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489	https://historysoa.com/items/show/489	The Author, Vol. 14 Issue 04 (January 1904)	<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=%3Cem%3EThe+Author%3C%2Fem%3E%2C+Vol.+14+Issue+04+%28January+1904%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 14 Issue 04 (January 1904)</a>											<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Publication">Publication</a>	1904-01-01-The-Author-14-4					85–112																		<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=14">14</a>											<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1904-01-01">1904-01-01</a>							4			19040101	Che Hutbor.<br /> <br /> (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors.<br /> <br /> FOUNDED BY SIR<br /> <br /> Monthly.)<br /> <br /> WALTER BESANT.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Vou. XIV.—No. 4.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> TELEPHONE NUMBER :<br /> 374 VICTORIA.<br /> <br /> TELEGRAPHIC ADDRESS :<br /> AUTORIDAD, LONDON.<br /> <br /> 1<br /> <br /> NOTICES.<br /> <br /> —_ &gt;<br /> <br /> OR the opinions expressed in papers that are<br /> signed or initialled the authors alone are<br /> responsible. None of the papers or para-<br /> <br /> graphs must be taken as expressing the opinion<br /> of the Committee unless such is especially stated<br /> to be the case.<br /> <br /> Tuer Editor begs to inform members of the<br /> Authors’ Society and other readers of 7he Author<br /> that the cases which are from time to time quoted<br /> in The Author are cases that have come before the<br /> notice or to the knowledge of the Secretary of the<br /> Society, and that those members of the Society<br /> who desire to have the names of the publishers<br /> concerned can obtain them on application.<br /> <br /> +<br /> <br /> List of Members.<br /> <br /> Tue List of Members of the Society of Authors<br /> published October, 1902, at the price of 6d., and<br /> the elections from October, 1902, to July, 1903, as<br /> a supplemental list, at the price of 2d., can now be<br /> obtained at the offices of the Society.<br /> <br /> They will be sold to members or associates of<br /> the Society only.<br /> <br /> a<br /> <br /> The Pension Fund of the Society.<br /> <br /> THE investments of the Pension Fund at<br /> present standing in the names of the Trustees are<br /> as follows.<br /> <br /> This is a statement of the actual stock; the<br /> <br /> VoL, XIV.<br /> <br /> JANUARY Ist, 1904.<br /> <br /> [Price SIXPENCE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> money value can be easily worked out at the current<br /> price of the market :—<br /> <br /> Be £1000 0 0<br /> <br /> Wiocal Uioans 26s 500 0 0<br /> <br /> Victorian Government 8 % Consoli-<br /> dated Inscribed Stock ............... oot 19 18<br /> OY Eo oes nss pete 201 9 8<br /> Mota. ...0.2...3. £1,993 9 2<br /> <br /> Subscriptions from October, 1903.<br /> £ s. a.<br /> Noy. 13, Longe, Miss Julia. : - 0 5.0<br /> Dec. 16, Trevor, Capt. Philip 0 5 0<br /> <br /> Donations from October, 1908.<br /> <br /> 4<br /> <br /> Oct. 27, Sturgis, Julian é ; oo<br /> Nov. 2, Stanton, V.H. .<br /> <br /> Nov. 18, Benecke, Miss Ida.<br /> <br /> Nov. 28, Harraden, Miss Beatrice<br /> <br /> Dec. Minniken, Miss<br /> <br /> The following members have also made subscrip-<br /> tions or donations :—<br /> <br /> Meredith, George, President of the Society.<br /> Thompson, Sir Henry, Bart., F.R.C.S.<br /> Rashdall, The Rev. H.<br /> <br /> Guthrie, Anstey.<br /> <br /> Robertson, C. B.<br /> <br /> Dowsett, C. F.<br /> <br /> There are in addition other subscribers who do<br /> not desire that either their names or the amount<br /> they are subscribing should be printed.<br /> <br /> ourFaAe<br /> nooo So<br /> ooo oo<br /> <br /> &lt;&gt; 6<br /> <br /> FROM THE COMMITTEE.<br /> <br /> —<br /> <br /> Ar the meeting of the Committee held on<br /> Monday, December 7th, twenty members and asso-<br /> ciates were elected, bringing the total number of<br /> elections for the current year to just over 200.<br /> <br /> Among the subjects discussed and dealt with<br /> were financial matters, the unveiling of the<br /> memorial to Sir Walter Besant (which took place<br /> 86<br /> <br /> on the 11th of December), cheap postage on maga-<br /> zines to the Colonies, and finally the article signed<br /> “ Proxy” in the December number of Ze Author.<br /> The Committee decided that a paragraph should<br /> be inserted in the next number of Ze Author<br /> condemning the practice described by “ Proxy.”<br /> Sir Gilbert Parker sept in his resignation as<br /> a member of the Committee, owing to the heavy<br /> pressure of his Parliamentary and other work. In<br /> doing so, he wished the Society all prosperity.<br /> <br /> ot<br /> <br /> Cases.<br /> <br /> Srxcz the publication of the last number of The<br /> Author seventeen cases—an unusually large num-<br /> ber—have been taken in hand by the Secretary on<br /> behalf of members, and, in addition, two County<br /> Court cases have been authorised by the Chairman<br /> of the Society.<br /> <br /> The seventeen cases may be divided as follows :—<br /> <br /> Hight cases for money or for money and accounts,<br /> three cases for accounts only, five cases for the<br /> return of MSS., and one case for the proper settle-<br /> ment of a contract. So far, only one case has<br /> been settled. The MS. has been received by the<br /> Secretary and returned to the author. ‘There is no<br /> reason to believe that the other cases will not<br /> <br /> terminate satisfactorily, but at this time of the year<br /> it is difficult to get money out of those people who<br /> <br /> desire to withhold it. In a future issue no doubt<br /> satisfactory conclusions will be chronicled.<br /> <br /> Of the cases referred to in previous numbers<br /> there are five still incomplete.<br /> <br /> ‘As two of the matters in contention have to do<br /> with the United States it is possible that they may<br /> be still further delayed. The length of time that<br /> a letter takes to reach the United States is not the<br /> only cause of delay. It is often, unfortunately, the<br /> fact that distance appears to make the offender<br /> callous to his obligations.<br /> <br /> Two of the cases will have to be abandoned<br /> owing to technical and other reasons which prevent<br /> the enforcing of the author’s just rights. The<br /> <br /> fifth case is still in negotiation, and is proceeding<br /> satisfactorily.<br /> <br /> —— +<br /> <br /> December Elections.<br /> 17, Newburgh Road,<br /> Acton.<br /> <br /> Braintree House, Cob-<br /> ham, Surrey.<br /> <br /> Ashe, Leslie<br /> Cartwright, Miss A. M. .<br /> <br /> Corkran, Miss Alice<br /> Laurence, Lionel<br /> Maudsley, Athol<br /> <br /> Twyford, Winchester.<br /> Needham, R. W. Bradshaw<br /> <br /> Land Tax, Somerset<br /> House, W.C.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> Orr, Mrs. Mount Eagle Lodge<br /> Brosna, Co. Kerry<br /> Treland.<br /> <br /> 19, Chesham Place,<br /> 5.W.<br /> <br /> 21, Inglewood Road,<br /> West Hampstead,<br /> N.W.<br /> <br /> Care of Messrs. Power,<br /> Drury &amp; Co., Madeira<br /> <br /> 16, Dorset Square,<br /> N.W.<br /> <br /> Colinton, Midlothian.<br /> <br /> Pauncefote, The Hon.<br /> Maud : ‘<br /> <br /> Pierson, C. Harvard<br /> <br /> Ramsey, Miss Lilian<br /> Sheringham, H. T.<br /> <br /> Skae, Miss Hilda<br /> <br /> “‘ Stephen Walthair ”<br /> <br /> Syrett, Miss Netta . 3, Morpeth Terrace,<br /> Ashley Place, 8.W.<br /> <br /> Saltwood, Hythe, Kent.<br /> <br /> Ladies’ Army and Navy<br /> Club, Burlington<br /> Gardens, W.<br /> <br /> Stigand, Mrs.<br /> “Tiger Rose ”<br /> <br /> Urwick, Edward<br /> Vaughan, Capt. A. O. Aberdovey, N. Wales.<br /> <br /> _One member does not desire the publication<br /> either of his name or address.<br /> <br /> 1<br /> <br /> Pension FunpD.<br /> <br /> In order to give members of the Society, should<br /> they desire to appoint a fresh member to the<br /> Pension Fund Committee, full time to act, it has<br /> been thought advisable to place in 7he Author a<br /> full statement of the method of election under the<br /> scheme for administration of the Pension Fund.<br /> Under that scheme the Committee is composed of<br /> three members elected by the Committee of the<br /> Society, three members elected by the Society at<br /> the General Meeting, and the chairman of the<br /> Society for the time being, ex officio. The three<br /> members elected ‘at the general meeting when the<br /> fund was started were Mr. Morley Roberts, Mr.<br /> M. H. Spielmann, and Mrs. Alec Tweedie.<br /> <br /> According to the rules it is the turn of Mr.<br /> M. H. Spielmann to resign his position on the Com-<br /> mittee. In tendering his resignation he submits<br /> his name for re-election.<br /> <br /> The members have power to put forward other<br /> names under Clause 9, which runs as follows :—<br /> <br /> “ Any candidate for election to the Pension Fund Com-<br /> mittee by the members of the Society (not being a retiring<br /> member of such Committee) shall be nominated in writing<br /> to the secretary, at least three weeks prior to the general<br /> meeting at which such candidate is to be proposed, and<br /> the nomination of each such candidate shall be subscribed<br /> by, at least, three members of the Society. A list of the<br /> candidates so nominated shall be sent to the members of<br /> the Society with the annual report of the Managing Com-<br /> mittee, and those candidates obtaining the most votes at<br /> <br /> the general meeting shall be elected to serve on the Pension<br /> Fund Committee.” :<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 87<br /> <br /> In case any member should desire to refer to<br /> the list of members, a copy complete, with the<br /> exception of those members referred to in the note<br /> at the beginning, can be obtained at the Society’s<br /> office.<br /> <br /> It would be as well, therefore, should any of the<br /> members desire to put forward candidates, to take<br /> the matter within their immediate consideration.<br /> The general meeting of the Society has usually<br /> been held towards the end of February or the<br /> beginning of March. It is essential that all<br /> nominations should be in the hands of the<br /> secretary before the 31st of January, 1904.<br /> <br /> — se 7<br /> <br /> SERIAL ISSUE—AUTHORS AND<br /> PUBLISHERS OR EDITORS.<br /> <br /> ee<br /> Afialo and Cook v. Lawrence and Bullen.<br /> <br /> OW that the case of Aflalo and Cook v.<br /> Lawrence and Bullen has been finally<br /> settled by the judgment of the House of<br /> <br /> Lords, it is necessary to consider its bearing on<br /> authors’ property and the methods employed for<br /> the sale of that property.<br /> <br /> There is no need to set forth at length the<br /> 18th Section. Members can refer to the last<br /> number of The Author.<br /> <br /> But it is necessary to remember three points.<br /> <br /> Firstly, employment.<br /> <br /> Secondly, that the work shall have been com-<br /> posed in such employment on the terms that the<br /> Copyright shall belong to the proprietor.<br /> <br /> Thirdly, payment for such work.<br /> <br /> Where. these three points are proved the copy-<br /> right will belong absolutely to the proprietor, etc.,<br /> of the Encyclopzedia and will belong to the pro-<br /> prietor, etc., of the review, magazine, or other<br /> periodical work, subject to the provisoes at the<br /> end of the section.<br /> <br /> It has been decided that the second of the three<br /> points set out above may be inferred, and need not<br /> be actually set forth in an express contract.<br /> <br /> The question, however, according to the judges<br /> in the House of Lords is one of fact and each case<br /> must be decided on its own evidence.<br /> <br /> In order that it may be possible to ascertain what<br /> deductions are likely to be made from the evidence,<br /> it will be necessary to look, firstly, into each decided<br /> ease and to notice the inference drawn ; secondly,<br /> whether such inference is growing wider in scope<br /> or more restricted ; thirdly, whether more in favour<br /> of the proprietor or the original owner of the<br /> property, the author.<br /> <br /> The Lord Chancellor stated “‘ The case is covered<br /> <br /> by authority,” and that he thought it impossible,<br /> after the decision arrived at about half a century<br /> ago and confirmed by the decision of the Court of<br /> Appeal, to give any judgment except one in favour<br /> of the appellants.<br /> <br /> The recent case is thus stated to be covered by<br /> authority. }<br /> <br /> Firstly then, it is necéssary to consider the<br /> authorities and the inferences drawn from them,<br /> before considering this special case and the further<br /> inferences that may be drawn from it.<br /> <br /> The authorities which to the Four Law Lords<br /> and Lord Justice Vaughan Williams appeared to<br /> decide the case in one way, and which to Mr.<br /> Justice Joyce, Lord Justice Stirling, and Lord<br /> Justice Romer seemed to suggest the opposite<br /> decision, were Sweet v. Benning and Lamb v.<br /> vans.<br /> <br /> In Sweet v. Benning various members of the Bar<br /> furnished reports of cases to the plaintiffs, the pro-<br /> prietors of the Jurist. They were reports merely.<br /> The barristers employed selected the cases they<br /> thought fit to report and composed the head notes<br /> and short summaries. They were paid for their<br /> work. The arrangements were oral and nothing<br /> was said about copyright. The property in dispute<br /> on this occasion could hardly be called original,<br /> except so far as the head notes and the abridge-<br /> ment of the product of other people’s brains may<br /> show originality. The case was decided in the<br /> Court of Common Pleas, and the inference was<br /> drawn that the copyright belonged to the proprietors<br /> of the Jurist.<br /> <br /> In Lamb vy. Evans the plaintiff employed and<br /> paid for persons to canvass for advertisements<br /> and arrange them under appropriate headings in a<br /> trade directory. Here again the work in question<br /> could hardly be called literary work of a high and<br /> original order.<br /> <br /> Lord Justice Lindley, in giving judgment, stated<br /> that the burden of proof that the copyright belonged<br /> to the plaintiff was on the plaintiff, and the statute<br /> did not say the kind of evidence which had to be<br /> adduced for the purpose of proving this. If there<br /> is no express agreement the question is, ‘ What is<br /> the inference to be drawn?’ and the inference<br /> was drawn that the copyright belonged to the<br /> plaintiff.<br /> <br /> It is worth noticing that in both these cases the<br /> <br /> ersons claiming the copyright were suing pirates<br /> and the defendants’ objections were technical only.<br /> And farther that the head notes in question could<br /> only have been published by the authors in a form<br /> which would compete with the publication for<br /> which they had been written. In both cases it<br /> would have been unbusinesslike to assume that<br /> the authors intended to reserve a copyright which<br /> could only be useful for a rival publication.<br /> 88<br /> <br /> These were two cases that may be classed under<br /> Encyclopedias.<br /> <br /> The facts of Aflalo and Cook v. Lawrence and<br /> Bullen were fully set forth in last month’s Author,<br /> and the inference drawn from these facts was that<br /> the copyright belonged to the proprietor of the<br /> Encyclopedia.<br /> <br /> Does this judgment extend the former judgments,<br /> as to the inferences that may be drawn from the<br /> facts, and is such extension in favour of the<br /> publisher or author? On the whole it must be<br /> held to extend them considerably, and in favour<br /> of the publisher or proprietor.<br /> <br /> It would have been thought, that it is the<br /> publisher’s business to know the law and make<br /> his bargains accordingly.<br /> <br /> Authors, especially young authors, are often quite<br /> inexperienced in the legal aspect of the case, and<br /> much more likely than a publisher to enter into<br /> bargains the full nature and consequences of which<br /> they do not understand. It would have been no<br /> hardship to the publisher to secure the copyright<br /> by express provision in his contract.<br /> <br /> The decision is revolutionary and must compel<br /> some of the well-known writers on copyright to<br /> alter their deduction from Sweet v. Benning and<br /> The Bishop of Hereford v. Griffin in the next edition<br /> of their works.<br /> <br /> The evidence of employment was complete.<br /> that point there was no need for argument. There<br /> <br /> On<br /> <br /> was evidence of payment. Of that there can be<br /> no dispute. But one essential point must be con-<br /> sidered—how far that payment could be reckoned<br /> substantial for the copyright of the literary pro-<br /> perty in question, when compared with the ordinary<br /> literary prices of an expert writer on any given<br /> subject.<br /> <br /> Would Mr. Aflalo, for instance, for a sum of<br /> £500, sell the idea of the Encyclopedia, give up<br /> two years work and devote himself to the editor-<br /> ship of it, writing without further fee, 7,000 words<br /> and contributing all the unsigned articles that<br /> might be required ? This would be poor pay for<br /> the employment of the technical knowledge that<br /> Mr. Aflalo possesses, and it is hardly likely that for<br /> so small a fee he would care to sell the copyright<br /> of his work. Again, Mr. Cook contracted to do a<br /> certain amount of work at £2 per thousand words.<br /> Anyone with Mr. Cook’s reputation as a fisherman,<br /> and with his great technical knowledge, would not<br /> be likely to sell his work to any magazine or<br /> periodical, for a fee so small if he was not to hold<br /> some subsequent rights; but the Court inferred<br /> that Mr. Cook did so, and it is impossible not to<br /> consider that the inference drawn in this present<br /> case widens enormously the field of inference as<br /> compared with the former cases. In this case you<br /> get highly technical knowledge, the result of years<br /> <br /> THER AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> of work and study of particular kinds of sport.<br /> You get that knowledge set out in original form<br /> and paid for at a peculiarly low price. Is it possible<br /> that in the next case which may be brought before<br /> the Courts under the 18th section from less con-<br /> clusive facts, a still wider inference may be drawn<br /> —more salutary to the publisher, more disastrous<br /> to the author ?<br /> <br /> Their Lordships did not seem to consider that<br /> the position of literary property nowadays is vastly<br /> different from what it was fifty years ago, and that<br /> therefore as the circumstances have changed, it is<br /> impossible to make the same deductions.<br /> <br /> It is clear that in the future authors should be<br /> exceedingly careful of the circumstances in which<br /> they contribute to Encyclopeedias,reviews,magazines<br /> or periodical works, and some further points must<br /> be put forward.<br /> <br /> In this judgment very little was said of the<br /> question of employment, as the employment was<br /> clear and undisputed, but it is quite possible that<br /> this question may be raised at some future date<br /> and that the author’s position may be further<br /> endangered. Mr. MacGillivray in his able work<br /> on Copyright is inclined to think, from the cases<br /> which have been already heard, that the employ-<br /> ment must be antecedent, and so far, this deduction<br /> appears to be satisfactory. There is no decision<br /> on the subject, and the point does not appear to<br /> have been actually argued. It is to be hoped,<br /> however, that it may never be held that the<br /> publication of a work submitted unsolicited to a<br /> magazine proprietor and published by him without<br /> any definite contract, will be sufficient to show<br /> employment by the proprietor, of the contributor.<br /> But this point has never been decided, and authors<br /> should be exceedingly careful that they do not<br /> allow themselves to depend on the broken reed<br /> of the 18th section.<br /> <br /> If such publication can amount to employment<br /> the second deduction that the copyright should<br /> belong to the proprietor would be the merest step<br /> farther, and the author would find himself in<br /> difficulties, even though, possibly, he had received<br /> an entirely inadequate price for such sacrifice.<br /> Evidence, unfortunately, is constantly coming<br /> forward that the Bench and English juries have<br /> very little appreciation of the real value of literary<br /> productions.<br /> <br /> That the danger is a serious one may be seen<br /> from the fact that a great deal was made in the —<br /> present case of the amount of money the proprietors<br /> were sinking in the venture, but this is an obviously<br /> unfair argument, unless, at the same time, the<br /> return the publishers hoped for or actually realised<br /> had also been stated. No one would object to<br /> spend £50,000 to-day if he obtained £100,000 at<br /> the end of six months, or thought he could.<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 89<br /> <br /> It seems certain that if only the amount<br /> ventured by the publisher in the production of a<br /> magazine, review, or encyclopedia is large enough,<br /> it must follow as a matter of course, according to<br /> these lines of argument, that the employment will<br /> be on the terms that the copyright shall belong to<br /> the proprietor. No thought appears to have been<br /> given to the opposite view that the publisher is a<br /> man of business, and, as such, quite capable of<br /> protecting himself from any danger of being<br /> deprived of the full benefit of the literary wares<br /> which he desired to buy, and that the price paid<br /> to the author may be entirely inadequate to cover<br /> the sale of copyright. The idea which seems to<br /> have influenced the Law Lords was that if the<br /> copyright in the articles had not passed to the<br /> publishers, the authors might all have joined<br /> together and republished their articles as a rival<br /> encyclopedia, but surely the law of England would<br /> be strong enough to stop such an unfair act of<br /> derogating from their own grant, and in any event<br /> the idea is a far fetched one. A much more<br /> pertinent consideration would be that under the<br /> present decision publishers might commission and<br /> pay for articles for an encyclopedia over which they<br /> announced their intention of spending large sums,<br /> and then bring out the articles as cheap popular<br /> books at large profit to themselves, or publish in<br /> other remunerative manner before they finally<br /> collected them into the encyclopedia,<br /> <br /> That this idea is not imaginary may be shown<br /> by the case of some publishers who purchase a<br /> work with a view to book production, and then try<br /> to sell the serial rights in a magazine, to the great<br /> annoyance of the author, who may, through his<br /> carelessness or ignorance, have left himself<br /> defenceless.<br /> <br /> Lord Shand, in his remarks, constantly mentioned<br /> the word “magazine” in addition to “encyclo-<br /> pedia.” There seems no doubt, therefore, that in<br /> his mind, the same inference might be drawn in the<br /> case of a magazine proprietor, as in the case of the<br /> proprietor of an encyclopedia. He also referred to<br /> the publisher as conceiving the creation of the<br /> magazine which he publishes as his undertaking<br /> for his profit. In this case, however, the concep-<br /> tion of the work was the Plaintiff’s, Mr. Aflalo’s.<br /> <br /> There is no need to consider at length the<br /> judgments of those learned Judges of the Court of<br /> First Instance and the Court of Appeal, when<br /> verdicts were given in favour of the plaintiffs, but<br /> in considering the present verdict an endeavour has<br /> been made to show the increasing dangers that<br /> surround authors ; and the members of the society<br /> should be warned when, in future, they contribute<br /> to an encyclopedia, review, or magazine, whether<br /> they have been employed by the proprietor, or<br /> whether they send in their work on their own<br /> <br /> initiation, to be careful to state in a covering letter<br /> the terms on which they are willing to dispose of<br /> it. They should also be careful to keep a copy of<br /> that letter, so that in any action it will lie with<br /> the publishers to prove that the terms of the letter<br /> have been subsequently varied.<br /> <br /> The terms which the letter should contain must,<br /> of course, depend upon the magazine for which the<br /> author is writing and his position as a writer. It<br /> is dangerous to sell serial rights without any<br /> limitation.<br /> <br /> Members will, no doubt, recollect the article that<br /> appeared in The Author, where the serial rights in<br /> an essay were sold to an American magazine, and<br /> the author was astonished to find that his work<br /> was being reprinted in a periodical in England.<br /> <br /> There has been no decision in the Law Courts<br /> to determine the exact definition of serial rights,<br /> but the custom of the trade has been sufficiently<br /> established to show that a conveyance of these<br /> rights does not in any way convey the copyright,<br /> but merely conveys the right to produce articles in<br /> serial form—that is, in a review, magazine, or<br /> other paper of periodical issue.<br /> <br /> In further explanation it must be remembered<br /> that the Courts have decided that an annual is a<br /> periodical issue, and that some magazines print<br /> long stories in one issue. When an author, there-<br /> fore, sells his serial rights, either to a magazine<br /> which undertakes to print his work in one issue,<br /> or to an annual, he should be careful that he gets<br /> an adequate price, as a single serial issue may have<br /> some effect in spoiling the circulation of the story<br /> in book form. This remark, however, does not<br /> apply to short stories.<br /> <br /> Dealing then, with the ordinary sale of a work<br /> in serial form, the price per thousand words that<br /> the author is willing to accept should be distinctly<br /> stated, and the exact limitation of the serial rights<br /> he is willing to sell, z.e, if possible, they should be<br /> limited to one issue of a given magazine or<br /> periodical. The author must remember that it<br /> may be possible for him to obtain second serial<br /> rights from other papers or to sell the further serial<br /> use in other countries.<br /> <br /> A fact incidental to this matter must not be<br /> omitted. It is the custom of many of the popular<br /> magazines of the day, when no contract has been<br /> made in the first instance, to forward cheques to<br /> their contributors, with notices stamped on the<br /> back that the endorsement of the cheque is an<br /> acknowledgment of the transfer of the copyright.<br /> This custom is a distinct danger to authors, for<br /> although the endorsement of such a cheque will<br /> not in any way vary any eapress contract that<br /> may have been entered into before publication,<br /> yet it might be evidence of an implied term in a con-<br /> tract if the cheque was endorsed without dispute.<br />  <br /> <br /> 90<br /> <br /> Since the decision which has been given in the<br /> case of Aflalo and Cook vy. Lawrence and Bullen,<br /> it is especially dangerous, as the slightest evidence<br /> may afford a chance of drawing a deduction<br /> disadvantageous to the author.<br /> <br /> If a publisher desires to obtain special terms or<br /> the copyright, he has merely to say so beforehand,<br /> and the author will know his exact position. It<br /> is not fair that the purchaser should endeavour to<br /> incorporate into a contract terms which never<br /> existed in the mind of the author when the contract<br /> was made.<br /> <br /> Finally, by way of repetition, it cannot be too<br /> strongly impressed on the minds of all members,<br /> (1) that a letter should be sent with the “ copy’;<br /> (2) that if no letter be sent with the “ copy ” an<br /> express agreement should be made before publica-<br /> tion; and (8) that in no circumstances, whether<br /> a letter has been sent with the “copy,” whether<br /> an express contract has been made before publica-<br /> tion, or whether no contract has been made at all,<br /> should an author sign a cheque that is issued to<br /> him on the lines stated above.<br /> <br /> Clearness and finality in contract is essential<br /> to a good understanding between authors and<br /> publishers or editors. If the two latter, instead of<br /> abusing the methods of the Society, endeavoured<br /> to work on more businesslike lines the wheels<br /> would run much smoother for all parties. In<br /> book production a clear understanding is now<br /> nearly always the rule—a doubtful contract the<br /> exception.<br /> <br /> The time, perhaps, may come when the same<br /> remark may be applied to the contract for serial<br /> rights.<br /> <br /> G. H.T-<br /> <br /> ——&gt;—_¢ —____—--<br /> <br /> OUR BOOK AND PLAY TALK.<br /> <br /> —<br /> <br /> E are glad to say that our Vice-Chairman’s<br /> latest book, “The &amp; Becketts of Punch,”<br /> has scored a success. These “ Memories<br /> <br /> of Father and Sons,” within the compass of one<br /> volume, make interesting reading. We should<br /> like to quote at length from its pages, but lack<br /> of space allows of one extract only. Referring<br /> (page 236) to the Dramatic Authors’ Society,<br /> Mr. d Beckett says the circuit system of Mr.<br /> Crummles was the order of the day when it was<br /> organised.<br /> <br /> “Every theatre in the country belonged to it, and was<br /> assisted according to its means of payment. It was the<br /> duty of each subscriber to pay so much a night, and then<br /> send up the bill of the evening’s performance to the Sec-<br /> retary of the Dramatic Authors’ Society, who entered the<br /> amount to the credit of the member. Thus, say Smith had<br /> written a one-act farce, Snooks a two-act comedy, and<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> Larkins a one-act burlesque, the amount would be divided<br /> into fourths, of which Snooks would take one half, to the<br /> quarters apportioned to Smith and Larkins. . .. This<br /> system worked very well while the remuneration of the<br /> dramatist remained at £100 an act, which was the regu-<br /> lation sum in the mid-Victorian era. But all this was<br /> changed when Dion Boucicault introduced the system of<br /> percentages. The moment that a dramatist’s remuneration<br /> depended upon the takings of the house his fortune was<br /> made. It was very much the royalty system applied to<br /> plays. . . . There was an immediate revolution. Tom<br /> Robertson, W. 8. Gilbert, and the present editor of Punch<br /> naturally wished to get something better than a few<br /> shillings a night for their newest plays in the provinces,<br /> and a resolution was passed giving them the necessary<br /> powers of reservation. The provincial managers com-<br /> plained that all the newest London pieces were out of the<br /> provincial market, and asked what was the use of being<br /> assessed for old and unattractive plays. So by degrees<br /> the Society disappeared.”<br /> <br /> Mr. a Beckett has another book in hand which<br /> will be published early in 1904, dealing with his<br /> career entirely outside Bouverie Street.<br /> <br /> Sir F. C. Burnand’s two volumes of ‘“ Records<br /> and Reminiscences,” with numerous illustrations<br /> and facsimile letters (Methuen), is another inte-<br /> resting book recently published. It has been<br /> widely reviewed and much quoted. It has been<br /> read (or will be read), no doubt, by all our members.<br /> <br /> The annual annotated volume of “Statutes of<br /> Practical Utility” passed in 1903, which will<br /> shortly appear under the editorship of Mr. J. M.<br /> Lely (Sweet and Maxwell, Stevens and Sons), will<br /> contain, with 17 other Acts selected from the 47<br /> passed, the Motor Car Act, the Poor Prisoners<br /> Defence Act (both of these two being fitted out<br /> with extra notes), the London Education Act, the<br /> Employment of Children Act, the County Courts<br /> Act, the Pistols Act, the Finance Act, and the<br /> Housing of the Working Classes Act. Some<br /> interesting Departmental Regulations, e.g., those<br /> of the Local Government Board under the Motor<br /> Car Act, as well as the Cremation and Midwives<br /> Rules under Acts of 1902, will also be included ;<br /> and in the Preface attention will be called to the<br /> desirability of some Parliamentary action being<br /> taken to prevent, so far as preventible, the recur-<br /> rence of obscurities in legislation. Acts relating<br /> to Scotland or Ireland only are not printed in this<br /> collection.<br /> <br /> Sixpenny reprints are, happily, not limited to<br /> fiction. In those issued thus far by Messrs. Watts<br /> and Co. on behalf of the Rationalist Press Associa-<br /> tion, there is included Herbert Spencer’s masterly<br /> treatise on “Education,” of which some 40,000<br /> <br /> copies have been sold in that form. Messrs. Watts’<br /> <br /> next book in this cheap series will be Edward<br /> Clodd’s “Story of Creation,” published by arrange-<br /> ment with Messrs. Longmans, the first issue to<br /> consist of 30,000 copies.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> oA<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> AY<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> Mr. Herbert Bentwich, LL.B., who published<br /> a short time ago a pamphlet entitled “ A Plea for<br /> a General School of Law,” is now taking up<br /> seriously a long projected work on “ International<br /> Copyright.” :<br /> <br /> The publication by Messrs. Isbister &amp; Co. of<br /> Mr. G. S. Layard’s novel, at present entitled<br /> “ Dolly’s Governess,” has been postponed until the<br /> spring of next year. Mr. Layard is now engaged<br /> upon “ The Life of Kate Greenaway,” in collabora-<br /> tion with Mr. M. H. Spielmann. Any information<br /> not already furnished concerning the deceased<br /> artist and lover of children should be sent to Mr.<br /> Layard at Bull’s Cliff, Felixstowe.<br /> <br /> “Home Life under the Stuarts,” by Elizabeth<br /> Godfrey (Grant Richards), is about to be followed<br /> by a study of social life during the same period,<br /> 1603—1649. This will describe art and literature,<br /> amusements, the literary coterie, travelling, friend-<br /> ship, the religious life, and kindred topics. It will<br /> be uniform with the preceding volume, which in<br /> fact it completes, and will be illustrated.<br /> <br /> Messrs. H. Sotheran &amp; Co. (37, Piccadilly, W.)<br /> are prepared to supply “ Kilboylan Bank,” by Mrs.<br /> E. M. Lynch. It is an Irish story illustrating the<br /> working of that humble form of finance—Agri-<br /> cultural Co-operative Credit. The book should<br /> prove useful at the present time, when the new<br /> Irish Land Act is turning many peasants into<br /> proprietors.<br /> <br /> Captain G. E. W. Hayward, whose two articles<br /> entitled ‘‘ Cosas de Espaia” appeared in the Feb-<br /> ruary and June numbers of Blackwood, is now<br /> completing a one volume novel which he hopes to<br /> see published in the spring.<br /> <br /> The Baroness de Bertouch is at work on her<br /> *“ Life of Father Ignatius,” which Messrs. Methuen<br /> have accepted and will publish early in 1904. In<br /> order that the work might be done under the<br /> supervision of Father Ignatius himself, the<br /> authoress has spent nearly a year at Llanthony in<br /> the guest-house of the monastery.<br /> <br /> Mr. Leslie Cope Cornford, author of “ Captain<br /> Jacobus,” &amp;c., &amp;c., has just completed a story<br /> dealing with a phase of eighteenth century life.<br /> It is to be published in 1904.<br /> <br /> Mr. Bertram Mitford’s new novel, “ The Sirdar’s<br /> Oath,” will be published by Messrs. F. V. White<br /> and Co. some time in January. The scene is laid<br /> on the northern border of India and the action<br /> deals with the tribesmen inhabiting that locality.<br /> The story has been running serially during this<br /> year through several British and Colonial news-<br /> papers under the title of “ Raynier’s Peril.”<br /> <br /> Miss Theodora Wilson Wilson’s new novel,<br /> “Ursula Raven,” is now running through the<br /> Daily News as a serial. The scene of the story<br /> 4s laid in Westmoreland, and the chief interest<br /> <br /> 91<br /> <br /> lies in the description of a struggle against<br /> monopoly.<br /> <br /> Mrs. Finnemore will publish shortly through<br /> Messrs. Hurst and Blackett, a story entitled<br /> “Tally.” It is of domestic interest, the period<br /> being the early years of last century. It is a<br /> shorter story than “A Man’s Mirror”? (Cassell,<br /> October, 1908) and quite different in character.<br /> <br /> Mrs. Finnemore is at present busy upon a story<br /> which she hopes to have completed early in 1904.<br /> The setting is the Welsh hills—Mrs. Finnemore’s<br /> own neighbourhood, a solitary and wild bit of<br /> country between the Berwyns and the sea.<br /> <br /> “An Oath in Heaven” is the title of a new<br /> novel by Mr. John Ryce. It is published by<br /> Messrs. James Clarke &amp; Co. at 6s.<br /> <br /> Mr. Algernon Rose’s handbook for wind-instru-<br /> mentalists entitled “Talks with Bandsmen,” a<br /> thousand copies of which have been sold in this<br /> country, has been pirated for serial purposes by the<br /> Dominant, a musical paper of New York.<br /> <br /> The Rt. Hon. Joseph Chamberlain has accepted<br /> a copy of Mr. Algernon Rose’s book “ On Choosing<br /> a Piano” (Scott), one chapter of which deals<br /> with the fiscal question as it regards pianoforte<br /> manufacturers in this country.<br /> <br /> We hear that a new and enlarged edition of Mr.<br /> Reynolds-Ball’s Guide to the Winter Resorts of<br /> the Mediterranean will be published very soon.<br /> A new and useful feature will be a supplement<br /> containing articles on the principal Colonial and<br /> other extra European winter resorts, such as the<br /> Canaries, the West Indies, and the Cape High-<br /> lands.<br /> <br /> Miss Florence M. King (Jfaud Carew), who has<br /> been prevented by unavoidable causes from writing<br /> anything for some time, is engaged on a new<br /> children’s book.<br /> <br /> “Songs of Summer,” by Mr. C. Whitworth<br /> Wynne, has been published by Mr. Grant Richards.<br /> <br /> Mrs. Caroline A. White’s book “Sweet Hamp-<br /> stead and its Associations ” is now in asecond and<br /> revised edition. It is dedicated to the Conser-<br /> vators of the Heath and to all who love sweet<br /> Hampstead for its own sake. The volume is<br /> well illustrated. Messrs. Elliot Stock are its<br /> publishers.<br /> <br /> For the benefit of those among our readers who<br /> saw the review in the Guardian (December 2nd) of<br /> “A Queen of Nine Days,” by Miss Edith C. Kenyon,<br /> suggesting that she had not written the book<br /> herself, but only supplied a modern rendering, we<br /> give her reply, which appears in the same journal<br /> (December 9th) :—<br /> <br /> S1z,—In allusion to your review of “A Queen of Nine<br /> Days” in this week&#039;s Guardian, will you kindly allow me<br /> to say that I wrote the whole of the book, and the idea<br /> that it was written by one of Lady Jane’s gentlewomen is<br /> only a part of the story. Moreover, if your reviewer reads<br /> 92<br /> <br /> history, he will find that Lady Jane was singularly humble<br /> and truth loving, and, like all great souls, in advance of her<br /> eo EpitH C. KENYON.<br /> <br /> “High Treason” (The Primrose Press: 64d.<br /> nett) is Mr. Allen Upward’s latest contribution<br /> to the Romance of Politics series. In his preface<br /> Mr. Upward says: “Many of the incidents, I<br /> think, will be fresh in the memory of most news-<br /> paper readers, though the connection here traced<br /> between them may not be perceived. For others,<br /> I can produce my authorities, should the truth of<br /> these pages be challenged. ;<br /> <br /> Except for articles in papers and magazines, Mr.<br /> Clive Holland’s chief work during the past year<br /> bas been the writing of two plays. One is a<br /> comedy (founded on his two Japanese novels,<br /> “My Japanese Wife” and ‘‘Musme”), written in<br /> collaboration with an American playwright, Miss<br /> Florence Hopkins ; the other a modern comedy of<br /> French and English life, written by himself. _<br /> <br /> The former will probably see the light first in<br /> New York; the latter will, Mr. Holland hopes, be<br /> produced in London.<br /> <br /> The Franciscan Friars of the Collegio di San<br /> Bonaventura at Quaracchi, near Florence, who are<br /> their own printers and publishers, have just brought<br /> out the first critical edition ever attempted of the<br /> writings of Saint Francis of Assisi. The rights of<br /> <br /> translation into English have been assigned to M.<br /> Carmichael.<br /> <br /> We understand that Mr. Sidney Lee will deliver<br /> a lecture (January 26th) on “Shakespeare” to<br /> the members of the British Empire Shakespeare<br /> <br /> Society. He will also deliver a lecture early in<br /> the year at the Royal Institution, on “Shakespeare<br /> as Contemporaries knew Him.”<br /> <br /> Mr. W. L. Courtney is to deliver two lectures on<br /> “Comedy, Ancient and Modern,” at the Royal<br /> Institution, on the afternoons of February 6th and<br /> 13th. Mr. Alfred Austin and Mr, Henry Arthur<br /> Jones are also to lecture at the same famous Institu-<br /> tion in Albemarle Street.<br /> <br /> i<br /> <br /> AMERICAN NOTES.<br /> <br /> re<br /> <br /> MONG the six books now most in demand<br /> throughout the States I note that only one,<br /> Sir A. Conan Doyle’s “Adventures of<br /> Gerard,” is a work that is not of American author-<br /> ship. This is significant of the growing nationalisa-<br /> tion of our literature. The best English books<br /> still come to us, and are no doubt read and appre-<br /> ciated ; but they are no longer, as they once were,<br /> our exclusive models, and they take, generally<br /> speaking, but a secondary place in the market.<br /> Yet no great star can be said to have risen above<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> our horizon of late ; nor has any American work of<br /> such wide appeal as Mr. Morley’s “ Life of Glad-<br /> stone” been issued on this side. The advance is<br /> rather horizontal than vertical, to say truth.<br /> <br /> As if to atone for the loss of Frank Norris’s<br /> promise, Mr. Jack London has sprung up and<br /> attained something like distinction already. But<br /> the merits of his “Call of the Wild” must be too<br /> well known to readers of Zhe Author to require<br /> comment from me at this time of day. He has<br /> no doubt a great future before him. But Mr.<br /> London’s book stands second in the list of “ big<br /> sellers.” At the top is a spirited tale of the<br /> Civil War by Mr. John Fox, junior. The scene<br /> of “The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come”<br /> is the border state of Kentucky, and its most im-<br /> portant character, John Morgan, the raider ;<br /> though Grant is introduced. The book naturally<br /> challenges comparison with Winston Churchill’s<br /> «The Orisis.”<br /> <br /> Another civil war story—not so good, though,<br /> as Mr. Fox’s—is Frederick Palmer’s “ The Vaga-<br /> bond,” which contains some well described war<br /> scenes, notably a vivid account of the battle of<br /> Bull Run.<br /> <br /> Among the established favourites in historical<br /> fiction Mr. Chambers has added to his record “ The<br /> Maids of Paradise,” who are not houris, but<br /> damsels of a Breton village. The period is that of<br /> the Franco-German War. Brittany is also the<br /> scene of Margaret Horton Potter&#039;s ‘‘ Castle of<br /> Twilight”; but in this case it is the old-world<br /> feudal province. Cyrus Townsend Brady has<br /> deserted the historical field and broken new<br /> ground in “A Doctor of Philosophy”; but his<br /> success can scarcely be described as unqualified.<br /> <br /> Two notable novels of modern life, each by a<br /> woman, treat of university society. Miss Anna<br /> McClure Sholl, in “The Law of Life,” recounts<br /> the struggle of a Puritan conscience with femi-<br /> nine instinct, and also raises the difficult problem<br /> of the relations of a university towards a meddling<br /> and not too scrupulous benefactor. The author is<br /> generally supposed to have had Cornell in her<br /> mind—not that the circumstances exist there.<br /> “he Millionaire’s Son,” by Mrs. Robeson Brown,<br /> is also concerned with a moral conflict, in this case<br /> between the wish to carry on the paternal business —<br /> and an overpowering scholarly bent inherited from<br /> a grandfather.<br /> <br /> James Lane Allen has once more exhibited his.<br /> fine sense for style; but “The Mettle of the —<br /> Pasture,” like “The Reign of Law,” falls far —<br /> below the high standard attained by the book ~<br /> which gave him fame.<br /> <br /> The strangely-named “ Silver Poppy” (it is the —<br /> title of the heroine’s first novel) by Arthur<br /> Stringer, is a striking but imperfectly-conceived —<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> tale of love and literature in New York. The<br /> latter, represented by the American woman, gets<br /> the better of the former in the person of an Eng-<br /> lish journalist.<br /> <br /> Thomas Dixon’s “The One Woman” has<br /> attained popularity rather on account of its subject<br /> —socialism and sex—than its literary merits,<br /> which are of the sensational order.<br /> <br /> George Barr McCutcheon has made an ambitious<br /> experiment in “The Sherrods,” which has been<br /> the fictional attraction of the Bookman during the<br /> greater part of the year. Other novelists who have<br /> fully maintained their reputations are Mr. Stewart<br /> White with “The Forest,” Charles Major in<br /> “A Forest Hearth,’ and Mrs. Wharton in ‘“ The<br /> Sanctuary.”<br /> <br /> Of the older hands, I remark that Kate Douglas<br /> Wiggin figures among the big sellers with her<br /> “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.” Mr. Marion<br /> Crawford has written another story of Roman<br /> life ; and Mr. Howells, in “Letters Home,” has<br /> handled with great skill the difficult instrument<br /> of epistolary fiction. é<br /> <br /> A slight but well-nigh perfect piece of work is<br /> Miss Alice Brown’s ‘‘ Judgment,” in which justice<br /> and mercy in the person of a husband and wife are<br /> most artistically contrasted; and a word of praise<br /> should be given to Mrs. Tilia W. Peattie’s pretty<br /> collection of tales called ‘“‘ The Edge of Things.”<br /> <br /> We pass to more solid literature, after remarking<br /> that Mormonism has found a novelist in the author<br /> of “The Spenders,” who has dealt with the subject<br /> in his “Lions of the Lord”; and the multi-<br /> millionaire his exposer in Mr. David Graham<br /> Phillips, whose “Master Rogue” is to be com-<br /> mended to the perusal of anyone in danger of<br /> becoming one.<br /> <br /> In biographical publications this fall has been<br /> rather prolific. The two outstanding books in this<br /> department have been, of course, the posthumous<br /> recollections of Richard Henry Stoddard and the<br /> autobiography of Senator Hoar ; but there are others<br /> scarcely inferior to them in interest. Stoddard,<br /> whose work was finished for him by Mr. Ripley<br /> Hitchcock, and introduced by his life-long friend,<br /> Edmund Clarence Stedman, has something interest-<br /> ing to say of most of his literary contemporaries,<br /> not a few of whom he knew intimately. Lowell,<br /> Bryant, Poe, N. P. Willis, and especially Bayard<br /> Taylor, the translator of “ Faust,” are celebrities<br /> who cross his pages ; but probably the chief interest<br /> of them lies in the account of his own boyhood and<br /> early struggles.<br /> <br /> Senator Hoar’s “ Autobiography of Seventy<br /> Years” covers a somewhat similar period in the<br /> political world. The eminent Republican was at<br /> <br /> Harvard under Channing, made his first public<br /> speech, in 1850, at Worcester, Mass., as a substitute<br /> <br /> 93<br /> <br /> for Judge Allen, and in 1880 presided over the<br /> party convention at which Garfield was nominated<br /> for the Presidency. A great admirer of Grant, he<br /> gives a pointed description of his unconciliatory<br /> manners. Always a strong partisan, he explains<br /> to his readers that he has never given a vote<br /> against his conscience and justifies his adhesion<br /> to Imperialism.<br /> <br /> Searcely less important than the works I have<br /> just glanced at is General John B. Gordon’s<br /> “‘ Reminiscences of the Civil War,” which presents<br /> various aspects of the great struggle from the<br /> Confederate view-point, but in a thoroughly im-<br /> partial spirit and in a most entertaining, simple<br /> style. The writer held important commands at<br /> the first battle of Bull Run, at Antietam, and<br /> Gettysburg ; was largely responsible for the sur-<br /> prise at Cedar Creek; and was with Lee in the<br /> last despairing efforts of the South. The General<br /> thinks that the war strengthened the American<br /> character ; and his geniality pervades a book which<br /> is equally instructive and amusing, abounding, as<br /> it does, in good stories. “My Own Story, with<br /> Recollections of Noted Persons,” by John Townsend<br /> Trowbridge, contains anecdotes of some of the great<br /> New England writers, such as Holmes, Emerson,<br /> Bronson Alcott, and Walt Whitman, and some<br /> curious evidence as to the undoubted influence of<br /> the Concord sage upon the author of ‘“ Leaves of<br /> Grass.”<br /> <br /> Not the least remarkable of autobiographic<br /> works is Miss Helen Keller’s story of her wonder-<br /> ful education, partly told in her own words, partly<br /> in those of the gifted teacher whose genius and<br /> patience enabled her, with her imperfect senses, to<br /> stand at least on a level with normally-endowed<br /> mortals. In this connection it may also be men-<br /> tioned that the daughters of Dr. Howe, the famous<br /> teacher of the blind and deaf mutes, have recently<br /> published an account of how he educated Laura<br /> Bridgman.<br /> <br /> Another book has been written upon Thomas<br /> Jefferson ; and a personage nearer our own day,<br /> Henry Ward Beecher, has found a biographer in<br /> Dr. Lyman Abbott.<br /> <br /> An admirable survey of American literature<br /> appeared early in the fall from the pen of<br /> Professor William P. Trent.<br /> <br /> “American Tariff Controversies,” by Edward<br /> Stanwood, is a work which will, no doubt, be<br /> studied by others besides the author’s countrymen.<br /> It merits attention from the thorough and com-<br /> prehensive manner in which the subject is treated.<br /> <br /> Consternation must have been experienced in<br /> some quarters after the perusal of a little book<br /> with the seemingly harmless title of “The Home:<br /> its Work and Influence”; for the author, Mrs.<br /> Charlotte Perkins Gilman, has dared to belittle<br /> 94<br /> <br /> the domestic virtues, to maintain that cooking<br /> should not be done at home, and to brand with<br /> the fearful accusation of arrogance the mother<br /> who undertakes the sole training of her own<br /> child.<br /> <br /> The veteran author, Thomas Bailey Aldrich,<br /> has given fresh delight to the reading public by<br /> his quaintly - named “Ponkapog Papers”; and<br /> Mark Twain has republished in a revised form<br /> that ancient favourite “The Jumping Frog.”<br /> Mr. Clemens has also been turning his attention<br /> to those tiresome people, the votaries of “ Christian<br /> Science.”<br /> <br /> ‘A new science, called “ Anthropo-Geography,”<br /> would seem to have arisen, and its first American<br /> exponent is Miss Ellen Semple in her “ American<br /> History and its Geographic Conditions.”<br /> <br /> In the purely historical field we have had two<br /> new books on the Civil War, the one by Mr. Birk-<br /> beck Wood and Colonel Edwards, the other by Dr.<br /> Guy Carleton Lee, in addition to E. Benjamin<br /> Andrews’s supplement to his “ History of the last<br /> Quarter Century.”<br /> <br /> A highly interesting work, which takes us some<br /> considerable way further back, is Thomas A. Jan-<br /> vier’s “The Dutch Founding of New York.”<br /> <br /> Reuben Gold Thwaites has done good service<br /> by his careful editing of a reprint of Father Louis<br /> Hennequin’s “ New Discovery” (1698) ; and he is<br /> now engaged upon an edition of the “ Original<br /> Journals of Lewis and Clark.” He has also pub-<br /> lished a volume of historical essays in western<br /> history. a.<br /> <br /> Three new volumes of the extensive work of<br /> Emma Helen Blair and James Alex Robertson<br /> upon the “Philippine Islands” have appeared ;<br /> and Arthur Howard Noll has written more upon<br /> the history of Mexico. Mr. Francis Johnson’s<br /> compilation, “ Famous Assassinations of History,”<br /> ranges from Philip of Macedon to the late King<br /> and Queen of Servia, and is a veritable bath of<br /> international gore. -<br /> <br /> Among curious nondescript works I notice the<br /> anonymous “ Wanted—A Wife,” by “ A Bachelor,”<br /> just issued by Daniel V. Wien, of New York.”<br /> It is not surprising to learn that two editions of<br /> this were quickly disposed of.<br /> <br /> The Poe revival still continues. The latest<br /> evidence is Mr. Sherwin Cody’s critical edition<br /> executed for A. C. McClurg &amp; Co.<br /> <br /> Some unpublished extracts from Emerson’s<br /> private journals are to see the light in the<br /> Atlantic Monthly during next year. They will be<br /> welcome, though one has heard a great deal of the<br /> philosopher-poet of late. But it is really to be<br /> hoped that the last has now been heard of Mistress<br /> Margaret Fuller and her egregious love-letters.<br /> <br /> Two meritorious contributions to philosophical<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> study have appeared in America during the past<br /> year. Dr. William Turner’s “History of Philo-<br /> sophy” comes from Boston; Mr. Arthur Stone<br /> Dewing’s more popular “ Introduction to the History<br /> of Modern Philosophy ” from Philadelphia. Pro-<br /> fessor J. Laurence Laughlin has issued a first<br /> instalment of the extensive work which he con-<br /> templates upon the “Principles of Money.” He<br /> is a strenuous upholder of the policy of adherence<br /> to a gold standard. He has evolved a new theory-<br /> of credit. Other economical works which may<br /> be of interest to students are Miss Breckridge’s<br /> “Legal Tender” and Professor William A. Scott’s<br /> “Money and Banking.”<br /> <br /> Photogravure portraits of the Presidents adorn<br /> the new edition which Messrs. Harper are bringing<br /> out of President Woodrow Wilson’s ‘‘ History of<br /> the American People.”<br /> <br /> Our obituary list is neither long nor important.<br /> It contains the names of Colonel Richard Henry<br /> Savage, best known as the author of “ My Official<br /> Wife,” who just lived to see in print his last book,<br /> “Monte Christo in Khaki”; of Mrs. Elizabeth<br /> Cherry Waltz, a hard-working journalist who wrote<br /> the humorous “ Pa Gladden” stories; of General<br /> Edward McGrady, the historian of South Carolina ;<br /> and of James Robert Gilmore, founder of the Con-<br /> tinental Monthly, editor of the ‘Cyclopedia of<br /> American Biography,” and author of several novels<br /> of Southern life published under the pseudonym<br /> “ Edmund Kirke.” The last was a personal friend<br /> of Lincoln and Greeley, as well as the intimate of<br /> Longfellow and Holmes.<br /> <br /> PARIS NOTES.<br /> <br /> 1<br /> <br /> HE Academy prizes were distributed at the<br /> fe annual meeting at the close of the year. A<br /> prize for his poem on “ Victor Hugo ” was<br /> awarded to M. Depont. The Toirac prize fell to<br /> M. Donnay for his play, “L’Autre Danger.”<br /> Madame Bentzon received the Née prize, and M.<br /> Boissier spoke in the highest terms of her work,<br /> and at the same time indulged in a side-thrust at<br /> certain novels which have recently been published.<br /> “On ge souvient,’’ he said, “ que sa réputation a<br /> commence par des romans qui ont eu ce privilege<br /> rare d’obtenir un grand succés, sans rien cotter a<br /> la dignité de son caractere. . . . Le prix Née, que<br /> nous donnons 2 Mme. Béntzon, nous |’avions<br /> décerné, il y a deux ans, 8 Mme. Arvéde Barine.<br /> L’ Académie a tenu a rapprocher ces deux poms: ils<br /> sont l’honneur des femmes de France. Ils mon-<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> trent, une fois de plus, qu en littérature il n’y a<br /> pas de privilége pour un sexe, et qu’une femme,<br /> quia du talent, n’a pas besoin de se mettre en<br /> révolte, de former des ligues et de s’armer en<br /> guerre contre la société pour obtenir la renommée,<br /> quand elle la mérite.”<br /> <br /> M. Boissier spoke highly of the novels by Henry<br /> Bordeaux, Claude Ferval, Plessis, Yunga, Moreau,<br /> and de Comminges. He then mentioned the<br /> authors of various works of education, history and<br /> biography, terminating with M. Pierre de Nolhac,<br /> who received the Gobert prize for his admirable<br /> series of works on Versailles and its historical<br /> personages.<br /> <br /> France is the country par excellence where art<br /> and literature are appreciated and encouraged.<br /> <br /> After the Academy prizes came those awarded<br /> annually by the Société des Gens de Lettres to<br /> talented writers.<br /> <br /> Among the names of the authors to whom this<br /> year’s prizes have been given are: MM. Camille<br /> Lemonnier, Georges d’Esparbes, Louis de Robert,<br /> Junka, Dalsem, Champol and Pascal. Women<br /> writers also come in for their share of the awards.<br /> Mme. Brada, Mme. de Peyrebrune, Mlle. Maugeret<br /> and Mme Lafon, have received prizes varying from<br /> £20 to £12.<br /> <br /> Some excellent articles have appeared in many<br /> of the French reviews and papers on Herbert<br /> Spencer, who was greatly appreciated in France.<br /> <br /> In a book recently published by M. Gabriel<br /> Compayré there are some interesting pages on the<br /> life and works of Spencer.<br /> <br /> A French journalist in London, writing to one<br /> of the principal papers here, was struck with the<br /> evident lack of appreciation of the great philosopher<br /> in England. He says that ninety-nine out of<br /> every hundred of Herbert Spencer’s compatriots<br /> ignore not only the works of the great man who<br /> has just passed away, but even his name. He<br /> goes on to say that it is one of the characteristics<br /> of the English people that they are not attracted<br /> by the works of their greatest writers, their greatest<br /> thinkers and their greatest savants.<br /> <br /> The first book published by M. René Bazin,<br /> since his election to the Academy, is entitled<br /> “Récits de la Plaine et de la Montagne.” Itis a<br /> most charming description of travels in various<br /> countries, with anecdotes and stories which add<br /> greatly to the interest of the volume. There are<br /> chapters entitled : “Journal de Route au bord du<br /> Rhone” ; “Une Excursion de Chasse en Hol-<br /> lande”; “Histoire de Dindons”; “ Dans la<br /> banlieue de Londres”; “ Le Palefrenier du Prince<br /> de Galles” ; “ Un Village de Savoie” ; “ La Forét<br /> de Méria”; “La Vallée d’Aoste” and “Le<br /> Registre d’un Ouré.”<br /> <br /> A book by M. André Fontaine, entitled “ Con-<br /> <br /> 95<br /> <br /> férences inédites de |’ Académie Royale de Pein-<br /> ture et de Sculpture,” is well worth reading. In<br /> the days of Colbert, lectures were given by the<br /> French Academicians on the merits and faults of<br /> celebrated pictures. Discussions were held on<br /> subjects connected with art, for the benefit of the<br /> students of the Ecole des Beaux Arts, the other<br /> Academicians and artists generally.<br /> <br /> M. Fontaine has collected some of these lectures<br /> and published a volume of them. The most<br /> interesting are those by de Champaigne and Le<br /> Brun, on the question of the primary importance<br /> of drawing or colour in a picture.<br /> <br /> There are others on the merits and faults of<br /> many celebrated pictures by Raphael, Titien,<br /> Poussin and other artists.<br /> <br /> “ Mélanges de Littérature et d’Histoire ” is the<br /> title of a most entertaining book by M. A. Gazier,<br /> on various subjects. Among other articles there<br /> is one on Pascal and Mile. de Roannés, another on<br /> the Abbé de Prades, and a letter from Voltaire<br /> giving some interesting details about his sojourn<br /> and his private affairs at Potsdam. There is also<br /> an account, which reads like a novel, of an<br /> extraordinary woman who lived alone for several<br /> years in the mountains of the Pyrenees. She<br /> belonged to a noble family, but at the age of<br /> fifteen, to avoid marrying, escaped from her own<br /> people and lived as a servant.<br /> <br /> There are other interesting studies in the volume<br /> on the subject of Moliére, and the probability that<br /> the Prince de Conti served as the model for<br /> “Tartuffe.”<br /> <br /> Among the new books are “ Le Second Rang<br /> du Collier,’ by Mme. Judith Gautier; “ Caglios-<br /> tro,” by M. d’Alméras ; “ Propos Littéraires,” by<br /> M. Faguet ; “ L’Empire du Milieu,” by Elisée et<br /> Onésime Reclus, and among the illustrated books<br /> specially intended for New Year’s gifts are<br /> “T’Epopée Biblique,” with fifty engravings from<br /> Gustave Doré’s works; “ La Lune Rousse,” by<br /> Champol ; “ L’Année frangaise: Un héros par<br /> jour,” by Ponsonailhe ; “ Aux pays de la Priére,”<br /> by Henri Guerlin, and “La vieille France qui<br /> s’en va,” by Charles Géniaux.<br /> <br /> A book which should be specially interesting to<br /> the English has just been written by M. Henry<br /> d’Allemagne. ‘The title is “Sports et Jeux<br /> d’adresse,” and all games and sports are traced to<br /> their origin, with a series of coloured illustrations<br /> to show the modifications our present games have<br /> undergone.<br /> <br /> The question is once more being raised whether<br /> actors shall be admitted as Academicians to the<br /> Institute of France.<br /> <br /> M. Mounet Sully, by presenting himself for<br /> election, opens a debate which will be followed<br /> everywhere with the keenest interest.<br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> 96<br /> <br /> “Le Retour de Jérusalem” is one of the finest<br /> pieces that M. Maurice Donnay has written. The<br /> idea upon which the play appears to be based is<br /> that there exists between the Jewish and the<br /> Aryan races a gulf which cannot be bridged over,<br /> and that any attempt to unite them must prove a<br /> failure. oe<br /> <br /> In this play Michel Aubier is a Christian, and<br /> Judith de Chouzay a Jewess, who has adopted the<br /> Catholic religion in order to marry the Viscount<br /> de Chouzay. Michel, too, is married, but imagin-<br /> ing that they are in love with each other, he and<br /> Judith leave their respective homes in order to<br /> unite their destinies. They discover, when too<br /> late, their mistake. Their ideas, their principles<br /> and their habits are so totally different that in the<br /> end they decide to separate. Such in brief is the<br /> piece, which as a psychological study is most<br /> fascinating. The dialogue is brilliant, as in all<br /> M. Donnay’s plays, and the character of Michel an<br /> excellent portrait of the modern Frenchman.<br /> Mme. Le Bargy, M. Dumény, and Mlle. Mégard<br /> interpret their réles to perfection.<br /> <br /> The first night of M. Sardou’s new play “La<br /> Sorciére,’ has been one of the great theatrical<br /> events of the month. At the close of the dress<br /> rehearsal, Madame Sarah Bernhardt received an<br /> ovation, and many of the principal artistes and<br /> dramatic authors came forward to offer their<br /> congratulations.<br /> <br /> It is with the greatest pleasure that everyone<br /> sees M. Bour at last in a suitable theatre. The<br /> piece he is now giving, “Cadet Roussel,” by<br /> M. Jacques Richepin, is, thanks to his excellent<br /> interpretation, so great a success that M. Bour has<br /> been compelled to move to the Porte St. Martin.<br /> Some two years ago, in the famous play<br /> “ Alleluia,” M. Bour made his mark, and with a<br /> small company of artistes started the International<br /> Thédtre for the production of plays from all<br /> languages.<br /> <br /> In every piece M. Bour had great success, and<br /> his removal to a larger theatre, on the Boulevards,<br /> will probably make him a formidable rival for M.<br /> Antoine.<br /> <br /> La Renaissance Latine has some very interesting<br /> articles in the December number. Among others:<br /> “« Les Idées littéraires de Nietzsche,” by M. Emile<br /> Faguet ; some letters to the “Bon Ange,” from<br /> Mirabeau; “ L’Esprit romain et l’Art francais,” by<br /> M. Mauclair, and “La Crise méridionale en<br /> Italie.”<br /> <br /> Anys HALLARD.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> THE CONTRACT OF BAILMENT. ©<br /> <br /> —<br /> <br /> TYNHE point which “ G. H. T.” has raised, under<br /> the above heading, in the December number<br /> of The Author, is of great practical interest<br /> <br /> to authors, editors, and publishers; and it is<br /> <br /> eminently desirable that it should be settled.<br /> <br /> “G. H.T.” has put the author’s view. Leaving<br /> <br /> the publisher to speak for himself, I propose to say<br /> <br /> a word on behalf of the editor, merely premising<br /> <br /> that, being myself, in a humble way, also a writer,<br /> <br /> I have no bias against the author’s just claims.<br /> <br /> “q. H. T.’s” arguments are cautiously worded,<br /> as becomes one in his responsible position. But I<br /> think it fair to assume, that he regards an editor to<br /> whom unsolicited MSS. are sent, in the course of<br /> post or by mere messenger, as responsible for<br /> the safety, perhaps even for the return, of the MSS. ;<br /> and this, whether or not the editor has given<br /> public notice disclaiming such responsibility. In<br /> the nature of things, such notice must be indirect ;<br /> it is clearly impossible for an editor to serve per-<br /> sonal notice on every inhabitant of the British<br /> Isles, nor would it, I think, be contended, by any<br /> serious advocate, that he is bound to spend money<br /> in advertising his intentions in the Press.<br /> <br /> It seems to me that “G. H. T.’s” argument is,<br /> to begin with, seriously damaged by the very title<br /> with which he heads his article. As he justly<br /> asserts, bailment is, or at least implies, a contract.<br /> Now a contract, in every system of law with which<br /> I am acquainted —certainly in English law—<br /> requires the co-operation of at least two persons.<br /> One person cannot make a contract ; there must<br /> be the mutual consent of two minds. If I throw<br /> a book in at a man’s window, my act may be<br /> a trespass ; it certainly cannot, of itself, constitute<br /> a contract—of bailment or anything else. The<br /> most favourable interpretation that can be put<br /> upon it is, that it is an offer to sell or lend the<br /> book, which the person into whose house it is<br /> thrown may or may not accept, at his option.<br /> This construction has been put by Courts of Justice,<br /> over and over again, on the act of leaving unsolicited<br /> goods at a house ; and scathing remarks have been<br /> made by judges upon those enterprising persons<br /> who have tried to found a legal claim on such<br /> proceedings.<br /> <br /> “GQ, H. T.” seems, therefore, to me, to miss a<br /> vital point when he says that the question is: “Is<br /> an MS. sent in for the benefit of both parties or<br /> not?” It is not sufficient that the MS. should be<br /> sent for the benefit of both parties; it must also be<br /> accepted for the benefit of both parties.<br /> <br /> And I think that “G@. H. T.” would not care to<br /> argue, that the mere fact of opening an envelope<br /> containing an MS. is an acceptance. How can the<br /> <br /> person to whom a sealed envelope is addressed<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> possibly tell the nature of its contents, until he<br /> opens it? It may contain an article which he has<br /> commissioned, and is anxiously expecting. The<br /> difference between mere receipt and acceptance is<br /> well known to all lawyers, certainly to “G. H. ie<br /> himself.<br /> <br /> But I gather that “G. H. T.” proposes to get<br /> over this difficulty by the bold argument, that the<br /> mere founding of a periodical constitutes, in law,<br /> an offer to accept for consideration any article<br /> which any one may choose to send in. Some<br /> editors do, undoubtedly, make this offer, in express<br /> terms, qualified, however, as a rule, by a disavowal<br /> of liability. Whether such a disavowal would be<br /> deemed legally inconsistent with the general offer,<br /> is a point which I do not care to argue. My point<br /> is, that when no such offer is made by an editor,<br /> &amp; fortiori, when an_ editor expressly warns con-<br /> tributors against sending him their MSS. without<br /> previous communication, no such offer can be<br /> implied from the mere founding of the periodical.<br /> An impresario who opens a theatre does not, surely,<br /> undertake to give every actor who offers his services<br /> a trial ; the proprietor of a private picture gallery<br /> does not offer to admit, or even to examine, the<br /> work of every artist who chooses to send in a<br /> picture. If the theatre or the gallery were public<br /> property, maintained by the State or by public<br /> subscription, the case might be different.<br /> <br /> Ifthe claim of contract be untenable, “G. HLT s?<br /> argument comes to this : that there is a duty upon<br /> an editor, simply as such, or, as the jurist would<br /> say, a duty m rem, to accept for consideration<br /> every MS. sent to him. This is also a startling<br /> argument. Duties in rem are familiar to our law ;<br /> but it is a well-known principle, that such duties<br /> are of a negative character only—v.e., they are<br /> duties to abstain from doing acts which may result<br /> in harm or damage to the public or one’s neigh-<br /> pours. Duties in rem of a positive character—<br /> ie., to do some act at the request of all and sundry,<br /> or at peril of responsibility, arise only from the<br /> express provisions of statute law; and I do not<br /> recollect any Act of Parliament which imposes upon<br /> editors the duty of reading and returning, or of<br /> safeguarding, unsolicited MSS.<br /> <br /> The only exception to this rule which is known<br /> to me, is the duty cast upon a man who harbours<br /> dangerous substances, or embarks upon an under-<br /> * taking peculiarly likely to cause harm, to take all<br /> precautions against the happening of such harm.<br /> But I do not think that “G. H. T.” would be<br /> cynic enough to urge that the founding of a<br /> periodical was an undertaking of such a nature,<br /> <br /> To descend from purely legal argument to the<br /> argument from common sense. Ts it unreasonable<br /> to expect that an author, or his literary agent,<br /> should make himself personally acquainted. with<br /> <br /> 97<br /> <br /> the contents of a periodical to which he proposes<br /> to contribute? If he neglects to do so, how can<br /> he possibly tell whether his proposed contribution<br /> is likely to be at all suitable in matter, style, or<br /> length ? Is not an editor entitled to resent such<br /> neglect as savouring of contempt, or, at least, of<br /> laziness, and indifference to the claims upon his<br /> time? Is he bound to pay a clerk for the express<br /> purpose of returning MSS. which are utterly unsuit-<br /> able for his pages? What would be thought of<br /> the man who wrote to the curator of a library:<br /> “ Herewith I send you a highly intelligent monkey.<br /> If he is not suitable for your shelves, kindly give<br /> him a carefully selected meal, and despatch him by<br /> the 9.55 to Norwich, carriage paid” ? Would<br /> not the librarian be entitled to regard the sender<br /> of the monkey as a troublesome lunatic? If the<br /> author, and, still more, the literary agent—who is<br /> supposed to be a man of business—does not take<br /> the trouble to acquaint himself with the conditions<br /> on which alone the editor has expressed himself as<br /> willing to treat, he has but himself to thank if the<br /> busy editor regards him as a nuisance.<br /> <br /> In conclusion, I may venture to doubt whether<br /> the periodical which is fed entirely, or almost<br /> entirely, by commissioned articles, is not already<br /> more common than “G. H. T.” is inclined to<br /> allow, and whether it is not likely to be still more<br /> common in the future. An organ founded for a<br /> definite purpose, (widely announced in the Press),<br /> drawing its financial support from people interested<br /> in that purpose, and relying on an organised staff,<br /> can hardly win success by any other means. Nor<br /> am I prepared to admit, that such an organ is any<br /> less worthy a product of the Republic of Letters<br /> than the miscellany which aims merely at the<br /> amusement of the leisure hour,<br /> <br /> An EDITOR.<br /> <br /> ———__+ +<br /> <br /> LITERARY, DRAMATIC, AND MUSICAL<br /> PROPERTY.<br /> <br /> +<br /> English “Serials” in the American Market.<br /> <br /> CORRESPONDENT tells us that “serials”<br /> which have appeared in England, and are<br /> copyright both in England and the United<br /> States, even in the journals generally conceded to<br /> buy the best class of serial fiction, do not command<br /> good prices in the United States market. £50 is<br /> a very outside price, and £30 is considered a price<br /> above the average, the general price being £15 to<br /> £20 for the serial use of from 80,000 to 100,000<br /> words, The truth is that the market is severely<br /> limited, owing to the fact that most of the United<br /> States publishers, who go in for this kind of work,<br />  <br /> <br /> 98<br /> <br /> prefer to furbish up and bring up to date, with the<br /> aid of cheap literary hacks, serials which appeared<br /> years ago, and present them, thus “ modernised,” as<br /> new stories to their readers. If this processshould<br /> continue, in the year 2000 the curious may be able<br /> to discover in United States fiction ‘“ Ivanhoe,”<br /> “Vanity Fair,” or “Oliver Twist,” in distorted<br /> form, altered and arranged to suit the decadent<br /> palate of the future American. Comment on this<br /> sort of action is superfluous.<br /> <br /> a So oe.<br /> <br /> MAGAZINE CONTENTS.<br /> <br /> ——+~&lt;— —<br /> BLACKWOOD’s MAGAZINE.<br /> <br /> John Chilcote, M.P. By Katherine Cecil Thurston.<br /> <br /> A Nation at Play: The Peril of Games.<br /> <br /> Silk o’ the Kine: A Tale of the Isles. By Alfred Noyes.<br /> <br /> The Trader of Last Notch. By Perceval Gibbon.<br /> <br /> To. the “Whole Hog”: An Allegorical Ode. By<br /> Dum-Dum.<br /> <br /> Some Big Lost Norway Salmon. By Gilfrid W. Hartley.<br /> <br /> “Sally”: A Study. By Hugh Clifford, C.M.G.<br /> <br /> Heraldry.<br /> <br /> The Appearances at the Black Knoll.<br /> <br /> Herbert Spencer : A Portrait.<br /> <br /> A Turkish Farm.<br /> <br /> The Military Book-shelf.<br /> <br /> Richard Cobden.<br /> <br /> Musings without Method.<br /> <br /> The Earl of Stair.<br /> <br /> THE CORNHILL MAGAZINE.<br /> <br /> The Sea-Born Man. By Mrs. Woods.<br /> <br /> The Truants (Chapters i.—iii.). By A. E. W. Mason.<br /> <br /> Charles Dickens and the Guild of Literature and Art.<br /> By the late Sir John R. Robinson.<br /> <br /> Colonial Memories: Old New Zealand, Il. By Lady<br /> Broome.<br /> <br /> No. 10 Downing Street. By the Right Hon. Sir<br /> Algernon West, G.C.B.<br /> <br /> Blackstick Papers, No, 8. By Mrs, Richmond Ritchie.<br /> <br /> Alms for Oblivion. By Richard Garnett, C.B., LL.D.<br /> <br /> Theodore Hook. By Viscount St. Cyres.<br /> <br /> In a Viceregal City. By Mrs, Archibald Little,<br /> <br /> Historical Mysteries (1.). The Mystery of Kaspar<br /> Hauser, the Child of Europe. By Andrew Lang.<br /> <br /> A Nineteenth Century Philosopher. By F. J. H.<br /> Darton.<br /> <br /> The Young Fisher. By Stephen Gwynn.<br /> <br /> The Ingenuity of Mr. Clinton Bathurst. By T. Baron<br /> Russell.<br /> <br /> LONGMAN’S MAGAZINE,<br /> <br /> Nature’s Comedian :(Chapters xiii., xiv.). By W. E.<br /> Norris.<br /> <br /> Marine Steam Turbines. By Robert Cromie.<br /> <br /> The King’s Nose. By Margaret Armour.<br /> <br /> Some Scouts—but not Scouting. By Captain A. 0,<br /> ‘Vaughan.<br /> <br /> Lament for Fionavar. By Eva Gore-Booth.<br /> <br /> Humours of Eastern Travel. By Louisa Jebb.<br /> <br /> The Brown Puppy. By Ellen Ada Smith.<br /> <br /> Rahel Varnhagen : The German Sibyl of the Nineteenth<br /> Century. By Mary Hargrave.<br /> <br /> At the Sign of the Ship. By Andrew Lang.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> PALL MALL MAGAZINE,<br /> <br /> The Children of the Potteries. By the Duchess of<br /> Sutherland.<br /> <br /> The Sensations and Emotions of Aerial Navigation. By<br /> A. Santos Dumont.<br /> <br /> The Guest of the Admiral: The Mediterranean Fleet at<br /> Home. By Arnold White.<br /> <br /> An Episode in a Country House: A Story. By<br /> Frances Harrod (Frances Forbes Robertson).<br /> <br /> A Song. By Lady Lily Greene.<br /> <br /> On the Trail of the Opal. By P. F. 8. Spence (Alex-<br /> ander Macdonald).<br /> <br /> The Lady and the Property: A Story. ByMarie van Vorst.<br /> <br /> Literary Geography : The Bronté Country. By William<br /> Sharp.<br /> <br /> A Matter of Honour: A Story. By R. Neish.<br /> <br /> The Queen’s Quair: Book II., Chapters V., VI. By<br /> Maurice Hewlett.<br /> <br /> Master Workers : X. Sir Oliver Lodge. With portraits.<br /> By Harold Begbie.<br /> <br /> Captives: A Poem. By V. V.<br /> <br /> The Wilderness: A Story. By H. B. Marriott-Watson.<br /> <br /> The Vineyard: Chapters XVIII, XIX. By John<br /> Oliver Hobbes (Mrs. Craigie).<br /> <br /> Benjamin’s Mess: A Story. By Eden Phillpotts.<br /> <br /> Sunrise: A Poem. By E, Nesbit.<br /> <br /> The Round Table :—A Famous Doctor and his Friends.<br /> By Ernest Rhys. Nursery Pictures: ‘Little Jack<br /> Horner.” By S. H. Sime. A Critic Criticised: Mr,<br /> Sidney Lee and the Baconians. By G. Stronach.<br /> <br /> The Month in Caricature. By G. R. H.<br /> <br /> THE WORLD’S WorRK.<br /> <br /> The March of Events: An Illustrated Editorial Record<br /> and Comment.<br /> The Old Year.<br /> The Fiscal Battlefield,<br /> A Step in Civilisation.<br /> Another Little War ? ;<br /> Radium and the Beginnings of Matter.<br /> The Fiscal Issue Joined. By J. St. Loe Strachey (Editor<br /> of the Spectator).<br /> Motorists under the New Act. By Henry Norman, M.P.<br /> A British Industry Really Ruined. By Edwin Sharpe<br /> Grew.<br /> Producing a Pantomime. (Illustrated.)<br /> A Modern London, Office Building. (illustrated.)<br /> Milking Cows by Electricity. (Illustrated.)<br /> The Steam Turbine. (Illustrated.) By Robert Cromie<br /> and Frederick E. Rebbeck,<br /> The. Pressing Question of our Canals. By Edwin<br /> Clements.<br /> The Working of a London Bank. By J. E. Woolacott.<br /> The Lady Chef.<br /> The Wonders of Modern Surgery. (illustrated.) By<br /> C. W. Saleeby, M.B., Ch. B.<br /> Three New Schools. (Illustrated.) By Eustace Miles, M.A.<br /> Scientific Pheasant Farming. (lllustrated.) By W.<br /> Bovill.<br /> <br /> The Work of a Japanese Craftsman, (lllustrated.) By .<br /> <br /> Herbert G. Ponting.<br /> <br /> Municipal Loans for Small Investors. (Illustrated.). By<br /> Edouard Charles.<br /> <br /> British Trade with France.<br /> <br /> The Derwent Valley Waterworks.<br /> <br /> The Making of an American Newspaper.<br /> <br /> The World of Women’s Work.<br /> _ Fresh Eggs and Poultry. illustrated.) “Home<br /> Counties.”<br /> <br /> The Work of the Book World.<br /> <br /> Among the World’s Workers : A Record of Industry.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> WARNINGS TO THE PRODUCERS<br /> OF BOOKS.<br /> <br /> —— +<br /> <br /> ERE are a few standing rules to be observed in an<br /> agreement. There are four methods of dealing<br /> with literary property :—<br /> <br /> I. Selling it Outright.<br /> <br /> This is sometimes satisfactory, if a proper price can be<br /> oltained. But the transaction should be managed by a<br /> competent agent, or with the advice of the Secretary of<br /> the Society.<br /> <br /> II. A Profit-Sharing Agreement (a bad form of<br /> agreement).<br /> <br /> In this case the following rules should be attended to:<br /> <br /> C1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro-<br /> duction forms a part without the strictest investigation.<br /> <br /> (2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the<br /> profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements<br /> in his own organs, or by charging exchange advertise-<br /> ments. Therefore keep control of the advertisements.<br /> <br /> (3.) Not to allow a special charge for “office expenses,”<br /> unless the same allowance is made to the author.<br /> <br /> (4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental<br /> rights.<br /> <br /> (5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights.<br /> <br /> (6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher.<br /> As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or<br /> doctor !<br /> <br /> Ill. The Royalty System.<br /> <br /> This is perhaps, with certain limitations, the best form<br /> of agreement. It is above all things necessary to know<br /> what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It isnow<br /> possible for an author to ascertain approximately the<br /> truth. From time to time very important figures connected<br /> with royalties are published in Zhe Author.<br /> <br /> IY. A Commission Agreement.<br /> <br /> The main points are :—<br /> <br /> (1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production.<br /> (2.) Keep control of the advertisements.<br /> <br /> (3.) Keep control of the sale price of the book.<br /> <br /> General.<br /> <br /> All other forms of agreement are combinations of the four<br /> above mentioned.<br /> <br /> Such combinations are generally disastrous to the author,<br /> <br /> Never sign any agreement without competent advice from<br /> ‘the Secretary of the Society.<br /> <br /> Stamp all agreements with the Inland Revenue stamp.<br /> <br /> Avoid agreements by letter if possible.<br /> <br /> The main points which the Society has always demanded<br /> from the outset are :—<br /> <br /> (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement<br /> means.<br /> <br /> (2.) The inspection of those account books which belong<br /> fo the author. We are advised that this is a right. in the<br /> nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or<br /> withheld.<br /> <br /> (3.) Always avoid a transfer of copyright.<br /> <br /> ————_+—~&gt;»<br /> <br /> WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS.<br /> ———9<br /> “AT EVER sign an agreement without submitting it to the<br /> Secretary of the Society of Authors or some com-<br /> petent legal authority,<br /> 2. {t is well to be extremely careful in negotiating for<br /> the production of a play with anyone except an established<br /> manager,<br /> <br /> 99<br /> <br /> 3. There are three forms of dramatic contract for plays<br /> in three or more acts :—<br /> <br /> (a.) Sale outright of the performing right. This<br /> is unsatisfactory. An author who enters into<br /> such a contract should stipulate in the contract<br /> for production of the piece by a certain date<br /> and for proper publicatioa of his name on the<br /> play-bills.<br /> <br /> (4.) Sale of performing right or of a licence to<br /> perform on the basis of percentages on<br /> gross receipts. Percentages vary between 5<br /> and 15 per cent. An author should obtain a<br /> percentage on the sliding scale of gross receipts<br /> in preference to the American system. Should<br /> obtain a sum in advance of percentages. A fixed<br /> date on or before which the play should be<br /> performed.<br /> <br /> (c.) Sale of performing right or of a licence to<br /> perform on the basis of royalties (i.c., fixed<br /> nightly fees). This method should be always<br /> avoided except in cases where the fees are<br /> likely to be small or difficult to collect. The<br /> other safeguards set out under heading (0.) apply<br /> also in this case,<br /> <br /> 4. Plays in one act are often sold outright, but it is<br /> better to obtain a small nightly fee if possible, and a sum<br /> paid in advance of such fees in any event. It is extremely<br /> important that the amateur rights of one-act plays should<br /> be reserved.<br /> <br /> 5. Authors should remember that performing rights can<br /> be limited, and are usually limited, by town, country, and<br /> time. This is most important.<br /> <br /> 6. Authors should not assign performing rights, but<br /> should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction is<br /> of great importance.<br /> <br /> 7, Authors should remember that performing rights in a<br /> play are distinct from literary copyright. A manager<br /> holding the performing right or licence to perform cannot<br /> print the book of the words.<br /> <br /> 8. Never forget that United States rights may be exceed-<br /> ingly valuable. ‘hey should never be included in English<br /> agreements without the author obtaining a substantial<br /> consideration.<br /> <br /> 9. Agreements for collaboration should be carefully<br /> drawn and executed before collaboration is commenced.<br /> <br /> 10. An author should remember that production of a play<br /> is highly speculative: that he runs a very great risk of<br /> delay and a breakdown in the fulfilment of his contract.<br /> He should therefore guard himself all the more carefully in<br /> the beginning.<br /> <br /> 11. An author must remember that the dramatic market<br /> is exceedingly limited, and that for a novice the first object<br /> is to obtain adequate publication.<br /> <br /> As these warnings must necessarily be incomplete, on<br /> account of the wide range of the subject of dramatic con-<br /> tracts, those authors desirous of further information<br /> are referred to the Secretary of the Society.<br /> <br /> oe<br /> <br /> WARNINGS TO MUSICAL COMPOSERS.<br /> to<br /> <br /> ITTLE can be added to the warnings given for the<br /> assistance of producers of books and dramatic<br /> authors. It must, however, be pointed out that, as<br /> <br /> a rule, the musical publisher demands from the musical<br /> composer a transfer of fuller rights and less liberal finan-<br /> cial terms than those obtained for literary and dramatic<br /> property. The musical composer has very often the two<br /> rights to deal with—performing right and copyright. He<br />  <br /> <br /> 100<br /> <br /> should be especially careful therefore when entering into<br /> an agreement, and should take into particular consideration<br /> the warnings stated above.<br /> <br /> — ee<br /> <br /> HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br /> <br /> +<br /> <br /> a. VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive<br /> advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub-<br /> lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his<br /> <br /> business or the administration of his property. The<br /> <br /> Secretary of the Society is a solicitor, but if there is any<br /> <br /> special reason the Secretary will refer the case to the<br /> <br /> Solicitors of the Society. Further, the Committee, if they<br /> <br /> deem it desirable, will obtain counsel’s opinion. All this<br /> <br /> without any cost to the member.<br /> <br /> 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright<br /> and publishers’ agreements do not fall within the experi-<br /> ence of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use<br /> the Society.<br /> <br /> 3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past<br /> accounts, with a copy of the book represented. The<br /> Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new<br /> or old, for inspection and note. The information thus<br /> obtained may prove invaluable.<br /> <br /> 4, Before signing any agreement whatever, send<br /> the document to the Society for examination.<br /> <br /> 5, Remember always that in belonging to the Society<br /> you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you<br /> are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are<br /> advancing the best interests of your calling in promoting<br /> the independence of the writer, the dramatist, the composer.<br /> <br /> 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception<br /> of members’ agreements and their preservation in a fire-<br /> proof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as<br /> confidential documents to be read only by the Secretary,<br /> who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers :<br /> —(1) To read and advise upon agreements and to give<br /> advice concerning publishers. (2) To stamp agreements<br /> in readiness for a possible action upon them. (3) To keep<br /> agreements. (4) To enforce payments due according to<br /> agreements. Fuller particulars of the Society’s work<br /> can be obtained in the Prospectus.<br /> <br /> 7. No contract should be entered into with a literary<br /> agent without the advice of the Secretary of the Society.<br /> Members are strongly advised not to accept without careful<br /> consideration the contracts with publishers submitted to<br /> them by literary agents, and are recommended to submit<br /> them for interpretation and explanation to the Secretary<br /> of the Society.<br /> <br /> 8. Many agents neglect to stamp agreements This<br /> must be done within fourteen days of first execution. The<br /> Secretary will undertake it on behalf of members.<br /> <br /> 9. Some agents endeavour to prevent authors from<br /> referring matters to the Secretary of the Society; so<br /> do some publishers. Members can make their own<br /> deductions and act accordingly.<br /> <br /> 10. The subscription to the Society is £1 1s. per<br /> annum, or £10 10s. for life membership.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> THE READING BRANCH.<br /> <br /> — ++<br /> <br /> EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this<br /> branch of its work by informing young writers<br /> of its existence. Their MSS. can be read and<br /> <br /> treated as a composition is treated by a coach, The term<br /> MSS. includes not only works of fiction, but poetry<br /> and dramatic works, and when it is possible, under<br /> special arrangement, technical and scientific works. The<br /> Readers are writers of competence and experience. The<br /> fee is one guinea.<br /> <br /> + 2 ——_—_<br /> <br /> NOTICES.<br /> <br /> —<br /> <br /> HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of<br /> <br /> the Society that, although the paper is sent to them<br /> <br /> free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a<br /> <br /> very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great<br /> <br /> many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest<br /> 5s. 6d. subscription for the year.<br /> <br /> Communications for Zhe Author should be addressed to<br /> the Offices of the Society, 39, Old Queen Street, Storey’s<br /> Gate, §.W., and should reach the Editor not later than<br /> the 21st of each month.<br /> <br /> All persons engaged in_ literary work of any kind,<br /> whether members of the Society or mot, are invited to<br /> communicate to the Editor any points connected with their<br /> work which it would be advisable in the general interest to<br /> publish.<br /> <br /> ————_+ + —_<br /> <br /> Communications and letters are invited by the<br /> Editor on all subjects connected with literature, but on<br /> no other subjects whatever. Every effort will be made to<br /> return articles which cannot be accepted.<br /> <br /> —<br /> <br /> The Secretary of the Society begs to give notice<br /> that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post,<br /> <br /> and he requests members who do not receive an<br /> <br /> answer to important communications within two days to<br /> <br /> write to him without delay. All remittances should be —<br /> crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery Lane, or be sent ©<br /> <br /> by registered letter only.<br /> <br /> ———__+—_+—__—_<br /> <br /> THE LEGAL AND GENERAL LIFE<br /> ASSURANCE SOCIETY.<br /> <br /> ot<br /> <br /> N offer has been made of a special scheme of.<br /> <br /> Endowment and Whole Life Assurance,<br /> <br /> admitting of a material reduction off the<br /> <br /> ordinary premiums to members of the Society<br /> Full information can be obtained from J. P. Blake,<br /> <br /> 5<br /> <br /> 158, Leadenhall Street, E.C.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Leval and General Insurance Society (City Branch), —<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ae a<br /> <br /> ne<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> AUTHORITIES.<br /> <br /> —————<br /> <br /> WE see in an extract from the Westminsier<br /> Gazette that the Société des Gens de Lettres has<br /> recently inherited two legacies, one of them<br /> valued at 35,000 francs, and the other, consisting<br /> of real property, estimated to produce 18,000 francs<br /> when realised. Both these legacies will go to sup-<br /> port the Pension Fund of the Société.<br /> <br /> The Société des Gens de Lettres is a wealthy<br /> society owing to the fact that it has certain rights<br /> over the works of members who belong to it, and<br /> <br /> can obtain financial support from the sale of these -<br /> <br /> rights.<br /> <br /> An arrangement of this kind would, of course, be<br /> impossible under the constitution of our Society,<br /> but no doubt, as time goes on, the capital at the<br /> back of the Society will be increased by grateful<br /> members either during their lifetime by donations<br /> or after their death by legacies, till the time<br /> will at length come when neither the Society<br /> nor the Society’s Pension Fund will need further<br /> assistance.<br /> <br /> The Société des Gens de Lettres, it is stated,<br /> has at the present time 145 pensioners, but the<br /> value of the pensions are only £12 a year, and are<br /> awarded as a matter of right to the members of<br /> the Société in order of seniority whenever funds<br /> permit. Many of the more wealthy authors who<br /> are members waive their rights to the pensions to<br /> which they are entitled.<br /> <br /> Mr. J. R. Kewry, of “ The London Directory,”<br /> has been interviewed by a correspondent of a daily<br /> paper. He made one point referring to copyright<br /> which was amusing as well as instructive.<br /> <br /> Infringement of copyright in a directory is<br /> often exceedingly hard to prove, as the facts con-<br /> tained in its pages are, as a rule, open to all<br /> parties ; and as long as anyone acting bond fide<br /> goes to the original source for information so long<br /> may he make use of that information in any way<br /> that seems fit to him.<br /> <br /> We do not refer to the question of the peculiar<br /> form in which the information may be conveyed to<br /> the public, this is another and difficult branch of<br /> copyright ; for instance, in the case of the “A. B. C.<br /> Railway Guide,” there is a certain copyright, not<br /> in the matter, but in the form.<br /> <br /> Mr. Kelly tells how on one occasion a certain<br /> merchant came to his office and said he had been<br /> asked to advertise in a new directory that was<br /> guaranteed a circulation of 15,000 copies. Mr.<br /> Kelly was naturally interested, and looked at the<br /> Copy which the merchant brought with him.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 101<br /> <br /> He referred to one name in the directory, and<br /> seeing the manner in which it had been spelt he<br /> was at once aware that the contents had been<br /> stolen from his own book, as he had himself in-<br /> vented the name and inserted it. Mr. Kelly’s<br /> firm started a prosecution and won the day, and<br /> all copies of the pirated book were ordered to be<br /> destroyed.<br /> <br /> We quote Mr. Kelly’s own words.<br /> <br /> “TI shall never forget the ferocious question put<br /> to me in cross-examination by the defendant’s<br /> counsel. ‘ What,’ he cried, ‘do you stand there,<br /> Mr. Kelly, and confess that you, a gentleman of<br /> honour and position, were actually laying a trap ?’<br /> ‘You have to lay traps to catch vermin,’ I took<br /> the liberty of replying.”<br /> <br /> The counsel, no doubt, felt the rebuke.<br /> <br /> This calls to mind another story of copyright<br /> infringement, where the result was equally satis-<br /> factory to the real owner. We believe it occurred<br /> to Mr. Gambier Boulton, the well-known photo-<br /> grapher of wild animals, but cannot at the moment<br /> verify the statement. The hero of the story,<br /> whoever he was, had, with considerable difficulty,<br /> after watching for many days, photographed one<br /> of the lions at the Zoological Gardens in the act of<br /> yawning. On this photograph great time and<br /> trouble had been expended, and he was, in conse-<br /> quence, very proud of the result. Not long after-<br /> wards he found the photograph reproduced in a<br /> magazine, and brought an action for infringement.<br /> The magazine contributor defended the case, and<br /> stated that the photograph was original and was<br /> not a copy. The reply from the plaintiff was<br /> conclusive.<br /> <br /> “It is a curious point,” he said, “that both<br /> lions we have photographed should have had a<br /> cancer on their tongues.”<br /> <br /> The Court gave a verdict for the plaintiff.<br /> <br /> THE Nobel Prize for literature has this year<br /> been assigned to the great Norwegian author,<br /> Bjornstjerne Bjornson.<br /> <br /> There was a report current that this would be<br /> <br /> - the case, and we think the Stockholm Committee<br /> <br /> amply justified in their selection. Mr. Bjornson<br /> was born on the 8th of December, 1832, and is,<br /> therefore, now in his seventy-second year.<br /> <br /> Though a constant traveller, he spends most of<br /> his summer on a little farm which he has purchased<br /> in the heart of Norway.<br /> <br /> His works are well known in this and all<br /> English-speaking countries, and many of them<br /> have been translated. He is not only a novelist,<br /> but a dramatist and a poet.<br />  <br /> <br /> 2,<br /> <br /> 102<br /> <br /> «Tye Amalgamated Press,” Limited, according<br /> to the papers which have given reports of the<br /> annual meeting, is in a flourishing condition.<br /> <br /> Mr. Alfred C. Harmsworth stated that the<br /> company, after writing off £25,000 for depreciation,<br /> had £266,000 to divide as dividends, and further<br /> if this is not aslip of the pen) had made a nett<br /> profit of £180,000 out of “With the Flag to<br /> Pretoria.”<br /> <br /> These figures are exceedingly interesting to all<br /> members of the profession of authorship.<br /> <br /> If the publishers have made these enormous<br /> profits, no doubt the authors employed have<br /> received their fair and just remuneration at the<br /> same time. We have much pleasure, therefore, in<br /> congratulating the author of “ With the Flag to<br /> Pretoria”? on the small fortune which he must<br /> <br /> have acquired.<br /> <br /> —————<br /> <br /> On December 10th, in the Guildhall Library,<br /> the bust of Geoffrey Chaucer was unveiled. It<br /> was presented by Sir Recinald Hanson, and was<br /> the work of Mr. George Frampton, R.A.<br /> <br /> Many distinguished men were present, either<br /> writers or those who take an interest in literature.<br /> <br /> The ceremony of unveiling was undertaken by<br /> Dr. Furnivall, the Chaucer scholar and founder of<br /> the Chaucer Society.<br /> <br /> Mr. Alfred Austin, the Poet Laureate, seconded<br /> a resolution thanking Sir Reginald Hanson for the<br /> gift.<br /> That the work should have been placed in the<br /> Guildhall Library has a point of interest beyond<br /> the literary. Chaucer was not only a poet, but a<br /> commercial man and a diplomatist. He was<br /> despatched to Genoa in 1372 as the representative<br /> of England in order to bring about a commercial<br /> treaty with that city. The members of the Corpora-<br /> tion have therefore every reason to look upon him<br /> as one of themselves.<br /> <br /> We have much pleasure in printing on another<br /> page a_ short article referring to the sale of<br /> the MS. of “Paradise Lost,” and Mr. Sidney<br /> Lee’s letter which appeared in The Times of<br /> December 14th.<br /> <br /> ‘A matter so important to all lovers of literature<br /> cannot be too often placed before the public. It is<br /> hoped, with the help of Mr. Lee and many others<br /> who prize English literature and its connections,<br /> <br /> that it will be possible to save the MS. from being<br /> taken out of England.<br /> <br /> We feel sure that any National movement for<br /> its purchase will obtain the ready support of all<br /> Members of the Society.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> SHOULD WELL-KNOWN WRITERS<br /> “FARM OUT” FICTION ?<br /> <br /> ———<br /> From THE COMMITTEE.<br /> <br /> L the first of the notices which are regularly<br /> inserted on the first page of Zhe Author it is<br /> announced that “ For the opinions expressed<br /> <br /> in the papers that are signed or initialled the<br /> authors alone are responsible. None of the papers<br /> or paragraphs must be taken as expressing the<br /> opinion of the Committee, unless such is especially<br /> stated to be the case.”<br /> <br /> The Committee had considered, and their atten-<br /> tion has now been called by more than one<br /> member of the Society to, an article on pages<br /> 80 and 81 of the December number, signed<br /> “Proxy,” and entitled, “Should Well-known<br /> Writers ‘Farm-out’ Fiction ?”<br /> <br /> The correspondents appear to assume, Or to<br /> imagine that others might assume, that the pub-<br /> lication of this article may, in the absence of<br /> editorial comment, be taken to imply that the<br /> Committee think the view put forward in it is<br /> worthy to be taken seriously.<br /> <br /> By many readers of Zhe Author the article<br /> was regarded as an ironical jew @esprit, but it<br /> has been accepted by others as a bond fide de-<br /> fence of an existing practice, and it is undoubtedly<br /> open to this interpretation.<br /> <br /> The Committee, therefore, to avoid possible<br /> misunderstanding, feel it their duty to say that,<br /> in their opinion, such practices as are described<br /> and defended by “Proxy” are gravely discredit-<br /> able to those concerned, and constitute a gross<br /> fraud both on the publisher and the public.<br /> <br /> In thus expressing their opinion on the points<br /> raised in “ Proxy’s” article, the Committee, it may<br /> be well to add, must not be understood to condemn<br /> such forms of co-operation as are frequently<br /> resorted to in works involving extensive research,<br /> or where, in other branches of literature, the<br /> co-operation is acknowledged in such a manner<br /> that no purchaser can reasonably complain of<br /> having been misled.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Tur Editor has received from Members of the<br /> Society a number of letters which would more<br /> than fill the space reserved for correspondence in<br /> the present number, commenting on “ Proxy’s”<br /> article. Having before their receipt been in-<br /> structed to insert the note from the Committee<br /> printed above, which meets most of the points<br /> raised by his correspondents, he has, with the<br /> Commitiee’s approval, refrained from publishing<br /> <br /> any selection from these letters in the current<br /> <br /> number.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> aeuneey<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> HERBERT SPENCER, 1820—1903.<br /> <br /> an ep<br /> <br /> . HE suns go swiftly out, and I see no suns to<br /> follow; nothing but a universal twilight<br /> of the semi-divinities.” So wrote Robert<br /> <br /> Louis Stevenson, apropos of the deaths of Renan,<br /> Browning, and Tennyson, and his plaint has echo<br /> among those who have sat at the feet of departed<br /> masters in scienceand philosophy—Darwin, Huxley,<br /> Spencer. For thoughts of a vanished day rather<br /> than of a coming dawn are uppermost ; thoughts<br /> restrained only by the knowledge that the influence<br /> of these teachers, men of lofty aims and unsullied<br /> life, is a part of our imperishable heritage, and<br /> that, consciously or not, we are swayed by it to<br /> further, as at our poor best we may, their high<br /> emprise.<br /> <br /> The obituary notices of Herbert Spencer have<br /> familiarised us with the outlines of his career. No<br /> eventful one, such as comes to men of action, yet<br /> full of incident in struggle bordering on the heroic,<br /> in unflinching purpose and large accomplishment.<br /> Son of a Derby schoolmaster, he was educated<br /> partly at home, partly by an uncle; then came<br /> nine years of civil engineering, with little heart in<br /> the work, and, ultimately, escape into journalism.<br /> In 1850, while sub-editing the Hconomist, Spencer<br /> published “ Social Statics,” wherein ‘“ the conditions<br /> essential to human happiness are specified, and the<br /> relation of them to a general law of development<br /> indicated.” In this last phrase the keynote of his<br /> life-work is struck. One chapter of the book<br /> contains hints of the great doctrine with which<br /> Spencer’s name is associated for all time, while<br /> throughout the book there is present the feeling<br /> that, in the words of Hume, “all sciences have a<br /> relation, greater or less, to man.”<br /> <br /> Neither in the moral nor the material sphere is<br /> their special creation. All that has been achieved,<br /> whether in discovery, invention, or speculation<br /> which research has confirmed, is the fruitage of the<br /> unhasting, unresting past. And the conception<br /> of the universe, as in some way the product of<br /> mechanical processes, is not modern. Ages before<br /> Spencer made clear to us the unity of the cosmos,<br /> there had been approaches to that supremely<br /> ennobling conception. But, save through a voice<br /> crying here and there as in a wilderness, the spirit<br /> of enquiry, born in Ionia five centuries before<br /> Christ, was stifled for two thousand years by creeds<br /> that would brook no rival and permit no ques-<br /> tioning. As late as the middle of the eighteenth<br /> century, Buffon, covertly hinting at a possible<br /> common ancestor of the horse and ass, and of the<br /> ape and man, adds, with an eye on the Sorbonne,<br /> that since scripture teaches the contrary, the thing<br /> cannot be. But the timid suggestion bore fruit in<br /> <br /> 103<br /> <br /> the bravely enounced theories of Lamarck and<br /> Darwin’s distinguished grandfather, the poetical<br /> Lichfield doctor. A succession of workers in the<br /> fields of geology, palzeontology and biology brought<br /> a body of evidence in support of those theories<br /> which ultimately demolished the tenacious belief<br /> in the fixity of species. Among these there can in<br /> this brief paper be reference only to Von Baer, the<br /> formulator of the “ Law of Development ” manifest<br /> in the fundamental likenesses between the embryos<br /> of the higher animals and man, because Spencer<br /> tells us that, becoming acquainted with this ‘ Law ”<br /> in 1852, he at once saw its bearing on the theory<br /> adumbrated in “Social Statics.’ So far as organic<br /> evolution was concerned, the master-key to the<br /> causes of the origin of the millions of species of<br /> plants and animals was lacking, but this was to be<br /> supplied six years later by Darwin and Wallace.<br /> Thus were all things being made ready for the<br /> advent of a man with the penetrating insight of<br /> genius, and with the saving and indispensable<br /> sense of relation, who should, by his skill in syn-<br /> thesis, demonstrate the interaction, unity and con-<br /> tinuity of all phenomena, and their subservience<br /> to one process which, if it operates anywhere,<br /> operates everywhere—the process known as Evolu-<br /> tion. In the fulness of time he came. He had<br /> bad health ; he was poor ; he was almost unknown,<br /> therefore little heeded. In January, 1858, six<br /> months before the meeting of the Linnean Society<br /> at which Darwin and Wallace’s memorable paper<br /> “On the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by<br /> Natural Selection” was read, Spencer wrote out<br /> his scheme of the ‘Synthetic Philosophy ” which,<br /> it is interesting to note, was submitted to his father<br /> for comment. In 1860 the prospectus of the pro-<br /> posed series of volumes was issued, and secured a<br /> sufficient response from friends to warrant a venture<br /> whose risks Spencer could not afford to run unaided.<br /> Not till he was forty did he sce the inception<br /> of a plan which he had nurtured when writing<br /> in his twenty-second year a series of letters on<br /> “The Proper Sphere of Government’”’ in the<br /> Nonconformist.<br /> <br /> The Synthetic Philosophy comprehended all<br /> phenomena in this formula: ‘ Evolution is an<br /> integration of matter and concomitant dissipation<br /> of motion during which the matter passes from an<br /> indefinite, incoherent homogeneity to a definite,<br /> coherent heterogeneity, and during which the<br /> retained motion undergoes a parallel transforma-<br /> tion.” The method followed is the inductive, the<br /> established premise being the “persistence of<br /> force ” involving endless cycles of ceaseless change,<br /> resulting in redistribution of matter and motion,<br /> whereby adyance is made from the like to the<br /> unlike, from the simple to the complex; for<br /> example, the vapours and unstable stuff of the<br />  <br /> <br /> 104<br /> <br /> universe slowly condensing into sun and solar<br /> systems, life emerging on our planet (of which<br /> alone we have knowledge) along physical and<br /> psychical stages till the transcendent genius of<br /> man appears. Postulating the inscrutableness of<br /> the Power which underlies all phenomena, and<br /> ever quickening the sense of wonder begotten by<br /> the stupendous spectacle of evolution and dissolu-<br /> tion, Spencer advanced along the lines of his great<br /> argument, from statements of the general in<br /> «First Principles” to application of the special<br /> in the “ Principles of Biology,” with its details of<br /> development of plants and animals ; in the<br /> “Principles of Psychology,” wherein the story<br /> passes from life to mind in the development of<br /> gelf-consciousness from blurred, undetermined feel-<br /> ing in the lowest responsive organism ; and finally,<br /> in the “ Principles of Sociology,” wherein is traced<br /> the evolution of family, tribal and allied relations,<br /> of religion and its ceremonies, of politics and<br /> institutions—in brief, of all the apparatus of<br /> human life, individual and collective, with large<br /> insistence on the basis of ethics as not supernatural,<br /> but social. So we have, first, the imorgantc, or<br /> evolution of the not-living ; second, the organic,<br /> or evolution of the living ; (Spencer sees in mind<br /> and matter only “two phases of one cosmical pro-<br /> cess”); and third, the superorganic, or evolution<br /> into social groups, with their institutions, beliefs,<br /> and customs. No break in the series is recognised ;<br /> the keynotes of evolution are unity and continuity.<br /> Science knows no finality ; but, recognising that<br /> revisions here and there will be needed as know-<br /> ledge advances, it is difficult to believe that the<br /> main structure raised by the genius of Spencer<br /> will not abide. It was his rare privilege to see in<br /> old age the fulfilment of the plan of his early<br /> manhood, and whatever of impermanence may<br /> attach to his work, his place as one of the greatest<br /> of the world’s master-builders in the intellectual<br /> and spiritual domain is secure. A concluding word<br /> or two about Spencer’s style and personality. The<br /> one has been called cumbersome, lacking in ease<br /> and grace ; but massive thought demands dignified,<br /> masculine diction, and the careful reader will<br /> quickly find that in clearness and definiteness the<br /> style is perfectly adapted to the subject-matter.<br /> In some of the minor works, notably those on<br /> “Education” and the delightful “Study of<br /> Sociology,” we find abundance of felicitous and<br /> familiar illustration. As for the man, his carefully-<br /> guarded health led to some degree of fussiness and<br /> fidgetiness, while a certain aloofness kept company<br /> with a frigid manner under which, nevertheless,<br /> there beat a kindly heart, ever moved by the needs<br /> and troubles of his friends.<br /> <br /> Tt was in 1894 that our Society had the dis-<br /> tinction of adding to its member-roll the name of<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> a man to whom all titular dignities were repellent,<br /> and whose adhesion to any movement was never<br /> given without deliberation.<br /> <br /> EDWARD CLODD.<br /> <br /> &lt;&gt; —______<br /> <br /> THE MS. OF MILTON’S “ PARADISE LOST.”<br /> <br /> ——&gt;——<br /> <br /> R. SIDNEY LEE sent to The Times a<br /> <br /> letter on this subject which appeared on<br /> <br /> Dec. 14. We reprint his communication<br /> <br /> with some slight changes and omissions which we<br /> have his authority for making.<br /> <br /> Mr. Lee wrote :—“ It is to be hoped that every<br /> one who has the reputation of this country at heart<br /> and is in a position to bring influence to bear on<br /> its rulers will take note of Mr. Churton Collins’<br /> <br /> warning and spare no endeavour to prevent the<br /> <br /> passing into ownership beyond the seas of the<br /> original MS. press copy of the First Book of<br /> Milton’s ‘ Paradise Lost.’ The peril is very real.<br /> Unless strenuous efforts be made, the chances<br /> against the keeping of the document at home are<br /> overwhelming. If no public pressure be exerted,<br /> there is an obvious likelihood that this literary<br /> treasure will follow the recent fortunes of the only<br /> known copies of the original edition of Malory’s<br /> ‘Le Morte d’Arthur’ and of many another of our<br /> early literary masterpieces, and henceforth adorn<br /> the private library of some American citizen of<br /> wealth and enterprise.”<br /> <br /> “The occasion demands exceptional exertion. The<br /> nation’s prestige owes an immense debt to its<br /> literary achievements, and to no literary achieve-<br /> ment (save to Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies) does<br /> it owe more than to Milton’s ‘ Paradise Lost.’<br /> No autograph MS. of the poem has ever existed,<br /> for Milton in his blindness was not able to write,<br /> but the copy which he sent to the licenser for the<br /> press with his own characteristic corrections of the<br /> spelling is the nearest possible approach to his<br /> original MS. This MS. of a portion of Milton’s<br /> epic is, in effect, one of the nation’s title-deeds to<br /> poetic and intellectual renown. Is it unreasonable<br /> to expect that the Government will recognise its<br /> obligation, now that the opportunity presents itself,<br /> to convert this national title-deed to fame into a<br /> national heirloom, and secure it in perpetuity for<br /> the British Museum ?”<br /> <br /> “ Experience does not admit of doubt as to the<br /> answer that, were similar circumstances to arise in<br /> foreign countries, this question would receive from<br /> foreign Governments. It is difficult to believe<br /> that, with so potent an incentive to action as is<br /> offered by the forthcoming sale, the Treasury will<br /> hesitate to provide the necessary increase of grant<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> whereby the national library may become the final<br /> home of Milton’s MS.”<br /> <br /> “The sale is announced to take place ‘early in<br /> the spring.’ Apparently, no precise day has yet<br /> been fixed. The Trustees of the British Museum<br /> and other public bodies will thus have time<br /> wherein to approach the Government, and learn<br /> their intentions. Probably, to meet all eventu-<br /> alities, it would be safest at once to form privately<br /> a guarantee fund, whose members would undertake,<br /> in the case of the failure of an application to the<br /> Government, to defray the cost of securing the MS.<br /> for the British Museum. Disclosure of details as<br /> to the amount likely to be required would defeat<br /> the purpose of the fund.”<br /> <br /> The owner of the MS. has just announced<br /> through the auctioneers that he will dispose of it<br /> to the highest bidder at public auction on January<br /> 25th.<br /> <br /> A scholarly account of the textual interest<br /> attaching to the MS. appeared in The Times<br /> Literary Supplement of Dec. 18th. Some news-<br /> paper correspondents may have attached an unduly<br /> high value to the MS., but the opposing statement<br /> made by Dr. Furnivall in The Times of Dec.<br /> 19th, that it is a valueless scrivener’s copy, is<br /> incorrect. No extravagant sum ought to be<br /> offered for the document, because it is not an<br /> author’s autograph MS. But it is eminently<br /> desirable that every attempt should be made to<br /> secure it for the national collection. We should be<br /> glad to hear from any who would co-operate in<br /> efforts in that direction.<br /> <br /> ——————<br /> <br /> A NEW BOOK ON COPYRIGHT.<br /> <br /> —_—<br /> <br /> E have read with interest a little book just<br /> V published by A. H. Bullen, entitled<br /> “ Copyright Law,” by Henry A. Hinkson.<br /> The book is a very small one to deal with so<br /> large and difficult a subject. In this point lies its<br /> main fault, It is written clearly and plainly with-<br /> out any unnecessary legal argument, and is mainly<br /> a statement of the facts and the results of the<br /> working of the law.<br /> So far the book is admirable. The faults are<br /> very few and far between and the blunders slight.<br /> It is a matter of some doubt whether a little<br /> knowledge is not in the case of copyright a<br /> dangerous thing, and whether a text book for the<br /> young author and young writer is not more likely<br /> to lead him into difficulties than to improve his<br /> knowledge of how to deal with his property.<br /> We must, however, thank Mr. Hinkson for his<br /> well-endeavoured effort and congratulate him on<br /> the result.<br /> <br /> 105<br /> <br /> Without desiring to be hypercritical, it is<br /> necessary to draw attention to one or two small<br /> errors.<br /> <br /> For instance, on page 49, when dealing with<br /> the 18th Section—that most difficult of all Sections<br /> —the author states that after twenty-eight years<br /> the copyright reverts to the author. This state-<br /> ment is, of course, incorrect, the words of the Act<br /> being “the right of publishing in separate form<br /> shall revert to the author.” Now the right of<br /> publication and the copyright are two distinct<br /> things, and the legal distinction cannot be too<br /> accurately maintained or too frequently insisted<br /> upon.<br /> <br /> When dealing with International Copyright he<br /> includes Montenegro among the Signatories to the<br /> Berne Convention. Though Montenegro was origin-<br /> ally a Signatory, she has since withdrawn.<br /> <br /> With regard to Artistic Copyright he again falls<br /> into error. He states: “‘ Before publication the pro-<br /> prietor has a common law right in his picture<br /> engraving or drawing,” and seems to draw the<br /> deduction that copyright runs from the publica-<br /> tion of the “picture engraving or drawing.”<br /> If he studies the Act more closely and the<br /> books which have been written endeavouring to<br /> explain that Act, he will see that the copyright<br /> in a “picture engraving or drawing” begins on<br /> the making thereof and not from the publication.<br /> This is one of the difficult points in the Artistic<br /> as distinct from the Literary Copyright Law.<br /> <br /> However, the book is accurately and carefully<br /> written, and so far as it is possible for any legal<br /> copyright amateur to gain satisfaction from a small<br /> work, so far will he be able to derive assistance<br /> from Mr. Hinkson’s “Copyright Law.”<br /> <br /> A NOVELIST ON HIS ART.*<br /> <br /> —_<br /> <br /> T is always a melancholy task to criticise the<br /> i work of a man of great talent who has died<br /> before the full fruition of his gift, and the<br /> melancholy is deepened when the work in question<br /> is not of such a kind as to deserve unrestricted<br /> praise. No one, I think, even of those to whom<br /> his peculiar powers make the least appeal, will deny<br /> that in “ The Octopus ” and “ McTeague ” the late<br /> Mr. Frank Norris manifested extraordinary promise<br /> and discovered fresh territory ; no one, again, of<br /> his most fervent worshippers could honestly affirm<br /> that his work is faultless. A rough and careless<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> * «The Responsibilities of the Novelist,’ by Frank<br /> Norris. (Grant Richards.)<br />  <br /> <br /> 106<br /> <br /> style, sometimes effective, often wounding, is the least<br /> delightful characteristic of “The Responsibilities<br /> of the Novelist.” Its author allowed the force of his<br /> convictions to express itself in noise ; he was so<br /> certain of the truth of his theories that he forgot<br /> what a traitor to truth didacticism may prove<br /> unless it is allied with subtle restraint. He has<br /> none of the fine shades of persuasion.<br /> <br /> Yet if the style is marred by such redundant<br /> expressions as “I tell you ” and such elementary<br /> errors as “Macbeth and Tamerlane réswmé the<br /> whole spirit of the Elizabethan age,” and “ Violet le<br /> Due’s ‘ Dictionaire du Mobilier,’” there are, at any<br /> rate, many fine and honest, if not hugely original,<br /> judgments on the art of the novelist. Mr. Norris<br /> realised that the artistic temperament is not a<br /> thing that one can put on and take off, like a hat<br /> or an air of virtue, but that it is the very spring<br /> and essence of life.<br /> <br /> “You must be something more than a novelist if you<br /> ean, something more than just a writer. There must be<br /> that nameless sixth sense in you... . the thing that<br /> does not enter into the work, but that is back of it; the<br /> thing that would make of you a good man as well as a<br /> good novelist.”<br /> <br /> Something of this kind has been said before, but<br /> Mr. Norris was an independent thinker, and that<br /> he should have come to the same conclusion as his<br /> predecessors is a great tribute to their common<br /> theory. Sincerity is the watchword of his essays<br /> which deal most intimately with the novelist’s art;<br /> he denounces the vulgar trick of cramming the<br /> public with garbage that has neither life nor<br /> beauty, and reiterates the importance of studying<br /> the ordinary aspects of existence, aspects as full of<br /> romantic possibility as any age when men loved<br /> and fought in doublet and hose. This truth he<br /> illustrates from American history. But here, too,<br /> he rushes wildly where a more careful thinker<br /> would pause. He is wonderfully optimistic con-<br /> cerning the public taste, and believes that in the<br /> end the plain people, the burgesses, the grocers,<br /> will prefer “Walter Scott to G. P. R. James,<br /> Shakespeare to Marlowe, Flaubert to Goncourt.”<br /> Why, in the name of logic, Shakespeare to Marlowe?<br /> A damning comparison of the “ Aigina Marbles”<br /> with the frieze of Pheidias would be about as<br /> pertinent. Did Mr. Norris really imagine that<br /> Marlowe was the G. P. R. James of the Elizabethan<br /> era, just as a recent writer on Sicily termed one of<br /> the three greatest Attic dramatists the Henry<br /> Arthur Jones of Greece? Faults of taste of this<br /> kind mar the excellence of his book, which will<br /> nevertheless have a value as containing the sincere<br /> if hasty conclusions of one whose premature<br /> death is mourned by all who care for honesty in<br /> literature.<br /> <br /> Sr. J. Le<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> G. P. v. SPECIALIST.<br /> <br /> a<br /> <br /> HAVE noticed recently a recrudescence of the<br /> old discussion as to whether specialists or<br /> general practitioners should be called in to<br /> <br /> express opinions on the corpus vile of fiction,<br /> whether experts or ordinary readers are the proper<br /> persons to review books in the Press ; and, on the<br /> principle, perhaps, that fools may hit when wiser<br /> men may miss, I venture to shoot my bolt with my<br /> betters, protesting in advance that common sense<br /> has before now been known to be covered by the<br /> cap and bells, and that responsibility is more<br /> frequently an obstacle to the utterance of truth<br /> than irresponsibility.<br /> <br /> I wish that in these conversational debates the<br /> disputants would take the preliminary trouble to<br /> define their terms ; even if they did, there would<br /> be small likelihood of their bringing their argu-<br /> ments to aconclusion, but without such preliminary<br /> labour there is no possibility of their doing so.<br /> What is an expert? Let it be observed that I do<br /> not ask who is an expert: to do so would be to<br /> represent myself as unfamiliar with “ Who’s who ?”<br /> at this instant reflecting my blushes, due to my not<br /> being mentioned therein ; but what do these leaders<br /> of light and learning mean by experts, and reviews,<br /> and half-a-hundred other things which they<br /> discuss so frequently and at such length? What<br /> distinction do they make between a criticism and a<br /> review, and for whose benefit do they contend that<br /> books are reviewed in the Press at all? The<br /> looseness with which they employ the terms is<br /> surely the reason of half the pother.<br /> <br /> Literature is an art, not a profession, and the<br /> author has discharged his primary function when<br /> he has brought his work to perfection and knows<br /> that he can do no more with it: that, so far as he<br /> can make it so, it is a finished thing. But from<br /> another point of view that is only the end of the<br /> beginning. In due course the book is made public,<br /> and then it is the publisher who is immediately<br /> concerned, and trade considerations properly come<br /> into the matter. He advertises the fact that he<br /> has a book to sell; if he is clever he advertises it<br /> in a variety of ways, but generally, of course, by<br /> the simple expedient of inserting notices of it<br /> in newspapers, in consequence of seeing which<br /> people may be induced to buy. The publisher&#039;s<br /> primary business is to make money for himself,<br /> and he would not be a business man if on the one<br /> hand he did not spend money with the object<br /> of making more, and if on the other he did not<br /> seek to get some advertisement of his wares for<br /> next to nothing. In the former case he spends<br /> upon advertising as much as he thinks the book<br /> will bear, and to the latter end he sends out<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> ile<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 107<br /> <br /> “review copies,” asking for the favour of an<br /> editorial notice, a notice, or a review, and for a<br /> copy of the issue of the paper containing any such<br /> notice. I never remember having seen the word<br /> ‘criticism ” used by any publisher on any such<br /> occasion; at the present moment twenty-seven<br /> volumes await attention from me, and the word<br /> “criticism” does not occur in one of the accom-<br /> panying printed slips from the publishers; it is<br /> notice, not criticism, they desire.<br /> <br /> The editor again does not desire to procure it as<br /> a general rule. Times are such that he consults<br /> the wishes of his readers by giving them reviews<br /> instead of criticism, and for that purpose he<br /> employs reviewers and not critics, general prac-<br /> titioners not specialists ; and this not only because<br /> they are less expensive and more easily come by,<br /> but because they are the better men for the job. In<br /> all this part of the matter, art is not even being<br /> considered : it is business pure and simple between<br /> the publisher, the editor, and the public. The first<br /> wants the cheap advertisement ; the second wants<br /> copy dealing with one of the myriad subjects<br /> interesting some of his regular readers and wants<br /> cheap copy—let those who deny that reviewing is<br /> poorly paid work quote figures ; the third want—<br /> what ?—notice or criticism ?<br /> <br /> So far as fiction is concerned I am convinced<br /> they do not want criticism. They want to know<br /> what a book is about, and only one thing more—<br /> whether it is interesting. One may prate about<br /> art until the ceiling falls. That a book is interest-<br /> ing is the first, the middle, and the last point of<br /> importance to the great public: it is the one thing<br /> the publisher’s reader watches for, the editor<br /> watches for, the publisher watches for. A novelist<br /> may write a story the plot of which is moth eaten,<br /> the characters in which are conventional almost to<br /> the point of absurdity, the style of which is faulty<br /> and, from the point of view of art, deplorable ; if<br /> it is interesting the publisher’s reader would forfeit<br /> his appointment by declining it, the editor would<br /> be confronted with a similar possibility by commit-<br /> ting a similar blunder, and the publisher would<br /> rage furiously at losing a good thing. Immortality<br /> is an abstraction, but temporal supremacy is practi-<br /> cal politics ; but the mind that is set upon things<br /> above is commonly indifferent, if not actually<br /> blind, to things below. The analogy has point.<br /> <br /> Criticism has been defined as the exercise of<br /> judgment in the province of art and literature, and<br /> the critic as a person who is possessed of the<br /> knowledge necessary to enable him to pronounce<br /> right judgments upon the merit or worth of such<br /> works as come within this province. Matter,<br /> manner, and the quality of giving pleasure, or in<br /> other words: the power of appealing to the imagina-<br /> tion, are the three characteristic qualities of<br /> <br /> literature—the principles; construction of plot,<br /> metre, diction, and such other lesser elements as<br /> are governed by canons, are the rules ; and criticism<br /> tends in an increasing degree to disregard rules<br /> and concentrate its attention upon principles.<br /> The expert critic cannot, however, be expected to<br /> do other than act as a resistant force to this<br /> tendency ; it is his function to maintain a high<br /> standard of merit in performance, and to insist<br /> upon the importance of the rules: he is the champion<br /> of art, and the artist’s well-greaved friend ; but the<br /> training and scholarship which make him what he<br /> is are obstacles in the way of his being a practically<br /> useful reviewer of fiction for the daily, or even<br /> weekly, Press. A dissertation upon principles and<br /> rules in the “literary column” of a daily paper,<br /> with a considered judgment upon the merits of a<br /> novel as tested thereby, is not wanted by anybody<br /> except the author. The expert critic’s knowledge<br /> and reverence for principles and rules make him<br /> intolerant of any work where they are not observed<br /> and incapable of finding anything interesting in it :<br /> his place is the quarterly reviews : the daily papers<br /> have no use for him.<br /> <br /> Is that a matter for regret to authors? Only<br /> in part, it seems to me. At that stage in his<br /> development what he needs is notice, as wide as<br /> possible, in order that his books may sell ; utili-<br /> tarian considerations legitimately affect him too.<br /> Moreover, if what he has produced be art, in<br /> the true sense of the word, he must know that<br /> everything is very well as it is. No interesting<br /> book has ever yet been written that has failed<br /> to find its way to the world: that is one truth ;<br /> another is that fame has never yet been withheld<br /> when it has been deserved. With the author who<br /> cannot comfort himself with the belief that if he<br /> deserves fame he will win it, and who finds a griev-<br /> ance in the thought that it may be posthumous, it<br /> is not easy to be patient. If he is of such<br /> comparative importance that he is made the subject<br /> of considered criticism as distinct from mere<br /> review, he must still remember that contemporary<br /> criticism can only be provisional: appeal to<br /> posterity, by whom the judgment may be reversed,<br /> is not only permissible, but inevitable. It is with<br /> posterity only that the final judgment lics. What<br /> matters most to the author in the present is<br /> review.<br /> <br /> It is of fiction that I have spoken because it<br /> is in connection with fiction that the old discussion<br /> has been revived; and so far as fiction is con-<br /> cerned, let me record my vote by plumping in<br /> favour of the general practitioner. Consideration<br /> of the question in connection with other depart-<br /> ments of literature may be left to another time<br /> and to another mind.<br /> <br /> V. E. M.<br />  <br /> <br /> 108<br /> <br /> THE UNVEILING OF THE MEMORIAL TO<br /> SIR WALTER BESANT.<br /> <br /> oo<br /> <br /> HE memorial to our late chairman and<br /> founder, Sir Walter Besant, was unveiled<br /> in the crypt of St. Paul’s Cathedral by<br /> <br /> Lord Monkswell on December 11th. It will be<br /> remembered by many members of the Society that<br /> the memorial, arelief in bronze, admirably executed<br /> by George Frampton, R.A., was commissioned and<br /> mainly subscribed for by the members of the<br /> Society, and that it was hung in the sculpture-<br /> room at Burlington House last May. The position<br /> of the memorial is now in the crypt of St. Paul’s,<br /> on the wall, between that to the memory of Charles<br /> Reade and the brass of John M. Smith. On the<br /> tablet, beneath the portrait, is this inscription :<br /> <br /> NovEListT,<br /> HisToRIAN OF LoNnpDoN,<br /> SECRETARY OF THE PALESTINE Exploration FUND<br /> ORIGINATOR OF THE PEOPLE’S PALACE,<br /> AND<br /> FouUNDER OF THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS.<br /> <br /> Tuts MoNUMENT IS ERECTED<br /> BY<br /> His GRATEFUL BRETHREN IN LITERATURE.<br /> <br /> Born 14th August, 1836; Died 9th June, 1901.<br /> <br /> The ceremony of unveiling was short. Mr.<br /> Douglas Freshfield, the Chairman of the Com-<br /> mittee of the Society, regretted that Mr. George<br /> Meredith, our President, was too ill to appear.<br /> Hence it fell upon him to call upon Lord Monks-<br /> well to unveil the memorial. Many Members had<br /> already seen the memorial in the Academy, and<br /> approved it. To them the act of unveiling was<br /> but a formality. No better man could have been<br /> asked to unveil the memorial than Lord Monks-<br /> well, the Chairman of the London County Council ;<br /> and, perhaps, here, in the quiet corner of the<br /> crypt beneath the Cathedral of London, and<br /> London’s roar, was the best place for a lasting<br /> monument to one who had given the best years of<br /> his life to London and to London’s good. He did<br /> his best to enlighten the darkness of the lives of the<br /> masses, entered keenly into a thorough investiga-<br /> tion of the sweating system, and gave the people<br /> new sources of intellectual or, at any rate,<br /> intelligent recreation.<br /> <br /> Dean Gregory and Canon Newbolt read a short<br /> dedication service, and Lord Monkswell unveiled<br /> the memorial. Certainly, it looks infinitely better<br /> in its present position than it did in Burlington<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> House. The sombre light, the grey walls, the<br /> impressive silence of the great crypt, seeming to<br /> stretch away in an endless vista of arched halls<br /> and chambers and echoing passages, are in quiet<br /> harmony with the soft-toned bronze of the relief.<br /> <br /> Lord Monkswell, unveiling the memorial, spoke<br /> of Sir Walter Besant as one who, though a<br /> foreigner to London by birth, and largely by<br /> education, yet knew London and loved it, as no<br /> one else in the world knew London. Its streets<br /> and its lanes, its docks and its river were to him<br /> an open book. He was a social reformer, a man<br /> of ideas, sound feasible ideas, and no mere<br /> dreamer. With this side of him, the County<br /> Council thoroughly sympathised. Like Dickens,<br /> Besant preached social reform. But Dickens was<br /> a destructive element. His giant pen seized upon<br /> the demons of wickedness and thrust their names<br /> and their fames into the mouths of all. Besant<br /> sought the same demons, but his craft was to do<br /> more than to show them up. It was to destroy<br /> them and replace them by other organisations in<br /> which the demoniac spirit was absent. And in<br /> part he was successful. From his ideas—romantic<br /> ideas in “All Sorts and Conditions of Men,” an<br /> impossible story—Besant’s own criticism—sprung<br /> the People’s Palace, situate in the heart of White-<br /> chapel, the centre of the working life of thousands<br /> and tens of thousands of Londoners.<br /> <br /> Besant was not a vain man. He was not a<br /> jealous man. But his admiration was for all that<br /> was good, that was healthy. His sympathies were<br /> thorough-going and cosmopolitan. One of his<br /> last acts was to join himself to the Atlantic Union,<br /> a union to entertain Americans and Canadians<br /> and Colonials who visited England. He was a<br /> good man if ever there was a good man; a lovable<br /> man if ever there was one.<br /> <br /> The greater part of the organic work of this<br /> Atlantic Union is, by the way, now in the hands<br /> of Miss Celia Besant.<br /> <br /> Among those present at the ceremony were<br /> Lady Besant, her two daughters, Misses Celia and<br /> Ailie Besant, her second son—her eldest son,<br /> Captain Eustace Besant, is still serving in South<br /> Africa—Mr. Douglas Freshfield, Chairman of the<br /> Managing Committee of the Society, Mr. Edgar<br /> Besant, Sir Walter’s youngest brother, to whom,<br /> by the way, we owe the origin of “The Golden<br /> Butterfly,” Prof. Bonney, Mr. Hall Caine, Sir<br /> Martin Conway, Mr. George Frampton, R.A., Mr.<br /> A. H. Hawkins, Colonel Lamb, of the Salvation<br /> Army, in which Sir Walter Besant was greatly<br /> interested, and many others.<br /> <br /> SaaS AE_cith Se<br /> ®<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 109<br /> <br /> . THE SAMUEL PEPYS CLUB.<br /> <br /> ee a<br /> <br /> HIS new Literary Club was founded on May<br /> 26th, 1903, in commemoration of the two-<br /> hundredth anniversary of the death of its<br /> <br /> patron—saint or sinner, shall we say, or merely style<br /> him the father-confessor of our frail humanity, and<br /> the elub’s pater benignus, Samuel Pepys ?<br /> <br /> The founders were Mr. Henry B. Wheatley, Sir<br /> Frederick Bridge, Mr. D’Arcy Power, and Mr. George<br /> Whale, who, on the aforesaid anniversary, after the<br /> manner of Englishmen with a great project in hand,<br /> did solemnly dine together, and initiate the club.<br /> A general meeting was duly held on July 8th, when<br /> the number of members was fixed at seventy. This<br /> number came rapidly together by a kind of rare<br /> chemical affinity, and there are already many can-<br /> didate atoms that feel the potent attraction, and<br /> only await a vacant place in the new body cor-<br /> porate. The objects of the club, besides that of<br /> doing honour to the author of the most human of<br /> human documents, are: First, to dine together,<br /> with or without guests, three times a year, on or<br /> about the anniversaries of certain important events<br /> in the life of Samuel Pepys ; and, secondly, to read<br /> and discuss papers concerning Pepys and his time,<br /> with power to add to such objects as occasion may<br /> arise.<br /> <br /> The inaugural dinner was held on Tuesday,<br /> December 3rd, 1903, in the Hall of the Cloth-<br /> workers’ Company, of which Pepys was Master in<br /> 1677, Mr. Henry B. Wheatley, editor of the most<br /> complete edition of the Diary, and the club’s first<br /> President, occupying the chair, with the Master of<br /> the Clothworkers, Mr. Snow, on his right hand;<br /> while behind them shone the historic plate of the<br /> Company. Among the valuable pieces there dis-<br /> played the most interesting to the club and its<br /> guests were the cup and cover of silver gilt, and<br /> the gilt ewer and basin, or rose-water dish, pre-<br /> sented to the Company by Pepys during his Master-<br /> ship. ‘The members of the club assembled in force<br /> on this occasion, and brought many distinguished<br /> guests.<br /> <br /> The toasts proposed from the chair, after the<br /> usual ones of ‘The King” and “ The Queen and<br /> Royal Family,” were “The Immortal Memory of<br /> Samuel Pepys” and “The Clothworkers’ Company,”<br /> the latter responded to by the Master.<br /> <br /> The toast of “Our Visitors” was proposed by<br /> Mr. George Whale, and responded to by Sir<br /> William Collins.<br /> <br /> “The Club” was proposed by Viscount Dillon,<br /> and responded to by Mr. Edmund Gosse.<br /> <br /> Sir Alexander Binnie afterwards, in a most<br /> interesting speech, directed the attention of the<br /> club to some localities in London either mentioned<br /> <br /> by Pepys or suggesting memories of him. Indeed,<br /> the speeches, taken all round, were singularly<br /> interesting in substance, and well - delivered.<br /> Perhaps the note most frequently sounded was<br /> that of homage to Pepys’s many-sided humanity,<br /> his immense aptitude for work, and happy energy<br /> in both work and play. This was but a just<br /> tribute to the man, whose sterling qualities are<br /> even now scarcely appreciated as they deserve by<br /> the general public. Anyone who is in a position<br /> to estimate the actual work he did as Clerk of the<br /> Acts, and Secretary to the Admiralty, can hardly<br /> fail to give him a place among the great English-<br /> men of his day. He brought his common-sense,<br /> love of mastering details, and loyal fidelity to the<br /> duties of his office to bear upon many abuses ; and<br /> he left the Navy, his chief care, in a much more<br /> efficient condition than that in which he found it.<br /> Any sympathetic student of his Diary, moreover,<br /> must feel the charm of his personality: his child-like<br /> delight in life ; his easy-going love of his wife and<br /> friends, and of those rough-notes of contemporary<br /> history that we call gossip and scandal, but which<br /> add a spice to the historic plum-pudding ; his<br /> eager curiosity about everything that came in his<br /> way, and divine lust after precise information on all<br /> possible subjects ; and withal his genuine religion.<br /> For Pepys, in spite of his sensuous temperament,<br /> and the not uncommon weaknesses, follies, and<br /> unchastened appetites, he has so frankly chronicled,<br /> was a religious man in that irreligious age; living<br /> his particoloured life with a feeling that the eye of<br /> God was upon him. It is no doubt true that the<br /> God he worshipped was not the stern and wrathful<br /> Deity of the Puritans, but more akin to that good-<br /> natured Creator of all flesh of whom Beranger<br /> sings :<br /> “Le verre en main, gaiement je me confie<br /> Au Dieu des bonnes gens !”<br /> <br /> But Pepys’s faith was not only more grave and<br /> decorous than that of Béranger seems to have been,<br /> but deeper and more abiding.<br /> <br /> After dinner there was a pleasant ‘ Concert of<br /> Musick,” under the direction of Sir Frederick<br /> Bridge. Pepys’s own favourite song, “ Beauty,<br /> Retire,” composed by himself, was the first vocal<br /> piece given, and it was followed by other songs,<br /> and a duet for a male and a female voice, by com-<br /> posers of the period; some of the songs either<br /> having been sung by Pepys or mentioned in his<br /> Diary. Of one of them, “The Larke,” he says:<br /> «Thence to Change, where Wife did a little busi-<br /> ness, while Mercer and I staid in the Coach ; and<br /> in a quarter of an hour I taught her the whole<br /> Larke’s Song perfectly.” This was creditable to<br /> both master and pupil, as the song, by Milton’s<br /> friend, Henry Lawes, is a difficult one.<br />  <br /> <br /> 110<br /> <br /> Besides the vocal music, the Rev. Mr. Galpin,<br /> a clever amateur musician who collects old instru-<br /> ments, gave the company a sample of that “ wind<br /> musique ” which so ravished Pepys’s soul that it<br /> “made him sick,” and, as he characteristically<br /> adds, “ makes me resolve to practise wind-musique,<br /> and to make my wife do the like.” This was<br /> represented by a couple of airs on the flageolet,<br /> one, I think, composed by Pepys; both of which<br /> the little pipe was made to warble very daintily.<br /> There were also two pieces for that “ Recorder ”<br /> mentioned by Hamlet—a long and stfaight wood-<br /> instrument, with a certain resemblance to a large<br /> bassoon, but blown from a mouthpiece at the<br /> upper end. It must be difficult to “govern the<br /> stops” perfectly, as it seems to have a trick of<br /> suddenly jumping from a lower octave to a higher<br /> in a rather whimsical manner ; yet the notes are<br /> mellov. A third instrument, the “Trumpet<br /> Marine,” which Pepys heard played by a French-<br /> man, and was, as usual, “ mightily pleased with,”<br /> is not a wind-instrument, as the name might<br /> suggest, but a kind of emaciated viol, with a pigmy<br /> body and enormously long neck for the key-board.<br /> It has what Pepys calls an “ echo,” produced, as<br /> he suspected, by concealed sympathetic strings,<br /> which respond to the notes played by the bow.<br /> <br /> Altogether the evening was a pleasant one, and<br /> the Samuel Pepys’Club may claim the right to<br /> take its place as a going concern.<br /> <br /> JoHN TODHUNTER.<br /> Or —_—<br /> <br /> THE FIRE DESCENDS!<br /> <br /> ———<br /> <br /> LEAVES FROM THE DIARY OF A CERTAIN SORT<br /> OF FOOL IN PARADISE.<br /> <br /> T has come straight down, from Heaven or<br /> nowhere, an original and glorious Idea!<br /> There is nothing in that. Ideas strike me<br /> <br /> very often, and they are always original and<br /> glorious—at first. They are all, too, equally un-<br /> expected and startling, hitting me between the<br /> eyes, hard as a cricket ball at point, and knocking<br /> all the common-sense out of me. Sometimes they<br /> seem to arise out of facts, a paragraph in a news-<br /> paper, a look of secret history on a face, a phrase<br /> in a letter; but frequently they spring from no<br /> source more definite than the churning of unrelated<br /> thoughts when I pretend to compose myself for<br /> sleep at night.<br /> <br /> This, my last Idea, has, however, come to me<br /> under somewhat unusual conditions. It seems to<br /> be connected with a forgotten dream, having no<br /> conscious antecedent, but taking possession of me<br /> as I awoke, at the time when we are least given to<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> fantasy, most under sway of the senses. I have<br /> had to rise, to dress, to eat my breakfast with the<br /> others, to avoid showing any glimmer of inward<br /> fire. When addressed I have had to answer in a<br /> matter-of-fact and off-hand manner, as if I knew,<br /> or cared to know, anything about the weather, or<br /> the household, or the dull doings of men in Parlia-<br /> ment. These things smote upon my ears like the<br /> distant sound of drums, tuneless and void. They<br /> were unreal compared with my Idea.<br /> <br /> At last I was able to sneak away by myself, out<br /> of the house and into the garden, which has ever<br /> been my dearest friend and confidant. All my life<br /> I have wandered in waking dreams about its<br /> winding paths: as a little child, when I told myself<br /> stories of fairies and goblins; in my Scott days,<br /> when I revelled in knights and fair ladies ; and,<br /> later on, in throes of modern sentiment—chewing,<br /> as I went along, the fragrant buds of fruit bushes, or<br /> “bread and cheese” from the hedges. To-day I<br /> slipped first to the greenhouse, where no eye from<br /> the windows might see me, for I wanted to be out<br /> of sight with my Idea, to blend it with the scent of<br /> flowers, to exult over it, and shape it prayerfully,<br /> lest it turn into a thing without wings. An Idea,<br /> like a sunset, cannot be painted in a few strokes of<br /> the brush by a careless hand. Its beauty lies in<br /> its vague possibilities and suggestions of imeffable<br /> glories beyond; in the mystery that it makes<br /> about us. And to express this, even faintly, needs<br /> all the concentrated power of heart and brain, art<br /> and will. One must be prepared for weary travail<br /> and heart-breaking doubts; because these ever<br /> attend an act of creation—if we may dare to call<br /> our reproduction and imitations “creation.” So,<br /> before my Idea can be valued at all, it must be<br /> taken into the solitudes of thought and every in-<br /> fluence of what I call my soul must be brought to<br /> bear upon it.<br /> <br /> How am I to give it form? Rhymeand rhythm<br /> cramp me; in writing an essay I am always<br /> tempted to become didactic, if not garrulous.<br /> There seems to be only one way open—the way of<br /> the prose idyll ; in which a filmy veil of fiction is<br /> thrown over a dimly seen figure. For to have the<br /> nude shape of my Idea too definitely visible would<br /> be fatal to its suggestiveness and charm.<br /> <br /> I gathered in the greenhouse a spray of oak-<br /> leafed geranium and a long stalk bearing three<br /> little cups of the freesia, splashed with gold and<br /> filled with orange and honey, to keep a hold on my<br /> Idea in the rush of everyday things. Then I was<br /> summoned in from the garden, and all the hateful,<br /> stifling tangibilities of life fell upon me. There is<br /> always this to be finished, that to be looked<br /> through, while letters demanding acknowledgment<br /> gape at me, a herd of time-devourers. The<br /> <br /> morning flew away on bluebottle wings—nothing<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> t<br /> ia<br /> &amp;<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> faster into the world—and all the while my giorious<br /> Idea burned like a rosy flame before my dazzled<br /> eyes.<br /> <br /> * Visitors swallowed the afternoon with vapid talk<br /> of personalities ; and, when they had gone, I was<br /> more exhausted than if I had been studying<br /> logarithms for twelve hours! If there be any-<br /> thing more paralysing to the brain than the<br /> animated conversation of the average person on<br /> matters of local or general interest I have yet to<br /> discover it! Dead tired, I had to fasten upon a<br /> sleepy old gardening book and read the fog out of<br /> my mind.<br /> <br /> Then to bed; and at last I am alone with my<br /> glorious Idea! 1 grow warm, and thrill deliciously<br /> as I proceed to fashion it into a shape of my<br /> liking. This is worth living—worth dying for!<br /> ‘And it is mine, all mine, this exquisite thing, this<br /> flower of fire from the high heavens. No one can<br /> tuke it from me; no one even knows of its exist-<br /> ence. Yet it does exist, and it shall do so, not<br /> only in me but in the material world. It shall not<br /> be still-born. To-morrow I will give it form and<br /> life—to-morrow—I am falling asleep.<br /> <br /> Tuesday.—\ have not written a word to-day.<br /> There was a meet of the Woodland Pytchley this<br /> morning, and I could not resist the temptation to<br /> go. Then I was tired out with the exercise and<br /> fresh air. Have done nothing but yawn ever<br /> since. My Idea has haunted me through the<br /> music of horns and baying of hounds, the thud of<br /> hoofs on the spongy turf and all the shouting.<br /> The sprig of rosemary I wore in my buttonhole<br /> seemed to make the atmosphere about me aromatic<br /> and flip me with suggestions. There is certainly a<br /> relationship between rosemary and hunting; no<br /> morbid thought can exist with them. Night finds<br /> me, as usual, full of vague aspirations and creative<br /> optimism ; but I am too weary to write. J must<br /> sleep.<br /> <br /> Wednesday.—Having neglected everything to<br /> follow the hounds yesterday, I found a great deal<br /> to do this morning. ‘The end of it was a worried<br /> headache, such as women are wont to bring upon<br /> themselves by trying to do several things at once.<br /> I spent the afternoon in nursing it. The day is<br /> wet, warm and muggy. My mind is sluggish. I<br /> have physicked it with an exciting novel and have<br /> sat up late to finish it. My Idea has faded a little<br /> during the day; but now, at night, it revives to<br /> keep me awake.<br /> <br /> _ Lhursday.—How one dreads the first plunge<br /> into expression! I have gazed for hours at the<br /> white paper which seems to stare back at me<br /> fatuously. Even my pen, usually so sympathetic,<br /> gives no help. I feel as if I were engaged in an<br /> imbecile attempt to catch the sunshine and colour<br /> of a summer day in a butterfly net ! How did the<br /> <br /> iti<br /> <br /> monstrous Arabian genie get into the vase? And<br /> shall I ever be able to pour my luminous Idea into<br /> the mould of words? It seems impossible. It<br /> always does—when one begins. There is a shirk-<br /> ing, a skimming round, a coy shrinking from the<br /> brazen display and indelicacy of language. Then<br /> —the time has gone—no more to day.<br /> <br /> A week later.—At last the moment has arrived<br /> when I can attack my Idea and shape it out on<br /> paper ! There is a bright sunshine to help me, and<br /> the song of birds. The air is of such intoxicating<br /> clearness that I feel light of limb, and heart, and<br /> brain. How cold the paper looks before me ! How<br /> tame and utterly inept the words I put upon it ! If<br /> something does not happen, all the rapturous<br /> glory of my Idea will be quenched into mere<br /> prose, it will be like a soap bubble that has<br /> collapsed into suds! But something is happening.<br /> I feel a glow stealing through me. ‘The fire is<br /> here again, in the cold veins ; the thing starts to<br /> live. It is not so beautiful as it was—oh, of<br /> course not—but it may gain yet, it has the power<br /> to grow into a work of art. I have been sitting<br /> three hours over it now; I shall be with it again<br /> this afternoon, and at night. It holds me firmly<br /> and will not let me go. No more shirking, shrink-<br /> ing, dreaming, but work—work—work !<br /> <br /> ‘Next day.—I have re-written my Idea twice.<br /> It is half the length it was at first. I finish in an<br /> ecstasy! It is a wonderful, lovely thing. My feet<br /> do not touch the ground. Everybody remarks<br /> how curiously amiable I am to-day. I feel in love<br /> with all my fellow-creatures, including the worms<br /> and weeds! The very air is rose-colour! I laugh<br /> idiotically at nothing, and go to bed so excited<br /> that I do not expect to sleep till the first thrush<br /> cries, “I come to see you—I come to see you,”<br /> outside my window in the morning.<br /> <br /> Next day.—I have just re-written my Idea again<br /> and sent it to be typed.<br /> <br /> Three days later.—My manuscript has come back<br /> from the typist. I began to read it with despair,<br /> but ended in a mild, only a mild, very mild<br /> triumph. It is not the marvel I thought it, but L<br /> love it and am thankfal. After receiving the final<br /> touches, it will pass, I think, among those who can<br /> have no notion of its first inspired glory.<br /> <br /> A month later—I sent my Idea forth into the<br /> world, and the world, represented by one discern-<br /> ing editor, has welcomed it graciously. I ought<br /> to be happy. Many of my precious brain children<br /> have had to become wandering outcasts, turned<br /> from door to door, to die in the dust ; but this one<br /> is taken by the hand and kindly treated. Oh,<br /> yes, I ought to feel relieved, gratified, even<br /> delighted.<br /> <br /> But alas! alas! Is it my own fault, or the<br /> world’s fault, or the fault of that great horrible<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> 112<br /> <br /> Irony that seems to govern our life, that my beau-<br /> tiful, chaste, dainty Idea has grown suddenly<br /> vulgar and unworthy? It is no longer exquisite,<br /> no longer holy. Earthly fingers have smudged it ;<br /> the fragrance of orange-flower, and lemon geranium,<br /> and rosemary, have ceased to cling about it. Now<br /> it smells only of the mould—not the garden mould<br /> that is sweetened by summer rain, but the dust of<br /> ashes. Someone has come to me and said:<br /> ‘“‘ What a pretty little story you have in the Output<br /> this week”? and I have not yet left off inwardly<br /> writhing. My Idea, my glorious conception, kindled<br /> by a flame from heaven—“a pretty little story ”—<br /> ye gods, pity me ! :<br /> <br /> What did [ expect ? Ah, that’s the point. One<br /> does not expect ; one feels, and loves, and works,<br /> and hopes—all in a phrensy, without a definite<br /> desire. But passion seems destined to end this way,<br /> in art as in—other things.<br /> <br /> Well, in years to come, perhaps, I shall take<br /> out my poor shrivelled Idyll, look at it fondly,<br /> swell with mother pride again, and thank the<br /> Powers that be there is nobody by to tell me it is<br /> “a pretty little story!” No rapture then; only<br /> the tenderness of the creator will be left. With<br /> all its glamour gone, its faults laid bare to my<br /> critical eyes, its delicious colours faded, it will still<br /> be my own, my dearly-loved. And the old,<br /> sweet fragrance of orange and lemon, of freesia<br /> and oak-leafed geranium, will steal upward to me<br /> from its yellow pages, a faint incense of memory<br /> from the altar of a once adored Idea.<br /> <br /> By tHe AuTuHor or “Musk oF Rosss.”<br /> <br /> ee oe<br /> <br /> CORRESPONDENCE.<br /> <br /> Bee<br /> PUBLISHERS’ RIGHTS.<br /> <br /> Sr1r,—If a man with no legal training may claim<br /> some lenience in an honest endeavour to understand<br /> the copyright decision lately arrived at by the<br /> Lord Chancellor and his learned brothers, may<br /> J thus venture to interpret their generous apprecia-<br /> tion of the rights of publishers of encyclopedic<br /> literature ? The publisher may, having got out of<br /> them all the use he wants, sell the articles, indi-<br /> vidually or collectively, to newspaper syndicates.<br /> This would have two results. In the first place,<br /> the specialist, who may have spent years and money<br /> in acquiring his expert knowledge, would have the<br /> mortification of reading articles signed by himself in<br /> inferior provincial news-sheets to which he would<br /> never dream of contributing direct. In the second,<br /> his pocket would be hit as well as his vanity, for<br /> there can be no doubt that this cheapening of his<br /> name in country papers would prejudice his chances<br /> of placing new work in more respectable quarters.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> If this is really what Lord Halsbury—am I wrong<br /> in thinking that he occupies the post of President<br /> of the Royal Society of Literature ?—desires to see<br /> authors reduced to, then there is nothing more to<br /> be said, and the only remedy is to alter the law,<br /> and, pending that, for authors to defend themselves<br /> individually by special clauses setting this prece-<br /> dent aside. If, however, he is rather of opinion<br /> that such a position is as unreasonable in respect<br /> of encyclopsedic literature as in the case of articles<br /> contributed to periodicals, then, sir, I submit with<br /> respect that it is a pity he did not make this clear.<br /> I have not hypothecated such a case merely as a<br /> frivolous reductio ad absurdum, but in a wholly<br /> correct spirit of curiosity. May I take this oppor-<br /> tunity of stating that I never claimed any right to<br /> make separate use of the article in question. My<br /> contention was merely that, as it had been com-<br /> missioned for one work, of which I was both the<br /> originator and part-editor, the publishers had no<br /> right, without my permission, to use it in another<br /> work in which I had no direct or indirect interest.<br /> Lord Halsbury and his learned colleagues have<br /> thought otherwise, but I hope, given a reasonable<br /> term, to live to see the law, for which I have a<br /> great respect, brought in line with common sense,<br /> for which I have a reverence.<br /> Your obedient servant,<br /> F, G. AFLALO.<br /> Teignmouth, Devon.<br /> <br /> a<br /> <br /> Tue REMUNERATION OF TRANSLATIONS AND<br /> ORIGINAL WORK COMPARED.<br /> <br /> Dear Srr,—In a note that appeared in The<br /> Author, with reference to the remuneration received<br /> by translators for Messrs. Methuen’s Dumas series,<br /> you mention that the average remuneration per<br /> 1,000 words for translation of French work into<br /> English may be reckoned at about 7s. 6d.<br /> <br /> If I may venture to differ from you I should<br /> say that, at all events for fiction, few English<br /> publishers pay more than 5s. per 1,000.<br /> <br /> But in connection with Messrs. Methuen’s rates<br /> <br /> it is instructive to note that not long ago this firm<br /> offered an author for the writing of one of their<br /> well-known series of topographical monographs a<br /> sum which worked out at a little less than seven<br /> shillings a thousand words, and this was for original,<br /> not translation, work! Not only this, but the<br /> offer was made to an author who is a well-known<br /> authority on the special subject he was asked to<br /> write upon. Further, this princely offer was<br /> handicapped by the work having to be written on<br /> approval.<br /> <br /> Yours faithfully,<br /> Ursus Magor. =j	https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/489/1904-01-01-The-Author-14-4.pdf	publications, The Author