Memoir of John Murray
John Murray to Edmund Cartwright, 31 March 1803
March 31st, 1803.
Dear Sir,
I have much pleasure in acquainting you that my partnership
being dissolved, the obstacle which has hitherto prevented me from entering
upon any works of merit is now removed, and I should be very happy, if it be
agreeable to you, to make some arrangement for the publication of a new edition
of ‘Armine and
Elvira,’* with a
* The legendary tale of ‘Armine and
Elvira’ originally appeared in 1787. Mrs. Fletcher, in her Autobiography, thus refers
to the author:—“While visiting Doncaster (in 1788) I
incidentally became acquainted with the Rev. Edmund Cartwright, who had lately pub- |
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selection of your other poems. It has cost me so much more
than I could well afford to pay to retain the house of my father, that I am not
over-rich at present. But I am willing, if you please to take one half of the
risk of publication, and divide with you the profits which may arise when the
impression is sold. The actual profit upon so small a work will not be much,
but it will serve to keep your name before the world as a favourite poet.
Edmund Cartwright (1743-1823)
Clergyman, poet, and inventor of the power loom; his
Armine and
Elvira (1771) went through nine editions.
Elizabeth Fletcher [née Dawson] (1770-1858)
A Yorkshire woman who married the Scottish law-reformer Archibald Fletcher and became an
Edinburgh hostess and friend of Anne Grant; in later life she settled in the Lake District
and befriended Wordsworth. Her
Autobiography was published in
1874.
