Of The Last Century Honoured Her And

Themselves. To The First Letter Of Each Remarkable Correspondent I Would

Also Affix A Slight Notice, And I Would Add, At The Foot Of The Page,

Notes In The Style Of Those On Lady Hervey. Let Me Know Whether This

Plan Suits Your Fancy.

 

 

 

4th. All The Letters Of Swift, Except One Or Two, In This Collection Are

Printed (Though Not Always Accurately) In Scott's Edition Of His Works.

Yet I Think It Would Be Proper To Reprint Them From The Originals,

Because They Elucidate Much Of Lady Suffolk's History, And Her

Correspondence Could Not Be Said To Be Complete Without Them. Let Me

Know Your Wishes On This Point.

 

 

 

5th. My Materials Are Numerous, Though Perhaps The Pieces Of Great Merit

Are Not Many. I Must Therefore Beg Of You To Set Up, In The Form And

Type You Wish To Adopt, The Sheet Which I Send You, And You Must Say

About How Many Pages You Wish Your Volume, Or Volumes, To Be. I Will

Then Select As Much Of The Most Interesting As Will Fill The Space Which

You May Desire To Occupy.

 

 

 

Yours Truly,

Chapter 21 (Memoirs Of Lady Hervey And Horace Walpole--Belzoni--Milman--Southey --Mrs. Rundell, Etc.) Pg 34

 

 

J.W. Croker.

 

 

 

 

Mr. Croker Also Consented To Edit The Letters Of Mrs. Delany To Mr.

Hamilton, 1779-88, Containing Many Anecdotes Relating To The Royal

Family.

 

 

 

_Mr. Croker To John Murray_.

 

 

 

"I Have Shown Mrs. Delany's Ms. Letters To The Prince Regent; He Was

Much Entertained With This Revival Of Old Times In His Recollection, And

_He Says That Every Word Of It Is True_. You Know That H.R.H. Has A

Wonderful Memory, And Particularly For Things Of That Kind. His

Certificate Of Mrs. Delany's Veracity Will Therefore Be Probably Of Some

Weight With You. As To The Letter-Writing Powers Of Mrs. Delany, The

Specimen Inclines Me To Doubt. Her Style Seems Stiff And Formal, And

Though These Two Letters, Which Describe A Peculiar Kind Of Scene, Have

A Good Deal Of Interest In Them, I Do Not Hope For The Same Amusement

From The Rest Of The Collection. Poverty, Obscurity, General Ill-Health,

And Blindness Are But Unpromising Qualifications For Making An Agreeable

Volume Of Letters. If A Shopkeeper At Portsmouth Were To Write His Life,

The Extracts Of What Relates To The Two Days Of The Imperial And Royal

Visit Of 1814 Would Be Amusing, Though All The Rest Of The Half Century

Of His Life Would Be Intolerably Tedious. I Therefore Counsel You Not To

Buy The Pig In Miss Hamilton's Bag (Though She Is A Most Respectable

Lady), But Ask To See The Whole Collection Before You Bid."

 

 

 

The Whole Collection Was Obtained, And, With Some Corrections And

Elucidations, The Volume Of Letters Was Given To The World By Mr. Murray

In 1821.

 

 

 

In May 1820 Mr. Murray Requested Mr. Croker To Edit Horace Walpole's

"Reminiscences." Mr. Croker Replied, Saying: "I Should Certainly Like

The Task Very Well If I Felt A Little Better Satisfied Of My Ability To

Perform It. Something Towards Such A Work I Would Certainly Contribute,

For I Have Always Loved That Kind Of Tea-Table History." Not Being Able

To Undertake The Work Himself, Mr. Croker Recommended Mr. Murray To

Apply To Miss Berry, The Editor Of Lady Russell's Letters. "The Life,"

He Said, "By Which Those Letters Were Preceded, Is A Beautiful Piece Of

Biography, And Shows, Besides Higher Qualities, Much Of That Taste Which

A Commentator On The 'Reminiscences' Ought To Have." The Work Was

Chapter 21 (Memoirs Of Lady Hervey And Horace Walpole--Belzoni--Milman--Southey --Mrs. Rundell, Etc.) Pg 35

Accordingly Placed In The Hands Of Miss Berry, Who Edited It

Satisfactorily, And It Was Published By Mr. Murray In The Course Of The

Following Year.

 

 

 

Dr. Tomline, While Bishop Of Winchester, Entered Into A Correspondence

With Mr. Murray Respecting The "Life Of William Pitt." In December

1820, Dr. Tomline Said He Had Brought The Memoirs Down To The

Declaration Of War By France Against Great Britain On February I, 1793,

And That The Whole Would Make Two Volumes Quarto. Until He Became Bishop

Of Lincoln, Dr. Tomline Had Been Pitt's Secretary, And From The

Opportunities He Had Possessed, There Was Promise Here Of A Great Work;

But It Was Not Well Executed, And Though A Continuation Was Promised, It

Never Appeared. When The Work Was Sent To Mr. Gifford, He Wrote To Mr.

Murray That It Was Not At All What He Expected, For It Contained Nothing

Of Pitt's Private History. "He Seems To Be Uneasy Until He Gets Back To

His Parliamentary Papers. Yet It Can Hardly Fail To Be Pretty Widely

Interesting; But I Would Not Have You Make Yourself Too Uneasy About

These Things. Pitt's Name, And The Bishop's, Will Make The Work Sell."

Gifford Was Right. The "Life" Went To A Fourth Edition In The Following

Year.

 

 

 

Among Mr. Murray's Devoted Friends And Adherents Was Giovanni Belzoni,

Who, Born At Padua In 1778, Had, When A Young Man At Rome, Intended To

Devote Himself To The Monastic Life, But The French Invasion Of The City

Altered His Purpose, And, Instead Of