Mr. Wordsworth about this time desired to republish his Poems, and made application with that object to Mr. Murray, who thereupon consulted Lockhart.

Mr. Lockhart to John Murray. July 9, 1826.

“In regard to Wordsworth I certainly cannot doubt that it must be creditable to any publisher to publish the works of one who is and must continue to be a classic Poet of England.  Your adventure with Crabbe, however, ought to be a lesson of much caution.  On the other hand, again, W.’s poems must become more popular, else why so many editions in the course of the last few years.  There have been two of the ‘Excursion’ alone, and I know that those have not satisfied the public.  Everything, I should humbly say, depends on the terms proposed by the great Laker, whose vanity, be it whispered, is nearly as remarkable as his genius.”

The following is the letter in which Mr. Wordsworth made his formal proposal to Mr. Murray to publish his collected poems: 

Mr. Wordsworth to John Murray.

RYDAL MOUNT, NEAR AMBLESIDE

December 4, 1826.

Dear Sir,

I have at last determined to go to the Press with my Poems as early as possible.  Twelve months ago the were to have been put into the hands of Messrs. Robinson & Hurst, upon the terms of payment of a certain sum, independent of expense on my part; but the failure of that house prevented the thing going forward.  Before I offer the publication to any one but yourself, upon the different principle agreed on between you and me, as you may recollect, viz.; the author to meet two-thirds of the expenses and risk, and to share two-thirds of the profit, I think it proper to renew that proposal to you.  If you are not inclined to accept it, I shall infer so from your silence; if such an arrangement suits you, pray let me immediately know; and all I have to request is, that without loss of time, when I have informed you of the intended quantity of letter-press, you will then let me know what my share of the expense will amount to.

I am, dear Sir,

Your obedient servant,

WM. WORDSWORTH.

As Mr. Murray did not answer this letter promptly, Mr. H. Crabb Robinson called upon him to receive his decision, and subsequently wrote: 

Mr. H.G.  Robinson to John Murray.

February 1827.

“I wrote to Mr. Wordsworth the day after I had the pleasure of seeing you.  I am sorry to say that my letter came too late.  Mr. Wordsworth interpreted your silence into a rejection of his offer; and his works will unfortunately lose the benefit of appearing under you auspices.  They have been under the press some weeks.”

For about fifteen years there had been no business transactions between Murray and Constable.  On the eve of the failure of the Constables, the head of the firm, Mr. Archibald Constable (October 1825), was paying a visit at Wimbledon, when Mr. Murray addressed his host—­Mr. Wright, whose name has already occurred in the Representative correspondence—­as follows: