CHAPTER II.
JOHN MURRAY (II.)--BEGINNING OF HIS PUBLISHING CAREER--ISAAC D'ISRAELI, ETC.
John Murray the Second--the "Anax of Publishers," according to Lord Byron--was born on November 27, 1778.

He was his father's only surviving son by his second marriage, and being only fifteen at his father's death, was too young to enter upon the business of the firm, which was carried on by Samuel Highley--the "faithful shopman" mentioned in the elder Murray's will--for the benefit of his widow and family.

What his father thought of him, of his health, spirits, and good nature, will have been seen from the preceding chapter.
Young Murray returned to school, and remained there for about two years longer, until the marriage of his mother to Lieutenant Henry Paget, of the West Norfolk Militia, on September 28, 1795, when he returned to 32, Meet Street, to take part in the business.

Mrs.Paget ceased to be an executor, retired from Fleet Street, and went to live at Bridgenorth with her husband, taking her two daughters--Jane and Mary Anne Murray--to live with her, and receiving from time to time the money necessary for their education.
The executors secured the tenancy of No.

32, Fleet Street, part of the stock and part of the copyrights, for the firm of Murray & Highley, between whom a partnership was concluded in 1795, though Murray was still a minor.