289—to John Murray

April 21, 1813.

Dear Sir,—I shall be in town by Sunday next, and will call and have some conversation on the subject of Westall's proposed designs. I am to sit to him for a picture at the request of a friend of mine 1 ; and as Sanders's is not a good one, you will probably prefer the other. I wish you to have Sanders's taken down and sent to my lodgings immediately—before my arrival. I hear that a certain malicious publication on Waltzing 2 is attributed to me. This report, I suppose, you will take care to contradict, as the Author, I am sure, will not like that I should wear his cap and bells. Mr. Hobhouse's quarto will be out immediately; pray send to the author for an early copy which I wish to take abroad with me.

Dear Sir, I am, yours very truly, B.

P. S.—I see the Examiner 3 threatens some observations upon you next week. What can you have done to share the wrath which has heretofore been principally expended upon the Prince? I presume all your Scribleri will be drawn up in battle array in defence of the modern Tonson—Mr. Bucke 4 , for instance. Send in my account to Bennet Street, as I wish to settle it before sailing.

Footnote 1:

  This picture, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1815, is now in the possession of the Baroness Burdett-Coutts.

Footnote 2:

  Byron's Waltz was published anonymously in the spring of 1813, not, apparently, by Murray, but by Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, Paternoster Row.

Footnote 3:

  In the Examiner for April, 1813, occurs the paragraph: "A word or two on Mr. Murray's (the 'splendid bookseller') judgment in the Fine Arts—next week, if room."

Footnote 4:

  Charles Bucke (1781-1846), a voluminous writer of verse, plays, and miscellaneous subjects, published, in 1813, his Philosophy of Nature; or, the Influence of Scenery on the Mind and Heart. He supported himself by his pen, and that indifferently. Byron seems to suggest that he was a dependent of Murray's. In 1817 he sent to the Committee of Management at Drury Lane his tragedy, The Italians; or, the Fatal Accusation, and it was accepted. In February, 1819, he withdrew the play, in consequence of a quarrel with Edmund Kean, and published it with extracts from the correspondence and a Preface, which sent it through numerous editions. The play itself was, after being withdrawn, played at Drury Lane, April 3, 1819. Bucke and his Preface were answered in The Assailant Assailed, and in A Defence of Edmund Kean, Esq. (both in 1819), and the opinion of the town condemned both him and his tragedy.