As I myself scrupulously refrained from looking into the Memoirs, I cannot, from my own knowledge, say whether such an opinion of the contents was correct or not; it was enough for me that the friends of Lord and Lady Byron united in wishing for their destruction.  Why Mr. Moore should have wished to preserve them I did not nor will I inquire; but, having satisfied myself that he had no right whatever in them, I was happy in having an opportunity of making, by a pecuniary sacrifice on my part, some return for the honour, and I must add, the profit, which I had derived from Lord Byron’s patronage and friendship.  You will also be able to bear witness that—­although I could not presume to impose an obligation on the friends of Lord Byron or Mr. Moore, by refusing to receive the repayment of the 2,000 guineas advanced by me—­yet I had determined on the destruction of the Memoirs without any previous agreement for such repayment:—­and you know the Memoirs were actually destroyed without any stipulation on my part, but even with a declaration that I had destroyed my own private property—­and I therefore had no claim upon any party for remuneration.

I remain, dear Sir,

Your faithful servant,

JOHN MURRAY.

After the burning of the manuscript Sir Walter Scott wrote in his diary:  “It was a pity that nothing save the total destruction of Byron’s Memoirs would satisfy his executors; but there was a reason—­premat nox alta."

Shortly after the burning of the Memoirs, Mr. Moore began to meditate writing a Life of Lord Byron; “the Longmans looking earnestly and anxiously to it as the great source of my means of repaying them their money.” [Footnote:  Moore’s Memoirs, iv. 253.] Mr. Moore could not as yet, however, proceed with the Life, as the most important letters of Lord Byron were those written to Mr. Murray, which were in his exclusive possession.  Lord John Russell also was against his writing the Life of Byron.

“If you write,” he wrote to Moore, “write poetry, or, if you can find a good subject, write prose; but do not undertake to write the life of another reprobate [referring to Moore’s “Life of Sheridan"].  In short, do anything but write the life of Lord Byron.” [Footnote:  Moore’s Memoirs, v. 51.]

Yet Moore grievously wanted money, and this opportunity presented itself to him with irresistible force as a means of adding to his resources.  At length he became reconciled to Mr. Murray through the intercession of Mr. Hobhouse.  Moore informed the Longmans of the reconciliation, and, in a liberal and considerate manner, they said to him, “Do not let us stand in the way of any arrangements you may make; it is our wish to see you free from debt; and it would be only in this one work that we should be separated.”  It was in this way that Mr. Moore undertook to write for Mr. Murray the Life of Lord Byron.  Mr. Murray agreed to repay Moore the 2,000 guineas he had given for the burned Memoirs and L2,000 extra for editing the letters and writing the Life, and Moore in his diary says that he considered this offer perfectly liberal.  Nothing, he adds, could be more frank, gentleman-like, and satisfactory than the manner in which this affair had been settled on all sides.