“I was with Lord Byron yesterday.  He enquired after you, and bid me say how much he was indebted to your introduction of your poor Irish friend Maturin, who had sent him a tragedy, which Lord Byron received late in the evening, and read through, without being able to stop.  He was so delighted with it that he sent it immediately to his fellow-manager, the Hon. George Lamb, who, late as it came to him, could not go to bed without finishing it.  The result is that they have laid it before the rest of the Committee; they, or rather Lord Byron, feels it his duty to the author to offer it himself to the managers of Covent Garden.  The poor fellow says in his letter that his hope of subsistence for his family for the next year rests upon what he can get for this play.  I expressed a desire of doing something, and Lord Byron then confessed that he had sent him fifty guineas.  I shall write to him tomorrow, and I think if you could draw some case for him and exhibit his merits, particularly if his play succeeds, I could induce Croker and Peel to interest themselves in his behalf, and get him a living.

“....  Have you any fancy to dash off an article on ‘Emma’?  It wants incident and romance, does it not?  None of the author’s other novels have been noticed, and surely ‘Pride and Prejudice’ merits high commendation.”

Scott immediately complied with Murray’s request.  He did “dash off an article on ‘Emma,’” which appeared in No. 27 of the Quarterly.  In enclosing his article to Murray, Scott wrote as follows: 

Mr. Scott to John Murray.

January 19, 1816.

Dear Sir,

Enclosed is the article upon “Emma.”  I have been spending my holidays in the country, where, besides constant labour in the fields during all the hours of daylight, the want of books has prevented my completing the Highland article. (The “Culloden Papers,” which appeared in next number.) It will be off, however, by Tuesday’s post, as I must take Sunday and Monday into the account of finishing it.  It will be quite unnecessary to send proofs of “Emma,” as Mr. Gifford will correct all obvious errors, and abridge it where necessary.

January, 25, 1816.

“My article is so long that I fancy you will think yourself in the condition of the conjuror, who after having a great deal of trouble in raising the devil, could not get rid of him after he had once made his appearance.  But the Highlands is an immense field, and it would have been much more easy for me to have made a sketch twice as long than to make it shorter.  There still wants eight or nine pages, which you will receive by tomorrow’s or next day’s post; but I fancy you will be glad to get on.”

The article on the “Culloden Papers,” which occupied fifty pages of the Review (No. 28), described the clans of the Highlands, their number, manners, and habits; and gave a summary history of the Rebellion of ’45.  It was graphically and vigorously written, and is considered one of Scott’s best essays.