SIR,

I beg to enclose you the sum of one hundred and fifty pounds, which I believe to be the amount due to you for certain pamphlets published respecting the American Mining Companies, as stated in accounts sent in some time since.  I have never been able to obtain a settlement of these accounts from the parties originally responsible, and it has hitherto been quite out of my power to exempt myself from the liability, which, I have ever been conscious, on their incompetency, resulted from the peculiar circumstances of the case to myself.  In now enclosing you what I consider to be the amount, I beg also to state that I have fixed upon it from memory, having been unsuccessful in my endeavours to obtain even a return of the accounts from the original parties, and being unwilling to trouble you again for a second set of accounts, which had been so long and so improperly kept unsettled.  In the event, therefore, of there being any mistake, I will be obliged by your clerk instantly informing me of it, and it will be as instantly rectified; and I will also thank you to enclose me a receipt, in order to substantiate my claims and enforce my demands against the parties originally responsible.  I have to express my sense of your courtesy in this business, and

I am, sir, yours truly,

BENJAMIN DISRAELI.

Fortunately, the misunderstanding between the two old friends did not last long, for towards the end of the year we find Mr. Isaac D’Israeli communicating with Mr. Murray respecting Wool’s “Life of Joseph Warton,” and certain selected letters by Warton which he thought worthy of republication; and with respect to his son, Mr. Benjamin Disraeli, although he published his first work, “Vivian Grey,” through Colburn, he returned to Albemarle Street a few years later, and published his “Contarini Fleming” through Mr. Murray.

NOTE.—­It appears from the correspondence that Mr. Murray had been led by the “unrelenting excitement and importunity” of his young friend to make some joint speculation in South American mines.  The same financial crisis which prevented Mr. Powles from fulfilling his obligations probably swept away all chance of profit from this investment.  The financial loss involved in the failure of the Representative was more serious, but Mr. Murray’s resentment against young Mr. Disraeli was not due to any such considerations.  Justly or unjustly he felt bitterly aggrieved at certain personalities which, he thought, were to be detected in “Vivian Grey.”  Mr. Disraeli was also suspected of being concerned in an ephemeral publication called The Star Chamber, to which he undoubtedly contributed certain articles, and in which paragraphs appeared giving offence in Albemarle Street.  The story of Vivian Grey (as it appeared in the first edition) is transposed from the literary to the political key.  It is undoubtedly autobiographical, but the identification of Mr. Murray with the Marquis of Carabas must seem very far-fetched.