"
Meanwhile Mr. Murray was again in treaty for a share in a further work
by Walter Scott. No sooner was the campaign of 1815 over, than a host of
tourists visited France and the Low Countries, and amongst them Murray
succeeded in making his long-intended trip to Paris, and Scott set out
to visit the battlefields in Belgium. Before departing, Scott made an
arrangement with John Ballantyne to publish the results of his travels,
and he authorized him to offer the work to Murray, Constable, and the
Longmans, in equal shares.
In 1815 a very remarkable collection of documents was offered to Mr.
Murray for purchase and publication. They were in the possession of one
of Napoleon's generals, a friend of Miss Waldie. [Footnote: Afterwards
Mrs. Eaton, author of "Letters from Italy."] The collection consisted of
the personal correspondence of Bonaparte, when in the height of his
power, with all the crowned heads and leading personages of Europe, upon
subjects so strictly confidential that they had not even been
communicated to their own ministers or private secretaries. They were
consequently all written by their own hands.
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