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479	https://historysoa.com/items/show/479	The Author, Vol. 13 Issue 04 (January 1903)	<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.+13+Issue+04+%28January+1903%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 13 Issue 04 (January 1903)</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>	1903-01-01-The-Author-13-4					81–108																		<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=13">13</a>											<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1903-01-01">1903-01-01</a>							4			19030101	The Huthor.<br /> <br /> { Tg<br /> i 6<br /> of<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors.<br /> <br /> FOUNDED BY SIR<br /> <br /> Monthly.)<br /> <br /> WALTER BESANT.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Vou. XIIT.—No. 4.<br /> <br /> JANUARY Ist, 1903.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE TELEPHONE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> The Telephone connection has now been estab-<br /> lished, and the Society’s number is—<br /> <br /> 374 VICTORIA.<br /> <br /> eg<br /> <br /> NOTICES.<br /> <br /> pe ee<br /> <br /> OR the opinions expressed in papers that are<br /> K signed or initialled the authors alone are<br /> responsible. None of the papers or para-<br /> graphs must be taken as expressing the opinion<br /> of the Committee unless such is especially stated<br /> to be the case.<br /> <br /> Tue Editor begs to inform members of the<br /> Authors’ Society and other readers of 7he Author<br /> <br /> _ that the cases which are from time to time quoted<br /> <br /> in The Author are cases that have come before the<br /> notice or to the knowledge of the Secretary of the<br /> Society, and that those members of the Society<br /> who desire to have the names of the publishers<br /> concerned can obtain them on application.<br /> <br /> ++ —<br /> <br /> List of Members.<br /> <br /> Tur List of Members of the Society of Authors<br /> can now be obtained at the offices of the Society,<br /> at the price of 6d. net.<br /> <br /> It will be sold to the members of the Society<br /> only.<br /> <br /> —+-&gt;-+—_<br /> <br /> The Pension Fund of the Society.<br /> <br /> Tur investments of the Pension Fund at<br /> present standing in the names of the ‘Trustees are<br /> as follows.<br /> <br /> This is a statement of the actual stock; the<br /> <br /> Vou, XIII,<br /> <br /> [Prick SIXPENCE.<br /> <br /> money value can be easily worked out at the current<br /> price of the market :—<br /> <br /> ee £816 5 6<br /> Wocal Goans =) a 404 10 0<br /> <br /> Victorian Government 8 % Con-<br /> solidated Inscribed Stock............ 291 19 11<br /> WearciGal 2. QOL 9.23<br /> Total 33.5. £1,714 4 8<br /> <br /> SPECIAL APPEAL.<br /> <br /> Tur Appeal sent out by the Chairman of the<br /> Society at the request of the Pension Fund Com-<br /> mittee has been very successful.<br /> <br /> Up to and including the 19th of December, the<br /> list of subscriptions and donations promised and<br /> given is set forch below. Further subscriptions<br /> and donations will be acknowledged as they<br /> come in.<br /> <br /> Subscriptions.<br /> <br /> Nov. 14, Tuckett, F. F. &#039; ; .£1 0 0<br /> S Cox, Miss Roalfe 0 5 0<br /> <br /> , Loynbee, William . 010 6<br /> <br /> , Anonymous . : : L070<br /> <br /> » odd, Miss Margaret, M.D. tt 0<br /> <br /> » Pearson, Mrs. Conney 2 2 0<br /> <br /> 5 Seaman, Owen : ; - tt 8<br /> <br /> , Abbot, Rey. Edwin A, D.D.. 1 0 0<br /> <br /> . . Witherby, Rey. C. . 0 5.0<br /> <br /> » Salwey, Reginald E. 0 10 0<br /> Vacher, Francis 110<br /> <br /> Nov. 15, Parr, Mrs... ; 1 fr 0<br /> 4 Davy, Man EO. : . 010 6<br /> <br /> . Allingham, Wiliam, FRCS. 1 1 9<br /> <br /> ,» Armstrong, Miss Frances 0 5 0<br /> <br /> Holmes, Arthur H. (condi-<br /> <br /> tional) ; : :<br /> Rattray, Alex. : ‘ :<br /> ,, Brodrick, ‘The Honble. Mrs. .<br /> Noy. 17, Nisbet, Hume : ; :<br /> Keene, H. G., C.5.1. : :<br /> Bayly, Miss A. E. (Edna Lyall)<br /> 3 Forbes, E. . : : .<br /> ss Spiers, Victor.<br /> <br /> ”<br /> <br /> a?<br /> <br /> owe oor cre<br /> —<br /> <br /> en bo Re OO Rt Ot<br /> <br /> eceocoooocosoo<br />  <br /> <br /> 82<br /> <br /> Noy. 17, Kroeker, Mrs. Freiligrath<br /> » Burrowes, Miss Elsa<br /> » Cooke-Taylor, R. W.<br /> Noy. 18, Voysey, Rev. Charles<br /> , vones, W. Braunston<br /> » Anonymous .<br /> 5 Salmond, Mrs. Walter<br /> » Amonymous .<br /> » Clough, Miss B. AL<br /> » Stanton, Miss H. M.<br /> » “Lucas Malet”<br /> Nov. 20, E. G.<br /> ao enkins, Miss Hadow<br /> Morrah, H. A. A<br /> Hatton-Ellis, Mrs. .<br /> Bertouch, The Baroness de<br /> ,» Anonymous<br /> Nov. 21, Parr, Miss Olive<br /> Nov. 22, Forbes, Lady Helen<br /> » Twycross, Miss M.<br /> Nov. 24, Smythe, Alfred<br /> » Haggard, Mrs. John<br /> ,, Anonymous ‘<br /> », Dale, Miss Nellie .<br /> oe Tresham Quaines” .<br /> Noy. 25, Young, W. Wellington .<br /> Nov. 26, Young, Capt. Charles<br /> Dec. 1, Finnemore, Mrs. .<br /> Dec. 3, Caulfield, Miss Sophia<br /> Dec. 5, Hecht, Mrs. :<br /> 5» Hamilton, Mrs. G. W.<br /> Brinton, Selwyn<br /> Dec. 9, Dill, Miss Bessie<br /> Dec. 18, Sutherland, Her Grace the<br /> Duchess of<br /> Dec. 19, Toplis, Miss Grace .<br /> <br /> ”<br /> <br /> ”<br /> <br /> Donations.<br /> <br /> Noy. 13, Bullen, EF. A<br /> is Roberts, Morley (an annual<br /> subscriber). :<br /> Nov. 14, Rossetti, W.M. . :<br /> es Marshall, Capt. Robert .<br /> »» Hoyer, Miss ‘ :<br /> . EM 8B.<br /> “ Lefroy, Mrs. .<br /> » Sinclair, Miss May (an annual<br /> subscriber) . : ‘<br /> » McBride, Capt. E. E.<br /> » Garnier, Russell .<br /> Noy. 15, Burchell, Sidney H.<br /> » Spero” :<br /> 5 “ Cecil Medlicott v<br /> », Harker, Mrs. Allen<br /> » Banks, Mrs. M. M.<br /> », Spielmann, M. H.<br /> » Garnier, Col. J. .<br /> », Benecke, Miss Ida .<br /> <br /> Oe<br /> <br /> or So by<br /> <br /> oor Of ©<br /> <br /> KSPR wWOoOOCCNOFRFS<br /> <br /> connnacd oro<br /> <br /> a<br /> <br /> illo e e<br /> aooccunce o orn HONS OO COLON OH HOA OLOTS OLD OH OHMS WN<br /> <br /> i<br /> <br /> He<br /> Howonmonworcneu<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> oacocoococoo<br /> <br /> =&gt;<br /> <br /> oo cCooaoocooeoeoo soso S OS Soo RSS<br /> <br /> So<br /> <br /> ecocoocoacaoceo eoocooocoo<br /> <br /> Nov. 15, Atton, Henry ; 05 0<br /> <br /> Nov. 17, Panter, Rev. C. R.. 0 5 0<br /> <br /> » Keene, H.G,CSi . 0 5 0<br /> <br /> », Spielmann, Mrs. M. H. . 1 i4@<br /> <br /> » Begbie, Harold ; . 8 3 0<br /> <br /> », Stevenson, J.J. . -10 0 0<br /> <br /> , Minniken, Miss Bertha M. 0 5 0<br /> <br /> Noy. 18, From sale of autograph . 124<br /> <br /> » Wintle, H. R. 010 0<br /> <br /> » Brickdale-Corbett, H. M. 010 0<br /> <br /> » Defries, Miss Violet : 010 6<br /> <br /> Nov. 19, Stanton, Miss Hannah M. 1 0 ¥<br /> » Warren, Major-General Sir<br /> <br /> Charles, K.C.M.G. 1 0.98<br /> <br /> » “lucas Malet”. 5 5 0<br /> <br /> Nov. 20, Wynne, Charles Whitworth 5 &amp;<br /> <br /> Nov. 22, Skeat, The Rev. Prof. W. W.. 5 0 0<br /> <br /> Nov. 25, Jacobs, W.W. ; : 1 194<br /> <br /> ; Young, W. Wellington . 0 5 0<br /> <br /> » Batty, Mrs. Braithwaite . 010 0<br /> <br /> Nov. 26, Cook, C. H. . 1.1 ¢@<br /> <br /> Noy. 27, Gleig, Charles 010 0<br /> <br /> » Harraden, Miss Beatrice 1 1@<br /> <br /> . Frankland, F. W. 1 0 0<br /> <br /> ,» d Auvergne, Mrs. 0 5 0<br /> <br /> Nov. 28, Sutcliffe, Halliwell 1 2 8<br /> <br /> Nov. 29, Weyman, Stanley J. 5 0 0<br /> <br /> Dec. 1, Sanderson, Sir J. Burdon 5 0 0<br /> <br /> Dec. 2, Trevor- Batty e, Aubyn 1 14<br /> <br /> » Marks, Mrs. . ; 010 0<br /> <br /> Dec. 9, Moore, Henry Charles 0 5 0<br /> <br /> Dec. 11, Lutzow, Count 2 0 0<br /> <br /> « Leicester Romayne ” 0 5 0<br /> <br /> Dee. ‘12, Croft, Miss Lily 0 5 0<br /> <br /> a Panting, J. Harwood 010 0<br /> <br /> . Tattersall, Miss Louisa . 0 5 0<br /> <br /> Dec. 19, Egbert, Henry 0 5 0<br /> <br /> The following members have also made subscrip-<br /> tions or donations :—<br /> <br /> Meredith, George, President of the Society.<br /> <br /> Thompson, Sir — Bart., F.R.C.S.<br /> <br /> Rashdall, The Rev. H<br /> <br /> Guthrie, Anstey.<br /> <br /> Robertson, Cc. B.<br /> <br /> ‘There are in addition other subscribers who do<br /> not desire that either their names or the amount<br /> they are subscribing should be printed.<br /> <br /> The total amount of cash actually received is<br /> £190 3s. 6d.<br /> <br /> SPECIAL CONDITIONAL SUBSCRIPTIONS.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Mr. Hamilton Drummond, who is a member of<br /> our Society, has offered a subscription of £10 for<br /> five years, if nine other members of the Society<br /> will promise the same contribution before 31st<br /> March, 1903.<br /> <br /> We sincerely hope that sufficient members of<br />  <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> - ef the Society will be found to come forward and<br /> <br /> ose meet Mr. Drummond’s generous offer, and that<br /> <br /> . dee ‘before the time expires we may be able to print in<br /> <br /> », of the columns of Zhe Author the full list of ten<br /> » dae subscribers of the required amount.<br /> <br /> Subscriptions.<br /> <br /> ive Hawkins, A. Hope . : _£10° 0 0<br /> erisa@ Barrie, J. M. . : : ‘ ~ 10-0 0<br /> jaca Drummond, Hamilton : ; 10-02-60<br /> veg Wynne, Charles Whitworth . 2 19 0-9<br /> es<br /> Tue Pension FunD COMMITTEE.<br /> a In order to give members of the Society, should<br /> <br /> ed: they desire to appoint a fresh member to the<br /> ,-a89 Pension Fund Committee, full time to act, it has<br /> -98e been thought advisable to place in Zhe Author a<br /> <br /> _ (I full statement of the method of election under the<br /> foe Scheme for administration of the Pension Fund.<br /> &gt;a Under that Scheme the Committee is composed of<br /> ad three members elected by the Committee of the<br /> ~- 908 Society, three members elected by the Society at<br /> si the General Meeting, and the Chairman of the<br /> 908 Society for the time being, ex officio. The three<br /> ‘9m members elected at the General Meeting when the<br /> os Fund was started, were Mr. Morley Roberts, Mr.<br /> <br /> &#039; Wf M. H. Spielmann, and Mrs. Alec Tweedie. Last<br /> 98) year, Mrs. Alec Tweedie resigned in due course,<br /> Sf and submitting her name for re-election was<br /> l/:Gh unanimously re-elected. This year, Mr. Morley<br /> 1 99 Roberts in turn, under the Rules of the Scheme,<br /> 09) tenders his resignation and submits his name for<br /> \/-@ re-election. The members have power to put for-<br /> ‘ey ward other names under Clause 9 which runs as<br /> <br /> wolle follows :—<br /> <br /> ae! * Any candidate for election to the Pension Fund Com-<br /> if mittee by the members of the Society (not being a retiring<br /> s@ member of such Committee) shall be nominated in writing<br /> © to the Secretary, at least three weeks prior to the General<br /> ~ Meeting at which such candidate is to be proposed, and the<br /> ‘6 nomination of each such candidate shall be subscribed by,<br /> 4; at least, three members of the Society. A list of the names<br /> + of the candidates so nominated shall be sent to the members<br /> ? of the Society with the annual report of the Managing<br /> _ Committee, and those candidates obtaining the most votes<br /> + at the General Meeting shall be elected to serve on the<br /> *) Pension Fund Committee.”<br /> <br /> Tn case any member should desire to refer to the<br /> “| List of Members, a copy complete, with the excep-<br /> tion of those members referred to in the note at<br /> | the beginning, can be obtained at the Society’s<br /> | Office.<br /> <br /> It would be as well, therefore, should any of the<br /> members desire to put forward candidates, to take<br /> the matter within their immediate consideration.<br /> The General Meeting of the Society has usually<br /> been held towards the end of February or the<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 83<br /> <br /> beginning of March. It is essential that all<br /> nominations should be in the hands of the<br /> Secretary before the 31st of January.<br /> <br /> —_——1—_—-<br /> <br /> Sir Walter Besant Memorial Fund.<br /> <br /> THE amount standing to the credit<br /> of this account in the Bank is......... £330 8 6<br /> <br /> There are a few promised subscriptions still<br /> outstanding. The total of these is, roughly,<br /> about £4, The subscriptions received from July 1st<br /> to the date of issue are given below :—<br /> <br /> Patterson, A. . : ‘ : fl 1 0<br /> Salwey, Reginald E. : : : 010 0<br /> Gidley, Miss E. C. : : 010 0<br /> Nixon, Prof. J. E. 0% 6<br /> Dill, Miss Bessie 0. 5.0<br /> Moore, Henry Charles 0 5 6<br /> <br /> ———————_1——______<br /> <br /> FROM THE COMMITTEE.<br /> <br /> tt<br /> <br /> HE Committee held the last meeting in 1902<br /> on Monday, the 1st of December. They<br /> proceeded to the election of members. The<br /> <br /> list of those elected is set forth below. The post-<br /> age of magazines was one of the questions discussed.<br /> The Chamber of Commerce is dealing with the<br /> matter and the Committee are supporting its action.<br /> Two disputes were up for discussion. In the one<br /> negotiations are being carried forward, and in the<br /> other it was decided, if it was possible to obtain<br /> the support of the member concerned, to take the<br /> matter into Court. As the point under discussion<br /> is one of principle, and concerns a very common<br /> clause in authors’ agreements, it is hoped that the<br /> matter may be tried in Court in order that a test<br /> case may be put forward.<br /> <br /> During the past month one case has been tried<br /> in the County Court. The debt and costs were<br /> paid. The Secretary has forwarded four claims<br /> against American magazines for money due to<br /> the Society’s American agent. The Committee<br /> hope that they will terminate satisfactorily. With<br /> the sanction of the Chairman asmall County Court<br /> case was taken in hand. It was placed with the<br /> solicitors of the Society, but before the summons<br /> was issued the debt was paid.<br /> <br /> The Secretary during the past month has dealt<br /> with ten cases. Five refer to the rendering of<br /> accounts, three to claims for money due, and two<br /> deal with the return of MSS. Five of the cases<br /> have been satisfactorily concluded, two for money<br /> 84<br /> <br /> due and three for accounts. The County Court case<br /> referred to must be reckoned as one of the five.<br /> There is every hope that the balance will terminate<br /> to the advantage of the authors without calling in<br /> the aid of the law.<br /> <br /> pee<br /> <br /> Election, December, 1902.<br /> <br /> The following members and associates were<br /> elected on December Ist, 1902.<br /> Burke, Arthur M. . 2, Carlyle Gardens,<br /> Cheyne Row, S.W.<br /> Carlile, Rey. John C.<br /> <br /> Davidson, Miss Lillias Graemsdyke, Cranes-<br /> Campbell water Park, Southsea.<br /> Foster, Arnold R. 38, Yew Tree Road,<br /> <br /> Withington, Lancs.<br /> <br /> Hextable, Swanley,<br /> Kent.<br /> <br /> Calle de Buenos Aires,<br /> Las Palmas, Canary<br /> Islands.<br /> <br /> Stanhope, The Hon. and Byford Rectory, Here-<br /> Rey. Berkeley ford.<br /> <br /> Nye, George .<br /> <br /> Meyer, Charles<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> a<br /> <br /> BOOK AND PLAY TALK.<br /> <br /> ——$+—&lt;—¢—<br /> <br /> IR ROBERT BALL is at present engaged on<br /> <br /> a treatise on “Spherical Astronomy.” His<br /> <br /> latest work, ‘‘ The Earth’s Beginning,” was<br /> practically an account of a recent course of lectures<br /> <br /> given by him at the Royal Institution. It has<br /> been published here by Messrs. Cassell. There is<br /> <br /> also an American edition ; and quite recently Sir<br /> Robert Ball received a copy of a Dutch translation,<br /> with the title “ Het Onstaan der Aarde,” trans-<br /> lated by Dr. B. C. Goudsmit.<br /> <br /> Edna Lyall’s new book, “The Burgess Letters,”<br /> just published by Messrs. Longmans, Green &amp; Co.<br /> at 2s. 6d., is a record of child-life in the sixties.<br /> It is not fiction, but is a genuine record of this<br /> popular authoress’s own childhood. This interest-<br /> ing record has a coloured frontispiece, and eight<br /> full-page illustrations by Walter S. Stacey.<br /> <br /> Edna Lyall is just beginning to write a novel,<br /> the scene of which is laid partly in Italy and partly<br /> in England. It will be remembered that in the<br /> spring of 1902 this writer published through<br /> Messrs. Longmans a short story called “The<br /> Hinderers,” which upholds the Quaker view as to<br /> the unlawfulness of war.<br /> <br /> We must not expect anything from Miss Annabel<br /> <br /> Gray at present, as she is recovering from a most<br /> dangerous illness.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Lord Avebury’s “The Use of Life” has bee<br /> translated into Gujerathi and Urdu, and, like “The<br /> Pleasures of Life,” into Mahratti. The translation<br /> into Mahratti has an interesting preface by the<br /> translator, who states that his principal object was.<br /> to show that Englishmen had a cheerful view of<br /> life, while his countrymen’s view of life was just<br /> the reverse.<br /> <br /> Mr. Mackenzie Bell’s religious lyric, “ Lord<br /> Teach us to Pray,” which is set to music as am<br /> anthem by Herr Georg Liebling, has been trans-<br /> lated into German verse by the Rev. Professor Carl<br /> Glebe, of Westphalia, for use throughout Germany.<br /> The second edition of the anthem, just published<br /> in London by Dr. Charles Vincent, has both the<br /> English and the German words.<br /> <br /> Mr. Harold Begbie’s latest book, “ Bundy in the<br /> Greenwood” (Isbister, 5s.), is illustrated by<br /> Gordon Browne. It is Mr. Begbie’s first venture<br /> into the nursery, and it was only published after<br /> he had amended the MS. according to the criticism<br /> of his eldest daughter, rising six.<br /> <br /> This writer has just begun a series of ‘‘ Master<br /> Workers” in the Pall Mall Magazine. The first<br /> article dealt with the Bishop of London; the<br /> second with Sir William Crookes ; and the next<br /> two will deal with psychic research and the mys-<br /> tery of the subliminal consciousness. The object<br /> of the series is to convince the ordinary man that<br /> there is a vast amount of work proceeding in the<br /> modern world of which he knows very little.<br /> <br /> Austin Clare’s new north-country novel, “The<br /> Tideway,” will be published immediately by<br /> Messrs. Chatto and Windus.<br /> <br /> ‘“‘The Cardinal’s Dawn,” the serial finishing in<br /> the January issue of Macmillan’s Magazine, is by &amp;<br /> new writer, H. L. Montgomery. The novel is<br /> placed in Italy in the imquecento, and is based on<br /> the intrigues for and against Bianca Capelli.<br /> <br /> Mr. Austin Dobson has undertaken to write @<br /> life of ‘‘ Fanny Burney ” for Messrs. Macmillan’s<br /> “English Men of Letters,” and Mr. Edmund Gosse<br /> is at work on a life of “Jeremy Taylor” for the<br /> same series.<br /> <br /> Mr. Dobson’s “Side-walk Studies,” recently<br /> issued by Messrs. Chatto and Windus, is an enter-<br /> taining book. ‘There is an informing chapter on<br /> “Mrs. Woffington”; another on “The Vicar of<br /> Wakefield and its Illustrators ” ; there is “‘ A Walk<br /> from Fulham to Chiswick” ; and perhaps the most<br /> fascinating of all, “Dr. Johnson’s Haunts and ~<br /> Habitations.”<br /> <br /> From Mr. Dobson’s “Samuel Richardson’<br /> (Macmillan’s “English Men of Letters” Series) we<br /> should like to quote at length, but space permits<br /> only an extract or two. Referring to the recently-<br />  <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> «ie raised question of Richardson’s indebtedness to<br /> self Marivaux’s “ Vie de Marianne,” he says :—<br /> Es “That there are superficial affinities between Richardson<br /> _ (@ and Marivanx may at once be conceded. Both hit upon<br /> s4) the novel of analysis, and in this connection, no doubt,<br /> -js;1f Marivaux precedes Richardson. Their manners of writing<br /> +o» -were also similar in some respects ; and when Crébillon the<br /> voy younger, describing Marivaux, affirms that his characters<br /> jon not only say everything that they have done, and every-<br /> ogid) thing that they have thought, but everything that they<br /> ».uo® would have liked to think but did not—he almost seems<br /> <br /> | 91 to be describing Richardson as well. .. .<br /> ie “There is not, as far as we are aware, a particle of evidence<br /> «/) that Richardson ever saw the earlier volumes of this version<br /> <br /> jo) (of ‘Vie de Marianne’). In fact, the only discoverable<br /> <br /> 455 aeference he makes to Marivaux is contained in the post-<br /> (8. script to ‘ Clarissa,’ and that occurs in a quotation from a<br /> «4 French critic (translated) taken from the Gentleman&#039;s<br /> voll Magazine for August, 1749. That he knew no French is<br /> -. “ef demonstrable, and he could not therefore have studied<br /> sl Marivaux in the original, Moreover, he was not in any<br /> sass sense a novel reader ; and in‘ Pamela.’ the idea of which<br /> bad had been in his mind twenty years before he wrote it, he<br /> vif aimed at a moral work rather than a story.<br /> <br /> “ Richardson has given so circumstantial and reasonable<br /> <br /> ean account of the independent origin and development of<br /> <br /> 04 ed) the book, that it seems superfluous to go outside it in order<br /> <br /> 6) to establish his obligation to a French author, however<br /> <br /> fis gifted, of whom, when he first sat down to write the<br /> <br /> ias% * Familiar Letters’ to which ‘ Pamela’ owed its birth, he<br /> «; bee had probably never even heard the name.”<br /> <br /> 1 In the last chapter, entitled ‘Last Years and<br /> oo) General Estimate,” there is an admirable bit of<br /> summing-up :—<br /> <br /> * His popularity is certain with the few—with those who,<br /> | like Horace Walpole, either read what nobody else does, or,<br /> | like Edward Fitzgerald and Dr. Jowett, read only what<br /> } takes theirfancy. He must always find readers, too, with<br /> <br /> ‘the students of literature. He was the pioneer of a new<br /> ‘movement ; the first certificated practitioner of sentiment ;<br /> 4 the English Columbus of the analytical novel of ordinary<br /> i life. Before him, no one had essayed in this field to<br /> describe the birth and growth of a new impression, to show<br /> the ebb and flow of emotion in a mind distraught, to follow<br /> the progress of a passion, to dive so deeply into the human<br /> ieee heart, as to leave—in Scott’s expressive words—‘ neither<br /> : noe head, bay, nor inlet behind him until he had traced its<br /> <br /> ‘92 soundings, and laid it downin his chart, with all its minute<br /> 00a sinuosities, its depths and shallows.’ ”<br /> <br /> “ The Splendid Idle Forties,” by Gertrude Ather-<br /> ton (Macmillan &amp; Co.), is a revised and enlarged<br /> © edition of her former book, “ Before the Gringos<br /> #2 Came.” The tales give a vivid and striking<br /> <br /> | picture of old Californian life before and during<br /> | the American conquest, of the beauty, grace, and<br /> <br /> passion of the Spanish women, and their fierce<br /> resentment against their country’s invaders.<br /> <br /> Mr. Stephen Gwynne has an interesting article<br /> ‘on “Celtic Sagas” in the December number of<br /> Macmillan’s Magazine. He seeks to illustrate, by<br /> the method of resemblance and difference, the<br /> ancient poetry of Ireland, as represented by Lady<br /> Charlotte Guest’s famous version of ‘The<br /> Mabinogion.”<br /> <br /> Miss Henriette Corkran’s “‘ Celebrities aud I,”<br /> published a short while ago by Messrs. Hutchinson<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 85<br /> <br /> &amp; Co., is a handsome volume brim full of enter-<br /> taining gossip and amusing anecdotes. Miss<br /> Corkran, who is a painter by profession, gives us<br /> her crisply-written impressions of the many<br /> celebrities she has known and met.<br /> <br /> Of Thackeray, kind friend of her childhood, we<br /> hear a good deal. ‘Then there are interesting<br /> anecdotes about the Brownings, Tennyson, W. G.<br /> Wills, the dramatist, Sir Frederick Leighton, etc.,<br /> etc. ; and last and latest, we are given an impres-<br /> sionist sketch of Mr. Richard Whiteing, the famous<br /> author of “ No. 5, John Street.”’ “ Celebrities and<br /> I” has been widely reviewed, and it ought to do<br /> very well.<br /> <br /> Mr. Andrew Lang’s “ The Disentanglers” is a<br /> series of stories, of more or less fantastic adven-<br /> ture, under one cover. (Longmans, 6s.) The<br /> interest which holds them together is supplied by<br /> the connection of some of the characters with an<br /> agency for the disentangling of matrimonial diffi-<br /> culties. We have, among others, “ Adventure of<br /> the Rich Uncle,” “Adventure of the Office Screen,”<br /> “ Adventure of the Exemplary Earl,” and “ Adven-<br /> ture of the Miserly Marquis.” It is an amusing<br /> book.<br /> <br /> Mr. Anthony Hope delivered a_ lecture last<br /> month in Edinburgh, before the Philosophical<br /> Society.<br /> <br /> He said (we quote from the Daily Chronicle) ‘‘the average<br /> man viewed his own sphere of life as normal ; he viewed<br /> as real what he saw existing among his neighbours, and<br /> regarded as real what was before him in ninety-nine cases<br /> out of a hundred. The ninety-nine he called real, and the<br /> one case in the hundred he viewed as unreal.<br /> <br /> “The average man had little adventure; his time was<br /> marked down for him, and he saw little hope of becoming<br /> other than what he was. The lot of the labouring classes<br /> was the most common, but the man who wrote about this<br /> class was marked down by the wealthy classes as a cynic.<br /> In a true and deep picture the novelist could not leave out<br /> the physical side of a man, for often his physical pleasure<br /> was his only pleasure, and in his pleasurable excesses often<br /> lay the man’s deepest temptation.<br /> <br /> “The notions of the man in the street were generally<br /> cousin once removed to truth. He had small sympathies<br /> with the parent who wrote to the newspapers that he liked<br /> to feel safe in handing a book to his girl to read. It did<br /> not do to have the truth told in all circumstances, but<br /> there was generally in a book a message for someone. The<br /> words romance and realism were too often the catchwords<br /> of criticism. Realism widened their views and broadened<br /> <br /> their sympathies.”<br /> <br /> We have received a dainty paper-covered booklet<br /> of selections from the works of John Greenleaf<br /> Whittier, entitled “ A Whittier Treasury.” The<br /> selections have been made by the Countess of<br /> Portsmouth.<br /> <br /> Mr. Percy White’s latest novel, “The New<br /> Christians,” has gone into a second edition. So<br /> has Mr. Morley Roberts’ “Immortal Youth.”<br /> Both these novels well deserve their undoubted<br /> <br /> SUCCESS.<br /> <br /> ?<br />  <br /> <br /> 86<br /> <br /> Mrs. Edward Kennard’s “ The Motor Maniac”<br /> is a capital story somewhat on the lines of her<br /> successful ‘ The Golf Lunatic.”<br /> <br /> Lieut.-Colonel E. Gunter (late East Lanes. Regi-<br /> ment) has published, through Messrs. Wm. Clowes<br /> &amp; Sons, Ltd., 23, Cockspur Street, Charing Cross,<br /> a sixth edition of his well-known “ Officer’s Field<br /> Note and Sketch Book and Reconnaissance Aide-<br /> Mémoire.”<br /> <br /> “Harvest Home”? is the title of the latter-day<br /> poems of Mr. Thomas Winter Wood (Vanguard),<br /> of Plymouth. “ Harvest Home” contains poems<br /> which must appeal to many minds, and we refer<br /> our readers to the volume that they may taste for<br /> themselves. Messrs. Simpkin, Marshall are the<br /> publishers; the price is 3s. 6d. net.<br /> <br /> A volume of poems has been published by<br /> Ernest Western through Thomas Burleigh, 376,<br /> Strand. It is called ‘“ Creeds, Crosses, and Cre-<br /> denda,” and may be commended to those who care<br /> for pleasant verse.<br /> <br /> Messrs. Kegan Paul have published a new poem<br /> by Mr. Ernest A. Tietkens, author of ‘The<br /> Heavenly Link,” entitled “The Loves of the<br /> Flowers: a Spiritual Dream.” It is 2s. 6d. net.<br /> <br /> Mrs. Harcourt Roe, who has paid a six months’<br /> visit to New Brunswick, purposes writing some<br /> articles on New Brunswick and the very primitive<br /> condition of parts of the country there.<br /> <br /> Copies of those excellent and quite indispensable<br /> publications, ““Who’s Who” and ‘“ The English-<br /> woman’s Year Book for 1903” have been received<br /> at our office.<br /> <br /> a re<br /> <br /> PARIS NOTES.<br /> <br /> —+—<br /> <br /> FTER the Balzac statue comes the Balzac<br /> Orphanage. It seems that Madame Barbier,<br /> in whose house Balzac lived for some years,<br /> <br /> has founded a home for twenty orphan girls in<br /> memory of the great novelist.<br /> <br /> She is now seventy-five years of age, and she<br /> still owns the house in the Rue Raynouard ‘in<br /> which Balzac wrote so many of his books from<br /> 1840 to 1847, the year of his marriage. Until<br /> last year Madame Barbier lived in this house.<br /> She and her daughter have given up their entire<br /> fortune in order to found this orphanage, and in<br /> spite of all the sacrifices they have made they will<br /> be short of two thousand francs to make up this<br /> year the thirty-two thousand of their expenses.<br /> M. de Braisne, an influential member of the Société<br /> des Gens de Lettres, has written a most touching<br /> account of Madame Barbier’s efforts and sacrifices,<br /> hoping that any admirers of the author of the<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> “ Comédie Humaine” may come forward and offe<br /> their contributions to the Balzac Orphanage.<br /> The new novel by Anatole France, “ Histoir<br /> Comique,” commences with a tragedy. It is now<br /> appearing in serial form in the Revue de Paris, an<br /> will afterwards be published with illustrations ag<br /> an édition de luxe. It is a decidedly up-to-dai<br /> novel, and the story opens in the dressing-room 0<br /> an actress.<br /> “La Statue ensevelie,”’ by Ivan Strannik, i<br /> well worth reading. It is a novel with remarkabl<br /> little plot, and the whole interest of the sti<br /> centres in the état d’dme of the heroine. She is”<br /> one of the unfortunate women with an artisti<br /> temperament, and an obtuse, egotistical husband<br /> She naturally, under these circumstances, finds<br /> marriage a failure, and so takes refuge in art an<br /> in the friendship of a devoted cousin. There is<br /> nothing particularly original in the story itself,<br /> but the heroine is Russian, and the intense prid<br /> sullenness, and passion of the Russian temperament<br /> make the novel an interesting psychological study.<br /> “Sur la Branche” is the title of the new novel<br /> by Pierre de Coulevain, the author of “ Eye<br /> Victorieuse.” In the latter book we had a study<br /> of the American society woman at home and<br /> abroad, her faults and her qualities being compared<br /> with those of the French woman in the same rank<br /> of life. In this new novel the author gives us his<br /> candid opinion about England and the English.<br /> The general verdict of the English critics after<br /> reading “Eve Victorieuse” was that Pierre deCoule-<br /> vain thoroughly understood Americans. It will be<br /> interesting to read the opinion of the same critics<br /> after the publication of “Sur la Branche.” The<br /> last chapters of this novel are not yet written, but<br /> it is probable that the volume will be published<br /> early in the year.<br /> “TL Argent del’Autre,” by M. Charles de Rouvre,<br /> is an excellent novel. It is the story of a man<br /> who has no fortune of his own, and who falls<br /> desperately in love with a wealthy young widow,<br /> whom he eventually marries. His torment begins<br /> soon after this event. The idea of owing every<br /> thing to his wife humiliates him, particularly as<br /> the wealth she now owns comes to her from he<br /> first husband. The story is cleverly worked out,<br /> so that the reader enters thoroughly into th<br /> sufferings of the husband, and realizes all th<br /> humiliation of his position in the home.<br /> <br /> M. Waldeck Rousseau has just published a book<br /> entitled “ L’Action républicaine et sociale,” treat-<br /> ing of all the reforms that have been accomplished<br /> from 1899 to 1902.<br /> <br /> The French Society of Dramatic Authors he<br /> been fortunate in discovering a most capable ma<br /> as successor to M. Roger, whose death occurred<br /> some two or three months ago. M. Robe<br />  <br /> <br /> te: Gangnat, who has been elected Agent-Général_ of<br /> 2 of the Society, is an advocate by profession. He<br /> 2 -s% was secretary to M. Pichon, the present French<br /> iil/ Minister in Tunis, and attaché under M. Bourgeois,<br /> sail! Minister of the Interior and Minister of Foreign<br /> tit ® Affairs.<br /> al In 1898, M. Gangnat joined the staff of the<br /> Wl Matin as dramatic critic, and from 1891 to 1894<br /> sy of he was President of the dramatic society known<br /> <br /> es, as “Les Escholiers,” a society which stages the<br /> «toy works of unknown but talented authors. M.<br /> ae} Gangnat is therefore well known in the theatrical<br /> » 109 world, whilst his legal knowledge and experience<br /> . {lis will be invaluable to the Society he now represents.<br /> ae Things theatrical seem to be of the greatest<br /> ja importance, judging from the amount of literature<br /> duc published this season on subjects concerning the<br /> _ ed: theatre in France and in other countries.<br /> <br /> *__ A volume by M. Jules Claretie entitled “ Profils<br /> of de Théatre’’ is interesting from the first line to<br /> &#039; 94 the last. M. Claretie, as director of the Théatre<br /> _voa9 Francais, has exceptional opportunities for writing<br /> ot aa book of this kind. He has the good fortune,<br /> * 90, too, to possess an excellent memory, so that the<br /> “fo volume, with its anecdotes of artistes living and<br /> ssi dead, is like an album of photographs. M. Claretie<br /> » (fs tells us of Dejazet refusing to act in “‘ La Dame<br /> “ui aux Camélias ” and of Frédéric Lemaitre’s pride in<br /> 1 sit his “ Robert Macaire.” He tells us, too, interesting<br /> ine! details about Got, Reichenberg and Monnet Sully.<br /> <br /> ‘As a kind of postscript to this book of M.<br /> sf Claretie’s comes a volume by M. Adrien Bern-<br /> igt heim, entitled “Trente Ans de Théatre.” The<br /> 19g) author gives us details about the working and the<br /> sigh statistics of the four state theatres of France.<br /> ve 9) He also, like M. Claretie, gives us the benefit of<br /> ei his souvenirs, and finishes the volume with an<br /> ©59; account of the Society called the “&#039;Trente Ans de<br /> , $901 Théatre,” in which he is so deeply interested, and<br /> <br /> iy which was originally started as a kind of relief<br /> tie fund for artistes.<br /> -°4 Notcontent with giving us so much information<br /> «od, about the French stage, M. Georges Bourdon has<br /> $e been studying in England all things connected<br /> i dig with the English theatre, and as a result he has<br /> q published a volume entitled “Les Théatres<br /> Anglais.” M. Jusserand, too, has taken up the<br /> subject, and has just published a most interesting<br /> article on “The London Theatres in the time of<br /> Shakespeare.” It appears that the first permanent<br /> theatre was built in Paris in 1548, and that the<br /> first one in London dated from 1576.<br /> <br /> ay The two great successes of this season, so far,<br /> . 84 are undoubtedly the “ Resurrection” at the Odéon,<br /> and “La Chatelaine” at the Renaissance.<br /> <br /> “Le Joug,”’ which Madame Réjane has been<br /> playing since her return to Paris, has not been<br /> ‘enthusiastically received. It is no doubt a clever<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 87<br /> <br /> piece, and the dialogue is bright and witty, but<br /> the French public is getting tired of this kind<br /> of play.<br /> <br /> “Le Cadre” is another play of the same stamp.<br /> It was well received as it was admirably put on,<br /> but the public soon tired of this, too.<br /> <br /> Byron’s “ Manfred” was M. Lugne Poe’s latest<br /> venture, but it must be confessed that most people<br /> were disappointed with this play on the stage.<br /> <br /> At the Opéra Comique, “La Carmélite,” by<br /> M. Catulle Mendés, has been the great event of<br /> the season in the musical world. The theme of<br /> this opera has given rise to much discussion, as<br /> the more devoted Catholics strongly objected to<br /> the taking of the veil being employed as a stage<br /> effect.<br /> <br /> M. Paul Hervieu is the fortunate dramatic<br /> author who has produced a new play for Madame<br /> Sarah Bernhardt. M. Hervieu has had this piece<br /> on hand for about a year.<br /> <br /> The International Theatre is making great<br /> headway here. “Infedele,” by Roberto Bracco,<br /> and “Di Notte,” by Sabatino Lopez, are the two<br /> pieces now being given, and M. Bour has scored<br /> an immense success with both of them. The<br /> latter is a most curious play, and shows up the<br /> striking difference between the Italian and French<br /> theatres. The piece is full of surprises, unexpected<br /> incidents seem to be tacked on to the drama, and<br /> in one or two instances the tragedy borders on<br /> comedy. M. Bauer is excellent in his réle, and<br /> M. Bour’s acting is. as finished as in his famous<br /> “Alleluia.”<br /> <br /> “ Infedele”’ is a comedy in three acts, and is<br /> admirably put on. M. Bour, Mlle. Mylo d’Arcylle,<br /> and M. Bourny have the three chief parts. The<br /> play is an Italian variation on the “eternal<br /> theme,” so dear to French dramatic authors.<br /> The dialogue is witty, but most daring, and the<br /> piece demands extremely clever and finished<br /> acting.<br /> <br /> Attys HALLARD.<br /> ———__1——_e—___—_—_-<br /> <br /> LITERARY, DRAMATIC, AND MUSICAL<br /> PROPERTY.<br /> <br /> oe eS ie<br /> Kipling +, Putnam.<br /> <br /> UDYARD KIPLING’S suit for $25,000<br /> damages against George Haven Putnam<br /> and Irving Putnam, constituting the pub-<br /> <br /> lishing firm of G. P. Putnam’s Sons, for infringe-<br /> ment of copyright and trademark, came up again<br /> for argument before the United States Circuit<br /> Court of Appeals on Kipling’s appeal from Judge<br /> Lacombe’s decision against him,<br />  <br /> <br /> 88<br /> <br /> John L. Hill, in arguing for Mr. Kipling,<br /> said that at the time the critical sickness of<br /> the author in New York and the death of his<br /> little girl were exciting intense interest in him<br /> and his works, the defendants decided “ to shake<br /> the tree and get all the apples they could,” and<br /> that the Brushwood edition followed. He believed<br /> the intention was to forestall the sale of the<br /> “Outward Bound” edition, the authorized<br /> edition. ;<br /> <br /> Stephen H. Olin, for the Putnams, said the<br /> publishers had attempted no deceit whatever, and<br /> that only fifteen sets had borne the elephant’s<br /> head and autograph, which the plaintiff says were<br /> used to give the edition the colour of an authorised<br /> edition.<br /> <br /> The Court reserved decision.<br /> <br /> — +<br /> <br /> Literary Property and Copyright in the United<br /> States.<br /> <br /> Ix 1890 an American publisher entered into a<br /> contract with an English author, having in pre-<br /> paration a novel to be published serially in an<br /> English magazine, by which he agreed to pay<br /> £20 “in return for the sole and exclusive use of<br /> advance sheets of said novel in the United States<br /> and Dominion of Canada”; the price to be paid<br /> “on publication of the novel in America.” The<br /> author agreed to deliver to the publisher a complete<br /> copy of the work, either in advance sheets or<br /> manuscript, at least two months prior to the com-<br /> pletion of its serial publication in England. Prior<br /> to the publication of the work in America, in<br /> October, 1891, the greater portion of it had been<br /> published serially in England. Until July Ist,<br /> 1891, there was no statute in the United States<br /> under which a copyright could be secured on a<br /> work by a foreign author. Held that, construing<br /> the contract in the light of such facts, it conferred<br /> no rights of proprietorship in the manuscript of<br /> the work which entitled the American publisher<br /> to copyright the same in the United States, but<br /> only the right to the exclusive use of the advance<br /> sheets to enable him to publish the work in<br /> America coincidently with or in advance of its<br /> publication in England.<br /> <br /> The bill charges that Mr. Barrie, the author of<br /> “The Little Minister,” a novel to be issued serially<br /> in the year 1891 in the magazine Good Words,<br /> published in London, on May 8th, 1890, entered<br /> into a contract with John W. Lovell as follows :<br /> <br /> “This contract entered into and made this<br /> eighth day of May, 1890, between J. M. Barrie, of<br /> London, and John W. Lovell, of New York,<br /> witnesseth: (1) In consideration of the premises,<br /> the said J. M. Barrie hereby grants and assigns to<br /> <br /> THER AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> the said John W. Lovell the sule and exclusive<br /> right to publish from advance sheets in the United —<br /> States and Dominion of Canada,.a novel by him to<br /> be issued serially in a magazine, known as Good —<br /> Words, during the year 1891. And. the said —<br /> J. M. Barrie agrees to deliver to the said John W.<br /> Lovell a complete copy of such work, either in the<br /> form of advance sheets or MS., at least two<br /> calendar months prior to the serial completion of<br /> such work in England ; and in the event of his —<br /> failure to do so, this contract, at the option of the<br /> said John W. Lovell, shall become inoperative and —<br /> void. (2) The said John W. Lovell agrees in<br /> return for the sole and exclusive use of advance<br /> sheets of the said novel in the United States and<br /> the Dominion of Canada to pay the said J. M,.<br /> Barrie £20 on publication of the novel in America,”<br /> Lovell assigned this contract to the United States<br /> Book Company, which company, on June 19th, ~<br /> 1891, deposited with the Librarian of Congress at. —<br /> Washington a printed copy of the title of the book,<br /> and on October 14th, 1891, deposited two copies of<br /> the book in that office. The publication of the<br /> novel was begun in the January, 1891, number of<br /> the monthly periodical Good Words, in London.<br /> and continued throughout that year. Thirty-eight.<br /> chapters had been thus published prior to the<br /> publication of the completed book by the United<br /> States Book Company in America, and prior to the<br /> deposit of the copies with the librarian; the<br /> remaining seven chapters of the book being —<br /> published in the London magazine subsequently,<br /> The book, as. published in the United States by<br /> the United States Book Company, contained the<br /> notice in form required by the law of copyright,<br /> and the bill charges full compliance: with the<br /> requirements of law with respect to copyrights,<br /> whereby, as it is claimed, the United States Book<br /> Company became the sole owner of the copyrigh<br /> of the book in the United States of America, On<br /> May 29th, 1900, the complainant became the<br /> owner of the rights of the United States Book<br /> Company under the contract between Barrie and<br /> Lovell, and of the copyright, if any, secured’ by<br /> that company. It is further charged that Mr,<br /> Barrie, in 1897, without the consent of Lovell o<br /> any of his successors in interest, dramatised the<br /> novel “The Little Minister,” and secured it<br /> production and performance upon the stage within<br /> the United States under contract with th<br /> defendant Frohman ; that such dramatisation is in<br /> four acts, of which acts 3 and 4 are founded in<br /> plot, incident and characters upon, and much 0<br /> its language is contained in chapters 39 to 4<br /> inclusive, of the novel, and such acts are importan:<br /> parts of the dramatisation ; that the defendants<br /> Yack and Hards are managers or actors in the<br /> theatrical company associated with Frohman, an<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> wen BD<br /> <br /> 3 op ox. 9<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> od Shs Fa! ES ca GR ee ee<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 89<br /> <br /> were about to produce the play and perform therein<br /> at certain places stated in the bill, within the<br /> jurisdiction of the court. The bill sought an<br /> Injunction restraining the performance of the<br /> drama. Yack and Hards demurred to the bill<br /> upon the grounds (1) that at the date of the<br /> contract the laws of the United States did not<br /> authorise a copyright in favour of the works of a<br /> foreign author; (2) that the story was first to be<br /> published in the English magazine, before any<br /> right of publication in the United States ; (3) that<br /> the right granted by the contract was merely a<br /> licence granting the exclusive right to publish the<br /> novel from advance sheets after publication thereof<br /> by the author ; (4) that the United States Book<br /> Company never became the proprietor of the book,<br /> and had no authority to procure a copyright ; (5)<br /> laches by the complainant in the assertion of his<br /> alleged right. On May Ist, 1901, the court<br /> sustained the demurrer and dismissed the amended<br /> bill for want of equity (105 Fed., 787), and on<br /> October 29th, 1901, an appeal was allowed to this<br /> ‘court.<br /> <br /> Millard R. Powers for appellant; George A.<br /> Dupuy for appellees.<br /> <br /> JENKINS, Circuit Judge (after stating the facts<br /> as above).—The office of all construction and<br /> interpretation of contracts is to ascertain the inten-<br /> tion of the parties, and the meaning of the words<br /> they have used—their real design as disclosed by<br /> the whole contract. For that purpose we may<br /> resort to surrounding circumstances and the condi-<br /> tion of the parties at the time, not to ascertain<br /> what they may have secretly intended, but to<br /> resolve doubtful expressions and to ascertain the<br /> true meaning of the agreement, And this is to be<br /> judged, not from any separate provision or dis-<br /> connected expression in the writing, but taking it<br /> in its entirety.<br /> <br /> It is insisted for the appellant that the right<br /> acquired by Lovell to the manuscript of “The<br /> Little Minister,” so far at least as concerns the<br /> United States of America and Canada, was that of<br /> proprietor, and that, therefore, he had under the<br /> Jaw the right of copyright. At the date of this<br /> contract, May 8th, 1890, copyright was not<br /> authorised in this country in favour of foreign<br /> authors (Rey. St., sect. 4952); nor, as it would<br /> ‘seem, could a foreign author assign or transfer to<br /> a citizen his manuscript or common law right of<br /> property therein, so that the latter could have<br /> copyright protection within the United States<br /> (Yuengling v. Schile, C. C., 12 Fed. Rep., 97, 102-<br /> 107). The international copyright law granting<br /> copyright to foreign authors was passed March 3rd,<br /> 1891, and went into effect July 1st, 1891 (26 stat.,<br /> 1106-1110, chap. 565). It thus appears that the<br /> contract in question was entered into nearly ten<br /> <br /> months prior to the passage of this law. At its<br /> date Mr. Barrie had no right to acquire copyright<br /> within the United States, and could grant no such<br /> right. Nor could an assignee of his manuscript<br /> and common law right therein acquire such copy-<br /> right. It is, therefore, manifest that it was not,<br /> and could not have been, within the contemplation<br /> of the contracting parties to grant or to acquire a<br /> right to that which did not exist and was not the<br /> subject of a grant. Unless, therefore, by the<br /> agreement in question Lovell became the owner<br /> and the proprietor of the manuscript, to the<br /> exclusion of Mr, Barrie’s right therein, and could<br /> avail himself, with respect to that work, of the<br /> privilege conferred by subsequent legislation, he<br /> has no right to copyright of the work. The parties<br /> at the execution of the contract were thus circum-<br /> stanced: Mr. Barrie was engaged in writing a<br /> novel for serial publication in an English<br /> magazine, to be therein published monthly, com-<br /> mencing with the January number, 1891. By the<br /> agreement, Mr. Barrie granted and assigned to<br /> Mr. Lovell “the sole and exclusive right to<br /> publish from advance sheets, in the United<br /> States and Dominion of Canada,” the work to be<br /> published serially in the English magazine during<br /> the year 1891, and agreed to deliver to Lovell a<br /> complete copy of the work, either in the form of<br /> advance sheets or MS., at least two calendar<br /> months prior to the serial completion of such<br /> work in England.’ In consideration thereof,<br /> Lovell agreed to pay “for the sole and exclusive<br /> use of advance sheets of the said novel in the<br /> United States and the Dominion of Canada” £20<br /> upon its publication in America. It may be<br /> doubted whether the contract contemplated the<br /> serial publication of the work in America, as it<br /> provides for the delivery of the advance sheets or<br /> manuscript at least two calendar months prior to<br /> the serial completion of the work in England; and<br /> we are not informed by the bill concerning the fact<br /> of serial publication here, so that we can judge of<br /> the practical construction placed upon the contract<br /> by the parties. If Mr. Barrie was not bound to<br /> furnish any advance sheets or any portion of the<br /> manuscript until two months prior to the com-<br /> pletion of the serial publication in England then it<br /> is clear that as to the parts published ia England<br /> before the filing of copies of the book with the<br /> Librarian of Congress, namely, the first thirty-<br /> eight chapters, there was no possible right of<br /> copyright under the international copyright law<br /> (Holmes v. Hurst, 174 U.S., 82, 19 Sup. Ct. 606,<br /> 43 L. Ed., 904 ; Same v. Donohue, C. C., 77 Fed.,<br /> 179). The story contained forty-five chapters,<br /> and was completed in England in the December<br /> number of the magazine, and all but seven chapters<br /> were published in England prior to the deposit of<br />  <br /> <br /> 90<br /> <br /> the book in the office of the Librarian of Congress.<br /> At the most, therefore, copyright could only com-<br /> prehend the last seven chapters of the work.<br /> Bearing in mind that upon publication in England<br /> of the work or parts of the work, there could be no<br /> copyright in the United States under the inter-<br /> national copyright law of the parts thus published,<br /> and that at the time of the contract there was no<br /> international copyright law, the meaning of the<br /> contract would seem tobe clear. Mr. Barrie could<br /> only secure any sum for publication of the work<br /> in America by granting the use of his manuscript<br /> in advance of its publication in England, for any<br /> American publisher could after such publication<br /> issue it here without liability to Mr. Barrie or to<br /> Mr. Lovell. It could be reproduced with impunity.<br /> An American publisher could only be first upon<br /> the market here by publishing it simultaneously<br /> with or in advance of its publication in England,<br /> and that could only be accomplished by obtaining<br /> advance sheets of the manuscript before the<br /> appearance of the story or any of its parts in the<br /> English magazine. It is clear to us that the<br /> purpose of the contract was to accomplish this<br /> simultaneous publication. Mr. Barrie did not<br /> sell his manuscript, or dispose of his common law<br /> right thereto. He merely agreed to furnish<br /> advance sheets, and gave to Lovell the exclusive<br /> right to publish them either simultaneously with,<br /> or within a short time before, the completion of<br /> the serial publication in England. Lovell agreed<br /> to pay £20, not for the work, not to become pro-<br /> prietor of the work, but “for the sole and exclusive<br /> use of the advance sheets” of the novel in the<br /> United States. ‘This is a mere licence to Lovell,<br /> giving him the advantage of the use of advance<br /> sheets. That use, it is true, was to be exclusive ;<br /> that is to say, Mr. Barrie agreed on his part that<br /> he would not furnish advance sheets to another.<br /> Lovell only acquired a qualified interest. He did<br /> not become the absolute owner. One of the<br /> qualities of absolute ownership in a work is that<br /> the author has the right to withhold it from<br /> publication if he so desire. Lovell could not do<br /> that. Under this contract he was bound to<br /> publish it, for the consideration expressed in the<br /> contract was not payable until publication. This<br /> construction of the instrument is fortified also by<br /> the amount of the consideration. As the author<br /> had no right of copyright, and as upon publication<br /> in England any one had right to publish it in<br /> America, the author could receive nothing for the<br /> work published here, except such as he might be<br /> able to obtain by allowing its publication here<br /> simultaneously with or in advance of its publica-<br /> tion in England. That accounts for the trifling<br /> consideration in the contract, and speaks the<br /> intent of the parties. It is inconceivable that a<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> distinguished author would have disposed of pro-<br /> prietorship in his manuscript for so inconsiderable.<br /> asum. We are of opinion that the contract con-<br /> ferred no rights of proprietorship in the manuscript<br /> but only the right of publication coincidently with<br /> or in advance of the publication of the work in<br /> England.<br /> The decree is affirmed.<br /> <br /> [Reprinted by kind permission of The Times.]<br /> <br /> Moul v. Boosey.<br /> <br /> THIS was an action for alleged libel. The defen-<br /> dant relied on the defence of fair comment on a<br /> matter of public interest.<br /> <br /> Mr. Lush, K.C., and Mr. 8. O. Henn Collins<br /> were for the plaintiff; Mr. Avory, K.C., and Mr,<br /> P. Rose-Innes for the defendant.<br /> <br /> It appeared that the plaintiff, Mr. Alfred Moul,<br /> was the chairman of the Alhambra, and had been<br /> a composer of musical works, and was the agent<br /> for the British Empire of the Société des Auteurs,<br /> Compositeurs, et Editeurs de Musique de France.<br /> The defendant, Mr. William Boosey, was now<br /> managing director of Chappell &amp; Co. (Limited),<br /> music publishers. The plaintiff alleged that before<br /> the Copyright (Musical Compositions) Act, 1888,<br /> one Harry Wall had taken an active part in the<br /> institution of proceedings for penalties for the<br /> unauthorized performance of musical compositions,<br /> and that he had acted dishonourably and oppres-<br /> sively in the institution of these proceedings. The<br /> defendant, on March 18, 1902, had written a letter<br /> to the Daily Mail, saying that “ Mr. Alfred Moul,<br /> who protests in your columns against justice being<br /> done to English composers, publishers, and music-<br /> sellers, is the same gentleman who has for years<br /> been unsuccessfully attempting to persuade English<br /> music publishers to follow the example of French<br /> music publishers, and to demand from the public<br /> a performing fee for all the minor works in their<br /> catalogues. The piecemeal copyright legislation<br /> that Mr. Moul complains of is, no doubt, the Copy-<br /> right Act of 1882, which was a short Act passed<br /> as a matter of urgency by Parliament to assist the<br /> public in their dealings with a gentleman who was<br /> in Mr. Moul’s own line of business.”” The Act of<br /> 1882 required the proprietor of the copyright, if<br /> he desired to retain the right of performance, to<br /> notify the same on each copy. The plaintiff alleged<br /> that the defendant meant the Act of 1888, that it<br /> was passed in consequence of actions for penalties<br /> brought by Wall, and that these words meant that<br /> the plaintiff conducted his business as agent of<br /> the above-mentioned society oppressively and dis-<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 91<br /> <br /> honourably. The defendant also wrote to the<br /> Referee a letter, which appeared on March 21,<br /> 1902, asking that paper to strain every nerve in<br /> their protest against a system of legalized highway<br /> robbery. This letter went on to say of the plain-<br /> tiff:—‘ He is neither composer, publisher, nor<br /> music-seller. He is not even a street pirate. He<br /> is merely the English representative of a society of<br /> French composers and publishers, who levy a tax<br /> upon the British public for the performance of<br /> waltzes, songs, and other small works in their<br /> catalogues. It is in the interest of these clients<br /> that Mr. Moul complains of our piecemeal legisla-<br /> tion—the said piecemeal legislation consisting of<br /> the Copyright Acts of 1882 and 1888, which, while<br /> admittedly very imperfect, at all events served<br /> their purpose to a certain extent.” The plaintiff<br /> alleged that this letter meant that he was dis-<br /> honestly representing himself to be acting in the<br /> interests of English composers, and that he carried<br /> on his business in a discreditable manner.<br /> <br /> The plaintiff stated that he had never brought<br /> an action for penalties, as distinguished from fees,<br /> for performance, and these fees his society divided<br /> with the publishers ; but the theory of many pub-<br /> lishers was that it would be better to do away with<br /> the right to fees for performance, as they thought<br /> they would sell more copies under such a<br /> system.<br /> <br /> Mr. W. M. Tilson stated that it was general<br /> knowledge that the Act of 1888 (which gave the<br /> Judge a discretion as to the amount of penalties<br /> for the performance of musical copyright works,<br /> instead of 40s. per performance, as under 3 &amp; 4<br /> Wm. IV., c. 15), was passed in consequence of<br /> Wall’s suing for penalties in a great many<br /> cases.<br /> <br /> Mr. John Hollingshead said that he took the<br /> last words in the letter to the Daily Mail to refer<br /> to Wall, who did not carry on an honourable busi-<br /> ness. Mr. Moul’s business was the perfectly<br /> honourable one of collecting fees for his French<br /> clients ; but Wall sued for penalties for the benefit<br /> of his own pocket after performances had been<br /> given by people who did not know that they were<br /> making themselves liable to penalties.<br /> <br /> Corrohorative evidence having been given for<br /> the plaintiff, letters were read for the defence<br /> wbiols had been written to the papers by Mr. Moul,<br /> calling the music publishers pirates, and complaining<br /> of the copyright legislation as being piecemeal and<br /> in the interests of the music publishers, and it<br /> was said that the alleged libels were fair comment<br /> on a matter of public interest, as giving reasons<br /> why the plaintiff was not a proper person to inter-<br /> fere in the discussion, as he was really doing<br /> in a modified form what Wall had been doing<br /> before.<br /> <br /> The defendant, Mr. William Boosey, a music<br /> publisher, of New Bond Street, said that when he<br /> wrote the letters complained of he knew that Wall<br /> had used his rights in an oppressive manner, and<br /> that the Acts of 1882 and 1888 had been passed<br /> to limit those rights. By “line of business” he<br /> meant the collection of fees in respect of minor<br /> pieces of music ; and his objection was that, as<br /> Mr. Moul could not publish a list, the public had<br /> either to subscribe to his society or to run the risk<br /> of being sued, There was no ground for suggest-<br /> ing that he was hostile to the plaintiff. He did<br /> not intend to suggest that the plaintiff carried on<br /> a dishonourable business.<br /> <br /> The jury found a verdict for the plaintiff for<br /> £150.<br /> <br /> Judgment accordingly.<br /> <br /> Photographic Copyright.<br /> <br /> A CASE of some interest has been tried during<br /> the last month before Mr. Justice Ridley and a<br /> common jury, entitled Boucas v. Cooke and<br /> Others.<br /> <br /> The defendant Cooke is known, we believe, as<br /> “The Boy Preacher.” He went to the plaintiff<br /> and asked him to execute the photograph for the<br /> purpose of advertising his meetings, and, it appears,<br /> promised to purchase the negative if he was satis-<br /> tied with the photograph. When the photograph<br /> was made, defendant took it to one of the other<br /> defendants who was a party to the action, and the<br /> second defendant had a number of copies printed<br /> off, which were distributed at the meetings. The<br /> plaintiff registered the copyright of the photograph<br /> and then claimed the right of reproduction. The<br /> second defendant registered the copyright of his<br /> print from the original photograph, and sub-<br /> sequent to the date of the plaintiff’s registration<br /> sold several thousand copies. The question was<br /> whether the employment of the photographer was<br /> such an employment as to come under the first<br /> section of the Copyright Act, 1862, the words of<br /> which run as follows :—<br /> <br /> “ Provided that when the negative of any photograph<br /> shall be made or executed for or on behalf of any other<br /> person for a good or valuable consideration,” &amp;c.<br /> <br /> If the photograph had been made on these terms<br /> the right of reproduction would have belonged to<br /> the defendant.<br /> <br /> The judge, in summing up, came to the con-<br /> clusion that the copyright in the negative was the<br /> property of the plaintiff, and the jury assessed the<br /> damages at £20.<br /> <br /> a<br />  <br /> <br /> 92<br /> PUBLISHERS’ PROFITS ON NETT BOOKS.<br /> <br /> ee<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> HE question of the nett book has been<br /> a6 agitating the minds of the publishers and<br /> booksellers for some time.<br /> <br /> In the United States the system was begun<br /> tentatively, and has taken firm hold. At first<br /> applied only to certain kinds of books, at certain<br /> prices, its success was so assured that it is probable<br /> the nett book will become universal, or nearly so.<br /> Mr. Charles Scribner, the president of the Pub-<br /> lishers’ Association of the United States, explained<br /> the whole case in Zhe Author of April.<br /> <br /> A similar evolution is gradually taking place in<br /> the English book trade. Here also it seems not<br /> unlikely that the nett book system, as its advan-<br /> tages become evident, will by slow degrees cover<br /> the whole market. What is the reason of this?<br /> What are its charms ? Why was it started ?<br /> <br /> Originally books were sold at full price. Then<br /> some enterprising bookseller discovered that he<br /> could still make sufficient profit for himself and<br /> undersell his rival by giving his customers a<br /> discount. This process of underselling continued<br /> till the public received five-and-twenty per cent.<br /> discount, but the small bookseller was no longer<br /> able to make a living profit. Then his voice was<br /> raised in the land, and the reaction set in. Butas<br /> there are always either those who, owing to the<br /> power given into their hands by a large capital, or<br /> those who, having no capital, are unscrupulous on<br /> the point of extravagant trading, it became<br /> necessary that some combination of the trade<br /> should be formed sufficiently powerful to enforce<br /> an equitable plan upon all, the willing and the<br /> unwilling. Such a combination was at hand in<br /> the Publishers’ Association.<br /> <br /> It is not for the author to look upon these<br /> universal trading laws with indifference, nor to<br /> cover himself with the warm cloak of his artistic<br /> temperament, imagining that the temperature is<br /> mild and the sun is shining when the bitter cold<br /> of competition is over all the land. For other-<br /> wise he may be overcome with that sleep which<br /> will surely assist in bringing his career to a<br /> close.<br /> <br /> In plain words, it is most important for the<br /> author that he should carefully watch the methods<br /> of distribution of his wares ; that he should study<br /> with interest trade currents and trade evolution,<br /> and should give his help where and when he is<br /> able, to assist the trade for his own preferment.<br /> He should, at the same time, keep a watchful eye<br /> that the trade does not assist itself at his<br /> expense.<br /> <br /> Many will say that all this careful watching is<br /> mean and sordid. But this view of the case should<br /> <br /> -<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> still be kept in mind by the writer, that in his<br /> profession all this meanness and sordidness—if<br /> such it is—may be an incident, but is not the<br /> ultimate object, the ideal; whereas in trade it<br /> is ‘the be-all and the end-all.” Further, it is<br /> the highest interest not of the author alone but<br /> also of literature that the circumstances under<br /> which the general public can buy should be<br /> thoroughly understood. But enough. There need<br /> be no question of meanness or sordidness on either<br /> side.<br /> <br /> The Publishers’ Association set itself the task of<br /> enforcing certain terms on the bookselling trade,<br /> with the full consent of all the most responsible<br /> booksellers. ‘To the publishers, as to the authors, —<br /> it was just as important that the great distributing<br /> medium should not be wiped out. It may be<br /> candidly stated that, except so far as the improve-<br /> ment of the bookseller was an advantage to the<br /> publisher, there was not a sign that the great<br /> middleman at that time had any other aim before<br /> him. Was this, however, the case ?<br /> <br /> It is the object of this article to show that not<br /> only did the booksellers benefit, but the publishers<br /> also—the former certainly to a greater extent than<br /> the latter. The author and the printer gained no<br /> advantage, and the public—the ultimate arbiter in<br /> all cases of trade—had to pay for the advancement.<br /> So long as the public is prepared to pay, the<br /> other parties must fight the fight between them-<br /> selves.<br /> <br /> The author, then, has this matter for considera-<br /> tion. He was quite willing to acquiesce in the<br /> nett system in order to benefit the distributing<br /> agent, the man who really ought, if he traded<br /> successfully, to be the only person on whom he<br /> need rely for a public appreciation of his efforts.<br /> But is he willing to give a further profit to the<br /> publisher? Ought he not to demand some share<br /> of the increase obtained from the consumer ?<br /> Certainly he ought.<br /> <br /> The publisher has always been affirming that the<br /> nett book is for the benefit of the bookseller<br /> only.<br /> <br /> The following example will demonstrate that this<br /> is not the case, and will show the difference in the<br /> returns of the publisher and the bookseller in<br /> which the author ought to share. The 6s. book<br /> does not, at present, fall within the nett system,<br /> For convenience sake a book costing 12s. 6d. has<br /> been taken. Judging by the book lists it is a<br /> common price for books above 6s. Perhaps owing<br /> to the fact that it is exactly 150d.<br /> <br /> The figures and prices following are taken from<br /> an existing case—a sound and average example—<br /> and can be relied upon as correct. It would not<br /> be necessary to state this, if the figures in The<br /> Author had not so constantly been contradicted.<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> It is not essential to go into the details for this<br /> article, but the figures may be verified by any<br /> member.<br /> <br /> Let it be supposed that an edition of 1,050<br /> copies with binding and advertising costs £170,<br /> and that the author receives 10 per cent. on the<br /> published price.<br /> <br /> This is a low percentage, but so long as the<br /> figure is constant in both examples it will not<br /> interfere with the deduction — namely, the<br /> difference between the publisher’s and _book-<br /> seller’s profit.<br /> <br /> In the first instance the book is sold at 12s. 6d.<br /> nett.<br /> <br /> The whole 1,050 copies will in no case be<br /> sold.<br /> <br /> Under the Copyright Act six copies go to the<br /> public libraries, the author usually receives some<br /> presentation copies, and a considerable number<br /> are sent to the Press for review.<br /> <br /> If 100 copies are reckoned for these purposes<br /> the allowance will be liberal, for it must be<br /> remembered that the book is 12s. 6d. nett—an<br /> expensive book.<br /> <br /> The basis of calculation, therefore, must be the<br /> sale of 1,050 — 100 copies = 950 copies. As these<br /> copies alone bring in a return, the cost of pro-<br /> duction must be divided amongst them.<br /> <br /> The amount paid for a single copy of the book<br /> by the purchaser is the sum of four different<br /> amounts. 1. The amount per copy of the cost<br /> of production. 2. The royalty per copy paid to<br /> the author. 3. The amount of the publisher&#039;s<br /> profit on each copy. 4. The amount of the book-<br /> seller’s profit per copy.<br /> <br /> Let W = cost of production.<br /> X = the author’s royalty.<br /> Y = the publisher’s profit.<br /> Z = the bookseller’s profit.<br /> <br /> In each case on a single copy.<br /> <br /> Thus W +X%+Y+2Z = 12s. 6d.<br /> = 150d.<br /> <br /> Going back to the sale of 950 copies, the cost of<br /> production of a single copy must be ascertained.<br /> Thus— ‘<br /> <br /> £170 _ 40,800d.<br /> <br /> ee ae<br /> <br /> = 42°94d,<br /> 950<br /> <br /> We can now write<br /> <br /> 42°94 ++ X + Y¥ + Z = 150<br /> X+Y+2Z = 107°06.<br /> <br /> That is to say, that the sum to be divided<br /> between the author, the publisher, and the book-<br /> seller is—<br /> <br /> 107:06d. = 8s. 11:06d.<br /> <br /> 93<br /> <br /> Next the author’s royalty per copy must be<br /> ascertained. On a nett book the author usually<br /> receives his royalty on every copy sold. He is not<br /> compelled to count thirteen as twelve, a pernicious<br /> custom that has crept in for the publisher’s<br /> benefit, sanctioned, we regret to say, by authors’<br /> agents,<br /> <br /> The royalty is always paid on the published<br /> price.<br /> <br /> 10 per cent upon 12s. 6d. or 150d. = 15d.<br /> <br /> The author receives ls. 3d. per copy. Then<br /> substituting 15d.—<br /> <br /> X + Y + Z = 107-06.<br /> 165+Y+2Z2=10706. Y+2Z = 92°06.<br /> <br /> It is necessary now to solve the question of<br /> Y + Z, the publisher’s and_ the bookseller’s<br /> profit.<br /> <br /> Here the problem is complicated, owing to the<br /> fact that the publishers sell the book to different<br /> booksellers at different prices.<br /> <br /> It is interesting to note the following point not<br /> in relation to the present subject, but in order to<br /> show the faultiness of publishers’ methods. In<br /> those agreements where the author’s remuneration<br /> depends wholly or in part on the nett amounts<br /> received from the trade by the publishers, the<br /> words, ‘‘the usual trade terms,” are taken to<br /> express the sale to the trade, and in the accounts<br /> the price is generally rendered as uniform, and<br /> that—it is perhaps unnecessary to remark—not<br /> the highest price received. This is a trade<br /> method. “—<br /> <br /> The paragraph is an obiter dictum.<br /> <br /> What are these prices? What is the truth ?<br /> <br /> 1. The bookseller who takes a single copy has<br /> it at 2d. in the shilling less than the nett price.<br /> If the book is expensive, a large number of sales.<br /> are made at this figure.<br /> <br /> 2. If the bookseller takes thirteen copies, he has.<br /> them at the price of twelve.<br /> <br /> 3. Certain houses and all export houses demand<br /> a further discount of 10 per cent.<br /> <br /> 4, One house pays only two-thirds of the nett.<br /> price, minus 10 per cent.<br /> <br /> If an average of these four prices is taken the<br /> result is as follows :—<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 1. The single copy . 10s. 5d. -<br /> 2. 13 as 12, per copy 9s. 7°38d.<br /> 3. Export, per copy . 8s. 785d.<br /> 4. Lowestterms, percopy 7s. 6d.<br /> 36s. 2°23d.<br /> 8, 2°23d. :<br /> Average = we i. = 9s. 0°557d,<br /> <br /> Thus the average exceeds 9s. 04d. by a small<br /> fraction, and is based on the assumption that the<br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 94<br /> <br /> publisher sells at_least one-quarter of the copies at<br /> the lowest price. By assuming the price to be 9s. 1d.,<br /> a small advantage would be given to the publisher.<br /> But the publisher is always in dread lest, his profits<br /> should be over-stated, so to calm his mind, and in<br /> order to leave no door of escape open, 98. shall be<br /> the figure he receives from the trade. It follows,<br /> then, that the bookseller buying at 9s. and selling<br /> at 12s. 6d., makes 3s. 6d. on each copy.<br /> Repeating the formula :—<br /> <br /> W+x+Y+2Z=150<br /> 42°94 +15 + Y + 42 = 150<br /> , Y = 50°06<br /> <br /> All the four quantities are now ascertained.<br /> 42°94 +15 + 50:06 + 42 = 150<br /> <br /> The proportions of profit will be made more<br /> clear by stating them in percentages.<br /> Thus—<br /> <br /> 28°63 + 10 + 33°37 + 28 = 100<br /> <br /> The same process of reasoning must now be<br /> applied to the discount book.<br /> <br /> In this case the work is sold to the public at a<br /> discount of 25 per cent., or 3d. in the shilling.<br /> <br /> The purchaser pays 9s. 44d. or 112°5d.<br /> <br /> The cost of production is constant, and the<br /> number of copies available for sale is constant.<br /> <br /> Therefore again—<br /> <br /> Wi X35 Y 4751125,<br /> 42°94 4% +7947 = 1125,<br /> X+Y+2Z= 69°56.<br /> <br /> That is to say, the sum to be divided between<br /> the author, the publisher, and the bookseller is<br /> 5s. 9°56d. A trifle more than 5s. 94d.<br /> <br /> The author’s royalties are nominally the same,<br /> that is 10 per cent., but in the case of the discount<br /> book the author has to allow thirteen copies to<br /> reckon as twelve. This never used to be the case<br /> in old days, but the author’s agent weakened in<br /> the bargains of important authors who could<br /> demand the full amount, and the smaller fry<br /> had in consequence to yield also.<br /> <br /> The royalty per copy is therefore—<br /> <br /> 12 180<br /> —— 5 — ——.<br /> 13% 15d. = 13<br /> The equation now stands—<br /> <br /> X+Y+2Z= 69°56.<br /> 13°84 + Y + Z= 69°56.<br /> . Y + Z = 55°72.<br /> It only remains to discover how the publisher<br /> <br /> and booksellers divide the remainder.<br /> As with the Nett book, so with the Discount<br /> <br /> =13°84,<br /> <br /> “Sy,<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> book: the publishers sell to the bookseller at<br /> various prices.<br /> <br /> The following is a statement of the prices for a<br /> pook published at 12s. 6d. and sold subject to<br /> discoant :—<br /> <br /> For a subscribed book one-third less than the<br /> published price—<br /> <br /> 13 as 12 at 8s. 4d. and 5<br /> count = 7s. 4d.<br /> <br /> Single copies at 8s. 4d. and 5 per cent. dis-<br /> count = 7s. 11d.<br /> <br /> After subscription—<br /> <br /> 13 as 12 at 9s. and 5 per cent. discount = 7s. 10d.<br /> <br /> Single copies at 9s. and 5 per cent. dis-<br /> count = 8s. 7d.<br /> <br /> If, then, the average is taken of these four prices<br /> —presuming by this that the publisher sells half<br /> the edition on subscription—<br /> <br /> per cent. dis-<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> —— = 7s, 11d. = 95d.<br /> <br /> Then the bookseller buys at an average price of<br /> 7s. 11d., and sells at 9s. 4$d., therefore—<br /> <br /> &#039;.L=1s. 54d. = 175d.<br /> Then<br /> Y + 175 = 55°72d.<br /> Y = 38:22a,<br /> All the four quantities are now ascertained—<br /> 42°94 + 13°84 + 38°22 + 17°5 = 1125.<br /> If expressed in percentages—<br /> 38°17 + 12°3 + 33°97 + 15°56 = 100.<br /> If these figures are correct, and on this point we<br /> are clear—although the fact is sure to be denied by<br /> the other side—this very instructive result is clear,<br /> <br /> that the publishers’ and booksellers’ profits stand<br /> out as follows—<br /> <br /> Publisher. Bookseller.<br /> Nett Book ...... 4s. 2°06d.......88. 6d.<br /> Discount Book... .3s. 2°22d....... 1s. 54d.<br /> <br /> The bookseller benefits to the extent of 2s. 04d.,<br /> and the publisher to the extent of 11°84d., or<br /> almost a shilling. Speaking roughly, a ratio of<br /> two to one.<br /> <br /> The profit to the bookseller, we are told, must be<br /> left with him in order to enable him to live, but<br /> the publisher can already live and flourish.<br /> <br /> It might be rightly claimed, then, that the extra<br /> shilling should belong entirely to the author. At<br /> any rate, he ought to gain something.<br /> <br /> ‘Again, according to the publisher&#039;s statement the<br /> following ought to be the figures :—<br /> <br /> Publisher. Bookseller,<br /> Discount Book....3s. 2°22d....... ls, 54d.<br /> Nett Book ...... $5. O°22d.. 75... 4s. 8°84d.<br /> <br /> Either way the profit is not unreasonable, but it<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> _ i is less in comparison for the publisher, who, in<br /> <br /> bbe addition to office and other expenses, places his<br /> <br /> ye9 eapital out with the printers and binders.<br /> <br /> The bookseller risks nothing.<br /> <br /> ,/_ A close study of the figures and percentages has<br /> bel led to an interesting result. In another paper it<br /> <br /> o 1) is hoped to put forward some further matters for<br /> a9 consideration.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 4<br /> <br /> A MUSICAL AGREEMENT.<br /> <br /> —<br /> <br /> HE samples of perfect Agreements issued by<br /> <br /> the Publishers Association and approved,<br /> <br /> : so we must take it, by all those time honoured<br /> oe houses which the public have been accustomed to<br /> ‘0! look upon as the kindly protectors of the.profession,<br /> »7e— gave the members of the Society a powerful insight<br /> ia into the equitable mind of the trade.<br /> ‘Nothing could have been said if it had been<br /> *¢- openly avowed that they represented the extreme<br /> ‘ei¥ view of the publishers, but this was not the case.<br /> af As readers of The Author may remember, they<br /> fy were put forward as equitable between party and<br /> Ts. party.<br /> by We refrain from argument.<br /> They bring their own condemnation.<br /> Again, the worn-out formulas put forward to per-<br /> su. suade some authors to give their signature, firstly,<br /> sq that the agreement is reliable, ‘it has been approved<br /> ? v by King’s Counsel,” or, secondly, that “it isa form<br /> fl ib all my authors sign,” may deceive the one-book<br /> * man and secure to his publisher a temporary<br /> advantage, but can hardly affect those who care-<br /> fully peruse these pages.<br /> oe Yet in spite of all warning for barefaced com-<br /> ® 98 mercial impudence the following—a common form<br /> 209 among the still unrepentant musical publishers—<br /> will take the first prize against all comers, It has<br /> come before the Society from three different<br /> houses.<br /> <br /> In ordinary business the seller usually submits<br /> terms and gains the advantage, if any, but in<br /> publishing, the process is reversed.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> IN CONSIDERATION of a royalty of pence per<br /> copy, seven copies to count as six, the first two hundred to<br /> be free of said royalty—paid to me, the undersigned author,<br /> by the music publishers, the receipt whereof I do hereby<br /> acknowledge, I do hereby sell and assign absolutely to<br /> the said publishers all my copyright and interest of<br /> whatever kind for Great Britain, Ireland, the Colonies,<br /> “amd every other country, of and in the music and<br /> _ words of *<br /> <br /> And also the sole and exclusive right and liberty of<br /> representing or performing the same, and causing or per-<br /> mitting the same to be represented or performed, and also<br /> the copyright and theright of representation or performing,<br /> <br /> a<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 95)<br /> <br /> or causing or permitting the same to be represented or<br /> performed, in every foreign state in which such copyright<br /> or other rights aforesaid, or any of them, now exist or may<br /> hereafter be obtained. And I do hereby agree that the<br /> said publishers shall be entitled to arrange, use, and publish<br /> the said work, musie and words or any portion thereof, in<br /> any other separate form free from any other consideration<br /> in respect of such use and publication.<br /> <br /> And I, the undersigned, warrant and declare to the said<br /> publishers, that I am solely and absolutely entitled to the<br /> premises expressed to be hereby assigned and that free from<br /> incumbrances. Further, only half the above royalty pay-<br /> able on copies sold in the United States of America, :<br /> <br /> Witness my hand, this day of , in the<br /> year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred Z<br /> <br /> Tt is not intended to put forward a useful<br /> Author’s Agreement, but merely to comment on<br /> the extraordinary form in which this document is<br /> drafted, and to explain some of the more extrava-<br /> gant points.<br /> <br /> On the same principle that it takes two to make<br /> a quarrel, it has always been looked upon as<br /> necessary to have two parties to an agreement.<br /> But the Musical Publisher is above such con-<br /> siderations. He is a law unto himself, and appa-<br /> rently to the composer also.<br /> <br /> It is pitiful to consider that for years uncounted,<br /> ever since music was a property, composers,<br /> without a murmur, without a sigh, have been<br /> willing to resign their rights with such a childlike<br /> trust.<br /> <br /> Even now there are leading members of the<br /> profession who do not think that there is any need<br /> for an organisation to withstand this wholesale<br /> abandonment of valuable property.<br /> <br /> After consideration of the parties, or rather<br /> party—for, as we have pointed out, there is only<br /> one party who signs this estimable agreement—it<br /> is necessary to consider what the composer is<br /> conveying.<br /> <br /> He conveys all his copyright and interest in the<br /> piece for all the world, and the sole and exclusive<br /> right and liberty of performing the same. He is<br /> paid, it will be noticed, a certain sum on the sale<br /> of every copy—it is needless to say that the sum is<br /> inadequate in comparison with the cost of produc-<br /> tion, that the copies are reckoned seven as six, and<br /> two hundred given away free for advertising<br /> purposes—but on the performing rights he is<br /> paid nothing. :<br /> <br /> The publisher may say that on performing<br /> rights in England no money is paid. ‘This is not<br /> absolutely true. Take for example, musical operas,<br /> songs sung in music halls, and the many other<br /> forms of musical composition the performing rights<br /> of which are valuable. At no distant date a com-<br /> bination may be formed which will enable the<br /> composer to demand a certain sum for every public<br /> performance. This right in France is very valuable,<br /> simply because French composers and those who<br />  <br /> <br /> 96<br /> <br /> publish French compositions have banded them-<br /> selves together in order to obtain a fall reward for<br /> the property they create. To assign these per-<br /> forming rights, therefore, is altogether inadvisable.<br /> Quite apart from the monetary side of the question<br /> it may be justly argued that the composer, under<br /> certain circumstances, would object to perform-<br /> ances at certain times or in certain places. He<br /> could not, however, stop them under the present<br /> arrangement. In addition, as the publisher holds<br /> the right of performance in foreign countries, the<br /> work might be performed in France, where these<br /> rights are exceedingly valuable. In that case<br /> the publisher would obtain a substantial return,<br /> in which the composer would have no share<br /> whatever.<br /> <br /> So far it<br /> agreement.<br /> <br /> But worse is to follow.<br /> <br /> The publisher not only has all copyright and<br /> performing right, put he also receives the right to<br /> arrange, use, and publish the said work in any other<br /> separate form free from any other consideration 1n<br /> respect of such publication. So that if, as not<br /> infrequently happens, a song runs pleasantly in<br /> waltz time, it would be possible for the publisher<br /> <br /> to adapt the air to a waltz with a new setting,<br /> publish it, and sell thousands of copies.<br /> <br /> seems impossible to imagine a worse<br /> <br /> There<br /> are many other methods of re-arranging an air.<br /> With these the publisher has every right to deal<br /> according to his agreement, and on the sale of<br /> this new arrangement nothing will return to the<br /> composer.<br /> <br /> Take one further instance. How many quad-<br /> rilles, polkas, and other dance music are there that<br /> are merely variants of the popular airs of the<br /> day ?<br /> <br /> The composer receives half royalty on copies<br /> sold to America. There might be some slight<br /> reason for a small reduction, but why a reduction<br /> of fifty per cent.? We should be glad if the<br /> publishers would furnish figures.<br /> <br /> Lastly, a few remarks must be made before the<br /> question is closed, concerning the remuneration<br /> that composers receive for their labours.<br /> <br /> It is the custom to pay exceedingly small<br /> royalties on a song or other musical composition.<br /> The royalty in all cases must be finally determined<br /> by the amount of capital invested by the publisher,<br /> and the return the publisher obtains over and<br /> above the sum invested. Compare for one instant<br /> the cost of production of a book beside that of a<br /> song.<br /> <br /> Any book from the pen of a popular author,<br /> which is sold at 2s. nett will bear a royalty of 2d.<br /> in the 1s.; but the cost of production of a book<br /> excluding advertising is more than twice as large<br /> as the cost of production of a song excluding<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> advertising. It will cost perhaps 15/. to produce —<br /> 2,000 copies of a song which will sell at 2s. nett,<br /> the advertising, of course, coming outside this<br /> amount.<br /> <br /> Say 307. are spent on advertising, and 500 copies —<br /> of the song given away for all purposes, this leaves<br /> 1,500 copies to be sold at, say, 1s. 2d. per copy. The<br /> return is therefore 87/. 10s. If from this the cost.<br /> of production is deducted, 42/. 10s. is left to be<br /> divided between author and publisher.<br /> <br /> Fourpence per copy royalty will, therefore, give<br /> the publisher a handsome profit, and the author a<br /> reasonable return. If the sales exceed 1,500, then<br /> the reproduction is in every way cheaper and the<br /> return to the author larger.<br /> <br /> It should be remarked also that the cost of pro-<br /> duction and advertisement, and number of free<br /> copies is reckoned on a very liberal scale. In<br /> many cases 30/. is an outside price for the advertise-<br /> ment of one song and less than 500 copies are usedi<br /> as gratis copies.<br /> <br /> Musical composers<br /> position.<br /> <br /> should reconsider their<br /> <br /> THE R. D. BLACKMORE MEMORIAL.<br /> <br /> —-—— + —<br /> <br /> MEETING of the Blackmore Memorial<br /> Committee was held at Stationers’ Hall on ~<br /> Wednesday, November 26th, Mr. James —<br /> <br /> Baker in the chair. Mr. R. B. Marston, the hon. ©<br /> treasurer, announced that the subscriptions received<br /> amounted to over £200, the total promised to date —<br /> being £223 1és. Designs from the sculptor, Mr. —<br /> Harry Hems, were submitted showing a medallion<br /> portrait on marble slab. Various suggestions were<br /> made, and it was decided to close the subscription om<br /> December 9th, and at the next committee meeting —<br /> to make final arrangements for putting the work<br /> in hand. Amongst those present were Professor<br /> Raphael Meldola, Mr. Mackenzie Bell, Mr. Herbert<br /> A. Morrah, Mr. James Baker, Miss Pinto Leite,<br /> and Mr. G. E. N. Ryan.<br /> <br /> On December 10th a further meeting of the —<br /> committee was held. Mr. Hems, the sculptor,<br /> produced a fresh design, which was unanimously<br /> approved. Mr. Hems stated that the work would —<br /> be completed and ready for erection early in April<br /> next.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 97<br /> <br /> GENERAL MEMORANDA.<br /> Ae<br /> <br /> ERE are a few standing rules to be observed in an<br /> agreement. There are four methods of dealing<br /> with literary property —:<br /> <br /> I. Selling it Outright.<br /> <br /> This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper<br /> price can be obtained. But the transaction should be<br /> managed by a competent agent, or with the advice of the<br /> Secretary of the Society.<br /> <br /> II. A Profit-Sharing Agreement (a bad form of<br /> agreement).<br /> <br /> In this case the following rules should be attended to:<br /> <br /> C1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro-<br /> duciion forms a part without the strictest investigation.<br /> <br /> (2.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the<br /> profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements<br /> in his own organs, or by charging exchange advertise-<br /> ments. Therefore keep control of the advertisements.<br /> <br /> (3.) Not to allow a special charge for ‘ office expenses,”<br /> unless the same allowance is made to the author.<br /> <br /> (4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental<br /> rights.<br /> <br /> 5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights.<br /> <br /> (6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher.<br /> As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or<br /> doctor !<br /> <br /> III. The Royalty System.<br /> <br /> It is above all things necessary to know what the<br /> proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible<br /> for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly<br /> the truth. From time to time the very important figures<br /> connected with royalties are published in Zhe Author.<br /> Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the<br /> ** Cost of Production.”<br /> <br /> IVY. A Commission Agreement.<br /> <br /> The main points are :—<br /> <br /> (1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production.<br /> (2.) Keep control of the advertisements.<br /> <br /> (3.) Keep control of the sale price of the book.<br /> <br /> General.<br /> <br /> All other forms of agreement are combinations of the four<br /> above mentioned.<br /> <br /> Such combinations are generally disastrous to the author.<br /> <br /> Never sign any agreement without competent advice from<br /> the Secretary of the Society.<br /> <br /> Stamp all agreements with the Inland Revenue stamp.<br /> <br /> Avoid agreements by letter if possible.<br /> <br /> The main points which the Society has always demanded<br /> from the outset are :—<br /> <br /> (1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement<br /> means.<br /> <br /> (2.) The inspection of those account books which belong<br /> to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the<br /> nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or<br /> withheld.<br /> <br /> eg ge ee<br /> <br /> WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS.<br /> <br /> a<br /> <br /> EVER sign an agreement without submitting it to the<br /> Secretary of the Society of Authors or some com-<br /> petent legal authority.<br /> <br /> 2. It is well to be extremely careful in negotiating for<br /> the production of a play with anyone except an established<br /> manager,<br /> <br /> 3. There are three forms of dramatic contract for PLAYS<br /> IN THREE OR MORE ACTS :—<br /> <br /> (@.) SALE OUTRIGHT OF THE PERFORMING RIGHT,<br /> This is unsatisfactory. An author who enters<br /> into such a contract should stipulate in the con-<br /> tract for production of the piece by a certain date<br /> and for proper publication of his name on the<br /> play-bills.<br /> <br /> (2.) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE<br /> TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF PERCENTAGES<br /> on gross receipts. Percentages vary between<br /> 5 and 15 per cent. An author should obtain a<br /> percentage on the sliding scale of gross receipts<br /> in preference to the American system. Should<br /> obtain a sum in advance of percentages. A fixed<br /> date on or before which the play should be<br /> performed.<br /> <br /> (e.) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE<br /> TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF ROYALTIES (i.¢.,<br /> fixed nightly fees). This method should be<br /> always avoided except in cases where the fees<br /> are likely to be small or difficult to collect. The<br /> other safeguards set out under heading (0.) apply<br /> also in this case.<br /> <br /> 4, PLAYS IN ONE ACT are often sold outright, but it is<br /> better to obtain a small nightly fee if possible, and a sum<br /> paid in advance of such fees in anyevent. It is extremely<br /> important that the amateur rights of one-act plays should<br /> be reserved.<br /> <br /> 5. Authors should remember that performing rights can<br /> be limited, and are usually limited, by town, country, and<br /> time. This is most important.<br /> <br /> 6. Authors should not assign performing rights, but<br /> should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction is<br /> of great importance.<br /> <br /> 7. Authors should remember that performing rights in a<br /> play are distinct from literary copyright. A manager<br /> holding the performing right or licence to perform cannot<br /> print the book of the words.<br /> <br /> 8. Never forget that AMERICAN RIGHTS may be excced-<br /> ingly valuable. ‘They should never be included in English<br /> agreements without the author obtaining a substantial<br /> consideration.<br /> <br /> 9. Agreements for collaboration should be carefully<br /> drawn and executed before collaboration is commenced.<br /> <br /> 10. An author should remember that production of a play<br /> is highly speculative : that he runs a very great risk of<br /> delay and a breakdown in the fulfilment of his contract.<br /> He should therefore guard himself all the more carefully in<br /> the beginning.<br /> <br /> 11. An author must remember that the dramatic market<br /> is exceedingly limited, and that for a novice the first object<br /> is to obtain adequate publication.<br /> <br /> As these warnings must necessarily be incomplete on<br /> account of the wide range of the subject of dramatic con-<br /> tracts, THOSE AUTHORS DESIROUS OF FURTHER INFORMA-<br /> TION ARE REFERRED TO THE SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY,<br /> <br /> eg<br /> <br /> HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br /> <br /> —<br /> <br /> i VERY member has a right toask for and to receive<br /> advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub-<br /> lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his<br /> <br /> business or the administration of his property. If the<br /> advice sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor,<br /> the member has a right to an opinion from the Society’s<br /> solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel’s opinion is<br /> desirable, the Committee will obtain for him Counsel’s<br /> opinion, All this without any cost to the member.<br />  <br /> <br /> 98<br /> <br /> 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright<br /> and publishers’ agreements do not generally fall within the<br /> experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple<br /> to use the Society.<br /> <br /> 3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past<br /> accounts, with a copy of the book represented. The<br /> Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new<br /> or old, for inspection and note. The information thus<br /> obtained may prove invaluable.<br /> <br /> 4, BEFORE SIGNING ANY AGREEMENT WHATEVER, send<br /> the document to the Society for examination.<br /> <br /> 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society<br /> you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you<br /> are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are<br /> advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the<br /> independence of the writer.<br /> <br /> 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception<br /> of members’ agreements and their preservation in a fire-<br /> proof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as<br /> confidential documents to be read only by the Secretary,<br /> who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers :<br /> —(1) To read and advise upon agreements and to give<br /> advice concerning publishers. (2) To stamp agreements<br /> in readiness for a possible action upon them. (3) To keep<br /> agreements. (4) To enforce payments due according to<br /> agreements.<br /> <br /> 7. No contract should be entered into with a literary<br /> agent without the advice of the Secretary of the Society.<br /> Members are strongly advised not to accept without careful<br /> consideration the contracts submitted to them by literary<br /> agents, and are recommended to submit them for inter-<br /> pretation and explanation to the Secretary of the Society.<br /> <br /> 8. Many agents neglect to stamp agreements. This<br /> must be done within fourteen days of first execution. The<br /> Secretary will undertake it on behalf of members.<br /> <br /> 9. Some agents endeavour to prevent authors from<br /> referring matters to the Secretary of the Society ; so do<br /> some publishers. Members can make their own deductions<br /> and act accordingly.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> +-—&lt;&gt;—__ + —_____—-<br /> <br /> THE READING BRANCH.<br /> <br /> —_1-——+—_<br /> <br /> EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this<br /> branch of its work by informing young writers<br /> of its existence. Their MSS. can be read and<br /> <br /> treated as a composition is treated by a coach. The term<br /> MSS. includes NOT ONLY WORKS OF FICTION, BUT POETRY<br /> _AND DRAMATIC WORKS, and when it is possible, under<br /> special arrangement, technical and scientific works. The<br /> Readers are writers of competence and experience. The<br /> fee is one guinea.<br /> <br /> +&gt;<br /> <br /> NOTICES.<br /> <br /> Sa<br /> <br /> HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of<br /> <br /> the Society that, although the paper is sent to them<br /> <br /> free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a<br /> <br /> very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great<br /> <br /> many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest<br /> 5s. 6d. subscription for the year.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Communications for Zhe Author should be addressed to:<br /> the Offices of the Society, 39, Old Queen Street, Storey’s<br /> Gate, S.W., and should reach the Editor NOT LATER<br /> THAN THE 21st OF EACH MONTH,<br /> <br /> All persons engaged in literary work of any kind,<br /> whether members of the Society or not, are invited to<br /> communicate to the Editor any points connected with their<br /> work which it would be advisable in the general interest to<br /> publish.<br /> <br /> —_+——_o__—_——_-<br /> <br /> COMMUNICATIONS AND LETTERS ARE INVITED BY THE<br /> EpITorR on all subjects connected with literature, but on<br /> no other subjects whatever. Every effort will be made to<br /> return articles which cannot be accepted.<br /> <br /> ——<br /> <br /> Tur SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY begs to give notice<br /> that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post,<br /> and he requests members who do not receive an<br /> answer to important communications within two days to<br /> write to him without delay. All remittances should be<br /> crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery Lane, or be sent<br /> by registered letter only.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> AUTHORITIES.<br /> <br /> rVNVHE case of Aflalo &amp; Cook v. Lawrence &amp; Bullen,<br /> which has been supported by the Society<br /> throughout, was heard on Appeal before<br /> Lord Justice Vaughan Williams, Lord Justice<br /> Romer, and Lord Justice Stirling, on Thursday,<br /> the 18th of December.<br /> <br /> Readers of Zhe Author may remember that<br /> judgment in the first instance was given in the<br /> favour of the plaintiffs, with costs. Against this.<br /> judgment the defendants appealed. The Appeal<br /> has been dismissed with costs. Lord Justice<br /> Romer and Lord Justice Stirling decided against<br /> the appellants, Lord Justice Vaughan Williams<br /> dissenting.<br /> <br /> The case is one of considerable importance, as it.<br /> deals with the interpretation of the 18th section of<br /> the Copyright Act. It has already been pointed out<br /> in the pages of The Author that this section is<br /> perhaps one of the worst sections that has ever been<br /> drafted in an Act of Parliament, and is difficult of<br /> interpretation and complicated.<br /> <br /> Every case, therefore, that tends to make it<br /> more explicit must be of importance to those:<br /> interested in literary property. It is hoped that in<br /> the next number of 7&#039;he Author it will be possible<br /> to give a full statement of the judgment.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> We understand that King Oscar, one of the few<br /> royal authors, has been contributing an article to<br /> the magazine of the Swedish Authors’ Union.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 99<br /> <br /> Though it is the privilege of every crowned head<br /> to be egotistical—the subject of the paper was his<br /> own writings in fiction and poetry—yet he dealt<br /> some very frank criticism on his work. He used, he<br /> said, to be very proud of his lyrical productions,<br /> but doesn’t consider them now to be first class.<br /> The poem he considers his best is ‘The Baltic.”<br /> He trusts that his readers’ opinions will coincide<br /> with his own.<br /> <br /> No sooner has King Oscar finished criticising<br /> his own works than another royal personage<br /> comes before the public as an author. “La<br /> Carriére d’un Navigateur” is the title of a work<br /> by Albert I., Prince of Monaco, and, like King<br /> Oscar, in his own line he proves himself an author<br /> of no mean capacity. The book is full of the love<br /> of the sea. It is imaginative and, in places, poetical.<br /> The work is published in Paris.<br /> <br /> Under “ Literary, Dramatic, and Musical Pro-<br /> perty,” we have, with the kind permission of the<br /> Editor of The Times, reprinted the case of Jfoul<br /> vy. Boosey, dealing with the performing rights of<br /> musical pieces.<br /> <br /> We desire again to bring this point before those<br /> composers who are members of the Society, and<br /> again to call their attention to the fact that owing<br /> to a strong combination of French composers the<br /> property in performing rights has become exceed-<br /> ingly valuable. In Germany and France, we believe<br /> that a royalty agreement on the sale of a song or<br /> musical composition is almost unknown, and the<br /> composers make their money from their performing<br /> rights. In England the reverse holds good. There<br /> is no reason, however, why both rights should<br /> not become a valuable property, and bring in a<br /> considerable income.<br /> <br /> The fact that a certain Mr. Wall in former<br /> years took advantage of the unsatisfactory state<br /> of the law to levy contributions from illegal per-<br /> formances, is no reason why the performing rights<br /> should therefore be allowed to run to waste.<br /> <br /> We trust that musical composers will give the<br /> matter their serious consideration.<br /> <br /> Various friends of the late Mr. J. T. Nettleship,<br /> the well-known animal painter, are desirous of<br /> placing a tablet to his memory in the fine old<br /> church of Kettering, his native town, to be<br /> supplemented, if practicable, by some small<br /> memorial in London. Besides being noteworthy<br /> as an artist, Mr. Nettleship was an accomplished<br /> <br /> writer, his ingenious essays, on the poetry of<br /> Robert Browning, first published as far back as<br /> the “sixties,” having done much to promote: a<br /> more general appreciation of the poet’s work.<br /> Mr. Alfred East, A.R.A., Mr. Alfred Parsons, A.R.A.,<br /> Mr. T. C. Gotch and Mr. William Toynbee have<br /> undertaken to organise a fund in London, and<br /> subscriptions may be sent to Mr. Toynbee, Hon,<br /> Treasurer, at 4N, Portman Mansions, W.<br /> <br /> John Kendrick Bangs—so states the American<br /> Author—agrees with Jules Verne that the novel is<br /> passing, and that in a hundred years from now<br /> there will be no such form of literature, or, at<br /> least, not as we knew it. “If wireless telegraphy,<br /> why not bookless romances, typeless novels, page-<br /> less poems? We already have jokeless comic<br /> papers. These things are surely coming, and I<br /> foresee the day when without novels, poetry or<br /> drama the public will be surfeited with romances<br /> and tales of the most stirring character, poems of<br /> stately measure and uplifting concept; psycho-<br /> logical studies of the deepest dye; and dramas<br /> that will take the soul of man and twist it until it<br /> fairly shrieks for mercy—and all of these things.<br /> men and women will get while they sleep.<br /> <br /> a<br /> <br /> A LITERARY ACADEMY.<br /> <br /> —1+~&lt;<br /> <br /> L.<br /> <br /> AM so little instructed in the theory of literary<br /> I academies that it is only after reading the<br /> clever letters published on the subject in The<br /> Author by such authorities as Messrs. Herbert<br /> Trench, H. G. Wells and Morley Roberts, and<br /> Lucas Malet, that I feel emboldened to form a<br /> hasty opinion, entirely on the reading of the<br /> aforesaid letters.<br /> <br /> My blood boils, as does that of us all, including<br /> Mr. Herbert Trench, at the prevalence amongst us<br /> of what I will call the “ tub-novelist.” But would<br /> the establishment of an Academy of Letters in this<br /> country exercise any control over this variety of<br /> literary caterer? Would he not adapt his chair to<br /> the same purpose as he did his tub, and wave his<br /> academic crown to the tune of so much per<br /> thow’ as before ? Mr. Zangwill’s blunt, or<br /> rather pointed, allusion to the ‘“ vulgarity of the<br /> epoch’ seems to sum up the case for me, only I<br /> would substitute for vulgarity the adjective ‘“non-<br /> critical.” Weare, as a nation, non-critical—thank<br /> goodness we are, as a nation, creative. The<br /> French are both, the latter perhaps in a lesser<br /> degree. But in France, though there is a<br />  <br /> <br /> 100<br /> <br /> tremendous fertility in rubbish, as with us, Litera-<br /> ture proper completely ignores the out-put. The<br /> books one reads to soothe the toothache, or to<br /> ameliorate a railway journey, are not the books one<br /> criticises. :<br /> <br /> The three unmentionable “ Claudines” that<br /> have had such a vogue over there were read with<br /> ‘more or less amusement and cast aside—never<br /> considered seriously for one moment. But the<br /> English counterparts to ‘laudine—Heaven forbid<br /> that I should name them !—are on every decent<br /> table, and are gloated over by discreet K.C.’s and<br /> M.P.’s and discussed seriously in would-be literary<br /> salons. We do not distinguish.<br /> <br /> In France, the garcon de café, the demoiselle<br /> de comptoir read their Anatole France, their<br /> Huysmans, and are able to criticise and discuss<br /> him. ‘The French literary man varies from his<br /> ‘English prototype just as much as his audience<br /> does. The labour of a French author has an<br /> absurdly unnecessary concomitant. He takes pains<br /> __jmmense pains. He does not, as a rule, have<br /> the tendency which Lucas Malet deplores in some<br /> -of his English confréres. He does not regard<br /> letters as a means, but as an end. He does not<br /> -aspire to rise from author to “ minister,” and he<br /> never hopes to have time for society. M. Pierre<br /> D’Alheim, the author of “La Passion de Maitre<br /> Fran¢éis Villon,” spent fifteen years over the pro-<br /> duction of this masterly study of the Middle Ages.<br /> And it is one of a trilogy, of which the other two<br /> are still to be written! M. Huysmans lives the<br /> ‘life of a hermit—a genial one, par example ; he<br /> does not hate his fellow creatures, he simply has<br /> not time for them.<br /> <br /> It is my humble opinion that until we have a<br /> few more authors of this stamp in England, it is of<br /> no use arranging an Academy for them. The few<br /> truly earnest labourers in the literary field that<br /> we do possess would be obliged to double their<br /> parts and crown themselves. There are so few of<br /> them. And even then the enlightened critical<br /> public who should haste to acclaim the judgment<br /> ‘would be wanting !<br /> <br /> VioteT Hunt.<br /> <br /> —<br /> <br /> II.<br /> <br /> On the subject of a Literary Academy Mrs.<br /> ‘Clifford writes as follows :—<br /> <br /> «J would gladly contribute to the discussion on<br /> an Academy of Letters, but I am too busy, too tired<br /> to think out even what I feel on the subject—<br /> though I feel a good deal.” She continues :<br /> ““My views so far are in entire agreement with<br /> those expressed by Mr. Herbert Trench. I think<br /> <br /> the only criticism I have to make upon his article<br /> <br /> touches the constitution of the committee, which<br /> -seems to me to be hardly far-reaching enough.” She<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> gives the names of a few gentlemen whom she<br /> would recommend as members, other than those<br /> mentioned by Mr. Trench.<br /> <br /> Under any circumstances; the selection of a<br /> committee of this kind would be difficult, and<br /> might lead to a considerable amount of heart-<br /> burning on the part of some and disgust on the<br /> part of others; but Mrs. Clifford proceeds: “A<br /> committee of this sort should be composed of the<br /> lovers of all kinds of literature, but above all, it<br /> should be composed of those who love it for its<br /> own sake, of those to whom it would be impossible<br /> to think of reward or advertisement, of pushing<br /> forward or holding back for personal reasons. In<br /> short, of men who have no axes to grind, except<br /> the one for which the Academy was instituted,<br /> that of immortalising good literature.”<br /> <br /> Surely it is not possible that any one can quarrel<br /> with Mrs. Clifford’s definition of the real<br /> Academician.<br /> <br /> oS<br /> II.<br /> <br /> I entirely agree with all that Mr. Arthur C.<br /> Benson says in his admirable article in favour of<br /> an Academy of Letters.<br /> <br /> Is it not the education of the masses which is in<br /> some way responsible for the down-hill road litera-<br /> ture is taking, and do not writers of the present day<br /> instinctively lower their standard of composition<br /> to a level which can be appreciated by the larger<br /> public ?<br /> <br /> If an Academy could influence this great _com-<br /> munity, and could inspire it with the desire to<br /> read only what is best, by holding before it high<br /> examples, its work would indeed gain a glorious<br /> crown, and we might hope before long to see the<br /> death of such debasing fiction as appears in our<br /> halfpenny newspapers.<br /> <br /> With things remaining as they are at present,<br /> with no powerful, saving hand held out to check<br /> this downward tendency in letters, the future state<br /> of affairs is not a happy one to contemplate. But<br /> we ought to strive to make it a happy one, and an<br /> Academy might be just the new force in the world<br /> of literature capable of doing it.<br /> <br /> To educate a great crowd of human beings is<br /> one thing ; this assists it in its active walk of life,<br /> but if we allow its leisure moments to be degraded<br /> by the perusal of the vitiating, worthless reading<br /> which pours forth from the press of cheap journals<br /> and elsewhere, the whole ideal of education is<br /> shattered. Let an Academy of Letters come to<br /> the rescue, and let it inspire both our authors and<br /> our public with the aim of crushing out of exist-<br /> ence all that is of bad quality in literature. | Then<br /> the author will produce the best that is in him, and<br /> the public will read it.<br /> <br /> F, I. W1nzott.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> i= we ele Eee<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> iy<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> IV.<br /> [With kind permission of the Editor of the Morning<br /> Leader. |<br /> <br /> One ought to have an opinion on the often-<br /> mooted proposal for establishing a British Academy<br /> of Literature; and by the time I have finished<br /> this article it is possible that an opinion may<br /> have taken root in my mind. Bat as yet I<br /> am unable to work up any conviction either for<br /> or against the proposal. Mr. Herbert Trench<br /> and the distinguished novelist who chooses to<br /> be known as “Lucas Malet” have written to<br /> The Author—the trade paper of the literary class<br /> —strongly recommending an Academy as a pos-<br /> sible, and even probable, remedy for the miserable<br /> decline into which English literature has fallen.<br /> “The present state of affairs,” says Mr. Trench,<br /> “jis nothing less than the merest tumultuous<br /> anarchy. . . . Every year our people, as a whole,<br /> like those of the United States, seem to be<br /> marching steadily, slumberously, into new and<br /> vaster Dark Ages; Dark Ages, not of mere<br /> ignorance, but of the wildest positive error. The<br /> weltering Anglo-Saxon peoples have no intel-<br /> lectual standards, no thought centre, no axis.”<br /> The flippant might be tempted to reply that the<br /> academician - saviours heralded by Mr. Trench<br /> would have too many axes—to grind. But flip-<br /> pancy is out of place in this grave debate. I<br /> repent the untimely levity, and pass on. ‘‘ Lucas<br /> Malet’s” view of the situation is not much more<br /> cheerful than Mr. Trench’s. ‘“ English literature,”<br /> she writes, ‘in its higher and more distinguished<br /> expression, is sick, almost sick unto death.” “ It is,”<br /> she continues, “over-prolific and under-vitalised.<br /> The right of private judgment has run mad,<br /> thanks to a grafting of so-called modern ideas<br /> upon the old Protestant stock.” Wherefore “‘some<br /> of us,” she says, “hail the idea of an English<br /> Academy of Letters, regarding it as a possible<br /> remedial agency.”<br /> <br /> Now, before we can hail the remedy with any<br /> ardour of conviction, it behoves us to be certain<br /> that we have rightly diagnosed the disease. Is<br /> English literature in such a desperate case as<br /> Mr. Trench and “Lucas Malet” would have us<br /> think ? I have touched on the question before in<br /> this column, and have pointed out how Macaulay,<br /> writing in the very heyday of that Victorian period<br /> to which we now look back as to an age of giants,<br /> adopted exactly the same tone of despondency.<br /> Still more aptly did Mr. Gosse remind us, in his<br /> speech at the “ Encyclopeedia Britannica” dinner,<br /> that Montaigne in France, and Ben Jonson in<br /> England, each believed himself to be living in an<br /> age of hopeless literary decadence. I admit, how-<br /> ever, that there isa great difference between assert-<br /> ing the probability, and proving the fact, of illusion.<br /> <br /> 101<br /> <br /> A great deal may be said, no doubt, in favour of<br /> Mr. Trench’s view of the present situation. While<br /> every age has had its loudly-applauded and extra-<br /> vagantly advertised charlatans—its Robert Mont-<br /> gomerys and Martin Tuppers—it must be owned<br /> that the present age is particularly prolific of these<br /> gentlefolks, and that they are “boomed” with a<br /> hitherto unexampled impudence of puffery. But<br /> does not the very word I have employed suggest<br /> the explanation of the phenomenon ? The modern<br /> literary “boom” is more deafening than the similar<br /> manias of bygone generations because the half-<br /> educated reading public is now so much larger..<br /> But in that there is no great harm ; the mischief<br /> would be if we found the manias of the half-<br /> educated public infecting the judgment of the<br /> educated public. Of this I confess I see no<br /> indication. When Thackeray was asked by an<br /> American, “ What do you, in England, think of:<br /> Tupper?” his reply was, “ We don’t think of<br /> Tupper.” With the same promptitude and con-<br /> viction all educated Englishmen of to-day might<br /> reply to a similar question, ‘We don’t think of<br /> What’s-his-name or Thingumbob.” There may be<br /> certain writers on the borderlands of literature<br /> whom some educated people discuss too seriously ;.<br /> but these are precisely the men who, one fears,.<br /> would worm themselves into an Academy. As for<br /> the tendency of mediocrity—as distinguished from.<br /> sheer blatant incompetence—to swamp command-<br /> ing talent, does not that arise from the fact that<br /> our mediocrity is really entitled to rank much.<br /> higher than the mediocrity of fifty years ago? If<br /> we have fewer writers of the very first rank (and.<br /> even that may be an illusion), have we not a great<br /> many more writers—not only absolutely, but in<br /> proportion—whose work attains a more than<br /> respectable standard of intellectual merit ? And<br /> if this be the case, can it be said that literature is<br /> altogether going to the dogs ?<br /> <br /> Let us assume, however, that our pessimists are:<br /> right in their diagnosis of the disease, and inquire<br /> a little into the further question, whether the:<br /> remedy they prescribe is likely to “ touch the spot ””<br /> —if so unacademic an expression may be forgiven..<br /> On this point ‘‘ Lucas Malet ” writes :—<br /> <br /> “ Ts it too much to hope that a recognised central autho-<br /> rity—-to which the elect among themselves may presently<br /> belong—an association of the most distinguished and<br /> enlightened minds of our day, might provoke in the rank<br /> and file a finer ambition and higher conception of the<br /> dignity of their calling, a sounder scholarship, a greater<br /> humanity and love of beauty, a greater self-forgetfulness in.<br /> work ?”’<br /> <br /> ‘<br /> <br /> Mr. Trench takes a somewhat less ideal view.<br /> He would have us look upon the Academy as a.<br /> sort of accredited advertising agency, which should,<br /> ‘in order to guide the public, confer titles of merit.<br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 102.<br /> <br /> or excellence at the end of each year on works of<br /> worth.” In this way, he thinks, an Academy<br /> would have brought Fitzgerald’s “ Omar Khayyam”<br /> into its due prominence at once, instead of leaving<br /> +t to be “discovered” after the lapse of a genera-<br /> tion. ‘ What qualified person,” he asks, “believes<br /> that the poetry of Matthew Arnold—so pure, so<br /> salutary for our time—yet occupies its just place<br /> in the minds of the multitude, who still acclaim<br /> Tennyson as a demi-god ?” The example does not<br /> seem to be very happily chosen, for it is scarcely<br /> conceivable that any academic laurels could have<br /> made Matthew Arnold popular with “ the multi-<br /> tude.” Arnold seems to me to have been entirely<br /> successful in seeking out his elective affinities. An<br /> Academy could at best have hastened the process<br /> a little. I would rather say that perhaps such a<br /> <br /> poet as Coventry Patmore, or, in our days, Mr..<br /> <br /> Robert Bridges or Mr. Francis Thompson, might<br /> be enabled, by academic recognition, to reach a<br /> larger public. Again, Mr. Trench thinks that the<br /> existence of “some such Society of the Spirit”<br /> would attract to literature “men of powerful talent,<br /> now absorbed by the Bar and commerce. Those<br /> men would be induced to speak who now stand<br /> aloof and silent, in overwhelming disgust.” This<br /> argument, I confess, appeals to me but little. I<br /> do not believe in the existence of the man who,<br /> having anything to say, and any power of saying<br /> it, is deterred by his despair of finding an audience<br /> worthy of his genius. I don’t doubt fora moment<br /> ‘that there are men who, in their own esteem,<br /> -oceupy this pinnacle of intellectual superiority ; but<br /> I think the chances are that the pinnacle would<br /> prove as barren after as before the establishment of<br /> an Academy.<br /> Let us remember, however, that a case may be<br /> a very good one, though the arguments brought<br /> forward in support of it are individually insufficient.<br /> ‘The worst of our national habits, to my thinking,<br /> is that of seizing on any plausible objection to a<br /> proposed reform and making it an excuse for<br /> sitting still and doing nothing. Mr. Trench very<br /> justly insists that “it is weak to plead that an<br /> Academy would be a prey to wire-pullers and<br /> intriguers. Any dignified human society that is<br /> worth framing must undergo, and can weather,<br /> such dangers.” Mr. H. G. Wells fears that the<br /> Academy will be swamped by “ well-bred influential<br /> amateurs ” such as Lord Rosebery and Mr. Balfour.<br /> This possibility has no terrors for me. I think a<br /> British Academy which excluded such a man as<br /> Lord Rosebery would be ridiculous. In sum, I am<br /> .-so far with the supporters of the proposal that I<br /> think its opponents have wholly failed to show<br /> that it could do any harm ; and since many people<br /> think it would do good, why not try it ?<br /> <br /> Winiuram ARCHER.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Vv.<br /> <br /> A few words more are asked for on the<br /> subject of an Academy of Letters. It must<br /> be difficult for any distinguished. man of<br /> letters to advance and say, “ Come let us form<br /> a society to save literature from the public dis-<br /> esteem into which it has fallen.” Yet I believe<br /> that were Tennyson, Browning, and Arnold living,<br /> they would have been willing to come forward.<br /> The natural inertia and shamefacedness of the<br /> Englishman would not have overcome them. The<br /> might well have made, and we should all have<br /> responded to, such an appeal.<br /> <br /> Tt seems to me that a public institution is required<br /> which shall image, symbolize, and stand for excel-<br /> lence in literature. For this reason I am gratefal<br /> to famous novelists like Lucas Malet, and to such<br /> admirable writers as Mr. Arthur Christopher Benson,<br /> Mrs. W. K. Clifford, Mr. Benjamin Swift, and Mr.<br /> William Archer, who have in these pages openly<br /> expressed sympathy not only with the aims in<br /> view, but with the means proposed.<br /> <br /> It is idle to say that such a society would wield<br /> no influence. Well could it safeguard its own<br /> dignity. ‘True; writers like Mr. Meredith would<br /> probably find no leisure for criticism, but, as Mr,<br /> Benson has suggested, the society could devolve its<br /> judgments and awards to a carefully-chosen critical<br /> committee. Andin what respect could an Academy<br /> do harm? The recurrent elections of its members,<br /> the merits of their work, might conceivably indeed<br /> elbow from the topics of the dinner tables some<br /> turf scandal or fashionable divorce. Intellectual<br /> and beautiful achievement would in fact stand<br /> some chance of their proportionate share of public<br /> attention. Directly or indirectly the Academy<br /> would become the main organ of English criticism,<br /> an elucidator of our chaos, a simplifier, an orderer,<br /> a guide to judgment.<br /> <br /> Why is this neglected field so important? Be-<br /> cause, surely, art, and in chief the art of literature,<br /> live by the sympathy, and increase the sympathetic<br /> intelligence, of all classes. Art tends to unify<br /> society and makes for solidarity. The novel, play,<br /> poem, are the village greens of the nation. In<br /> art the out-wearied master-printer, with brain<br /> exhausted by the technicalities and intense com-<br /> petitions of his trade, who now at his day’s end<br /> relapses faute de mieux on the mushroom romances<br /> of the boudoir, may learn to share interests with<br /> his foreman (chief reader of the. future), who,<br /> attending all day to the intricate, steady spinning<br /> of some comprehensive machine, returns home at<br /> night less fatigued than his master, and soon will<br /> be less easily satisfied. Art in letters is the reve-<br /> lation of themselves to the young, the invisible<br /> trysting-place of the sexes, the common ground of<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 103.<br /> <br /> the specialists, who, with theramifying of knowledge,<br /> tend to become ever remoter and mutually more<br /> unintelligible. Art is the only speech preserved in<br /> our Tower of Babel. It behoves greatly, therefore,<br /> that we guard this sympathetic art of literature ;<br /> see that it falls not into emptiness and dishonour,<br /> and that for the State’s own sake some honest<br /> endeavour is made to distinguish and reward those<br /> who practise this art with signal excellence.<br /> <br /> But let us take account of objectors. An<br /> “ Academy” must be “academic,” says Mr.<br /> Morley Roberts, foisting on us, with a smile, a<br /> play upon words. “The appeal of literature is<br /> individual, is personal. A bedy of men is a lower<br /> organism,” says Mr. Roberts. But it is from the<br /> rabble, from the chance of crowds, and the tender<br /> mercies of journalistic judgment, that I would save<br /> writers above the average. Let us give them a<br /> revising body, an enduring Court of Appeal, less<br /> tardy than that of Time, a court where the deciduous<br /> sentences of the daily papers are replaced by words<br /> of steadier attention. Nothing in Nature is more<br /> sure than that works of genius die and perish utterly<br /> unknown. Genius bears no sovereign amulet<br /> against mischance, and the majestic stupidity of<br /> numbers. Common sense alone can by organiza-<br /> tion set human barriers and safeguards for our great<br /> men against ill destiny and oblivion. ‘ Conven-<br /> tion,” “monotony,” “aridity,” “conservatism,”<br /> <br /> - sighs Mr. Morley Roberts apprehensively. ‘Masters<br /> <br /> of literature, if once publicly recognized, become<br /> fossils,” gently implies Mr. Max Beerbohm. But,<br /> “Tam compelled to ask, “Is there anything more<br /> conventional than the range of ideas in the Old<br /> Kent Road?” Intellectual civilization is free. It<br /> is the savage societies, and the clichés forced now<br /> on us in the guise of novels, that are, above all,<br /> arid and monotonous.<br /> <br /> We have no men, says (I think) Mr. Zangwill.<br /> What! We have still Mr. Swinburne, Mr. John<br /> Morley, Mr. Robert Bridges, Mr. Meredith, Mr.<br /> Pinero, Mr. Hardy, Mr. Yeats, Mr. Joseph Conrad,<br /> Mr. Shorthouse, Mr. Bury, Mr. Bryce, Mr. A.<br /> E. Housman. Are not these a brave beginning ?<br /> <br /> The truth is that, as Lucas Malet forcibly puts<br /> it, a central standard of taste is increasingly<br /> required in the double combat to be waged against<br /> the taste of the mob, and the influence of the<br /> millionaire (whom we have always with us). We<br /> must not look for help from the “ upper classes.”<br /> The French courtiers of the seventeenth century<br /> salons, the eighteenth century groups of English<br /> country gentlemen round Pope and Addison, round<br /> Johnson and Burke, were recruited from educated<br /> aristocracies. It was these gentlemen who formed<br /> noble libraries, and paid for splendid editions.<br /> They had gone on the “grand tour” to France, Italy,<br /> and Greece, to the older and wiser civilizations, and<br /> <br /> so had improved a naturally good eye for the taste-<br /> ful and the humane. But the modern grand tour<br /> is to the United States for a rich wife. Or our<br /> young aristocrat, if more wholesomely disposed,<br /> returns with the imperfect tastes of frontier<br /> peoples. Our young barbarian becomes accom-<br /> plished in Rhodesia or the Klondyke. He returns,<br /> perhaps, no worse a man than were the sons of<br /> Halifax, Temple, Fox, Walpole or Chesterfield.<br /> But as a judge of letters he is probably less complete.<br /> In our quandary no help is to be expected of him.<br /> No help, either, from our mob-deity the millionaire,<br /> who may found libraries till every Sheffield has its<br /> British Museum, yet cannot provide a living for<br /> literature. No! The writers of England, if they<br /> are to restore the dignity of their craft, must do it<br /> themselves. Their task, owing to the vast augmen-<br /> tation of the reading populace, and the all-perva-<br /> siveness of vulgar wealth, is harder far than it was<br /> for any French king or English aristocracy. But,<br /> on the other hand, is not that task tenfold better<br /> worth the doing? Its result may be the gradual<br /> ennoblement, not of clique in a capital, but of an<br /> entire nation.<br /> <br /> No idea of his function can be pitched too high<br /> for the weal of the artist. Priest of the mind and<br /> heart, he is the chief truth-teller left to humanity.<br /> “Treasure words,” said Gogol; “they are the<br /> noblest gift of God.” And the object I have in<br /> writing these lines is boldly to ask those who have<br /> the honour of English letters at heart to form<br /> themselves into a “ Guild of Literature,” as did the<br /> craftsmen painters of Flanders and Italy—a guild<br /> open to any fairly-accredited writer to join. From<br /> this guild should be elected, chiefly (1 think) by<br /> writers themselves, a number of leaders—Masters<br /> of the Craft—to protect it, to represent it, and do<br /> it honour.<br /> <br /> Such a public association of the distinguished<br /> and enlightened would act, as Lucas Malet says,<br /> as an immense encouragement to the rank and file<br /> of writers, especially those of the younger genera-<br /> tion. It would stimulate to steady work—concen-<br /> trate attention on noble ambition and pure reward.<br /> It would help year-long labour like “ that slow and<br /> scientific ” labour of Titian. It would secure for<br /> living writers praise and recognition far earlier than<br /> now is possible. Why, when we light upona splendid<br /> short tale by a living master, like the newly-pub-<br /> lished “Youth” of Mr. Joseph Conrad, should<br /> the knowledge of its beauty and perfection be<br /> confined to the chances of a few Press notices in<br /> London? Why should Mr. Conrad not improbably<br /> have to wait till he is old before he can enjoy the<br /> success he deserves? Why must Mr. George<br /> Meredith wait thirty-eight years after the publica-<br /> tion of “Richard Feverel” before his existence is<br /> acknowledged in the Quarterly Review 2 It must<br />  <br /> <br /> 104<br /> <br /> be because England is all lawn or marsh. There<br /> is no broad culture among our people. There is<br /> no fit organ of letters to honour living artists and.<br /> maintain the magnificent tradition of the dead.<br /> ‘The English take all things seriously—religion,<br /> love-making, family, politics, and commerce—all<br /> things, that. is to say, except art and literature.<br /> ‘Her young writers, not regarding their craft as all-<br /> important, do not give it their best and yet<br /> we propose to reform national education—to<br /> multiply training colleges! It is in vain. You<br /> -cannot multiply wise teachers and simultaneously<br /> despise living literature. It is a kind of stupid<br /> ‘hypocrisy. Recruited from the intellectual refuse<br /> .of Europe, the Churches, nominal custodians of<br /> -education, are soulless and decaying. The brains<br /> are out, the man must die. From them we may<br /> -get chicane in Houses of Lords, but we shall not<br /> -get light in the minds of the people. We must<br /> look to Art and Science to bear on the Torches<br /> ‘relinquished by Religion. Let us therefore found<br /> this new Society of the Spirit—this new Guild of<br /> ‘Literature—to spur and inspirit workers, and to<br /> ‘strengthen them by fellowship. But the chief<br /> -yalue of such a Guild would be not so much its<br /> -substantive as its symbolic value.<br /> <br /> HERBERT TRENCH.<br /> <br /> Oi<br /> <br /> AMERICAN NOTES.<br /> <br /> —-—~&gt;+ —<br /> <br /> LTHOUGH at the time we write our infor-<br /> mation is not so complete as to enable us<br /> to give definite figures, everything points<br /> <br /> to the conclusion that the output of books during<br /> ‘the fall of 1902 has been almost unprecedented.<br /> “The bulk of this was, of course, made up of new<br /> ‘fiction ; but other departments of literature, with<br /> the exception of verse, were not inadequately<br /> ‘represented.<br /> <br /> Greater attention than ever has been paid to the<br /> «make-up and illustration of new works. Whether<br /> ‘there has been a corresponding advance in the<br /> -quality of the contents may be more open to<br /> - question.<br /> <br /> One thing is noticeable as a sign of the times.<br /> It is this: that the success of a book by a popular<br /> author no longer helps the sale of his previously<br /> ‘stocked works to anything like the extent which<br /> it used to do. The American public will have<br /> everything brand-new nowadays.<br /> <br /> As the book of the day, Winston Churchill’s<br /> “Crisis” has been displaced by Owen Wister’s<br /> “The Virginian.” This breezy romance of the<br /> “West, which holds its own against all newcomers,<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> is especially remarkable for its description of the<br /> lynching of the cattle-thieves. The book would<br /> undoubtedly have won its way to popularity on its<br /> own merits; but the dedication to President<br /> Roosevelt, and the curiosity excited by the<br /> allusion to the page which his delicate humanity<br /> caused to be rewritten, probably helped it not a<br /> little.<br /> <br /> One of the most notable productions of the early<br /> autumn was “ New France and New England,” the<br /> last of the late John Fiske’s historical writings.<br /> Unfortunately the author only lived to give final<br /> form to the first two chapters, which deal with the<br /> early history of what is now Canada; the rest<br /> consists of his unrevised lectures worked up by<br /> another hand. The motif of the whole is to show<br /> the effect on the development of New England of<br /> the French conquests and losses on the North<br /> American continent.<br /> <br /> Mr. J. N. Larned, of the Buffalo Public<br /> Library, has, in his “Literature of American<br /> History,” made some attempt at the bibliography<br /> of an enormous subject. Although his biblio-<br /> graphical guide gives an annotated list of four<br /> thousand titles, and is brought down to the year<br /> 1900, one is not surprised to discover that it is by<br /> no means exhaustive.<br /> <br /> Meanwhile President Woodrow Wilson, of<br /> Princeton, has just finished for Harper and<br /> Brothers his “ History of the American People,”<br /> which is contained in five volumes, and comes<br /> down to the accession of Mr. Roosevelt. It is<br /> being offered on the monthly instalment system,<br /> the total sum to be paid amounting to twenty-five<br /> dollars. It is a great achievement.<br /> <br /> A work of still greater magnitude is “ The New<br /> International Encyclopedia,” published by Messrs.<br /> Dodd, Mead &amp; Co., and edited by Dr. Daniel Coit<br /> Gilman, Dr. Harry Thurston Peck, and Dr. Frank<br /> Moore Colby. An especial feature is the substitution<br /> for the signed article of most European encyclo-<br /> pedias of contributions supplied originally by<br /> experts, but modified by the criticism of others,<br /> and finally issued by the editors in a form which is<br /> judged to combine the virtues of original individual<br /> research and those of co-operative criticism. This<br /> is a highly-interesting departure, and can hardly<br /> fail to work well in its application to scientific<br /> matters, whatever may be its weak points when<br /> employed in departments where the personal<br /> equation has a more legitimate field of action. A<br /> great effort has also been made to get rid of the<br /> traditional encyclopedic style, and thus to present<br /> in the attractive manner of Larousse matter which<br /> has been prepared on lines suggested by a study of<br /> the best German methods.<br /> <br /> The same publishers have issued a kind of<br /> poetical epitome of the world’s history under the<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 3<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> title of ‘Every Day in the Year.” This compilation,<br /> the work of James L. Ford and Mary K. Ford,<br /> contains some eight hundred English poems com-<br /> memorative of great historical events.<br /> <br /> Anyone who is desirous of studying the making<br /> of the American army officer should read Mr. Hu.<br /> Irving Hancock’s ‘“ Life at West Point,” which is<br /> the work of a thoroughly competent observer.<br /> <br /> Those whose interests lie in the direction of the<br /> religious world will find much that is worthy of<br /> notice in Dr. Cuyler’s “ Recollections of a Long<br /> Life.’ While far from strong on the literary side,<br /> the book contains records of the writer’s acquaint-<br /> ance, not ouly with preachers and divines such as<br /> Spurgeon, Dean Stanley, and Henry Ward Beecher,<br /> but also with poets of the rank of Wordsworth and<br /> Whittier, and statesmen like Lincoln.<br /> <br /> Another biographical work which should not be<br /> passed by is the “ Men and Memories ” of the late<br /> John Russell Young, editor of the New York<br /> Tribune, which his widow has seen through the<br /> press. In the course of a public life of nearly half<br /> a century, Young came into contact with such<br /> diverse celebrities as President Lincoln, Horace<br /> Greeley, Henry George, Charles Dickens, and Walt<br /> Whitman, so that his recollections can hardly fail<br /> to be worth glancing at.<br /> <br /> Mr. Charles E. Benton, in the personal experiences<br /> of the Civil War, which Messrs. Putnam have<br /> published under the title, “As Seen from the<br /> Ranks,” contests Stephen C rane’s views as to the<br /> state of mind produced by warfare on the mind of<br /> the combatants. He himself was a member of a<br /> regimental band, but was often under fire when<br /> called upon, in the usual course, to do hospital<br /> duty.<br /> <br /> The numerous lives of Edgar Allan Poe have now<br /> been followed by an elaborate edition in seventeen<br /> volumes of his complete works, edited by Professor<br /> James A. Harrison. Besides the inevitable fresh<br /> life, there are some new letters. First editions of<br /> the most imaginative of American wrilers have<br /> realised fabulous prices of late years.<br /> <br /> An unpublished essay of Thoreau has been<br /> unearthed by Mr. F. B. Sanborn and printed by<br /> Goodspeed, of Boston. It is entitled, “The Service.”<br /> An ardently enthusiastic biographical study, “ The<br /> Hermit of Walden,” has come from the pen of<br /> Annie Russell Marble. :<br /> <br /> Among recent biographies of other American<br /> classical writers there is Professor Woodberry’s<br /> “Hawthorne,” showing the author of “The Scarlet<br /> Letter” “ shaking the dust of his native place from<br /> his feet, and frankly taking upon himself the<br /> character of the unappreciated genius”; and Colonel<br /> Higginson’s “ Longfellow,” yielding some new light<br /> upon the poet’s early married life and his career<br /> as Harvard professor.<br /> <br /> 105:<br /> <br /> Before giving our readers a few jottings upon<br /> the latest luminaries In the sky of fiction, we would<br /> mention in passing one little volume that stands out<br /> from among the not too interesting mass of Christ-<br /> mas publications. It is “The Book of Joyous<br /> Children,” by James Whitcomb Riley. The veteran:<br /> verse writer 1s, we may add, well supported by his.<br /> illustrator, J. W. Vawter. There is plenty of fun<br /> and even a little poetry in the somewhat fancifully-<br /> named gift-book. ;<br /> <br /> Mr. Thomas Bailey Aldrich has brought out an<br /> appendix to his complete works in the form of a.<br /> volume of short stories entitled, “‘ A Sea Turn and<br /> Other Matters.”<br /> <br /> The latest work of that popular favourite,.<br /> Augusta Evans Wilson, “ ‘The Speckled Bird,”’<br /> has been productive of a somewhat sensational<br /> literary incident. Nettled at some not over-<br /> kind, but so far as we can judge perfectly<br /> bond fide, criticism in The Bookman, the novelist<br /> sent the editor of the offending paper a reply in)<br /> the form of a fable. This the editor decided to<br /> print in parallel columns with the reprinted.<br /> review ; and we think that the impartial reader<br /> will decide that he was not ill-advised in doing s0,.<br /> for the errors of taste into which the injured<br /> vanity of the author has betrayed her far exceed<br /> any surplus captiousness with which the critic—<br /> she, too, a fair one—may be justly charged. The<br /> curious may be referred to the November number-<br /> of the periodical above-mentioned.<br /> <br /> Mr. Richard Harding Davis has probably<br /> added to his reputation by his new novel, “Cap--<br /> tain Macklin”: and the same may be said of Sir<br /> Gilbert Parker’s “ Donovan Pasha.” George Barr<br /> McCutcheon’s second venture, “ Castle Craney-<br /> croft,” is thought by his admirers to be as full of”<br /> exciting incident as was “ Graustark,” his first-<br /> born. One of them has christened it “ Around the<br /> World in Eighty Chapters” ; but the castle itself<br /> was, we learn, situated in Luxembourg.<br /> <br /> One of the great hits of the season has been<br /> Mr. F. Hopkinson Smith’s “ Fortunes of Oliver:<br /> Horn,” a romance of the south and of artistic life<br /> in the New York of the fifties.<br /> <br /> George Horton’s “ The Long Straight Road ” is<br /> of the realistic school, a story of every day family<br /> life in Chicago. It is distinctly to be commended, .<br /> if only on account of its treatment of the child<br /> element. The short stories of Will Payne range<br /> round the same region ; but “On Fortune’s Road”<br /> is nothing if not humorous.<br /> <br /> The author of “ Uncle Remus” has written a.<br /> very readable complete story, which compares very<br /> favourably with the latest efforts of certain other:<br /> veterans. ‘Gabriel Tolliver” is the name of his<br /> southern reconstruction tale. Mr. Marion Crawford<br /> has added another item to his long list. The scene:<br />  <br /> <br /> 106.<br /> <br /> of his “ Cecilia” is modern Rome, and the treat-<br /> ment is such as we are accustomed to expect from<br /> this novelist. &#039; :<br /> <br /> Perhaps the best piece of fiction produced in<br /> America during the present season is Newton Booth<br /> Tarkington’s “The Two Vanrevels.” It is a tale of<br /> Indiana in the days of President Polk ; love and<br /> politics are the main themes. To say that the<br /> characterisation shows a distinct advance upon that<br /> of “Monsieur Beaucaire ” would be awarding it but<br /> faint praise in comparison with its merits. Mr.<br /> Tarkington has been much quizzed in some<br /> quarters for the modesty of his proposal that<br /> the Indiana Legislature should endeavour to pro-<br /> mote literature by an annual offer of 500 dollars in<br /> prizes. :<br /> <br /> In conclusion, we must not omit to mention the<br /> swansongs of Paul Leicester Ford (‘ Wanted, a<br /> Chaperon”) and Bret Harte. “The Condensed<br /> Novels ” of the latter master of parody are worthy<br /> to rank with Thackeray’s “Novels by Eminent<br /> Hands,” and will doubtless afford much enjoyment<br /> to their subjects.<br /> <br /> The chief names in our obituary list are those of<br /> Edward Eggleston and Frank Norris. The former<br /> will be remembered not less by his successful<br /> exertions in the cause of international copyright<br /> than by his Hoosier Stories and historical works.<br /> The latter was looked upon by many good judges<br /> as likely to become the best American novelist of<br /> his generation. His first work, “ M’Teague,” was<br /> striking, but unpleasant. For ‘‘ The Octopus,” no<br /> one had anything but high praise. It was the<br /> first of a projected trilogy of wheat, the second<br /> part of which will appear early next year as “ The<br /> Pit.” The concluding portion had not got beyond<br /> its title, “The Wolf,” when the young author died<br /> at San Francisco at the early age of thirty-two, a<br /> victim to appendicitis. Before “ commencing<br /> novelist” he had been to South Africa and China<br /> as special correspondent.<br /> <br /> To the names of Eggleston and Norris we have<br /> to add those of Major J. W. Powell, sometime<br /> president of the Washington Anthropological<br /> Society and of the American Association for the<br /> Advancement of Science, and at his death Director<br /> of the Bureau of American Ethnology and editor<br /> of more than one scientific journal; and of William<br /> Allen Butler, author of “Nothing to Wear” and<br /> “Flora McFlimsey of Madison Square,” poems<br /> that once had as much vogue as Bailey’s “ Festus,”<br /> and whose names are even now by no means<br /> forgotten.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> THE NOBEL PRIZES.<br /> <br /> Oe<br /> <br /> CCORDING to a telegram from Stockholm,<br /> this year’s Nobel prizes have been awarded<br /> as follows.<br /> <br /> Literature, Professor Theodor Mommsen, of<br /> Berlin.<br /> <br /> Peace, Professor Friedrich Martens, Pro-<br /> fessor of International Law in St. Petersburg.<br /> <br /> Medicine, Major Ronald Ross, of the School of<br /> Tropical Medicine, Liverpool.<br /> <br /> Chemistry, Professor Emil Fischer, of Berlin.<br /> <br /> Physics, divided between Professors Lorenz and<br /> Zeemann, of Holland.<br /> <br /> All the gentleman named are authors.<br /> <br /> They have all written books dealing with the<br /> subjects to which they have devoted their lives.<br /> In fact it is almost impossible nowadays that any<br /> man could spend his life on a matter of research<br /> for the benetit of all humanity without at one time<br /> or another committing himself to a book.<br /> <br /> Of all the awards, that to Professor Theodor<br /> Mommeen will interest members of the Society<br /> most. Many will remember his Roman History<br /> as the bugbear of their school and college days,<br /> and perhaps from the standpoint of the schoolboy<br /> or the undergraduate will be ready to join issue<br /> with the Swedish Academy on their award.<br /> <br /> Several candidates were mentioned as probable<br /> recipients of the prize. It is evident in the<br /> selection of Professor Mommsen that the members<br /> of the Academy are giving a wide and generous<br /> interpretation to the letter of the document that<br /> limits their choice.<br /> <br /> Professor Mommsen was born on the 30th of<br /> November, 1817. He is now, therefore, eighty-five<br /> years of age. He was educated in the Gymnasium<br /> at Altona, and graduated at the University of Kiel.<br /> It is curious that a man who has spent his life in<br /> the dry research incidental to the writing of<br /> history should have commenced authorship by<br /> publishing a book of poetry. This, however, is the<br /> case ; the work was issued under the authorship of<br /> himself and his brother, Tycho Mommsen, in 1839.<br /> In 1848 he obtained a grant from the Government<br /> of Denmark, which enabled him to make a journey<br /> into Italy, and this, no doubt, was the turning<br /> point in his career. From that moment he began<br /> his wonderful study of the History of Rome, and<br /> the many subjects connected with such a labour.<br /> It is on his work as a Roman Historian that his<br /> world-wide reputation is based.<br /> <br /> Between 1854 and 1856 he published three<br /> volumes of his history, and at once became famous.<br /> It was not so much the great learning and exhaus-<br /> tive study shown in the volumes which forced<br /> the attention of everyone to his work as the<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> aS —a<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> if<br /> g<br /> a<br /> ie<br /> ¥<br /> 5<br /> <br /> &#039;<br /> [<br /> eek<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> - characters of those mighty men of old.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> insight into the life and character of the nation<br /> about whom he wrote and his new reading of the<br /> All<br /> applauded his methods, though they did not neces-<br /> sarily approve his deductions.<br /> <br /> One remembers his panegyric<br /> Augustus.<br /> <br /> Again, Cicero, whom it is customary to look<br /> upon as one of the most important men of letters<br /> and the greatest advocate of his times, Mommsen<br /> wrote down as a mere journalist, and Pompey he<br /> despised as little more than a recruiting sergeant.<br /> <br /> After the production of the three volumes, he<br /> for many years spent his time in studying the old<br /> Roman inscriptions, and produced in 1861 the first<br /> issue of the “Corpus Inscriptionum,” which was<br /> afterwards followed by sixteen other volumes. No<br /> man living has ever had such an insight into<br /> Roman life, Roman learning, and Roman law.<br /> There is no one who can rival his knowledge on<br /> any of these subjects. Though he never actually<br /> completed his History (it brought him to<br /> the fall of the Republic), he has written so many<br /> papers and collected so much knowledge that he<br /> has provided others with the requisite material.<br /> Everyone who has made careful study of his work<br /> will agree that he is a worthy recipient of the<br /> honour that has been conferred upon him.<br /> <br /> of Cesar<br /> <br /> THE REY. JOSEPH PARKER, D.D.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Y the death of Dr. Parker London has lost<br /> <br /> a great personality and a powerful orator.<br /> <br /> The Society has lost a member who<br /> <br /> since 1890 has been a constant supporter of its<br /> aims and objects.<br /> <br /> He was born on the 9th of April, 1830, at<br /> Hexham-on-Tyne, and privately educated at<br /> University College, London. He began his<br /> career as a Minister at Banbury, Oxford, in<br /> 1869. Over thirty years ago he came to the<br /> City Temple, London.<br /> <br /> He was not a great author, or an author of<br /> many works; but from those he wrote and<br /> ublished it was clear that he was a man of<br /> large mind and generous spirit. His work, the<br /> “Pulpit Bible,” has been of great use to all<br /> Christian preachers of whatever denomination,<br /> but it is not as an author that Dr. Parker will<br /> be remembered. It is as preacher and as auto-<br /> erat of the City Temple.<br /> <br /> ——_———_———__+——— —____——_-<br /> <br /> 107<br /> CORRESPONDENCE.<br /> <br /> ——<br /> BOOK DISTRIBUTION.<br /> <br /> Srr,— Would it not be possible to extend more<br /> generally the privilege accorded to the large buyers<br /> of books, of inspection before purchase? There<br /> must be a large public who would increase their<br /> purchases if their opportunities of selection were<br /> enlarged.<br /> <br /> For example :—Acting upon the only evidence<br /> obtainable—the title, the name of author and<br /> publisher, the reviews that happen to come my<br /> way—l order a certain book. On its arrival I see<br /> at the first glance it is not what I expected, or<br /> what I want. I would willingly, there and then,<br /> accept a small fraction of the price of the book, to<br /> be rid of it. It isnot only the wasted money, but<br /> the space on the shelves filled by these undesirables,<br /> that makes book buying so unpopular.<br /> <br /> Again, if I want to inspect the recent books<br /> upon a given subject, or to choose the most<br /> attractive edition of a certain classic, I must<br /> conduct the search myself in the British Museum.<br /> <br /> Surely it would pay the book purveyor to assist<br /> the possible buyer, to help him to keep out of his<br /> house the undesired books, and to discover for him<br /> the desired books ; to encourage him in the forma-<br /> tion of a library of works selected and approved<br /> by himself. One of the chief factors in the success<br /> of the circulating library is the opening of a large<br /> book area to inspection ; only a few of the books<br /> received are selected for reading ; and there is no<br /> accumulation of printed matter in the house.<br /> <br /> It should be the aim of the publisher to convert<br /> the reader from a borrower to a purchaser, by<br /> giving him opportunities for inspection with a<br /> view to purchase. All recent books, and all older<br /> designated books, might be collected in a shop, a<br /> fee being charged for examination. Books might<br /> also be brought to the reader’s door, or sent him<br /> by post, either for an inspection fee, or for a fixed<br /> proportion of the price of each book returned.<br /> <br /> It is the present surprise-packet system, with<br /> its inevitable disappointments to the purchaser,<br /> that stops business.<br /> <br /> Norwoop Youne.<br /> <br /> — 11 —_<br /> <br /> MODERN LITERATURE,<br /> <br /> Sir,—It cannot be denied that the opponents<br /> of Sir E. Clarke’s theory regarding the degeneracy<br /> of modern English literature have certain case<br /> to argue. It is true that in the beginning of the<br /> Victorian era, there was an inequality of workman-<br /> ship which would not have been possible at its<br /> close; and a somewhat indiscriminating public<br />  <br /> <br /> 108<br /> <br /> judgment passed this by with too much indulgence.<br /> This will account for the success of Sam Warren<br /> and Harrison Ainsworth, for the temporary popu-<br /> larity of Tupper and the too high estimate of<br /> Edgar Allan Poe. On the other hand, these<br /> opponents may point to such writers as Hardy and<br /> Blackmore, Swinburne, Meredith, and Kipling, as<br /> instances of good taste on the part of the more<br /> recent public which has duly appreciated these<br /> writers. But it will be noticed that their work is<br /> more or less of the kind technically known as<br /> “light.” Their works are not so likely to endure<br /> as classics as those of the earlier writers who<br /> undertook to convey to mankind intimations of<br /> greater moment. Amongst those will be remem-<br /> bered not only the names of Carlyle, and Newman,<br /> and Ruskin, but also of Emerson and Lowell; these<br /> latter, though Americans, “‘ spoke their American<br /> with a strong British accent,” and have been fully<br /> welcomed as English writers. Such literary work<br /> is perhaps hardly to be expected in the present<br /> conditions of our race. Decadent Latin nations<br /> are undeveloped ; peoples in the more Eastern<br /> regions may produce great craftsmen in arts and<br /> letters; but the eutonic races are otherwise<br /> engaged. ‘Their invention is shown in adminis-<br /> trative problems or in labour-saving machinery ;<br /> their eloquence is reserved for diplomatic dis-<br /> patches and political harangues. ‘To races so<br /> occupied the Muses are compelled to descend from<br /> Parnassus and content themselves with the<br /> humbler office as instruments for man’s occasional<br /> recreation.<br /> H. G. KEENE.<br /> <br /> THE CRITIC.<br /> <br /> Srr,—In glancing through the columns of the<br /> Morning Post the other day (8th December, 1902,<br /> p. 6) I came across a brief notice of a new number<br /> of the Pilot, a periodical which I understand has<br /> recently died and come to life again, and the fol-<br /> lowing passages in the review in question attracted<br /> my attention. ‘Lovers of good English and<br /> sound sense will welcome the reappearance of the<br /> Pilot. ... In glancing through the pages, how-<br /> ever, we have found the word ‘ relation’ standing<br /> in one case at least, and, so far as we can see, in<br /> the second also, for ‘relative.’ There is no reason<br /> why we should meet with this mode of speech in a<br /> journal like the Pilot.”<br /> <br /> Now, I should have thought (I have no privilege<br /> to weight my humble opinions with an editorial<br /> “we ”) that there was no reason why the critic of<br /> the Morning Post should not have been a little<br /> more explicit in his fault-finding, so as to mete out<br /> instruction to the ignorant in general as well as<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> blame in particular to the illiterate contributor to<br /> the Pilot. The question which the casual reader<br /> of such a criticism as this has to ask himself is,<br /> “In what possible meaning, out of many which it-<br /> is entitled to bear, can ‘relation’ be made to stand,<br /> improperly, for ‘ relative’?”’ To read through the<br /> Pilot is a possible course open to me which would<br /> perhaps supply the information, but it is one to<br /> which, perhaps owing to inherent laziness, I decline-<br /> to resort. ‘I&#039;o some extent, however, I object to<br /> doing so, on principle, as I contend that the critic<br /> who apparently makes a charge against another<br /> writer of using bad English should do so clearly,<br /> so that those who read may understand the precise<br /> accusation brought. The obvious common mean-<br /> ing of “relation” and “relative” is that of<br /> “kinsman.” Does the writer in the Jorning<br /> Post refer to this? I am an old-fashioned person<br /> myself, so that Dr. Johnson, and the authorities.<br /> which he cites, together with what I believe to be<br /> universal usage, are good enough for me. There<br /> may possibly be some new fad as to the usage of<br /> “relation” and “relative” as synonyms for “ kins-<br /> man,” which everybody who knows anything ought<br /> to know, but with which I am unfortunately not.<br /> acquainted. Does the editor of the Morning Post,<br /> as the word “we” would suggest, endorse the<br /> views of his critic; and, if so, does he forbid “ rela-<br /> tion” as a synonym for “relative” in all the columns<br /> under his august control? Of course, I may be<br /> making an altogether absurd suggestion in even<br /> hinting that this could be the meaning of the<br /> criticism of the Pilot’s English. In that case I<br /> can only repeat what I have said before, that the<br /> charge of using bad English should have been<br /> made in terms to be understood by the ordinary<br /> reader of the daily newspaper in question or else<br /> not made at all. An accused person and the jury<br /> who are to try him have the right to know exactly<br /> what the charge is that is brought against him.<br /> <br /> EL A. AC<br /> <br /> AN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE.<br /> <br /> Dear Srr,—I beg to warn music critics against<br /> contributing to the Concert Goer, New York.<br /> That estimable organ, after duly appointing me its<br /> London correspondent, published articles written by<br /> a person whose opinions and methods of expressing’<br /> himself are not the same as mine, signing them.<br /> with my name.<br /> <br /> A London correspondent is, I understand, again,<br /> required by the Concert Goer, of New York.<br /> <br /> GEORGE CECIL.<br /> November 18th.<br /> <br /> BREINER<br /> <br /> Se<br /> uk.	https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/479/1903-01-01-The-Author-13-4.pdf	publications, The Author