honourable conduct which would long be a
model for those who aim at distinction in the profession." He would have
nothing to do with what was poor and shabby. When it was suggested to
him, as a young publisher, that his former partner was ready to bear
part of the risk in a contemplated undertaking, he refused to associate
his fortunes with a man who conducted his business on methods that he
did not approve. "I cannot allow my name to stand with his, because he
undersells all other publishers at the regular and advertised prices."
Boundless as was his admiration for the genius of Scott and Byron, he
abandoned one of the most cherished objects of his ambition-to be the
publisher of new works by the author of "Waverley"--rather than involve
himself further in transactions which he foresaw must lead to discredit
and disaster; and, at the risk of a quarrel, strove to recall Byron to
the ways of sound literature, when through his wayward genius he seemed
to be drifting into an unworthy course.

In the same way, when the disagreement between the firms of Constable
and Longmans seemed likely to turn to his own advantage, instead of
making haste to seize the golden opportunity, he exerted himself to
effect a reconciliation between the disputants, by pointing out what he
considered the just and reasonable view of their mutual interests. The
letters which, on this occasion, he addressed respectively to Mr. A.G.
Hunter, to the Constables, and to the Longmans, are models of good sense
and manly rectitude. Nor was his conduct to Constable, after the
downfall of the latter, less worthy of admiration. Deeply as Constable
had injured him by the reckless conduct of his business, Murray not
only retained no ill-feeling against him, but, anxious simply to help a
brother in misfortune, resigned in his favour, in a manner full of the
most delicate consideration, his own claim to a valuable copyright. The
same warmth of heart and disinterested friendship appears in his efforts
to re-establish the affairs of the Robinsons after the failure of that
firm. Yet, remarkable as he was for his loyalty to his comrades, he was
no less distinguished by his spirit and independence. No man without a
very high sense of justice and self-respect could have conducted a
correspondence on a matter of business in terms of such dignified
propriety as Murray employed in addressing Benjamin Disraeli after the
collapse of the _Representative_. It is indeed a proof o