Memoir of John Murray
John Murray to Lord Byron, 20 March 1821
The pamphlet on
Bowles is deemed excellent, and is to be published on Saturday; the
note on Lady M. W. Montagu, though also
very good, Mr. Gifford recommends to be
suppressed. The letter about the Hellespont will appear in the next London Magazine.
The fatal death of its late editor, poor Scott, in a duel, you will have read of; he has left a widow, a
very superior woman and two infant children, with a shilling; and a committee,
of which Sir James Mackintosh is the
head and your humble servant the tail, are endeavouring to form a subscription
for them, and if you please I shall be glad to put your name down for £10.
The ‘Doge of
Venice’ will now come out, with the ‘Prophecy of Dante,’ at a most happy
time, when we are just now interested for Italy; nothing could be better; it is
nearly worked off, and will be out next week.
I long to know what you propose to do; will these wars, of
which our lives may not see the end, for all Europe will mingle
indiscriminately,—will they bring you to England, or will Lady Noel’s death, which they tell me
from good authority must immediately take place, do so?
By the way, Hobhouse
spoke to Lord Grey about the impropriety of
allowing a play, not intended for performance, to be acted on the stage.
Earl Grey spoke to ![]()
| HOBHOUSE’S LINES ON BOWLES. | 421 |
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the Lord
Chancellor, who said that he would grant an injunction.
We as yet can get no certain news from Italy.
I am, my Lord,
Your faithful servant,
William Gifford (1756-1826)
Poet, scholar, and editor who began as a shoemaker's apprentice; after Oxford he
published
The Baviad (1794),
The Maeviad
(1795), and
The Satires of Juvenal translated (1802) before becoming
the founding editor of the
Quarterly Review (1809-24).
Charles Grey, second earl Grey (1764-1845)
Whig statesman and lover of the Duchess of Devonshire; the second son of the first earl
(d. 1807), he was prime minister (1831-34).
John Cam Hobhouse, baron Broughton (1786-1869)
Founder of the Cambridge Whig Club; traveled with Byron in the orient, radical MP for
Westminster (1820); Byron's executor; after a long career in politics published
Some Account of a Long Life (1865) later augmented as
Recollections of a Long Life, 6 vols (1909-1911).
Sir James Mackintosh (1765-1832)
Scottish philosopher and man of letters who defended the French Revolution in
Vindiciae Gallicae (1791); he was Recorder of Bombay (1803-1812) and
MP for Knaresborough (1819-32).
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu [née Pierrepont] (1689-1762)
English poet and epistolary writer, daughter of the first duke of Kingston; she quarreled
with Alexander Pope and after living in Constantinople (1716-18) introduced inoculation to
Britain.
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.
John Scott, first earl of Eldon (1751-1838)
Lord chancellor (1801-27); he was legal counsel to the Prince of Wales and an active
opponent of the Reform Bill.
John Scott (1784-1821)
After Marischal College he worked as a journalist with Leigh Hunt, edited
The Champion (1814-1817), and edited the
London
Magazine (1820) until he was killed in the duel at Chalk Farm.
The London Magazine. (1820-1829). Founded by John Scott as a monthly rival to
Blackwood's, the
London Magazine included among its contributors Charles Lamb, John Clare, Allan Cunningham,
Thomas De Quincey, and Thomas Hood.
