John Murray III, 1808-1892, a Brief Memoir

rrr: JOHN MURRAY III 1808-1892 A BRIEF MEMOIR BY JOHN MURRAY IV WITH PORTRAIT AND ILLUSTRATION LONDON JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. 1919 PREFACE I HAVE long cherished the desire to attempt the writing of a biography of my Father. The materials for such a work are superabundant, as they were in the case of my Grandfather's life. For over ten years I was engaged in collecting and arranging the correspondence before handing it over to Dr Smiles, but this had to be done in leisure hours, and for many years past such leisure hours have been denied me. With a view to keeping my Father's memory alive before the generation which knew him passes away, I wrote an article which Dr Prothero kindly accepted and published in the 'Quarterly Review.' It has brought me such a large number of gratifying letters, both from friends and strangers ; from those who knew him and those who did not, that I have been persuaded to re- publish it in the somewhat more permanent form of this small volume. I have included several passages which, owing to limits of space, had to be omitted from the ' Quarterly,' and have added my Father's own account of the origin of the Handbooks, and a few extracts from his letters home from 1830 vi PREFACE to 1884, as they will give the reader some idea of the zeal and intelligence which he imported into his travels, and which enabled him to become the Pioneer of Guide Book writers. I have to thank my brother Hallam and my sisters for their assistance in furnishing me with various details and copies of letters. J. M. CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE . v MEMOIR OP JOHN MURRAY III 1 Reprinted with additions from the 'Quarterly Review.' THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF MURRAY'S HANDBOOKS FOR TRAVELLERS . - 39 SOME LETTERS FROM JOHN MURRAY TO HIS FAMILY, 1830- 1891 50 Bordeaux Venice Salzburg Munich Augsburg Liege Charleroi Newcastle-on-Tyne Bourges Angers Fontevrault Chinon Plessis-les-Tours Chenonceaux Bayonne St. Sebastian Pau Bareges A mountain climb on the Pyrenees Bagneres de Bigorre Luz Bagneres de Luchon Rheims Senlis Chantilly The Dolomites Venice iRiva Hawarden Rousdon. ILLUSTRATIONS POETRAIT OF JOHN MURRAY .... Frontispiece From a picture by the late Sir George Reid, P.S.A. NEWSTEAD, WIMBLEDON facing page 24 JOHN MUBBAY III 1808-1892 MY grandfather, John Murray the second, has received an ample meed of renown and credit at the hands of the public. Not more I think than he deserves, but rather to the eclipse of his pre- decessor and of his successor, both of whom in my humble opinion deserve a fuller recognition than has yet been given them. One hundred and fifty years ago it required more resolution than it does to-day for a young man to give up his commission in the army and business his start a trading on own account ; but this was what the first John Murray did in 1768. That he had many close friends in the service is shown by the letters of his correspondents, many of whom rose to distinction in later years. He had a genuine love of, and a taste for, literature, and he laid the foundation well and truly, although he died before he had attained to any great financial success. My present purpose however is not to write about him but about my father the third John Murray in the direct line. In 1843 he succeeded to the headship of the business, which had already taken its place among the leading publishing firms in London, but, owing B 2 JOHN MURRAY III 1808-1892 to my grandfather's generous mode of living and of treating his authors, was not in a very flourishing financial position. My father therefore had before him many years of strenuous work to remedy this deficiency. Of his early school days at Charterhouse he seldom spoke much, but an occasional reference to a bully who kept a cricket-stump with which to thrash small boys is remembered. However great the traditions of a public school may be, it must have been a sad curtailment of the wholesome life of the boys to be cooped up in the centre of a like London and father often said that city ; my he could not subject his own sons to such a dis- advantage. From his earliest years he suffered from an inflammatory malady of the eyes, which greatly hampered his enjoyment of life and his power of taking part in games. I never knew him as a his a except very short-sighted man ; and was form of short-sight which derived no aid from glasses. As we grew older, we children were accustomed to act as eyes for him in recognising friends. In spite of this, his powers of observation in regard to scenery, architecture, painting, etc., were extraordinary ; and he never seemed to forget what he had once seen. In January 1827, at the age of 18, he was sent to Edinburgh to study at the University, and there he entered upon a life of study and associations which were thoroughly congenial to him. He lodged with the Rev. Andrew Thomson, D.D., as a member of the family; and, from first to last, Dr Thomson's only word of complaint in regard to him was that he had too many friends in Edinburgh, and was tempted to go into society so much as to LIFE IN EDINBURGH 3 endanger his studies, although it is evident that in the long run they did not suffer. He attended the lectures of Prof. Jameson in geology and mineralogy, of Dr McCulloch in Political Economy, and Dr Hope in chemistry, besides taking lessons in French, German, mathematics and riding, From the outset to the end of his days, geology and mineralogy constituted his favourite pursuit. He never went on an excursion from Edinburgh without his hammer and bag and note-book, and he formed a good collection of minerals, which is now in the School Museum at Eton. I gather from my father's letters that Dr Thomson's misgivings in regard to social attrac- tions were not unwarranted. He had many rela- tions and friends in Edinburgh and appears to have received a large number of invitations to town parties and country houses. I find him going to stay with General Elliot, a relative of his mother, at Rosebank, with Sir William Fettes at Gogar Bank and with General Bethune at Blebo, Here he was initiated in the art of partridge shooting, but without much success owing to his defective ' ' eye-sight I ought rather,' he writes, call it firing than shooting, as I only brought down one bird.' In Edinburgh he dined frequently with Captain Basil Hall, in whose house he met ' a Mr Audubon,' the distinguished American naturalist, who told him of the Mississippi floods. ' January 2nd, 1827. ' He had travelled over the greater part of the United States and his conversation was very interesting. He mentioned that there were 300 steamboats on the Mississippi. At the time of the year when the snows melt, that river overflows its banks to a great extent 4 JOHN MURRAY III 1808-1892 and covers all the immense woods on its banks so that the steamboats actually sail over the tops of the trees and cut across the country, instead of proceeding along the winding stream. It, however, sometimes happens that they are caught like Baron Munchausen in the branches, and are thereby stuck fast and lost. At the time of these overflowings the water sometimes rises 65 feet in a week and a person setting off on a Sunday on a journey of 1700 miles down the river has arrived at the place of his destination on Wednesday night. He said he had himself made such a voyage.' Siddons At Mr Ballantyne's he met Mrs ; and he also went to see Dugald Stewart, a connexion of his father's. One of the most notable events of his stay in Edinburgh was the famous dinner of the Theatrical Fund, at which he was present, when Sir Walter first publicly owned to the authorship of the Waverley Novels. Of this he writes as follows : 'Edinburgh, Feb. 26, 1827. ' Mr Allan had kindly offered to take me with him to a Theatrical Dinner which took place on Friday last. There were present about 300 persons, a mixed company, many of them not of the most respectable order. Sir Walter Scott took the chair, and there was scarcely another person of any note to support him, except the actors. The dinner therefore would have been little better than tolerable had it not been for the i confession of Sir Walter Scott that he was the author of the Waverley Novels. This acknowledgment was elicited from him in this manner. Lord Meadow- bank, who sat on his left hand, proposed his health, and, after paying him many compliments, ended his speech by saying that the clouds and mists which had SIR WALTER SCOTT so long surrounded the Great Unknown were now removed, and he appeared in his true character (prob- ably alluding to the expos6 made before Constable's creditors, for I do not think there was any preconcerted " plan). Upon this Sir Walter rose and said, I did not expect, on coming here to-day, that I should have to disclose before 300 people a secret which, considering that it has already been made known to about 30 persons, has been tolerably well kept. I am not it prepared to give any reasons for preserving a secret ; caprice had certainly a good share in the matter.

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