| 248 | https://historysoa.com/items/show/248 | The Author, Vol. 01 Issue 10 (February 1891) | <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.+01+Issue+10+%28February+1891%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 01 Issue 10 (February 1891)</a> | | | <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927&view=1up&seq=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927</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> | 1891-02-16-The-Author-1-10 | | | | | 251–280 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1">1</a> | | | | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1891-02-16">1891-02-16</a> | | | | | | | 10 | | | 18910216 | Vol. 1.- No. 10)<br />
FEBRUARY 16, 1891.<br />
[Price, Sixpence.<br />
The Author.<br />
THE ORGAN OF THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS<br />
(INCORPORATED).<br />
CONDUCTED BY<br />
.: WALTER BESANT<br />
Published for the Society by<br />
ALEXANDER P. WATT, 2, PATERNOSTER SQUARE,<br />
LONDON, E.C.<br />
1891.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 250 (#302) ############################################<br />
<br />
ADVERTISEMENTS.<br />
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<br />
## p. 251 (#303) ############################################<br />
<br />
(The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly?)<br />
CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.<br />
Vol. I.—No. 10.]<br />
FEBRUARY 16, 1891.<br />
[Price Sixpence.<br />
CONTENTS.<br />
Conditions of Membership<br />
Warnings<br />
News and Notes<br />
"Ionica<br />
Recent American Literature<br />
How wc lost the Itook of Jashcr ..<br />
On Committee<br />
A Hard Case<br />
PACK<br />
I'ACE<br />
251<br />
A Note on Ibsen<br />
268<br />
251<br />
In Grub Street ...<br />
270<br />
252<br />
The Cost of Production<br />
»7»<br />
'57<br />
Correspondence<br />
274<br />
257<br />
The Author's Hook Stall<br />
276<br />
'59<br />
New Books<br />
277<br />
263<br />
The Reading of MSS<br />
278<br />
267<br />
Advertisements<br />
279<br />
CONDITIONS OF MEMBERSHIP.<br />
The Subscription is One Guinea annually, payable on the<br />
1st of January of each year. The sum of Ten Guineas for<br />
life meml>ersnip entitles the subscriber to full membership of<br />
the Society.<br />
Authors of published works alone are eligible for member-<br />
ship.<br />
Those who desire to assist the Society but are not authors<br />
are admitted as Associates, on the same suliscription, but<br />
have no voice in the government of the Society.<br />
Cheques and Postal Otders should be crossed "The Im-<br />
perial liank, Limited, Westminster Branch."<br />
Those who wish to be proposed as members may send<br />
their names at any lime to the Secretary at the Society's<br />
Offices, when they will receive a form for the enumeration<br />
of their works. Subscriptions entered after the 1st of<br />
Ociober w ill cover the next year.<br />
The Secretary may be personally consulted between the<br />
hours of I p.m. and 5, except on Saturdays. It is preferable<br />
that an appointment should be made by letter.<br />
The Author, the Organ of the Society, can be procured<br />
through all newsagents, or from the publisher, A. P. Watt,<br />
2, Paternoster Square, E.G.<br />
A copy will be sent free to any member of the Society for<br />
one twelvemonth, dating from May, 1889. It is hoped,<br />
however, that most members will subscribe to the paper.<br />
The yearly subscription is 6s. 6d., including postage, which<br />
may be sent to the Secretary, 4, Portugal Street, W.G.<br />
With regard to the reading of MSS. for young writers,<br />
the fee for this service is one guinea. MSS. will be read<br />
and reported upon for others than menil>ers, but members<br />
cannot have their works read for nothing.<br />
In all cases where an opinion is desired upon a manuscript,<br />
the author should send with it a table of contents. A type-<br />
written scenario is also of very great assistance.<br />
It must be understood that such a reader's report, however<br />
favourable, does not assist the author towards publication.<br />
VOL. I.<br />
WARNINGS.<br />
Readers of the Author are earnestly desired to make the<br />
following warnings as widely known as possible. They are<br />
based on the experience of six years' work upon the dangers<br />
to which literary property is exposed :—<br />
(1) Never to sign any agreement of which the alleged cost<br />
of production forms an integral part, unless an<br />
opportunity of proving the correctness of the figures<br />
is given them.<br />
(2) Never to enter into any correspondence with publishers,<br />
especially with advertising publishers, who are not<br />
recommended by experienced friends, or by this<br />
Society.<br />
(3) Never, on any account whatever, to bind themselves<br />
down for future work to any one firm of publishers.<br />
(4) Never to accept any proposal of royalty without con-<br />
sultation with the Sociely, or, at least, ascertaining<br />
exactly what the agreement gives to the author and<br />
w hat to the publisher.<br />
(5) Never to accept any offer of money for MSS., with-<br />
out previously taking advice of the Society.<br />
(6) Never to accept any pecuniary risk or responsibility<br />
without advice.<br />
(7) Never, when a MS. has been refused by respectable<br />
houses, to pay others, whatever promises they may<br />
put forward, for the production of the work.<br />
(8) Never to sign away American or foreign rights.<br />
Keep them. Kefuse to sign an agreement containing<br />
a clause which reserves them for the publisher. If<br />
the publisher insists, take away the MS. and ofTer it<br />
to another.<br />
(9) 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<br />
with business men.<br />
Society's Offices:—<br />
4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 252 (#304) ############################################<br />
<br />
252<br />
THE A UTHOR.<br />
NOTES AND NEWS.<br />
THE International Copyright Act has not<br />
passed the United States Senate after all.<br />
So that we have had all our congratula-<br />
tions over American honesty for nothing. Also<br />
all our outcry over the deadly injury the Bill was<br />
going to inflict upon the British printer for nothing.<br />
Why did it fail to pass? My own ignorant belief<br />
is that the Senate made a discovery. They learned<br />
that the Bill w^ould not inflict any injury on any<br />
Briton at all, but quite the reverse. They, there-<br />
fore, in their well-established friendship to this<br />
country, resolved not to pass the Bill. An<br />
American friend tells me that their action was<br />
probably due to bribery. Fancy our own feelings<br />
if Lord Monkswell's Bill should be defeated through<br />
the bribery of his brother Peers!<br />
Is it to be Club or House? A large number of<br />
replies have been received to the request for<br />
information as to the advisability of starting one<br />
or other of these institutions. An analysis of the<br />
replies gives the following result—up to this date :—<br />
For the Club, 60 per cent.<br />
For the House, 30 ,, ,,<br />
For neither, 8 „ ,,<br />
For both, 2 „ „<br />
More than one-third of those who have voted for<br />
the House were ladies; more than five-sixths of<br />
those who have voted for a Club were men. The<br />
ladies who voted for a Club did not raise a word<br />
against the admission of men, but many of the<br />
men, speaking for a club, urged strongly upon us<br />
the necessity of excluding the ladies.<br />
The. reasons for giving the preference to the<br />
House were in each case almost the same: that<br />
such a place would give an opportunity for quiet<br />
work not enjoyed at home. Many seemed to<br />
believe that a Club could be started successfully<br />
later on, using the organization and machinery<br />
already in employ for the management of the<br />
House. Those who have voted in favour of the<br />
Club haveall been actuated by the ideathat anything<br />
which promotes good fellowship and unity between<br />
authors must, if able to work at all, work for good.<br />
What next? The next thing is to form a Com-<br />
mittee, to draw up the constitution of the club,<br />
and to leave the Committee to take all the steps<br />
necessary. This will be done as quickly as possible,<br />
and I hope that by next month we shall be able to<br />
announce that the Club is actually in a fair way to<br />
be started. One rule will be rigid. No one will be<br />
admitted who is not author of some book or a<br />
professional journalist.<br />
Let us learn how the Americans pay honour to<br />
their men of letters.<br />
On Monday last the President issued the<br />
following order :—<br />
"Executive Mansion, Washington,<br />
"■January ig//i, 1891.<br />
"The death of George Bancroft, which occurred<br />
in the City of Washington on Saturday, January<br />
17, at 3.40 o'clock p.m., removes from among the<br />
living one of the most distinguished Americans.<br />
As an expression of the public loss and sorrow, the<br />
flags of all the executive departments at Washing-<br />
ton, and of the public buildings in the cities<br />
through which the funeral party is to pass, will be<br />
placed at half-mast to-morrow, and until the body<br />
of this eminent statesman, scholar and historian<br />
shall rest in the State that gave him to his country<br />
and to the world."<br />
The Secretary of the Navy also ordered that<br />
the Navy Department be draped in mourning for<br />
thirty days, and that all business be suspended<br />
therein on the day of the funeral; and, in the<br />
Senate, Mr. Hoar moved that the adjournment be<br />
till 12 o'clock on Tuesday, in order to give<br />
Senators who desired to attend the funeral an<br />
opportunity to do so. He said that Mr. Bancroft's<br />
name had been honoured by the Senate in a way<br />
in which no other name had been, by special<br />
permission that he should be admitted to the<br />
floor of the Senate at all times. The motion was<br />
adopted.<br />
Of course we do the thing just as well in this<br />
country, though people forget and grumble.<br />
Looking back to the Times of December 26th,<br />
1863, for instance, I read—<br />
"The following order has been issued by<br />
command of the Queen :—<br />
"'The death of William Makepeace Thackeray,<br />
which occurred on the 24th, removes from among<br />
the living one of the most distinguished English-<br />
men. His name will for ever be associated with<br />
the nineteenth century as that of its noblest<br />
novelist. This great man, cut off at the early age<br />
of 52, was about to be raised to the highest<br />
honours of the Peerage as Duke of Kensington<br />
Gardens. His daughters are authorized to receive<br />
the rank and courtesy title of a Duke's daughter.<br />
As an expression of the public loss and sorrow the<br />
flags of all the Executive Departments at London,<br />
and of the public buildings, will be placed at<br />
half-mast to-morrow until the funeral is over.'<br />
"'All the Departments will be draped in mourn-<br />
ing for thirty days, and business will be suspended<br />
on the day of the funeral.' In both Houses a<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 253 (#305) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
253<br />
resolution was unanimously adopted to adjourn<br />
over the day of the funeral."<br />
It is pleasant to be able to prove, though people<br />
have such short memories, that this country is not<br />
behind America in the recognition of her great<br />
men. We may remind our readers also of the<br />
Court and general mourning ordered through-<br />
out the country on the lamented death of Carlyle,<br />
and of the honours which were heaped upon<br />
Robert Browning, alive and dead. And we must<br />
not forget the extraordinary care always taken by<br />
the First Lord of the Treasury, whether it be Mr.<br />
VV. H. Smith or Mr. W. E. Gladstone, not to allow<br />
any outsider to have any share in the grant<br />
annually made for Literature, Science and Art.<br />
Here, indeed, we do claim superiority over our<br />
cousins, for they have no Civil List, while we<br />
grant ^1,200 a year to those whose work advances<br />
humanity, and we never, r.ever, never suffer one<br />
penny of this to be jobbed away on any considera-<br />
tion whatever.<br />
Is verse in danger? The question was asked by<br />
Mr. Edmund Gosse in the Forum for January. This<br />
American magazine, which always contains some<br />
articles of suggestion or instruction, is published<br />
in this country by Mr. Edward Arnold, of Warwick<br />
Lane. The question is asked and answered, and<br />
it ought to cause other answers and yet others,<br />
because no question is more important in its<br />
bearings in the future of literature. "Sculptors,<br />
singers, painters must always exist; but need we<br />
have poets any longer since the world has dis-<br />
covered how to say all it wants to say in prose?<br />
Will anyone who has anything of importance to<br />
communicate be likely, in the future, to express it<br />
through the medium of metrical language?" The<br />
writer points to the reprinting and the reviving of the<br />
dead and gone poets as an illustration that poetry<br />
may have done its work. Pope succeeded so well<br />
because his predecessors were already forgotten;<br />
but we no longer allow the dead to lie in their<br />
graves. We drag them out and clothe them with<br />
new print, and paper, and bindings rich and rare.<br />
"How," asks the writer, "in this great throng of<br />
resuscitated souls is the modern poet to exist?"<br />
Well, I do not think that the resuscitated souls<br />
have much to do with the threatened decay in<br />
poetry. As a fact, we have not a single poet under<br />
forty. This is very serious, but the same thing<br />
might have been said before the advent of<br />
Wordsworth, while Mr. Gosse himself evidently<br />
feels that it is impossible for the world to be<br />
carried on without new poetry.<br />
He indicates the kinds of verse which may be<br />
expected. "Poetry, if it exists at all, will deal,<br />
and probably to a greater degree than ever before,<br />
with those more frail and ephemeral shades of<br />
emotion which prose scarcely ventures to describe<br />
. . . . The most realistic novel, the closest<br />
psychological analysis in prose, does no more than<br />
skim the surface of the soul; verse has the privi-<br />
lege of descending into its depths. In the future,<br />
lyrical poetry will probably grow less musical and<br />
less conventional at the risk of being less popular.<br />
It will interpret that prose does not suggest." And<br />
further on he predicts that the verse of the future<br />
will be essentially democratic. It will, perhaps,<br />
present short and highly finished studies in narra-<br />
tive like those of Copp£e. It may abandon the<br />
extreme refinement of its extreme mechanism. It<br />
will seek to give pleasure less by the manner than<br />
by the matter. "But," he concludes, "whatever<br />
the issue may be we may be confident that the art<br />
will retain that poignant charm over undeveloped<br />
minds, and that exquisite fascination which for so<br />
many successive generations have made poetry the<br />
wisest and the fairest prose of youth."<br />
♦<br />
Poetry will not willingly be allowed to die in the<br />
States. This conclusion is drawn, perhaps hastily,<br />
from the encouragement offered to poets by the<br />
Charles E. Hires Co., Philadelphia. They offer a<br />
prize of $50 cash for the best poem on their Beer,<br />
their Root Beer. It is not stated that English poets<br />
are excluded from this interesting competition.<br />
We await the result, the immortal result, the<br />
Eulogy of Root Beer, with impatience.<br />
There has been a little controversy in the<br />
Illustrated London Naus concerning the proposed<br />
Authors' Club. It consisted of two short papers,<br />
which may be read by the curious in that excellent<br />
journal. It has now been supplemented by an<br />
account of the New York Authors' Club, of which<br />
I venture to reprint a portion :—<br />
"When I first mounted the stairs, I heard the<br />
comforting rattle of plates and cutlery, and found<br />
the hungry authors rapidly disposing of a substan-<br />
tial meal. The operation was so thorough and<br />
convincing that when an athletic friend of mine,<br />
with a far-famed appetite, came bounding in an<br />
hour late, one glance sufficed to prove to him that<br />
Mother Hubbard's historic cupboard was not more<br />
completely bare than the American authors' board.<br />
During the evening I had an opportunity of<br />
observing some notable members of the club. I<br />
was most anxious to see the American humourist<br />
in undress, so to speak, to find out how much of<br />
vol. 1.<br />
X 2<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 254 (#306) ############################################<br />
<br />
254<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
him was natural and how much professional, and<br />
whether the habit of producing everlasting fun had<br />
left in him any deep furrows of care. Some of the<br />
best-known humourists in America are rarely heard<br />
of on this side of the ocean. They write chiefly in<br />
the newspapers. They take care that the news of<br />
the day shall not distress you too sorely. The<br />
American citizen might learn from his morning<br />
sheet that some awful disaster had happened to<br />
the nation, but he would be soothed, if not<br />
consoled, by a piece of sprightly humour in the<br />
next column. It is this agreeable dispensation,<br />
I think, which keeps most Americans alive amid<br />
the rush and the turmoil and the extravagant<br />
nervous pressure of their existence. One of the<br />
most distinguished of these newspaper humourists<br />
is the gentleman who calls himself Bill Nye. I<br />
had often laughed to the point of suffocation over<br />
his writings, and I could not help picturing him as<br />
a small man with a large comical head and a<br />
perpetual twinkle in a particularly knowing eye,<br />
and a conversational manner perhaps a little too<br />
obtrusively merry for the repose which distinguishes<br />
the library of the Athenaeum Club. I felt ex-<br />
tremely apologetic when I found that Bill Nye was<br />
a tall man, perfectly bald, with a quiet pensive<br />
smile and a pleasant unaffected speech, which<br />
might have led the stranger to put him down<br />
as a genial professor who had written a good deal<br />
for encyclopaedias.<br />
"What struck me chiefly was that, with the<br />
exception of an excellent man who favoured me in<br />
a corner and at some length with his theory of<br />
international copyright, nobody talked about<br />
hobbies. There were no literary arguments. The<br />
prophetic sketch in these columns of the people who<br />
would bore one another in an Authors' Club has no<br />
counterpart in my remembrances of these American<br />
authors. They were not pedantic, prosy, or eager<br />
to carry the talk about shop over their particular<br />
little counters. I think there is, on the whole, an<br />
easier current of life in American clubs of all kinds<br />
than in our own. There is certainly a more genial<br />
intercourse and a greater disposition to entertain<br />
the stranger. I have in my mind now one of the<br />
best storytellers I ever met—an engineer, a painter,<br />
a writer, a traveller in many lands. If these lines<br />
should catch his vision, I hope he will take them<br />
as an assurance that I still cherish those anecdotes<br />
of Colonel Carter, of Cartersville, which he used to<br />
tell me with infinite humour, and which I see he<br />
has moulded into admirably artistic form in<br />
Harpers Magazine. I cannot imagine any asso-<br />
ciation of authors animated by a better esprit de<br />
corps than I found in this New York club, or freer<br />
from those angles of the literary character which<br />
pome of us seem to dread. Perhaps I shall com-<br />
mend the American authors all the more strongly<br />
to some English writers when I say that a very<br />
wealthy man was once blackballed at the Authors'<br />
Club in New York, because it was held to be no<br />
place for millionaires."<br />
A correspondent sends the following suggestion.<br />
He may be wrong—if so, one would be glad to<br />
learn what the advertiser really did intend by his<br />
proposal to act as an intermediary where none is<br />
wanted :—<br />
"In the January number of the Author, you<br />
appear to be somewhat puzzled about the following<br />
advertisement:—<br />
'AUTHORS.—Introductions to publishers<br />
and editors, by journalist of standing; com-<br />
mission only on MS. sold; exceptional<br />
chance.—H. D. F., Office.'<br />
"I know nothing of the source of the advertise<br />
ment, but to me it is, on the face of it, clearly a<br />
dodge of the bogus publisher to get hold of the<br />
names and addresses of amateur authors.<br />
"A member of your Society who answered it,<br />
you say, received no reply. Had a score of your<br />
members answered it, they would not probably<br />
have received a single reply among them. The<br />
object—or rather the immediate object—of the<br />
advertiser has been attained when he has secured<br />
the names and addresses of a large number of<br />
persons who have literary aspirations, and these<br />
persons at a later date—when they have forgotten<br />
all about the above advertisement—will, in all<br />
probability, be bombarded with prospectuses of an<br />
amateur magazine, or an amateur literary society,<br />
or polite invitations to send in their 'MSS.' of<br />
novels, tales, poems, and travels' to a bogus<br />
publisher, who speaks of dazzling things in the<br />
shape of fame and fortune to be won.<br />
"' However did they get hold of my address?'<br />
wonders the literary novice when he receives<br />
such a document, and, perchance, vaguely begins<br />
to think that he must be getting known in literary<br />
circles. I fancy I have made it clear how both his<br />
name and address are procured. Whatever else<br />
the bogus publisher is, he is not a fool, and he well<br />
knows the value (wholly spurious, of course) that<br />
the amateur author attaches to 'introductions to<br />
publishers and editors.'"<br />
A question asked by Mr. James Baker at the<br />
meeting of January 15th, raises a difficult and<br />
interesting point. He asked how far literary<br />
"notes," which frequently embody matters of<br />
lasting value, are to be protected by the new Copy-<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 255 (#307) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
255<br />
right Bill. That these notes may be, and some- The second prejudice is based on the first. It<br />
times are, property of considerable value, is shown is the error which we have attacked again and<br />
by the fact that Mr. James Payn, whose weekly again, that publishing is a highly speculative and<br />
notes constitute one of the principal attractions of risky business. On the contrary, no publisher<br />
the paper in which they appear, has thought well to need even run any risk at all; and in point<br />
reprint them in a volume, which has been eagerly* of fact very few publishers do. I have already<br />
taken up. It is also proved by the fact that Mr. proved this by an analysis of the advertising<br />
George Augustus Sala has done the same thing, columns, and I shall continue, from time to time,<br />
Now such notes ought certainly to be protected, to prove the fact in the same way.<br />
and I hope this point will be borne in mind when<br />
the Bill goes into Committee. »<br />
—<br />
Mr. Baker also suggests that at the Annual<br />
Meeting members should discuss points rising out<br />
of the Report. The Chairman did invite dis-<br />
cussion at the last meeting—and there was some,<br />
but such discussion can be only valuable when<br />
none are allowed to speak except members who<br />
have given due notice and have prepared themselves<br />
beforehand, and have followed the action of the<br />
committee, and so placed themselves in a position<br />
to judge the questions from many points of view.<br />
Such discussions are apt to be desultory and to go<br />
away from the question before the meeting. For<br />
instance, at one of our meetings in Willis s Rooms,<br />
there a few years ago, when Lord Lytton invited<br />
discussion on the principles which should guide the<br />
management of literary property, one man got up<br />
and asked the meeting if his publisher was a liar<br />
for sending him certain accounts? As if such a<br />
very important question could be asked without<br />
examining the accounts! Another got up to say<br />
that there was no such thing as a 5*. book. And a<br />
third rose to deny a statement made in the paper<br />
that had just been read that an ordinary 6s.<br />
novel could be produced, in numbers, at is. If,<br />
however, we were to lay down certain definite points<br />
for discussion, if these were announced before-<br />
hand, such a conference, it is conceivable, might<br />
produce great good if only by clearing the air of<br />
prejudice and error.<br />
For instance, there are two prejudices which<br />
seem to defy any amount of argument. The first<br />
is the belief that the English people are not buyers<br />
of books, but that they get all their literature from<br />
the circulating library. I confess to having held<br />
this view myself until recently. Now, we have<br />
recently undertaken a little investigation, as yet<br />
incomplete, into the present condition of the book<br />
trade, which seems to dissipate this view pretty<br />
completely. The fact is that within certain limits<br />
there are no greater buyers of books than the<br />
inhabitants of Great Britain and her colonies.<br />
Mr. J. M. Lely, Barrister-at-Law, and member<br />
of our Committee, has completed a popular<br />
analysis of the new Copyright Bill, with explana-<br />
tions of the clauses and their bearing. We have<br />
arranged with him to add this pamphlet to our list<br />
of publications. It will therefore be accessible to<br />
members of the Society at the cost of is. 6d.<br />
—♦—<br />
The following note may possibly have been sent<br />
to many other readers of this paper :—<br />
"Sir,—I am collecting the opinions of men<br />
eminent in the various departments of Ait and<br />
Science on the question, 'Is Life Worth Living?'<br />
and should esteem it a very great favour if you<br />
would kindly send me a few lines, giving your<br />
opinion on the matter."<br />
Nobody should take any notice of such com-<br />
munications as the above. If the writer is really<br />
desirous of finding out what the person addressed<br />
thinks on any subject, he should consult the<br />
published works of that person. If, as is most<br />
likely, he wants an autograph, or if.he is only<br />
trying to "draw" the man, he should certainly<br />
be snubbed with silence.<br />
♦<br />
People in the literary line mostly know other<br />
people who are not. They also know young<br />
people who would like to be. They are, therefore,<br />
earnestly and urgently entreated and implored to<br />
spread abroad the following simple truths :—<br />
1. MSS. must not be sent to literary people<br />
with a request that they will read them and write<br />
an opinion. They really must not.<br />
2. Authors must not be asked to "use their<br />
powerful influence" with publishers. They have no<br />
influence. If the best author in the world were to<br />
kneel and supplicate the most friendly publisher in<br />
the world, he would not persuade that publisher to<br />
issue unsaleable work.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 256 (#308) ############################################<br />
<br />
256<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
In a certain secondhand bookshop where there are<br />
generally things worth seeing, there is nowtobe seen,<br />
nearly complete, a collection quite unique of its<br />
kind. They have had the same book bound by<br />
all the best bookbinders in Europe, each in his<br />
own best style. The result is a collection illustra-<br />
ting the finest kinds of binding procurable at this<br />
time. When it is complete it will be exhibited<br />
either in the shop or in some more public place.<br />
There will be various opinions on the various<br />
bindings: for my own part, I think that we can<br />
hold our own in London. The book chosen is the<br />
"Water Babies," but of course it is not half good<br />
enough for such binding. One can picture the<br />
poet gazing in despair upon this work, and<br />
wondering in sadness whether he will ever be able<br />
to write up to such a binding.<br />
Mr. Rider Haggard on his arrival in New York,<br />
was interviewed. He cannot escape the common<br />
lot. But he seems to have suffered more than is usual<br />
at the hands of his persecutors. Eight or ten news-<br />
paper men surrounded him and all asked him<br />
questions at once. The following are selected by<br />
the Neiv York Times as specimens of the inter-<br />
rogatory. The interview took place, it must be<br />
remembered, immediately after landing.<br />
"How do you like New York?"<br />
"Where are you going to when you leave here,<br />
and what for?"<br />
"How old are you?"<br />
"What is your opinion about the elevated rail-<br />
way?"<br />
"Were you born in Africa?"<br />
"Do you consider that you have exhausted<br />
Africa?"<br />
"How about Rudyard Kipling and India?"<br />
"Do you consider that Kipling has exhausted<br />
India?"<br />
"How do you work? Dictate it? Work<br />
nights?"<br />
"Do you make your plots before you write your<br />
stories, or do you write your stories first?"<br />
The last question reminds one of the inquirer<br />
who asked the cook whether she made her pud-<br />
dings first and boiled them afterwards, or whether<br />
she boiled them first, and made them afterwards.<br />
It also reminds one of King George the Third's<br />
difficulty about the apple dumpling.<br />
Many are the writers who send their MSS. for<br />
perusal by busy men. Few indeed are so con-<br />
siderate as the one who sent me the other day a<br />
letter, asking me to read his work, and in order to<br />
save trouble, enclosed a letter of refusal for my<br />
signature. This letter I subjoin as an example to<br />
all other young men and maidens who want to get<br />
their MSS. read. May one remind them that<br />
'one never hears of young students, say in<br />
mathematics, inviting a mathematician to teach<br />
them by correspondence? The letter is everything<br />
that could be desired.<br />
London, February, 1891.<br />
Sir,—I have received your letter, but I must<br />
decline, though reluctantly, to entertain the appli-<br />
cation. It would give me great pleasure to assist<br />
any worthy aspirant to literary honours, but the<br />
many demands upon my time forbid me to comply<br />
with all requests of this kind, of which I receive<br />
many. In fact, I strongly advise you not to sub-<br />
scribe to a ticket in the literary lottery, for it offers<br />
few prizes and many blanks, and especially is the<br />
department of poetry open to this objection. With<br />
every hope for your success if you should persist<br />
in your endeavours,<br />
I beg to remain, yours faithfully,<br />
«<br />
The ten years' Retrospect of American Literature<br />
noticed below may be supplemented by a reference to<br />
a new periodical issued by Mr. Edward Arnold, pub-<br />
lisher, of Warwick Square. It is a monthly list of<br />
American and French books. The selected list<br />
of American books published during the last<br />
quarter is not very attractive. One would suggest<br />
that such a work as "Our Early Presidents, their<br />
Wives and Children," hardly appeals to the<br />
Englishman, to whom the past Presidents of the<br />
United States are mere names and shadows. The<br />
Notes and Notices are very meagre. A list of<br />
"Standard" American Literature includes, like the<br />
selected list, a great quantity of work that can<br />
never be popular here, e.g., the biographies of<br />
American statesmen, books on the Civil War, &c.<br />
It is curious to note when one passes from<br />
American to French literature how much broader<br />
is the field of letters. We do not find Frenchmen<br />
occupying their time with lives of men or histories<br />
of places whose interest is purely local and<br />
ephemeral. There is the note of world-wide and<br />
human interest in a French list which is strangely<br />
absent from the American literature—perhaps also<br />
though in less degree, from our own. The first<br />
number of the " List " will doubtless be improved<br />
upon, as the editor enlarges his experience. It<br />
should, however, fill a gap in the service of current<br />
literature.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 257 (#309) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
257<br />
The death is announced of Alice Bronte, sister<br />
of Patrick Bronte, and aunt to the three Bronte<br />
girls. She was ninety-five years of age and was<br />
never married. I have just seen a photograph of<br />
her, taken shortly before her death. The face<br />
singularly reminds one of Charlotte, though Alice<br />
was, in her youth, a most beautiful girl, which, I<br />
fear, was never the case with any of her nieces.<br />
She was six feet high, as strong as any three men.<br />
and possessed all her faculties to the very end.<br />
The Rev. Dr. William Wright, of the Bible<br />
Society, who knew her well, is about to write a<br />
short account of her. She lived all her years in<br />
the North of Ireland.<br />
Who would have dreamed that there would be<br />
living an ancient lady, the survivor of the<br />
generation before Charlotte, Emily and Anne?<br />
The three sisters were born in the years 1816,<br />
1818 and 1820, respectively. Charlotte died at<br />
thirty-nine, her two sisters at thirty. They might<br />
all three be living still, old, but not so very old,<br />
and youthful, compared with Alice. What sort<br />
of work would they have done had they lived?<br />
I think that one remembers "Shirley" with<br />
greater readiness than any other of the Bronte<br />
novels. Perhaps their works have been partly<br />
kept alive by the biography of Mrs. Gaskell,<br />
certainly one of the best and most life-like portraits<br />
ever drawn. The world was touched with the<br />
picture of the three girls in their far-off country<br />
parsonage close to the wild moor, with neither<br />
neighbours nor friends, with a morose father and a<br />
drunken brother. "Jane Eyre " and "Wuthering<br />
Heights " would have lived, I suppose, whether Mrs.<br />
Gaskell had written that book or not, but they<br />
would not have lived with a vitality so intense.<br />
My opinion as to the fading vitality of certain<br />
writers mentioned in the last number of the<br />
Author, has been disputed in various quarters.<br />
Yet I adhere to my opinion. We may reprint<br />
Hogg, and we may put him on our shelves, but we<br />
have ceased to read him in the sense in which we<br />
read Browning; we look at him sometimes for<br />
curiosity, or we may seek out favourite pieces, but<br />
he is no longer a poet of our time, or of all time.<br />
Scholars and students, of course, will read all the<br />
writers whom I named—has not Mr. Saintsbury<br />
made a book about them? Yet, they no longer<br />
attract the omnivorous young—which is a very<br />
good and fair test of vitality—and their best things<br />
are in the Anthologies and Golden Treasuries.<br />
Walter Besant.<br />
"IONICA."<br />
THE question whether good verse can still<br />
become popular might be practically<br />
answered by the success or the failure of<br />
"Ionica." Rarely, indeed, does a volume of verses<br />
appear in which the workmanship is so delicate,<br />
the thought so refined, the phrases so subtle, the<br />
flow and ring of the lines so full of music. The<br />
book, a dainty volume, is published by Mr. George<br />
Allen of Bell Court, beside the Inns of Court, at<br />
the Sign of the Ruskin Arms. The song printed<br />
below, by permission of the author, is written for<br />
Mendelssohn's music generally known as " O wert<br />
thou in the cauld, cauld blast?"<br />
I.<br />
Oh! earlier shall the rosebuds blow,<br />
In after years, those happier years,<br />
And children weep when we lie low,<br />
Far fewer tears—far softer tears.<br />
Oh! true shall boyish laughter ring,<br />
Like tinkling chimes, in kinder times,<br />
And merrier shall the maiden sing,<br />
And I not there—and I not there.<br />
in.<br />
Like lightning in the summer night<br />
Their mirth shall be, so quick and free,<br />
And oh! the flash of their delight,<br />
1 shall not see—I may not see.<br />
IV.<br />
In deeper dream, with wider range,<br />
Those eyes shall shine, but not on mine,<br />
Unmoved, unblest by worldly change,<br />
The dead must rest, the dead shall rest.<br />
*<br />
RECENT AMERICAN LITERATURE.<br />
THE very few Englishmen who read the<br />
literary papers of the United States have<br />
long been aware that the output of original<br />
literature of all kinds has become almost as great<br />
there as in this country, and that in spite of the<br />
competition with cheap reprints of British books.<br />
A short analysis of the last ten years' American<br />
literature, published in the New York Critic of<br />
January 17th, presents an instructive and extremely<br />
interesting view of the whole subject. Death his<br />
removed the great figures of Emerson, Longfellow,<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 258 (#310) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
and Bancroft, while the surviving leaders, Holmes,<br />
Whittier, Whitman, and Lowell, have passed into<br />
more or less complete retirement. The loss of<br />
leaders has not yet been replaced. In America,<br />
as everywhere else, there is a lack of acknowledged<br />
leaders; the general standard has been greatly<br />
raised; the number of those who write has been<br />
largely increased—never have there been so many<br />
writers able to write well—but those who used to<br />
dominate the literary world hardly exist any<br />
longer.<br />
In poetry, the total disappearance of the first<br />
rank is especially deplored. There have been<br />
published during the last decade, verses from<br />
Lowell, Holmes, Whittier, Stoddard, W. W. Story,<br />
William Winter, and Aldrich, names all known to<br />
English readers. In addition, the names are<br />
mentioned of Edgar Eawcett, Francis Saltus,<br />
George Woodberry, Richard Gilder, Mrs. Whitney,<br />
Mrs. Deland, Edith Thompson, Mrs. Moulton (a<br />
head and shoulders above most of those enumerated),<br />
H. B. Carpenter, S. H. Nichol, Mrs. Jackson, E.<br />
R. Sill, Miss Dickenson, Emma Lazarus, Sydney<br />
Lanier, H. C. Bunner, Edward Martin, Herbert<br />
Nurse, F. D. Newman, and Clinton Scollard,<br />
called the best of the younger men. Now of these<br />
twenty minor poets there are three names—Mrs.<br />
Moulton, Sydney Lanier, and Emma Lazarus—<br />
whose verses are known in this country. Would<br />
it not be well if some of our critics would make a<br />
voyage of discovery in this land of sweet singers<br />
and bring home some of their songs? And would<br />
it be possible to make so long a list of minor poets<br />
in this country?<br />
It is in fiction, however, that the emotion and<br />
thought of the time have in America, as every-<br />
where, found adequate expression. Democracy,<br />
becoming self-conscious, has felt ever-increasing<br />
interest in familiar human life. The growth of the<br />
sentiment of sympathy has stimulated curiosity and<br />
interest in the daily lives of our neighbours. The<br />
scientific spirit of the day has popularized the<br />
love of accurate description. The great Russian<br />
novelists have moved some and the French school<br />
has moved others. There is an enormous demand<br />
for short stories in papers and magazines, par-<br />
ticularly such stories as those on phases in<br />
American life. We know the names that come<br />
first in such a list—Howells and James. Besides<br />
these are mentioned as in the same line, Fawcett,<br />
Mrs. Burnett, and Miss Baylor.<br />
There has been an especially noteworthy<br />
development in the direction of local colour and<br />
local types. Some of the works of this kind we<br />
know, others are not familiar to us. For instance,<br />
Louisiana has George Cable; Tennessee, Miss<br />
Murfill; the hill folk of Virginia, Miss Baylor<br />
and Edward Eggleston; Georgia, Johnston's<br />
Dukesborough stories; the negroes, Harris,<br />
Nelson Page, and Edwards; Kansas, Howe;<br />
New England, Miss Williams and Miss Jewett;<br />
the Cape Cod folk, Miss McLean; the Jews of<br />
New York, Henry Harland; the Western boy,<br />
Mark Twain. Considering that all this is the<br />
outcome of ten years, the advance seems very<br />
remarkable.<br />
Then there are books which are successful, one<br />
knows not why, such as Wallace's "Ben Hur, a Tale<br />
of the Christ"; which are successful, one does know<br />
why, such as "Mr. Barnes of New York"; which<br />
are successful because they deal with questions of<br />
the day, such as "John Ward, Preacher," and<br />
"Looking Backward"; which are successful be-<br />
cause they appeal to serious and common-place<br />
people who understand nothing but calmly moving<br />
stories with a happy ending.<br />
The spirit of Thoreau is continued by John<br />
Burroughs, Dr. C. C. Abbott, Theodore Roosevelt,<br />
and Mrs. Custer, while Lufcadic Hearn's " Two<br />
Years in the French West Indies" is spoken of<br />
with the highest praise.<br />
Reminiscence and biography are plentifully<br />
represented by the names of Grant, Sheridan, Sher-<br />
man, Jefferson Davis, Hugh McCullock, Blaine,<br />
by the lives of Lincoln, Emerson, Longfellow,<br />
Bryant, Molley, Hawthorne, Poe, Dana, Garrison,<br />
Agassiz, Ericsen, Henry Ward Beecher, and<br />
others.<br />
In history the last ten years show the completion<br />
of Bancroft-Parkman's "Montcalm and Wolfe,"<br />
McMaster's "History of the People," and other<br />
works. Let us pass over political economy, literary<br />
criticism, art criticism, philosophy, law, education,<br />
and science. Enough has been said to show<br />
what we are too ready to forget, or to ignore, that<br />
there exists across the Atlantic a literature which<br />
is comparable with our own in every respect. If<br />
they have no poets who can stand beside Tenny-<br />
son, Browning, or Swinburne; if they have no<br />
novelists in the same line with Thackeray, Dickens,<br />
George Eliot, George Meredith; they have many<br />
who can meet the novelists who come after these<br />
great names. If they have no historian who can<br />
be ranked with Stubbs, Green, or Freeman, they<br />
have many who are equal to those who stand in<br />
the second line, while in science and philosophy<br />
they are rapidly stepping to the front. One branch<br />
is unnoticed by the reviewer of this decade. It is<br />
the branch of scholarship. In that department<br />
Great Britain still seems to hold her own. Mean-<br />
while, as an unexpected record of unexampled<br />
development, this little paper in the Critic, from<br />
which we have taken these remarks, is instructive<br />
and suggestive.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 259 (#311) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOk.<br />
259<br />
It suggests, especially, this very important fact.<br />
With the enormous development of their own<br />
literature it will become increasingly rare for the<br />
Americans to want the new books of our produc-<br />
tion. When, if ever, an International Copyright<br />
Bill is passed, those fortunate authors, American or<br />
British, who are in demand on both sides, will be<br />
few indeed. It will be mortifying when we have<br />
got all we have clamoured for to be told that our<br />
wares are not wanted. But this seems quite likely<br />
to happen.<br />
*<br />
HOW WE LOST THE BOOK OF<br />
JASHER.<br />
EVERYONE who knows anything about<br />
art, archaeology, or science has heard of<br />
the famous FitzTaylor Museum at Ox-<br />
bridge. And even outsiders who care for none<br />
of these things have heard of the quarrels and in-<br />
ternal dissensions that have, from time to time,<br />
disturbed that academic calm which ought to<br />
reign within the walls of a museum. The il-<br />
lustrious founder, to whose munificence we owe<br />
this justly famous institution, provided in his will<br />
for the support of four curators, who were to govern<br />
the two separate departments of science and art,<br />
and the University has been in the habit of making<br />
grants of money from time to time to these separate<br />
departments for the acquisition of scientific or<br />
archaeological curiosities and MSS. I suppose<br />
there was something wrong in the system, but<br />
whatever it may be it led to those notorious<br />
jealousies and disputes. At the time I am writing<br />
the principal curators of the art section were<br />
Professor Girdelstone and Mr. Monteagle, of<br />
Princes College, while I myself looked after the<br />
scientific welfare of the museum with Lowestoft as<br />
my understudy—he was practically a nonenity, but<br />
an authority on lepidoptera. Now whenever a<br />
grant was made to the left wing of the building, as<br />
I call it, I always used to say that science was<br />
being sacrificed to archaeology. I mocked at the<br />
illuminated MSS. over which Girdelstone grew en-<br />
thusiastic and the musty theological folios which<br />
Monteagle had purchased. They heaped abuse<br />
upon me, of course, when my turn came, and<br />
cracked many a quip on my splendid skeleton of<br />
the ichthyosaurus, the only known specimen from<br />
Greenland. At one time the strife broke into print,<br />
and the London press animadverted on our<br />
conduct. It became a positive scandal. We<br />
were advised, I remember, to wash our dirty linen<br />
at home, and though I have often wondered<br />
why the press should act as a voluntary laundress<br />
on such occasions, I suppose the remark is a just<br />
one.<br />
There came a day when we took the advice of<br />
the press, and from then until now science and<br />
art have gone hand in hand at the University<br />
of Oxbridge. How the breach was healed<br />
forms the subject of the present leaf from my<br />
memoir.<br />
America, it has been wisely said, is the great<br />
land of fraud. It is the Egypt of the modern<br />
world. From America came spiritualists, from<br />
America bogus goods, cheap ideas and pirated<br />
editions, and from America, I have every reason<br />
to believe, came Dr. Groschen. It is true that<br />
he spoke American with an English accent at<br />
times, at others, English with a German. But<br />
if his ancestors came from the Rhine, that he<br />
received his education on the other side of the<br />
Atlantic I have no doubt. Why he came to<br />
Oxbridge I cannot say. He appeared quite<br />
suddenly, like a comet. He brought introduc-<br />
tions from various parts of the world, from the<br />
English embassy at Constantinople, from the<br />
British and German Schools of Archaeology at<br />
Athens, from certain French Egyptologists at<br />
Alexandria, and a holograph letter from Arch-<br />
bishop Sarpedon, Patriarch of Hermaphroditopolis,<br />
Curator of the MSS. in the monastery of St.<br />
Basil, at Mount Olympus. It was this last that<br />
endeared him, I believe, to the High Church party<br />
in Oxbridge. Dr. Groschen was already the talk<br />
of the University, the lion of the hour, before I<br />
met him, and there was already a rumour of an<br />
honorary degree before I even saw him in the<br />
flesh, at the high table of my college, as guest of<br />
the Master. If Dr. Groschen did not inspire<br />
me with any confidence, I cannot say that he<br />
excited any feeling of distrust. He was a small,<br />
blond, commonplace looking little man, very neat<br />
in his attire, without the alchemical look of most<br />
archaeologists. Had I known then, as I know<br />
now, that he presented his first credentials to<br />
Professor Girdelstone, I might have suspected him.<br />
Of course I took it for granted they were friends.<br />
When the University was ringing with praises of<br />
the generosity of Dr. Groschen in transferring his<br />
splendid collection of Greek inscriptions to the<br />
FitzTaylor Museum, I rejoiced; the next grant<br />
would be devoted to science, in consideration of<br />
the already crowded galleries of the Art and<br />
Archaeology section. I only pitied the fatuity of<br />
the authorities for being grateful. Dr. Groschen<br />
had now wound himself into everybody's good<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 260 (#312) ############################################<br />
<br />
260<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
wishes, and the University degree had been<br />
conferred. He had been offered a fine set of<br />
rooms in a college famous for culture. He was a<br />
well known figure on the Q.P. But he was not<br />
always with us; he went to Greece or the East<br />
sometimes, for the purpose, it was said, of adding<br />
to the Groschen collection, now the glory of the<br />
FitzTaylor.<br />
It was after one of these prolonged periods of<br />
absence that he wrote to Girdelstone privately, that<br />
he had made a great discovery, and on his return<br />
brought with him, he said, some MSS. which had<br />
been unearthed in the monastic library of St. Basil,<br />
where he bought them for an enormous sum from<br />
Sarpedon, the Patriarch of Hermaphroditopolis, and<br />
that he was willing to sell them to "some public<br />
institution" for very little over the original price.<br />
Girdelstone told several of us in confidence. It was<br />
public news next day. Scholars grew excited;<br />
there had been hints at the recovery of a lost MS.,<br />
"which was to add to our knowledge of the antique<br />
world and materially alter accepted views of the<br />
early state of Roman and Greek society." On<br />
hearing the news I smiled. "Someinstitution,"that<br />
was suspicious—MSS.—they meant forgery. It was<br />
described as a palimpsest MS., consisting of fifty or<br />
sixty leaves of papyrus. On one side was a portion<br />
of the last book of Jasher, of a date not later than<br />
the fourth century, on the other in ancient characters<br />
that too notorious work of Aulus Gellius, which<br />
Suetonius tells us that Tiberius ordered to be<br />
burned—De moribus Romanorum.<br />
But why should I go over old history? Every<br />
one remembers the excitement that the discovery<br />
caused—the leaders inthe Times and {he AI hen a urn,<br />
the doubts of the sceptical, the enthusiasm of the<br />
archaeologists, the jealousy of the Berlin authorities,<br />
the offers from all the libraries of Europe, the<br />
aspersions of the British Museum. "Why,"<br />
asked indignant critics, "did Dr. Groschen offer his<br />
MS. to the authorities at Oxbridge?" "Because<br />
Oxbridge had been the first to recognise his<br />
genius," was the crushing reply. And Professor<br />
Girdelstone said that should the FitzTaylor fail to<br />
acquire the MS. by any false economy on the part<br />
of the University authorities, the prestige of the<br />
museum would be gone. But this is all old<br />
history. I only remind the reader of what he knows<br />
already. I had begun to bring all my powers, and<br />
the force of the scientific world in Oxbridge, to<br />
bear in opposition to the purchase of the MS. I<br />
had pulled every wire I knew, and execration was<br />
heaped on me as a vandal, though I only said<br />
that the University money should be devoted to<br />
other channels than the purchase of MSS. I was<br />
doing all this, when I was startled by the<br />
intelligence that Dr. Groschen had suddenly come<br />
to the conclusion that his find was after all only a<br />
forgery.<br />
The book of Jasher, he now said, was a four-<br />
teenth century Byzantine forgery, and heascribed the<br />
date at the very earliest to the reign of Alexis Com-<br />
nenus. Theologians became fierce on the subject.<br />
They had seen the MS. ; they knew it was genuine.<br />
And when Dr. Groschen began to have doubts<br />
as to Aulus Gellius, suggesting that this part of<br />
the MS. was a sixteenth century fabrication, the<br />
classical world morally and physically rose and<br />
denounced him. Dr. Groschen, who had some-<br />
thing of the early Christian in his character, bore<br />
this shower of opprobrium like a martyr. "I may<br />
be mistaken," he said, "but I believe I have been<br />
deceived. I have been taken in before, and I<br />
should not like the MS. offered to any library<br />
until two of the very highest experts had decided<br />
as to its authenticity."<br />
People by this time had learnt to regard Dr.<br />
Groschen himself as quite the highest expert in<br />
the world. They thought he was out of his<br />
senses, though the press commended him for his<br />
honesty, and one journal, which had been loudest<br />
in declaring its authenticity, said it was glad Dr.<br />
Groschen had seen the forgery that it had already<br />
anticipated. Dr. Groschen was furthermore asked<br />
what experts he would submit his MS. to, and<br />
by whose decision he would abide. After some<br />
delay and correspondence, he could think of<br />
only two—Professor Girdelstone and Mr. Mont-<br />
eagle. "They had had great opportunities," he<br />
said, "of judging on such matters. Their erudi-<br />
tion was of a steadier and more solid nature<br />
than his own." Then the world and Oxbridge<br />
joined again in a chorus of praise. What could<br />
be more honest, more straightforward, than to<br />
submit the MS. to a final examination at the<br />
hands of the two curators of the FitzTaylor, who<br />
were to' have the first refusal of the MS. if it was<br />
considered authentic? If it was a forgery, and<br />
they decided on purchasing, they had themselves<br />
to thank. No museum was ever before given<br />
such an opportunity. Professor Girdelstone and<br />
his colleague soon came to a conclusion. They<br />
decided that there could be no doubt as to the<br />
authenticity of the Aulus Gellius. In portions it<br />
was true that between the lines certain Greek<br />
characters almost obliterated were visible, but this<br />
threw no slur on the MS. itself. As to the book<br />
of Jasher they gave no decisive opinion, and it is<br />
still an open question; but they expressed their<br />
belief that the Aulus Gellius was alone worth the<br />
price asked for it by Dr. Groschen. It only<br />
remained now for the University to advance a sum<br />
to the FitzTaylor for the purchase of this treasure.<br />
The curators, rather prematurely perhaps, wrote<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 261 (#313) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
261<br />
privately to Dr. Groschen making him an offer for<br />
his MS., and paid him half the amount out of their<br />
own pockets, so as to close the bargain once and<br />
for all.<br />
The delay of the University in making the<br />
grant caused a good deal of apprehension in the<br />
hearts of Professor Girdelstone and Mr. Mont-<br />
eagle, and they feared that the enormous sums<br />
offered by the Berlin Museum would tempt even<br />
the single-minded Dr. Groschen, even though<br />
he had the interests of the FitzTaylor so much<br />
at heart. These suspicions were unfounded as<br />
they were ungenerous. The German savant was<br />
contented with his degree and college rooms, and<br />
showed no hurry for the remainder of the sum to<br />
be paid.<br />
One night when I was seated in my rooms<br />
beside the fire preparing lectures on the ichthyo-<br />
saurus, to quote the poet, "I heard a rapping at my<br />
chamber door." It was a hurried jerky rap. I<br />
shouted, "Come in," the door burst open, and on<br />
the threshold I saw Monteagle with a white face, on<br />
which the beads of perspiration glittered. At<br />
first I thought it was the rain which had drenched<br />
his cap and gown, but in a moment I saw that the<br />
perspiration was the result of terror or anxiety (cf.<br />
my lectures on Mental Equilibrium). Monteagle<br />
and I in our undergraduate days had been friends,<br />
but like many University friendships, ours had<br />
proved evanescent; our paths had lain in different<br />
directions.<br />
He had chosen archaeology. We had failed to<br />
convert one another to each other's views, and<br />
when he became a member of " The Disciples," a<br />
mystic Oxbridge society, the fissure between us<br />
widened to a gulf. We nodded when we met, but<br />
that was all. With Girdelstone I was not on speak-<br />
ing terms. So when I found Monteagle on my<br />
threshold I confess I was startled.<br />
"May I come in?" he asked.<br />
"Certainly, certainly," I said, cordially. "But<br />
what is the matter?"<br />
"Good God! Newall," he cried, "that MS.<br />
after all is a forgery."<br />
This expression I thought unbecoming in a<br />
"Disciple," but I only smiled and said, "Really?<br />
You think so?" Monteagle then made reference to<br />
our old friendship, our unfortunate dissension. He<br />
asked for my help, and then really excited my pity.<br />
He poured into my ear a tale of woe. Some<br />
member of the High Church party in Oxbridge had<br />
been to Greece in order to attend a Conference<br />
at Cyprus on the union of the Greek and Anglican<br />
Churches. While there he had met Sarpedon,<br />
Patriarch of Hermaphroditopolis, and in course of<br />
conversation told him of the renowned Dr. Gros-<br />
chen. Sarpedon had become distant at mention of<br />
the doctor's name. He denied all knowledge of the<br />
famous letter of introduction, and said the only<br />
thing he knew of the Professor was that he was<br />
usually supposed to have been the thief who had<br />
made off with a large chest of parchments from the<br />
monastery of St. Basil.<br />
The Greek Patriarch refused to give any further<br />
information. The English clergyman had reported<br />
this privately to Girdelstone.<br />
Dr. Groschen's other letters were examined, and<br />
had been found to be all fabrications. The book<br />
of Jasher and Aulus Gellius had been submitted to<br />
a like scrutiny, and Girdelstone and Monteagle had<br />
reluctantly come to the conclusion that they were<br />
also vulgar and palpable forgeries. At the end of<br />
his story Monteagle almost burst into tears. I<br />
endeavoured to cheer him, although I was shrieking<br />
with laughter at the whole situation.<br />
Of course it was dreadful for him. If he exposed<br />
Dr. Groschen, his own reputation as an expert<br />
would be gone, and the doctor already had half<br />
the money, which Girdelstone and he had paid in<br />
advance. Monteagle was so agitated that it was<br />
with difficulty I could get his story out of him, and<br />
to this day I have never quite learned the truth.<br />
Controlling my laughter, I sent a note round to<br />
Professor Girdelstone, asking him to come to my<br />
rooms. In about ten minutes he appeared, looking<br />
as draggled and sheepish as poor Monteagle. In<br />
his bosom he carried the fateful MS., which I had<br />
never seen before. If it was a forgery (and I am<br />
not sure now that it was) it was certainly a master-<br />
piece. From what Girdelstone said to me then<br />
and since, I think that the Aulus Gellius portion<br />
was genuine enough, and the book of Jasher the<br />
invention of Groschen; however, it will never be<br />
discovered if one or neither were genuine. Mont-<br />
eagle thought the ink that was used was a compound<br />
of tea and charcoal, but both he and Girdelstone<br />
were too suspicious to believe even each other by<br />
this time.<br />
I tried to console them, and promised all help<br />
in my power. They were rather startled and<br />
alarmed when I laid out my basis of operations.<br />
In the first place, I was to withdraw all opposition<br />
to the purchase of the MS. Girdelstone and Mont-<br />
eagle, meanwhile, were to set about having the<br />
Aulus Gellius printed and facsimiled; for I thought<br />
it was a pity such work should be lost to the<br />
world. The facsimile was only to be announced,<br />
but the publishing by the University press to be<br />
got in hand at once. The text of Aulus Gellius<br />
can still be obtained, and a translation of those<br />
portions which can be rendered into English<br />
forms a volume of Mr. Bohn's excellent classical<br />
library, which will satisfy the curious who are<br />
unacquainted with Latin. Professor Girdelstone<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 262 (#314) ############################################<br />
<br />
262<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
was to write a preface in very guarded terms.<br />
This will be familiar to all classical scholars.<br />
It was with great difficulty that I could persuade<br />
Girdelstone and Monteagle, who had come to me,<br />
their enemy, and in distress, of the sincerity of my<br />
actions, but the poor fellows were ready to catch at<br />
any straw for hope from exposure, and they listened<br />
to every word I said. As the whole University<br />
knew I was not on speaking terms with Girdelstone,<br />
I told him to adopt a Nicodemus-like attitude, and<br />
to come to me in the night-time, when we could<br />
hold consultation. To the outer world, during these<br />
anxious evenings, when my oak was sported, and<br />
I would see no one, I was supposed to be pre-<br />
paring my great syllabus of lectures on the ichthyo-<br />
saurus. I only communicated to my fellow curators<br />
my plans bit by bit, for I thought it would be better<br />
for their nerves. I made Monteagle send round<br />
a notice to the press :—" That the MS. about to<br />
become the property of the University Museum<br />
was being edited and published and facsimiled,<br />
and at the earliest possible date it would be on<br />
view in the Galleries where Dr. Groschen's collec-<br />
tions are now exhibited." This was to quiet the<br />
complaints that already were being made by scholars<br />
and commentators of the difficulty of examining<br />
the MSS. The importunities of several religious<br />
societies to get a sight of the book of Jasher<br />
became intolerable. The Dean of Boking, an old<br />
friend of Girdelstone's, came from the north on<br />
purpose to examine the new found work. With<br />
permission he intended, he said, to write a small<br />
brochure for the S.P.C.K. on the book of Jasher:<br />
I believe that he also had some curiosity as to<br />
the Aulus Gellius, but here I may be wronging him.<br />
The subterfuges, lies, and devices to which we re-<br />
sorted were not very creditable to ourselves. Girdel-<br />
stone gave him a dinner, and Monteagle and I<br />
persuaded the Senate to confer on him an honorary<br />
degree. We amused him with advance sheets of the<br />
commentary, and with assurances that he would be<br />
the first to examine the MS. He was quite a month<br />
at Oxbridge, but at last was called on business to the<br />
north by some lucky domestic family bereavement.<br />
Our next difficulty was the news that Sarpcdon,<br />
Patriarch of Hermaphroditopolis, was about to visit<br />
England to attend an Anglican Synod. I thought<br />
Girdelstone would go off his head, and Monteagle's<br />
hair had already become grey in the last few days.<br />
Sarpedon was sure to be invited to Oxbridge.<br />
He would meet Dr. Groschen, and then expose<br />
him. Our fears, 1 soon found out, were shared<br />
by the German saiant, who left shortly after the<br />
news of the advent of Sarpedon, on one of those<br />
mysterious visits to the East. I saw that our<br />
action at once must be prompt, or Girdelstone and<br />
Monteagle would be lost. They were horrified<br />
when I told them I proposed placing the MS. to<br />
public view in the museum on the following day.<br />
A large plate glass case had been made by my<br />
orders, and Girdelstone and Monteagle, who obeyed<br />
me like lambs, deposited their precious burden as<br />
I told them in the Groschen Hall of the Fitz-<br />
Taylor. The crush that afternoon was terrible.<br />
All the University came to peer into the glass case<br />
at the new acquisition. I must tell you that Dr.<br />
Groschen's antiquities had been placed temporarily<br />
in a fire-proof erection built of wood and tin, at<br />
the back of the museum, while they were waiting<br />
for room in the body of the museum. This<br />
erection was connected with the building by a long<br />
stone gallery along which were placed plaster<br />
casts.<br />
I mingled with the crowd, and heard the remarks,<br />
but I advised Girdelstone and Monteagle to keep<br />
out of the way, as it would only upset them.<br />
Various dons came up and chaffed me about the<br />
opposition I had made to the MS. being pur-<br />
chased, and a little man of dark, sallow com-<br />
plexion came up and asked me if I was Professor<br />
Girdelstone. I said I had not the honour. He<br />
was a Bohemian, and wanted to obtain leave to<br />
examine the MS. I gave him my card, and asked<br />
him to call on me, when I would arrange a day.<br />
He told me he was a Lutheran pastor from<br />
Bohemia.<br />
I was the last to leave the museum that day. I<br />
was often kept In the library long after four, when<br />
the museum usually closed, and so T dismissed<br />
the attendants when they had locked up everything<br />
with the exception of a small door in the stone<br />
gallery which I usually used on such occasions.<br />
I waited till six in the evening, and as I went out<br />
I opened near this door a sash window and<br />
removed the iron shutters. After dinner I went<br />
round to Monteagle's rooms. He and Girdelstone<br />
were sitting in a despondent way on each side of<br />
the fire, sipping weak coffee and nibbling Albert<br />
biscuits. They were startled at my entrance.<br />
"What have you decided?" asked Girdelstone,<br />
hoarsely.<br />
"All is arranged. Monteagle and I will set fire<br />
to the museum to night," I said, quietly.<br />
Girdelstone buried his face in his hands and<br />
began to sob.<br />
"Anything but that—anything but that!" he<br />
cried. And Monteagle turned a little pale. At<br />
first they protested, but I overcame their scruples<br />
by saying they might get out of the mess how they<br />
liked. 1 advised Girdelstone to go to bed and<br />
plead illness for the next few days, for he really<br />
wanted rest. At eleven o'clock that night Mont-<br />
eagle and myself crossed the meadows at the back<br />
of our college, and by a circuitous route reached<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 263 (#315) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR. 263<br />
r<br />
the grounds surrounding the museum, which were<br />
planted with rhododendrons and other shrubs.<br />
It was pouring with rain, unfortunately not<br />
favourable for our enterprise. I had brought with<br />
me a small box of combustibles from the Univer-<br />
sity Laboratories, and a dark lantern. When we<br />
climbed over the low wall not far from the stone<br />
gallery I saw to my horror a light emerging from<br />
the Groschen Hall. Monteagle, who is fearfully<br />
superstitious, began chattering his teeth. When we<br />
reached the small door I saw that it was open. A<br />
thief had evidently forestalled us. Monteagle sug-<br />
gested going back, and leaving the thief to make<br />
off with the MS.; but I would not hear of such a<br />
proposal.<br />
The door opening to the Groschen Hall at the<br />
end of the gallery was open, and beyond, a man—<br />
who had his back towards us, and who I at once<br />
recognised as the little Lutheran—was busily<br />
engaged in picking the lock of the case where were<br />
deposited the book of Jasher and Aulus Gellius.<br />
Telling Monteagle to guard the door, I approached<br />
very softly, keeping behind the plaster casts. I was<br />
within a yard of the man before he heard my<br />
boots creak. Then he turned round, and I found<br />
myself face to face with Dr. Groschen. I have<br />
never seen such a look of terror on anyone's face<br />
before.<br />
"You scoundrel!" I cried, collecting myself,<br />
"drop those things at once !" and I made for him<br />
with my fist. He dodged me. I ran after him;<br />
but he threaded his way like a rat through the<br />
statues and cases of antiquities, and bolted down<br />
the passage out of the door, where he upset<br />
Monteagle and the lantern, and disappeared in the<br />
darkness and rain. I then returned to the scene<br />
of his labours. Monteagle was too frightened, as<br />
the museum had rather a ghostly appearance by<br />
the light of the feeble oil lamp. There was some<br />
dry sacking in a small cupboard. I had deposited<br />
it there for the purpose. This I ignited along<br />
with some native curiosities of straw and skin and<br />
wickerwork.<br />
There were also some new unpacked cases of<br />
casts which the attendants had left there in the<br />
afternoon, which materially assisted the conflagra-<br />
tion.<br />
It was an impressive scene as the flames played<br />
round the pedestals of the torsos, statues, and cases,<br />
but I only waited for a few moments to see that my<br />
work was complete. I shut the door between the<br />
gallery and the hall, so as to avoid the possibility of<br />
the fire spreading to the rest of the building. I<br />
seized Monteagle by the arm and hurried him<br />
through the rhododendrons, over the wall, into the<br />
meadows stretching down to the river I turned<br />
back once, and just caught a glimpse of red flame<br />
bursting through the windows. Having seen Mont-<br />
eagle half way back to the college, I returned to see<br />
if any alarm had been given. Some passers by had<br />
already noticed it, and a small crowd had collected<br />
in front. A fire engine had been sent for, while a<br />
local pump had almost been set going. I returned<br />
to my college gate, where I found the porter was<br />
standing, believing I had been in Trinity all the<br />
evening.<br />
"The FitzTaylor is burning," he said. "I have<br />
been looking out for you, sir."<br />
• * *<br />
There is nothing more to tell. To this day no<br />
one suspects but that the fire was the work of an<br />
incendiary, jealous of Dr. Groschen's discovery.<br />
The Professor has returned from the East, but lives<br />
in great retirement, and his friends say that he has<br />
never quite recovered the shock occasioned by the<br />
loss of his collection. The rest of the museum<br />
was uninjured.<br />
The death of Sarpedon, Patriarch of Hermaph-<br />
roditopolis, at Naples, was a sudden and melan-<br />
choly catastrophe, which people say affected Dr.<br />
Groschen more than the fire. Strangely enough,<br />
as he had just been dining with the Doctor the<br />
evening before, for they had met at Naples pur-<br />
posely.<br />
Sometimes I ask myself if I did right in setting<br />
fire to the museum. It was, you see, for the sake<br />
of others, not myself, and Monteagle was an old<br />
friend.<br />
*<br />
ON COMMITTEE.<br />
OUR Copyright Sub-Committee has been<br />
busy at the close of its successful career.<br />
On January 29th a meeting was held of<br />
the General Committee and also of the Copyright<br />
Sub-Committee to consider the report made by<br />
the Fine Art Committee of the London Chamber<br />
of Commerce upon the Fine Art Sections of our<br />
Bill. The London Chamber of Commerce had<br />
evidently given every attention to our Bill in detail,<br />
and their criticism was considered most valuable<br />
to us. As far as our Sub-Committee considered<br />
themselves able to do so, without violating the<br />
spirit of the Bill, or making propositions in<br />
opposition to the recommendations of the Royal<br />
Commission of 1878, the practical suggestions of<br />
the London Chamber of Commerce have been<br />
adopted. For the information of those of our<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 264 (#316) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
members who possess copies of the Bill, these<br />
suggestions are appended, with the reply of our<br />
Committee to them.<br />
The London Chamber of Commerce<br />
(Incorporated).<br />
Fine Art Section.<br />
Report of the Special Copyright Sub-Committee.<br />
Your Committee were appointed to examine the<br />
terms of the Copyright Bill of the Society of Authors,<br />
and "report to the Section how far it includes, and<br />
in what way it differs, from the 1885 Bill, intended<br />
to be supported by the Section." Your Committee<br />
have held four meetings, and have carefully con-<br />
sidered the two Bills with a view to ascertaining<br />
the difference between them, and submit as an<br />
appendix an analysis which has been prepared by<br />
one of their number, Mr. Boydell Graves.<br />
Speaking generally, the Committee found that<br />
the Bill of the Society of Authors embraces many<br />
of the points specially dealt with in the Bill of<br />
1885 ; but in regard to the Penal clauses, they<br />
recommend that the Society of Authors Bill should<br />
be amended in the direction of approximating the<br />
penalties imposed more nearly to those laid down<br />
in the Bill of" 1885, which are more stringent in the<br />
latter than in the former. The Committee, how-<br />
ever, are of opinion that it should be possible so to<br />
amend the Bill of the Society of Authors as to<br />
meet the views of all who are interested in fine art<br />
copyright, whether as artists or publishers. They<br />
submit, therefore, the following recommendations<br />
for acceptance by the Section.<br />
Taking Part III of the Bill, which deals separately<br />
with copyright in works of fine art and photographs,<br />
and following the order in which the Bill is drafted,<br />
the Committee recommend that the words, "offer<br />
for sale," should be omitted from the definition of<br />
"publication," on the ground that it is the custom<br />
among artistic publishers to take subscribers' names<br />
for an engraving not only during the progress of<br />
such work, but even prior to its commencement.<br />
The omission of the words in question would<br />
prevent the publisher from being made liable for<br />
publication before the actual issue of the work.<br />
The definition of " replica" is unsatisfactory, in<br />
so far as a replica is laid down as a work which<br />
may be executed by a person other than the artist<br />
himself. The objection of the Committee would<br />
be met, however, by the omission of the words<br />
"caused by him to be executed." The Committee<br />
were unanimous in agreeing that a replica must be<br />
executed by a painter himself, in the same material,<br />
approximating to the same size as the original, and<br />
that it should be considered as being an authorized<br />
copy if not wholly or mainly done by the artist's<br />
own hand. In other words, it might be desirable<br />
to define a replica as a work executed by the<br />
artist himself, or, if commenced by another person,<br />
completed under his own hand.<br />
The definition of " sale" was not considered by<br />
the Committee to sufficiently cover the giving and<br />
acceptance of a commission to and by the artist.<br />
They suggest the following addition to the defini-<br />
tions in Part III: "'Commission,' when used<br />
with reference to a work of fine art, shall mean an<br />
order to execute the same for a valuable considera-<br />
tion." Sections 36 and 40 of the Society of Authors<br />
Bill only propose to confer copyright for a period<br />
of thirty years after the death of the artist. The<br />
Committee strongly urge that the period should be<br />
extended to fifty years to paintings (as in the 18S5<br />
Bill where applicable to engravings), and as pro-<br />
posed in the case of " books" in the present Society<br />
of Authors Eill, and as already conferred in<br />
Germany. In no case, the Committee consider,<br />
should copyright expire in less than a period of<br />
fifty years after the first sale or registration of a<br />
work.<br />
Respecting Section 38, the Committee suggest<br />
no amendment, provided the Section is read in<br />
connection with and governed by the definition of<br />
replica as proposed by them.<br />
It was pointed out to the Committee by one of<br />
its artist members that no fainter would care to<br />
give up his right to execute a water colour copy of<br />
an oil painting, and that such water colour copy<br />
could in no wise be mistaken for the original or a<br />
replica thereof.<br />
In Section 48, Sub-Section (3), which deals with<br />
the delivery of copies to the owners of copyright in<br />
certain cases of infringement, the Committee<br />
recommend that the words "or take other pro-<br />
ceedings" be added after the word "action," as it<br />
would not in all cases be necessary to have recourse<br />
to the law courts.<br />
As regards the reproduction of copyright works,<br />
specially dealt with in Section 47, the Committee<br />
are of opinion that in cases where a picture has<br />
been bought with the copyright it should, if repro-<br />
duced, be reproduced in its entirety, and the law<br />
should not allow of a part being taken out of it, so<br />
that it could be made into a separate picture, with-<br />
out the permission of the artist being given. They<br />
therefore recommend the addition of the following<br />
or similar provisions to Sub-Section C of Section<br />
47: "Without the consent in writing of the author<br />
of the work or his assigns to such alterations, addi-<br />
tions, or subtractions."<br />
Part IV of the Bill deals with foreign and<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 265 (#317) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
265<br />
colonial copyright, and, with respect to its pro-<br />
visions, the Committee offer no remarks.<br />
The Committee raise no objection to Part V<br />
as drafted, provided it is made clear that the in-<br />
clusion of paintings and works of sculpture from<br />
Section 85 (in which it is laid down that only the<br />
registered owner of a copyright shall be recognized<br />
as such), is due to the fact that the registration of<br />
such works is not compulsory.<br />
As regards Part VI of the Bill, which relates<br />
to Penalties and Procedure, the Committee are<br />
strongly of opinion that the limitation of the time<br />
during which actions or other proceedings for in-<br />
fringement of copyright may be maintained, should<br />
be extended, and that Sub-Section 2 of Section 87<br />
should be modified, so that an action could be<br />
brought within twelve months after the offence<br />
had come to the knowledge of the copyright owner,<br />
and not twelve months after the same is com-<br />
mitted, as proposed in the draft.<br />
The Committee observe that the Society of<br />
Authors Bill does not contain the stipulation in<br />
the Bill of 1885 (Section 17),—that any peace<br />
officer shall have power to search in the daytime<br />
any house, shop, or other place where it may<br />
be reasonably suspected that pirated works are<br />
kept for sale. They recommend that Section 18<br />
of the 1885 Bill should be embodied in the present<br />
measure, subject to verbal alteration of the mar-<br />
ginal reference, so as to read, "power to search<br />
premises used for business purposes."<br />
With reference to Section 89, Sub-Section B,<br />
governing power to seize unlawful copies when<br />
hawked about for sale, the Committee recommend<br />
the introduction of a similar provision to that con-<br />
tained in the Bill of 1885, Clause 18, so that<br />
illegal copies could be taken before a Court of<br />
Summary Jurisdiction, and, upon proof, that any<br />
such copy, repetition, or imitation was unlawfully<br />
made, such copy, repetition, or imitation shall be<br />
forfeited, and delivered up to the owner of the<br />
copyright as his property. (Clause 17 of the<br />
1885 Bill.) This additional clause will involve<br />
the omission from the Bill of the Society of<br />
Authors of the words, "with a view to obtaining<br />
an order for its delivery to the proprietor of the<br />
copyright."<br />
As regards Section 91, relative to the right of a<br />
copyright owner to apply in a summary manner in<br />
cases of infringement to a Court of Summary<br />
Jurisdiction in that part of the British dominions<br />
"where the wrong has been committed, or where<br />
the person who has been guilty of the infringement<br />
dwells," the Committee strongly recommend that<br />
an effort should be made in order that an action<br />
might also be tried in the place where the aggrieved<br />
person resides. They further urge that fines should<br />
be cumulative, and applicable to each separate<br />
offence, as set forth in the Bill of 1885, inasmuch<br />
as it would otherwise appear to be possible for a<br />
person to infringe copyright and produce any num-<br />
ber of copies, for which he would only be fined<br />
Five Pounds. ,<br />
The Committee generally approve of the re-<br />
maining parts of the Bill, and would draw special<br />
attention to the method of registration proposed,<br />
which provides for the gradual transfer from the<br />
Stationers' Company of the powers and duties at<br />
present vested in them to a new Government<br />
Department, in connection with, and probably in<br />
the same building as, the Registration of Trade<br />
Marks and Designs, under the control of the Board<br />
of Trade.<br />
The Committee, in conclusion, recommend that<br />
in the event of their functions being continued by<br />
the Fine Art Section, they should have power to<br />
arrange with the Society of Authors and the<br />
draughtsman of the Bill for an interview, to dis-<br />
cuss some slight verbal modifications which they<br />
consider necessary to make the meaning of the<br />
Bill absolutely clear, and otherwise to meet the<br />
views of copyright owners in fine art as embodied<br />
in the Bill of 1885.<br />
Arthur Lucas (Chairman).<br />
Wyke Bayliss.<br />
Boydell Graves.<br />
Heywood Hardy.<br />
Charles Dowdeswell.<br />
December, 1890.<br />
Reply from the Sub-Committee on<br />
Copyright.<br />
A Committee Meeting composed of members of<br />
the General Committee of the Society of Authors,<br />
and of the Sub-Committee on Copyright, was held<br />
on the 29th January last, to consider the report and<br />
the suggestions contained therein of the Fine Art<br />
Section Committee of the London Chamber of<br />
Commerce.<br />
The Committee have instructed me to offer their<br />
best thanks to the Committee of the Fine Art<br />
Secjion for the valuable suggestions contained in<br />
their report, and also for their offer to meet the<br />
Committee of the Society of Authors to discuss the<br />
Copyright Bill.<br />
The Committee having carefully considered in<br />
detail the suggestions and proposed amendments,<br />
do not think that any good purpose would be<br />
served by further discussion of the Bill as a whole,<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 266 (#318) ############################################<br />
<br />
266<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
but I am instructed to inform you that my Com-<br />
mittee have, in consequence of your Report, re-<br />
commended certain alterations to Lord Monkswell<br />
(who now has charge of the Bill), and that they<br />
feel assured that his lordship will consent to<br />
introduce such alterations into the Bill at the<br />
proper time.<br />
As regards the penal clauses suggested in the<br />
report, my Committee are quite in sympathy with<br />
your Committee, but from intimations received<br />
from various sources they are convinced that it<br />
would not be advisable to introduce the proposed<br />
clauses, at least at present, as such a course might<br />
tend to imperil the progress of the Bill.<br />
It is hardly necessary to add that if, and when<br />
the Bill reaches the Committee stage, the Society<br />
will offer no opposition to any such amendments,<br />
as you suggest, being made.<br />
I append below somewhat in detail the comments<br />
made and conclusions arrived at by my Committee<br />
upon the report of your Committee.<br />
With regard to :—<br />
Publication.—It was agreed to amend the<br />
definition so as to read as follows :—" The<br />
first Act of offering, advertising, &c. . . .<br />
as ready for sale to the public." This will<br />
meet the point raised by your report.<br />
Replica.—My Committee think that the exi-<br />
gencies of the case will be sufficiently met<br />
by adding the words "under his immediate<br />
supervision" after the word "executed."<br />
Sale.—The word sale was- not intended to<br />
cover the giving and acceptance of a com-<br />
mission to and by the artist. A commission<br />
is merely an agreement for sale, and the<br />
word " sale" as defined covers it as soon<br />
as the work is done.<br />
The period of copyright in paintings.—My<br />
Committee would point out that the period<br />
of copyright proposed in the case of books<br />
is for life and thirty years. It is desired to<br />
give an uniform term for all classes of work,<br />
and therefore it is proposed to give the same<br />
period in the case of paintings as in books<br />
set. The term of life and thirty years was<br />
expressly adopted by the Royal Commis-<br />
sioners as being that adopted by Germany<br />
(see paragraph 40 of their Report).<br />
The right of an artist to execute a water-colour<br />
copy of an oil painting.—Section 38 of the<br />
Bill does not in any way affect this right.<br />
(See the definition of Replica.)<br />
Section 48, Sufi-Section (3).—My Committee<br />
would point out that the parties can always<br />
agree to refer to arbitration if they wish.<br />
They do not perceive what other proceed-<br />
ings are referred to.<br />
Section 47, Sufi-Section (C).—The objection<br />
to Section 47 appears to be that it does not<br />
expressly provide against an original work<br />
which has been added to or subtracted from<br />
being sold as unaltered. In order to meet<br />
this objection it is proposed to add in Sub-<br />
Section (D), line 21 of paragraph 20, after<br />
the word "alterations" the words "addi-<br />
tions or subtractions." The clause will, of<br />
course, only apply to cases where the altera-<br />
tions, &c, are made without the author's<br />
consent, and it does not seem necessary to<br />
add the words suggested in your report.<br />
Section 85.—The reason given for the omission<br />
of paintings and sculpture from Section 85<br />
is that mentioned in the Report, but it<br />
seems quite unnecessery to refer to it<br />
specifically in the section.<br />
Sec/ion 87, Sufi-Section 2.—The proposed<br />
amendment would be contrary to the<br />
general principles of statutes of limitation.<br />
Section 17, 1885 Bill.—As originally drafted,<br />
the Society of Authors Bill had this section<br />
inserted, but on mature deliberation the<br />
Committee rejected it as too severe. (See<br />
also paragraph 175 of the Report of the<br />
Royal Commissioners as to this section.)<br />
Section 89, Sub-Section B.—Sections 88 and<br />
89, taken together, appear to provide all<br />
that is necessary with regard to the forfeiture<br />
of illegal copies.<br />
Section 91.—The proposed amendment is con-<br />
trary to the general principles of procedure.<br />
Fines being made cumulative, this proce-<br />
dure is only intended for small and trivial<br />
offences. Where the offence is more<br />
serious, the ordinary action for damages<br />
for infringement can be brought.<br />
On February 5th a meeting was held to confer<br />
with representatives of the Copyright Association<br />
and of the Newspaper Society [informal]. Mr. F.<br />
R. Daldy, the Honorary Secretary of the Copyright<br />
Association, and a member of the Royal Com<br />
mission of 1878, made an exhaustive report to us<br />
of the views of his body on the Bill. It will be suffi-<br />
cient here to say that our Sub-Committee recognized<br />
the great value attaching to his suggestions, and that<br />
alteration in accordance with them will in some<br />
cases be made.<br />
The Secretary will be happy to supply any<br />
member with a copy of the Bill upon receipt of<br />
•j^d. in stamps.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 267 (#319) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
267<br />
A HARD CASE.<br />
VIII.<br />
WE have on the last three occasions given<br />
examples of what may be termed more<br />
or less constitutional methods of "best-<br />
ing" the author. But lest anyone should think<br />
sanguinely that the day of gross malpractice has<br />
gone by, we recur to the exploits of the " half-profit"<br />
publisher, and give an account of one of the recent<br />
cases that has come into the office. It was not a<br />
"half-profit " case, for the publisher only proposed<br />
to receive one-third of the profits, but the methods<br />
employed for obtaining money from the author<br />
were the old ones, first made familiar to us by the<br />
"half-profit" practitioner.<br />
The following were the terms agreed upon<br />
between author and publisher, and for once in a<br />
way they were placed upon paper, and correctly<br />
witnessed and stamped.<br />
(1) . The first edition was to consist of 1,000<br />
copies, to be bound up as required, and sold at a<br />
guinea each.<br />
(2) . The remainder-stock could not be sold<br />
without the permission of the author.<br />
(3) . Author was to pay ^120—^60 on signing<br />
agreement, and ^60 on receiving final proofs.<br />
(4) . Author was to pay for corrections.<br />
(5) . Author was to pay £10 towards advertise-<br />
ment.<br />
(6) . Author was to receive two-thirds, and pub-<br />
lisher one-third of any profits.<br />
(7) . Half-yearly accounts were to be rendered.<br />
To this there was appended a formal authoriza-<br />
tion to the author to inspect the publisher's books.<br />
This seemed at first sight a very satisfactory<br />
agreement, and by comparison with a great many<br />
half-profit agreements it must be conceded at once<br />
that it was satisfactory. By comparison with some<br />
of this particular firm's agreements which we have<br />
had an opportunity of perusing, it was mo3t satis-<br />
factory. The contract was a formal instrument, duly<br />
and properly stamped. The expenses of advertise-<br />
ment were limited, instead of being left unreservedly<br />
to the prodigality of the agent, while control over<br />
the destinies of the remainder-stock was very pro-<br />
perly retained. One omission only was made, but<br />
that omission was so important that it has ruined an<br />
otherwise fair and equitable contract. The author<br />
has omitted to ask for details concerning the cost<br />
of production, towards which he is to contribute<br />
,£120, also ^10, and also the cost of "author's<br />
corrections," to an unlimited extent. He appears<br />
never to have asked himself why ^120, more<br />
than £20 or £220, but simply to have agreed to<br />
vol. 1.<br />
pay the sum asked of him. If authors are so<br />
simple, can it be wondered that the publishing<br />
trade is here and there, if not everywhere, invaded<br />
by persons who make it a business to take advan-<br />
tage of such simplicity.<br />
It is this extraordinary incapacity for under-<br />
standing that there is no mystery attached to<br />
publishing, that creates the class of bogus-pub-<br />
lishers. In every other sort of business short of<br />
the confidence trick, if a man's agent opened the<br />
proceedings by asking for a sum down, he would<br />
as a matter course be expected to show why, and<br />
state what he was going to do with it.<br />
This curious trustfulness in the integrity of<br />
strangers who tout for business by advertisement,<br />
is, we believe, almost peculiar to the relations<br />
between young authors and dishonest publishers,<br />
and between the male and female clients of the<br />
matrimonial journals. However, the point did<br />
not occur to the author, and the agreement was<br />
signed.<br />
The next thing that occurred in the transaction<br />
could have been foretold by anyone of the least<br />
experience in these matters. A demand for more<br />
money was made. The sum asked for was £40,<br />
and it was demanded for purposes of advertise-<br />
ment. In our humble opinion, to make this<br />
demand on the grounds that more money was<br />
required for advertisement was by no means<br />
astute, as it was flying so dead in the face of a<br />
special clause in the agreement that the most easy-<br />
going of authors might be expected to resent such<br />
treatment. It is clear that the weak spot in the<br />
agreement was the fourth clause, under which the<br />
author expressed his willingness to pay for correc-<br />
tions, if only the publisher would kindly name the<br />
price, and it is as a charge for "author's correc-<br />
tions " that this further demand should have been<br />
made. It is to this shortsightedness on the part<br />
of the publisher that we owe our ability to tell this<br />
story, for the author proceeded to take advice as<br />
to the propriety of paying any more money. Of<br />
course he was not liable in any way, and from the<br />
first he very properly refused to send it. But<br />
that proceeding placed him in the usual predica-<br />
ment, a predicament in which this half-profit pub-<br />
lisher has doubtless placed others of his clients.<br />
If the author did send the money he felt himself<br />
to be swindled—at any rate he felt that his agree-<br />
ment specially limiting his liability for advertise-<br />
ment to ^10 was very little protection to him; if<br />
he did not send it, the publisher would not<br />
advertise his book (in a letter they intimated as<br />
much), and the ,£130 already spent on its produc-<br />
tion would be lost, or to a great extent lost. Should<br />
he yield, or should he hold out?<br />
As for advice that should bring a man peacefully<br />
Y<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 268 (#320) ############################################<br />
<br />
268<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
out of such a predicament—none could be given.<br />
He had signed a bad agreement, and if the result<br />
of doing so proved to be bad for him, he had only<br />
himself or his advisers to blame. It was too late<br />
to do anything to remedy the fact that he had<br />
signed the contract.<br />
A copy of the book was lent to the Society of<br />
Authors, and we had a careful estimate of the<br />
cost of production made. We found that it would<br />
have cost about £100 to produce 1,000 copies of<br />
the book and bind 250 of them, but from previous<br />
experience we were inclined to believe that so large<br />
a number of copies were not bound. That is to<br />
say, the publisher, according to our computations,<br />
made £$0 or so before he started to sell the book.<br />
Then he proposed to make ^40 more. "Which<br />
he would have done, we at least believe it," if he<br />
had made the demand on the ground of "author's<br />
corrections." But his clumsiness lost him the<br />
money. His proposal not being accepted, he<br />
decided to remain content with his position, that<br />
of a small and safe profit duly received.<br />
The author, on the other hand, had spent ^130.<br />
Of this sum we have not heard how much has<br />
been recovered as profits, in accordance with the<br />
accounts, no doubt rendered half-yearly, as exacted<br />
from the publisher by the agreement.<br />
This author has no practical remedy. It seems<br />
to us impossible that he can ever get back his<br />
money by the sales of his book, while the pub-<br />
lisher has very little motive in selling the book.<br />
Probably there are not many copies bound, and he<br />
would have to bind them at his own expense<br />
before he could sell them. He has already made a<br />
little money, and he is content that things should<br />
remain as they are, though he probably still regrets<br />
the loss of that £\o "for advertisement." And<br />
in the publisher's apathy as to the sale of the book<br />
lies the explanation of all the trouble No doubt<br />
the author thought that a publisher who proposed<br />
to receive one-third of the profits was also pro-<br />
posing to accept at least one-third of the risks.<br />
No doubt he thought that the publisher would<br />
work to secure his own third and therefore the<br />
author's two-thirds simultaneously. But the pub-<br />
lisher—to give him his due—has nowhere suggested<br />
that he was advancing a penny out of his own<br />
pocket. He said he should like ^120, and he<br />
got it, but he has told no lies about it. He has<br />
never represented, at least in the papers that have<br />
reached the Society, that he wanted this sum<br />
because the whole cost was going to be ^180, of<br />
which he would pay £,(>o. Nor has he attempted<br />
to account for the demand of ^r2o by some<br />
humbugging schedule of "estimated cost," in<br />
which all the items are double as expensive as<br />
they should be. His method has been more<br />
simple. He said, I want ,£120—£bo now and<br />
_^6o later—and he got it.<br />
Authors cannot be too strongly advised to have<br />
nothing todo with advertisingpublishers, unlessafter<br />
consultation with the Society, to make no money<br />
payments whatever until they understand what they<br />
are going to get in return, and to sign no agreements<br />
save under the advice of those who understand.<br />
*<br />
A NOTE ON IBSEN.<br />
—♦—<br />
MR. GOSSE'S translation of Herr Ibsen's<br />
last drama will be welcome to his English<br />
followers and to others interested in<br />
Scandinavian literature. Herr Ibsen is to be con-<br />
gratulated both on the ability of his translator and<br />
on having for once escaped from his professional<br />
disciples.<br />
"Hedda Gabler," or to call her by her husband's<br />
scarcely more euphonious name, "Fru Tesman,"<br />
comes as a relief from Herr Ibsen's other heroines.<br />
She descends upon us as a refreshing douche of<br />
unredeemed criminality. At last we feel quite at<br />
home after our wanderings up and down the cross<br />
currents of Ibsenitish morals. I have always hoped<br />
to find in Herr Ibsen some sort of system after all,<br />
and now my hope is fortified.<br />
"There is no point to which, I trow,<br />
Norwegian Bishops cannot go,"<br />
in the opinion of their illustrious countryman, but<br />
he surely has a code of morals for the guidance of<br />
the enlightened sex. In "Hedda Gabler" one<br />
seems to descry something like a first prohibitory<br />
commandment. Insolence, desertion, adultery,<br />
and incest are misfortunes in females attributable,<br />
no doubt, to "some externally false conditions of<br />
society which have turned to bitterness that which<br />
should have been rich and full for its use."<br />
These indiscretions are feminine perquisites,<br />
legitimate weapons against the tyranny of natural<br />
affections; but women should not shed blood.<br />
We all of us are glad to subscribe to any recom-<br />
mendation issued by the exiled prophet of Dresden,<br />
now that we have found one. "Thou shalt—<br />
except of course in certain cases—do no murder."<br />
'The new representation of the " Doll's House"<br />
does not throw any very great light on the play. The<br />
character of Fru Linden has been developed, and<br />
the character of Thorvald is interpreted probably<br />
more to the liking of those " bearded ladies " who<br />
form so large a part of the audience. These fair<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 269 (#321) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
269<br />
creatures—for we do not allude to their chins—<br />
will rejoice in any emphasis given to the prejudices<br />
of their master against his own characters. It is<br />
just to Herr Ibsen to remark that these prejudices<br />
exist rather in his followers than in his own<br />
work. None of his characters have been so mis-<br />
represented as the unfortunate, kind, conceited,<br />
natural Thorvald, the only human being in this<br />
house of moral puppets.<br />
If a man has a wife and children to support,<br />
and they are dependant on his reputation, he is<br />
not necessarily a selfish brute, or a sneaking,<br />
sententious hypocrite because he is anxious to<br />
preserve it. An actor who so represents Thorvald<br />
misses the delicacy of the writer's characterization.<br />
Neither is it a mark of gross egotism for a man to<br />
regard another's affection for himself as likely to<br />
be a stronger motive with him, or her, than his own<br />
fancies, but frequently the contrary.<br />
It is interesting to note that Herr Ibsen's minor<br />
characters and incidents are generally drawn with<br />
more truth and vividness than those possessing<br />
more dramatic interest. His pictures of everyday<br />
life are peculiarly natural, his departures from these<br />
spheres frequently lead him into the region of<br />
monstrosities too often trivial and mesguins, like<br />
Nora, sometimes splendid like Peer Gynt, rarely<br />
sublime like Brand, but all unreal as dreams.<br />
The eccentricity of his genius does not, as might<br />
have been expected, enable him to represent truth<br />
outside the narrow circle of frequent occurrence.<br />
Perhaps his floating standard of morality is a sign<br />
rather than a cause of this weakness. He appears<br />
not to accept any principle whatever as sufficiently<br />
certain to serve him as a standard for the creation<br />
of beings at the same time unusual and natural.<br />
His skill and observation enable him to describe<br />
truthfully only what is familiar to him in detail.<br />
Herr Ibsen has been well called "the Prophet of<br />
the Eternal Interrogative." He advocates no<br />
system of religion, sociology, or morality; he is<br />
more than neutral; he is neuter ; he seldom trusts<br />
himself even to deny. It must be remembered<br />
that it is the Ibsenites, not their master, who are<br />
responsible for the amalgam of sentiments to<br />
which they give his name.<br />
Few comedies have approached nearer to farces<br />
than the unconscious comedy played by Ibsenism<br />
in England. But there is matter for regret in this<br />
fact. The solemnity with which Herr Ibsen's<br />
disciples here have accepted his queries as oracles<br />
has nearly ruined the high reputation which he<br />
deserves. He is best known by his weakest work,<br />
his prose dramas, but it would be unfair to judge<br />
the author of "Peer Gynt " and "Brand" until<br />
these really great creations are better known. The<br />
exquisite fancy of " Peer Gynt," its exuberance and<br />
vol. 1.<br />
ingenuity, its quaint humour, its bold originality<br />
and delicate beauty are alone enough to rank its<br />
author among the greatest geniuses Europe has<br />
produced this century. The pathos of humour has<br />
never been carried so far as in the scene at the<br />
death-bed of Peer's mother, with so much success.<br />
The incident of the Strange Passenger represents the<br />
subtlest moral facts in a peculiarly original form.<br />
The well known story of the Disguised Angel in the<br />
Gesta Romanorum is scarcely more remarkable.<br />
The scenes in Norway, Africa, and on the high seas<br />
are equally excellent. As far as foreigners can<br />
judge, the form of the verse is always agreeable<br />
and in some passages deserves much higher praise.<br />
If Peer Gynt himself is intended to represents<br />
young Norway no doubt the drama is all the<br />
more interesting to Scandinavians on that<br />
account. The rest of the world may perhaps take<br />
some interest in young Norway for the sake of<br />
"Peer Gynt."<br />
"Brand " is difficult to speak of concisely, its<br />
faults are so obvious and its meaning so profound.<br />
It is only too evident that large parts of it had<br />
better have been omitted or written in prose.<br />
There is but one character, the giant who gives his<br />
name to the drama; the Baillie is a mere abstrac-<br />
tion of the commonplace, and Agnes a foil to<br />
enhance the characteristics of the hero. Perhaps<br />
the strongest element in the play is its pathos, but<br />
it is a pity that the climax in this respect is reached<br />
too soon. For the incident itself no praise is too<br />
high. The sorrow of maternity has seldom been<br />
more tenderly and more tragically represented.<br />
The character of Brand will probably elicit very<br />
little sympathy; his enormous faults and his heroic<br />
virtues are those peculiarly antipathetic to present<br />
opinion. Can there be anything more terrible in<br />
its simple directness, its hideous baldness, than the<br />
story of the disillusion of Brand's childhood?<br />
He is almost a baby, his father dies, he creeps into<br />
the room where he lies dead, he wonders most at<br />
his hands so thin and pale in the taper light, he<br />
hears footsteps on the stairs, he hides in a corner;<br />
a woman enters, she pulls the pillow from the<br />
dead man's head, she searches hither and thither,<br />
gropes about; she rummaages and rifles the dead<br />
miser of his treasure, she mutters " More, more!"<br />
and gasps, as she can find no more, "It is not<br />
much!" This woman is his mother, the dead<br />
man's wife, she who finds later that her son's heart<br />
is flint.<br />
W. \V.<br />
Y 2<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 270 (#322) ############################################<br />
<br />
270<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
IN GRUB STREET.<br />
SIR EDWIN ARNOLD'S new poem, "The<br />
Light of the World; or, the Great<br />
Consummation," is published on the 15th<br />
inst. by Messrs. Longmans. It is a volume of<br />
about 300 pages, and is dedicated to the Queen.<br />
It consists of an introduction in rhymed couplets<br />
entitled "At Bethlehem," and the rest of the poem<br />
is for the most part in blank verse, the titles of the<br />
six books into which it is divided being "Mary<br />
Magdalene," ".The Magus," "The Alabaster Box,"<br />
"The Parables at Tyre," "The Love of God and<br />
Man," and "The Great Consummation." The<br />
poem tells the story of Christ chiefly through the<br />
medium of a dialogue between Mary Magdalene<br />
and one of the Magi, a Buddhist who has returned<br />
to hear the wondrous tale of which rumours had<br />
come to his ears. The holy history is invested<br />
with a peculiar charm by the fancy and vivid word<br />
painting in which it is here reset, and its moral is<br />
then conveyed in the words of the Magus.<br />
"I <16 perceive—since Age, which dims the eye,<br />
Opens the inward vision—there shall spread<br />
News of these high 'Good Tidings '; growing gleams<br />
Of this strange Star are followed to the fold.<br />
I do discern that, forth from this fair Life,<br />
And this meek Death, and thine arisen Christ,<br />
Measureless things are wrought; a Thought-Dawn born<br />
Which shall not cease to broaden, till its beam<br />
Makes more of knowledge for a gathered World,<br />
Completing what our Buddha left unsaid;<br />
Carpeting bright his noble Eight-fold Way<br />
With fragrant blooms of all-renouncing love,<br />
And bringing high Nirvana nearer hope,<br />
Easier and plainer."<br />
The volume has been in print for several months,<br />
but its publication has been delayed in order to<br />
secure the copyright in the United States.<br />
"Essays in Little," by Andrew Lang (Henry and<br />
Co.) is the first of a series of books whose avowed<br />
aim is "to smooth the wrinkles from the brow of<br />
care, and to dislodge the sneer from the cynic's lip."<br />
An admirable aim, truly. I cannot say whether<br />
my own lip has lost its habitual sneer, or my brow<br />
its care-worn furrow by the perusal of the volume.<br />
If not, that is my own fault, because the book<br />
has all the author's well-known charm of style.<br />
It is a collection of critical essays on the works<br />
of a dozen writers. Among these are Louis<br />
Stevenson and Rudyard Kipling. When Mr. Lang<br />
makes up his mind to like a man, he likes him<br />
through and through. And he says so, whether he<br />
is accused of log-rolling or not. I accept all that<br />
he says about Rudyard Kipling—and I would "go<br />
one better" for that infant phenomenon. I dare<br />
say I should accept all that he says about Louis<br />
Stevenson if I were a Scot. But I cannct agree<br />
with Mr. Lang that the "absence of the petticoats"<br />
is a thing to be admired in Stevenson's works. I<br />
am old-fashioned enough to love the frou-frou, and<br />
to find the study of a woman much more delightful<br />
than that of a man.<br />
"London, Past and Present," by Henry Wheat-<br />
ley (Murray). This great work, in three large<br />
volumes, is based upon Peter Cunningham, who<br />
was based on Strype, who was based on Stow, who<br />
was the father of all such as write on London. It<br />
is alphabetical, like Peter Cunningham's book,<br />
and it is exactly twice as long. When one has said<br />
this, and has also added that Mr. Wheatley is well<br />
known for the carefulness and thoroughness of<br />
his work, one has said enough to show that no<br />
library which contains any work on London<br />
should be without these volumes.<br />
*—<br />
An interesting book entitled "Canada First,"<br />
with an introduction by Mr. Goldwin Smith, has<br />
just been issued by Hunter and Rose of Toronto.<br />
The book is especially welcome at this time when<br />
Canadian politics are occupying everyone's atten-<br />
tion. It consists of a number of reprints from<br />
political articles, contributed to the press by the<br />
late Mr. William Forster, once a prominent figure<br />
in the national movement of the Colony. Every<br />
one interested in the history of "Greater Britain"<br />
should purchase this excellent little volume.<br />
Many of Mr. Forster's opinions will naturally<br />
challenge a certain amount of discussion, which<br />
therefore only increases the interest of the work.<br />
*—<br />
Mr. Bailey Saunders will bring out immediately<br />
with Messrs. Swan, Sonnenschein and Co. the fifth<br />
volume of his selection from the essays of<br />
Schopenhauer. It will be entitled "The Art of<br />
Literature," and will deal with Authorship,<br />
Style, Criticism, Reputation, Genius, and kindred<br />
subjects.<br />
•<br />
Mr. James Sully is giving to the public a new<br />
and cheaper edition of "Pessimism: a History<br />
and a Criticism." A review of pessimistic litera-<br />
ture up to date is appended. The publishers are<br />
Messrs. Kegan Paul, Trtibner and Co.<br />
A change has been made in the new edition of<br />
Mr. Alfred Austin's collected works now being<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 271 (#323) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
271<br />
issued in monthly parts by Marmillan and Co. The<br />
volumes will now appear in the following order :—<br />
"The Tower of Babel."<br />
"Savonarola."<br />
"Prince Lucifer."<br />
"The Human Tragedy."<br />
"Lyrical Poems."<br />
"Short Narrative Poems."<br />
The "Satires " will not appear in this edition.<br />
The "Savonarola," dedicated to Henry Irving, has<br />
been out about ten days.<br />
M. W. A. Gibbs has in the press a work en-<br />
titled "The Power of Gold." In the preface, an<br />
advanced copy of which he forwards us, he shows<br />
his sympathy with some aspect of socialism, and<br />
promises to indicate in the pages of his book "the<br />
splendid powers and possibilities of rightly used<br />
gold."<br />
In order to make the short notices of new books<br />
under the heading of "In Grub Street" more<br />
complete and effective, it is suggested by one of<br />
those who contribute these columns that members<br />
should send their new books to the Society either<br />
for presentation or to be returned. If this is done<br />
the book shall be noticed if possible.<br />
I have long wondered why, in the general<br />
emancipation and advance of women, no woman,<br />
or only one here and there, has attempted the<br />
stage. It is a difficult fortress to besiege, but once<br />
captured, there is no richer prize either for fame or<br />
fortune. One more exception is to be made on<br />
February 20th, when Miss Mary Rowsell will<br />
produce, at Terry's Theatre, a comedietta entitled<br />
"Richard's Play." Let us hope that it may prove<br />
successful, if only in order to encourage other<br />
ladies to follow her example.<br />
The announcement of the discovery of the lost<br />
works of Aristotle followed curiously enough on the<br />
proposal to abolish Greek from our public schools.<br />
The excitement among scholars of course has been<br />
great; but if Mr. Weldon ever carries his point,<br />
fifty years hence the public will care little for such<br />
things. Should any of the lost works of antiquity<br />
be recovered then, a small notice of half a dozen<br />
lines will chronicle the fact, that a "discovery<br />
which will interest our antiquarian readers, has been<br />
made, of the Prometheus Unbound of /F.schylus,<br />
among the ledgers of the British Museum. This<br />
does not reflect much credit on the authorities, who<br />
may have mislaid more valuable MSS. in the last<br />
few years." And no one will then grudge the Times<br />
the merit of being first in the field.<br />
♦—<br />
The discovery has been received with great<br />
caution and qualified enthusiasm by the press.<br />
Some papers thought that the very fact of the<br />
Times standing as godmother to the MS. was alone<br />
suspicious. Grub Street wits hint that Mr. Haggard<br />
has been hoaxing again, and that Mr. Andrew Lang<br />
must have a hand in it. Others cannot conceal<br />
their disappointment "after a perusal of its con-<br />
tents." Before the publication! And one paper<br />
came to the original conclusion that history<br />
often repeats itself. Expert journals hint at rank<br />
forgery; but of course this is to be expected.<br />
Such deceptions have been numerous, and there<br />
were some time ago many who believed that the<br />
annals of Tacitus were a sixteenth century fabrication<br />
fa whole work has been written to prove it), and<br />
that the Paston Letters were a latterday forgery.<br />
Forgery or not, Aristotle will provide new food for<br />
the commentators.<br />
In the history of books one marvels not so much<br />
at the number that have been lost, but the number<br />
that have been spared or escaped the ravages of<br />
Puritans, Mohammedans, and early Christians, or<br />
the achievements of such as Mr. Warburton's cook.<br />
England has sinned as no other modern nation has<br />
done in the official destruction of books. When<br />
the officers of Henry VIII were destroying the<br />
splendid monastic libraries, the unenlightened<br />
Popes and Cardinals in Italy were collecting MSS.<br />
from all parts of the world, and when the Puritans<br />
were hashing up the "Popish" works in the Bodleian<br />
and elsewhere, Mazarin was forming his suptrb<br />
library. The passion for manuscript hunting now<br />
of course is confined to a limited few, but it was<br />
once as general in Europe as the present struggle<br />
for old masters.<br />
Black and White and the Anti-Jacobin are the<br />
two events in the journalistic world of late, and come<br />
to console us for the death of the Universal Rei'iew.<br />
People have begun to prophesy evil for the Graphic<br />
and Illustrated on the ground that there is no room<br />
for the three sixpenny illustrated weeklies. There<br />
was a similar prophecy when the Graphic was<br />
started twenty years ago. Black and White will<br />
neither affect nor be affected by either of the other<br />
illustrated papers, but will create its own audience<br />
and its own clientele. It is on totally different lints.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 272 (#324) ############################################<br />
<br />
272<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Newspapers are not like hotels, and the survival of<br />
the fittest is a law from which journals are exempt.<br />
The editor was wise in not bringing out a flashy<br />
number for the first issue, as then the critics would<br />
have said "it would be impossible to keep it up<br />
for long.' So far Black and White has fulfilled its<br />
promise, while it has left what few new journals<br />
leave—room for improvement.<br />
Members ot the White Rose League will have<br />
discovered already that the Anli-Jacobin was not<br />
started to counterblast their tenets or to dance on<br />
the sleeping Whirlwind. The confusion of Jacob/V<br />
and Jacob/'/V is as common an error as the confu-<br />
sion of poor Frankenstein and his monster. Every<br />
one will wish success to Mr. Greenwood's new ven-<br />
ture. To his able editorial management we owe<br />
the old Pall Mall Gazette and the present St.<br />
fames's, and there seems no reason why the Anti-<br />
Jacobin should not have as long and as glorious a<br />
career.<br />
Mr. Barker has brought out another collection<br />
of amusing stories about schoolboys and girls. He<br />
might give our masters a turn next time. There<br />
are plenty of capital stories against dominies extant.<br />
I was told the other day that a boy who was always<br />
censured for his essays on the ground that there<br />
were no original ideas in them, at last resorted to<br />
cribbing, and copied George Osborne's theme from<br />
Vanity Fair, when the master allowed him to<br />
choose his subject. He gained the prize at the<br />
end of the term. One often hears again that<br />
English Literature at schools is entirely neglected.<br />
Here is a specimen of what took place at one of<br />
our seminaries. There was a detestable practice<br />
apparently of making boys put verse into English<br />
prose (no verse worth anything is capable of such<br />
transformation). The master had written up<br />
Wordsworth's famous stanzas, "The Solitary<br />
Reaper," and after every boy had tried his best<br />
and failed, he gave them a model version.<br />
The lines, as every one knows, are as follows :—<br />
"Will no one tell me what she sings?<br />
Perhaps the plantive numbers How<br />
For old, unhappy, far-off things<br />
And battles long ago.<br />
Or is it some more humble lay,<br />
Familiar matter of to-day,<br />
Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain,<br />
That has been and may be again?"<br />
They were rendered into the following :—<br />
"Will no one," I again inquired, "tell me what<br />
the girl is singing and the name of the composer<br />
of the piece?" But no one seemed either able or<br />
willing to afford me any information. "Perhaps,"<br />
I ventured to suggest, encouraged by the plaintive<br />
character of both words and music, "perhaps it is<br />
an original composition of the fair performer's<br />
relating I know not what unhappy incident in her<br />
own past, some strugg'e bravely contested and<br />
triumphantly concluded. Or is it," I went on,<br />
"some misfortune of yesterday, such as comes<br />
into the life of many of us—some grief or even some<br />
advantage likely to recur in the course of a larger<br />
experience?"<br />
In the first number of Black and White there<br />
was an amusing, but not a new, anecdote about a<br />
journalist who asked his fellow craftsmen, before he<br />
was hanged, not to say that he ' was launched into<br />
eternity." I remember seeing a very amusing<br />
specimen of fine writing in an American paper. A<br />
correspondent from Naples was describing a recently<br />
uncovered fresco of Europa and the bull. His<br />
enthusiasm carried him as far as Europa nearly.<br />
This was his opening description: "Europa, clutch-<br />
ing with her manual limb the aureated horn of her<br />
Tauric Jovine lover," &c.<br />
*<br />
"THE COST OF PRODUCTION. *<br />
[Second Edition.]<br />
AT last this much promised pamphlet is<br />
ready. The numerous delays in its<br />
appearance have been unavoidable, which<br />
means that the compilers have constantly been<br />
forced by the pressure of work for the Society in<br />
other directions to lay this aside, even when it was<br />
quite near completion. We can only hope that our<br />
members will find the information profitable, now<br />
that it is placed within their reach. No pains<br />
have been spared to make it trustworthy.<br />
The plan of the pamphlet remains the same as<br />
before, but a preliminary explanation of the terms<br />
which occur in the book—and which also occur in<br />
publishers' bills—has been added. Thispreliminary<br />
explanation considers the publishers' charges<br />
under all the usual heads, i.e., composition,<br />
printing, paper, stereotyping, binding, and<br />
advertisement, but it does not include mention<br />
of the charges for "author's corrections," for<br />
"publisher's lists," for "reader's fee," for "fees<br />
for revision," or "preparation for the press," or for<br />
"assurance against fire," or for "warehousing."<br />
* "The Cost of Production." 2nd Edition, enlarged and<br />
revised. Published by Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C<br />
2s. bd.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 273 (#325) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
273<br />
Of these six last charges there is nothing to be<br />
said, except that in no way and under no circum-<br />
stances should the author ever pay them, if they<br />
are "sprung upon" him. It might be worth<br />
while for an author to have his book prepared for<br />
the press for him, or revised in some way—many<br />
authors, for instance, have their index made for<br />
them—but he should certainly be told about the<br />
matter beforehand, and allowed to make his own<br />
arrangements. He might employ the gentleman<br />
dasignated by the publishers, or he might not,<br />
but at least he must know who he is paying, and<br />
what he is getting for his money. It is ridiculous<br />
to attempt to make the author bear any of the other<br />
charges. Yet we have in this office seen number-<br />
less bills and publishers' accounts in which some<br />
or all of these items have been set down as part of<br />
the expense of the production of a book. We<br />
remember in one case, where the author had paid<br />
£27 separate as half the cost of production of a tiny<br />
paper-covered book, that we had occasion to take<br />
l;gal measures to obtain a true account of the cost.<br />
The composition, printing, paper, and binding<br />
cime to about £12. There was certain alleged<br />
expenditure on advertisement, of which no proof<br />
was offered. But yet the account against the book<br />
made quite a brave appearance, so swollen was it<br />
by the irregular items we have just mentioned.<br />
The actual ,£54 necessary to justify £27 being<br />
charged as half the cost of production was not<br />
reached, but quite a bold bid was made for it. Yet<br />
^12, plus somesmall unknown amount of advertise-<br />
ment expenditure, was all that had really been spent.<br />
In all cases where an attempt is made by a half-<br />
profit publisher to exact payment for "reader's<br />
fees," "revision," "warehousing," &c, the author<br />
is advised to refuse, and refuse utterly to sanction<br />
such charges—unless of course he has previously<br />
signed some agreement preventing him from<br />
objecting.<br />
The question of "author's corrections" is<br />
different. It is undoubted that in some cases a<br />
charge must be made. It is the practice of many<br />
authors to cut their proofs about, and make<br />
alterations and additions or subtractions,<br />
resulting in a serious increase of labour to the<br />
printers. This kind of thing must be paid for.<br />
But the present system of obtaining payment for it<br />
seems to be to charge all authors, whether they have<br />
rightly incurred the charge or no, something for<br />
"corrections," if it is only for the correction of the<br />
printer's own errors. Thus it is secured that<br />
publishers as a whole shall not lose, because some<br />
people cannot make up their minds what they are<br />
going to say, until they have seen it in print.<br />
This is ridiculous. If an author is in any way<br />
concerned in the cost of production, he is advised<br />
to keep by him his first proofs until the publisher's<br />
bill comes in. If he is then charged a large sum<br />
for corrections, larger than seems to be warranted<br />
by the amount of alterations due to his errors or<br />
changes of mind, he should refuse to pay, until<br />
he knows how and why it is he asked to pay so<br />
much. This, again, is supposing that he has not<br />
agreed beforehand to pay whatever is asked of<br />
him. "Author's corrections " is a vexed question.<br />
Something sometimes ought to be paid, but<br />
everybody ought not to be made to pay as a<br />
matter of course.<br />
"One word to those who say that the cost of<br />
production has nothing to do with them. It has<br />
to do with all authors under every method of<br />
publishing, for it must be the one fixed thing<br />
which dictates equitable terms. An author may<br />
not care to know it—that is a very comprehensible<br />
condition—but it must, or at any rate it ought to,<br />
affect his remuneration. It costs as much, and no<br />
more, to produce a bad book as a good book, a<br />
popular author's book or an unknown amateur's<br />
book. The results of the probable and possible<br />
variations in sale must be provided for in the<br />
agreement.<br />
"The copyright of a book should only be ceded<br />
to a publisher for a sum, when the author knows<br />
how much the publ'sher has yet to spend, and how<br />
much he will probably obtain.<br />
"Its connection with the half-profit system is<br />
obvious.<br />
"These figures prove its connection with the<br />
royalty system of publishing. Ten thousand copies<br />
of a 6s. book will cost ,£400 to produce and adver-<br />
tise. This is a very liberal estimate indetd (v.<br />
page 28). They will sell for ,£1,750. There will<br />
then be .£1,350 for author and publisher to divide.<br />
Here is how this sum is divided, according to the<br />
royalty the author gets :—<br />
Per Cent.<br />
Royally<br />
5<br />
.0<br />
■5<br />
20 35<br />
30<br />
35<br />
£<br />
1,050<br />
300<br />
£<br />
£ £<br />
C<br />
£<br />
300<br />
1,050<br />
Publisher<br />
1,200<br />
150<br />
900<br />
750 , 600<br />
600 | 750<br />
450<br />
Author<br />
45°<br />
900<br />
The agreement should provide for the fortunate<br />
issue as much as for the unfortunate.<br />
"Of course, the man who is going to publish at<br />
his own expense should know what that expense<br />
will be. Equally, the divine and the poet should<br />
know how much the publisher's expense is really<br />
going to be before they guarantee to be respon-<br />
sible for the sale of a large number of copies<br />
at the trade price."<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 274 (#326) ############################################<br />
<br />
274<br />
THE AUTHOR,<br />
The compilers beg to offer their best thanks to<br />
the numerous correspondents whose corrections<br />
and questions have guided them in preparing the<br />
second edition.<br />
.<br />
CORRESPONDENCE.<br />
I.<br />
On Plagiarism.<br />
PLAGIARISM, the most odious, the most<br />
injurious of charges to which authors are<br />
exposed, has recently been placed in a novel<br />
light by Mr. Louis Stevenson and others ; according<br />
to them to coincidence, and the unconscious<br />
machination of the mind, must be ascribed much<br />
of the supposed plagiarism. I believe they are<br />
right, in the main, in their contentions. But other<br />
factors, besides the aforementioned, work from time<br />
to time against authors and with damaging effect.<br />
The following incident may interest some of your<br />
readers.<br />
In 1884, I published, anonymously, a small<br />
volume on a technical subject. The book was<br />
written in a spirit of literary pugilism, showing but<br />
scant regard for persons or Institutions. For these<br />
reasons I expected no consideration from critics,<br />
and those attacked. Numerous reviews appeared<br />
within a few weeks after the publication of the<br />
book, and much to my surprise all were of a most<br />
favourable nature.<br />
The laudatory spell was presently broken by a<br />
powerfully written letter, emanating from high<br />
quarters, and addressed to a service paper, of which<br />
I am an occasional contributor. I replied in a<br />
leader; the war raged for some time, and contributed<br />
not a little to the success of my book. This suc-<br />
cess encouraged me to publish a more ambitious<br />
work of a similar nature; in fact, an expansion of<br />
the first.<br />
Immediately after the appearance of this book a<br />
scurrilous attack was made upon it in a paper owned<br />
by my publishers. My critic did not confine himself<br />
to literary and technical criticisms, in fact he barely<br />
attempted that feat, and simply charged me with<br />
barefaced plagiarism. Three or four other papers<br />
followed in the same strain, and the book was<br />
promptly killed.<br />
I complained bitterly to my publishers, and<br />
insisted upon being confron'ed with my detractor.<br />
After some delay an interview took place at the<br />
publishers' office.<br />
"I do not complain of your criticism on my<br />
book, unfair and totally irrelevant as I consider<br />
most of it, but I should like to know what right<br />
you think you possess of accusing me of plagiarism,<br />
without even naming the sources from which I<br />
plagiarized?" I asked my detractor.<br />
"I regret," said the latter, "that you have com-<br />
pelled me to perform a very disagreeable_jtask.<br />
Will you be so good as to read those passages, and<br />
examine these cuttings from the Service Gazette,'<br />
handing me a small volume and some newspaper<br />
cuttings.<br />
"Do you think we could see Mr. Brown, the<br />
senior partner?" I asked.<br />
Ere long Mr. Brown made his appearance.<br />
"Will you kindly tell us who is the author of<br />
this little work?" handing him the aforementioned<br />
small volume.<br />
"Why you, of course!" Tableau!<br />
"Those articles were written by me," I said to my<br />
detractor, who promised to make the amende Iwnour-<br />
ab/e, but never did.<br />
I related this incident to the editor of a monthly<br />
magazine, of which I was a contributor. "Why<br />
X ... is the man whose articles on the continental<br />
events of '66 you cut to pieces. Don't you<br />
recollect?" observed rny editor friend.<br />
"I recollect writing you a couple of private<br />
letters, not intended for publication, in which I<br />
drew your attention to numerous historical inac-<br />
curacies, and other serious blunders, contained in<br />
those articles, the author of which was till this<br />
moment unknown to me; in fact, I believed them<br />
to be from your pen."<br />
"Yes, but X . . . saw those letters !" replied the<br />
editor.<br />
"Can you tell me whether X ... is connected<br />
with ?" naming the other papers in which my<br />
book had been assailed.<br />
"Yes, I think he is," was the reply.<br />
So much for plagiarism, and so much for reviewers.<br />
The indiscretion of an editor, and the vindictiveness<br />
of a literary hack, exposed me to an odious accusa-<br />
tion, and to heavy pecuniary losses. Could such<br />
a dishonourable act have been committed with<br />
impunity by a member of any other profession? I<br />
venture to think not. The culprit would have been<br />
arraigned before a tribune of his brother pro-<br />
fessionals, and made to answer for his misdeeds.<br />
Is it too much to hope that the Society of<br />
Authors will some day wield a similar power, and<br />
establish something like an esprit de corps amongst<br />
authors?<br />
H. N.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 275 (#327) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
2/5<br />
II.<br />
"The Kinds of Criticism."<br />
To the Editor of the Author.<br />
Sir,—I have read with lively interest your admir-<br />
able article in last month's Author on reviewing.<br />
Perhaps all of your readers have suffered some time<br />
or other from careless, or what is worse, ignorant<br />
criticism, while many have been misled into getting<br />
bad books by the puffing notices which are so<br />
common. On the other hand there is infinitely<br />
more conscientious reviewing done than either<br />
authors or the public dream of, while the sensitive<br />
vanity of some writers is so great that nothing<br />
short of unmixed eulogium will satisfy them. The<br />
subject is one which has for many years occupied<br />
my mind, and I will now set down a few practical<br />
suggestions upon it.<br />
1. All books sent for review should be cut.<br />
2. The reviewer should be helped in his work<br />
by the preface, which should always be dated.<br />
3. As far as practicable, the reviewer should be<br />
unknown to the reviewed.<br />
4. The number of pages and the price of a book<br />
should be stated in the review.<br />
5. In advertisements, extracts from the writer's<br />
own preface should be preferred to extracts from<br />
reviews.<br />
6. A book should either be reviewed within six<br />
months from its receipt, or returned.<br />
7. The plot of a novel should never be disclosed<br />
in the review of it.<br />
8. Though the reviewer should be set right by<br />
the author on clear mistakes, the general criticism<br />
of a review is to be deprecated.<br />
9. There is something to be said for a practice<br />
of the author sending with his book a "draft<br />
review."<br />
10. There is something to be said for a practice<br />
of the author sending a small fee.<br />
I need hardly say that I make the two last<br />
suggestions with the greatest fear and trembling,<br />
and hasten to subscribe myself<br />
A Reviewer and Reviewed<br />
of nearly twenty years standing.<br />
[Note.—One would like to know exactly what there is to<br />
be said for the last two suggestions.—Editor.]<br />
III.<br />
Prize Competitions.<br />
May I draw the attention of the Author to the<br />
recent conduct of a well-known weekly paper with<br />
regard to its prize competitions? The paper in<br />
vol. 1.<br />
question has a large circulation, principally due, I<br />
should think, to these competitions.<br />
Some weeks ago it, the , offered a prize<br />
for the best Sonnet to the New Year, for which<br />
prize there were some dozen or so of competitors<br />
Now it is reasonable to suppose that some out of<br />
this number, however limited their capacity, must<br />
have been conversant with the rules of this style of<br />
composition, yet the prize was divided between<br />
two sets of verses that failed to comply with these<br />
rules. The first prize-winner made a comparatively<br />
trivial deviation from them, but at the same time<br />
one that took away a good deal of the difficulties<br />
of composition that other competitors were, no<br />
doubt, handicapped by.<br />
The verses of the second prize-winner were not<br />
even limited to fourteen lines, and bore no re-<br />
semblance to a sonnet in any way. A third sonnet<br />
was printed, which was correct, but to this no prize<br />
was given. (I was a competitor myself, but out of<br />
the running altogether, as my sonnet was not even<br />
acknowledged with the names of the other com-<br />
petitors.)<br />
It did not seem to me fair that a prize which was<br />
offered for a sonnet should be given to any other<br />
species of composition, and the fact pointed to igno-<br />
rance or incompetency on the part of the judges of the<br />
competition. So I wrote a civil letter to the editor,<br />
merely pointing out that the prize-winners had not<br />
complied with the rules, and suggesting that the<br />
prize should be given to the writer of the third<br />
poem, which was, strictly speaking, a sonnet.<br />
I enclosed a stamped envelope for reply, but no<br />
notice was taken of my letter.<br />
During the summer I won two prizes in the<br />
competitions, which I was directed to claim, but<br />
no notice was taken for some time of my letters<br />
doing so. Finally, the money was sent to me, but<br />
not the full amount. I did not remonstrate at the<br />
time, but now that another competition does not<br />
seem to have been properly conducted, I wish<br />
very much to have the Author's opinion on the<br />
matter.<br />
Apparently, the numerous prize competitions<br />
help to sell the paper, and are looked on by young<br />
writers as an opening for their efforts; but it seems<br />
to me that if all reasonable complaints are to be<br />
suppressed altogether, or treated with contempt,<br />
the sooner the whole system of prize competitions<br />
is put a stop to the better.<br />
X. Y<br />
[The case is quoted not because prize competitions are a<br />
very important branch of letters, but to show the trickery<br />
which goes on unrestrained by any fear of public opinion.<br />
The winner should have instantly claimed the full amount ol<br />
his prize, and enforced the claim, if necessary, by legal<br />
action.—Editor.]<br />
z<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 276 (#328) ############################################<br />
<br />
276<br />
THE AUTHOR:<br />
IV.<br />
An Artistic Journal.<br />
In 1888 I was asked to become one on the<br />
staff of presumably the same artistic journal men-<br />
tioned among cases in last issue. I wrote three<br />
papers by especial request, and was at some trouble in<br />
procuring illustrations. The first paper was issued<br />
in six months after the journal appeared, the<br />
second after two years, and the third, for which a<br />
royal lady was solicited for her portrait, which she<br />
kindly sent ine, has not appeared at all, nor has any<br />
notice been taken about it, although the journal has<br />
been "smashed" for some months. As it was<br />
expressly written for this journal it would be useless<br />
to me, so I have not written to demand its return;<br />
but it comes surely under goods bought, but not<br />
paid for. The American periodicals for which I<br />
have written are more honourable and satisfactory,<br />
for they send a cheque the moment the paper is<br />
accepted.<br />
*<br />
THE AUTHOR'S BOOK STALL.<br />
[This column is open for lists of books wanted, books<br />
offered for exchange and books offered for sale. Initials<br />
must be given for reference, not for publication, and the<br />
editor will place correspondents in communication with each<br />
other. Books must not be sent to t/ie office of the Society.<br />
Letters enclosing list may be addressed " X," care of the<br />
Editor. It must be understood that no responsibility rests<br />
with the Editor or with the officers of the Society.]<br />
Books for Sale.<br />
Tennyson's Poems. Moxon. 1856.<br />
Keats' Poems. Moxon. 1855.<br />
Palgrave's Golden Treasury of Songs and Lyrics. 1S62.<br />
Uncle Tom's Cabin, illustrated, with frontispiece, " Phiz."<br />
Massingf.r's Plays. Edited by Gifford. 1S53.<br />
Reprint of James I's Bible. Oxford. 1833.<br />
Campbell s Pleasures of Hope. Illustrated by Birkct Foster<br />
and Harrison Weir. 1853.<br />
Poesies de Marie de France. 1820.<br />
Delphine, Madame de Stael. 6 vols. 1S09.<br />
Address "F.Af."<br />
♦<br />
For Exchange.<br />
Provincial Coins. 12 numbers of plates.<br />
Lettere e dissertazioni Numismatiche de Dominio Sestini.<br />
Firenze. 1818. Vols. V, VI, VII, IX.<br />
Rariora Maximi Moduli Numismatica selecta ex bibliothcca<br />
Casp. Car. pegnae. Amsterdam. 1686.<br />
Oct: Falconerii de Nummo Apamensi. Koma. 1667.<br />
Greek and Roman History illustrated by coins and medals.<br />
By O. Walker. 1692.<br />
Delia raritd dellc Medaglic Antiche. N. Scotti. Firenze.<br />
1819.<br />
De la rarete et du prix des Medailles romaines. Par Mionnet.<br />
Paris. 1815.<br />
An historical account of English money. By Stephen Martin-<br />
Leake. 2nd Edition. London. 1745.<br />
An Essay on the Coins of Conobelin. By Samuel Pegge.<br />
London. 1766.<br />
Medallic History of Carausius. By William Stukeley. Book<br />
II. London. 1759.<br />
Thesaurus Numismatum e Musaeo Caroli Patini. Paris.<br />
1672.<br />
Two Dissertations upon the Mint and Coins of the Episcopal<br />
Palatinate of Durham. By Mark Noble. Birmingham.<br />
1780.<br />
Act: Numismat: Imp: Romanorum a Vaillantio edita<br />
supplementum a Jos: Khell. Vindobona. 1767.<br />
Numismata Imperatorum Joan Vaillant. Amsterdam. 1700.<br />
Dissertationes de prcestantia et usu Numismatum nntiquorum,<br />
2 vols. Ezechiel Spanheim Elzever. Amsterdam.<br />
1671.<br />
Dis corso di M. Sebastiano Erizzo sopra le mcdaglie antiche<br />
in Vinegia. Varisco. 1571.<br />
Imperatorum Romanorum Numismata a Pompeio Magno ad<br />
Horaclium ab Adolfo Occonc, exhibita cara F. M.<br />
Bargi. Mediolani. 1683.<br />
Copic d'un manuscrit original donne a M. Durau le 23 Juillet,<br />
1733. Par M. l'escatory qui lui assura pour lors-que<br />
e'etait le Vade mecum de M. Vaillant. Apparently un-<br />
finished.<br />
Byron. Childe Harold. 2nd Edition. 1812.<br />
Manfred. Paper covers. 1817.<br />
Works. 6 vols. 1829.<br />
Vol. VII of Works. 1819.<br />
Carmina Quadressimalia. 2nd Edition. 174!.<br />
Lusus Westmonasteriensis. 1730.<br />
Metastasio Opere seelte. 2 vols. 1S06.<br />
Southey. Madoc. 1805.<br />
Curse of Kehama. 1810.<br />
Tale of Paraguay. 1825.<br />
Siege of Corinth and Parisina. 1816.<br />
Works. 2 vols. 3rd Edition. 1799.<br />
Scott. Doom of Devorgil and Auchindrane. Oiiginal<br />
boards. 1830.<br />
Shakespeare. Pope's. 6 vols. 1728.<br />
Bell's. Vol. I. 1774.<br />
Sharpe's. 9 vols. 1803.<br />
Wordsworth. Yarrow re-visited. 1835.<br />
YOUNG. Complaint. 2 vols. 1743. Night Thoughts. 1787.<br />
Dickens. Mystery of Edwin Drood. Fragment in 6nio.<br />
in original paper covers. 1S70.<br />
Lever. Charles O'Malley. Illustrated by Phiz. Vol. II.<br />
1841.<br />
Our Mess. Vol. Ill, i.e., Tom Burke of Ours. Vol.<br />
II. Illustrated by Phiz. 1S44.<br />
Scott. (Euvres de. Vols. X, XXV.<br />
Rise and Progress of Society of Ancient Britons. 1717.<br />
Mrs. Cockburn's Works. 2 vols. 1751.<br />
Scott. Paul's Letters. 1S1S.<br />
Senaior. Calrendon's Parliamentary Chronicle. 10 vols,<br />
in 9, beginning November, 1790.<br />
Address" M.A."<br />
Lockyer's Meteoritic Hypothesis, yfcr Miss Clarke's System<br />
of the Star?, or Peck's Popular Handbook of Astro-<br />
nomy.<br />
J. E. Gore's Astronomical Lessons, for Serviss's Astronomy<br />
with an Opera-Glass.<br />
Glazebrook's Physical Optics, for Proctor's Our Place<br />
among Infinities, or Mysteries of Time and Space.<br />
Address "A.F."<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 277 (#329) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
277<br />
Books Wanted.<br />
Poetry for Children (in two i6mo. volumes), by the<br />
Author of "Mrs. Leicester's School," 1809. Also any<br />
books, tracts, pamphlets, or prints illustrating early<br />
English railway engines, carriages, &c. Address Andrew<br />
IV. Tuer, 18, Notling Hill Square, W.<br />
Scott's Poems. 12 vols. Uniform with Waverley Novels<br />
and Prose Works.<br />
Hallam. Literature of Europe.<br />
Lacroix. Science et Lettres au Moyen Age. 1st Edition.<br />
Good copy. Science and Letters, &c. English trans-<br />
lation. Any edition.<br />
Gentleman's Magazine. 1748, 1786, 1787, 1791. Part 2.<br />
Household Words. Vols. IV, V, VI.<br />
Nineteenth Century. September, 1878.<br />
Blackwood. October, 1849 ; July, 1851; February, 1852;<br />
July, 1864; Octolier, November, December, 1067.<br />
All the Year Round. September, October, November,<br />
December, 1867.<br />
Sidney Smith. Sermons. Vol. I. 1809.<br />
Disraeli. Tancred. Vol. I. 1847.<br />
Victor Hugo. L'Homme qui rit. Vol. II. 2nd Edition.<br />
Heaumont and Fletcher. Vols. I, II, III. 1711.<br />
Joseph Glanville. Anything.<br />
Address "M.A."<br />
*<br />
NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS.<br />
Theology.<br />
Body, Rev. G. The School of Calvary, a Course of Lent<br />
Lectures, p. 6d.<br />
Garland, Rev. G. V. Practical Teaching of the Apoca-<br />
lypse. Longmans and Co. \(>s.<br />
Hall, N. Gethsemane; or, Leaves of Healing from the<br />
Garden of Grief, y.<br />
Hermon, Rev. G. E. Addresses on the Seven Words from<br />
the Cross. 2s.<br />
Jeaffreson, H. II. Magnificat: a Course of Sermons.<br />
2s. 6d.<br />
Liddon, II. P. Advent in St. Paul's. Cheaper Edition.<br />
Longmans and Co. 5s. Sermons preached before the University of Oxford.<br />
Cheaper Edition. y.<br />
Muller, F. Max. Physical Religion. (Gifford's Lectures,<br />
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Newman, Cardinal. Discussions and Arguments on<br />
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Rawi.inson, G. Ezra and Nehemiah, Their Lives and<br />
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Taylor, W. M. The Miracles of our Saviour expounded<br />
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Brown, Horatio F. The Venetian Printing Press. An<br />
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ting. J. Nimmo. 49*.<br />
Campbell, John, M.A., LL.D. The Hittites, their In-<br />
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Studies of the Commonwealth Legislation. Sampson<br />
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Forde, G. Rupert Alison; or, Broken Lights. Hurst and<br />
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Froude, J. A. Short Studies on Great Subjects. Cheap<br />
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Gale, F. The Dream that Cheated, y. 6d.<br />
Gerard, E. A Secret Mission. Blackwood. 2 vols.<br />
I7r.<br />
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Haggard, H. R. Cleopatra. Longmans and Co. Cheap<br />
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Hardy, T. Desperate Remedies. 2s.<br />
Two on a Tower. Cheap Edition. 2f.<br />
Hart, Mabel. Two English Girls. Hurst and Blackett.<br />
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Hume, F. The Man with a Secret. 2s. 6d.<br />
Hutchinson, H. G. That Fiddler Fellow. Arnold.<br />
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ys. 6d.<br />
prut<br />
Prin<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 278 (#330) ############################################<br />
<br />
2 78<br />
THE A UTHOR.<br />
Kipling, R. Wee Willie Winkle, Under the Deodars, and<br />
Phantom Rickshaw. 3/. 6d.<br />
Littlfjohn, J. The Flowing Tide: a Political Novel.<br />
Killby. lor. 6d.<br />
Lowell, J. R. Writings. Macmillan and Co. Vol. V.<br />
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Mitchell, Elizabeth H. Forty Days in the Holy Land.<br />
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Morley, J. Studies in Literature. Macmillan and Co.<br />
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Osborne, Rev. Lord S. G. The Letters of S. G.O. to the<br />
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THE READING OF MANUSCRIPTS.<br />
w<br />
E beg to call attention to the following,<br />
which we reprint from the report of<br />
1890:—<br />
Regulations concerning the Reading of<br />
Manuscripts.<br />
The fee for this service will for the future be<br />
one guinea, unless any special reason be present<br />
for making it higher or lower. The amount must<br />
then be left to the Secretary's discretion.<br />
For this sum a report will be given upon MSS.<br />
of the usual 3 vol. length, or upon collections of<br />
stories making in the aggregate a work of that<br />
length.<br />
In every case the fee and stamps for return<br />
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confidential.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 279 (#331) ############################################<br />
<br />
ADVERTISEMENTS.<br />
279<br />
LEADING POINTS.<br />
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PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY.<br />
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