Mr. Murray, the bookseller,
purchased my first volume, with the right of refusal for the second
volume. When the latter was nearly ready, a friend informed me that he
did not think Murray would purchase, because he had heard him say that
Sir George Murray had declared it was not 'The Book.' He did not point
out any particular error, but it was not 'The Book,' meaning, doubtless,
that his own production, when it appeared, would be 'The Book.' My
friend's prognostic was not false. I was offered just half of the sum
given for the first volume. I declined it, and published on my own
account, and certainly I have had no reason to regret that Mr.
Bookseller Murray waited for 'The Book,' indeed, he has since told me
very frankly that he had mistaken his own interest."
In answer to the first part of this statement, I beg leave to say, that
I had not, at the time to which Colonel Napier refers, the honour of any
acquaintance with Sir George Murray, nor have I held any conversation or
correspondence with him on the subject of Colonel Napier's book, or of
any other book on the Peninsular War.
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