"I declare to you that I am every day more content with my lot. Neither
my wife nor I have any disposition for company or going out; and you may
rest assured that I shall devote all my attention to business, and that
your concerns will not be less the object of my regard merely because
you have raised mine so high. Every moment, my dear Constable, I feel
more grateful to you, and I trust that you will over find me your
faithful friend.--J.M."

Some of the most important events in Murray's career occurred during the
first year of his married life. Chief among them may perhaps be
mentioned his part share in the publication of "Marmion" (in February
1808)--which brought him into intimate connection with Walter Scott--and
his appointment for a time as publisher in London of the _Edinburgh
Review_; for he was thus brought into direct personal contact with those
forces which ultimately led to the chief literary enterprise of his
life--the publication of the _Quarterly Review_.

Mr. Scott called upon Mr. Murray in London shortly after the return of
the latter from his marriage in Edinburgh.

"Mr. Scott called upon me on Tuesday, and we conversed for an hour....
He appears very anxious that 'Marmion' should be published by the
King's birthday.... He said he wished it to be ready by that time for
very particular reasons; and yet he allows that the poem is not
completed, and that he is yet undetermined if he shall make his hero
happy or otherwise."

The other important event, to which allusion has been made, was the
transfer to Mr. Murray of part of the London agency for the _Edinburgh