The Sun.
London, England, 1824-11-06 00:00:00

LORD BYRON AND MR.MURRAY.

CONVERSATION OF LORD BMW, As RELATED DY THOS. MEDWIN,
ESQ., COMPARED WITH ONE PORTION OF HIS LORDSHIP'S COR-
RESPONDENCE.

The volume of " Lord Byron's Conversations" with Mr. Med-
wikcontains several statements relative to Mr. Murray, his Lord-
ship's publisher, against which, however exceptionable they might
be, he was willing to trust his defence to the private testimony
of persons acquainted with the real particulars, and to his ge-
neral character, ilither than resort to any kind of public appeal,
to which he has ever been exceedingly averse. But friends, to
whose judgment Mr. Murray is bound to defer, having decided
that such an appeal upon the occasion is become a positive duty
on his part, he hopes that he shalt not be thought too obtrusive in
opposing.to those personal allegations extracts from Lord Byron'e
own letters, with the addition of a few brief notes of necessary ex-
planation.
CAPT. MRDWIN, p. 167.
" Murray offered me, of his own accord, 10001. a Canto for Don
Juan, and afterwards reduced it-to 5001. on the plea of piracy, and
complained of my dividing one Canto into two, because I hap-
pened to say something at the end of the third Canto of having
done so."
LORD BYROr:l.'s LETTER.

" Ravenna, February 7. 1,820.
" Dear Murray,—l have copied and cut the Third Canto of Don
.Irwin INTO TWO, because it was too long, and 1 tell you this before
hand, because, in case of any reckoning between you and me, these
two are only to go for ONE, as this was the original form, and in
fact the two together are not iqngfr than one of the
,first ! so remem-
ber that I have not made this davtsion to DOUBLE upon YOU, but i
merely to suppress some tediousness n the aspect of the thing. I
should have served you a pretty trick if I hod sent you,forexample,
Cantos of fifty stanzas each."

CAPT. MF.DITIN, p. 160.
" I don't wish to quarrel with Murray, but it seems inevitable.
I had no reason to be pleased with him the other day. Galignani
wrote to me, offering to purchase the copy-right of my works, in
order to obtain an exclusive privilege of printing them in France.
I might have made my own terms, and put the money in my own
pocket; instead of which, I enclosed Galignani's letter to Murray,
in order that he might conclude the matter as he pleased. He did
so very advantageously for his own interest; but never had the
complaisance, the common politeness, to thank me or acknowledge
my letter."

LORD BYRON'S LETTER.
" Ravenna, Obre 4,1820.
" I have received from Mr. Galignani the inclosed letters, du-
plicates, and receipts, which wilt explain themselves. As the
poems are your properly by purchase, right, and justice, ALL MAT-
TERS OF PUBLICATION, Bre,, 4c., ARE FOR YOU TO DECIDE UPON. I
know not how far my compliance with Mr. G.'s request might he
legal, and I doubt that it would not be honest. hi case you choose
to arrange with him I inclose the permits to you, and in so doing I
wash my hands of the business altogether. 1 sign them merely to
enable you to exact the power you Justly possess more properly. I
will have nothing to do with it further, except in my answer to
Mr. Galignani, to state that the letters, ere. c. are sent to you
and the causes thereof.. If you can check these oreign pirates, do;
foreign
if not, put the permissive papers in the fire. I can have no view
nor object whatever but to secure to you your property."
NOTE.—Mr. Murray derived no advantage from the proposed
agreement, which was by no means of the importance here ascrib-
ed to it, and therefore was never attempted to be curried into
effect : the documents alluded to are still in his possession.

CAPT. MEDWIN' pp. 169-171.
" Murray has long prevented The Quarterly' from abusing
me. Some of their bullies have had their fingers itching to be at
me ; but they m ould get the worst of it in a set to.
" Murray and I have dissolved all connection : he had the
choice of giving up me or the Navy List. There was no hesitation
which way he should decide ; the Admiralty carried the day.
Now for the Quarterly : their batteries will be opened but I
can fire broadsides too. They have been letting off lots of squibs
and crackers against me, but they only make a noise and* * •
" Werner' was the last book Murray published for me and
three months after carne out the Quarterly's article on my Plays,
when Marino Faliero' was noticed for the first time.'
LORD BYRON'S LETTER.
" Genoa, 10bre 25, 1822.

I had sent you back the Quarterly without perusal, having re-
solved to read no more reviews, good, bad, or indiferent ; but who
can control his fate? Galignant,' to whom my English studies
are conned, has forwarded a copy of at least one half of it in his
indefatigable weekly compilation, and as, ' like honour, a came un-
looked for,' I hare looked through it. I must say that upon the
mune—that is, the whole of the HALF which I have read /for the
other half is to be the segment of Gal.'s next week's circular), it is
certainly handsome, and any thing but unkind or unfair."
NUM—The
.passage about the Admiralty is unfounded in fact,
and no otherwise deserving of notice than to mark its absurdity
and with regard to the Quarterly Review, his Lordship well knew
that it was established and constantly conducted on principles
which absolutely excluded Mr. Murray from all such interference
and influence as is implied in the." Conversations."

CAPT. MEDWIN, page 168.
" Because I gave Mr. Murray one of my poems, he wanted to
make me believe that I had made him a present of two others, and
hinted at some lines in ' English Bards,' that were certainly to the
point. But I have altered my mind considerably upon that sub-
ject : as I once hinted to him, I see no reason why a man should
not profit by the sweat of his brain as well as that of his brow, &c. ;
besides, I was poor at that time, and have no idea of aggrandizing
booksellers."