e Chaldee Manuscript had thus revealed themselves to the author of
"Hypocrisy Unveiled," the London publisher of _Blackwood_ was, in
November 1818, assailed by a biting pamphlet, entitled "A Letter to Mr.
John Murray, of Albemarle Street, occasioned by his having undertaken
the publication, in London, of _Blackwood's Magazine_." "The curse of
his respectability," he was told, had brought the letter upon him. "Your
name stands among the very highest in the department of Literature which
has fallen to your lot: the eminent persons who have confided in you,
and the works you have given to the world, have conduced to your
establishment in the public favour; while your liberality, your
impartiality, and your private motives, bear testimony to the justice of
your claims to that honourable distinction."
Other criticisms of the same kind reached Mr. Murray's ear. Moore, in
his Diary (November 4, 1818), writes: "Received two most civil and
anxious letters from the great 'Bibliopola Tryphon' Murray, expressing
his regret at the article in _Blackwood_, and his resolution to give up
all concern in it if it contained any more such personalities."
[Footnote: "Memoirs, Journal, and Correspondence of Thomas Moore," ii.
210. By Lord John Russell.]
Finally the Hazlitt action was settled. Blackwood gave to Murray the
following account of the matter:
_December_ 16, 1818.
"I have had two letters from Mr. Patmore, informing me that Mr. Hazlitt
was to drop the prosecution. His agent has since applied to mine
offering to do this, if the expenses and a small sum for some charity
were paid. My agent told him he would certainly advise any client of his
to get out of court, but that he would never advise me to pay anything
to be made a talk of, as a sum for a charity would be. He would advise
me, he said, to pay the expenses, and a trifle to Hazlitt himself
privately. Hazlitt's agent agreed to this." [Footnote: I have not been
able to discover what sum, if any, was paid to Hazlitt privately.]
Notwithstanding promises of amendment, Murray still complained of the
personalities, and of the way in which the magazine was edited. He also
objected to the "echo of the _Edinburgh Review's_ abuse of Sharon
Turner. It was sufficient to give pain to me, and to my most valued
friend. There was another ungentlemanly and uncalled-for thrust at
Thomas Moore. That just makes so many more enemies, unnecessarily; and
you not only deprive me of the communic
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