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495	https://historysoa.com/items/show/495	The Author, Vol. 14 Issue 10 (July 1904)	<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.+14+Issue+10+%28July+1904%29"><em>The Author</em>, Vol. 14 Issue 10 (July 1904)</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>	1904-07-01-The-Author-14-10					253–284																		<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=89&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=14">14</a>											<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=76&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1904-07-01">1904-07-01</a>							10			19040701	The Huthor.<br /> <br /> (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.)<br /> <br /> FOUNDED BY SIR WALTER BESANT.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Vor. XIV.—No. 10.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> TELEPHONE NUMBER :<br /> 374 VICTORIA.<br /> <br /> TELEGRAPHIC ADDRESS :<br /> AUTORIDAD, LONDON.<br /> <br /> o—~&lt;f ©<br /> <br /> NOTICES.<br /> <br /> —<br /> <br /> OR the opinions expressed in papers that are<br /> signed or initialled the authors alone are<br /> responsible. None of the papers or para-<br /> <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 /> Tu Editor begs to inform members of the<br /> Authors’ Society and other readers of The Author<br /> that the cases which are from time to time quoted<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 /> Te attention of members is called to the<br /> fact that, in accordance with the decision of the<br /> Committee, only ten numbers of The Author<br /> will be printed during the year. The August<br /> and September numbers are not issued.<br /> <br /> —~&lt;<br /> <br /> List of Members.<br /> <br /> Tur List of Members of the Society of Authors<br /> published October, 1902, at the price of 6d., and<br /> the elections from October, 1902, to July, 1903, as<br /> a supplemental list, at the price of 2d., can now be<br /> obtained at the offices of the Society.<br /> <br /> They will be sold to members or associates of<br /> the Society only.<br /> <br /> Vou, XIV.<br /> <br /> Juny isr, 1904.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> [Prick SIxPENCE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> The Pension Fund of the Society.<br /> <br /> Tun Trustees of the Pension Fund met at the<br /> Society’s Offices on the 19th of February, and<br /> having gone carefully into the accounts of the<br /> fand, decided to purchase £250 London and North<br /> Western 3 % Debenture Stock. Accordingly, the<br /> investments of the Pension Fund at present stand-<br /> ing in the names of the Trustees are as follows.<br /> <br /> This is a statement of the actual stock ; the<br /> money value can be easily worked out at the current<br /> price of the market :—<br /> <br /> Consols 24 %...sssersecseeeerenerereneress £1000 0 O<br /> <br /> Local Loans ......---sceceeeeeereseetetes 500 0 0<br /> Victorian Government 3 % Consoli-<br /> dated Inscribed Stock .....-.--.++++- 291 19 11<br /> Wear LOa 6.6022 -e--eeeecee eet 201. 9 38<br /> London and North Western 3 % Deben-<br /> ture Stock .......cececeeeeeereee es eneee 250 0 O<br /> otal 1.2... £2,248 9 2<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Subscriptions from October, 1903.<br /> <br /> £ s. a.<br /> Noy. 13, Longe, Miss Julia . 0 5 0<br /> Dec. 16, Trevor, Capt. Philip QO: 5 0<br /> 1904.<br /> Jan. 6, Hills, Mrs. C. H. . 0 5 0<br /> Jan. 6, Crommelin, Miss 010 O<br /> Jan. 8, Stevenson, Mrs. M. E. 0 5 0<br /> Jan. 16, Kilmarnock, The Lord . 010 0<br /> Feb. 5, Portman, Lionel 10 0<br /> Feb. 11, Shipley, Miss Mary 0 5b 0<br /> Mar. _Diiring, Mrs. . : : 7 0 5 0<br /> Mar. Francis Claude dela Roche . 0 5 0<br /> April18, Dixon, W.Scarth . : - 0 5 0<br /> April18, Bashford, Harry H. ; . 010 6<br /> April19, Bosanquet, Eustace ae - 0 10 6<br /> April 23, Friswell, Miss Laura Hain . 09 5 0<br /> May 6, Shepherd, G. HB. . i 0-0 0<br /> June 24, Rumbold, Sir Horace, Bart.,<br /> G.C.B. ; ; tl 170<br /> <br /> Donations from October, 1908.<br /> <br /> Oct. 27, Sturgis, Julian : ‘<br /> Nov. 2, Stanton, Ve : ~ 5b 0 0<br /> <br /> <br /> 254 THE AUTHOR<br /> <br /> &amp; se d,<br /> Nov. 18, Benecke, Miss Ida. 1 0 0<br /> Nov. 23, Harraden, Miss Beatrice - D0 0<br /> Dee. Miniken, Miss Bertha M. M.. 0 5 0<br /> <br /> 1904.<br /> <br /> Jan. 4, Moncrieff, A. R. Hope . - B00<br /> Jan. 4, Middlemass, Miss Jean . - 0 10°70<br /> Jan. 4, Witherby, The Rev. C. . - 0 5 0<br /> Jan. 6, Key, The Rev. 8. Whittell . 0 5 0<br /> Jan. 14, Bennett, Rev. W. K.,.D.D. . 015 0<br /> Jan. 2, Roe, Mrs., Harcourt . . 010 0<br /> Feb. 11, Delaire, Miss Jeanne. . 010 0<br /> May 16, Wynne, C. Whitworth . - 5 0 0<br /> June 23, Kirmse, R. . : : . 08. 0<br /> <br /> June 23, Kirmse, Mrs. R. a)<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> +<br /> <br /> FROM THE COMMITTEE.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> HE Managing Committee of the Society of<br /> Authors held its June meeting at 39, Old<br /> Queen Street, on the 13th. The minutes<br /> <br /> of the last meeting were read, and the elections<br /> were then taken.<br /> <br /> Twenty-one members and associates were elected,<br /> bringing the total for the current year as high as<br /> 131. This is largely in excess of the number of<br /> members elected during past years up to the same<br /> period. It is. hoped that the increase will con-<br /> tinue, and that those writers who hold secured<br /> positions and are not members will be moved by<br /> an unselfish impulse to join the Society which<br /> has done so much for them and their profession<br /> directly and indirectly.<br /> <br /> At the May meeting, as noted in the last number<br /> of The Author, the Committee decided to send an<br /> address to the Spanish Academy on the tercentenary<br /> of the publication of Don Quixote. It has now<br /> been decided to appoint Mr. Leonard Williams,<br /> who suggested the idea, as delegate of the Society<br /> to hand the address to the Spanish Academy when<br /> the celebrations take place. Although the wording<br /> of the address has been settled, and approved by<br /> the President, the outward form has not yet been<br /> agreed upon.<br /> <br /> There were a good many cases before the Com-<br /> mittee for their consideration. One case dealt with<br /> a complaint against the big distributing libraries,<br /> but the Committee regretted that they were unable<br /> to take the matter up as they could not hope that<br /> the interference of the Society would bring about<br /> any useful result.<br /> <br /> Similar questions have, from time to time, been<br /> considered, and exhaustively dealt with by the<br /> Committee. Members are referred to the early<br /> numbers of The Author.<br /> <br /> In April, the Committee decided to take counsel’s<br /> opinion on a series of contracts existing between<br /> members of the Society and a firm of Canadian<br /> publishers. Since this decision was arrived at,<br /> the publishers in question have promised the<br /> authors with whom they contracted to forward<br /> accounts in July. The matter was again before<br /> the Committee, and they decided to postpone action<br /> until the time mentioned by the publishers had<br /> expired.<br /> <br /> In two cases arising out of disputes as to the<br /> amounts due from authors to publishers for work<br /> done, the Committee after exhaustive enquiry and<br /> after reading the report of their solicitors, came<br /> to the conclusion that they should give their<br /> support in one case, but could not, from the<br /> evidence before them, take up the other.<br /> <br /> The dispute between an author and an agent<br /> before the Committee in May was again up for<br /> consideration. Counsel’s opinion, which had been<br /> obtained in the meantime, was read, and the<br /> Committee decided to advise the member to act in<br /> accordance with the view expressed by Counsel.<br /> <br /> A question of a contentious nature between an<br /> author and a publisher also came before the Com-<br /> mittee. The publisher had agreed to spend a sum<br /> on advertisements. The question was whether the<br /> amount had actually been expended. The Com-<br /> mittee decided to appoint an accountant to vouch<br /> the advertisement charges.<br /> <br /> A letter from the Foreign Office notifying the<br /> action of Sweden in joining the Berne Convention,<br /> a letter from the American Copyright League with<br /> regard to United States Copyright Law, and other<br /> correspondence, were read before the Committee.<br /> <br /> —1——<br /> <br /> Cases.<br /> <br /> SINCE the last issue of Zhe Author nine cases<br /> have passed through the Secretary’s hands. Five<br /> have been demands for money against magazines<br /> and publishers. Of these three have already ter-<br /> minated successfully, aud there is every probability<br /> of equal success with the other two. There has<br /> been one demand for accounts, which the publisher<br /> in answer to a letter hastened to produce. Two<br /> demands for the return of MSS., of which one has<br /> been successful ; the other case has only just<br /> come into the Secretary’s hands. The last, a ques-<br /> tion of the termination and cancellation of contracts<br /> and final settlement of accounts between author<br /> and publisher, has been carried through to a<br /> satisfactory conclusion.<br /> <br /> Of the cases quoted in former numbers of The<br /> Author, there are but three still open. There is a<br /> dispute between an author and a publisher in the<br /> United States, the conclusion of which is naturally<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Bi Oe ties Sac<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> slow owing to the time which must elapse between<br /> each mail. The other two cases have almost been<br /> concluded—one dealing with an amount due from<br /> a publisher, and the other to a dispute as to the<br /> exact number of words in a MS. In the latter<br /> case the difficulty arose owing to the fact that the<br /> writer was paid by the number of words. The<br /> publisher has willingly accepted the Society’s<br /> arbitration.<br /> <br /> June Elections.<br /> <br /> Anson, Sir William, D.C.L. All Soul’s<br /> Oxford.<br /> <br /> Bigelow, Mrs. M. E. . c/o Miss M. Yueill,<br /> 3,445—60 Street,<br /> Chicago, U.S.A.<br /> <br /> Bremner, Robert Locke . Glencairn, Dunblane,<br /> Perthshire.<br /> <br /> Deane, H. F. W. . . Gower Lodge, King’s<br /> Road, Windsor.<br /> <br /> Deeping, Warwick . . “Oaklands,” Has-<br /> <br /> Colleges<br /> <br /> tings.<br /> De la Pasture, Mrs. Henry Llandogo.<br /> Evans, Mrs. . : . The Elms, Begbroke,<br /> <br /> near Oxford.<br /> Hills, Miss Christine D. I’. Littlehampton, Sussex.<br /> Keating, Joseph. 19; oe Square,<br /> W.C.<br /> Moffatt, Miss E. B. . Chinthurst Cottage,<br /> Shalford, Surrey.<br /> Morris, Mrs. Frank . 63, FitzGeorge<br /> Avenue, Auriol Rd.,<br /> West Kensington.<br /> <br /> Newland-Smith, Ernest . 76, Belgrave Road,<br /> S.W.<br /> <br /> Pereira, Miss Louise . 24, Morningside Drive,<br /> Edinburgh.<br /> <br /> Rumbold, The Right 127, Sloane Street,<br /> <br /> Hon. Sir Horace, Bart., S.W.<br /> G.C.B.<br /> Sieveking, J. Giberne . Lyon Road, Harrow,<br /> <br /> N.<br /> <br /> Soutar, Miss Lucy H. . Mayfield, Falkirk, N.B.<br /> <br /> Steynor, B. N. : . “Pembridge,” Mal-<br /> vern.<br /> <br /> Weekes, Charles, B.L. . 20, Gainsborough<br /> Mansions, Queen’s<br /> Club Gdns., W.<br /> <br /> Weekes, Miss Rose K. . Sutton Vicarage,<br /> <br /> Dartford.<br /> 74, Merrion Square,<br /> <br /> Wynne, Miss Fiorence<br /> Dublin.<br /> <br /> One member does not desire the publication of<br /> either his name or address.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. O55<br /> <br /> BOOKS PUBLISHED BY MEMBERS OF<br /> THE SOCIETY.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> (In the following list we do not propose to give more<br /> than the titles, prices, publishers, etc., of the books<br /> enumerated, with, in special cases, such particulars as may<br /> serve to explain the scope and purpose of the work.<br /> Members are requested to forward information which will<br /> enable the Editor to supply such particulars.)<br /> <br /> ART.<br /> <br /> Great Masters. Parts XV.,XVI., XVII. With Descrip-<br /> tive Text by Str Martin Conway. Heinemann.<br /> 5s, n. each.<br /> <br /> Toe Art or J. MAcWHIRTER, R.A. By Mo<br /> SPIELMANN, With five full page and numerous text<br /> illustrations. 144 x 10%, 22 pp. Hanfstangel.<br /> <br /> BIOGRAPHY.<br /> <br /> OppITIES, OTHERS AND I. By HENRIETTE CORKRAN.<br /> 9 x 6,328 pp. Hutchinson. 16s.<br /> <br /> THE LIFE OF MAJOR GENERAL WAUCHOPE, CB. CMG,<br /> By Str GEORGE DOUGLAS. 9 x 6, 431 pp. Hodder<br /> and Stoughton. 10s, 6d.<br /> <br /> ECONOMICS.<br /> <br /> Free TRADE. By THE RIGHT HONBLE. THE LORD<br /> AVEBURY, P.C. 9 X 53, 164 pp. Macmillan. 5s. n.<br /> INTERNATIONAL TRADE. By J. A. Hopson. 73 X 5,<br /> <br /> 202 pp. Methuen. 2s. 6d. n.<br /> <br /> FICTION.<br /> <br /> THE EARTHLY PuRGATORY. By L. DOUGALL. 7% X 5,<br /> 345 pp. Hutchinson. 6s.<br /> <br /> Extracts From ADAM’s Diary. By Mark TWAIN,<br /> 8} x 54, 89 pp. Harper&#039;s. 2s. 1.<br /> <br /> Op Henprick’s Taues. By Capr. A. O. VAUGHAN.<br /> 73 x 5}, 234 pp. Longmans. 6s.<br /> <br /> LycuGate Hany. By M. E. Francis (Mrs. Francis<br /> Blundell). 73 X 54, 347 pp- Longmans. 6s.<br /> <br /> My FRENCH FRIENDS. By CONSTANCE Maup. 7} X 5,<br /> 323 pp. Smith, Hlder &amp; Co. 6s.<br /> <br /> MaLincourt KEEP. By ADELINE SERGEANT. 73 X 5,<br /> 310 pp. J. Long. 6s.<br /> <br /> A WomAN OF Business. By MAJOR ARTHUR GRIFFITHS.<br /> 72 X 6, 335 pp. J. Long. 6s.<br /> <br /> Nyria. By Mrs, CAMPBELL PRAED. 73 X 5, 432 pp.<br /> Unwin. 6s. ;<br /> <br /> THE CARDINAL&#039;S PAWN. By L. MONTGOMERY. T. Fisher<br /> Unwin. 6s. n.<br /> <br /> INCOMPARABLE BELLATRS. By AGNES AND EGERTON<br /> CASTLE. 7§ X 4%, 326 pp. Constable. 6s.<br /> <br /> THe ORDEAL BY Fire. By ALLEN UPWARD. 7 x 43,<br /> 320 pp. Digby Long &amp; Co.<br /> <br /> En. By MARMADUKE PICKTHALL. 73 x 5, 350 pp.<br /> Constable. 6s.<br /> <br /> THe GREAT PRO-CoNSUL. By SYDNEY C.Grigr, 7} x 5,<br /> 440 pp. Blackwood. 6s.<br /> <br /> LizA oF LAMBETH. By W. SOMERSET MAUGHAN,<br /> (Cheap Edition.) 84 X 54%, 99 pp- Unwin. 6d.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> HISTORY.<br /> <br /> Tre Spirit or IsuaM. By the Hon. Mr. Justice AMEER<br /> Aut. (Popular Edition, published in Calcutta: S. J.<br /> Lahiri). London: Kegan Paul &amp; Co.<br /> <br /> A SHoRT HISTORY OF THE SARACENS. By the Hon, MR.<br /> Justice AMEER ALI, Macmillan &amp; Co. 7s. 6d. n.<br /> <br /> <br /> 256<br /> <br /> LAW.<br /> <br /> COMMENTARY ON THE BENGAL TENANCY ACT. By M.<br /> FINUCANE, M.A., and the Hon. Mr. JUSTICE AMEER<br /> Awl. Thacker, Spink &amp; Co., Calcutta ; Thacker &amp; Co.,<br /> London.<br /> <br /> MAHOMMEDAN LAw. Vol. I. j<br /> AMEER ALI. 3rd Edition. Thacker, Spink &amp; Co.,<br /> Calcutta ; W. Thacker &amp; Co, 28s. n.<br /> <br /> THE STUDENTS’ HANDBOOK OF MAHOMMEDAN LAW. By<br /> the Hon. Mr. Justice AMEER ALI. 4th Edition.<br /> Thacker, Spink &amp; Co., Calcutta ; Thacker &amp; Co., London,<br /> 4s. 6d. n.<br /> <br /> By the Hon. Mr. Justice<br /> <br /> MEDICAL.<br /> <br /> ScHooLt HYGIENE. By ARTHUR NEWSHOLME.<br /> 320 pp. Sonnenschein. 38.<br /> <br /> MEDICO-THEOLOGICAL.<br /> <br /> DIVINE HYGIENE—THE SANITARY SCIENCE OF THE<br /> SACRED SCRIPTURES. By ALEX. RATTRAY, M.D<br /> 2 Vols. 730—750 pp. Nisbet &amp; Co. 32s.<br /> <br /> 7% X 44,<br /> <br /> MILITARY.<br /> <br /> THE SECOND AFGHAN WAR, 1878-79-80.<br /> Its ConpuctT, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.<br /> <br /> Its CAUSEs,<br /> By Cou.<br /> <br /> H. B. Hanna. Vol. Il. 9 x 6, 372 pp. Constable.<br /> 15s. n.<br /> <br /> THE ARMY ON ITSELF. By H. A. GWYNNE. 7 X 43,<br /> 193 pp. Warne. 2s. 6d. n.<br /> <br /> MUSIC.<br /> <br /> THE DIVERSIONS OF A Music LOVER.<br /> 84 x 53,260 pp. Macmillan. 6s.<br /> HANDBOOK ON THE ART OF TEACHING AS APPLIED TO<br /> Music. WARRINER, Mus. Doc. 74 X 5,176 pp. A.<br /> Hammond &amp; Co., 6 King Street, Regent Street, W.<br /> <br /> 28. 6d.<br /> <br /> By C. L. GRAVES.<br /> <br /> SPORT.<br /> PRACTICAL HIN1S ON ANGLING IN Rivers, LAKES, AND<br /> <br /> Sea. By W. M. GaLLIcHAN. 74 X 5, 116 pp.<br /> Pearson. Ils.<br /> FISHING (‘‘ The Country Life” Library of Sport). 2 Vols.<br /> <br /> Edited by H. G. HUTCHINSON. 91 X 6. 526 X 445 pp.<br /> Newnes. 2s 6d. n.<br /> SOCIOLOGY.<br /> <br /> Success AMONG NATIONS. By EMILE REICH.<br /> 270 pp. Chapman and Hall. 10s. 6d. n.<br /> <br /> 9 x 6,<br /> <br /> ASPECTS OF SocIAL Evo.LuTion. First Series. Tem-<br /> peraments. By J. LIONEL TAYLER, M.R.C.S. 84 x 5},<br /> 297 pp. Smith Elder. 7s. 6d.<br /> <br /> THEOLOGY.<br /> <br /> CONCERNING THE Hoty BiBLE. ITs UsE AND ABUSE.<br /> By THE RicHT Rey. Monsicgnor JoHN 8. VAUGHAN.<br /> 74 X 4%. Washbourne. 3s. 6d. n.<br /> <br /> “Hora BIBLICA.’”’ By ARTHUR CARR, M.A.<br /> Hodder and Stoughton. 6s.<br /> <br /> TOPOGRAPHY.<br /> <br /> THE QUANTOCK HILLS: THEIR COMBES AND VILLAGES.<br /> By BrHATRIX F. CResswELb. 74 xX 5, 106 pp. The<br /> Homeland Association. 2s. 6d. n.<br /> <br /> Near Oxrorp. By THE Rey. H. T. Inman. 61 xX 5,<br /> 215 pp. Oxford: Alden. Is. and 2s. 6d. n.<br /> <br /> 218 pp.<br /> <br /> TRAVEL.<br /> <br /> THE ALps. Described by SIR MARTIN Conway. Painted<br /> by A. D. McCormick. 9 X 6}, 294 pp. Black.<br /> 208. n.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> LITERARY, DRAMATIC, AND MUSICAL<br /> NOTES.<br /> <br /> —~&lt;+ ——<br /> <br /> N “The Masters of English Literature,”<br /> I Mr. Stephen Gwynn seeks, by a process of<br /> selection, to give a readable account of the<br /> development of English literature from Chaucer’s<br /> time onwards. He deals, in all, with almost fifty<br /> authors, and of most of them a tolerably full and<br /> critical account is given.<br /> <br /> Mr. Grant Richards published, early in June,<br /> the second volume, dealing with sporting dogs, of<br /> “The Twentieth Century Dog,” compiled by Mr.<br /> Herbert Compton from the contributions of some<br /> five hundred experts.<br /> <br /> “Major Weir,” by K. L. Montgomery, author<br /> of “The Cardinal&#039;s Pawn,” will be published<br /> during the coming season by Mr. Fisher Unwin.<br /> The book is a romance, with the noted wizard<br /> Thomas Weir, for the central figure.<br /> <br /> Messrs. Barnicott and Pearce, of Taunton, have<br /> published, at the price of 6d., a work entitled ‘‘ The<br /> Country Gentleman’s Reference Catalogue to the<br /> best Works on Agriculture, Gardening, Botany,<br /> Natural History, Sporting, Recreations and Kindred<br /> Subjects.”<br /> <br /> In a lecture at the Royal Institution, dealing<br /> with the subject of ‘ The State and Literature,”<br /> Mr. H. G. Wells pleaded for the more leisurely and<br /> larger criticism found in books, the duty of litera-<br /> ture in this sense being to teach men and classes<br /> their place in the world, and in the social scheme.<br /> He stated further, that the most important litera-<br /> ture, personal relationship, was to be found to<br /> some extent in good essays, sermons, biographies,<br /> and autobiographies, but that the great bulk of<br /> the people desired it served them in novels and<br /> plays. They went to see the latter and delighted<br /> to read the former, partly because they liked stories,<br /> but very largely, consciously or unconsciously, from<br /> social curiosity. If these interpretations in novel<br /> and in play were well done, the State would endure ;<br /> if badly done, it must go to pieces. The literature<br /> of personal life and emotions was to be found in<br /> poetry and philosophy, which should be looked to<br /> to keep the whole mass of the social order in<br /> sympathy and-in one key one with another.<br /> <br /> The third edition of ‘The Commentary on the<br /> Indian Evidence Act,” by the Honourable Mr.<br /> Justice Ameer Ali, and Mr. Justice Woodroffe, will<br /> appear in December of the current year.<br /> <br /> Mr. Justice Ameer Ali, who will also produce,<br /> early in 1905, the fifth edition of “The Students’<br /> Handbook of Mahomedan Law,” is at present<br /> engaged on a “History of Mahomedan Civilisa-<br /> tion in India,” with an introduction dealing with<br /> the pre-Mahomedan period.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> During the autumn, Mrs. Croker will publish<br /> her new book, “The Happy Valley,” through<br /> Messrs. Methuen &amp; Co.<br /> <br /> Mr. Charles Garvice’s two books, “In Cupid’s<br /> Chains,” and “Just a Girl,” have gone into a<br /> second and third edition respectively. ‘The former<br /> has been translated by Miss Mary Otteson into<br /> Norwegian for a Norwegian syndicate.<br /> <br /> Mr. Garvice’s last novel, “ Redeemed by Love,”<br /> is being syndicated by the National Press Agency<br /> in England, and by Messrs. George Munro’s Sons<br /> in America.<br /> <br /> The same author has also completed, in col-<br /> laboration with Mr. Denman Wood, a dramatic<br /> version of his book “Nance,” which will be<br /> produced at Mr. Wood’s theatre, the New Court,<br /> Bacup, in the autumn. :<br /> <br /> The following verse is taken from the title page<br /> of Mr. John Oxenham’s new novel, ‘“‘A Weaver<br /> of Webs,” which Messrs. Methuen &amp; Co. have<br /> published :—<br /> <br /> “Warp and woof and tangled thread—<br /> <br /> Weavers of webs are we<br /> <br /> Living, and dying, and mightier dead,<br /> <br /> For the shuttle once started shall never be stayed—<br /> Weavers of webs are we.”<br /> <br /> Mr. W. L. Courtenay’s essays on the work of<br /> Maurice Meeterlinck, which appeared in the Daily<br /> Telegraph, were published in book form in the<br /> middle of June by Mr. Grant Richards. The<br /> book also contains sketches of other foreign<br /> writers, including D’Annunzio, Turgenieff, Tolstoy,<br /> Gorky, and Merejowski.<br /> <br /> Mrs. Rowland’s new novel, entitled “ Capricious<br /> Caroline,” which is now running serially in The<br /> Times weekly edition, will be published in book<br /> form in the middle of September by Messrs.<br /> Methuen &amp; Co., who are also publishing new<br /> editions of “ Love and Louisa,” and “Peter a<br /> Parasite,” by the same authoress. In addition,<br /> Mrs. Rowlands has in hand a series of stories for<br /> The Tatler, and a series of articles for Zhe Daily<br /> Chronicle, besides a number of short stories com-~-<br /> missioned by other papers, such as The Bystander<br /> and London Opinion.<br /> <br /> Miss J. S. Wolff, author of ‘“ Les Francais en<br /> Menage,” “Les Francais en Voyage,” etc., has<br /> just published a series of “Object Lessons in<br /> Practical French” (Blackie &amp; Son), and is prepar-<br /> ing a second volume of her French History series,<br /> “Tes Francais du dix-huitieme Siecle” (Edward<br /> Arnold). Vol. I., “ Les Francais d’Autrefois,”<br /> appeared last September.<br /> <br /> The Chromoscopist for June, contains a character<br /> study by ‘‘ Mancy,” entitled “Jacky.” ‘“ Mancy”<br /> <br /> has also an article in the June number of The<br /> Spiritualist, entitled “ Palmistry and Its Benefits.”<br /> We understand that Messrs,<br /> <br /> Constable &amp; Co.<br /> <br /> THER AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 257<br /> <br /> have changed their address from 2, Whitehall<br /> Gardens, and will remove to larger premises at 16,<br /> James Street, Haymarket, S.W.<br /> <br /> “Behind the Footlights,” Mrs. Alec Tweedie’s<br /> last work, which was published by Messrs. Hutchin-<br /> son &amp; Co., with twenty full page illustrations at<br /> the price of 18s., has gone into a second edition.<br /> <br /> «A Voice from the Void ” is the title of a book<br /> by Miss Helen Boddington, which Messrs. Methuen<br /> &amp; Co. will publish during the autumn.<br /> <br /> The twenty-sixth Congress of the International<br /> Literary and Artistic Association will take place<br /> in Marseilles from the 24th to the 29th of Septem-<br /> ber next. The subjects set down for discussion<br /> are: 1. Musical authors’ rights; 2. Publishers’<br /> agreements respecting artistic works; 3. Pro-<br /> tection of photographs; 4. Moral rights, and<br /> public copyright as applied to monuments of the<br /> past ; 5. A study of the countries in which several<br /> languages are spoken, and of copyright in transla-<br /> tions from one to another of the languages in use<br /> within the country ; 6. The publication of works<br /> of history and criticism ; 7. Protection of archi-<br /> tectural designs; 8. Protection of engineers’<br /> plans ; 9. The International situation in various<br /> countries ; 10. The revision ofthe Berne Convention.<br /> <br /> Mr. Grant Richards will publish in a few days<br /> “The Server’s Handbook,” by the Rev. Percy<br /> Dearmer. It is the fifth volume in the “ Parsons’<br /> Handbook” series.<br /> <br /> « Derek Vane,” author of “The Three Daughters<br /> of Night,” etc., has disposed of the serial rights of<br /> her new novel, ‘ The House on the Black Water,”<br /> to Messrs. Cassell. She is writing some humorous<br /> articles for the Boudoir, and has short stories<br /> appearing in the Outlook, Manchester Chronicle, etc.<br /> <br /> Miss Jean Delaire’s book, « Around a Distant<br /> Star,” which we noticed lately as about to be<br /> published, has met with favourable reviews in the<br /> Daily News, The Glasgow Herald, and The Sheffield<br /> Telegraph.<br /> <br /> Miss Marie Corelli has a series of articles on<br /> “Pagan London” running in The Bystander.<br /> The first of these articles appeared on June 22nd.<br /> <br /> “ Suggestions for a New Political Party, with<br /> principles, methods, and some Application,” is the<br /> title of an article by Dr. Beattie Crozier which will<br /> appear in one of the coming numbers of The<br /> Fortnightly Review.<br /> <br /> «The Reverend Jack” is the title of a novel by<br /> Naunton Covertside (Naunton Davies) which will<br /> shortly be published by Mr. Henry Drane, at the<br /> <br /> rice of 6s.<br /> <br /> Mr. Stanley Weyman has received a testimonial<br /> to the popularity of his work, which has much<br /> touched him. His book “The Long Night” deals<br /> with the history of the city of Geneva. Such<br /> interest has it aroused that some of the most<br /> <br /> <br /> 258<br /> <br /> prominent of Geneva’s citizens, in token of their<br /> appreciation, have forwarded to the author an<br /> address with a small bronze statuette of Calvin.<br /> A short extract from the document itself will<br /> convey better than words from our pen, the feeling<br /> of those who have acted in the matter.<br /> <br /> ‘*We are anxious that so ideal a relationship (7c.<br /> between Mr. Weyman and the City) should not vanish,<br /> without placing in your hands some material evidence of<br /> our grateful admiration.<br /> <br /> “The statuette of Calvin is no unbecoming ornament<br /> for the writing table of one whose works, like yours, are<br /> founded on that vast Anglo-Saxon influence which has in<br /> every part of the world cherished the religious and political<br /> views of the Reformer, views of faith and liberty which<br /> have become for you the foundation and the inspiration of<br /> your Art.”<br /> <br /> We heartily congratulate Mr. Weyman on receipt<br /> of a compliment as pleasant as it was unexpected.<br /> <br /> Everyone will have been amused and interested<br /> in the Poet Laureate’s position as an anonymous<br /> author. A full statement of the circumstances<br /> under which his play was accepted by Mr. Bourchier<br /> has appeared in all the papers, and demonstrates<br /> the fallacy of the statement so often made, that<br /> managers do not read plays that are sent to them<br /> by unknown writers. The comedietta, for it is but<br /> aslight piece, was produced on June 16th, and runs<br /> for about halfan hour. It met with a very cordial<br /> reception. Mr. Bourchier and Miss Bateman took<br /> the chief parts.<br /> <br /> The play founded on Mrs. Croker’s novel,<br /> “Terence,” which has, for the last ten months,<br /> been attracting good audiences in New York,<br /> Boston, Washington, Chicago, and other cities of<br /> the United States, will, we understand, have a<br /> further run in the same country during the next<br /> season.<br /> <br /> “ Beyond the Vale” is the next of Mrs. Croker’s<br /> novels to be dramatised, with a view to production<br /> in the States. :<br /> <br /> +»<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> PARIS NOTES.<br /> <br /> —_1~&gt;—+<br /> <br /> HE Académie Francaise has awarded the<br /> Bordin prize of 3,000 francs to be divided<br /> into two prizes of 1,000 francs, to M. Paul<br /> <br /> Gautier, for his book on “Mme. de Staél et Napo-<br /> léon,” and to M. Michaud for “ Sainte Beuve avant<br /> les lundis,” and two other prizes of 500 francs. The<br /> Marcel Guérin prize of 5,000 francs is divided into<br /> four prizes of 500 and three of 1,000 francs. M.<br /> Dunand and Ivan Strannik are among the authors<br /> who have shared this prize.<br /> <br /> The Archon Despérouse prize is divided into one<br /> of 1,000 francs, awarded to M. Vermenouze for his<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> poem “ Mon Auvergne,” and the rest into prizes of<br /> 500 francs to other poets.<br /> <br /> The Montyon prize of 19,000 francs is awarded<br /> to Capitaine Lenfant for his book ‘Le Niger” ;<br /> Félix Régamey for “Le Japon”; Colonel de<br /> Pélacot for his ‘ Expédition de Chine de 1900” ;<br /> Paul Acker for “Petites Confessions” ; Paul Labbé<br /> for his ‘‘Bagne Russe”; Jean Reibrach for<br /> “Sirénes” ; Jean Viollet and Charles Frémine<br /> for “ Petit Coeur” and “ Poemes et Récits.”<br /> <br /> Other prizes have been awarded to Abbé Laveille,<br /> Louis de Foureaud, the Marquis de Segonzac, Abbé<br /> Piolet and Pierre Guzman.<br /> <br /> “La Société Francaise pendant le Consulat:<br /> Aristocrates et Républicains,” by Gilbert Stenger.<br /> This volume is the second of a series which the<br /> author is writing on the epoch he has so carefully<br /> studied. In the first volume, “ La Renaissance de<br /> la France,” we had a picture of the times when<br /> Napoleon I. was Général Buonaparte.<br /> <br /> In the first part of this new volume we have an<br /> account of the “ Emigration,” and the miseries of<br /> the aristocrats in exile. The second part is devoted<br /> to the study of the Republicans and the work-<br /> ings of the Consulate. he book is most interest-<br /> ing, and a faithful picture of the times. We have<br /> anecdotes about the celebrities of the day, and<br /> excellent portraits of Talleyrand, Lebrun, Fouché,<br /> and many other well-known historical charac-<br /> ters, including Benjamin Constant and Camille<br /> Jordan.<br /> <br /> “ Le Marquis de Valeor,” by Daniel Lesueur, is<br /> a most dramatic novel with a strong plot, and<br /> mystery enough to satisfy the most ardent lovers<br /> of intrigue. Unlike some of the other novels by<br /> this author, there is not so much psychology in the<br /> ‘“‘Marquis de Valvor,” or, rather, the psychology is<br /> left for the reader to discover between the lines, as<br /> it were. One has to study the characters by their<br /> actions, as the events follow each other so quickly<br /> that until one closes the volume one has not<br /> time to come to any conclusions. ‘To tell the<br /> plot of the book would no doubt spoil it for many<br /> readers. It is written in the same admirable<br /> style as the other works which have brought<br /> Daniel Lesueur to the front rank of contemporary<br /> novelists.<br /> <br /> Mr. Charles Foley, of the “Telephone” play<br /> fame, has been tempted to build up a novel on<br /> a certain rumoured episode which was a great.<br /> topic of conversation some ten or twelve years<br /> ago. In “ Fleur d’Ombre” we have the story of a<br /> French girl named Lolette who marries a young<br /> foreigner and for a year or two has an ideally<br /> happy life. She then makes the terrible dis-<br /> covery that she has married a prince in disguise.<br /> Through the death of his brother her husband<br /> becomes heir to a throne. Lolette and her baby-<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> boy are considered de trop by her royal husband’s<br /> family.. A more suitable wife is provided for the<br /> heir apparent, a princess who had been engaged to<br /> the brother who died, and Lolette is expected to be<br /> resigned as the “ widow » of a distinguished living<br /> husband.<br /> <br /> The story is well told with all the delicate<br /> veiled irony in which Mr. Foley excels, and in<br /> France the book is having great success.<br /> <br /> “Sur la Branche” is the title of the new book<br /> by Pierre de Coulevain, the author who had such<br /> success in France and America with ‘* Noblesse<br /> Américaine” and ‘“ Eve Victorieuse,” both of<br /> which works won for the writer Academy prizes.<br /> The new book is undoubtedly stronger than either<br /> of the other two novels. It is extremely original,<br /> and one wonders after reading it whether to call<br /> it a novel. It seems to be, rather, a true study<br /> of life, of real every-day life with all the small<br /> things and all the great things woven together.<br /> The author is a keen observer, with absolute faith<br /> in the great plan “ to which all creation moves.”<br /> Tae woman who is supposed to be writing the<br /> story is living alone “on the branch,” or, in other<br /> words, her home is broken up and she goes from<br /> one hotel to another, and from one country to<br /> another, believing that the romance of her own<br /> life is over, but watching with deep interest the<br /> comedies and tragedies around her. As time goes<br /> on she discovers that her own romance is by no<br /> means over, and the threads are once more put into<br /> her hands by destiny, so that she may do the part<br /> assigned to her in weaving the web of life. From<br /> her own bitter experience and grief she has learnt<br /> much, a larger tolerance and an immense opti-<br /> mism. The book appears to have been published<br /> at just the right moment and is being greatly<br /> discussed.<br /> <br /> “Tsolée,” by Brada, is a most charming novel<br /> and a psychological study from the first chapter to<br /> the last. The young girl, whose isolation gives<br /> the title to the book, is a Mlle. Charmoy who has<br /> been brought up in the approved French way, but<br /> who on the death of her relatives in France, is<br /> handed over to some English relatives. She is<br /> distinctly out of her element in the English home<br /> to which she is consigned. Not only does her<br /> “Latin soul” revolt against much that she disap-<br /> proves in the Anglo-Saxon atmosphere, but she has<br /> unfortunately lost her heart to a French cousin,<br /> and this detail complicates matters considerably.<br /> It is always a delicate and usually a thankless task<br /> for a French or English novelist to place his<br /> characters ina foreign milieu. Brada has succeeded<br /> in giving us a faithful picture of a certain kind of<br /> British home, but it is of that kind where a vulgar-<br /> minded woman with plenty of money and an intense<br /> admiration for all that is “smart” reigns supreme.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 259<br /> <br /> We are therefore inclined to think that the French<br /> girl’s loneliness in England is not so much due to<br /> her exile from her native country as to her exile<br /> from a refined home. As a French novelist’s<br /> study of English life the book is extremely<br /> interesting.<br /> <br /> M. André Maarel has written a novel entitled<br /> “La Chevauchée,” which is really a study of the<br /> political world. Lucien Surget is a politician who<br /> sets out with the idea of helping his country in<br /> many ways, but who finds that the path of a<br /> politician is by no means an easy one. Un<br /> semblant de bon sens pratique,” he says “ Vameénera<br /> doucement aux compromissions, et sa vanité, sur<br /> excitée par la flatterie, lui fera bientdt confondre<br /> Yidée de son devoir avec Vidée de sa prosperité<br /> <br /> ersonnelle.”<br /> <br /> Without the authorisation of Madame Lardin de<br /> Musset, the sister of Alfred de Musset, a volume<br /> of the poet’s correspondence with George Sand has<br /> just been published in Belgium. Some years ago<br /> Madame Lardin de Musset refused her consent to<br /> having her brother&#039;s letters made public, so that<br /> with great indelicacy the persons responsible for<br /> the appearance of this volume have taken it to<br /> another country for publication. If these letters<br /> were to be given to the public, in common fairness<br /> it should have been done by the de Musset and the<br /> George Sand representatives together. If there<br /> are passages detrimental to George Sand which<br /> have been omitted, the same should have been<br /> done for de Musset, otherwise the book is of<br /> no value as a justification of George Sand’s<br /> conduct.<br /> <br /> Among the new books are the following :<br /> “ Bldorado,” by Paul Brulat; “ Au Pays du<br /> Mystére,” by Pierre de Maél ; “ Marie Claire,” by<br /> Francois Deschamp ; “Mes premiéres Armes<br /> Littéraires et Politiques,” by Madame Adam ;<br /> “Récits et Legendes d’_ Alsace Lorraine,” by<br /> Genevieve Lanzy ; ‘La Vie de Paris,” by Jean<br /> Bernard ; “ Les Francais de mon temps,” by the<br /> Vicomte G. d’Avenel.<br /> <br /> ‘he theatrical season is practically over, but some<br /> of the plays are still running, and at one or two of<br /> the theatres the summer season has commenced.<br /> As so many foreigners are in Paris during these<br /> months this sammer season is becoming quite<br /> important.<br /> <br /> The Odéon commenced its celebration of George<br /> Sand’s centenary with “ Le Démon du Foyer,” and<br /> a George Sand exhibition in the foyer of the theatre.<br /> “ Glaudie” will be given at the Francais.<br /> <br /> A delightful innovation in Paris is the out-door<br /> theatre in the Bois de Boulogne, the ‘héatre de<br /> Verdure of the Pié Catelan. On the 22nd of June<br /> the Comédie-Francaise gave “ Oedipe roi”; the<br /> Odéon gave the foarth act of the “Ariésienne ”;<br /> <br /> <br /> 260<br /> <br /> the ballet of “ Manon”’ was danced by the corps de<br /> ballet of the Opéra Comique. It is fifty years<br /> since any performance has been given at the Pré<br /> Catelan.<br /> <br /> Atys Hauuarp.<br /> <br /> —~&lt;- «<br /> <br /> UNITED STATES NOTES.<br /> <br /> —~_<br /> <br /> (WNHE trail of the November Presidential election<br /> is over everything this year, not excluding<br /> literature. Histories of the Republican<br /> <br /> Party, lives of their candidate, and similar pro-<br /> <br /> ductions are as plentiful as blackberries ; and even<br /> <br /> the clear stream of fiction is perceptibly a little<br /> muddied with politics.<br /> <br /> Meanwhile we have had a few biographies whose<br /> real concern is with the past. Dr. Joseph Barrett’s<br /> ‘Abraham Lincoln and his Presidency ’”’ is based,<br /> indeed, upon a “campaign biography,” written<br /> with its subject’s assistance ; but the work in its<br /> present form is of quite a different character, and<br /> is a useful solvent of much myth that has gathered<br /> round its hero.<br /> <br /> Mr. Thomas E. Watson, going further back, has<br /> added to Jefferson literature a somewhat episodical<br /> but rather entertaining volume. He complains<br /> bitterly of the deification of New Englandism, and<br /> handles none too gently contemporary writers on<br /> his subject, such as Woodrow Wilson, Henry<br /> Cabot Lodge, and Elroy Curtis.<br /> <br /> A notable biography also is “The Life of John<br /> A. Andrew,” Governor of Massachusetts during<br /> the Civil War, which has been written by Henry<br /> Greenleaf Pearson. With all his admiration for<br /> Lincoln the ardent war governor found the<br /> President’s cautious methods rather trying. This<br /> and other matters, such as the relations of Andrew<br /> with General Butler, are handled in an admirable<br /> manner, and the whole work is remarkable for<br /> scholarship and literary power.<br /> <br /> The “ Memoirs of Henry Villard,” on the other<br /> hand, though of no slight interest and importance,<br /> are of very uneven merit. That part of the work<br /> which recounts the author’s career as a war<br /> correspondent, and generally all of it that deals<br /> with his life as a journalist, is eminently satis-<br /> factory ; but, from easily excusable causes, what<br /> is told us of Villard as the financial organiser of<br /> the north-west is presented in a sadly fragmentary<br /> manner. One is glad to hear, however, that its<br /> shortcomings are likely to be remedied in a supple-<br /> mentary publication. The life of a man who did<br /> so much for America deserves the fullest possible<br /> treatment in all its phases.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> One other biography we must mention, viz., Mr.<br /> Francis Newton Thorpe’s “ Life of Dr. William<br /> Pepper,” Provost of Pennsylvania University. It<br /> tells sympathetically, if a little diffusely, the life-<br /> story of a really great personality—a man who not<br /> only created a university, but left a great pro-<br /> fessional reputation both as a medical writer and<br /> a practising physician. He literally wore himself<br /> out before his time by sheer pressure of work. It<br /> is not a little refreshing to read of this go-ahead<br /> character sticking up for Greek and Latin before<br /> the Modern Languages Association—he himself<br /> spoke French fluently; and the opinion of such<br /> a man that the purification of American public<br /> life was to be sought rather in educational work<br /> than in ward politics is at least worthy of serious<br /> consideration.<br /> <br /> The Supreme Court has decided that books are<br /> books and not periodicals. They will, therefore ,<br /> no longer be able to go through the mails as<br /> “second class” matter.<br /> <br /> The “ Encyclopedia Britannica” has found a<br /> protector in Judge Lacombe, who has restrained<br /> the Tribune Association of New York City from<br /> printing and selling as a premium a so-called<br /> “‘Americanised Encyclopedia Britannica.” The<br /> latter, it was held, had formed their eight volumes<br /> by cancellations and mutilations of two-thirds of<br /> the English work. A large amount of doca-<br /> mentary evidence was put in. Actions were also<br /> brought against the publishers, the Saalfield Pub-<br /> lishing Company, of Akron, O., by Appleton &amp;<br /> Co., who alleged that the ‘“ Americanised ” supple-<br /> ment infringed the copyright of their “ Cyclopedia<br /> of American Biography.”’ They obtained damages<br /> as well as an agreement to destroy copies and<br /> stop sales.<br /> <br /> The author of “Mrs. Wiges of the Cabbage<br /> Patch” has also obtained relief from the law.<br /> Mrs. Bass had been so pestered by the unwelcome<br /> attentions of “hoboes” and others, that she at<br /> length had recourse to strong measures, and last<br /> April found herself charged with assault in the<br /> form of throwing a pitcher upon the head of one<br /> Mrs. Emily Smith, of Hazlewood, Ky. The<br /> Louisville police justice dismissed the charge “on<br /> general principles,” expressing the view that Mrs.<br /> Wiggs had had great provocation.<br /> <br /> The plaintiff’s plea that she was under the<br /> impression that the author of “big-sellers ” was in<br /> need of charitable relief was distinctly piquant ;<br /> and certainly not less so was the testimony of the<br /> defendant, who left the court saying “ Now maybe<br /> Tl be able to spend my old age in peace, and<br /> maybe my trees ‘ll grow out where all them<br /> memorals has been pulled off, and maybe my yard<br /> won’t be full of strange people every Sunday,<br /> and I can move downstairs, where I used to live.”<br />  <br /> <br /> i<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> &quot;To return to literature. America is not wanting<br /> in clever novelists, but her poets are few and far<br /> between. All the greater then is our pleasure in<br /> pointing to the achievement of Mr. William<br /> Vaughan Moody, who has followed up his highly<br /> promising “ Masque of Judgment” with ‘The<br /> Fire-Bringer,” a drama of even greater merit.<br /> The two, it seems, are designed as parts of a<br /> trilogy, the remainder being yet to come. We<br /> trust that there may be a few who will find leisure<br /> from politics and fiction to make acquaintance<br /> with literature that has attained so high a level.<br /> <br /> Some weeks ago’ we were astonished to see<br /> printed in that usually sane and carefully edited<br /> organ, the Dial, a “communication” headed “ In<br /> Re Shakespeare-Bacon” and signed “ Francis<br /> Bacon Verulam Smith,” which is about the most<br /> fatuous piece of literary criticism that we have<br /> ever read in a serious paper. Were it not for the<br /> well-known character of the publication one should<br /> certainly have dismissed the thing as a somewhat<br /> impudent jew d’ésprit. The writer of the “com-<br /> munication” sets out to follow up a “line of<br /> proof” adopted some time ago by a contributor<br /> to the English paper Literature. ‘The latter seems<br /> to have propounded the somewhat untenable<br /> hypothesis that every great author is commonly<br /> associated with his chief creation. This is how<br /> Francis Bacon Verulam Smith follows up the clue:<br /> «« What, now, is the chief, the best known character<br /> in the so-called Shakespearian dramas? Hamlet,<br /> to be sure; and in the name lurks a very clever<br /> <br /> erypto-pun—Ham [i.¢., Bacon] let [or, hindered<br /> from openly declaring his identity]. Let us goa<br /> step further. What is Hamlet’s most famous<br /> speech? The immortal soliloquy. And the most<br /> familiar line therein? The first. Let us examine<br /> this line. ‘Be’ is phonetic for the second letter<br /> of the alphabet, and the line thus becomes ‘To<br /> B[acon] or not to B[acon are these plays to be<br /> ascribed], that is the question.’ And how is the<br /> question decided? In the affirmative, of course.<br /> The soliloquist determines against self-annihila-<br /> tion. The Baconian authorship is thus established.”<br /> We notice that the communicator hails from St.<br /> Albans, presumably in England. Can it be that<br /> the editor has been had by some wicked under-<br /> graduate? Shelley, according to Hogg, would<br /> indulge in somewhat similar practical jokes.<br /> <br /> And now we must grapple with Fiction. The<br /> book which headed the list of the Six Best Sellers<br /> at the end of May was Miss Johnston’s “Sir<br /> Mortimer,” a romance of Elizabethan times, Ellen<br /> Glasgow’s “The Deliverance” coming second. As<br /> to the precise altitude of literary merit reached by<br /> the first there is room for some difference of<br /> opinion ; that the second has really great dramatic<br /> power there can be none. The scene is Virginia ;<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 261<br /> <br /> the time, the reconstruction period after the Civil<br /> War ; and the central theme, the power of love to<br /> overcome the spirit of vengeance. Mrs. Atherton’s<br /> “ Rulers of Kings” will scarcely add to her reputa-<br /> tion ; but Stewart White has fully maintained his<br /> with “The Silent Places.” It is the story of two<br /> Hudson Bay Company’s runners hunting a default-<br /> ing Indian trapper, and of the passion of an<br /> Ojibway girl for one of the whites.<br /> <br /> Amongst other historical novels which attain a<br /> respectable level may be mentioned “Robert<br /> Cavelier,”’ by William Dana Orcutt; “ When<br /> Wilderness was King,” by Randall Parrish ; and<br /> George Morgan’s “The Issue,” the last and best<br /> of the three, containing some faithful descriptive<br /> passages concerning the battles and personages of<br /> the Civil War.<br /> <br /> The political novel is strongly represented by<br /> Francis Lynde’s western study called ‘The<br /> Grafters,” a well constructed if somewhat over-<br /> technical work, and by David Graham Phillip’s<br /> powerful depiction of Wall Street ways, “ The<br /> Cost.” Arthur Coton’s “ Port Argent’ also deals<br /> largely in matters political. One may express a<br /> hope, fond and foolish as it may seem, that such<br /> books as these may have power enough to react a<br /> little upon public opinion.<br /> <br /> Promising first appearances in fiction have been<br /> made by Mrs. Beatrice Demarest Lloyd and Miss<br /> Margery Williams ; “ The Pastime of Eternity ” is<br /> the imposing title given by the former to her tale<br /> of incompatible temperaments.<br /> <br /> “The Price of Youth” is rather audacious in<br /> places, and perhaps a little reminiscent in others,<br /> but has genuine pathos, and fidelity to the life<br /> described, though the writer, we understand, is an<br /> Englishwoman.<br /> <br /> Miss Miriam Michelson has made an undoubted<br /> hit with her “In the Bishop’s Carriage,” whose<br /> heroine is a thief who gets caught by a theatrical<br /> manager and converted—into an actress. The<br /> Bishop’s carriage has little to do with the main<br /> interest of the story ; but it is probable that the<br /> poster which pourtrays the incident connected with<br /> it is having much to do with its financial success.<br /> <br /> Another book which has “caught on” mightily<br /> is the versatile Mr, Severy’s detective story, “The<br /> Darrow Enigma.” Melvin L. Severy has tried his<br /> hand with some success not only at journalism,<br /> playwriting and art, but has also devoted himself<br /> to science and patented various inventions.<br /> <br /> Finally Mrs. Edith Wharton has published a<br /> volume of striking short stories; George Burr<br /> McCutcheon has made a hero of a dog, though<br /> quite unlike that of the author of “The Call of<br /> the Wild” ; Byron’s career has been embodied in<br /> fiction in Miss Rives’s “The Castaway” ; and<br /> Winston Churchill has followed up “ The Crisis”<br /> <br /> <br /> 262<br /> <br /> and “ Richard Carvel” with a new romance, “ The<br /> Crossing.” :<br /> <br /> The Japanese novel has also made its first<br /> appearance in English through the enterprise of<br /> American publishers.<br /> <br /> Our obituary list is happily a short one. It<br /> includes, besides Edgar Fawcett, a poet and novelist,<br /> who died in England, Guy Webmore Carryl, best<br /> known by his collection of Parisian stories, entitled<br /> “Zut,” aman who seemed but at the threshold of<br /> a brilliant career; Mrs. Abby Morton Diaz, author<br /> of some successful books for children; Mrs.<br /> Sarah Jane Lippincott, who wrote under the name<br /> of Grace Greenwood, and founded ‘The Pilgrim ” ;<br /> and Colonel Augustus C. Buell, the biographer of<br /> Paul Jones and Sir William Johnson. To these<br /> should perhaps be added the widow of Nathaniel<br /> P. Willis, though she was not an author, and<br /> Mrs. Clemens.<br /> <br /> Se<br /> <br /> LEGAL NOTES.<br /> <br /> ——+—<br /> What’s in a Name?<br /> <br /> VENTURED to discuss in last month’s Author<br /> the position of the writer of a new book with<br /> regard to a title which has been used before<br /> <br /> by another writer, and to suggest that in most<br /> cases the new writer can afford to disregard the<br /> previous one, on the ground that the author of a<br /> book which has been published has only a right to<br /> prevent another from using his title in certain<br /> circumstances. The author of the previous work<br /> apparently can do this when he can show that<br /> his book is known to the public by the name which<br /> he has given to it, and that his market is likely to<br /> be interfered with by a new book which may be<br /> mistaken for his, but not otherwise. The device<br /> used by some newspaper owners of publishing<br /> dummy copies in order to protect a title of which<br /> they claim to have the monopoly, is useless for any<br /> practical legal purpose.<br /> <br /> I take it, however, that the author (or the owner<br /> of the copyright or right to publish) would have<br /> the right to prevent another book from being sold<br /> under the name of his, in any case where his book<br /> was being publicly bought and sold ; it would not<br /> be necessary for him to show that it was being sold<br /> by the original publisher at the time. He might<br /> have produced a limited edition, the price of which<br /> was daily rising, and the sale and reputation of<br /> which would be injured by the new book annexing<br /> the well known name. In the case of plays, the<br /> fact that a play can be revived at any time is of<br /> course material. No one would be justified in<br /> bringing out a new play and calling it “Hast<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Lynne” or “The Importance of being Earnest,”<br /> and because at that time no play of the name was<br /> being performed. It would be a question of fact<br /> for the tribunal hearing the case, should an action<br /> be brought, whether the book or play in question<br /> was so far alive or liable to be revived as to be<br /> entitled to protection.<br /> <br /> Sometimes the question is asked whether a<br /> person publishing a book of a different kind from<br /> another under a similar title could be prevented<br /> from doing so. Presumably, if the sale of the<br /> second book is likely to interfere with that of the<br /> first from their being mistaken for one another,<br /> the use of the title causing the confusion could<br /> be prevented. In this case it would again be a<br /> question of fact how far the error would be possible.<br /> <br /> A title must often be equally applicable to two<br /> books of a totally different character. Suppose<br /> that at the time when “‘ Vanity Fair” was begin-<br /> ning to enjoy fame, a popular preacher in a West<br /> End church had chosen to bring out a book of<br /> sermons with the same name, an old lady writing<br /> to her library for “ Vanity Fair” (the sermons)<br /> might have received Mr. Thackeray’s masterpiece,<br /> and never have read, the sermons at all; or another<br /> having been recommended the novel might by a<br /> similar mistake have received the sermons and,.<br /> obedient to their precepts, might never have<br /> opened a book of romance again. It is certainly<br /> not easy to lay down any rule to the effect that<br /> books of similar titles upon different subjects will<br /> not clash with one another.<br /> <br /> If, however, the state of things is simply this,<br /> that the writer of a new work must not use a title<br /> that will interfere with the prosperity of an existing<br /> one, it seems fairly clear that the legal right to<br /> prevent the adoption of a title cannot often belong<br /> to those who claim it. This was suggested in the<br /> last issue of Zhe Author, but I should like to lay<br /> emphasis upon it. What really belongs to the<br /> previous author in most cases is simply the power<br /> to annoy, and possibly the opportunity to exact a<br /> small payment as compensation for an imaginary<br /> wrong, a payment, however, which could not be<br /> enforced in a Court of law.<br /> <br /> There is a conceivable case in which the author<br /> of a dead book might bring out a new edition for no<br /> other purpose than to interfere with the sale of the:<br /> new one, and it would be very difficult to prevent<br /> him from doing so, and from thus supplying some<br /> evidence of vitality. Should this occur it would<br /> not be easy to prove that the re-publication was:<br /> only for the purpose of extorting compensation,<br /> and the possibility of such a thing being done is a.<br /> contingency to be reckoned with.<br /> <br /> It must be conceded therefore, that however:<br /> seldom the author of a book who has inadvertently<br /> taken the title of another, which he has never<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> .<br /> a<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> heard of before, can be prevented legally from<br /> proceeding to use it, no one would willingly or<br /> wittingly choose a name already used if he had<br /> any means ready to his hand of ascertaining the<br /> previous use. The remedies suggested seem to be<br /> twofold, namely, a full official list of all names<br /> made use of, or secondly, a system of formal<br /> registration conveying some right of protection such<br /> as is conferred by registration upon owners of<br /> registered trade marks and devices, or names used<br /> as such.<br /> <br /> With regard to the mere official recording of<br /> published names there are a few observations<br /> to be made. Supposing such a list were to be<br /> compiled, it would be a very long one, even if it only<br /> contained the books separately published in each<br /> year, but probably it would have to contain more<br /> than this. Books serialised would have to go in,<br /> and so would short stories and articles. I gave<br /> the instance of my own experience when the author<br /> of a short story, who said (no doubt trulv) that<br /> she was going to republish it, caused my publisher<br /> to insist on my altering the name of a novel which<br /> had been already announced for publication. In<br /> order to prevent this, I should, I suppose, had<br /> such lists as those imagined been in existence,<br /> have had to look through them for ten or twenty<br /> years back, a search which would have been<br /> certainly tiresome and possibly useless for practical<br /> purposes. Take such a title as “Some Emotions<br /> and a Moral.? Under what word would it be<br /> indexed? If tabulated only under the first word,<br /> “Some,” the person desirous of publishing “ An<br /> Emotion and a Moral,” would miss finding it, as he<br /> would have only looked under the word “ An.”<br /> And yet this latter title would clearly be liable to<br /> be mistaken, and its use would be indefensible.<br /> Tf more than one of the elements were indexed, so<br /> that “Some Emotions and a Moral,” would be<br /> found under “Some,” under “Emotion,” and<br /> under “Moral,” the list would be increased still<br /> more, and the staff of clerks necessary to keep it<br /> complete, orderly, and up-to-date would have to<br /> be a large one. In urging the making of such a<br /> list officially as a remedy for the existing grievance,<br /> it must be remembered that the cure proposed<br /> should be a practical one, such as Parliament would<br /> be likely to adopt. It is not easy to show that<br /> the receipt of a book would compensate a public<br /> or national library for the trouble and expense of<br /> indexing its title, and enabling searchers to have<br /> access to the list thus compiled. It is still more<br /> difficult to argue that the receipt of a threepenny<br /> magazine or a halfpenny newspaper should reward<br /> the public institution for selecting from its con-<br /> tents the titles which ought to be recorded.<br /> <br /> This refers to the mere recording of titles<br /> officially without the concurrence or assistance of<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 263<br /> <br /> the authors or publishers. The regis/ration of titles<br /> by authors, so that only those registering shall<br /> acquire a right to use and to protect those titles is<br /> a larger question, the discussion of which I propose<br /> to defer.<br /> <br /> E. A. ARMSTRONG.<br /> <br /> — oe<br /> <br /> The “ Encyclopedia Britannica” in Canada.<br /> <br /> A. &amp; CG. Buack v. THe Iupeertan Book CoMPANY<br /> or TORONTO.<br /> <br /> Wuen the judgment in this important action<br /> was delivered (January, 1903) the present writer<br /> at least thought the world had heard the last<br /> of it. The Imperial Book Company, however,<br /> took it to appeal, and it has now once more been<br /> determined in favour of the English publishers,<br /> Messrs. Adam and Charles Black. As the case<br /> was commented upon at some length in Zhe Author<br /> for April of last year, it is not proposed to repeat<br /> here all the old arguments over the old issues, but<br /> only to consider such parts of it as have acquired<br /> a fresh importance at the appeal trial. And first<br /> the case may be briefly stated.<br /> <br /> Messrs. A. &amp; GC. Black, the owners of the<br /> “Encyclopedia Britannica,” had authorised the<br /> Clark Company of Toronto to publish that work<br /> in Canada, and this firm was actually publishing it<br /> when it was found that another company—The<br /> Imperial Book Company—was importing into<br /> Canada for sale their copies of the same work<br /> printed in the United States. To the action—for<br /> injunction, delivery up of the piracies, and account<br /> of profits—which followed, the defence made by the<br /> Imperial Book Company was shortly as follows :—<br /> <br /> 1. That the Copyright Act is not in force in<br /> Canada.<br /> <br /> 2. That a certificate of registration at Stationers’<br /> Hall is not (even in the absence of rebutting evi-<br /> dence) proof of ownership of copyright.<br /> <br /> 3. That Messrs. Black, having assigned their<br /> copyright to the Clark Company, could not sue ;<br /> and that the Clark Company, not having registered<br /> the assignment, likewise could not maintain the<br /> action.<br /> <br /> 4, That notice had not been properly given to<br /> the Customs, as required by the Customs Laws<br /> Consolidation Act, 1876 (39 &amp; 40 Vict. c. 36, s. 152)<br /> <br /> There were other minor and technical points<br /> raised ; but these were the clear issues, a decision<br /> favourable to the defendants, upon any one of<br /> which would have destroyed Messrs. Black’s right<br /> to their property in Canada. The judge below<br /> <br /> decided adversely to the defendants upon all of<br /> them, the fourth point evidently giving him the<br /> 264<br /> <br /> most trouble. And this fourth point again became<br /> the real question upon which the case turned at<br /> the appeal trial, two judges out of three (Moss,<br /> C.J.0., Maclennan and Maclaren, JJ.A.: April<br /> 19th, 1904) devoting their judgments entirely to<br /> it; and one out of three dissenting from the<br /> opinion of the other two, and being in favour of<br /> reversing the judgment of the Court below. It<br /> may be assumed that the learned judges were in<br /> agreement on all the other points.<br /> <br /> Well, then, as to this fourth point. The question<br /> was: Should Messrs. Black have given proper<br /> notice to the Customs that they wished to bar the<br /> importation of these “ Encyclopedias,” printed<br /> without their authority, into Canada? They said<br /> “No”; The Imperial Book Company said “ Yes.”<br /> Two of the judges said “No”; the third said<br /> “Yes.” Tt all turned on the construction of<br /> Sections 151 and 152 of the Customs Act. Section<br /> 152 expressly states that notice must be given.<br /> But Section 151 states as expressly that the Customs<br /> Acts are to apply to all British Possessions except<br /> such as shall by local Act or ordinance make entire<br /> provision for the management and regulation of the<br /> Customs of any such Possession, or make, nm like<br /> manner, express provisions in lieu or variation of<br /> any of the clauses of the saad Act.<br /> <br /> Was Canada such a Possession? Moss, C.J.,<br /> said “Yes”; Maclennan, J.A., said “Yes” ;<br /> Maclaren, J.A., said “No.” As this is the sole<br /> question upon which the judgment turned, so it is<br /> the sole question in the case which demands of the<br /> interested reader some attention before he can<br /> master the reasons for and against it ; because, in<br /> dissenting from his learned brothers, the last judge<br /> showed very skilfully how a Copyright Act may<br /> get confused with a Customs Act, resulting in<br /> serious differences of opinion in construing them,<br /> as in the present case.<br /> <br /> Now Section 151 of the Act says, “ Such Posses-<br /> sion as shall make entire provision for the regula-<br /> tion of its Customs.” “ But,” asked Maclaren, J.A.,<br /> “is Section 152 to be regarded as part ofa Customs<br /> Actatall 2?” Isit not an amendment of the English<br /> Copyright Act ? Section 17 of that Act states at<br /> large that piracies must not be imported; it<br /> savs nothing about notice to the Customs.<br /> Then comes this Section 152 of the Customs Act,<br /> cutting down the right given by making notice<br /> necessary. Well, then, is not this Section 152<br /> really a Copyright Act? But, if so, it does not<br /> matter how much provision Canada might have<br /> made for the regulation of her Customs—this<br /> Section 152 is outside her control ; in other words,<br /> the notice required by it should have been given.<br /> But, again, Section 151 says: ‘‘ Such Possession as<br /> shall make entire provision for the regulation of its<br /> Customs.” And Canada had made, in regard to<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> the importation of books, no provision at all!<br /> Therefore, again, Section 151 does not operate to<br /> exclude Canada from the effect of Section 152.<br /> <br /> The opinion of the dissenting judge has here<br /> been given first, in order that the judgment of the<br /> agreeing judges may be more easily grasped as by<br /> way of reply to it. The Chief Justice said :<br /> <br /> “ Section 152 undoubtedly forms part of the<br /> Customs Act... and I do not see how it<br /> can be separated from Section 151 . . . which<br /> nowhere says that it is when the British<br /> Possession has provided protection for the<br /> owners of copyrights that the exception is to<br /> take effect.”<br /> <br /> That is to say: Whether Canada had or had not<br /> made provision for the regulation of copyright is<br /> not the question. She had made provision for the<br /> regulation of her Customs ; these provisions did<br /> not happen to touch the present case ; but the fact<br /> of her having made them excludes her from the<br /> effect of Section 152 by bringing her under the<br /> operation of Section 151.<br /> <br /> In like manner Maclennan, J.A. :<br /> <br /> “Tt is argued that Section 152 is not a<br /> Customs but a Copyright Act . . . and that,<br /> therefore, it applies to Canada notwithstanding<br /> Section 151... . Itis also argued that Section<br /> 17 of the Copyright Actis also a Customs Act,<br /> and is withheld from application to Canada by<br /> Section 151, in which case importation would<br /> no longer be illegal! I cannot agree with<br /> either contention. Section 17 provides against<br /> importation into England and the British<br /> Possessions. . . - If all the Customs Acts<br /> were repealed this enactment would not be<br /> effected. ... No more is Section 152 a<br /> Copyright Act, nor less part of a Customs Act<br /> because, in order to facilitate the transaction<br /> of Customs business, it permits the importation<br /> of copyright works as a penalty for omitting<br /> to give notice. . . . Section 152 is applicable<br /> to the United Kingdom, and to all British<br /> Possessions as have not made provision for the<br /> regulation of their own Customs, but it is not<br /> applicable to Canada.”<br /> <br /> To the student of Copyright law and its intricacies.<br /> it may still seem a trifle doubtful as to which side<br /> has the better of what is after all a mere technical<br /> point, and he may look forward still to seeing the<br /> case before the Privy Council. There will, however,<br /> be little doubt as to which side is in the right.<br /> The space at disposal does not permit of reference<br /> to the other chief but simpler points in the case,<br /> all of which underwent clear and thorough elucida-<br /> tion at the hands of the learned judges. Particularly<br /> interesting and lucid was the distinction which<br /> Judge-Advocate Maclennan drew between an<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> assignment and a licence ; and Mr. MacGillivray<br /> came in for another compliment in being quoted<br /> by the Court of Appeal as well as in the Court<br /> below.<br /> <br /> CHARLES WEEKES.<br /> <br /> oe<br /> <br /> COPYRIGHT LEGISLATION IN THE 58TH<br /> CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES.<br /> <br /> —_e<br /> <br /> (From The United States Publishers’ Weekly).<br /> <br /> F the bills to amend the Revised Statutes<br /> relating to copyrights only one became law,<br /> namely, that providing for copyright pro-<br /> <br /> tection to exhibitors at St. Louis.<br /> <br /> The amendment to Section 4952 of the Revised<br /> Statutes, making provision for an extension of the<br /> present system of providing for authorised transla-<br /> tions, was favourably reported in both houses, but<br /> did not secure a vote.<br /> <br /> Bill 5314, introduced in the Senate by Mr. Platt,<br /> of Connecticut, to limit free importation of books<br /> copyrighted in the United States, was read twice<br /> and referred to the Committee on Patents. The<br /> modification, given below in italics, occurs in<br /> Chapter 3, Section 4956 :<br /> <br /> “ . . but the privilege accorded to certain institu-<br /> tions, under paragraph 515 of Section two of the said<br /> Act, to import, free of duty, not more than two copies<br /> of books, maps, lithographic prints and charts, shall<br /> apply to the importation of books, maps, lithographac<br /> prints and charts, which have been copyrighted in the<br /> United States, only when holders of the American<br /> copyrights thereof in writing consent to such importa-<br /> tion; and except in the case of persons purchasing<br /> for use and not for sale, who import subject to the<br /> duty thereon and with the written consent of the<br /> holders of the American copyrights, not more than<br /> two copies of such book at any one time.”<br /> <br /> The Bill No. 13355, introduced in the House by<br /> Mr. Tawney, requiring the filing of proof that<br /> copyright books, etc., are printed from type set<br /> within the limits of the United States and provid-<br /> ing a penalty for the making of false proof or<br /> wilful failure to comply with the condition of the<br /> present law, passed the House, but did not reach<br /> the Senate. ‘The amendment was proposed to take<br /> the place of the last two provisions of Section 4956,<br /> and reads as follows :<br /> <br /> “That accompanying the two copies of the<br /> book, photo, chromo or lithograph required to be<br /> delivered or deposited, as herein provided, there<br /> shall be an affidavit under the official seal of any<br /> officer authorised to administer oaths within the<br /> United States, duly made by the person desiring<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> 265<br /> <br /> the said copyright or by his duly authorised agent or<br /> representative residing in the United States, setting<br /> forth that the two copies required to be so deposited<br /> have been printed from type set within the limits<br /> of the United States or from plates made there-<br /> from or from negatives or drawings on stone made<br /> within the limits of the United States or from<br /> transfers made therefrom; and the place within<br /> the limits of the United States at which such type<br /> was set, or plates or negatives were made, and by<br /> whom.<br /> <br /> “Sec, 2. That any person violating any of the<br /> provisions of this Act or who shall be guilty of<br /> making a false affidavit as to his having complied<br /> with the conditions thereof for the purpose of<br /> obtaining a copyright shall be deemed guilty of<br /> a misdemeanour, and upon conviction thereof shall<br /> be punished by a fine of not more than one thou-<br /> sand dollars, and of all his rights and privileges<br /> under said copyright shall thereafter be forfeited.”<br /> <br /> Mr. Otis, from the Committee on Patents, sub-<br /> mitted a report on Mr. Tawney’s amendment, which<br /> concludes as follows :<br /> <br /> “The law now provides that no person shall be<br /> entitled to a copyright unless he shall on or before<br /> the day of publication in this or any foreign<br /> country deliver at the office of the Librarian of<br /> Congress or deposit in the mail within the United<br /> States addressed to the Librarian of Congress a<br /> printed copy of the title of his publication or other<br /> matter for which he applies for copyright. He is<br /> also required by the existing law, not later than<br /> the day of publication, to deposit with the Librarian<br /> of Congress two copies of such copyright book,<br /> map, chart, etc., and the law expressly provides<br /> that these two copies ‘shall be printed from type<br /> set within the limits of the United States, or from<br /> plates made therefrom, or from negatives or<br /> drawings on stone made within the limits of the<br /> United States, or from transfers made therefrom.’<br /> The law which thus requires the deposit of two<br /> copies of the publication and that the same shall<br /> be printed from type set within the limits of the<br /> United States, etc., before a copyright can be<br /> obtained, does not require any proof to be filed<br /> that such books have been thus printed within the<br /> limits of the United States, nor does it impose any<br /> penalty whatever upon an author or publisher who<br /> obtains a copyright without having first complied<br /> with this condition as to the printing from type set<br /> within the limits of the United States.<br /> <br /> “ After investigation your committee have reason<br /> to believe that it is not only possible, but that in<br /> some instances the present law has been evaded<br /> and violated to the injary of American labour, and<br /> that this can be done with comparative ease under<br /> the existing law ; that there is no remedy and no<br /> means of enforcing this condition as to printing<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> 264<br /> <br /> most trouble. And this fourth point again became<br /> the real question upon which the case turned at<br /> the appeal trial, two judges out of three (Moss,<br /> C.J.O., Maclennan and Maclaren, JJ.A.: April<br /> 19th, 1904) devoting their judgments entirely to<br /> it; and one out of three dissenting from the<br /> opinion of the other two, and being in favour of<br /> reversing the judgment of the Court below. It<br /> may be assumed that the learned judges were in<br /> agreement on all the other points.<br /> <br /> Well, then, as to this fourth point. The question<br /> was: Should Messrs. Black have given proper<br /> notice to the Customs that they wished to bar the<br /> importation of these “ Encyclopedias,” printed<br /> without their authority, into Canada? They said<br /> “No”; The Imperial Book Company said “ Yes.”<br /> Two of the judges said “No”; the third said<br /> “Yes.” Jt all turned on the construction of<br /> Sections 151 and 152 of the Customs Act. Section<br /> 152 expressly states that notice must be given.<br /> But Section 151 states as expressly that the Customs<br /> Acts are to apply to all British Possessions except<br /> such as shall by local Act or ordinance make entire<br /> provision for the management and regulation of the<br /> Customs of any such Possession, or make, in like<br /> manner, express provisions in lieu or variation of<br /> any. of the clauses of the said Act.<br /> <br /> Was Canada such a Possession? Moss, C.J.,<br /> said ‘“ Yes”; Maclennan, J.A., said “Yes”;<br /> Maclaren, J.A., said “No.” As this is the sole<br /> question upon which the judgment turned, so it is<br /> the sole question in the case which demands of the<br /> interested reader some attention before he can<br /> master the reasons for and against it; because, in<br /> dissenting from his learned brothers, the last judge<br /> showed very skilfully how a Copyright Act may<br /> get confused with a Customs Act, resulting in<br /> serious differences of opinion in construing them,<br /> as in the present case.<br /> <br /> Now Section 151 of the Act says, “ Such Posses-<br /> sion as shall make entire provision for the regula-<br /> tion ofits Customs.” “But,” asked Maclaren, J.A.,<br /> “tis Section 152 to be regarded as part of a Customs<br /> Actatall 2?” Isit not an amendment of the English<br /> Copyright Act? Section 17 of that Act states at<br /> large that piracies must not be imported; it<br /> says nothing about notice to the Customs.<br /> Then comes this Section 152 of the Customs Act,<br /> cutting down the right given by making notice<br /> necessary. Well, then, is not this Nection 152<br /> really a Copyright Act? But, if so, it does not<br /> matter how much provision Canada might have<br /> made for the regulation of her Customs—this<br /> Section 152 is outside her control ; in other words,<br /> the notice required by it should have been given.<br /> But, again, Section 151 says: ‘“‘ Such Possession as<br /> shall make entire provision for the regulation of its<br /> Customs.” And Canada had made, in regard to<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> the importation of books, no provision at all!<br /> Therefore, again, Section 151 does not operate to<br /> exclude Canada from the effect of Section 152.<br /> <br /> The opinion of the dissenting judge has here<br /> been given first, in order that the judgment of the<br /> agreeing judges may be more easily grasped as by<br /> way of reply to it. The Chief Justice said :<br /> <br /> “Section 152 undoubtedly forms part of the<br /> Customs Act... and I do not see how it<br /> can be separated from Section 151 . . . which<br /> nowhere says that it is when the British<br /> Possession has provided protection for the<br /> owners of copyrights that the exception is to<br /> take effect.”<br /> <br /> That is to say: Whether Canada had or had not<br /> made provision for the regulation of copyright is<br /> not the question. She had made provision for the<br /> regulation of her Customs ; these provisions did<br /> not happen to touch the present case; but the fact<br /> of her having made them excludes her from the<br /> effect of Section 152 by bringing her under the<br /> operation of Section 151.<br /> <br /> In like manner Maclennan, J.A. :<br /> <br /> “Tt is argued that Section 152 is not a<br /> Customs but a Copyright Act . . . and that,<br /> therefore, it applies to Canada notwithstanding<br /> Section 151... . Itis also argued that Section<br /> 17 of the Copyright Actis also a Customs Act,<br /> and is withheld from application to Canada by<br /> Section 151, in which case importation would<br /> no longer be illegal! JI cannot agree with<br /> either contention. Section 17 provides against<br /> importation into England and the British<br /> Possessions. . . . If all the Customs Acts<br /> were repealed this enactment would not be<br /> effected. ... No more is Section 152 a<br /> Copyright Act, nor less part of a Customs Act<br /> because, in order to facilitate the transaction<br /> of Customs business, it permits the importation<br /> of copyright works as a penalty for omitting<br /> to give notice. . . . Section 152 is applicable<br /> to the United Kingdom, and to all British<br /> Possessions as have not made provision for the —<br /> regulation of their own Customs, but it is nob<br /> applicable to Canada.”<br /> <br /> To the student of Copyright law and its intricacies<br /> it may still seem a trifle doubtful as to which side<br /> has the better of what is after all a mere technical<br /> point, and he may look forward still to seeing the<br /> case before the Privy Council. There will, however,<br /> be little doubt as to which side is in the right.<br /> The space at disposal does not permit of reference —<br /> to the other chief but simpler points in the case, —<br /> all of which underwent clear and thorough elucida-<br /> tion at the hands of the learned judges. Particularly -<br /> interesting and lucid was the distinction which —<br /> Judge-Advocate Maclennan drew between an<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> assignment and a licence; and Mr. MacGillivray<br /> came in for another compliment in being quoted<br /> by the Court of Appeal as well as in the Court<br /> below.<br /> <br /> CHARLES WEEKES.<br /> <br /> of 6<br /> <br /> COPYRIGHT LEGISLATION IN THE 58TH<br /> CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES.<br /> <br /> —“~-<br /> <br /> (From The United States Publishers’ Weekly).<br /> <br /> F the bills to amend the Revised Statutes<br /> relating to copyrights only one became law,<br /> namely, that providing for copyright pro-<br /> <br /> tection to exhibitors at St. Louis.<br /> <br /> The amendment to Section 4952 of the Revised<br /> Statutes, making provision for an extension of the<br /> present system of providing for authorised transla-<br /> tions, was favourably reported in both houses, but<br /> did not secure a vote.<br /> <br /> Bill 5314, introduced in the Senate by Mr. Platt,<br /> of Connecticut, to limit free importation of books<br /> copyrighted in the United States, was read twice<br /> and referred to the Committee on Patents. The<br /> modification, given below in italics, occurs in<br /> Chapter 3, Section 4956 :<br /> <br /> “ . . but the privilege accorded to certain institu-<br /> tions, under paragraph 515 of Section two of the said<br /> Act, to import, free of duty, not more than two copies<br /> of books, maps, lithographic prints and charts, shall<br /> apply to the importation of books, maps, lithographic<br /> prints and charts, which have been copyrighted in the<br /> United States, only when holders of the American<br /> copyrights thereof in writing consent to such importa-<br /> tion; and except in the case of persons purchasing<br /> for use and not for sale, who import subject to the<br /> duty thereon and with the written consent of the<br /> holders of the American copyrights, not more than<br /> two copies of such book at any one time.”<br /> <br /> The Bill No. 13355, introduced in the House by<br /> Mr. Tawney, requiring the filing of proof that<br /> copyright books, etc., are printed from type set<br /> within the limits of the United States and provid-<br /> ing a penalty for the making of false proof or<br /> wilful failure to comply with the condition of the<br /> present law, passed the House, but did not reach<br /> the Senate. The amendment was proposed to take<br /> the place of the last two provisions of Section 4956,<br /> and reads as follows :<br /> <br /> “That accompanying the two copies of the<br /> book, photo, chromo or lithograph required to be<br /> delivered or deposited, as herein provided, there<br /> shall be an affidavit under the official seal of any<br /> officer authorised to administer oaths within the<br /> United States, duly made by the person desiring<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 265<br /> <br /> the said copyright or by his duly authorised agent or<br /> representative residing in the United States, setting<br /> forth that the two copies required to be so deposited<br /> have been printed from type set within the limits<br /> of the United States or from plates made there-<br /> from or from negatives or drawings on stone made<br /> within the limits of the United States or from<br /> transfers made therefrom; and the place within<br /> the limits of the United States at which such type<br /> was set, or plates or negatives were made, and by<br /> whom. :<br /> <br /> “Sec. 2. That any person violating any of the<br /> provisions of this Act or who shall be guilty of<br /> making a false affidavit as to his having complied<br /> with the conditions thereof for the purpose of<br /> obtaining a copyright shall be deemed guilty of<br /> a misdemeanour, and upon conviction thereof shall<br /> be punished by a fine of not more than one thou-<br /> sand dollars, and of all his rights and privileges<br /> under said copyright shall thereafter be forfeited.”<br /> <br /> Mr. Otis, from the Committee on Patents, sub-<br /> mitted a report on Mr. Tawney’s amendment, which<br /> concludes as follows :<br /> <br /> “The law now provides that no person shall be<br /> entitled to a copyright unless he shall on or before<br /> the day of publication in this or any foreign<br /> country deliver at the office of the Librarian of<br /> Congress or deposit in the mail within the United<br /> States addressed to the Librarian of Congress a<br /> printed copy of the title of his publication or other<br /> matter for which he applies for copyright. He is<br /> also required by the existing law, not later than<br /> the day of publication, to deposit with the Librarian<br /> of Congress two copies of such copyright book,<br /> map, chart, etc., and the law expressly provides<br /> that these two copies ‘shall be printed from type<br /> set within the limits of the United States, or from<br /> plates made therefrom, or from negatives or<br /> drawings on stone made within the limits of the<br /> United States, or from transfers made therefrom.’<br /> The law which thus requires the deposit of two<br /> copies of the publication and that the same shall<br /> be printed from type set within the limits of the<br /> United States, etc., before a copyright can be<br /> obtained, does not require any proof to be filed<br /> that such books have been thus printed within the<br /> limits of the United States, nor does it impose any<br /> penalty whatever upon an author or publisher who<br /> obtains a copyright without having first complied<br /> with this condition as to the printing from type set<br /> within the limits of the United States.<br /> <br /> « After investigation your committee have reason<br /> to believe that it is not only possible, but that in<br /> some instances the present law has been evaded<br /> and violated to the injury of American labour, and<br /> that this can be done with comparative ease under<br /> the existing law ; that there is no remedy and no<br /> means of enforcing this condition as to printing<br /> <br /> <br /> (266<br /> <br /> from type set by American labour and within our<br /> own country. That being the case, your committee<br /> is of the opinion that the person applying for a<br /> copyright should be required as a condition prece-<br /> dent to furnish proof in the form of an affidavit<br /> that all of these conditions with respect to the<br /> labour employed in the printing and the place of<br /> printing the copies of books to be deposited have<br /> been complied with, and in the event that any<br /> false statement is made in said affidavit concerning<br /> a material fact, and upon conviction thereof, the<br /> person thus attempting to obtain a copyright<br /> should be punished and the copyright forfeited.”<br /> <br /> oo —<br /> CoMMENT.<br /> <br /> Tue United States publishers have always been<br /> to the fore in promoting satisfactory Copyright<br /> Legislation, but the heart of the politician is<br /> hardened and he still seeks to hamper the litera-<br /> ture of his own country for the benefit of the<br /> printer and typesetter.<br /> <br /> Commenting on the question of extended trans-<br /> lation rights The Publishers’ Weekly states as<br /> follows :—<br /> <br /> “It is certainly to be hoped that some relief will be<br /> given to foreign authors by replacing the requirement for<br /> simultaneous publication with a provision permitting time<br /> for making adequate arrangements between an American<br /> author and a foreign author, and for the actual work of<br /> translation. So strong has been the German feeling<br /> against the present limitation, or nullification, of pro-<br /> tection for translations, that there is a movement in<br /> Germany among authors and publishers to request the<br /> German Government to withdraw from copyright relations<br /> with this country. This would be doubly unfortunate, as<br /> it would not help here in bringing about better arrange-<br /> ments, and would definitely harm the German music and<br /> art interests, which are protected under the present<br /> copyright law.”<br /> <br /> This action on the part of Germany is the first<br /> sign of dissatisfaction with and retaliation against<br /> the United States Act. The United States<br /> publishers see the danger, and with the strenuous<br /> exertions of Mr. Putnam have succeeded for atime<br /> in removing it. If the amendment is passed Ger-<br /> many may be temporarily satisfied, though there<br /> are other nations not altogether satisfied with the<br /> so-called reciprocity created by the present Act.<br /> <br /> Ifthe amendment is not passed Germany may<br /> think fit, as she has already threatened, to cancel<br /> her treaty, and the politician will begin to reap the<br /> fruit of his hardness of heart. When the clamour<br /> of the United States authors, who are now, even<br /> under this limited protection, growing in numbers,<br /> is heard, he will perhaps realise who are the real<br /> producers of a country’s literature.<br /> <br /> The question of the importation of copies is not<br /> one of great account, and it can be passed over,<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> but the question of insisting upon an affidavit being<br /> made, and an affidavit before an officer authorised<br /> to administer oaths in the United States, will not<br /> only seriously hamper all foreign authors in obtain-<br /> ing copyright, but will be another difficulty to the<br /> producers of literature in the United States itself.<br /> The Publishers’ Weekly makes the following<br /> comment :—<br /> <br /> “The proposal to require from publishers affidavits as to<br /> manufacture in this country seems to be an unnecessary<br /> annoyance, unless it can be shown that this is necessary to<br /> carry out the manufacturing clause, on which the present<br /> law is centred. We have become affidavit crazy in this<br /> country, and the number of affidavits to be taken by a<br /> business man, especially for governmental accounts, is so<br /> great that the oath has become as perfunctory as the<br /> signature of government officials. It was claimed at the<br /> hearing in this proposal that many publishers were import-<br /> ing plates as junk and printing from them copyright<br /> editions. If this can be shown to be true to any consider-<br /> able extent, that would be sufficient reason for the proposed<br /> affidavit, which otherwise would be considered unnecessary.<br /> <br /> “It is to be regretted by the friends of a true international<br /> copyright that so little progress has been made in this<br /> country since 1891 towards a better system, such as is<br /> almost universally adopted by other civilised countries<br /> under the terms of the Berne Convention. The need is<br /> generally felt, and now generally expressed, of a larger<br /> treatment of the question than is possible in piecemeal<br /> legislation, and the pressure for a copyright commission is<br /> becoming so general that before long we should see a body<br /> of experts representing the several interests involved,<br /> including those of authors and readers as well as manu-<br /> facturers, appointed by Congress or under Congressional<br /> authority by the President.’’<br /> <br /> The publishers take a clear and correct view of<br /> the situation. It is clear and correct from the<br /> standpoint of those who produce the work, from<br /> whose minds the stories are evolved, and by whose<br /> labour they are made into a marketable commodity,<br /> Germany has threatened to retaliate if the amend-<br /> ment relating to translations is not passed ; but<br /> this question of affidavits may bring forward<br /> retaliation on the part of other countries, and<br /> if the retaliation is followed by a demand for<br /> strict reciprocity, or carried further by the<br /> cancellation of the existing arrangements, the<br /> authors of the United States will find themselves<br /> face to face with the loss of a great part of their<br /> income and some of their largest markets, and the<br /> publishers with that dread competition in pirated<br /> works which was one of the reasons that caused the<br /> American trade to throw the whole of its support<br /> on the side of a satisfactory copyright law.<br /> <br /> When before 1891 piracy was legitimate, the<br /> United States had but few authors and little<br /> literature, and it was with difficulty owing to their<br /> small numbers they got a hearing for the protection<br /> of their rights, but, under this present copyright<br /> law, full of limitations as it is, the protection<br /> afforded has brought to the front many writers,<br /> and much literature, and has given a strong stimulus<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> to the publishing trade. It is not likely, therefore,<br /> that this body of writers, now numerous and<br /> influential, will allow itself tamely to be sat upon<br /> by those trades who fancy they may suffer.<br /> <br /> Perhaps the day will come when the United<br /> States as a whole will grasp the fact that the<br /> larger the protection given to their authors the<br /> greater will be the literature of their country, and,<br /> no doubt, as a corollary the greater will be the<br /> business which will accrue to the typesetter and<br /> printer.<br /> <br /> —_——_—__—_—_e——__—_<br /> THE UNITED STATES COPYRIGHT<br /> LEAGUE.<br /> <br /> —<br /> <br /> HE American Copyright League, communi-<br /> cating with the Society, expressed a desire<br /> that the Committee of the Society of Authors<br /> <br /> should make a Report, expressing in their opinion<br /> the present difficulties existing under the United<br /> States Copyright Act.<br /> <br /> The League, however, barred from the discus-<br /> sion the question of printing in the United States.<br /> This is, of course, the most important point of<br /> difference, one which particularly needs amend-<br /> ment; but in accordance with the wishes of the<br /> American Copyright League, the Committee, after<br /> full consideration of the subject, forwarded a Report,<br /> omitting this question entirely. It may interest<br /> the members to see the points set ont in detail ;<br /> the Committee have therefore decided to print<br /> the Report with the answer of the Copyright<br /> League.<br /> <br /> It is drafted in the form of a letter from the<br /> Secretary of the British Society to the Secretary of<br /> the United States League.<br /> <br /> Report of the Copyright Sub-Committee on the Amendment<br /> of the United States Copyright Law.<br /> To<br /> THE SECRETARY THE AMERICAN COPYRIGHT LEAGUE,<br /> <br /> March 29th, 1904.<br /> <br /> DEAR §1R,—While thanking your Association once more<br /> for the desire you have expressed that the Author’s Society<br /> should send a report of its views on the amendment of the<br /> United States Copyright Act, the Committee feel that you<br /> have placed them in a somewhat difficult position by the<br /> exclusion from the discussion of the question of type-<br /> setting in the United States, the point to which, before all<br /> others, they attach the greatest importance.<br /> <br /> In accordance with the information contained in my<br /> former letter, on the authority of the Managing Com-<br /> mittee, the Copyright Sub-Committee was called together.<br /> They met at the offices of the Society on March 25th, and,<br /> after careful consideration and discussion, desire the<br /> following report to be forwarded to you.<br /> <br /> Firstly, they would place before you the question of<br /> simultaneous publication. They consider that the term<br /> should be more clearly defined, and if possible a longer<br /> period allowed for the production in the United States of<br /> <br /> 267<br /> <br /> work published in England. The Committee would like to<br /> draw your attention to the definition on page 17 of the<br /> draft Bill enclosed.* This Bill embodies, so far as it goes,<br /> the present views of British authors and publishers as to<br /> the amendment of the existing British Copyright Law, and<br /> it will, no doubt, form the basis of any alteration of the<br /> law that may be passed by the Government. At present,<br /> however, there appears to be no immediate prospect of the<br /> Government taking up the matter, and the Bill is only set<br /> before you to draw your attention to various points, and to<br /> afford an example of the present trend of copyright amend-<br /> ment in this country. On page 17 referred to, you will see<br /> a proposed definition of “‘ simultaneously,’’ and the Society<br /> of Authors considers that it would be a great advantage, if,<br /> in the United States, you could put forward some similar<br /> definition. The period to be fourteen days at the least.<br /> Any longer period which might be suggested would, of<br /> course, be of still greater advantage to British authors.<br /> <br /> The second point to which the Committee would draw<br /> your attention is the duration of copyright.<br /> <br /> In the present Act of the United States, copyright exists<br /> for twenty-eight years, and for a further period of fourteen<br /> years in certain circumstanees. We would like to call<br /> your attention to Sec. 4, Sub-sec. C., of the Bill enclosed.<br /> After taking into consideration all the conflicting interests,<br /> the Committee have come to the conclusion that the best<br /> length for the duration of copyright would be the life of<br /> the author and thirty years. In some cases, no doubt,<br /> under the present British law, copyright might endure for<br /> a longer period, since, as you are no doubt aware, the<br /> present term of copyright is for forty-two years from<br /> the date of publication, or the life of the author, and<br /> seven years afterwards, whichever is the longer period,<br /> so that, in exceptional circumstances, a change in the law<br /> might reduce the term of copyright twelve years. But the<br /> Society of Authors supports the change for two reasons,<br /> firstly, it does away with the necessity of determining the<br /> exact date of publication ; secondly, it is in conformity<br /> with the period of copyright which finds most favour in<br /> European countries, and might thus, if generally adopted,<br /> form a step towards the codification of the international<br /> law on the subject.<br /> <br /> The third point to which we should like to draw attention<br /> is the necessity for a summary remedy in cases of infringe-<br /> ment of copyright and dramatic rights, in regard to which<br /> the Committee beg to refer you to page 9, Clause 25, of the<br /> Bill. It has been found on many occasions difficult to<br /> secure any adequate protection against one who infringes<br /> copyright or performing right, owing to the fact that there<br /> is no summary procedure. The Committee understand that<br /> this difficulty has also occurred in the case of infringement<br /> of dramatic rights in the United States, where an actor<br /> manager has infringed a performing right in one State, and<br /> has entered the jurisdiction of another State. With regard<br /> to musical copyright, infringement in Great Britain has<br /> been so universal, and has inflicted such a serious loss upon<br /> the holders of musical copyright property that the Govern-<br /> ment has been forced to pass a small Amending Act (see<br /> copy enclosed) by which musical copyright holders are<br /> empowered to take very stringent and summary proceedings,<br /> and a further Amending Bill is now before Parliament (see<br /> copy enclosed). Proceedings of a similar nature, we suggest,<br /> would prove a great advantage in the United States.<br /> <br /> Finally, our Committee desire to call your attention to<br /> copyright in a review or a magazine, Section 10, page 5,<br /> in order that the ownership of the copyright in these circum-<br /> stances may be more clearly defined.<br /> <br /> There is one further point, which does not so much deal<br /> with the amendment of the copyright law, as the method of<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> * The Committee enclosed the final Draft of the last<br /> Copyright Bill.<br /> 268<br /> <br /> administration of the present Act. An article or a book<br /> may be copyrighted in the United States as well as in<br /> England. For some reason or other there is a desire to<br /> introduce the work into the United States, printed and pro-<br /> duced in England. For this purpose the English copyright<br /> owner prints on the copy “ Copyright in the United States,”<br /> under the terms of your Act. The Custom House authorities<br /> refuse to pass the book, because of the imprint ‘* Copyright<br /> in the United States,” which they say is contrary to the<br /> law. ‘This may, no doubt, be the case ; but if, on the other<br /> hand, the book is introduced without this notice, pirates in<br /> the United States assert that they have obtained a copy<br /> which does not bear the requisite copyright notice under<br /> the Act, and that, in consequence, the copyright has not<br /> been properly secured. The pirates, therefore, consider that<br /> they are at liberty to reprint in any form they think fit.<br /> It would seem that if these literary thieves secured only<br /> one book, on which the copyright Notice was omitted,<br /> there would be a danger of the work being pirated,<br /> <br /> It must be clearly understood that in regard to simul-<br /> taneous publication, and to the duration of copyright for<br /> the life of the author and thirty years, the reforms herein<br /> suggested could not be put in operation in the United<br /> Kingdom until an amendment of the existing law had been<br /> passed.<br /> <br /> The Committee feel honoured by the distinction you<br /> have conferred upon the Society by asking its opinion on<br /> this most difficult question, and I trust that the report<br /> which they are submitting herewith, together with the<br /> draft Bill enclosed, may be of material assistance in bring-<br /> ing about some alteration in the United States Copyright<br /> Act.<br /> <br /> Believe me to be, yours very truly,<br /> G. HERBERT THRING,<br /> Secretary.<br /> <br /> April 27th, 1904.<br /> <br /> DEAR SrR,—At a meeting of the Executive Council of<br /> the American Copyright League held yesterday, I had the<br /> honour of presenting your letter of March 29th, 1904,<br /> which was carefully considered by the Council. On behalf<br /> of the Council I thank your Society for your attention to<br /> our request, and also for the drafts of the proposed British<br /> copyright legislation. Your Society’s suggestions will be<br /> given full attention in any legislation covering the scope<br /> of them.<br /> <br /> On one point I may call the attention of your Committee<br /> to a misapprehension. There is no lack of protective<br /> legislation in this country relative to the infringement<br /> of dramatic rights. The Society of Dramatic Authors,<br /> supported by this League, some years ago procured from<br /> Congress a Bill enabling the process of one judicial district<br /> to be enforced against a violation of copyright law in<br /> another district, thus putting an end to the previous<br /> security of the one-night stand pirate, whose peripatetic<br /> offences against the law could not be promptly reached.<br /> In addition to this there are eight of our States in which<br /> special legislation has been passed, making it a misdemeanor<br /> to produce plays without permission of the owner of the<br /> copyright, and this legislation is likely to be still further<br /> extended. You will therefore see that there is really<br /> nothing left to be done in the matter of American security<br /> for dramatic copyright. This is the only form of copyright<br /> invasion which is an offence against both the civil and the<br /> criminal law,<br /> <br /> T am, indeed,<br /> <br /> Very respectfully yours,<br /> <br /> R. U, JOHNSON,<br /> Secretary.<br /> G, HERBERT THRING, Esq.,<br /> <br /> Secretary Incorporated Society of Authors,<br /> <br /> 39, Old Queen Street, Storey’s Gate, 8. W.,<br /> London, England.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> MAGAZINE CONTENTS.<br /> <br /> — +<br /> <br /> THE BOOKMAN,<br /> <br /> Three Nature Writers — ‘ Isaac<br /> <br /> | Walton,’ “ Gilbert<br /> White,” “ Richard Jefferies.”<br /> <br /> By G. Forrester Scott,<br /> <br /> BLACKWOOD’sS MAGAZINE,<br /> A Scottish Philosopher&#039;s Autobiography.<br /> The late Prof. York Powell.<br /> In “ Musings without Method,’’<br /> Mr. Boutmy’s Generalisations,<br /> A Great Proconsul.<br /> <br /> THE CONTEMPORARY REVIEW.<br /> <br /> Frances Power Cobbe. By the Rev. John Verschoyle.<br /> The Riddle of the Universe. By Prof. C. Lloyd Morgan,<br /> Jean Louis Nicode, By A. E, Keeton.<br /> <br /> THE CORNHILL MAGAZINE.<br /> <br /> Sir John Moore.<br /> Maxwell, Bart.<br /> <br /> By the Right Honble. Sir Herbert<br /> <br /> THE FORTNIGHTLY.<br /> Shakespeare&#039;s Protestantism. By W. 8. Lilly.<br /> Herbert Spencer : His Autobiography and his Philosophy.<br /> By Francis Gribble,<br /> The Prologue of Arcturus. By Edmund Gosse.<br /> The Plague of Novels. By J. Cuthbert Hadden.<br /> <br /> INDEPENDENT REVIEW.<br /> Leslie Stephen, By Sir Frederick Pollock.<br /> Mr, Sturge Moore’s Poems. By Robert Trevelyan,<br /> MACMILLAN’S MAGAZINE,<br /> <br /> The Girlhood of George Sand.<br /> <br /> THE MONTHLY REVIEW.<br /> <br /> A Note on Leslie Stephen. By R. E. Crook.<br /> <br /> Thackeray&#039;s Boyhood. By the late Rev, Whitwell<br /> Elwin,<br /> <br /> John Dyer.<br /> <br /> Frederick York Powell.<br /> <br /> By J. C. Bailey.<br /> By Theodore Andrea Cook.<br /> THE NATIONAL REVIEW.<br /> The New Ireland. By Sir Gilbert Parker.<br /> Napoleon and the United States. By J. R. Fisher,<br /> The Poet’s Diary, No. 6. Edited by Lamia,<br /> THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.<br /> How They ‘Train Actors in Paris, By Richard Whiteing.<br /> The Kingsley Novels. By Walter Frewen Lord,<br /> THE PALL MALL MAGAZINE,<br /> <br /> Our Degenerate Stage—Opinion and Suggestions of<br /> French Dramatists and Actors: M. Paul Hervien, M.<br /> Francois Coppee, M. Jules Bois, and M. Coquelin.<br /> <br /> THE WORLD&#039;S WORK.<br /> <br /> Herbert Spencer&#039;s Life.<br /> <br /> The Making of a Time Table. By W. J. Scott.<br /> <br /> There are no articles of literary, dramatic or musical<br /> interest in Zhe Month or Longman’s Magazine.<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> WARNINGS TO THE PRODUCERS<br /> OF BOOKS.<br /> <br /> —+<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 sometimes satisfactory, if @ proper price can be<br /> obtained. But the transaction should be managed by a<br /> competent agent, or with the advice of the Secretary of<br /> the Society.<br /> <br /> Il. A Profit-Sharing Agreement (a bad form of<br /> agreement).<br /> <br /> In this case the following rules should be attended to:<br /> <br /> (1.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro-<br /> duetion 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 /> This is perhaps, with certain limitations, the best form<br /> of agreement. It is above all things necessary to know<br /> what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now<br /> possible for an author to ascertain approximately the<br /> truth, From time to time very important figures connected<br /> with royalties are published in Ze Author.<br /> <br /> IV. 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 /> (3.) Always avoid a transfer of copyright,<br /> <br /> s—~&gt;<br /> <br /> WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS.<br /> <br /> og<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 /> 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 /> 269<br /> <br /> : 3. There are three forms of dramatic contrac<br /> in three or more acts :—<br /> <br /> (a.) Sale outright of the performing right. This<br /> is unsatisfactory, An author who enters into<br /> such a contract should stipulate in the contract<br /> for production of the piece by a certain date<br /> and for proper publication of his name on the<br /> play-bills.<br /> <br /> (&gt;.) Sale of performi i i<br /> <br /> ( p ing right or of a licence to<br /> perform on the basis of percentages on<br /> gross receipts. Percentages vary between 5<br /> and 15 per cent. An author should obtain a<br /> percentage on the sliding scale -of gross receipts<br /> <br /> t for plays<br /> <br /> in preference to the American system. Should<br /> obtain a sum inadvance of percentages. A fixed<br /> <br /> date on or before which the play should be<br /> performed. :<br /> <br /> (¢.) Sale of performing right or of a licence to<br /> perform on the basis of royalties (i.c., fixed<br /> nightly fees). This method should be always<br /> avoided except in cases where the fees are<br /> likely to be small or difficult to collect. The<br /> other safeguards set out under heading (@.) 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 any event. 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 United States rights may be exceed-<br /> ingly valuable. ‘hey 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 information<br /> are referred to the Secretary of the Society.<br /> <br /> oe<br /> <br /> WARNINGS TO MUSICAL COMPOSERS.<br /> <br /> &gt;<br /> <br /> ITTLE can be added to the warnings given for the<br /> assistance of producers of books and dramatic<br /> authors. It must, however, be pointed out that, as<br /> <br /> a rule, the musical publisher demands from the musical<br /> composer a transfer of fuller rights and less liberal finan-<br /> cial terms than those obtained for literary and dramatic<br /> property. The musical composer has very often the two<br /> rights to deal with—performing right and copyright, He<br /> 270<br /> <br /> should be especially careful therefore when entering into<br /> an agreement, and should take into particular consideration<br /> the warnings stated above.<br /> <br /> ——— ee<br /> <br /> HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY.<br /> <br /> 1<br /> <br /> 1, VERY member has a right toask for and to receive<br /> K advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub-<br /> lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his<br /> business or the administration of his property. The<br /> Secretary of the Society is a solicitor, but if there is any<br /> special reason the Secretary will refer the case to the<br /> Solicitors of the Society. Further, the Committee, if they<br /> deem it desirable, will obtain counsel’s opinion. All this<br /> without any cost to the member.<br /> <br /> 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright<br /> and publishers’ agreements do not fall within the experi-<br /> ence of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use<br /> 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 your calling in promoting<br /> the independence of the writer, the dramatist, the composer.<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. Fuller particulars of the Society’s work<br /> can be obtained in the Prospectus.<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 with publishers submitted to<br /> them by literary agents, and are recommended to submit<br /> them for interpretation and explanation to the Secretary<br /> of the Society.<br /> <br /> This<br /> The<br /> <br /> 8. Many agents neglect to stamp agreements.<br /> must be done within fourteen days of first execution.<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<br /> do some publishers. Members can make their own<br /> deductions and act accordingly.<br /> <br /> 10, The subscription to the Society is £1 4s. per<br /> annum, or £10 10s for life membership.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> THE READING BRANCH.<br /> <br /> —-——+ —<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 /> <br /> special arrangement, technical and scientific works. The<br /> Readers are writers of competence and experience. The<br /> <br /> fee is one guinea,<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> +—<br /> <br /> NOTICES.<br /> Se<br /> <br /> HE Editor of Zhe 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 /> 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 than<br /> 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 /> NE<br /> <br /> Communications and letters are invited by the<br /> Editor 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 /> —+~&gt;<br /> <br /> The 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 /> LEGAL AND GENERAL LIFE ASSURANCE<br /> SOCIETY.<br /> <br /> —+ e+ —<br /> <br /> ENSIONS to commence at any selected age,<br /> either with or without Life Assurance can<br /> be obtained from this socieiy.<br /> <br /> Full particulars can be obtained from the City<br /> Branch Manager, Legal and General Life Assurance<br /> Society, 158, Leadenhall Street, London, E.C.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> AUTHORITIES.<br /> <br /> —_1~9—+—<br /> <br /> HERE has been fresh discussion raised in<br /> the papers as to the 100 best books, and<br /> various lists have been printed and various<br /> <br /> comments have been made.<br /> <br /> After all, there is only one satisfactory answer<br /> from any person who, in these days of education,<br /> has read as many as a hundred books, that is, there<br /> is only one list—his own.<br /> <br /> Tue Musical Copyright Bill is dead for the<br /> present. We chronicle the fact with regret.<br /> There will be a meeting of protest held on<br /> July 4th, in order to urge the Government, if<br /> possible, to save the Bill.<br /> <br /> We see it mentioned in one of the papers that<br /> Mr. Boosey, of Chappell &amp; Co., states, as an argu-<br /> ment that publishers do not make handsome profits,<br /> that Messrs. Chappell &amp; Co. only pay 5 per cent. to<br /> their ordinary shareholders, and that out of 100<br /> songs published last year only ten paid for the<br /> cost of printing, circulating and advertising. It<br /> would appear that this is rather an argument that<br /> some publishers are bad tradesmen and do not<br /> know their business; and not that music publishing<br /> cannot bring in profits if conducted on proper<br /> lines. It is most unsatisfactory for composers<br /> that publishers should continue this gambling<br /> with the composer’s property. It ruins the<br /> publishing business, and necessitates those<br /> terrible contracts against which we have often<br /> inveighed, on one of which we comment in this<br /> issue. When will composers make a_ united<br /> endeavour to resist this method of doing business ?<br /> <br /> From a cutting in the Lilerary World it appears<br /> that the articles in The Author on Agents, signed<br /> «G. H. T.” and Gale Pedrick, have called forth<br /> the following comment :—<br /> <br /> “ A question of some interest to beginners in fiction—for<br /> it is only in that class of writings that it can ordinarily<br /> arise in practice—is whether an author should bind himself<br /> by a contract with a publisher to give him the right to<br /> bring out the next two books he may write on the same<br /> terms (or slightly modified ones) as those proposed for the<br /> book under discussion. Both sides of the case have been<br /> ably stated by ‘G. H. T.’and Mr. Gale Pedrick, in The Author,<br /> The former strongly advises against the practice, but the<br /> latter, who is the managing director of a literary agency,<br /> puts forward very plausible reasons for conceding the point<br /> in certain cases. He cites an instance where an author,<br /> anxious to secure publication, accepted such an offer against<br /> his agent’s advice, with the result that his book, which<br /> would otherwise most probably have remained unpublished,<br /> has already gone into a fourth edition. The argument, of<br /> course, turns almost entirely on the worth of the assump-<br /> tion as to the probability of non-publication on other<br /> <br /> 271<br /> <br /> terms. If a sufficient number of publishers made the<br /> ‘next two books’ clause a sine qua&amp; non, authors would<br /> naturally have no option.”<br /> <br /> We should like to call particular attention to the<br /> last sentence of the quotation.<br /> <br /> The writer seems to forget, in the American<br /> phrase, that “there are others,” and if a large<br /> number of publishers endeavoured to force an<br /> unequal clause on the producers of literary pro-<br /> perty, fresh publishers would at once arise who<br /> would be willing to enter into a fair contract. A<br /> remark of this kind reminds one somewhat of the<br /> suggestion made by one of the trade, that if authors<br /> insisted on demanding better terms they would<br /> destroy the trade of publishing and be unable to<br /> obtain a market at all. The question, of course,<br /> is one of supply and demand. If, however, all the<br /> publishers at present in existence withdrew from<br /> business, the author could still place his work<br /> before the public by his own efforts should he<br /> desire to do so, although he might not in his<br /> infantile beginnings obtain so large a market in<br /> the first instance. :<br /> <br /> THE Jorning Post makes public the following<br /> particulars of a publishing contract :—<br /> <br /> “An author sent a little song to a publisher of the<br /> highest repute, and received an offer of a certain amount<br /> for ‘all serial rights.’ This she accepted, and on sending<br /> another song, she was told that it would be accepted ‘on<br /> our usual terms.’ Several others were taken in the same<br /> way. Then the publishers issued a book of songs which<br /> included some of these. The author wrote and protested,<br /> as she had hoped to bring her songs together in a book of<br /> her own. The publishers serenely replied that ‘our usual<br /> terms’ meant ‘serial rights and copyright.’”<br /> <br /> The Morning Post comments strongly on the<br /> publisher’s action, and deservedly so. Ifthe author<br /> had been a member of the Society and had cared<br /> to lay the matter before the committee, there is<br /> little doubt but that they would have taken the<br /> case vigorously in hand with a view to obtaining<br /> justice. It is just such a case as this that should<br /> be published in Ze Author, with the names of the<br /> publishers concerned. We have known some<br /> extraordinary contracts from publishers of books,<br /> and more extraordinary contracts from the pub-<br /> lishers of music, but it is not often that a bargain,<br /> or rather, a trick, to the discomfort of the author,<br /> so bad as that quoted above, is brought off.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Ir is the custom of the Editor of 7ruth to make<br /> caustic remarks on matters that come under his<br /> ken from time to time.<br /> <br /> During the past month he has devoted one or two<br /> paragraphs to the Biographical Press Agency, and<br /> suggests taking up this form of business himself, as<br /> he seems to think it would be highly remunerative.<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> 272<br /> <br /> It appears that those gentlemen who have paid<br /> £10 10s. to the agency secure thereby fifty copies<br /> of their biography written by themselves, adorned<br /> with their portraits, executed by the agency’s photo-<br /> graphers, plus the possible satisfaction of seeing<br /> the biography published in the Gossip columns of<br /> a halfpenny newspaper.<br /> <br /> In addition to the economic question which<br /> Truth has so criticised, there is this further danger<br /> to be considered, namely, the danger of assigning<br /> the copyright either in your own photograph or in<br /> your own biography. If the distinguished gentle-<br /> men who have paid their guineas thus dispose of<br /> their rights and allow them to slip beyond their<br /> control they may find their biographies printed and<br /> their photographs published at times inopportune,<br /> and in places unsatisfactory.<br /> <br /> It is important to those whose position entitles<br /> them to the doubtful honour of publicity to be<br /> able to control where and when their biographies<br /> should appear and their photographs be reproduced.<br /> As Truth points ont, the economic side of the<br /> question is very instructive, as nowadays the<br /> competition for the personal paragraph is so great<br /> that the editor ought to be more anxious to pay<br /> for the information he receives than the subject for<br /> the information he gives.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> In the Westminster Gazette we see it stated that<br /> Miss Beatrice Harraden’s novel, “Ships that Pass<br /> in the Night,” brought her only the sum of £125.<br /> The writer states, “It is a remarkable object lesson<br /> on the mistake of an unknown author parting with<br /> the entire copyright of her first book.” With this<br /> statement we heartily agree.<br /> <br /> But the price which Miss Harraden received is<br /> quite a record when compared with the prices paid<br /> by one well-known publisher who, in order to<br /> induce young authors to accept his terms, lays<br /> before them the fact that other authors, whose<br /> names he mentions, have received the same sum—<br /> from £20 to £30—-for the entire rights of their<br /> first works. He also states, with the same show<br /> of generosity, that it is not an uncommon thing to<br /> take up a first book paying the author a royalty<br /> after the sale of 2,000 copies. Readers will naturally<br /> suppose that after the sale of so large a number<br /> the author reaps his reward by a large return, but<br /> no, the royalty that the publisher vouchsafes after<br /> 2,000 copies is a modest 10 per cent. It would be<br /> interesting to know how many of these first books<br /> with this royalty ever sell more than 2,(00 copies.<br /> <br /> A publisher with a true sense of his position,<br /> instead of making a boast of his cheap bargains<br /> to authors ought rather to be silent. Such open-<br /> ness is not as good a bait as a spinning minnow<br /> in a trout stream.<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> EPITAPH FOR AN AUTHOR’S TOMBSTONE,<br /> <br /> —&gt;<br /> <br /> O child beloved of the Gods, nor born<br /> In the fortunate glow of a climbing star ;<br /> No prince, no hero of hope forlorn<br /> Was the dust beneath me, tra la la.<br /> <br /> Fame, a harlot, as all assert<br /> <br /> Who slide from the slope of her hazardous car,<br /> Passed him by with a close-drawn skirt<br /> <br /> Like an honest woman, tra la la.<br /> <br /> Wealth he knew not, nor greed of place,<br /> But loved green valleys, and wandered far,<br /> Counting the voluble waves that race<br /> <br /> O’er the scrambling shingles, tra la la.<br /> <br /> Faith he lost where the cities sweat<br /> <br /> In grime to the sky, where the dogmas are,<br /> But found in meadow and rivulet<br /> <br /> A foolish comfort, tra la la,<br /> <br /> He died, and was buried under me,<br /> Hopeless, heedless of Avatar,<br /> <br /> Far from the city, close to the sea,<br /> Tra la, tra la Ja, la la, la la!<br /> <br /> Sr. Joun Lucas.<br /> <br /> Lg ag<br /> <br /> THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.*<br /> <br /> —_-<br /> <br /> a last volume of Sir Leslie Stephen’s work,<br /> displaying, as it does, his power of sane,<br /> <br /> clear-sighted criticism wholly undimmed, is<br /> a fitting climax to more than thirty years of<br /> scholarly labour. Of the five lectures which it<br /> contains, the first is devoted to a defence of the<br /> historical and inductive method of criticism—a<br /> method employed by Sir Leslie Stephen himself in<br /> the course of the lectures, whilst the remainder<br /> deal with the periods terminated respectively by<br /> the death of Queen Anne (1714), the declaration<br /> of War with Spain (1739), the close of the Seven<br /> Years’ War (1763), and the year of the Regency<br /> ‘Bill (1788). To this time—<br /> <br /> “The century, as its enemies used to say, of coarse<br /> utilitarian aims, of religious indifference and political<br /> corruption; or, as I prefer to say, the century of sound<br /> common-sense and growing toleration, and of steady social<br /> and industrial development,”<br /> he applies the modern method of criticism which<br /> holds that<br /> <br /> “ Literary history . . . isan account of one strand, 80 10<br /> speak, in a very complex tissue; it is connected with the<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> * “English Literature and Society in the Righteenth |<br /> <br /> Century.” (Ford Lectures, 1903.) By Leslie Stephen<br /> (Duckworth.)<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 2 ee Be Soe<br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THER AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> intellectual and social development; it represents move-<br /> ments of thought which may sometimes check and be<br /> sometimes propitious to the existing forms of art; it is<br /> the utterance of a class which may represent, or fail to<br /> represent, the main national movement ; it is affected more<br /> or less directly by all manner of religious, political, social,<br /> and economical changes; and it is dependent on the<br /> occurrence of individual genius for which we cannot even<br /> profess to account.”<br /> Certainly no period inthe history of our Literature<br /> is so apt as the Highteenth Century in affording<br /> an illustration of the dependence of literary form<br /> on national movement. The drama, to take a<br /> single line of literature as an example, ceased to<br /> be fine not because, as Matthew Arnold asserted,<br /> the Puritans crushed it; for in reality the Puritans<br /> only became powerful when the drama was already<br /> dancing down the road of decadence ; but because,<br /> as Sir Leslie Stephen shows, the cleavage between<br /> the Court and the nation had destroyed the<br /> popularity, and hence the means of existence of<br /> that essentially aristocratic institution, the Stage.<br /> This example of the method employed by the<br /> “inductive” critic affords an agreeable contrast<br /> to the judicial attitude which held that every new<br /> author was to be tried by a kind of court-martial<br /> with Aristotle’s poetics asa code of law, and<br /> caused Voltaire to utter ineptitudes on Dante and<br /> Shakespeare. ‘The critic’s function is rather to<br /> enquire<br /> <br /> “What pleased men, and then, why it pleased them ;<br /> not to decide dogmatically that it ought to have pleased<br /> or displeased on the simple ground that it is or is not<br /> congenial to himself.”’<br /> Sir Leslie Stephen was already stricken with<br /> mortal illness when he wrote these lectures, but<br /> the lucidity of the style, so simple, so energetic,<br /> and so buoyant, never flags ; and the philosophic<br /> breadth of view, the wide knowledge, and fine<br /> sense of proportion, render the book as delightful<br /> as anything that he has written, One can<br /> scarcely think of higher praise than this.<br /> <br /> + 0<br /> <br /> THE ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON<br /> MEMORIAL.<br /> <br /> —*<br /> <br /> HE Memorial to Robert Louis Stevenson was<br /> unveiled in St.Giles’s Auld Kirk, Edinburgh,<br /> on Monday, June 27th, by Lord Rosebery,<br /> <br /> No fitter place could have been chosen than “ The<br /> auld Kirk ” of that city, which is so full of personal<br /> reminiscences of the author, with which so many<br /> of the characters in his books are associated. The<br /> fitness of the place was equalled by the beauty of<br /> the memorial itself. It is a bronze in low relief of<br /> Stevenson lying on that couch from which it was<br /> <br /> 273<br /> <br /> his misfortune so often to be compelled to write,<br /> with paper on knee and pen in hand. It is a fine<br /> work of art.<br /> <br /> A large crowd assembled early, and the period<br /> of waiting was filled in by a recital on the organ.<br /> Then at two o&#039;clock Lord Rosebery entered the<br /> building and took his place on the platform. He<br /> stated that he had not come to make a long speech<br /> or indulge in a eulogy of Stevenson. All that took<br /> place eight years ago, when the movement was<br /> taken in hand which was completed that day. He<br /> asked that the services of those who had assisted<br /> in carrying out the object before them, those<br /> willing givers of time and money, should be re-<br /> membered. He called especial attention to the<br /> labours of the sculptor (Mr. Saint Gandens)<br /> and the work of the secretary (Mr. Napier). It<br /> was a memorial of a man of genius by a man of<br /> genius; but, he continued, great as was the result as<br /> a work of art, the true memorial to Louis Stevenson<br /> was not here. It was in the hearts of the readers,<br /> and, he might say, the worshippers, of his writings ;<br /> and, lastly, in that great edition of his works that<br /> they had seen produced. It was no doubt a sad<br /> reflection that one who had loved the Scottish hills<br /> and dales with so true an affection, and who had<br /> chronicled his love with so vigorous a pen, should<br /> be buried far off in the Pacific islands in Samoa.<br /> But genius was world-wide, and took no count of<br /> time or place.<br /> <br /> His Lordship then stepped forward and un-<br /> veiled the bronze, given, as he stated, by the bounty<br /> and piety of the author’s fellow-countrymen, and<br /> many other lovers of his work.<br /> <br /> Mr. Sidney Colvin, Stevenson’s old friend, then<br /> handed over the monument to the Very Rev. J.<br /> Cameron Lees, minister of the church. His speech<br /> was full of sad recollections of the struggle of the<br /> indomitable spirit against the weakness of the body.<br /> He called to mind the characteristic attitude of<br /> Stevenson, so ably set forth in the memorial, when<br /> physical weakness resulting from dangerous heemor-<br /> rhage necessitated his lying on a couch. He told<br /> how often, when he was not allowed to speak,<br /> Stevenson used to converse in writing, cheerful and —<br /> indefatigable. He stated that for some reasons he<br /> was glad that the execution of the undertaking<br /> had not come till eight years after Stevenson’s<br /> death. ‘Time must always be the test of genius,<br /> and he saw no falling off in the rising generation<br /> of that love for Stevenson’s Romances which was<br /> also in the heart of his contemporaries. He then<br /> formally handed over the work, and the Rev. J.<br /> Cameron Lees, who had known the author in his<br /> early years, spoke a few suitable words in acceptance.<br /> <br /> The following gentlemen were present on the<br /> platform :—Lord Rosebery, Chairman; to the:<br /> right of the chair—Mr. Sidney Colvin, the Very<br /> 274<br /> <br /> Rey. J. Cameron Lees, Principal Donaldson, of<br /> St. Andrew’s University, Prof. Campbell Fraser,<br /> Mr. J. D. G. Dalrymple, of Meiklewood, Mr. Charles<br /> Beckett, of Glasgow, Mr. John Maclauchlan and<br /> Mr. James Cunningham, of Dundee ; to the left<br /> of the Chairman—Prof. Masson, Lord Kinross, Prof.<br /> Baldwin Brown, Prof. Flint, Mr. Holmes Ivory,<br /> W.S., Mr. Rufus Fleming, United States Consul,<br /> Mr. W. B. Blaikie, Mr. W. D. M‘Kay, R.S.A., Mr.<br /> G. Herbert Thring, representing the Incorporated<br /> Society of Authors. :<br /> <br /> The following were also present :—Sir Arthur<br /> Mitchell, Sir James Guthrie, P.R.S.A., Sir Charles<br /> Logan, Rev. David Macrae, Rev. Dr. W. W. Tul-<br /> loch, P. W. Adam, R.S.A., Pittendrigh Macgilli-<br /> vray, R.S.A., R. J. Mackenzie, Esq., M.A., David<br /> Robertson, A.R.S.A. (President Scottish Arts<br /> Club), Bailie Murray (Senior Magistrate of Edin-<br /> burgh), A. N. Paterson, M.A., A.R.I.B.A., Glasgow,<br /> G. Stratton Ferrier, R.I., R.S.W., J. Campbell<br /> Mitchell, P.S.S.A., Very Rev. Archibald Scott,<br /> D.D., J. B. Sutherland, 8.8.C., J. Wilson Brodie,<br /> Esq., Harry Cheyne, Esq., W.S., J. B. M‘Intosh,<br /> Esq., W.S., R. Jameson Torrie, Esq., W.S., T. N.<br /> Hepburn, Prof. Neicks, Prof. Cossar Ewart, Prof.<br /> Rankine, Prof. A. R. Simpson, John A. Inglis,<br /> Esq. (representing the Speculative Society), John<br /> Harrison, Esq. (Master of the Merchant Company),<br /> Alex. Buchan, LL.D., Representatives of the<br /> St. Giles’s Board, Representatives of the St. Giles’s<br /> Kirk Session, Mr. J. H. Napier, Solicitor (Secretary<br /> ito the Memorial Committee).<br /> <br /> It was felt a great pity that it had been impos-<br /> sible to bring together a larger attendance of his<br /> fellow-workers in fiction. The notice, however, was<br /> ‘Short, and the time somewhat inopportune, while<br /> .the distance from London was great.<br /> <br /> The Secretary had to chronicle a long: list of<br /> regrets. Among the number who were unavoid-<br /> -ably absent, he mentioned the names of George<br /> Meredith (President of the Society of Authors),<br /> Douglas Freshfield (Chairman of the Committee<br /> -of the Society), J. M. Barrie, Thomas Hardy,<br /> A. T. Quiller Couch, Anthony Hope Hawkins,<br /> Andrew Lang, Stanley Weyman, Edmund Gosse,<br /> Augustine Birrell, A. W. Pinero, Sir A. Conan<br /> Doyle, Miss Beatrice Harraden, Robert Bridges,<br /> Dr. John Watson (“ Ian Maclaren”), Lord Balfour<br /> -of Burleigh, Right. Hon. A. J. Balfour, Prof.<br /> Dowden, Prof. Saintsbury, Dr. Richard Garnett,<br /> Prof. Bradley, Oxford, R. Maclehose (Treasurer,<br /> Glasgow Committee), H. Bell (Treasurer, Liver-<br /> pool Committee), A. Bennie (Treasurer, Man-<br /> chester Committee), W. S. Gilbert, and many<br /> -others.<br /> <br /> _ Oe<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> THE WOMEN WRITERS’ DINNER.<br /> <br /> nl<br /> <br /> T the annual dinner of the Women Writers<br /> on June 20th there were some 200 members<br /> present. Miss Beatrice Harraden under-<br /> <br /> took the position of chairwoman. She made a brief<br /> and light speech, in which she said she had been<br /> told by the secretaries that she was to speak ten<br /> minutes. This, she averred, she had never done in<br /> her life, and was quite incapable of doing either<br /> then or at any other time, also, that there were so<br /> many subjects tabooed. Man, for instance: she<br /> could have spoken eloquently upon man—or love,<br /> or the Fiscal Question, or the iniquities of the<br /> Income Tax, or on any of those subjects of which<br /> too much has already been heard elsewhere. She<br /> would, therefore, only congratulate the Women<br /> Writers on their annual meeting to eat, drink,<br /> smoke and talk together, having numbered its<br /> fifteenth anniversary. Others might affirm that it<br /> was love that made the world go round, but that,<br /> for her own part, she believed that it was tact—<br /> tact, that quality in which all women excelled, and<br /> our hon. secretaries more than any.<br /> <br /> Miss Harraden having resumed her chair, Mrs.<br /> Sidney Webb gave a very brilliant and clever speech.<br /> She rose, she said, at the request of the secretaries<br /> to speak, because, she supposed, she must appear<br /> to be the very opposite to the novelist—a mere dull<br /> economist. But that whereas the novelist dealt<br /> with the facts of life, the economist dealt with the<br /> fictional side—the mighty fiction of the “ average<br /> man.” ‘The novelists drew men and women as they<br /> found them, or read them, the fictional part of<br /> their work lay in the plot; and it was from the work<br /> of the novelists that the economists sought for the<br /> great ruling motives that influenced the average<br /> man. She laid at the doors of Swift, Gay and<br /> Fielding, and the writers of the eighteenth century,<br /> the horrors of the sweating system, because it was<br /> the habit of that time, and of those writers, to dwell<br /> upon the motives of insatiable grasping after<br /> wealth and pleasure in mankind. I think some of<br /> Mrs. Sidney Webb’s hearers felt a trifle aghast at<br /> this calling to account of the mighty dead, and<br /> welcomed her story of Herbert Spencer who, when<br /> he wished to study the subject of matrimony, asked<br /> her, and others, what novels he should read. She<br /> said she herself read all the best novels that came<br /> out, but that they bored her horribly. There was<br /> one thing that bored her more, and that was a<br /> poem. She concluded by warning novelists to<br /> write with charity and hope of mankind, because of<br /> that strange truth that what is believed in, and<br /> insisted upon, becomes at last a truth,<br /> <br /> Mrs. De La Pasture returned in her speech<br /> to lighter themes. She pointed out how the<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> incomparable Jane Austen used in her old-fashioned<br /> day to throw a cover over her work when anyone<br /> came to see her. Mrs. De La Pasture suggested<br /> that when the modern novelist wrote anything that<br /> might hurt the young, or offend the old, that they<br /> should throw over it the “handkerchief of Jane<br /> Austen.” We, hearing her, and remembering<br /> much of modern work, were inclined to think that<br /> the sale of pocket handkerchiefs would be enor-<br /> mously increased if Mrs. De La Pasture’s advice was<br /> acted upon.<br /> <br /> The committee for 1904 consisted of the follow-<br /> ing distinguished ladies :—Chairwoman of Dinner,<br /> Miss Beatrice Harraden ; Mrs. Baillie-Reynolds,<br /> Mrs. Hugh Bell,* Miss Clementina Black,*<br /> Mrs. Burnett-Smith,* Mrs. W. K. Clifford, Mrs.<br /> Craigie,* Miss Ella Curtis, Madame Sarah Grand,*<br /> Mrs. M. St. Leger Harrison,** The Honourable Mrs.<br /> Henniker,* Mrs. Percy Leake, Mrs. L. T. Meade,*<br /> Miss Elizabeth Robins,* Miss Adeline Sergeant,*<br /> Mrs. Alfred Sidgwick, Mrs. Steel, Dr. Margaret<br /> Todd, Miss Billington, Mrs Francis Blundell, Miss<br /> Christabel Coleridge, Mrs. B. M. Croker, Mrs. De<br /> La Pasture, Mrs. Alfred Felkin (i. Thorneycroft<br /> Fowler),* Mrs. J. R. Green, Miss Violet Hunt,<br /> Mrs. Belloc-Lowndes, Miss Honnor Morten, Miss<br /> Evelyn Sharp, Mrs. Arthur Stannard,* The<br /> Duchess of Sutherland,* Mrs. Alec Tweedie,”<br /> Mrs. L. B. Walford, Mrs. Humphry Ward,* Hon.<br /> Secretaries (Miss G. M. Ireland Blackburne, Miss<br /> L. R. Mitchell) ; and the following were appointed<br /> to preside at the tables :—Table 7, Mrs. Steel and<br /> Miss Netta Syrett ; Table 6, Miss Ella Curtis and<br /> Mrs. Baillie-Reynolds ; Table 5, Mrs. J. R. Green<br /> and Mrs. Croker; Table 4, Miss Beatrice Harraden<br /> and Mrs. Francis Blundell; Table 3, Mrs. De La<br /> Pasture and Mrs. W. K. Clifford; Table 2, Mrs.<br /> Belloc-Lowndes and Mrs. Walford ; Table 1, Mrs.<br /> Stepney Rawson and Miss Violet Hunt.<br /> <br /> ArtHuR Hoop.<br /> <br /> Oa<br /> <br /> DINNER AT THE AUTHORS’ CLUB.<br /> <br /> 1<br /> <br /> HE last Dinner of the Authors’ Club for the<br /> present season was held at 3, Whitehall<br /> Court, on Monday, the 30th of May, and<br /> <br /> passed off most successfully.<br /> <br /> Mr. J. M. Barrie was the Chairman of the<br /> evening, and Mr. P. F. Warner was the guest.<br /> <br /> Amongst those present were Sir Arthur Conan<br /> Doyle, Capt. Wynyard, Mr. K. J. Key, and Mr.<br /> Hesketh-Prichard. There was no vacant seat in<br /> the room.<br /> <br /> Mr. Barrie’s enthusiasm for cricket is well<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> * Unavoidably absent.<br /> <br /> 275<br /> <br /> known, and in proposing the health of the guest of<br /> the evening he gave further evidence of this. He<br /> stated that when the news arrived of Mr. Warner’s<br /> successful attempt to bring back an article which<br /> he would not particularise, he had read the account<br /> in Piccadilly, with hansoms and four wheelers<br /> passing over him, though he scarcely felt them.<br /> He was glad to chronicle the fact thaf Mr. Warner<br /> had done something far bigger than merely win the<br /> rubber. He had had entrusted to him the reputa-<br /> tion of the game for honesty, fair play, and<br /> courtesy. He had brought it back unsullied. Up<br /> to the present he (Mr. Barrie) had only had the<br /> pleasure of seeing Mr. Warner play cricket twice.<br /> On one occasion he had made one run, and on the<br /> other occasion he had not been so successful.<br /> Finally, he remarked that if Shakespeare had not<br /> invented cricket, as no doubt he did during the<br /> two years when even Mr. Lee did not know what<br /> he was about, Mr. Warner would have been bound<br /> to have done so.<br /> <br /> Mr. Warner responded to his health in a some-<br /> what more serious vein. He did not think he<br /> could have done much in Australia if he had not<br /> been perfectly sure of the loyalty and confidence of<br /> the other members of his team. With regret it<br /> must be stated that in his opinion the Austra-<br /> lians at the present time were not as good as they<br /> were some Six or Seven years ago, that their bowl--<br /> ing seemed to have deteriorated. He hoped that<br /> when they came over here next year the Test<br /> Matches would be played out to a finish. He<br /> closed his speech with the remark that, although<br /> many, taking a pessimistic view of the cricket of<br /> the present day, said it was going to the dogs,<br /> he personally could find nothing wrong with the<br /> game, or in the method of playing it.<br /> <br /> Sir Arthur Conan Doyle proposed the health of<br /> the Chairman.<br /> <br /> oe<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> NOTES OF SPAIN.<br /> <br /> ee<br /> <br /> OUIS PARDO, the well-known author, has<br /> <br /> just published an erudite work, entitled<br /> <br /> “De arte al comienzo del siglo” (Art at<br /> <br /> the Commencement of the Century), and those<br /> <br /> interested in the evolution of taste will read with<br /> <br /> pleasure the information given by a man so well<br /> versed in his subject.<br /> <br /> ‘Las Confesiones de un pequeiio plosofo” (Con-<br /> fessions of a Little Philosopher), by J. Martinez<br /> Ruiz, is a book which commends itself to Spanish<br /> ladies, from its interest as a psychological study of<br /> a child, given in a form so sympathetic and charm-<br /> ing that it opens a new and easily opened door to<br /> Castilians in the study of children.<br /> 276<br /> <br /> Don Augusto C. de Santiago has just given to<br /> the world a book called “ La Jura de la bandera”<br /> (The Oath of the Banner). The trend of the<br /> work is to foster the patriotism of Spain by cele-<br /> brating the thoughts and deeds of men, both past<br /> and present, who have served their country well.<br /> The national colours on the cover, and the portrait<br /> and biography of King Alfonzo XITI. at the begin-<br /> ning of the work, shows the place occupied by<br /> the young monarch in the ideal of patriotism.<br /> Indeed hardly a day passes without Spain being<br /> more and more assured of the sympathy of her<br /> King in all that is for her welfare ; and the pre-<br /> diction voiced by Colonel Figuerola Ferretti on<br /> page 149 of his celebrated “ Cantos de Espaiia ”<br /> (Songs of Spain, or the History of the Regency in<br /> a lyrical form), that a visit of the King to Barcelona<br /> would banish the shadow of separation has proved<br /> true, and the land bodes well to be one in its<br /> interests. Not only has Alfonzo XIII. notified his<br /> intention of learning Catalan, and patronised the<br /> chief meetings for the welfare of Catalonia, but<br /> the warm welcome recently given at Madrid to the<br /> Catalonian theatrical company of Enrique Borras,<br /> shows that Barcelona can also feel in sympathy<br /> with its sister city in the realm of drama, which is<br /> a door to the understanding of the psychological<br /> characteristics of each. This was especially seen<br /> in the plays of “‘Mar y cel” and ‘Sierra baja,”<br /> portraying ideas and customs quite different to<br /> those of Madrid, and the consummate acting of<br /> Borras, the manager, with that of Fernando<br /> Mendoza, Thuillier, Fuentes, etc., soon won the<br /> sympathy and the admiration of the audience. It<br /> is said that the manager was extremely nervous<br /> before making his début on the stage of Madrid,<br /> but his fears were unfounded—his genius was at<br /> once felt, and Madrid, both social and intellectual,<br /> figuratively fell at his feet.<br /> <br /> The Apolo theatre has lately given with great<br /> success the new play by Caballero, called “ Hl<br /> abuelito,” which hangs mainly on the subject of<br /> divorce.<br /> <br /> Tt seems strange that the tragic fate impending<br /> on a man’s career as a picador is not more often<br /> treated in Spanish plays. The serious injuries<br /> recently received by the two picadors, Mazzantini<br /> and Rodas, at a bull fight in Madrid, excited and<br /> interested the whole city, but one cannot but think<br /> that “prevention would be better than cure.”<br /> <br /> Much sorrow was expressed in Spain at the<br /> death of Urrabreta Vierge, a Spanish author of<br /> great repute, who has been living in Paris since<br /> 1869. He is well known for his illustrations of<br /> “Don Quixote,” ‘Gil Blas,” etc.<br /> <br /> In a country like Spain, where oratory plays<br /> such an important part, it is flattering to see Azorin<br /> cite English orators as the most clever, and this<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> by dint of their power of enforcing expression by<br /> well regulated pauses and judicious lowering of<br /> the voice. In these particulars Sefior Maura, the<br /> Prime Minister, seems to excel.<br /> <br /> The celebrated physician, Ion Francisco Huertas,<br /> was distinguished the other day by being received<br /> as a member of the Academy by Alfonzo XIII.<br /> With his customary intelligence the young<br /> monarch expressed his interest in all that con-<br /> cerns the intelligence and culture of his country, to<br /> the delight of the learned Corporation, and the<br /> numerous sages who assisted at the ceremony. It<br /> was not long ago that the young King won the<br /> hearts of all at the important conference, held at the<br /> Atheneum on Agriculture, when he said : “ It ismy<br /> wish to be the first agriculturist in Spain.” It is<br /> by such expressions that a king makes willing slaves<br /> of his subjects.<br /> <br /> Whilst the terribly vexed question of capital and<br /> labour causes so much trouble in Spain, the notable<br /> book called “ Socialismo y democracia christiana,”<br /> by D. Mariano Pascual Espamol, is welcomed as a<br /> possible solution of some of the difficulties. The<br /> work is the result of long study and labour, and his<br /> comparison of the two forces, with the physical<br /> elements kept in their right spheres by the atmo-<br /> sphere, which if removed would cause combustion,<br /> is philosophical, and his appeal to this atmosphere<br /> of reason to equilibriate the powers of labour and<br /> capital comes with the authority of justice, as his<br /> methods of equilibriation are stated as the result of<br /> long enquiry.<br /> <br /> “Love, Duty and Honour” is the title of a<br /> striking play just published by Lieut.-Colonel<br /> Figuerola Ferretti. The scene is laid in Cuba<br /> during the war, of which he can speak with the<br /> dramatic force of one who took part in it, and the<br /> different standpoints from which these three great<br /> qualities are viewed and acted upon show that the<br /> author is a psychologist of no mean order. The<br /> situations and the conversations seem to commend<br /> the play for the boards as much as for a mere<br /> book. The three women characters are clever<br /> presentments of three kinds of love.<br /> <br /> The late Prime Minister Siloela has again shown<br /> himself a true exponent of the Ideal. In his well-<br /> attended conference on the necessity for Spain of<br /> centres of instruction both technical and practical,<br /> as seen in other lands, he spoke eloquently of the<br /> necessity of love in education “for (he said) it is<br /> the indestructible basis of all ideas and the princi-<br /> ples that affect the hearts and minds of men, for all<br /> ideas and all doctrines devoid of love are bound to<br /> die.”<br /> <br /> The present Summer Exhibition of Fine Arts at<br /> Madrid shows that Spain holds her own in that<br /> domain, ‘The visit of the Infanta Dofia Eulalion<br /> with the popular Infanta Dofia Isabel during the<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> &#039;<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 277<br /> <br /> election of the gold medallist exhibitor, excited<br /> <br /> much enthusiasm, and one only felt sorry that .<br /> <br /> Sefior Rancés, the sub-secretary of Public Educa-<br /> tion, who presided at the election, was obliged to<br /> declare that not one of the competitors had received<br /> the requisite number of votes. José Mongrell is<br /> distinguished as a master of colouring—especially<br /> seen in his “ Tormenta,” and his portrait of a lady.<br /> Fillol is one of the chief Spanish painters who ex-<br /> presses ideas in his pictures, and “ Hl hijo de la<br /> Revolucion” (The Sons of the Revolution), and<br /> “‘Hijos de quien” (Whose sons?) are pictures<br /> of life’s tragedies. Blasco Ibanez and Rodrigo<br /> Soriano are also dramatic in their works. In a<br /> picture called “ Barcelona in 1902” Casas gives a<br /> large presentment of the Civil Guard and a crowd,<br /> and the same picture would doubtless do for the<br /> same circumstance on other occasions. Bilbao,<br /> who ever since his great success in 1887, when his<br /> picture “ Idilio” was so deservedly applauded, has<br /> never failed his country, is seen at his best in his<br /> “Salida de la Fabrica de Tabaco.” Nobody who<br /> has witnessed the girls leaving the cigar factory at<br /> Seville can ever forget the picturesqueness of the<br /> scene, and it is only a master of form and colouring,<br /> like Bilbao, who can make it a living picture in a<br /> frame.<br /> Percy Horspur.<br /> <br /> 1 —&gt;—<br /> <br /> SWEDEN AND THE BERNE CONVENTION.<br /> <br /> —+—~&lt;&gt;—+ —<br /> <br /> HE following letter from His Majesty’s<br /> Representative in Sweden, sent to the<br /> Foreign Office, has been forwarded to the<br /> <br /> Society of Authors. The Committee have much<br /> pleasure in printing the information.<br /> <br /> STOCKHOLM,<br /> May 20th, 1904.<br /> <br /> My Lorp,—With reference to Sir W. Barring-<br /> ton’s despatch of this series, No. 30 of the 16th of<br /> December last, I have the honour to report that the<br /> Bill framed with a view to enabling the Swedish<br /> Government to adhere to the Copyright Union has<br /> now been voted and will become law on the Ist of<br /> July next.<br /> <br /> According to this Bill paragraph 3 of Chapter I.<br /> and paragraph 14 of Chapter II. of the Law of<br /> August 10th, 1877, respecting copyright in this<br /> country are modified as follows :—<br /> <br /> CHAPTER I. PARAGRAPH 3.<br /> <br /> _“ Literary work which an author publishes<br /> simultaneously in different languages, and the fact<br /> whereof is stated on the title page or first pages of<br /> <br /> the work, shall be considered as having been com-<br /> posed in each of the languages used. No transla-<br /> tion can be made without the author’s consent<br /> within ten years of the publication of the work.” |<br /> <br /> CHAPTER II. PARAGRAPH 14.<br /> <br /> “The rights of authors and translators mentioned<br /> in this chapter hold good during the lifetime and<br /> for three years after their death. If authors or<br /> translators have not put their names to their works<br /> any one can print or perform them five years after<br /> publication.”<br /> <br /> The Bill also contains the following clause :<br /> <br /> “This law enters into force on the 1st of July,<br /> 1904. It affects all literary productions published<br /> previously. ‘Translations which were made before<br /> that date and which have been published in<br /> accordance with the terms of the former law without<br /> the consent of the author may continue to be<br /> published.<br /> <br /> “If anyone, before this law enters into force,<br /> has in accordance with the former law and by per-<br /> mission performed dramatic, musical or musico-<br /> dramatical works, he may continue to do so.”<br /> <br /> Certain formalities will, I understand, have to be<br /> gone through before the adhesion of the Swedish<br /> Government to the Berne Union can take place,<br /> and I could gain no information at the Ministry<br /> for Foreign Affairs as to the probable date when<br /> the matter would be finally settled.<br /> <br /> I have, &amp;c.,<br /> (Signed) F. 8. CLARKE.<br /> Tue Marquess oF LANsDowNE, K.G.,<br /> &amp;e., &amp;¢c., &amp;.<br /> <br /> &lt;&gt;<br /> <br /> THE VALUE OF RELICS AND POETRY.<br /> <br /> —&lt;_e<br /> <br /> N the summer of 1877, at the Albert Memorial<br /> I Hall, some relics of Lord Byron were dis-<br /> played. Among other things were a little<br /> silver watch, a meerschaum pipe, two helmets<br /> which the poet wore in Greece, a drinking glass<br /> given by Byron to his butler, and five pieces of<br /> hair lent by Lady Dorchester, the Rev. H. M.<br /> Robinson, D.D., Mr. John Murray, and Mr. E. J.<br /> Trelawney. It is recorded that the hair was not<br /> of fine texture and was brown mixed with grey.<br /> <br /> The exhibition, I believe, was not a success.<br /> Could it well be otherwise ?<br /> <br /> What profit is there to the mind in such<br /> mementoes of departed greatness ?<br /> <br /> «The poet’s eye ina fine frenzy rolling’’ looked<br /> upon Nature, and ideas were rendered into words.<br /> which are a treasure for all generations. Let the<br /> lover of Byron’s verse imagine—surely imagina-<br /> tion is inherent in those who read and appreciate<br /> 278<br /> <br /> poetry—himself or herself at the Albert Hall in<br /> 1877. The watch, the pipe, two helmets, a drink-<br /> ing glass, and five pieces of hair! They belonged,<br /> at one time, to the poet ; does the sight of these<br /> call forth any pleasurable sensations? I opine it<br /> does not.<br /> <br /> Let the same reader of Byronic stanzas imagine<br /> himself or herself—on the occasion of the usual<br /> autumnal holiday—in sight and within sound of<br /> the rolling waves. Is there not a natural beauty<br /> in the expanse of the wild, wind swept waters ?<br /> Is there not health in the briny breeze? Is there<br /> nothing more ?<br /> <br /> Not much—always, of course, remembering that<br /> health and beauty are two of the most glorious<br /> gifts Nature offers—without the aid of the poet.<br /> But with the words which he penned there is a<br /> charm added to what one looks upon—the charm<br /> of human sympathy, of human thought of no mean<br /> power, ;<br /> <br /> “Roll on thou deep and dark blue ocean.”<br /> <br /> “ Do not the words appeal to us, not so much as<br /> a quotation from a poem, as a reflex of our own<br /> unuttered feeling? And then we will take together<br /> the two fine images or visions which are conjured<br /> up by the following lines :—<br /> “Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain ;<br /> <br /> Man marks the earth with ruin—his control<br /> <br /> Stops with the shore...<br /> <br /> The armaments which thunderstrike the walls<br /> <br /> Of rock-built cities, bidding nations quake,<br /> <br /> And monarchs tremble in their capitals.<br /> <br /> . - . These are thy toys.”<br /> <br /> Surely there is here--to quote Byron in favour<br /> of Byron—-that which :—<br /> <br /> ‘Lends to loneliness delight.”<br /> <br /> The veriest lad of any village school will under-<br /> stand and appreciate the personal element in<br /> this :— .<br /> <br /> *‘ And T have loved thee, ocean! and my joy<br /> Of youthful sports was on thy breast to be<br /> <br /> Borne like thy bubbles onward ; from a boy<br /> I wantoned with thy breakers.”<br /> <br /> Consider now the lounger by the sounding sea<br /> turning away from the shore towards the rooms<br /> he or she occupies. The evening is passing into<br /> night ; the lights of the town are flashing ; the<br /> stars are not yet out; at least not in thronging<br /> multitudes. One parting glance is given at old<br /> ocean, and with that glance the ever-beautiful<br /> word-picture is once again remembered :—<br /> <br /> ‘Thou glorious mirror, where the Almighty’s form<br /> | Glasses itself in tempests ; in all time,<br /> Calm or convulsed—in breeze, or gale, or storm,<br /> icing the pole, or in the torrid clime<br /> Dark heaving, boundless, endless and sublime.<br /> <br /> * * * * *<br /> <br /> Time writes no wrinkle on thine azure brow—<br /> Such as creation’s dawn beheld, thou rollest now.’?<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> It would be a prosaic mind, indeed, that could<br /> assert Byronic stanzas had not materially heightened<br /> the pleasure of this meditative stroll.<br /> <br /> J. Harris Briguouse,<br /> ae PP<br /> <br /> THE IDEAL PUBLISHER.<br /> <br /> —— 4<br /> A Dream or Farr Traps.<br /> <br /> HE other night I hada curious and unusually<br /> circumstantial dream. I thought I was walk-<br /> ing along a narrow, dingy street which seemed<br /> <br /> to be Paternoster Row at one end and Henrietta<br /> Street at the other. On nearly every door was the<br /> name of a well-known publisher—it was really a<br /> most literary thoroughfare. I had a heavy brown-<br /> paper parcel under my arm which I knew contained<br /> &amp; manuscript ; nevertheless I hurried past the im-<br /> posing buildings, which housed the well-known firms<br /> (my haste may have been partly due to the fact<br /> that I’d had business dealings with most of them)<br /> till I came to a modest-looking frontage at the end<br /> of the street, on the windows of which was the<br /> legend, *‘The Open Books Publishing Company.”<br /> ‘The name aroused my curiosity and I was attracted<br /> by the simplicity of the exterior, having good reason<br /> to distrust “marble halls” in connection with<br /> publishing. ¢t-entered, and instead of being re-<br /> ceived with cold suspicion and studied arrogance<br /> by the clerks in the outer office, 1 was welcomed<br /> with respectful cordiality. ‘“ Yes, Mr. Jay, the<br /> manager, is here; he always is from nine till<br /> six,” said a responsible-looking person. ‘“ He’s<br /> disengaged now.” And I was ushered into the<br /> sanctum in a state of bewilderment, since never<br /> before had I seen a publisher until I had awaited<br /> his pleasure for at least ten minutes in a virulent<br /> draught. Mr. Jay was a young man of “good<br /> appearance,” as the advertisements say, but he<br /> did not attempt to patronise me, nor did he<br /> greet me as a dear old friend. He bowed in a most<br /> business-like manner, and inquired what he could<br /> do for me. I told him that I had a MS. to place,<br /> and that I had been attracted by the title of his<br /> company. Would he please explain what it<br /> meant. :<br /> <br /> “If you have had any experience of literary<br /> business,” he said, “ you will know how essential it<br /> is that confidence should be restored between author<br /> and publisher.” a<br /> <br /> This struck me as an unpromising beginning be-<br /> cause each of the eight distinguished publishers with<br /> whom I had had previous dealings, had put forward<br /> the same platitude ; so I looked my doubts.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> S<br /> <br /> ao<br /> <br /> ilstAsaVEIS ORE Caste<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> “‘ Hitherto,” he continued, ‘‘publishers have<br /> demanded the complete confidence of authors, as<br /> between tried and trusty friends, and any attempt<br /> to conduct the sale of a manuscript on an ordinary<br /> business footing has called forth sentimental<br /> reproaches. Now publishing is the only trade, so<br /> far as I can discover, in which all parties directly<br /> interested are not given equal opportunities of know-<br /> ledge where the conduct of the business is con-<br /> cerned. No trustful sentiment is demanded from<br /> persons with a claim to a share in the profits of<br /> other commercial enterprises, but the books are<br /> examined and passed by chartered accountants.”<br /> <br /> ‘*The fact that authors don’t usually risk any<br /> money in the business is supposed to make. a<br /> difference,” I said.<br /> <br /> “ But the author of a book is in precisely the same<br /> position, commercially speaking, as the author of a<br /> play,” he replied. ‘And in every properly-con-<br /> ducted theatre the accountants go in on Saturday<br /> nights to examine the books, and each week the<br /> persons with a claim to a percentage of the profits<br /> —there are often several involved—receive their<br /> share, as vouched for by the accountants. When I<br /> started this business, I determined to run it on<br /> ordinary commercial lines, and to throw overboard<br /> all the publishing shibboleths and conventions—<br /> otherwise tricks of the book trade. I could not<br /> stand being alweys under suspicion, and for my own<br /> sake I have my books periodically inspected by a<br /> firm of chartered accountants recommended by the<br /> Society of Authors. I pay half the expense myself,<br /> and the remaining half is distributed among my<br /> authors.”<br /> <br /> «That sounds satisfactory,” I said, “as long as<br /> one can trust to the books being correctly kept.<br /> But, of course, mistakes might creep in.”<br /> <br /> “JT have arranged for another safeguard,” he<br /> proceeded. “I have often heard writers complain<br /> that they have no means of knowing how many<br /> copies of their books have been sold. Accordingly<br /> I have borrowed an idea from the music-trade, and<br /> I have each copy of an edition stamped with a<br /> number. I also invite authors to visit my ware-<br /> house at stated times in order that they may see for<br /> themselves how many copies of their books remain<br /> on hand.”<br /> <br /> “But how about the American market ?” I<br /> inquired, for my distrust was too deep-rooted to be<br /> easily allayed. ‘‘ You publishers usually take fifty<br /> per cent. of the profits on an American edition, and<br /> you never seem able to dispose of the copyright.<br /> You send out so many hundred copies in sheets,<br /> and the profits are amazingly small.”<br /> <br /> “ Not amazingly swall,” hecorrected. “Ifyou<br /> remember that most English publishers are openly<br /> or secretly in partnership with a firm on the other<br /> side. They tell you, don’t they, that the American<br /> <br /> 279<br /> <br /> publisher will only give a nominal price per copy,<br /> hardly enough to cover expenses ie -<br /> <br /> “Yes,” I exclaimed. “ And I often see that a<br /> book is selling well in the States at four or five<br /> times the price nominally paid for it to the English<br /> publisher, while the author’s total profits amount<br /> to something like ten pounds. I have often asked<br /> for items of the American sales and expenses, but<br /> have always been refused.”<br /> <br /> “Exactly,” he returned, with an air of satisfaction,<br /> “and you naturally suspect that the actual profits<br /> on the transaction are divided between the English<br /> and American partners. The direct result of this<br /> wide-spread suspicion has been the rise of the<br /> literary agent, who is content with ten per cent.<br /> of the American profits. It is bad policy to<br /> starve or frighten away the goose that lays the<br /> golden eggs. Now I’m offering to arrange for<br /> the publication of my authors’ books in America<br /> for the same percentage charged by agents—ten<br /> per cent. I shall probably extend this system to<br /> Indian and Colonial editions.”<br /> <br /> “JT have heard it stated,” I observed, ‘that,<br /> owing to the immense competition in the publish-<br /> ing trade, it is impossible to make the business<br /> pay on straightforward commercial lines—that is,<br /> without secret profits.”<br /> <br /> «That is absurd,” he returned. ‘I’m convinced<br /> that publishers lose money every year owing to<br /> their system of keeping authors in the dark. For<br /> example, certain methods of publishing have fallen<br /> into absolute discredit—I mean publishing on com-<br /> mission, and on the half-profits system. There are<br /> plenty of writers who would be willing to publish<br /> works dealing with specialised subjects on commis-<br /> sion, if they could be certain of straightforward<br /> treatment. Again, many young euthors would<br /> sign a half-profits agreement if they knew that the<br /> balance-sheets would be passed by a qualified<br /> accountant. For a young publisher without<br /> much capital, who is anxious to build up a<br /> business, these two methods of publishing offer<br /> modest profits with the minimum of risk.”<br /> <br /> “Are you introducing any other new methods<br /> into the publishing trade?” I asked.<br /> <br /> “Yes. I render accounts half-yearly in the old<br /> way ; but I pay my authors one month, instead of<br /> four or six months, later. Then, so far as the<br /> author is concerned, I don’t count thirteen copies<br /> as twelve, because that is an arrangement made<br /> between publishers and booksellers for their own<br /> (supposed) convenience, and the author has never<br /> been consulted in the matter. Then I’ve got<br /> several new ideas on the subject of advertising—<br /> there is a lot of money spent on the advertising of<br /> books in England, with very poor results. Also,<br /> I’ve patented a new detachable cover, which I<br /> propose to use for copies supplied to circulating<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> 280<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> libraries. The cost is very small, and it can be<br /> replaced as soon as it gets soiled or damaged,<br /> Again % :<br /> <br /> At this point he was interrupted by a rapping at<br /> the door. I was just about to hand him my manu-<br /> script, and ask if he would undertake its publica-<br /> tion, when a voice in my ear said :<br /> <br /> “Right o’clock, and [ve turned on the water in<br /> the bath-room.”<br /> <br /> I awoke with a start, and realised to my bitter<br /> disappointment that the Open Books Publishing<br /> Company was only a dream.<br /> <br /> But why shouldn’t it be a reality ?<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> E. M.S:<br /> <br /> a<br /> <br /> ~~<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> “FATTY DEGENERATION OF THE SOUL.”<br /> —1 +<br /> SUPPOSE there is something in a habit of<br /> | silence that encourages people to make those<br /> who wear it the recipients of their confi-<br /> dence. That habit, at all events, is one of mine,<br /> and upon no other hypothesis can I explain the<br /> fact that I am entrusted with what I think must be<br /> an unusual amount of early intelligence of what<br /> my friends are doing and planning in the shape of<br /> literature. Sometimes I attribute it, with a feeling<br /> of humility, to the probability that it never occurs<br /> to them to regard me as a possible competitor with<br /> themselves: they know I am keenly interested in<br /> literature in general and their owncontributions toit<br /> in particular, but they regard me as too , L do<br /> not know precisely what, but something unflattering<br /> to my vanity, to be afraid to unbosom themselves<br /> to me. Whatever the reason may be, I am, at one<br /> time and another, given glimpses into the inner<br /> self of some of my friends which I cannot believe<br /> they permit to many others. All of these glimpses<br /> furnish me with material for thought; some of<br /> them are amusing ; some of them are sad ; for the<br /> imaginative man, if frequently vain, is always<br /> sensitive, and the road up Parnassus is girt about<br /> with thorns.<br /> <br /> One such glimpse was permitted me a night or<br /> two ago. A young fellow of my acquaintance<br /> whom I had invited to dine with me, made a<br /> mistake in the date, with the result that he had<br /> myself .as entire audience. I discharged my<br /> functions so successfully that from being merely<br /> garrulously agreeable he became gravely con-<br /> fidential.<br /> <br /> Our talk had turned upon the income to be<br /> derived from literature as distinct from journalism,<br /> and I quoted the substance of a passage in ‘“ The<br /> Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft,” which, by the<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> way, my friend had never read, where N—, a<br /> representative of the best and brightest side of<br /> literary success, informs his host that in the<br /> twelve months just concluded he has earned two<br /> thousand pounds. My guest, I should premise, is<br /> a particularly glossy youth, always, as he would<br /> phrase it, very well groomed, and J, knowin<br /> nothing of his private affairs had always suppose<br /> him to be the recipient of a handsome allowance<br /> from his father who is a drysalter in a large way of<br /> business.<br /> <br /> My guest was interested.<br /> <br /> “J don’t know who N— may be,” he remarked,<br /> “but that is pretty good hunting.” For a moment<br /> he seemed a trifle envious, but then added hope-<br /> fully : “Still, I ought to makeas much soon. I’ve<br /> made over nine hundred this year, and it is not<br /> ended yet.”<br /> <br /> I was amazed. I knew that he was what<br /> another friend of mine terms “a writing cove,”<br /> but that is a vague term which might cover<br /> anything from a professional addresser of enve-<br /> lopes to a leader-writer on the Z%mes, neither of<br /> whom, I imagine, would earn so much. I fear,<br /> too, that my opinion of him was enhanced : ‘‘ fear,”<br /> becanse one’s estimation of a man should not be<br /> affected by his income.<br /> <br /> “Do you do much journalism ?” I enquired.<br /> <br /> “Oh! no,” he answéred ; it is all from fiction.”<br /> <br /> I cast my mind back over a considerable period<br /> of time, but could not recall a single book bearing<br /> his name ; then at the risk of seeming ignorant or<br /> discourteous, I said so, hazarding an enquiry as to<br /> whether he used a pseudonym. :<br /> <br /> “‘ Several,” he replied, “‘ but I write over my own<br /> name too. It depends on how many stories I have<br /> running simultaneously.”<br /> <br /> Again I was amazed, for this was a revelation of<br /> fecundity undreamed of by me. Then he explained<br /> that he wrote serial stories for newspapers.<br /> <br /> “J am writing three now,” he said quite simply.<br /> <br /> “Not writing them simultaneously ?” I pro-<br /> tested.<br /> <br /> “ Certainly,” he answered ; “but they are all for<br /> weekly papers: five thousand words a week each,<br /> and I send in the copy three weeks in advance.<br /> It’s a bit of a teazer sometimes when you&#039;re<br /> writing for a daily.”<br /> <br /> I supposed it might be.<br /> <br /> ‘“« What papers do you write for?” was my next<br /> question.<br /> <br /> He named three, of not one of which had I ever<br /> heard before.<br /> <br /> ‘« And how long are the stories ?” I asked.<br /> <br /> “That depends on how they go down with the<br /> readers,” he said. ‘I go on just as long as they<br /> are keen, and bombard the editors with corre-<br /> spondence about the yarn.”<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> “So you don’t work out the whole thing<br /> according to your own ideas, and simply publish<br /> a finished story in instalments ?”<br /> <br /> “Oh! no,” he said again. “The editors give<br /> me the tip as to what bits are catching on with<br /> the public, and I work those up for all I am worth.<br /> Sometimes, of course, they send me sensational<br /> pictures to write up to.”<br /> <br /> There was no suggestion of irony in his tone<br /> when he said “of course.”<br /> <br /> “Whether they are @ propos of the story or<br /> not ?” I asked.<br /> <br /> “T make them &amp; propos,” he replied.<br /> <br /> “It is very ingenious of you,” I said weakly; I<br /> could not at the moment think of a happier<br /> phrase ; ‘‘but—forgive me—is not the story a<br /> little—well, spotty, in the event ?”<br /> <br /> “Perhaps it is,” he admitted. “But it’s all<br /> right,” he jerked out suddenly. “The editor’s<br /> happy and the readers are happy, and nine hundred<br /> pounds is nine hundred pounds.”<br /> <br /> T allowed that that was true; but I detected a<br /> look of vague discontent on his clean-shaven face.<br /> <br /> “And are you happy?” I asked with affected<br /> nonchalance.<br /> <br /> It was then I got the glimpse of the inner man<br /> <br /> ‘ which has prompted me to record the conversation.<br /> His own story was sufficiently common-place. His<br /> father, a respectable and successful business man,<br /> had followed the policy, common nowadays, of<br /> giving his sons a public school and university<br /> education, with the result, also common nowadays,<br /> that they deemed themselves too good for the<br /> trade to which they were indebted for their<br /> advantages, and were inclined to disparage the<br /> father who had begotten them. This particular<br /> lad left the university with the smattering of many<br /> things and inadequate knowledge of any one, which<br /> seems so contemptible to men of his father’s kidney,<br /> and after an acrimonious debate flatly refused to<br /> adopt drysaltery, and announced his intention of<br /> embracing literature.<br /> <br /> Perhaps if his father had been inexorable and<br /> had cut off all supplies from this recalcitrant son,<br /> so that he had come to know what it really means<br /> to be cold and hunery, the muses might have<br /> smiled upon him, and his dilettantism might have<br /> been hardened into something enduring ; but his<br /> mother’s heart was infinitely large and his father’s<br /> purse was capacious ; his allowance was diminished,<br /> it-is true, but only so much as to compel him to<br /> burn pipe tobacco instead of cigars before the altar<br /> of the goddess Fame, and he was never placed in<br /> the position of being obliged to write for dear life.<br /> It is the overloaded stomach that causes night-<br /> mare, but I fancy it is the empty one that knows<br /> visions. My young friend in his comfortable little<br /> Gat found time pass not unpleasantly, but at the<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 281<br /> <br /> end of the two years which are generally supposed<br /> to enable a man to judge whether or not he has it<br /> in him to attain some measure of success in the<br /> world of letters, he was no further forward than<br /> when he forsook the parental home at Tooting for<br /> the less decorous purlieus of the King’s Road.<br /> <br /> _ Then he was given an opportunity of getting<br /> into this fiction mill, and seizing the chance was<br /> whirled merrily round and round, grinding words<br /> as he went, to which, for whatever reason, he did<br /> not attach his name, and earning an income which,<br /> as I have said, amounted to nine hundred pounds<br /> in a fraction under the last twelve months.<br /> <br /> _His method of work is simple. He dictates<br /> his stories into a phonograph and the records are<br /> transcribed in a typewriting office and sent direct<br /> to the newspapers; thence the stories return to<br /> him in proof, and he corrects the literal mistakes<br /> and keeps a casual look-out for howlers. He has<br /> dozens of stories, of enormous length, cut from the<br /> variegated papers in which they appear and pasted<br /> up in exercise books, and it was the recollection of<br /> these volumes that brought the expression of dis-<br /> content to his face when I asked him if he was<br /> happy. For that is the end of his stories. No<br /> publisher will look at them ; no critic of standing<br /> has ever heard of them; no literary agent thinks<br /> it worth while to accept him as a client; these<br /> last cannot help him in his serial work which,<br /> from time conditions alone, does not allow of<br /> intervention by any third person ; and the reputa-<br /> tion be has made in his particular line has become<br /> an insuperable obstacle to his making any reputa-<br /> tion in literature. He has, in short, committed<br /> the fatal mistake of making the wrong reputation,<br /> to lose which is much more difficult than it is to<br /> make a right one at the outset. The fluidity of<br /> language which enables him to keep pace with his<br /> engagements is incompatible with the nicety of<br /> language necessary to the production of literature ;<br /> he has lost all sense of the values of words in a<br /> calculation of their vaine; his apprehension of a<br /> dramatic idea has been shaken by his passion for a<br /> melodramatic situation. He has discovered that<br /> in doing work of a lower kind in order to earn the<br /> means to live while doing work of a higher, he has<br /> lost the power to do the latter. This last discovery<br /> has, indeed, been tested practically. A publisher<br /> of repute, who lay under some obligation of friend-<br /> ship to the old drysalter, hearing that his friend’s<br /> son was an author, asked him to write a novel;<br /> full of hope, the son complied ; but the taint of<br /> the cheap serial was over it all, and the book was<br /> hopeless; after a second unsuccessful essay the<br /> plan was abandoned by consent. My author,<br /> instead of being fed like a running horse, bas been<br /> fattened, and, to use George Gissing’s pregnant<br /> phrase, heisavictim to fatty degeneration of thesoul.<br /> 282<br /> <br /> Is it an incurable disease? That. is what I<br /> should greatly like to know, for I fancy there are<br /> not a few “ writing-coves” amongst us, to whom<br /> an answer would be fraught with interest.<br /> <br /> Of course I know it is an ancient story. Nearly<br /> a hundred and fifty years ago the suggestion was<br /> put forward, and put forward well, if rather dog-<br /> <br /> matically. Here is the passage ; and if my g euest<br /> of the other night should happen to see this<br /> article, it may amuse him to trace the quotation,<br /> and it will assuredly benefit him to read the little<br /> work in which it appears:<br /> <br /> “The author, when unpatronized by the great, has<br /> naturally recourse to the bookseller. There cannot per-<br /> haps be imagined a combination more prejudicial to taste<br /> than this. It is the interest of the one to allow as little<br /> for writing, as of the other to write as much as possible.<br /> Accordingly tedious compilations and periodical magazines<br /> are the result of their joint endeavours. In these circum-<br /> stances the author bids adieu to fame, writes for bread, and<br /> for that only, imagination is seldom called in. \ He sits<br /> down to address the venal muse with the most phlegmatie<br /> apathy; and, as we are told of the Russian, courts his<br /> mistress by falling asleep in her lap. His reputation never<br /> spreads in a wider circle than that of the trade, who gene-<br /> rally value him, not for the fineness of his compositions, but<br /> the quantity he works off in a given time.<br /> <br /> “ A long habit of writing for “bread thus turns the ambi-<br /> tion of every author at last into avarice. He finds that he<br /> has written many years, that the public are scarcely<br /> acquainted with his name; he despairs of applause, and<br /> turns to profit, which invites him. He finds that money<br /> procures all those advantages, that respect, and that ease<br /> which he vainly expected from fame. Thus the man who,<br /> under the protection of the great, might have done honour<br /> to humanity, when only patronized by the bookseller<br /> becomes a thing little superior to the fellow who works at<br /> the press.”<br /> <br /> A YS.<br /> —————_+—_&gt;—¢<br /> <br /> CIVIL LIST PENSIONS.<br /> <br /> ——&gt;—+—_.<br /> <br /> HE following pensions have been granted<br /> during the year ending March 31, 1904,<br /> under the provisions of the Civil List Act,<br /> <br /> 1901 :—<br /> <br /> Mrs. Anna Johnson Henley £125<br /> In consideration of the literary merits of. her late<br /> - husband, Mr. W. E. Henley, and of her inadequate<br /> means of support.<br /> <br /> Sir William Laird Clowes :<br /> In recognition of his services to naval literature.<br /> <br /> Mrs. Charlotte Michael Stopes ..<br /> In consideration of her literary work, and of her<br /> straitened circumstances.<br /> <br /> Mrs. Mary Gertrude Henderson<br /> In consideration of the distinguished services of<br /> her late husband, Lieutenant- Colonel G. F.C.<br /> Henderson, C.B.<br /> <br /> Maria, Lady Gilbert<br /> In recognition of the services of her ‘late hasband,<br /> Sir Henry Gilbert.<br /> <br /> 100<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> Mrs. Lucy Allen ...<br /> In recognition of the services of her late husband,<br /> Mr. R. W. Roberts, Master, R.N., in connection with<br /> the disembarkation of troops during the Crimean<br /> War.<br /> <br /> Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth May<br /> In recognition of the artistic merits of ‘her late<br /> husband, Mr. Phil May, and of her straitened<br /> circumstances.<br /> <br /> Emma, Lady Fitch<br /> In consideration of the ser vices of her late busband,<br /> and of her straitened circumstances.<br /> <br /> John Wesley Hales S<br /> In consideration of his services to English literature,<br /> <br /> Miss Henrietta Keddie ...<br /> In consideration of her services to literature, and ‘of<br /> her straitened circumstances,<br /> <br /> Leonard Gissing and Alfred Gissing ...<br /> In consideration of the services to literature of their<br /> late father, and of their straitened circumstances.<br /> <br /> Alfred Theobald Palmer.. ;<br /> In consideration of his services to history.<br /> <br /> Mrs. Edith Louisa Stopford Porson<br /> In consideration of the services rendered to astrono-<br /> mical science by her late husband.<br /> <br /> Frances Elizabeth Dobson<br /> <br /> Mary Dobson<br /> <br /> Julie Dobson A<br /> In recognition of the s services rendered to zoological<br /> science “by their late brother, Sur. ‘geon-Major George<br /> Edward Dobson.<br /> <br /> CORRESPONDENCE.<br /> <br /> —_1+—~&lt; +<br /> CRITIC AND PUBLISHER.<br /> <br /> Srr,—Last autumn Messrs. Harper and Bros.<br /> published Vol. III. of my ‘“ History of the German<br /> Struggle for Liberty,” a work which is mapped<br /> with a view to making six volumes.<br /> <br /> Many honest critics hold me responsible because<br /> my publishers have published this volume without<br /> an index. They also note with just surprise that<br /> the book pretends to be complete in three volumes.<br /> Also, they note that the illustrations are not in<br /> harmony with the character of the work.<br /> <br /> So far I have passed the matter over in silence.<br /> Now, however, it may be of service to my fellow<br /> victims to enquire if a law cannot be framed to<br /> protect us in the future. I was not consulted in<br /> regard to my book either as to illustrations, title<br /> page, or index. The publishers had no excuse for<br /> their conduct save the stereotyped one, against<br /> which I am protesting—to wit, that they know<br /> best what is good for a book.<br /> <br /> Would it not be fair to the author if the pub-<br /> lisher warned the reader, and especially the book<br /> reviewer, whenever he has seen fit to print a page<br /> or picture without the knowledge or consent of<br /> the author? I have literary sins of my own in<br /> abundance, and I object to carrying any for<br /> publishers, however scholarly they may be.<br /> <br /> Pouttney BiGELow.<br /> <br /> <br />  <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR. 283<br /> <br /> EXETER ENGLISH.<br /> <br /> I.<br /> <br /> Str,—Almost all writers, whatever their emi-<br /> mence, are guilty of solecisms and bad grammar, but<br /> this does not justify the deliberate perpetuation of<br /> <br /> ‘such errors by inscription of them in public places.<br /> <br /> Numbers of good authors are extremely hazy about<br /> the difference between the perfects and participles<br /> of tie and lay, but “laid awake”’ or “ there let him<br /> Jay,” would not look well in Exeter or any other<br /> cathedral. “ Destruction and happiness is in their<br /> ways” may be good old English, as ‘et Venus et<br /> puer risit ” would be capital Horatian Latin, but<br /> a plural subject with a singular verb is now merely<br /> a sign of slovenly writing, just as ‘‘to try and do”<br /> is a mistake, though countenanced by Demosthenes,<br /> and a plural verb with the disjunctive “neither ”—<br /> “nor,”’ as, for instance, “neither he nor his brother<br /> are coming” is wrong, whoever uses it.<br /> Your obedient servant,<br /> REGINALD HAINES.<br /> <br /> —— +9<br /> <br /> Il.<br /> <br /> Smr,—Perhaps it may be of interest to quote<br /> the opinion of some of the greatest of modern<br /> French writers on the question of using a plural<br /> verb with a singular subject having a tail tacked<br /> on to it by means of the preposition “ with.”<br /> <br /> On the 31st of July, 1900, M. Leygues, then<br /> Minister of Public Instruction, issued some new<br /> “rules” (or rather “tolerations”) for French<br /> Grammar. Amongst them the following appeared ;<br /> “On tolérera toujours le verbe au pluriel dans : Le<br /> général avec quelques officiers sont sortis (ou est<br /> sorti) du camp.”<br /> <br /> _ The Académie appointed a committee to con-<br /> sider these new rules, consisting of such men as<br /> Henry Houssaye, Gaston Boissier, Hervieu, Gaston<br /> Paris, Mezieres, Gréard Brunetiére, Coppée, de<br /> Vogué, Jules Lemaitre, de Héredia, Gabriel<br /> Hanotaux. ‘he criticisms made by this committee<br /> were adopted by the Académie.<br /> <br /> ‘I&#039;he remark made on the above rule was: “ Dans<br /> exemple ; le général avec quelques officiers sont<br /> sortis (ou est sorti) du camp, le mot avec n’étant<br /> pas un adverb d’énumération, mais une préposition,<br /> le pluriel est irrégulier.”<br /> <br /> __ Surely this is the only logical conclusion. Even<br /> if good writers have used a plural verb in a fit of<br /> absentmindedness, there is no reason why we<br /> should imitate them in their faults.<br /> <br /> Yours truly,<br /> G. H. CLARKE.<br /> <br /> Dovus.e Tires or Books.<br /> <br /> Smr,—I wish to draw attention to a curious<br /> phenomenon of modern date. I remember a time<br /> when every book was reviewed under the title<br /> which the author gave it. But a fashion has since<br /> arisen whereby the reviewer is ashamed of quoting<br /> such a title, because he prefers to show his ability<br /> in improving upon it. As this fashion is fast<br /> becoming universal, I think I am doing no harm in<br /> quoting two examples from the June number of<br /> Lhe Author, At p. 237, a book entitled “&#039;The<br /> Making of English” is reviewed under the title<br /> “English in the Making”; and another book<br /> entitled ‘‘Stones from a Glass House,” is reviewed<br /> under the title of “ A Round Stone or Two.”<br /> <br /> There is a great practical inconvenience about<br /> this custom. The unreal and secondary title is<br /> the one under which the review is quoted in the<br /> “Contents” and in the “Index.” Consequently<br /> the author or other student who wishes to consult<br /> the review is denied any help which an index may<br /> afford him. And no author has now the oppor-<br /> tunity of ascertaining that a review of his book<br /> has appeared in a given journal. I venture to<br /> think that this is undesirable and inconvenient in<br /> a very high degree.<br /> <br /> T am unable to understand the underlying prin-<br /> ciple. Ifa title has been deliberately chosen by<br /> an author, why should it be deliberately neglected,<br /> to the confasion of all to whom an index is<br /> supposed to be helpful? Surely this is not busi-<br /> ness, but something more nearly approaching to<br /> a thoughtless indifference to the wants of a serious<br /> student.<br /> <br /> On the other hand, the custom proves that<br /> authors are wholly wrong in complaining of the<br /> difficulty of finding good titles. For whatever<br /> titlean author may select, it can always be bettered<br /> (at any rate in the estimation of a competent<br /> critic, for they are all competent) by an alternative<br /> arrangement. Why do not authors compile lists of<br /> alternative titles from old journals? Ifa book is<br /> reviewed in six journals, it obtains six alternative<br /> titles, all of them (by the nature of the case) better<br /> than the original! Surely this is a phenomenon<br /> <br /> worthy of attention. :<br /> Water W. SKEAT.<br /> <br /> —_— st<br /> <br /> LIQUIDATION IN THE UNITED STATES.<br /> <br /> Str,—The following may serve as a warning.<br /> In December, 1902, I received a notice from a firm<br /> of lawyers in Boston that an assessment was to be<br /> made of the affairs of an American journal to<br /> which I had contributed for thirty-two years. I<br /> agreed to the winding up of the company—all the<br /> creditors being asked to do so.<br /> 284<br /> <br /> Time went on and I received no information.<br /> Last summer a friend wrote to some one in Boston<br /> to enquire into the case on my behalf. He was<br /> informed that all creditors had been paid 10 per<br /> cent. except the foreign contributors “as their<br /> accounts did not agree with those of the company.”<br /> My account was £24—in the company’s books it<br /> was £17. The head of the firm said he had<br /> 8 dollars odd in my name, which he would send<br /> over as soon as he had enquired into the dis-<br /> crepancy.<br /> <br /> I wrote in October to the effect that I desired<br /> payment of the 8 dollars held by him.<br /> <br /> No answer has been sent, and I have written<br /> three or four times. In my last letter I said if<br /> they did not send me the amount by return, I<br /> should make the matter public in 7e Author, with<br /> your permission.<br /> <br /> Surely it is strange that the foreign contributors<br /> (an Italian and myself—possibly more) should all<br /> have made mistakes in their accounts, and that<br /> they alone amongst the creditors are not paid !<br /> <br /> Yours faithfully,<br /> 8. B.<br /> <br /> ~~<br /> <br /> ANCIENT Sirtver Bouquet Houpers.<br /> <br /> Dear Srtr,—Can any of your readers, or members<br /> of the Incorporated Society of Authors, give me<br /> any information upon the subject of ‘Ancient<br /> Silver Bouquet Holders,” or refer me to any work<br /> treating of such articles ?<br /> <br /> Yours truly,<br /> W. J. Hassan.<br /> <br /> Stretton-on-Dunsmore, Rugby,<br /> <br /> June 13th, 1904.<br /> <br /> 1s<br /> <br /> AutHors’ AGENTS.<br /> <br /> Srr,—I have read with much interest the various<br /> insertions in Zhe Author on “ Authors’ Agents,”<br /> and the “ Rights of Authors.”<br /> <br /> My view is that a great many of the troubles of<br /> authors, and the small sums they obtain for their<br /> works, really arise from the great ignorance of<br /> the authors themselves. They know s0 little about<br /> the business side of getting out a book.<br /> <br /> I would advise all authors to study to some<br /> extent :—(1) The law of contracts ; (2) the law of<br /> copyright (including International copyright) also<br /> the Berne Convention ; (3) the cost of production<br /> of books, paper, printing, moulds, stereotypes, etc. ;<br /> (4) and last but not least the management of<br /> accounts (including bookkeeping by double entry).<br /> <br /> Accounts sent in by publishers are frequently<br /> most bewildering, and require a trained accountant<br /> with access to the publishers’ books to understand.<br /> <br /> Added to above it is useful to know the law of<br /> <br /> THE AUTHOR.<br /> <br /> accountancy, or .rather the law as it affects<br /> accountants,<br /> <br /> A man who knows nothing about the art of<br /> driving horses is not likely to succeed in driving<br /> well at his first or second attempt, nor will he be<br /> able to do so till he has really learnt his business.<br /> And so it is also with the author and book<br /> production.<br /> <br /> The reader may possibly get frightened at what<br /> T have said, and think to himself, “I have so much<br /> to learn.” But he need not be scared at what I<br /> have advanced. The secretary of the society will<br /> no doubt put him in the way of suitable books to<br /> read on the various subjects I have named, and<br /> armed with the knowledge obtained from these<br /> books the author will be able to contend against<br /> imposition, over charges, and secret profits, all of<br /> which are more or less attempted to the injury of<br /> the unbusiness, unskilful author. —<br /> <br /> All the tricks practised in the past for the pur-<br /> pose of imposing on the author have been brought<br /> about by the dense agnorance of the author himself,<br /> and many will say he deserved it, for if he will not<br /> look after, and learn what so closely concerns him-<br /> self, he must needs suffer, nor is the world as yet<br /> so fair a planet that the well-informed will teach the<br /> lazy as against the material interests of the former.<br /> <br /> On the other hand, much as to the art of publish-<br /> ing has been kept dark, which art is now more fully<br /> known.<br /> <br /> Why should not authors rouse themselves, and<br /> let them remember that “God helps those who.<br /> help themselves.” A few words I should like to<br /> add as to the great usefulness of the Authors’<br /> Society. To myself it would appear that all literary<br /> men, whether novelists, dramatic writers, poets,<br /> historians, or musical writers, should do all in<br /> their power to uphold the Society, and by carefully<br /> reading the monthly publication of the Society (The<br /> Author), the most unlearned will more easily learn<br /> the art of publishing, and the knowledge he will<br /> thus attain will be invaluable to him.<br /> <br /> Publishing has distinctly entered on a new era,<br /> and the sooner authors learn this truth it will be<br /> the better for them and for all concerned,<br /> <br /> Messrs. Sprigg, Pedrick &amp; Co., Limited, write<br /> learnedly about authors’ agents. They say: ‘He,<br /> the author, should never entrust his work to an<br /> agent unless he is confident in the first place that<br /> the man he employs conducts his general business.<br /> with an entire absence of favouritism.”<br /> <br /> Alas for authors’ agents if I read the late Sir<br /> Walter Besant aright. There appeared to him at<br /> the time he wrote that there were but two agents.<br /> he could recommend. And authors who know<br /> their business can tell pretty correctly who those<br /> two agents were.<br /> <br /> A<br /> <br /> SENEX.	https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/495/1904-07-01-The-Author-14-10.pdf	publications, The Author