| 263 | https://historysoa.com/items/show/263 | The Author, Vol. 02 Issue 12 (May 1892) | <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.+02+Issue+12+%28May+1892%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 02 Issue 12 (May 1892)</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> | 1892-05-02-The-Author-2-12 | | | | | 343–380 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=2">2</a> | | | | | | | | | | | <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1892-05-02">1892-05-02</a> | | | | | | | 12 | | | 18920502 | TLhc B u t b o t\<br />
(The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br />
CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.<br />
Vol. II.—No. 12.]<br />
MAY 2, 1892.<br />
[Prick Sixpence.<br />
For the Opinions earpressed in papers that are<br />
signed or initialled the Authors alone are<br />
responsible.<br />
WARNINGS.<br />
Readers of the Author arc earnestly desired to<br />
make the following warnings as widely known as<br />
possible. They are based on the experience of<br />
seven years' work upon the dangers to which literary<br />
property is exposed :—<br />
(1.) Never sign any agreement of which the<br />
alleged cost of production forms an<br />
integral part, until you have proved the<br />
figures.<br />
(2.) Never enter into any correspondence with<br />
publishers, especially with those who<br />
advertise for MSS., who are not recom-<br />
mended by experienced friends or by this<br />
Society.<br />
(3.) Never, on any account whatever, bind<br />
yourself down for future work to anyone.<br />
Never accept any proposal of royalty<br />
until you have ascertained exactly what<br />
the agreement gives to the author and<br />
what to the publisher.<br />
(5.) Never accept any pecuniary risk or respon-<br />
sibility whatever without advice.<br />
Never, when a MS. has l>een refused by<br />
respectable houses, pay others, whatever<br />
promises they may put forward, for the<br />
production of the work.<br />
(7.) Never sign away American rights. Keep<br />
them. Refuse to sign an agreement con-<br />
taining a clause which reserves them for<br />
the publisher. If the publisher insists,<br />
take away the MS. and offer it to another.<br />
(+•)<br />
(6.)<br />
(8.) Never sign a receipt which gives away<br />
copyright without advice.<br />
(9.) Keep control over the advertisements by<br />
clause in the agreement. Reserve a veto.<br />
If you are yourself ignorant of the subject,<br />
make the Society your agent.<br />
(10.) Never forget that publishing is a business,<br />
like any other business, totally unconnected<br />
with philanthropy, charity, or pure love<br />
of literature. You have to do with<br />
business men.<br />
Society's Offices<br />
4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields.<br />
NOTICES.<br />
T<br />
HE Secretary will be much obliged if any<br />
members who have kept the Report for 1890<br />
will kindly send their copies to him.<br />
All persons engaged in literary work of any kind,<br />
whether members of this Society or not, are invited<br />
to communicate to the Editor any points connected<br />
with their work which it would be advisable in the<br />
general interest to publish.<br />
Members and others who wish their MSS. read<br />
are requested not to send them to the Office without<br />
previously communicating with the Secretary. The<br />
utmost practicable despatch is aimed at, and MSS.<br />
are read in the order in which they are received.<br />
It must also be distinctly understood that, the<br />
Society does not, under any circumstances, under-<br />
take the publication of MSS.<br />
K f 2<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 384 (#788) ############################################<br />
<br />
384<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
The official directions for the securing of American<br />
copyright by English authors were given in the<br />
Author for June 1891. Members are earnestly<br />
entreated to take the trouble of reading those<br />
directions.<br />
Members are earnestly requested to forward<br />
agreements to the Society for inspection before<br />
they sign them. Once signed, the mischief is<br />
generally irreparable.<br />
Communications intended for the Authors' Syndi-<br />
cate should be addressed to W. Morris Colles, the<br />
Honorary Secretary.<br />
The Authors' Club, whose foundation has been<br />
so long delayed and obstructed by one accident<br />
after another, is now making a real start. It already<br />
numbers a very good roll of original members, and it<br />
is taking temporary premises in St. James's Place,<br />
St. James's Street. The position is rather more to<br />
the West than is desired for a permanent location.<br />
The Committee, however, have time to look about<br />
them, and it is best not to be in a hurry. Mean-<br />
time readers will please observe that the Club is<br />
.starting. It will be remembered that at the outset,<br />
every kind of prophecy was uttered about its<br />
certainty of failure, its impossibility of success.<br />
A trick of some importance has been brought<br />
before us on several occasions of late. A writer<br />
agrees with an editor to contribute papers to his<br />
magazine. He is perhaps a writer whose work is<br />
of more than ephemeral value. He has been<br />
accustomed to place his work subject to the con-<br />
dition that he sells serial right only. When the<br />
cheque arrives it is accompanied by a form of<br />
receipt which contains the words " for the copy-<br />
right," or words to that effect. He often signs<br />
without noticing the clause, and finds out too late<br />
what he has thrown away. Let, therefore, every<br />
one guard carefully against signing such a receipt,<br />
and let him, for better security, stipulate before-<br />
hand that it is the serial right alone which he<br />
assigns to his editor.<br />
There has been remonstrance. The editorial<br />
worm has turned. In the short space of three<br />
months one paper has borrowed from another to<br />
the following extent. Two important leading<br />
articles; three sketches of living characters; six-<br />
teen reviews of books; and various short notes.<br />
In each case the "conveyance" was accompanied<br />
by the words, "the — says." At last the<br />
proprietors of the paper have remonstrated, and the<br />
thing is slopped. The use of articles taken from<br />
other papers is a thing that concerns the Author,<br />
because so many of our members arc; journalists as<br />
well as authors. Surely some rules can be arrived<br />
at. It is very good in most cases, both for the<br />
contributor and the paper, to have articles quoted<br />
with due acknowledgment. On the other hand,<br />
it cannot be claimed that there is no copyright in the<br />
daily or the weekly paper. But in any case of<br />
reproduction it ought to lie made conspicuously<br />
clear where the article first appeared, and in common<br />
fairness the author of the article in question should<br />
receive some more substantial recognition than the<br />
honour of being reprinted in al) cases in which<br />
he has reserved his copyright. Perhaps the<br />
Institute of Journalists would see a way of takin<*<br />
up the matter.<br />
With the ratifications of the Literary Convention<br />
exchanged between Germany and the United States<br />
on the 15th ultimo, and President Harrison's<br />
proclamation extending the benefits of the Ameri-<br />
can copyright to Germany, German authors enter<br />
into the enjoyment of such advantages as they may<br />
be able to secure under the American statute. It<br />
is to be. feared, however, that the experiences of<br />
French authors will be repeated. The conditions<br />
of the American copyright requiring a foreign<br />
author to be simultaneously printed and published<br />
in his own country and in the States, have so far<br />
proved in a large number of cases practically<br />
prohibitive. In the result, American publishers<br />
are practically able to make their own terms, so<br />
that, so far as France, and, it is to be feared,<br />
Germany is concerned, with the exception of 11<br />
favoured few, the American Copyright Act leaves<br />
matters much where it found them.<br />
There is a prevalent idea that the death of a<br />
holder of a pension on the Civil List creates<br />
a vacancy. That is not the case. The number<br />
of those on the List is not limited. A grant is<br />
made every year of £1,200. This is spent for the<br />
most part, as we all know, on persons for whom<br />
the grant is not made, and for whom the Reso-<br />
lution of 1837 was not passed. When any person<br />
on the List dies, that portion of the annual £'1,200<br />
which he has received is no longer paid. But there-<br />
is no vacancy to fill up. The amount actually<br />
expended every year is about £27,000.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 385 (#789) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
385<br />
The death of the Rev. Dr. Allon removes one<br />
who was a member of this Society from its very<br />
commencement, who cordially sympathised with its<br />
aims, and was most hopeful of its success. This<br />
alone should ensure his memory a grateful pre-<br />
servation among us all. But there was more. In<br />
his capacity as editor of the British Quarterly he<br />
conducted for many years a review which was<br />
a formidable rival—say, rather, an equal—to the<br />
Quarterly and the Edinburgh, lie was always<br />
eager to welcome good work. There are many—<br />
the writer of this note among others—who can bear<br />
testimony to his kindness and his sympathy. That<br />
he was also a Prince of Israel in his own Church,<br />
that he was a personal friend of all who were the<br />
wisest and the best in his own generation, to what-<br />
ever Christian community they belonged, are things<br />
which ltelong to the part of him outside literature.<br />
Another original member has passed away. Mr.<br />
Samuel Lee, M.A., Barrister-at-Law, of Lincoln's<br />
Inn, the translator of Virgil and Horace, with<br />
Professor Lonsdale, died suddenly on Thursday,<br />
April 14th. A constitutional indolence prevented<br />
him from doing justice to his own abilities. He<br />
did nothing but those two books. But with him<br />
has perished a wonderful mass of scholarship and<br />
information. He was, in addition to his classical<br />
attainments, a wide reader in Spanish, Italian, and<br />
French literature. Of a retiring disposition, he<br />
was seldom to be seen outside his two clubs, the<br />
Athenaeum and the United University. His col-<br />
laborateur, Professor Lonsdale, only survived him<br />
by a fortnight.<br />
Fiction and Egyptology have sustained a loss in<br />
Amelia B. Edwards. It is, however, several years<br />
since Miss Edwards wrote her last novel. It was<br />
with her Egyptian researches much more than<br />
her novels that Miss Edwards has been recently<br />
before the world. She was on the Civil List, but<br />
lived to enjoy her pension a very short time.<br />
It is not an uncommon thing in the case of<br />
disputed accounts or agreements taken up by the<br />
Society for the publishers to attempt to ignore the<br />
Secretary by writing to the author.<br />
The motive is evident.<br />
First, they wish to complicate the settlement of<br />
the question by dealing with one whom they have<br />
already found to be ignorant of the practical side of<br />
literature, or wanting in business capacity.<br />
Next, they would, if they could, bring about a<br />
division 1 Kit ween the Society and its members,<br />
In such a case the duty of the author is clear.<br />
He must not answer the letter, but send it on to<br />
the Secretary. In no case;—under no circum-<br />
stances— must he hold any independent correspon-<br />
dence with the publishers. Should he do so, the<br />
Society will return his papers at once, and refuse<br />
to take any further steps.<br />
Will members take the trouble to ascertain<br />
whether thev have paid their subscriptions for the<br />
year? If they will do this, and remit the amount<br />
or a banker's order, it will greatly assist the Secre-<br />
tary, and save him the trouble of sending out a<br />
reminder.<br />
The present number of the Author concludes<br />
the second volume. Readers are reminded that<br />
though the paper is sent to every member free of<br />
charge, every member is also free, if he pleases, to<br />
remit a year's subscription of 6s. bd., and that if<br />
every member would do so, the paper would cost<br />
nothing to the Society.<br />
Members are earnestly requested to forward any-<br />
thing that may be of interest or value to literature,<br />
whether news, comments, questions, or original<br />
contributions. The short space at the command of<br />
the editor forbids any attempt at reviewing, but<br />
books can always be noticed if they are sent up.<br />
Members are entreated to attend to the warning<br />
numbered (3). It is a most foolish and a most<br />
disastrous thing to bind yourself to anyone for a<br />
term of years. Let them ask themselves if they<br />
would give a solicitor the collection of their rents<br />
for five years to come, whatever his conduct,<br />
whether In; was honest or dishonest? Of course<br />
they would not. Why then hesitate for a moment<br />
when they are asked to sign themselves into<br />
bondage for three or live years?<br />
In the April number of the Author, the name of<br />
Sylvia Pens ([1.372) wrongly appeared as Sylvia<br />
Nein.<br />
THE AUTHOES' SYNDICATE.<br />
MR. Colles desires to inform readers of the<br />
Author as regards the Syndicate—<br />
1. That he undertakes to work for none but<br />
members of the Society.<br />
2. That his business is not to advise members of<br />
the Society, but to manage their affairs for<br />
them if they please to entrust them to him.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 386 (#790) ############################################<br />
<br />
386<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
3. That when ho has any work in hand he must<br />
have it entirely in his own hands; in other<br />
words, that authors must not ask him to<br />
place certain work, nnd then go about<br />
endeavouring to place it by themselves.<br />
4. That when a MS. has been sent from pub-<br />
lisher to publisher, and from editor to<br />
editor, in vain, it is most likely impossible<br />
to place it.<br />
5. That in the face of the present competition,<br />
authors will do well to moderate their<br />
expectations.<br />
To this it may be added, that where advice is<br />
sought, the Secretary of the Society, and not the<br />
Syndicate, must be consulted. On his behalf<br />
members are requested—<br />
1. To place on paper briefly the points on which<br />
advice is asked.<br />
2. To send up all the letters and papers con-<br />
nected with the case if it is a case of<br />
dispute.<br />
3. Not to conceal or keep back any of the facts.<br />
■—<br />
THE LOGROLLIAD.<br />
SOME months ago I wrote for the students'<br />
paper at St. Andrew's—College Echoes—<br />
part of a satire called the Logrolliad, supposed<br />
to be the work of an envious failure, named<br />
McStimey. The lines were preceded by a prose<br />
explanation, telling how McStimey had died of<br />
envy on reading a favourable review of someone<br />
else. By an accident at the printing office, or<br />
through the discretion of the undergraduate editors,<br />
the explanation did not appear in the College<br />
magazine. As the little paper has the very most<br />
limited circulation I thought the omission of no<br />
importance. I learn, however, that the verses have<br />
been published with my name attached to them, in<br />
one or two newspapers, and that they have been<br />
sent to the persons satirized by McStimey, one of<br />
whom was myself.<br />
Whether intentionally or not, the persons who<br />
published and circulated the lines have caused mis-<br />
apprehensions, which I now endeavour to remove.<br />
I did not suppose anyone capable of believing<br />
that I would make serious assaults on writers, some<br />
of whom are my personal friends, and to all of<br />
whom I owe gratitude for instruction and enter-<br />
tainment. Nor would my natural modesty urge<br />
me to remark with seriousness that I teach "by<br />
precept and example how to fail," as alleged<br />
by McStimey.<br />
A. Lang.<br />
<br />
"POETA NASCITUR, NON FIT;<br />
At niihi jam puero ccelcstia Sacra placebant:<br />
Inane suum furtira Musa trahebat opus.<br />
Sacpe pater dixit: "Studiura quid iuutile tentas?<br />
Moonides nullaa ipse reliquit opes."<br />
Motus eram dictis: totoque Helicone rclicto,<br />
Scriberc couabar verba soluta modis.<br />
Sponte sua carmen numcros veniebat ad aptos,<br />
Kt, quod tentabam scribere, versus erat.<br />
P. Ovidii Nasonis Trist., Lib. iv., El. 10. vv. 18-16.<br />
Me Harmony delighted from a boy<br />
As the Muse drew me on to her employ:<br />
"Why toil for nothing ?" oft my father cried,<br />
"Homer himself a very pauper died."<br />
His chiding! moved me: Poesy I left,<br />
And sought to write some words of song bereft.<br />
Put still ray lines flowed, apt to rhyme and scan,<br />
And as I wrote my thoughts, in verse they ran.<br />
J. M. Lely,<br />
[with apologies to P.O.N.].<br />
<br />
LITERARY PROPERTY.<br />
I.<br />
Literary Theft.<br />
THE question of literary theft by means of<br />
reprinting newspaper articles, either in other<br />
newspapers or in books, now being brought<br />
into prominence by the Times is a very important<br />
one, ami it is to be hoped that it will not be allowed<br />
to drop without some practical remedy being<br />
discovered and applied.<br />
It is notorious that much valuable literature first<br />
appears in newspapers. Thackeray's "Snobs"<br />
first appeared in Punch; Sala's "Twice Round the<br />
Clock" in the Daily Telegraph; while Mr.<br />
Russell, Mr. Forbes, and other war correspon-<br />
dents innumerable have republished their letters in<br />
book form. For payment and without risk, the<br />
author (perhaps hitherto unknown) by this mode<br />
secures a publication which otherwise he might<br />
have to pay for and lose money by, and he also<br />
gains the advantage of being able to correct and<br />
revise after newspaper publication, and before<br />
re-issue, by the light of such criticism, and with<br />
the encouragement of such admirers, as newspaper<br />
readers may bring.<br />
The enormous and increasing output of literat ure<br />
in the present day gives every ground of expecta-<br />
tion that this mode of publication will become more<br />
and more general.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 387 (#791) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
387<br />
The points of law to be borne in mind are<br />
three :—<br />
(1.) The copyright belongs to the newspaper<br />
proprietor, not the author, for 28 years if, and if<br />
only, the articles are written and paid for on the<br />
terms that the copyright shall belong to the<br />
newspaper proprietor.<br />
(2.) The newspaper proprietor cannot sue for<br />
breach of copyright without first " registering" his<br />
newsj>aper.<br />
(3.) To a certain extent, very difficult to define,<br />
copying is legitimate.<br />
By way of cure for these inconveniences to all<br />
concerned in the production of literature, it was<br />
proposed (amongst other things) by Lord Monks-<br />
well's Copyright Bill, which was read a second<br />
time in the House of Lords last session (on the<br />
curious condition, imposed by the Lord Chancellor,<br />
that it should not be further proceeded with),<br />
that—<br />
(1.) In the case of any article, essay, or other work<br />
whatsoever, being the subject of copyright, first<br />
published in and forming part of a collective work<br />
for the writing, composition, or making of which the<br />
original copyright owner shall have been paid, or<br />
shall be entitled to be paid, by the proprietor<br />
of the collective work, the copyright shall belong<br />
to the proprietor of the collective work for 3o years<br />
from publication.<br />
(2.) Except in the case of an Encyclopedia, the original<br />
copyright owuer shall have the right to republish<br />
the article in a separate form at any time after<br />
3 years from the first publication.<br />
(3.) Copyright in respect of newspapers shall extend<br />
only to articles, paragraphs, communications, and<br />
other parts which are compositions of a literary<br />
character, and not to any articles, paragraphs,<br />
communications, or other parts which are designed<br />
only for the publication of news, or to advertise-<br />
ments.<br />
It is, we believe, a not uncommon practice for<br />
the proprietors of magazines to ask their contri-<br />
butors to sign receipts containing assignments of<br />
copyright as well as acknowledgments of payment.<br />
This we think the contributors should decline to<br />
do. The contract to assign the copyright can only<br />
be made when the article is arranged for. Any<br />
contract made after the article has been published<br />
is made " without consideration " and void.<br />
II.<br />
Mb. James Knowles.<br />
Two letters on this subject, written by Mr.<br />
James Knowles, editor of the Nineteenth Century,<br />
are published in the Times of April 29th and in<br />
the May number of Mr. Knowles's magazine. In<br />
the second letter Mr. Knowles defines what he<br />
considers legitimate criticism. He says—we hope<br />
that our own interest in the diffusion of these views<br />
will excuse our reproducing the lines—<br />
"I can of course make no objection at all to<br />
'legitimate' criticism, supported by fair and<br />
moderate extracts of anything which is published<br />
in my review.<br />
"What I cannot recognise as 'legitimate' is<br />
extracting the substance of an article or quoting<br />
from it merely as a notice and apart from proper<br />
criticism of it.<br />
"That practice must be stopped by the pro-<br />
ducers and owners of literature, just as the practice<br />
of taking all the best cherries out of a basket<br />
without paying for them — under pretence of<br />
obtaining a sample—would be stopped by the law,<br />
if necessary, at the instance of the producers and<br />
owners of the cherries.<br />
"Your common sense and fairness will see the<br />
force of the distinction between criticism and<br />
pillage, and you will doubtless act accordingly<br />
without further pressure."<br />
III.<br />
Anthony Trollofe's Life.<br />
A correspondent writes: "I remember a case<br />
which very well illustrates the reckless way in<br />
which extracts are made. It is that of the post-<br />
humous 4 Recollections of Anthony Trollope.' The<br />
publishers were good enough to present me with a<br />
copy. For some reason, I had no time to look at<br />
it for three months after it appeared. I read<br />
during this interval the usual reviews and news-<br />
papers. When I at last cut the pages, I found that<br />
I knew every single thing of any interest. All had<br />
been picked out. What was left was rind and<br />
pulp."<br />
IV.<br />
"Baby" lifting extraordinary.<br />
The editor of Baby: the Mothers' Magazine<br />
calls attention to the following barefaced theft:—<br />
"Imitation is said to be the sincerest flattery;<br />
but when it takes the form of a gross piracy and<br />
wholesale robbery of ideas from a publication of<br />
which one is the originator, editor, and pro-<br />
prietor, it cannot be said to be acceptable to the<br />
person imitated. I may say that my feelings<br />
with regard to a new American publication, en-<br />
titled Baby: a Journal for Mothers, the first<br />
number of which was published in New York<br />
in January 1892, are of unqualified dissatisfaction<br />
and disgust at the colossal impudence of the<br />
proprietor and editor, whoever they may be. In<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 388 (#792) ############################################<br />
<br />
388<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
the words of my own prospectus, this magazine<br />
professes that its several departments are edited by<br />
"well-known writers, and articles will be obtained<br />
from the highest authorities on the bringing up of<br />
children." It would seem that no extraordinary<br />
expense will be incurred in carrying out this<br />
programme, as the editor evidently proposes to<br />
"annex" from my magazine all that may be<br />
required for the purpose. I have only seen the<br />
second number of this magnificent speculation as<br />
yet, but it is evident from this that the editor has<br />
had the four volumes of Baby: the Mo/hers'<br />
Magazine open during its preparation, although no<br />
acknowledgment is made of the fact. On p. 18,<br />
for example, there is a paragraph about the care of<br />
the eyes, which I wrote myself, and a hint about<br />
teething, taken from my third volume. On p. 19<br />
is a drawing modified from one in my first volume;<br />
on p. 20 is the paragraph which forms the heading<br />
of my " Nursery Cookery" department; on p. 21,<br />
that from the heading of my "Parents' Parlia-<br />
ment"; and, on the same page, a whole article<br />
called "Hints about Teething," by Dr. T. L.<br />
Browne, stolen bodily from my fourth volume,<br />
p. 220. Such a production as this is a dishonour<br />
to journalism, and that it is possible to produce it<br />
is a disgrace to international law."<br />
V.<br />
American Piracy.<br />
There are two kinds of piracy: that, of new<br />
books and that of old books. A correspondent,<br />
a well-known novelist, writes that the New York<br />
Sunday Xeics has been presenting its readers with<br />
a complete story by himself, which was published<br />
in this country about five years ago. Another<br />
complete novel by another well-known writer is<br />
announced for the next week. The piracy of new<br />
books may be considered pretty well ended, but the<br />
piracy of old books will go on unchecked so long<br />
as the books which do not possess copyright<br />
continue to have any freshness.<br />
As regards Mr. Collier, whose correspondence<br />
and advertisements have attracted more attention,<br />
it is now stated that he has been "laying hands"<br />
as well on stories whose copyright is uncertain.<br />
A novel written for Tillotson and Son exclusively<br />
has very recently figured in three successive issues<br />
of the American Once a Week. We can only<br />
repeat our former caution. Do not entrust MSS.<br />
to any advertiser without careful business agree-<br />
ments beforehand and proper guarantees.<br />
. ■»-••♦<br />
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OP AUTHORS.<br />
AN important feature in this Society is the<br />
appointment of local secretaries in various<br />
centres of the country. Thus, at a meeting<br />
lately held at "Washington, a local auxiliary society<br />
was formed, at which Mrs. M. D. Lincoln was<br />
elected Vice-President. At the meeting certain<br />
plain truths were spoken. Mrs. Katherine Hodges,<br />
the general secretary, said :—<br />
"This is certainly one of the most vital subjects<br />
for consideration More the country to-day. It is a.<br />
question, not of war upon any man, or class of<br />
men, but it is one of principle, upon which the<br />
constitution of this Republic is founded—the<br />
principle of justice and fair dealing to all."<br />
Mr. George Smalley, of the iVeio York Tiibunc,<br />
was quoted in reference to the complete protection<br />
insured to authors by French law.<br />
"Why should we sit down contented with 11<br />
position of inferiority to a nation whom we are not<br />
in the habit of thinking our superiors in civiliza-<br />
tion, or in that branch of it which consists in<br />
protecting the weak against the strong?"<br />
Mrs. Hodges also read a passage from a letter<br />
written by Mrs. Potter Palmer, President of the<br />
Board of Lady Managers of the Columbian<br />
Exposition, in which she said :—<br />
"I sincerely trust that the authors of this nation<br />
will be able to make such a showing of their<br />
wrongs, and of their inherent rights to the product<br />
of their own brains, and so arouse public sentiment<br />
on the subject, that the Columbian Exposition<br />
shall be recorded in history as the point beyond<br />
which such a robbery was made impossible."<br />
Continuing, Mrs. Hodges said: "Chaunccy M.<br />
Depew made a speech on the occasion of a<br />
celebration 011 the passage of the International<br />
Copyright Law, in which he said, as nearly as I can<br />
now quote it from memory: 'Piracy on the high<br />
seas has been abolished for a century, and burglary<br />
has been under control of the police for a hundred<br />
years, but it remained for a llepublican Congress<br />
to abolish the piracy and burglary of the human<br />
brain.'<br />
"But this has not been done," continued the<br />
lady, "as we can prove conclusively, and by<br />
unimpeachable testimony of prominent authors,<br />
who are victims of the piracy and burglary of<br />
human intellect now in full power in America.<br />
There is no limit to this practice of piracy, because<br />
there is no statute to forbid it under the present<br />
laws, and it is for the abolition of this wrong that<br />
the American Society of Authors has been orga-<br />
nized, confident that this enlightened Government<br />
and people will heed a demand for the protection<br />
of writers, which other civilized nations of the<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 389 (#793) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR<br />
3%<br />
earth has already accorded to the authors of various<br />
countries. Every branch of trade and traffic has<br />
protection under our Government and laws except<br />
this one. And why should this form the sole<br />
exception?"<br />
"What plan do you propose to bring about the<br />
desired change? " Mrs. Hodges was asked.<br />
"Organization, as Mr. Smallcy suggests. An<br />
organization reaching from sea to sea, and through<br />
every part of the United States. We shall have<br />
at everv prominent point speakers on the topic,<br />
who will convey to the people the true situation<br />
as it has and does exist. At the Columbian<br />
Exposition, we shall have the world for an audience,<br />
as from every nation we mean to have those who<br />
will tell us the means employed for protection<br />
of their writers, and who will help us to perfect<br />
plans for the best method of protection here.<br />
Please be particular to observe that this movement<br />
is not a war on publishers as a class. Honest<br />
publishers express themselves as friendly to the<br />
cause. Such men have nothing to fear from the<br />
organization of authors for their own protection.<br />
It is purely a movement to establish the principle<br />
of just treatment to authors in this country, to<br />
protect them in their right of literary property in<br />
commerce, and to defend that right."<br />
"Docs not the International Copyright Act<br />
protect the American author?"<br />
"Abroad, perhaps, to an extent, but not here.<br />
The International Copyright Act does not yield the<br />
least protection to the native author against the<br />
native publisher. And it is quite as great a hard-<br />
ship to be robbed by a native as by a foreign<br />
publisher."<br />
♦•»•♦<br />
A&ENCIES.<br />
I.<br />
The Agency Bureau.<br />
INHERE is an institution called the "Agency<br />
Bureau." Apparently they—or he—advertise<br />
"for MSS. A certain lady sent them a paper,<br />
or a book, in MS. She received the following<br />
reply :—<br />
"Dear Madam,<br />
"I beg to acknowledge receipt of your<br />
favour enclosing MSS., and- should advise you,<br />
before proceeding further with them, to have a fair<br />
copy made of them on a typewriter, as our ex-<br />
perience has taught us that typewritten MSS. is<br />
greatly favoured by hard worked editors and<br />
publishers. Rejections are, without exception,<br />
eaused by MSS. being badly written.<br />
"Should you entertain this idea, I shall have<br />
great pleasure in having same executed in our<br />
vol. n.<br />
office at the low charge of 3s. (about 3,5oo words),<br />
including paper.<br />
"Should this fail to influence you, I will put your<br />
writings forward without further delay. Please<br />
state by return what you think a fair price for<br />
same.<br />
"Awaiting your favoured reply,<br />
"I am, Dear Madam,<br />
"D. Tomasin,<br />
"Secretary."<br />
The above shows resource. Even if a MS.<br />
cannot be placed, it may be typewritten. Fifty<br />
MSS. a week at 3s. would not be such very bad<br />
business. We have not seen the prospectus of the<br />
"Agency Bureau." When we do see " same "—<br />
to imitate the excellent style of the secretary—we<br />
may have a word or two to say to "same."<br />
Meantime, we shall be glad to learn what special<br />
powers this person has—what machinery—to place<br />
any MS. for anybody? Why will people persist in<br />
thinking that an agent can do for their MSS.<br />
what they cannot do by themselves?<br />
II.<br />
The Literary and Art Agency.<br />
(Before Mr. Ji/stice Grantham and a Common<br />
Jury.)<br />
Harington r. the Star Newspaper Company<br />
(Limited).<br />
This was an action for libel brought by the<br />
Rev. T. R. S. Harington, who was descril>cd as a<br />
Congregational minister and a journalist, and who<br />
for many years had been associated with various<br />
religious papers as chief and assistant editor, against<br />
the Star for publishing the following article. It<br />
was in the form of a letter, addressed by " An out-<br />
of-work journalist" to the editor of the Star, and<br />
headed, "The Literary Art, the Royal Road to<br />
Getting a Living in the Literary Line" :—<br />
"Yesterday morning, on the strength of a<br />
circular which has been pretty widely distributed,<br />
1 called upon the Rev. T. R. S. Harington, at<br />
2 2, Furnival Street, Holborn, W.C. The reverend<br />
gentleman calls himself the London Literary and<br />
Art Agency, and sends round an invitation to all<br />
and sundry, couched in the following terms :—<br />
'Ladies and gentlemen seeking high-class appoint-<br />
ments as governesses, tutors, private secretaries,<br />
journalists, artists, &c, may have their names<br />
registered by paying a fee of 5*. For this fee<br />
they will not only l>e entitled to our services at<br />
all times, but will have their individual require-<br />
ments advertised in the Times, Mornitiy Post,<br />
Standard, Daily Xexcs, or some other influential<br />
G g<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 390 (#794) ############################################<br />
<br />
39°<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
and suitable paper. . .' The Literary and Art<br />
Agency I found was a very small hack room, up two<br />
flights of stairs, and besides the Rev. T. R. S. Haring-<br />
ton boasted a desk and a couple of chairs. The<br />
rev. gentleman welcomed me sympathetically and<br />
listened with the shrewd air of a consulting<br />
philanthropist to my tele. ... I thanked him<br />
and regretted that it was not convenient for me at<br />
the moment to hand over the 5s. registration fee.<br />
Well, well, that did not matter. There was a half-<br />
crown fee, which entitled the applicant to some<br />
portion of solicitude of the London Literary and Art<br />
Agency. I regretted that it was not in my power<br />
to pay that small sum, hut said I would bring it<br />
round in the morning. . . The rev. gentleman<br />
in appearance is tall, sandy haired and sandy bearded<br />
... It is to be hoped that the agency will proves<br />
of more use to private secretaries than to journalists;<br />
meanwhile it would perhaps be as well for 'gover-<br />
nesses, tutors, private secretaries, journalists, artists,<br />
&c.,' to suspend payment of their 5.?. until the rev.<br />
principal proves his bond fides and the practical<br />
usefulness of his agency."<br />
Mr. Lincoln Reed represented the plaintiff; Mr.<br />
Lankester the defendants.<br />
In the course of the case the plaintiff admitted<br />
he had not been a Congregational minister, but<br />
considered he had a right to call himself one,<br />
because he had been called to preach in a Baptist<br />
chapel in 1862 for two years. Since that date he<br />
had been sub-editor of the Christian World, but<br />
had given that up a short time ago, and had started<br />
this agency for the purpose of introducing people<br />
who wanted situations in the literary line to those<br />
who wanted to employ literary men and women.<br />
When asked by the judge if his scheme was of a<br />
philanthropic character, the plaintiff said of course<br />
he expected to be paid fees for his labour. He<br />
had received £i3 or £14 in fees of 5*. and is. 6d.<br />
each, but had only obtained two situations for<br />
people, one as tutor for three months, and the other<br />
as secretary to the Association for Preventing the<br />
Immigration of Destitute Aliens; and he had<br />
received 24s. in one case, and 3os. in the other as<br />
a commission on the salaries obtained. The plaintiff<br />
also said that the article in question had ruined his<br />
agency, which had only been started about a month,<br />
as his landlord had refused to let him continue the<br />
hire of his rooms. He did not remember the<br />
individual coming to him who purported to be<br />
the writer of the article. On a gentleman being<br />
asked to stand up, the plaintiff said he did not,<br />
remember the faces of ordinary-looking people; all<br />
he could say was, he looked and acted in such a<br />
way as to induce several Oxford and Cambridge<br />
men to pay him a fee. For the defence, it was<br />
submitted that the article in question was not<br />
published falsely or maliciously, that it was not<br />
libellous, was true in substance and in fact, and<br />
was a fair and bond fide comment on the plaintiff's<br />
conduct.<br />
The learned judge having summed up, the jury<br />
retired to consider their verdict, and after a long<br />
absence returned into court with a verdict for the<br />
defendants.— Times.<br />
III.<br />
The International Society.<br />
Here is another case of an unfortunate confusion<br />
of names by the " Society " with which the man<br />
Morgan, already exposed in these columns and<br />
elsewhere, is connected.<br />
(To the Editor of the Newcastle Daily Journal.)<br />
"Sir,<br />
I find that invitations are l>eing extensively<br />
sent to gentlemen resident in the North of England<br />
to join a society styling itself the International<br />
Society of Literature, Science, and Art, and I have<br />
received several letters making inquiries respecting<br />
its status. I should be obliged, therefore, if you<br />
would allow me to state through your columns that<br />
I neither have, nor desire to be supposed to have,<br />
any connexion with this society, and that the name<br />
printed among its honorary members, the « Rev.<br />
Canon Norman, M.A.' is not that of yours, &c,<br />
A. M. Norman, F.R.S.,<br />
Hon. Canon, Durham Cathedral.<br />
Burnmoor Rectory, April 12, 1892."<br />
EDITING AND REVIEWING.<br />
1.<br />
The Value of a Favourable Review.<br />
IT may be laid down as a general rule that it is<br />
not possible for an unfavourable review to<br />
kill a good book. It may retard its progress;<br />
it may inflict a heavy pecuniary loss upon it; but<br />
it cannot kill it.<br />
On the other hand, what can a favourable review<br />
do for a book?<br />
Here are two instances from the private history<br />
of a literary man :—<br />
Ten years ago he produced a book anonymously.<br />
For six weeks or so the book hung fire: no one<br />
noticed it; there was no demand for it. Then there<br />
appeared a notice, not. only favourable, bat highly<br />
laudatory, in the Saturday Review. Instantly the<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 391 (#795) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
39i<br />
book sprang into popularity. Before many months<br />
there was a demand of something like i3,ooo<br />
copies.<br />
Again, the same writer produced a three-volume<br />
novel which has had as great a success as falls to<br />
the lot of most novels. For a time, however, it<br />
lay unregarded, the demand for it almost stagnant.<br />
Then there appeared a review in the Times—a<br />
long one-eolnmn, review—speaking of it in the<br />
highest terms, and then the demand began and<br />
continued, advancing daily, and the fortune of that<br />
book, as of the other, was made by that favourable<br />
review.<br />
II.<br />
About Reviewing.<br />
"To-morrow," says Mr. Phoebus in Lothair,<br />
"to-morrow the critics will begin. And who are the<br />
critics? Persons who have failed in literature and<br />
art." Dramatically, of course, this is very good.<br />
The criticised no doubt is the man to find out the<br />
weakest points in the armour of the critic. Nor is<br />
it without a germ of truth in itself, for the disap-<br />
pointed man is naturally more quick to find fault.<br />
But it is a little curious that some critics who have<br />
not themselves failed or are likely to fail write just as<br />
if they had. Who amongst us has not now and<br />
then suffered from the criticisms of such? The<br />
selection of the one misspelt word, or of the one<br />
line of poetry which will not scan, and complete<br />
silence about all the rest of a work, the crushing<br />
dctractation of a first effort in literature, the steady<br />
determination not to see the author's view; these<br />
and faults like these will not (infrequently be found<br />
in those who may themselves be; amongst the very<br />
favourites of fortune. And yet, perhaps, even such<br />
criticism is less really unjust than that of the lazy*<br />
penman who scarcely reads a line of a Iwok, but<br />
dismisses it with fluent generalities (whether of<br />
praise or blame) strung together to conceal his<br />
ignorance of it. On the other hand, many authors<br />
arc absurdly sensitive, thinking themselves ill-used<br />
if their reviewer deals out any blame at all, while<br />
here and there we find the man who has been so<br />
unduly puffed by his friends that a little undue<br />
scarification is positively welcome. Macaulay's<br />
celebrated review of Montgomery is a well-<br />
known case in point. Macaulay's name brings<br />
to my mind a bit of his biography well worth the<br />
notice of every critic. Into the hands of the great<br />
reviewer fell a friend's book, with, I think, a request<br />
from somebody or other that he would say some-<br />
thing good of it. He saw at once that it would<br />
not do, and declined to review it at all.<br />
Should not a reviewer always be anonymous?<br />
I rather think so. If solicited for a "notice,"<br />
should he take it ill, and either review unfavour-<br />
ably or not review at all? Certainly neither.<br />
Soliciting is, of course, bad, but it may be after all a<br />
mere harmless form of bringing a book to an editor's<br />
recollection.<br />
Should an editor hand over a book written by one<br />
specialist, to be reviewed by another? I think yes,<br />
for the risk of unfairness and partiality of view is<br />
quite compensated by the certainty of knowledge of<br />
the subject.<br />
Should not all books which cannot be reviewed<br />
be returned? I know of a case where a book<br />
worth about ten pounds was courteously returned<br />
by one editor, and kept, but not even reviewed,<br />
by another editor. The cost of supplying copies<br />
for review is very great, and the sale of such<br />
copies, if sold (though I have heard that some<br />
editors destroy them), seems to compete somewhat<br />
unfairly with the sale of the ordinary copies.<br />
Why should not, at least review copies be<br />
machine cut, to help the reviewer, and why should<br />
not publishers always state the prices and dates<br />
of their books, and reviewers re{>eat this useful<br />
information for the benefit of the public?<br />
J. M. Lely.<br />
III.<br />
Magazines and Editors.<br />
In the early part of 1888, I wrote an article on<br />
"Dorothy Jordan," and sent it to the English<br />
Illustrated Magazine. About nine months later,<br />
proofs were forwarded to me, corrected and returned<br />
by me. Months passed, and the article did not<br />
appear. In February 1889 I applied for payment,<br />
and received £i3 iqs. Soon after, the magazine<br />
changed editors. In March 1890, I saw the new<br />
editor, and asked when would the paper be in-<br />
serted. He knew nothing of it, nor did his<br />
secretary. In 1891 I again made inquiries con-<br />
cerning the article, but received no satisfactory<br />
reply, nor did I bear of it again until I saw it in<br />
the April number just published. It was then<br />
reduced to about half its original size, and the<br />
private information regarding Mrs. Jordan's life<br />
and earnings, which 1 had obtained after much<br />
trouble, was left out. It was four years in the<br />
office of the magazine before being published.<br />
A story of mine appeared in another monthly.<br />
Three letters requesting payment received no<br />
answer, nor did a solicitor's letter. The proprietors<br />
were then sued for the amount, and the case was*<br />
set down for hearing on the 3ist of March. The<br />
day previously the debt was paid, and the solicitor's<br />
costs.<br />
FlTZCiERAI.l) MOLLOT.<br />
GK 2<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 392 (#796) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
392<br />
IV.<br />
Query.<br />
If an editor chooses to keep my MSS., sent for<br />
n magazine or weekly paper, and neither return it<br />
nor accept it, how can I enter into possession of<br />
it again so as to feel free to send a copy to a fresh<br />
editor? Would it be sufficient to send a stamped<br />
envelope for reply—" Sir—You have kept my<br />
MSS. a month (6 weeks). I have no news of it.<br />
I am going to try a fresh editor?"<br />
Peregrine.<br />
Does it not require an editor made wondrous kind<br />
by fellow feeling for young authors to get all tins<br />
literary property safe home to Us owners?<br />
Editor.<br />
V.<br />
Long kept and then returned.<br />
Under this heading in the last number of the<br />
A uthor a case was stated of a MS. kept for three years<br />
and a half. The contributor writes to say (l) with<br />
regard to his first statement that he was invited to<br />
write a paper on a definite subject, that the exact<br />
facts were these: "I submitted to Mr. A., at his<br />
own request, I having been introduced to him as a<br />
specialist by the secretory of a certain society, six<br />
short stories on approval." (2) That the editor<br />
has sent him a certain sum for compensation.<br />
This, as the Editor was not in the least obliged to<br />
do so, is extremely honourable in him.<br />
VI.<br />
VII.<br />
With no Name,<br />
With the complaint of " B " who has contributed<br />
"verse of a lyrical type to a certain high-class<br />
London journal," has been "most liberally and<br />
promptly" paid, but cannot get either his name or<br />
initials appended to his contributions, every author<br />
must fully sympathise.<br />
Only two possible reasons for the editor's refusal<br />
to print the name suggest themselves:—Either he<br />
fears that "B," when known by name, will be<br />
drawn away to rival prints, or that the poetry will<br />
go unread with an unknown name at the bottom of<br />
it. But whether his reason be good or bad or even<br />
none, he is of course within his legal rights.<br />
"B" however should forthwith insist on his<br />
name being printed under pain of his ceasing to<br />
contribute.<br />
SCRII'TOR IGNOTCS.<br />
From the Editor's I'oint of View.<br />
May an editor offer a few suggestions as to<br />
why the MSS. of young authors are occasionally<br />
absorbed by the Family Hearthrug, and other<br />
kindred publications? Reading the directions<br />
printed in the magazine is the last thing<br />
that appears to occur to contributors. A<br />
type-written MS. arrives with no stamps en-<br />
closed, no name or address written on it. Some<br />
time afterwards a letter arrives, asking why " my<br />
MS.," omitting the name of the paper, has not been<br />
returned? How is the editor to know which MS.<br />
is referred to? Stamps arrive separately, with<br />
apologies for having omitted to enclose them, but<br />
no mention as to the MS. for which they are<br />
intended. As for the number of the MSS. that<br />
appeared stamplcss, with requests for immediate<br />
publication and payment, these do not always come,<br />
from the young and inexperienced.<br />
The acrostic editor receives articles on the Rights<br />
of Woman; belated " lights " for the acrostics are<br />
thrown upon the chief editor, while the manager,<br />
under a nom de plume of some special department,<br />
is pestered with inquiries about serial stories.<br />
UNCUT LEAVES.<br />
AREMARKABLE association exists in Boston,<br />
U.S.A., whose members assemble at stated<br />
intervals for the purpose of hearing, not<br />
reading, new articles before their appearance in<br />
the magazines. Here is part of the programme<br />
for the season :—<br />
"The Boston Readings of Uncut Leaves, the<br />
imprinted magazine conducted by Mr. Lincoln, of<br />
the Deerfield School of History and Romance,<br />
will take place on the third Wednesday evenings<br />
of January, February, March, April, and May.<br />
Among the contributors will be Richard Henry<br />
Stoddard, Edmund Clarence Stedman, George W.<br />
Cable, Elizabeth Stoddard, Agnes Repplier, Mar-<br />
garet Deland, Sarah Orne Jewett, Kate Douglas<br />
Wiggin, Alice Wellington Rollins, Arlo Bates,<br />
Hamilton W. Mabie, Clyde Fitch, Annie Payson<br />
Call, Edwin D. Meade, and other well-known<br />
writers.<br />
"The magazine will not be published, and can<br />
only be heard at the readings. Many of the<br />
articles will be read by their authors. Nothing<br />
will be included which has been previously printed.<br />
The entire reading of any evening will not exceed<br />
two hours.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 393 (#797) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
393<br />
"The first reading will begin promptly at<br />
8 p.m., January 20th, at Dr. Chas. P. Putnam's,<br />
63, Marlborough Street. No one will be allowed<br />
to enter during the reading of an article. Sub-<br />
scribers will pledge their good faith to observe<br />
entire secrecy as to the nature and contents of<br />
these magazines, in order to protect the rights of<br />
authors. No notes nor press reports can be<br />
permitted under any circumstances.<br />
"Subscription for the season, Five Dollars.<br />
"Three tickets for each reading, Ten Dollars.<br />
'' Names of subscribers must be submitted to<br />
Miss A. C. Putnam, 63, Marlborough Street, on or<br />
before January 16th. As the meetings will be in<br />
private parlours, only a limited number of names<br />
can be accepted."<br />
This is the nearest approach to a Private View<br />
Day in literature that has yet been made. There<br />
is a certain luxury in having one's articles read<br />
aloud, especially if they are articles in whose subject<br />
one is interested, and by writers whose; style has a<br />
charm for us.<br />
Mr. Lincoln, the Director of this society,<br />
suggests that we might find room for a similar<br />
organisation over here. This is doubtful. The<br />
difficulties, though not insuperable, would be grejit.<br />
For, first, it is a new thing, and editors and pro-<br />
prietors might think that such a reading would in jure<br />
the Side of the journal in which the paper after-<br />
wards appeared. The contrary would be the effect,<br />
just as a good novel is helped in its volume form<br />
by its serial form. Then, still because it is a new<br />
thing, the writers might object. These objections<br />
would, however, be removed in a very simple<br />
manner out of the subscriptions. The last objec-<br />
tion is the most serious. The essential for success<br />
is the inexorable observance of the clause pro-<br />
hibiting notes or reports of the pa[K?r. London is<br />
so vast a place, that there is no way at all of<br />
keeping out people who would disregard the most<br />
solemn promise of secrecy, and every lecture would<br />
be, somehow, fully reported in every paper. But,<br />
again, suppose the papers were not so anxious to<br />
anticipate the magazines, then this objection would<br />
not hold, and it must be confessed that, in the ease of<br />
most magazine articles, there is no such breathless<br />
eagerness to read them. The Contemporary and<br />
the Nineteenth Century, for instance, lie on the<br />
table awaiting their turn.<br />
How might such an association be formed and<br />
worked? Obviously, as a course of lectures is<br />
organised. The readings would be in the afternoon,<br />
from four to five. There should be no more than<br />
six in each of two sessions. They must be given<br />
by well-known writers, and the number of sub-<br />
scrilRTs must be sufficient to give a handsome<br />
honorarium to every reader. If, for instance, one<br />
guinea were the subscription for each course of<br />
six lectures, there should be enough subscribers to<br />
pay for the rooms and the service, and to leave two<br />
guineas at least for every reader.<br />
Should the Society follow the example of the<br />
Americans, and organise for the next winter one<br />
course, at least, of Uncut Leaves on the Literary<br />
Life from its various points of view? Will our<br />
meml>ers consider this suggestion? Of course, the<br />
proposed subscription may be very much smaller in<br />
case of a sufficient number of subscribers.<br />
<br />
THE LITERARY AGENT.<br />
ACORRESPONDENT writes about the lite-<br />
rary agent, evidently under a false impression<br />
as to the use and the nature of the services<br />
rendered by the literary agent. To one who has<br />
already succeeded, he says, a literary agent is of no<br />
use. His services are only required by one who<br />
has not succeeded. This creed is entertained by<br />
a good many people. They think that a literary<br />
agent is able to persuade publishers and editors to<br />
take work that they would otherwise refuse. Why<br />
should he? Is his opinion better than the opinion<br />
of the publisher's reader? But the agent does not,<br />
as a rule, read MSS.—he has not the time. Writers<br />
must learn for themselves—the earlier in their<br />
career they learn it the better—the truth that the<br />
only way to get on is to produce good work, or, at<br />
least, work that the world accepts as good work<br />
and reads and goes on reading. No agent, no<br />
private influence, can do any good at all to anyone.<br />
There is not, and there never has been in the history<br />
of literature, any case of a writer being perma-<br />
nently helped in this way. There has been perhaps<br />
log-rolling, but those few who seem to have been<br />
assisted by their friends have really done good work<br />
which by itself commanded success. They were, in<br />
faet, independent of log-rolling. It is when a man<br />
has reached a certain stage of success that his agent<br />
comes in. Then he takes over all the business<br />
arrangements of that writer, agrees with editors and<br />
publishers for him, places his work, and, in fact,<br />
relieves him of all trouble. To such a man a good<br />
agent is invaluable. But let the writer beware!<br />
He must not, on any consideration, go to the first<br />
man who offers. He must take advice.<br />
What, then, is the young writer to do? He<br />
should first get an opinion from one of the Society's<br />
readers as to the merits and chances of his book.<br />
It may be that certain points would be suggested<br />
for alteration. It may be that he finds himself<br />
recommended to put his MS. in the fire. He<br />
should then offer his MS. to a list of houses or of<br />
magazines recommended by the Society. There is<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 394 (#798) ############################################<br />
<br />
394<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
nothing else to be done. No one, we repent, can<br />
possibly help him. If those houses all refuse him<br />
it is not the least use trying others, and, if he is n<br />
wise man, he will refuse to pay for the production<br />
of his own work. If, however, as too often<br />
happens, he is not a wise man,but believes that he has<br />
written a great tiling, and is prepared to back his<br />
opinion to the extent of paying for his book, then<br />
let him place his work in the hands of tha Society,<br />
and it shall be arranged for him without greater<br />
loss than the actual cost of production. At least<br />
he will not be deluded by false hopes and promises<br />
which can end in nothing.<br />
■ — ■<br />
USEFUL BOOKS.<br />
I.<br />
DEAR Author,—I cull from my own Reference<br />
Library Catalogue the titles of just a dozen<br />
really useful books. When I have a little<br />
leisure I will send some more. I may mention that<br />
the " Sailor's Word Book " and " Old Sea Wings"<br />
will be found very valuable to maritime storytellers<br />
yearning to follow in the footsteps of Clark Russell;<br />
and I may further hint (at the risk of provoking the<br />
men of supercilious MSS.) that lady novelists might<br />
advantageously add to their shelf of reference books<br />
a "Newgate Calendar" (Knapp and Baldwin's),<br />
and an up-to-date edition of Blackstone's " Com-<br />
mentaries." The " Calendar " is full of intensely<br />
dramatic plots and characters; while occasional<br />
consultation of Blackstone would set the ladies<br />
right on many legal points, touching which, in their<br />
novels, they frequently blunder.<br />
G. A. Sala.<br />
M. Scheele De Veee, LL.D.—Americanisms:<br />
The English of the New World. (New<br />
York: C. Scribner and Co.)<br />
Mrs. Cowden Clarke.—The Complete Concord-<br />
ance to Shakspere. (London: Bickers.)<br />
Cruden's Concordance to the Holy Scriptures.<br />
(Any bookseller.) ,<br />
Beeton's Great Book of Poetry. (Ward and<br />
Lock.)<br />
Smyth, W. H., Admiral.—The Sailor's Word<br />
Book: An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical<br />
Terms. (London: Blackie and Son.)<br />
Leslie, Robert C.—Old Sea Wings and Words.<br />
(London: Chapman and Hall.)<br />
Jennings, G. H.—Anecdotal History of the<br />
British Parliament. (London: Horace Cox.)<br />
McCarthy, Justin, M.P.—A History of Our<br />
Own Times. 4 vols. (Chatto and Windus.)<br />
Lanciani, Rodoi.fo, Prof.—Ancient Rome in the<br />
Light of Recent Discoveries. (Macmillan.")<br />
Phillips, Lawrence B.—Dictionary of Biogra-<br />
phical Reference: containing 100,000 names.<br />
(Sampson Low.)<br />
Wheatley and Cunningham.—London Past and<br />
Present. 3 vols. (Murray.)<br />
Heaton, J. Hennikek, M.P.—Australian Dic-<br />
tionary of Dates and Men of the Time. (G.<br />
Robertson, Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide.)<br />
II.<br />
Scientific.<br />
Quain's Human Anatomy. (Macmillan.)<br />
Young's General Astronomy. (Ginn and Co.)<br />
Sach's Text Book of Botany. Now published in<br />
three parts. (Clarendon.)<br />
Roscoe and Schorlemmer's Treatise on Chemistry.<br />
(Macmillan.)<br />
Foster and Balfour's Elements of Embryology.<br />
(Macmillan.)<br />
Geikie's Text Book of Geology. (Macmillan.)<br />
Giinther's Study of Fishes. (A. and C. Black.)<br />
Mill's Logic. (Longmans.)<br />
Lauder Brunton's Pharmacology. Therapeutics<br />
and Materia Medica. (Macmillan.)<br />
Darnell's Principles of Physics. (Macmillan.)<br />
Foster's Text Book of Physiology. (Macmillan.)<br />
Nicholson's Manual of Zoology. (Blackwood.)<br />
Bain's Mental and Moral Science. (Longmans.)<br />
Be van Lewis's Text Book of Nervous Diseases.<br />
(Griffen.)<br />
Herbert Spencer's First Principles, Principles of<br />
Biology, Psychology, and Sociology. (Wil-<br />
liams and Norgate.)<br />
Ueberweg's History of Philosophy. (Hodder.)<br />
Carpenter's Microscope. (Routledge.)<br />
Dictionaries.<br />
Smith's Latin.<br />
Spier's French. (De Baudry, Paris.)<br />
Grieb's German. (Sampson Low.)<br />
Baretti's Italian. (Dulau.)<br />
Quain's Medicine. (Smith Elder.)<br />
Heath's Surgery. (Smith Elder.)<br />
Fleming's Vocabulary of Philosophy. (Gritlin.)<br />
Men and Women of the Time. (Ca&sell.)<br />
Hazell's Annual.<br />
F. Howard Collins.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 395 (#799) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
AUTHOR AND PUBLISHER.<br />
With .some New Points for the Society of<br />
Authors and for an Eminent Publisher.<br />
(From tin; New York Tribune by permission.)<br />
J piHE report of the Executive Committee of<br />
I the Society of Authors has the following<br />
paragraph:<br />
"Among those members whose loss by death we<br />
deplore are (i) Lord Lytton, always one of our<br />
greatest supporters. He took the chair at one of<br />
our public meetings, and at all times showed the<br />
warmest interest in the work and success of the<br />
Society. (2) Mr. James Russell Lowell, not only<br />
the American who had endeared himself to all<br />
hearts, but very specially the friend of this Society,<br />
and the advocate of international copyright.<br />
Those who were present at the dinner of the<br />
Society in 1888, and heard his brilliant and<br />
eloquent address, since printed in the Author,<br />
will want no reminder of his interest in our work<br />
and in the well-being of literature on this side of<br />
the Atlantic."<br />
The report is signed by Mr. Walter Besnit,<br />
chairman of the Executive Committee. He does<br />
not say too much of Lowell's interest in the<br />
Society. Nothing that concerned literature could<br />
lie indifferent to Lowell. I can imagine that the<br />
great American author had in his long career<br />
known moments when the advice of such a Society<br />
would have been useful to him, and would have<br />
meant money to him, as it now means money to<br />
many others. Lowell was, in truth, careless about<br />
such matters, and had a childlike faith in men;<br />
even in publishers, and even in second-hand book-<br />
sellers. I used to think he took pleasure in being<br />
their victim, and his easy good-nature forbade him<br />
to seek redress even when he had found out that a<br />
—well, that a mistake had occurred.<br />
Lowell once bought a copy of a scarce book for<br />
which he paid, I need not say, a long price. When<br />
the book arrived at Elmwood, it proved to be an<br />
imperfect copy; a number of leaves missing. The<br />
bookseller had not thought it worth while to mention<br />
the defect. "Of course you returned the book," I<br />
said. "Well, no," answered Lowell, with n dry<br />
look in his eyes. "I know the l>ook is often<br />
imperfect." The fact that he had paid a perfect<br />
price for his imperfect copy made little or no<br />
impression on him. The book is now, I presume,<br />
in Harvard College Library, to which Lowell meant<br />
his treasures to go. Unless the missing leaves<br />
have been supplied, that rather miscellaneous col-<br />
lection of books has therefore one more miscellaneous<br />
copy. There is but one golden rule for the collector:<br />
either a perfect copy or none.<br />
It is interesting to hear that the Society of<br />
Authors is growing at a great pace. Never before,<br />
Mr. Besant says, has so much work poured into<br />
their hands. Authors are at last awake to the<br />
benefits offered them. "They are bringing their<br />
agreements before accepting them; they are also—<br />
a thing without precedent in the history of author-<br />
ship—actually asking what their agreements mean<br />
for either side." Then comes this characteristic<br />
and most sensible passage:<br />
"The passing of the International Copyright<br />
Acts makes it doubly important for writers of<br />
success and position to know how to protect their<br />
property. It is not too much to say that never<br />
until the Society began was it possible for writers<br />
to realize, as at last they are learning, (1) that they<br />
possess property over which they should be as<br />
careful as over fields and houses and (2) that the<br />
mere administration of this property really does<br />
not entitle the agents to take over all the rent to<br />
themselves."<br />
To the publishers this last proposition will seem<br />
startling indeed. To others than publishers it may<br />
seem startling that there should l>c need of stating<br />
such a proposition and of dwelling on it. But<br />
there still is. The publisher himself still looks<br />
askance at the Society of Authors. Not all pub-<br />
lishers, perhaps, but some. Look at the tone of<br />
the leading trade organ, the Publishers Circular.<br />
Always a sneer at the Society, and always the<br />
suggestion that the author and publisher would<br />
naturally constitute a happy family but for the<br />
interference of outsiders.<br />
Look at the seventh case in the Appendix to this<br />
Report, where an author, unable to get either<br />
money or answer to his letters from a certain<br />
publishing firm, put his claim in the hands of<br />
the Society. There was a colonial house and<br />
a London house. The London house was very<br />
dignified. The intervention of the Society was,<br />
in its opinion, uncalled for. Their friends abroad<br />
would certainly deal honourably with the author.<br />
Notions of honour anil honourable dealing vary.<br />
The publisher's notion in this case might be thought<br />
peculiar. The author had sent his MS. to the<br />
colonial house. Six mouths later came a letter<br />
saying: "We hoped to have sent you a copy of<br />
your book by this mail, but regret it is not quite<br />
ready. We propose to style the book ." The<br />
author replied that as no terms had been submitted<br />
for his signature, he should like to know what lie<br />
was to get. No answer; and then it was that the<br />
Society intervened in the way which to the publish-<br />
ing mind seemed so uncalled for, pointing out that<br />
the honourable colonial house had appropriated the<br />
author's work and had offered no terms. The<br />
honourable colonial house was as much surprised as<br />
the London house at hearing "from a Society<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 396 (#800) ############################################<br />
<br />
396<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
calling itself a Society of Authors." It had been<br />
"too busy" to write the author, though not too<br />
busy to print and publish his book. "Finally they<br />
proposed certain terms and, subject to changes<br />
made by the Society, these proposals were accepted."<br />
Eight or nine of these sample cases are given.<br />
"Can anyone doubt," asks the rei>ort, "that<br />
almost all these authors would have been robbed<br />
had it not been for the vigorous intervention of the<br />
Society?"<br />
Now let us listen to a voice, I will not say from<br />
the other side but from among the publishers,<br />
Mr. Frederick Macmillan. No house stands higher<br />
than his. He presided last week at the annual<br />
t radedinner of the Booksellers' Provident Institution,<br />
and made a speech in the course of which he quoted<br />
a remark, author of it apparently unknown, that<br />
"the interests of booksellers and authors are highly<br />
antagonistic." Bookseller here means publisher,<br />
as it used to in the last century; so that the remark<br />
seems an old one. Old or new, Mr. Macmillan<br />
thinks that he who made it has a great deal to<br />
answer for. Why? Because "the antagonism<br />
between author and publisher is a foolish and mis-<br />
chievous fancy."<br />
Such is the answer of an honourable and success-<br />
ful publisher; the best he can offer. "It would be<br />
as reasonable," adds he, " to talk about the natural<br />
antagonism between the man who builds an engine<br />
and he who drives it." He might have drawn his<br />
analogy closer. It would he as reasonable to talk<br />
about the natural antagonism between the man who<br />
builds an engine and he who buys it. That would<br />
be perfectly reasonable. There is a natural an-<br />
tagonism. The man who builds the engine wants<br />
to sell it as dear as he can ; he who buys wishes to<br />
buy as cheap as he can. It is the natural antagonism<br />
which exists the world over in all commercial<br />
transactions. The interests of the buyer and the<br />
interests of the seller are not the same; they are<br />
hostile. So are the interests of the author who has<br />
a book to sell and of the publisher who buys it.<br />
True, as Mr. Macmillan says, both wish it to be<br />
successful; so far their interests are common. But<br />
in the division of the profits of the successful book<br />
the interests of the author and publisher are no<br />
longer common; they are antagonistic. Each<br />
wants as large a share as he can get.<br />
Thus do we. come back to the old point, and to<br />
the real grievance which the publisher keeps<br />
steadily in the background, namely, that the pub-<br />
lisher is a man of business dealing with the author<br />
who is not. The publisher draws up the contract,<br />
imposes his own terms, fixes his own proportion of<br />
profits, renders no accounts or imperfect accounts,<br />
avails himself of a hundred advantages under the<br />
plausible title "the custom of the trade," all un-<br />
known to the author; does, in fact, as a rule, by<br />
help of his business advantages and of the want of<br />
them in the author, take the lion's share of the<br />
profits. Therefore it is that a Society of Authors<br />
is needed which shall protect the interests and<br />
property of the author just as the publisher<br />
protects his own.<br />
Let Mr. Macmillan read the commentary on his<br />
speech by the editor of the trade organ al>ove<br />
mentioned:<br />
"Whatever may have been the state of affairs<br />
in the remote past, it certainly is not true to-day<br />
that publishers drink champagne from the skulls<br />
of unhappy writers. In the present era only<br />
amateurs imagine that the publisher is a sort of<br />
ghoul who appeases a diabolical appetite with<br />
innocent and confiding men and women of genius.<br />
The interests of authors and publishers, as Mr.<br />
Macmillan pointed out, must be, and are, identical.<br />
In the nature of things there can be no antagonism<br />
between the man who writes a book and the man<br />
who publishes it. If there were, both would<br />
speedily go to the wall, the publisher probably<br />
going first."<br />
Such is the attitude of a publisher of whom I<br />
will say nothing except that he must know lx-tter.<br />
The rancorous tone of his comment on a good-<br />
tempcred speech from his own side is only too<br />
marked. Ho represents, like the London branch<br />
of the colonial house quoted a moment ago, the<br />
class of publisher who resents the interference of<br />
the Society of Authors, resents its existence, and<br />
would, if he could, restore the good old days when<br />
the publisher settled for the author as well as for<br />
himself the terms of the contract between them.<br />
But. those days are going, if not gone. The<br />
number of members of the Society has risen from<br />
25o three years ago to 780; its business has in-<br />
creased in a still greater ratio. If an author now<br />
makes a bad or stupid bargain with a publisher,<br />
he has only himself to thank, for here is a society<br />
which, without pay, will be delighted to help him<br />
make a good and wise bargain.<br />
O. W. Smalley. ♦■»■♦<br />
GENEROSITY, LIBERALITY, AND<br />
EQUITY.<br />
"TTIS liberality is highly praised; and though we do<br />
I I not know precisely why authors should expect<br />
liberality from publishers any more than designers<br />
expect it from builders, it is certain they do, and that<br />
publishers who fulfil the expectation are the publishers<br />
whom literature reckons as friends. The publisher who<br />
was also a patron is passing away; and perhaps it is better<br />
so, and that the publisher should be merely the author's<br />
collecting agent. Hut there was something gracious and<br />
fine about the old position."<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 397 (#801) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
397<br />
These lines are taken from a short note in the<br />
Spectator of April gth. It is in some respects a<br />
remarkable utterance, because it reveals a mind<br />
still leaning towards the old and cherished delusions,<br />
but forcibly attracted by the new ideas—say rather,<br />
the new discoveries,—and, against its will, recog-<br />
nising them. It is not, perhaps, disrespectful to<br />
regard the editor of the Spectator, who has im-<br />
pressed upon his paper in a very remarkable<br />
manner his own very remarkable personality, as no<br />
longer a very young man. He was brought up in<br />
the belief that the good publisher is " generous" and<br />
"liberal" towards authors; that the true patron<br />
of literature is the publisher—the public mean well,<br />
but the publisher is the only friend; that he, and<br />
he alone, is the stay and prop of those who write;<br />
that his life is wholly spent in advancing the<br />
higher interests of literature; that in publishing<br />
books he is guided solely by those higher interests,<br />
and in most cases loses his money on every book.<br />
And he now learns the new discovery and is dis-<br />
turbed. "There is something," he says, regretfully,<br />
"fine and gracious about the old position." Yes,<br />
the old position of his own imagination. Did it ever<br />
exist in actual fact? Was the publisher ever, at<br />
any time, "generous" and "liberal"? Was he<br />
ever, at any time, a patron of literature in the<br />
only true sense? Was he not always and always<br />
a man of business pure and simple? What is<br />
it that authors should expect from these pub-<br />
lishers? Liberality? Generosity? But theirs is<br />
the property—their own—their creation, as much<br />
as a desk, a picture, a piece of machinery. The<br />
publisher administers it. What is meant by<br />
"liberality" on the part of the agent who ad-<br />
ministers the property? And what kind of respect<br />
can ever lie paid to literature while the world per-<br />
sists in regarding the author as standing, hat in hand,<br />
before his publisher, crying, "Oh! sir. This is,<br />
indeed, generosity! This is liberality indeed!<br />
What? Another half-crown? Another? Oh!<br />
My children will bless thee! Oh! Princely —<br />
Kingly—Generosity!" Of course, as we now<br />
know, the real fact is that no publisher ever gave<br />
any man anything at all for unsaleable work, unless<br />
in those cases where he did not know his own<br />
business, or where it was for his own advertisement<br />
and his own advantage to publish an unsaleable<br />
book. At no time has the author of such work<br />
ever experienced any "generosity" from any<br />
publisher whatever. Why should he expect it?<br />
A cabinet maker does not expect to be paid for a<br />
piece of work so bad that no one will buy it—why<br />
should an author? Why should a publisher be<br />
praised for paying for bad work? It is folly; it<br />
is madness; unless on the assumption that in this<br />
or that case to do so serves his interests. But<br />
publishers have at different times paid large sums<br />
VOL. II.<br />
to successful authors. Certainly. But at no time<br />
have they allowed those authors to see their books.<br />
What "generosity" is that which says, "My<br />
friend, I will give you £200 for your book. But<br />
I am not going to tell you what I get for it."<br />
There may be "something gracious and fine"<br />
about the old position, but the graciousness loses a<br />
good deal of its beauty when we remember that it<br />
degraded men of letters, even the most successful,<br />
to the position of humble dependents on the<br />
"bounty" of their publishers. Of course it is a<br />
very gracious and fine" thing to pretend to be<br />
a patron of literature; it is very fine to be accepted<br />
as a patron. Therefore, they all claim to be the<br />
patrons of literature — every little impecunious<br />
clerk who starts as a publisher by persuading<br />
silly people to pay for production; they all put<br />
on the airs of the man who nobly throws away<br />
his thousands in the advancement of literature;<br />
they all pretend that they take fearful risks; they all<br />
make the terms they offer a favour instead of a right.<br />
By such shallow pretences the fraudulent gentry<br />
whom we have exposed have been enabled to carry<br />
on their tricks and their frauds. This is the mere<br />
jargon of the craft. We are beginning to scoff at<br />
it. In the course of time respectable people will<br />
be ashamed to use this jargon; it will be forgotten.<br />
We shall all agree that business t* business, and<br />
has to be conducted according to the rules of all<br />
business. Meantime, we rejoice that the editor of<br />
the Spectator thinks that the new order may be<br />
better than the old, and that the publisher should<br />
be "merely the author's collecting agent." But<br />
that " old position "—one returns to the question—<br />
that time when publishers were patrons of litera-<br />
ture—when did it flourish? It is like the age of<br />
chivalry; it is a thing dreamed of and written<br />
about, but it never existed. Those who dream of<br />
it still are for the most part the camp followers of<br />
literature—not critics—who sometimes produce<br />
books of their own, literary books, biographies of<br />
literary men, mild essays on literary subjects,<br />
which the world does not care for, and takes in<br />
minute quantities. For such a book, a ten pound<br />
note—and publication—seems to the author gene-<br />
rosity unparalleled. To them their publisher is a<br />
patron indeed. But, for the successful author—<br />
why—let us see the ledger; let us look into<br />
the printer's account; let us examine the cash<br />
book; let us ask what proportion the author<br />
should receive in equity. We will then decline to<br />
take doles in the name of "generosity" and will<br />
demand our rights. Generosity! Liberality! Do<br />
not the very words degrade and insult the man of<br />
letters?<br />
—■<br />
H h<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 398 (#802) ############################################<br />
<br />
398<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
YOUNa AND OLD.<br />
WjlEN I WAS YOUXO.<br />
When I was young, tlie stars then told n tale<br />
Of love beyond the grave, and worlds to prove,<br />
When we have never longer cause to wait,<br />
But only to explore and love, and love.<br />
When 1 was young, my friends then seemed so true,<br />
I was a hero in their eyes, and could<br />
J)o nothing wrong. Like flowers steeped in dew,<br />
My hopes were fresh, my impulses all good.<br />
When I was young, I hail not doubts, but took<br />
Each smile as meant, and gave it back the same,<br />
The world spread out as open as a book,<br />
I then felt confident of wealth and fame.<br />
When I was young, gold seemed an idle toy,<br />
Not worth the striving for; a higher goal<br />
Lured my hopes on, a greater, god-like joy,<br />
A something worthier of man's deathless soul.<br />
When I was young, I thought each woman fair<br />
And like an angel sent to lift up lips<br />
To God j so like a knight 1 thought to wear<br />
My coat of mail and guard them in the strife.<br />
When I was young, to make a sacrifice<br />
Seemed great and noble, so I sought the field<br />
With tender thoughts of humid tender eyes<br />
Reaming upon me as my knight's best shield.<br />
When I was young, I thought if heroes died<br />
Fighting for duty, this was best of all;<br />
To leave behind them, with a people's pride,<br />
Some kindly hearts to weep their early fall.<br />
When I was young, this world was fair and pure,<br />
And sin was of another world, while I<br />
Might fall and perish, still my soul was sure<br />
To reach those stars, that glisten in the sky.<br />
Now I in Old.<br />
Now I am eld and have gone through the fight,<br />
How do I view this fresh'ning world of ours?<br />
The stars arc only glimmering sparks of light,<br />
The friends but like the fleeting, vanished hours.<br />
Each speculation is a doubt, each dream<br />
A gourd which withers; fame a breath, and gold<br />
The only thing of earth w hich does not seem<br />
A fallacy on earth, now I am old.<br />
Hume Nishkt.<br />
<br />
NOTES AND NEWS.<br />
IT would be astounding that a work by no less<br />
a person than our illustrious President should<br />
appear without a note in the pages of the<br />
Author. But "The Foresters" was played just<br />
too late for the April number, and during the<br />
interval there has been sueh a chorus of notices,<br />
reviews, criticisms, and appreciations that anything<br />
at this late hour would be superfluous. Let us<br />
only congratulate ourselves on the master touch<br />
which shows as yet no feebleness, the voice that<br />
shows no touch of age, the hand as true as ever, the<br />
ear as delicate.<br />
A disquieting rumour has come across the<br />
Atlantic. We have more than once referred to<br />
the American Authors' Society; the prospectus of<br />
(as we thought) the only American Authors' Society-<br />
has been published in this Journal. It now appears<br />
that Mr. Charles Burr-Todd wishes to be the<br />
founder of -an association called the "Society of<br />
American Authors," while Mrs. Katharine Hodges<br />
is already the Secretary of the "American Society<br />
of Authors," an association which contains 200<br />
members already, and is daily increasing. As<br />
Mr. Todd uses my name, I may explain that I was<br />
in ignorance that a second—a rival—society was<br />
contemplated by Mr. Todd. I naturally thought<br />
that he was writing in support of the society<br />
already established. Nothing could be more fatal<br />
to the interests which we seek to defend, than the<br />
existence of two rival societies. Let us trust that<br />
the Americans, who have the reputat ion of clearness<br />
at least, and common sense in all their relations<br />
of business, will be swift to understand that either<br />
the second society must not be attempted, or that<br />
the two societies may be at once merged into one.<br />
The "tyranny of the novel" exercises a good<br />
many minds at the present moment. Everything<br />
takes the form of a novel. We are didactic in a<br />
novel; we are political in a novel; we expose our<br />
enemies in a novel; we show what certain theories<br />
mean in a novel; we even illustrate our own lives,<br />
our sorrows, and our disappointments in a novel.<br />
The last illustration of the " tyranny of the novel"<br />
is the interesting case of Mademoiselle Helene<br />
Vacaresco, the young lady who had to break off<br />
her engagement with the Crown Prince of Rou-<br />
mania. It is said that she has written a novel,<br />
in which she tells her unfortunate love story.<br />
Eight years ago the New York Critic published<br />
a list of forty "Immortals." Of these, fourteen<br />
have now passed away. Their names are as<br />
follows :—<br />
Richard Grant White, died 5th April 1885,<br />
aged 63.<br />
Edwin P. Whipple, died 16th June 1886, ae;ed<br />
67.<br />
Henry Ward Beecher, died 8th March 1887,<br />
aged 73.<br />
John Q. Saxe, died 3ist March 1887, aged 76.<br />
Mark Hopkins, died 17th June 1887, aged 85.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 399 (#803) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
399<br />
Asa Gray, died 3oth January 1888, aged 77.<br />
A. Bronson Alcott, died 4th March 1888, aged<br />
88.<br />
James Freeman Clarke, died 8th June 1888,<br />
aged 78.<br />
Theodore D. Woolsey, died 1st July 1889,<br />
aged 87.<br />
George Bancroft, died 17 th January 1891,<br />
aged 90.<br />
Alexander Burchell, died 19th February 1891,<br />
aged 66.<br />
Jiiines Bussell Lowell, died 12th August 1891,<br />
aged 72.<br />
Noah Porter, died 3rd March 1892, aged 80.<br />
Walt "Whitman, died 26th March 1892, aged 72.<br />
Out of these fourteen, how many are there whose<br />
principal works could be enumerated by the<br />
average reader, or even by the student of litera-<br />
ture? Not that one would scoff at their Immor-<br />
tality. Such an English list would probably show<br />
as many blanks after eight years; the voice of the<br />
living is always listened to before the voice of the<br />
dead, and posterity will have its own favourites.<br />
Immortality, in fact, is limited, save for the very,<br />
very few. Happy is the man who can please or<br />
instruct his own generation; happy he who can<br />
make them listen to him; more happy still if he<br />
does not in the least trouble his head about<br />
posterity.<br />
"A week or two ago reference was made in these columns<br />
to two articles which appeared in a recent issue of the<br />
Forum on the grievances of authors and the sins of pub-<br />
lishers. Roth were written from the author's point of view,<br />
and the unhappy publishers had it hot and heavy. But<br />
they have found an unexpected champion. An American<br />
author comes gallantly to the rescue. Here is part of his<br />
testimony: ' I believe their methods are strictly honourable.<br />
Now, for example, in spite of the fact that my last book is<br />
not selling nearly so well as I think it ought to sell, I would<br />
not for a moment question the integrity of my publishers.<br />
As to the suggestion that publishers should open their<br />
books for the inspection of authors—it is absurd. If<br />
authors were permitted to look at the books they would not<br />
understand them. No; I am satisfied that our publishers<br />
are not only honest in their dealings with authors, but that<br />
they offer us a fair proportion of the returns from our<br />
books.'"<br />
The above is quoted from the Publishers'<br />
Circular of March 26th last. The editor in pub-<br />
lishing the extract surely credits the world with a<br />
very, very great deal of credulity. The American<br />
author who conies "gallantly" (!) to the rescue<br />
knows nothing, and pretends to know nothing,<br />
about the thing of which he writes. He believes<br />
—honest soul! He believes. That is all. He says<br />
that authors would not understand accounts. True.<br />
That is the reason why we send accountants for<br />
the purpose. He is "satisfied" that his publishers<br />
are honest, and fair, and virtuous, and holy. No<br />
doubt. We do not for a moment say that they are<br />
not. Only—let us treat each other in this, as in<br />
every other kind of business, openly and fairly, and<br />
above board. And—which is an axiom—a man who<br />
refuses to let his partner in any joint enterprise<br />
see the books must be—what? Let this confiding<br />
American letter-writer answer the question.<br />
I venture to express the universal good wishes<br />
of all who know Mr. George Augustus Sala, either<br />
personally or by his work, for the success of his<br />
new magazine. As these lines are written news<br />
comes of a second large edition. So far I have not<br />
been able to get it at any of the bookstalls—<br />
"waiting for more copies."<br />
Walter Besant. ♦■»■♦<br />
FEUILLETON.<br />
The Wish of His Heart.<br />
I.<br />
THE young man sat in the suburban garden;<br />
it was a very little garden about i5 feet<br />
wide and 25 feet long; only a scrap of a<br />
garden behind a little semi-detached house in the<br />
suburb of Forest Gate. Like most houses of the<br />
kind, there was a kitchen, with a room over it,<br />
built out at the back; things were hanging out to<br />
dry in the little area between the kitchen and the<br />
garden wall; a Virginia creeper climbed over the<br />
house. In the garden were two or three lilacs, a<br />
strip of grass, a narrow bed of flowers, now gay with<br />
the blossoms of the annuals, and a garden seat,<br />
where this young man sat. He was about nineteen,<br />
and in his hands was a book. He held it before<br />
his short-sighted eyes; he seemed to be reading it;<br />
his cheek glowed; his eyes brightened; his hand<br />
trembled. If we could put down in lame, slow,<br />
halting words the thoughts that filled the mind of<br />
that young mar., there would be read a series of<br />
ejaculations. For instance, "Oh! It is splendid!<br />
It is wonderful! It is splendid! It is wonderful!"<br />
What was so splendid? What was it that<br />
glorified the world in the eyes of that young man?<br />
Nothing but a dream. He was dreaming that he<br />
had written the book in his hands. In his imagi-<br />
nation he was already a novelist, delighting the<br />
whole world, read by all the English-speaking<br />
people in this realm of ours; in the kingdom of<br />
Man; across the Western seas; in the Isles of the<br />
II h 2<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 400 (#804) ############################################<br />
<br />
400<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
East; in the Austral continent. He heard his<br />
own name shouted to the very end of the world;<br />
he heard the trumpet of Fame; he actually saw<br />
that lovely, benevolent, generous, kindly goddess<br />
Hying over his head—over that suburban little<br />
garden at Forest Gate; in one hand a scroll—the<br />
scroll of his achievements, and in the other a<br />
trumpet; and her lips parted while she proclaimed<br />
his name—his noble name—the name of the Im-<br />
mortal Author—the Darling of the Muses—the<br />
admiration of the world—the despair of his rivals—<br />
his own name—<br />
"Tommy," cried a voice from the open window<br />
of the house, " Come in to supper."<br />
II.<br />
Tommy, or Tom, Crump sat in his bedroom—the<br />
little room over the kitchen, generally assigned to<br />
"the girl." The other residents of the house were<br />
in bed and asleep. He sat up and wrote. Yes,<br />
he wrote, for that vision was always with him, and<br />
he had begun to do his utmost to make it real; he<br />
wrote at night, from ten o'clock till midnight, or<br />
even till one and two in the morning.<br />
Tommy was a clerk in the City; he received already<br />
£60 a year: he was in a big House, and might be<br />
considered as having made a very good start: he<br />
was steady, wrote a good hand, was intelligent, and<br />
gave satisfaction. What more can be desired of<br />
such a young man at the outset? He had no secret<br />
vices; he did not desire strong drink; he did not<br />
play billiards; he did not frequent music halls; he<br />
was quite a good young man. When he had time,<br />
he read all the books he could borrow; every<br />
evening he had this vision of himself as a great<br />
writer and of the wonderful Fame that he would<br />
achieve; every night he spent two hours in writing<br />
stories.<br />
He would be a novelist. There was no one to<br />
advise him as to the qualifications that go to make<br />
a novelist; he knew nothing about style, dramatic<br />
effect, or construction; he was entirely ignorant of<br />
the elementary requirements of the Art; he did not<br />
even know that it was an Art; had he known it<br />
would not have helped him. Therefore, he ap-<br />
proached the business in complete ignorance how it<br />
should be managed.<br />
As for other qualifications, such as the possession<br />
of materials, observation of life and manners,<br />
knowledge of the social machinery, knowledge of<br />
society itself—he had none. He was a little clerk<br />
who had been at a school where all the boys were<br />
intended to be little clerks; his people belonged to a<br />
little Nonconformist chapel; he lived in a very quiet<br />
little suburb; he went to the City every morning<br />
.and came home every evening. He knew nothing;<br />
V did not even know that he was ignorant. And<br />
this unfortunate boy, so ignorant, so ill-equipped,<br />
so poor, so helpless, proposed to himself to become<br />
a novelist! What could happen to such a boy?<br />
HI.<br />
It was just before his twenty-first year that his<br />
success came to him. A story was accepted; it<br />
was taken by a certain weekly; the editor sent him<br />
a guinea for it and told him to call.<br />
He called. The editor was a kindly person—his<br />
kindliness lasted just so long as his authors were<br />
ready to accept a guinea for a story of six columns.<br />
He received the blushing, stammering young clerk<br />
with a shake of the hand and invited him to sit<br />
down.<br />
"I have taken your story," he said, "because<br />
there is promise in it. I shall get it altered a<br />
little. You may, if you like, send me some more.<br />
Bui you must take more pains "—Alas! The thing<br />
had been written and rewritten half-a-dozen times<br />
—"and you must try not to be so amateurish.<br />
Here! Take this bundle of the paper—read the<br />
stories—analyse them—study them—see how they<br />
are written—observe particularly how the attention<br />
of the reader is fixed from the outset. Very well.<br />
That will show you what we want. If you are<br />
clever enough to understand we may do a good<br />
deal of business together." Tommy was clever<br />
enough to understand. The editor did a good bit<br />
of business with him. But Tommy was not,<br />
unfortunately, clever enough to understand that<br />
without bricks or stone or wood one cannot build a<br />
house, and he had neither bricks, nor stone, nor<br />
wood.<br />
IV.<br />
It is fifteen years later. Tommy Crump is now<br />
Mr. Lancelot Cory, a name which looks a great<br />
deal better upon a title page. He lives in the same<br />
house, of which he is now the tenant, vice his<br />
father, deceased. But he goes to the City no longer.<br />
Tommy is what he so ardently desired to become—<br />
a writer of stories.<br />
Nobody, I suppose, of five-and-thirty, has written<br />
so many stories. No novelist that ever lived has<br />
written so much as Mr. Lancelot Cory. He writes<br />
all day long and every day. He knows no Sabbath.<br />
He takes no rest. He hardly ever goes outside<br />
the house. He sees no society. He remains as<br />
ignorant of the world as when he first began to<br />
write. He sits in the little room over the kitchen<br />
where he has always written. He has a wife and<br />
four children, and for their sakes his pen keeps<br />
driving—driving—all day long. He keeps the<br />
wolf from the door—but with difficulty—by these<br />
labours unceasing.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 401 (#805) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
401<br />
He is pule and thin. He has become prema-<br />
turely bald. His eyes, which now wear spectacles,<br />
are red and watery. That solace of the hard-<br />
worked hack, the gin bottle, is not unknown to<br />
him. He stops from time to time and grasps his<br />
right wrist with his left hand. Yes—it is coming.<br />
There are convulsive movements of the fingers;<br />
there are shooting pains up the arm. He knows,<br />
with a sinking of the heart, that writers' cramp<br />
is coming.<br />
Presently he gathers up his papers. Some<br />
writers linger over their work, correcting here and<br />
adding there. Mr. Lancelot Cory does not. He<br />
knows hetter. He puts them together, and numbers<br />
them, and rolls them up. Then he takes his hat<br />
and disappears.<br />
"Well, Mister," says his employer, a gentleman<br />
with a red face, and a certain something in his<br />
look that would have made all the Muses together<br />
shiver and shake and tremble— " It's take it or<br />
leave it. There's plenty who'd jump at my<br />
terms. It used to be three pound ten for thirty<br />
thousand words. It's gone down now to two<br />
pound ten. And here's the money."<br />
"But, good God, sir, how am I to live?"<br />
"Don't know, I'm sure. That's not my business.<br />
Look here, I can got novelettes by the dozen —<br />
thirty thousand words—for two pound ten apiece.<br />
What is it — thirty thousand words? About<br />
fifty of your pages. Only fifty pages. You're<br />
all so infernally lazy. And mind — prices are<br />
going down — I shouldn't be surprised, at the<br />
rate things are moving, if we don't get the price<br />
down before long to fifteen bob the thirty thousand<br />
words. Ah! and we will, too—with the help of<br />
the girls."<br />
Mr. Lancelot Cor)'—Tommy Crump—took the<br />
money meekly and crept away. It was the pay<br />
for a fortnight's hard work. The work was not<br />
worth anything to be sure, regarded as work, but<br />
it was all he could do.<br />
This is the end of that noble dream. He sees it<br />
no more. Fame, with her trumpet and her scroll,<br />
has changed into a Fury with a scourge, driving—<br />
driving—driving—his pen as fast as it can fly across<br />
the page. Soon will come writers' cramp in earnest.<br />
Soon the price of the penny novelette will go down,<br />
as the large-hearted proprietor foretold, to fifteen<br />
shillings the thirty thousand words. And then—<br />
then—alas! Poor Tommy! His brothers, who<br />
have remained clerks, are drawing their four, five,<br />
or even six pounds a week, while he—Alas! Poor<br />
dreamer!<br />
<br />
NOTES FROM PARIS.<br />
MR. Walter Besant invites me to give some<br />
more information on the financial side of<br />
the relations between French publishers<br />
and authors. I should say that not in more than<br />
one case out of a thousand does a French publisher<br />
purchase an author's copyright outright. If the<br />
author is unknown the publisher will not run the<br />
risk. If the author has any reputation, it is he who<br />
would not part with his property, which, thanks to<br />
the French custom of continuous republication,<br />
may be an unceasing source of revenue to him.<br />
The system adopted by authors and publishers is<br />
the royalty system, the royalties varying, according<br />
to the status of the author, from 25 cents, to 1 franc<br />
per volume. The French volume, published at<br />
3 francs 5o cents., is generally sold at 2 francs<br />
75 cents., though the country booksellers and some<br />
old-fashioned Parisian retailers refuse to allow<br />
any discount to the public. The bookseller earns<br />
5d. per volume, leaving for cost of production and<br />
for author's and publisher's profits the sum of<br />
twelve-thirteenths of 2 francs 20 cents. Where a<br />
royalty of 1 franc per copy is given, the author's<br />
remuneration is higher than the publisher's profits,<br />
but such a royalty is very exceptional. Zola,<br />
Daudet, de Maupassant, and a few others get it.<br />
Many first-rate men have to content themselves<br />
with a royalty of 5d. Some get 7^d., but the<br />
vast majority of writers do not receive more than<br />
3\d., which is a very favourite figure with the<br />
publishers. Absolute beginners receive i\d., anil<br />
than this there is no lower royalty. Ten pounds<br />
on account of royalties is considered liberal, entail-<br />
ing as it does the obligation on the publisher to sell<br />
from live hundred to a thousand copies. That is<br />
where royalties are from 5d. to 2\d. a copy. Four<br />
pounds is the best a poet can hope for on account<br />
of a volume, and thinks himself liberally treated.<br />
An edition in France is supposed to consist of<br />
1,000 copies. But publishers here are not without<br />
guile, and to whip up a sale a book may be issued<br />
in editions of 5o copies, so that by the time 1,000<br />
copies have been disposed of, the book is in its twen-<br />
tieth edition. This is considered, rightly, foul play,<br />
and one Paul Bonnetain- once niade a fuss about<br />
it. "If my book has reached such an edition,<br />
bona fides, you are swindling me," he wrote to his<br />
publishers, "for you have only accounted to me<br />
for so many copies. If the editions arc imaginary,<br />
then the public is being swindled, inasmuch as you<br />
lead people to believe in a success and a demand<br />
which do not exist. In either case I object to<br />
your conduct."<br />
vol. it.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 402 (#806) ############################################<br />
<br />
402<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
On the other hand, in the caw of one or two<br />
very popular authors, the first edition usually con-<br />
sists of many more copies than the regulation 1,000.<br />
I am told that of the first editions of Zola's<br />
books, 20,000 copies are always issued. The<br />
second edition then appears as "Twenty-first<br />
thousandth." This is because everybody wants a<br />
first edition of Zola's books. Formerly his books<br />
were issued in first editions of 1,000 copies, and<br />
such copies are now worth from 3o to 100 francs a<br />
piece. I saw a first edition of "L'Assommoir"<br />
marked io5 francs in the window of a shop where<br />
only rare volumes are sold. Since "La Terre"<br />
however, owing to the new arrangement, such<br />
larger first editions have been issued, that no copies<br />
of first editions of any of his later books are quoted<br />
at a premium. In the case of men of small popu-<br />
larity, it is usual for a publisher not to issue more<br />
than 5oo copies of a book as a first, often last,<br />
edition. If he sells all the 5oo he is quite satisfied,<br />
and the author also.<br />
If I had a wishing-ring, I think that one of the<br />
first twenty wishes that I should express, would be<br />
to possess an album giving portraits of the faces of<br />
all the readers of a recent issue of the National<br />
Observer, as they perused Mallarme's article in<br />
French on "Vers et Musique en France," in that<br />
number. The face of him who has always prided<br />
himself on his knowledge of French, as he puzzled<br />
over that prose, would have been delightful to see.<br />
I showed the article to two leading French jour-<br />
nalists here, and asked them if it was comprehen-<br />
sible, and they both said that, with their heads on<br />
the block, they could not make sense of it. One<br />
said it was pure charabia (Anglice: Double Dutch).<br />
Such, however, is Mallarme's invariable style. I<br />
have seen and possess letters from him on trivial<br />
matters, which are couched in prose as precious<br />
and as obscure. As a talker, however, Mallarme,<br />
being comprehensible, is exquisite, and I know few<br />
rarer delights than to pass an hour or two at one of<br />
his Tuesday evening receptions in the dining room<br />
of his little fourth floor apartment in the Kue de<br />
Rome, and to listen to the master's discourses on<br />
literature and art. He stands leaning against the<br />
tiled stove, with his disciples closely packed sitting<br />
round the long table. Cigarettes are smoked and<br />
in the winter the host serves excellent rum grogs.<br />
Few speak except the master, though now and then<br />
a suggestion will be made or a question asked.<br />
Mallarme is here at his best, and it is a pity his<br />
words are not taken down for the delight of the<br />
-larger world outside the little room. It is<br />
•:ademy in a fourth floor back. But Mallarme' has<br />
\<br />
a contempt for the larger world, by reason of the<br />
Philistines, and prints with great luxury for the<br />
very few. He will not publish. I thought his<br />
name was derived from words meaning "The Man<br />
of Poor Armour." That was the idea of a roman-<br />
tique. The master holds it that his name means<br />
"The Man of Sad Tears."<br />
If English authors, who having achieved some<br />
success in England, are anxious to have their works<br />
and their names introduced to the Freuch public,<br />
would follow the counsel of a Kempis and limit<br />
their desires, they would know peace. At least,<br />
they would save themselves from much disappoint-<br />
ment. As a general rule, the French public does<br />
not care for translations of English literature any<br />
more than it would care for English lxmnets.<br />
Sensational novels have the best chance here, as<br />
there is always a public for such fare. But the<br />
prices which are paid for French rights are always<br />
very small, and it may bo. well for English authors<br />
who think of attacking the Freuch publishers, to<br />
grasp this fact. Hachette, the great publisher,<br />
who does the most publishing or French trans-<br />
lations of English books, whenever he is asked, as<br />
he often is asked, some "long" price for French<br />
rights, will produce, as his answer, the receipt<br />
signed by Charles Dickens for the right of pub-<br />
lishing the translation of "David Copperfield."<br />
It is for £20. An English author who can<br />
persuade a French publisher to give him £10<br />
for the French rights of a novel, may con-<br />
sider himself very lucky. But it is bringing coals<br />
to Newcastle to bring foreign fiction into the most<br />
glutted literary market in the world. I should say<br />
the chances an English author has of finding a<br />
French publisher to translate and publish his<br />
book are about one in one hundred.<br />
Notoriety is in England so much considered a<br />
pass to commercial success in authorship that if a<br />
man, who might never have tried his hand at lite-<br />
rature before, could manage to stand on his head<br />
on the point of Cleopatra's Needle, for, say, 24<br />
consecutive hours, he would very probably be asked<br />
to write for some of the most important magazines,<br />
and as probably would receive offers from enter-<br />
prising publishers of books. In America, he<br />
would be asked to undertake a series of lectures.<br />
In France, however, the best he could hope for,<br />
would be an engagement either as a waiter in some<br />
brasserie or eafd, or as a "number" in the pro-<br />
gramme of the Folies-Bergeres. Literature is, in<br />
France, considered as much a metier, requiring<br />
training and apprenticeship, as the craft of the<br />
locksmith or of the jeweller.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 403 (#807) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
4°3<br />
French publishers do little advertising, as a rule.<br />
Unknown authors are never advertised, except at<br />
their own cost, and do not seem to care to incur the<br />
expense. Christinas and New Year's books are<br />
advertised, but I do not know of any publisher<br />
who advertises all the year round. Some pub-<br />
lishers believe in the value of puffs or reclames,<br />
the prices of which vary from 4*. to 3os. a line.<br />
Xavier de Montepin has, perhaps, made more<br />
money out of literature than any living author in<br />
France, and though he has been twice ruined, is<br />
once again in an excellent situation of fortune.<br />
He never knew the hardships of the craft, for his<br />
first book, which he published at the age of 20,<br />
was a great success, and his good fortune has never<br />
since deserted him. He has produced considerably<br />
over 400 novels, and hopes, though an old man, to<br />
produce as many more. He lives in fine style in a<br />
mansion at Passy, which is filled with modern pic-<br />
tures, but otherwise decorated and fitted to recall<br />
the feudal days, for de Montepin attaches great<br />
importance to the fact of his being a count of old<br />
family. He is very proud of his riding, and prefers<br />
to talk on horses and horsemanship than on any<br />
other subject. He works steadily, producing one<br />
feuilleton instalment of about 1,600 words a day,<br />
never missing a day. His feuilletons are published<br />
in the most important Paris journals, though most<br />
frequently in the Petit Journal. Though im-<br />
mensely popular with a certain public, his confreres<br />
complain that once he begins a story in a paper, he<br />
carries it on to interminable lengths, and so reduces<br />
their opportunities of an innings. He receives a<br />
number of insulting anonymous letters weekly. It<br />
is in this way that the spiteful, having no reviews<br />
or journals—as in England—in which to vent their<br />
jealous rage, revenge themselves for his success<br />
and fortune.<br />
Emile Bichebourg, another feuilletonist of the<br />
same school and of almost equal success, lives at<br />
Bougival on the Seine, where he has a lovely villa<br />
called La Charmeuse. His income cannot be much<br />
less than £5,ooo a year. He lives and dresses simply,<br />
and his great delight in life is to arrange dances<br />
and fetes for the villagers in his district, in which<br />
fetes he always takes a very active part. He is as<br />
democratic as de Montepin is aristocratic in his<br />
ideas.<br />
This is how a novel by a successful writer in<br />
France is such a gold mine to its author. In the<br />
first instance, it is published as a feuilleton in a<br />
newspaper, for which the author may receive as<br />
much as £3,ooo. Then it is published in volume<br />
form. Then Bouff, or some other publisher of the<br />
same class, brings it out again in weekly penny<br />
parts, paying the author at least as much as was<br />
paid for the original serial rights. Such publishers<br />
spend immense suras on advertising their publi-<br />
cations, both by coloured posters all over France,<br />
and by displayed announcements and puffs in<br />
the papers. Later on it is republished in book<br />
form, the illustrated weekly parts being bound up<br />
into a cheap volume. Then after a while, the<br />
smaller Parisian journals, or provincial papers, whose<br />
proprietors cannot afford original feuilletons,<br />
arrange with the Society of Authors for the use<br />
of it, so that in ten years, the same serial may have<br />
appeared in fifty different papers in various parts<br />
of France. The author gets a large share of the<br />
"boodle " in each transaction, so that it will easily<br />
be understood why French people say that a<br />
successful novel is worth a good deal more than a<br />
farm in Beauec.<br />
Was not George Augustus Sala a little hard<br />
on the typewriter in one of his recent letters in the<br />
Sunday Times? As a pastmaster in the craft,<br />
all that Mr. Sala says is worthy of the closest<br />
consideration. Still, I hope that young writers<br />
will not be dissuaded from the use of the writing<br />
machine by his attack upon it. It may not be as<br />
suitable for the production of the higher grades of<br />
literary wares as the pen, but for turning out good<br />
medium qunlities, it is as good, and so much more<br />
rapid. And there is, I should say, more demand<br />
for good medium, or even medium wares, than for<br />
fine work, for it is a Brummagem age we live in.<br />
It is money in a man's pocket—if it be true that<br />
time is money—to use a typewriter in the manu-<br />
facture of copy, which it produces at at least three<br />
times the speed of the pen. Of course, if a man<br />
can command his own prices let him use a pen, or<br />
even a peacock's quill, like the divine Sarah, but<br />
in the case of the writer who stands towards the<br />
purchasers of literary wares as a simple producer,<br />
whose goods are judged by quantity and actuality,<br />
and not by brand, let his argument be to such as<br />
object to "machine-uiade copy," "My prices for<br />
this quality are so much, but for fine work so<br />
much more." "Them as wants titivating"—<br />
was not it Mrs. Gamp who said so ?—" must pay<br />
according."<br />
But even for the professional producer of fine<br />
work the typewriter is useful. I fancy that a good<br />
way of writing a novel would be to write it off,<br />
a jet continu, on the machine, and then to re-write<br />
it from this ebauche as often as need be with a<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 404 (#808) ############################################<br />
<br />
404<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
view to stylo. The MS. would then be once more<br />
put on the machine, and the final fair copy turned<br />
out. TurgeniefE used to suggest re-writing a book at<br />
least six times, but then Turgenioff had a large<br />
private income, and could afford to " titivate" his<br />
readers at his own expense. Personally, I find it<br />
easy to turn out from six to ten thousand words<br />
of marketable medium wares per diem on the<br />
typewriter. At a pitch, I have produced double<br />
that quantity. A typewriter will yield three<br />
thousand words an hour easily. By its help I was<br />
once able to furnish a publisher in three (lavs, and<br />
without interfering with my routine work, with a<br />
translation of a French book of over fifty thousand<br />
wonls, which the publisher hud hoped I could let<br />
him have in a mouth. For the production of<br />
"shockers " the typewriter is simply grand. And<br />
the machine is pleasant to use if you keep it clean,<br />
and give it an occasional drink of oil, and will<br />
gallop you over the fields of fancy like a rollicking<br />
Pegasus.<br />
In speaking to a French author of standing, you<br />
address him .as "maitre." In writing to him, you<br />
begin your letter, "Sir, and most highly honoured<br />
Muster." Actors address the author of a play<br />
they are rehearsing as "maitre" also. In both<br />
cases maitre means "postmaster" in his craft.<br />
Literature is a craft not a trade in France. A<br />
man may be a " maitre," and be addressed as such,<br />
although his sleeves are out of elbow, and he<br />
has not twopence to his credit at either the Society<br />
or the dramatic agents. Everybody calls Verlaine<br />
"maitre." Nobody would dream of calling certain<br />
writers, who earn in half-an-hour what poor Ver-<br />
laine earns in a year, by this title. In England,<br />
the doubloons earned, not the pastmastership,<br />
command respect. It is sickening to read para-<br />
graphs in so-called literary papers in which the<br />
incomes and earnings of men of letters are dis-<br />
cussed. Whose business is it? Such a thing<br />
would be considered in France an insult to the<br />
whole craft. "What shopkeepers we are!<br />
The <SV. James' Gazdtc criticises Mr. Besant's<br />
editing of the Author for allowing my note on<br />
Itenan's opinion of Zola's novels to pass. A<br />
reference to the first paragraph in this magazine,<br />
printed in italics, would have shown the St. James'<br />
Gazette that the responsibility of all signed articles<br />
which appear in the Author lies with their writers.<br />
It was therefore very unnecessary to drag Mr.<br />
Besant's name into a discussion as to the good or<br />
bad taste of one of my notes. As to this particular<br />
"•ote, its justification may be found in the very<br />
<ls of the St. James' Gazette, which describes<br />
itself as " awaiting with unholy impatience" Zola's<br />
answer to llenan. Argal, the note was to certain<br />
persons interesting and newsy. As to its being<br />
calculated to damage " good fellowship and good<br />
feeling" amongst the authors alluded to, Mr. Zola's<br />
DO'<br />
reply to the French interviewer on this note is the<br />
best refutation thereof. Zola delights in battle and<br />
is the first to desire to know who is his foeman in<br />
the arena of letters.<br />
My remarks on a certain class of British criticism<br />
have been extensively commented upon, and, as I<br />
think, unwisely. One journal represented ine as<br />
writing—apropos of the deed—that "because a<br />
critic says that so-and-so writes indifferent English<br />
he deserves to have his brains blown out." Another<br />
remarks that" In France, according to our authority,<br />
critics are civil because they fear the duel, and<br />
show themselves unjustly kind, not from charity,<br />
but from cowardice." Now it has been said that a<br />
few lines of a man's writing are always sufficient to<br />
hang him, that is, that anything one writes can<br />
always be misconstrued. How much easier to<br />
make it sufficient to cover him with ridicule. Of<br />
course, the critics I referred to are those who<br />
indulge in offensive personalities, personalities<br />
about the writer's character, appearance, habits,<br />
dress, and so on, a class which is daily becoming<br />
more numerous in England. A favourite form of<br />
impertinence with these individuals is to make<br />
pleasantries about a young author's name, by<br />
repeating it over and over again, provided it have<br />
the slightest ring of pretentiousness about it. Such<br />
persons are in France kept in check by a sense of<br />
direct personal responsibility, and I regretted, and<br />
still regret, that the same check does not exist in<br />
England. As to the critics who confine themselves<br />
to one's works, nobody has greater admiration for,<br />
and cause for greater gratitude to them than myself.<br />
KOBKKT H. SUERARD.<br />
Paris, 20th April, 1892.<br />
<br />
LITERATURE IN THE MAGAZINES.<br />
THE journals which are generally accepted as<br />
illustrating the opinions, expounding the<br />
theories, and explaining the work of our<br />
scholars and philosophers are the Quarterly, the<br />
Edinburgh, the Contemporary, the Nineteenth<br />
Century, the Fortnightly, the National, and<br />
Macmillan. (Their enumeration in this order<br />
means nothing.) During the years 1889-1891,<br />
there appeared in these journals about 800 articles.<br />
They are dissertations on every subject that<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 405 (#809) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
occupied the attention of the world during that<br />
time; they cover the whole ground of human<br />
thought, human enterprise, human investigation;<br />
nothing that belongs to the time but is treated<br />
in these magazines. All sides of politics are<br />
discussed; all forms of religion; all branches of<br />
science; every philosophic school is represented;<br />
art, literature, medicine, and trade; the many<br />
difficulties and the ever varying questions which<br />
belong to a great empire; the prospects of the<br />
future; the tendencies of the present; the lesson of<br />
the past: for everything room is found by editors<br />
whose chief difficulty in this busy age, in which<br />
new forces are continually producing new changes, is<br />
selection in accordance with the needs and the inte-<br />
rests of the day. Of writers willing to discourse on<br />
every conceivable subject there is ample choice, the<br />
only difficulty being to find a man who at once<br />
understands his subject and knows how to set it<br />
forth in a striking and iiiterestin<i manner. Of<br />
such men there is no great plenty, and there never<br />
will be. If, therefore, we are to tabulate the<br />
articles according to subjects, we should perhaps<br />
arrive at some idea of the relative importance<br />
that the subjects treated seem, in the eyes of the<br />
editors, to obtain with the public. Should the<br />
subject most often treated be polities—finance—<br />
art—science—hygiene—the component parts of the<br />
Empire—trade disputes—the spread of socialism—<br />
the condition of the army? It is, in fact, none<br />
of these. An examination of these magazines,<br />
conducted for the Author, has revealed the very<br />
extraordinary faet that out of the 800 articles<br />
published during the last three years in these<br />
magazines, 32o—that is to say, two out of<br />
every five—are devoted to literature. Does, then,<br />
literature occupy the attention of the instructed<br />
class in the proportion of two fifths of their whole<br />
thinking and reasoning moments? It would seem<br />
so from these figures. Yet one certainly knows a<br />
great many people who must be called instructed<br />
and cultured who read books, both new and<br />
old, but most certainly do not give much atten-<br />
tion to the history of literatiu-e, to literary move-<br />
ments and to the criticism of dead or living<br />
literature. In the same way there is an<br />
immense number of people who read a certain<br />
proportion of new books—those which interest<br />
them—and care absolutely nothing for purely<br />
literary jmpers. For these people, both the<br />
cultured class who read the best books in their<br />
leisure hours and the class which reads only for<br />
amusement, these papers are not written. They<br />
are written for that small scholarly circle which<br />
interests itself especially in nil literary subjects,<br />
delights in fine criticism, if haply that can be<br />
found, reads with avidity monograms on poets and<br />
novelists, and loves to hear of great writers and<br />
their private lives. It is by this circle that the<br />
Browning societies, the Shakespeare societies, and<br />
such associations are founded, and from this circle<br />
that they are kept up. The increasing extent of<br />
that circle is proved by the fact that there are five<br />
monthly magazines and two quarterlies which devote<br />
two fifths of their space exclusively to the inhabitants<br />
of this circle.<br />
Considering, next, the subjects treated in these<br />
articles we find, first, that the following authors have<br />
been passed in review : Mad. D'Arblay, Matthew<br />
Arnold, Roger Bacon, Marie Bashkirtseff, Balzac,<br />
Baudelaire, Theodore De Banville, Charlotte Bronte,<br />
Boswell, Browning, Byron, Carlyle, Chesterfield,<br />
Chaucer, Coleridge, Crabb, Cowper, Wilkie Collins,<br />
Victor Cousin, Dante, Davenport, Donne, Disraeli,<br />
Defoe, Edward Fitzgerald, Farrar, Gifford, Gold-<br />
smith, Goethe, Baring Gould, Anthony Hamilton,<br />
Thomas Hardy, James Hogg, Heine, Victor Hugo,<br />
Thomas Hood, Lessing, Lecky, Dr. Johnson, Ibsen,<br />
Rudyard Kipling, Lowell, John Locke, Massinger,<br />
Mirabeau, Maeterlinck, Montaigne, Mickiewicz,<br />
Milton, Prosper Merimec, Sir Thomas More,<br />
Motley, Pepys, Norris, Oliphant, Pope, Prior,<br />
Richardson, Renan, Sir Walter Raleigh, Rousseau,<br />
Rossetti, Shakespeare, Stent, George Sand, Scott,<br />
Spenser, Stendhal, Stevenson, Swinburne, Sedg-<br />
wick, Thackeray, Theocritus, Tennyson, John<br />
Wesley, Wiclif, Edwin Waugh, William Watson,<br />
Wordsworth, George Wither, Henry Vaughan,<br />
Vcrlaine, and Zola. Some, of less interest, have<br />
been omitted from this list. Among the contri-<br />
butors to the long series of critical articles are<br />
many whose names are well known in other fields.<br />
There are novelists, poets, and historians among<br />
them as well as critics. Against the name of<br />
Ibsen there stand those of William Archer, Oswald<br />
Crawfurd, Edmund Gosse, C. J. Herford, E.<br />
Lord, and Philip Wicksteed. J. M. Barrie, himself<br />
a novelist, writes on Thomas Hardy, Baring<br />
Gould, and Rudyard Kipling. Andrew Lang and<br />
Swinburne write on Wilkie Collins. Grant<br />
Allen writes on William Watson, and William<br />
Watson writes on Edwin Waugh. J. Addington<br />
Symonds writes on Theodore Dc Banville, on<br />
Dantesque Ideals, Zola, and Theocritus. Swin-<br />
burne on Victor Hugo, Wilkie Collins, Massinger,<br />
James Shirley, and Scott's Journal. George<br />
Saintsbury on James Hogg, Tom Hood, Crabb, De<br />
Quincey, Leigh Hunt, and Anthony Hamilton.<br />
Professor Dowden on John Donne, Coleridge, and<br />
Goethe; Andrew Lang on Robert Browning and<br />
Wilkie Collins; Dr. Abbot on Newman; Julia<br />
Wedgwood Laurence Oliphant on Shakespeare,<br />
receives an astonishing amount of attention. We<br />
have papers on Shakespeare's spelling; on his<br />
travels; on his Venice; on certain characteristics;<br />
on detached plays; on Macbeth as a Celt; on his<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 406 (#810) ############################################<br />
<br />
406<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Ghosts; on his Religion and Politics, and on his<br />
stage. No writer, one supposes, has ever received<br />
so much study and attention as Shakespeare.<br />
Turning to articles on subjects and not on<br />
names, of which there are about a hundred and<br />
twenty, we find about twenty devoted to the con-<br />
sideration of fiction under various aspects. Here<br />
are some of the subjects: "Idealism in French<br />
Fiction "; "King Plagiarism," a very unworthy<br />
personal attack; "American Fiction "; "The<br />
Modern French Novel "; "Realism in French<br />
Fiction "; "Penny Fiction"; the "Light<br />
Reading of our Ancestors"; "Romance Realisti-<br />
cized"; "English Realism and Romance";<br />
"Morality in Fiction "; "Irish Novelists in Irish<br />
Peasants"; "Fiction, Plethoric and Anremie";<br />
"New Watchwords of Fiction "; the "Abdication<br />
of Mrs. Grundy "; the "Naming of Novels ";<br />
"Candour in English Fiction," and so on. Criti-<br />
cism is considered in "Critics in Court "; "Critics<br />
and their Craft "; in " Criticism as a Trade "; in<br />
the " Literary Criticism of France." Authorship is<br />
treated in "The Trade of Author"; "Literature<br />
Then and Now "; various papers on American<br />
copyright; the Story of the first Society of British<br />
Authors.<br />
Lastly, such papers as those called, "Children<br />
and Modern Literature "; "Poets and Puritans ";<br />
"Humour "; the "Poetry of Common Sense ";<br />
the "Savage Club"; "Poetry by Men of the<br />
World "; " Influence of Democracy on Literature ";<br />
"Chapters from the History of the Bodleian "; " Our<br />
Dramatists and their Literature"; "Hopes and<br />
Fears for Literature "; the "Future of American<br />
Literature"; the "Literature and Language of<br />
the Age," show that there are men and women<br />
always watching the changes and chalices of modern<br />
literature, and that there are other men and women<br />
—thousands of them—who never tire of hearing<br />
about these changes and chances.<br />
To those who find the literature of the day<br />
trivial and feeble, we may at least point to this<br />
extraordinary production of papers by scholars and<br />
critics dealing for the most part with the writers<br />
of the day. They read — these scholars — the<br />
writers of the day; they read their trivial and<br />
feeble work, compare them, weigh them. In fact,<br />
it may be laid down as a general rule that those<br />
who sneer at contemporary literature are either the<br />
elder men who now read none of it, or the younger<br />
men who as yet know nothing of it. The great<br />
fact remains, that while in these seven magazines,<br />
considered as the leaders from the critical and<br />
cultivated point, two-fifths of the articles are purely<br />
literary, the greater part of this fraction of two-<br />
fifths is devoted to contemporary writers and<br />
contemporary subjects.<br />
But we have only taken seven magazines. There<br />
remain others. Blackwood contains some excel-<br />
lent literary papers; so does Temple Bar; so does<br />
the Cornhill and Longmans'. There are others.<br />
We must not forgot the New Revieic, a paper quite<br />
as good as the Contemporary—written for, in fact,<br />
by the same men who write for the larger journal.<br />
Nor must we forget such papers as the Saturday<br />
Review, the Spectator, the Athenceum, full of<br />
literary papers, admirably written, and for the most<br />
part full of suggestion and instruction. The seven<br />
which we have examined, however, sufficiently<br />
establish the important point, that literature,<br />
ancient and modern, is a subject which interests<br />
very largely—more largely than any other subject<br />
—a very large number of people. The increase in<br />
these magazines and the apparent fact that they all<br />
flourish, prove that this class is largely on the<br />
increase.<br />
Yet it is not a very considerable class. Are<br />
there one hundred thousand men and women, in all,<br />
in these Islands, who read these papers with<br />
pleasure? Probably not nearly so many. They<br />
are, however, a very important class. Among<br />
them are the journalists of the better class, the<br />
more cultivated of the professions, professors,<br />
lecturers, and schoolmasters, a sprinkling of the<br />
clergy, and the critics, historians, poets, and<br />
novelists themselves. The influence of these people<br />
stretches out in all directions; no one can tell<br />
where a paper in the Contemporary may not be<br />
felt. Here is an opinion: it teaches, as from a<br />
recognized centre of authority, those who teach<br />
others; so it is spread abroad. Go into a country<br />
house; you will hear opinions expressed on the<br />
latest novelist, the latest dramatist; and you will<br />
presently learn that they are taken bodily—with<br />
or without acknowledgment—from a magazine.<br />
One more question is suggested by this list.<br />
Who are the men and women who write these<br />
papers? Their number is necessarily limited. If<br />
the editor wants a paper on a French or English<br />
writer, there are not many men whom he can a*k.<br />
Let us see, then, from this list who are the living<br />
writers who during these three years contributed<br />
the papers on Authors living and dead, and on the<br />
literary subjects we have mentioned.<br />
Their names are as follows:—<br />
Edwin Abbott. Prof. Blaikie.<br />
Canon Ainger. Walter Besant.<br />
G. Aitkin. Henry Blackburn.<br />
Grant Allen. Karl Blind.<br />
William Archer. Mathilde Blind.<br />
Alfred Austin. Madame Blaize de<br />
J. M. Barrie. Bury.<br />
Wyke Bayliss. Rev. Stopford<br />
Augustine Birrell. Brooke.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 407 (#811) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE A UTHOR.<br />
Hall Caine.<br />
Dean Church.<br />
E. Courtney.<br />
Oswald Crawfurd,<br />
Prof. Dowden.<br />
Austin Dobson.<br />
A. Conan Doyle.<br />
R. Dunlop.<br />
Archdeacon Farrar.<br />
Edmund Gosse.<br />
P. Greenwood.<br />
E. Dirk beck Hill.<br />
Prof. Knight.<br />
H. A. Kennedy.<br />
H. G. Keene. *<br />
Andrew Lang.<br />
A. H. Lecky.<br />
W. S. Lilly.<br />
Mrs. Lynn Linton.<br />
Mowbray Morris.<br />
Gabriel Monod.<br />
Prof. Minto.<br />
P. Myers.<br />
George Moore.<br />
Wilfrid Meynell.<br />
Justin McCarthy.<br />
Canon MacColl.<br />
Walter Pater.<br />
E. E. Prothero.<br />
Kennell Rodd.<br />
Prof. Romanes.<br />
E. S. Shuckburgh.<br />
William Sharpe.<br />
George Saintsbury.<br />
A. Swinburne. .<br />
J. A. Symonds.<br />
Paul Sylvester.<br />
Prof. Tyndal.<br />
H. D. Traill.<br />
Stanley Weyman.<br />
William Watson.<br />
Dean of Wells.<br />
Oscar Wilde.<br />
H. B. Wheatley.<br />
Rev. Philip H.<br />
Wicksteed.<br />
Julia Wedgwood.<br />
Helen Ziminern.<br />
may be taken as<br />
whose opinion is<br />
likely to be asked.<br />
The number is 64. Of course, this list is not<br />
proffered as complete. Few of the specialists are<br />
here. One misses such names as, in Art, Middleton<br />
and Monkhouse; in Archaeology, Budge, Sayce,<br />
Loftie; in Architecture, Hayter Lewis; in Philo-<br />
sophy, Herbert Spencer, Sir Frederick Pollock,<br />
James Sully; in Science, the names of all<br />
the leaders. But the list is representative. It<br />
a first rough list of those<br />
most considered, and most<br />
Omissions will be discovered,<br />
and will be supplied by anyone who reads the list.<br />
And if one were to extend the research, to include<br />
a few other magazines—such as the Church<br />
Quarterly, the Lata Quarterly, Blackwood,<br />
Longmans', &c— and to take the last ten years<br />
instead of the last three, we should arrive at a<br />
complete list of those who are considered by<br />
editors, and accepted by the world, as having a<br />
right to speak. Shall the Author extend this<br />
research?<br />
It is, if one comes to think of it, no mean thing<br />
to become one of these accepted speakers to the<br />
world—these men are the select preachers to the<br />
English-speaking race. They speak to a vast<br />
audience of a hundred millions; not that all are<br />
listening; most have got the rake in their hands<br />
and are raking with deaf ears; but they may listen<br />
if they please. And round the select preacher's<br />
pulpit is gathered a little throng of a few thousands.<br />
These listen and go away and tell others, further<br />
off, who could not hear what the preacher has said.<br />
And these again toll others, until at last even the<br />
man with the rake lifts his head and pricks up his<br />
cars.<br />
OBSERVATIONS ON "THE TALE-TELLING<br />
ART" IN SIR WALTER SCOTT'S<br />
INTRODUCTIONS TO THE "WAVERLEY<br />
NOVELS."<br />
III.<br />
A few passages in Sir Walter Scott's introduc-<br />
tions still remain which may claim the attention<br />
of the novelist, who will regret that they are but few.<br />
Respecting too many of the details of the art of<br />
fiction, Sir Walter Scott does not in his prefaces<br />
Bay a single word. No remarks of any kind are<br />
to be found about description of scenery, no<br />
remarks upon portraiture, no remarks upon con-<br />
trast of characters, nor upon a number of those<br />
other details of the "craft of romance writing,"<br />
in which Sir Walter himself excelled, and upon<br />
which it is evident that he must have bestowed no<br />
ordinary care and thought.<br />
Two passages, however, occur bearing upon the<br />
study of character. The study of character is, of<br />
course, scarcely a detail of the art of fiction; it is<br />
rather the very soul of good story-telling; and all<br />
that Sir Walter Scott says in both of these places<br />
deserves close attention, not only on account of<br />
the great suggestiveness of his remarks, but also<br />
on account of the high importance to the novelist<br />
of any hints he can gather upon the treatment of<br />
character.<br />
The first of these passages will be found in the<br />
"Advertisement" preceding "The Antiquary."<br />
It treats of the great value in romance of characters<br />
drawn from those ranks of life in which the passions<br />
are least restrained by cultivation, and the feelings<br />
are most frequently expressed without reserve :—<br />
"I have in the two last narratives ['Guy<br />
Mannering,' and • The Antiquary '] sought my<br />
principal personages in the class of society who<br />
are the last to feel the influence of that general<br />
polish which assimilates to each other the manners<br />
of different nations. Among the same class I have<br />
placed some of the scenes, in which I have en-<br />
deavoured to illustrate the operations of the higher<br />
and more violent passions, both because the lower<br />
orders are less restrained by the habit of suppressing<br />
their feelings, and because . . . they seldom fail<br />
to express themselves in the strongest and most<br />
powerful language."<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 408 (#812) ############################################<br />
<br />
408<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
The second passage deals with a point no less<br />
important, but much more difficult: the choice of<br />
such characters as the general reader's conception<br />
of life will enable him easily to comprehend. This<br />
restriction will bo felt by every author to be a<br />
hard one, for it narrows the range of the novelist,<br />
reducing him to something resembling the dra-<br />
matist's small stock-in-trade of characters, whom<br />
everyone can immediately understand. Upon<br />
reflection, however, it will probably be admitted<br />
that Sir Walter Scott's contention is in the main<br />
justified by the fact that everything which is<br />
intended to entertiiin, or, indeed, to instruct, must<br />
of necessity be perfectly intelligible.<br />
It was Sir Walter Scott's opinion that in Sir<br />
Percie Shafton the Euphuist, in "The Monastery,"<br />
he had presented a character which was not in-<br />
telligible; and why not intelligible he is at much<br />
pains to explain in a long passage in the " Intro-<br />
duction to ' The Monastery.'" The whole cannot<br />
be quoted here, and should be read in its proper<br />
context. The chief points, however, are these<br />
"The author had the vanity to think that a<br />
character, whose peculiarities should turn on ex-<br />
travagancies which were once universally fashionable,<br />
might be read in a fictitious story with a good<br />
chance of affording amusement to the existing<br />
generation, who, fond as they arc of looking back<br />
on the actions and manners of their ancestors,<br />
might be also supposed to be sensible of their<br />
absurdities . . . He was disappointed . . .<br />
The Euphuist, far from being accounted a well-<br />
drawn and humorous character . . . was con-<br />
demned as unnatural and absurd . . . The<br />
author has been led to suspect that . . . his<br />
subject was injudiciously chosen . . . The<br />
manners of a rude people are always founded on<br />
nature, and therefore the feelings of a more polished<br />
generation immediately sympathise with them<br />
. . . It does not follow that the . . . tastes,<br />
opinions, and follies of one civilised period should<br />
afford cither . . . interest or . . . amusement<br />
to . . another. Let us take . . . Shaks-<br />
peare himself . . . The mass of readers peruse<br />
without amusement the characters formed on the<br />
extravagance of a temporary fashion . . . The<br />
Euphuist Don Armado, the pedant Holophernes,<br />
even Nym and Pistol, are read with little pleasure<br />
by the mass of the public . . .In like manner,<br />
while the distresses of Romeo and Juliet continue<br />
to interest every bosom, Mercutio, drawn as an<br />
accurate representation of the finished fine gentle-<br />
man of the period, and, as such, received by the<br />
unanimous approbation of contemporaries, has so<br />
little to interest the present age, that stripped of<br />
his puns and quirks of verbal wit, he only retains<br />
a place in the scene in virtue of his fine and<br />
fanciful speech upon dreaming, which belongs to<br />
no particular age . . . The introduction of a.<br />
humorist acting, like Sir Percie Shafton, upon some,<br />
forgotten or obsolete mode of folly ... is rather<br />
likely to awake the disgust of the reader, as un-<br />
natural, than find him food for laughter .<br />
The formidable objection of iucredulits odi was<br />
applied to the Euphuist, as well as to the White<br />
Lady of Avenel; and the one was denounced as<br />
unnatural, while the other was rejected as im-<br />
possible."<br />
In the first chapter of "The Bride of Lammer-<br />
moor," in the imaginary conversation with Dick<br />
Tinto, Sir Walter Scott has something to say upon<br />
the use and abuse of dialogue in romance.<br />
"Your characters," be [Dick Tinto] said . .<br />
putter too much . . . there is nothing in whole<br />
pages but mere chat and dialogue."<br />
"The ancient philosopher," said I in rejily,<br />
"was wont to say, ' Speak, that I may know thee';<br />
and how is it possible for an author to introduce<br />
his dramatis persona to his readers in a more inte-<br />
resting and effectual manner than by the dialogue<br />
in which each is represented as supporting his own<br />
appropriate character?"<br />
The dangers of an excess of dialogue, and the<br />
value of descriptive narrative are a few lines below<br />
thus happily expressed :—<br />
"Description," he said, "was to the author of a<br />
romance exactly what drawing and tinting were to<br />
a painter; words were his colours, and, if properly<br />
employed, they could not fail to place the scene<br />
which he wished to conjure up, as effectually before<br />
the mind's eye, as the tablet or canvas presents it<br />
to the bodily organ. The same rules . . . applied<br />
to both, and an exuberance of dialogue, in the<br />
former case, was a verbose and laborious mode of<br />
composition which went to confound the proper<br />
art of fictitious narrative with that of drama, a<br />
widely different species of composition, of which<br />
dialogue was the very essence. . . . But as<br />
nothing can be more dull than a long narrative<br />
written upon the plan of a drama, so where you<br />
have approached most near to that species of com-<br />
position, by indulging in prolonged scenes of mere<br />
conversation, the course of your story has become<br />
chill and constrained, and you have lost the power<br />
of arresting the attention and exciting the imagina-<br />
tion, in which upon other occasions you may be<br />
considered as having succeeded tolerably well."<br />
The words are supposed to be addressed to Sir<br />
Walter, who here is again criticising himself.<br />
They suggest several questions. Do readers of the<br />
present day find their attention more arrested by<br />
the narrative portions than by the dialogues in the<br />
"Waverley Novels "? Does not fiction tend to use<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 409 (#813) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
dialogue more and more, and narrative less? Was<br />
dialogue one of Sir AValter Seott's strong points?<br />
These are questions which the reader must answer<br />
for himself.<br />
One remark alone Sir Walter makes on romance<br />
style :—<br />
"Every work designed for amusement must he<br />
expressed in language easily comprehended."<br />
(General Preface to the "Waverley Novels.")<br />
The astonishing speed at which Sir Walter Scott<br />
wrote his novels must be considered one of the<br />
marvels of those marvellous compositions. Like a<br />
good many other authors he was advised by people,<br />
who certainly knew a good deal less about novel-<br />
writing than he did, to write more slowly, and to<br />
bestow more care upon construction and composi-<br />
tion. By these means, so his counsellors assured<br />
him, certain portions of his work which they found<br />
inferior to the rest would be vastly improved.<br />
Few lines that he has written will be more<br />
interesting to authors than his reply :—<br />
"The works and passages in which I have<br />
succeeded have uniformly been written with the<br />
greatest rapidity . . . the parts in which I<br />
have come feebly off wen; by much the more<br />
laboured." (Introductory Epistle, Captain Clut-<br />
terbuck to the Rev. j)r. Dryasdust, preceding<br />
"The Fortunes of Nigel.")<br />
When the "Waverley Novels" were collected<br />
into a complete edition, Sir Walter Scott subjected<br />
them all to a careful revision. A comparison of<br />
the texts of the first editions with the texts offered<br />
as final, might afford some curious points. Many<br />
of the alterations would, no doubt, prove trivial,<br />
but it is hardly possible to doubt that others might<br />
be of interest. Sir Walter says of his emenda-<br />
tions :—<br />
"These consist in occasional pruning where the<br />
language is redundant, compression where the style<br />
is loose, infusion of vigour where it is languid, and<br />
exchange of less forcible for more appropriate<br />
epithets." ("Advertisement," preceding General<br />
Preface to "Waverley Novels.")<br />
A single subject remains, about which Sir<br />
Walter Scott has a good deal to say: the difficult<br />
enterprise of choosing a title. On the one hand, he<br />
admits—<br />
"It is of little consequence what the work is<br />
called, provided it catches public attention."<br />
(Introductory Epistle, Captain Clutterbuck to<br />
the Rev. Dr. Dryasdust, preceding "The Abbot.")<br />
On the other hand, he was not at all blind to<br />
the fact that the title itself might much assist to<br />
"catch the public attention," and was very careful<br />
about the names of his books, "a good name being<br />
very nearly of as much consequence in literature as<br />
in life." (Introduction to "Rob Roy.")<br />
At the same time he was very shy of "taking<br />
titles." Of these he speaks in three different<br />
places, and all that he says is deserving of the<br />
consideration of everyone thinking of publishing a<br />
book:—<br />
"The publisher and author, however much their<br />
general interests are the same, may be said to differ<br />
so far as title pages are concerned; and it is a<br />
secret of the tale-telling art . . . that a taking<br />
title . . . best answers the purpose of the book-<br />
seller, since it . . . sells an edition not unfrequently<br />
before the public have well seen it. But the author<br />
ought to seek more permanent fame. . . . Many of<br />
the best novelists have been anxious to give<br />
their works such titles as render it out of the<br />
reader's power to conjecture their contents until<br />
they should have an opportunity of reading<br />
them." (Introduction to the "Betrothed.")<br />
"What is called a taking title serves the direct<br />
interest of the bookseller. . . . But if the author<br />
permits an over-degree of attention to be drawn<br />
to his work ere it lias appeared, he places himself<br />
in the embarrassing condition of having excited a<br />
degree of expectation, which, if he proves unable<br />
to satisfy, is an error fatal to his literary<br />
reputation." (Introduction to " Ivanhoe.")<br />
"A taking title is a recipe for success much in<br />
favour with booksellers, but which authors will not<br />
always find efficacious. The cause is worth a<br />
moment's examination. A tale . . . sure by the<br />
very announcement to excite public curiosity to a<br />
considerable degree ... is of the last importance<br />
to the bookseller. . . . But it is a different case<br />
with the author, since it cannot be denied that we<br />
are apt to feel less satisfied with the work of which<br />
we have been induced ... to entertain exagge-<br />
rated expectations." (Introduction to "The<br />
Abbot.")<br />
Sir Walter Scott received very large sums for<br />
his copyrights, and was so conscious of the money<br />
value of his work, that when he found himself, by<br />
no fault of his own, ruined and responsible for a<br />
gigantic debt, he courageously resolved to earn<br />
with his pen the sum Decessary to pay it. No<br />
author ever wrote with a more direct, or more<br />
laudable intention of obtaining money, and so the<br />
following lines from the Introductory Epistle<br />
preceding the "Fortunes of Nigel," may perchance,<br />
more fitly than any others close these brief notes<br />
on observations on the "tide-telling art" in Sir<br />
Walter Scott's introductions to the "Waverley<br />
Novels":—<br />
"No work of imagination, proceeding from the<br />
mere consideration of a certain sum of copy money<br />
ever did, or ever will, succeed."<br />
Hexhy Crksswell.<br />
■<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 410 (#814) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
WALT WHITMAN.<br />
I.<br />
An Interview.<br />
IT was in September 1881 that I had a personal<br />
interview with Wnlt Whitman. Accompanied<br />
by a well-known Boston journalist, I called in<br />
the forenoon upon the old bard. We set awaiting<br />
his arrival for some minutes. Then the door<br />
opened, and there walked into the room, with<br />
simple mien and unconstrained air, as out of an<br />
Ossianic poem or some ancient bardic lay, a<br />
veritable Brehon. Tall and slightly stooped,<br />
leaning on a stick and walking slowly (the effect<br />
of a stroke of paralysis), Walt Whitman, the poet<br />
of the American democracy, struck me as a very<br />
remarkable picture. His hair white and long, his<br />
eye a light blue, bright, intelligent, and brilliant,<br />
strongly marked nose, slightly blunted, over a white<br />
moustache, and the countenance framed all around<br />
with a long white beard and whiskers. Sui generis<br />
in dress as in literature, Walt Whitman was every<br />
inch an ideal poet to gaze upon, the open Byronic<br />
collar and loose coat and waistcoat, surmounted<br />
by his massive and venerable head, making an<br />
interesting and impressive picture. Whitman in<br />
conversation was measured and thoughtful, liked<br />
to hear about English literature, especially poetry,<br />
and had made up his mind very strongly upon<br />
the merits of modern bards. He was then<br />
beginning to be understood in Boston, and was<br />
acutely sensible of the change of opinion which<br />
was gradually coming over the American literary<br />
world with regard to his work. He himself has<br />
declared that the proof of a poet is that his<br />
country absorbs him as affectionately as he has<br />
absorbed it. He was fond of young men. "It<br />
does me good," he said to me, "to see the boys<br />
and young men, and to have them about me." The<br />
grandeur of his personal presence, the calm thought<br />
enthroned upon his brow, impressed one with the<br />
idea that he partook more of the seer and the sage<br />
than of the modern poet. I shall always carry<br />
with me a memory of Walt Whitman as the First<br />
Brehon of the American race.<br />
P. H. Bagenal.<br />
II.<br />
Walt Whitman's Last Room.<br />
When I described, on Nov. 29, a recent visit to<br />
Walt Whitman, I did not say half I thought of the<br />
squalor and wretchedness of his surroundings. It<br />
is a wonder to me that he did not die long ago<br />
from the effects of the unwholesome atmosphere of<br />
the place. Whitman was a man who loved and<br />
needed the sunlight and fresh air. In that wretched<br />
room he had neither. It faced the north, and the<br />
little light that might have shone upon him was<br />
kept out by dirty windows and closed shutters. I<br />
doubt if the room had ever been swept, much less<br />
thoroughly cleaned. The dirty carpet, the piles of<br />
old newspapers, the unmade bed, the rickety stove<br />
that gave out enough heat to dry up a much more<br />
vigorous body than that of the old poet, all had<br />
the most depressing effect upon me when I came<br />
into the place from the crisp, clear air of a bright<br />
October day. I have read descriptions of old<br />
misers who have been found dead amid their<br />
miserable surroundings, but Walt Whitman's bed-<br />
room gave me a far more vivid sense of what such<br />
dens must be than columns of mere description.<br />
The pathetic thing about it was his contentment.<br />
I am well taken care of," he said; "the people,<br />
here are very kind." The latter statement was<br />
probably true; but I do not call such care as he<br />
received good care. I would not have left a<br />
favourite dog to live in such a place. I have been<br />
told that his friends who visited him in his last<br />
illness were greatly annoyed by the unclean<br />
wretchedness of the place, but, seeing that he was<br />
too far gone to make expostulation advisable, they<br />
held their peace.—The New Yokk Critic.<br />
■<br />
FROM AMERICA.<br />
ICAN assure you that the condition of the<br />
author in America, so far as I am qualified to<br />
judge, is even more lamentable than his English<br />
brother. You say that " the sweating of authors—<br />
chiefly ladies and small authors—that goes on is<br />
really terrible." I think that in America, although<br />
all authors suffer, the case of the women writers,<br />
especially the young authors, is worse, because<br />
women, as a rule, are ignorant of business methods,<br />
and are especially timid about standing up for their<br />
just rights.<br />
I greatly desire to see a " Society for the Pro-<br />
tection of American Authors" established on the<br />
lines ably laid down in the Forum article, and<br />
to that end I should be most grateful if you<br />
would mail me any printed reports of your<br />
Society that you are willing to make public, and<br />
especially the two pamphlets mentioned: "The<br />
Cost of Production " and " Methods of Publishing,"<br />
together with a few sample copies of your Author,<br />
which I am unable to get in Boston, or even to<br />
learn its subscription price.<br />
\<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 411 (#815) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
411<br />
I am an author myself ou a small scale, and a<br />
contributor to the American Press, but have<br />
suffered severely from the methods of payment<br />
employed by most publishers, and by all but a few<br />
of the largest magazines. Almost all American<br />
periodicals "pay on publication," and an author's<br />
MSS. are frequently detained, say five years,<br />
without any compensation. The syndicate method<br />
also works a great injustice to young authors. For<br />
instance, one of the largest syndicates in New York<br />
city pays at the rate of about 610 per column of<br />
2,000 words for a timely, newsy article, generally not<br />
wishing more than a column and a half. This<br />
same article is sold perhaps to forty newspapers<br />
throughout the United States, and each editor pays<br />
for it at the rate of about $5 per column, some-<br />
times more, if the author is noted. The syndicate,<br />
therefore, takes in about $200 to the author's §10;<br />
if this is not a case of "sweating" I hardly know<br />
what is. Young authors often endure this in<br />
silence, for they hope that the wide circulation<br />
given to their article and their name may sometime<br />
come back to them in solid cash, but the expecta-<br />
tion is often disappointed. For instance, I sent an<br />
article of nearly two columns in length that had<br />
taken me some time in careful preparation to the<br />
above-named syndicate. In my letter to the editor<br />
I said that the work thereon was exhaustive, and<br />
that I "should like" $20 therefor. No reply was<br />
made, and I presumed my terms were accepted.<br />
Some weeks afterwards, when the article was<br />
published, and I was without redress, I 'received a<br />
curt note from the editor saying that the article<br />
was only worth Si2 to them, and they therefore<br />
sent me a check for that amount. On asking an<br />
editor-friend in Boston about the justice of the case,<br />
he assured me that I had no legal claim, because<br />
I had merely said " I should like," instead of saying<br />
plainly " The price is 320." Another syndicate to<br />
which I sent a carefully written article on a subject<br />
pertaining to women, detained my article of 4,000<br />
words some four months, then offered me a beg-<br />
garly price for about 1,000 words: I declined it,<br />
and wrote requesting the editor to return me the<br />
article. After some weeks' delay he did so, but<br />
one-quarter of it, the portion he desired, was miss-<br />
ing. I could not get it until a newspaper editor<br />
and personal friend called and got it in person.<br />
Some weeks after, a friend from the West sent me<br />
a cutting, which contained the portion of my article<br />
which the syndicate had retained, and never paid<br />
for, almost verbatim. I had no redress that I<br />
could find out for this case of downright robbery.<br />
In a third case I sold a magazine article on a<br />
topic of interest to women to a certain magazine<br />
for §3o. It was to be paid for on publication, but<br />
the month before the article was to appear the<br />
magazine failed, and everything was put into the<br />
hands of a receiver. I wrote for my unpaid article,<br />
but received the reply that it was the property of<br />
the magazine, and was now in the editor's desk,<br />
which was sealed up, together with about thirty<br />
dollars worth of fine pen and ink sketches, the work<br />
of an artist friend, also unpaid for. I finally<br />
recovered the articles, but their timeliness was<br />
gone; I had to wait another year for a publisher,<br />
and the pen and ink sketches, although made to<br />
order, were detained for months, and finally returned<br />
unpaid for, resulting in a total loss to the artist,<br />
who had kindly offered to illustrate my work.<br />
In still another case I sold a series of letters<br />
upon European travel to a prominent New York<br />
weekly, giving them the copyright. They, how-<br />
ever assured me that if I wished to reprint the<br />
articles in book form I was at liberty to do so, if I<br />
gave them the credit. Before I had time to do<br />
as I had intended, a Boston international steamer<br />
agency, without communicating either with me or<br />
the editor to whom I sold the work, reprinted<br />
nearly the whole of it, issuing it in book form, as<br />
an advertisement. Just enough was omitted to<br />
make it safe to reprint a copyright work, and,<br />
though my name was given anil credit assigned to<br />
the paper from which the letters were taken, I did<br />
not make a penny by the transaction. When I<br />
heard that the book had been so popular that a<br />
second edition was to be brought out this season<br />
of 2,000 more copies, making 4,000 in tdl, I<br />
addressed a letter to the enterprising publisher,<br />
suggesting that I might make some additions to<br />
the book and corrections making it more valuable,<br />
for which I would charge only a nominal sum;<br />
the publisher then concluded that, on the whole,<br />
he woidd not bring out a second edition this season.<br />
I am now negotiating with a second publisher, but<br />
fear that owing to the first publication and gra-<br />
tuitous distribution of so many copies I have lost<br />
all chance of a sale.<br />
On another occasion I wrote a timely article for<br />
"Thanksgiving" on the "American Cranberry,"<br />
giving a number of facts which I had been at some<br />
pains to obtain. It was sent in ample season, two<br />
months in advance, to one of the largest Boston<br />
Sunday papers, and I was told by the city editor,<br />
whom I knew slightly, that " it had passed the first<br />
acceptance." But the MS. had disappeared from<br />
the face of the earth; I have looked for it for three<br />
years in the paper, but it has never been published,<br />
and though I have called a dozen times for it at<br />
the newspaper office it has never been found.<br />
Although I valued it at $20, and, unfortunately,<br />
had no copy by which to replace it, no offer was<br />
ever made of payment, and I am told that I have<br />
no legal redress, as the article was not specially<br />
ordered, and the paper to which it was sent adver-<br />
tises "that unsolicited MSS. will not be returned."<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 412 (#816) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Still, previously that same paper had accepted and<br />
paid for a numl>er of my special articles, so I thought<br />
that I was safe in submitting this one.<br />
I met the loss of another article of equal value<br />
in a New York paper, and although I was assured<br />
several times that the New York .... always<br />
paid for an article if it lost it through its own<br />
fault, my modest little bill has remained totally<br />
unregarded.<br />
I know of a still worse case, where a well-known<br />
authoress of New York city sent a complete MS.<br />
of a child's book to a well-known Boston publishing<br />
house. The MS. was accepted; in some mysterious<br />
way between the time of acceptance and publica-<br />
tion the MS. disappeared. Although it contained<br />
about 8o,ood words, and represented the work of<br />
months, the poor author was forced to re-write it<br />
from beginning to end, without the offer of pay-<br />
ment of a single cent on the part of the. publishing<br />
house who lost the MS. Of course, apologies anil<br />
regrets were sent, but they did not pay for the loss<br />
of time and the double work.<br />
In the American newspaper work, especially,<br />
there is very sharp competition, and a special<br />
writer, like myself, not connected with any regular<br />
paper, often suffers severely, when he has an<br />
exclusive bit of news. For instance, some years<br />
ago, when I was less familiar with newspaper<br />
sharp practice than I am now, a new building of<br />
public importance was erected in Cambridge, near<br />
Harvard College, where I reside, I called ou the<br />
superintendent of this manual training school with<br />
a letter of introduction from a mutual friend, and<br />
he gave me an hour of his valuable time. I then<br />
prepared a very full and exhaustive report, of the<br />
new building, machinery, &c. The next morning<br />
early I called upon the managing editor of the<br />
largest paper in Boston, mentioned the fact that<br />
this building Was just completed, that no report of<br />
it had appeared, and that I had one prepared.<br />
The managing editor replied that they did not<br />
consider a single manual training school building<br />
of sufficient importance to warrant an extended<br />
notice; but that if I would visit all such schools in<br />
Boston and the neighbouring cities and make a<br />
general report they woidd probably accept it. I<br />
made my preparations to do so, but on returning<br />
for some additional data to the Cambridge school,<br />
I was told by the manager that early that morning,<br />
evidently directly after my visit in Boston, a special<br />
re[K>rter had been sent from the Boston Herald in<br />
hot haste to get all the facts, which the manager,<br />
knowing of my intention to write the article, out<br />
of courtesy to me, refused to give, so that only a<br />
maimed and unintelligent report appeared.<br />
I have taken the liberty to quote these personal<br />
cases to you, as there are thousands of a like kind,<br />
with which young writers are helplessly forced to<br />
grapple every day. You are at liberty to use these<br />
as you see fit, if you will not mention names.<br />
I am now a member of the New England<br />
Women's Press Association, which also includes<br />
a number of authors, and I should greatly like to get<br />
this association and the various authors' clubs<br />
throughout the country interested in the matter of<br />
a reform.<br />
E. T.<br />
—<br />
"AT THE AUTHOR'S HEAD."<br />
CITIES, as cities, rarely do honour to their<br />
citizens during their lifetime, even though<br />
such citizens may become world-famous ; but<br />
Bristol is about to break down the habit of letting<br />
men be only recognised as famous citizens after<br />
death, by acknowledging during his lifetime the<br />
valuable ethnographical work that Dr. John Beddoe<br />
has been enabled to accomplish, whilst acting also a.s<br />
a physician in the Bristol suburb, Clifton. A very<br />
representative committee, under Mr. Lewis Frv,<br />
M.P., as chairman, has been appointed to present<br />
Dr. Beddoe with a volume containing an address<br />
recognising his well known labours, that have<br />
made his name famous in the scientific world.<br />
Amongst the committee are the Earl of Ducie,<br />
Bishop Clifford, Canon Ainger, Canon "Wallace,<br />
Mr. Warren of Magdalene (a Bristolian); Pro-<br />
fessors Lloyd, Morgan, and Rowley of the Univer-<br />
sity College, Bristol; the headmaster of Clifton<br />
College, Mr. R. L. Leighton, head of the Grammar<br />
School, and certain members of the Town Council,<br />
in fact a representative, body. Mr. James Baker,<br />
acting as Hon. Secretary. The address is to be<br />
signed by all the official, literary, scientific, and<br />
artistic bodies in Bristol, and will be presented at a<br />
dinner during the month of May.<br />
Mr. Barry Pain's new volume, entitled " Stories<br />
and Interludes," will be published by Messrs. Henry<br />
and Co. and by Messrs. Harper & Bros, simul-<br />
taneously on May 3rd.<br />
Mr. Hall Cable's forthcoming storiette, entitled<br />
"Capt'n Davy's Honeymoon," which is to run in<br />
Lloyd's, will lie published al>out Midsummer by<br />
Mr. AVm. Heinemann.<br />
Mrs. George Augustus Sala's new volume, which<br />
bears the title " People I have met," has just been<br />
published by Messrs. Osgood, Macllvaine and Co.<br />
Mr. A. J. Balfour is to preside on the 29th<br />
anniversary of the Newspaper Press Fund, which<br />
is to be held at the Hotel Metroi>oIe on the 14th<br />
instant.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 413 (#817) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
4'3<br />
Among the series of papers which will uppear in<br />
Scribucr's on the position of the great European<br />
cities is one by Mr. Walter Besant, dealing with<br />
the East London riverside. The parish chosen is<br />
that of St. James, Rateliff.<br />
Prize stories, with the notable exception of<br />
Mr. Goodman's " Only Witness," do not, it seems,<br />
catch on. It is reported that the Leadenhall Press<br />
have not made a success of their venture "Guess<br />
the Title." 10,000 copies were issued, and the<br />
Publisher's Circular reports that 9,000 still remain<br />
on hand. We are sorry that Mr. Tuer has not<br />
made a hit with this venture, but it is, perhaps,<br />
fortunate on the whole for the future of fiction<br />
that the dodge has not succeeded. We have the<br />
advertising fiend quite enough with us as it is, and<br />
the self-advertising story is an excrescence which<br />
we can very well afford to do without.<br />
Ben Brierley has a great popularity, both as a<br />
writer and as an entertainer, all over Lancashire,<br />
Cheshire, and Derbyshire, and has managed to main-<br />
tain himself in a frugal way up till within the last<br />
year or two. He was then attacked by illness which<br />
kept him confined to his bed for twelve months, and<br />
has left him partially paralysed, so that it is impos-<br />
sible for him to go on with his entertainments,<br />
upon which he mainly depended for a livelihood.<br />
A few Lancashire merchants proposed a tribute to<br />
him, and up to the present a sum of £25o has been<br />
collected in small sums. Among the subscribers<br />
were Lord Derby, Viscount Cranbourne, Sir W.<br />
H. Houldsworth, Mr. A. J. Balfour, Sir Ughtred<br />
Kay Shuttle\vorth,and other leading Lancashire men.<br />
It has now been arranged that the mayors of all<br />
Lancashire towns shall receive subscriptions for<br />
the fund, and it is hoped that it will attain suffi-<br />
cient proportions to enable Ben Brierley to be<br />
secure from want to the end of his life.<br />
If Mr. Gladstone attains to the somewhat doubt-<br />
ful honour of being "collected," his fondness for<br />
appearance in pamphlet form will lend an added<br />
interest to the hunt for complete sets of his<br />
works. The last addition to his brochures is a<br />
letter on Female Suffrage, addressed to Mr. Samuel<br />
Smith, the well-known Liverpool philanthropist,<br />
which has just been published by Mr. John<br />
Murray.<br />
Mr. C. F. Dowsett, F.S.I., has published (The<br />
Land Record Office) his promised work on " Land,<br />
its attractions and riches," by 57 writers. Principal<br />
Bond-deals with "Fruit Growing"; Mr. C. W.<br />
Heckethorn with "Investments "; Professor<br />
G. Henslow writes on "The Value of Botany<br />
to Country Residents"; the Rev. A. Styleman<br />
Herring on "Fresh Air for Poor London Chil-<br />
dren "; Professor Long on "Dairy Farming ";<br />
and the Rev. Compton Reade on "The Pleasures<br />
of a Country." Dr. B. W. Richardson deals with<br />
"Health in Relation to Land"; Professor A. H.<br />
Sayce with "Ancient Laws '*; and Professor R.<br />
Wallace with " Egyptian Lands."<br />
The death of John Hyslop at Kilmarnock, N.B.,<br />
removes another of the true jwets of the people.<br />
Almost wholly self-educated, he left the machine-<br />
room to become a rural messenger something more<br />
than thirty years ago, and in the year of Burns'<br />
centenary became generally recognised by his<br />
tribute to the Ploughman Bard. We extract from<br />
the Pall Mall Gazette the concluding lines of his<br />
last poem, which was written on his death-bed for<br />
the Kilmarnock Standard—<br />
I hear the music in the upper rooms,<br />
My soul like pent hinl panteth to he free j<br />
When that has passed beyond life's prisoning bars,<br />
Then burn or bury, do what pleaseth thee<br />
With the worn cage that is no longer Me,<br />
l'"or I shall neither know, nor hear, nor see.<br />
******<br />
Sometimes, perchance, amid the hurrying years,<br />
With friends in shady nook or wooded glen,<br />
You'll say: "He coined his soul's best thoughts in<br />
words,<br />
And sent them rushing through his ready pen<br />
In songs of hope to cheer his fellow men."<br />
If any songs of all the songs I've sung<br />
Make any music where life's discord mars<br />
God's harmonies, and through the souls of men<br />
Goes echoing on to heal some hidden scars,<br />
Then I shall hear it from beyond the stars!<br />
The fifth and sixth volumes of Mr. C. G. Leland's<br />
translation of the works of Heinrich Heine, which<br />
have just been published by Mr. Win. Heinemann,<br />
contain the "Germany," the "Comments on<br />
Faust," the " Gods in Exile," and the " Goddess<br />
Diana." Mr. Leland claims that this is the first<br />
complete edition of Heine's "Germany," which,<br />
as he very justly contends, is a work of which no<br />
one can be ignorant who seeks sound or even<br />
superficial reading of modern literature.<br />
Mr. Hume Nisbet's new story, "The Bush-<br />
ranger's Sweetheart," has just been issued by<br />
Mr. F. V. White.<br />
M. Chedomil Mijatovich, formerly Servian<br />
Minister at the Court of St. James's, has issued an<br />
interesting book on the conquest of Constantinople<br />
by the Greeks, which embodies the result of great<br />
personal research. Messrs. Sampson Low anil Co.<br />
are the publishers. Hitherto, no single monograph<br />
on the conquest of Constantinople has existed in<br />
English, though as early as 1670 a tragedy entitled<br />
the "Siege of Constantinople" was published in<br />
London.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 414 (#818) ############################################<br />
<br />
414<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
"Haunts of Nature," by H. W. S. Worsley-<br />
Benison, and illustrated by C. M. Worsley, is<br />
issued by Elliot Stock. Mr. Worsley-Benison is<br />
already very well known as the author of " Nature's<br />
Fairyland," and in his new book shows that he is<br />
not an unworthy successor even to Richard<br />
Jefferies.<br />
Mr. Edmund Downey (F. M. Allen) has ready<br />
a collection of Irish tales, which, under the title of<br />
"Green as Grass," will be published by Messrs.<br />
Chatto and Windus in a few days.<br />
Dr. S. P. Driver, the Regius Professor of Hebrew<br />
at the University of Oxford, has concluded a volume<br />
of sermons, entitled "Old Testament Criticisms."<br />
Messrs. Methuen are the publishers.<br />
Mr. Rudyard Kipling's " Barrack Room Ballads"<br />
—Japanese paper edition—was published on April<br />
3oth by Messrs. Methuen.<br />
Mr. Arthur Symon's new volume of verse, which<br />
is to bear the title of " Silhouettes," will be published<br />
immediately by Messrs. Elkin Mathews and John<br />
Lime.<br />
There is to be yet another Metropolitan literary<br />
society, the Irish Literary Society, which is to be<br />
inaugurated next month under the presidency of<br />
Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, K.C.M.G. The Rev.<br />
Stopford Brooke is to deliver the inaugural address.<br />
Mr. E. F. Knight, the author of the "Cruise of<br />
the Falcon," promises a book relating his adventures<br />
during the recent campaign in Hun/.a, in which he<br />
acted not only as special correspondent of the<br />
Times, but as a combatant.<br />
The Rev. Chas. Voysey has prepared, and<br />
Messrs. Williams and Norgate have published, a<br />
third edition of a Theistic Prayer Book, greatly<br />
enlarged, and containing new services and many<br />
new hymns.<br />
Mrs. Frank St. Clair Grimwood's story, "The<br />
Power of an Eye," is running in Winter's Weekly,<br />
and will Ik- published shortly by Mr. F. V. White.<br />
Mr. Mackenzie Bell contributes a poem on a<br />
religious theme to the Christian Leader.<br />
The May number of the Library Revieiv con-<br />
tains a further contribution by Stanley Little on<br />
"Current Fiction," in which he will deal with<br />
woman as a creator in fiction; an article entitled<br />
"Tennyson as Dramatist" by Cuming Walters;<br />
another by Graham Aylward on "Mr. Meredith<br />
and his Critics"; and one by Percy White on<br />
"Daudet and his Literary Methods."<br />
Mr. Eden Philpotts's new story "A Tiger's Cub"<br />
has just been issued by Messrs. Arrowsniith.<br />
"Mark Tillotson " is the title of the new novel<br />
by the author of " John Westacott," which appears<br />
this month. It is dedicated to the veteran poet,<br />
Frederick von Bodenstedt, the good friend of<br />
"George Eliot " during her Munich life.<br />
Mr. E. S. Purcell has written the authorised<br />
Life of Cardinal Manning. He has had not only<br />
the Cardinal's permission but also his assistance,<br />
with the right to read and use private diaries and<br />
letters.<br />
We learn from the New York Critic, that<br />
shortly after the appearance of "Vain Fortune,"<br />
Charles Scribner's Sons made Mr. George Moore<br />
an offer for tho right of reprinting it in America.<br />
The author accepted, stipulating only that he should<br />
be allowed to re-write his novel. This he has done<br />
with such thoroughness that the first half of the<br />
narrative has been entirely changed, and the main<br />
interest transferred from the hero to the heroine.<br />
Messrs. Osgood, Mcllvaine, and Co. are to<br />
publish this month a book by Mr. Hamilton Aide,<br />
entitled " A Voyage of Discovery," a novel illustra-<br />
tive of American Society as Mr. Aide found it last<br />
year when travelling here with Mr. Stanley.<br />
Those readers whose attention has been attracted<br />
by the life story of Travers Madge, as told by the<br />
Rev. Dr. Brooke Herford in "A Protestant Poor<br />
Friar," will be interested to know that from this<br />
strangely pathetic life Mrs. Humphry Ward drew<br />
the idea of her Ancrum, the crippled minister in<br />
"David Grieve."<br />
In "The Gentleman Digger"—Sampson Low<br />
and Co.—the Comtesse de Bremont sets forth with<br />
a good deal of spirit and actuality pictures of<br />
Johannesburg life in 1889, that is to say, at about<br />
the period of the famine, the crisis, and the collapse<br />
of the feverish "boom"of 1888-89. The varied<br />
types of mankind—ill enough for the most part—<br />
tlie hideous scenes enacted daily and nightly at the<br />
great gold and diamond mining camps of South<br />
Africa; the unutterable squalor, glitter, drunken-<br />
ness, chicanery, and crime; all these things are<br />
displayed in a very realistic manner. As depicting<br />
true phases of life, as a very real warning, this<br />
book undoubtedly has a value. And it is to the<br />
author's credit that she has raised her voice against<br />
that vilest of all systems of murder, the poisoning<br />
of native races, body and soul, by the horrible<br />
drink traffic.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 415 (#819) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
4i5<br />
FROM THE PAPERS.<br />
I.<br />
The Lowell Memorial.<br />
DEAN Bradley's refusal to find room for a<br />
memorial to Lowell in Westminster Abbey<br />
is an act of which no explanation is yet<br />
forthcoming. Want of space is no explanation,<br />
any more than when the bust of Matthew Arnold<br />
was hid away in an obscure corner where not one<br />
visitor in a thousand will ever see it. Lowell, of<br />
course, has no claim. No American has a claim,<br />
nor any Englishman either. It rests with the<br />
Dean of Westminster, for the time being, to grant<br />
or refuse admission to the Abbey. There is no<br />
appeal from his discretion, or indiscretion, except<br />
to public opinion, or to Parliament, where public<br />
opinion is sometimes crystallized into a concrete<br />
reform. It was Parliament which intervened to<br />
save the Abbey from the intrusion of Prince Louis<br />
Napoleon, whom Dean Stanley was resolved to<br />
admit. The present is no cause for invoking that<br />
supreme court of appeal.<br />
Nor do I know that Lowell's American friends<br />
need care much about the matter. It is Lowell's<br />
English friends who made the request to the Dean,<br />
which he somewhat churlishly, they think, has re-<br />
jected. Lowell, says one of them, is not thought<br />
good enough for the Abbey. Perhaps not. He<br />
was merely the foremost American man of letters<br />
of his time, long resident in England and beloved<br />
here; a representative who did invaluable service<br />
to his own country and to this; admittedly the<br />
first—it is the English who admit it—scholar of<br />
English literature. What has he to do with<br />
Westminster Abbey? That mausoleum of non-<br />
entities is dignified, no doubt, by the tombs and<br />
memorials of some great men, but the majority are<br />
no company for Lowell. To say that Lowell shall<br />
not find a place tliere is to say that no American<br />
shall in the future, and that the few now there had<br />
better come away; Longfellow first of all, who will<br />
hardly care to remain now that his friend is ex-<br />
cluded. If any Dean of Westminster of the future<br />
regrets the exclusion, he may chisel into some<br />
vacant stone the line in which the French Academy<br />
does penance for the absence of Moliere: "Nothing<br />
was wanting to his glory. He is wanting to ours."<br />
—New York Tribune.<br />
April 10, 1892.<br />
II.<br />
The Glorious Traditions of the Book Agent.<br />
Napoleon Bonaparte, when a poor lieutenant,<br />
took the agency for a work entitled " L'Histoire de<br />
la Revolution." In the foyer of the great palace<br />
of the Louvre can be seen to-day the great<br />
Emperor's canvassing outfit, with the long list of<br />
subscribers he secured.<br />
George Washington, when young, canvassed<br />
around Alexandria, Va., and sold over 200 copies<br />
of a work entitled " Bydell's American Savage."<br />
Mark Twain was a book agent.<br />
Longfellow sold books by subscription.<br />
Jay Gould, when shirting in life, was a canvasser.<br />
Daniel Webster paid his second term's tuition<br />
at Dartmouth by handling "De Tocqueville's<br />
America," in Merrimac County, New Hampshire.<br />
General U. S. Grant canvassed for "Irving's<br />
Columbus."<br />
Rutherford B. Hayes canvassed for "Baxter's<br />
Saints' Rest."<br />
James G. Blaine began life as a canvasser for a<br />
"Life of Henry Clay."<br />
Bismarck, when at Heidelberg, spent a vacation<br />
canvassing for one of Blumenbach's handbooks.—<br />
New York Critic.<br />
III.<br />
The Chief Use of the Society.<br />
I conceive the Society's most important function<br />
to be the establishment of that solidarity amongst<br />
literary folk, notoriously a race of units, which<br />
has hitherto been non-existent. It is a great<br />
thing that voting authors should be able to get<br />
advice and help from those who know better than<br />
themselves; but it is much more that the whole<br />
profession of literature should have a focus, a<br />
rallying point, a central representative body—call<br />
it what you will. And it seems to me that it is<br />
the plain duty of every author, of whatever posi-<br />
tion, to further the consolidation of the Society<br />
by joining it. Many of its members, of course,<br />
do not need help themselves; they should, there-<br />
fore, add their own strength to the weakness of<br />
their less fortunate brethren. And of its power<br />
of immediate usefulness, the best testimony is to<br />
be found in the list of the more important cases<br />
in which the Society has interfered during the<br />
past year. It is very interesting reading, and will<br />
certainly convince all sceptics of the real usefulness<br />
of the Society and the justness of the ideal<br />
relations between author and publisher which it<br />
holds up.— IVinter's Weekly.<br />
IV.<br />
American Fiction.<br />
American fiction has distinctly forsaken the<br />
expansive and the illimitable to run after the<br />
contracted and the limited. Instead of a national<br />
novel we now have a rapidly accumulating series<br />
of regional novels, or rather—so far as the sub-<br />
dividing and minimising process goes—of local<br />
tales, neighbourhood sketches, short stories confined<br />
to the author's Imck yard.— The New York Nation.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 416 (#820) ############################################<br />
<br />
416<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
v.<br />
Newspaper Copyright.<br />
In the interesting discussion on newspaper copy-<br />
right now proceeding in the Times, no one has yet<br />
called attention to the very definite agreement on<br />
the subject embodied in the Berne Convention.<br />
Article VII. of that instrument runs as follows :—•<br />
"Articles from newspapers or periodicals pub-<br />
lished in any of the countries of the Union may be<br />
reproduced in original or in translation in the<br />
other countries of the Union, unless the authors<br />
or publishers have expressly forbidden it. For<br />
periodicals it is sufficient if the prohibition is<br />
made in a general manner at the beginning of<br />
each number of the periodical. This prohibition<br />
cannot in any case apply to articles of political<br />
discussion, or to the reproduction of news of the<br />
day or current topics."<br />
It will thus be seen that countries in the Copy-<br />
right Union have agreed, in so far as their relations<br />
with each other are concerned, to recognise no<br />
copyright under any circumstances in (i) articles<br />
of political discussion; (2) news of the day; or<br />
(3) current topics—a somewhat vague clause this<br />
last one.—Pall Mall Gazette.<br />
VI.<br />
From America.<br />
In New York City alone are nearly a dozen<br />
publishing "nouses of great wealth, and a score more<br />
in a highly prosperous condition. One rarely hears<br />
of a publisher failing, from the Cheap Johns and<br />
publishers of penny dreadfuls to those of a higher<br />
order. On the other hand, there can scarcely be<br />
pointed out an American author who is able to<br />
make even a decent living by his books.<br />
However, the vital question is: How can this<br />
state of things be remedied? A partial remedy<br />
could be found, no doubt, in the formation of an<br />
American Society of Authors similar to the Incor-<br />
porated Society of Authors of Great Britain, or the<br />
Societe des Gens de Lettres of France. The<br />
British Society is organised for the protection of<br />
literary property. It has been already of incalcul-<br />
able benefit to the British author. The organisa-<br />
tion of a similar society has been long mooted<br />
among American authors, and signs point to the<br />
present time as being ripe for it. The writer, in<br />
his inquiries among literary men, has found every-<br />
one in favour of it, and none opposed to it. Such<br />
a society should be organised on the most liberal<br />
basis.<br />
It should be open to everyone, young or old,<br />
male or female, who has written a book, whether<br />
published or not, and to recognised writers for the<br />
press. It should retain the best legal counsel; it<br />
should provide from its concentrated wisdom and<br />
experience a form of contract in which the author's<br />
right should be protected—such contracts having<br />
been hitherto drawn by the publisher for the pro-<br />
tection of his interests. It should have at least one<br />
executive officer, who should be an author of<br />
experience, and who should give information to all<br />
members applying for it, and take cognizance of<br />
all complaints, and who should have for counsel<br />
and assistance an advisory board composed of three<br />
of the ablest and most experienced members of the<br />
society. Finally, it should assume, and carry to<br />
the courts if need be, all clear cases of extortion<br />
and oppression of authors on the part of publishers.<br />
Such a society would save American authors<br />
thousands of dollars yearly, and chiefly to the<br />
young and inexperienced, who need help most.—<br />
Charles B. Todd in the Forum.<br />
VII.<br />
The Education op Opinion.<br />
Many publishers, especially the younger men,<br />
are gentlemen who have their clubs and their<br />
social positions. Social position is like marriage;<br />
the man who has it gives hostages to fortune. He<br />
cannot afford to have it said that in business trans-<br />
actions he systematically cheats. Cold looks greet<br />
him, club acquaintances avoid him; he finds the<br />
atmosphere of the club chilling. This has already<br />
happened in one or two instances; it is the first<br />
expression of public opinion in its infancy.<br />
What else can the Society attempt; I wish I<br />
could publish in these pages, in order to show its<br />
work, the letters of a single day. Agreements are<br />
sent up for examination, questions of difficulty<br />
about copyright in articles or books, questions as to<br />
cost, questions as to the trustworthiness of pub-<br />
lishers, questions of every kind. Our secretaries<br />
are supposed to know everything; hard by our<br />
offices are those of our solicitors, to whom are<br />
referred almost every day some points of difficulty.<br />
We keep authors out of the hands of dishonest<br />
publishers—this is a tremendous weapon. There<br />
are certain houses from which we have kept many<br />
thousands of pounds; we prevent authors from<br />
signing unfair agreements; we have readers to<br />
examine the manuscripts of young writers and to<br />
advise them. The newr American Copyright Law<br />
has introduced a whole sheaf of difficulties. In a<br />
word, we are the only body which has ever existed<br />
for the maintenance and defence of literary property<br />
for its creators and producers.<br />
What it has still to do.<br />
There remains before us one more service to<br />
literature. We desire above all things to formulate<br />
the broad principles upon which publishing should<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 417 (#821) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
4i7<br />
be conducted, so as to give the author the full<br />
share that belongs to him, and to recognise to their<br />
utmost the services of the publishers.<br />
I do not think that the problem will prove<br />
insoluable, once fairly tackled. I have myself a<br />
solution to offer, if I can only persuade other people<br />
to accept it.<br />
Whatever method is ndopted must depend<br />
entirely upon the success of a book, and therefore<br />
must be some form of royalty. Publisher and<br />
author must be interested in its success, each in<br />
his own fair proportion. In this place I can only<br />
point out the thing as one which must be attempted.<br />
For my own part I have seen, every day since<br />
the formation of the Society, fresh evidence of the<br />
necessity of such a corporation as our own.—<br />
Walter Bksant in the Forum.<br />
VIII.<br />
An Outside Opinion on the Society.<br />
Old and business-like authors gratefully acknow-<br />
ledge their gratitude? to this wonderful undertaking;<br />
but to the young and untried writers it is even<br />
more invaluable. It lias saved many youthful<br />
aspirants from ruin, by persuading them not to<br />
produce trash at their own risk, and has helped the<br />
more promising by kindly advice and suggestions<br />
in a way that has enabled authors to remodel a<br />
faulty MS. until it presented a readable and sale-<br />
able book. The Society has a monthly paper of its<br />
own, conducted by Mr. Besant, helped by many of<br />
our best writers, in which all means of publication,<br />
new methods, pitfalls to be avoided, &c, are fully<br />
discussed.<br />
The Authors' Club is an off-shoot of the Society,<br />
and bids fair to rival the Savilc. Unfortunately<br />
there are no lady members, so that the feminine<br />
part of the world of letters have to be content with<br />
the Albemarle or the Writers'. Nevertheless, the<br />
Society itself does not close its doors to women,<br />
who muster strongly among its members. There<br />
is an erroneous idea current that the Society acts as<br />
publishers. This is not so. It is practically an<br />
agent. It is also a lawyer, and al>ove all it is an<br />
able and willing adviser.—The Queen.<br />
♦■»■♦<br />
NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS.<br />
Theology.<br />
Baxter, Ukv. M. Forty Coming Wonders from 1892 to<br />
1901. Eightieth thousand. Christian Herald Office,<br />
Tudor Street, Salisbury Square, K.C.<br />
Bell, Captain Henry. Selections from the Table Talk of<br />
Martin Luther. Translated by. Cassell's National<br />
Library. Cloth, 6d.<br />
CaLTHROp, Ukv. Gordon. St. Paul: a Study. Addresses<br />
given in St. Paul's Cathedral. Paper covers, is. 61/.<br />
The Church in Walks. Full report of the debate on<br />
Mr. Samuel Smith's Resolution in the House of<br />
Commons on February 23, 1892. Paper covers (bd.).<br />
Also Speeches by Mr. Balfour and Sir E. Clarke on<br />
that occasion (it/, each). Church Defence Institution,<br />
Bridge Street, S.W.<br />
Corbktt, Kkv. F. St. John. Echoes of the Sanctuary.<br />
Skeffington and Son.<br />
Cornpord, Kkv. James. The Book of Common Prayer,<br />
with historical notes. Edited by. Eyre and Spottis-<br />
woodc.<br />
Griffith, Ralph T. H. The Hymns of the Rigveda.<br />
Translated, with a popular comment-try by. Vol. IV.<br />
(The previous volumes were published in 1889, 1890,<br />
and 1891.) E. J. Lazarus and Co., Benares.<br />
Gkimthokpk, Loud. A Review of Prebendary Sadler's<br />
"Church Doctrine—Bible Truth " anil of Mr. Gore's<br />
Theory of Our Lord's Ignorance. 6d. Protestant<br />
Churchmen's Alliance.<br />
Hill, Rowland, and Spurokox, C. II. Remarkable<br />
Sermons Preached from the same Text—" Christ<br />
Crucified." Passmore and Alabaster. Paper covers,<br />
3d.<br />
Maurice, F. D. Sermons Preached in Lincoln's Inn<br />
Chapel. Sixth and last volume. New edition. Mac-<br />
niillan. 3j. id.<br />
Rawson, Sib Rawson W , K.C.M.G. The Gospel Narra-<br />
tive, or Life of Jesus Christ, collated from the Autho-<br />
rized Text of the Four Gospels, with Notes of all<br />
material changes in the Revised Version, and Epitome<br />
and Harmony of the Gospels. 5». net.<br />
Reynolds, H. B., D.D. Light and Peace. Sermons and<br />
addresses. "Preachers of the Age " Series. With<br />
portrait. Sampson Low. 3j. 6<f.<br />
Spurgkon, Rev. C. II. Sermons. "Contemporary Pulpit<br />
Library." Swan Sonuenschein.<br />
Voysey, Rev. Charles. The Theistic Prayer Book.<br />
Third edition. Williams and Norgate.<br />
Williams, Rowland, D.D. Psalms and Litanies: Coun-<br />
sels and Collects for Devout Persons. Edited by<br />
his willow. New edition. Fisher Cnwiu. ys. 6d.<br />
Wordsworth, Charlks, D.D., D.C.L. Primary Witness<br />
to the Truth of the Gospel, a series of discourses; also<br />
a charge on modern teaching on the canon of the Old<br />
Testament. Longiuaus. 73. 6d.<br />
History and Biography.<br />
AunoTT, Edwin A. The Anglican Career of Cardinal<br />
Newman. 2 vols. Macmillan. 2 5s. net.<br />
Beniiam, Charlks E. Colchester Worthies: a biographical<br />
index of Colchester. Simpkin, Marshall.<br />
Boask, Frederic. Modern English Biography, containing<br />
concise memoirs of persons who have died since 18 So.<br />
Vol. I., A to H. Truro: Netherton and Worth, for<br />
the author (25o copies only printed). 3o.«. net.<br />
Brighton, J. G., M.I). Admiral of the Fleet Sir Provo<br />
Wallis. A Memoir. With illustrations, charts, &c.<br />
Hutchinson.<br />
Butler, Arthur John. The Memoirs of Baron de<br />
Marbot, late Lieutenant General in the French Army.<br />
Translated from the French. 2 vols., with portrait<br />
and maps. Longmans. 32*.<br />
Chetwtnd-Stapylton, H. E. TheChetwynds of Ingestre:<br />
being a history of that family from a very early date.<br />
With illustrations by the author. Longmans. 14s.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 418 (#822) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Conway, Ri'sset.t. H. Life of C. H. Spurgeon. Illustrated.<br />
A. T. Hubbard, Philadelphia.<br />
Foster, Joseph. Alumni Oxoniensis: The Members of<br />
the University of Oxford, their parentage, birthplace,<br />
and year of birth, with a record of their degrees,<br />
being the Matriculation Register of the University,<br />
alphabetically arranged, revised, and annotated. In<br />
two series—from i5oo to 1714 (five vols.), and from<br />
17iS to 1886 (three vols.). Parker and Co.<br />
Fowler, VV. Warde. Julius Cajsar, and the Foundation<br />
of the Roman Imperial System. "Heroes of the<br />
Nations" Series. G. P. Putnam's Sons, Bedford<br />
Street, Strand. 5s.<br />
Heron-Allen, Edward. I)e Fidiculis Hibliographia:<br />
being the basis of the Bibliography of the Violin and<br />
all other instruments played with a bow in ancient and<br />
modern times. (Part II., Rook Sections and Extracts<br />
(continued) and Second Supplement.) Griffith, Far-<br />
ran. Paper covers, is. 6d.<br />
Holcroft, Thomas. The Life and Adventures of Raron<br />
Trcnck. Vol. I. Translated by. Cassell's " National<br />
Library." 6,/.<br />
Hutton, A. W. Cardinal Manning. With a Ribliography.<br />
Metbuen and Co.<br />
Lecky, W. E. H. A History of Eugland in the Eighteenth<br />
Century. Vol. IV. New edition. Longmans. 6s.<br />
Mijatovitch, Chrdomil. Constantino, the Last Emperor<br />
of the Greeks; or, The Conquest of Constantinople<br />
by the Turks (A.D. 1453), after the latest historical<br />
researches. Sampson Low.<br />
Musson, S. P., and Roxburgh, T. L. "The Handbook of<br />
Jamaica for 1892." Published by authority, com-<br />
prising Historical, Statistical, and General Information<br />
concerning the Island. Twelfth year of publication.<br />
Compiled from official and other reliable records.<br />
Edward Stanford.<br />
Pike, G. Holden. Charles Huddon Spurgeon. "The<br />
World's Workers " Series. Cassell. is.<br />
Ri eman, Dr. H. Catechism of Musical History. Second<br />
Part—History of Musical Forms. With biographical<br />
notices of the most illustrious composers. Translated<br />
from the German. Augencr and Co., Newgate Street,<br />
E.C. is. 6rf. (Paper covers, zs. net.)<br />
Sorel, Albert. Madame de Stael. With portrait. Great<br />
French Writers Series. Fisher Unwiu. 3s. 6d.<br />
Symonds, J. A., and Daughter Margaret. Our Life in<br />
the Swiss Highlands. A. and C. Black.<br />
Verney, Colonel Lloyd. A Description of the Parish<br />
Church of Llangurig, Montgomeryshire. G. Pnlman<br />
and Sons, Thayer Street, W. is.<br />
General Literature.<br />
Acland, A. H. D., and Smith, H. Llewellyn. Studies<br />
in Secondary Education. Edited by Arthur H. D.<br />
Acland, M.P., and H. Llewellyn Smith, M.A., B.Sc.<br />
With an Introduction by James Brycc, M.P. Percival<br />
and Co. 7s. 6d.<br />
Anderson, John. The Colonial Office List for 1891.<br />
Compiled from official records, by permission of the<br />
Secretary of State for the Colonies. 21st publication.<br />
Harrison and Sons, Pall Mall. ys. 6d.<br />
Ahcher, Frank. How to Write a Good Play. Sampson<br />
Low.<br />
Atkinson, Rev. J. C. Playhours and Half-Holidays, or<br />
Further Experiences of Two Schoolboys. Illustrated<br />
by Coleman. Macmillan. 3s. 6d.<br />
Atkinson, Rev. J. C. Walks, Talks, Travels, and Exploits<br />
of Two Schoolboys. A book for boys. New edition.<br />
Macmillan. 3s. 6d.<br />
"R" Brigadier-General. A General and his Duties.<br />
Gale and Polden, Amen Corner, E.C. is. 6d., post<br />
free.<br />
Reardmore, W. Lee. The Drainage of Habitable Build-<br />
ings. A reprint and revision of articles in the Plumber<br />
and Decorator and Journal of Gas and Sanitary<br />
Engineering. Whittaker, White Hart Street.<br />
Berry, James. My Experiences as an Executioner. By<br />
James Berry. Edited by H. Snowden Ward. Percy<br />
Lund, Memorial Hall, Ludgatc Circus, E.C. is.<br />
Booth, Charles. Pauperism—a Picture; and the Endow-<br />
ment of Old Age—an Argument. Macmillan and Co.<br />
Bottone, S. R. A Guide to Electric Lighting. Whittaker.<br />
Paper covers, is.<br />
Brody, G. M. Tennyson's " Queen Mary." A criticism.<br />
Simpkiu, Marshall. Paper covers, is.<br />
Butler, Samuel. The Humour of Homer. Metcalfe and<br />
Co., Cambridge. 6d.<br />
Chbal, J., F.R.H.S. Practical Fruit Culture. George<br />
Bell and Sons.<br />
Cheltnam, Charles S. The Dramatic Year Book and<br />
Stage Directory, 1892. Illustrated with portraits of<br />
popular actors and actresses. Edited by. Trischler<br />
and Co., New Bridge Street, E.C.<br />
Chilton, Young F. Work. An Illustrated Magazine<br />
of Practice and Theory. Edited by. From March 21,<br />
1891, to March 12, 1892. Cassell.<br />
Clerke, Agnes M. Familiar Studies in Homer. Long-<br />
mans. 7s. id.<br />
Clouston, W. A. Literary Coincidences. A Bookstall<br />
Bargain and other Papers. Morison Brothers,<br />
Glasgow. Paper covers, is.<br />
Conder, Josiah. The Flowers of Japan and the Art of<br />
Floral Arrangement. With illustrations by Japanese<br />
artists. Sampson Low.<br />
Courtney, W. L. Studies at Leisure. Chapman and<br />
Hall. 6s.<br />
Distant, W. L. A Naturalist in the Transvaal. With<br />
coloured plates and illustrations. R. H. Porter,<br />
Prince's Street, W. 21s.<br />
Dowsett, C. F., F.S.I. Land. Its Attractions and Riches.<br />
By Fifty-seven Writers. Edited by. The "Land<br />
Roll " Office, 3, Lincoln's Inn Fields.<br />
Emiorants' Information Office Handbooks, 1892.<br />
Eyre and Spottiswoode. 2s.<br />
The Export Merchant Shippers; with their trading<br />
ports and class of goods shipped. Edited by<br />
a Custom House employ^, 1892-3. Dean and Son,<br />
Fleet Street.<br />
Fiskk, John. The Discovery of America. With some<br />
account of Ancient America and the Spanish Con-<br />
quests. Two vols. Macmillan. 18s.<br />
Forrest, G. W., B.A. The Administration of Warren Hast-<br />
ings, 1772-85. Reviewed and illustrated from original<br />
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Office of the Superintendent of Indian Government<br />
Printing, Calcutta.<br />
Gates, E. Wilson. Hints to Emigrants. Self-Help<br />
Emigration Society, id.<br />
Gore-Browne, F., and Jordan, Wm. Joint Stock Com-<br />
panies: A handy book on their formation, manage-<br />
ment, and winding-up. 15th edition. Jordan and Sons,<br />
120, Chancery Lane.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 419 (#823) ############################################<br />
<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
419<br />
Oork, Charles, M.A. Roman Catholic Claims. 4th<br />
edition, with new preface. Longmans. 3s. 6<l.<br />
Gowen, Rev. H. H. The Paradise of the Pacific. Sketches<br />
of Hawaiian Scenery and Life. Skeffington and Son,<br />
Piccadilly.<br />
Golf. A book for recording matches. Geo. Stuart and<br />
Co., Farriugdon Street and Edinburgh.<br />
Gullick, Thomas J. Oil Painting on Glass, including<br />
mirrors, windows, &c. With remarks upon the prin-<br />
ciples of painting and decorative art generally. Winsor<br />
and Newton, Rathbone Place, W. Paper covers, is.<br />
Hill, G. Birkbeck, D.C.L. Letters of Samuel Johnson,<br />
LL.D., collected and edited by. In two volumes.<br />
Vol. 1, Oct. 3o, 1731, to Dec. 21, 1776; vol. 2, Jan. i5,<br />
1777, to Dec. 18, 1784. With a facsimile. Clarendon<br />
Press. 28s.<br />
Hubbell, Walter. Midnight Madness, Bingham Pub-<br />
lishing Company, Chicago. Paper covers, 25c.<br />
Hunter, Sin Wm. Wilson, K.C.I.K. Bombay, 188S to<br />
1890: A Study in Indian Administration. Henry<br />
Frowde, Amen Corner, K.C. i5s.<br />
Irby, Lt.-Col. L. Howard. British Birds: Key List.<br />
2nd edition. H. H. Porter, 18, Prince's Street, W.<br />
25. 6d.<br />
Kelly's London Suburban Directory for 1892, with<br />
map engraved expressly for this work. Kelly and Co.,<br />
Great Queen Street, W.C. 36s.<br />
Ksxnedy, E. S. A Tramp to Brighton. Simpkiu,<br />
Marshall, is.<br />
Kennedy, H. A. The Sunday Afternoon Song-Book: for<br />
"Pleasant Sunday Afternoons" and other gatherings.<br />
Compiled by. James Clarke and Co. zd.<br />
Knox-Little, W. J., M.A. Sketches in Sunshine and<br />
Storm, a collection of miscellaneous essays and notes of<br />
travels. Longmans. 7*. 6rf.<br />
Lanin, K. B. Russian Characteristics. Reprinted, with<br />
revisions from the Fortnighty Jicview. Chapman<br />
and Hall. 14s.<br />
Lee, Sidney. Dictionary of National Biography. Edited<br />
by. Vol. XXX., Johnes-Kenneth. Smith Elder.<br />
Lurmolieff, Ivan. Italian Painters: Critical Studies of<br />
their Works. The Borghese and Doria-Pamfili Gal-<br />
leries in Rome. Translated from the German by<br />
Constauce Jocelyn Ffoulkes, with an introduction by<br />
Sir A. H. Layard, G.C.B., D.C.L. John Murray.<br />
i5s.<br />
"Mac and O'." The Parnell Leadership and Home Rule,<br />
from an historical, ethical, and ethnological point of<br />
view. Gill and Son, Dublin. Paper covers, 6d.<br />
Macdonell, A. A. Camping Out. George Bell and<br />
Sons.<br />
Mackenzie, W. M. The Poor Law Guardian; his powers<br />
and duties in the right execution of his office. Third<br />
edition. Shaw, Fetter Lane.<br />
The Making of Italy. By The O'Clery of the Middle<br />
Temple. Kegan Paul.<br />
The Medioal Register, 1892: and Tin: Dentists Re-<br />
gister. Spottiswoode, Gracechurch Street, E.C.<br />
Mivart, St. George. Essays and Criticisms. Two vols.<br />
Osgood, McIIvnine, and Co. 32s.<br />
Nansen, Fridtjo. The First Crossing of Greenland.<br />
Translated from the Norwegian by H. M. Gepp, B.A.<br />
A new edition, unabridged. With illustrations and<br />
map. Longmans. 7s. 6d.<br />
Nasmito, David, Q.C. Makers of Modern Thought; or,<br />
Five Hundred Years' Struggle (1200 a.d. to 1699 a.d.)<br />
between Science, Ignorance, and Superstition. Two<br />
vols. George Philip, Fleet Street. 12s. net.<br />
Noble, John. Facts for Politicians. A new and revised<br />
edition. Henry Good, Moorgate Street. Paper covers,<br />
is.; cloth, 2s.<br />
The Nursing Directory for 1892 (first annual issue).<br />
The Record Press, 376, Strand. 5s.<br />
Ormond, George W. T. The Barton House Conspiracy:<br />
a Tale of 1886. E. and S. Livingstone, Edinburgh.<br />
Cardboard covers, is.<br />
Ouseley, Rev. Sir G. The Compositions of the Rev. Sir<br />
F. A. Gore Ouseley, M.A., Mus. Doc. Compiled by<br />
John S. Bumpus. T. B. Bumpus, George Yard,<br />
Lombard Street. Paper covers, 2s.<br />
Owen, J. A. Within an Hour of London Town, among<br />
wild birds and their haunts. By "A Son of the<br />
Marshes." Edited by. Blackwood.<br />
Palgrave, R. H. I. Dictionary of Political Economy.<br />
Edited by. Second part, Beeke-Chamberlayne. Mac-<br />
niillan. Paper covers, 3s. 6d. net.<br />
Pascoe, Charles E. London of To-Day: an Illustrated<br />
Handbook for the Season. Eighth annual edition,<br />
revised and illustrated. Simpkin, Marshall.<br />
Payne, J. F. Lectures on the History of Education, with<br />
a Visit to German Schools. By the late Joseph Payne.<br />
Edited by his son. Vol. II. of the works of Joseph<br />
Payne. Longmans. 10s. 6d.<br />
The Popular Guide to the Second London County<br />
Council, with full particulars of the polls and portraits.<br />
Pall Malt Gazette Office. Paper covers, 6d.<br />
Powell, J. C. The American Siberia; or, Fourteen Years'<br />
Experience in a Southern Convict Camp. Gay and<br />
Bird, 27, King William Street, West Strand. 3s. 6d.<br />
Riding: The Use and Misuse of Reins and Stirrui-h.<br />
15 illustrations. By a Horseman. Third edition. King,<br />
Booksellers' Row, Strand. Paper covers, id.<br />
Rimmer, Alfred. Rambles Round Rugby. With an<br />
introductory chapter by the Rev. W. H. Payne Smith,<br />
M.A. Illustrated by the author. Percival.<br />
Roma. Joys and Sorrows; or, Two of Life's Stories.<br />
Sutton, Drowley, and Co., 11, Ludgate Hill. is.<br />
Russell, W. An Invalid's Twelve Year's Experience in<br />
Search of Health. R. B. Marten, Sudbury. 10s.<br />
Saintsbury, George. Political Pamphlets. Edited by.<br />
Pocket Library of English Literature. Percival and<br />
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Salaman, M. C. Woman, through a Man's Eyeglass.<br />
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Savile-Clarke, H. A Little Flutter: Stage, Story, and<br />
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Satce, George C. Twelve Times Round the World. By<br />
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Schneider, George. The Book of Choice Ferns. Vol. 1.<br />
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Gill, 170, Strand.<br />
Souvenir of Shakspeare's King Henry the Eighth.<br />
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White Publishing Company, is.<br />
<br />
<br />
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420<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
Stables, Gordon-, M.I). Our Humble Friends ami Fellow<br />
Mortals. Vol. I. of Homestead and Farm. Vol. II.<br />
of Hearth and Home. Vol. III. In Wood and Field.<br />
With illustrations by Harrison Weir. Sinipkin,<br />
Marshall.<br />
— The Cruise of the Land Vaeht "Wanderer," or<br />
"Thirteen Hundred Miles in my Caravan." With<br />
illustrations. Popular edition. Hodder aud Stoughton.<br />
55.<br />
Stanton, Albert J. Foot-and-Mouth Disease: Symptoms<br />
and Treatment and Outbreaks in Great Britain. K. W.<br />
Allen, Ave Maria Lane. Paper covers, bd.<br />
Stanton, Stephen ]!. The liehring Sea Controversy.<br />
Brcntano's, Agar Street, Strand.<br />
Stray Thoughts. From the Note Hooks of Rowland<br />
Williams, D.D. Edited by his widow. New edition.<br />
Fisher Unwin. 3s. bd.<br />
Stuart, J. S. S., and Stu.vkt, Charles, E. The Costume<br />
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biographical introduction. John Grant, Edinburgh.<br />
^ Bernard Quaritch, London.)<br />
Wallace, Alfred H. Island Life. Second and Revised<br />
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Whvmpkr, Edward. Travels Amongst the Great Andes<br />
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Williamson, William. Horticultural Exhibitor's Hand-<br />
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Wright, William Alois. The Works of William Shake-<br />
speare. Edited by. In nine volumes. Volume VI.<br />
Macmillan. 10s. id.<br />
Wrightson, John. Live Stock. Agricultural Text-books<br />
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Fiction.<br />
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Black, William. In Silk Attire. New and revised<br />
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Bi anch, J. Tempest. "Our Hands Have Met." 3s. bd.<br />
Colmork, G. A Valley of Shadows. 2 vols. Chatto and<br />
Winuus.<br />
Crawford, F. Marion. The Three Fates. 3 vols.<br />
Macmillan. 31s. bd.<br />
Curtis, George William. From the Easy Chair. Os-<br />
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Daudet, Ali'Honsk. Rose and Ninette: a Story of the<br />
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Donovan, Dick. In the Grip of the Law. Chatto and<br />
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GiLKisox, Elizabeth. The Story of a Struggle : a Ro-<br />
mance of the Grampians. A. and C. Black.<br />
Graveniiill, Guy. Horsley Grange. A sporting story.<br />
2 vols. Chapman and Hall.<br />
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Skelfington. Paper covers, is.<br />
Hatton, Joseph. The Princess Mazaroff: a Romance of<br />
the Day. Hutchinson. 3s. bd.<br />
Hennikkr, Florence. Bid me Good-bye. Bentley.<br />
Hope, Anthony. Mr. Witt's Widow. A Frivolous Tale.<br />
A. D. limes and Co., Bedford Street, W.C. 6s.<br />
Horni ng, F. W. Under Two Skies, a collection of stories.<br />
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a Seaside Story. Sampson Low.<br />
Huntingdon, E. M., and A. The Squire's Nieces. Samp-<br />
son Low.<br />
LachSzyrma, Rev. W. Under other Conditions. A<br />
Tale. A. and C. Black.<br />
Lindsay, Lady. The Philosopher's Window ami other<br />
Stories. A. and C. Black.<br />
Lovett-Cameron, Mrs. A Daughter's Heart. A Novel.<br />
F. V. White.<br />
Lowry, James W. The Doll's Garden Party. Illustrated<br />
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Maartens, Maarten. A Question of Taste: a Novel.<br />
Heincmann. 5s.<br />
Phillpotts, Edkn. A Tiger's Cub. Arrowsmith. 3s. bd.<br />
Robinson, F. W. A Very Strange Family. Heincmann.<br />
Spence, Edward F. A Freak of Fate: a Novel. Henry<br />
and Co., Bouverie Street. Picture boards, 2s.<br />
V. Betsy. Osgood, M'llvuine and Co. 3s. bd.<br />
Villars, P. The Escapes of Casanova and Latude from<br />
Prison, edited, with an introduction. Illustrated Ad-<br />
venture Series. Fisher Unw in. 5s.<br />
White, Roma. Punchinello's Romance. A. D. Innes,<br />
Bedford Street, Strand. 6s.<br />
Wiggin, K. D. Timothy's Quest. Gay aud Bird. 3s. 6rf.<br />
Winter, John Strange. Only Human. A Novel. In<br />
2 vols. F. V. White.<br />
Poetry and the Drama.<br />
Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The Foresters: Robin Hood<br />
and Maid Marian. Macmillan. 6s.<br />
Dennis, John. The Poetical Works of Sir Walter SeolU<br />
Edited, with memoir, by. In 5 vols. Volume IV.<br />
Aldine Edition. George Bell.<br />
DunouRG, A. W. Angelica: Romantic Drama in Four<br />
Acts. Bentley. Paper covers.<br />
French Poetry for Children. Selected by Francois<br />
Louis. Sixth edition. Franz Thimm, Brook Street,<br />
W. 2s. bd.<br />
Hall, J. Lesslie. Beowulf: an Anglo-Saxon epic poem.<br />
Translated from the Hevne-Socin text by. Heath,<br />
Boston, U.S.A.<br />
Kipling, Rudyard. Barrack Room Ballads. Methuen.<br />
Low, C. Rathbone. Cressy to Tel-el-Kebir. A narrative<br />
poem descriptive of the deeds of the British Army.<br />
Mitchell and Co., Craig's Court, S.W.<br />
<br />
<br />
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THE AUTHOR.<br />
421<br />
Rosetti. Dante G. Dante and His Circle, with the Italian<br />
poets preceding him (t 100-1200-13ooV A collection<br />
of lyrics translated in the original metres by. A new<br />
edition, with preface by W. M. Rosetti. Ellis and<br />
Elvey. 6s.<br />
Smith, G. Barnett. Illustrated British Ballads—Old and<br />
New. Selected and edited by. Part I. To be com-<br />
pleted in 24. Cassell. Paper covers, yd.<br />
Stevenson, It. L. A Child's Garland of Song, gathered<br />
from a Child's Garden of Verses. Music by Dr. C.<br />
Yilliers Stanford. Longmans. Paper covers, zs.<br />
WILSON, James H. Zahnoxis, and other Poems. Elliot<br />
Stock.<br />
The Works of Hkinrich Heine, translated from the<br />
German by C. G. Lelaud (Hans Breitiuann). Volumes<br />
V. and VI. Germany. Heinemann. 5*. each.<br />
Educational.<br />
Arnoi.d-Forster, II. O. The Laws of Every-day Life,<br />
for the use of schools. Cassell. zs.<br />
Ashford, Constance M. Latin Dialogues for School<br />
Representation. Swann Sonnenschein.<br />
Atlas ok Physical Geography. New, revised, and<br />
enlarged edition. W. and A. K. Johnston.<br />
Gambaro, Professor 11. Lessons in Commerce: a text-<br />
book for students. Revised and edited by James<br />
Gatilt, of the Middle Temple. Crosby Loekwood.<br />
Hay, IV. Shorthand Simplified and Improved. Swann<br />
Sonnenschein.<br />
Hoylk, W. T. Mental Arithmetic Problems. Standards<br />
I. to VII. 2''. or 3d. a volume. Answers to the same,<br />
4<i. W. H. Allen and Co.<br />
Lund, II. "A Practical and Easy Method of Learning the<br />
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Norwegian orthography. Franz Thimm and Co. 4s.<br />
REGULATIONS FOR MUSKETRY INSTRUCTION, 1892. Lee-<br />
Metford Rifle. Eyre and Spottiswoode. It.<br />
Royal University of Ireland: Examination Papers,<br />
1891. Longmans.<br />
Savill, Stanley. The Civil Service Coach. New edition,<br />
revised. Crosby Loekwood.<br />
Schofield, A. T. Physiology for Schools. Cassell.<br />
II. 9</.<br />
Shaler, N. S. The Story of our Continent, a reader in<br />
the Geography and Geology of Noith America, for the<br />
use of Schools. E. Arnold. 3*. bd.<br />
Sweet, Henry, M.A. A New English Grammar, Logical<br />
and Historical. Part I. Introduction, Phonology,<br />
and Accidence. Clarendon Press. io«. bd.<br />
Tatiiam, M. T. Homer for Beginners. Iliad. Hook III.<br />
Edited, with introduction and notes, by. Clarendon<br />
Press, is. bd.<br />
Tolman, H. C. A Grammar of the Old Persian Language.<br />
E. Arnold. 41. 6d.<br />
Law.<br />
The Future Water Supply of Birmingham. Second<br />
edition. Simpkin, Marshall, is. net.<br />
Hewitt, Thomas. A Treatise on the Law relating to<br />
Corporation Duty, or the Duty on the Income of the<br />
Proper.'y of Bodies Corporate and Uncorporate.<br />
Butterworth, Fleet Street.<br />
Heywood, Judge. Courts Practice, 1892. Two vols.<br />
2 5s. Sweet and Maxwell.<br />
MacLachlan, David. A Treatise on the Law of Merchant<br />
Shipping. Fourth edition, zl. zs.<br />
Paterson, James. The Intoxicating Liquor Licensing<br />
Acts, 1872, 1874, with introduction, notes, and index.<br />
Ninth edition. Shaw and Sons, Fetter Lane. 10s.<br />
Pollock, Sir Frederick. Leading Cases done into<br />
English, aud other Diversions. MacmiUan. 3s. bd.<br />
Rickards, A. G., and Saunders, R. C. Locus Standi<br />
Reports: Cases decided by the Court of Referees on<br />
Private Bills in Parliament during the Sessions 1890<br />
and 1851. (In continuation of Rickards and Michael's<br />
and Clifford and Riekards's reports.) Butterworth<br />
and Co., Fleet Street. Royal 8vo., 18s.<br />
Whitehead, Benjamin. Church Law. A concise dic-<br />
tionary of statutes, canons, regulations, and decided<br />
eases affecting the clergy and laity. Stevens and Sons.<br />
I os. bd.<br />
Williams, James, B.C.L. FCdueation; a Manual of<br />
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Science.<br />
Curtis, Charles E., F.S.I. The Manifestation of Disease<br />
in Forest Trees; the Causes and Itemedies. Horace<br />
Cox, the Field Office, Bream's Buildings, F].C. i«.<br />
Greene, Professor DasCOM. Introduction to Spherical<br />
aud Practical Astronomy. E. Arnold. 7s. bd.<br />
Kneipp, Sebastian. My Water Cure, tested for more<br />
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and the Preservation of Health. Translated from the<br />
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Street, Covent Garden.<br />
Neumann, L. G. A Treatise 011 the Parasites and Parasitic<br />
Diseases of the Domesticated Animals. Translated<br />
and edited by George Fleming, C.B., LL.D.,<br />
F'.H.C.V.S., late principal veterinary surgeon of the<br />
British Army. Bailliere, Tindall, and Cox, King William<br />
Street, Strand. 2 5s.<br />
Semple, C. F". A. Elements of Materia Medica and<br />
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Parliamentary Papers.<br />
Correspondence relating to the Relief of Agricultural<br />
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Colleges in Great Britain (id.). Descriptive List of<br />
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gations under the Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1888<br />
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Report on the "Abyssinia" F'ire (1 }</.). Ordinances<br />
by the Scottish Universities Commissioners as to the<br />
Graduation and Instruction of Women (irf.). And as<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />
THE AUTHOR.<br />
to Assistants ami Lecturers (id.)- Emigrants' Infor-<br />
mation Circulars for Canada, Australasia, and South<br />
Africa j Reports to the Board of Agriculture on the<br />
Plague of Field Mice or Voles in the South of Scot-<br />
land. Telegraphic Correspondence respecting Seal<br />
Fishing in Behring Sen during the season of 1892<br />
(2d.). Copy of a Despatch from Her Majesty's<br />
Minister at Washington, enclosing a Treaty between<br />
Great Britain and the United States for Arbitration<br />
concerning the Seal Fisheries in Behring Sea (id.).<br />
Minutes of Evidence taken before the Koyal Commis-<br />
sion on the Redemption of Tithe Rcntohaige in<br />
England and Wales (is. 6</.). Rule made by the<br />
Secretary of Stntc for the Dietaries of the Prisons in<br />
England and Wales (i<A). Copies of Reports by the<br />
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tive Statement of Pauperism for January (ild). Rule<br />
by the Board of Trade under the Railway and Canal<br />
Traffic Act, 1888 (3d.). Statement as to Sales and<br />
Leases of Foreshores by the Crown (2jd.). Annual<br />
Accounts of the Royal Army Clothing Factory for<br />
1890-91 (9$d.). First Report from the Committee of<br />
Public Accounts (2id.). Irish Land Commission—<br />
Rules issued in August, 1891 (6d.). Annual Returns<br />
of the Volunteer Corps of Great Britain for 1891 (3\d,).<br />
Census of Ireland. Part I., Vol. III., Ulster, No. 6,<br />
Fermanagh, 6d. Declarations made by Great Britain<br />
with Belgium respecting North Sea Fisheries, and with<br />
France for the Regulation of the Telephonic Service;<br />
Treaty with Spain for the Suppression of the African<br />
Slave Trade; Protocol with Uruguay for the Mutual<br />
Extradition of Fugitive Criminals j Agreement with<br />
Tonga as to the Trial of British Subjects, and with<br />
Persia as to Telegraphic Communication between<br />
Europe and India (id. each). Agricultural Produce<br />
Statistics of Great Britain, 1891 (43d.). Return show-<br />
ing the working of the regulations made in 1886 for<br />
carrying out the Prosecution of Offences Acts, 1879<br />
and 1884 (is.). Special Report from the Select Com-<br />
mittee on Railway Servants' Hours of Labour, with<br />
proceedings of the Committee and minutes of evidence,<br />
(is. ajd.). Further Correspondence respecting the<br />
Behring Sea Seal Fisheries (is. io|d.). Irish Land<br />
Commission, Return of proceedings during January<br />
(id.). Report of the Intermediate Education Board<br />
for Ireland for 1891 (4</.). Census of Ireland, Parti.,<br />
Vol. III. Ulster, No. 3, Cavau (6d.). Naval Defence<br />
Act, 1889. Accounts, 1890-91 (li</.). Return as to<br />
Laws or Regulations affecting the Hours of Adult<br />
Labour in the Colonies, with particulars as to hours<br />
and wages in various industries (7'/.). Correspon-<br />
dence respecting Commercial Treaties and Tariffs<br />
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Mines Regulation Acts, 1872 and 1875, and the Slate<br />
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Census of Ireland, 1891, Part I., area, houses,<br />
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County and City of Waterford (7s.). Memorandum<br />
on the Proposed Grant for Higher Education (id.).<br />
Diplomatic and Consular Reports:—(1) Russia:<br />
Agriculture of the Consular District of<br />
Taganrog (id.). (2) France: The Trade of<br />
Bordeaux (23d.) j (3) Austria - Hungary: Vine<br />
Culture in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Jd.). Accounts<br />
relating to Trade and Navigation of the United<br />
Kingdom for March (6d.). Memorandum under<br />
the Naval Defence Act, 1889 (9d.). Account<br />
relating to National Debt Annuities ($d.V<br />
Seventh Report of the Trade and Treaties Committee,<br />
containing Translation of the French Customs Tariff<br />
Law of January 11, 1892, showing the duties now<br />
leviable under the new General and Minimum Tariffs<br />
of 1892 and those leviable under the Conventional<br />
Tariff of 1882 (6d.). Ninth Repoit of the Trade aud<br />
Treaties Committee, containing Translation of the<br />
Tariffs Annexed to the Treaties between Various<br />
Central European Powers, with a comparison between<br />
the old aud the new rates leviable on importations from<br />
the United Kingdom (7W.). Report from the Select<br />
Committee on the Plumbers' Registration Bill (id.).<br />
Pauperism (England and Wales) Return (A), Com-<br />
parative Statement (ijrf.). Diplomatic and Consular<br />
Reports on Trade and Finance:—(1) United States:<br />
the Trade of Baltimore and District in 1891 (ijd.);<br />
(2) Russia: the Trade of Riga in 1891 (2d.) j (3) The<br />
Netherlands: the Finances of Netherlands-India<br />
(1 3d.); (4) Paraguay: Finances and General State of<br />
the Republic (ijd.). Annual Accounts of the Ord-<br />
nance Factories for 1890-91, with Report of the<br />
Comptroller and Auditor-General thereon (is. %\d.).<br />
Irish Land Commission—Return of Proceedings during<br />
February (id.). Return of Proceedings under the<br />
Lord Chancellor's Augmentation Act from February<br />
si, 1890, to February 18, 1892 (\d.). Foreign Office<br />
Annual Series—Report for 1891 on the Agriculture of<br />
the Consular District of New Orleans (lod.). Diplo-<br />
matic and Consular Reports—(1) Finances of Turkey<br />
and the Administration of the Ottoman Public Debt<br />
(ijd.); (2) the Foreign Trade of Italy for 1891 (id.).<br />
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mentary Papers. Correspondence respecting the Re-<br />
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tions of Service in the Army—Minutes of Evidence<br />
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Modus Vivendi in Newfoundland (4d.). Reports on<br />
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Annual Report of the Director of the National Gallery<br />
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Loans raised in England chargeable on the Revenues<br />
of India, outstanding at the commencement of the half-<br />
year ended March 3i, 1892. Return—County Courts<br />
Sittings (England and Wales) (is. 9:id.). Memorandum<br />
on the proposed Grant for Higher Education in Scot-<br />
land (id.). Government Insurances aud Annuities,<br />
Accounts made during the year ended December, 1891<br />
(id.) Order of the Board of Trade creating the Milford<br />
Haven Sea Fisheries District (id.). Copy of the Report<br />
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at Weyhill Station, on the Midland and South-Western<br />
Junction Railway, uiul upon the Hours of Duty of the<br />
Company's Servants (34d.). Repoi t of Board of Trade<br />
Inquiry into Complaints against the Great Northern<br />
(Ireland) Railway (\d.). Return, Railways—Trams<br />
Passing over Single Lines (id.). Return as to Agra-<br />
rian Offences in Ireland in 1891 (lid.). Board of<br />
Trade Order creating the Devon Sea Fisheries District<br />
(ijd.). Report on Mines in West Scotland District<br />
(No. 2) for 1891 (9jd.). Foreign Office Anuual<br />
Scries—Report on the Financial Condition of the<br />
Argentine Republic (6d.)—Eyre and Spottiswoode.<br />
<br />
<br />
## p. 423 (#827) ############################################<br />
<br />
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## p. 424 (#828) ############################################<br />
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424<br />
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