George Stephenson

A statesman mentioned In Walter Scott’s journal, William Huskisson, ties us to today’s subject, George Stephenson.  Stephenson is the well-known English engineer, who built the locomotive named Rocket, which won its builder the right to supply the Liverpool and Manchester Railway with trains, but cost the former cabinet minister his life.  Huskisson left his train to greet Arthur Wellesley, and failed to see Stephenson’s Rocket heading toward him in time to reach safety.  Stephenson’s life is chronicled in, among other places, Samuel Smiles’ two works “The Life of George Stephenson” and “Lives of the Engineers (George and Robert Stephenson)”.  

Railways evolved quickly, and while the Liverpool and Manchester line was envisioned initially to carry merchandise, it soon served people as well.  And as “Lives of the Engineers” discusses, ‘the number of passengers carried by the Liverpool and Manchester line was so unexpectedly great, that it was very soon found necessary to remodel the entire system.  Tickets were introduced, by which a great saving of time was effected.  More roomy and commodious carriages were provided, the original first-class compartments being seated for four passengers only.  Everything was found to have been in the first instance made too light and too slight.  The prize ‘Rocket,’ which weighed only 4½ tons when loaded with its coke and water, was found quite unsuited for drawing the increasingly heavy loads of passengers.  There was also this essential difference between the old stage-coach and the new railway train, that, whereas the former was “full” with six inside and ten outside, the latter must be able to accommodate whatever number of passengers came to be carried.  Hence heavier and more powerful engines, and larger and more substantial carriages were from time to time added to the carrying stock of the railway…’

George Stephenson was born on June 9^th, 1781.

Cristabel

‘In the following month (May 8, 1816) Mr. Coleridge offered Mr. Murray

his "Remorse" for publication, with a Preface. He also offered his poem

of "Christabel," still unfinished. For the latter Mr. Murray agreed to

give him seventy guineas, "until the other poems shall be completed,

when the copyright shall revert to the author," and also £20 for

permission to publish the poem entitled "Kubla Khan."…’

Coleridge’s “Christabel” has a controversial connection with Walter Scott, since Scott heard Coleridge recite an early version, in 1802.  As related on the Spencerians.cath.vt.edu website, Scott borrowed a line and something of the cadence from Coleridge’s poem in his "Lay of the Last Minstrel".  It took until 1816 for Coleridge to reach a conclusion and publish, thanks to publisher John Murray.  The text above comes from Samuel Smiles’ “A Publisher and his Friends”.

Works on Napoleon

Following yesterday’s post with a little more on Walter Scott’s friend Lord Byron, Scott enjoyed more initial success with his work on Napoleon, than Byron did with his “Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte”.  On April 29^th, 1814, Byron responded to letter from publisher John Murray, offering effectively to relieve Murray from having to publish further of his poetry, after the failure of this ode.  Both Murray’s and Byron’s letters are found in Samuel Smiles’ “A Publisher and his Friends”

‘[Murry to Byron]…The "Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte," which appeared in April 1814, was on

the whole a failure. It was known to be Lord Byron's, and its

publication was seized upon by the press as the occasion for many bitter

criticisms, mingled with personalities against the writer's genius and

character. He was cut to the quick by these notices, and came to the

determination to buy back the whole of the copyrights of his works, and

suppress every line he had ever written. On April 29, 1814, he wrote to

Mr. Murray:

Lord Byron to John Murray.

April 29, 1814.

I enclose a draft for the money; when paid, send the copyrights. I

release you from the thousand pounds agreed on for "The Giaour" and

"Bride," and there's an end.... For all this, it might be well to assign

some reason. I have none to give, except my own caprice, and I do not

consider the circumstance of consequence enough to require

explanation.... It will give me great pleasure to preserve your

acquaintance, and to consider you as my friend. Believe me very truly,

and for much attention,

Yours, etc.,

BYRON…’

After further communication from Murray, Byron reconsidered.

Smiles Passes

Scottish writer Samuel Smiles’ birth has been covered.  He died on April 16^th, 1904. Among other publications, Smiles was famous for his work “Self Help”.  Smiles had something to say about Walter Scott in that work.

‘Literary life affords abundant illustrations of the same power of

perseverance; and perhaps no career is more instructive, viewed in

this light, than that of Sir Walter Scott.  His admirable working

qualities were trained in a lawyer's office, where he pursued for

many years a sort of drudgery scarcely above that of a copying

clerk.  His daily dull routine made his evenings, which were his

own, all the more sweet; and he generally devoted them to reading

and study.  He himself attributed to his prosaic office discipline

that habit of steady, sober diligence, in which mere literary men

are so often found wanting.  As a copying clerk he was allowed 3d.

for every page containing a certain number of words; and he

sometimes, by extra work, was able to copy as many as 120 pages in

twenty-four hours, thus earning some 30s.; out of which he would

occasionally purchase an odd volume, otherwise beyond his means.

During his after-life Scott was wont to pride himself upon being a

man of business, and he averred, in contradiction to what he called

the cant of sonneteers, that there was no necessary connection

between genius and an aversion or contempt for the common duties of

life.  On the contrary, he was of opinion that to spend some fair

portion of every day in any matter-of-fact occupation was good for

the higher faculties themselves in the upshot.  While afterwards

acting as clerk to the Court of Session in Edinburgh, he performed

his literary work chiefly before breakfast, attending the court

during the day, where he authenticated registered deeds and

writings of various kinds.  On the whole, says Lockhart, "it forms

one of the most remarkable features in his history, that throughout

the most active period of his literary career, he must have devoted

a large proportion of his hours, during half at least of every

year, to the conscientious discharge of professional duties."  It

was a principle of action which he laid down for himself, that he

must earn his living by business, and not by literature.  On one

occasion he said, "I determined that literature should be my staff,

not my crutch, and that the profits of my literary labour, however

convenient otherwise, should not, if I could help it, become

necessary to my ordinary expenses."

His punctuality was one of the most carefully cultivated of his

habits, otherwise it had not been possible for him to get through

so enormous an amount of literary labour.  He made it a rule to

answer every letter received by him on the same day, except where

inquiry and deliberation were requisite.  Nothing else could have

enabled him to keep abreast with the flood of communications that

poured in upon him and sometimes put his good nature to the

severest test.  It was his practice to rise by five o'clock, and

light his own fire.  He shaved and dressed with deliberation, and

was seated at his desk by six o'clock, with his papers arranged

before him in the most accurate order, his works of reference

marshalled round him on the floor, while at least one favourite dog

lay watching his eye, outside the line of books.  Thus by the time

the family assembled for breakfast, between nine and ten, he had

done enough--to use his own words--to break the neck of the day's

work.  But with all his diligent and indefatigable industry, and

his immense knowledge, the result of many years' patient labour,

Scott always spoke with the greatest diffidence of his own powers.

On one occasion he said, "Throughout every part of my career I have

felt pinched and hampered by my own ignorance."…’

Washington Irving's Birth

Washington Irving was born on April 3^rd, 1783, the son of Orcadian William Irving.  As noted previously in this blog, Sir Walter Scott helped Irving publish his “The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon” in England.  The story is told in Samuel Smiles’ memoir of John Murray “A Publisher and his Friends”.

‘…A business in Liverpool, in which, with his brother, he [Irving] was a partner, proved a failure, and in 1818 he was engaged on his famous "Sketch Book," which he wrote in England, and sent to his brother Ebenezer in New York to be published there. The work appeared in three parts in the course of the year 1819. Several of the articles were copied in English periodicals and were read with great admiration. A writer in Blackwood

expressed surprise that Mr. Irving had thought fit to publish his

"Sketch Book" in America earlier than in Britain, and predicted a large

and eager demand for such a work. On this encouragement, Irving, who was

still in England, took the first three numbers, which had already

appeared in America, to Mr. Murray, and left them with him for

examination and approval. Murray excused himself on the ground that he

did not consider the work in question likely to form the basis of

"satisfactory accounts," and without this he had no "satisfaction" in

undertaking to publish.

Irving thereupon sought (but did not take) the advice of Sir W. Scott,

and entered into an arrangement with Miller of the Burlington Arcade,

and in February 1820 the first four numbers were published in a volume.

Miller shortly after became bankrupt, the sale of the book (of which one

thousand had been printed) was interrupted, and Irving's hopes of profit

were dashed to the ground. At this juncture, Walter Scott, who was then

in London, came to his help.

"I called to him for help as I was sticking in the mire, and, more

propitious than Hercules, he put his own shoulder to the wheel. Through

his favourable representations Murray was quickly induced to undertake

the future publication of the work which he had previously declined. A

further edition of the first volume was put to press, and from that time

Murray became my publisher, conducting himself in all his dealings with

that fair, open, and liberal spirit which had obtained for him the

well-merited appellation of the Prince of Booksellers." [Footnote:

Preface to the revised edition of "The Sketch Book."]

Irving, being greatly in want of money, offered to dispose of the work

entirely to the publisher, and Murray, though he had no legal protection

for his purchase, not only gave him £200 for it, but two months later

he wrote to Irving, stating that his volumes had succeeded so much

beyond his commercial estimate that he begged he would do him the favour

to draw on him at sixty-five days for one hundred guineas in addition to

the sum agreed upon. And again, eight months later, Murray made Irving a

second gratuitous contribution of a hundred pounds, to which the author

replied, "I never knew any one convey so much meaning in so concise and

agreeable a manner." The author's "Bracebridge Hall" and other works

were also published by Mr. Murray…’