“So the second edition is disposed of.  Well and good.  Now, my dear friend, have the kindness to send me an account of the profits of it and let us come to a settlement.  Up to the present time do assure you I have not made a penny by writing, what with journeys to London and tarrying there.  Basta!  I hate to talk of money matters.

“Let them call me a nonentity if they will; I believe that some of those who say I am a phantom would alter their tone provided they were to ask me to a good dinner; bottles emptied and fowls devoured are not exactly the feats of a phantom:  no!  I partake more of the nature of a Brownie or Robin Goodfellow—­goblins, ’tis true, but full of merriment and fun, and fond of good eating and drinking.  Occasionally I write a page or two of my life.  I am now getting my father into the Earl of Albemarle’s regiment, in which he was captain for many years.  If I live, and my spirits keep up tolerably well, I hope that within a year I shall be able to go to press with something which shall beat the ’Bible in Spain.’”

And a few days later: 

“I have received your account for the two editions.  I am perfectly satisfied.  We will now, whenever you please, bring out a third edition.

“The book which I am at present about will consist, if I live to finish it, of a series of Rembrandt pictures, interspersed here and there with a Claude.  I shall tell the world of my parentage, my early thoughts and habits, how I become a sap-engro, or viper-catcher:  my wanderings with the regiment in England, Scotland, and Ireland, in which last place my jockey habits first commenced:  then a great deal about Norwich, Billy Taylor, Thurtell, etc.:  how I took to study and became a lav-engro. What do you think of this for a bill of fare?  I am now in a blacksmith’s shop in the south of Ireland taking lessons from the Vulcan in horse charming and horse-shoe making.  By the bye, I wish I were acquainted with Sir Robert Peel.  I could give him many a useful hint with respect to Ireland and the Irish.  I know both tolerably well.  Whenever there’s a row, I intend to go over with Sidi Habesmith and put myself at the head of a body of volunteers.”

During the negotiations for the publication of Mr. Horace Twiss’s “Life of the Earl of Eldon,” Mr. Murray wrote to Mr. Twiss: 

John Murray to Mr. Twiss.

May 11, 1842.

“I am very sorry to say that the publishing of books at this time involves nothing but loss, and that I have found it absolutely necessary to withdraw from the printers every work that I had in the press, and to return to the authors any MS. for which they required immediate publication.”

Mr. Murray nevertheless agreed to publish the “Life of Eldon” on commission, and it proved very successful, going through several editions.

Another work offered to Mr. Murray in 1841 was “The Moor and the Loch,” by John Colquhoun, of Luss.  He had published the first edition at Edinburgh through Mr. Blackwood; and, having had some differences with that publisher, he now proposed to issue the second edition in London.  He wrote to Mr. Murray desiring him to undertake the work, and received the following reply: