"He took some days to consider, during which time he consulted
his literary advisers, among whom, no doubt, was Mr. Gifford,
who was Editor of the _Quarterly Review_. That Mr. Gifford gave
a favourable opinion I afterwards learned from Mr. Murray himself; but
the objections I have stated stared him in the face, and he was kept in
suspense between the desire of possessing a work of Lord Byron's and the
fear of an unsuccessful speculation. We came to this conclusion: that he
should print, at his expense, a handsome quarto edition, the profits of
which I should share equally with him, and that the agreement for the
copyright should depend upon the success of this edition. When I told
this to Lord Byron he was highly pleased, but still doubted the
copyright being worth my acceptance, promising, however, if the poem
went through the edition, to give me other poems to annex to 'Childe
Harold.'"
Mr. Murray had long desired to make Lord Byron's acquaintance, and now
that Mr. Dallas had arranged with him for the publication of the first
two cantos of "Childe Harold," he had many opportunities of seeing Byron
at his place of business.
Pages:
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192