And again, eight months later, Murray made Irving a second gratuitous contribution of a hundred pounds, to which the author replied, "I never knew any one convey so much meaning in so concise and agreeable a manner." The author's "Bracebridge Hall" and other works were also published by Mr.Murray.
In 1822 Irving, who liked to help his literary fellow-countrymen, tried to induce Mr.Murray to republish James Fenimore Cooper's novels in England.

Mr.Murray felt obliged to decline, as he found that these works were pirated by other publishers; American authors were then beginning to experience the same treatment in England which English authors have suffered in America.

The wonder was that Washington Irving's works so long escaped the same doom.
In 1819 Mr.Murray first made the acquaintance of Ugo Foscolo.

A native of Zante, descended from a Venetian family who had settled in the Ionian Islands, Foscolo studied at Padua, and afterwards took up his residence at Venice.

The ancient aristocracy of that city had been banished by Napoleon Bonaparte, and the conqueror gave over Venice to Austria.
Foscolo attacked Bonaparte in his "Lettere di Ortis." After serving as a volunteer in the Lombard Legion through the disastrous campaign of 1799, Foscolo, on the capitulation of Genoa, retired to Milan, where he devoted himself to literary pursuits.