Memoir of John Murray
John Murray to Walter Scott, 17 March 1818
March 17th, 1818.
My dear Sir,
Totally unable to account for the interruption of all
interesting correspondence with you, I content myself with believing that it
arises from causes wholly independent of me, and that when these subside, the
bird of correspondence will fly to me again. In a word, I take it for granted
that you have been fully occupied, and, having no time to spare on me or mine,
you have left it to my own sense at once to make the discovery ![]()
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and to wait. Has the moment of temporary leisure yet
arrived, and will you have the kindness to bestow it upon me? I sent you a
volume of ‘Lord Orford’s
Letters,’ hoping that the amusement and lightness of their subject might
tempt you to dash off a review of them. They would admit of copious judicious
extracts, forming an interesting and lively picture of the fashion of the times
in which they were written, and of the character of their author. It would be
doing me a great service to attempt this, and I am anxious for so pleasing a
paper for the next number of the Quarterly. It will appear absurd to ask for
more, when I have so little claim to ask for anything, but if the subject
happened to please you, perhaps you would give a curious as well as an amusing
review of Mr. Rose’s translation of
the Animali
parlanti; Mr.
Frere’s ‘Whistlecraft,’ and (entre nous) Lord
Byron’s ‘Beppo,’ showing their origin and object, and detailing their
beauties and fun. ‘Beppo,’ a copy of
which I hope you have received, is really an extraordinary effort, written in
two nights, in consequence of reading ‘Whistlecraft.’ The attack upon your valued friend Sotheby* arises from his temerity in sending
the author an anonymous letter, and from his having cut his acquaintance
abroad. I have received the Fourth
Canto, which contains finer things than the author has ever yet
written, comprising a noble tribute to yourself, whose kindness he will not
easily forget. I should be very glad if, when you and your friends are making
arrangements with Constable, you thought
of me; for I fancy that neither of us have any objection to publish good books
in conjunction. Perhaps a word from you might yet induce Ballantyne to ask for my junction in the
‘New Tales of my
Landlord,’ as it will be thought to be from dissatisfaction in
their mighty author, that I am not their continued publisher. But I have no
right to ask, much less to expect, any exertion in this way from one to whom I
am already so much obliged; and it is only if an opening arises which may be
penetrated without difficulty, that I will venture to hope that you will thrust
me in. At any rate, do allow me the pleasure of receiving a few words from you.
Yours very faithfully and much obliged,
John Ballantyne (1774-1821)
Edinburgh publisher and literary agent for Walter Scott; he was the younger brother of
the printer James Ballantyne.
Archibald Constable (1774-1827)
Edinburgh bookseller who published the
Edinburgh Review and works
of Sir Walter Scott; he went bankrupt in 1826.
John Hookham Frere (1769-1846)
English diplomat and poet; educated at Eton and Cambridge, he was envoy to Lisbon
(1800-02) and Madrid (1802-04, 1808-09); with Canning conducted the
The
Anti-Jacobin (1797-98); author of
Prospectus and Specimen of an
intended National Work, by William and Robert Whistlecraft (1817, 1818).
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 Stewart Rose (1775-1843)
Second son of George Rose, treasurer of the navy (1744-1818); he introduced Byron to
Frere's
Whistlecraft poems and translated Casti's
Animale parlante (1819).
William Sotheby (1757-1833)
English man of letters; after Harrow he joined the dragoons, married well, and published
Poems (1790) and became a prolific poet and translator,
prominent in literary society.
The Quarterly Review. (1809-1967). Published by John Murray, the
Quarterly was instigated by Walter
Scott as a Tory rival to the
Edinburgh Review. It was edited by
William Gifford to 1824, and by John Gibson Lockhart from 1826 to 1853.
