https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/248/1891-02-16-The-Author-1-10.pdf 37586831f263dcbbf0203ac7c4463ce5 PDF Text Text ���������������������������������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em> Description An account of the resource A digitised run of the Society of Authors' monthly periodical, <em>The Author</em>, 1890<span>–</span>1914, made available together for the first time.<br /><br />Currently users can browse issues and <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?search=&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bjoiner%5D=and&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Index&amp;collection=&amp;type=&amp;tags=&amp;exhibit=&amp;date_search_term=&amp;submit_search=Search+For+Items&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">indices</a> (not available for all volumes). Full text search for all issues, and other additional search functionality, will be added in 2022. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890–1914 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context The-Author-Issues Publication Date The date of an event (in YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD format) 1891-02-16 Volume 1 Issue 10 Pages Page range in volume 251–280 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18910216 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin Vol. 1.- No. 10) FEBRUARY 16, 1891. [Price, Sixpence. The Author. THE ORGAN OF THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS (INCORPORATED). CONDUCTED BY .: WALTER BESANT Published for the Society by ALEXANDER P. WATT, 2, PATERNOSTER SQUARE, LONDON, E.C. 1891.  ## p. 250 (#302) ############################################ ADVERTISEMENTS. I IS KUKUN I IN HABERLLONGERPREGLERGIU HUMU PROGRESS SH an SPIRIT OF THE AGU The .ES WE USE BAR-LOCK TYPE WRITER. PROGRESS IS THE 0 THE 'BAR-LOCK' TYPE-WRITER Is the ONLY Machine combining the following Advantages- PERFECT AND PERMANENT ALIGNMENT. AUTOMATIC LINE SPACING. A DUPLICATE KEY-BOARD. ADJUSTABLE BALL BEARINGS TO THE TYPE-BAR JOINTS. And it is the ONLY Type Writer HAVING ABSOLUTELY VISIBLE WRITING, Sime Type-Writers may have ore or two of these Advantages, but no other combines them all. SOLD FOR CASH; ALSO ON THE EASY PAYMENT SYSTEM. THE TYPE-WRITER CO., LTD., 12, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, LONDON, E.C. MANCHESTER : 25, Market Street. LIVERPOOL: 40, North John St. CARDIFF: Exchange Building. GLASGOW : 22, Renfield St. SHEFFIELD: 39, Norfolk St. MELBOURNE: 385, Little Collins St.  ## p. 251 (#303) ############################################ (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly?) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. I.—No. 10.] FEBRUARY 16, 1891. [Price Sixpence. CONTENTS. Conditions of Membership Warnings News and Notes "Ionica Recent American Literature How wc lost the Itook of Jashcr .. On Committee A Hard Case PACK I'ACE 251 A Note on Ibsen 268 251 In Grub Street ... 270 252 The Cost of Production »7» '57 Correspondence 274 257 The Author's Hook Stall 276 '59 New Books 277 263 The Reading of MSS 278 267 Advertisements 279 CONDITIONS OF MEMBERSHIP. The Subscription is One Guinea annually, payable on the 1st of January of each year. The sum of Ten Guineas for life meml>ersnip entitles the subscriber to full membership of the Society. Authors of published works alone are eligible for member- ship. Those who desire to assist the Society but are not authors are admitted as Associates, on the same suliscription, but have no voice in the government of the Society. Cheques and Postal Otders should be crossed "The Im- perial liank, Limited, Westminster Branch." Those who wish to be proposed as members may send their names at any lime to the Secretary at the Society's Offices, when they will receive a form for the enumeration of their works. Subscriptions entered after the 1st of Ociober w ill cover the next year. The Secretary may be personally consulted between the hours of I p.m. and 5, except on Saturdays. It is preferable that an appointment should be made by letter. The Author, the Organ of the Society, can be procured through all newsagents, or from the publisher, A. P. Watt, 2, Paternoster Square, E.G. A copy will be sent free to any member of the Society for one twelvemonth, dating from May, 1889. It is hoped, however, that most members will subscribe to the paper. The yearly subscription is 6s. 6d., including postage, which may be sent to the Secretary, 4, Portugal Street, W.G. With regard to the reading of MSS. for young writers, the fee for this service is one guinea. MSS. will be read and reported upon for others than menil>ers, but members cannot have their works read for nothing. In all cases where an opinion is desired upon a manuscript, the author should send with it a table of contents. A type- written scenario is also of very great assistance. It must be understood that such a reader's report, however favourable, does not assist the author towards publication. VOL. I. WARNINGS. Readers of the Author are earnestly desired to make the following warnings as widely known as possible. They are based on the experience of six years' work upon the dangers to which literary property is exposed :— (1) Never to sign any agreement of which the alleged cost of production forms an integral part, unless an opportunity of proving the correctness of the figures is given them. (2) Never to enter into any correspondence with publishers, especially with advertising publishers, who are not recommended by experienced friends, or by this Society. (3) Never, on any account whatever, to bind themselves down for future work to any one firm of publishers. (4) Never to accept any proposal of royalty without con- sultation with the Sociely, or, at least, ascertaining exactly what the agreement gives to the author and w hat to the publisher. (5) Never to accept any offer of money for MSS., with- out previously taking advice of the Society. (6) Never to accept any pecuniary risk or responsibility without advice. (7) Never, when a MS. has been refused by respectable houses, to pay others, whatever promises they may put forward, for the production of the work. (8) Never to sign away American or foreign rights. Keep them. Kefuse to sign an agreement containing a clause which reserves them for the publisher. If the publisher insists, take away the MS. and ofTer it to another. (9) Never forget that publishing is a business, like any other business, totally unconnected with philanthropy, charity, or pure love of literature. You have to do with business men. Society's Offices:— 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields.  ## p. 252 (#304) ############################################ 252 THE A UTHOR. NOTES AND NEWS. THE International Copyright Act has not passed the United States Senate after all. So that we have had all our congratula- tions over American honesty for nothing. Also all our outcry over the deadly injury the Bill was going to inflict upon the British printer for nothing. Why did it fail to pass? My own ignorant belief is that the Senate made a discovery. They learned that the Bill w^ould not inflict any injury on any Briton at all, but quite the reverse. They, there- fore, in their well-established friendship to this country, resolved not to pass the Bill. An American friend tells me that their action was probably due to bribery. Fancy our own feelings if Lord Monkswell's Bill should be defeated through the bribery of his brother Peers! Is it to be Club or House? A large number of replies have been received to the request for information as to the advisability of starting one or other of these institutions. An analysis of the replies gives the following result—up to this date :— For the Club, 60 per cent. For the House, 30 ,, ,, For neither, 8 „ ,, For both, 2 „ „ More than one-third of those who have voted for the House were ladies; more than five-sixths of those who have voted for a Club were men. The ladies who voted for a Club did not raise a word against the admission of men, but many of the men, speaking for a club, urged strongly upon us the necessity of excluding the ladies. The. reasons for giving the preference to the House were in each case almost the same: that such a place would give an opportunity for quiet work not enjoyed at home. Many seemed to believe that a Club could be started successfully later on, using the organization and machinery already in employ for the management of the House. Those who have voted in favour of the Club haveall been actuated by the ideathat anything which promotes good fellowship and unity between authors must, if able to work at all, work for good. What next? The next thing is to form a Com- mittee, to draw up the constitution of the club, and to leave the Committee to take all the steps necessary. This will be done as quickly as possible, and I hope that by next month we shall be able to announce that the Club is actually in a fair way to be started. One rule will be rigid. No one will be admitted who is not author of some book or a professional journalist. Let us learn how the Americans pay honour to their men of letters. On Monday last the President issued the following order :— "Executive Mansion, Washington, "■January ig//i, 1891. "The death of George Bancroft, which occurred in the City of Washington on Saturday, January 17, at 3.40 o'clock p.m., removes from among the living one of the most distinguished Americans. As an expression of the public loss and sorrow, the flags of all the executive departments at Washing- ton, and of the public buildings in the cities through which the funeral party is to pass, will be placed at half-mast to-morrow, and until the body of this eminent statesman, scholar and historian shall rest in the State that gave him to his country and to the world." The Secretary of the Navy also ordered that the Navy Department be draped in mourning for thirty days, and that all business be suspended therein on the day of the funeral; and, in the Senate, Mr. Hoar moved that the adjournment be till 12 o'clock on Tuesday, in order to give Senators who desired to attend the funeral an opportunity to do so. He said that Mr. Bancroft's name had been honoured by the Senate in a way in which no other name had been, by special permission that he should be admitted to the floor of the Senate at all times. The motion was adopted. Of course we do the thing just as well in this country, though people forget and grumble. Looking back to the Times of December 26th, 1863, for instance, I read— "The following order has been issued by command of the Queen :— "'The death of William Makepeace Thackeray, which occurred on the 24th, removes from among the living one of the most distinguished English- men. His name will for ever be associated with the nineteenth century as that of its noblest novelist. This great man, cut off at the early age of 52, was about to be raised to the highest honours of the Peerage as Duke of Kensington Gardens. His daughters are authorized to receive the rank and courtesy title of a Duke's daughter. As an expression of the public loss and sorrow the flags of all the Executive Departments at London, and of the public buildings, will be placed at half-mast to-morrow until the funeral is over.' "'All the Departments will be draped in mourn- ing for thirty days, and business will be suspended on the day of the funeral.' In both Houses a  ## p. 253 (#305) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 253 resolution was unanimously adopted to adjourn over the day of the funeral." It is pleasant to be able to prove, though people have such short memories, that this country is not behind America in the recognition of her great men. We may remind our readers also of the Court and general mourning ordered through- out the country on the lamented death of Carlyle, and of the honours which were heaped upon Robert Browning, alive and dead. And we must not forget the extraordinary care always taken by the First Lord of the Treasury, whether it be Mr. VV. H. Smith or Mr. W. E. Gladstone, not to allow any outsider to have any share in the grant annually made for Literature, Science and Art. Here, indeed, we do claim superiority over our cousins, for they have no Civil List, while we grant ^1,200 a year to those whose work advances humanity, and we never, r.ever, never suffer one penny of this to be jobbed away on any considera- tion whatever. Is verse in danger? The question was asked by Mr. Edmund Gosse in the Forum for January. This American magazine, which always contains some articles of suggestion or instruction, is published in this country by Mr. Edward Arnold, of Warwick Lane. The question is asked and answered, and it ought to cause other answers and yet others, because no question is more important in its bearings in the future of literature. "Sculptors, singers, painters must always exist; but need we have poets any longer since the world has dis- covered how to say all it wants to say in prose? Will anyone who has anything of importance to communicate be likely, in the future, to express it through the medium of metrical language?" The writer points to the reprinting and the reviving of the dead and gone poets as an illustration that poetry may have done its work. Pope succeeded so well because his predecessors were already forgotten; but we no longer allow the dead to lie in their graves. We drag them out and clothe them with new print, and paper, and bindings rich and rare. "How," asks the writer, "in this great throng of resuscitated souls is the modern poet to exist?" Well, I do not think that the resuscitated souls have much to do with the threatened decay in poetry. As a fact, we have not a single poet under forty. This is very serious, but the same thing might have been said before the advent of Wordsworth, while Mr. Gosse himself evidently feels that it is impossible for the world to be carried on without new poetry. He indicates the kinds of verse which may be expected. "Poetry, if it exists at all, will deal, and probably to a greater degree than ever before, with those more frail and ephemeral shades of emotion which prose scarcely ventures to describe . . . . The most realistic novel, the closest psychological analysis in prose, does no more than skim the surface of the soul; verse has the privi- lege of descending into its depths. In the future, lyrical poetry will probably grow less musical and less conventional at the risk of being less popular. It will interpret that prose does not suggest." And further on he predicts that the verse of the future will be essentially democratic. It will, perhaps, present short and highly finished studies in narra- tive like those of Copp£e. It may abandon the extreme refinement of its extreme mechanism. It will seek to give pleasure less by the manner than by the matter. "But," he concludes, "whatever the issue may be we may be confident that the art will retain that poignant charm over undeveloped minds, and that exquisite fascination which for so many successive generations have made poetry the wisest and the fairest prose of youth." ♦ Poetry will not willingly be allowed to die in the States. This conclusion is drawn, perhaps hastily, from the encouragement offered to poets by the Charles E. Hires Co., Philadelphia. They offer a prize of $50 cash for the best poem on their Beer, their Root Beer. It is not stated that English poets are excluded from this interesting competition. We await the result, the immortal result, the Eulogy of Root Beer, with impatience. There has been a little controversy in the Illustrated London Naus concerning the proposed Authors' Club. It consisted of two short papers, which may be read by the curious in that excellent journal. It has now been supplemented by an account of the New York Authors' Club, of which I venture to reprint a portion :— "When I first mounted the stairs, I heard the comforting rattle of plates and cutlery, and found the hungry authors rapidly disposing of a substan- tial meal. The operation was so thorough and convincing that when an athletic friend of mine, with a far-famed appetite, came bounding in an hour late, one glance sufficed to prove to him that Mother Hubbard's historic cupboard was not more completely bare than the American authors' board. During the evening I had an opportunity of observing some notable members of the club. I was most anxious to see the American humourist in undress, so to speak, to find out how much of vol. 1. X 2  ## p. 254 (#306) ############################################ 254 THE AUTHOR. him was natural and how much professional, and whether the habit of producing everlasting fun had left in him any deep furrows of care. Some of the best-known humourists in America are rarely heard of on this side of the ocean. They write chiefly in the newspapers. They take care that the news of the day shall not distress you too sorely. The American citizen might learn from his morning sheet that some awful disaster had happened to the nation, but he would be soothed, if not consoled, by a piece of sprightly humour in the next column. It is this agreeable dispensation, I think, which keeps most Americans alive amid the rush and the turmoil and the extravagant nervous pressure of their existence. One of the most distinguished of these newspaper humourists is the gentleman who calls himself Bill Nye. I had often laughed to the point of suffocation over his writings, and I could not help picturing him as a small man with a large comical head and a perpetual twinkle in a particularly knowing eye, and a conversational manner perhaps a little too obtrusively merry for the repose which distinguishes the library of the Athenaeum Club. I felt ex- tremely apologetic when I found that Bill Nye was a tall man, perfectly bald, with a quiet pensive smile and a pleasant unaffected speech, which might have led the stranger to put him down as a genial professor who had written a good deal for encyclopaedias. "What struck me chiefly was that, with the exception of an excellent man who favoured me in a corner and at some length with his theory of international copyright, nobody talked about hobbies. There were no literary arguments. The prophetic sketch in these columns of the people who would bore one another in an Authors' Club has no counterpart in my remembrances of these American authors. They were not pedantic, prosy, or eager to carry the talk about shop over their particular little counters. I think there is, on the whole, an easier current of life in American clubs of all kinds than in our own. There is certainly a more genial intercourse and a greater disposition to entertain the stranger. I have in my mind now one of the best storytellers I ever met—an engineer, a painter, a writer, a traveller in many lands. If these lines should catch his vision, I hope he will take them as an assurance that I still cherish those anecdotes of Colonel Carter, of Cartersville, which he used to tell me with infinite humour, and which I see he has moulded into admirably artistic form in Harpers Magazine. I cannot imagine any asso- ciation of authors animated by a better esprit de corps than I found in this New York club, or freer from those angles of the literary character which pome of us seem to dread. Perhaps I shall com- mend the American authors all the more strongly to some English writers when I say that a very wealthy man was once blackballed at the Authors' Club in New York, because it was held to be no place for millionaires." A correspondent sends the following suggestion. He may be wrong—if so, one would be glad to learn what the advertiser really did intend by his proposal to act as an intermediary where none is wanted :— "In the January number of the Author, you appear to be somewhat puzzled about the following advertisement:— 'AUTHORS.—Introductions to publishers and editors, by journalist of standing; com- mission only on MS. sold; exceptional chance.—H. D. F., Office.' "I know nothing of the source of the advertise ment, but to me it is, on the face of it, clearly a dodge of the bogus publisher to get hold of the names and addresses of amateur authors. "A member of your Society who answered it, you say, received no reply. Had a score of your members answered it, they would not probably have received a single reply among them. The object—or rather the immediate object—of the advertiser has been attained when he has secured the names and addresses of a large number of persons who have literary aspirations, and these persons at a later date—when they have forgotten all about the above advertisement—will, in all probability, be bombarded with prospectuses of an amateur magazine, or an amateur literary society, or polite invitations to send in their 'MSS.' of novels, tales, poems, and travels' to a bogus publisher, who speaks of dazzling things in the shape of fame and fortune to be won. "' However did they get hold of my address?' wonders the literary novice when he receives such a document, and, perchance, vaguely begins to think that he must be getting known in literary circles. I fancy I have made it clear how both his name and address are procured. Whatever else the bogus publisher is, he is not a fool, and he well knows the value (wholly spurious, of course) that the amateur author attaches to 'introductions to publishers and editors.'" A question asked by Mr. James Baker at the meeting of January 15th, raises a difficult and interesting point. He asked how far literary "notes," which frequently embody matters of lasting value, are to be protected by the new Copy-  ## p. 255 (#307) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 255 right Bill. That these notes may be, and some- The second prejudice is based on the first. It times are, property of considerable value, is shown is the error which we have attacked again and by the fact that Mr. James Payn, whose weekly again, that publishing is a highly speculative and notes constitute one of the principal attractions of risky business. On the contrary, no publisher the paper in which they appear, has thought well to need even run any risk at all; and in point reprint them in a volume, which has been eagerly* of fact very few publishers do. I have already taken up. It is also proved by the fact that Mr. proved this by an analysis of the advertising George Augustus Sala has done the same thing, columns, and I shall continue, from time to time, Now such notes ought certainly to be protected, to prove the fact in the same way. and I hope this point will be borne in mind when the Bill goes into Committee. » — Mr. Baker also suggests that at the Annual Meeting members should discuss points rising out of the Report. The Chairman did invite dis- cussion at the last meeting—and there was some, but such discussion can be only valuable when none are allowed to speak except members who have given due notice and have prepared themselves beforehand, and have followed the action of the committee, and so placed themselves in a position to judge the questions from many points of view. Such discussions are apt to be desultory and to go away from the question before the meeting. For instance, at one of our meetings in Willis s Rooms, there a few years ago, when Lord Lytton invited discussion on the principles which should guide the management of literary property, one man got up and asked the meeting if his publisher was a liar for sending him certain accounts? As if such a very important question could be asked without examining the accounts! Another got up to say that there was no such thing as a 5*. book. And a third rose to deny a statement made in the paper that had just been read that an ordinary 6s. novel could be produced, in numbers, at is. If, however, we were to lay down certain definite points for discussion, if these were announced before- hand, such a conference, it is conceivable, might produce great good if only by clearing the air of prejudice and error. For instance, there are two prejudices which seem to defy any amount of argument. The first is the belief that the English people are not buyers of books, but that they get all their literature from the circulating library. I confess to having held this view myself until recently. Now, we have recently undertaken a little investigation, as yet incomplete, into the present condition of the book trade, which seems to dissipate this view pretty completely. The fact is that within certain limits there are no greater buyers of books than the inhabitants of Great Britain and her colonies. Mr. J. M. Lely, Barrister-at-Law, and member of our Committee, has completed a popular analysis of the new Copyright Bill, with explana- tions of the clauses and their bearing. We have arranged with him to add this pamphlet to our list of publications. It will therefore be accessible to members of the Society at the cost of is. 6d. —♦— The following note may possibly have been sent to many other readers of this paper :— "Sir,—I am collecting the opinions of men eminent in the various departments of Ait and Science on the question, 'Is Life Worth Living?' and should esteem it a very great favour if you would kindly send me a few lines, giving your opinion on the matter." Nobody should take any notice of such com- munications as the above. If the writer is really desirous of finding out what the person addressed thinks on any subject, he should consult the published works of that person. If, as is most likely, he wants an autograph, or if.he is only trying to "draw" the man, he should certainly be snubbed with silence. ♦ People in the literary line mostly know other people who are not. They also know young people who would like to be. They are, therefore, earnestly and urgently entreated and implored to spread abroad the following simple truths :— 1. MSS. must not be sent to literary people with a request that they will read them and write an opinion. They really must not. 2. Authors must not be asked to "use their powerful influence" with publishers. They have no influence. If the best author in the world were to kneel and supplicate the most friendly publisher in the world, he would not persuade that publisher to issue unsaleable work.  ## p. 256 (#308) ############################################ 256 THE AUTHOR. In a certain secondhand bookshop where there are generally things worth seeing, there is nowtobe seen, nearly complete, a collection quite unique of its kind. They have had the same book bound by all the best bookbinders in Europe, each in his own best style. The result is a collection illustra- ting the finest kinds of binding procurable at this time. When it is complete it will be exhibited either in the shop or in some more public place. There will be various opinions on the various bindings: for my own part, I think that we can hold our own in London. The book chosen is the "Water Babies," but of course it is not half good enough for such binding. One can picture the poet gazing in despair upon this work, and wondering in sadness whether he will ever be able to write up to such a binding. Mr. Rider Haggard on his arrival in New York, was interviewed. He cannot escape the common lot. But he seems to have suffered more than is usual at the hands of his persecutors. Eight or ten news- paper men surrounded him and all asked him questions at once. The following are selected by the Neiv York Times as specimens of the inter- rogatory. The interview took place, it must be remembered, immediately after landing. "How do you like New York?" "Where are you going to when you leave here, and what for?" "How old are you?" "What is your opinion about the elevated rail- way?" "Were you born in Africa?" "Do you consider that you have exhausted Africa?" "How about Rudyard Kipling and India?" "Do you consider that Kipling has exhausted India?" "How do you work? Dictate it? Work nights?" "Do you make your plots before you write your stories, or do you write your stories first?" The last question reminds one of the inquirer who asked the cook whether she made her pud- dings first and boiled them afterwards, or whether she boiled them first, and made them afterwards. It also reminds one of King George the Third's difficulty about the apple dumpling. Many are the writers who send their MSS. for perusal by busy men. Few indeed are so con- siderate as the one who sent me the other day a letter, asking me to read his work, and in order to save trouble, enclosed a letter of refusal for my signature. This letter I subjoin as an example to all other young men and maidens who want to get their MSS. read. May one remind them that 'one never hears of young students, say in mathematics, inviting a mathematician to teach them by correspondence? The letter is everything that could be desired. London, February, 1891. Sir,—I have received your letter, but I must decline, though reluctantly, to entertain the appli- cation. It would give me great pleasure to assist any worthy aspirant to literary honours, but the many demands upon my time forbid me to comply with all requests of this kind, of which I receive many. In fact, I strongly advise you not to sub- scribe to a ticket in the literary lottery, for it offers few prizes and many blanks, and especially is the department of poetry open to this objection. With every hope for your success if you should persist in your endeavours, I beg to remain, yours faithfully, « The ten years' Retrospect of American Literature noticed below may be supplemented by a reference to a new periodical issued by Mr. Edward Arnold, pub- lisher, of Warwick Square. It is a monthly list of American and French books. The selected list of American books published during the last quarter is not very attractive. One would suggest that such a work as "Our Early Presidents, their Wives and Children," hardly appeals to the Englishman, to whom the past Presidents of the United States are mere names and shadows. The Notes and Notices are very meagre. A list of "Standard" American Literature includes, like the selected list, a great quantity of work that can never be popular here, e.g., the biographies of American statesmen, books on the Civil War, &c. It is curious to note when one passes from American to French literature how much broader is the field of letters. We do not find Frenchmen occupying their time with lives of men or histories of places whose interest is purely local and ephemeral. There is the note of world-wide and human interest in a French list which is strangely absent from the American literature—perhaps also though in less degree, from our own. The first number of the " List " will doubtless be improved upon, as the editor enlarges his experience. It should, however, fill a gap in the service of current literature.  ## p. 257 (#309) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 257 The death is announced of Alice Bronte, sister of Patrick Bronte, and aunt to the three Bronte girls. She was ninety-five years of age and was never married. I have just seen a photograph of her, taken shortly before her death. The face singularly reminds one of Charlotte, though Alice was, in her youth, a most beautiful girl, which, I fear, was never the case with any of her nieces. She was six feet high, as strong as any three men. and possessed all her faculties to the very end. The Rev. Dr. William Wright, of the Bible Society, who knew her well, is about to write a short account of her. She lived all her years in the North of Ireland. Who would have dreamed that there would be living an ancient lady, the survivor of the generation before Charlotte, Emily and Anne? The three sisters were born in the years 1816, 1818 and 1820, respectively. Charlotte died at thirty-nine, her two sisters at thirty. They might all three be living still, old, but not so very old, and youthful, compared with Alice. What sort of work would they have done had they lived? I think that one remembers "Shirley" with greater readiness than any other of the Bronte novels. Perhaps their works have been partly kept alive by the biography of Mrs. Gaskell, certainly one of the best and most life-like portraits ever drawn. The world was touched with the picture of the three girls in their far-off country parsonage close to the wild moor, with neither neighbours nor friends, with a morose father and a drunken brother. "Jane Eyre " and "Wuthering Heights " would have lived, I suppose, whether Mrs. Gaskell had written that book or not, but they would not have lived with a vitality so intense. My opinion as to the fading vitality of certain writers mentioned in the last number of the Author, has been disputed in various quarters. Yet I adhere to my opinion. We may reprint Hogg, and we may put him on our shelves, but we have ceased to read him in the sense in which we read Browning; we look at him sometimes for curiosity, or we may seek out favourite pieces, but he is no longer a poet of our time, or of all time. Scholars and students, of course, will read all the writers whom I named—has not Mr. Saintsbury made a book about them? Yet, they no longer attract the omnivorous young—which is a very good and fair test of vitality—and their best things are in the Anthologies and Golden Treasuries. Walter Besant. "IONICA." THE question whether good verse can still become popular might be practically answered by the success or the failure of "Ionica." Rarely, indeed, does a volume of verses appear in which the workmanship is so delicate, the thought so refined, the phrases so subtle, the flow and ring of the lines so full of music. The book, a dainty volume, is published by Mr. George Allen of Bell Court, beside the Inns of Court, at the Sign of the Ruskin Arms. The song printed below, by permission of the author, is written for Mendelssohn's music generally known as " O wert thou in the cauld, cauld blast?" I. Oh! earlier shall the rosebuds blow, In after years, those happier years, And children weep when we lie low, Far fewer tears—far softer tears. Oh! true shall boyish laughter ring, Like tinkling chimes, in kinder times, And merrier shall the maiden sing, And I not there—and I not there. in. Like lightning in the summer night Their mirth shall be, so quick and free, And oh! the flash of their delight, 1 shall not see—I may not see. IV. In deeper dream, with wider range, Those eyes shall shine, but not on mine, Unmoved, unblest by worldly change, The dead must rest, the dead shall rest. * RECENT AMERICAN LITERATURE. THE very few Englishmen who read the literary papers of the United States have long been aware that the output of original literature of all kinds has become almost as great there as in this country, and that in spite of the competition with cheap reprints of British books. A short analysis of the last ten years' American literature, published in the New York Critic of January 17th, presents an instructive and extremely interesting view of the whole subject. Death his removed the great figures of Emerson, Longfellow,  ## p. 258 (#310) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. and Bancroft, while the surviving leaders, Holmes, Whittier, Whitman, and Lowell, have passed into more or less complete retirement. The loss of leaders has not yet been replaced. In America, as everywhere else, there is a lack of acknowledged leaders; the general standard has been greatly raised; the number of those who write has been largely increased—never have there been so many writers able to write well—but those who used to dominate the literary world hardly exist any longer. In poetry, the total disappearance of the first rank is especially deplored. There have been published during the last decade, verses from Lowell, Holmes, Whittier, Stoddard, W. W. Story, William Winter, and Aldrich, names all known to English readers. In addition, the names are mentioned of Edgar Eawcett, Francis Saltus, George Woodberry, Richard Gilder, Mrs. Whitney, Mrs. Deland, Edith Thompson, Mrs. Moulton (a head and shoulders above most of those enumerated), H. B. Carpenter, S. H. Nichol, Mrs. Jackson, E. R. Sill, Miss Dickenson, Emma Lazarus, Sydney Lanier, H. C. Bunner, Edward Martin, Herbert Nurse, F. D. Newman, and Clinton Scollard, called the best of the younger men. Now of these twenty minor poets there are three names—Mrs. Moulton, Sydney Lanier, and Emma Lazarus— whose verses are known in this country. Would it not be well if some of our critics would make a voyage of discovery in this land of sweet singers and bring home some of their songs? And would it be possible to make so long a list of minor poets in this country? It is in fiction, however, that the emotion and thought of the time have in America, as every- where, found adequate expression. Democracy, becoming self-conscious, has felt ever-increasing interest in familiar human life. The growth of the sentiment of sympathy has stimulated curiosity and interest in the daily lives of our neighbours. The scientific spirit of the day has popularized the love of accurate description. The great Russian novelists have moved some and the French school has moved others. There is an enormous demand for short stories in papers and magazines, par- ticularly such stories as those on phases in American life. We know the names that come first in such a list—Howells and James. Besides these are mentioned as in the same line, Fawcett, Mrs. Burnett, and Miss Baylor. There has been an especially noteworthy development in the direction of local colour and local types. Some of the works of this kind we know, others are not familiar to us. For instance, Louisiana has George Cable; Tennessee, Miss Murfill; the hill folk of Virginia, Miss Baylor and Edward Eggleston; Georgia, Johnston's Dukesborough stories; the negroes, Harris, Nelson Page, and Edwards; Kansas, Howe; New England, Miss Williams and Miss Jewett; the Cape Cod folk, Miss McLean; the Jews of New York, Henry Harland; the Western boy, Mark Twain. Considering that all this is the outcome of ten years, the advance seems very remarkable. Then there are books which are successful, one knows not why, such as Wallace's "Ben Hur, a Tale of the Christ"; which are successful, one does know why, such as "Mr. Barnes of New York"; which are successful because they deal with questions of the day, such as "John Ward, Preacher," and "Looking Backward"; which are successful be- cause they appeal to serious and common-place people who understand nothing but calmly moving stories with a happy ending. The spirit of Thoreau is continued by John Burroughs, Dr. C. C. Abbott, Theodore Roosevelt, and Mrs. Custer, while Lufcadic Hearn's " Two Years in the French West Indies" is spoken of with the highest praise. Reminiscence and biography are plentifully represented by the names of Grant, Sheridan, Sher- man, Jefferson Davis, Hugh McCullock, Blaine, by the lives of Lincoln, Emerson, Longfellow, Bryant, Molley, Hawthorne, Poe, Dana, Garrison, Agassiz, Ericsen, Henry Ward Beecher, and others. In history the last ten years show the completion of Bancroft-Parkman's "Montcalm and Wolfe," McMaster's "History of the People," and other works. Let us pass over political economy, literary criticism, art criticism, philosophy, law, education, and science. Enough has been said to show what we are too ready to forget, or to ignore, that there exists across the Atlantic a literature which is comparable with our own in every respect. If they have no poets who can stand beside Tenny- son, Browning, or Swinburne; if they have no novelists in the same line with Thackeray, Dickens, George Eliot, George Meredith; they have many who can meet the novelists who come after these great names. If they have no historian who can be ranked with Stubbs, Green, or Freeman, they have many who are equal to those who stand in the second line, while in science and philosophy they are rapidly stepping to the front. One branch is unnoticed by the reviewer of this decade. It is the branch of scholarship. In that department Great Britain still seems to hold her own. Mean- while, as an unexpected record of unexampled development, this little paper in the Critic, from which we have taken these remarks, is instructive and suggestive.  ## p. 259 (#311) ############################################ THE AUTHOk. 259 It suggests, especially, this very important fact. With the enormous development of their own literature it will become increasingly rare for the Americans to want the new books of our produc- tion. When, if ever, an International Copyright Bill is passed, those fortunate authors, American or British, who are in demand on both sides, will be few indeed. It will be mortifying when we have got all we have clamoured for to be told that our wares are not wanted. But this seems quite likely to happen. * HOW WE LOST THE BOOK OF JASHER. EVERYONE who knows anything about art, archaeology, or science has heard of the famous FitzTaylor Museum at Ox- bridge. And even outsiders who care for none of these things have heard of the quarrels and in- ternal dissensions that have, from time to time, disturbed that academic calm which ought to reign within the walls of a museum. The il- lustrious founder, to whose munificence we owe this justly famous institution, provided in his will for the support of four curators, who were to govern the two separate departments of science and art, and the University has been in the habit of making grants of money from time to time to these separate departments for the acquisition of scientific or archaeological curiosities and MSS. I suppose there was something wrong in the system, but whatever it may be it led to those notorious jealousies and disputes. At the time I am writing the principal curators of the art section were Professor Girdelstone and Mr. Monteagle, of Princes College, while I myself looked after the scientific welfare of the museum with Lowestoft as my understudy—he was practically a nonenity, but an authority on lepidoptera. Now whenever a grant was made to the left wing of the building, as I call it, I always used to say that science was being sacrificed to archaeology. I mocked at the illuminated MSS. over which Girdelstone grew en- thusiastic and the musty theological folios which Monteagle had purchased. They heaped abuse upon me, of course, when my turn came, and cracked many a quip on my splendid skeleton of the ichthyosaurus, the only known specimen from Greenland. At one time the strife broke into print, and the London press animadverted on our conduct. It became a positive scandal. We were advised, I remember, to wash our dirty linen at home, and though I have often wondered why the press should act as a voluntary laundress on such occasions, I suppose the remark is a just one. There came a day when we took the advice of the press, and from then until now science and art have gone hand in hand at the University of Oxbridge. How the breach was healed forms the subject of the present leaf from my memoir. America, it has been wisely said, is the great land of fraud. It is the Egypt of the modern world. From America came spiritualists, from America bogus goods, cheap ideas and pirated editions, and from America, I have every reason to believe, came Dr. Groschen. It is true that he spoke American with an English accent at times, at others, English with a German. But if his ancestors came from the Rhine, that he received his education on the other side of the Atlantic I have no doubt. Why he came to Oxbridge I cannot say. He appeared quite suddenly, like a comet. He brought introduc- tions from various parts of the world, from the English embassy at Constantinople, from the British and German Schools of Archaeology at Athens, from certain French Egyptologists at Alexandria, and a holograph letter from Arch- bishop Sarpedon, Patriarch of Hermaphroditopolis, Curator of the MSS. in the monastery of St. Basil, at Mount Olympus. It was this last that endeared him, I believe, to the High Church party in Oxbridge. Dr. Groschen was already the talk of the University, the lion of the hour, before I met him, and there was already a rumour of an honorary degree before I even saw him in the flesh, at the high table of my college, as guest of the Master. If Dr. Groschen did not inspire me with any confidence, I cannot say that he excited any feeling of distrust. He was a small, blond, commonplace looking little man, very neat in his attire, without the alchemical look of most archaeologists. Had I known then, as I know now, that he presented his first credentials to Professor Girdelstone, I might have suspected him. Of course I took it for granted they were friends. When the University was ringing with praises of the generosity of Dr. Groschen in transferring his splendid collection of Greek inscriptions to the FitzTaylor Museum, I rejoiced; the next grant would be devoted to science, in consideration of the already crowded galleries of the Art and Archaeology section. I only pitied the fatuity of the authorities for being grateful. Dr. Groschen had now wound himself into everybody's good  ## p. 260 (#312) ############################################ 260 THE AUTHOR. wishes, and the University degree had been conferred. He had been offered a fine set of rooms in a college famous for culture. He was a well known figure on the Q.P. But he was not always with us; he went to Greece or the East sometimes, for the purpose, it was said, of adding to the Groschen collection, now the glory of the FitzTaylor. It was after one of these prolonged periods of absence that he wrote to Girdelstone privately, that he had made a great discovery, and on his return brought with him, he said, some MSS. which had been unearthed in the monastic library of St. Basil, where he bought them for an enormous sum from Sarpedon, the Patriarch of Hermaphroditopolis, and that he was willing to sell them to "some public institution" for very little over the original price. Girdelstone told several of us in confidence. It was public news next day. Scholars grew excited; there had been hints at the recovery of a lost MS., "which was to add to our knowledge of the antique world and materially alter accepted views of the early state of Roman and Greek society." On hearing the news I smiled. "Someinstitution,"that was suspicious—MSS.—they meant forgery. It was described as a palimpsest MS., consisting of fifty or sixty leaves of papyrus. On one side was a portion of the last book of Jasher, of a date not later than the fourth century, on the other in ancient characters that too notorious work of Aulus Gellius, which Suetonius tells us that Tiberius ordered to be burned—De moribus Romanorum. But why should I go over old history? Every one remembers the excitement that the discovery caused—the leaders inthe Times and {he AI hen a urn, the doubts of the sceptical, the enthusiasm of the archaeologists, the jealousy of the Berlin authorities, the offers from all the libraries of Europe, the aspersions of the British Museum. "Why," asked indignant critics, "did Dr. Groschen offer his MS. to the authorities at Oxbridge?" "Because Oxbridge had been the first to recognise his genius," was the crushing reply. And Professor Girdelstone said that should the FitzTaylor fail to acquire the MS. by any false economy on the part of the University authorities, the prestige of the museum would be gone. But this is all old history. I only remind the reader of what he knows already. I had begun to bring all my powers, and the force of the scientific world in Oxbridge, to bear in opposition to the purchase of the MS. I had pulled every wire I knew, and execration was heaped on me as a vandal, though I only said that the University money should be devoted to other channels than the purchase of MSS. I was doing all this, when I was startled by the intelligence that Dr. Groschen had suddenly come to the conclusion that his find was after all only a forgery. The book of Jasher, he now said, was a four- teenth century Byzantine forgery, and heascribed the date at the very earliest to the reign of Alexis Com- nenus. Theologians became fierce on the subject. They had seen the MS. ; they knew it was genuine. And when Dr. Groschen began to have doubts as to Aulus Gellius, suggesting that this part of the MS. was a sixteenth century fabrication, the classical world morally and physically rose and denounced him. Dr. Groschen, who had some- thing of the early Christian in his character, bore this shower of opprobrium like a martyr. "I may be mistaken," he said, "but I believe I have been deceived. I have been taken in before, and I should not like the MS. offered to any library until two of the very highest experts had decided as to its authenticity." People by this time had learnt to regard Dr. Groschen himself as quite the highest expert in the world. They thought he was out of his senses, though the press commended him for his honesty, and one journal, which had been loudest in declaring its authenticity, said it was glad Dr. Groschen had seen the forgery that it had already anticipated. Dr. Groschen was furthermore asked what experts he would submit his MS. to, and by whose decision he would abide. After some delay and correspondence, he could think of only two—Professor Girdelstone and Mr. Mont- eagle. "They had had great opportunities," he said, "of judging on such matters. Their erudi- tion was of a steadier and more solid nature than his own." Then the world and Oxbridge joined again in a chorus of praise. What could be more honest, more straightforward, than to submit the MS. to a final examination at the hands of the two curators of the FitzTaylor, who were to' have the first refusal of the MS. if it was considered authentic? If it was a forgery, and they decided on purchasing, they had themselves to thank. No museum was ever before given such an opportunity. Professor Girdelstone and his colleague soon came to a conclusion. They decided that there could be no doubt as to the authenticity of the Aulus Gellius. In portions it was true that between the lines certain Greek characters almost obliterated were visible, but this threw no slur on the MS. itself. As to the book of Jasher they gave no decisive opinion, and it is still an open question; but they expressed their belief that the Aulus Gellius was alone worth the price asked for it by Dr. Groschen. It only remained now for the University to advance a sum to the FitzTaylor for the purchase of this treasure. The curators, rather prematurely perhaps, wrote  ## p. 261 (#313) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 261 privately to Dr. Groschen making him an offer for his MS., and paid him half the amount out of their own pockets, so as to close the bargain once and for all. The delay of the University in making the grant caused a good deal of apprehension in the hearts of Professor Girdelstone and Mr. Mont- eagle, and they feared that the enormous sums offered by the Berlin Museum would tempt even the single-minded Dr. Groschen, even though he had the interests of the FitzTaylor so much at heart. These suspicions were unfounded as they were ungenerous. The German savant was contented with his degree and college rooms, and showed no hurry for the remainder of the sum to be paid. One night when I was seated in my rooms beside the fire preparing lectures on the ichthyo- saurus, to quote the poet, "I heard a rapping at my chamber door." It was a hurried jerky rap. I shouted, "Come in," the door burst open, and on the threshold I saw Monteagle with a white face, on which the beads of perspiration glittered. At first I thought it was the rain which had drenched his cap and gown, but in a moment I saw that the perspiration was the result of terror or anxiety (cf. my lectures on Mental Equilibrium). Monteagle and I in our undergraduate days had been friends, but like many University friendships, ours had proved evanescent; our paths had lain in different directions. He had chosen archaeology. We had failed to convert one another to each other's views, and when he became a member of " The Disciples," a mystic Oxbridge society, the fissure between us widened to a gulf. We nodded when we met, but that was all. With Girdelstone I was not on speak- ing terms. So when I found Monteagle on my threshold I confess I was startled. "May I come in?" he asked. "Certainly, certainly," I said, cordially. "But what is the matter?" "Good God! Newall," he cried, "that MS. after all is a forgery." This expression I thought unbecoming in a "Disciple," but I only smiled and said, "Really? You think so?" Monteagle then made reference to our old friendship, our unfortunate dissension. He asked for my help, and then really excited my pity. He poured into my ear a tale of woe. Some member of the High Church party in Oxbridge had been to Greece in order to attend a Conference at Cyprus on the union of the Greek and Anglican Churches. While there he had met Sarpedon, Patriarch of Hermaphroditopolis, and in course of conversation told him of the renowned Dr. Gros- chen. Sarpedon had become distant at mention of the doctor's name. He denied all knowledge of the famous letter of introduction, and said the only thing he knew of the Professor was that he was usually supposed to have been the thief who had made off with a large chest of parchments from the monastery of St. Basil. The Greek Patriarch refused to give any further information. The English clergyman had reported this privately to Girdelstone. Dr. Groschen's other letters were examined, and had been found to be all fabrications. The book of Jasher and Aulus Gellius had been submitted to a like scrutiny, and Girdelstone and Monteagle had reluctantly come to the conclusion that they were also vulgar and palpable forgeries. At the end of his story Monteagle almost burst into tears. I endeavoured to cheer him, although I was shrieking with laughter at the whole situation. Of course it was dreadful for him. If he exposed Dr. Groschen, his own reputation as an expert would be gone, and the doctor already had half the money, which Girdelstone and he had paid in advance. Monteagle was so agitated that it was with difficulty I could get his story out of him, and to this day I have never quite learned the truth. Controlling my laughter, I sent a note round to Professor Girdelstone, asking him to come to my rooms. In about ten minutes he appeared, looking as draggled and sheepish as poor Monteagle. In his bosom he carried the fateful MS., which I had never seen before. If it was a forgery (and I am not sure now that it was) it was certainly a master- piece. From what Girdelstone said to me then and since, I think that the Aulus Gellius portion was genuine enough, and the book of Jasher the invention of Groschen; however, it will never be discovered if one or neither were genuine. Mont- eagle thought the ink that was used was a compound of tea and charcoal, but both he and Girdelstone were too suspicious to believe even each other by this time. I tried to console them, and promised all help in my power. They were rather startled and alarmed when I laid out my basis of operations. In the first place, I was to withdraw all opposition to the purchase of the MS. Girdelstone and Mont- eagle, meanwhile, were to set about having the Aulus Gellius printed and facsimiled; for I thought it was a pity such work should be lost to the world. The facsimile was only to be announced, but the publishing by the University press to be got in hand at once. The text of Aulus Gellius can still be obtained, and a translation of those portions which can be rendered into English forms a volume of Mr. Bohn's excellent classical library, which will satisfy the curious who are unacquainted with Latin. Professor Girdelstone  ## p. 262 (#314) ############################################ 262 THE AUTHOR. was to write a preface in very guarded terms. This will be familiar to all classical scholars. It was with great difficulty that I could persuade Girdelstone and Monteagle, who had come to me, their enemy, and in distress, of the sincerity of my actions, but the poor fellows were ready to catch at any straw for hope from exposure, and they listened to every word I said. As the whole University knew I was not on speaking terms with Girdelstone, I told him to adopt a Nicodemus-like attitude, and to come to me in the night-time, when we could hold consultation. To the outer world, during these anxious evenings, when my oak was sported, and I would see no one, I was supposed to be pre- paring my great syllabus of lectures on the ichthyo- saurus. I only communicated to my fellow curators my plans bit by bit, for I thought it would be better for their nerves. I made Monteagle send round a notice to the press :—" That the MS. about to become the property of the University Museum was being edited and published and facsimiled, and at the earliest possible date it would be on view in the Galleries where Dr. Groschen's collec- tions are now exhibited." This was to quiet the complaints that already were being made by scholars and commentators of the difficulty of examining the MSS. The importunities of several religious societies to get a sight of the book of Jasher became intolerable. The Dean of Boking, an old friend of Girdelstone's, came from the north on purpose to examine the new found work. With permission he intended, he said, to write a small brochure for the S.P.C.K. on the book of Jasher: I believe that he also had some curiosity as to the Aulus Gellius, but here I may be wronging him. The subterfuges, lies, and devices to which we re- sorted were not very creditable to ourselves. Girdel- stone gave him a dinner, and Monteagle and I persuaded the Senate to confer on him an honorary degree. We amused him with advance sheets of the commentary, and with assurances that he would be the first to examine the MS. He was quite a month at Oxbridge, but at last was called on business to the north by some lucky domestic family bereavement. Our next difficulty was the news that Sarpcdon, Patriarch of Hermaphroditopolis, was about to visit England to attend an Anglican Synod. I thought Girdelstone would go off his head, and Monteagle's hair had already become grey in the last few days. Sarpedon was sure to be invited to Oxbridge. He would meet Dr. Groschen, and then expose him. Our fears, 1 soon found out, were shared by the German saiant, who left shortly after the news of the advent of Sarpedon, on one of those mysterious visits to the East. I saw that our action at once must be prompt, or Girdelstone and Monteagle would be lost. They were horrified when I told them I proposed placing the MS. to public view in the museum on the following day. A large plate glass case had been made by my orders, and Girdelstone and Monteagle, who obeyed me like lambs, deposited their precious burden as I told them in the Groschen Hall of the Fitz- Taylor. The crush that afternoon was terrible. All the University came to peer into the glass case at the new acquisition. I must tell you that Dr. Groschen's antiquities had been placed temporarily in a fire-proof erection built of wood and tin, at the back of the museum, while they were waiting for room in the body of the museum. This erection was connected with the building by a long stone gallery along which were placed plaster casts. I mingled with the crowd, and heard the remarks, but I advised Girdelstone and Monteagle to keep out of the way, as it would only upset them. Various dons came up and chaffed me about the opposition I had made to the MS. being pur- chased, and a little man of dark, sallow com- plexion came up and asked me if I was Professor Girdelstone. I said I had not the honour. He was a Bohemian, and wanted to obtain leave to examine the MS. I gave him my card, and asked him to call on me, when I would arrange a day. He told me he was a Lutheran pastor from Bohemia. I was the last to leave the museum that day. I was often kept In the library long after four, when the museum usually closed, and so T dismissed the attendants when they had locked up everything with the exception of a small door in the stone gallery which I usually used on such occasions. I waited till six in the evening, and as I went out I opened near this door a sash window and removed the iron shutters. After dinner I went round to Monteagle's rooms. He and Girdelstone were sitting in a despondent way on each side of the fire, sipping weak coffee and nibbling Albert biscuits. They were startled at my entrance. "What have you decided?" asked Girdelstone, hoarsely. "All is arranged. Monteagle and I will set fire to the museum to night," I said, quietly. Girdelstone buried his face in his hands and began to sob. "Anything but that—anything but that!" he cried. And Monteagle turned a little pale. At first they protested, but I overcame their scruples by saying they might get out of the mess how they liked. 1 advised Girdelstone to go to bed and plead illness for the next few days, for he really wanted rest. At eleven o'clock that night Mont- eagle and myself crossed the meadows at the back of our college, and by a circuitous route reached  ## p. 263 (#315) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 263 r the grounds surrounding the museum, which were planted with rhododendrons and other shrubs. It was pouring with rain, unfortunately not favourable for our enterprise. I had brought with me a small box of combustibles from the Univer- sity Laboratories, and a dark lantern. When we climbed over the low wall not far from the stone gallery I saw to my horror a light emerging from the Groschen Hall. Monteagle, who is fearfully superstitious, began chattering his teeth. When we reached the small door I saw that it was open. A thief had evidently forestalled us. Monteagle sug- gested going back, and leaving the thief to make off with the MS.; but I would not hear of such a proposal. The door opening to the Groschen Hall at the end of the gallery was open, and beyond, a man— who had his back towards us, and who I at once recognised as the little Lutheran—was busily engaged in picking the lock of the case where were deposited the book of Jasher and Aulus Gellius. Telling Monteagle to guard the door, I approached very softly, keeping behind the plaster casts. I was within a yard of the man before he heard my boots creak. Then he turned round, and I found myself face to face with Dr. Groschen. I have never seen such a look of terror on anyone's face before. "You scoundrel!" I cried, collecting myself, "drop those things at once !" and I made for him with my fist. He dodged me. I ran after him; but he threaded his way like a rat through the statues and cases of antiquities, and bolted down the passage out of the door, where he upset Monteagle and the lantern, and disappeared in the darkness and rain. I then returned to the scene of his labours. Monteagle was too frightened, as the museum had rather a ghostly appearance by the light of the feeble oil lamp. There was some dry sacking in a small cupboard. I had deposited it there for the purpose. This I ignited along with some native curiosities of straw and skin and wickerwork. There were also some new unpacked cases of casts which the attendants had left there in the afternoon, which materially assisted the conflagra- tion. It was an impressive scene as the flames played round the pedestals of the torsos, statues, and cases, but I only waited for a few moments to see that my work was complete. I shut the door between the gallery and the hall, so as to avoid the possibility of the fire spreading to the rest of the building. I seized Monteagle by the arm and hurried him through the rhododendrons, over the wall, into the meadows stretching down to the river I turned back once, and just caught a glimpse of red flame bursting through the windows. Having seen Mont- eagle half way back to the college, I returned to see if any alarm had been given. Some passers by had already noticed it, and a small crowd had collected in front. A fire engine had been sent for, while a local pump had almost been set going. I returned to my college gate, where I found the porter was standing, believing I had been in Trinity all the evening. "The FitzTaylor is burning," he said. "I have been looking out for you, sir." • * * There is nothing more to tell. To this day no one suspects but that the fire was the work of an incendiary, jealous of Dr. Groschen's discovery. The Professor has returned from the East, but lives in great retirement, and his friends say that he has never quite recovered the shock occasioned by the loss of his collection. The rest of the museum was uninjured. The death of Sarpedon, Patriarch of Hermaph- roditopolis, at Naples, was a sudden and melan- choly catastrophe, which people say affected Dr. Groschen more than the fire. Strangely enough, as he had just been dining with the Doctor the evening before, for they had met at Naples pur- posely. Sometimes I ask myself if I did right in setting fire to the museum. It was, you see, for the sake of others, not myself, and Monteagle was an old friend. * ON COMMITTEE. OUR Copyright Sub-Committee has been busy at the close of its successful career. On January 29th a meeting was held of the General Committee and also of the Copyright Sub-Committee to consider the report made by the Fine Art Committee of the London Chamber of Commerce upon the Fine Art Sections of our Bill. The London Chamber of Commerce had evidently given every attention to our Bill in detail, and their criticism was considered most valuable to us. As far as our Sub-Committee considered themselves able to do so, without violating the spirit of the Bill, or making propositions in opposition to the recommendations of the Royal Commission of 1878, the practical suggestions of the London Chamber of Commerce have been adopted. For the information of those of our  ## p. 264 (#316) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. members who possess copies of the Bill, these suggestions are appended, with the reply of our Committee to them. The London Chamber of Commerce (Incorporated). Fine Art Section. Report of the Special Copyright Sub-Committee. Your Committee were appointed to examine the terms of the Copyright Bill of the Society of Authors, and "report to the Section how far it includes, and in what way it differs, from the 1885 Bill, intended to be supported by the Section." Your Committee have held four meetings, and have carefully con- sidered the two Bills with a view to ascertaining the difference between them, and submit as an appendix an analysis which has been prepared by one of their number, Mr. Boydell Graves. Speaking generally, the Committee found that the Bill of the Society of Authors embraces many of the points specially dealt with in the Bill of 1885 ; but in regard to the Penal clauses, they recommend that the Society of Authors Bill should be amended in the direction of approximating the penalties imposed more nearly to those laid down in the Bill of" 1885, which are more stringent in the latter than in the former. The Committee, how- ever, are of opinion that it should be possible so to amend the Bill of the Society of Authors as to meet the views of all who are interested in fine art copyright, whether as artists or publishers. They submit, therefore, the following recommendations for acceptance by the Section. Taking Part III of the Bill, which deals separately with copyright in works of fine art and photographs, and following the order in which the Bill is drafted, the Committee recommend that the words, "offer for sale," should be omitted from the definition of "publication," on the ground that it is the custom among artistic publishers to take subscribers' names for an engraving not only during the progress of such work, but even prior to its commencement. The omission of the words in question would prevent the publisher from being made liable for publication before the actual issue of the work. The definition of " replica" is unsatisfactory, in so far as a replica is laid down as a work which may be executed by a person other than the artist himself. The objection of the Committee would be met, however, by the omission of the words "caused by him to be executed." The Committee were unanimous in agreeing that a replica must be executed by a painter himself, in the same material, approximating to the same size as the original, and that it should be considered as being an authorized copy if not wholly or mainly done by the artist's own hand. In other words, it might be desirable to define a replica as a work executed by the artist himself, or, if commenced by another person, completed under his own hand. The definition of " sale" was not considered by the Committee to sufficiently cover the giving and acceptance of a commission to and by the artist. They suggest the following addition to the defini- tions in Part III: "'Commission,' when used with reference to a work of fine art, shall mean an order to execute the same for a valuable considera- tion." Sections 36 and 40 of the Society of Authors Bill only propose to confer copyright for a period of thirty years after the death of the artist. The Committee strongly urge that the period should be extended to fifty years to paintings (as in the 18S5 Bill where applicable to engravings), and as pro- posed in the case of " books" in the present Society of Authors Eill, and as already conferred in Germany. In no case, the Committee consider, should copyright expire in less than a period of fifty years after the first sale or registration of a work. Respecting Section 38, the Committee suggest no amendment, provided the Section is read in connection with and governed by the definition of replica as proposed by them. It was pointed out to the Committee by one of its artist members that no fainter would care to give up his right to execute a water colour copy of an oil painting, and that such water colour copy could in no wise be mistaken for the original or a replica thereof. In Section 48, Sub-Section (3), which deals with the delivery of copies to the owners of copyright in certain cases of infringement, the Committee recommend that the words "or take other pro- ceedings" be added after the word "action," as it would not in all cases be necessary to have recourse to the law courts. As regards the reproduction of copyright works, specially dealt with in Section 47, the Committee are of opinion that in cases where a picture has been bought with the copyright it should, if repro- duced, be reproduced in its entirety, and the law should not allow of a part being taken out of it, so that it could be made into a separate picture, with- out the permission of the artist being given. They therefore recommend the addition of the following or similar provisions to Sub-Section C of Section 47: "Without the consent in writing of the author of the work or his assigns to such alterations, addi- tions, or subtractions." Part IV of the Bill deals with foreign and  ## p. 265 (#317) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 265 colonial copyright, and, with respect to its pro- visions, the Committee offer no remarks. The Committee raise no objection to Part V as drafted, provided it is made clear that the in- clusion of paintings and works of sculpture from Section 85 (in which it is laid down that only the registered owner of a copyright shall be recognized as such), is due to the fact that the registration of such works is not compulsory. As regards Part VI of the Bill, which relates to Penalties and Procedure, the Committee are strongly of opinion that the limitation of the time during which actions or other proceedings for in- fringement of copyright may be maintained, should be extended, and that Sub-Section 2 of Section 87 should be modified, so that an action could be brought within twelve months after the offence had come to the knowledge of the copyright owner, and not twelve months after the same is com- mitted, as proposed in the draft. The Committee observe that the Society of Authors Bill does not contain the stipulation in the Bill of 1885 (Section 17),—that any peace officer shall have power to search in the daytime any house, shop, or other place where it may be reasonably suspected that pirated works are kept for sale. They recommend that Section 18 of the 1885 Bill should be embodied in the present measure, subject to verbal alteration of the mar- ginal reference, so as to read, "power to search premises used for business purposes." With reference to Section 89, Sub-Section B, governing power to seize unlawful copies when hawked about for sale, the Committee recommend the introduction of a similar provision to that con- tained in the Bill of 1885, Clause 18, so that illegal copies could be taken before a Court of Summary Jurisdiction, and, upon proof, that any such copy, repetition, or imitation was unlawfully made, such copy, repetition, or imitation shall be forfeited, and delivered up to the owner of the copyright as his property. (Clause 17 of the 1885 Bill.) This additional clause will involve the omission from the Bill of the Society of Authors of the words, "with a view to obtaining an order for its delivery to the proprietor of the copyright." As regards Section 91, relative to the right of a copyright owner to apply in a summary manner in cases of infringement to a Court of Summary Jurisdiction in that part of the British dominions "where the wrong has been committed, or where the person who has been guilty of the infringement dwells," the Committee strongly recommend that an effort should be made in order that an action might also be tried in the place where the aggrieved person resides. They further urge that fines should be cumulative, and applicable to each separate offence, as set forth in the Bill of 1885, inasmuch as it would otherwise appear to be possible for a person to infringe copyright and produce any num- ber of copies, for which he would only be fined Five Pounds. , The Committee generally approve of the re- maining parts of the Bill, and would draw special attention to the method of registration proposed, which provides for the gradual transfer from the Stationers' Company of the powers and duties at present vested in them to a new Government Department, in connection with, and probably in the same building as, the Registration of Trade Marks and Designs, under the control of the Board of Trade. The Committee, in conclusion, recommend that in the event of their functions being continued by the Fine Art Section, they should have power to arrange with the Society of Authors and the draughtsman of the Bill for an interview, to dis- cuss some slight verbal modifications which they consider necessary to make the meaning of the Bill absolutely clear, and otherwise to meet the views of copyright owners in fine art as embodied in the Bill of 1885. Arthur Lucas (Chairman). Wyke Bayliss. Boydell Graves. Heywood Hardy. Charles Dowdeswell. December, 1890. Reply from the Sub-Committee on Copyright. A Committee Meeting composed of members of the General Committee of the Society of Authors, and of the Sub-Committee on Copyright, was held on the 29th January last, to consider the report and the suggestions contained therein of the Fine Art Section Committee of the London Chamber of Commerce. The Committee have instructed me to offer their best thanks to the Committee of the Fine Art Secjion for the valuable suggestions contained in their report, and also for their offer to meet the Committee of the Society of Authors to discuss the Copyright Bill. The Committee having carefully considered in detail the suggestions and proposed amendments, do not think that any good purpose would be served by further discussion of the Bill as a whole,  ## p. 266 (#318) ############################################ 266 THE AUTHOR. but I am instructed to inform you that my Com- mittee have, in consequence of your Report, re- commended certain alterations to Lord Monkswell (who now has charge of the Bill), and that they feel assured that his lordship will consent to introduce such alterations into the Bill at the proper time. As regards the penal clauses suggested in the report, my Committee are quite in sympathy with your Committee, but from intimations received from various sources they are convinced that it would not be advisable to introduce the proposed clauses, at least at present, as such a course might tend to imperil the progress of the Bill. It is hardly necessary to add that if, and when the Bill reaches the Committee stage, the Society will offer no opposition to any such amendments, as you suggest, being made. I append below somewhat in detail the comments made and conclusions arrived at by my Committee upon the report of your Committee. With regard to :— Publication.—It was agreed to amend the definition so as to read as follows :—" The first Act of offering, advertising, &c. . . . as ready for sale to the public." This will meet the point raised by your report. Replica.—My Committee think that the exi- gencies of the case will be sufficiently met by adding the words "under his immediate supervision" after the word "executed." Sale.—The word sale was- not intended to cover the giving and acceptance of a com- mission to and by the artist. A commission is merely an agreement for sale, and the word " sale" as defined covers it as soon as the work is done. The period of copyright in paintings.—My Committee would point out that the period of copyright proposed in the case of books is for life and thirty years. It is desired to give an uniform term for all classes of work, and therefore it is proposed to give the same period in the case of paintings as in books set. The term of life and thirty years was expressly adopted by the Royal Commis- sioners as being that adopted by Germany (see paragraph 40 of their Report). The right of an artist to execute a water-colour copy of an oil painting.—Section 38 of the Bill does not in any way affect this right. (See the definition of Replica.) Section 48, Sufi-Section (3).—My Committee would point out that the parties can always agree to refer to arbitration if they wish. They do not perceive what other proceed- ings are referred to. Section 47, Sufi-Section (C).—The objection to Section 47 appears to be that it does not expressly provide against an original work which has been added to or subtracted from being sold as unaltered. In order to meet this objection it is proposed to add in Sub- Section (D), line 21 of paragraph 20, after the word "alterations" the words "addi- tions or subtractions." The clause will, of course, only apply to cases where the altera- tions, &c, are made without the author's consent, and it does not seem necessary to add the words suggested in your report. Section 85.—The reason given for the omission of paintings and sculpture from Section 85 is that mentioned in the Report, but it seems quite unnecessery to refer to it specifically in the section. Sec/ion 87, Sufi-Section 2.—The proposed amendment would be contrary to the general principles of statutes of limitation. Section 17, 1885 Bill.—As originally drafted, the Society of Authors Bill had this section inserted, but on mature deliberation the Committee rejected it as too severe. (See also paragraph 175 of the Report of the Royal Commissioners as to this section.) Section 89, Sub-Section B.—Sections 88 and 89, taken together, appear to provide all that is necessary with regard to the forfeiture of illegal copies. Section 91.—The proposed amendment is con- trary to the general principles of procedure. Fines being made cumulative, this proce- dure is only intended for small and trivial offences. Where the offence is more serious, the ordinary action for damages for infringement can be brought. On February 5th a meeting was held to confer with representatives of the Copyright Association and of the Newspaper Society [informal]. Mr. F. R. Daldy, the Honorary Secretary of the Copyright Association, and a member of the Royal Com mission of 1878, made an exhaustive report to us of the views of his body on the Bill. It will be suffi- cient here to say that our Sub-Committee recognized the great value attaching to his suggestions, and that alteration in accordance with them will in some cases be made. The Secretary will be happy to supply any member with a copy of the Bill upon receipt of •j^d. in stamps.  ## p. 267 (#319) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 267 A HARD CASE. VIII. WE have on the last three occasions given examples of what may be termed more or less constitutional methods of "best- ing" the author. But lest anyone should think sanguinely that the day of gross malpractice has gone by, we recur to the exploits of the " half-profit" publisher, and give an account of one of the recent cases that has come into the office. It was not a "half-profit " case, for the publisher only proposed to receive one-third of the profits, but the methods employed for obtaining money from the author were the old ones, first made familiar to us by the "half-profit" practitioner. The following were the terms agreed upon between author and publisher, and for once in a way they were placed upon paper, and correctly witnessed and stamped. (1) . The first edition was to consist of 1,000 copies, to be bound up as required, and sold at a guinea each. (2) . The remainder-stock could not be sold without the permission of the author. (3) . Author was to pay ^120—^60 on signing agreement, and ^60 on receiving final proofs. (4) . Author was to pay for corrections. (5) . Author was to pay £10 towards advertise- ment. (6) . Author was to receive two-thirds, and pub- lisher one-third of any profits. (7) . Half-yearly accounts were to be rendered. To this there was appended a formal authoriza- tion to the author to inspect the publisher's books. This seemed at first sight a very satisfactory agreement, and by comparison with a great many half-profit agreements it must be conceded at once that it was satisfactory. By comparison with some of this particular firm's agreements which we have had an opportunity of perusing, it was mo3t satis- factory. The contract was a formal instrument, duly and properly stamped. The expenses of advertise- ment were limited, instead of being left unreservedly to the prodigality of the agent, while control over the destinies of the remainder-stock was very pro- perly retained. One omission only was made, but that omission was so important that it has ruined an otherwise fair and equitable contract. The author has omitted to ask for details concerning the cost of production, towards which he is to contribute ,£120, also ^10, and also the cost of "author's corrections," to an unlimited extent. He appears never to have asked himself why ^120, more than £20 or £220, but simply to have agreed to vol. 1. pay the sum asked of him. If authors are so simple, can it be wondered that the publishing trade is here and there, if not everywhere, invaded by persons who make it a business to take advan- tage of such simplicity. It is this extraordinary incapacity for under- standing that there is no mystery attached to publishing, that creates the class of bogus-pub- lishers. In every other sort of business short of the confidence trick, if a man's agent opened the proceedings by asking for a sum down, he would as a matter course be expected to show why, and state what he was going to do with it. This curious trustfulness in the integrity of strangers who tout for business by advertisement, is, we believe, almost peculiar to the relations between young authors and dishonest publishers, and between the male and female clients of the matrimonial journals. However, the point did not occur to the author, and the agreement was signed. The next thing that occurred in the transaction could have been foretold by anyone of the least experience in these matters. A demand for more money was made. The sum asked for was £40, and it was demanded for purposes of advertise- ment. In our humble opinion, to make this demand on the grounds that more money was required for advertisement was by no means astute, as it was flying so dead in the face of a special clause in the agreement that the most easy- going of authors might be expected to resent such treatment. It is clear that the weak spot in the agreement was the fourth clause, under which the author expressed his willingness to pay for correc- tions, if only the publisher would kindly name the price, and it is as a charge for "author's correc- tions " that this further demand should have been made. It is to this shortsightedness on the part of the publisher that we owe our ability to tell this story, for the author proceeded to take advice as to the propriety of paying any more money. Of course he was not liable in any way, and from the first he very properly refused to send it. But that proceeding placed him in the usual predica- ment, a predicament in which this half-profit pub- lisher has doubtless placed others of his clients. If the author did send the money he felt himself to be swindled—at any rate he felt that his agree- ment specially limiting his liability for advertise- ment to ^10 was very little protection to him; if he did not send it, the publisher would not advertise his book (in a letter they intimated as much), and the ,£130 already spent on its produc- tion would be lost, or to a great extent lost. Should he yield, or should he hold out? As for advice that should bring a man peacefully Y  ## p. 268 (#320) ############################################ 268 THE AUTHOR. out of such a predicament—none could be given. He had signed a bad agreement, and if the result of doing so proved to be bad for him, he had only himself or his advisers to blame. It was too late to do anything to remedy the fact that he had signed the contract. A copy of the book was lent to the Society of Authors, and we had a careful estimate of the cost of production made. We found that it would have cost about £100 to produce 1,000 copies of the book and bind 250 of them, but from previous experience we were inclined to believe that so large a number of copies were not bound. That is to say, the publisher, according to our computations, made £$0 or so before he started to sell the book. Then he proposed to make ^40 more. "Which he would have done, we at least believe it," if he had made the demand on the ground of "author's corrections." But his clumsiness lost him the money. His proposal not being accepted, he decided to remain content with his position, that of a small and safe profit duly received. The author, on the other hand, had spent ^130. Of this sum we have not heard how much has been recovered as profits, in accordance with the accounts, no doubt rendered half-yearly, as exacted from the publisher by the agreement. This author has no practical remedy. It seems to us impossible that he can ever get back his money by the sales of his book, while the pub- lisher has very little motive in selling the book. Probably there are not many copies bound, and he would have to bind them at his own expense before he could sell them. He has already made a little money, and he is content that things should remain as they are, though he probably still regrets the loss of that £\o "for advertisement." And in the publisher's apathy as to the sale of the book lies the explanation of all the trouble No doubt the author thought that a publisher who proposed to receive one-third of the profits was also pro- posing to accept at least one-third of the risks. No doubt he thought that the publisher would work to secure his own third and therefore the author's two-thirds simultaneously. But the pub- lisher—to give him his due—has nowhere suggested that he was advancing a penny out of his own pocket. He said he should like ^120, and he got it, but he has told no lies about it. He has never represented, at least in the papers that have reached the Society, that he wanted this sum because the whole cost was going to be ^180, of which he would pay £,(>o. Nor has he attempted to account for the demand of ^r2o by some humbugging schedule of "estimated cost," in which all the items are double as expensive as they should be. His method has been more simple. He said, I want ,£120—£bo now and _^6o later—and he got it. Authors cannot be too strongly advised to have nothing todo with advertisingpublishers, unlessafter consultation with the Society, to make no money payments whatever until they understand what they are going to get in return, and to sign no agreements save under the advice of those who understand. * A NOTE ON IBSEN. —♦— MR. GOSSE'S translation of Herr Ibsen's last drama will be welcome to his English followers and to others interested in Scandinavian literature. Herr Ibsen is to be con- gratulated both on the ability of his translator and on having for once escaped from his professional disciples. "Hedda Gabler," or to call her by her husband's scarcely more euphonious name, "Fru Tesman," comes as a relief from Herr Ibsen's other heroines. She descends upon us as a refreshing douche of unredeemed criminality. At last we feel quite at home after our wanderings up and down the cross currents of Ibsenitish morals. I have always hoped to find in Herr Ibsen some sort of system after all, and now my hope is fortified. "There is no point to which, I trow, Norwegian Bishops cannot go," in the opinion of their illustrious countryman, but he surely has a code of morals for the guidance of the enlightened sex. In "Hedda Gabler" one seems to descry something like a first prohibitory commandment. Insolence, desertion, adultery, and incest are misfortunes in females attributable, no doubt, to "some externally false conditions of society which have turned to bitterness that which should have been rich and full for its use." These indiscretions are feminine perquisites, legitimate weapons against the tyranny of natural affections; but women should not shed blood. We all of us are glad to subscribe to any recom- mendation issued by the exiled prophet of Dresden, now that we have found one. "Thou shalt— except of course in certain cases—do no murder." 'The new representation of the " Doll's House" does not throw any very great light on the play. The character of Fru Linden has been developed, and the character of Thorvald is interpreted probably more to the liking of those " bearded ladies " who form so large a part of the audience. These fair  ## p. 269 (#321) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 269 creatures—for we do not allude to their chins— will rejoice in any emphasis given to the prejudices of their master against his own characters. It is just to Herr Ibsen to remark that these prejudices exist rather in his followers than in his own work. None of his characters have been so mis- represented as the unfortunate, kind, conceited, natural Thorvald, the only human being in this house of moral puppets. If a man has a wife and children to support, and they are dependant on his reputation, he is not necessarily a selfish brute, or a sneaking, sententious hypocrite because he is anxious to preserve it. An actor who so represents Thorvald misses the delicacy of the writer's characterization. Neither is it a mark of gross egotism for a man to regard another's affection for himself as likely to be a stronger motive with him, or her, than his own fancies, but frequently the contrary. It is interesting to note that Herr Ibsen's minor characters and incidents are generally drawn with more truth and vividness than those possessing more dramatic interest. His pictures of everyday life are peculiarly natural, his departures from these spheres frequently lead him into the region of monstrosities too often trivial and mesguins, like Nora, sometimes splendid like Peer Gynt, rarely sublime like Brand, but all unreal as dreams. The eccentricity of his genius does not, as might have been expected, enable him to represent truth outside the narrow circle of frequent occurrence. Perhaps his floating standard of morality is a sign rather than a cause of this weakness. He appears not to accept any principle whatever as sufficiently certain to serve him as a standard for the creation of beings at the same time unusual and natural. His skill and observation enable him to describe truthfully only what is familiar to him in detail. Herr Ibsen has been well called "the Prophet of the Eternal Interrogative." He advocates no system of religion, sociology, or morality; he is more than neutral; he is neuter ; he seldom trusts himself even to deny. It must be remembered that it is the Ibsenites, not their master, who are responsible for the amalgam of sentiments to which they give his name. Few comedies have approached nearer to farces than the unconscious comedy played by Ibsenism in England. But there is matter for regret in this fact. The solemnity with which Herr Ibsen's disciples here have accepted his queries as oracles has nearly ruined the high reputation which he deserves. He is best known by his weakest work, his prose dramas, but it would be unfair to judge the author of "Peer Gynt " and "Brand" until these really great creations are better known. The exquisite fancy of " Peer Gynt," its exuberance and vol. 1. ingenuity, its quaint humour, its bold originality and delicate beauty are alone enough to rank its author among the greatest geniuses Europe has produced this century. The pathos of humour has never been carried so far as in the scene at the death-bed of Peer's mother, with so much success. The incident of the Strange Passenger represents the subtlest moral facts in a peculiarly original form. The well known story of the Disguised Angel in the Gesta Romanorum is scarcely more remarkable. The scenes in Norway, Africa, and on the high seas are equally excellent. As far as foreigners can judge, the form of the verse is always agreeable and in some passages deserves much higher praise. If Peer Gynt himself is intended to represents young Norway no doubt the drama is all the more interesting to Scandinavians on that account. The rest of the world may perhaps take some interest in young Norway for the sake of "Peer Gynt." "Brand " is difficult to speak of concisely, its faults are so obvious and its meaning so profound. It is only too evident that large parts of it had better have been omitted or written in prose. There is but one character, the giant who gives his name to the drama; the Baillie is a mere abstrac- tion of the commonplace, and Agnes a foil to enhance the characteristics of the hero. Perhaps the strongest element in the play is its pathos, but it is a pity that the climax in this respect is reached too soon. For the incident itself no praise is too high. The sorrow of maternity has seldom been more tenderly and more tragically represented. The character of Brand will probably elicit very little sympathy; his enormous faults and his heroic virtues are those peculiarly antipathetic to present opinion. Can there be anything more terrible in its simple directness, its hideous baldness, than the story of the disillusion of Brand's childhood? He is almost a baby, his father dies, he creeps into the room where he lies dead, he wonders most at his hands so thin and pale in the taper light, he hears footsteps on the stairs, he hides in a corner; a woman enters, she pulls the pillow from the dead man's head, she searches hither and thither, gropes about; she rummaages and rifles the dead miser of his treasure, she mutters " More, more!" and gasps, as she can find no more, "It is not much!" This woman is his mother, the dead man's wife, she who finds later that her son's heart is flint. W. \V. Y 2  ## p. 270 (#322) ############################################ 270 THE AUTHOR. IN GRUB STREET. SIR EDWIN ARNOLD'S new poem, "The Light of the World; or, the Great Consummation," is published on the 15th inst. by Messrs. Longmans. It is a volume of about 300 pages, and is dedicated to the Queen. It consists of an introduction in rhymed couplets entitled "At Bethlehem," and the rest of the poem is for the most part in blank verse, the titles of the six books into which it is divided being "Mary Magdalene," ".The Magus," "The Alabaster Box," "The Parables at Tyre," "The Love of God and Man," and "The Great Consummation." The poem tells the story of Christ chiefly through the medium of a dialogue between Mary Magdalene and one of the Magi, a Buddhist who has returned to hear the wondrous tale of which rumours had come to his ears. The holy history is invested with a peculiar charm by the fancy and vivid word painting in which it is here reset, and its moral is then conveyed in the words of the Magus. "I <16 perceive—since Age, which dims the eye, Opens the inward vision—there shall spread News of these high 'Good Tidings '; growing gleams Of this strange Star are followed to the fold. I do discern that, forth from this fair Life, And this meek Death, and thine arisen Christ, Measureless things are wrought; a Thought-Dawn born Which shall not cease to broaden, till its beam Makes more of knowledge for a gathered World, Completing what our Buddha left unsaid; Carpeting bright his noble Eight-fold Way With fragrant blooms of all-renouncing love, And bringing high Nirvana nearer hope, Easier and plainer." The volume has been in print for several months, but its publication has been delayed in order to secure the copyright in the United States. "Essays in Little," by Andrew Lang (Henry and Co.) is the first of a series of books whose avowed aim is "to smooth the wrinkles from the brow of care, and to dislodge the sneer from the cynic's lip." An admirable aim, truly. I cannot say whether my own lip has lost its habitual sneer, or my brow its care-worn furrow by the perusal of the volume. If not, that is my own fault, because the book has all the author's well-known charm of style. It is a collection of critical essays on the works of a dozen writers. Among these are Louis Stevenson and Rudyard Kipling. When Mr. Lang makes up his mind to like a man, he likes him through and through. And he says so, whether he is accused of log-rolling or not. I accept all that he says about Rudyard Kipling—and I would "go one better" for that infant phenomenon. I dare say I should accept all that he says about Louis Stevenson if I were a Scot. But I cannct agree with Mr. Lang that the "absence of the petticoats" is a thing to be admired in Stevenson's works. I am old-fashioned enough to love the frou-frou, and to find the study of a woman much more delightful than that of a man. "London, Past and Present," by Henry Wheat- ley (Murray). This great work, in three large volumes, is based upon Peter Cunningham, who was based on Strype, who was based on Stow, who was the father of all such as write on London. It is alphabetical, like Peter Cunningham's book, and it is exactly twice as long. When one has said this, and has also added that Mr. Wheatley is well known for the carefulness and thoroughness of his work, one has said enough to show that no library which contains any work on London should be without these volumes. *— An interesting book entitled "Canada First," with an introduction by Mr. Goldwin Smith, has just been issued by Hunter and Rose of Toronto. The book is especially welcome at this time when Canadian politics are occupying everyone's atten- tion. It consists of a number of reprints from political articles, contributed to the press by the late Mr. William Forster, once a prominent figure in the national movement of the Colony. Every one interested in the history of "Greater Britain" should purchase this excellent little volume. Many of Mr. Forster's opinions will naturally challenge a certain amount of discussion, which therefore only increases the interest of the work. *— Mr. Bailey Saunders will bring out immediately with Messrs. Swan, Sonnenschein and Co. the fifth volume of his selection from the essays of Schopenhauer. It will be entitled "The Art of Literature," and will deal with Authorship, Style, Criticism, Reputation, Genius, and kindred subjects. • Mr. James Sully is giving to the public a new and cheaper edition of "Pessimism: a History and a Criticism." A review of pessimistic litera- ture up to date is appended. The publishers are Messrs. Kegan Paul, Trtibner and Co. A change has been made in the new edition of Mr. Alfred Austin's collected works now being  ## p. 271 (#323) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 271 issued in monthly parts by Marmillan and Co. The volumes will now appear in the following order :— "The Tower of Babel." "Savonarola." "Prince Lucifer." "The Human Tragedy." "Lyrical Poems." "Short Narrative Poems." The "Satires " will not appear in this edition. The "Savonarola," dedicated to Henry Irving, has been out about ten days. M. W. A. Gibbs has in the press a work en- titled "The Power of Gold." In the preface, an advanced copy of which he forwards us, he shows his sympathy with some aspect of socialism, and promises to indicate in the pages of his book "the splendid powers and possibilities of rightly used gold." In order to make the short notices of new books under the heading of "In Grub Street" more complete and effective, it is suggested by one of those who contribute these columns that members should send their new books to the Society either for presentation or to be returned. If this is done the book shall be noticed if possible. I have long wondered why, in the general emancipation and advance of women, no woman, or only one here and there, has attempted the stage. It is a difficult fortress to besiege, but once captured, there is no richer prize either for fame or fortune. One more exception is to be made on February 20th, when Miss Mary Rowsell will produce, at Terry's Theatre, a comedietta entitled "Richard's Play." Let us hope that it may prove successful, if only in order to encourage other ladies to follow her example. The announcement of the discovery of the lost works of Aristotle followed curiously enough on the proposal to abolish Greek from our public schools. The excitement among scholars of course has been great; but if Mr. Weldon ever carries his point, fifty years hence the public will care little for such things. Should any of the lost works of antiquity be recovered then, a small notice of half a dozen lines will chronicle the fact, that a "discovery which will interest our antiquarian readers, has been made, of the Prometheus Unbound of /F.schylus, among the ledgers of the British Museum. This does not reflect much credit on the authorities, who may have mislaid more valuable MSS. in the last few years." And no one will then grudge the Times the merit of being first in the field. ♦— The discovery has been received with great caution and qualified enthusiasm by the press. Some papers thought that the very fact of the Times standing as godmother to the MS. was alone suspicious. Grub Street wits hint that Mr. Haggard has been hoaxing again, and that Mr. Andrew Lang must have a hand in it. Others cannot conceal their disappointment "after a perusal of its con- tents." Before the publication! And one paper came to the original conclusion that history often repeats itself. Expert journals hint at rank forgery; but of course this is to be expected. Such deceptions have been numerous, and there were some time ago many who believed that the annals of Tacitus were a sixteenth century fabrication fa whole work has been written to prove it), and that the Paston Letters were a latterday forgery. Forgery or not, Aristotle will provide new food for the commentators. In the history of books one marvels not so much at the number that have been lost, but the number that have been spared or escaped the ravages of Puritans, Mohammedans, and early Christians, or the achievements of such as Mr. Warburton's cook. England has sinned as no other modern nation has done in the official destruction of books. When the officers of Henry VIII were destroying the splendid monastic libraries, the unenlightened Popes and Cardinals in Italy were collecting MSS. from all parts of the world, and when the Puritans were hashing up the "Popish" works in the Bodleian and elsewhere, Mazarin was forming his suptrb library. The passion for manuscript hunting now of course is confined to a limited few, but it was once as general in Europe as the present struggle for old masters. Black and White and the Anti-Jacobin are the two events in the journalistic world of late, and come to console us for the death of the Universal Rei'iew. People have begun to prophesy evil for the Graphic and Illustrated on the ground that there is no room for the three sixpenny illustrated weeklies. There was a similar prophecy when the Graphic was started twenty years ago. Black and White will neither affect nor be affected by either of the other illustrated papers, but will create its own audience and its own clientele. It is on totally different lints.  ## p. 272 (#324) ############################################ 272 THE AUTHOR. Newspapers are not like hotels, and the survival of the fittest is a law from which journals are exempt. The editor was wise in not bringing out a flashy number for the first issue, as then the critics would have said "it would be impossible to keep it up for long.' So far Black and White has fulfilled its promise, while it has left what few new journals leave—room for improvement. Members ot the White Rose League will have discovered already that the Anli-Jacobin was not started to counterblast their tenets or to dance on the sleeping Whirlwind. The confusion of Jacob/V and Jacob/'/V is as common an error as the confu- sion of poor Frankenstein and his monster. Every one will wish success to Mr. Greenwood's new ven- ture. To his able editorial management we owe the old Pall Mall Gazette and the present St. fames's, and there seems no reason why the Anti- Jacobin should not have as long and as glorious a career. Mr. Barker has brought out another collection of amusing stories about schoolboys and girls. He might give our masters a turn next time. There are plenty of capital stories against dominies extant. I was told the other day that a boy who was always censured for his essays on the ground that there were no original ideas in them, at last resorted to cribbing, and copied George Osborne's theme from Vanity Fair, when the master allowed him to choose his subject. He gained the prize at the end of the term. One often hears again that English Literature at schools is entirely neglected. Here is a specimen of what took place at one of our seminaries. There was a detestable practice apparently of making boys put verse into English prose (no verse worth anything is capable of such transformation). The master had written up Wordsworth's famous stanzas, "The Solitary Reaper," and after every boy had tried his best and failed, he gave them a model version. The lines, as every one knows, are as follows :— "Will no one tell me what she sings? Perhaps the plantive numbers How For old, unhappy, far-off things And battles long ago. Or is it some more humble lay, Familiar matter of to-day, Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain, That has been and may be again?" They were rendered into the following :— "Will no one," I again inquired, "tell me what the girl is singing and the name of the composer of the piece?" But no one seemed either able or willing to afford me any information. "Perhaps," I ventured to suggest, encouraged by the plaintive character of both words and music, "perhaps it is an original composition of the fair performer's relating I know not what unhappy incident in her own past, some strugg'e bravely contested and triumphantly concluded. Or is it," I went on, "some misfortune of yesterday, such as comes into the life of many of us—some grief or even some advantage likely to recur in the course of a larger experience?" In the first number of Black and White there was an amusing, but not a new, anecdote about a journalist who asked his fellow craftsmen, before he was hanged, not to say that he ' was launched into eternity." I remember seeing a very amusing specimen of fine writing in an American paper. A correspondent from Naples was describing a recently uncovered fresco of Europa and the bull. His enthusiasm carried him as far as Europa nearly. This was his opening description: "Europa, clutch- ing with her manual limb the aureated horn of her Tauric Jovine lover," &c. * "THE COST OF PRODUCTION. * [Second Edition.] AT last this much promised pamphlet is ready. The numerous delays in its appearance have been unavoidable, which means that the compilers have constantly been forced by the pressure of work for the Society in other directions to lay this aside, even when it was quite near completion. We can only hope that our members will find the information profitable, now that it is placed within their reach. No pains have been spared to make it trustworthy. The plan of the pamphlet remains the same as before, but a preliminary explanation of the terms which occur in the book—and which also occur in publishers' bills—has been added. Thispreliminary explanation considers the publishers' charges under all the usual heads, i.e., composition, printing, paper, stereotyping, binding, and advertisement, but it does not include mention of the charges for "author's corrections," for "publisher's lists," for "reader's fee," for "fees for revision," or "preparation for the press," or for "assurance against fire," or for "warehousing." * "The Cost of Production." 2nd Edition, enlarged and revised. Published by Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C 2s. bd.  ## p. 273 (#325) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 273 Of these six last charges there is nothing to be said, except that in no way and under no circum- stances should the author ever pay them, if they are "sprung upon" him. It might be worth while for an author to have his book prepared for the press for him, or revised in some way—many authors, for instance, have their index made for them—but he should certainly be told about the matter beforehand, and allowed to make his own arrangements. He might employ the gentleman dasignated by the publishers, or he might not, but at least he must know who he is paying, and what he is getting for his money. It is ridiculous to attempt to make the author bear any of the other charges. Yet we have in this office seen number- less bills and publishers' accounts in which some or all of these items have been set down as part of the expense of the production of a book. We remember in one case, where the author had paid £27 separate as half the cost of production of a tiny paper-covered book, that we had occasion to take l;gal measures to obtain a true account of the cost. The composition, printing, paper, and binding cime to about £12. There was certain alleged expenditure on advertisement, of which no proof was offered. But yet the account against the book made quite a brave appearance, so swollen was it by the irregular items we have just mentioned. The actual ,£54 necessary to justify £27 being charged as half the cost of production was not reached, but quite a bold bid was made for it. Yet ^12, plus somesmall unknown amount of advertise- ment expenditure, was all that had really been spent. In all cases where an attempt is made by a half- profit publisher to exact payment for "reader's fees," "revision," "warehousing," &c, the author is advised to refuse, and refuse utterly to sanction such charges—unless of course he has previously signed some agreement preventing him from objecting. The question of "author's corrections" is different. It is undoubted that in some cases a charge must be made. It is the practice of many authors to cut their proofs about, and make alterations and additions or subtractions, resulting in a serious increase of labour to the printers. This kind of thing must be paid for. But the present system of obtaining payment for it seems to be to charge all authors, whether they have rightly incurred the charge or no, something for "corrections," if it is only for the correction of the printer's own errors. Thus it is secured that publishers as a whole shall not lose, because some people cannot make up their minds what they are going to say, until they have seen it in print. This is ridiculous. If an author is in any way concerned in the cost of production, he is advised to keep by him his first proofs until the publisher's bill comes in. If he is then charged a large sum for corrections, larger than seems to be warranted by the amount of alterations due to his errors or changes of mind, he should refuse to pay, until he knows how and why it is he asked to pay so much. This, again, is supposing that he has not agreed beforehand to pay whatever is asked of him. "Author's corrections " is a vexed question. Something sometimes ought to be paid, but everybody ought not to be made to pay as a matter of course. "One word to those who say that the cost of production has nothing to do with them. It has to do with all authors under every method of publishing, for it must be the one fixed thing which dictates equitable terms. An author may not care to know it—that is a very comprehensible condition—but it must, or at any rate it ought to, affect his remuneration. It costs as much, and no more, to produce a bad book as a good book, a popular author's book or an unknown amateur's book. The results of the probable and possible variations in sale must be provided for in the agreement. "The copyright of a book should only be ceded to a publisher for a sum, when the author knows how much the publ'sher has yet to spend, and how much he will probably obtain. "Its connection with the half-profit system is obvious. "These figures prove its connection with the royalty system of publishing. Ten thousand copies of a 6s. book will cost ,£400 to produce and adver- tise. This is a very liberal estimate indetd (v. page 28). They will sell for ,£1,750. There will then be .£1,350 for author and publisher to divide. Here is how this sum is divided, according to the royalty the author gets :— Per Cent. Royally 5 .0 ■5 20 35 30 35 £ 1,050 300 £ £ £ C £ 300 1,050 Publisher 1,200 150 900 750 , 600 600 | 750 450 Author 45° 900 The agreement should provide for the fortunate issue as much as for the unfortunate. "Of course, the man who is going to publish at his own expense should know what that expense will be. Equally, the divine and the poet should know how much the publisher's expense is really going to be before they guarantee to be respon- sible for the sale of a large number of copies at the trade price."  ## p. 274 (#326) ############################################ 274 THE AUTHOR, The compilers beg to offer their best thanks to the numerous correspondents whose corrections and questions have guided them in preparing the second edition. . CORRESPONDENCE. I. On Plagiarism. PLAGIARISM, the most odious, the most injurious of charges to which authors are exposed, has recently been placed in a novel light by Mr. Louis Stevenson and others ; according to them to coincidence, and the unconscious machination of the mind, must be ascribed much of the supposed plagiarism. I believe they are right, in the main, in their contentions. But other factors, besides the aforementioned, work from time to time against authors and with damaging effect. The following incident may interest some of your readers. In 1884, I published, anonymously, a small volume on a technical subject. The book was written in a spirit of literary pugilism, showing but scant regard for persons or Institutions. For these reasons I expected no consideration from critics, and those attacked. Numerous reviews appeared within a few weeks after the publication of the book, and much to my surprise all were of a most favourable nature. The laudatory spell was presently broken by a powerfully written letter, emanating from high quarters, and addressed to a service paper, of which I am an occasional contributor. I replied in a leader; the war raged for some time, and contributed not a little to the success of my book. This suc- cess encouraged me to publish a more ambitious work of a similar nature; in fact, an expansion of the first. Immediately after the appearance of this book a scurrilous attack was made upon it in a paper owned by my publishers. My critic did not confine himself to literary and technical criticisms, in fact he barely attempted that feat, and simply charged me with barefaced plagiarism. Three or four other papers followed in the same strain, and the book was promptly killed. I complained bitterly to my publishers, and insisted upon being confron'ed with my detractor. After some delay an interview took place at the publishers' office. "I do not complain of your criticism on my book, unfair and totally irrelevant as I consider most of it, but I should like to know what right you think you possess of accusing me of plagiarism, without even naming the sources from which I plagiarized?" I asked my detractor. "I regret," said the latter, "that you have com- pelled me to perform a very disagreeable_jtask. Will you be so good as to read those passages, and examine these cuttings from the Service Gazette,' handing me a small volume and some newspaper cuttings. "Do you think we could see Mr. Brown, the senior partner?" I asked. Ere long Mr. Brown made his appearance. "Will you kindly tell us who is the author of this little work?" handing him the aforementioned small volume. "Why you, of course!" Tableau! "Those articles were written by me," I said to my detractor, who promised to make the amende Iwnour- ab/e, but never did. I related this incident to the editor of a monthly magazine, of which I was a contributor. "Why X ... is the man whose articles on the continental events of '66 you cut to pieces. Don't you recollect?" observed rny editor friend. "I recollect writing you a couple of private letters, not intended for publication, in which I drew your attention to numerous historical inac- curacies, and other serious blunders, contained in those articles, the author of which was till this moment unknown to me; in fact, I believed them to be from your pen." "Yes, but X . . . saw those letters !" replied the editor. "Can you tell me whether X ... is connected with ?" naming the other papers in which my book had been assailed. "Yes, I think he is," was the reply. So much for plagiarism, and so much for reviewers. The indiscretion of an editor, and the vindictiveness of a literary hack, exposed me to an odious accusa- tion, and to heavy pecuniary losses. Could such a dishonourable act have been committed with impunity by a member of any other profession? I venture to think not. The culprit would have been arraigned before a tribune of his brother pro- fessionals, and made to answer for his misdeeds. Is it too much to hope that the Society of Authors will some day wield a similar power, and establish something like an esprit de corps amongst authors? H. N.  ## p. 275 (#327) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 2/5 II. "The Kinds of Criticism." To the Editor of the Author. Sir,—I have read with lively interest your admir- able article in last month's Author on reviewing. Perhaps all of your readers have suffered some time or other from careless, or what is worse, ignorant criticism, while many have been misled into getting bad books by the puffing notices which are so common. On the other hand there is infinitely more conscientious reviewing done than either authors or the public dream of, while the sensitive vanity of some writers is so great that nothing short of unmixed eulogium will satisfy them. The subject is one which has for many years occupied my mind, and I will now set down a few practical suggestions upon it. 1. All books sent for review should be cut. 2. The reviewer should be helped in his work by the preface, which should always be dated. 3. As far as practicable, the reviewer should be unknown to the reviewed. 4. The number of pages and the price of a book should be stated in the review. 5. In advertisements, extracts from the writer's own preface should be preferred to extracts from reviews. 6. A book should either be reviewed within six months from its receipt, or returned. 7. The plot of a novel should never be disclosed in the review of it. 8. Though the reviewer should be set right by the author on clear mistakes, the general criticism of a review is to be deprecated. 9. There is something to be said for a practice of the author sending with his book a "draft review." 10. There is something to be said for a practice of the author sending a small fee. I need hardly say that I make the two last suggestions with the greatest fear and trembling, and hasten to subscribe myself A Reviewer and Reviewed of nearly twenty years standing. [Note.—One would like to know exactly what there is to be said for the last two suggestions.—Editor.] III. Prize Competitions. May I draw the attention of the Author to the recent conduct of a well-known weekly paper with regard to its prize competitions? The paper in vol. 1. question has a large circulation, principally due, I should think, to these competitions. Some weeks ago it, the , offered a prize for the best Sonnet to the New Year, for which prize there were some dozen or so of competitors Now it is reasonable to suppose that some out of this number, however limited their capacity, must have been conversant with the rules of this style of composition, yet the prize was divided between two sets of verses that failed to comply with these rules. The first prize-winner made a comparatively trivial deviation from them, but at the same time one that took away a good deal of the difficulties of composition that other competitors were, no doubt, handicapped by. The verses of the second prize-winner were not even limited to fourteen lines, and bore no re- semblance to a sonnet in any way. A third sonnet was printed, which was correct, but to this no prize was given. (I was a competitor myself, but out of the running altogether, as my sonnet was not even acknowledged with the names of the other com- petitors.) It did not seem to me fair that a prize which was offered for a sonnet should be given to any other species of composition, and the fact pointed to igno- rance or incompetency on the part of the judges of the competition. So I wrote a civil letter to the editor, merely pointing out that the prize-winners had not complied with the rules, and suggesting that the prize should be given to the writer of the third poem, which was, strictly speaking, a sonnet. I enclosed a stamped envelope for reply, but no notice was taken of my letter. During the summer I won two prizes in the competitions, which I was directed to claim, but no notice was taken for some time of my letters doing so. Finally, the money was sent to me, but not the full amount. I did not remonstrate at the time, but now that another competition does not seem to have been properly conducted, I wish very much to have the Author's opinion on the matter. Apparently, the numerous prize competitions help to sell the paper, and are looked on by young writers as an opening for their efforts; but it seems to me that if all reasonable complaints are to be suppressed altogether, or treated with contempt, the sooner the whole system of prize competitions is put a stop to the better. X. Y [The case is quoted not because prize competitions are a very important branch of letters, but to show the trickery which goes on unrestrained by any fear of public opinion. The winner should have instantly claimed the full amount ol his prize, and enforced the claim, if necessary, by legal action.—Editor.] z  ## p. 276 (#328) ############################################ 276 THE AUTHOR: IV. An Artistic Journal. In 1888 I was asked to become one on the staff of presumably the same artistic journal men- tioned among cases in last issue. I wrote three papers by especial request, and was at some trouble in procuring illustrations. The first paper was issued in six months after the journal appeared, the second after two years, and the third, for which a royal lady was solicited for her portrait, which she kindly sent ine, has not appeared at all, nor has any notice been taken about it, although the journal has been "smashed" for some months. As it was expressly written for this journal it would be useless to me, so I have not written to demand its return; but it comes surely under goods bought, but not paid for. The American periodicals for which I have written are more honourable and satisfactory, for they send a cheque the moment the paper is accepted. * THE AUTHOR'S BOOK STALL. [This column is open for lists of books wanted, books offered for exchange and books offered for sale. Initials must be given for reference, not for publication, and the editor will place correspondents in communication with each other. Books must not be sent to t/ie office of the Society. Letters enclosing list may be addressed " X," care of the Editor. It must be understood that no responsibility rests with the Editor or with the officers of the Society.] Books for Sale. Tennyson's Poems. Moxon. 1856. Keats' Poems. Moxon. 1855. Palgrave's Golden Treasury of Songs and Lyrics. 1S62. Uncle Tom's Cabin, illustrated, with frontispiece, " Phiz." Massingf.r's Plays. Edited by Gifford. 1S53. Reprint of James I's Bible. Oxford. 1833. Campbell s Pleasures of Hope. Illustrated by Birkct Foster and Harrison Weir. 1853. Poesies de Marie de France. 1820. Delphine, Madame de Stael. 6 vols. 1S09. Address "F.Af." ♦ For Exchange. Provincial Coins. 12 numbers of plates. Lettere e dissertazioni Numismatiche de Dominio Sestini. Firenze. 1818. Vols. V, VI, VII, IX. Rariora Maximi Moduli Numismatica selecta ex bibliothcca Casp. Car. pegnae. Amsterdam. 1686. Oct: Falconerii de Nummo Apamensi. Koma. 1667. Greek and Roman History illustrated by coins and medals. By O. Walker. 1692. Delia raritd dellc Medaglic Antiche. N. Scotti. Firenze. 1819. De la rarete et du prix des Medailles romaines. Par Mionnet. Paris. 1815. An historical account of English money. By Stephen Martin- Leake. 2nd Edition. London. 1745. An Essay on the Coins of Conobelin. By Samuel Pegge. London. 1766. Medallic History of Carausius. By William Stukeley. Book II. London. 1759. Thesaurus Numismatum e Musaeo Caroli Patini. Paris. 1672. Two Dissertations upon the Mint and Coins of the Episcopal Palatinate of Durham. By Mark Noble. Birmingham. 1780. Act: Numismat: Imp: Romanorum a Vaillantio edita supplementum a Jos: Khell. Vindobona. 1767. Numismata Imperatorum Joan Vaillant. Amsterdam. 1700. Dissertationes de prcestantia et usu Numismatum nntiquorum, 2 vols. Ezechiel Spanheim Elzever. Amsterdam. 1671. Dis corso di M. Sebastiano Erizzo sopra le mcdaglie antiche in Vinegia. Varisco. 1571. Imperatorum Romanorum Numismata a Pompeio Magno ad Horaclium ab Adolfo Occonc, exhibita cara F. M. Bargi. Mediolani. 1683. Copic d'un manuscrit original donne a M. Durau le 23 Juillet, 1733. Par M. l'escatory qui lui assura pour lors-que e'etait le Vade mecum de M. Vaillant. Apparently un- finished. Byron. Childe Harold. 2nd Edition. 1812. Manfred. Paper covers. 1817. Works. 6 vols. 1829. Vol. VII of Works. 1819. Carmina Quadressimalia. 2nd Edition. 174!. Lusus Westmonasteriensis. 1730. Metastasio Opere seelte. 2 vols. 1S06. Southey. Madoc. 1805. Curse of Kehama. 1810. Tale of Paraguay. 1825. Siege of Corinth and Parisina. 1816. Works. 2 vols. 3rd Edition. 1799. Scott. Doom of Devorgil and Auchindrane. Oiiginal boards. 1830. Shakespeare. Pope's. 6 vols. 1728. Bell's. Vol. I. 1774. Sharpe's. 9 vols. 1803. Wordsworth. Yarrow re-visited. 1835. YOUNG. Complaint. 2 vols. 1743. Night Thoughts. 1787. Dickens. Mystery of Edwin Drood. Fragment in 6nio. in original paper covers. 1S70. Lever. Charles O'Malley. Illustrated by Phiz. Vol. II. 1841. Our Mess. Vol. Ill, i.e., Tom Burke of Ours. Vol. II. Illustrated by Phiz. 1S44. Scott. (Euvres de. Vols. X, XXV. Rise and Progress of Society of Ancient Britons. 1717. Mrs. Cockburn's Works. 2 vols. 1751. Scott. Paul's Letters. 1S1S. Senaior. Calrendon's Parliamentary Chronicle. 10 vols, in 9, beginning November, 1790. Address" M.A." Lockyer's Meteoritic Hypothesis, yfcr Miss Clarke's System of the Star?, or Peck's Popular Handbook of Astro- nomy. J. E. Gore's Astronomical Lessons, for Serviss's Astronomy with an Opera-Glass. Glazebrook's Physical Optics, for Proctor's Our Place among Infinities, or Mysteries of Time and Space. Address "A.F."  ## p. 277 (#329) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 277 Books Wanted. Poetry for Children (in two i6mo. volumes), by the Author of "Mrs. Leicester's School," 1809. Also any books, tracts, pamphlets, or prints illustrating early English railway engines, carriages, &c. Address Andrew IV. Tuer, 18, Notling Hill Square, W. Scott's Poems. 12 vols. Uniform with Waverley Novels and Prose Works. Hallam. Literature of Europe. Lacroix. Science et Lettres au Moyen Age. 1st Edition. Good copy. Science and Letters, &c. English trans- lation. Any edition. Gentleman's Magazine. 1748, 1786, 1787, 1791. Part 2. Household Words. Vols. IV, V, VI. Nineteenth Century. September, 1878. Blackwood. October, 1849 ; July, 1851; February, 1852; July, 1864; Octolier, November, December, 1067. All the Year Round. September, October, November, December, 1867. Sidney Smith. Sermons. Vol. I. 1809. Disraeli. Tancred. Vol. I. 1847. Victor Hugo. L'Homme qui rit. Vol. II. 2nd Edition. Heaumont and Fletcher. Vols. I, II, III. 1711. Joseph Glanville. Anything. Address "M.A." * NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS. Theology. Body, Rev. G. The School of Calvary, a Course of Lent Lectures, p. 6d. Garland, Rev. G. V. Practical Teaching of the Apoca- lypse. Longmans and Co. \(>s. Hall, N. Gethsemane; or, Leaves of Healing from the Garden of Grief, y. Hermon, Rev. G. E. Addresses on the Seven Words from the Cross. 2s. Jeaffreson, H. II. Magnificat: a Course of Sermons. 2s. 6d. Liddon, II. P. Advent in St. Paul's. Cheaper Edition. Longmans and Co. 5s. Sermons preached before the University of Oxford. Cheaper Edition. y. Muller, F. Max. Physical Religion. (Gifford's Lectures, 1890.) Longmans and Co. lor. 6d. Newman, Cardinal. Discussions and Arguments on various subjects; An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent. Cheap Edition, y. 6d. each. Parochial and Plain Sermons. Cheap Edition, $s. 6d. each. Rawi.inson, G. Ezra and Nehemiah, Their Lives and Times. James Nesbit and Co. is. 6d. Taylor, W. M. The Miracles of our Saviour expounded and Illustrated. Hodder and Stoughton. "js. 6d. History and Biography. Brown, Horatio F. The Venetian Printing Press. An Historical Study based upon Documents for the most hitherto unpublished. 22 Facsimiles of Early ting. J. Nimmo. 49*. Campbell, John, M.A., LL.D. The Hittites, their In- scriptions and their History. J. 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