trade seems early to have risen in his mind, and he was perhaps the
first member of the Stationers' craft to separate the business of
bookselling from that of publishing. When Constable in Edinburgh sent
him "a miscellaneous order of books from London," he replied: "Country
orders are a branch of business which I have ever totally declined as
incompatible with my more serious plans as a publisher."

With ideas of this kind, it may readily be imagined that Murray was not
what is usually called "a good man of business," a fact of which he was
well aware, as the following incident, which occurred in his later
years, amusingly indicates.

The head of one of the larger firms with which he dealt came in person
to Albemarle Street to receive payment of his account. This was duly
handed to him in bills, which, by some carelessness, he lost on his way
home, He thereupon wrote to Mr. Murray, requesting him to advertise in
his own name for the lost property. Murray's reply was as follows:

TWICKENHAM, _October_ 26, 1841.

MY DEAR-----,

I am exceedingly sorry for the vexatious, though, I hope, only temporary
loss which you have met with; but I have so little character for being a
man of business, that if the bills were advertised in _my_ name it would
be publicly confirming the suspicion--but in your own name, it will be
only considered as a very extraordinary circumstance, and I therefore
give my impartial opinion in favour of the latter mode. Remaining, my
dear-----,

Most truly yours,

JOHN MURRAY.

The possession of ordinary commercial shrewdness, however, was by no
means the quality most essential for successful publishing at the
beginning of the nineteenth century. Both Constable and Ballantyne were
men of great cleverness and aptitude for business; but, wanting certain
higher endowments, they were unable to resist the whirl of excitement
accompanying an unprecedented measure of financial success. Their ruin
was as rapid as their rise. To Murray, on the other hand, perhaps their
inferior in the average arts of calculation, a vigorous native sense,
tempering a genuine enthusiasm for what was excellent in literature,
gave precisely that mixture of dash and steadiness which was needed to
satisfy the complicated requirements of the public taste.

A high sense of rectitude is apparent in all his business transactions;
and Charles Knight did him no more than justice in saying that he had
"left an example of talent and