Memoir of John Murray
Sharon Turner to John Murray, 30 October 1824
It is vexatious enough to be talked of in print just as
people choose to fancy or represent us; but it is the price we must pay for
notoriety. Only the obscure can escape it, and you are not among their number.
Like the King, Mr. Pitt, Southey, and
everybody else, if you will have fame—and now you cannot help
it—you must submit to have this unpleasant taxation on your comfort. I
think with Mr. Parke that it is libellous;
but, as Medwin is not the actual
speaker, a jury would not give much damages. ![]()
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Perhaps, if
Colburn would suppress it on the
next edition, that it may not go down to posterity, that would be the best
thing; and if he were told that Parke thought it
libellous, he would most likely consent to do so. I am not disposed to advise
you to bring an action upon it. The whole book tends to undo much of the
prestige with which Lord Byron’s
character had been artificially surrounded, and that perhaps will be some
satisfaction to you. It was idly said, and still more idly believed, that his
death would ruin the Greek cause. I was astonished at the assertion, and
thought that, if true, the Greeks ought to fail, and, lo! they have been doing
still better ever since.
Yours most truly,
I think a neat vindication of yourself from Lord Byron’s correspondence would be a
fair and an admirable and an acceptable thing.
Henry Colburn (1785-1855)
English publisher who began business about 1806; he co-founded the
New
Monthly Magazine in 1814 and was publisher of the
Literary
Gazette from 1817.
Thomas Medwin (1788-1869)
Lieutenant of dragoons who was with Byron and Shelley at Pisa; the author of
Conversations of Lord Byron (1824) and
The Life of
Percy Bysshe Shelley, 2 vols (1847).
John Murray II (1778-1843)
The second John Murray began the
Quarterly Review in 1809 and
published works by Scott, Byron, Austen, Crabbe, and other literary notables.
William Pitt the younger (1759-1806)
The second son of William Pitt, earl of Chatham (1708-1778); he was Tory prime minister
1783-1801.
Robert Southey (1774-1843)
Poet laureate and man of letters whose contemporary reputation depended upon his prose
works, among them the
Life of Nelson, 2 vols (1813),
History of the Peninsular War, 3 vols (1823-32) and
The Doctor, 7 vols (1834-47).
Sharon Turner (1768-1847)
Attorney, historian, and writer for the
Quarterly Review; he wrote
History of the Anglo-Saxons, 4 vols (1799-1805).
