It was not merely to Englishmen that Murray extended a helping and a generous hand. When the first volume of the “Sketch Book,” originally published in America, made its appearance in London, it was declined by Murray, and Irving was about to publish it on his own account; but after all arrangements had been made the printer failed. Lockhart had praised the book in _Blackwood_; and Scott, seeing at once its sterling worth, with his usual kindliness, pressed its merits upon Murray, who gave Irving £200 for it, afterwards more than doubling the amount. Murray’s transactions with Irving exhibit a singular phase of the international copyright law. This is how their account stands-- £ “Sketch Book” 467 “Bracebridge Hall” 1050 “Tales of a Traveller” 1575 “Life of Columbus” 3150 “Companions of Columbus” 525 “Conquest of Grenada” 2100 “Tour on the Prairies” 400 “Abbotsford and Newstead” 400 “Legends of Spain” 100 ---- Total £9767 These sums of money having been paid, Mr. Bohn reprinted the volumes in a cheap edition. A law suit was of course the result, in which Murray’s expenses ran up to £850, and Mr. Bohn’s were probably as heavy. The question, however, was settled amicably, without being fought to the bitter end, and Irving received no more money from this side the Atlantic. Most of the famous men with whom Murray had been connected had by this time disappeared, many of them having shed their rays meteor-like, and having done the duty unto which they were created in a momentary flash. The seething excitement called into being by the throes of the first French Revolution had subsided, and there were neither readers left to appreciate true poetry, nor true poets remaining, with strength of voice left in them to bring back memories in passion-laden melodies of the troublous times they sprung from. All, on the contrary, was quiet and easeful--a happy time for commerce, but a barren hour for art. Murray, skilled as any pilot in watching the direction of the wind, turned his attention to the publication of travels and expeditions--the very books for a fireside afternoon, when the wind is howling outside, and the snow-storm beating on the windows--and very soon Albemarle Street was as famous for its “Travels” as it had previously been for its “Belles-Lettres.” Among the most valuable and successful of these were the expeditions of Mungo Park, Belzoni, Parry, Franklin, Denham, and Clapperton.