https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/448/1893-03-01-The-Author-3-10.pdf 33717c71d01425934d0c9c9a5fcff5a0 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) 1893-03-01 Volume 3 Issue 10 Pages Page range in volume 345–384 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18930301 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin The Hutbor. (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. MARCH 1, 1893. Vot. [l—No. 10.] PAGE. Warnings ae oe ee eee eee aie es Seu wee B47 How to Use the Society... ae sa 6 ie 205 «-. 348 The Authors’ Syndicate... pee ae me sae ao wo. 348 Notices... & ie tat oe re awe ae Bae wes B49 Literary Property— 1.—The Rights of the Nameless 2.—Copyright and Magazines 3.—In Bankruptcy : 4.—American Copyright see ee ae 5.—The French Society of Dramatic Authors 6.—Publishers’ Accounts eS oe ee 7.—The Output, 1800 and 1892 8.—A Case of Collaboration ... 9.—Is this Fair?... as 10.—A Tale of a Journal 11.—Lost MSS. ... aS 12.—Artistic Copyright... 13.—Title and Copyright Hardships of Publishing ... sue ae ons on An Omnium Gatherum for March. By J. M. Lely ... [PRicE SIXPENCE. What they Read Defoe and the Publishers A New Translation of Rabelais ee Notes from Paris. By Robert H. Sherard The Conveyance of a Gift ... ae as Notes and News. By the Editor... The Professor's Pheenix ... ne iF Carlyle on the Position of Literary Men Correspondence— 1.—A Register of Books Wanted 2.—Misstatements in Review... ties 3.—The Example of Richard Savage 4.—Inaccuracy in Fiction aS 5.—Unknown Writers ... 6.—Times of Payment ... 7.—Prompt Payments ... ise 8.—The Record Press Company Fe “At the Sign of the Author’s Head”’ ... a0 ate ak wee O16 New Books and New Editions... ts nee eae aoe «we 88 PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 1, The Annual Report. That for January 1892 can be had on application to the Secretary. 9. The Author. A Monthly Journal devoted especially to the protection and maintenance of Literary Property. Issued to all Members. The Grievances of Authors. od (The Leadenhall Press.) 1s. The Report of three Meetings on the general subject of Literature and its defence, held at Willis’s Rooms, March, 1887. 95, Strand, W.C.) 3s. the Society. Is. o ov Be Literature and the Pension List. By W. Morris CoLzzs, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry Glaisher, The History of the Sociéte des Gens de Lettres. By S. Squrrm Spricar, late Secretary to The Cost of Production. In this work specimens are given of the most important forms of type, size of page, &c., with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds of books. Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. 2s. 6d. 7. The Various Methods of Publication. By S. Squrre SpriecE. In this work, compiled from the papers in the Society’s offices, the various forms of agreements proposed by Publishers to Authors are examined, and their meaning carefully explained, with an account of the various kinds of fraud which have been made possible by the different clauses in their agreements. I J g Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. 35. 8. Copyright Law Reform. An Exposition of Lord Monkswell’s Copyright Bill now before Parlia- ment. With Extracts from the Report of the Commission of 1878, and an Appendix containing the Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lety. Eyre and Spottiswoode. 1s. 6d.  346 ADVERTISEMENTS. Che Society of Authors (Sncorporated), PRESIDENT. GHRORGH MEREDITH. COUNCIL. st Srr Epwin Arno.p, K.C.LE., C.S.1. OswaLpD CRAWFuRD, C.M.G. Lewis Morris. ALFRED AUSTIN. Tue Earu or Desart. Pror. Max Mi.urr. J. M. BARRIE. Austin Dosson. J. C. PARKINSON. ; A. W. A Becxert. A. W. Dusoure. THE Ear. OF PEMBROKE AND Mont- — =, ¢ Rosert BaTeman. J. Eric Ericusen, F.R.S. GOMERY. Sir Henry Berane, K.C.M.G. Pror. MicHaru Foster, F.B.S. Siz FREDERICK PoLiock, Bart., LL.D. a WALTER BESANT. HERBERT GARDNER, M.P. Water Herrizs Poutock. AUGUSTINE BIRRELL, M.P. RicHAaRD GARNETT, LL.D. A. G. Ross. R. D. Buackmore. EpmunpD Gossz. GrorGe AuGausTUs SALA. Rev. Pror. Bonney, F.RB.S. H. Riper Hace@arp. W. BaprisTE Scoonss. Lord BRABOURNE. THomas Harpy. G. R. Sms. James Bryce, M.P. JEROME K. Jerome. S. Squrre SPRIGGE. Hatt Carne. Rupyarp Kipuine. J. J. STEVENSON. P. W. CLaYDEN. Pror. E. Ray LAnxester, F.R.S. Jas. SULLY. Epwarp Cropp. J. M. Leny. : WItiiAm Moy Tuomas. i W. Morris Couusgs. Rev. W. J. Lorrin, F.S.A. H. D. Traru, D.C.L. i Hon. JoHNn Couturier. Pror. J. M. D. MErKLEJoHN. Baron HENRY DE Worms, MP., W. Martin Conway. Herman C. MERIVALE. F.RB.S. F. Marion CRAWFORD. Rev. C. H. Mippueron-Waxe F.L.S.| Epmunp Yates. Hon. Counsel—E. M. UNpERDowy, Q.C. Solicitors—Messrs Fiznp, Roscoxz, and Co., Lincoln’s Inn Fields. Secretary—C. HERBERT THRING, B.A. OFFICES. 4, Portugat Street, Lincoun’s Inn Freups, W.C. aan Now ready, Third Edition, with Additions throughout, in demy 8vo., 700 pages, price 15s. AN ANECDOTAL HISTORY oF THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT, 4 From the Earliest Periods to the Present Time. WITH NOTICES OF EMINENT PARLIAMENTARY MEN, AND EXAMPLES OF THEIR ORATORY. CoMPILED FROM AUTHENTIC SOURCES BY GHORGH HENRY JENNINGS. CONTENTS. Part I.—Rise and Progress of Parliamentary Institutions. | APPENDIx.—(A) Lists of the Parliaments of England and — Part II.—Personal Anecdotes: Sir Thomas More to John of the United Kingdom. Morley. (B) Speakers of the House of Commons. : Part III.—Miscellaneous. 1. Elections. 2. Privilege; Ex- (C) Prime Ministers, Lord Chancellors, and clusion of Strangers; Publication of Debates. Secretaries of State from 1715 to 3. Parliamentary Usages, &c. 4. Varieties. 1892. Opinions of the Press of the Present Edition. _ The work, which has long been held in high repute as a repertory | ‘It is a work that possesses both a practical and an historical of good things, is more than ever rich in doth instruction and amuse- value, and is altogether unique in character."—Kentish Observer. ment. ”—Scotsman. ‘* We can heartily recommend this work to the politician, whatever “Iti . . may be his party leanings.”—WNorthern Echo. 5 seat tee get oa page aga Zc and in its | ‘‘Here we have the whole company of Parliamentary celebrities, : A i | past and present, reduced to puppets, so to speak, and made to ‘Its advantage to those who are seeking seats in Parliament, or | repeat their best and most approved rhetorical performances for our } wio may have occasion to assist as speakers during the electoral leisurely entertainment, which is not less enjoyable from being allied vempaign, is incumparable.”—Sala’s Journal, | with edification.” —Ziverpool Courier. a Orders may now be sent to HORACE COX “Law Times” Office, Windsor House, Bream’s-buildings, E.C.  Che HMuthbor. (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vou. III.—No. 10.] For the Opinions expressed in papers that are signed or initialled the Authors alone are responsible. HE Secretary begs to give notice that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and requests that all members not receiving an answer to important communications within two days will write to him without delay. During the last six months a number of letters have not been delivered at the Society’s office, and, as one robbery at least has been proved to have been committed, it is reasonab‘e to suppose that the letters have been stopped in the hope of stealing uncrossed cheques. All remittances should be crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered letter only. Oe WARNINGS. Serian Ricuts.—In selling Serial Rights stipulate that you are selling simultaneous serial right only, otherwise you may find your work serialized for years, to the detriment of your volume form. Stamp your AcreEMENTS.—Readers are most URGENTLY warned not to neglect stamping their agreements immediately after signature. If this precaution is neglected for two weeks, a fine of £10 must be paid before the agreement can be used as a legal document. In almost every case brought to the secretary the agreement, or the letter which serves for one, is without the stamp. The author may be assured that the other party to the agreement never neglects this simple pre- caution. The stamp duty varies from 6d. up to 10s. or more, according to the form of agreement. The Society, to save trouble, undertakes to get VOL. III. MARCH 1, 1893. [PRIcE SIXPENCE. all the agreements of members stamped for them at no expense to themselves except the cost of the stamp. fT ASCERTAIN WHAT A PROPOSED AGREEMENT GIVES TO BOTH SIDES BEFORE SIGNING IT.- Remember that an arrangement as to a joint venture in any other kind of business whatever would be instantly refused should either party refuse to show the books or to let it be known what share he reserved for himself. Literary AceEnts.—Be very careful. You cannot be too careful as to the person whom you appoint as youragent. Remember that you place your property almost unreservedly in his hands. Your only safety is in consulting the Society, or some friend who has had personal experience of the agent. Reavers of the Author are earnestly desired to make the following warnings as widely known as possible. They are based on the experience of eight years’ workupon the dangers to which literary property is exposed :— (1.) Nevzr sign any agreement of which the alleged cost of production forms an integral part, until you have proved the figures. (2.) NEveRr enter into any correspondence with publishers, especially with those who advertise for MSS., who are not recom- mended by experienced friends or by this Society. (3.) Never, on any account whatever, bind yourself down for future work to any- one. (4.) NevER accept any proposal of royalty until you have ascertained what the DD Z  348 agreement, worked out on both a small and a large sale, will give to the author and what to the publisher. (5.) NevER accept any pecuniary risk or respon- sibility whatever without advice. (6.) Never, when a MS. has been refused by respectable houses, pay others, whatever promises they may put forward, for the production of the work. (7.) Never sign away foreign, which include American, rights. Keep them by special clause. Refuse to sign any agreement containing a clause which reserves them for the publisher, unless for a substantial consideration. If the publisher insists, take away the MS. and offer it to another. (8.) NevER sign any paper, either agreement or receipt, which gives away copyright, without advice. (9.) Keep control over the advertisements, if they affect your returns, by clause in the agreement. Reserve a veto. If you are yourself ignorant of the subject, make the Society your adviser. (io.) Never forget that publishing is a busi- ness, like any other business, totally un- connected with philanthropy, charity, or pure love of literature. You have to do with business men. Be yourself a business man. Society’s Offices :-— 4, Porrueat Street, Lincoun’s Inn Frewps. _—_—_— oS Oe HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY, 1. Every member has a right to advice upon his agreements, his choice of a publisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his business or the administration of his property. If the advice sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member has a right to an opinion from the Society’s solicitors. If the case is such that counsel’s opinion is desirable, the Committee will obtain for him counsel’s opinion. All this with- out any cost to the member. 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright and publishers’ agreements are not generally within the experience of ordinary solicitors, Therefore, do not scruple to use the Society first—our solicitors are continually engaged upon such questions for us. THE AUTHOR. 3. Send to the office copies of past agreements and past accounts with the loan of the books repre- sented. This is in order to ascertain what hag been the nature of your agreements and the results to author and publisher respectively so far. The secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The information thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4. If the examination of your previous business transactions by the Secretary proves unfavour- able, you should take advice as toa change of publishers. 5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the proposed form to the Society for examination. 6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in the case of fraudulent houses—the tricks, of every publishing firm in the country. Remember that there are certain houses which live entirely by trickery. 7. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the inde- pendence of the writer. 8. Send to the Editor of the Author notes of everything important to literature that you may hear or meet with. THE AUTHORS’ SYNDICATE. SPECIAL report of the Authors’ Syndi- cate has been prepared, and will be issued to those members of the Society for whom the Syndicate has transacted business. The accounts of the Syndicate for 1891-92 have been audited by Messrs. Oscar Berry, and Carr. A transcript of every client’s account as audited and vouched, has been sent to that client. Members are informed : 1. That the Authors’ Syndicate takes charge of the business of members of the Society. With, when necessary, the assistance of the legal advisers of the Society, it concludes agreements, collects royalties, examines and passes accounts, and generally relieves members of the trouble of managing business details. 2. That the expenses of the Authors’ Syndi- cate are defrayed entirely out of the commission  THE AUTHOR. charged on rights placed through its intervention. This charge is reduced to the lowest possible amount compatible with efficiency. Meanwhile members will please accept this intimation that they are not entitled to the services of the Syndi- cate gratis, a misapprehension which appears to widely exist. 3. That the Authors’ Syndicate works for none but those members of the Society whose work possesses a market value. 4. That the business of the Syndicate is not to advise members of the Society, but to manage their affairs for them. 5. That the Syndicate can only undertake arrangements of any character on the distinct understanding that those arrangements are placed exclusively in its hands, and that all negotiations relating thereto are referred to it. 6. That clients can only be seen personally by appointment, and that, when possible, at least four days’ notice should be given. The work of the Syndicate is now so heavy, that only a limited number of interviews can be arranged. 7. That every attempt is made to deal with the correspondence promptly, but that owing to the enormous number of letters received, some delay is inevitable. That stamps should, in all cases, be sent to defray postage. 8. That the Authors’ Syndicate does not invite MSS. without previous correspondence, and does not hold itself responsible for MSS. forwarded without notice. There is an Honorary Advisory Committee, whose services will be called upon in any case of dispute or difficulty. It is perhaps necessary to state that the members of the Advisory Committee have no pecuniary interest whatever in the Syndicate. ee NOTICES. HE Editor of the Author begs to remind members of the society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the society if a great many members did not forward to the secretary the modest 6s. 6d. subscription for the year. Perhaps this reminder may be of use. With 850 members, besides the outside circulation of the paper, the Author ought to prove a source of revenue to the society. 349 The Editor is always glad to receive short papers and communications on all subjects con- nected with literature from members and others. Nothing can do more good to the society than to make the Author complete, attractive, and interesting. Will those who are willing to aid in this work send their names and the special subjects on which they are willing to write ? Communications for the Author should reach the editor not later than the 21st of each month. All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate to the Editor any points connected with their work which it would be advisable in the general interest to publish. Members and others who wish their MSS. read are requested not to send them to the Office with- out previously communicating with the Secretary. The utmost practicable despatch is aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in which they are received. It must also be distinctly understood that the Society does not, under any circum- stances, undertake the publication of MSS. — The Authors’ Club is now opened in temporary premises, at 17, St. James’s Place, St. James’s Street. Address the Secretary for information, rules of admission, &c. Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they have paid their subscriptions for the year? If they will do this, and remit the amount or a banker’s order, it will greatly assist the Secretary, and save him the trouble o9f sending out a reminder. Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the warning numbered (3). It is a most foolish and a most disastrous thing to bind yourself to anyone for a term of years. Let them ask them- selves if they would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five years to come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest or dishonest ? Of course they would not. Why then hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign themselves into literary bondage for three or five years P  THE 359 Those who possess the “Cost of Production” are requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 15 per cent. This means, for those who do not like the trouble of “doing sums,” the addition of three shillings in the pound on this head. In other words, if the cost of binding is set down in our book at eight pounds, to this must now be added twenty-four shillings more, so that it now stands at £9 4s. The figures in our book are as near the exact truth as can be procured: but a printer’s, or a binder’s, bill is so elastic a thing that nothing more exact can be arrived at. Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged in the “Cost of Production” for advertising. Ofcourse, we have not included any sums which may be charged for inserting adver- tisements in the publisher’s own magazines, or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too often go, there is nothing to prevent the publisher from sweeping the whole profits of a book into his own pocket, by inserting any number of advertisements in his own magazines, and by exchanging with others. Some there are who call this a form of fraud: it is not known what those who practise this method of swelling their own profits call it. ee LITERARY PROPERTY. I. Tuer Ricuts or tHE NAMELESS. I. HE following letter appeared in the I Athenzxum of Feb. 11 :— A Warnine To AUTHORS. Please let me recount my experience of Messrs. Warne and Co., publishers. Sixteen years ago I wrote a semi-religious story for girls. It appeared in the Quiver in 1877, and was called “ Their Summer Day.” In 1883 I offered the copyright of it to Messrs. Warne. They bought it for £20 or £25. I stipn- lated that my name should not appear, orI should not, even then, have sold a story for sosmallasum. Mr. Warne, I think, did not send me proofs; he certainly altered the name to “Marie May; or, Changed Aims,” without con- sulting me. It was published by him in 1884 in a series of juvenile books by different authors. No name was printed on the title-page, only the titles of a few other early stories that had also been written for the Quiver. Yesterday, to my surprise, I came across this book for girls—published sixteen years ago in a religious magazine, and nine years ago in the manner I haye described, by Messrs. Warne themselves—got upin the guise of a new novel, with my name upon and in it, as well as those of AUTHOR. the works I have quite recently published. Moreover there is no date on the title page, so that unsuspecting editors may review, and innocent readers buy, as a new book this very old one. Iam aware that Messrs. Warne had a right to republish the story, but I feel that they have taken advantage of my foolishness in not having the clause about the book being anonymous put into the agreement; that I made the con- dition the title-page of the early edition shows. In regard to the story itself, I hope I may not be judged by it. Itis uninteresting and rather foolish, so that Messrs. Cassell (who were always very kind to me) gave me back the copyright, not caring themselves to reprint it. offered it to Messrs. Macmillan, who had just published my children’s book (m 1883); but though they are my intimate friends, they could not bring themselves to think this story good enough forthem. I therefore took it to Messrs. Warne ; but I should not have allowed them to publish it, except on the understanding I have stated. I think it was quite up to the average of the semi-juvenile series in which they first published it ; but I contend that it is most unjust to put it forth, with a dateless title-page, in a manner that shall make it pass as my recent work. : Lucy Cuirrorp (Mrs. W. K. Currrorp). II. The following appeared in reply, Feb. 18 1893 :— ? Chandos House, Bedford-street, Strand, Feb. 14, 1893. An ex parte statement having appeared in your columns from the pen of Mrs. W. K. Clifford, re her work “ Marie May,” you will please allow us to place your readers in pos- session of the facts by publishing this letter. Mrs. Clifford makes three statements :— 1. That we changed the title of the book without con- sulting her. 2. That the present edition is got up in the guise of a new novel. 3. That an understanding was given—not mentioned in the agreement—that the book should be issued anony- mously. Lastly, she complains of there being no date on the title-page. The first of these statements is untrue, as a proof of which we hold Mrs. Clifford’s duly completed receipt for £25, transferring the entire copyright to us under the title of “‘ Marie May,” distinctly. The second is wilfully misleading. The book is not got up in the guise of a new novel, but is issued in a series of cheap reprints, published in the usual form, at 2s. picture boards and 2s. 6d. cloth. Re the third. No condition whatever was made as to anonymous publication, and we are morally certain that the matter was never broached at all, The fact that the first edition was issued anonymously in no way proves the contrary,as the book was first placed in a series where a large proportion of volumes were issued in the same way. Further, the insertion of her name at that date would have been of no assistance to the sale of the book. Fourthly. Re the dateless title-page. Surely Mrs. Clifford puts herself altogether in the wrong on this point. If the title had borne the date 1893, both she and the public — might have had cause for complaint. The fact that it was not dated, and that the book was not sent for review (as she too eagerly concludes it was), proves our bona fides in the matter. In view of these facts, while expressing no opinion of the book itself, we maintain our perfect right—as holders ae  THE of the copyright—to issue the volume in its present form, with any advantage that may accrue from Mrs. Clifford’s name having become better known to the public. At the same time we decline to take a lesson in just dealing from a lady whose principles may best be judged by the fact that she has been willing to sell a work—which she herself designates as “uninteresting and foolish’—for the sum of £25, and afterwards to decry it. Further, it appears to us a moot question whether a journal like the Athenewm should open its columns for ex parte statements of this nature without ascertaining if there is any justification for them. FREDERICK WARNE AND CoO. III. To this Mrs. Clifford makes rejoinder to the Author :— I did not give any receipt at all (for an obvious reason) till some time after the publication of the story. I could hardly have given it under any other title than that by which it had been published. If Messrs. Warne publish it now as a reprint or new edition, why do they not say so on cover or titlepage? There is no hint of it, nor of its being one of a series. And why is it announced in the Publishers’ Circular for Jan. 28 and the Bookseller for February as a new book? If I did not make the anonymous condition why did Messrs. Warne not use my name? It was of no value in 1877 when this story was written; but it must have been worth something in 1883 when they republished it. For in 1881 Messrs. Wells, Gardner, and Darton had published a little book called “ Children Busy,” of which 31,000 copies were sold in the first year. The stories were known to be mine though they were not signed. In 18821 published “ Anyhow Stories” with Messrs. Macmillan, so that my name must have had some value even then, and the inference is that Messrs. Warne would have used it had they been at liberty to do so. Lucy CLIFFORD. LY: The St. James’s Gazette and the Westminster Gazette comment upon the case as follows :— I. We referred only a month ago to a dispute Mr. Clark Russell had with Messrs. Kegan Paul and Co. as to their right, as assignees of copyrights purchased from Messrs. H. S. King and Co., to republish to-day, under Mr. Russell’s name, youthful work contributed years ago, under a pseu- donym, to the Liverpool Daily Post. The alleged right struck us, we confess, as wholly untenable. Mrs. W. K. Clifford has to complain of a similar and flagrant grievance against Messrs. Warne and Co. Il. A curious case in the ethics of publishing is raised by the treatment to which Mrs. W. K. Clifford has been subjected by a certain firs. In her early days, when her intellectual standpoint was very different from what it is now, she wrote some goody-goody but (if she will pardon us for saying it) somewhat dull stories for the Quiver. In 1883 she sold the copyright of one of them to the firm in question, stipulating that it should be published anonymously, though she neglected to put this stipulation in the agreement. In 1884 the story was duly published in a series of religious books for young people. So far so good. But the other day, without a word to the authoress, the publishers re-issued the work, in the guise of a new novel, with the name of Mrs. Clifford on the title- page, to which they added the titles of her recent books (“* Mrs. Keith’s Crime,” “ Aunt Anne,” &c.). In charity one AUTHOR. 351 must suppose that the publishers meant no harm; but the effect is that an unsuspecting public will imagine this imma- ture story, written by Mrs. Clifford when she was a girl, to be a new book written in direct succession to ‘‘ Aunt Anne.” Doubtless the firm in question have acted entirely within their legal rights. But is the proceeding one which com- mends itself to the publishing conscience? When the Publishers’ Union is an accomplished fact perhaps we shall know. Meanwhile, what does the Society of Authors think of the case? v. These letters speak for themselves. The author says that there was the condition of anonymous publishing; that the title was changed without consulting her; that the new edition is presented as a new novel ; and that there is no date on the title-page. The publisher says that there were no conditions. Very well. There is, perhaps, no written agreement. But the book was published anonymously. Why? The publisher says that the insertion of the author’s name would not have helped the sale. Then are we to understand that a publisher is to please himself whether a name is to be given or not? In that case what becomes of reputation? How is a name to be made? If a book is anonymous, the world always understands that it isso ordered by the author. Such a case as this seems to us one that should be decided by the courts of law. It seems a simple thing. The point does not appear to have ever arisen and been decided at law, but it seems at least arguable that the publisher of an anonymous book buys the work, but not the name. Otherwise one may conceive of a great deal of mischief being done to a writer. We all have our beginnings; some of us have our necessities. When these are surmounted, the most serious injury might be done by reviving immature work for the sake of trading upon an honourable and popular name. Once more, the case is another warning for every writer. it CopyrigHt and MaGazines. With reference to the article appearing in your last issue, p. 313, on the subject of magazines and copyright, there is one point on which I would venture to differ from the opinion expressed by Mr. Hardy on sect. 18 of the Copyright Act, 1842. Mr. Hardy suggests three conditions which must be fulfilled before the proprietor can become entitled to the copyright in articles written for him by others. The second of these conditions is, ‘that the articles must be written on the terms that the copyright therein shall belong to the proprietor,” and in support of this contention he cites the case of Layland y. Stewart (4 Ch.  352 THE Div. 419) — but that case, I would submit, only shows that, where an author enters into an agreement for the publication of his work, no copyright will pass to the publisher without an assignment in writing, and that it does not govern a transaction in which the author has written an article which he was employed to write for his employer. Such a case, I submit, would be governed by the decision in Sweet v. Benning (24 L. J. 175, C. P.), where it was held that in order to give the proprietor of a periodical a copyright in articles composed for him by others, and paid for by him, under the 18th section of the Copyright Act (5 & 6 Vict. ¢. 45), it is not necessary that there should be an express con- tract that he should have the property in the copyright. E. CuartEris. Temple, Feb. 7. Seen IIT. In Bankruptcy. A publisher who has agreed to produce an author’s book on royalty, becom-s bankrupt, and offers a composition of, say, 5s. inthe pound. The composition isaccepted. Hethen carries on his busi- ness as before, and sells a number of copies of the book in question. Upon these sales he proposes to pay one-quarter of the stipulated royalty. But the author says: “No; I consented to accept 5s. inthe pound on all debts due to me at the date of your composition. I did not consent to accept 5s in the pound on any debts that might be incurred afterwards. I want my royalty in full.” Which is right, author or publisher? Will some member, who is learned in the law, please answer, quoting the cases on which his opinion is based ? D. =e IV. AMERICAN COPYRIGHT. An author arranges to bring out a book on royalty in England, and also sells the American rights. The American firm who agree to buy are informed of the date when it will be pro- duced in England; but in spite of that fact, for reasons of their own, delay publication, and the American copyright is lost. As the book is thus rendered practically valueless to them they refuse to complete their contract. What is the author todo? If he were to sue in the American courts, I suppose his evidence could be taken upon com- mission; but even then would not the expense be enormous? Also upon what basis should he assess damages? It they were considered too high, would not he be mulcted in part of the The matter is important, as two cases of costs r AUTHOR. the sort have already occurred, and though in both the American firms involved have even tually paid, other cases are sure to crop up. In order to protect the interest of members, would not it be possible for the Society to co-operate with the American Association of Authors, a small addi. tional subscription being paid for this service ? Each subscriber would then practically become a member of the Association, and enjoy all the rights of membership. Of course, a similar privilege should be offered to all who belong to the American Association. It seems to me that some such arrangement would greatly benefit authors in both countries, D. Vv. THe Frencu Society or Dramatic AUTHORS. The French Society of Dramatic Authors, in their capacity as a syndicate, collected in 1890-91 no less than £136,444 as authors’ rights for its members. Beaumarchais was the real originator of this society. Having given his first two pieces, The Enigma and The Two Friends, to the actors, free, gratis, for nothing, when it came to the Barber of Seville and its tremendous vogue, he claimed an author’s share of the profits. The comedians sent him 4500 livres, which would be some £450 to-day, but without any account or computation of the sum. Beaumarcbais brought the matter before the licenser of plays—then a gentleman of the King’s bed-chamber, the Due de Duras—who suggested to him to get the dramatic authors together, and draft a regulation for the future. Diderot, La Harpe, and others opposed Beaumarchais—these authors always will have a sylit—but he, in 1777, got together some twenty-three colleagues, and in 1780 succeeded in fixing an author’s rights in his play at one-seventh of the net receipts. For the sixty- five first performances of the Marriage of Figaro, for example, Beaumarchais thus obtained 41,440 livres, say, nowadays, some £4140. The National Assembly made the first legislative recognition of dramatic copyright in January, 1791, but Beau- marchais had to petition about this law in the following December. Out of this petition came another unsatisfactory law in 1792; but at length, on Sept. 1, 1793, the playwright was assimilated to any other writer in the ownership of his own works ; and ever since then—for just a hundred years—the Society that the indefatigable Beau- marchais started has gone on prospering, and earning their bread for all its members. ‘Lhe Revue de Belgique contains an article on the subject which is of interest to us all. J. O'NEILL.  THE AUTHOR. VE PusLIsHERS ACCOUNTS. The following judgment has been pronounced by the Court of Cassation in Paris on a case between publisher and author. The case is still pending, this decision being only a step im its progress. When it is finally settled we hope to report the whole : “ When, in the carrying out of a contract between publisher and author, the publisher, in order to increase his profits and reduce those of the author, renders accounts which dissimulate the real number of copies in the editions, and at the same time falsifies his books to make them agree with the accounts rendered, this combination of fraud and falsification presents the character of the crimes of forgery and of the employment of forged documents.” And the Court of Cassation has accordingly sent down the case anew to the “ Chambre des mises en accusation,’ or Court of Indictment, as it might be translated—being a sort of grand- jury of judges. If they now find a true bill, the case will then at length be tried by some Court of First Instance. VEL. Tux Output, 1800 AND 1892. The following is a classified list of new books for the year 1800. The population of the three kingdoms was then 15,000,000. It is now, counting English readers in the colonies and India, about four times as great. We have therefore placed in parallel columns what would be the output of to- day in the same proportion, and what is the actual output. The arrangement of the Publishers’ Circular is followed. | 1800. | 1892 1893 | (in same (actual). | | propor- | | tion). eae oe | Se | Theology and Sermons | 96 384 528 Educational, Classical, Piilological .......:... | 56.31. 200 579 ae... (2 | ie 1147 Law, Jurisprudence, &c. | Bio | Lee 61 Political and Social | Economy, Trade, and | Commerce ............ | 137 |< 048 151 Arts, Sciences, and | | Tllustrated Works ...| 63 | 252 147 Voyages and Travels ... | 20 80 250 History and Biography | 52 | 208 293 Poetry and the Drama | 110 440 185 Medicine and Surgery... | 60 | 240 127 The second and third columns show (1) VOL. III. ‘ accident. 3§3 the increased proportion of readers to population, and (2) the changes which have taken place in their reading. Thus, without change, we should have had 384 new books on theology, we actually get 528. Now the people who read theological works certainly use the old standard books more than new ones. Educational books are multiplied by nearly three, which shows the immense spread of education. Novels are multiplied, in propor- tion, by five, but then a very large number of those which swell our numbers are stuff which no one will publish except at the author’s expense. Voyages and Travels are multiplied by three, History and Biography by one andahalf. Poetry and the Drama have decreased by from 446 to 146. Books on Medicine are diminished by one-half. Political and Social Economy, Trade and Com- merce, reduced from 548 to 105. The propor- tional increase is not so great as we might have expected, but it grows; in ten years’ time, one ventures to predict, the increase in educational books will be very great indeed ; there will be a great decrease in novels; there will be a large increase in poetry and the drama, and a decrease in voyages and travels. Lastly, the whole output of new books in 1892 in the same proportion to that of 1800, when it was 693, should have been 2772: instead, it was, excluding year books and serials, 4555, or nearly double. The number of those who read books is therefore doubled in proportion to the population. The case, how- ever, cannot be disposed of in this simple way, because the editions are now very much larger than they were formerly, and the apparent increase by no means represents the real increase. VALE. A Cask oF COLLABORATION. A lady translated a series of stories from the French, and arranged with a gentleman to super- vise the MS., and correct any errors that might occur. He was further to try and place the stories in magazines and other suitable periodicals. The financial arrangement was based on_ half profits. Under the circumstances, a fairly equi- table arrangement, though what advantage there was lay on the side of the man, the lady being a erson of some literary attainment and culture, and therefore needing in her MS. not much cor- rection. In due course a story was placed in a well-known weekly journal. No mention of the fact was made; the truth was discovered by The lady, who constantly met the gentleman in society, taxed him with it, and was informed that she should receive a cheque in due course, but the cheque never came, and a EE  354 year has passed. Another story has been placed, and no cheque has as yet arrived. Under ordi- nary circumstances an action at law would be an easy way to awaken the male partner to a sense of duty and responsibility. Unfortunately the lady lives abroad, and this point is a safeguard to her partner. He knows the fact, and trades upon it. IX. Is tHis Farr? An editor of a certain journal or periodical happens to be also a member of the Society. In the information column of his journal he is asked several difficult questions concerning copyright, and various particulars about publishers. As a member of the Society he writes off to the Secretary, stating the complicated legal conun- drums, and asking advice generally as to the publishers referred to. The Secretary, in the innocence of his heart, writes him a full letter containing valuable information and critical ex- planations. In the next week’s issue of the periodical the correspondents are fully answered. Is this fair to the Society? A member who really had the work of the Society at heart ought to refer correspondents to the Secretary, and not suck the Secretary’s brains for his own aggran- disement, and to the detriment of the Society, or, at least, he might acknowledge the source of his information. X. A TALE oF a JOURNAL. The public life of third-rate journals and perio- dicals is full of interest, not only as showing the ingenuity of the human mind, but as setting forth the dangers attendant on MSS. forwarded for insertion in their columns. A limited liability company is generally the first step in the career of vice. In the memorandum of association powers are taken to publish a magazine, paper, book, or anything that may be printed. The paper is in due course floated. With the little money pro- duced from the sale of shares and collected from the gullible public, advertisements for MSS. are freely posted. In a short time quite a collection of literary wares is brought together, but the printer is left unpaid, and the landlord is clamour- ing for rent, and the contributors are wild for their small pittances. There is only one haven of rest—the bankruptcy court. Now is the editor’s or proprietor’s chance, the chance of the man who conceived the brilliant idea, the chance of the man who knew of its inevitable failure. All the THE AUTHOR. assets of the company are sold for the benefit of the creditors. The proprietor puts forward a nominee and buys them in at a small knock-down value. There is nothing for the creditor. The printer rages and the contributors are in tears, But the former proprietor, in a nice new office, is running a fresh and perhaps successful magazine of his own with this distinct advantage that for some time at least he has no contributors to pay. Xi. Lost MSS. It is curious to hear of the difficulties encountered in finding MSS., when the impatient owner, after long delay, at length clamours for their return. A few cases may suffice to put this before the minds of the readers of the Author. One publisher, in a case brought before us, could only discover an MS. when the irate author with his back to the door of the private office threatened personal violence, This is not every one’s chance, but this author was an accomplished athlete, Another writer, a lady of gentle and patient disposition, who could in no other way get her MS., took her lunch and a novel, and sat down in the office to wait, stating her readiness to wait all day and every day. Presently the MS. was handed to her from a shelf quite close to where she was sitting. In another case the address had been lost, and in another the author’s letter had been mislaid. Authors, however, are not without blame. They forward the MSS. recklessly. They give inadequate instructions as to their return, and they demand infallibility. XIi. Artistic CopyRiGcuHt. The society has been applied to recently by one or two artists for advice on questions of copy- right, and for help in the negotiation of terms with publishers and engravers. This is no doubt a wide field, but it is a field in which the society, through its knowledge of copyright, can be of great assistance to fellow workers. Many artists are, of course, also authors. Many, however, are not. One or two elections of artists have been made whose contracts are similar to those of authors and to whom the society’s experience may be of equal service. a a Af a  THE XIii. TirLE AND COPYRIGHT. A novel difficulty in regard to the law of copyright has just come under my notice. A retired naval officer wrote a nautical novel, and for some time before it was complete spent considerable sums in advertisements and “ prelimi- nary puffs.” Just as the work was on the eve of production another astute novelist brought outa book with the title which the first writer has been sedulously advertising. He thus appropriates a great part of the fruits of his rival’s expenditure. So far as I can see, the injured scribe has no redress; what is more, there appears to be no means by which an author desirous of advertising his work before pub- lication can guard against this form of piracy. The Society of Authors might well address themselves to the amendment of the law in this respect. The above is from 7ruth. It certainly seems a most flagrant case. But a similar case has has already been decided in the courts in Max- well v. Hogg and Hogg v. Maawell (15 L.T. 204). The whole question of title was dealt with at some length in our issue of December, 1892, and we would refer readers who are interested to that number for information. HARDSHIPS OF PUBLISHING. laa has been little of importance added to the talk in the Athenewn on_ the “Hardsbips of Publishing.” Mr. John Murray wrote (Jan. 28) to say that he has lost about £7000 by three books. We might very fairly contend that we were talking of dealings with authors, not of reference books. But as nobody ever supposed that Mr. Murray never takes risks, we are quite prepared to admit that Mr. Murray is one of the “few publishers who take risks.” The fact does not in the least alter our position. And Mr. Rudyard Kipling (Feb. 18) sends the following :-— At this distance I cannot quite see what in the world my private notes have to do with Mr. William Heinemann’s public scufflings. If he had told me that he wanted my views on the hardships of publishers for publication, I should have been most happy to have forwarded them, though I do not think that he would then have considered them of interest to your readers. What I wrote to him was an ordinary civil acknowledg- ment of his letter to the Atheneum. If I had imagined that he was going to give my letter to the public, I should not have been at such pains to dwell upon what seemed to me his one fair contention. Nor should I have confined my remarks to the justice on his side. My practice (for I have bought my experience in the market) is to deal with pub- lishers entirely through an agent. RupyARD KIPLING. VOL. III. AUTHOR. 355 To this appears the following reply (Feb. 25) : 21, Bedford-street, W.C., Feb. 20, 1893. Mr. Rudyard Kipling’s letter to you has grieved and surprised me. Ihave written to him to express my regret. But I also remind him, and hope you will let me inform your readers, that my action was caused by a complete misunderstanding of his views. In the letter from which I made-the quotation for the Athenzwm, Mr. Kipling wrote, in reference to another controversial matter : “If you choose to quote anything I said that you think will do you good, of course I can’t stop it, and I shouldn’t kick at it. Your mistake lay in asking.” In the next paragraph there occurred the words I sent to you for publication. How could I know that what applied to Jack was not intended to apply to Jill? W. HEINEMANN. The “one fair contention” alluded to is the prac- tice, too common among authors, of attributing failure of their books to the publisher, whose interest it certainly is to do all he can to make them succeed. The result of the rather angry controversy is that nothing whatever has been done to shake our contention—based upon such an experience of publishing houses as no single person can have— that few publishers take risks; or that few risks are taken by publishers. This is not, of course, saying that no risks are ever taken. Next, that after asserting that the society, or any one con- nected with it, has ever called publishers “in a lump, thieves,” the accuser, to support his charge, has to interpret such an adjective “ widespread ” as “universal” ; and, lastly, that where an offer has been made, and been refused, to undertake work at the alleged “cost of production,” the refusal to accept that offer is virtuously inter- preted to be based on a desire not to sweat the poor printer. This is a very fine result of the last attack. Let us now await the next. Why do publishers, whenever they talk about risks, constantly assume that they are all carrying on business in the same way, with the same capital, and the same power of ineurring risks ? When some penniless clerk, backed by a little credit with a printer, startes publishing, what risk can he afford torun? The small amount of capital with which many publishing houses have to work for years, and until they ‘turn the corner,” absolutely precludes the possibility of taking risk. It is vitally necessary for them, not only that a book shall pay for its cost of production, but that it shall also pay some margin of profit. It is in order to secure this margim that so many frauds have been introduced—overcharge of printing, paper, binding, advertisements—getting large discounts on every item and pocketing the whole. In advertisements, for imstance. an EE 2 356 advertising agent recently informed a member of this society that he does not take publishers’ business because they want such large dis- counts. Some of them ask, he says, as much as 40 per cent. discount—not, of course, in the great papers, but in the smaller journals. Do any of these discounts appear in the accounts? Would it not be more dignified for the great Houses when they read our experience, embodied in the form of a perfectly true statement, such as “‘ Few publishers take risks,” or “ Few risks are aken by publishers,” to assume that everybody knows that they are of the “few”? For instance, when one says, which is perfectly true, that many solicitors are—what many solicitors’ certainly are we do not see our own friends, who are solicitors, writing to the papers to say that they are not— they really are not—such as these gentry. They take it for granted that the world knows them tou well to suppose that they are meant. Nor, if one mentions the word “ Quack”’ in the presence of a medical man, does our personal friend the doctor jump up with a red face and fiery eyes to explain that he himself.is a qualified practitioner and an M.D. of London. Besides, our statement about risks is in itself so plainly and manifestly true, to every one who has any real knowledge of the trade and its conditions, that it is wonderful to see publishers objecting to it. Why should they take risks when they can avoid risks? The small Houses have not the capital which would enable them to take risks. The large Houses alone, which can afford to wait, may at times take needless risks, and sometimes make money and sometimes lose it. They may also make mistakes. There is in most men of business a certain element of the gambler. Perhaps without a little speculation trade would be dull. Is it, again, quite dignified to announce the fact of these failures? We do not find other business men advertising their losses. Mistakes must be made, it is certain, when speculation is introduced; all that is claimed is (1) that there are, and should be, few mistakes in publishing, considering the reputation and the position of certain writers ; (2) that the majority of Houses, which include the hundreds outside the few generally placed in the first line, either cannot afford, or will not afford, to run any risk whatever, and if they publish a risky book they make the author pay. Therefore, to repeat again and again, few publishers take risks, or publishers take few risks. And again, by risk we mean the speedy recouping of the cost of production, which in most cases is not paid until the sales have covered it, so that there is no cost at all. But we do not mean the expectation of profit, which is another question altogether. THE AUTHOR. Here is an illustration of the curious attitude of mind which is assumed by many in arranging for the publication of a book. “I have just; left,” said a certain person to the Secretary the other day, “the office of Messrs. They showed me by their own accounts that they are always losing money by their books. It is quite wrong to say that they never take risks.’ Well, nobody says that they never take risks. But consider what this means. The partners of this firm live in great opulence; they have arrived at their present prosperity by the publication of successful books. Their success proves their per- ception of what is wanted ; it isa faculty of which they may be justly proud because it has made them rich; yet they are constantly pretending and professing that they lose money by publishing books. That they do sometimes lose a little is quite intelligible; that they ever knowingly pro- duce a book which will probably or certainly fail to pay expenses may be doubted—except for reasons which are not apparent to the world, Then why this pretence? Is there any other business in the world in which the principals live in great houses, and yet are always publicly wailing over their losses? And, of course, to say that they prove these losses to a visitor by afford. ing him a glimpse of accounts is perfectly ridicu- lous, and for this reason, An account, to prove anything, must be audited. And in auditing a book account, many things have to be examined, as, for instance, the vouchers and receipts of printers, paper makers, and binders. And it must be proved how much was actually paid, and to what papers, for advertisements. And, again in the case of advertisements, not what is the tariff price, but what discounts were allowed; and not what is the scale for such and such a magazine, but, was the advertisement an exchange? And what adver- tisements, if any, are charged for the House's own magazine? Imagine, if you can, one of the great drapers of Regent-street driving home in his carriage and pair to sit down and lament over his daily losses! Now, if the more consider- able houses, which chiefly concern us, will give over publicly protesting or suggesting that their business is entirely a gambling one, and that the more they publish the more they lose, and will acknowledge, what every man of common sense perfectly well knows, that they must, as men of business, do their very best to run as few risks as possible ; then the smaller fry will have to leave off too, and shall be able to discuss matters as reasonable beings. Meanwhile we have at least given to the world the figures which show what book publishing means. ———  i i oa dl 4 ia q til if t a cf Es] g $3 ae iy Se SE THe AUTHOR. There are no fewer than 416 publishers in the London Trade Directory. A few more—religious societies—are not on the list. There are, there- fore, say, 420 houses which profess to call them- selves publishers. A rough division of this list shows that there are about twelve which may be called first-class houses, having regard to the class of literature they produce, their resources and history, and the general character they possess for integrity—but in this list we must be careful not to include all the firms which advertise long lists. Among those in the first rank are pub- lished most of the books--not at the author’s expense—which carry risk. Next to them stand some seventeen houses which we may fairly place in the second class; after them about sixteen of the third class. Then a few hangers-on in general literature ; chiefly, they publish the inferior novel. As for the rest they are American and foreign houses; religious houses; theological, scientific, legal, medical, geographical, and tech- nical houses; publishers of elementary educa- tional books; some printers who sometimes publish; some papers whose proprietors call themselves publishers; the producers of penny novelettes. For purposes of general literature there are between forty and fifty houses which need to be considered at all. And in some of these the unwary will most certainly be robbed, while in many of them he will be entrapped into aone-sided agreement Considering these things, writers, it cannot be too often repeated, should take the advice of the Society before sending MSS., and should, above all, seek the advice of the Society before signing agreements. spect AN OMNIUM GATHERUM FOR MARCH. Suggestions for Books or Articles.—A History of Publishing, with special reference to plural publication, as that of Chalmers’ “ British Essayists ” in 1823, in the publication of which fifty-seven publishers joined; The Force of Jealousy in Politics, Literature, and Art; The Duty of Delight; The Budgets of 1842, 1846, 1853, 1869, and 1892; The History of the three Reform Acts; The disadvantages of Civilisation ; The Rise and probably approaching Fall of Party Government in England; “ One Woman, Two-thirds of a Vote,” with special reference to Plato’s Republic, book v. A Publishers’ Union—The rumoured Pub- Jishers’ Union seems to have been given up. How sad! Authors have everything to gain and nothing to lose from such a Union. 3o/ Prefaces—It is unfortunate that so little labour should frequently be bestowed on prefaces. In novels they are almost unknown. Why should this be? Wilkie Collins, I believe, never wrote a novel without a preface. Beyond doubt the preface assists the reviewer, and conduces to a favourable review. Dedications.—These, which used to be almost universal, seem to be dying out, which is rather a pity. They afford opportunity for a pretty compliment, but it is suggested that the author should not dedicate to a person much above him in social or literary position. Bedside Books.—As good “bedside books” for those who may suffer from sleeplessness, I would respectfully recommend “ Le Mie Prigioni,” of Silvio Pellico, Boswell’s “Life of Johnson,” and Burton’s “Anatomy of Melancholy.” For the first to take the desired effect, the reader should know enough Italian to enjoy it, but not so much as to dispense wi' h an occasional puzzling over it. Copyright.—Is not the principal point of Copyright Law which requires amendment that clumsy 18th section of the Copyright Act of 1842, which irregulates (if such a word may be coined) the respective rights of the magazine proprietor and his contributors ? Is there a single human being who would oppose the amendment of it, suggested by the Royal Com- mission of 1878? Advertisements.—Should not an auth r exercise some control over the advertisements cof his books, so that, e.g., the favourable extracts from reviews should not be too profusely printed ? Books sent for Review.—Ought not a book sent for review and not reviewed to be returned to the sender? J. M. Lety. a WHAT THEY READ. ee OFTEN hear it asserted that the public read “what they like.” That is said with reference to circulating libraries, and the books which there “read best.’ It is said with reference to “ public libraries” formed under the new Act, and the works which “go out’? most often, It is said to authors — as an end of all controversy respecting why some books are successful and some are not. Certainly there is no person whom the point concerns more than the author. Now, I may be mistaken, but I believe that 358 people do not read ‘“‘ what they like,” but what they can get. This is certainly the case at the new public libraries. People go, day after day, for weeks, hoping to secure some wished-for book. They look at the “indicator,” discover that the work which they wish to have is “out,” and take in- stead—what they can get. I believe that it would be no exaggeration to say that, at the public libraries, for one volume which people take from choice, they take ten others, because they cannot get what they want. At the circulating libraries the case is rather different. Itis very different at the headquarters of the great London libraries. There a good many people do get what they choose. But not all. Some folk are wonderfully easily persuaded to believe that new works are “at present out,’ and to read instead something which they are told “they are certain to like.” Nor does anyone get all he wishes. I have been asking for e ght weeks for a small French work out of print which I desire to see before a certain date. Some other man has had the only copy all the time. I suppose he is learning it by heart; for to read it through would take scarcely two hours. But all this applies to the great libraries in the metropolis. What is to be said about the country libraries? Do they always promise their customers the books they wish to see? The other day a country girl said to me, “Ifa book is at all popular we frequently cannot get it. If we ask for it as soon as we hear of it, we are told, ‘It has not yet been sent down.’ Next, ‘It is out. Afterwards, ‘It bas gone back to London.’” Did this lady read what she liked, or what she could get ¥ Still, a book not out of print can always be bought. Can it? Is there no such thing asa prohibitive price? Is there no such case as its not being upon the bookstall when Belinda, who has resolved to read it in the train, asks for it ? Is the e no such thing as not having heard of a work? — It will be said that, at present, everthing possible is done to bring books under the notice of people whom they are likely to interest. That may be true. It is most important that it should be true. Even so, does anyone really believe that the persistent efforts of the publisher and of the bookseller to make the public buy, not what they would like to purchase, but what these tradesmen have to sell, are altogether without result? Of course they are not without result. The whole effect of these efforts of tradesmen, combined with the other circumstances mentioned above, is enormous. The reading public really peruses with a small proportion of works chosen by itself, THE AUTHOR. a vastly larger number of other works which are forced upon it by countless ingenious contrivances, E. K. DEFOE AND THE PUBLISHERS. N his preface to the “True Born English. man,” Defoe, in 1701, wrote that “No author is now capable of preserving the purity of his style—no, nor the native product of his thought—to posterity; since, after the first edition of his work has shown itself, and perhaps sinks into a few hands, piratic printers or hackney abridgers fill the world, the first with spurious and incorrect copies, and the latter with imper- fect and absurd representations, both in fact, style, and design. “The ‘True Born Englishman’ is a remark- able example. By it the author, though in it he eyed no profit, had he been to enjoy the profit of his own labour, had gained above a £1000... A book that, besides nine editions of the author, has been twelve times printed by other hands ; some of which have been sold for a penny, others for twopence, and others for sixpence. The author’s edition, being fairly printed and on good paper, could not be sold under a shilling ; 80,000 of the small ones have been sold in the streets for two- pence or at a penny; and the author, thus abused and discouraged, had no remedy but patience. And yet he had received no mortification at this, had his copy been transmitted fairly to the world. But the monstrous abuses of that kind are hardly credible. Twenty-five, and in some places sixty, lines were left out in a place; others were turned, spoiled, and so intolerably mangled that the parent of the brat could not know his own ehild.”’ Authors were thus certainly worse off as regards their copyrights two centuries ago. Before two more come about perhaps they may hope to be in the full enjoyment of their own again. Later, in the “ True Collection” of his works, Defoe wrote that ‘A certain printer, whose practice that way is too well known to need a name, printed [1703] a spurious and erroneous copy of sundry things which he called mine, and intituled them a Collection of the Works of the Author of the ‘True Born Englishman.’”’ Among these was the “Shortest Way with the Dissenters” (of 1702), and “the most absurd and ridiculous mis- takes in the copies’’ (note this word. which then had the exact meaning that survives in ‘“‘ copy- — right”) ‘“ were such as rendered it a double  THE AUTHOR. cheat, the author having in his first perusal of it, detected above 350 errors in the printing. “The author having expressed himself, though in decent terms, against the foulness of this practice, the printer (having no plea to the barbarity of the fact) justifies it, and says, ‘He will do the like by anything an author prints on his own account, since authors have no right to employ a printer, unless they have served their time to a bookseller.’ This ridiculous allegation seems to me [Defoe] to be as if, a man’s house being on fire, he had no right to get help for the quenching of it of anybody but the imsurer’s firemen.” Whence we may see that the publisher’s lien on the hapless author, body and brains, is no new thing, and that he has always boldly defended his spoils. J. O'NEILL. De A NEW TRANSLATION OF RABELAIS. ———So HE appearance of a new translation of Rabelais, after that by Urquhart and Motteux has held the field unchallenged by any rival, is a literary event. Mr. W. F. Smith, Fellow and Lecturer of St. John’s, Cambridge, has achieved this task, one of amazing difficulty, and now sends it forth with learned notes, appen- dices, and introductions. Tbe work makes two large volumes of royal 8vo, of 600 pages each. It has been a work of love extending over many years. The notes seem to leave nothing unex- plained. They give the origines of incidents, phrases, and characters; they are as valuable for their Touraine folk lore as for their classical references. The first edition is limited to 750 copies, of which 250 go to America. Urquhart’s translation, as Mr. Smith frankly acknowledges, is spirited from beginning to end, and written in idiomatic English. A slavish trans- lation of Rabelais would, in fact, be absurd. But Urquhart, and in amuch greater degree Motteux, amplified. He made use of Cotgrave’s French Dictionary, in which is embodied a remarkable glossary of Rabelaisian words often marked “Rab.” In translating a single word of French, Urquhart sometimes empties into his page every synonym that he finds in his dictionary. Motteux not only does this, but adds words out of his own varied English vocabulary; and when he lights upon a piece comic after the fashion of Rabelasian fun he plays with it, amplifies and adds to it. The new translator has so far recognised the merits of Urquhart that he has done his own work 309 with Urquhart always open before him. He thus preserves something of the archaic style, which is one of the chief charms in Urquhart, and suits especially a writer of the age to which Rabelais belonged. A comparison of two passages taken almost at random will show the differences and the similarities of the two versions. The passage is from the famous Eulogy of Debt. The first is from Urquhart’s translation; the second from _M. W. F. Smith’s. 1. ‘ Yet doth it not lie in the power of every one to be a debtor. To acquire creditors is not at the disposure of each man’s arbitrament. You nevertheless would deprive me of this supreme felicity You ask me when I will be out of debt. Well, to go yet further on, and possibly worse in your conceit, may Saint Bablin, the good saint, snatch me if I have not all my lifetime held debt to be as an union or conjunc- tion of the Heavens with the Earth, and the whole cement whereby the race of mankind is kept together ; yea, of such virtue and efficacy, that I say the whole progeny of Adam would very suddenly perish without it. Therefore, perhaps, I do not think it amiss when I repute it to be the great soul of the universe, which according to the opinion of the academics vivifyeth all manner of things.” 2. “ Notwithstanding it is not every one who wishes that is a Debtor; it is not every one who wishes that mak~s Creditors. And yet you would deprive me of this sovereign felicity. You ask me when I shall be out of Debt. ‘And the Case is far worse than that. I give myself to Saint Babolin, the good saint, if have not all my life looked upon Debts as a Connection and Colligation of the Heavens and the Earth, the one single Mainstay of the Race of Mankind. I say, that without which all human Beings would soon perish—perhaps that is the great soul of the universe, which according to the academics, gives Life to ali things.” The latter version is shorter and quite as effec- tive. In fewer words it conveys the idea more clearly. But let us compare the two passages with the French. “Toutes foys, il n’est debteur qui veult; il ne faict crediteurs qui veult. Et vous me voulez debouter de ceste felicité soubeline, vous me de- mandez quand seray hors de debtes? Bien pis y ha, je me donne 4 Sainct Babolin, le bon sainct, en cas que toute ma vie je n’aye estimé debtes estre comme une connexion et colligence des cieulx et terre; ung entretenement unicque de Vhumain lignaige (je dy sans lequel bien tost tous humains periroyent) ; estre par adventure celle grande ame de l’univers, laquelle, selon les acade- micques, toutes choses vivifie.”’ 360 Similar comparisons made here and there show that the new translation, while it preserves the spirit, and even some of the style of Urquhart, is both closer to the original and stronger. It is to be hoped that this smail first edition will be speedily followed by a cheaper edition. Two or three chapters are left in the original. But, as everyone who has seriously read Rabelais knows, the common charge against him has been grossly exaggerated, and considering what things are suffered among our Elizabethans it seems super- fluous either to bring it at all or to defend it. Let it be acknowledged that he is a great sinner, and, that tribute paid to an age of cleaner exterior, let us pass on. NOTES FROM PARIS. EFORE the réprise of Musette at the Gymnase Theatre, de Maupassant’s friends thought to make the communication of the news that his successful piece was to be put on the stage again, a test of what intelligence and memory might remain in him. When the poor Master had heard the news he merely shook his head and said, ‘“‘ Ah, c’est bien mauvais.” Maupassant is neither better nor worse than he ever has been since his first attack. The mind has quite gone, but the body remains strong and vigorous. He spends his days in working hard in the garden of the maison de santé, and seems to take pleasure in tiring himself out. His appetite is good, and he looks better than he did in the old days, when he seemed constantly jaded and overwrought. I may also contradict the report that his financial affairs are so embarrassed that there has been some difficulty about the pay- ment of his pension at Doctor Blanche’s hospit- able house. No such difficulty has ever existed or would be allowed to exist. Zola has finished about a half of his new novel “Le Docteur Pascal,” and one-third of the manuscript is already in the hands of the pro- prietors of the Weekly Times and Echo, in which paper it is to appear as a serial, commencing in March. Zola told me that heis satisfied with the realisation of his conception, as far as it has gone. It certainly must be giving him very much less trouble than ‘‘ La Débacle.”’ THE AUTHOR. Pierre Louys, who is one of the most remark- able poets of the young generation, has been discharged from the army as unfit for service, and is now back in Paris, where, in conjunction with Hérold, the grandson of the composer, he is engaged on a prose translation of certain of the librettos of Wagner’s operas, with the consent of Madame Wagner. He is also finishing his verse translation of Meleager. Taine is not expected to live very much longer. He himself seems to have abandoned all hope of life. Only a few days ago he wrote a pathetic note to the poet de Hérédia, who at last has made up his mind to publish his sonnets, begging him to send him the proofs of his book, as he did not expect to live until it should be published. It may earnestly be hoped that his mournful anticipa- tions will not be realised, as Taine is one of the most valuable men that France possesses. He is one of the few Frenchmen who know anything whatever of English literature. Taine always led a most healthy life, bemg a great believer in exercise, fresh air, and regular hours. He had a huge pair of dumb bells in the antechamber of his fine apartment in the Rue Cassette, and told me that he practised with them regularly every morning and every evening. He had also the English habit of the daily tub of cold water. When down at his country house he used to take long walks. He has always been a man of a very sober, temperate life, though an incessant smoker of cigarettes. One day I had an hour’s conversation with him, and during that period we emptied a box of Khedives between us. Taine is a kind-hearted, amiable man, but has very fixed opinions on matters in general and on literary affairs in particular. For instance, he would never hear of Zola as an Academician. Monsieur Berthelot, the savant, who was set up against Zola as candidate for Ernest Renan’s fauteuil at the Academy, told me yesterday that he was no longer a candidate, that it had amused his friends to put up his name, and that, no result having been obtained, he had now with- drawn. He shrugged his shoulders when speak- ing of the Academy, and said that people largely exaggerated its importance, and that personally he had no wishes or expectations on the subject.  THE Tam rejoiced to see from the papers that my good friend H. E. the General Tcheng-ki-Tong has not only been discharged exonerated from all the charges brought against him of malpractices and so forth, but has been re-instated in office, and is now even more of a Mandarin than ever. It was not so very long ago that his friends in Paris understood that bastinado, decapitation, or worse, waited the spirituel Chinaman, and the regret was universal here. Tcheng-li-Tong was a model homme de lettres and a wonderfully well-informed man. He wrote several books about life in China, besides poems, novels, magazine articles, and so forth. He had quite caught the Parisian turn of thought and fashion of style, and held a high place in the esteem of his confréres. He was a good linguist. I once translated one of his books for Trischler and Co., and sent him the revised proofs. He pointed out to me about thirty errors which I had overlooked, and set me right on one or two points in which in writing I had not had my Lindley Murray before my eyes. He was a bright charming man, and his face was familiar in all the worlds of Paris from the highest to the lowest. And he had the most wonderful tea and tobacco that I have ever tasted. The tea was perfumed with dried Howers, and the tobacco was some which the young Emperor of China had sent him as a present, and which he himself had received from the Sultan of Turkey. We used to smoke it in Chinese pipes after the Chinese fashion, loading the pipe afresh for each whiff. Stéphane Mallarmé presided at the last dinner of La Plume. Verlaine was also p esent and in high spirits. Whistler had been expected, but was not able to come. We dined, about one hundred strong, at the Café du Palais, and the bill of fare was ornamented with an allegorical device in whih pigs and geese represented certain well-known critics. I sat next to Stuart Merrill, who is one of the most charming poets that I know. M. Léon Deschamps announced, after Mallarmé had read us a sonnet in guise of a speech, that Paul Verlaine would be our next President, an announcement which was loudly applauded. The evening after dinner was spent in the sous-sol of the Soleil d’Or, where various poets recited verses. Mallarmé’s, Verlaine’s, and Stuart Merrill’s verse was the favourite, and a young poet named De Maré¢s, who is considered very talented, also recited some verses of his own composition, which were greatly applauded. It was a novel experience, and very French. Much of the verse we heard was really of the first order, and the whole nature of the evening was highly interesting. VOL, III. AUTHOR. 361 x Stuart Merrill is a young American of some fortune who has lived many years in France, and who has published a volume of poems, which are considered masterpieces in the world of letters. He is immensely liked by his confréres, and his Friday evenings at home in the Bohemian lodg- ings he has in the Rue de Seine are always crowded with literary men. Everybody of interest amongst the younger men may be met there. He is a singularly modest man, and this quality is the more to be appreciated that it is rather rare amongst the poets of the other side of the Seine, and that Merrill might really be very proud of what he has written. He is a great Wagnerian, and detests New York, but piously spends a certain number of months there each year for the sake of his family. Writing about Taine above, I said that the majority of Frenchmen are wofully ignorant of English literature. As an example of this igno- rance | may mention that a day or two ago one of the best known of our French Jlitterateurs asked me whether English poets rhymed their verses or not, his belief being that we used nothing but blank verse. Sa Alphonse Daudet receives his literary friends on Sunday mornings, and very interesting and agreeable the hours spent with him are. Daudet is a brillant talker, and there are always present people who are also worth listening to. The last time I was at his house there was present a very clever young man, whom, by the way, Daudet calls “mon fils,’ and says “thou” to, whom Daudet asked to relate what he had felt on the evening on which his play, which failed, was produced. The young man said that he had watched the performance from a stage box, and that all the time he had been thinking how singularly ugly was the director of the theatre. He afterwards added that what had most troubled him when his play was condemned was that he had made his wife come up from the country to assist at the premicre, and that he knew how disappointed she would be Daudet said that henever was present at any premiere, and that it was only from the demeanour of his concierge next morning that he knew whether his play had succeeded or not. If it had succeeded the concierge was abject, but, if not, her manners were those of pity blended with contempt. Daudet’s maxim is that every sin which a man commits on earth is punished during this life. I told him that Goethe had held the same views, and had, indeed, expressed them in the line. ‘Denn jede Schuld recht sich auf Erden,” and Daudet said that Goethe was quite FR 362 right. “My fault,’ he added, “is that I have been too happy. I am paying for it now” he said raising the crutch with which he moves about the room. Rozsert H. SHEerarp. THE CONVEYANCE OF A GIFT. HE following letters speak for themselves :— Dear Bssant, It is with unusual pleasure that we have to announce to you to-day the desire of no fewer than 360 members of the Society of Authors (whose names are given on the enclosed list), that you will favour them by accepting the accom- panying service of plate as a very small expres- sion of their gratitude and attachment to you. This feeling, which all alike have expressed to us, is no new one on the part of the members of the Society, but your retirement from the chair- manship, a step which you have with difficulty persuaded your friends to permit you to take, seems to offer an apt occasion for a review of past services. In taking such a review, the members of the Society are at a loss to find words for their appreciation of your unselfish goodness and of the value of your powerful advocacy. They contem- plate the present flourishing state of the Society, and they are tempted to attribute nearly the whole of its success to you. Pray believe us to be, dear Besant, Yours very sincerely, (Signed) J. M. Barris. Epwarp CLopp. Epmunp Gossz. THomas Harpy. W. Houtman Hunt. Water Herries Poutock. Aurx. Gaut Ross. S. Squire SPRIGGE. 123, Chancery-lane, W.C. Feb. 4, 1893. My prEArR Ciopp, I received last night your letter of the 4th, together with the noble service of plate therein referred to. Your letter alone, signed as it is by the names of those who composed your committee, would be in itself, without the plate, a gift of priceless value to me. I beg that you will kindly convey to these gentlemen—my friends—my most sincere grati- THE AUTHOR. tude for this expression of appreciation of my humble labours. I should like you also, if you can, to thank all those members of the Society who have joined you in this generous gift. I value it especially, because, although I have never hoped to carry with me allour members in all my own views, it shows that in the essentials which constitute the strength of the Society we are all agreed. I am in great hopes that the initial difficulties of the Society have now been successfully over- come, and that so strong a feeling for the neces- sity of association and associated action has been created that the Society is on a stable basis, and will advance more and more every year in numbers, honour, and respect. As for me, I desire nothing more than to be permitted to serve the Society in any capacity in which I may be useful. I remain, my dear Clodd, Very sincerely yours, (Signed) Waurer Besant. Frognal End, N.W. Feb. 7, 1893. NOTES AND NEWS. EADERS are requested to consider the appeal made by Mr. Sherard. The secre- tary, Mr. Herbert Thring, will receive, acknowledge, and forward all contributions for this object. “The committee for the Baudelaire Memorial, which is presided over by M. Leconte de Lisle, being aware that the poet Baudelaire has numerous admirers in England, has asked me to see if any of these admirers would care to con- tribute a trifle to the fund which is being collected for the Baudelaire Memorial. The committee is formed of all the leading Litterateurs of France, including Paul Bourget, Francois Coppée, Stéphane Mallarmé, Paul Verlaine, and Emile Zola. Our own Master, Swinburne, is a member. The statue will be executed by Auguste Rodin in a manner worthy of the sub- ject. I should be glad to receive any subscrip- tions for this fund, and to transmit them to M. Léon Deschamps, the treasurer, who will acknow- ledge them in the magazine La Plume. I may add that money is needed for the completion of the work, and that the Philistines will exult if for want of funds the project cannot be realised. R. H. SHerarp.” —  oot THE AUTHOR. The following paragraphs are extracted from the Queen of Feb. 25: The Author is sent to me every month, and from no comic paper do I get so much enjoyment. Its delightful suggestions as to why editors should not be compelled to do this and publishers to do that are really too funny. By the way, the Author has a double function in journalism. It not only trots out the woes of authors and journalists, and the iniquities of publishers and editors, but it gives these last a hint or two. I, for example, know an editor who says he never knew how ridiculously he overpaid his contributors until he read in the Author the plaints of some of that unhappy class. May. The only reason why these little malignities, which do us no harm, are continually perpetrated must be that some person who ardently desires to rob and sweat writers has been either prevented or detected. The Author has certainly done good service both to publishers, editors, and writers alike, by ascertaining the law as it exists with regard to their contracts, and it will go on in the same course. The present relations of editor and contributor in all high-class journals, daily, weekly, or monthly, are apparently quite satis- factory, and it certainly is not the mtention or the desire of this journal to interfere with, or to disturb, these relations. As regards the treatment of certain writers by the humbler journals—the miserable pay, the delay in pay- ment, the refusal of payment—the Author will certainly not desist from the publication of these facts. The writer of the above paragraphs has a friend—they are probably kin spirits—who has found out from this paper how ridiculously he overpays his contributors. Very likely. There is everywhere a lower deep. The only figures pub- lished here have been those of the worst kind of sweaters. One can always, in sweating, “ go one better ” than the worst sweater on record. Yes; many a hint may be picked up from the Author by the sweater. I am asked by Mr. Colles to call attention to two or three points in connection with the Authors’ Syndicate. They are these: (1) That the report for the year 1892 has been prepared and is now ready; (2) that the accounts have been examined by professional auditors, Messrs. Oscar Berry and Carr, and that they certify to the effect that no moneys have been expended except on the necessary establishment, so that nobody makes any profit except the authors themselves. I should like to add that, to my certain knowledge, Mr. Colles has made very considerable pecuniary sacrifices in carrying on this work. Many difficulties were interposed at the outset. The more successful authors for the most part were already pledged to others or 363 engaged a long way ahead. It was difflcult to persuade authors that this was not a scheme for personal plunder, even though the Syndicate sprang out of the Society itself. The difficulty now appears to be, that while authors accept the work done for them, they seem to think that it should be done for nothing. Well: but there are clerks to pay; rent, stationery, postage—the last item alone is about £5a month. Is Mr. Colles to give all this as well? This grumble is called for by the fact reported to me that some who have been greatly helped by the Syndicate—helped, I mean, to the extent of getting work placed where they could not by themselves have placed it—have resented the small charge which the Syndicate has imposed, There may, again, be some suspicion in the minds of members, that the so-called “advisory committee” have knowledge of the private and pecuniary affairs of those whose work goes to the Director. They may rest assured that this is not the case. The ‘advisory com- mittee” are only there in order to act as referees in case of dispute or misunderstanding. Its members are not informed of the transactions undertaken by the Director—who is sole Director —and they are not in any other way responsible for the conduct of the Syndicate. A correspondent, writing on the question of remuneration for articles and stories supplied to magazines, compares the writer who accepts a miserably small fee with a general practitioner who charges sixpence for advice with a bottle of physic. Such a man, he says, is deservedly held in contempt. Quite so. And an author who writes for a few shillings a column stands certainly in the same rank as_ the sixpenny “doctor,” and is entitled to all the contempt, whatever that may be, which poverty deserves. But our correspondent must note that the SIX- penny medical adviser cannot be got rid of. He is necessary. So—alas!—is the sixpenny author. Tt isa lamentable fact that men and women are found to write for next to nothing. Necessity compels them; the sweater is merciless. It 1s also lamentable that many magazines are simply not able to pay those who stand above the sixpenny author. “The only way,” says my correspondent, “to exact our just dues, is to com- bine—strike, boycott, or whatever else may be the best name for sticking up for our rights. Is it hopeless to expect this?” No, it is not hopeless. On the contrary, the combination of authors for any just and reasonable object is becoming distinctly possible and even visible. | But the possibility has not yet arrived. And it must be remembered that no hard and fast rule as to what 364 is right pay for a contributor—no minimum—will ever be possible ; first, because there are so many magazines which are written for a limited circle only, e. g., the journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, a Law journal, a Cuneiform Literature journal—if there were one: and next, because so many exist which are quite poor, and are written by quite poor people, glad to take what may be offered. Ss In another column will be found the testimony of a member to the benefit he has reveived from the society. He also advocates, like Mr. Haes (Author, Jan. 1893), that the committee should do something to facilitate the publication of new books by new and unknown authors. It is one of the stock charges against us that we are helping to flood the market with new books. The exact contrary is, as our correspondent writes, the truth, that we do little or nothing for young authors. First of all, it is not part of our programme to do anything for them. We exist for the defence, not the creation, of literature. But, if we desired to help them, a thing greatly desired by many of us, what could we do? So faras I can see, nobody but himself can possibly help the young author. He often writes to me and asks for my “in. fluence”’ with editors. I know a great many editors, but there is not one with whom I have any such “influence.” Editors, strange to say, are guided solely by the interests of their papers. Nobody, therefore, can help the young author but his own wit and his own pen. At the same time, if our correspondents can suggest anything, the advice would be gratefully received. “It has been proposed that the Society should recommend works, and that publishers should accept their recommendations. Very good, and if I were a publisher I should give to the opinions furnished by the Society’s readers respectful considera- tion, but I,should still refer the MS. to my own reader. The Authors’ Club has its rooms at Whitehall Court nearly ready; the Club will take up its quarters in a week or two; the next monthly dinner will be held in the new rooms. The Directors invite all the members of the Society to inspect the rooms. The shares have been taken up very well so far; the original number, how- ever, is not yet allotted. The design of the Directors has been to provide a club which shall be simple in its fittings, good in everything provided, and extremely cheap. Every member will be supposed to know every other member; the situation is as central as can be desired. As a cheerful, but not a noisy, club, as a meeting- THE AUTHOR. place of men of letters, as a central place for lunch, dinner, or supper, or as a place for quiet work, it is hoped to make the club attractive and pleasant. The “ Uncut Leaves” will continue. The Chairman is Mr. Oswald Craufurd, C.MG. The Honorary Secretary is Mr. Douglas Sladen, Is marriage fit for literary men? The question is treated in a little volume published in the year 1769 by one P.H.M.D. It professes to be a trans- lation from the Italian of one Cocchi, formerly a physician, of Florence. The subject is treated from many points of view: that of passion; that of affec- tion; that of friendship; that of esteem ; that of the weakness and frivolity of women—our author is not polite to the other sex—and many others. The literary man, it appears from the book, is unfit for the state of marriage for many reasons. He cannot bear the ignorance and the folly of women, their love of fashion, their ungoverned tempers— the author was an Italian—the necessity of re- ducing a shrew to silence is “ most disagreeable to a thinking and literary man.’’ He cannot bear the expense and trouble of children. He does not want to be hampered with the new ties of his wife’s relations. Unless he marries a woman with money he increases that poverty which is the recognised accompaniment of the literary calling, “otherwise the poor devil of a husband, oppressed by grinding poverty, must be overwhelmed with want and misery; for a wretched man of genius, with a wretched wife and a group of wretched children, is a most shocking sight and a flagrant disgrace to literature.” Finally, the literary man must not allow his mind to be disturbed from his favourite occupations and concentrations by the light thoughts of love or the desire to pay court to a girl, or to find amusement for a wife. The question is so thoroughly and completely answered that there is not a word to be said on the other side, except, perhaps, that all the arguments apply with equal force to every pro- fession or vocation whatever. And in spite of this excellent and convincing body of argument, literary men have gone on marrying as much as any other men. Perhaps that is the chief cause of the inferior nature of modern literature. The Zimes, taking its figures from the ‘‘ News- paper Piess Directory,” points out that while in the year 1846 there were 551 journals—weekly or daily—published in Great Britain, there are now 2268; that while there were then only 14 daily papers, there are now 192; that there are to-day 1961 magazines, mostly monthly, and that 456 of these are of a religious or sectarian  THE AUTHOR. kind. The population of these islands was then 26,000,000. It is now 37,000,000. There was then one newspaper to every company of 47,000 people ; there is now one for every company of 16,300; while, therefore, the population has increased by less than 50 per cent., the propor- tion of papers to population has increased. three- fold. But even this means little, unless we con- sider the increase in circulation as well as in the number of papers, and this has gone up in- credibly. Sixty years ago the Daily News, the Daily Telegraph, the Standard, the Daily Chronicle did not exist. The combined circula- tion of the London daily papers alone must now be three-quarters of a million. And we must con- sider the vast improvements in the provincial papers. Some of them are as well written, as ably supplied with news, as imperial or national in their character, as a great London daily. Where is the house in the whole country, removed by but one step from the working man’s house, which has not its morning paper? Inthe trains, in the omnibuses, in the trams, all the people are reading—when they are not reading the paper they are reading a magazine. It is difficult to realise this vast—this enormous—increase in the area of readers; we cannot understand that men hitherto thought hardly worth considering as factors of the national intelligence, whose vote we have granted grudgingly, and still regard the act with regret, actually read the same lead- ing articles, debates, speeches, arguments, and news, as ourselves. They are taught the same doctrines; they are led by the same considera- tions. Nothing of all the changes that a middle- aged man remembers is so extraordinary as this change of Great Britain and Ireland into a nation of readers. They do not, as yet, greatly desire books; but that will come; it is, indeed, fast coming. What the influence of the demand upon literature will be one hardly ventures to predict. Enormous popularity for a few writers, certainly. What writers? Purveyors of trash and garbage? I think not. The penny novelette ? This is the literature of the servant-maid and the factory girl. They will always be with us. Men will not read the penny novelette. What will they read? Fiction? Perhaps. But it will have to be dramatic. Trash? Not much. Poetry? I fear not. History, politics, socio- logy of the simpler kind, science of some kind— books on these subjects will, I believe, become in great demand. Life to the craftsman is a serious thing ; he will read, as he works, seriously. There will also be produced for the baser sort a litera- ture just as base as the law allows. Meantime, those who consider the revolution which is quietly going on, of which we unconsciously form a part, 365 will do well to watch the popular journals, and above all, the popular magazines, which circulate, not by thousands like their respectable elder brothers, but by hundreds of thousands—and to inquire carefully into the characteristics of these magazines. For they indicate what this new nation of readers will want to read. ————$ > We are going to make an attempt to carry into effect a proposal advanced in a nother column (p. 373) and to institute in the Author a Register of Books wanted. This paper circulates exclu- sively among men and women of letters, so, if they please to make known their wants in these columns, the fact will certainly become known among our friends the second-hand booksellers, who have at present, so far as is known by the writer, no means at all of knowing what their customers are looking for. We will begin with the nextnumber. Care will be taken that the booksellers shall learn what we are attempting. Most of us have friends among these benefactors of literary men and women, and would willingly oblige them if we can. Even by reading their catalogues it is impossible for us to ascertain if they have what we want, because a catalogue does not contain a tenth part of the books which form a large book- seller’s stock, And we have no time to go about from shop to shop inquiring what they have. What isto be done with those booksellers’ assis- tints who save themselves trouble, and injure their masters’ interests, by saying that a book is out of print? Theard the other day this anecdote of a certain bookseller’s assistant in a well- known watering place. A clergyman, either in a lecture or a sermon, invited his congregation to read a book belonging to Arrowsmith’s well- known Bristol Library. They therefore asked for it at the shop. “Out of print” was all the answer they could get. One of them asked me for information as to the cause of this eclipse of the book. I wrote to headquarters at once, and learned that, as I expected, the Bristol Library is very much alive indeed. Perhaps that young man somehow will hear of it. ———— The Lady’s Pictorial announces that the Society of Authors “ will in future allow young poet members to read aloud their unpublished works at the Society’s festive gatherings!” The Society, unhappily, has no festive gatherings except the Annual Dinner, and the committee have not yet expressed their intention of having 366 unpublished poems read at the Banquet; there- fore, the Lady’s Pictorial has been wrongly in- formed. The Authors’ Club has started the “Uncut Leaves” readings, but the Club is not the Society. The writer goes on to say that the poet is sure to read his things very badly, and gives reasons for this opinion. Alas! Theory and practice so often contradict each other! There is so much of independence even in a poet. So far, the poets have read their verses admirably. Should we—it has been suggested — hold memorial lectures on our deceased members ? Why not? We should have a Tennyson—a Browning—a Lowell—a Matthew Arnold—a Wilkie Collins—a Charles Reade — Memorial Lecture. Should it be held every year? And, if so, for how many years in succession? And who is to decide upon its continuation? Should it be a plébiscite of all the members? And who should deliver the lectures? The idea is interesting, but opens up many questions. Here is a case which seems to warrant us in asking assistance from our members. The lady is one of those who write stories for girls. Her stories are very good, and, I believe, popular. TI have submitted two of them to the criticism of the age for which they are written, and have obtained a review most laudatory. I have not myself read the books, because I am neither a maiden nor am I young. This lady was attacked by influenza last year; her chest was affected ; she could do no work for many months. The Royal Literary Fund found itself unable to help her. She has two young nieces or cousins to support ; she has no private means at all ; she is too weak to undertake any other kind of work. Indeed, she can do no other kind of work. She is now in debt to her doctor and to her landlady. Perhaps some of our readers will take pity on this poor lady, and send her something. If they will have confidence, so far, in me, I will receive and forward anything, and I will communicate the name and address of the lady to the donor. A libel case was recently heard before the courts in which a close relation to the author of a certain work had been callednames. The thing is new in criticism, and introduces quite a novel terror. We may shortly expect to see the parents, brothers, sisters, children, of an author, trembling lest the daily paper should bring them, too, into the scathing review of the new book. The case, otherwise, does not concern ourselves, except for a remark which THE AUTHOR. was made by the counsel for the plaintiff. He ig reported to have said, “ Authors must, of course, in these days expect harshand brutal criticism from the Press, and the law protects them with the shield of what is humorously called ‘ the doctrine of fair criticism.’”” The counsel for the defence did not repudiate this statement, nor did the judge object to it; the statement was accepted. Dowe, then, expect harsh and brutal criticism? Is the criticism of the Press always harsh and brutal ? Certainly not. We neither expect brutality, nor, as a rule, do we receive brutality. The bludgeon is, happily, going out of use; the laws of good manners are, for the most part, obeyed, even in criticism. But one notes the statement here as showing the popular estimation of criticism. Old habits of thought are very difficult to change. An author is still, in the mind of the world, a helpless, starving wretch ; a publisher is a man with a great bag of gold, which he distributes capriciously to needy authors, losing by all his books, and getting rich on the quantity ; a critic is still a man with a bludgeon. Little by little we may change these views. Meanwhile, they linger. A correspondent tells me that the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge has adopted a new and uniform system in buying books. That is to say, they now pay £1 for every penny in the published price, or £30 for a 2s. 6d. book, £60 for a 5s. book and soon. I do not know if this infor- mation is correct, but let us see how it might work out. A 5s. book would presumably be less costly than a6s. book. Let us take off only 10 per cent. from our published estimate. Now, a 6s. book in small pica, of seventeen sheets, and about 258 words to a page can be produced, according to our published estimates, for an edition of 3000 at less than £146. Let us therefore estimate £128 for the 5s. book, and let us grant £20 for advertising. We have, therefore, the following table : Cost :— & s. d. Composition, Printing, Binding, Paper, Adver- Tsing ee 148 0 0 Author a 60 0 0 Totals Ge 208 0 0 By Sales :— Baad 3000 copies at Be. 2... 450 0 0 Profit to SPOCK oe 242 0 0 Profit to Author... 60 0 0 Now, I do not adopt my correspondent’s statement as true, but I put the case, and what it would mean, supposing it to be true. Observe that in all future editions, the whole profit would go to  THE AUTHOR. the Society. in approaching the question from the equitable There are two. simple considerations or righteous or religious point of view. First, whether the wage paid to the author is a just and proper wage, with reference to the commercial value of the work, the time given to the work, the character of the work, the position of the work- man in the craft, and the necessities of life. Second, the proportion which the distributor of the work should receive for himself, and, therefore the proportion which the creator of the work should receive. With regard to the first, there are not many who could produce two good books of this kind ina year. To give, therefore, no more than £60 could only be defended on the ground of a very limited sale. To give only £60 when the publisher knows that he is going to make four times—six times—ten times that amount is—what? Is it not, in the case of a religious society, to cumber the courts of the Temple with the stalls and tables of the money-makers? I shall be glad to hear that my correspondent has been misinformed. So At last—after all these years—there is to be a life of Douglas Jerrold, with his letters. It is very much to be regretted that, while there are still two or three authors living who remember that group of writers of which he was one, some account of the literary circles of the Forties and the Fiftics has not before this been written down. The life abovementioned will be written by Mr. Walter Jerrold. In every college and in every University, except Cambridge, there is a Professor of English Literature. But I have never heard that any single Professor in any college or university, English or American, has ever given a course of lectures on the History and Development of the Novel. Single lectures by professors and critics have undoubtedly been delivered. And we all know that when subjects are lacking, an article on the Decay of the Modern Novel by one who cannot write novels and never reads any ; or by one who has written novels and failed; can always be put into a magazine to fill up. But, so far, learned Pro- fessors have avoided the subject, being themselves, probably, under the illusion so beautifully ex- pressed by a recent lady writer in the Spectator that novels grow of their own accord, and that the novelist has only to sit down and write. Strange, that a Fine Art should have grown up all over the world in. the last two hundred years without the least recognition until recently—and even now only grudgingly—that it is one of the Fine Arts! Mr. Brander Matthews, Professor 367 of English Literature in Columbia College, has been holding a course of lectures on the History of Fiction and the Development of the Modern Novel. He has up to the present reached the beginning of this century. He has sent me the enclosed examination paper. I pre- sume, from the date upon it, that the examina- tion was held on Feb. 7, so that no mischief will be done by publishing the paper for our readers. CoLumBIA COLLEGE IN THE City oF New YoRK. Mid-Year Examination. LITERATURE II. 1. Explain the successive stages of the development of the art of fiction from the Gesta Romanorum to Don Quixote. 2. Explain the distinction between the Rabelaisian tradi- tion and the Cervantine. Give the names of such writers of fiction as are followers of Rabelais. Give the names of such as are followers of Cervantes. 3. Explain what is meant by the sense of form. Mention several works of fiction having the merit of form; and give your reasons for crediting them with this quality. 4. Give a brief sketch of the life either of Cervantes or of Goldsmith. 5. Give a brief outline of the plot either of Clarissa Harlowe or of Pride and Prejudice. 6. Give a critical explanation for the abiding popularity of Robinson Crusoe and of Gulliver’s Travels. 7. Arrange the following in chronological sequence, giving the dates of publication and the full names of the authors : Sorrows of Werther, Tristram Shandy, Vicar of Wakefield, Humphrey Clinker, Tom Jones, Paul and Virginia, Castle Rackrent. 8. Why is the Castle of Otranto important in the history of fiction? Why is the Princess of Oleves? Why is Paul and Virginia? Why is Wilhelm Meister ? 9. Do women novelists regard life from a different point of view from men? Llustrate your answer from the novels of Madame de Lafayette, Miss Edgeworth, and Miss Austen, as compared with the novels by Le Sage, Fielding, and Goethe. 10. What benefit, if any, have you derived from this course P Tuesday, Feb. 7, 1893. oo What a fine field would be open to the Society if we could institute examinations for critics, so that no one should be allowed to criticise any- thing without our certificate! Imagine the wail- ing when the uncertificated critic should find him- self firmly put aside! For the examinations would have to be stiff. The dramatic critic would have to show that he knew the principles of dramatic art; that he had read and studied the plays of two countries at least ; and that he could himself construct a play—if not a great play, at least a play artistically constructed. And so with everything else. The Society could, as we said last month, confer those magic letters which are so ardently desired by the members of the Society mentioned below, though the Society of Authors will never, I fear, rise to the Greatness of a  368 Gown and Hood, a Ring, and a Badge; the Badge, especially, we must regret. << There exists—one is happy in making it. better known—an association known as the Society of Science, Letters, and Art, of London. The “International” Society of Literature and Science, under the management of the notorious Morgan, is immediately suggested by this title. There is, however, no connection between the two societies, and very little resemblance. Morgan’s association was a bogus: this is a real thing, é.e., it actually does, as shall be shown, what it professes to do. You can:become a “ Fellow ” of the society, and you can call yourself F.8.Sc., by sending a trifling subscription of two guineas a year. Think of being an “ F.S.Sc.”—nothing short of that—for two guineas a year! There, as the advertisers say,is Value! If you can only afford a guinea, you can still be a Member. The following is a list of the splendid achievements of the society up to the present date :—First, they meet once a month, and, after passing minutes and electing more distinguished men, who want nothing but the F.S.Sc. to complete the glory of their career, they sing songs and listen to papers. Many of the Fellows have, it 1s stated—actually, many !—written books— actually, books !—in Science, Literature, and Art. The society has endeavoured to introduce Volapuk—a most useful attempt. The society has issued a register of American colleges, a step calculated to advance enormously the cause of Science, Literature, and Art in this country. The society has photographed a map. The society has given women a new occupation—that of cameo cutting. The society has sent papers to exhibi- tions. And the society has instituted a set of examinations called the Kensington Locals. In fact, the work of this society, except for its song-singing, reads exactly like a parody of that of the Society of Arts—local examinations and all. But, as was said above, it is manifest from the account of their work that this is no bogus society. The committee do what they profess to do. But is it not wonderful that 2000 people—they say there are 2000 members— should pay two guineas a year for the sake of calling themselves F.S.Sc.? And is it not more wonderful still that schools should be found to prefer the examinations of such a body to the examinations of Oxford and Cambridge? It is, however, stated, and this is so far satisfactory, that the accounts are duly laid before the members, and “ passed unanimously.” Humph —Yes—But—are they audited and published ? We must not forget to mention that the THE AUTHOR. Fellows are entitled to wear Gowns and Hoods, and to carry a gold or silver Badge, thus resem. bling a Master of Arts, a parish Beadle, and an omnibus Conductor all rolled into one. Think of the Glory of it! 4 Atarecent meeting of the Society of American Authors (Colonet Thomas Wentworth Higginson, President) Mrs. Kate Tennant-Woods, among others, was elected a member. The importance of this election, over and above the adhesion of Mrs. Woods to the Society, lies in the fact that some years ago Mrs. Woods organised an associa- tion of ladies only, called the “ Guild of Authors,” and that by this election she acknowledges that all literary men and women should write and work together for the common object. An American magazine was so very good, the other day, as to expose the tricks, cajolements, and flatteries and arts by which autographs are procured, and persons whose autographs are desired, are induced to write letters. After this exposure, the following note may perhaps be regarded as suspicious: Dear Sir, Will you kindly tell me your opinion of Alphonse Daudet compared with Dickens as a novelist ? I see that a critic in one of our magazines says his “Sappho” is infinitely better than anything Dickens ever wrote. Tam personally unknown to you, but should like very much to know what you think of this, and trust, if your time permit, you will answer,—Very respectfully An AMERICAN ADMIRER OF YouRS. Then follows the name and address, at a “ whole- sale Dry Goods and Notions” establishment. The writer, bearing in mind the article referred to, must not take it unkindly if no answer should be sent. The book of the month is Mr. Walter Pater’s “Plato and Platonism” (Macmillan and Co.). Another book of the month is Mr. W. F. Smith’s Translation of Rabelais, noticed elsewhere. 'To this a third may be added in “Salome,” the forbidden play by Oscar Wilde. Watter Besant. Ae  THE, AUTHOR. 369 THE PROFESSOR’S PHENIX. o ATHER, couldn’t you make the story end -K there? It is such a pretty bit—it seems a pity to add anything more.” “No, no, my dear ; you don’t understand. The paragraph you want to suppress is the most important in the book. Are you ready ? Then let us proceed.” And the Professor resumed his slow tramp up anddown the room, his hands clasped bekind him, his eyes rolling “in fine frenzy” in spite of their restlessness, while he dictated certain ponderous sentences with the air of a man inspired. “There, Ihave done!” he cried at last. “‘ This, I think, should rouse the world. It will be forced to hear my voice now—though I stand on the threshold of the grave, I have strength enough left to drive the lesson home. The world must hear—must attend. This voice of mine will preach to it still when I myself have passed away ; this book will be as it were a Phcenix rising from my ashes—unique, beautiful, strong. Oh, glorious thought !” He threw himself into an arm-chair, resting his white head on his hands, and smiling to him- self; but presently he sighed. “ Ella, if this work is not recognised I think I shall die! But it cannot fa'l—it is a beautiful story. You, even you, can see that it is a beautiful story.” “Yes, yes,” cried the girl eagerly ; “ it is a beautiful story—one of which I could never tire—”’ “ Full of fancy and delicate feeling ¢ “ Full of fancy and feeling.” “And then the style,’ went on the old man, leaning forward and speaking excitedly, “ culti- vated, polished, dignitied; every word giving evidence of erudition and research. As for the message which it is given to me to deliver, do I not trumpet it forth for all the universe to hear? Why, each page contains its lesson. Iam a teacher, Ella, a teacher before everything, and this book is, I may say, an epitome of all my other work ; it is the ripe and perfect fruit of all my wisdom and experience—it must succeed.” The girl rose, and, leaning over her father’s chair, drew him gently backwards so that his head rested on the cushions. Then she kissed his upturned face. “You must rest,” she said; “your work is done.” “Yes, yes,” he assented, “it is done, and I await the reward. Make a parcel of the manu- script quickly, dear; we must send it off at once.” ” Ella gathered up the papers, and left the room stifling a sigh. For well she knew what was likely to be the result of her father’s labours, All his life he had been fanciful, and imprac- ticable, and didactic. He could indeed conceive a charming story, rich in incident, full of delicacy and tenderness; but he invariably marred it m the telling. He must needs paint his lily; he must point his moral and adorn his tale. No simple everyday language was good enough to convey his meaning; he must wrap it round in a curious antiquated jargon of his own, illustrate it with a thousand flowery figures of speech, interlard it with cheap wisdom and secondhand philosophy. He had a passion for teaching, poor, good, simple old fellow! and having long ago resigned his Professorship, and being unable of late years, by reason of his blindness, even to take pupils, he had devoted himself to the task of instructing the world at large. Treatises, essays, tales — he composed them by the dozen, and Ella’s little fingers ached with writing them ; but as he was too poor to bring them out at his own expense, no publisher could be induced to produce them, and, indeed, it is doubtful if, even in the event of their seeing the light, anyone could have been persuaded to read them. “ Dear father,” Ella would say, half pleadingly, half impatiently, “if you would only let me write your stories as you tell them to me sometimes, as we piece them together by the fire, in—in plain words, I know they would be more successful.” “ Nonsense, child! What are you thinking of? I tell them to you in that way, to give you just an idea of them; but when I speak to the world I must use language of a different kind— language that readers of intellect and learning may not cavil at.’ And another overwhelming sentence would come booming out. It seemed to Ella in her despair that every remonstrance ot hers rendered his phraseology more bombastic, and whetted his appetite for words of five syllables. “ ] think his heart will break if this book fails too!” she thought as she mounted the stars. “ And yet of course it must. Poor dear! as he says, he has put all his wisdom, all his wisdom in it—all those dreadful little bits which ruined his other books, and those terrible long words which make one feel hot all over!” She had gained her room, now, and unlocking a drawer took out the remainder of the manu- script. « Let me see, though ; perhaps, after all it is i that am wrong in not sufficiently appreciating it. Let me try to imagine myself a publisher’s reader lancing through the work for the first time.” She sat down and read half a page with a A A OIE  37° most business-like expression on her small, bright face. She was small and bright altogether, this little eager creature—small and bright and brown. Her eyes were bright and brown, too, but large—the only Jarge things about her—and very alert and intelligent. She had little quick movements, and saucy ways, and occasional flashes of temper, such tiny flashes that people only laughed at them. Her father called her The Robin, and the name suited her. “Tt’s no use!’ she sighed presently, pushing away that MS. “Oh, my dear precious old father, why will you not do justice to yourself ? ” When the parcel came back—as was inevitable —from the publisher towhom Ella had entrusted it, it chanced that the Professor was unwell, and the girl, not liking to distress him, concealed the fact of the failure of his book from him. She undid the fastenings, and glanced mechanically through the: papers. The first two or three pages were slightly soiled indeed, but the remainder were painfully, ironically clean—a very little of the intellectual feast within had apparently sufficed to satiate the reader. And yet, as Ella turned overthe pages with a kind of ind'gnant anguish, her eyes fell on the descrip- tion of what was really a pretty scene, deliberately imagined. The old man had in truth something to say if he did but know how to say it! Suddenly a thought struck the girl, so daring, so tremendous, that she reddened to the very roots of her hair, and her heart began to thump wildly. “Tl do it,’ she said. “It’s wicked, it’s de- ceitful ; it’s base in every way, but I’ll do it. He shan’t break his heart—his dear, kind old heart— he shan’t be disappointed again; his story shall be read!” She sat down then and there, and wrote out the first chapter of her father’s book in her own way and her own words. Those big eyes of hers were not -o wide open and intelligent for nothing, and those curly brown locks covered a very clever little head. Sbe had read much and appreciatively, and was, besides, endowed with a naturally acute literary sense, a nice perception of artistic pro- portion. As she went on the work interested her more and more; the characters became real to her ; and by-and-bye, not content with lopping, and paring, and reproducing, she began to develop and to create. After many days, the book was finished, and she read it through, startled at her own temerity, and yet triumphant at her success. The success was undeniable. The theme, always fascinating and now divested of its florid orna- mentation, proved itself to be a fine melody, appealing to the heart with direct and simple force. THE AUTHOR. Palpitating with anxiety Ella despatched the book once more, and one morning received a letter from the publisher announcing his willing- ness to produce it, and offering certain terms; not high ones, for it was a first book and in one volume, but fair. ; She went up to her father’s room to tell him the joyful news—joyful, but rather embarrassing too—how should she break. to him her share in the transaction ? He was still in bed, and looked very frail and feeble. “Father,” she began, hesitatingly, ““I—I have heard from the publisher, Mr. S “ Well, child, well? Don’t tell me he has sent back the book—don’t tell me! Iam not able to bear it.” “No, dear, no—it’s all right. keep it, he a “He wants to keep it!” cried the old man with a shout of triumph. ‘Oh God,I thank Thee! My life has not been without fruit afterall. I had a mission—you see, Ella, I was right! I knew I was right—and now it is fulfilled.” “Yes, but, dear father, I have not told you everything yet. There are—some drawbacks. The first publisher I sent it to—” “ There, Ella, I don’t wish to hear, Let me be happy for once—entirely happy! Don’t you know what a relief it is to make yourself heard when you have been calling a person for a long time? I have been calling, calling, calling, all these years, all my life, to a whole world full of people, and found no one to listen to me— not one! Think what it must be to know that my voice is heard at last. It isa relief and a joy; do not disturb the blessedness of it. Let me rest now; my work is done. I wish to hear nothing more until you place the book in my hand. I leave the management of all the minor details to you. Make what terms you like; correct the proofs. Ido not even want to know when they come, I might be tempted to alter and perhaps spoil my work, and it is perfect as it is. I must not change a word.” Ella’s intended confession died on her lips. How could she bring herself to wake her father from his dream of bliss? She wished now that she had not begun to practise this deception, but since, after all, it made him so happy, and since he was, alas! so easily deceived, why not carry it out to the end? Why need he ever know that this which he hugged to his bosom was not the child of his fancy, but a changeling? Nay, it was his child, after all—did it not owe its beg tohim? Ella had but dressed it in other clothes. So she said, trying to comfort herself and to quiet her conscience, for, as the days passed, she He wants to  THE found it mcre and more impossible to tell him the truth. When, however, at last she laid the little yolume in the Professor’s guileless hands, she acknowledged that it was worth while running any risks, and enduring any number of secret pangs to see the old man’s ecstacy. How he fondled the book! With what eager trembling fingers he examined paper and binding, with what a deep sigh of content be laid it down at last ! “My Phenix, Ella!” Presently he requested her to sit down and read him the story from beginning to end, and 1etiring to a safe distance she proceeded to read the original manuscript with which she had thoughtfully provided herself, blushing fiercely with shame the while, and feeling a very monster of deceit. But the Professor had:no misgivings. He sat listening with a smile, rapturously happy. Now and then he would interrupt with an inter- jection of approval, or ask her to read a sentence or a paragraph again. “That will make a point, my dear,” he would say. “You'll see. The book will make a hit.” Curiously enough it did. This youthful render- ing of an old man’s fancy had a fresh, charm- ing, unusual flavour which suited the public taste. It went into a second edition almost immediately, and the reviews were unanimous in praise. Ella’s satisfaction, however, was not unmixed ; she lived in dread of her secret being discovered, though, thanks to the retired life led by her father, and to her judicious ‘ cooking” of the notices which she read to him, there did not seem much chance of his being enlightened. But was there ever a labyrinth of which some one did not solve the mystery? Did not the Serpent find his way even into the Garden of Eden? How could the Professor remain secure in his fool’s paradise? It happened that one of his former pupils—Bodersham by name, if that matters—a journalist and critic, but still in some ways quite human—chanced to find the name of his old tutor on the title-page of a book of which he and his brother reviewers approved, and was genuinely pleased. It seemed to him, indeed, that he could do no less than congratulate his friend in person, and accordingly one day he betook himself to the small house in the little suburb, where the old man had set up his house- hold Gods. Ella was out, but the Professor received him with pleasure, accepting his congratulations with entire satisfaction, enumerating the compliments be- stowed.on the work iv question, and speaking of AUTHOR. 371 his publishers, his profits, his reviewers, with a gleeful sense of importance. “I agree with the Times,” remarked young Mr. Bodersham, presently, “the scene just before the parting of the lovers is the finest in the book. You ought to feel flattered—they have quoted nearly the whole of it. “Bh? Havethey? Let me see. Imust have missed that. I dont remember Ella reading it to me. Find it for me, that’s a good fellow. Here’s the book. Excuse the impatience of an author—a young author who has just brought out his first book! Eh? A young author of seventy-five !”” He rubbed his hands and chuckled; preparing himself to listen, and already blushing with grati- tied vanity. But, as Bodersham read, the smile died out of his face, and a puzzled and startled look came there instead. “1 —T don’t remember that bit,” he said, as the young man ceased. “ What has happened to my book? I—cannot recollect—it is strange. Go on, go on—let me hear more.’ Bodersham read on, but presently paused again. “ What an exquisite sentence!” he exclaimed. “ Exquisite perhaps, but not mine. I never wrote a word of it. Good God! Someone has been tampering with my book—that fool of a publisher, perhaps. Bodersham, for Heaven’s sake turn to the beginning of the chapter—does it open thus:—‘ There are sundry idiosyncracies easily recognisable in certain individuals, in whom an adept in pathognomy may readily detect infallible signs—— ’”’ “No, nothing of the sort. It begins with a conversation—— ” and he read a few lines. “As I thought!” groaned the Professor. “Someone has been meddling with it—it is not my book at all—not mine, but so like it. Someone has stolen my ideas, and made another work of it. Yet then again! Taat little conversation was mine. What has happened? What shall I do? There is hideous wrong somewhere, and I am so helpless, so helpless, they can impose on Us as they like. But Ella, Ella should have known !” He fell back in his chair, panting, trembling, straining bis poor sightless eyes, and at this moment Ella walked in, rosy, fresh, smiling, and laden with packages. One glance told her what had happened, and, flinging down her purchases, she rushed to her father’s side. “It’s all your fault!” she cried, glancing furiously at the bewildered Bodersham, and immediately bursting into tears. “Qh Ella, Ella child—something dreadful has happened — something inconceivable! I have IEE  372 been robbed—deceived! This is not my book— _you know it is not my book ?” “ Yes, dear, it is yours,” cried Ella, flmging her arms round his neck. “It is indeed yours—your story, and your beautiful idea, only—only a little altered and modernised. ’ “Then you knew,” faltered the old man, feebly pushing her away from him. ‘ You knew—and you let them do it!” “Oh, dearest father, how shall I tell you? and yet you must know, since people will meddle so,” pausing to scowl through her tears at poor Mr. Bodersham. “It was I did it. I, Imyself! I wrote it out and changed it.” “You did it!” he repeated, almost in a whisper. ‘ You /—because I was blind!” It was the only reproach he made her, but it almost broke her heart. She threw herself on her knees beside him, kissing his hand, and gasping out her confession between her passion- ate sobs. He accepted her caresses passively at first, but, presently, moved by her distress, he stooped and kissed her. “Poor child,’ he said, “do not ery. You meant well, and of course my work was of no use. They would not have it. -But it would have been kinder not to have deceived me. Yet I should not reproach you, for I have been deceiving myself all these years I—I thought I was a venius, and I am only—a fool.” There was infinite pathos in words and tone— pathos, and a certain dignity for all their naiveté. Bodersham, standing by the table, miserable and awkward, felt a lump rising in his throat. The Professor presently addressed him : ‘“‘ Bodersham, will you be so good as to read the book to me from the beginning? It will not take you long, and I should be grateful.” _ The young man complied, his voice, somewhat husky at first but clearing and steadying itself as he went on. Ella, turning a pettish shoulder on him, curled herself up at her father’s feet, and buried her face in her hands. He listened for the most part in silence, though he interrupted now and then with a muttered commentary, There was a moment’s pause when the reading ceased, and then Ella, raising her head timidly, saw that his face was glowing, and working oddly. “My little girl,” he said, “it is beautiful. I am foolish and old . . . but I can see that. Though I should have thought,” he added, rub- bing his nose meditatively, ‘that it might have improved it to amplify a little now and then—but perhaps I am wrong. I have antiquated notions, Iknow. Ah,” he cried with sudden exultation, ‘my little bird can sing—my little bird can sing! You are a wonderful little woman. I think that THE AUTHOR. you—you—you—are my Phenix! Yes—yes— not my book at all—but you—you—you.” M. E. Francis, CARLYLE ON THE POSITION OF LITERARY MEN. HAT had Carlyle to say on the status and organisation of literary men? Take his ‘“‘ Hero as Man of Letters,” and much will be found on a subject which has received new interest and impetus from the death of the Poet Laureate. When “Hero Worship ” was written, Carlyle felt deeply on the then gene- rally disorganised condition of society:— “perhaps if we look at this of Books and the Writers of Books, we shall find here, as it were, the summary of all other disorganisations ; a sort of heart from which, and to which, all other confusion circulates in the world.” The sage dwells for pages upon the art of writing, upon the marvellous effect of writing, the revolutions it has created in thought, in art, in politics, in government, in education, in religion. It has made democracy inevitable, “it is the purest embodiment a thought of man can have. No wonder it is, in all ways, the activest and noblest.” Admitting all this, Carlyle then goes on to pro- phecy: “If men of letters are so incalculably influential, actually performing such work for us from age to age, and even from day to day, then I think we may conclude that men of letters will not always wander, like unrecognised, unregulated Ishmaelites, among us. Whatsoever thing has virtual unnoticed power will cast off its wrap- pages, bandages, and step forth one day with palpably articulated, universally visible power. That one man wear the clothes, and take the wages, of a function which is done by quite another: there can be no profit in this; this is_ not right, it is wrong. And yet, alas! the making of it right,—what a business, for long times -to come. Sure enough this that we call Organisa- tion of the Literary Guild is still a great way off, encumbered with all manner of complexities. If you asked me what were the best possible orga- nisation for the Man of Letters in modern Society; the arrangement of furtherance and regulation, grounded the most accurately on the actual facts of their position and of the world’s position, I should beg to say that the problem far exceeded my faculty! It is not one man’s faculty; it is that of many successive men turned earnestly upon it, that will bring out alone an approximate solution, What the best arrangement were, none  THe AUTHOR. 373: of us could say. But if you ask, which is the worst? I answer: This which we have now, that Chaos should sit umpire in it; this is the worst. To the best or any good one, there is yet a long way.” Thus wrote Carlylein 1840. He was convinced that the regulation of the literary life was coming. “This is a prophesy,” said he, “one can risk. For so soon as men g-t to discern the importance of a thing, they do infallibly set about arranging it, facilitating, forwarding it; and rest not till, in some approximate degree, they have accom- plished that ‘Literature will take care of itself,’ answered Pitt, when applied to for some help for Burns. ‘Yes,’ adds Mr. Southey, ‘it will take care of itself, and of you too, if you do not look to it?” Carlyle had in his mind, when he wrote these words, Jean Jacques Rousseau, driven to exasperation and lighting the torch of Revo- lution by his paradoxical writing ; and he might have added the name of Theobald Wolfe Tone, who, instead of fom-nting Irish revolution, might have been a British governor in some quarter of the Empire, had he been given employment by Pitt when he asked for it. But what would Carlyle have said to the reten- tion of the Laureateship? Generally he would have been in favour of it, if we may judge by his writings in these lectures on Hero worship. Not that he cared much, or at all. for money and rank. He even doubted whether there ought not to be literary men poor, to show whether they were genuine or not. But recognition of worth was what he craved for himself, and for all strong men born in the lower classes of life, ‘‘ who ought to stand elsewhere than there.’ He was con- vinced that it deeply concerned society “whether it will set its light on high places, to walk thereby ; or trample it under foot and scatter it in all ways of wild waste (not without conflagration) as here- tofere. Light (he continues) is the one thing wanted for the world. Put wisdom in the head of the world, the world will fight its battles vic- toriously, and be the best world man can make it.” If light is the one thing wanted for the world, we may well ask why hesitate to put it on a candlestick, that it may give light unto all who are in the House of Literature, and out- side it too? All that need be insisted on is that the best candle be placed in the candlestick. We must have the best illuminant in our Poetic Beacon. Po. B: eo CORRESPONDENCE. iE A RectsterR oF Books WANTED. PREGNANT thought arises out of the fact that the writer of these lines, in common, no doubt, with many other members of his club (which contains a fair number of literary men) is in the habit of receiving from dealers in second-hand books, not only in London but in some provincial towns, printed catalogues of the works they have to offer, comprising several hundreds in number, and alphabetically arranged as regards, the names of their authors. The compilation of these lists, including a short description of contents of each book and a statement of price, must be for certain a work involving very con-. siderable time and labour, and the revision of the proofs must require exceeding accuracy and care. It would be, perhaps, a safe guess to say that the mere cost price of each catalogue cannot be much under 2d., to say nothing of postage. How many of the receivers of these lists ever buy (if at all) or even peruse them, there is no means of knowing. The writer, indeed, does make a habit of glancing through them; and very occasionally he makes a purchase. Not having that amount of spare time or money which should make him wish to possess books. or- indeed a library wherein to place them, he is obliged to content himself with the large facili- ties for the reading of books offered by public libraries. Still he does want a book sometimes, but he is willing te give for it only a fair second- hand price. How can his want be met? He may collect these catalogues by the score or by the hundred, or. visit shop after shop in. a vain. search for it; and all the while it may be lying in some shop down a back street within a few yards of the ground over which he has just passed. It seems to me that the present plan inverts the whole process by which —as proved by Beecham, Pears, and others—the old adage has, been falsified, and now “Supply [er rather the advertisement of it] creates the demand.” Every one wants soap; millions want—or think they want—pills ; and the public buy. the article the name of which is stamped on their brain. But these puffers advertise one thing only; and the cost to them, when divided among the millions who read, who cannot help reading, is almost as a drop of water in the ocean. On the other hand, the booksellers spend, say, 2d. or 3d. in. sending-to a few individuals catalogues of several o14 hundred books, of which the great majority need not one, and by chance a single person, here or there, may want one or two. What is required is a catalogue (or register) of “hooks wanted,” properly classified and arranged, the fee paid by the “ wanter” for imsertion being divided between him and the “supplier” on completion of the bargain. The scheme would require organisation, and, probably, in the end an office and a staff. I can only here indicate the bare outlines of such a scheme; but I enter- tain no shadow of a doubt that, if once properly started and supported by the hearty co-operation of the second-hand booksellers, they would save many thousands of pounds in the cost of all but useless catalogues, and gain many other thou- sands in the quicker and better sale of ‘ Books wanted,’ which now cumber their shelves and lie there year after year, representing so much sunk capital and a prey to dust, moth, damp, and the destructive habits of rats and mice. E. F. Wourerstan. + II. MissTaTEMENTS IN REVIEW. You have, I think, expressed the opinion in the Author, that the reviews written about a book influence to some extent its sale. If this is the case, it is the duty of a reviewer to be careful as to the accuracy of his statements; it is also, I venture to think, the duty of an editor to allow space to an author to correct any misstatements which have appeared in a review in his paper, always supposing that the nature of the paper in question admits of letters or explanatory para- graphs. The same publicity ought m common fairness to be given to the correction of a mis- statement as was given to the misstatement itself. This, unfortunately, does not appear to be the opinion of the editor of the Atheneum. Some weeks ago (Dec. 10, 1892) a notice of a book of mine—* Animal Coloration ’—was published in that review. The reviewer said that I bad not given “references” to the investigations of a certain physiologist, and expatiated upon this supposed omission to the extent of one-third of the whole notice, thereby perhaps giving the impression that my book was defective in an important particular. As a matter of fact, I had referred both to the name of the physiologist and to the journal where most of his papers were to be found. I accordingly wrote to the editor and pointed this out, in a perfectly civil way, begging him to correct the error. At first he declined to do anything, stating that the reviewer saw no reason for altering anything written, since I had THE AUTHOR. not given any account of the discoveries mentioned. I wrote again to the editor, suggesting that a reference to an author and his work and a discussion of his results were two very different things; finally he published (Feb. 3, 1893), not a letter stating the bare facts which I had sent him, but a paragraph grudgingly admitting that I had mentioned the name of the author in question, but omitting to mention the equally important fact that I had given a reference to the journa! where the author’s papers were pub- lished; in fact, having said in the notice that I had neglected a reference, he preferred to stick to that misstatement. Frank E. Bepparp. TI. Tur EXaMpLeE OF RICHARD SAVAGE. There is one aspect of the perennial author- publisher question which we might sometimes consider with ourselves. Just 150 years ago John- son sent forth his admirable “ Life of Savage,” which was republished in the still more admir- able “Lives of the Poets” some six-and-thirty ears later. Speakivg of Savage’s production “ The Wanderer,” he said : From a poem so diligently laboured, and so successfully finished, it might be reasonably expected that he should have gained considerable advantage; nor can it, without some degree of indignation and concern, be told that he sold the copy for ten guineas, of which he afterwards returned two, that the two last sheets of the work might be re- printed; of which he had, in his absence, intrusted the correction to a friend, who was too indolent to perform it with accuracy. That he sold so valuable a performance for so small a price was not to be imputed either to necessity (by which the learned and ingenious are often obliged to submit to very hard conditions), or to avarice (by which the book- sellers are frequently incited to oppress that genius by which they are supported), but to that intemperate desire of pleasure and habitual slavery to his passions which involved him [Savage] in many perplexities. He happened at that time to be engaged in the pursuit of some trifling gratifica- tion, and, being without money for the present occasion, sold his poem to the first bidder—and perhaps for the first price that was proposed—and would probably have been content with less, if less had been offered him. Authors have a great deal of human nature in them; so, indeed, have publishers, but it shows itself in a different aspect. Savage’s particular exhibition of human nature is perhaps incurable, ineradicable; but had he been in the habit of resorting to an Authors’ Syndicate, it is just possible that his feet would have turned quite naturally in that direction, and deposited the copy of “The Wanderer” in its safe custody ; finding there, too, perhaps—waiting for him from some such previous famous performance as “The  THE AUTHOR. 375 Author to be Let ”’—the means for his “ trifling gratification.” And the mention of that last pamphlet, which Johnson said “ would do honour to the greatest names,” leads one to add the confession that we still have our Iscariot Hackneys with us, and that some of them do now attack the Society of Authors, and ring the changes, with ‘“ damned iterations ” unartful aid on the dull, short list of oft-refuted empty charges against it. Johnson sometimes used strong language, and he described Iscariot Hackney as “a prostitute scribbler.” ee LV: Tnaccuracy IN Fiction. If room could be found in the pages of the Author, it would be interesting to know what opinions some of our leading authors hold re- specting inaccuracy in fiction, and the duty of the novelist to be exact in his handling of circum- stances drawn from real life. Perhaps an instance should be cited. This one I read, not long since, in an exceedingly clever and successful tale. Two people rush to catch a certain train leaving a London terminus. A gate is slammed behind them so that a third person cannot follow. The time of the departure of the train has also been advanced ten minutes. These circumstances completely account for very impor- tant incidents which follow. But the time of the departure of important trains isnot advanced by ten minutes without great care being taken to inform the public of the fact, and here a man who made due inquiries at the terminus a few days before is ignorant of it, and, as a fact, no gate prevents access to the platform from which this train starts. I speak from expe- rience, haviog travelled by it. Now anyone who reads many novels will be able to think of similar instances of inaccuracy. It would be vastly convenient to be permitted to take such liberties, when the exigencies of the tale demanded them. Are they to be held legiti- mate? I can perfectly understand the man who says, “Tf the tale be a good tale, what do such trifles matter f” But I know others who assert that inaccuracies of this kind quite spoil their interest in a story. It was one such man that first pointed out to me Dickens’s mistake of putting red lights in front of a train (“ Dombey and Son,” chapter 55, not far from the end). A more striking inaccuracy oceurs in “ Oliver Twist” (chapter 46), where sunshine is, in the morning, reflected on the ceil- ing from blood spilled on the floor, in “‘ the faint light of breaking day.” The blood must have coagulated in less than half an hour—rather in a comparatively few minutes. If a novelist could keep blood liquid as long as he liked he could probably raise the dead. But how far does the novelist’s privilege of doing as he pleases extend ? Henry CrEssweLL. MG UnkNown WRITERS. I do not consider myself sufficiently experienced in literary matters to “suggest anything prac- tical” in the matter of authors and publishers to such a body as the Committee of the Society of Authors; but I still think that Mr. Haes’s sug- gestion that “some development and combination of work now performed by the Society, and the syndicate ” might be arranged that would facili- tate the publication of works by unknown but able writers. In every other respect save the one in question, the Society is doing immense service, and I gladly take this opportunity of bearing testi- mony to the valuable, and most cordial and kindly help it affords to young or struggling authors. Substantial help, as I hope the malig- nant critic of the Daily Chronicle will duly note, so far from “receiving no earthly advantage” from my guinea subscription, I have, taking only the past year, received back, through the inter- vention of the Society, that exact amount (as compensation for detention of MSS.), besides payment of a much larger sum which I should not otherwise have obtained without considerable trouble and expense. This in addition to the monthly copy of the Author, and valuable advice upon various matters connected with my work. As for ‘‘a share in the management,” every member has that, through the pages of the Author, and will have it so long as criticisms and suggestions receive the courteous consideration which they do at present, e.g., the valuable sug- gestions in Mr. J. M. Lely’s recent “ Omnium Gatherum,” which will doubtless bear fruit.— Hh. VI. Times oF PaYMENT. The question of the regular times of payment to writers in magazines has been broached in the Author, and one writer expresses a pious wish that all journals should pay ona recognised date. There is another similar question on which opinion might be expressed, and this is, the times  376 of payment of accounts to authors of books. Usually, when a fixed time is mentioned, the publishers stipulate for payment every six months. This is often, it would seem, somewhat of a hardship on the author, especially if a beginner, and the book is successful. The publisher gets in his return, and holds the money. Why should not at least quarterly accounts be the rule? The difficulty of balancing accounts at least approximately quarterly should not prevent such an arrangement. Only rich men can well afford to wait six months. H. {Should not our correspondent consider the great trouble of making up accounts every three months? In cases where money is due to authors, many publishers of the first rank are constantly advancing sums on account.—Eb. | VII. Prompt PayMENTs. “W.” writes to point out certain journals which follow the good example set by most of the daily papers in promptitude of payment. He says that “we should discriminate and not class all together.” Certainly. But has anything been said which has led our readers to class all together? In that case great injustice would be committed. Surely, however, no one has been so foolish as to suppose that proprietors of great and important papers are accused of these injurious delays. The sinners are the small papers, very poor themselves, who not only have to pay little, but also seek to postpone or to avoid payment as long as possible. VIII. Tue Recorp Press Company. The manager of the “ Record Press Company, Limited,” 376, Strand, asks publicity for the fact that the company has no connection at all with the “ Literary Society,” now defunct. It appears that the Company is the third tenant of these offices since the lamented decease of that admir- able association. The “Society” has been exposed over and over again; it has been succeeded by publishing firms carrying on the same game—one, at least, still exists and still. attracts the credulous; it has been exposed in these pages, in the daily press, in every- way. Yet, says the manager of the Company, not a week passes without some one—chiefly ladies and country clergymen— applying for membership and forwarding postal orders. Why do they want to become members? Is it — like the THE AUTHOR. “ Fellows ”’ of the Society above mentioned—ijp order to wear a hood and gown and a badge? Ig it for some imaginary distinction? Is it to assist the imagination and to further the belief that the “member” is a literary person? We ought— we must, the nation demands it—we ought without any delay to create an order—a distinc. tion—for the undistinguished. It should consist of a hood and gown with a badge. Then every. body will be perfectly happy. oct “AT THE SIGN OF THE AUTHOR’S HEAD.” “ CYALOME. Drame in un Acte. Wilde.”’ The forbidden play is published at last. It appears in a first edition of 600, and-is produced by Messrs. Elkin Matthews, and John Lane (Vigo-street). There can be no doubt that the first edition will be run out in a few days, and very little doubt that copies will be at a premium a few days later. There the play is, and those who please may consider the Lord Chamberlain justified or not in his action. The poems of a young writer, whose poems are greatly extolled by those who know him and his work — Mr. John Gray — are also to be pro- duced by the same publishers in a very limited ~ edition of 250 copies. The book will be called “ Silverpoints.”’ Mr. James Ashcroft Noble, whose name is known in connection with good and delicate work, both in poetry and criticism, will immediately produce (also through Messrs. Matthews and Lane) a book of essays, called “‘The Sonnet in England.” The new Handbook (Murray) of Constanti- nople, “Brusa aud the Troad,” is edited by Col. Sir Charles Wilson, G.C.B. Mr. John Cordy Jeaffreson’s “ Victoria, Queen, and Empress” is now ready at Mr. Heinemann’s. Charles Leland’s translation of “ Heme” has now advanced to the 7th and 8th volumes. Messrs. Chatto and Windus have produced a separate edition of Charles Reade’s masterpiece, “The Cloister and the Hearth.” It is in four volumes, with an introduction by the editor of this paper. There is a new book by the author of ‘Some Emotions and a Moral.” It is called “ A Study in Temptations” (Fisher Unwin). - Mr. Andrew Lang’s new book ‘‘ Homer and the Epic,” is nearly ready. (Longmans. ) Par Oscar  THE AUTHOR. It is pleasant to notice the growing recognition of Mrs. Croker’s powers. The Times of Feb. 24 selected it for a review of a column and a quarter in length of “ A Family Likeness.” Sucha review has been a turning-point on the road to popularity for many an author. “Her tales,” says the reviewer, “are buoyant, romantic, satirical, and, above all, picturesque.” Among other good novels of the season, Messrs. Chatto and Windus have this book of Mrs. Croker’s, Mrs, Hunger- ford’s “Lady Verner's Flight,’ Mr. Christie Murray’s ‘“‘Time’s Revenges,’ Bret Harte’s “ Susy,” and Grant Allen’s “ Blood Royal.” Miss Mary Angela Dickens has produced a new novel called “ A Mere Cipher.’ The publishers are Messrs. Macmillan and Co.) ‘Personal and Social Evolution, with the key of the Science of History in the Old and New World of Thought and Opinion, containing the Mental Development of a Modern Scientist ; Sociological Miniatures of the Great Religions of Mankind: the Pedigree, Periods, Products, and Prospects of the Leading Nations of the Old and New World; and a Review of the New Revelation of the Modern Sciences which has dispelled the hereditary survivals and superstitions of Primitive Culture.” This is rather a long title, but it is copied from the title-page, and it is here repro- duced in full, because the author—‘“a historical scientist ’’—evidently desires to convey in the title an abstract of the contents and scope of the book. It is cast in the form of dialogues, in which the topics promised m the title are all discussed. It is published by Fisher Unwin. “The Scientific Study of Theology ’’ is the title of a little book on a great subject. ‘The author is the Rev. W. L. Paige Cox; the publishers are Messrs. Skeffington and Son. The work treats of the Scientific Study (1) of the Nature of God ; (2) of the Future Life; (3) of Miracles; (4) of Worship. ‘There is nothing,” the author says, “of such profound importance to man as to know what his religious beliefs should be.” That is quite true. it is also quite true that the greater part of mankind have not the power of ascertaining what their religious beliefs should be—all they can do is to apply such limited knowledge as they possess to the examination of religious beliefs offered them. The book is written with the in- tention of clear.ng ther minds and stating the case before they apply that limited knowledge. That differences in religious belief must always remain is absolutely certain, even with all the knowledge that the greatest scholars can ever acquire, but it is well to know the conditions of the problem. | Mr. Joseph Skipsey has collected his songs and lyrics. They are published by Walter Scott. These verses, by a self-taught poet, have the true ring. Their flight is not very high nor is it very long; nor are the wings of the singer. very strong; but they are sweet and pure. Among the minor poets of the century Mr. Skipsey should find a place. The Descent of Charlotte Baroness Compton, daughter of James, fifth Earl of Northampton, and Elizabeth Shirley, Baroness Ferrers de Chartley, has been examined by Isabella G. C. Clifford, her great granddaughter (Methuen). It is more than a merely genaological study ; itis the history of a house which includes among its members the Cliffords, the Howards, the Devereux, and the Comptons, with stories of each. Genealogists, heralds, and family antiquaries are not found in great numbers, but this little book should please the few to whom it appeals. Mrs. Macquoid’s new novel—a tale of modern English country life—is named “Berris.”” It will be published immediately by Messrs. Ward and Downey in two volumes. Miss Eleanor Holmes’s new novel, “‘ Through Another Man’s Eyes,” in three volumes, is now ready. The publishers are Hurst and Blackett. Miss Iza Duffus Hardy has arranged with Messrs. F. V. White and Co. for the publication of her new novel (2 vols.), called “ A Woman's Loyalty.”” It has been running as a serial in Belgravia. The author of the “ Story of a Penitent Soul” is bringing out a new edition in one volume, with Messrs. Heinemann. Mr. Dykes Campbell has completed the Life of Coleridge. It will appear in an introduction to the new edition of Coleridge’s ‘Collected Poetical Works.” Tne Life contains a great deal that is quite new, or at least much more accurate than anything previously published. And there are many poems, fragments, &c., pre- viously unpublished. ‘The book will be uniform with the Macmillan’s one volume editions of Tennyson, Shelley, and Wordsworth. A dinner at Edinburgh celebrated the com- pletion of “‘ Chambers’s Encyclopedia.” The con- tributors presented their photographs in an album to Mr. David Patrick, the editor. Mr. Joseph Hatton’s new novel, “ Under the Great Seal,” 3 vuls., will be published by Messrs. Hutchinson. A selection from the works of Jeremy Taylor has been made by Mr. John Dennis for Messrs. Innes and Co. 378 Mr. John Underhill has been engaged for some time upon a new edition of Gay for “The Muses’ Library.” It is now nearly ready, and is announced for next month. Mr. Rudyard Kipling will shortly publish a new volume of verse. Mr. William Watson, who is reported to be much better, will produce immediately a volume called “ Excursions in Criticism.” Mr. Quiller Couch has issued a book of verses called “ Green Bays, Verses and Parodies, by Q.” (Methuen and Co.) spec: NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS. Theology. A PLEA FoR TRUE Union between the Sister Churches in England and America by the joint issue of their “ Books of Common Prayer,” with the same Scripture references. Castle and Lamb, Salisbury-square. 6d. BricHt, James W. The Gospel of St. Luke, in Anglo- Saxon, edited from the manuscripts, with an introduc- tion, notes, and a glossary. Oxford, at the Clarendon Press; London, Henry Frowde. 5s. Byne, Hon. Mrs. Francis. Friends and Foes at the Cross of Jesus ;_a Good Friday Service of Song. Skeffington. CaiRD, Epwarp. The Evolution of Religion. The Gifford lectures delivered before the University of St. Andrews in sessions 1890-91 and 1891-92. 2 vols. Maclehose, Glasgow. 14s. net. CuurRcH BELLs— special part, containing the weekly numbers with Archdeacon Farrar’s course of sermons on the Lord’s Prayer, preached at Westminster Abbey. Church Bells Office, Southampton-street, Strand. Paper covers. Is. 6d. COLLINGRIDGE, Rev. C.F. 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Cambridge men will have little difficulty i in recognising this snug refuge of the ‘ploughed.’ . An ingenious plot, clever characters, and, above all, a plentiful seasoning of genial wit. The uxorious master of St. Neot's is chs armingly conceived. If only for his reminiscences of his deceased wives, ‘A Stumble on the Threshold’ deserves to be treasured. We turn over Mr. Payn’s delightful pages, so full of surprises and whimsical dialogue. DAILY News ‘The dramatic story is told ah an excellent wit. It abounds in lively presentation of character and in shrewd sayings concerning life and manners. - That study of mankind which is ‘man’ has furnished a liberal educa- tion to this genial humorist. The men and women he pourtrays move before us, as do our friends and acquaintances, distinct individualities, yet each possessed of that reserve of mystery a touch of which in the delineation of human nature, is more convincing than pages of analysis. Needham, Fellow of St. Neot’s, Cambridge—simple, loyal, gently independent—is a beautiful study. The story alternates in its setting between Bournemouth, Cambridge, and some charming spots near the Thames. The description of life in the Alma Mater on the banks of the Cam gives Mr. Payn opportunities for humorous sketches of professors and students, and he shows himself in the light of an excellent raconteur. This part of the narrative furnishes some delightful reading; we seem to be listening to the best talk, incisive, racy, and to the point. Space will not allow us to quote some of the wise and witty sayings, tinged it may be with cynicism, which are the outcome of Mr. Payn’s philosophy of life, and which are not the least entertaining part of this attractive novel.” DAILY CHRONICLE: ‘‘Mr. James Payn is here quite at his usual level all through, and that level is quite high enough to please most people. . The character drawing is good. The story of the master sounds strangely like truth. A book to read distinctly.” DAILY GRAPHIC: . . . The dramatic unity of time, place, and cir- cumstance has never had a more novel setting. ‘6 SATURDAY REVIEW: ‘A very interesting story, and one that excels in clever contrast of character and close study of individualism. The characters make the impression of reality on the reader. . Extremely pleasant are the sketches of University life.” THE WORLD: ‘‘The most sensational story which the author has written since his capital novel, ‘By Proxy.’ Never flags for a moment.” BLACK AND WHITE: . . . Ingenious and original. Mr. Payn knows how to invent and lead up to a mystery.” LEEDS MERCURY: ‘Three more distinctive characters have, perhaps, never been drawn by Mr. James Payn than in Walter Blythe, Robert Grey, and George Needham, Cambridge undergraduates, who figure prominently in ‘A Stumble on the Threshold.’” GLASGOW HERALD: ee . Mr. Payn’s latest invention in sensational episode ; “put wild horses will not drag from us a statement of the mystery. It is new and thoroughly original, and worthy of the ingenuity of the loser of Sir Massingberd.” “ BATLEY REPORTER: Is most attractive reading.” ir HAMPSHIRE TELEGRAPH AND CHRONICLE: ‘‘Mr. James Payn’s latest story, ‘A Stumble on the Threshold,’ which has been the chief attraction in the ‘ Queen’ during the last few months—where, by the way, it was most admirably illustrated—has just been issued in two handsome vols. by Mr. Horace Cox. The story is written in Mr. Payn’s happiest vein; it sparkles with wit, the characters are most unconventional. and the old, old theme is worked out on quite novel lines.’ HEREFORD TIMES: ‘‘ With all their sparkle and gaiety, Mr. Payn’s novels would not be complete without the dread Nemesis, mysterious in operation, and casting suspicion for a time on every side but the right one. The novel is thoroughly attractive, and a credit to the practised hand which penned it.’ THE OBSERVER: . Is a characteristic story, remarkably quietly told, always pleasing and satisfying, and pro- viding a startling incident at a moment when everything seems serene.’ “ London : HORACE COX, Windsor House, Bream’s Buildings, E.C. "CHEAP JACK ZITA” NEW SERIAL STORY Be S&S. SARIN G- ao U- ty. , ENTITLED . CHEAP JACK ZITA,’ Wi-h Illustrations by a Prominent Artist, commenced in the “ Queen” on Jan. 7. 384 ADVERTISEMENTS. MESDAMES BRETT & BOWSER, TYPISTS, SELBORNE CHAMBERS, BELL YARD, TEMPLE BAR. Authors’ MSS. carefully and expeditiously copied, from Is. per 1000 words. Extra carbon copies half price. Refer- ences kindly permitted to Augustine Birrell, Esq., M.P. THE AUTHOR’S HAIRLESS PAPER-PAD. (THe LeapenHatt Press Lrp., E.C.) ee Contains hairless paper, over which the pen slips with perfect freedom. Sixpence each: 5s. per dozen, ruled or plain. LITERARY PRODUCTIONS OF EVERY DESCRIPTION SS REVISED on Moderate Terms by the Author of “The Queen’s English up to Date” (see Press Opinions), price 2s. Address ‘‘ Anglophil,” Strand, W.C. LITERARY WOMAN, residing in Oxford, OFFERS BOARD and a pleasant HOME (terms Two Guineas per week) to any Lady desirous to read in the Libraries or to attend Lectures.—Address ‘“ Literary,” Messrs. Parker, Circulating Library, 21 and 22, Broad-street, Oxford. Literary Revision Office, 342, MRS. GIirdq. TYPE-WRITING OFFICE, 35. LUDGATE HILL, E.C. (ESTABLISHED 1883.) rrr Authors’ MSS. carefully copied from 1s. per 1000 words. Plays, &c., 1s. 3d. per 1000 words. Extra copies (carbon) supplied at the rate of 4d. and 3d. per 1000 words. Type-writing from dictation 2s. 6d. per hour. Reference kindly permitted to Walter Besant, Esq. Miss PATTEN, TYPIST. 44, Oakley Street Flats, Chelsea S.W. Authors’ MSS. carefully transcribed. References kindly permitted to George Augustus Sala, Esq., Justin Huntly McCarthy, Esq., and many other well-known Authors. Fire - Proof Safe for MSS. Particulars on Application. “T always stick in my ) TICKPHAST- scraps and papers with § PASTE. Ellen Terry.” Price One Shilling ; by Post, 1s. 3d. = QUEEN ALMANACK, and Lady’s Calendar, 1893, Contains a Chromo-Lithograph Plate of an Album Cover in Imitation Boule Work, Winter Comforts in Knitting and Crochet, Designs for Pyrographic, Hand-painted, or Inlaid Work, and Bent Iron Work. &c. The ‘‘ Queen ” Office, Windsor House, Bream’s-buildings, E.C. TWENTY-FOURTH ISSUE. Now ready, super-royal 8vo., price 15s., post free. CROCKFORD'S CLERICAL DIRECTORY HOF 1892 Being a Statistical Book of Reference for Facts relating to the Clergy in England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland. and the Colonies, WITH A FULLER INDEX RELATING TO PARISHES AND BENEFICES THAN ANY EVER YET GIVEN TO THE PUBLIC. LONDON: HORACE COX, WINDSOR HOUSE, BREAM’S BUILDINGS, E.C. COX’S ARTS OF READING, WRITING, AND SPEAKING. LETTERS TO A LAW STUDENT. BY Tem LATE ME. SHRIBANT COX. RE-ISSUE (SIXTH THOUSAND). PRICE 7s. 6d. LONDON: HORACE COX, “LAW TIMES” OFFICE, WINDSOR HOUSE, BREAM’S BUILDINGS, E.C. Printed and Published by Horacz Cox, Windsor House, Bream’s-buildings, London, E.C, 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, Vol. 03 Issue 10 (March 1893) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 03 Issue 10 (March 1893) Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1893-03-01-The-Author-3-10 publications The Author