MURRAY AND CONSTABLE--HUNTER AND THE FORFARSHIRE LAIRDS--MARRIAGE OF
JOHN MURRAY
The most important publishing firm with which Mr. Murray was connected
at the outset of his career was that of Archibald Constable & Co., of
Edinburgh. This connection had a considerable influence upon Murray's
future fortunes.
Constable, who was about four years older than Murray, was a man of
great ability, full of spirit and enterprise. He was by nature generous,
liberal, and far-seeing. The high prices which he gave for the best kind
of literary work drew the best authors round him, and he raised the
publishing trade of Scotland to a height that it had never before
reached, and made Edinburgh a great centre of learning and literature.
In 1800 he commenced the _Farmer's Magazine_, and in the following year
acquired the property of the _Scots Magazine,_ a venerable repertory of
literary, historical, and antiquarian matter; but it was not until the
establishment of the _Edinburgh Review_, in October 1802, that
Constable's name became a power in the publishing world.
In the year following the first issue of the _Review_, Constable took
into partnership Alexander Gibson Hunter, eldest son of David Hunter, of
Blackness, a Forfarshire laird. The new partner brought a considerable
amount of capital into the firm, at a time when capital was greatly
needed in that growing concern. His duties were to take charge of the
ledger and account department, though he never took much interest in his
work, but preferred to call in the help of a clever arithmetical clerk.
It is unnecessary to speak of the foundation of the _Edinburgh Review_.
It appeared at the right time, and was mainly supported by the talents
of Jeffrey, Brougham, Sydney Smith, Francis Horner, Dr. Thomas Brown,
Lord Murray, and other distinguished writers. The first number
immediately attracted public attention. Mr. Joseph Mawman was the London
agent, but some dissatisfaction having arisen with respect to his
management, the London sale was transferred to the Messrs. Longman, with
one half share in the property of the work.
During the partnership of Murray and Highley, they had occasional
business transactions with Constable of Edinburgh. Shortly after the
partnership was dissolved in March 1803, Murray wrote as follows to Mr.
Constable:
_April_ 25, 1803.
"I have several works in the press which I should be willing to consign
to your management in Edinburgh, but that I presume you have already
sufficient business upon your hands, and that you would not find mine
worth attending to. If so, I wish that you would tell me of some
vigorous young bookseller, like myself, just starting into business,
upon whose probity, punctuality, and exertion you think I might rely,
and I would instantly open a correspondence with him; and in return it
will give me much pleasure to do any civil office for you in London. I
should be happy if any arrangement could be made wherein we might prove
of reciprocal advantage; and were you from your superabundance to pick
me out any work of merit of which you would either make me the publisher
in London, or in which you would allow me to become a partner, I dare
say the occasion would arise wherein I could return the compliment, and
you would have the satisfaction of knowing that your book was in the
hands of one who has not yet so much business as to cause him to neglect
any part of it."
Mr. Constable's answer was favourable. In October 1804 Mr. Murray, at
the instance of Constable, took as his apprentice Charles Hunter, the
younger brother of A. Gibson Hunter, Constable's partner. The
apprenticeship was to be for four or seven years, at the option of
Charles Hunter. These negotiations between the firms, and their
increasing interchange of books, showed that they were gradually drawing
nearer to each other, until their correspondence became quite friendly
and even intimate. Walter Scott was now making his appearance as an
author; Constable had published his "Sir Tristram" in May 1804, and his
"Lay of the Last Minstrel" in January 1805. Large numbers of these works
were forwarded to London and sold by Mr. Murray.
At the end of 1805 differences arose between the Constable and Longman
firms as to the periodical works in which they were interested. The
editor and proprietors of the _Edinburgh Review_ were of opinion that
the interest of the Longmans in two other works of a similar
character--the _Annual Review_ and the _Eclectic_--tended to lessen
their exertions on behalf of the _Edinburgh_. It was a matter that might
easily have been arranged; but the correspondents were men of hot
tempers, and with pens in their hands, they sent stinging letters from
London to Edinburgh, and from Edinburgh to London. Rees, Longman's
partner, was as bitter in words on the one side as Hunter, Constable's
partner, was on the other. At length a deadly breach took place, and it
was resolved in Edinburgh that the publication of the _Edinburgh Review_
should be transferred to John Murray, Fleet Street. Alexander Gibson
Hunter, Constable's partner, wrote to Mr. Murray to tell of the rupture
and to propose a closer alliance with him.
Mr. Murray replied:
_John Murray to Mr. A.G. Hunter.
December 7, 1805_.
"With regard to the important communication of your last letter, I
confess the surprise with which I read it was not without some mixture
of regret. The extensive connections betwixt your house and Longman's
cannot be severed at once without mutual inconvenience, and perhaps
mutual disadvantages, your share of which a more protracted
dismemberment might have prevented. From what I had occasion to observe,
I did not conceive that your concerns together would ever again move
with a cordiality that would render them lasting; but still, I imagined
that mutual interest and forbearance would allow them to subside into
that indifference which, without animosity or mischief, would leave
either party at liberty to enter upon such new arrangements as offered
to their separate advantage. I do not, however, doubt but that all
things have been properly considered, and perhaps finally settled for
the best; but Time, the only arbitrator in these cases, must decide.
"In your proposed engagements with Mr. Davies, you will become better
acquainted with a man of great natural talents, and thoroughly versed in
business, which he regulates by the most honourable principles. As for
myself, you will find me exceedingly assiduous in promoting your views,
into which I shall enter with feelings higher than those of mere
interest. Indeed, linked as our houses are at present, we have a natural
tendency to mutual good understanding, which will both prevent and
soften those asperities in business which might otherwise enlarge into
disagreement. Country orders [referring to Constable & Co.'s 'general
order'] are a branch of business which I have ever totally declined as
incompatible with my more serious plans as a publisher. But _your_
commissions I shall undertake with pleasure, and the punctuality with
which I have attempted to execute _your first order_ you will, I hope,
consider as a specimen of my disposition to give you satisfaction in
every transaction in which we may hereafter be mutually engaged."
It was a great chance for a young man entering life with a moderate
amount of capital, to be virtually offered an intimate connection with
one of the principal publishing houses of the day. It was one of those
chances which, "taken at the flood, lead on to fortune," but there was
also the question of honour, and Mr. Murray, notwithstanding his desire
for opening out a splendid new connection in business, would do nothing
inconsistent with the strictest honour. He was most unwilling to thrust
himself in between Constable and Longman. Instead, therefore, of jumping
at Constable's advantageous offer, his feelings induced him to promote a
reconciliation between the parties; and he continued to enjoin
forbearance on the part of both firms, so that they might carry on their
business transactions as before. Copies of the correspondence between
Constable and the Longmans were submitted to referees (Murray and
Davies), and the following was Mr. Murray's reply, addressed to Messrs.
Constable & Co.:
_John Murray to Messrs. Constable & Co_.
_December_ 14, 1805.
GENTLEMEN,
Mr. Hunter's obliging letter to me arrived this morning. That which he
enclosed with yours to his brother last night, Charles gave me to read.
The contents were very flattering. Indeed, I cannot but agree with Mr.
H. that his brother has displayed very honourable feelings, upon hearing
of the probable separation of your house, and that of Messrs. Longman &
Co. Mr. Longman was the first who mentioned this to him, and indeed from
the manner in which Charles related his conversation upon the affair, I
could not but feel renewed sensations of regret at the unpleasant
termination of a correspondence, which, had it been conducted upon Mr.
Longman's own feelings, would have borne, I think, a very different
aspect. Longman spoke of you both with kindness, and mildly complained
that he had perceived a want of confidence on your part, ever since his
junction with Messrs. Hurst & Orme. He confessed that the correspondence
was too harsh for him to support any longer; but, he added, "_if we must
part, let us part like friends_." I am certain, from what Charles
reported to me, that Mr. L. and I think Mr. R. [Rees] are hurt by this
sudden disunion.
Recollect how serious every dispute becomes upon paper, when a man
writes a thousand asperities merely to show or support his superior
ability. Things that would not have been spoken, or perhaps even thought
of in conversation, are stated and horribly magnified _upon paper_.
Consider how many disputes have arisen in the world, in which both
parties were so violent in what they believed to be the support of
truth, and which to the public, and indeed to themselves a few years
afterwards, appeared unwise, because the occasion or cause of it was not
worth contending about. Consider that you are, all of you, men who can
depend upon each other's probity and honour, and where these essentials
are not wanting, surely in mere matters of business the rest may be
palliated by mutual bearance and forbearance. Besides, you are so
connected by various publications, your common property, and some of
them such as will remain so until the termination of your lives, that
you cannot effect an entire disunion, and must therefore be subject to
eternal vexations and regrets which will embitter every transaction and
settlement between you.
You know, moreover, that it is one of the misfortunes of our nature,
that disputes are always the most bitter in proportion to former
intimacy. And how much dissatisfaction will it occasion if either of you
are desirous in a year or two of renewing that intimacy which you are
now so anxious to dissolve--to say nothing of your relative utility to
each other--a circumstance which is never properly estimated, except
when the want of the means reminds us of what we have been at such pains
to deprive ourselves. Pause, my dear sirs, whilst to choose be yet in
your power; show yourselves superior to common prejudice, and by an
immediate exercise of your acknowledged pre-eminence of intellect,
suffer arrangements to be made for an accommodation and for a renewal of
that connexion which has heretofore been productive of honour and
profit. I am sure I have to apologize for having ventured to say so much
to men so much my superiors in sense and knowledge of the world and
their own interest; but sometimes the meanest bystander may perceive
disadvantages in the movements of the most skilful players.
You will not, I am sure, attribute anything which I have said to an
insensibility to the immediate advantages which will arise to myself
from a determination opposite to that which I have taken the liberty of
suggesting. It arises from a very different feeling. I should be very
little worthy of your great confidence and attention to my interest upon
this occasion, if I did not state freely the result of my humble
consideration of this matter; and having done so, I do assure you that
if the arrangements which you now propose are carried into effect, I
will apply the most arduous attention to your interest, to which I will
turn the channel of my own thoughts and business, which, I am proud to
say, is rising in proportion to the industry and honourable principles
which have been used in its establishment. I am every day adding to a
most respectable circle of literary connexions, and I hope, a few months
after the settlement of your present affairs, to offer shares to you of
works in which you will feel it advantageous to engage. Besides, as I
have at present no particular bias, no enormous works of my own which
would need all my care, I am better qualified to attend to any that you
may commit to my charge; and, being young, my business may be formed
with a disposition, as it were, towards yours; and thus growing up with
it, we are more likely to form a durable connexion than can be expected
with persons whose views are imperceptibly but incessantly diverging
from each other.
Should you be determined--_irrevocably_ determined (but consider!) upon
the disunion with Messrs. Longman, I will just observe that when persons
have been intimate, they have discovered each other's vulnerable points;
it therefore shows no great talent to direct at them shafts of
resentment. It is easy both to write and to say ill-natured, harsh, and
cutting things of each other. But remember that this power is _mutual_,
and in proportion to the poignancy of the wound which you would inflict
will be your own feelings when it is returned. It is therefore a maxim
which I laid down soon after a separation which I _had_, never to say or
do to my late colleague what he could say or do against me in return. I
knew that I had the personal superiority, but what his own ingenuity
could not suggest, others could write for him.
I must apologise again for having been so tedious, but I am sure that
the same friendliness on your part which has produced these hasty but
well-meant expostulations will excuse them. After this, I trust it is
unnecessary for me to state with how much sincerity,
I am, dear sirs,
Your faithful friend,
JOHN MURRAY.
Ten days after this letter was written, Mr. Murray sent a copy of it to
Messrs. Longman & Co., and wrote:
_John Murray to Messrs. Longman & Co_,
_December_ 24, 1805.
GENTLEMEN,
The enclosed letter will show that I am not ignorant that a
misunderstanding prevails betwixt your house and that of Messrs.
Constable & Co. With the cause, however, I am as yet unacquainted;
though I have attempted, but in vain, to obviate a disunion which I most
sincerely regret. Whatever arrangements with regard to myself may take
place in consequence will have arisen from circumstances which it was
not in my power to prevent; and they will not therefore be suffered to
interfere in any way with those friendly dispositions which will
continue, I trust, to obtain between you and, gentlemen,
Your obedient servant,
J. MURRAY.
But the split was not to be avoided. It appears, however, that by the
contract entered into by Constable with Longmans in 1803, the latter had
acquired a legal right precluding the publication of the _Edinburgh
Review_ by another publisher without their express assent. Such assent
was not given, and the London publication of the _Edinburgh_ continued
in Longman's hands for a time; but all the other works of Constable were
at once transferred to Mr. Murray.
Mr. Constable invited Murray to come to Edinburgh to renew their
personal friendship, the foundations of which had been laid during Mr.
Murray's visit to Edinburgh in the previous year; and now that their
union was likely to be much closer, he desired to repeat the visit. Mr.
Murray had another, and, so far as regarded his personal happiness, a
much more important object in view. This arose out of the affection
which he had begun to entertain for Miss Elliot, daughter of the late
Charles Elliot, publisher, with whom Mr. Murray's father had been in
such constant correspondence. The affection was mutual, and it seemed
probable that the attachment would ripen into a marriage.
Now that his reputation as a publisher was becoming established, Mr.
Murray grew more particular as to the guise of the books which he
issued. He employed the best makers of paper, the best printers, and the
best book-binders. He attended to the size and tone of the paper, and
quality of the type, the accuracy of the printing, and the excellence of
the illustrations. All this involved a great deal of correspondence. We
find his letters to the heads of departments full of details as to the
turn-out of his books. Everything, from the beginning to the end of the
issue of a work--the first inspection of the MS., the consultation with
confidential friends as to its fitness for publication, the form in
which it was to appear, the correction of the proofs, the binding,
title, and final advertisement--engaged his closest attention. Besides
the elegant appearance of his books, he also aimed at raising the
standard of the literature which he published. He had to criticize as
well as to select; to make suggestions as to improvements where the
manuscript was regarded with favour, and finally to launch the book at
the right time and under the best possible auspices. It might almost be
said of the publisher, as it is of the poet, that he is born, not made.
And Mr. Murray appears, from the beginning to the end of his career, to
have been a born publisher.
In August 1806, during the slack season in London, Mr. Murray made his
promised visit to Edinburgh. He was warmly received by Constable and
Hunter, and enjoyed their hospitality for some days. After business
matters had been disposed of, he was taken in hand by Hunter, the junior
partner, and led off by him to enjoy the perilous hospitality of the
Forfarshire lairds.
Those have been called the days of heroic drinking. Intemperance
prevailed to an enormous extent. It was a time of greater
licentiousness, perhaps, in all the capitals of Europe, and this
northern one among the rest, than had been known for a long period. Men
of the best education and social position drank like the Scandinavian
barbarians of olden times. Tavern-drinking, now almost unknown among the
educated and professional classes of Edinburgh, was then carried by all
ranks to a dreadful excess.
Murray was conducted by Hunter to his father's house of Eskmount in
Forfarshire, where he was most cordially received, and in accordance
with the custom of the times the hospitality included invitations to
drinking bouts at the neighbouring houses.
An unenviable notoriety in this respect attached to William Maule
(created Baron Panmure 1831). He was the second son of the eighth Earl
of Dalhousie, but on succeeding, through his grandmother, to the estates
of the Earls of Panmure, he had assumed the name of Maule in lieu of
that of Ramsay.
Much against his will, Murray was compelled to take part in some of
these riotous festivities with the rollicking, hard-drinking Forfarshire
lairds, and doubtless he was not sorry to make his escape at length
uninjured, if not unscathed, and to return to more congenial society in
Edinburgh. His attachment to Miss Elliot ended in an engagement.
In the course of his correspondence with Miss Elliot's trustees, Mr.
Murray gave a statement of his actual financial position at the time:
"When I say," he wrote, "that my capital in business amounts to five
thousand pounds, I meant it to be understood that if I quitted business
to-morrow, the whole of my property being sold, even disadvantageously,
it would leave a balance in my favour, free from debt or any
incumbrance, of the sum above specified. But you will observe that,
continuing it as I shall do in business, I know it to be far more
considerable and productive. I will hope that it has not been thought
uncandid in me if I did not earlier specify the amount of my
circumstances, for I considered that I had done this in the most
delicate and satisfactory way when I took the liberty of referring you
to Mr. Constable to whom I consequently disclosed my affairs, and whose
knowledge of my connexions in business might I thought have operated
more pleasingly to Miss Elliot's friends than any communication from
myself."
The correspondence with Miss Elliot went on, and at length it was
arranged that Mr. Murray should proceed to Edinburgh for the marriage.
He went by mail in the month of February. A tremendous snowstorm set in
on his journey north. From a village near Doncaster he wrote to
Constable: "The horses were twice blown quite round, unable to face the
horrid blast of cold wind, the like of which I have never known before.
There was at the same time a terrible fall of snow, which completely
obscured everything that could be seen from the coach window. The snow
became of great depth, and six strong horses could scarcely pull us
through. We are four hours behind time." From Doncaster he went to
Durham in a postchaise; and pushing onward, he at last reached Edinburgh
after six days' stormy travelling.
While at Edinburgh, Mr. Murray resided with Mr. Sands, one of the late
Charles Elliot's trustees. The marriage took place on March 6, 1807, and
the newly married pair at once started for Kelso, in spite of the roads
being still very bad, and obstructed by snow. Near Blackshields the
horses fell down and rolled over and over. The postboy's leg was broken,
and the carriage was sadly damaged. A neighbouring blacksmith was called
to the rescue, and after an hour and a half the carriage was
sufficiently repaired to be able to proceed. A fresh pair of horses was
obtained at the next stage, and the married couple reached Kelso in
safety. They remained there a few days, waiting for Mrs. Elliot, who
was to follow them; and on her arrival, they set out at once for the
south.
The intimacy which existed between Mr. Murray and Mr. D'Israeli will be
observed from the fact that the latter was selected as one of the
marriage trustees. A few days after the arrival of the married pair in
London, they were invited to dine with Mr. D'Israeli and his friends.
Mr. Alexander Hunter, whom Mr. Murray had invited to stay with him
during his visit to London, thus describes the event:
"Dressed, and went along with the Clan Murray to dine at Mr.
D'Israeli's, where we had a most sumptuous banquet, and a very large
party, in honour of the newly married folks. There was a very beautiful
woman there, Mrs. Turner, wife of Sharon Turner, the Anglo-Saxon
historian, who, I am told, was one of the Godwin school! If they be all
as beautiful, accomplished, and agreeable as this lady, they must be a
deuced dangerous set indeed, and I should not choose to trust myself
amongst them.
"Our male part of the company consisted mostly of literary
men--Cumberland, Turner, D'Israeli, Basevi, Prince Hoare, and Cervetto,
the truly celebrated violoncello player. Turner was the most able and
agreeable of the whole by far; Cumberland, the most talkative and
eccentric perhaps, has a good sprinkling of learning and humour in his
conversation and anecdote, from having lived so long amongst the eminent
men of his day, such as Johnson, Foote, Garrick, and such like. But his
conversation is sadly disgusting, from his tone of irony and detraction
conveyed in a cunning sort of way and directed constantly against the
_Edinburgh Review_, Walter Scott (who is a 'poor ignorant boy, and no
poet,' and never wrote a five-feet line in his life), and such other
d----d stuff."