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276	https://historysoa.com/items/show/276	The Author, Vol. 05 Issue 12 (May 1895)	<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=%3Cem%3EThe+Author%3C%2Fem%3E%2C+Vol.+05+Issue+12+%28May+1895%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 05 Issue 12 (May 1895)</a>			<a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015013732253" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015013732253</a>								<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Publication">Publication</a>	1895-05-01-The-Author-5-12					305–332																		<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=5">5</a>											<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1895-05-01">1895-05-01</a>							12			18950501	C be El u t b or,<br /> (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors.<br /> Monthly.)<br /> CON DUCTIED BY WALTER BES ANT.<br /> VoI. W.-No. 12.]<br /> MAY 1, 1895.<br /> [PRICE SIXPENCE.<br /> For the Opinions earpressed in papers that are<br /> signed or initialled the Authors alone are<br /> responsible. None of the papers or para-<br /> graphs must be taken as eaſpressing the<br /> collective opinions of the committee unless<br /> they are officially signed by G. Herbert<br /> Thring, Sec.<br /> *-*. --&gt;<br /> * = -<br /> HE Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all<br /> remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and<br /> requests that all members not receiving an answer to<br /> important communications within two days will write to him<br /> without delay. All remittances show.ld be crossed Union<br /> Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered<br /> letter only.<br /> Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on<br /> all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub-<br /> jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are<br /> returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS.<br /> *-* -º<br /> a- - -<br /> WARNINGS AND ADWICE.<br /> I. RAWING THE AGREEMENT.-It is not generally<br /> understood that the author, as the vendor, has the<br /> absolute right of drafting the agreement upon<br /> whatever terms the transaction is to be carried out.<br /> Authors are strongly advised to exercise that right. In<br /> every form of business, this among others, the right of<br /> drawing the agreement rests with him who sells, leases, or<br /> has the control of the property.<br /> 2. SERIAL RIGHTS.—In selling Serial Rights remember<br /> that you may be selling the Serial Right for all time; that<br /> is, the Right to continue the production in papers. If you<br /> object to this, insert a clause to that effect.<br /> 3. STAMP You R AGREEMENTs. – Readers are most<br /> URGENTLY warned not to neglect stamping their agreements<br /> immediately after signature. If this precaution is neglected<br /> for two weeks, a fine of £10 must be paid before the agree-<br /> ment can be used as a legal document. In almost every<br /> case brought to the secretary the agreement, or the letter<br /> which serves for one, is forwarded without the stamp. The<br /> author may be assured that the other party to the agree-<br /> ment seldom neglects this simple precaution. The Society,<br /> to save trouble, undertakes to get all the agreements of<br /> members stamped for them at no ea&#039;pense to themselves<br /> eacept the cost of the stamp.<br /> - WOL. W.<br /> 4. ASCERTAIN WHAT A PROPOSED AGREEMENT GIVES To<br /> BOTH SIDES BEFORE SIGNING IT.-Remember that an<br /> arrangement as to a joint venture in any other kind of busi-<br /> ness whatever would be instantly refused should either party<br /> refuse to show the books or to let it be known what share he<br /> reserved for himself.<br /> 5. LITERARY AGENTS.—Be very careful. You cannot be<br /> too careful as to the person whom yow appoint as your<br /> agent. Remember that you place your property almost un-<br /> reservedly in his hands. Your only safety is in consulting<br /> the Society, or some friend who has had personal experience<br /> of the agent. Do not trust advertisements alone.<br /> 6. COST OF PRODUCTION.--Never sign any agreement of<br /> which the alleged cost of production forms an integral part,<br /> until you have proved the figures.<br /> 7. CHOICE OF PUBLISHERS.–Never enter into any cor-<br /> respondence with publishers, especially with those who ad-<br /> vertise for MSS., who are not recommended by experienced<br /> friends or by this Society.<br /> 8. FUTURE WORK.—Never, on any account whatever,<br /> bind yourself down for future work to anyone.<br /> 9. PERSONAL RISK.—Never accept any pecuniary risk or<br /> responsibility whatever without advice.<br /> IO. REJECTED MSS.—Never, when a MS. has been re-<br /> fused by respectable houses, pay others, whatever promises<br /> they may put forward, for the production of the work.<br /> II. AMERICAN RIGHTS.—Never sign away American<br /> rights. Keep them by special clause. Refuse to sign any<br /> agreement containing a clause which reserves them for the<br /> publisher, unless for a substantial consideration.<br /> 12. CESSION OF COPYRIGHT.-Never sign any paper,<br /> either agreement or receipt, which gives away copyright,<br /> without advice.<br /> I3. ADVERTISEMENTS. —- Keep some control over the<br /> advertisements, if they affect your returns, by a clause in<br /> the agreement.<br /> 14. NEVER forget that publishing is a business, like any<br /> other business, totally unconnected with philanthropy,<br /> charity, or pure love of literature. You have to do with<br /> business men. Be yourself a business man.<br /> Society&#039;s Offices :—<br /> 4, PORTUGAL STREET, LINCOLN&#039;s INN FIELDs.<br /> * -- ~ *-*<br /> HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY,<br /> I. VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive<br /> advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub.<br /> lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his<br /> business or the administration of his property. If the advice<br /> F F 2<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 306 (#320) ############################################<br /> <br /> 306<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor, the member<br /> has a right to an opinion from the Society&#039;s solicitors. If the<br /> case is such that Counsel’s opinion is desirable, the Com-<br /> mittee will obtain for him Counsel’s opinion. All this<br /> without any cost to the member.<br /> 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright<br /> and publisher&#039;s agreements do not generally fall within the<br /> experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple<br /> to use the Society first—our solicitors are continually<br /> engaged upon such questions for us.<br /> 3. Send to the office copies of past agreements and past<br /> accounts with the loan of the books represented. This is in<br /> order to ascertain what has been the nature of your agree-<br /> ments, and the results to author and publisher respectively<br /> so far. The Secretary will always be glad to have any<br /> agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The infor-<br /> mation thus obtained may prove invaluable.<br /> 4. If the examination of your previous business trans-<br /> actions by the Secretary proves unfavourable, you should<br /> take advice as to a change of publishers.<br /> 5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro-<br /> posed document to the Society for examination.<br /> 6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in<br /> the case of fraudulent houses—the tricks of every publish-<br /> ing firm in the country.<br /> 7. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you<br /> are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are<br /> reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing<br /> the best interests of literature in promoting the indepen-<br /> dence of the writer. -<br /> 8. Send to the Editor of the Author notes of everything<br /> important to literature that you may hear or meet with.<br /> 9. The committee have now arranged for the reception of<br /> members’ agreements and their preservation in a fireproof<br /> safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as con-<br /> fidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who<br /> will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers:—(1)<br /> To read and advise upon agreements and publishers. (2) To<br /> stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon<br /> them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments<br /> due according to agreements.<br /> &gt;<br /> º:<br /> THE AUTHORS’ SYNDICATE,<br /> TEMBERS are informed:<br /> I. That the Authors&#039; Syndicate takes charge of<br /> the business of members of the Society. That it<br /> submits MSS. to publishers and editors, concludes agree-<br /> ments, examines, passes, and collects accounts, and, gene-<br /> rally, relieves members of the trouble of managing business<br /> details. -<br /> 2. That the terms upon which its services can be secured<br /> will be forwarded upon detailed application.<br /> 3. That the Authors&#039; Syndicate works only for those<br /> members of the Society whose work possesses a market<br /> value.<br /> 4. That the Syndicate can only undertake any negotiations<br /> whatever on the distinct understanding that those negotia-<br /> tions are placed eaclusively in its hands, and that all<br /> communications relating thereto are referred to it.<br /> 5. That clients can only be seen by the Director by<br /> appointment, and that, when possible, at least two days&#039;<br /> notice should be given.<br /> 6. That every attempt is made to deal with all communi-<br /> cations promptly. That stamps should, in all cases, be sent<br /> to defray postage.<br /> 7. That the Authors&#039; Syndicate does not invite. MSS.<br /> without previous correspondence ; does not hold itself<br /> responsible for MSS. forwarded without notice; and that<br /> in all cases MSS. must be accompanied by stamps to defray<br /> postage.<br /> 8. That the Syndicate undertakes arrangements for<br /> lectures by some of the leading members of the Society;<br /> that it has a “Transfer Department’’ for the sale and<br /> purchase of journals and periodicals; and that a “Register<br /> of Wants and Wanted &#039;&#039; is open. Members are invited to<br /> communicate their requirements to the Manager.<br /> There is an Honorary Advisory Committee, whose services<br /> will be called upon in any case of dispute or difficulty. It<br /> is perhaps necessary to state that the members of the<br /> Advisory Committee have no pecuniary interest whatever in<br /> the Syndicate.<br /> NOTICES.<br /> HE Editor of the Awthor begs to remind members of the<br /> Society that, although the paper is sent to them free<br /> of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very<br /> heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great<br /> many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest<br /> 6s. 6d. subscription for the year.<br /> The Editor is always glad to receive short papers and<br /> communications on all subjects connected with literature<br /> from members and others. Nothing can do more good to<br /> the Society than to make the Author complete, attractive,<br /> and interesting. Will those who are willing to aid in this<br /> work send their names and the special subjects on which<br /> they are willing to write P<br /> Communications for the Author should reach the Editor<br /> not later than the 21st of each month.<br /> All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether<br /> members of the Society or not, are invited to communicate<br /> to the Editor any points connected with their work which<br /> it would be advisable in the general interest to publish.<br /> Members and others who wish their MSS. read are<br /> requested not to send them to the Office without previously<br /> communicating with the Secretary. The utmost practicable<br /> despatch is aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in<br /> which they are received. It must also be distinctly under-<br /> stood that the Society does not, under any circumstances,<br /> undertake the publication of MSS.<br /> The Authors’ Club is now open in its new premises, at<br /> 3, Whitehall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary<br /> for information, rules of admission, &amp;c.<br /> Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they<br /> have paid their subscriptions for the year P If they will do<br /> this, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker&#039;s<br /> order, it will greatly assist the Secretary, and save him the<br /> trouble of sending out a reminder. º<br /> Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the<br /> warning numbered (8). It is a most foolish and may be a<br /> most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding<br /> for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they<br /> would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five<br /> years to come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest<br /> or dishonest? Of course they would not. Why then<br /> hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign them-<br /> selves into literary bondage for three or five years P<br /> Those who possess the “Cost of Production ” are<br /> requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 15<br /> per cent. This means, for those who do not like the trouble<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 307 (#321) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 3O7<br /> of “doing sums,” the addition of three shillings in the<br /> pound on this head. In other words, if the cost of binding<br /> is set down in our book at eight pounds, to this must now be<br /> added twenty-four shillings more, so that it now stands<br /> at £948. The figures in our book are as near the exact<br /> truth as can be procured; but a printer&#039;s, or a binder&#039;s,<br /> bill is so elastic a thing that nothing more exact can be<br /> arrived at.<br /> Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged<br /> in the “Cost of Production” for advertising. Of course, we<br /> have not included any sums which may be charged for<br /> inserting advertisements in the publisher&#039;s own magazines,<br /> or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too<br /> often go, there is nothing to prevent the publisher from<br /> sweeping the whole profits of a book into his own pocket,<br /> by inserting any number of advertisements in his own<br /> magazines, and by exchanging with others. Some there are<br /> who call this a form of fraud; it is not known what those<br /> who practise this method of swelling their own profits call it.<br /> *-*. --&gt;<br /> sº- ºr -ºss<br /> LITERARY PROPERTY.<br /> I.—CANADIAN COPYRIGHT.<br /> Ottawa, April 14.<br /> HE collection by Customs officials of the 12%<br /> per cent. author&#039;s royalty on reprints of<br /> British copyright works brought into<br /> Canada will not cease until the present Parlia-<br /> ment is dissolved. The view is now held by<br /> departmental experts that, until England consents<br /> to a Canadian copyright law, the royalty must be<br /> collected, as an Imperial statute cannot be over-<br /> ridden by a mere Canadian enactment.—Times,<br /> April 15, 1895.<br /> In the House of Commons at Ottawa yesterday,<br /> the Hon. G. E. Foster, Minister of Finance,<br /> announced that at the request of the Imperial<br /> Government a Canadian representative would be<br /> sent to England to discuss the copyright question<br /> personally with the Imperial authorities for the<br /> purpose of coming to an understanding. In the<br /> meantime the proclamation of the Canadian<br /> Copyright Act of 1889 would be withheld.—<br /> Times, April 23, 1895.<br /> II.—THE CANADIAN CASE.<br /> “Certain erroneous statements,” it is stated,<br /> “having been circulated with regard to the<br /> Canadian Copyright Act of 1889, it has been<br /> deemed advisable by the Copyright Association<br /> of Canada to issue the following statement:”<br /> The Canadian Copyright Act of 1889 was<br /> unanimously passed by the Parliament of<br /> Canada, and assented to by the Governor-<br /> General. -<br /> The Act was to come into operation on pro-<br /> clamation of the Governor-General.<br /> The Governor-General has not yet proclaimed<br /> the Act.<br /> The Canadian Government contend that they<br /> have the right to legislate fully on copyright, it<br /> being one of the classes of subjects intrusted to<br /> º Parliament of Canada by the B.N.A. Act of<br /> 1867.<br /> The following are among the reasons why the<br /> Act should be proclaimed:<br /> A Copyright analogous to a Patent.<br /> A copyright is analogous to a patent.<br /> Canadian Copyright Act is analogous to<br /> the Canadian Patent Act. The Patent Act<br /> requires manufacture in Canada. The Imperial<br /> Government did not disallow the Patent Act.<br /> The Imperial Government would not propose that<br /> a United States patentee, on securing the British<br /> patent, should thereby secure the Canadian patent.<br /> Why should the Imperial Government assure the<br /> United States author, that on securing copyright<br /> in Great Britain, he thereby secures copyright in<br /> Canada? Canada exclusively legislates as to the<br /> terms on which patents may be secured in Canada.<br /> Canada should be permitted to exercise the same<br /> powers as to the terms on which copyrights may<br /> be secured in Canada.<br /> The<br /> Canadian Market must not be sold.<br /> The United States publisher when buying from<br /> a British author the copyright for the United<br /> States, stipulates that Canada shall be included.<br /> Canadians resent this sale of their market, and<br /> persist in their claim to adopt such legislation as<br /> will put a stop thereto.<br /> Canadian Reprints cannot flood other Markets.<br /> The fear that Canadian publishers would flood<br /> the British and United States markets with cheap<br /> editions, is utterly unfounded, as the Copyright<br /> Acts of those countries prohibit the importation<br /> and sale of unauthorised editions, and impose a<br /> heavy penalty for violation of the law. Canadian<br /> publishers, therefore, could not flood either<br /> market with cheap editions.<br /> It has happened that orders for books sent to<br /> London have been returned with “cannot supply.”<br /> marked thereon, thus forcing Canadians to buy<br /> those books from the United States publishers.<br /> On the other hand, the British publisher prints<br /> a cheap edition of a work by a United States<br /> author. This cheap edition is exported to Canada.<br /> An illustration on this point is furnished in the<br /> case of F. Marion Crawford&#039;s book, “The<br /> Ralstons.” This book was published in the<br /> United States at 2 dollars. It was published<br /> simultaneously in Great Britain at 12s. But the<br /> British publishers printed a cheap Colonial edition<br /> which sold in Canada for 75 cents. This cheap<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 308 (#322) ############################################<br /> <br /> 308<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> edition was on sale in Canada within a day or<br /> two after the publication of the United States<br /> 2 dollar edition. Here, then, is a British<br /> publisher issuing a cheap paper edition for sale<br /> in Canada—when one of the main objections of<br /> the opponents of the Canadian Act, which is<br /> made to do duty on every occasion, is that the<br /> Canadian publisher will issue cheap paper<br /> editions which will flood the United States<br /> market in competition with the more expensive<br /> United States editions ! . It must be distinctly<br /> understood, however, that this cheap paper edition,<br /> which is sold in Canada, does not flood the United<br /> States market, for the very excellent reason,<br /> already stated, that the United States Copyright<br /> Act prohibits its importation or sale in the United<br /> States.<br /> Imports allowed from Britain.<br /> The Canadian Act permits the importation of<br /> British editions of works, whether copyrighted<br /> here or published under the royalty clause of<br /> the Act; but excludes foreign editions.<br /> No Piracy in Canadian Act.<br /> Should the author (be he British or American)<br /> neglect to secure copyright in Great Britain, any<br /> publisher may reprint the work there without<br /> paying the author.<br /> Should the author neglect to secure copyright<br /> in the United States, any publisher may reprint<br /> the work there without paying the author.<br /> Should the author neglect to secure copyright<br /> in Canada, no Canadian publisher could reprint<br /> the work in Canada without paying the author<br /> Io per cent. royalty.<br /> It is therefore clearly seen that while the<br /> British and United States Acts permit the piracy<br /> of authors’ works, the Canadian Act does not.<br /> The Royalty Clause.<br /> The introduction of the royalty clause in the<br /> Canadian Act was not original with the promoters<br /> thereof. The idea was suggested by the Foreign<br /> Reprints Act, passed by the Imperial Parliament,<br /> which allows a United States publisher, or other<br /> foreign publisher, who has printed a copyright<br /> book without permission, to supply the Canadian<br /> market on payment of a royalty of I2; per cent.<br /> collected on the wholesale price of the book,<br /> which royalty goes to the British copyright owner.<br /> It was but natural for the Canadian to desire<br /> to be placed on an equal footing with the foreign<br /> publisher so far as his own market was concerned.<br /> Therefore a royalty of Io per cent. on the retail<br /> price of the book was suggested.<br /> Furthermore, many difficulties have been<br /> encountered in collecting the royalty on imports,<br /> it being almost impossible to keep a complete and<br /> accurate list at every Custom House, and to check<br /> every invoice therefrom. The collection of the<br /> royalty on reprints, on the other hand, is provided<br /> for by the Canadian Law in a perfectly safe<br /> manner, as the Inland Revenue Department is to<br /> stamp the title page of each copy of every book<br /> issued, and before this is done the royalty must<br /> be paid to the Government to the credit of the<br /> author. As a matter of fact, then, the author<br /> will exchange his royalty of I2; per cent. on<br /> imports, which is uncertain of collection, for a<br /> royalty on reprints of Io per cent. on the retail<br /> price, which is certain of collection.<br /> Geographical Position.<br /> In considering this question, the geographical<br /> position of Canada, side by side with the United<br /> States, ought not to be overlooked. This fact<br /> makes Canada&#039;s position very different indeed<br /> from that of any other British colony.<br /> Advantages given to Authors.<br /> Compare the United States Copyright Act, now<br /> in operation, with the Canadian Copyright Act,<br /> and it will be seen that many advantages are<br /> given to authors by the latter.<br /> To secure copyright in the United States, the<br /> British author must print his book there from type<br /> set within the limits of the United States, or from<br /> plates made from type set within the limits of<br /> the United States. The Canadian Act provides<br /> for no such restriction, but allows both British<br /> and United States authors to set the type in<br /> Canada, or print from plates, as they may think<br /> best. In anticipation of the Canadian Act<br /> coming into force, the Canadian Government<br /> passed a special enactment allowing plates for<br /> books to be imported into Canada free of duty.<br /> This concession was made, thinking that it would<br /> be appreciated, but those opposing the Act seem<br /> determined to ignore the concession. Yet the<br /> concession is there, and it proves that Canada.<br /> grants British authors copyright in Canada, on<br /> far more liberal terms than they can secure copy-<br /> right in the United States; and that Canada.<br /> grants United States authors copyright in<br /> Canada on far easier terms than Canadians are<br /> granted copyright in the United States.<br /> Injustice to important Canadian Interests.<br /> Canada has not only lost the printing of works<br /> by foreign authors, but is fast losing the printing<br /> of works by Canadian authors, not because the<br /> books can be printed cheaper or better abroad,<br /> but because they have to be manufactured in the<br /> |United States in order to secure copyright there.<br /> When that is done, there is no necessity for issu-<br /> ing a Canadian edition, as the Canadian market<br /> can be supplied by the United States edition.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 309 (#323) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 3O9<br /> Reading Public inconvenienced.<br /> Under the present law, the Canadian readin<br /> public are ignored, and the works of both British<br /> and United States authors must be imported into<br /> Canada, and, moreover, these editions are, in many<br /> cases, published at such prices as to put them<br /> beyond the reach of the great majority of<br /> Canadian readers.<br /> British authors are now able to secure copy-<br /> right in the United States, and United States<br /> authors are now able to secure copyright in Great<br /> Britain (which covers Canada). Therefore the<br /> copyright owners now refuse to print in Canada.<br /> They supply this market with editions printed<br /> either in the United States or Great Britain.<br /> This is considered a great injury to the printing,<br /> paper, and allied industries in Canada. It is,<br /> moreover, a source of trouble and annoyance to<br /> the people of Canada, as the British market is<br /> so far away that, after the supply on hand of a<br /> book is exhausted, some weeks must elapse before<br /> a new supply can be procured.<br /> Objections refuted.<br /> A circular, containing objections to the<br /> Canadian Act, has been recently issued in<br /> England. These objections should not prevail.<br /> The circular states that Canada has asked the<br /> British Government to sanction arrangements to<br /> take copyright in Canada away from all British<br /> authors except such as are Canadians. Such is<br /> not the case. Canada does not propose to take<br /> away copyright in Canada from British authors.<br /> The British author and the United States author<br /> may, under the Canadian Act, secure copyright<br /> in Canada on exactly the same terms as the<br /> Canadian author.<br /> It is objected that the Canadian Act will injure<br /> the value of the British edition, because the<br /> Canadian edition could be imported into the<br /> United Kingdom and the other colonies, and<br /> compete with it. But from the report of Lord<br /> Knutsford’s Copyright Commission of 1892, it<br /> appears that, at the instance of the British copy-<br /> right owners, the law of Great Britain was framed<br /> so that the importation of Canadian reprints of<br /> British works into Great Britain is prohibited.<br /> It is objected that the Canadian Act is at<br /> variance with the Free Trade principles of the<br /> United Kingdom. That may be. The Canadian<br /> Tariff Act is also avowedly at variance with the<br /> Free Trade principles of the United Kingdom—<br /> yet the British Government would not propose<br /> to interfere with it.<br /> It is objected that the Canadian Act will<br /> destroy the British author&#039;s present means of<br /> securing copyright in the United States of<br /> America. That is only an opinion. Are not the<br /> British publishers themselves alone responsible<br /> for the agitation against allowing British authors<br /> to hold copyright in the United States ? The<br /> action of the British Music Publishers’ Associa-<br /> tion in contesting what is known as the “manu-<br /> facturing ” clause in the United States Act, has<br /> done British authors incalculable harm in the<br /> United States; and if the British music pub-<br /> lishers will not accept that manufacturing clause<br /> (as British book publishers have very wisely<br /> done), British authors may yet find themselves<br /> deprived of the benefit of copyright in the United<br /> States.<br /> As to the Berne Convention, it should be under-<br /> stood that the Canadian Parliament never adopted<br /> or agreed to the Berne Convention. On the con-<br /> trary, the Canadian Parliament has twice asked<br /> that notice be given of Canada&#039;s desire that the<br /> Convention be denounced.<br /> Most of the other objections are based on the<br /> supposition that the author loses control over his<br /> work under the Canadian Act. Nothing could be<br /> further from the fact, since, by complying with<br /> the terms of the Act, authors and copyright<br /> owners retain entire control of their works and<br /> may suppress old editions, or issue new ones as<br /> desired.<br /> Canadians stand by the Act of 1867.<br /> Canadians insist on the full right of the Parlia-<br /> ment of Canada to pass and enact legislation on<br /> copyright as desired from time to time; the same<br /> as they enjoy on the other subjects intrusted to<br /> that Parliament under the B.N.A. Act of 1867.<br /> The right of the Parliament of Canada to enact<br /> and enforce its own copyright legislation has<br /> been indorsed by the unanimous vote of the<br /> Parliament and Senate of Canada; by the News-<br /> paper Press of Canada; by the Board of Trade of<br /> the City of Toronto, and other cities; by the<br /> Employing Printers of Canada; by the Typo-<br /> graphical Unions and Printing Pressmen&#039;s<br /> Unions; by the Trades and Labour Councils<br /> (comprising representatives from the various<br /> trades), by the Booksellers’ and Paper Makers’<br /> Association, and by many others.<br /> The above reasons, amongst others, for the<br /> enforcement of the Copyright Act of 1889, were<br /> laid before Sir Mackenzie Bowell, the Premier of<br /> the Dominion of Canada, and Sir Charles Hibbert<br /> Tupper, the Minister of Justice, by an influential<br /> deputation of the Copyright Association of<br /> Canada, at Toronto, in February, 1895.<br /> Signed on behalf of the Copyright Association<br /> of Canada,<br /> J. Ross ROBERTSON, President.<br /> DAN. A. RosB, Vice-President.<br /> RICHARD T. LANCEFIELD, Hon. Secretary.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 310 (#324) ############################################<br /> <br /> 3 IO<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> - III.--THE OTHER SIDE.<br /> Hitherto we have had only expressions of<br /> opinion from publishers, and politicians in the<br /> hunt for votes, and the vital point at issue has<br /> been completely ignored.<br /> It is not a question whether a wrong has been<br /> done to Canada by not allowing her to legislate as<br /> to copyright, nor whether United States publishers<br /> are to be allowed to flood the Canadian market<br /> with British authors’ works printed in the United<br /> States, but the crucial question is whether the<br /> authors, engravers, printers, sculptors, and photo-<br /> graphers of the country are to be deprived of the<br /> vast benefits of the Berne Convention at the<br /> bidding of a few clamorous publishers. When a<br /> cause is bad, false issues are always raised. It<br /> does not matter one iota to the public where the<br /> books are printed and bound, provided they are<br /> cheap and good, and it must be conceded that we<br /> can get a cheaper and better class of work from<br /> Europe and the United States.<br /> Last year I had the privilege of paying Canadian<br /> publishers about 1100 dollars for a limited issue<br /> of a work on the Patent law of Canada, some of<br /> which have been sold in European countries as<br /> well as in the United States, and my attention<br /> has been drawn to copyright matters, both as a<br /> lawyer and in my daily practice as a solicitor of<br /> patents, and my firm is even now procuring<br /> Canadian and European copyrights for a client<br /> for a work of universal interest ; so I claim to be<br /> better posted generally than the public, who are<br /> ignorant of the rights which are being thrown<br /> away to obtain this mongrel Act of 1889, by the<br /> passing of which our membership in the Berne<br /> Convention is severed, and our privileges<br /> destroyed. By simply obtaining a Canadian<br /> copyright, the protection of the courts, without<br /> further registration, is obtained throughout the<br /> United Kingdom and all its colonies and posses-<br /> sions, also in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy,<br /> Spain, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and other places.<br /> In the recent case of “ Harfstaengel v. Baines and<br /> Co. (1895), I. A. C., p. 20, “The Empire Theatre<br /> Living Picture Case,” the right of suit in British<br /> courts was conceded to a German copyrighter,<br /> although no registration had taken place under<br /> the British Copyright Act. The only condition<br /> precedent to obtaining copyright in the foregoing<br /> countries is that the formalities prescribed by law<br /> in the “country of origin” must be complied with.<br /> Ten years are allowed within which translation<br /> may be made, and authorised translations are<br /> protected the same as original works.<br /> By the British Act of 1842, copyright was<br /> obtainable covering all the colonies, &amp;c., provided<br /> the work was first (or simultaneously) published<br /> in the United Kingdom, and it was immaterial<br /> whether it was printed in the United King-<br /> dom or whether it was written by a British<br /> subject or not. This has ever since been<br /> the policy of British statesmen, who aimed at<br /> the benefit of the masses and the encourage-<br /> ment of art and literature in the country; printers<br /> and publishers could not dictate the policy of the<br /> Government to suit themselves, as unfortunately<br /> has been the case both in the TInited States and<br /> Canada. Why should Canada at the bidding of<br /> publishers, printers, and a portion of a noisy press<br /> pursue a policy of isolation and make this country<br /> take a step backward of fifty years towards the<br /> Dark Ages to pander to a few who will never<br /> benefit much by the Act of 1889, if it ever should<br /> become law P. There have been International<br /> Copyright Acts in the United Kingdom—1844,<br /> 1852, 1875—with the principal countries of<br /> Europe; the Berne Convention was merely an<br /> enlargement and consolidation of these Acts. No<br /> literary man or artist who understands the<br /> matter and the privileges which are being thrown<br /> away has asked to have the foolish Act of 1889<br /> become law; indeed it would be folly to suppose<br /> so. Canada and the United States are both far<br /> behind Europe in art, science, and literature;<br /> reputation and progress among the nations of the<br /> world do not count when the almighty dollar<br /> steps in. The United States, however, have<br /> separate international treaties with all the foreign<br /> countries named of the Berne Convention (except<br /> Spain and Luxembourg), and also with Denmark<br /> and Portugal, which are not members, while poor<br /> Canada with suicidal folly will by the passing of<br /> the Act of 1889 be completely isolated, and will<br /> not retain even the reciprocal advantages granted<br /> us by the Imperial Act of 1886.<br /> The Act of 1889 imposes impossible conditions<br /> on British authors, whose property is to be<br /> taken without their leave, and, besides that, is<br /> so badly drawn as to embody several glaring<br /> mistakes, so that lawyers will be able to drive<br /> the traditional coach and four through it in<br /> the usual manner. On a future occasion I may<br /> take this up.<br /> The official returns from the ad valorem duty<br /> of 12% per cent. on reprints of British works<br /> hitherto collected in the Camadian Customs since<br /> December, 1850, for British authors, and now<br /> happily ended, show what a farce the collection<br /> has been, and will arouse grave doubts whether<br /> much of the beggarly IO per cent, royalty<br /> provided for in the Agt of 1889 would find its<br /> way to the pockets of the British author.—<br /> Yours, &amp;c., John G. RIDOUT.<br /> Toronto, April 4.<br /> Toronto Mail and Earpress, April 6.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 311 (#325) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 3 II<br /> IV.--THE “IIVING PICTUREs &#039;’ LITIGATION.<br /> The following summary of this case was pub-<br /> lished (Friday, April 26th) by the Westminster<br /> Gazette :<br /> “What happened was this : the Empire Theatre,<br /> starting what has since become a very popular<br /> form of “show,” produced some living groups on<br /> the stage. These groups were arranged after<br /> some pictures by foreign artists, the copyright of<br /> which belonged to the fine art publisher, Herr<br /> Hanfstaengl. In due course of business, the<br /> Daily Graphic and the Westminster Budget<br /> published outline sketches, more or less rough, of<br /> the performances at the Empire. Herr Hanf-<br /> staeng1 thereupon proceeded at law for infringe-<br /> ment of copyright:<br /> 1. Against the Empire, in respect of the living<br /> groups;<br /> 2. Against the Empire, in respect of the painted<br /> backgrounds to the groups;<br /> 3. Against the Daily Graphic, in respect of<br /> its sketches of the performances at the Empire ;<br /> 4. Against the Westminster Budget, on the<br /> same ground.<br /> The fate of these proceedings was as follows:<br /> 1. Carried to the Court of Appeal, and dis-<br /> missed with costs;<br /> . Mr. Justice Stirling granted an injunction;<br /> the Court of Appeal overruled him, and were<br /> sustained by the House of Lords;<br /> 4. Mr. Justice Stirling, basing himself on the<br /> decision of the House of Lords, dismissed the<br /> case with costs;<br /> 2. This was the case decided on April 25th. Mr.<br /> Justice Stirling dismissed it so far as concerned<br /> most of the pictures, but decided that the back-<br /> grounds of two of them were an infringement of<br /> copyright.<br /> We need not trouble our readers with any more<br /> law than this—namely, that what the Copyright<br /> Acts forbid, as piracy, is “copies or colourable<br /> imitations of the painting [or photograph] or the<br /> design thereof.” What, therefore, the Courts<br /> have now decided in the group of cases in ques-<br /> tion is—(1) that living groups, posed after<br /> pictures, are not—apart from any question of<br /> painted backgrounds—infringements of copy-<br /> right; (2) nor are rough sketches of pictures<br /> such as are familiar to the public in the illus-<br /> trated papers.”<br /> W.—THE RETAIL PRICE.<br /> The following letter appeared in the Athenæum<br /> of April 8: Park-street, Bristol, April 1, 1895.<br /> It is, possibly, typical of the inertness of book retailers<br /> that the statement quoted in the Athenæum, March 23, as<br /> to 6s. novels “sold to the trade at 3s. 7#d.” is allowed to<br /> pass without comment. This is one of the misleading half-<br /> WOL. W.<br /> truths constantly appearing in the Awthor. Retailers would<br /> be glad to find someone who would supply them with the 6s.<br /> novels they want at 4s. There is evidently a good living<br /> going begging if the Author be correct.<br /> W. GEORGE’s SONS.<br /> As regards “misleading half-truths,” it is<br /> remarkable that those who speak about them<br /> never venture to correct them. The Author<br /> would like, above all things, to be correct. Why<br /> do not these booksellers state plainly what they<br /> have to pay ? How, then, was the sum of 38.7%d.<br /> arrived at as a fair average estimate of the<br /> general retail price of a 6s. book P. In this way.<br /> The general retail price of a 6s. book is nominally<br /> 4s. 2d. But 5 per cent. discount is allowed “for<br /> the account,” and thirteen are allowed as twelve.<br /> That works out at 3s. 7+}d. The fraction was<br /> reduced in favour of publishers from +} to #.<br /> It was thus intended to make some allowance for<br /> bad debts. The Society, in issuing these figures,<br /> was not considering the relations of booksellers<br /> to publishers, but of authors to publishers. Its<br /> first care, therefore, was not to overstate their own<br /> case. With this object it assumed that all books<br /> were bought at thirteen as twelve, which is very<br /> far from being the case, though, it must be<br /> remembered, in order to get at an average price,<br /> with some publishers the thirteen ordered are<br /> allowed to be of various books. If all the books<br /> were bought simply as single copies our royalty<br /> tables would have to be altered throughout, and<br /> authors’ royalties very much increased. We<br /> have, so far, received no complaints from pub-<br /> lishers as to the alleged understatement of the<br /> retail price.<br /> rº- + -º<br /> THE DEFERRED ROYALTY.<br /> HE proportion of proceeds that the author<br /> T should assign to the publisher can never<br /> be decided, once for all, on equitable prin-<br /> ciples, because no connection can be established<br /> between the author’s work and the publisher&#039;s.<br /> The former conceives and executes the book, bring-<br /> ing to his work all his knowledge, learning, skill,<br /> and ability. This is one kind of work. The pub-<br /> lisher performs the mechanical part: he sends the<br /> MS. to the printer, and he gives it the help of<br /> his own machinery in introducing the book to<br /> the world. This is another kind of work. The<br /> two kinds are incommensurable. Therefore some<br /> kind of recognised principle, adopted and agreed<br /> upon by all, is the nearest approach that we<br /> can expect to the settlement of the question.<br /> Thus, it has always been supposed, till lately,<br /> that a half profit system, in the case of any<br /> ordinary book, was as fair a method as could be<br /> devised. In the rare case of a very successful<br /> G. G.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 312 (#326) ############################################<br /> <br /> 3I 2<br /> THE AUTHOIR.<br /> work, in one certain to be in great and extra-<br /> ordinary demand, this plan would be manifestly<br /> unjust. But the half, profit system has been<br /> discredited by those publishers who falsify their<br /> accounts; for £IOO writing £I IO or £I2O :<br /> and charging for advertisements for which<br /> they have not paid. “I like the half profit<br /> system,” said Douglas Jerrold, “for there is<br /> certain to be no division with the publisher.”<br /> Discredited as it has been, it still remains in<br /> practice, especially with those persons who<br /> continue—there are not many left—to falsify<br /> their accounts. There remains, however, in<br /> the minds of authors a feeling that more than<br /> one-half of the profits ought not to be taken by<br /> the publisher; and they fondly believe that any<br /> offer made to them is based upon that principle.<br /> Nor does the publisher ever openly demand more<br /> than one-half; in certain cases he asks for no<br /> more than one-third.<br /> We have already seen in these columns what is<br /> meant by a royalty of Io, I 5, 20, or 25 per cent.<br /> Our calculations were based upon a trade price<br /> which we assumed to be general, though it was<br /> really placed somewhat too low. We shall perhaps<br /> be able to revise this table of royalties. Meantime<br /> it must be observed that it is extremely difficult<br /> for an author to get a royalty which actually<br /> corresponds to a half profit return, a fact which<br /> would by itself suggest that in many cases the<br /> accounts were falsified, and the “half profits”<br /> returned were only a fourth, or even less.<br /> We have now to consider a system which has<br /> come in of late years, and must be exposed. It is<br /> that of the deferred royalty. Under the old half<br /> profit system the publisher said, “I will stand in<br /> with you—my risk of money against your risk of<br /> time.” Under the royalty system the publisher<br /> says, “If there is any risk I take it”—of course,<br /> in most cases, there is none, or, as a man of<br /> business, he would not take it—“ and from the<br /> outset, which increases the risk, I load the book<br /> with so much royalty.”<br /> A deferred royalty at first sight seems perfectly<br /> fair. What could be fairer than that profits<br /> should be reckoned after the cost of production<br /> has been defrayed P As usual, however, the cost<br /> of production is very carefully withheld, and the<br /> mere mention of such a thing is violently resented.<br /> And, again, the publisher who flourishes his<br /> deferred royalty is extremely shy of stating<br /> what the proposal means to himself. When<br /> will authors have the courage to say: “Make<br /> me an offer showing in exact details what<br /> you propose for yourself out of my property, and<br /> what you will give me P’’ or, failing this, why do<br /> they not always bring their agreements to the<br /> Society for explanation before they sign them P<br /> Here, for instance, are a few cases of actual<br /> proposals of a deferred royalty :<br /> 1. This was the case of a very distinguished<br /> man of letters. He was asked to write a book for<br /> a certain series. Terms: Royalty of so much per<br /> cent. — a very moderate percentage — to begin<br /> after two editions of a thousand copies each had<br /> been sold. In other words, the enterprising<br /> firm calmly proposed to take for themselves the<br /> whole proceeds of two editions before they gave<br /> the author anything !<br /> 2. This was the case of an educational book.<br /> The author was offered a little cheque down<br /> with a royalty of so much—not much—to begin<br /> after many thousands (!!) of copies had been<br /> sold. Making a very rough calculation, it<br /> looked as if the generous and noble-hearted firm<br /> was proposing to make a profit of about six or<br /> seven times what it gave the author, before the<br /> moderate royalty began.<br /> This kind of business seems to be more common<br /> in educational books than in general literature.<br /> There is no reason why there should be any<br /> difference. Some educational books are costly to<br /> produce, but a book that is once established is a<br /> mine of gold. There is, doubtless, real risk<br /> attached to the publication of some educational<br /> books, though the name of the writers of books<br /> produced by reputable firms should be a guarantee<br /> of their value. In such cases, the old half profit<br /> system was designed to meet the difficulty. Let the<br /> author, when considering any proposed agreement,<br /> simply demand an estimate in writing of the cost<br /> of production and the comparative shares of profit.<br /> If he has any doubt about the document, let him<br /> refer it to the Society; of course, it must be a<br /> detailed estimate, showing the number of sheets,<br /> the size of the page, the character of the type, the<br /> style of binding, the price of stereos, and so<br /> forth. If the firm refuse that estimate let him go<br /> elsewhere<br /> The deferred royalty proposal has a much better<br /> chance of catching the ignorant and credulous<br /> author when a small cheque down is proposed<br /> than with nothing. The author thinks that he is<br /> certain to get something. This, with the fact<br /> that his book is going to appear, reconciles him.<br /> It was a publisher with a real knowledge of human<br /> nature who first invented the little cheque on<br /> account. The offer might be miserable and<br /> grasping, but there was at least something down,<br /> and the writer&#039;s vanity was flattered by the pro-<br /> duction of his book. -<br /> 3. The next is the case of a three-volume<br /> novel. The author was to receive a royalty—<br /> quite a large and handsome royalty—after the<br /> sale of 350 copies. He was at first greatly<br /> uplifted with admiration of the princely firm<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 313 (#327) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 3 I 3<br /> which had made him this magnificent offer—an<br /> admiration which suddenly vanished when he<br /> found out that no more than 350 copies had been<br /> printed and that the type had then been distri-<br /> buted. So that the generous publisher never<br /> meant him to have anything at all out of his<br /> book, and knew very well beforehand how many<br /> would be taken by the libraries.<br /> 4. The last is a case quoted in “Methods of<br /> Publishing,” in which the royalty was to begin<br /> “after the expenses are defrayed.” Nothing at<br /> all was said about any audit of accounts, and so<br /> the author was expected to take the publisher&#039;s<br /> word as to what the expenses were.<br /> The royalty system, since the Society exposed<br /> its early iniquities, has been greatly improved.<br /> Royalties are given now which would have been<br /> indignantly refused a few years ago, when<br /> ignorance of the figures enabled grasping dealers<br /> to deal with royalties as they pleased. But the<br /> deferred royalty still offers grand opportunities<br /> for grasping and greed.<br /> Now, it cannot be said that any of the cases<br /> above quoted, or any cases similar to them, are,<br /> strictly speaking, fraudulent, unless in the last<br /> case, where an opening was left for falsifying the<br /> accounts.<br /> How, then, can these cases be described P. If a<br /> man places himself in the hands of another, whom<br /> he believes to be honourable and upright; if<br /> the former, further, believes that in the manage-<br /> ment of his property he will receive a fair<br /> proportion, say half the proceeds, and if that<br /> man so trusted gets the other to sign an agree-<br /> ment by which two-thirds, or three-fourths, or<br /> five-sixths of the profits go secretly into his<br /> own pocket; if he does this, knowing ſhe other<br /> to be ignorant of the figures, how shall we<br /> describe that man P. He is, at least, one who<br /> trades on the ignorance of others, one who<br /> systematically “bests” his partners.<br /> If the royalty is to begin after the expenses<br /> are defrayed, these expenses must be laid down<br /> at the outset, and an audit of the books granted<br /> as a matter of course. This would not absolutely<br /> stop cheating, if that were attempted; but it<br /> would make it more difficult, because it would<br /> involve the assistance of accomplices. Then, as<br /> soon as the actual expenses of a whole edition<br /> are defrayed, the royalty should be 50 per cent.<br /> on the actual trade price of the book until<br /> that edition is exhausted. To repeat, it has<br /> never been argued or held that a publisher should<br /> for his share in the work be entitled to ask for<br /> more than one-half. Yet see, by the cases given<br /> above, what a monstrous share he may secretly<br /> seize by such an agreement as any one of those<br /> quoted above.<br /> WOL. W.<br /> LETTER FROM PARIS.<br /> UR young friend George Hugo, the grand-<br /> son of the poet, will in future be known<br /> as Comte George Hugo. He succeeds to<br /> the family title by the death of Comte Leopold<br /> Hugo, who was the eldest son of Victor Hugo&#039;s<br /> elder brother, Abel Hugo, the eldest son of the<br /> gallant general, Joseph Hugo, of whom M. de<br /> Ménéval, Napoleon&#039;s private secretary, writes<br /> that he was a young officer full of fire and<br /> activity, who rendered yeoman’s service to the<br /> Emperor and King Joseph in Spain, and wrote<br /> Some most interesting memoirs on the war in<br /> Spain, which were published with a preface by<br /> his eldest son, Abel. Leopold Hugo cannot be<br /> described as a literary man. He was rather a<br /> savant, with a speciality for geography, and was<br /> in high repute at the Academy of Sciences.<br /> Just before he died he asked that his little cousin,<br /> Charles Daudet, the son of Leon Daudet and<br /> Jeanne Hugo, should be brought to him. He<br /> will be much regretted by all who knew him.<br /> George Hugo, or rather Comte George Hugo, and<br /> his little son Jean are now the only representa-<br /> tives of the male branch of this distinguished<br /> family. George Hugo, by the way, is coming to<br /> London on May 6, in the company of the<br /> Daudets. Apropos of this visit, I may mention<br /> that M. de Goncourt told me on Thursday<br /> last that he did not intend to accompany his<br /> º to London. “I don’t like ovations,” he<br /> Sal Ol.<br /> Speaking of de Goncourt, one is glad to hear<br /> that next month Charpentier will publish the<br /> eighth volume of the “Journal des Goncourt,” of<br /> the strong interest of which to all those who are<br /> interested in contemporary French life, literary,<br /> social, and artistic, I have already spoken. I<br /> hear that the author has submitted the proofs to<br /> various persons of whom he has spoken in this<br /> volume, so as to avoid any such complaints about<br /> indiscretion as were made in reference to previous<br /> volumes of the same diary.<br /> Apropos of the “Journal des Goncourt,” which<br /> I may perhaps explain may be translated either<br /> as the “Goncourt&#039;s Newspaper’ or as the “Gon-<br /> court&#039;s Diary,” a barrister told me that once when<br /> defending a prisoner down in the South of<br /> France he made copious quotations from these<br /> books, with visible effect on the jury. His client<br /> was acquitted, and after the trial the foreman of<br /> the jury came to see him and asked him in the<br /> name of various members of the jury to inform<br /> them where the “Goncourt&#039;s Newspaper &quot; was<br /> published, whether it was a daily or a weekly<br /> paper, and what were the terms for subscription.<br /> The name of the barrister who told me this is<br /> G G 2<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 314 (#328) ############################################<br /> <br /> 3I4<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> Raymond Daly, himself a writer of no mean<br /> order. A volume of his short stories, to be<br /> entitled “The Gold and the Grey,” are being<br /> translated by Mr. Stewart Merrill, the American<br /> poet, and will be published in London next<br /> autumn.<br /> Admirers of Gustave Flaubert have long<br /> desired to possess an adequate life of the greatest<br /> master of prose that France has seen in this &quot;<br /> century. One is therefore pleased to read that in<br /> a few days from now we shall possess such a book,<br /> written by M. Albert Collignon, &amp; man well<br /> suited for the task. M. Albert Collignon was<br /> for many years editor of La Vie Littéraire, and<br /> is the author of numerous works of fiction and<br /> biography. Almost simultaneously with the<br /> Flaubert book he will publish a work on Diderot.<br /> But the Flaubert book will interest you and me<br /> the more, I think.<br /> A new French slang dictionary is in prepara-<br /> tion and will be welcomed by those who love to<br /> stray on the by-paths of philology. It is being<br /> put together by M. Dellesalle. It will be in two<br /> parts, French-Slang and Slang-French, just like<br /> any other dictionary of two languages. It should<br /> be useful to writers of realistic novels, and will<br /> save them the trouble of studying French slang in<br /> the unpleasant regions where it flourishes.<br /> I have another little anecdote about William<br /> Wordsworth which may interest those who are<br /> interested in this poet. A lady tells me that<br /> when she was a little girl—it is the same little<br /> girl who sent the epic and the half-crown to the<br /> destitute poet—she used to stay at Rydal Mount,<br /> and that William Wordsworth used to make her<br /> read aloud to him, not for his diversion, indeed,<br /> but in order to train her voice. “He used to con-<br /> stantly interrupt me to correct my enunciation<br /> whenever I raised my voice unduly, either in read-<br /> ing or speaking, and would quote Shakespeare&#039;s<br /> “sweet low voice, an excellent thing in woman’<br /> till I conceived a strong dislike for Cordelia,<br /> which was only removed by Ellen Terry&#039;s splen-<br /> did acting of the part.” It was rather hard on a<br /> little girl, home for the holidays, to be exercised<br /> in this way—a way worthy rather of the Blimber<br /> establishment; but Wordsworth had particular<br /> views on many subjects. It is, however, quite<br /> certain that his views on hospitality were sadly<br /> traduced by Miss Martineau, who related that the<br /> poet had told her that he received so many<br /> visitors at Rydal Mount that he could not afford<br /> to entertain them all, and that he had instructed<br /> his wife to supply tea and bread and butter only<br /> to strangers, and to charge cost price for anything<br /> else in the way of refreshment. Why did Miss<br /> Martineau say this, I wonder P. It was, of<br /> course, an utter falsehood.<br /> According to M. Jules Huret, the victor in<br /> the Huret-Mendés duel, there is in preparation a<br /> “History of the Second French Empire,” with<br /> notes by the Empress Eugenie. This should be<br /> an interesting work. I often have regretted that<br /> Baron Haussmann never wrote a history of those<br /> Imperial days, and I remember suggesting to him.<br /> that he should do so. But he said that his<br /> memoirs ought to suffice, and that he would not<br /> betray the confidence which his master had put<br /> in him, even after his death, by betraying State<br /> secrets of which, by his position and owing to<br /> his friendship with Napoleon III., he had become<br /> cognisant. No man knew better what had gone<br /> on behind the scenes during that lurid period of<br /> French history than Baron Haussmann.<br /> ROBERT H. SHERARD.<br /> 123, Boulevard Magenta, Paris.<br /> * - - -*<br /> *- - -s.<br /> NEW YORK LETTER,<br /> New York, April 13.<br /> ERHAPS the most important literary news<br /> P of the past few weeks is the announcement<br /> just made that certain of the leading<br /> professors of history in the chief American<br /> Universities, in conjunction with other historical<br /> students, have determined to establish an<br /> American Historical Review. At present there<br /> is no periodical in the pages of which the his-<br /> torical investigator really feels at home, for the<br /> little monthly Magazine of American History tries<br /> to be “popular,” and is given over largely to the<br /> amateur and to the notes and queries collector.<br /> A meeting was held in New York last Saturday,<br /> attended by representatives of most of the<br /> colleges where history receives special attention,<br /> and an editorial board was elected consisting of<br /> Professor Adams (of Yale), Professor W. M.<br /> Sloane (the writer of the serial biography of<br /> Napoleon now appearing in the Century), Mr.<br /> J. B. McMaster (the author of the “History of<br /> the American People,” the fourth volume of<br /> which the Appletons have just published), Pro-<br /> fessor H. Morse Stephens (of Cornell), and<br /> Professor A. B. Hart (of Harvard). It is con-<br /> sidered probable that Professor Hart will be the<br /> managing editor, and that Longmans, Green,<br /> and Co. will be the publishers of the new<br /> periodical. It will be a quarterly not unlike the<br /> English Historical Review, also published by<br /> Longmans, Green, and Co. The first number of<br /> this American Historical Review will not appear<br /> before the autumn, but thereafter its appearance<br /> is assured for at least three years, a substantial<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 315 (#329) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 3 I5<br /> guarantee fund having been raised to make this<br /> a certainty.<br /> Probably few readers in England, except those<br /> who have had special occasion to consider the<br /> subject, have any conception of the very extra-<br /> ordinary work which the American Universities<br /> are now doing in history, and more particularly<br /> in the allied departments of political science,<br /> sociology, and economics. This is one of the<br /> points to which Mr. Bryce called attention in his<br /> speech introducing Lowell at the first dinner, the<br /> Society of Authors gave. At Columbia College<br /> alone in the School of Political Science there are<br /> three full professors of political economy, besides<br /> a professor of sociology, a professor of adminis-<br /> trative law, a professor of comparative juris-<br /> prudence, a professor of international law,<br /> a professor of constitutional law, and half a<br /> dozen professors and lecturers on history. At<br /> Harvard and at Yale, at Johns Hopkins, and<br /> at Chicago, there are faculties inferior only in<br /> numbers to that at Columbia. And nearly all<br /> these institutions issue periodicals, generally<br /> quarterlies. By a thoughtful arrangement the<br /> Harvard Quarterly Journal of Economics, the<br /> Columbia Political Science Quarterly, and<br /> the Yale Review are issued each a month<br /> later than the other, so that the three taken<br /> together appear every month in the year. All<br /> three of them give a certain amount of space<br /> to history, and will probably continue to<br /> do so.<br /> The Suwanee Review, edited by Professor Trents<br /> of the University of the South, is frankly devoted<br /> to literature and to history. Half a dozen years<br /> ago there was a New Princeton Review, edited<br /> by Professor Sloane, but dissensions arose among<br /> the owners, and it was finally absorbed by the<br /> Columbia Political Science Quarterly. In it. Pro-<br /> fessor Sloane tried to combine the solid merits of<br /> the old-fashioned quarterly reviews with the more<br /> alluring vivacity of the brisker monthly reviews.<br /> The venerable North American Review, to which<br /> Bryant contributed “Thanatopis,” and, which<br /> Lowell edited for years, was bought by a rich and<br /> foolish young man named Rice a dozen years ago.<br /> Under the advice of Mr. Laurence Olyphant, Rice<br /> made it a monthly, modelling it upon the Nine-<br /> teenth Century of Mr. Knowles, but going much<br /> farther in search of sensationalism—so far, indeed,<br /> that the present North American Review has<br /> been characterised as “a monthly edition of the<br /> New York Herald.” Its management is now in<br /> the hands of Mr. David Munro, a shrewd Scotch-<br /> man, and of Mr. William H. Rideing, an English-<br /> man with a very large acquaintance with the<br /> writers of England. Perhaps this is the reason<br /> why the North American Review gives up a large<br /> proportion of its space to articles by European<br /> writers on European topics.<br /> Its chief rival, the Forum, also a monthly, is<br /> edited by Mr. Walter H. Page; it is more digni-<br /> fied, less sensational, and far more American in<br /> its list of contributors and in its choice of subjects.<br /> A third monthly review called the Arena, is<br /> published in Boston; it is edited by Mr. B. O.<br /> Flower; it is rather the organ of the faddists of<br /> all sorts, the cranks and the freaks, than a vehicle<br /> for serious discussion of serious topics. The<br /> scholarly Atlantic Monthly, now edited by Mr.<br /> H. E. Scudder, is still the periodical that most<br /> steadily maintains a lofty standard. The<br /> Atlantic is half a magazine and half a review.<br /> It admits fiction and poetry, and it discusses<br /> politics now and again; but it devotes a very<br /> large proportion of its space to literature. Its<br /> book reviewing is generally done by experts, but<br /> it is mostly anonymous, and therefore lacks<br /> authority. Perhaps the best book reviewing in<br /> America is to be found in the pages of periodicals<br /> like the Political Science Quarterly and like the<br /> Educational Review of Professor Nicholas Murray<br /> Butler, in which every book worth consideration<br /> is sent to an expert, who vouches for his opinion<br /> with his name and address. In the United<br /> States, as in Great Britain, there is a tendency<br /> of the unsigned book review to be wanting in the<br /> weight—to be more careless, not to say more<br /> flippant, than the article can afford to be which<br /> the writer guarantees with his own name.<br /> The most exhilarating and stimulating criti-<br /> cism of belles lettres we have had here in America.<br /> for several years was that contributed monthly to<br /> Harper’s when Mr. Howells had charge of the<br /> “Editor&#039;s Study.” Whether one agreed with Mr.<br /> Howells&#039;s opinions or not—in fact, more especially<br /> when one did not agree with them—they were<br /> unfailing stimulants to thought. They tended<br /> to make every reader examine again the founda-<br /> tions of his own opinions. Mr. Howells has been<br /> missed from the Editor&#039;s Study of Harper&#039;s<br /> Monthly for several years now ; but he has just<br /> &#039;begun to contribute almost every week to<br /> Harper&#039;s Weekly a signed article on a new book,<br /> a group of new plays, or an exhibition of new<br /> pictures. His article this week is on the absurd<br /> “Degeneracy” of Dr. Nordan, in the course of<br /> which he not only exposes the pretensions of the<br /> German author, but he declared again what seem<br /> to him to be the real and abiding merits of Tolstoi,<br /> Ibsen, and Zola. “Stops of Various Quills” is<br /> the title of the volume of poems by Mr. Howells<br /> which Harper and Brothers will publish shortly.<br /> A novelette of his, which has just been concluded<br /> in the Cosmopolitan, will also be published by<br /> the Harpers during the spring. And another<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 316 (#330) ############################################<br /> <br /> 316<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> novel, “The Story of a Play,” will begin in<br /> Scribner&#039;s Magazine later in the year, to run<br /> through half a dozen numbers. Mr. Howells has<br /> also recently edited the recollections of his father,<br /> whose early wanderings through Ohio are fresh<br /> and characteristic and interesting.<br /> Mr. Stedman and Professor Woodberry con-<br /> tinue to work steadily on their complete edition<br /> of the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Four volumes<br /> containing the prose tales are now published, the<br /> first of which opened with a brief, compact,<br /> authoritative biography by Professor Woodberry,<br /> and followed by a critical introduction to the<br /> stories by Mr. Stedman; while to the last of the<br /> four Professor Woodberry appended various<br /> bibliographical and explanatory notes. For the<br /> first time in any edition of Poe his text is here<br /> adequately revised, and his slovenly quotations<br /> are amended and traced to their sources. There<br /> are portraits of Poe in every volume, one of<br /> which has never before been engraved. There<br /> are illustrations by Mr. Albert E. Sterner. The<br /> making of the book, the taste of the typography,<br /> the harmony of the page and of the type and of<br /> the paper, reflect great credit on the publishers,<br /> a young and enterprising Chicago firm, Messrs.<br /> Stone and Kimball. The fifth volume, contain-<br /> ing “The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym &quot; and<br /> the “Journal of Julius Rodman,” will probably<br /> be ready next month. The other five volumes<br /> completing the edition are to be expected before<br /> the end of the year. Mr. Stedman has had an<br /> attack of the grippe which has delayed the<br /> appearance of his long-promised “Victorian<br /> Anthology,” intended to accompany his discussion<br /> of the “Victorian Poets.”<br /> Mr. Bryce, at that first dinner of the Society of<br /> Authors, said that the two things he had recently<br /> noticed in American literature were, first, the great<br /> variety of political and economic writing; and,<br /> second, the abundance of short stories having a<br /> strong local flavour, redolent of the soil. This<br /> local short story continues to be very popular in<br /> our magazines, until now there is hardly any part of<br /> the United States which someone has not taken<br /> as a field for fiction. Among the recent volumes<br /> of these tales are Mrs. Margaret C. Graham’s<br /> “Stories of the Foot Hills &#039;’ of California and<br /> Miss Murfree’s “Phantoms of the Footbridge,” in<br /> which “Charles Egbert Craddock” sets up before<br /> us again the strange and uncouth mountaineers<br /> of Tennessee. Also to be noted are Mrs. S. M. H.<br /> Gardner’s “Quaker Idyls;” Mr. William Henry<br /> Shelton’s “Man with a Memory &#039;&#039; (chiefly war<br /> stories); Mrs. Mary Tappan Wright’s “A<br /> Truce’” (chiefly New England tales); while Mr.<br /> Louis Pendleton&#039;s story of “The Sons of Ham ”<br /> is a discussion of the duty of the nation toward<br /> the enfranchised negro clothed in the garb of<br /> fiction.<br /> At the Publishers&#039; Night of the Authors’ Club<br /> —the first formal entertainment given by the<br /> club since it moved into its new and permanent<br /> home in Carnegie Hall—Mr. Charles J. Long-<br /> man was among the guests. Mr. Longman has<br /> been in America for a month or more, having had<br /> a fortnight of sunshine in Florida, and having<br /> spent two or three days in Washington among<br /> the relics of ancient man in the Smithsonian<br /> Institute. The importance of the American<br /> branch of Longmans, Green, and Co. is increasing<br /> year by year. The number of books by American<br /> authors published by this oldest of London houses<br /> is also steadily growing, Indeed, as the Long-<br /> mans and the Macmillans have both found, it is<br /> impossible for any British publishing house to<br /> hold a position of consequence in the United<br /> States without having on its list a great many<br /> books of American authorship. Mr. Longman<br /> expects to sail for England a week from to-day.<br /> Mr. John Lane was also among the guests of the<br /> Authors—and so was Mr. Richard Le Gallienne,<br /> who returns home to-day.<br /> A story told at this reception of the Authors&#039;<br /> Club is said not to be new—but it is perhaps true.<br /> A very unfunny article was sent by an ambitious<br /> amateur to an American comic paper, and at the<br /> foot of it the aspiring author has written in pencil,<br /> “What will you give for this P” “Ten yards<br /> start” was what the unfeeling editor wrote under-<br /> neath when he returned the MS. FI. R.<br /> - *- ~ 2-sº<br /> *<br /> NOTES AND NEWS.<br /> HE Canadian Copyright business still con-<br /> tinues to trouble the world. We publish<br /> in another part of this paper the Canadian<br /> case drawn out by themselves. It amounts, appa-<br /> rently, to this ; that while every civilised country<br /> in the world has acknowledged literary property<br /> to be as real and as worthy of being guarded as<br /> any other kind of property, Canada alone desires<br /> to secede from this honourable convention, and<br /> to appropriate and “convey ’’ literary property to<br /> her own supposed advantage—that is, the advan-<br /> tage of a few printers for whose sake this great<br /> iniquity is to be perpetrated.<br /> It has been found impossible to keep American<br /> books out of Canada, or Canadian books out of<br /> America. It is ridiculous to keep repeating that<br /> the laws forbid the importation of such books.<br /> Who regards the law P Who enforces it?<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 317 (#331) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 31 7<br /> Canada used to be overrun by American cheap<br /> piracies. Distant colonies, such as Jamaica and<br /> the Cape, used to be overrun by American cheap<br /> piracies, notwithstanding the law. With a frontier<br /> unprotected, unguarded, thousands of miles long,<br /> there can be no protection for such a law. For<br /> all intents and purposes the books published in<br /> America might have been before the Copyright<br /> Act published in Canada. And so it will be<br /> again. As for the old royalty of 12% per cent.,<br /> from which the author never got anything, that<br /> is to be exchanged for one of Io per cent, the<br /> receipts from which are equally dubious. We<br /> are told that no book is to be issued without a<br /> stamp. And who is to enforce this provision<br /> over the broad extent of Canada? Are we to<br /> expect the whole Canadian people individually to<br /> insist upon this stamp P Moreover, to offer a<br /> successful author Io per cent, when he receives<br /> I5, 20, and sometimes 25 per cent. is impudent.<br /> As, however, no one will now get anything, it<br /> matters nothing what they offer. Only it would<br /> have looked better to make the illusory proposal a<br /> little more attractive.<br /> The Canadians “resent the sale of their<br /> market.” What does this mean? It means that<br /> the American publishers buy of the author the<br /> Canadian rights; in the same way they buy the<br /> American rights. This gives them undisputed<br /> right to sell in Canada. Now, it is perfectly open<br /> to Canadian publishers, if there are any, to set up<br /> an office in New York. English authors will be<br /> Quite as ready to deal with them as with<br /> American publishers. It will be but a question<br /> of fair dealing—not a 10 per cent. royalty—and<br /> enterprise. English publishers have done this.<br /> Longmans have a house in New York; there is a<br /> Cassell and Co. in New York. Why cannot the<br /> Canadians do the same<br /> On the proposed Canadian Copyright Act, a<br /> small collection of opinions from three authors and<br /> two publishers appeared in the Contemporary<br /> Review of April. The opinions are very clear,<br /> and very clearly put. The Act is a blow against<br /> the recognition of literary property which has<br /> been obtained from all civilised nations. It proposes<br /> practically to take the works of English and<br /> American authors; to reprint them as the<br /> Canadian booksellers—they have no publishers—<br /> please; to cut them up and mutilate them as they<br /> please. These facts are plainly and forcibly<br /> brought out, and the opinions ought to be put<br /> together in a pamphlet with the rest of the<br /> protests against this iniquitous proposal. That<br /> the Act is not defended by the better class of<br /> Canadians is shown oy a protest of a Canadian<br /> lawyer here reproduced (see p. 3 Io), which first<br /> appeared in a Toronto paper. The last has not<br /> been said on this subject, nor has the Act yet<br /> become law. Meantime it is shameful that a<br /> country like Canada should for a moment enter-<br /> tain a proposal to revert to the old time of<br /> international piracy. .<br /> Here is a noble chance for novelists, or aspirants,<br /> who can construct a story of mystery. The<br /> Chicago Record offers to authors the following<br /> prizes for novels of incident, dramatic situations,<br /> and mystery. Bear in mind these conditions,<br /> O ye candidates Incident — always more<br /> incident — dramatic situations, surprises, and<br /> Tableaua, in every chapter : the mystery of a<br /> great and wonderful secret, to be discovered on<br /> the last page, to be kept up throughout. That is<br /> the first condition. The next is that the story must<br /> have been written by the candidate who sends it;<br /> sworn evidence of that must be sent with the<br /> story. Thirdly, the story must be, in length,<br /> from 140,000 to 160,000 words—viz., the average<br /> length of a serial to run six months in a weekly<br /> paper, viz., about 5000 or 6000 words for an<br /> instalment. Fourthly, the subjects must not be<br /> those of certain popular novels of the day. As to<br /> the prizes, they range from £2OOO down to<br /> £100. And the Chicago Record reserves the<br /> right of using such stories as do not win a prize<br /> for its own columns at 5 dollars, or £I, per<br /> column. Unsuccessful stories will be returned.<br /> Very well, the whole thing may be bogus; but I<br /> do not think that it is bogus, because so much<br /> publicity has been given to such an offer. If I<br /> were a young novelist I would have a try. Think<br /> of a mystery—murder, money, jewels, a claimant,<br /> a forgery. Fix upon as strong a motif as you can<br /> —don&#039;t be afraid of making it too strong; and<br /> then go ahead. The MSS. have to reach Chicago<br /> before Oct. I of this year. You have therefore<br /> less than five months to spend over the work.<br /> Chapman’s “Magazine of Fiction,” vol. I, No. 1,<br /> is lying before me. A magazine entirely devoted<br /> to fiction would seem a perilous undertaking,<br /> especially at a time when in every other number<br /> of every other magazine there appears an article<br /> on the Decay of Fiction. At the same time,<br /> however, in every advertising column there is<br /> a long list of books in their fiftieth, their<br /> hundredth edition, showing that the small num-<br /> ber of English families which can buy books<br /> are buying that class of book. The editor, Mr.<br /> Oswald Crawfurd, has probably gauged the<br /> demand before making the venture. Meantime<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 318 (#332) ############################################<br /> <br /> 3.18<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> there is one new feature. The magazine is to<br /> contain dramatic dialogues; stories in dialogue;<br /> and even plays. We all know how much more<br /> pleasantly dialogue can be made in skilful hands<br /> to tell the story than long and tedious narrative.<br /> It is one of the later developments in the art of<br /> fiction that it is becoming more and more dramatic<br /> in form—not in set “tableaux,” after the old<br /> fashion, but in the substitution of dialogue for<br /> description. The new number contains eight<br /> papers—by Bret Harte, Anthony Hope, Stanley<br /> Weyman, George Brett, James Payn, Frankfort<br /> Moore, Violet Hunt, and John Davidson.<br /> A propos of Free Libraries and Tauchnitz books,<br /> the following suggestion seems worthy of con-<br /> sideration. Perhaps some Bradford citizen may<br /> take it up. I have to thank a correspondent,<br /> “F. N. W.,” for it.<br /> In nearly every case the borrowers of books from Free<br /> Libraries are compelled to pay one penny per annum for the<br /> renewal of their tickets. TXoes not this constitute a hiring<br /> within the letter of the law P I have submitted the case to<br /> three legal gentlemen, and all admit that it is an exceedingly<br /> nice point. At any rate, it seems to me to be worthy of<br /> consideration.<br /> I have before me the rules of the new<br /> Hampstead Public Libraries. I do not find in<br /> them anything about the payment of a penny.<br /> There are fines for the detention of books, but<br /> not for the renewal of a ticket. Perhaps there is<br /> no penny demanded at Bradford. Is not, how-<br /> ever, the circulation of a Tauchnitz book by a<br /> public library the infringement of the law P Is it<br /> not the same thing as the open distribution of<br /> smuggled goods P<br /> One is curious to watch the effect of the Free<br /> Libraries on the Circulating Libraries. For my<br /> own part, I do not expect any perceptible effect.<br /> The general shrinkage of incomes, if it goes on,<br /> will more and more diminish the number of sub-<br /> scribers, but not the Free Libraries, which will<br /> be used by the class below those who pay three<br /> guineas a year to Smith or Mudie. And since<br /> this class cannot possibly afford to buy books, not<br /> harm at all, but good, will be done by the exten-<br /> sion of the Free Libraries. Surely it is a good<br /> thing for an author to feel that his book will<br /> have the chance at least of being read by millions<br /> instead of by thousands. Surely those who<br /> desire to reach and to influence these millions<br /> will rejoice in thinking that their books are now<br /> within reach of so vast an audience; and surely<br /> it will not be a bad thing in the immediate future<br /> for a publisher to feel that he can place the whole<br /> of one edition at once among the libraries of the<br /> country.<br /> Authors are an irritable race, especially and<br /> proverbially those who write verse. The fol-<br /> lowing note explains the repetition of this maxim:<br /> My little volume I sent you, which was considered suffi-<br /> cient passport for enrolment in your honourable Society, has<br /> failed to be recognised in the Awthor in any way whatever,<br /> although all my friends (men of letters, too) have called<br /> Some of the poems perfect cameos, unique, and so on. I<br /> see, therefore, that my merits as an author by authors do<br /> not warrant my burdening the Society with my name.<br /> In other words, a member of the Society has<br /> withdrawn because he did not receive a notice of<br /> his book in these columns. The Author is not a<br /> review; it does not profess to publish criticisms<br /> on books. It does, however, announce and men-<br /> tion new books and new editions. Until lately it<br /> published a list of all the new books; for the sake<br /> of getting space this list has been now abandoned.<br /> With regard to young poets, it is found that the<br /> fairest way with these is to let them speak for<br /> themselves. And the little volume referred to<br /> has either not reached me—it is still, probably,<br /> on the shelves of the secretary’s office—or I have<br /> mislaid it, for which, as the author takes it so<br /> much to heart, I am sorry. If he had communi-<br /> cated with me I would have had a search made<br /> for the book, and should have given him the<br /> same chance as the others—viz., allowed him to<br /> speak for himself.<br /> This restriction as to criticism does not prevent<br /> the writer of “Book Talk” from mentioning,<br /> selecting, or praising any book which he thinks<br /> may deserve it.<br /> The following must be taken for what it is<br /> worth on some results of the proposed “Net’”<br /> system:<br /> Some remarks made to me yesterday by a country book-<br /> seller upon the “Net” system in the price of books appear to<br /> me to touch upon a probable source of injury to authors<br /> through the “Net” system which, so far as I have seen, has<br /> been unnoted in the Awthor. He said: “I do not know to<br /> whom the extra profits go—certainly not to the booksellers;<br /> and, to prove that the profits do not go to us, I may tell you<br /> that for the future, unless we are paid ready money for<br /> books that are sold net, we are going to charge our<br /> customers twopence in the shilling upon the net price. We<br /> cannot afford to give credit unless we do this. Should our<br /> customers hesitate about paying twopence in the shilling<br /> upon the net price in the event of the book being put to<br /> their credit, we shall decline to order the book.”<br /> I will try to obtain by the next number some<br /> results of the “Net” system as applied to royal-<br /> ties. So far as the figures have been furnished<br /> me, they are simply surprising. If the system<br /> prevails, which seems unlikely, if only for the<br /> reason that the British public, which grows poorer<br /> every year, is not going to pay 6s., or even 5s.,<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 319 (#333) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 3 IQ<br /> instead of 4s. 6d., we shall have to revise the<br /> whole of our royalty tables.<br /> A letter appears to-day (April 26) in the Daily<br /> Chronicle which looks like the commencement of<br /> an outpouring against literary agents. A certain<br /> kind of publisher is never tired of attacking the<br /> wickedness of the literary agent, who makes his<br /> former practices impossible. This writer, who<br /> signs himself “An Onlooker,” accuses the literary<br /> agents of “emasculating ” literature by making<br /> Contracts for authors in advance, and “half a<br /> decade” or five years in advance. He sees in<br /> imagination, or has been told to see, a miserable<br /> author, pen in hand, hurriedly grinding away day<br /> and night, throwing off his sheets, producing far<br /> too rapidly for his powers, “bribed” by his agent.<br /> There is really nothing in the world on which<br /> greater rubbish, more ignorant rubbish, more<br /> mischievous rubbish is constantly written and<br /> believed than the production of literature, espe-<br /> cially fiction. To begin with, it is not the agent<br /> but the publisher who makes the contract ; it is<br /> a very rare thing for a publisher to trust an<br /> author&#039;s staying powers so long in advance as five<br /> years. It is the case that editors of good maga-<br /> zines secure the services of writers a year or two<br /> years in advance; it is also the case that pub-<br /> lishers secure the book rights of the same works<br /> in advance. Then comes the question whether, by<br /> engaging himself beforehand, an author neces-<br /> sarily hurries himself? Of course he does not.<br /> He may be so foolish as to undertake too much ;<br /> but most novelists bring out one novel only a year,<br /> and perhaps two or three short stories. Why<br /> should they not place these novels in advance?<br /> I should like to learn the names of any authors<br /> who have been “bribed ” into hurried and incom-<br /> plete work, or are under contracts beyond their<br /> powers to fulfil honourably. The agent does not<br /> — cannot — increase the production; he only<br /> relieves the writer of what is the most irksome,<br /> the most irritating, the most anxious part of his<br /> work—the commercial side of it.<br /> WALTER BESANT.<br /> *—- - -*<br /> NATURE AS INTERPRETED IN THE POEMS<br /> OF GEORGE MEREDITH,<br /> |TF the lover of Wordsworth were to seek<br /> among later English poets for his successor<br /> as the High Priest of Nature, he would be<br /> not a little surprised to find that his most ardent<br /> disciple is, not the late Laureate; not Matthew<br /> Arnold, who was loudest in his praise; but Mr.<br /> George Meredith whose genius appears at first<br /> glance so unlike that of Wordsworth as to leave<br /> but few points of resemblance. Notwithstanding<br /> this diversity, even the most cursory reader of<br /> Mr. Meredith’s poetry must be struck by the fact<br /> that in it the lesson which Wordsworth made it<br /> his life’s highest aim to inculcate has found its<br /> simplest as well as fullest expression.<br /> The familiar stanza in the second part of<br /> “Expostulation and Reply ’’ in which Words-<br /> worth declared that -<br /> One impulse from a vernal wood<br /> May teach you more of man,<br /> Of moral evil and of good,<br /> Than all the sages can,<br /> must surely have lingered in Mr. Meredith’s<br /> memory when he wrote the concluding lines of<br /> his poem on “South-West Wind in the Wood-<br /> land ’’ in which he tells us that he who hearkens<br /> to the voice of Nature and yields his spirit to<br /> her benignant influence with a complete trust in<br /> her powers and purposes will obtain<br /> More knowledge of her secret, more<br /> Delight in her beneficence,<br /> Than hours of musing, or the lore<br /> That lives with men could ever give.<br /> That this was more than a mere passing phase<br /> of thought in Mr. Meredith’s mind no reader of<br /> his poems can doubt. The volume in which the<br /> lines quoted occur is the earliest collection of his<br /> poems; that published by Parker in 1851, and<br /> though the poet in it did not lay so much stress<br /> on the importance to man of a close communion<br /> with Nature, as he does in later volumes, there is<br /> nevertheless more than one significant reference<br /> to the love of Earth for her children, and her<br /> beneficent influence in restoring the moral as<br /> well as physical health of those who have for-<br /> saken her for a season.<br /> In “London by Lamplight,” a later poem in<br /> the same book, the writer expresses his belief in<br /> the sanative forces of Nature and faith in her<br /> power to regenerate the dwellers in crowded<br /> cities could they but be restored to her arms.<br /> He who loves Nature will, he declares, never be<br /> forlorn ; and a vision of her loveliness is more<br /> than a recompense for days of weariness and toil,<br /> In more than one poem he tells us that he who<br /> once gains Nature as his friend will never lose<br /> her; that the joys of her bestowal are never<br /> ending.<br /> In “Modern Love, &amp;c.,” a book published<br /> eleven years later, the poet dwells with even<br /> greater emphasis upon a theme which may truly<br /> be said to constitute the most important portion<br /> of his message to his fellowman. In this volume<br /> the “Ode to the Spirit of the Earth in the<br /> Autumn” is devoted to the proclamation of an<br /> evangel, which though it has found many<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 320 (#334) ############################################<br /> <br /> 32O<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> expositors has not, since preached by Words-<br /> worth, been urged on man’s acceptance with a<br /> force and persistence equal to Mr. Meredith’s.<br /> The truth and beauty of earth who is “our<br /> only visible friend,” her love and care for her<br /> offspring, who renounce and denounce her, her<br /> serenity, her sanity, her healthfulness, her free-<br /> dom from sorrow, are dwelt on with an ecstacy of<br /> expression for which the only parallel is to be<br /> found in the utterances of the earlier poet. Even<br /> death, hitherto the great bugbear of humanity,<br /> ceases to be thus regarded by the lover of earth,<br /> O, green bounteous earth !<br /> Bacchante Mother stern to those<br /> Who live not in thy heart of mirth;<br /> Death ! Shall I shrink from loving thee P<br /> Into the breast that gives the rose,<br /> Shall I with shuddering fall P<br /> Earth knows no desolation,<br /> She smells regeneration<br /> In the moist breath of decay.<br /> She knows not loss :<br /> She feels her need,<br /> Who the winged seed<br /> With the leaf doth toss. -<br /> And to this serenity, this majestic calm, man<br /> may aspire if he truly loves and feels confidence<br /> in Mother Earth,<br /> She can lead us, only she,<br /> TJnto God’s footstool, whither she reaches;<br /> Loved, enjoyed, her gifts must be ;<br /> Reverenced the truths she teaches,<br /> Ere a man may hope that he<br /> Ever can attain the glee<br /> Of things without a destiny |<br /> The fervour and depth of Mr. Meredith’s<br /> utterances on this theme are plainly shown by the<br /> fact that after an interval of over twenty years,<br /> during which the poet was immersed in prose, he<br /> devoted a complete book to “Poems and Lyrics<br /> of the Joy of Earth,” in which we find the same<br /> expressions of joyous confidence in Nature. Man,<br /> we are told, is a compact of blood, and brain, and<br /> spirit, and should he, in his folly, attempt to<br /> favour anyone of these at the expense of<br /> the others a dire result may be expected.<br /> The purely sensual nature is equally in danger<br /> with the purely intellectual or the rigidly ascetic.<br /> Earth from whom we derive the health which is<br /> the source of all lasting happiness demands that<br /> blood, and brain, and spirit maintain a happy<br /> union, and, for love of her, we unquestionably<br /> obey her behests with ultimate and certain good<br /> to ourselves.<br /> Earth your haven, Earth your helm,<br /> You command a double realm<br /> Labouring here to pay your debt,<br /> Till your little sun be set,<br /> Leaving her the future task<br /> Loving her too well to ask.<br /> From her we can learn every lesson if we but<br /> hearken to her, and bear with us a wise receptive-<br /> ness. By thus doing we gain “a larger self,” and<br /> a sweeter fellowship with all animate things<br /> 6. In SU162S.<br /> In a poem entitled “Earth and Man” their<br /> relationship is even more clearly defined than in<br /> any earlier work from the same hand, and the<br /> folly of man&#039;s attempt to read “the riddle of the<br /> painful earth,” instead of resignedly and calmly<br /> accepting a mother&#039;s love, is shown in no mis-<br /> takable terms. The poem resembles, in treat-<br /> ment, a familiar passage in “Empedocles on<br /> Etna,” inasmuch as it shows that man, while he<br /> curses earth, is one with the power against which<br /> his curses are levelled, a power which labours for<br /> man’s good whether he curse or bless,<br /> If he aloft for aid<br /> Imploring storms, her essence is the spur,<br /> His cry to Heaven is a cry to her<br /> He would evade.<br /> #: $<br /> # e #: :#:<br /> And her desires are those<br /> For happiness, for lastingness, for light.<br /> &#039;Tis she who kindles in his haunting night<br /> The hoped dawn-rose.<br /> As if the poet had, with this book, exhausted<br /> this fruitful theme, we have no hint of it in<br /> “Poems and Ballads of Tragic Life,” published<br /> in 1887, the contents of which deal with phases<br /> of human life and passion, but the subject was<br /> happily far from exhausted, and accordingly, in<br /> the following year a volume entitled “A Reading<br /> of Earth’’ was published. This book, which is<br /> the last volume of poetry he has written, must<br /> for the present be considered to contain Mr.<br /> Meredith’s final expressions on “man and nature,<br /> and on human life.” In it he sets himself not<br /> so much to demonstrate man&#039;s relationship to<br /> nature as to interpret her many moods, and to<br /> state the benefits accruing to man from a con-<br /> templation of each and all of them. In “Rough<br /> Weather ” a comparison is drawn between a life<br /> of ignoble ease and warmth, and one of hardship<br /> and wrestling with adverse forces, and the gifts<br /> of Nature are proved to be designed for him<br /> who has courage to endure.<br /> Nature<br /> Judged of shrinking nerves, appears<br /> A mother whom no cry can melt ;<br /> But read her past desires and fears,<br /> The letters on her breast are spelt.<br /> Would we learn of earth her lesson P. Then<br /> we must be prepared to accept symbols instead of<br /> words; yet we have but to ask to learn—<br /> Harsh wisdom gives Earth, no more ;<br /> In one the spur and the curb :<br /> An answer to thoughts or deeds,<br /> To the Legends an alien look;<br /> To the Questions a figure of Clay.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 321 (#335) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 32 I<br /> Yet we have but to see and hear,<br /> Crave we her medical herb.<br /> And to love her is to gain this<br /> For love we Earth, then serve we all ;<br /> Her mystic secret then is ours,<br /> the secret of unruffled calm and enduring patience<br /> mingled with a steadfast faith in the welfare of<br /> the human race.<br /> Nature has been variously interpreted by the<br /> poets since Wordsworth&#039;s day, but by none with<br /> such keen vision and set purpose as by Mr.<br /> Meredith. His interpretation while it differs in<br /> some points from Wordsworth&#039;s, more closely<br /> resembles it than does that of any of his contem-<br /> poraries. In Lord Tennyson’s poems, save in<br /> “In Memoriam ” in which she is described as<br /> antagonistic to and careless of life, Nature assumes<br /> the appearance of a vast field in which human<br /> figures move, and to which it forms a suitable<br /> background. In Mr. Browning&#039;s we get a degree<br /> nearer; here her sunshine and her storms exhibit<br /> her sympathy with the woes and joys of man.<br /> Mr. Swinburne&#039;s interpretation—if such it can be<br /> called—resembles Mr. Browning&#039;s, while Rossetti&#039;s<br /> exhibits an affinity to the Laureate&#039;s, with the<br /> addition that the poet evidently sees with a<br /> painter&#039;s eye; and Mr. Wm. Morris also selects<br /> his landscapes and groups his figures with a view<br /> to artistic effect. Matthew Arnold’s alone ap-<br /> proaches Mr. Meredith’s conception, and that<br /> very rarely; once, in the passage of “Empedocles”<br /> already referred to, and again in a short poem<br /> entitled “A Wish,” in which he speaks of the<br /> Earth as a friend<br /> Which never was the friend of one,<br /> Nor promised love it could not give,<br /> But lit for all its generous sun, -<br /> And lived itself, and made us live.<br /> It is rumoured that Mr. Meredith intends for<br /> the future to devote himself exclusively to poetry.<br /> Such an announcement cannot but be gratifying<br /> to all lovers of poetry, for Mr. Meredith, while<br /> he has followed the steps of Wordsworth in his<br /> interpretation of Nature, has also realised his<br /> predecessor&#039;s conception of the poet inasmuch as<br /> he is a teacher, a great teacher. As a con-<br /> tribution to the literature of optimism his poems<br /> occupy an important position. They have the<br /> same health-giving powers as Nature herself,<br /> and are as inspiriting as the seasons.<br /> *-* -<br /> *- - -<br /> HE WOULD BIE AN AUTHOR,<br /> DO not for a moment suppose that my<br /> experiences have been in the least extraor-<br /> dinary. Perhaps it is unwise of me to<br /> attempt to write them down: and yet they may<br /> have some interest for hopeful aspirants to<br /> literary honours, even if they should be of no<br /> service to such.<br /> First let me state the conditions under which I<br /> began to scribble. Before attaining my ninth<br /> birthday I left school to begin work at a mine, the<br /> School Board being then in its infancy. From<br /> that early age until I was over twenty-one a pen<br /> was scarcely ever in my fingers, although, like<br /> Mr. Toots in “Dombey and Son,” I could perhaps<br /> have managed to “chalk a bit.” Hitherto the<br /> whole of my time had been spent in work and<br /> play, with a little random reading in my leisure,<br /> a very little indeed. Perhaps I had some discri-<br /> mination between what was good and what was<br /> not of the little reading I did, but so far from my<br /> mind was the thought of authorship that I do<br /> not remember even to have written a letter.<br /> Being an impulsive and impressionable youth, I<br /> wasted most of my leisure in courting, wooing one<br /> delicate girl to such good purpose that by the<br /> time I had attained my majority I had been<br /> married nearly three years, and was over head<br /> and ears in debt, having known what it was to<br /> be out of work and to have the doctor calling for<br /> weeks together.<br /> These facts are given simply to show how<br /> thoroughly unfitted and unprepared I was for any<br /> attempt at authorship, even if I had then pos-<br /> sessed the desire for it, which, let me admit, I did<br /> not. About this time, however, the idea struck<br /> me that it would be a pleasant pastime to copy<br /> out such short pieces of prose or verse as took my<br /> fancy, wherefore I purchased a sixpenny exercise-<br /> book and occasionally put my hand to the task of<br /> improving my writing, but betrayed no great<br /> earnestness in the matter. Having never been a<br /> visitor at public-houses, my evenings were<br /> mostly spent at home; yet, with the exception of<br /> two or three old standard books and the serial<br /> stories of the local newspaper, I still read very<br /> little. One day a friend lent me a volume of<br /> Burns&#039; poems, which proved a delightful revela-<br /> tion, and gave me an appetite for more. Later I<br /> read Cowper, Thomson, Wordsworth, Byron,<br /> Moore, &amp;c., each of whom in turn delighted me,<br /> and thenceforth I became a student of literature<br /> in general, with a slowly increasing enthusiasm<br /> for books and writers. Now, when the new<br /> magazines come to the reading-room I look them<br /> over with a feverish eagerness that is almost<br /> painful.<br /> About seven years ago, being still in low cir-<br /> cumstances, I began occasionally to puzzle out a<br /> few verses, with now and again a very short<br /> sketch in prose. Instead of consigning these<br /> first attempts to the flames, I sent them to an<br /> editor who sometimes publicly criticised the work<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 322 (#336) ############################################<br /> <br /> 322<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> of would-be authors, wherefore I had the glorious<br /> satisfaction of seeing some of them in print.<br /> After a number of failures and a little unremune-<br /> rated success, one lucky piece at last merited, or<br /> gained at any rate, the distinction of being<br /> paid for. The circumstances under which this<br /> first payment reached me make an almost tragic<br /> story, which there is no space to tell in this<br /> paper. -<br /> This brings me to about five years ago. The<br /> period between that date and the present is the<br /> time of my most important experiences. Finding<br /> that I was now able to write short sketches and<br /> verses which might merit the consideration of<br /> editors, I began to inclose stamped addressed<br /> envelopes with my MSS., a judicious practice not<br /> hitherto adopted. My handwriting was still that<br /> of an unpolished scribbler; the punctuation may<br /> have been fairly good, but the spelling—. This<br /> latter feature of my composition is even yet very<br /> imperfect; it is doubtful if I shall ever learn to<br /> spell correctly. The theory of grammar is one<br /> to which I could never give any continued<br /> attention.<br /> A careful estimate of my work, done during<br /> leisure evenings these five years, gives the follow-<br /> ing result: About 450 pieces have been written,<br /> short stories, short articles, and verses, chiefly<br /> the latter. As near as I am able to compute, the<br /> work may be divided into 190 prose pieces and<br /> 26o of verse. Of the whole 450, the accepted<br /> pieces, all of which have been paid for, number<br /> 360; verses 250, stories and articles I IO; thus<br /> leaving eighty prose pieces and ten of verse<br /> declined.<br /> The verses average about four stanzas in length,<br /> and the payment has varied from 5s. to half-a-<br /> guinea. The length of the stories and articles<br /> varies from two to six pages of foolscap, and the<br /> payment from Ios. to two guineas.<br /> The successful pieces have not all been accepted<br /> the first time they were submitted, not a few<br /> having been returned, rewritten, and sent again.<br /> Several contributions have come back after they<br /> had been cut up and given out to the printers<br /> Only some four or five pieces have been entirely<br /> lost.<br /> The rejected work has mostly been returned<br /> within a fortnight or three weeks, but occasionally<br /> pieces have stayed away longer, a few having<br /> come home after they had been away over a year.<br /> Most of the accepted work has been paid for<br /> about the date of publication, but I have found<br /> the most regularly paying publishers subject to<br /> slight variation, while others pay for work a week<br /> or two after it appears. Some publishers send a<br /> copy of the journal containing one&#039;s contribution,<br /> but others don’t ; wherefore, seeing that I have<br /> not been a regular subscriber to every paper<br /> written to, a number of stories have been accepted<br /> which I have never had the pleasure of seeing in<br /> print.<br /> Besides the verses, articles, and short stories,<br /> I have to count two attempts at serial story<br /> writing, neither of which have been persevered<br /> with, both having been dropped before the<br /> tenth chapter was begun. From these a few<br /> chapters were accept when offered as short<br /> stories. A third attempt promises to be more<br /> successful, as it is now about half written, and<br /> has something more than a mere chance of being<br /> accepted.<br /> Verse writing has been a very pleasant<br /> recreation. My method is to write them on a<br /> slate, so that it is easy to erase a word or a line<br /> and substitute a better. I find it hard work to<br /> write prose, and am very slow at it, seldom pro-<br /> ducing more than three pages of foolscap in four<br /> hours.<br /> During the last few years I have often been<br /> disheartened, but have quickly regained hope,<br /> and have persevered in the face of discourage-<br /> ment and difficulty; yet I am fully pursuaded<br /> that the same time and energy given to any<br /> other kind of work might have made me a<br /> fortune.<br /> It seems to me that in order to become a &quot;<br /> successful author one should have a great<br /> enthusiasm for literary work, a good education,<br /> exceptional experiences, unlimited patience, un-<br /> ceasing perseverance, a rare imagination, and a<br /> reliable bank account to fall back upon during<br /> the “declined with thanks’ period. Of course,<br /> if one has been reared in the literary atmosphere,<br /> and editors are among one&#039;s friends, it is easier<br /> to get a start. My lot was not cast in this<br /> atmosphere, and I am afraid I do not possess<br /> anyone of these qualifications. So far I look<br /> upon myself as a failure, but have put down these<br /> facts for what they might be worth to any<br /> aspirant who finds himself at a similar dis-<br /> advantage. Perhaps I may be able to gain a<br /> livelihood by this kind of work in time, with<br /> health and good fortune to assist me. Seeing<br /> that I was over twenty-eight years of age when<br /> my first story was accepted, and am now only<br /> thirty-three, also taking into consideration the<br /> fact that I gave little or no study to literature<br /> until a few years ago, it is evident I am still a<br /> child in the literary school. Probably this paper<br /> will be regarded as unwarrantably egotistical,<br /> which doubtless it is, wherefore, although my<br /> experiences are not half told, I must bring it to a<br /> close.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 323 (#337) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 323<br /> AUTHORSHIP AND JOURNALISM IN<br /> RUSSIA.<br /> HE literary profession the wide world over<br /> is one long tale of disappointment, drud-<br /> gery, deprivation, and destitution. The<br /> few exceptions to the rule only go to prove its<br /> generalness.<br /> Authorship in the Tsar&#039;s realms is about at its<br /> lowest ebb. The daily feuilleton in the news-<br /> papers has almost completely done away with<br /> works of a lasting character. Instead of authors<br /> trying to elevate the reading public, they have<br /> descended to their level. They only seek to<br /> amuse them and pander to their tastes without<br /> any attempt at instruction. The details of the<br /> latest domestic scandal are woven into a dialogue,<br /> utterly devoid of plot or moral, and presented<br /> for the readers&#039; delectation. The few composi-<br /> tions exhibiting any signs of originality in con-<br /> struction of plot or portrayal of character are<br /> invariably of foreign origin, and find their way<br /> into the Russian press in translation. In this<br /> latter branch of the art British authors are in<br /> great vogue, and several familiar names are to be<br /> met with in contemporary magazines. A short<br /> while ago the statistics of a provincial library<br /> showed that the authors, taken in their respec-<br /> tive order of popularity, most in demand were<br /> Tolstoi, Lermontoff, Turgenieff, Gogol, Pees-<br /> wensky, Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Mayne Reid,<br /> Walter Scott, Dickens, and Lord Byron. I did<br /> not see a single contemporary English author,<br /> but this was not to be wondered at, as the trans-<br /> lations of their works appear in magazines and<br /> newspapers, and seldom, if ever, come out in book<br /> form.<br /> The literature of to-day, in more senses than<br /> one, is of the most ephemeral nature. The<br /> puerile, pernicious productions which at present<br /> find acceptance testify to the decline and gradual<br /> decay of the author&#039;s craft. Racy writers on<br /> topical subjects flourish abundantly, but masters<br /> of pure diction, finished style, aiming at instruc-<br /> tion and elevation, will be sought for in vain.<br /> The halo of mystery which encircles the harem,<br /> the brutishness which distinguishes the Orient, the<br /> &#039;breath of scandal which taints a noble name—all<br /> these have their slaves. It is only the contempla-<br /> tion of the workings of the passions of the lowest<br /> possible order that stirs a ripple of interest on the<br /> placid surface of the great sea of surfeited<br /> pleasure which characterises the present genera-<br /> tion. Some affirm that Tolstoi was little known<br /> before his realistic book “ Kreutzer Sonata ?”<br /> turned the general public&#039;s attention to him. And<br /> who now of all living Russian writers can claim<br /> to rank among first-rate authors P. They could be<br /> counted on the digits of one hand. The only one<br /> that enjoys a world-wide renown is Tolstoi. And<br /> he is as if he were no more. He came of that<br /> Russian strain which had Pushkin and Lermon-<br /> toff for its representatives. They studied natu-<br /> ralism, and died in practising it. Both writers<br /> met their death in a duel, in consequence of an<br /> unholy love. In his youth Tolstoi was also not<br /> free of the divine passion, and out of his youthful<br /> experiences he evolved a tale which was true to<br /> the life, and for which the world thanked him.<br /> But now he is returning to the fallacies of a by-<br /> gone age. He is vainly trying to revive the<br /> myths of a long-flown past; to rehabilitate the<br /> Garden of Eden; to hasten the Milennium—all<br /> equal impossibilities. The hoary head befits the<br /> philosophical mind, but his “Babellic” structure<br /> constructed to a fantastic Utopian design will<br /> never exist on its chimerical groundwork. The<br /> store of sound reason and clear judgment which<br /> he has rejected will yet become the corner-stone<br /> of a more substantial and enduring edifice erected<br /> on the principles of labour and progress. One<br /> trait in his character we cannot help admiring is<br /> his sincerity. He is sincere in everything he<br /> does, as long as his belief in its virtue lasts. But,<br /> then, belief is so very flexible. He may change it<br /> to-morrow. At the risk of being discursive, I<br /> will relate the following as illustrative of the<br /> commercial value of a name: When the Count<br /> was on the Caucasus serving in the army, he sent<br /> some of his first effusions to a Moscow editor,<br /> who replied that he would accept them, but<br /> could not pay for them. Now Tolstoi is<br /> offered fabulous prices for his works, but he<br /> replies that he accepts no pay. What would<br /> then have been treasured beyond all measure is<br /> now despised as mere worthless dross. Vanity of<br /> vanities, all is vanity, saith Solomon — espe-<br /> cially riches, for they take wings and fly away<br /> with the morn. “Two things have I required of<br /> Thee,” saith Agur, the prophet, “deny me them<br /> not before I die. Remove me far from vanity and<br /> lies; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me<br /> with food convenient for me.”<br /> The ordinary scribe has often to exist and<br /> nourish a wife and family on the poorest pittance<br /> —pay which a daily labourer would scorn. In pro-<br /> portion to the vast population, it is a surprisingly<br /> small percentage of the people that ever take a<br /> paper into their hands. The “Negramotnia,” or<br /> those unable to read or write, are in an over-<br /> whelming majority in rural districts, and in the<br /> towns themselves the number is simply appalling.<br /> Sometimes the number of those in villages boast-<br /> ing only a rudimentary education descends to as<br /> low a figure as I per cent., and even lower, so it<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 324 (#338) ############################################<br /> <br /> 324<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> is no matter for amazement, when we consider<br /> the ignorance of the populace, that the writer&#039;s<br /> labours in Russia are so little valued. True, his<br /> lot has been slightly bettered by the liberal grant<br /> of the Tsar, but it is only like a drop in the<br /> oeean, and can only prove of real benefit to the<br /> indigent writer if the Imperial example is fol-<br /> lowed by private subscriptions to the fund from<br /> wealthy patrons of the literary art.<br /> Of course we must recollect that the teeming<br /> millions of the Russian empire are as yet in the<br /> elementary stages of civilisation, but the Govern-<br /> ment is using its best endeavours to educate the<br /> masses, and its efforts must eventually be crowned<br /> with success, and then a brighter day will dawn<br /> for those engaged in literature.<br /> WILLIAM ADDIson.<br /> Odessa, 27 March I I.<br /> *-- ~ *<br /> e= * *<br /> BOOK TALK.<br /> HE Dover Chronicle says Mr. Joseph Hatton<br /> is sojourning at St. Margaret&#039;s Bay and<br /> making excursions about the coast between<br /> Deal and Dover with a view to certain incidents<br /> in a new novel that is to begin its serial career<br /> during the autumn in a London weekly. “The<br /> Banishment of Jessop Blythe.” is Mr. Hatton&#039;s<br /> latest book, and he chose to adopt the method<br /> of three volumes in one, in which shape the<br /> novel is in active demand at the libraries<br /> and booksellers’. In May or June Mr. Hatton<br /> will publish a shilling novelette entitled “Tom<br /> Chester&#039;s Sweetheart&quot; (Hutchinsons). It will<br /> be an extended treatment of the author&#039;s story<br /> entitled “The Editor” that appeared in the<br /> Ludgate Monthly. “The Banishment of Jessop<br /> Blythe’’ is published in America by Messrs.<br /> Lippincott.<br /> The large edition of “The Money Lender<br /> Unmasked,” by Mr. Thomas Farrow, was entirely<br /> exhausted within one month from the date of<br /> publication. A second edition has been prepared<br /> and is now ready. This work appears to be one<br /> of the successes of the season, and, in view of the<br /> attention of Parliament having been drawn to the<br /> subject, promises to be of much service as a<br /> standard work of reference should a Royal Com-<br /> mission be granted. In the new edition Mr.<br /> Farrow has still further strengthened the “Intro-<br /> ductory” portion.<br /> Mr. C. L. Marson&#039;s book, “The Psalms at<br /> Work,” will shortly appear in a second edition<br /> (Elliot Stock). A revised edition of “The<br /> Blessed Dead in Paradise,” by J. E. Walker,<br /> with an introduction by Canon Bell, will also be<br /> published immediately by the same firm.<br /> Mrs. Alec Tweedie’s first book, “A Girl’s Ride<br /> in Iceland,” will be published in a third edition<br /> in May by Mr. Horace Cox. It will be brought<br /> out at Is., but will be much revised, making it<br /> up to date. Several Icelandic stories will be<br /> added, and many new illustrations. Mrs.<br /> Tweedie&#039;s last book, “Wilton, Q.C., or Life in a<br /> Bighland Shooting Box,” is in a second edition,<br /> the first having sold out a month from publica-<br /> tion.<br /> “John Bickerdyke” will shortly issue a volume<br /> of reminiscences, short stories, and essays on the<br /> scientific side of angling. The volume will be<br /> entitled “Days of My Life on Waters Fresh and<br /> Salt, and Other Papers,” and will be illustrated<br /> by an intaglio frontispiece and a number of full-<br /> page illustrations made from photographs taken<br /> Ha the author. The publishers are Longman<br /> and Co.<br /> The same author also has in the press a<br /> volume on modern sea fishing. This book, which<br /> is expected about July, will form one of the<br /> Badminton Series (Longman and Co.). It is<br /> being illustrated by Mr. C. Napier Hemy and Mr.<br /> R. E. Pritchett, and will contain contributions on<br /> Antipodean and other foreign fish, tarpon, and<br /> whaling by Mr. William Senior (“Red Spinner”),<br /> Mr. Alfred C. Harmsworth, and Sir H. Gore<br /> Booth,<br /> About the end of May Mr. E. Norrys Connell<br /> will issue a new novel called “The House of the<br /> Strange Woman.” Mr. Connell is already<br /> favourably known as the author of “In the<br /> Green Park.” This book should have been out<br /> earlier, but the firm of printers who were origi-<br /> nally charged with its production took exception<br /> to certain chapters on conscientious grounds. The<br /> volume is to be the pioneer of a new series of<br /> four-shilling novels which, at Mr. Connell’s sug-<br /> gestion, Messrs. Henry and Co. purpose issuing<br /> in an unique form.<br /> The “Parnassos,” the Philological Society of<br /> Athens, have elected—époqêvos—unanimously—<br /> as honorary member Mrs. Elizabeth M. Edmonds,<br /> author of “Amygdala’’ and of many works on<br /> modern Greece and modern Greeks.<br /> Professor Warr’s book for the “Dawn of Euro-<br /> pean Literature” series (S.P.C.K.) on the Greek<br /> epic will appear next month.<br /> Captain Lionel Trotter, author of “India under<br /> Victoria,” “Warren Hastings,” &amp;c., is engaged<br /> upon a “Life of General John Nicholson,” who,<br /> after a brilliant career in the Punjaub, fell in the<br /> prime of manhood while leading his storming<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 325 (#339) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 325<br /> column along the ramparts of Delhi, in Septem-<br /> ber, 1857. Several of Nicholson&#039;s old friends<br /> have promised their aid in this work.<br /> The Delegates of the Clarendon Press are about<br /> to issue Vol. XIII. of Professor Buchheim’s<br /> “German Classics,” consisting of Schiller&#039;s<br /> pathetic tragedy, “Maria Stuart.” The text<br /> will be provided with a complete commentary,<br /> and preceded by an historical and a critical<br /> introduction. The distinguishing features of this<br /> edition will consist in the fact that the drama<br /> will be annotated strictly in accordance with the<br /> English, French, and Latin sources consulted<br /> by Schiller, and that several of his sources have<br /> been traced for the first time by the Editor.<br /> Mr. Robert H. Sherard’s new novel, “Jacob<br /> Niemand,” will be published as a six-shilling<br /> volume in June by Messrs. Ward and Downey,<br /> Mr. Sherard has recently written, and disposed<br /> of for publication in serial form, a story entitled<br /> “The Mocking Bird.” His authorised biography<br /> of Mme. Sarah Bernhardt is not yet finished,<br /> and cannot be ready till the autumn.<br /> “Greece and Her Hopes and Troubles,” by<br /> “Hilarion” (Glasgow: James Maclehose and Sons),<br /> is a short and plain statement of what Greece is,<br /> what she has done, and what she hopes to accom-<br /> plish. It contrasts the Greece of the present day<br /> with the time of bondage to the Turk. The<br /> object of the author is to set down the exact<br /> truths concerning the country and the people<br /> without exaggeration or suppression. The cession<br /> of the Ionian Islands, for instance, is regarded<br /> from the Hellenic point of view as one of the<br /> most generous acts ever recorded of any nation.<br /> The Rev. James Bowmes has just published a<br /> volume of verse (Sonnenschein) called “Randolph<br /> Lord De Vere, and other Poems.”<br /> extract gives one of the shorter poems:<br /> Ye merry breezes fresh that come and go,<br /> And mark your course by songs from waving corn,<br /> And laughter from the rivers as they flow,<br /> Ye cannot move a heart all worldly worn<br /> Thou sun that spreadest with thy radiant light<br /> The forest, vale, and heathered mountain side,<br /> And causest them to look contented, bright,<br /> Thou can’st not soothe a heart that time has tried<br /> Ye stars that dwell within the sapphire sky,<br /> And view with tender eyes the earth below,<br /> With all your love and all your sympathy,<br /> Ye cannot cheer a heart bowed down with woe<br /> Then, breezes, airy spirits, roam around !<br /> Shine, sun, until thine everlasting gloom<br /> Gaze, stars, from out the blue expanse profound !<br /> All will behold some day my silent tomb<br /> “The Two Dunmores: a Sporting Love Story<br /> of To-day,” is apparently a first work by “Blake<br /> Lamond.” It is published by Remington and<br /> The following .<br /> Co. The author should avoid the habit of giving<br /> too much detail. In order to convey a vivid<br /> picture not all the background should be painted.<br /> The impression is best produced by selection and<br /> suggestion.<br /> “Ernest England : a Drama for the Closet,” is<br /> by J. A. Tucker, late editor of the Daily News,<br /> Calcutta (Leadenhall Press). The work is a<br /> mixture of prose and poetry. It is a perfectly<br /> serious work, of great length, and treats of many<br /> subjects. Why, alas ! will men write such<br /> terribly long dramas P Three hundred and fifty<br /> pages | Who, even in a long review, could do<br /> justice to this lengthy prose-poem P<br /> “Tales from the Western Moors,” by Geoffrey<br /> Mortimer, a new name. The book contains<br /> nearly twenty tales, some of them more than<br /> about twelve pages long. The writer knows his<br /> country, and the dialect and manners of the<br /> people, well. The publishers are Gibbings and<br /> Co., Bloomsbury.<br /> “French Gems ” is quite a little book (Elliot<br /> Stock)—a booklet of eighty pages—containing on<br /> the left hand a sentence, a reflection, a text, a<br /> poem, in French ; and on the right hand “Reflec-<br /> tions,” in English verse. The author of the<br /> “Reflections,” “J. G.,” hopes to assist the mission<br /> to French-speaking foreigners in Great Britain in<br /> connection with the French Reformed Church,<br /> Bayswater, under the care of the Rev. J. M. H.<br /> Du Pontet de la Harpe.<br /> “A Future Roman Empire’ is a pamphlet<br /> rather than a book, by Mr. George Edward Tanner<br /> (Elliot Stock). It is a sequel to a work by the<br /> same writer, called “Unpopular Politics.” The<br /> writer contemplates the possibility of the revival<br /> of a second great Roman Empire, of which he<br /> gives a map. He is, apparently, determined that<br /> the second empire shall be exactly the same as<br /> the first. He includes all the countries round<br /> the Mediterranean to the British Isles, but<br /> excludes Germany and Russia, and Asia beyond<br /> the Euphrates. Most of us will probably emi-<br /> grate when that empire arrives.<br /> Mr. George Moore has finished the scheme of<br /> his new novel, and will now set to work upon<br /> it. It deals with the career of a prima donna<br /> who feals uneasy about the life she is leading, and<br /> at length submits herself to a priest for advice.<br /> His counsel is that she should go into a convent,<br /> and this agrees with her own inclinations. So she<br /> becomes a nun; and around the secrecy of life in<br /> a convent the story is woven. Mr. Moore antici-<br /> pates that the writing of the book will occupy him<br /> for two years. His completed work, called “Celi-<br /> bates,” will be issued within the next few days.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 326 (#340) ############################################<br /> <br /> 326<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> the autumn by Messrs. Methuen.<br /> Mr. John Hollingshead&#039;s Reminiscences will be<br /> published early this month by Messrs. Sampson<br /> Low, in two volumes. The title is “My Life-<br /> time,” and a portrait of the author is given.<br /> Messrs. Chapman and Hall have in prepara-<br /> tion a novel entitled “Elizabeth&#039;s Pretenders,”<br /> by Mr. Hamilton Aidé; also “Pages from the Day<br /> Book of Dethia Hardacre,” by Mrs. Fuller Mait-<br /> land.<br /> Mr. Douglas Freshfield, the president of the<br /> Alpine Club, has written a book on Mountaineer-<br /> ing, which will be published by Mr. Edward<br /> Arnold. It will consist of a record of the explo-<br /> ration of Central Caucasus by members of the<br /> club throughout the last twenty-five years, and of<br /> the author&#039;s own experiences particularly, he hav-<br /> ing spent two summers there lately. The book<br /> will be in two large volumes, illustrated, and with<br /> maps. Another new work of travel is “Three<br /> Months in the Forests of France,” by Miss Mar-<br /> garet Stokes,” the author of “Six Months in the<br /> Apennines.” The book is a description of a pil-<br /> grimage in search of the Irish saints of France.<br /> Messrs. Bell and Sons are the publishers.<br /> The series of letters written by Robert Louis<br /> Stevenson, during his life in Samoa, to his friend<br /> Mr. Sidney Colvin, are to be published early in<br /> These are said<br /> to be the most interesting of any of Stevenson&#039;s<br /> correspondence during the period of his remote<br /> exile, and contain a record from month to month<br /> of his work and opinions. A portrait of the<br /> novelist will be the frontispiece to the book,<br /> which will appear simultaneously in America.<br /> Mr. Lilley&#039;s recent lectures at the Royal Insti-<br /> bution are to appear in book form under the title<br /> “Four Humorists of the Nineteenth Century.”<br /> Dickens represents the democrat in humour.<br /> Thackeray the philosopher, George Eliot the<br /> poet, and Carlyle the prophet.<br /> To his many other successes, Mr. Stead will<br /> attempt to add that of a novel writer. His first<br /> novel will be called “A Modern Maid in Modern<br /> Babylon,” and will relate the adventures of a<br /> young girl who came to London some years ago.<br /> It will be published some time this year.<br /> The Marquis of Lorne has written a “Gover-<br /> nor’s Guide to Windsor Castle,” which Messrs.<br /> Cassell have published. This will doubtless set a<br /> fashion in such things, and it is interesting reading,<br /> which can be appreciated either at the Castle or at<br /> home. -<br /> Mr. Justin McCarthy expects to have the last<br /> two volumes of his “History of the Georges,”<br /> ready at the beginning of next year. The latter<br /> part of Mr. J. H. McCarthy’s work on the French<br /> Revolution is to appear in the autumn.<br /> Another series of fiction has made a start,<br /> namely “The Times Novels.” This, of course,<br /> consists of stories that have appeared in the<br /> Weekly edition of the Times. The series, which<br /> is published by Messrs. Osgood, opens with “A<br /> Daughter of the Soil,” by Mrs. Francis. Mr.<br /> Egerton Castle’s “Light of Scarthey’” will be the<br /> next to appear.<br /> The next reprint in the beautiful Kelmscott<br /> Press series will be “Sir Percyvelle of Galles.” It<br /> appears shortly, but Mr. Morris has already sold<br /> the greater part of the issue, which consists of 35o<br /> paper copies, and eight on vellum.<br /> A new work by Mr. Frank Vincent, in which he<br /> gives a survey of the entire continent of Africa.<br /> from his recent journeyings there, will be published<br /> shortly by Mr. Heinemann. It will be called<br /> “The Actual Africa; or, the Coming Continent,”<br /> and will have IOO full page illustrations.<br /> Mr. Henry James will also at an early date<br /> issue “Terminations,” a new volume of stories<br /> (Heinemann.)<br /> Messrs. Nichols are about to issue Victor Hugo&#039;s<br /> works in English. There are from twenty to<br /> thirty volumes in the series, fully illustrated, and<br /> they will appear at intervals of a month. No<br /> English translation of Hugo exists so complete as<br /> this.<br /> A series of handbooks on the Cathedrals of<br /> England is about to be commenced by Messrs.<br /> Dent. Everything of interest concerning the<br /> buildings, the traditions, and historical associations<br /> surrounding them, will be told by writers who are<br /> thoroughly conversant with the matter. “Canter-<br /> bury,” by the Hon. and Rev. W. H. Fremantle,<br /> Dean of Ripon (a former Canon of Canterbury),<br /> will appear first. “Ely,” by Dean Stubbs; and<br /> “Tewkesbury,” by Dr. Spence, will follow.<br /> Another book for children comes soon from<br /> Mrs. Molesworth, entitled “Sheila&#039;s Mystery.” It<br /> will be published by Messrs. Macmillan. This<br /> writer has now produced about seventy books.<br /> Mr. Clement Scott&#039;s book on Irving First<br /> Nights, from “The Bells” to “King Arthur,” is.<br /> expected to be ready by the end of the month.<br /> Mr. G. W. Smalley, who will soon cease to be the<br /> Dondon correspondent of the New York Tribune<br /> and becomes the New York correspondent of the<br /> Times, is bringing out a new book entitled “Studies<br /> of Men,” which Messrs. Macmillan will publish<br /> this month. It consists of a large number of Mr.<br /> Smalley’s character sketches of eminent men,<br /> which are mostly reprints in a revised form from<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 327 (#341) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 327<br /> the Tribune. Among the subjects are the German<br /> Emperor, Lord Rosebery, Sir William Harcourt,<br /> Cardinal Newman, Professor Tyndall, Mr. Balfour,<br /> Prince Bismark, Mr. Parnell, and about forty<br /> others. Before he leaves London the distinguished<br /> journalist is to be entertained at dinner by a<br /> Select company of his American and English<br /> confrères.<br /> The announcement of a “Ruskin Reader ’’ from<br /> Mr. George Allen&#039;s press serves to remind us that<br /> this publishing house is named after Ruskin, a<br /> fact which might pardonably be forgotten, since<br /> Mr. Allen is extending his business so far beyond<br /> Ruskinian literature alone. The new reader is to<br /> be out in a few days. It has been compiled from<br /> “Modern Painters,” “The Seven Lamps of<br /> Architecture,” and “The Stones of Venice,” and<br /> is intended for young students. From Ruskin<br /> House will also come “The History of Huon<br /> of Bordeaux,” by Mr. Robert Steel, illustrated by<br /> Mr. Fred Mason; and “Biographical Essays&quot;—<br /> of Dean Stanley, Dean Alford, Mrs. Duncan<br /> Stewart, and others—by Mr. Augustus J. Hare,<br /> in addition to the latter&#039;s Life of the Gurney<br /> Family already announced.<br /> Mr. E. Denison Ross has completed the trans-<br /> lation of “The Tarikk-i-Rashidi,” a rare Persian<br /> work, which has hitherto existed only in manu-<br /> script, and the volume will be issued by Messrs.<br /> Sampson Low shortly. It forms a history of the<br /> Central Asian section of the Moghuls, who<br /> separated themselves early in the fourteenth<br /> century from the main stem of the Chaghatai<br /> dynasty. Their princes became masters of<br /> Moghulistan and of all Eastern Turkistan, and<br /> continued powerful for more than 250 years.<br /> The author of the work is Mirza Mohammad<br /> Haidar, cousin of the Emperor Baber of<br /> Hindustan, the grandfather of the famous<br /> Akbar. Mr. Ney Elias, H.M.&#039;s Consul-General<br /> for Khovason, has superintended the translation<br /> and written an introduction and explanatory<br /> notes.<br /> Mr. H. E. Watts’s “Life of Miguel de<br /> Cervantes Saavedra,” which will be uniform with<br /> his new edition of “Don Quixote,” is to be<br /> published by Messrs. A. and C. Black on July 1.<br /> The book of the month has been the “Tetters<br /> of Samuel Taylor Coleridge,” published by Mr.<br /> Heinemann. The letters are mostly new, and<br /> include those written to Mrs. Coleridge, Words-<br /> worth, Southey, Charles Lamb, John Murray,<br /> and Thomas Poole, giving much invaluable light<br /> upon the poet&#039;s career. They extend from 1785<br /> to 1833, but are yet not a complete collection.<br /> The editor, Mr. Ernest Hartley Coleridge, grand-<br /> son of the poet, says that “a complete collection<br /> must await the ‘coming of the milder day,” a<br /> renewed long suffering on the part of his old<br /> enemy the ‘literary public.’”<br /> Great eagerness was manifested in getting a<br /> translation of Tolstoy&#039;s new novel, “Master and<br /> Man * into sale. Six days after receiving the MS.<br /> Messrs. Chapman and Hall had a large edition<br /> in the market. Mr. Walter Scott follows more<br /> leisurely with a translation. What would have<br /> been the first to reach this country, however,<br /> was stopped and suppressed, for some reason, on<br /> the Russian frontier.<br /> A “Life of the late Lord Randolph Churchill”<br /> will be published very shortly. Mr. T. H. S.<br /> Escott is the biographer, and he has been assisted<br /> in compiling the work by Lord Dufferin, Lord<br /> Reay, Sir Henry Drummond Wolff, and Sir John<br /> Gorst. Messrs. Hutchinson are the publishers.<br /> The City Treasurer of Birmingham, Mr. W. R.<br /> Hughes, who wrote “A Week&#039;s Trip in Dickens&#039;s<br /> Land,” has placed his valuable collection of<br /> Dickens&#039; editions and memorabilia at the service<br /> of Mr. Thomas Wright for the “Life of Dickens.”<br /> which the latter is preparing. A good deal of<br /> new matter has, it is said, been established by<br /> Mr. Wright, chiefly concerning the novelist&#039;s<br /> childhood. The work will not be ready before<br /> the end of the year, at the earliest.<br /> In Mr. David Nutt’s “Tudor Translation ”<br /> series the next issue will be North’s “Plutarch,”<br /> with an introduction by Mr. George Wyndham.<br /> It will appear in six volumes, between now and<br /> December. Forthcoming publications in the<br /> series include “Holland&#039;s Suetonius,” “Fenton&#039;s<br /> Bandello,” “Shelton&#039;s Don Quixote,” and<br /> “Holand&#039;s Livy.”<br /> Messrs Bell have in course of preparation a new<br /> series of Royal Naval Handbooks, which will be<br /> edited by Commander C. U. Robinson, author of<br /> “The British Fleet.” Admiral Sir Vesey Hamil-<br /> ton writes on Naval Administration and Organisa-<br /> tion, Professor Laughton on Naval Strategy,<br /> Captain C. Campbell on the Internal Economy of<br /> a Warship, and Captain H. G. Garbett on Naval<br /> Gunnery. The Entry and Training of Officers and<br /> Men is by Lieut. J. Allen, Torpedoes by Lieut. J.<br /> Armstrong, Steam in the Navy by Fleet-Engineer<br /> R. C. Oldknow, and Naval Architecture by Mr.<br /> J. J. Welch.<br /> Mr. Israel Gollancz is working at an edition of<br /> Henry VI., besides having in preparation books<br /> on the “Hamlet Saga,” “Tancred and Gismunda,”<br /> and the Anglo-Saxon poems in the Exeter book.<br /> The “Temple Shakespeare,” which is edited by<br /> Mr. Gollancz, has had an enormous sale, Messrs.<br /> Dent putting it at considerably over 200,000.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 328 (#342) ############################################<br /> <br /> 328<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> The past month has witnessed the appearance<br /> of the New Budget, an illustrated weekly, which<br /> took the place, without the loss of a week, of the<br /> Pall Mall Budget, the latter having been with-<br /> drawn, somewhat unaccountably, from the field on<br /> the last Saturday of March. The editor of the<br /> deceased magazine, and the majority of its staff,<br /> have come over to the new venture, which is being<br /> conducted with spirit largely on the same lines.<br /> Mr. Harry Furniss, having accepted control of the<br /> art section, his own journal Lika Joko likewise<br /> closes its career. Another new sixpenny weekly<br /> is The Hour, which is edited by Mr. C. H. Wil-<br /> liamson. It is of course illustrated, and it makes<br /> a feature of prize competitions and insurance<br /> schemes. Vanity Fair changed hands last month,<br /> but the new proprietor is not announced, except<br /> that he is “a gentleman of taste and credit.”<br /> Mr. Charles Dixon&#039;s book on “The Migration<br /> of British Birds” will be ready at Messrs. Chap-<br /> man and Hall&#039;s immediately. In it the author<br /> advances what is believed to be an entirely new<br /> law governing the geographical dispersal of<br /> species, and illustrates its application in the case<br /> of British birds.<br /> Several volumes of verse will be published<br /> by Mr. Lane immediately. These include Mr.<br /> Le Gallienne&#039;s new book, entitled “Robert Louis<br /> Stevenson, an Elegy; and Other Poems, mostly<br /> Personal ; ” and Mr. Francis Thomson&#039;s, which is<br /> called “Songs Wing to Wing; ” “Vespertilia<br /> and other Poems,” by Mrs. Rosamond Marriott<br /> Watson (for which Mr. Anning Bell has designed<br /> a special title-page); and “Poems of the Day<br /> and Year,” by Mr. Frederick Tennyson. A<br /> novel called “Consummation,” by Victoria Cross,<br /> is also announced to appear soon from the Bodley<br /> Head, and will be the first of a new four-and-<br /> sixpenny series.<br /> A correspondent assures the Chronicle that<br /> the circulation of one million copies was not<br /> secured, as it had stated, by a single novel by<br /> the American writer, Albert Ross (Lynn Boyd<br /> Porter), but by a series of six novels. He points<br /> out that of “Ben Hur,” another American book,<br /> 4OO,OOO copies were sold ; while “Mr. Barnes of<br /> New York,” first written by Mr. A. C. Gunter<br /> as a play, and then adapted in despair to novel<br /> form, caught on to the extent of 250,000. But<br /> the million record appears still to be a-begging,<br /> The sale of King Solomon’s Mines,” which is<br /> being reprinted, will thus be brought up to<br /> IOO,OOO in this country and the colonies, and Max<br /> O’Rell&#039;s “John Bull and Co.,” is in its 20th<br /> thousand. “The Bonnie Brier Bush,” by Ian<br /> Maclaren, approaches 40,000, and a “Yellow<br /> Aster” 28,000.<br /> One result of General Booth’s recent Trans-<br /> atlantic tour will be a work on “Darkest<br /> America.” He will not have it ready for a<br /> considerable time, however. Two new volumes<br /> will shortly appear in the “Chief Ancient Philo-<br /> sophies” series of the Society for Promoting<br /> Christian Knowledge. They are “Platonism,” by<br /> the Rev. T. B. Strong, of Christ Church, Oxford;<br /> and “Neo-Platonism,” by the Rev. Dr. Charles<br /> Bigg. “The Greek Epic,” by Professor Warr, of<br /> Ring&#039;s College, which will also be issued imme-<br /> diately, is an addition to the “Dawn of European<br /> Literature” series. Mr Fisher Unwin publishes<br /> a biography of the late W. F. A. Gaussen,<br /> of Pembroke College, Cambridge, the translator<br /> of Potapenko&#039;s Works. The book is called<br /> “Memorials of a Short Life,” the Rev. Canon<br /> Browne of St. Paul’s edits it, and writes an<br /> introduction, the remainder consisting of personal<br /> letters. In the “National Churches&quot; series, pub-<br /> lished by Wells Gardner, the next volume will<br /> be “The History of the Church in America,” by<br /> Dr. Leighton Coleman, Bishop of Delaware. It<br /> will be issued simultaneously in England and<br /> America in a few days.<br /> “The Musical Educator” is the title of a work<br /> which Messrs. Jack, of Edinburgh, will issue in<br /> five illustrated volumes. Amongst the contribu-<br /> tors are Mr. James Sneddon, Mr. J. C. Grieve,<br /> Mr. William Townsend, Mr. F. Lauback, and Mr.<br /> William Daly. Dr. John Greig is the editor.<br /> Esmé Stuart&#039;s new novel “Married to Order ’’<br /> will be issued immediately in the two-volume<br /> library form. Esmé Stuart is the author of “Joan<br /> Wellacot,” “A Woman of Forty,” “ Kestell of<br /> Greystone,” &amp;c. The publisher is Horace Cox,<br /> Windsor House, Bream&#039;s-buildings.<br /> “A Fisherman’s Fancies,” by F. B. Doveton,<br /> published by Elliot Stock, is a book of collections<br /> of short sketches which will no doubt appeal to<br /> those of the public who desire to pass away a<br /> pleasant half-hour. The sketches that touch on<br /> fishing, and which no doubt give the name to the<br /> book, are excellent reading for those who are fond<br /> of that sport.<br /> Mr. Justin Charles MacCartie, author of<br /> “Making his Pile,” has just produced a new<br /> story called “The Darleys of Dingo Dingo,”<br /> which deals with Australian country life of the<br /> present day. It is published by Messrs. Gay and<br /> Bird.<br /> It has been announced in the Academy and<br /> other papers that Mr. F. H. Perry Coste, B.Sc.,<br /> &amp;c., is the author of “Towards Utopia,” and<br /> “On the Organisation of Science,” which have<br /> been issued under the nom de guerre of a “Free<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 329 (#343) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 329<br /> Lance.” Towards Utopia,” which, in spite of its<br /> Utopian title, disclaims any very “Utopian’”<br /> dreams, is mainly occupied with an attempt to<br /> trace broadly the various economic and moral<br /> factors through which a natural evolution of society<br /> to a semi-Utopian state may be brought about.<br /> The American rights in “Towards Utopia’’ were<br /> acquired by Messrs. Appleton as soon as the book<br /> appeared; and immediately afterwards the author<br /> received and refused an offer for a German transla-<br /> tion.<br /> The output of new books in the United States<br /> last year was in the following order:—First,<br /> fiction, then political and social science, then<br /> theology, religion, biography, history, travels, and<br /> poetry. There were 2821 books by American<br /> writers printed in the United States, IOS6 books<br /> were imported, and 577 books by English and<br /> other foreign authors were produced on the other<br /> side. The greatest number of importations was<br /> in theology and religion, and reached 262 volumes<br /> In 1893 a large number of volumes, already in<br /> hand, had to be published, though the times were<br /> unfavourable, and in 1894 the publishers, already<br /> fearful of hard times, were more careful about<br /> entering into new engagements.-PWestminster<br /> Gazette.<br /> Another case of a public library circulating<br /> pirated books has been discovered by the West-<br /> minster Gazeffe.<br /> We have before us Ruskin’s “Time and Tide,” bearing<br /> the following inscription on the title page: “New York :<br /> John Wiley and Sons, 15, Astor-place, 1888.” For many<br /> months past this “pirate ’’ has been freely issued at the<br /> Tate Lending Library, Brixton. We learn from the Chief<br /> Librarian that it was a presentation copy, and while he<br /> would certainly not dream of purchasing a “pirate,” he saw<br /> no reason to refuse one as a gift.<br /> It is a nice case for the conscience. He would<br /> be a very conscientious person who would refuse<br /> to keep on his shelves a gift book because it<br /> belonged to a pirated edition. But surely a<br /> public library is in a different position; such a<br /> book certainly ought not to be kept on the shelves<br /> and lent out to readers.<br /> *– ~ --&quot;<br /> &amp;= - -<br /> CORRESPONDENCE,<br /> I.—EDITORS’ RULES.<br /> FEAR, we are but wasting time, paper, and<br /> ink in this controversy if we are to wait<br /> until the editors, out of the kindness of<br /> their hearts, bind themselves to pay within a<br /> certain time for MSS. Probably the end of this<br /> world will arrive before they do so.<br /> No, there are two paragraphs in your last copy<br /> of the Author which contain, I think, the key to<br /> the difficulty. Page 281 (under “Warnings and<br /> Advice”):<br /> “It is not generally understood that the author,<br /> as the vendor, has the absolute right of drafting<br /> the agreement upon whatever terms the transac-<br /> tion is to be carried out.”<br /> This is surely as true of the magazine article<br /> as of the book.<br /> Page 304 (under “Musical Publishing”) :<br /> “It is for the greatest (writers) composers to<br /> begin to insist upon more equitable terms.”<br /> To those whose papers are too well known, and<br /> too valuable, to be refused because “equitable<br /> terms ” are necessary to secure them we, the<br /> smaller fry, must look for help in this matter.<br /> Let them insist on a certain set of rules (as the<br /> rule) and editors will soon cease to take their<br /> own time to settle accounts, and learn the<br /> valuable lesson that “Short accounts make long<br /> friends.” R. L. I.<br /> II.—PARALLELISM.<br /> Mr. Langbridge&#039;s sort of “ Kubla Khan’’<br /> experience is one which, I fancy, a good many<br /> people can parallel, though whether one should<br /> be scrupulous “in tampering with the gift of a<br /> dream ” is a matter which I leave the Psychical<br /> Researchists to decide. It may not be unin-<br /> teresting to your readers to give the experiences<br /> of others who have dreamed poems or books or<br /> speeches and have just caught hold of the last<br /> line or last sentence as they awoke.<br /> Twice I have, on coming up to the surface of<br /> consciousness, finished, once a poem and once a<br /> sermon, out loud.<br /> The poem ended with the sonorous line<br /> And stemmed the torrent with a pervious prone;<br /> the sermon with<br /> Churches are the martello towers of religion.<br /> I have not “tampered with these dream-gifts,”<br /> and leave others to discover their literary or<br /> philosophic value !<br /> April 9. G. S. LAYARD,<br /> Lorraine Cottage,<br /> Great Malvern.<br /> III.-GoD AND THE ANT.<br /> May I ask Frederick Langbridge if he has ever<br /> published the sonnet he gives on p. 304 of the<br /> Author? If not, both he and Coulson Ker-<br /> nahan are “parallelists,” for I have seen exactly<br /> the same thought somewhere, though I cannot<br /> place it, and in extremely similar words to<br /> those which Mr. Langbridge uses. Or am I a<br /> “parallelist” also P ALAN OSCAR.<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 330 (#344) ############################################<br /> <br /> 33O<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> IV.--THE RIGHT, OR THE WRONG, To MUTIILATE<br /> A PAPER.<br /> It would be interesting to all writers who<br /> contribute papers to magazines to know certainly<br /> whether in so doing they render themselves liable<br /> to have their paper mutilated to suit editorial<br /> difficulties concerning space.<br /> It seems to me that, although an editor has the<br /> absolute right of refusing any paper, once he<br /> accepts it he binds himself to reproduce it as<br /> it stands, unless by special agreement with the<br /> author.<br /> Personally I have always held this ground, and<br /> am happy to say that in the course of fifteen<br /> years of very extensive work for many magazines<br /> I have only on two occasions had any cause for<br /> Complaint.<br /> I regret to have to say that one of these has oc-<br /> curred in the present year. Early in 1893 I offered<br /> an article to one of the illustrated magazines to<br /> which I have frequently contributed, and by which<br /> it was accepted, but publication delayed,<br /> About December, 1893, I prepared a very care-<br /> fully written account of the details of an event of<br /> which I was anxious to preserve a permanent<br /> record. As I had secured a good illustration, I<br /> offered it to the same magazine, which, as usual,<br /> welcomed it. Publication, however, was delayed,<br /> and only the following autumn were proofs sent<br /> to me. I corrected these most carefully, bringing<br /> the subject up to date. In December another<br /> copy of these proofs, not corrected, was sent to<br /> me, and I again corrected them, the editor<br /> expressing his regret at the prolonged delay in<br /> publication.<br /> The paper was announced as being in the<br /> February number, and various persons interested<br /> ordered copies, to find a dull, matter-of-fact<br /> article compressed into three pages, without<br /> illustration, upwards of twenty paragraphs having<br /> been cut out from ten distinct places, the result<br /> naturally being as bald as the letter of a hurried<br /> newspaper correspondent.<br /> Supposing that the editor must have been<br /> suffering from influenza, and that some stranger<br /> was responsible for this discourtesy, I wrote<br /> asking for an explanation, and, receiving none,<br /> I wrote again more strongly, requesting the<br /> return of the paper and illustrations sent in 1893.<br /> To which the editor replies: “He is glad to<br /> be able to repudiate entirely the charge of dis-<br /> courtesy—a charge which would with more justice<br /> be brought against a contributor who demands<br /> an apology for the absolutely necessary abridg-<br /> ment which every editor is fully entitled to make<br /> in any article sent to him for publication.”<br /> Is he P. That is just the question. Does every<br /> contributor to a magazine lay himself open to<br /> find his most careful work mutilated in this<br /> barbarous manner, and then presented to the<br /> public with his (or her) signature at the end of<br /> it P I hope not. But when an editor who has<br /> printed perhaps a dozen of my papers verbatim<br /> suddenly deals thus with one—and, strangely<br /> enough, the only one of the whole lot which was<br /> really of consequence—where does security lie?<br /> On my requesting the return of the article<br /> accepted two years ago, it was sent with some<br /> minor illustrations. I wrote back stating that<br /> two large paintings had not been sent. To this<br /> the editor replies that they had been photo-<br /> graphed and returned to me by parcel post about<br /> the end of December, and that he is not respon-<br /> sible for accidental loss.<br /> That is to say, they were despatched in the<br /> busiest week of the year without any notice or<br /> any subsequent inquiry as to their receipt not<br /> having been acknowledged. This seems to me<br /> another point which ought to be clearly defined.<br /> When illustrations or MSS. are returned by parcel<br /> post, ought not an intimation to that effect to be<br /> sent by ordinary post? A general business agree-<br /> ment on these points would be satisfactory. C.<br /> W.—MINOR POETs.<br /> Your correspondent of April, “Mary Augusta<br /> Salmond,” is probably unaware that when a<br /> minor poet publishes a volume of verses, he does<br /> so almost invariably at his own risk. In any<br /> case, the chances of profit accruing to himself<br /> from such a source are infinitesimal.<br /> Again, there are few, if any, periodicals that<br /> will pay for a poem in lyrical form.<br /> For these reasons, it is rarely indeed that the<br /> writer of the words of a song, however popular it<br /> may become, makes anything beyond his fee for<br /> the musical copyright. Therefore, whilst heartily<br /> agreeing with Mrs. Salmond on other points, I<br /> must, in the interest of brother minor poets, point<br /> out that, though the price paid for the copyright<br /> may be considered a fairly adequate return for a<br /> mere drawing-room or schoolroom song, in the<br /> case of a ballad or more important work being<br /> taken up by a public singer it is not so, and<br /> some arrangement should in justice be made by<br /> which the poet would have a share, however small,<br /> in the performing rights of his work, as well as<br /> the composer, singer, and publisher. The words<br /> are manifestly the raison d&#039;être of the composi-<br /> tion. HELEN MARION BURNSIDE.<br /> VI.-A CoINCIDENCE.<br /> May I ask for a few lines of your space?<br /> In the Times of March 29 last I read: “The<br /> monologue is less an English than a French off-<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 331 (#345) ############################################<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> 33 I<br /> shoot of the drama, but it would soon cease to be<br /> so were many such pretty sketches or dramatic<br /> episodes written as that produced last night by<br /> Mr. Henry Hamilton under the title of ‘For-<br /> tune’s Fool.” An unhappy lover in his<br /> lonely chambers bewails the fate that has snatched<br /> away from him the woman of his dreams. *<br /> Life has no more charm for Philip Challoner,<br /> and, after evoking all his sweetest souvenirs by<br /> reading her letters, and, seated at the piano,<br /> singing her favourite song, he swallows a dose of<br /> poison. The postman knocks, and the<br /> doomed man takes from the letter-box two letters,<br /> one informing him that he is heir to a fortune,<br /> the other from the lady herself, declaring her<br /> inability to live without him, and her resolution<br /> to marry him at all hazards. As he dies, a dis-<br /> creet knock at the door announces the lady’s<br /> arrival, whereupon the curtain falls.” The omis-<br /> sions indicated are not material, and, with one<br /> exception, the above account very closely renders<br /> the course of the monologue acted by Mr. Lewis<br /> Waller. The exception—I attended at the Hay-<br /> market Theatre on April 5—lay in the fact that,<br /> not two letters, so far as I myself could gather, but<br /> only one, the second of the two noted above, was<br /> delivered by the postman, and received by the<br /> lover—too late.<br /> A short story entitled “Arsenic” appeared in<br /> Beecham&#039;s Christmas Annual (Messrs. F. J.<br /> Lambert and Co., Temple-chambers and Bouverie-<br /> street) for 1889. The contributors to the number<br /> included Joseph Hatton, James Greenwood,<br /> Fergus Hume, Florence Marryat, and Manville<br /> Fenn, and I was informed that at the price—viz.,<br /> one penny—more than 400,000 copies had been<br /> sold. “Arsenic ’’ purports to be the narrative of<br /> a man who, committing suicide by means of that<br /> poison, writes of his ruin and his hopelessness,<br /> and watches for the gradual symptoms as long as<br /> he can hold the pen. In this way he is made to<br /> tell the story; and between the lines the reader<br /> should discern a tale of feminine infidelity which<br /> the writer, the deserted husband, does not suspect.<br /> He evokes his sweetest souvenirs. These, how-<br /> ever, are not associated with a wealthy person<br /> whom he loves apparently in vain, but with his<br /> little dead child, upon the slenderness of whose<br /> resemblance to her mother he seems to dwell with<br /> gratification—all such gratification as may be left<br /> to him in his last hour. He becomes delirious;<br /> he dies. The next morning the postman knocks<br /> at his door with a registered letter. The post-<br /> man&#039;s comment, “It’s the unexpected, voyez-vous,<br /> that happens,” forms the last word.<br /> “Arsenic ’’ was contributed to the number in<br /> question by myself; and it bore my name. The<br /> differences of treatment in the two cases are<br /> obvious, but it has been pointed out to me that a<br /> republication of the story, with some others,<br /> might expose me to an unfounded charge of<br /> plagiarism. My sole object, therefore, now, is to<br /> beg, Sir, for an opportunity of stating in your<br /> columns that the appearance of my little story<br /> “Arsenic’’ did not follow, but preceded, and by<br /> about five years, the production of Mr. Hamilton’s<br /> monologue “Fortune&#039;s Fool.” H. F. WooD.<br /> 3, Rue de Miromesnil, Paris, April 17.<br /> [The resemblance is worth noting. It is also<br /> worth noting that Mr. Wood does not suggest any<br /> kind of plagiarism. Such a situation—the<br /> unfortunate suicide just when everything was<br /> coming right—is one likely to suggest itself to<br /> any imaginative writer.—ED.]<br /> VII.-‘‘JANE | ?”<br /> In the last of Mr. R. Sherard’s interesting<br /> letters from Paris, he says that the finding in<br /> “Moll Flanders ” a passage similar to one in<br /> “Jane Eyre&#039; has led him to think less as a<br /> work of art of the latter powerful and most<br /> common of stories, and, though he does not say<br /> this, it has certainly led him to think less of,<br /> Charlotte Bronté as a woman.<br /> For “when asked,” he writes, “how she<br /> came to think of so striking a scene (the hearing<br /> by Jane of blind Rochester&#039;s far-away cry for<br /> her), she wsed to drape herself in some mystery<br /> ğı and reply, ‘ I wrote it because it is true,”<br /> leaving one to imagine that this was a thing of her<br /> own experience”—surely, if Mr. Sherard’s ex-<br /> planation be the right one, a mean and unworthy<br /> subterfuge, and one altogether at variance with<br /> the character we know of honest, single-minded<br /> Charlotte. 3.<br /> That the dire need of some loved one in distress<br /> —the cry across the gulf of separation of one<br /> human soul to another in sympathy—may make<br /> itself heard in some plane of emotional conscious-<br /> ness normally latent is a truth too vital to have<br /> confined itself to the recognition of Defoe alone.<br /> For my own part, that little note of Mr. Sherard&#039;s<br /> confirms a conviction I have always had—viz.,<br /> that the love of Jane for Rochester is the story of<br /> some unrecorded love in Charlotte Brontë&#039;s own<br /> life. -<br /> I have never read the passage in question<br /> without having been strongly impressed with the<br /> sense that that cry for “Jane ! Jane ! Jane!” had<br /> at some time or another entered, iron-like, into the<br /> writer’s own soul.<br /> The intense and passionate tenderness por-<br /> trayed—the love tearing itself up by its bleeding<br /> human roots in order that its ideal shall not<br /> suffer—is too vivid to have taken origin wholly in<br /> <br /> <br /> ## p. 332 (#346) ############################################<br /> <br /> 332<br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> fancy. The writer interprets a passion she<br /> knows—a thing as different from mere delinea-<br /> tion of a passion she knows about as genius is<br /> from talent. In “Jane Eyre’ Charlotte Brontë<br /> has interpreted, perhaps more truly and touch-<br /> ingly than any other. writer, a woman&#039;s love—<br /> intense, sincere, high-minded, yet all the while<br /> tenderly human.<br /> I greatly doubt that Defoe had anything to<br /> teach her. ARABELLA KENEALY.<br /> VIII.-AMERICAN DELAYs.<br /> I began to write a novel a year last October.<br /> By the following March it was in a publisher&#039;s<br /> hands, and by the end of May my agreement<br /> with an English firm was signed. In the mean-<br /> time a friend in the States arranged with an<br /> American firm to copyright the story there. The<br /> American contract was signed by me in September<br /> last. The book is not yet out, and my English<br /> publishers write that they cannot get the<br /> Americans to fix any positive date. It will be<br /> said I should have insisted upon a certain time<br /> in my agreements. To this I reply that I am<br /> not a “known” author, and, considering myself<br /> fortunate in having received fair offers from two<br /> well-established publishers, I was satisfied to<br /> trust them, especially as the making of any such<br /> decided arrangement would have entailed much<br /> delay in signing contracts, and endless correspon-<br /> dence. Moreover, the book is one whose value<br /> depends greatly on an early appearance—a fact,<br /> I thought, obvious to any press reader, and<br /> which my London publishers recognised. They<br /> wanted to get it out last season, and advertised<br /> it in their autumn announcements.<br /> Here, then, is a “frightful example” for English<br /> writers and publishers. My novel would have<br /> been published six months ago, or earlier, had it<br /> not been for the American copyright. Are we to<br /> have the same trouble with Canada?<br /> By the way, has the Authors&#039; Syndicate agents<br /> in the States ? And, if not, would it not be<br /> possible to establish a branch there? We newly-<br /> hatched ones are so ignorant<br /> NEW COMER.<br /> IX. —OUR ExTRAVAGANT DINNER.<br /> Mild private protests availing nothing, here,<br /> with your permission, a public one. Is the annual<br /> dinner intended for all the members of the<br /> Society, or only the more wealthy P. If all, then<br /> why guinea tickets P Cannot we have the pleasure<br /> of meeting one another once a year without an<br /> unnecessary, in many cases prohibitive, tax P<br /> Public dinners are always indifferent, and a satis-<br /> fying meal can be obtained for a quarter of this<br /> tax. I was well (as the place goes) and sufficiently<br /> fed the other day for just that sum. The occasion<br /> also a club dinner, and at the same restaurant.<br /> We are not gluttons, but come to the dinner less<br /> to devour our half-guinea&#039;s worth than to meet<br /> one another and hear the speeches and uphold the<br /> Society. Why, again, must those who do not<br /> drink wine pay for it—even those who are wine<br /> bibbers not choosing their wine, but having that<br /> which is given them P<br /> The cost of the dinner is equal to the cost of<br /> one year&#039;s subscription to the Society; the satis-<br /> faction transient, and the benefits nil. I feel so<br /> disgusted with this extravagance I contemplate<br /> resigning. Those who have the management of<br /> the dinner should consider all the members, and<br /> not merely their own particular tastes and means.<br /> I believe this grumble will be echoed by many<br /> members of the Society, particularly those living<br /> outside London, who to come to the dinner incur<br /> the additional cost of about a sovereign for bed,<br /> breakfast, and railway fare. This sort of thing is<br /> all very well for wealthy publishers, but not for<br /> those like<br /> A Dw ELLER IN RURAL GRUB STREET.<br /> P.S. Grumble No. 2.--Why should we waste<br /> Our money in advertising the dinner and the list of<br /> big and medium guns who are going to be present<br /> at it P Every member receives the notice privately,<br /> and we do not invite the public to come in their<br /> thousands, so the money seems absolutely thrown<br /> away. The publication of such a list of names is,<br /> I venture to assert, in questionable taste.<br /> A. D. IN R. G. S.<br /> [Perhaps an answer to the “grumble’” may be<br /> found in the following considerations: (1) The<br /> “tax * is not demanded of members; no one need<br /> pay it who does not choose. (2) Public dinners<br /> are expected to have a certain amount of show.<br /> (3) The dinner is a public occasion at which the<br /> Society shows to the world something of its im-<br /> portance. (4) The wine question and the charge<br /> of wine to those who do not drink it is one of<br /> practical management. The issue of cheaper<br /> tickets without wine has been tried, and proved<br /> unworkable for various reasons. (5) The adver-<br /> tisement of the stewards is the best advertisement<br /> we can have of the Society itself. To these con-<br /> siderations it may be added that frequent sugges-<br /> tions have been made to hold a conversazione or a<br /> series of lectures or readings, at which the Society<br /> may gather without payment. It is to be hoped<br /> that some practical suggestions may be brought<br /> before the committee. Perhaps the evening might<br /> take the form of a private dinner among ourselves<br /> at very moderate cost, without advertisement or<br /> publicity.—ED.]	https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/276/1895-05-01-The-Author-5-12.pdf	publications, The Author