Volume 1 - Electric Scotland

62 WILLIAM BLACKWOOD.
world that the pubhsher desired. " One in business
must submit to many things," he writes to Murray,
" and swallow many a bitter pill when such a man as
Walter Scott is the object in view." Murray too was
willing rather to swallow the pill than to endanger
the attainment of Walter Scott with the author of
' Waverley ' at his back. But as the summer went on
the sense of uncertainty and the tediousness of waiting
grew more and more. In July it began to be insup-
portable, interrupting every other thought. Early in
this month Blackwood communicated his feelings to
Murray, who was little less anxious than himself :
W. Blackwood to John Murray.
—
Jvly 2, 1816.
This morning I got up between five and six, but instead of
sitting down to write you, as I had intended, I mounted my
pony and took a long ride to collect my thoughts. Sitting,
walking, or riding, it is all the same. I feel as much puzzled
as ever, and undetermined whether or not to cut the Gordian
knot. Except my wife, there is not a friend whom I dare
advise with. I have not ventured to mention the business at
all to my brother, on account of the cursed mysteries and in-
junctions of secrecy connected with it. I know he would
blame me for ever engaging in it, for he has a very small opinion
of the Ballantynes. I cannot, therefore, be benefited by his
advice. Mrs Blackwood, though she always disliked my having
any connection with the Ballantynes, rather thinks we
should wait a few weeks longer till we see what is produced.
I believe, after all, this is the safest course to pursue.
By the end of the month, however, his impatience
was no longer to be controlled, and on the 31st July
he addressed James Ballantyne as follows :
It surely will not be thought unreasonable that Mr Murray
and I should, at a distance of three months from the period
—