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Title A name given to the resource The Author Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em> Description An account of the resource A digitised run of the Society of Authors' monthly periodical, <em>The Author</em>, 1890<span>–</span>1914, made available together for the first time.<br /><br />Currently users can browse issues and <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?search=&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bjoiner%5D=and&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Index&amp;collection=&amp;type=&amp;tags=&amp;exhibit=&amp;date_search_term=&amp;submit_search=Search+For+Items&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">indices</a> (not available for all volumes). Full text search for all issues, and other additional search functionality, will be added in 2022. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890–1914 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context The-Author-Issues Publication Date The date of an event (in YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD format) 1892-03-01 Volume 2 Issue 10 Pages Page range in volume 295–342 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18920301 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin ZIbe Hutbot\ (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. II.—No. io.] MARCH i, 1892. [Price Sixpence. CO NT PAGE Warnings »" Notices J97 Literary Property— I.—Registration 300 II.—Transfer of Books 3°' Swindells v. Morgan and Others— I.—Report of the Case 3°i II.—On the Case 3°' The Output—Past and Present 3°3 Notes from Paris 3°4 An Old Pirate Song. By C. G. Lcland 3°* Titles of Honour 3<>7 Red Clover 3°8 A Fine Plav 3°9 Notes and News. Bv Walter Besant 3" Men and Women of tho Time—1788 3'3 The Dance of Death 3"S Without a Publisher 3'5 Scott on the Art of Fiction 3"s ENTS. International Copyright— I.—Annual Meeting of the Copyright League .. ..311 II.—Canada and the United States 3» Author and Editor 3" The Letter H. By William Westall 3*4 Correspondence— I— Mr. Traill's List of Poets 3»S II.—Useful Books i'S From the Papers— I.—" One who knew Him" I'S II—Mr. Edmund Gosse on Reading S'b III. —On Literary Collaboration. By Waltor Besant .. jj» IV. —The Critic 3»8 V.—Do Publishers read MSS. submitted? 3*9 VI.—Arc Women Creative 33° VII —An American on American Literature 33' VIII.—Swindells v. Morgan and Tomkins 33» "At the Author's Head" 33» New Books and New Editions • ■ 33S EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE. INVESTMENTS. A List of 1,600 British, Colonial, and Foreign Securities, with the highest and lowest prices quoted for the last twenty-two years. 2a. bd. "A useful work of reference."—Money. PHILOSOPHICAL NOTES ON BOTANICAL SUB- JECTS. By E. Bonavia, M.D., Brigade-Surgeon, I.M.D. With 160 Illustration'*, as. bd. BEAL ARMY RKFORM, THE ESSENTIAL FOUNDA- TION OF. By Igkotus. bd. MY GARDENER (Illustrated). By H. W. Ward, Head Gardener to the Right Hon. the Earl of Radnor, Longford Castle. Salisbury. M. bd. "The book is replete with valuable cultural notes indispensable to the millions who are now turning to gardening as a source of pleasure and profit."— Gardener's Chronicle. STATE TRIALS, Reports of. New Series. Vol. III., 1831—40. Published under the direction of the State Trials Committee. Edited by Joitx Macdoneli,, M.A. 101. PUBLIC GENERAL ACTS, 1891. Red Cloth, 3*. Contains all the Public Acts passed during the year, with Index, also Tables showing the clft'ot of the year's Legislation, toget her with complete and classified Lists of the Titles of all the Local and Private Acts passed during the Session. REVISED STATUTES. (Second Revised Edition.) Royal 8vo. Prepared under the direction of the Statute Law Revision Committee, and Edited by G. A. R. Fitzgerald, Esq. Vols. I. to IV. now ready, price 7». bd. each. FORECASTING BY MEANS OF WEATHER CHARTS, Principles of. By the Hon. Ralph Aberckohby, F.R. Met. HoC. 23. Monthly Lists of Parliamentary Papers upon Miscellaneous Lis Every Assistance given to Correspondents; and METEOROLOGICAL INSTRUMENTS, Instructions in the use of. at. td. THE LITERATURE RELATING TO NEW ZEALAND. A Bibliography. Roval Rvo. Cloth, is. bd. POLYNESIAN MYTHOLOGY AND ANCIENT TRA- DITIONAL HISTORY OF THE NEW ZEALAND RACK. BvSirGKOROKGKEY.K.C.B. Illustrated. Koyal 8vo. Cloth, j». COPYRIGHT LAW REFORM: an Exposition of Lord Monkswcll's Copyright Bill. With Extracts from tho Report of the Commission of 1878. and an Appendix containing the Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lely, Esq., Barrister-at-Law. is. bd. KEW BULLETIN, 1891. Issued by the Director of Kew Gardens, ys. (Ready shortly.) KEW BULLETIN, 1892. Monthly, 2d. Appendices, 2d. each. Annual Subscription, including postage, 3*. qd. DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE OF MUSICAL INSTRU- MENTS recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition. Compiled by Capt. Day. Oxfordshire Light Infantry, under the orders of Col. SnAW-llELLIEE, Commandant Royal Military School of Music. Illustrated by a series of Twelve artistically executed Plates in Heliogravure, and with numerous Wood Engravings, hi, "Unique, as no earlier work exists in English dealing exhaus- tively with the same subject A very important con- tribution to the history of orchestration."—Atheneeum. PUBLIC RECORDS. A Guide to the Principal Classes of Documents preserved in tho Public Record Office. By S. R. Scargill-Bibd, F.S.A. is. £ "The value of such a work as Mr. Scargill-Bird's can scarcely be over-rated."—Times. Application. Quarterly Lists Post Free, arf. t on Application. Books not kept in stock obtained without delay. GOVERNMENT AND GENERAL PU11MSHERS. EYRE and SPOTTISWOODE, Ber Majesty's Printers, East Harding Street, London, E.C.  ## p. 296 (#700) ############################################ 2g6 ADVERTISEMENTS. %\yt &ockty of 9utI)ors (EncorporatrtD, PRESIDENT. The Eight Hon. the LORD TENNYSON, D.C.L. Sir Edwin Arnold, K.C.l.E. Alfred Austin. A. W. A Beckett. Robert Bateman. Sir Henry Bergne, K.C.M.G. Walter Besant. Augustine Birrell, M.P. R. D. Blackmore. Rev. Prop. Bonnet, F.R.S. Lord Brabourne. James Beyce, M.P. P. W. Clayden. Edward Clodd. Hon. John Collier. W. Martin Conway. Marion Crawford. Oswald Crawfurd, C.M.G. COUNCIL. The Earl of Desart. A. W. Dubourg. John Eric Erichsen, F.R.S. Prof. Michael Foster, F.R.S. Herbert Gardner, M.P. RicnARD Garnett, LL.D. Edmund Gos.se. H. Rider Haggard. Thomas Hardy. Rudyard Kipling. Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S. J. M. Lely. Rev. W. J. Loftie, F.S.A. F. Max Muller, LL.D. George Meredith. Herman C. Merivale. Rev. C. H. Middleton-Wake, F.L.S. Hon. Counsel—E. M. Underdown, Q.C. Pembroke and J. C. Parkinson. The Earl of Montgomery. Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., LL.D. Walter Berries Pollock. A. G. Ross. George Augustus Sala. W. Baptiste Scoones. G. R. Sims. J. J. Stevenson. Jas. Sully. William Moy Thomas. H. D. Traill, D.C.L. Baron Henry de Worms, M.P., F.R.S. Edmund Yates. A. W. a Beckett. Hon. John Collier. W. Martin Conway. Edmund Gosse. H. Rider Haggard. J. M. Lely. COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT. Chairman—Walter Besant. I Sm Frederick Pollock. | A. G. Ross. Solicitors—Messrs. Field, Roscoe, & Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. Secretary—S. Squire Sprigge. OFFICES. 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C. PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 1. The Annual Report. That for January 1891 can be had on application to the Secretary. 2. The Author. A Monthly Journal devoted especially to the protection and maintenance of Literary Property. Issued to all Members. 3. The Grievances Of Authors. (The Leadenhall Press.) 2*. The Keport of three Meetings on the general subject of Literature and its defence, held at "Willis's Eooms, March 1887. 4. Literature and the Pension List. By W. Morris Coixes, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry Glaisher, g5, Strand, W.C.) 3*. 5. The History of the Societe des Gens de Lettres. By S. Squire Sprigge, Secretary to the Society, is. 6. The Cost Of Production. In this work specimens are given of the most important forms of type, size of page, &c, with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds of books. Henry Glaisher, q5, Strand, W.C. 2s. 6d. 7. The Various Methods Of Publication. By S. Squire SrRiGGE. In this work, compiled from the papers in the Society's offices, the various kinds of agreements proposed by Publishers to Authors are examined, and their meaning carefully explained, with an account of the various kinds of fraud which have been made possible by the different clauses in their agreements. Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. 3s. 8. Copyright Law Reform. An Exposition of Lord MonkswelFs Copyright Bill now before Parliament. With Extracts from the Report of the Commission of 1878, and an Appendix containing the Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lelt. Eyre and Spottiswoode. 1*. 6d.  ## p. 297 (#701) ############################################ ^Ibe B u t b o t\ (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. II.—No. io.] MARCH i, 1892. [Price Sixpence. For the Opinions expressed in papers that are signed or initialled the Authors alone are responsible. WARNINGS. Readers of the Author are earnestly desired to make the following warnings as widely known as possible. They are based on the experience of six years' work upon the dangers to which literary property is exposed:— (1.) Never sign any agreement of which the alleged cost of production forms an integral part, until you have proved the figures. (2.) Never enter into any correspondence with publishers, especially with those who advertise for MSS., who are not recom- mended by experienced friends or by this Society. (3.) Never, on any account whatever, bind yourself down for future work to any one firm of publishers. (4.) Never accept any proposal of royalty until you have ascertained exactly what the agreement gives kto the author and what to the publisher. (5.) Never accept any pecuniary risk or respon- sibility whatever without advice. (6.) Never, when a MS. has been refused by respectable houses, pay others, whatever promises they may put forward, for the production of the work. (7.) Never sign away American rights. Keep them. Refuse to sign an agreement con- taining a clause which reserves them for the publisher. If the publisher insists, take away the MS. and offer it to another. vol. n. (8.) Keep some control over the advertisements by clause in the agreement. If you arc yourself ignorant of the subject, make the Society your agent. (9.) Never forget that publishing is a business, like any other business, totally unconnected with philanthropy, charity, or pure love of literature. You have to do with business men. Society's Offices:— 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. NOTICES. THE Americans have committed a very graceful and complimentary action. They have allowed the piece of plate presented by the Society to Mr. R. U. Johnson, Secretary of the American Copyright League, to be admitted to free entry on importation. We submitted the case to Mr. Rol>ert Lincoln, the American Minister, who kindly pro- mised us his good offices in the matter, with the result that a copy of the following letter from Mr. Spaulding, the Acting Secretary of the Treasury, Washington, to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Blaine, has been forwarded to us. It will be observed that this is only the second concession of the kind made by the States. "Sir, "I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 13th instant, enclosing, for the consideration of this Dejwirtmeut, a De- spatch, No. 587, from the Minister of the United States at London, inquiring whether a piece of silver plate, to be presented by the Incorporated Society of Authors of Great Britain to Robert U. Johnson, Esq., Secretary of the American Copy- right League, as a testimonial of recognition of Y 2  ## p. 298 (#702) ############################################ 298 THE AUTHOR. the services of himself and his Society in the esta- blishment of the International Copyright Law now existing, can be admitted to free entry on importation. "In reply, I have to state that, under date of 5th May 1887, free entry was authorised for certain vases imported for presentation as testimonials to members of the American Committee who super- intended the installation of the Bartholdi Statue of 'Liberty enlightening the World,' and that, in accordance with the practice of admitting to free entry, under paragraph 648 of the Tariff Act, cups and plate as prizes and trophies, it would seem tliat the piece of plate in question would be exempt from duty on importation. "Respectfully yours, "O. J. Spaulding, "Acting Secretary." "To the Hon. F. G. Blaine." The following letter appeared in the Times of February 24th:— Sir, To-day is the birthday of James Russell Lowell, and I understand that a commemorative ceremony is being performed in his honour at his native place. It has occurred to me that English- men might be glad to show their respect for a man who was one of the most eminent writers in the common language of England and America, and who, as Minister in this country, did so much to promote goodwill between the two nations. A monument is erected in Westminster Abbey to Lowell's friend and fellow-countryman, Long- fellow. It seems to me that it would not be out of place to give in some similar way a proof of our national regard for Lowell himself. If anyone who agrees with this would communi- cate with me, I should be very glad to co-operate in taking the necessary steps for giving effect to the proposal. Yours, <fcc. Leslie Stephen. 12, Hyde Park Gate, S.W., Feb. 22nd. This proposal should be supported by every member of our Society, not only because Lowell was one of the most eminent writers of the century, but also because he fought manfully and all his life long for the cause of International Copyright, and because he was, in a very especial sense, the friend of this Society, whose aims he cordially approved and whose growth he always watched with interest. It is hoped that every member will hold himself in readiness to support Mr. Leslie Stephen in the promotion of this monument. The Authors' Club has now passed from the preliminary stage to that of actual existence. The Club is to be founded upon a Limited Joint Stock Company, already established and registered, the possession of a single share in which will serve in lieu of entrance fee. The shares in the Company- are limited to 600 of £5 each, of which it is not anticipated tliat more than £3 will ever be called up, and the shares will be allotted upon application in the usual form by the directors. The Company is not a commercial one, its Directors will receive 110 fees, and all profits will accrue to the Club. When the first 600 shares are applied for and allotted, the election of members will be according to usual club-land law, by proposer, seconder, payment of entrance fee and election by the general committee; the shareholding members, therefore, will possess an advantage over ordinary members. The annual subscription is fixed at four guineas, and the entrance fee at ten guineas; the usual facilities and remissions being extended to country members. The number of members is fixed at 600; and the Club house will be as near that centre of the civilised world, Piccadilly Circus, as possible. A great many names of men at once eminent (and clubbable) in every branch of letters—scientific, informatory, or recreative—and in the ranks of the higher journalism, are already upon the list of the general committee of the Club. Its first Directors are Lord Monkswell, Mr. Walter Besant, Mr. H. Tedder (the secretary and librarian of the "Athenanini "), and Mr. Oswald Crawfurd, C.M.G. (Chairman). The qualifications for membership are that a man should be a British subject, or a citizen of the United States; an author, in the widest acceptance of the term; a contributor to a leading periodical; or a journalist of established position. It will be gathered from these lines that the main objects of the Authors' Club are: first, the union of authors as such, which makes the Club a natural outcome and offshoot of the Society, and (2) the consolidation of literary interests of all kinds. Application for shares can be made to the Company's linkers, Messrs. Barclay and Co., No. 1, Pall Mall, or to the Chairman, who may also be applied to for any general information at the temporary office of the Authors' Club, Queen Anne's Mansions, S.W. An advertisement has appeared in several of our papers, dated from New York, inviting MSS., and promising a circulation of hundreds of thousands. The Secretary answered the advertisement, asking what machinery the advertiser possessed by which he could insure so enormous a circulation. A reply has been received in which the advertiser states that he is editor and proprietor of an illustrated American paper, whose subscription list numbers  ## p. 299 (#703) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 299 200,000, and which has 3o branch establishments in the principal cities of ihe Union. The circu- lation promised is the publication of the works accepted by this advertiser in the pages of his magazine. Nothing is said as to the price paid to authors, but those who think of answering the advertisement would do well to submit a question on this point before parting with their perhaps valuable American rights. The advertiser affects surprise at being asked to give references and explanations. Does he really believe that we should advise authors to despatch MSS. to a foreigner in a foreign country, solely on a vague promise made in an advertisement? One has not been accustomed to attribute to American men of business this guileless innocence. Our advice, which we repeat, is to get the business arrangements placed on a satisfactory footing before sending out the MS. A case was recently tried before one of the inferior courts, in which it was held by the judge that the publishers had no right in sending in an account, based upon a share of profits, to charge for "production" more than the sums actually expended by them. The publishers attempted to justify charges which gave them a profit on items forming cost of production on the wording of the agreement signed by the author, but the judge held that this did not justify the charges, and he was evidently of opinion that for a publisher to entitle himself to a profit on the cost of production in such cases he must clearly stipulate for it beforehand. It was hoped that the publishers would appeal to a higher court, but this they have not done. Meantime the decision is a step in the right direction. We have the notes and report of the case. The chief weapon of offence in the return of accounts is the item of advertisements. The pub- lisher advertises in his own magazine if he has one, by exchanges for nothing with other maga- zines, or, if he does not exchange, he pays and expects a return of the same kind. He charges for inserting the book in his circulars and lists. He charges, in fact, what he pleases, and advertises what he pleases, and as often as he pleases, in organs which cost him nothing. In this way he can, and often does, sweep the whole profits of a tolerably successful book into his own pockets. This is done every day; it is the commonest, the most specious, and the most impudent form of swamping profits. Of course, the pretence set up is that the sale was entirely due to the publisher's own organ and the advertisement in it. For instance, an author, some time ago, re- ceived an account in which a considerable sum was charged for advertising. He went to the publishers and informed them that he would pay for none but advertisements for which they would produce vouchers. They sent an amended bill for a sum less than one-eighth the original charge! The meaning, as between publisher and author, of the so-called "Royalty System "—where there is no system—was explained in the Author for November 1891. Writers are entreated, in their own interests, to study the facts and figures there set forth. Communications intended for the Authors' Syndi- cate should be addressed to W. Morris Colles, the Honorary Secretary. All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of this Society or not, are invited to communicate to the Editor any points connected with their work which it would be advisable in the general interest to publish. Members and others who wish their MSS. read are requested not to send them to the Office without previously communicating with the Secretary. The utmost practicable despatch is aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in which they are received. It must also be distinctly understood that the Society does not, under any circumstances, under- take the publication of MSS. The official directions for the securing of American copyright by English authors were given in the Author for June 1891. Members are earnestly entreated to take the trouble of reading those directions. Members are earnestly requested to forward agreements to the Society for inspection before they sign them. Once signed, the mischief is generally irreparable. A correspondent writes to ask for information as to the "loss" of copyright. A few elementary points arc, therefore, advanced. Copyright is the right to copy or reproduce. It must not be parted with, except for a consideration fair and reasonable. Most publishers' agreements contain a clause which  ## p. 300 (#704) ############################################ 3°° THE AUTHOR. assigns to thorn the copyright. It is called some- times by its own name, sometimes it is called the right to first and all subsequent editions, some- times it is called the right to produce future editions at cheaper prices, should the publisher think fit. Then follows the consideration for which the author is asked to surrender his property. Writers who sign this agreement in too many cases do not even know what they are giving or selling, and in some instances are too inexperienced in business matters to understand plain English. Let them before signing any agreement ask themselves these questions: 1. Does the agreement assign the copyriglit to the publishers? 2. If no, for what consideration? 3. What does that consideration leave to the publishers on the sale of the first and all subsequent editions? LITERARY PROPERTY. i. Begistration. (From the Law Quarterly Review.) BEITISH subjects will be well advised not to publish foreign literary or artistic works in England because they cannot find them registered at Stationer's Hall, or to defend actions for piracy because the plaintiff was not registered at Stationer's Hall before the issue of the writ, in reliance on the judgment of Stirling J. in Fishburn v. Hollingshead ('91, 2 Ch. 371) cited without dissent in the last number of the Law Quarterly Review, at p. 3oi. In that case Stirling J. un- doubtedly expressed an opinion that the foreign author of a painting could not sue in England without registering under the English Copyright Acts; but this opinion was clearly obiter, as the learned judge also decided that the work before him was properly registered in England. It has since been doubted by Smith and Grantham J J. in the argument in Moul v. Groenings, 'g 1, 2 Q.B. 443 (though the doubt is not reported), and Judge Martineau has felt himself justified by that doubt in declining to follow it in the case of Moul v. Devonshire Park Co. {Law Times Paper, Sept. 19th, 1891). The point is one of great importance, as, if Stirling J. is right, the British Legislature has failed to carry out the intention of the Berne Con- vention, which was that an author who complies with the formalities required by law in the country where he first publishes his work should thereby obtain copyright in the foreign countries, parties to the Convention, without also having to comply with the formalities in each of such countries (Article 11 of Berne Convention). This benefits the British author equally with the foreigner; the only person aggrieved is the pirate, and the great feature of the Berne Convention is that for the first time it treats copying other people's work as at the risk of the copyist, instead of impeding the author by technical restraints. The Copyright Statutes on the point are, as the Law Quarterly Review observed, an "ungodly jumble," but the point admits of being shortly- stated. 1. The Act of 1842 (5 & 6 Vict. c. 45, § 24) required registration of copyright as a condition for bringing an action for its infringment. 2. The International Act of 1844 (7 Viet. c. 12, § 19), provided that copyright in a work first published out of Her Majesty's dominions should only be obtained under the provisions of that Act; and provided that the Queen might by Order in Council confer on authors of countries named therein the same benefits as they would have under the English Copyright Acts. The Act further required (§ 6) every such foreign author to comply with certain formalities of registration, differing from those of the Act of 1842, as a condition of obtaining the benefit of the Act of 1844. Pausing here for a moment, it has never been suggested that a foreign author before 1886 ought to register both under the Act of 1844 and under the Act of 1842, though it might be argued that as the benefits of the English Acts were conditional to English subjects on their registering under those Acts, a foreigner taking the same benefits as an Englishman must also register under the English Acts. 3. The Art Copyright Act of 1862 (25 & 26 Vict. c. 68, § 12) included the provisions of the International Act of 1844, while providing that English authors of paintings, &c, must register at Stationer's Hall, and that any proprietor should not be entitled to the Ixmefit of the Act until registered, and could not sue for anything done before registration. Tho Act of 1844 had included provisions for tho registration of works of art. 4. The International Copyright Act of 1886 (49 & 5o Vict. c. 33, § 4) provided that when any Order in Council was made by Her Majesty under the International Copyright Acts, the provisions of those Acts as to the registry and delivery of copies of works should not apply to works under the Order in Council, except so far as provided by the order. 5. The Order in Council of November 28th, 1887, made under this Act, contains no provision as to registration and delivery of copies, and incorporates  ## p. 301 (#705) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 301 the Berne Convention of September 5th, 1887, which in Articles 2 and 11 appears to show an intention that the "accomplishment of the conditions and formalities prescribed by law in the country of origin of the work" shall give an author copyright throughout the countries of the Convention. It seems fairly clear, therefore, that the provisions of the International Copyright Acts as to registry and delivery of copies do not apply to foreign works, by reason of section 4 of the Act of 1886. But it is suggested that, as the foreign authors take the same benefits as they would have had under the English Acts, they are liable to register and deliver copies under the English Acts. But if this were so, foreign authors before the Act of 1886 would have been liable to register both under the English and the International Acts, and, still worse, to deliver copies both under the English and Inter- national Acts; and authors of foreign books at the present time are liable to deliver five copies to certain libraries as an English author is. This consequence is so startling, and, as regards the practice before the Act of 1886, so contrary to the facts, as almost to prove its error. But it would seem clear that the provisions of the International Act of 1844. supersede instead of supplementing the provisions of the English Acts of 1842 and 1862; and that the effect of the Act of 1844 being in its turn superseded by the Act of 1886, is not to revive the old provisions, but to leave the foreign author to register in his own country, obtaining thereby copyright under the Convention throughout the countries under the Convention. And apart from the construction of statutes, the hardship would appear to be if Mr. Justice Stirling's decision is right. Under the Art Copyright Acts an author cannot sue for infringements which have preceded registration; registration is to that extent a condition of the right as well as of the remedy. It is said that there is a hardship on the "innocent copyist," who has had no notice of copyright. I may be permitted to doubt the existence of the "innocent copyist," whom I have not'yet met in my experience of copyright cases. I have met the tradesman who desires to get his wares cheap, without too scrupulous inquiry as to the cause of their cheapness, and in many cases with direct knowledge that he is copying someone who he thinks has omitted to technically protect his rights, but I do not feel much sympathy with him. In any case this class of person will be well advised not to place too much reliance on Fishburn v. Hollingshead, '91, 2 Ch. 371. T. E. S. II. Transfer of Books. TO YOUNG PUBLISHING FIRMS or others commencing a publishing business. —A firm of publishers, having more MSS. of novels in their possession than they can for some time publish, are ready to part with the contracts relating to several MSS. by good authors. Some of these are already in the press and almost ready for publication. Some of the MSS. are subject, on publication, to a royalty, others have been paid for in full. This is an admirable opportunity for a young firm who want to start with a good lot of publications without any loss of time. For parti- culars apply by letter to ... . Address and Inquiry Office, The Times Office, E.C." The above advertisement appeared in the Times of February 24th, 1892. We have always been of opinion that a contract by one author with one publisher, except in the case of sale, could not be passed on to another publisher without the author's consent. For instance, in a royalty agreement, it is with out; certain publisher that the author makes his contract, not -with all or any publishers, good or bad. This, however, is a question for lawyers, to whom we intend to submit the case. SWINDELLS v. MORGAN AND OTHERS. The Report of the Case. (Before Mr. Justice Grantham and a Common Jury.) fl^HIS action was brought under somewhat 1 peculiar circumstances. The plaintiff, James Swindells, sued William James Morgan, Joseph Sydney Tomkins, the City of London Publishing Company, and the Authors' Alliance (Limited) for the return of some literary MS., and also damages for their detention, fie further sought to recover £40, which he had paid on account of nn intended publication. The Authors' Alliance entered no appearance to the action, but certain pleas were raised by the other defendants. Mr. Bethune was for the plaintiff; the defen- dants did not appear personally, nor were they represented. In opening the case Mr. Bethune said the plaintiff claimed the return of the MS. of "Ballads and Poems," and a drama called "Charles I.," which he had delivered for publication. The  ## p. 302 (#706) ############################################ SQ2 THE AUTHOR. plaintiff was about fifty years of age, and he was employed at Manchester in the position of ware- houseman. Notwithstanding this, however, he succeeded in educating himself, and he had written various works which had appeared in Manchester local papers. In June 1885, he received a com- munication from Messrs. Morgan and Tomkins, which was headed "City of London Publishing Company, in succession to the Charing Cross Publishing Company." This document said that they would be glad to receive MS., and would offer special facilities for publication. The learned counsel said that Messrs. Morgan and Tomkins were two men who had for years been defrauding unhappy authors. Mr. Justice Grantham said that as the defendants did not appear, the matter need not be gone into at length. Mr. Bethune answered that he would not be long, but as the jury would have to assess damages, he should have to inform them of some of the circumstances. These men had from time to time registered limited companies for a short period, and one limited company was succeeded by another. In the meantime, they sent out circulars like the one in this case, and then, when they got MS. for publi- cation, they said that there was a favourable report from their reader, and they asked that money should be sent on account of publication. The money having been sent them, the poor author never heard any more of the matter. Such authors were generally poor, and, therefore, their case was a particularly cruel one. Having got Mr. Swindell's MS., they suggested that he should get his friends to subscribe for copies of his works, and he did in fact get from Lord Selborne, Lord Derby, and others very kind letters, which he, in his turn, sent to the defendants; and he also sent them £40, which he had received in subscriptions from his friends. Now he was in the unfortunate position that he could not produce his book, for he had not the MS. He could not return his friends their money, and, his name being Swindells, he had had a most uncomfortable of it, and he therefore came to the jury for redress. In 1884, Messrs. Morgan and Tomkins were in possession of premises in Friar Street. They traded under the name of a company, and they said that whatever they did was as servants of the City of London Publishing Company. He (Mr. Bethune), however, said that the company was Messrs. Morgan and Tomkins only, and he should ask for an order against them for the return of the MS. The learned counsel said that he would refer to some of the correspondence which had passed. Mr. Justice Grantham: There was no necessity for reading those letters to show that they were swindlers, for the nature of the claim had been shown, and the defendants did not appear. Mr. James Swindells, the plaintiff, was then called. He said that he was a warehousemen at Manchester, his wages were 24*. a week, and he had a wife and family. In June i885, he sent the MS. of " Ballads and Poems " and " Charles I." to the defendants. He did this because he had received a letter from them. He had not had that MS. back again. He collected money by sub- scriptions, as he was to find £40 on account of the risk of publication. He mooted the matter to his friends, and they liberally subscribed to the extent of £40. Lord Derby subscribed £5, and the late Mr. Peacocke, M.P. Mr. Justice Grantham: You need not tell us all that. Witness continued: He remitted £40 in various sums to the publishing company, and from that time to this he had not had his £40 nor his MS. back. He got receipts for all the money he sent, except for the amount of a postal order for 25$. sent in 1887. Mr. Justice Grantham said that the jury had heard the case. It certainly was a very bad one, and he had no doubt that it was not the first time that unfortunate authors had been robbed in this way, and particularly those who were poor. Of course, the plaintiff was entitled to have back his £40, and he would advise the jury to give him a considerable sum in addition. It was impossible to know the value of these MSS.; but the defendants were not here, and they would be justified in estimating them at the highest price possible, to mark their view of the conduct of the defendants in not giving them back. The jury at once gave a verdict for the plaintiff for £5oo. In reply to questions of the learned judge, the jury said they found that the plaintiff was entitled to the return of the £40, and that if the MSS. were returned, the defendants should pay £200 for the detention. If they were not returned, their verdict would be for £460, in addition to the £40. Judgment was entered accordingly. — Daily News. II. On the Case. The case Swindells v. Morgan and Tomkins, tried before Mr. Justice Grantham, on February 17th, 1892, has, one hopes, effectually disposed of these gentlemen. The case, which we have copied from the report in the Daily Telegraph of February 18th, is one the particulars of which had already been brought before the Society. It  ## p. 303 (#707) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. was the old, old story; money paid in advance for the production of a book; manuscript for- warded; the book not produced; the money kept; and the manuscript not returned. The verdict of the jury was simple, for the plain- tiff, with 40/. for retention of manuscript, and damages, 200/., with costs. One fears that the money will not be paid, but the defendants will be effectually blown upon. There was, in fact, no defence at all, and the parties did not appear in court. We have been for six years calling atten- tion to the bogus publishers, of whom the man Morgan was eminently a representative. The Charing Cross Publishing Company, the City of London Publishing Company, the Authors' Alli- ance, and the International Society of Literature, Science, and Art, were four of the attempts of Morgan to catch the inexperienced author. His method, however, was always the same. It has been exposed over and over again in the columns of Truth. Only a month ago, on January 3oth, the editor of Truth exposed his last attempt, the so-called " Society of Literature, Science, and Art." This, says Truth, is a " bogus learned society, the promoters of which obtain fees averaging from two to fifteen guineas, by offering people ' membership' and 'fellowship,' with privilege (!) of writing 'M.S.L.' or 'F.S.L.' after their names. These payments are obtained by the pretence that a 'Council' of the ' Society' has passed a resolution, pursuant to which the invitation is sent. . . . The promoter and moving spirit of the 'Inter- national Society of Literature, Science, and Art' is one W. J. Morgan, who has appointed himself 'Curator ' and a member of the Executive Council. . . . He now carries on business as a publisher under the name of James Longman & Co., in an office opening out of that of the 'International Society'." It is a constant subject of amazement to watch the ease with which the author is deluded. The silly sheep is a miracle of wisdom compared with him. A swindler advertises; the author jumps at the chance; he sends his manuscript; he sends his money; he asks nobody's opinion or advice; he believes implicity whatever is told him; he trusts his property to a perfect stranger in the blindest confidence. In no other business, in no other relations of life, would he be such a fool. Would he lend his gold watch to a stranger met in the crowd? Woidd he lend that stranger a ten pound note? It is exactly the same thing. The man Morgan is is only one of many. There was another man who stole manuscripts and money in exactly the same way; there was a man who pretended to belong to a very well-known London firm; he went off to America with waggon loads of manuscripts; there VOL. 11. are people who are advertising for manuscripts at this moment with the same intention. They will go on advertising and catching their victims. The would-be author's desire to see himself in print overrides everything; his reason; his prudence; even such exposures as those of Truth; even such revelations as those of this action in the High Court of Justice. Morgan will die a rich man; very likely a member of a west end club. THE OUTPUT-PAST AND PRESENT. BETWEEN the years 1700 and 1756 the pro- duction of books from the London Press, according to Charles Knight, amounted in all to 5,280 new works. That is to say, to an average of 94 books for every year. There were not wanting those who held up their hands in astonishment at this prodigious annual increase to literature. Now, in the first half of the eighteenth century, it is quite certain that none of the country gentry bought books, that in the country towns there were no bookshops, that the great mass of the country clergy were careless of new literature, and that the only place, outside London, where new books could be procured were the university and the cathedral towns. Johnson's father, we know, was a bookseller of Litchfield, a cathedral town, and he used to attend markets and fairs at country towns with a bookstall. Among other places, at Birmingham, already an important town. For how many readers were these ninety new books issued? The population of England and Wales was then about six millions. Deducting children, rustics, working men, and those who, like the country squire, confined their reading to books on farriery and the like, we shall certainly not be far wrong in estimating the number at half a million. Consequently there was, roughly, a new book for every 0,000 readers. This, however, does not mean 5,ooo readers for every new book. Between the years 1792 and 1802, there were issued 4,096 new works, or an average of 372 every year. The population of England and Wales was then ten millions, with a greatly in- creased proportion of readers, say two millions in all, so that we had then a new book every year for every 4,000 readers. Between 1802 and 1827, there was an average of 588 new books every year. The population at the latter date, without counting Ireland, was four- teen millions. Education was greatly extended, and, not including children, there were probably six million readers, or a new book to every 10,000 readers. But, among these so-called readers, there Z  ## p. 304 (#708) ############################################ 3°4 THE AUTHOR. were many who never read anything at all, except the newspapers. Perhaps, however, children ought not to be excluded, because the branch of children's books, which was only commenced towards Un- close of the last century, had already assumed considerable proportions. In the year i8gr, according to the Publishers' Circular, the number of books issued was 5,706. The population of the British Islands is now 08,000,000, of whom all, or nearly all, can read. That is to say, there is now issued, every year, one new book for every 6,000 readers. But of course we ought to deduct young children and all those rustics and poor people who never read a book at all. Let us deduct ten millions. There remain 28,000,000, and, according to the estimate, a new book is provided every year for every 5,ooo readers. Surely that does not represent any extra- ordinary eagerness for new literature. The modern 'output of books, which seems so enormous when it is written down in its thousands, comes, briefly, to this. From 1700 to 1756, there was every year one book for every 5,ooo readers; from 1792 to 1802, there was every year one book for every 4,000 readers; from 1802 to 1827, there was every year one book for every 10,000 readers; and there is now every year one book for every 5,ooo readers. So that, taking these islands alone, there is no greater literary activity in pro- portion, and, as shown by the production of literature, than there was nearly two hundred years ago. But there are other considerations which very greatly lessen the proportional output. Those who every year.deplore the enormous production of books take a narrow parochial view of English literature. They cannot get beyond Fleet Street, daily journal and weekly review land, club land. They can under- stand, perhaps, something of the vastness of London itself, but of the vastness of Lancashire, Yorkshire, Durham—the crowded north—they understand nothing. Nor do they gauge the demands of the millions who are now demanding books. And if they cannot take in the needs of their own country, how can they understand those of the Empire? Australia, New Zealand, India, Burmah, South Africa, Ceylon, the far East, the West Indian Islands—and where there is a great market for new books as well as old. Again, beyond the Atlantic, there are sixty millions who read our books as we read theirs. Shall we try to grasp these things? If we can succeed, only partly, to understand how great is the area covered by the English language, how enormous is the demand for books, how the area occupied by readers becomes every year greater, how thickly populated, better educated, so that the demand is increasing by leaps and bounds, and yearly more and more, we shall then begin to understand the influence, the power, the force, of that thrice fortunate man who succeeds in being listened to by the whole of the English speaking race at once. Other things, too, will become more plain to us, of which the first is the necessity of using every effort to make the calling of literature independent, and to maintain that independence. NOTES FROM PARIS. IN my last I recorded that the next meeting of the Societe des Gens de Lettres was to be held on the 3ist ultimo. So it had been arranged. But on the 3ist not sufficient men of letters put in an appearance at the Hotel Conti- nental to constitute a quorum, and the meeting had to be postponed. Emile Zola, the president, did not like this, and on returning home sat down and wrote personally to each one of the hundreds of members of the Society present in Paris, urging him to attend. The result was that the meeting which was held yesterday was very well attended indeed, and a quantity of business being got through before the men of letters se]>arated. Con- sidering the amount of writing Zola has to do, it was simply heroic of him to write all those letters, but Zola takes his presidency of the Society in earnest, and is thorough in this work as in all he undertakes. Maupassant's state continues as it was. This is bad, and, to a certain extent, justifies the evil rumours that are afloat. In mental maladies the stationary state is as bad as retrogression. I am afraid from what I have heard from the very best sources that, as a writer at least, we may speak of de Maupassant in the past. What a pity for literature! Some weeks ago I noticed in an American paper a foolish paragraph anent Jules Verne, in which" the writer professed to describe the life of this remarkable novelist. Amongst other things a description of Mr. Verne's cabinet de trarail was given which was as imaginative as all the rest. Verne was described as working surrounded by electrical instruments and other scientific para- phernalia. I have a particular joy in watching the canard's flight, and that particular canard winged its way across the columns of quite a number of papers. The last I saw of it was in the columns of the Sunday Sun. As a matter of fact,  ## p. 305 (#709) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. Jules Verne does all his writing in a small bedroom at the top of his house in Amiens. The room contains a lx'd, a table, and a chnir, and a couch, as bare as room well can be. Neatness is the characteristic. The paper on the table is methodi- cally arranged. There is no waste-paper basket. Verne writes very deliberately and rarely erases. When not at home he spends his time at the Literary and Scientific Institute of Amiens city, where he reads up the scientific facts that he requires for his stories. We read in the Author, month by month, a good deal about the sweating of authors by publishers. I suppose all of us have in our day been so ex- ploited. I can remember receiving from the proprietors of a well-established London magazine a cheque for one guinea for a story of seven thousand words, the said proprietors being rated very high amongst London publishers. But the sweating of authors by brother authors seems to me a very much worse affair, and I am cognizant of numerous cases of it. There is something particularly hor- rible about Ishmael turning on a brother Ishmael, but he does do it. Here in Paris there are many reputed authors who employ hacks to do their work for them. I know of a feuilleton that appeared not long ago in the Petit Journal, which was signed by one of the best names in the literary market. The presumed author received fifteen hundred pounds for this story. Every line of it, however, was written by an unfortunate youth, who was promised eighty pounds for his work. That was some time ago. Up to the present he has received in small sums about a third of what was promised him. Occasionally the reputed man of letters gives him a five-franc piece towards the balance. I know of many similar cases in England also. Madame Marinoni, the wife of Marinoni, the well-known inventor and director of the Petit Journal, reads all the manuscripts sent in for publication in feuilleton in the Petit Journal, and, what is more, enjoys doing it. It is she who selects the stories for that publication. They are the making of the paper. The Petit Journal publishes two concurrently, and there is no literary work better paid. A fairly well-known writer gets about lod. a line for a serial in this paper. It is to the interest taken in its fiction columns that the immense success of the paper is due. Renan's " Souvenirs" is the book of the month. Everybody is reading it. As a contribution to philosophy it is a decided failure, but the writing is beyond praise. The people, however, for whom Ecnan specially writes consider the philosophy very pretty indeed, and, accordingly, all are satisfied. Zola's " La Debacle" is appearing in feuilleton in the Vie Populaire, although the author has not finished more than two-thirds of the book. The reason of tliis is that serial rights in case of such an author are of considerable value. For the French publication, for instance, Zola gets a thou- sand pounds. Had he waited till April, when he expects to have finished the manuscript, before authorising the publication in serial form, the publication of the book in volume form would have had to be delayed until long after the Grand Prix. Now no book issued after the Grand Prix in Paris has anything like the sale that a book issued earlier in the season obtains. Zola is a good business man, and, though he spends money lavishly, has always about 15,ooo francs to his credit at Char- pentier's. Daudet, on the other hand, has always an account on the wrong side with the same publishers. Doctor Jacques Bertillon, the statistician, is bringing out a table of statistics, or rather a statis- tical map, to show what books are read and in what pro]x>rtions, at the Paris municipal free libraries. Books are lent out at these libraries or may be read in the libraries themselves. In one year the public of these libraries borrowed 1,115,800 books to read at home, and read 161,636 books in the library reading-rooms. More than half the books read were novels, Zola being most asked for, indeed there are always eight or nine people waiting for every volume by this author. Verne comes next. Sue and Dumas continue very popular. George Sand is little wanted, and Balzac, our master, the father of us all, is but rarely asked for. Poetry, and notably that of Victor Hugo, is a great deal read. Geographical works and travel come third in popular demand, and then science and the arts. Women, however, never ask for any books belonging to either category. Historical works come fifth, musical books sixth, and last of all books in and on foreign languages. The demand for the latter is very small indeed. Oscar Wilde has numerous friends in Paris, and the delight at the great success he has obtained with his new play at the St. James's is universal Z 2  ## p. 306 (#710) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. in Paris. His "Salome" promises to be equally successful, and a run is assured on the translation of the "Portrait of Dorian Gray," which is being undertaken by a leading man of letters of this city. Tons les succes, alors. Some years ago, a Mr. Jogand, writing as Leo Taxil, made himself vastly notorious as the author of a number of grossly blasphemous anti-clerical and irreligious works. The time came, however, when Mr. Jogand, otherwise Leo Taxil, recognised the error of his ways and became as fervent a son of the Holy Church as he had one time been a rebel against it. Rome opened her arms to the penitent sinner, and Leo Taxil, destroying all the anti-clerical and irreligious books he had written, put his really fluent pen at the service of the Church. His blasphemies and cure-baiting lite- rature had, however, an excellent market value, and in spite of the author's interdiction, a firm of publishers, Messrs. Letouzey and Ane, who had published for him while a heretic, considered it good business to go on issuing his books and brochures, interdiction or not . . . Leo Taxil sued them for the fraud, not for profit, but with a view to stopping them from publishing works which, by his later lights, he saw as unclean things ... A few days before the trial came on at the Ninth Chamber of Correctional Police, the publishers offered to "square" the matter with a sum of sixty thousand francs (£2,400), but this Leo Taxil refused, and ordered the prosecution to proceed. The verdict of the court was in the favour of the publishers, who have got off scot-free. This judgment has been condemned by every paper in Paris as a piece of sheer nonsense, and Leo Taxil has appealed, determined to carry his case before the jury of the Paris Assize Court. It is more than probable that the Assize jury will reverse the illogical judgment of the police court magis- trates. The hearing of the appeal is being anxiously looked for by all interested in letters in Paris. RoBEBT H. ShEBABD. Paris, February 23rd. The following is the brief report given in the Intransigeant:— Tribdnatjx. Auteurs et Editeurs. Le proces intente aux editeurs Letouzey et Ane par M. Jogand, l'auteur de divers ouvrages clericaux, s'est terinine bier par un jugement qui le deboute. L'auteur reprochait aux editeurs d'avoir, sans le prevenir, tire de ses livres plusieurs editions dont ils ne lui avaient pas tenu compte. Une enquete judiciaire et une expertise etablirent le bien-fonde de ses reclamations, et les editeurs qui, lors des premieres plaintes de l'ecrivain, lui cepondaieut qu'il etait leur debiteur d'une centaine de francs, lui offrirent, a, la veille de l'audienco 60,000 francs, pour se desister. Apres de longs debats, malgre les aveux et les offres des prevenus, la neuvieme chambre a declare qu'il n'y avait pas lieu d'accueillir la demande du plaignant, attendu que les mensonges, Paugmen- tation frauduleuse des benefices, la dissimulation des tirages ne constituent pas, de la part d'editeurs, le delit d'abus de confiance. Voila qui serait rassurant pour les hommes de lettres, si la cour confirmait cette jurisprudence absolument insensee.—Intransigeant. AN OLD PIEATE SONG. INHERE is a quaint legend of the Church of Saint Aleswill super mare—I do not swear to the name—that after it had utterly vanished from the face of the earth, an entei prising young rector restored it in all its entirety, whole- ness, plenitude, integrity, yea, and even in all its antiquity, out of the remnants of the "restoration" of three churches in the neighbourhood—on the principle by which ingenious men in America often construct a "bank note" out of three, leaving four—which process, as it paid largely at little risk, was before the modern era of entire greenbacks, a sure dependence for "a world of honest fellows who get their living by stealing and cheating." On the method employed by the young rector of Saint Aleswill and the American financiers referred to, I have put together the fragments of song gathered from three separate sources, making thereof a new one. But whether these fragments were originally portions of one and the same ballad, or whether the ballad in question is like some Chinese plays, or Spenser's "Faerie Queene," an endless series of parts, which like a polypus are continually dismembering and uniting, I cannot swear, aflirm, or declare. An American ex-sailor, who gave me a few of the verses, called it a mutineer's song, adding that if an officer should hear a man sing it, the vocalist would be sure of receiving 26 lashes with a rope's end, by way of reward. This was all long ago, when slavers, who were all pirates on occasion, swarmed in New York city, glorying in their  ## p. 307 (#711) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. calling, and no man made them afraid, and Senor Guare/. had his offices there for "the Guinea traffic" in bozalcs, or "sacks of charcoal," i.e., negroes; and the United States Marshal (whom I remember as one of the keenest and "spryest" little men whom I ever met), was wont to go on board the slavers, and accept their hospitality, and aid them to get away in safety, his sworn duty being to intercept them. Let it be remembered to the credit of Abraham Lincoln that his very first act on coming to power was to break up this infernal nest of Guarez & Co.; in fact, he hung one of the gang. In those days I knew many men who had been slavers, and they are not all dead as yet. There were, of course, among the English- speaking seamen who were in " the ebony trade," songs, some perhaps which had come down from the days of the Buccaneers, and I believe that some of the verses which I here give are of this antiquity. But to the lyric. The reader of Scott's " Pirate" will recognise the opening verse: Hold Itohin Rover Said to his crew, Up with the Mack flag, Ami down witli the blue. Up with the black boy All men to show: And over the water And off let us go! A man-of-war he hailed us "Come under my lee!" "See you damned," said the pirate, "For I'd rather sink at sea. In the blue water, Far out and free, Cruising down on the shore By the coast of Bar-ba-rce!" We met the Flyiug Dutchman, To windward he came. His hull was all of hell-fire, His sails were all of flame, Fire in the maintop, Fire on the bow. Fire on the gun-deck. Fire down below. Four and twenty dead men, Those were the crew, The devil in the bowsprit Fiddled as she flew. We gave her n gun shot Kight in the dip. Puff, like a candle, Out went the ship! We met a gallant vessel A sailing on the sea; For mercy, for mercy, For mercy she did plea, But the mercy we gave her We sank her in the sea; Cruising down on the shore By the coast of Barbarcc. Four and twenty Spaniards Mighty men of rank With their scfioras Had to walk the plank, Over the gunwale Into the sea; Cruising down on the shore By the coast of Burbaree. Oh, devil take the captain! And devil take the ship! And devil take the cargo! And devil take the trip! And devil take the first mate! And devil take the call! And devil take the doctor! And devil take 'cm all. Over the quarter. Over the rail, Into the water Dead as a nail, Flung like a biscuit Hot as a coal Where the sharks may take the body. And the devil take the soul! Truly not a song for the piano, or for young ladies; indeed, there are not many men who can understand the grim and terrible, yet intense relish with which these ditties of the devil were sung in the olden time. Yet there is a scent as of cold salt water in them—a rocking of the vessel in the waves in their metre, and a fierce ml gleam as of sunset lasting into the black night perceptible in the scenes which they recall. Should any of my renders be able to give any further information as to, or contribute additional verses to, or show what the ballads were from which these fragments came, I—and perhaps the. Editor as well—be very much obliged for the information supplied. Charles Godfrey Leland. Florence, February 5th, 1892. TITLES OF HONOUR. ISHOULD like to say very shortly why I agree with Mr. Lang rather than with Mr. Besant in the matter of conferring titles, orders, or other official State honours on the sole ground of literary or artistic merit. First, we have already the honorary degrees of our universities. Is it likely that any corresponding honours given by the State would l>e as highly esteemed, or more wisely conferred? Next, the proper object of official honour in this country, it seems to me, is official service, public service in the strict sense. Of the value of such services the State (that is, in the concrete, the head  ## p. 308 (#712) ############################################ 308 THE AUTHOR. of the department concerned) is or ought to be not only a competent, but the most competent judge. In so far as literary and artistic institutions are under State direction or control (as the National Gallery, the Theatre Francais) this principle applies to persons who serve the State as directors or officers of such institutions, but not farther or otherwise. General literary or artistic reputation, on the other hand, must depend in the long run on the general opinion of persons of knowledge and taste; an opinion which often is not settled for a genera- tion or more. I see no reason to think that an official judgment in these matters would l>e specially competent, or even free from danger of being incompetent. I am quite aware that the existing distribution of official honours could be reduced only with difficulty, if at all, to uniform principles, and that it does not invariably give satisfaction. This, I think, rather strengthens my argument. Also my purpose is to suggest what I believe to be the true general rule, not to deny that exception may fitly be made in singular cases. That of Lord Tennyson will occur to every reader. To discuss how far it is really exceptional would involve careful consideration of the relation of the peerage to other "titles of honour," and would exceed both the Author's space and my time. F. Foixock. My own case, as I endeavoured to set it forth, was, if I may state it once more, as follows :— 1. The service rendered to the State by the poet, the dramatist, the historian, the novelist, the essayist, is service as real and as impor- tant as the service of a great general, a statesman, or a great lawyer. 2. It is right and fitting that the State should recognize all kinds of State service with the same kind of distinction and honour. 3. The stock arguments against granting distinc- tions to art and letters—as, that distin- guished authors should be satisfied with the reward of their own success—apply equally against granting distinctions to any other profession. For instance, what could pos- sibly be a greater honour in itself than the winning of a great victory? Yet no one says that we should tell the successful general to be content with that honour. 4. The exclusion of any branch of the higher work of the world from national honour lowers that branch in the eyes of the general mass of the nation. The exclusion of literature tends to make literature in the eyes of the nation contemptible. To the official eye, everything that is excluded from national distinction is contemptible. As, for example, when five years ago, on the occasion of the greatest national function of the century, not a single man or woman of letters was invited to be present, as such. 5. The most formidable objection is that raised above by Sir Frederick Pollock, among others. It is the danger that the official judgment would prove, in art and letters especially, incompetent. Is it not incom- petent in other branches? But the in- competence of officials in the way of literary distinction would very soon be challenged and remedied, because the whole question of titles and their bestowal will be raised and discussed, as soon as the literary class becomes concerned with it. At present, nobody ever discusses the subject, and the most ridiculous persons receive the national distinctions without a protest. 6. In short, my case is that to exclude literature from the national distinctions means either that such distinctions are worthless, nnd not to be desired by any class; or that the production of worthy literature is not a special service to the State. W. B. BED CLOVER. Call me new born thy worshipper, sweet flower, Soft laughter of the meadows! I have seen Thy pink spheres shake away the dewy screen From night's caress to greet the dawn's glad hour. I feel the rich wTeight of thy blossoms cower When wild winds sweep across the wastes of green, Startling the bees, who, restful wings a-sheeu, Steal thy sweet riches for their queen's bright dower. Thou seem'st to all pure things allied, and so Thy blossoms touched no stranger when they lay So proudly 'neath that rose-tipped chin of hers. For she, though bred in cities, yet doth know The finer thoughts of nature. Her soul stirs To greet thee as thine own to greet the day. Habkiet Monroe.—New York Critic.  ## p. 309 (#713) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 3°9 A PINE PLAY. HAS a dramatist done his duty towards the public, when he tells a good story in such a way as to thoroughly interest and amuse his audience? Some persons think so, and as one of those who do, I venture to congratulate Mr. Oscar Wilde upon having done his duty, though so commonplace and middle-class a performance as duty-doing may appear to this brilliant and para- doxical author a poorish subject for congratulation. "Lady Windermere's Fan" is brilliantly and audaciously funny—upon that everybody seems agreed—but certain objections have been urged against the story :—that it is improbable, that it is old, that it is told the wrong way, and so on. Here is the story:—Lord Windermere in attempt- ing to help Mrs. Erlynne, his wife's dishonoured mother, back into good society, manages so indis- creetly that he is considered by society to be the lady's protector. The audience, like society, is kept in ignorance of this lady's relationship to Lady Windermere. Lady Windermere is told that her husband is devoted to an adventuress, and the husband, at the same moment, insists that the woman in question shall receive a card to his wife's ball. This she will not send. Her standard of morals is a very high one, and her ideal is the mother whom she believes to have l>een deail for twenty years. Lord Windermere sends the card himself, and his wife declares that when Mrs. Erlynne is announced, she will strike her across the face with her fan. And so the curtain comes down oti a capital first act. In the second act, Mrs. Erlynne appears at the ball, to the malicious astonishment of Lady Windermere's guests, all of whom believe that she is playing the part of the complacent wife, in spite of her claims to the before- mentioned high standard. The blow is not struck, for Lady Windermere's courage fails her. But enraged at the public insult which she con- ceives to have been put upon her, she flies, on impulse, from her home to a man, whose dishonourable proposals she had put aside a few minutes earlier. The curtain rises for the third time upon the two women in the rooms of the would-be seducer, for Mrs. Erlynne has followed her daughter with the intention of persuading her to return to Lord Windermere. Just as Mrs. Erlynne's appeals have their proper effect upon Lady Windermere's heart, steps are heard outside the chamber and a party of men enter, among whom is Lord Windermere. Mrs. Erlynne takes refuge in an inner room, and Lady Windermere hides in the window-alcove behind the curtains. But Lady Windermere leaves her fan on the sofa. It is found. Lord Winder- mere demands from his host an explanation, threatening to search the place if it is not a satisfactory one. Mrs. Erlynne appears from the bedroom and owns to having brought the fan by mistake, and while all the men are absorbed in Mrs. Erlynne's confession, Lady Windermere escapes from the room unnoticed. Her reputation is saved, and Mrs. Erlynne's chances of returning into society—so frail and so carefully built up—are disposed of at once. Curtain, upon a very strong situation. In the fourth act we have a sort of reverse of the opening position. Lady Winder- mere, who knows that Mrs. Erlynne's act has saved her reputation, wants to see her again in order to thank her, but cannot of course say why. Lord Windermere, who believes that Mrs. Erlynne is a disgraceful woman, will not hear of his wife seeing her, but also cannot explain why, or reconcile his refusal with his expressed wishes of the night before. Mrs. Erlynne gets them out of the dilemma. She comes to say that she is leaving England for ever. She does not reveal herself to her daughter, and exacts from Lord Windermere that he also will respect her secret. _ The last curtain falls on the announcement that she is going to marry an unintelligent and amiable nobleman, to whom she has " explained everything." Such is Mr. Oscar Wilde's story, and there is much in it which, thus baldly put, stamps it as rather improbable. Now it must be admitted that even in the play all the improbabilities do not dis- appear. Lady Windermere is willing to "exchange in a trice the lilies and languors" for "the roses and raptures," but the reasons for her conversion —impulse and pique—are not quite convincing. The fact that the villain was inefficient, and thus rendered particularly unpersuasive, must not, how- ever, be counted as a fault to the story. Again, society's ignorance of Mrs. Erlynne's real identity, and Lady Windermere's ignorance of her mother's existence, are both a little difficult to believe in. Still the story is not wholly improbable; it only has that amount of improbability which stage representation has made a necessary factor in story-telling for dra- matic purposes. All plays that are truly interesting have a more or less improbable story, or have a story in which more or less improbable incidents occur. The skill of the dramatist is shown in making these improbabilities of no particular account in his story, or in hiding them behind the strong interest which he creates in his characters. In reality probability has as little to do with making a play good as has morality. An immoral play can never be a good play, because it can never give general pleasure. It is outside the limitations which the necessity of giving general pleasure imposes. The very skilful man can say more than the clumsy man, but each  ## p. 310 (#714) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. alike is bounded by respect for his audience's self- respect. It is the same with probability. A splendid story-teller can bo improbable, because the last thing that the fascinated recipient cares about, when listening to what his author has to say, is how far the incidents could really have happened. He believes in the impossible, because it is pre- sented to him as the inevitable, and all he wants to know is—what is going to happen next. If he finds that he is pulled up in his stride to consider the probability of the story, he is irritated with the author, and he is right to be so. It means that the story has been too big for the author, who has been unable to create illusion. There is no difficulty of this sort in Mr. "Wilde's case, and thus probability does not matter at all. Many people have said that it is an old story, and it seems to have suggested several French origins to several critics. But in almost every case the novel or play suggested was a different one, so that the story may be said to be one whose central idea has always been floating about among the dra- matically-minded. Mr. Oscar Wilde, to his im- mense credit, appears to have used a complication which previously had struck Messrs. Balzac, Dumas, Augier, and Sardou (among others) as good. It is to his credit, because the new treatment is dis- tinguished, adequate, and personal. He treats the theme of the erring mother and innocent daughter most delicately and reasonably. Although the characters are so superior to sentiment, and although Mr. Wilde has devised so happily cynical an end to the story, cynicism never forces mother and daughter into any position where the daughter is forced to act towards her unknown mother in a way that the audience might find horrible. The author would be the first person, we are sure, to admit that he has not made the theme his own because he has treated it from one point of view. He has only added one to the difficulties of the next dramatist who attempts to treat of the subject, by subjecting all successors to a comparison with another brilliant treatment. It would be as reason- able to say that Mr. Hardy might write no more strong bucolic stories, because of the wide circula- tion of " Ruth," as to try to prevent dramatists from treating of unrevealed mothers because " Odette" was a popular play. With regard to the way the story is told, Mr. Wilde originally decided that he would not reveal the identity of Mrs. Erlynne until the last act, and at its brilliant reception on the first night the story was played in that way and seemed to us quite intelligible. Neither Lord Windermere or Mrs. Erlynne would have acted exactly as they did, had not the connexion between them been what it was. "If I am a good story-teller," said the author, "deduce from the behaviour of my characters what relations they must bear to each other." This, however, though a sensible attitude, is against the critical canons, which demand that the audience should not be asked to reason. Your audience, says the unwritten law, must know what the motives of action are, so that they may judge of the way in which the resulting actions are rendered. To me it seems that cither method is quite capable of being the right method, and that, as in the amount of improbability that can be made to look probable, the personality of the author decides the question. If early in his story the author can show such good sense and reasoning power, that his listeners can trust him not to be making his characters say and do things without a reason, then he is right to keep the secret back, and the pleasure of gradually guessing the motive will be added to the pleasure of hearing the story. If, on the other hand, the author excels more in showing how a thing is done than why it is done, he must not leave his public in doubt about anything. Mr. Wilde now takes the audience into his entire confidence in the first act, which seems to me to be a concession to the sluggish, although it is in accord with generally expressed opinion. Having settled to one's own satisfaction that the story is probable enough and new enough, because the author's skill and individuality of treatment have made it both, it remains only to add that the dialogue must have been a revelation to most present—to all, in fact, who had not read "The Decay of Lying." No such witty dialogue has been heard on our stage for many a long year. Paradox and epigram followed each other thick and fast. Too thick and too fast; but what a pardonable mistake! In "Lady Windermere's Fan," Mr. Oscar Wilde has given us a strong and dramatic story, and has set it in brilliantly witty words. I hope—and believe—that his play will meet with its deserts. O. J. —■ NOTES AND NEWS. IHAVE religiously published a mass of corre- spondence on the treatment of contributors by editors. At the same time, I think that many of the complaints against editors are ground- less. It is a great pity that, when contributions arc invited, editors should not show every conside- ration to those who respond. In the high class magazines and papers, I am sure that they do. In my own case I have frequently, in old times, received my papers back, but never without courtesy. Further, I am bound to say, that when time had passed and I could read the MS. in cold blood, I always approved of the decision of the  ## p. 311 (#715) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. editor. Next, one must consider the frightful mass of ImuI work that is every day submitted to an editor. I do not think it is possible for any editor to read all that is sent him. The most he can do is to select, according to subject, and after reading the first page or two, a few for more careful consider- ation. I was once shown a pile of MSS. covering half the wall of a room. "Have you," I asked the editor, " read all these things?" He sighed wearily—"But," I urged, "there must be some beautiful work in this heap." "There may be," he replied, with another weary, weary sigh," " Would you like to sit down and pick out the beautiful work?" In fact, every magazine ought to have a large staff of readers—some of the great American magazines have. It is the only way to insure the reading of MSS. If every magazine cannot afford it, then, as Mr. Justice Stareleigh observed, every magazine ought to be able to afford it. The over- worked editor, with the best goodwill in the world, cannot possibly without assistance read all that is heaped upon his table. I have often wondered what has become of that mass of MSS. which I saw on the occasion referred to. The journal is now extinct, and the MSS.—where are they? Where are they? What becomes of the immense piles of MSS. which are refused and not sent back? It is sad to think of these brilliant works of genius going back to the paper mills. -**— - In another part of the paper will be found a passage, quoted from the Pall Mull Gazette, on the reading of MSS. by publishers. The story told is not pleasant reading, especially to myself, localise I am one of those who have always main- tained that publishers do read MSS. I do so, first, arguing from the fitness of things, because it is their interest to read everything .submitted; second, because with all the publishers—not a few —who have talked to me about the conduct of their business, I have found them anxious not to let a good chance slip out of their hands; thirdly, l>ecause I have known men who read and advise for publishers, and I have known them to be men of honour, who would not take pay for work scamped; and, lastly, because; I have myself read MSS. and advised, and I declare honestly that I always did read them and gave the best advice in my power. Of course I do not speak of so-called publishers who, whenever a MS. is sent in, write back to say, in stereotyped terms, that" their reader has reported so favourably of the work that they are prepared to offer the following favourable terms, viz., the author to pay half the cost of production" —naming rather more than the whole cost—and so on—and so on. The last passage in the extract that we print (see page 33o) furnishes VOL. II. another illustration of my reiterated assertion that publishers very seldom incur any risk at all. Hence it is becoming increasingly difficult for a new writer to make a beginning. Of course there are masses of MSS. which can be dismissed by the most conscientious reader at once, after reading the first ten pages, and without the least hesitation. On page 3o6 there will be found a very astonish- ing case. A firm of Parisian publishers named Letouzey and Ane, deliberately falsified their figures to prevent paying royalties. When proceedings were commenced they offered to pay 2,400/. down, if the complaint would be withdrawn. The police court ruled that though the publishers had robbed the author in this wholesale way, their acts do not legally constitute the crime of "abuse of confidence." What a very remarkable law must be that which obtains in France! And what a very remarkable confirmation of the justice of our claim that authors have a full right to have accounts audited! How does a book get read? The question is asked in the February Author (p. 282). The correspondent explains that he wants to know in what way the general public, living all over the world, gets to hear of a book, and is stimulated to read it. Formerly, he says, there were the book- sellers' shops, but these have certainly not increased in proportion to the vast increase of the book trade. That is very true: booksellers have gone down instead of up. In the old days the country book- seller had all the new books on his counter; he was often a person held in great esteem for his reading anil his knowledge, especially in Cathedral towns. But there is now one shop which has in- creased and multiplied, and spread itself until it has well nigh swallowed up all the rest. This is the rail- way bookstall. Look at the great Iwokstall at the Great Western, for instance; or at any important station on that line, Swindon, Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth. All day long the buying goes on; before every train goes out; from morning until evening. And this at all the stations over the whole country. That is the principal way in which books are sold in the country. Who tells the people what to buy? Partly, the Sidesman; partly, the name of the author; partly, the advertisements; partly, the reviews; partly, the title of the book; partly, the subjects. The great mass of readers do not read reviews, they are moved by some of the other considerations referred to above. And, perhaps, more than all, by that whisper, which, directly a book attracts attention, runs like light- ning over the whole country. In the train, in the A a  ## p. 312 (#716) ############################################ 312 THE AUTHOR. omnibus, at dinner, wherever people meet and talk, a book is recommended and at onee ordered, if only of the library. How to attract that attention? Well, the only known way—the only way yet discovered—is to present attractive work. The questioner goes on to ask how the publisher sells his books? Some do not. There is the greatest possible difference between publishers in this respect. Some seem not to know how to sell books at all. Some sell their books rapidly and easily. The difference is so great, that in some cases we have deliberately sent authors to publishers whose agreements we know to be unfair and one- sided, because, in spite of this fact, the author will do better with them than with other houses where they will give him a better agreement. As to the methods of sale, they have travellers for town and country; they get their books subscribed at Smith's and Mudie's; they get them taken for the .stalls; they have them sent to India and the colonies; they advertise them; they send out copies to the press; they print their, titles in their lists and circulars; they watch the press notices. Some publishers are also very elastic in their prices, and, to make a deal, will often lower the price very materially. This fact must be borne in mind when the question of equitable royalties is considered. And it must be remembered that while a careless publisher or an incompetent publisher may grievously damage a book, not the most zealous publisher in the world can make the world buy what. the Avorld does not want. We were talking of literary collections. We discussed the hunter after first editions, the collector of rare books because they are rare, the haunter of book auctions, the man who eagerly turns over "all this lot at fourpence," the man who has stories of how he picked up a rare bargain, and the man who buys and keeps books which he thinks will become valuable. Thus, "Payne's translation of Villon," and Burton's " Arabian Nights," have been bought and kept on the chance of the price going up. Again, as any second-hand catalogue shows, there are the first editions of Louis Stevenson and Andrew Lang, at the present moment first favourites with the collectors of new first editions. Then there are the collectors of books about places and people. I could name one man who has all the Wordsworth editions; another a nearly exhaustive collection of books on Coleridge. I have myself a goodly lot of books on London; another man has n great collection of books connected with the navy. All these belong to the serious—the literary —collections. There are again the autograph collectors, whose name is legion, and whose im- pudence is colossal. Then there are the lighter and more frivolous collections. Of these then- are endless varieties. Ami here the other man came out strong. One man, he said, lias col- lected election squibs for the last three or four general elections. Another collects penny song- sters; another, halfpenny ballads; another, shilling shockers; another, chap books; another—'who must have a library as big as a barn—dramatic- posters. "But the cream of the fancy collections," he concluded, " is the most curious and the most valuable, to wit. a collection of those editions of contemporary plays, so familiar to the dramatic world, which are ' printed as manuscript, not pub- lished.'" They invariably differ from the copy deposited with the Lord Chamberlain (or with whomsoever they be deposited now), for that copy represents the play as about to be performed, these its shape after it lias gone through the fire of the "first night," and has been invariably modified somewhat by experience, or in conformance with public taste. The copies, printed to save the labour of type-writing " parts " and copies for prompters, are distributed only among performers and persons closely connected with the theatre, and not only are they not to be bought, but the authors guard them very jealously. A man who could collect them would have collected about as uncollectable a species of literature as exists. And he must make haste. If the copyright laws once make the printing and publishing of plays safe—these un- published "printed as manuscript " curiosities will disappear. Here is a bibliographical description of the edition of the popular farcical comedy "Jane " :— Jane: a farce in three acts. By Harry Nichols and W. Lestocq. First played at. the Comedy Theatre, London, 18th December l8qo. David Allen and Son, Belfast. [No date," 16" [?].] Printed as manuscript. Not published, and not for sale. The book is printed on one side of the paper only, recto. Title page, characters, and a diagram of scenery form three separate leaves inserted before sig. A. Only there is no sig. A, the first sheet being without signature. Then follows sigs. B, C, D, in 16" of, I think double-post; but the book has been ait. After sigs. D, one leaf is inserted without signature. Our correspondent, C. S. Oakley, shows how a book mav, by taking a vast deal of trouble, be introduced to the public without a publisher at all. It is true that it would be at a disad vantage to begin with, but it is possible that, in the case of a fairly successful book, the author might really do better for himself by dispensing  ## p. 313 (#717) ############################################ THE A UTHOR. with an agent, Ruskin tried it, with the result that he has created a publisher. A lady in Cali- fornia, however, well known as an effective story- teller, has started a venture of her own. She brings out a monthly magazine containing one story of her own, and nothing else, every month. The enterprise has begun with what promises to be an action at law. A paper in one of the Eastern States has deliberately stolen the work of her first number. Meantime, the experiment seems to be attracting a good deal of attention in literary America. The lady's name is Flora Haines Longhead; her stories are called the Gold Dust Series. I was asked last December by Mr. Archibald Grove to give hiin a paper for the Neio Review on literary collaboration. I took as my text an essay written by Mr. Brander Matthews, introductory to his new collection of collaborated stories. In another part of this journal will be found the conclusion of my little paper. But I very particularly invite all who contemplate col- laboration to read that essay by Mr. Matthews, and, in order to do so, to get his book. Mean- time, it is right to own that the experience of some men makes rather against than for collaboration. I have myself been exceptionally and greatly for- tunate in my own ventures into the field of collabo- ration. But all are not so fortunate?. I have known examples where the work has been simply ruined through the partners being either unsuited to each other or ignorant of the proper methods of colla- boration. In any case let the partnership be tentative at first, and, if successful, let it be carried on from book to book. But the best collaboration, as I have endeavoured to point out, is that gained by talking a thing over. If I were younger I would make a most valuable little library by cutting out all the really good articles from the magazines and all the really good short stories. There is, on an average, one article in every month's pile which one woidd like to keep, and one or two stories every month which one would like to cut out of the magazines and the collections. For instance, I should cut out, for this month, Dr. Benjamin Ward Richardson's paper in Longman's on the "Mastery of Pain," as an article whose subject goes straight to every- one's heart, while the story which it tells is of extraordinary interest. Then there is Frederick Anstey's little story in his new book of collected tales, called "Shut Out," which I recommend to those youthful critics who arc always informing the world that we cannot write short stories. And there is, perhaps—I am not sure whether it would last—Andrew Lang's nightmare in the same number of Longman's. The author of an excellent little story called the "History of a Failure," which appeared in the pages of Longman's—say, rather shone in the pages of Longman's—last October, is going to be repro- duced in volume form by the same publisher. The book will be entitled "The History of a Failure and other stories, by E. Chilton." I have not the honour of E. Chilton's acquaintance, but if the other stories are on the same level with the first, the book ought to receive the warmest of welcomes. Walter Besant. ♦■»■♦ MEN AND WOMEN OF THE TIME-1788. IT is called a catalogue of "Celebrated authors now living." There are 472 of them—actually 472, in the deadest period of English letters! The catalogue contains a complete list of their publications with "occasional strictures." Such a catalogue in these days enumerates the works with- out the strictures, and, indeed, presents features of suspected autobiography. It is in these occasional remarks that the interest of the volume chiefly consists, though it is also interesting to note how long the memory of many indifferent writers may survive, and how generous are the bounds of limited immortality. The animus of some of the remarks upon, and the space assigned to, certain persons, now utterly forgotten, shows that there were then, as there are now, some who made as much noise as they possibly could, hoping that people would mistake noise for prophecy. For instance, who now remembers Stephen Addington, D.I).? He lived, however, and he talked; and he must have been greatly pleased to find himself described in the following remarkable terms: "With specious abili- ties, he is reported to have carefully modelled those abilities to the meridian of a coterie of canting old women, and has published several pious pamphlets full of grace and edification. He is also concerned in a presbyterian hotbed for the instruction of grown gentlemen in all sciences in the course of a twelve month." Again, John Andrews, LL.D., is said to be an author of moderate abilities, who appears to have taken some pains for the improve- ment of mankind. Again, one Miles Andrews is A a 2  ## p. 314 (#718) ############################################ 3'4 THE AUTHOR. said to have produced plays, " each of which has taken its station in the region of mediocrity." Charles Anstcy's "New Bath Guide" is spoken of as "that exquisite poem "—but. t hen the use or custom of adjectives varies. Of Samuel Ayscough, assis- tant librarian to the British Museum, who made catalogues and indexes, it is cruelly written : " Per- formances of this sort have their use, though they should happen, as in the present instance, to be extremely incorrect." Mrs. Brooke is "a female writer of very distinguished merit." Up to that year in her distinguished career she had published a tragedy, three novels, and a farce,besides translat ions. Now, unless Mrs. Brooke was a personal friend of the compiler of this catalogue, the praise l)cstowcd upon her shows that she was a woman with a following of disciples. Is there any single person now living who has read a work by Mrs. Brooke? One name, which we omit, because it would be cruel to quote it, is given in connexion with a "tragedy never performed." Heavens! If "Men of the Time" of 1892 were to include authors of plays never performed, novels never published, poems declined with thanks, how rich and splendid would be the literary army of the day! Of "Geoffrey Gambado" we have all heard, but who knows its author's "most admired drawing," called Lord's Day Evening Amusements? It is, however, pleasing to learn that his wife "is much admired for her personal charms and mental accomplishments." In the career of General Buvgoyne, again, we all remember a most unfor- tunate day at Saratoga, but do we remember that this gallantly incapable officer was also incapable in other directions, especially in playwriting? Of Frances Burney it is sadly stated that since her appointment as keeper of the robes, "the hours of this celebrated genius have been chiefly occupied in the folding of muslins." Here is a somewhat cold reception to the first of (then) living poets. "Burns, Robert, a ploughman in the, county of Ayr, in the kingdom of Scotland. His poems were published in the year 1787." George Canning "is a young gentleman of the kingdom of Ireland, late of Eton College. He was the most approved writer in a periodical called the Microcosm." Of Clarkson, we learn that his efforts against slavery dated from a prize essay gained at Cambridge in the year 1780. William Cooke is the "author of the 'Life of Doctor .Johnson,' which appeared about three days after his death, and has very worthily been bound up with a jest book." William Cowper "has taken a turn to Methodism, is of a serious and melancholy humour, and spends his whole time in rural retirement. His works are poetical . . . they are greatly deformed and obscured by the total neglect of method. He is best known by a kind of rhyming romance, entitled John Gilpin's Journey to Edmon- ton, which is the most indifferent of all his per- formances." Lady Craven is a person of extreme grace and vivacity in private life, who has successfully transferred these qualities to paper. Among her productions is one which ought not 1o be forgotten, if only on account of its title, "The History of the Baron Kinkvervankotsdarspruken- gotchderns." Thomas Day is the author of a work of "more reputation than merit," called "Sandford and Merton." Of Catherine Macaulav, the historian, we are told that her style is "loose, incoherent, and ungrammatical," and that "her present husband is said to entertain such a fondness for money as to oblige her to live without a servant, and to officiate himself in the character of cook and chambermaid." Of Samuel Horsley, D.D., Bishop of St. David's, "Dr. Horsley married his maid- servant, and is editor of the 'Principia of Sir Isaac Newton,' "—the two events being considered equally remarkable. Of Hannah More, we learn, after the examination of her works, that she has lately been celebrated for her animated patronage, and still more animated quarrel, with Mrs. Anne Yearsley, the "poetical milkwoman." What were the circumstances of this historic quarrel? Anne Newry, whom we seem to have forgotten, is harshly called "one of the mob of writers who have lately undertaken to produce books for the instruction of children." Of John Nichols, whose "Collection of Poems" is now rather rare, it is said that his characteristic qualities are "industry without taste, and the faculty of col- lecting a vast quantity of materials without discrimination." Here is a sad episode in the life of a man of genius. It occurred to O'Keefe, actor, dramatist, and poet. He had to leave the Dublin stage and his native country owing to "the accident of having demolished his wife's nose in a fit of jealousy." Was there ever a more untoward event in the history of a poet? Mrs. Thrale is treated kindly. She "had long borne with the moroseness and petulance of Johnson for the sake of his great respectable qualities, but her second marriage occasioned an open and violent rupture between them, and produced several angry and ill-bred letters from her former preceptor." John Potter—a clergyman—wrote "luscious" novels—he is now rightly punished for his lusciousncss by oblivion. Pratt—without a Christian name—a bookseller of Bath, who called himself Courtney Mchnoth, Esquire— that a bookseller should dare to call himself Esquire!—wrote a quantity of books, and, says the catalogue sarcastically, "there are people now living who believe that they possess a degree of , merit "! Of one Stockdale, who wrote sermons and poems, it is said that "lie is  ## p. 315 (#719) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 3lS paradoxical without being ingenious, even without the faculty of invention; and lie possesses the true poetic melancholy without one of poetic imagination." Of another clergyman we are told that he wrote a tragedy which he could not get acted; he therefore engaged a company of actors himself and produced it. The work " is reported to have produced all the effects of a genuine comedy." And of yet another clergyman it is said that " his writings are not good prose, because they are tagged witli rhymes; and they are not good poetry, because they are cold, insipid, pleonastic, and prosaical." Mrs. Trimmer—our own, our pro- verbially admired Trimmer!—is said to be "a devout lady who dedicates her slender talents "— slender !—" to the instructing from the press of the rising generation. Her works are a Sacred History, in four volumes, 121110, and a spelling book, price sixpence." She was fated to do even greater things. One Waldron published an edition of Hen Jon- son's " Sad Shepherd." He "appears by no means deficient in that sort of industry which leads a man to peruse all such writers a3 were never read." Poor Ben Jonson! Of Horace Walpole, that great authority on manners, it is actually said that "an acute and refined sensibility is not the strong side of Mr. Walpole's character." It will be seen that even so far back as the year 1788, authors had acquired the elements of the art of saying extremely disagreeable things about each other, in fact, those very things which were well understood to be the most disagreeable. It must also bo acknowledged that the "occasional strictures " of this critic are for the most part well deserved. It is difficult to ascer- tain what amount of vogue had been obtained by the writers whom he ridicules or censures, but in every age there are reputations undeserved and popularities ephemeral. And it must also be acknowledged that this list, which does not contain half-a-dozen names worth preserving, does yet contain a great number—a surprisingly great number—of mediocre writers whose names, and even their works, have somehow survived to the present day. ♦■»■» — THE DANCE OP DEATH! Shrouded in white, ami with dishevelled hair A strange wild dance the awesome woman flung Atween the ebon coffins lying there, While a weird ditty to herself she sung:— "' The Dance of Death t' 'Twas thus she said, That's the Donee for me! Flouting round the coffined dead Softly, silently." A tiny silver lamp, a niche within, Upon the Dancer threw a sickly gleam, Showing the features of this child of sin; And still she chanted ou as in a dream :— "The Dance of Death amid the dead! That's the Dance for me! Gliding round the coffin head, Softly, silently." 3. From out the depths of night her spectral bird, The ghostly owl did send its chilling cry; No other sound in that dim vault was heard, Save the poor maniac's ghastly monody :— "The Dance of Death amid the dead! That's the Dance for me 1 Floating round the coffin head, Softly, silently." F. B. Doveton. — - WITHOUT A PUBLISHER? MANY years ago Mr. Herbert Spencer pointed out "that in the present state of the evolu- tion of society it would be perfectly possible, if people would only help themselves and look at things as they are, for an author to do without a publisher. But if we try to examine the manner in which publishers probably arose, we may take for granted, I think, that originally the author did so, and that the gradual differentiation of the publisher was simply a natural working of the law of distribution of labour. When a man had written a book he set about to get it printed, and the man who printed it also had a shop where it was sold. And since he made terms with the writers who came to him he gradually became a publisher; and the publisher, as publisher, became differentiated from the bookseller and the printer by the growth of trade. But in those days (and in the next two sentences I go back to the substance of what Mr. Spencer has said) travelling was difficult, and advertisement was difficult, and distribution was dillieult, and without the occult machinery of the middleman it was impossible for the writer to obtain a market. Railways, newspapers, the penny post and the telegraph have created n different order of things, but the writing man has been the last person to perceive it practically. He still insists on employing a very expensive middleman to do things which, in very many instances, he would be perfectly capable of doing himself. First of all, let us take the case of a perfectly unknown author, and let us suppose him to liavs written a political or social pamphlet, such as would naturally be sold in paper covers at a shilling. He  ## p. 316 (#720) ############################################ 316 THE A UTHOR. may have a well-founded belief in the usefulness of his ideas. If he takes this pamphlet to a dozen publishers in succession, he will meet with the reply that it is not in their line, and that nothing but a notorious name on the cover could make any- body ask for it. He may send it to reviews, but, unless it is trimmed to catch more than one breeze it will come back to him.* Again, supposing a publisher to take it on commission ; he may furnish (as a sine qua non) an estimate which more than covers the actual expense, and may insist on 750 copies being printed, though having a shrewd suspicion that not more than 5o will ever be wanted, and most of these for presentation. Furthermore, he may just conceivably fail in interest in the matter after the cheque has been paid. But if the aspiring writer went to a printer and asked for the price of so much printed matter in paper covers, and at the outside of 5o copies, and paid his bill, which would be but a trifling sum, he could then insert in two newspapers the announcement that such and such a pamphlet coidd be obtained at such and such a private house on payment of one shilling by the passer by, or of one shilling and twopence to include postage paid. Not much response would come to this, but what came would be all profit to the writer. Meanwhile, he would simply go and ask at certain journals' offices that the thing be noticed; asking no unworthy favour, be it remarked, but making an honest request, as an honest traveller might leave samples of his goods with a country firm. If there were anything in the book some favourable notice would very likely come, and all the money returns would be profit. With the profit the wise author would slightly increase his machinery, as by leaving it with certain booksellers on commission, or nego- tiating directly with W. H. Smith & Co. to place it on every bookstall. He would have parted with no right, and profit would probably come to any man who was originally justified in his under- taking. Next, let us take the case of an established and successful author. He, of course, can do as he likes; he is really entirely independent of his publisher. The immense occult machinery of the publisher, of course, offers him great advantages; but are they not too dearly bought? No one really knows this in its entirety but the publishers themselves. What may be called shrewd sus- picions point to the conclusion that they are. The successful author would, of course, have to appoint an agent, and the being such an agent would grow- up into a trade, but employing one man who was his servant and private secretary, and making * I make this statement on the supposition that the name nf the author is not eminent. always his bargain with his printer, there is little, doubt he could make immense savings on the pub- lishing system. I admit that what I say operates less in favour of well-got-up pretty-looking books, especially those in which illustration plays a part, and more in favour of books in which the subject- matter is all in all. But this again is a con- summation devoutly to be wished, and the market is at the moment perhaps over-flooded with publi- cations in which secondary accessories really determine the sale. However, the case of the unknown author is really the more important of the two; and the matter to be insisted on in his case is, the advantage of beginning with nothing more than that which vou actually want. If you are forced to commence by paving for 750 copies, there is a strong proba- bility that you will be asked to take back about 707 copies as waste paper at the end of 18 months, and an incidental advantage to the publisher of the insistence on at least this number, has been that the general estimate can be made more impenetrable. But if a man goes himself to the printer and asks the price of 5o copies, and sells them himself, he has no unnecessary expenses for a problematical result. In this way he makes the thing pay itself. The next time he goes to his printer he can almost pay him out of results. And then pure profit (or almost pure) begins to set in. An analogy may be suggested in the case of a private tutor, who is asked to pay t,ooo/. for a connexion, but who has a belief in himself and declines. What does he do? He sits down in a single room next door to the man who wishes to be bought out; he knows that one or two privately know his worth, that pupil will bring pupil, and that the small actual profit will pay for gradual increase of accommodation. This illustrates that side of the difficulty which touches on expense. The question of distribution is illustrated by what often happens in the case of ladies who live in the country and want to sell flowers. They advertise that by sending a shilling or two shillings to a certain address, the sender will receive in return small boxes of early flowers. The senders of money finding that the flowers honourably arrive tell their friends, and profit ensues. Meanwhile experience grows to tin1 flower- producer; and the mingled experience and profit then justify a small shop at the west end. Courage and limitation of actual expenses come to repay themselves. All this is thrown out for the benefit of any untried author who believes in himself; and it is thought that such people exist. But there is a way in which all this affects the Authors' Society. The Authors' Society has an office, it has a few clerks, and most of all it employs its readers men very competent to give opinions as to what has merit in it among manuscripts  ## p. 317 (#721) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 3*7 submitted. Merit in itself I mean, apart from commercial value from the publisher's view of the probable existing demand. The Society may feel called upon to recommend the authors of such manuscripts to publish at their own expense, ami may even suggest their having the courage, to be their own distributors. But these authors may lack the means for the initial expenses, and they may on o'her grounds be unwilling. There is no reason why the Authors' Society should not say to these men, "We recommend you to be your own pub- lishers, and you should see your own printers immediately; but you may refer the public to this tifjiec by your advertisements. We will undertake the storage and the details of distribution, and our charges will be only sufficient to recoup expenses of distribution and management. It is obvious that this privilege will only be given to the deserving; that is, to those only of whose manuscripts the Society's readers shall have so reported as to cause the Society to say that they are people entitled on public grounds to a fair hearing. The Society therefore says to them that if they should be refused by publishers, or if they prefer to brave the market in their own way, they do so with the great advantage of bearing to this extent the imprimatur of the Society, and the growing know- ledge on the part of the public that this imprimatur will be extended only to those whose manuscripts seem in their several ways excellent, independently of any existing demand in particular directions to the exclusion of other directions equally good in themselves, will cause probably a larger number of manuscripts to be submitted to them. Now, as the charge for reading will be given partly to the reader and partly to the Society, the Society will itself profit by its public-spirited effort. But the subject does not stop here. The moment the Society has assumed this position, another aspect of the matter shows itself, and this is the most important aspect perhaps of all. There are certain matters of intellectual development in which it is good for competent people to create an artificial market. At least Chantrcy thought so in matters of pictorial or sculptured art, for he left a sum out of what he had gained by his genius to enable his successors to buy what they felt to be good, and felt that it was unlikely that the public would buy. He wished that a painter who paints his best, independently of the market, should feel that he had the chance of one purchaser, namely, a body which contained the best opinion on art obtainable, and that this body, by purchasing his work for the nation, should give him a position he could not otherwise obtain. In literature, of course, there could be no question of purchasing for the nation. Nevertheless it might be good not so much to create an artificial market, because in literature only the public can ultimately decide that, as to give those a chance of a hearing to whom the chances of the market would probably deny it, therefore the Authors' Society should at once be taking steps towards setting aside a sinking fund, which should become the nucleus of a capital destined to act the part of the Chantrey Bequest. This could be done in various ways:—(1.) To begin with, authors who hud in this way been helped to publish might be compelled to make it part of the bargain that they should set aside a per-centage out of the first year's or two years' profits of their aided work towards such a fund, or that they should contribute their three guineas or so, directly the aided work hail yielded them more than a certain sum of profit. So a schoolmaster who has obtained a place through an agent is compelled to pay commission on the first year's salary. (2.) Members of the Authors' Society who are well off, or those generally interested in literature, should be asked to contri- bute a guinea a year to the fund. (3.) Men who have really made money by literature, or who love literature on inde|>endeut grounds and have wealth, should be invited to larger subscriptions, or to leave sums in their will to such a fund. (4..) This matter is more important to literature than an Authors' Club, because all authors who have vitality will feel that to mix with the general world is more important to them than to mix with authors. Walter Scott in an authors' club would have only partially enjoyed himself. But the Authors' Club will have many advantages in giving solidarity to those who use the pen, and it can be made to sub- serve this very point. Great luxury of residence and style would be out of place in an authors' club, and therefore by a self-denying ordinance a per-centage of all actual profit on the ultimate working of the club might be set aside for the fund, and thus well-to-do authors would be com- piled, unconsciously as regards many of them, to help the possible coming man, and to secure an independent position to really worthy effort as against the prevailing market of the hour. I think I am not wrong in saying that the Burlington Fine Arts Club has published engravings, and so the Authors' Club, independently of the formal examination of manuscripts, might be the means of discovering where to assist. This capital, when obtained, would be intended to be drawn upon that the Society might contribute to, or [jay all, the expenses of the first book published by an author, or of his first book on an unpopular subject, and it might be accompanied by a stipulation that where the profits were considerable the expenses should be repaid. The policy of such a stipulation woidd be matter for consideration. The use of the fund might apply to poems or novels as well as to any other form of literature. But, as  ## p. 318 (#722) ############################################ 3*8 THE AUTHOR. an instance of the way in which considerations of the market may hamper the publication of what might he beneficial in itself, 1 will instance that only the other day I heard of this. An essay dealing with social improvement, which was thought to have some strong points, had been offered to a publisher. This essay criticised prevailing senti- ments, both social and political, which have their probable foundation in religion. The answer given by the publisher was that it was useless to put such a book on the market, unless it bore on its title- page the name of an F.It.S. or a bishop. Now, it is obvious that if a well-directed attack on such sentiments was to come it would be more likely to come from one who had not yet attained the dignity of F.R.S., and certainly it would be more likely not to come from a bishop. This subject is not wholly alien to that of the miserable little pensions to survivors which are fought for, as a piteous spectacle for the world, when men who have done service in literature die. Personally, I am inclined to deprecate any State patronage of literature, and I think it is of very doubtful advantage that authors should ever use this fund to take the place of the State in this matter; yet, if they thought otherwise, there would, in what I suggest, be the nucleus of a fund for doing so. The actors provide for the weaker brethren; and they at least show authors that a body of men can value themselves, and not come to the State for aid. My remarks amount to this, that I propose a trades' union for authors; and indeed it is high time that they had one, for it is a profession that is essentially weak in the individual members of it, except in the two or three who have "arrived" and more than arrived. And having used the word trades' union, I may add that there is no reason why the Authors' Society should not do yet one or two things more. There is no reason why they should not fight actions. The law of "mainte- nance" is formidable on paper. One of its sources may have been a fear lest the poor should combine. But in so far as it still exists it may be defeated, and it is not dishonourable to defeat it. Pub- lishers, in so far as they are a hostile bod}-, should be made to feel that they have to fight the whole purse of the society over agreements, or the absence of them. Again, there is no reason why it should not be an entirely honourable and moderate loan office. There is no creature who is more in need of it than the honourable man with ideas, that cannot be put upon the market in a moment. 1 mention this because, of course, such a development is entirely dependent upon the creation of the suggested fund. I will illustrate this idea first of all by one of the best known passages in literary history, which the pencil of Frith has made familiar to many whom a charming book would not appeal to. It happened to a shiftless person, and literature has escaped from Bohemia; but without Bohemian ways, many a man could fairly ask for a loan on work accomplished, at the present day. When Goldsmith or Goldsmith's landlady sent round for Johnson, Johnson found the com- pleted " Vicar of Wakefield " as an existing asset. His quick eye saw there was money in it in io minutes. But what was he to do? A loan would have been accompanied by exorbitances and delays unimaginable. Moreover at that day it would not have been entertained. Nor woidd it now, by the publishers, except, on terms which are equitably unfair. Johnson was obliged to sell out- and-out; and nothing but his authority and unselfishness could have obtained the 6o/. that he did obtain. But an Authors' Society, with a reading staff, a lawyer, and a cash fund, could have given Goldsmith a few pounds at the moment, which would not have tempted him to invite the land- lady to drink, could have subsidized him with a few more pounds when matters had been examined, and could have retained for him his full interest in a remunerative work. There are no few men here and there who could satisfy an Authors' Society of the existence of accumulated material of a certain value, and when credentials of character and intention had been obtained, they could be sub- sidized in such a way as to enable them to continue useful work without distressing sacrifices. Five per cent., and the payment of necessary investiga- tions, is all the Society would ask. They would oidy be doing what a solicitor will do for land. There must be a slightly greater risk, for literature is intangible. This slightly greater risk can be measured in a practical way by lenders whose aims are public ones, and who have no private ends to serve. C. S. Oakley. — OBSERVATIONS ON "THE TALE-TELLING AET" IN SIR WALTER SCOTT'S INTRODUCTIONS TO THE "WAVERLEY NOVELS." - —- fl^HE aim of the following paper is to collect f together the scattered hints and observations on "the tale-telling art" that occur in the various "Introductions," "Introductory Epistles," "Prefaces," and "Advertisements," which Sir Walter Scott at one time or another prefixed to the different editions of the "Waverley Novels." The number of such hints and remarks is not small.  ## p. 319 (#723) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 3*9 But they lie almostperdus in this heap of prefatory essays of various kinds. Students of Scott are, of course, well aware of their existence. Prefaces, however, are things which a great many people— including some authors, who certainly ought to know better—do not read. "Whilst even, in the case of those who do read them, the casual and frequently almost accidental manner in which some of the most pregnant and most valuable of these observations arc introduced renders it easy to over- look their importance, and difficult to remember them. Respecting their value there cannot be too opinions. They represent conclusions about fiction, and about the writing of fiction, to which one of our greatest novelists had been led by his own experience. And it will be readily admitted that, if anyone ever lived competent to speak with authority on such matters, it was "the Wizard of the North." His various Introductions are also included in all copyright editions of the " Waverley Novels "—books that ought to be in every English house—and everyone will, therefore, be in a position to compare the extracts here presented with the context in which Sir Walter Scott himself offered them to the world, and to supplement the contents of these brief articles with his own reading; and observation. It maybe well, first of all, to remark that two of Sir Walter Scott's introductions contain much more information respecting his views on the art of fiction than any others. These two are the " Intro- ductory Epistle, Captain Clutterbuek to the Rev. Dr. Dryasdust," prefixed to "The Fortunes of Nigel," and the "Introduction to the Monastery." In the former, as everyone will remember, the imaginary Captain Clutterbuek relates how, having called upon his bookseller in Edinburgh, he chanced to penetrate into a certain "labyrinth of small dark rooms," and at last, all unexpectedly, came upon the "Eidolon of the Author of Waverley." The "Vision" bade him be seated, and then he and the author of Waverley discussed various topics, including the "Waverley Novels," (he captain stating a good many of his own views about these works pretty freely, and the author making reply. The Introduction to "The Monas- tery," is of on entirely different character. In it Sir Walter Scott himself relates how the romance was by degrees built up from his first conception of a motif, adding, as he goes on, a considerable number of criticisms upon the work, which, as he plainly says in another place, he considers "some- thing very like a failure." (Introduction to "The Abbott.'') There is so much in both these intro- ductions that defies quotation, that (though extracts from them will Ikj given l>elow) the reader win; desires to see what kind of lesson Sir Walter Scott's prefaces have to teach, cannot do better than give both of them a careful perusal from end to end. Every line of the Introduction to "The Monastery" (though Sir Walter Scott did consider the tale "something very like a failure ") will be read with interest, revealing, as it does, the whole genesis of the romance, and offering a fuller and more elaborate criticism of the author's own work than any other of his Introductions. In the second place it is self-evident that the greatest lesson of all to be learned from Sir Walter Scott's prefaces is how a legend, a ballad, or a simple tale is converted into a long romance. It is not necessary here to point out how large a propor- tion of Sir Walter Scott's novels are built upon a foundation of this sort. But every reader who has perused the simple narrative as given by Sir Walter Scott in his Introduction, and the romance he has constructed out of it, must have reflected upon how vast a treasure of legend and ballad, and piquant tale, historical and domestic, still exists untouched, whilst a cry is being raised that all the stories have been told, and whilst some authors are casting about them anxiously for any kind of new theme. How the lesson of Sir Walter Scott's example is to be taken to heart, how the magical transforma- tion of a tale of a couple of pages into a romance of some i3o,ooo words (that is about the length of "The Bride of Lammermoor") should be effected, it is not for the writer of these lines to say. But this is evidently one of the biggest lessons which the author's introductions and the "Waverley Novels" themselves, taken together, have to teach. In the various prefaces preceding the tales, and in the notes added at their conclusion, the reader is put into possession of the artist's studies. In the novel itself he has the completed work. No one will be so foolish as to suppose that, because he has both set before him, he will be able to rival the magic with which Sir Walter Scott changed the one into the other. Neither, on the other hand, can anyone be so obtuse as not at once to perceive that in this open presentment of the tale and of its elements, a great master is offering lessons of price- less value. If it is pardonable to offer (very diffidently) an opinion respecting which tales might be first studied in this way with the greatest advan- tage, perhaps "Guy Mannering," "The Bride of Lammermoor," and "The Heart of Midlothian" might be selected. Or should "Kenilworth" be preferred to "Guy Mannering," because, in the case of the latter, Sir Walter Scott broke away from his original design? Only the very fact of his having broken away from that original design, and his reason for so doing, and what he substituted in its place, seem all to be pints of the lesson his work offers. He tells us :— "The author of 'Waverley' had imagined a possibility of framing an interesting and, perhaps,  ## p. 320 (#724) ############################################ 3 20 THE AUTHOR. not unedifying tale out of the incidents of the life of a doomed individual, whose efforts at good and virtuous conduct were to be for ever disappointed by the intervention, as it were, of some malevolent being, and who was at last to come off victorious from the fearful struggle." But he adds below— "It appeared, on mature consideration, that Astrology, though its influence was once received and admitted by Bacon himself, does not now retain influence over the general mind sufficient even to constitute the mainspring of a romance. Besides, it occurred that to do justice to such a subject would have required not only more talent, than the author could be conscious of possessing, but also involved doctrines and discussions of a nature too serious for his purpose, and for the character of his narrative." But, to continue, Sir Walter Scott does not leave us altogether without information respecting how the conversion of a short story into a long one was effected by himself. Many hints, which must be read in their proper context, are scattered amongst his prefaces and notes, and something more general is said in the "Prefatory Letter: Dr. Dryasdust to Captain Clutterbuck," preceding "Peveril of the Peak." "A poor fellow like myself, weary with ran- sacking his own barren and bounded imagination, looks out for some general subject in the huge and boundless field of history, which holds forth examples of every kind—lights on some personage, or some combination of circumstances, or some striking trait of manners which he thinks may be advantageously used as the basis of fictitious narrative—bedizens it with such colouring as his skill suggests—ornaments it with such romantic circumstances as may heighten the general effect—invests it with such shades of character as will best contrast it with each other, and thinks perhaps he has done some service to the public if he can present to them a lively fictitious picture, for which the original anecdote or circum- stance . . . only furnished a slight sketch." To proceed next to particulars. First of all, the people who think that fiction is an art have Sir Walter Scott on their side. In the "General Preface to the ' Waverley Novels '" he calls this art the "craft of romance writing," and in " The Introduction to the Betrothed," "the tale-telling art." Whilst in his imaginary conversation with Captain Clutterbuck in the '' Introductory Epistle" preceding the "Fortunes of Nigel," already men- tioned, the captain having quoted " Tom Jones" as a novel that satisfies the highest conceptions of a romance, the author of "Waverley" replies, "True, and perhaps ' Amelia' also. Fielding had high notions of the dignity of an art which he may be considered as having founded." This immediately suggests the question—what constitutes a good novel? We find these replies :— "To describe manners minutely ... to arrange an artificial and combined narrative these two requisites of a good novel." ("Advertisement" preceding "Antiquary.") And, as a description of a perfect novel,— "Natural and probable—commencing strikingly, proceeding naturally, ending happily—like the course of a famed river, which gushes from the mouth of some obscure and romantic grotto—then gliding on, never pausing, never precipitating its course, visiting, as it were, by natural instinct, whatever worthy subjects of interest are presented by the country through which it passes—widening and deepening in interest as it flows on; and at length arriving at the final catastrophe as at some mighty haven, where ships of all kind strike sail and yard." ("Introductory Epistle" preceding "Fortunes of Nigel.") Tu quid ego et mecum populus desideret audi! Only, where is the poor author to find the materials for these paragons of tides? The inspira- tion of some happy moment is the good fortune upon which many would-be authors are content to build their hopes. Such was not, however, Sir Walter Scott's method. "No, captain, the funds from which I have drawn my power of amusing the public have been bought otherwise than by fortuitous adventure. I have buried myself in libraries, to extract from the nonsense of ancient days new nonsense of my own. I have turned over volumes . . . which might have been the cabalistic manuscripts of Cornelius Agrippa. . . . From this learned sepulchre I emerged ... to mingle in the crowd, and to elbow amongst the throng, making my way from the highest society to the lowest, undergoing the scorn, or, what is harder to brook, the patronising condescension of the one, and enduring the vulgar familiarity of the other, and all, you will say, for what? ... to write a successful novel." (" Answer to letter from Captain Clutterbuck" preceding " The Monastery.") So much for what a good novel should be, and whence an author may hope to procure one. What Sir Walter Scott has to say concerning motifs and plots shall be reserved for the next paper. Henky Cressweli..  ## p. 321 (#725) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 321 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT. r. Annual Meeting of the Copyright League. ri^HE adjourned annual meeting of the American I Copyright League was held at the rooms of the Authors' Club, on Tuesday afternoon, December 29th, Mr. Edmund C. Stedman in the chair. The Treasurer's report showed a cash balance on hand of $469.02. The following memorial resolution on the death of Mr. Lowell, written by Mr. Stedman, was adopted by the league:— "Resolved, That in the death of Mr. Lowell, not only the League, but his country and the entire republic of letters, have lost the scholar and writer upon the whole most eminent in various branches of learning and literary pro- duction, and confessedly at the head of his guild throughout the English-speaking world. In common with all Americans, the members of the League grieve for the loss of the i>oet, the patriot, the firm, eloquent, and gracious adjuster of national and international affairs. As writers, we shall feel the absence of the best equipped, the most subtle, witty, pene- trative master of our English tongue. "As a League organized to restore the American good name for integrity, to protect the rights of authors without distinction of nationality, and to foster the growth of our native literature, we have sustained the most grievous blow that could befall us. In our late President we have lost one who cheerfully, and with the purest sense of duty, lent his great name and his earnest personal labours to the movement for International Copyright. He took the place assigned him at the head of our column, and remained there until the victory was won. We owe to him the advance- ment of our cause on the principle of abstract right. We owe to him the most brilliant and incisive elucidation before Congress of the difficult problems involved. We owe to his epigrams, and to his attitude, that legislative comprehension which finally enabled us to obtain an effective recognition of our claim. Even in the hour of bereavement, and while there is yet much to do, the League rejoices that he was not taken until after the principle of International Copyright had been legally established by Congress, and not before the common gratulation in view of its reduction to practice had reached his knowledge. Ani- mated by his example and monitions, the American Copyriglit League can never retract its course; it must steadily move towards the full attainment of his own high ideal of what in the end shall constitute a true literary federation of enlightened Powers." On motion of Mr. R. W . Gilder, seconded by Mr. It. R. Bowker, the following resolution was adopted :— "Resolved, That the American Copyright League desires to place on record its especial obligation to Dr. Edward Eggleston, as the originator of the idea of the League, one of its first promoters, and one of the most arduous and effective workers in the cause. While not present in the final campaign, owing to ill-health, largely the result of his exertions in the interests of the League, we recognize that his continuous and intelligent labours at an earlier date led up to that great victory. Dr. Eggleston was esi>ecially active, and of paramount use in the establishment of relations between the League and the publishers, and in carrying on the most delicate and difficult negotiations between the Publishers' and Authors' Leagues. He also took the initiative in the negotiation with the typographical unions; and in general served the League and the cause of copyriglit with enthusiasm, devotion, and initiative, which make his part in the long conflict one of peculiar honour, and deserving of the gratitude of all who have at heart the interests of literature, and the honour of our country." On motion of Mr. Bowker, seconded by Dr. Eggleston, the Chairman was requested to write to Mr. P.. U. Johnson, Secretary of the League, and to express the regrets of the League at his illness, and wishes lor his speedy re- covery: also to put on record the sense of the League as to his great services to the cause of International Copyright. It was stated that Mr. Johnson was convalescing from the attack of yellow fever by which he had l>ecn prostrated, but would not bo out and about again until February. The following members of the council were re- elected, with the addition of the name of Mr. Frank Millet, in the place of Mr. Lowell, deceased :— Henry M. Alden, Charles Barnard, It. It. Bowker, H. H. Boyesen, Noah Brooks, II. C. Bunner, George W. Cable, Titus Munson Coan, the Itev. Robert Collver, Alfred R. Conkling, Samuel L. Clemens, George William Curtis, Edward Eggles- ton, Richard Watson Gilder, George Walton Green, Bronson Howard, W. I). Howells, Laurence Hutton, Robert Underwood Johnson, Thomas \Y. Knox, Brander Matthews, Albert Mathews, Edward Mm iroe Smith, 1 liorv.ild Solln/rg,Kdniuinl Clarence. Stedman, Frank K. Stockton, the Rev.  ## p. 322 (#726) ############################################ .322 THE AUTHOR. Dr. Henry Van Dyke, Gen. Lew "Wallace, Chas. Dudley Warner, and James C. Welling, LL.D. At a meeting of the Council which followed, Mr. Stedman was elected President, Dr. Eggleston, Vice-President, Mr. Johnson, Secretary, and Col. Thomas W. Knox, Treasurer. II. Canada and the United States. It is stated in Ottawa (the Times'1 correspondent says) that Lord Salisbury has sent a despatch to Lord Stanley which joins issue with the Canadian Government on the refusal to allow to citizens of the United States the privileges of copy- right in the Dominion without domicile. Canadian action is based on the existing Dominion law, under which registration is only permitted to foreigners whose Government has a copyright treaty with Croat Britain. But Canada contends that the United States Copyright Act of 1891 and the President's proclamation of July last granting certain privileges to British subjects do not constitute a copyright treat)', and that, therefore, the citizens of the United States cannot be regis- tered under the Dominion Act. The Canadian legal authorities affirm that the Canadian view is correct. The present difficulty lies in the fact that Lord Salisbury assured the Washington Cabinet that all the British possessions would grant copy- right to Americans—an assurance which Canada repudiates. It is hoped that the difficulty will soon be settled, although it is feared that the public sentiment of the Dominion is clearly in favour of the right to legislate for herself on the subject. This right so far the Home Government has not admitted. — AUTHOR AND EDITOR. Advice to Contributors. ~1"*EF011E sending a contribution to any maga- I'm zinc or journal the author should observe the following simple rules, which, if they are olnsyed, will sweep away most of the complaints against editors :— (1.) He should write to the editor offeriug his paper, describing its subject and its length; he should also state his own special quali- fications for treating that subject, and his experience and record as a writer. (2.) If he is satisfied with the position and stand- ing of the paper, he should say that he will accept the scale pay. If he has any reason for doubt on these ]n>int he should name the minimum price he will accept. (3.) If the paper is on a subject interesting only for the moment, he should ask for its return, if it is not accepted, by a certain date. (4.) Before sending to any editor, he should first look at the announcements made in its pages. Some papers state that they do not ask for outside contributions. In that case, a writer cannot expect his MS. to be considered, or returned, or noticed in any way. (5.) In any case he should keep a copy of his MS. A draft of the above notes was submitted to the editor of a well-known journal. He suggested certain changes which have been made in the third clause; he says that the advice is, on the whole, "entirely reasonable," and on the last clause he writes, "This is his only way of insuring himself against its loss, though if an editor says he will return the paper, the chance of its being lost is presumably small." Value of a Pseudonym. I l>eg to bring under your notice the following unfair procedure of the editor of a well-known journal, the name of which I give below. For some years I had been a contributor to the journal in question, having run a serial and several short stories in it. Quite suddenly, and without any apparent reason, the editor fell into the habit of rejecting each and all my MSS., without, as I suspected from the promptitude with which they were returned, even taking the trouble to read them. As the MSS. were afterwards accepted by journals of as high, if not higher standing, I could not think it was lack of merit which threw them out of the journal just mentioned. I acted on the advice of a friend, and had one of my short stories copied by a relative, assumed a pseudonym, and another address, and sent it to the editor. It was at once accepted. About a week before, I had sent the same MS. to the journal, without even a different title, and it was promptly returned, with- out being looked at, I am forced to conclude. Since then, MSS. sent under my pseudonym have been, with one exception, accepted; those sent under my own, as invariably rejected. I consider that such conduct, which an unlucky author is forced to submit to, is subversive of all the confidential relations which ought to exist between editor and contributor. I may add that  ## p. 323 (#727) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 323 this particular editor, not knowing me personally, could have no personal animus against me, and I cannot account for his acting in so unfair and arbitrary a manner. H. B. M. [This case seems purely accidental. If the editor has no animus against this contributor, why should lie send hack her work? Probably the paper accepted under the ps.'udonym pleased him so much that he readily looked at other work by the same hand. H. B. M. had better stick to her new name.—Ed.] A Far too Common Case. In January of last year I offered the editor of a certain monthly to "do" an article upon a subject that was just then attracting a consider- able amount of public attention. A journey to town (100 miles) and an interview with a specialist upon the matter in hand, resulted in an article which was accepted "upon the terms named in (my) letter." In due course, the contribution was published. After a lapse of several months, as I had received no remittance, I wrote to the editor, who ignored that and two subsequent communica- tions. In December (after waiting, threatening legal proceedings) I placed the matter in my solicitor's hands. He succeeded in getting firstly a denial of the debt; secondly, an inquiry as to how much was claimed; and lastly, a statement that the editor understood that the remuneration expected (although he had my letter distinctly stilting the sum I was prepared to accept) was io«. The article was only 10 columns in length, and had only involved a journey of a hundred miles to London and back, and the best part of four days to write. The editor, a more or less well-known person, is now stated to be away. Surely, sir, an editorial black list, in which such men could be pilloried, should be started in the Author. I have more cases for a future occasion. C. H. Editorial Etiquette. I am glad to find in the current number of the Author some indication of the treatment which editors accord those who send them MSS. on approval. I once forwarded, by request, to the editor of a monthly review an article on a current political topic. Weeks after, when the subject discussed had died out, and my "copy" could not be used elsewhere, it was returned to me. Has not every writer, famous or obscure, expe- rienced the sweets of .editorial etiquette? Has he not sent MSS. to editors to find them unacknow- ledged; written to editors to find his letters ignored; sent stamps to editors to find them appropriated without a word? When one merchant sends samples and quotations to another, his letter is replied to, or at least preserved. You may write to a pork-butcher and be sure of getting a civil reply. You may write to architects, builders, surgeons, and lawyers, and receive courteous treatment; but when you write to an editor your communication is as sent to the dead. The chances are that the waste paper basket receives your letter, and the office boy pockets your stamps. Editors are now endeavouring to elevate their calling to the dignity of a profession. They have founded a Journalist's Institute, and incorporated it by Royal charter. Is it, then, too much to ask that they should acknowledge some common and humane standard of professional etiquette? E. H. Stamps for Return. A correspondent calls attention to a very curious difficulty. He calls it, indeed, by a stronger name, but the thing can hardly be designed. He says, in effect as follows. He has sent MSS. to a certain journal. The only address of the editor is that of the publishers. He always carefully encloses stamps in case of rejection. Now in one case he sent a paper on which he set some value. Not getting it back or accepted, he wrote again and again for it; he obtained no reply. At last, after a very sharp letter, he received a note from the editor saying that the stamps had been used in forwarding the MS. from the publishers to his private address, and that, as there were no more stamps, the MS. could not be returned. Now, it is quite certain (1) that if a magazine asks contributors to forward stamps for return, they are lx>und to return rejected MSS.; in which case the editor's place of residence is a private consideration for himself and the pub- lishers. But (2) if the magazine does not invite contributions, MSS. must be sent to take their chance. Should members of the Society fall into such a difficulty as this, a letter to the secretary, with the particulars of the case and the name of the paper, would probably lead—if that paper invites contributions—to the return of the papers. Accepted and Kept. A correspondent, not a young writer, but well known in the world of letters, scuds us particulars of treatment to which he has recently lwn subjected.  ## p. 324 (#728) ############################################ 324 THE AUTHOR. He offered m certain paper to a certain magazine. The editor, writing in November, said "I am quite willing to use your article in , but every page is arranged for so far ahead that I see little chance of being able to use it till the January or February number. If you are willing to wait until I find room for it, I shall be very glad to keep it." In January he writes again, "I am obliged by your note, and shall send proof as soon as ready to the Club, unless I hear from you to the contrary." In February he writes again, "As it is evidently of importance to you that your article should appear soon, I return it to you herewith, as it is quite impossible for me to promise any date for its appearance in and I may not be able to find room for it until the Mav or June number." Here we have an article deliberately accepted, and kept for three months, when it is uncere- moniously sent back to the author. Suppose a fruiterer, who buys of a grower fruit which must be eaten within a week or two or it will spoil, were to keep that fruit for a week, and send it back rotten, saying that he could not use it. This is exactly a similar case. Nearly all the papers pub- lished in the magazines belong more or less to the day. Suppose the contents of the current Contem- porary, for instance, were kept for six months. How flat' and stale and unprofitable they wotdd appear! Editors who are open to receive unsolicited contributions might, at least, remember that the wares offered them belong for the most part to the day, and not to this day ten years. They should, therefore, be sent back at once, if they cannot be used within a reasonable period. In this case, however, there was a definite promise. Unless the author himself released the editor, he seems to have boiind himself to produce the paper in January or February. ♦*•»♦ THE LETTER H. AFTER the great catastrophe in " Vanity Fair" —the downfall of Becky, the departure of her husband and the debacle of the house- hold—Haggles addresses Mrs. Rawdon Crawley thus: "Har you a goin' to pay mo? You've lived in this 'ouse four year. You've 'ad my substance: my plate and linning. You ho me a milk and butter bill of two 'undred pound, you must have noo laid eggs for your homlets, and cream for your spaniel dog." It will be observed that Thackeray makes Raggles reverse his aitches—put in the aspirate where it ought to be omitted, and omit it when it ought to 1)0 put in—and novelists generally soem to take it for granted that the illiterate and imperfectly educated talk in the same fashion. As a matter of fact, they do not, and thoro is no reason why they should. Without deliberate intent and much practice nobody could consistently reverse his aitches. I daresay Raggles said "Har you?" by way of being emphatic. He probably omitted the aspirate from " house" because ho knew no better; but why, if he omitted it from "house," should ho take the trouble of saying "heggs" and " homlets." If you listen attentively to the talk of the uncul- tured, you will find that though they may mix their aitches they never consistently reverse them. There are people so fond of the aspirate that they not only never drop it but sound it before every word beginning with a vowel. Others never sound it at all, while many use it only when they desire to l>e emphatic. Lancashire folks, like cockneys, make a great hash of their aitches. I have heard a Lancashire man of good education say that ho was too busy to bother about aitches; and I once knew a Lancashire lawyer who intentionally omitted the aspirate—except in words preceded by the indefinite article. For instance, though he would say, "Give me my 'at," he would say, "That is a hat," on the ground that it is easier to say " a hat " than "a 'at." On the other hand, Scots who use the aspirate incorrectly are as rare as cockneys and Lancas- trians who use it according to rule. The moral of all which, as I take it, is that in writing dialogue you should follow no conventional rule nor merely imitate your betters, but observe for yourself, and make your characters talk and mispronounce as people talk and mispronounce in real life. It is a curious, and not an irrelevant question why so much importance is attached to the proper use of the, aspirate; why it is considered a more heinous offence to drop an aitch than commit any other solecism. The very writer who pokes fun at one of his puppets for saying " 'ouse " or " homlot," will employ " constant" as a synonym for " often" and "always"; and write "if" when he means "though" or "whether." But of all errors in writing and speaking, the commonest and most grotesque is that of using the perfect form of the infinitive, after a perfect verb, for the simple or indefinite form, e.g., "I intended to have scon him " for " I intended to see him." "It would have been impolitic to have refused the invitation" for "It would have been impolitic to refuse the invita- tion." This mistake is committed by our best writers and speakers. You find it everywhere—in the Times, and the Saturday Hcvietc, and the works of John Ruskin and Charles Reado, not to mention loss shining lights. Why I wonder,  ## p. 325 (#729) ############################################ THE A UTHOR. 325 should so gross an error Ik' more leniently regarded than the occasional dropping of an aitch, or tlie aspiration of a word which begins with a vowel? William Wkstall. CORRESPONDENCE. 1. Mr. Traill's List of Pouts. "fW^" is quite right in calling attention to the I omission of Mr. Gerald Massey and Dr. W. C. Bennett. But he has forgotten to take note of several other omissions, which are equally, if not more, remarkable. A list of living poets is indeed incomplete which does not include women like Mrs. Hamilton King, Isa Craig Knox, and B. Nisbet (Mrs. Bland), and men like Philip James Bailey, author of "Festus," <fcc, Dr. George Mac- douald, Professor John Stuart Blackie, Dr. Walter O. Smith, author of "Hilda, or Broken Gods," &*>., the Rev. T. E. Brown, author of "FoVslc Yarns," and Mr. Rudvard Kipling. Mackenzie Bell. II. Useful Books. The Author does not, I believe, admit "notices" of new publications. Criticism, I am sure, none of us wish to see in its pages. Enough of that iv to be had anywhere. But I think that the Author ought somehow to bring before our notice books either especially designed to assist literary men, or of very great service to them. I mean, for ex- ample, works such as the more important English lexicons, or books like Dr. Roget's "Thesaurus," or Dr. Hodgson's "Errors in the Use of English." Works of this kind are not very numerous. The notices of them in the ordinary literary journals are very brief, and are often, also, inserted in places where they are liable to be overlooked. Here the Author might help us. Could the authors them- selves be invited to send paragraphs, simply mentioning the character and scope of any new publication of this kind? Or could any that may appear be announced in the Author fairly con- spicuously, say, always in some particular part of the journal where we might look out for them, and easily afterwards refer back to the announcement? I wish something of the kind was possible, for my own experience is that very useful books of this sort often escape my notice until someone chances to tell me of them. And, whilst I am writing this, it occurs to me that if a few experienced authors would draw up and send to the Author a little list of books of this description, which they have them- selves found useful, and would therefore recommend others to have on their shelves, the information would be valuable to many of us. A Member. [Will the "Member" kindly begin with a list and description such as he proposes?—En.] FROM THE PAPERS. I. "One who knew him." {By One Who Knows Him.) fl^HE breath has scarcely left the body -when I "One Who Knew Him " takes pen and paper, in profoundest grief, and proceeds to earn a guinea by describing, with the greatest unction,trivial details as to the dead man's manner of existence, picked up, as the fruit of vulgar curiosity, at a few chance meetings. The less the acquaintance of the writer with his subject—and, generally speaking, it is evidently a good deal less—the more "chatty" and "readable" is the resulting article. If the poor man who was unfortunate enough to be "known" drank coffee after dinner, with or with- out sugar, there is material for an article. From this fragment of truth the new journalist who knew him will build up a memoir with far greater . ease than that with which an Owen can reconstruct the frame of an extinct beast from its jawbone, and, of course, many miles further away than the original. When caution in the invention of facts is advisable, imaginary conversation dishonouring to the subject's intellectual capacity, and the auto- biography of the writer, make up the necessary column of matter. Autobiography, in fact, is indispensable, and has been so this long time. It is in this department that "One Who Knew Him" is really at home, and can let fly something that is warranted to interest the reader—as, for instance, "He gently glided from business into general topics, knew all about my career, congratulated me on some recent success, had known some of my belongings, inquired about my school and college, was delighted to find that I had been, like himself, at Harrow and at Oxford, and, when an hour's pleasant chat was ended, said, 'Now you must stay and have some luncheon.' From that day I was a frequent visitor at the Cardinal's house, and, as long as he was able to go down stairs to meals, at his table." There is none among the living who can know that he will be exempt from this new and terrible  ## p. 326 (#730) ############################################ 326 THE AUTHOR. scourge when (load, there are many who must be sure that their friends will have to undergo this additional horror in their death. No matter who it be, prince, cardinal, politician, criminal, or nonentity, everyone is fair game for the author of "Imaginary Conversations with the Demi; to which an; added Notes on their Idiosyncrasies in the Payment of their Washing Bills.'' There is always "One Who Knew Him "—generally several more—who is ready to reel off an endless string of trivialities, imaginary or otherwise, as to his habits and manners, which, even if historically true, are the last things to be remembered or brought up against the dead. There would be no objection to these journalistic memoirs if they took the form of respectful tributes to the memory of those who have done something for the world or their fellow-men; but this is the very last shape they take. They are calculated to belittle their subjects, to reduce them to the standard of the narrowest life, of which the most remarkable incidents are the appetite for meals and the hour of going to bed. The ordy possible effect is to place the whole world in the position of a valet to the mighty dead. And the worst of it all is, that there is no one who can rid us of this insolent pest.—Satitrdoy Review. II. Reading as a Recreation. By Mr. Edmund Gosse. (From an Address given at the College for Men and Women. By permission of the Author.) There is at the present day a certain danger of our taking the act of reading, as so many other of the daily acts of our little desultory life, too pompously. It is one thing to set up a high general standard of literature, and another thing to allow ourselves to be bullied by the best hundred books. In this matter our liberties—the right of the British citizen to amuse himself with what he finds amusing —are threatened by two enemies whose hands are usually at one another's throats, but who on this occasion have joined arms against our peace of mind: I mean the Rev. Dr. Prig and Professor Pococurante. Dr. Prig, who has no conception of the need of pleasant things in life and no sense of proportion between our plain capacities and the cravings of his own erudition, wants us to master the classics of the world before we presume to be entertained. He marches round, with his cane behind his back; and if he finds us grinning in our corner, with "Treasure Island" or "Little Lord Fauntlcroy" on ,our knees, he snatches it from us and bids us be studying the "Mahabharata." He tells us the awful tale of Sir William Jones, who in the brief leisure of a busy career, invariably rends through, every year, the entire works of Cicero. But Dr. Prig is really not very dangerous. He is so lumbering and so unpractical that we laugh at him and his hundred best books, and run away to read what we like best. Professor Pococurante is a far more insidious enemy. He pretends to sympathize with us; he has not read the "Mahab- harata " any more than we have, and laughs at the idea of reading it. But, of the two, I think I like poor old Dr. Prig the best, for he has a sort of superstitious respect for literature, while the whole essence of the Professor is that ho comes to sneer at the charming illusions of the book world, to toll us that he has tried them all and found them dust and ashes. If I remember rightly, it was Mrs. Pipchin who told Miss Pankey that she would never go to heaven if she sniffed. I am sometimes afraid that, in spite of all his gifts and graces, the heaven of literature will bo closed to Professor Pococurante. He advances sniffing to the rank of the fine arts. He has little offensive and defensive formulas, taking in vain the names of one or two authors whom he patronises—Dumas's, Thackeray's, Scott's—that he may from behind these ramparts fire down contempt upon all other novelists, as though ginger were not still hot in the mouth in spite of our virtuous partiality for roast saddle of mutton. In the course of sniffing the Professor reaches the world of old books, and would fain forbid us to read any genial-hearted brown quarto that attracts us, because, forsooth, wo might be spending our time letter in reading " Rob Roy " for the eighth time, or chewing the lamentable cud of Thackeray's least inspired fragment. The strength of the Poco- curante position is that it conceals its listlessness, its radical contempt for literature, under the shelter of one or two noble names, so that he who ventures to denounce this evil trick of sniffing may be charged at once with disrespect to Scott or Homer. But I risk this danger, and I urge you not to be the dupes of this cynicism. Do not despise the day of small books, nor believe that you can restrain a genuine taste for literature within the narrow limits of a handful of accepted classics. It is amusing to find that the very writers on whom cynics of the Pococurante school base their scorn of second-class literature were themselves, without exception, indulgent to and enamoured of little books. Nothing in the shape of a volume was too obscure or too old-fashioned to amuse and attract Sir Walter; Thackeray's fondness for dumpy twelves amounted to a passion. What a pretty letter is that of Scott's to Terry lamenting that he cannot buy all the rarities he desires  ## p. 327 (#731) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 327 because of the expense that the building of Abbots- ford is putting linn to. Yet there are two books which, poor as lie is, he must secure if possible. What are these? One is the " Mahftbharata," you will be bound; and the other a copy of "Rob Boy "? By no means. The books that Scott so much longed to amuse himself with were a "Treatise on Dreams, by the author of the New Jerusalem," and a volume of "Loyal Poems, by N.T."—no more illustrious a person than Nahum Tate, who wrote such afflicting hymns in company with Brady. For this latter curiosity Sir Walter was willing to give a guinea or thirty shillings. Turn away your face, Professor Pococurante. To limit our sympathies in books to those which are the best-accredited and the most classical is like refusing to know anybody whose movements are not. chronicled in the Morning Post. It is not an enviable social aim to be always trying to know none but the "best" people. EveryIwdy who is worth his salt has seedy friends, friends who have been failures, friends who possess some uncontrol- lable foible which prevents them from being universal favourites. Each of us, I hope, under- stands the weakness of loving some one who does not seem loveable to all the world. So it should be with our book friendships. In idle moments, when one is tired or dispirited, one finds one's fingers drumming on the panes of one's bookcase, and one asks one's self, " What shall I read?" I know that, in my own case, some rascally old comedy often gets taken down, although "Paradise Begained " is austerely frowning at the side of it, or else Sterne glides naturally into hands which know they ought to be engaged on Gibbon. Is it that if some one suddenly came up and said, "Do you seriously prefer the lax frivolities of Vanbrugh to Milton's noble appeals to the sanctified imagination," I could answer "Yes"? Certainly not. But why should I pretend to be always "seriously preferring" anything? There are moods in which it is our privilege not to be serious; and then the second-rate and the third- rate literature has its dav, all the queer books and the silly books, the books that run too far ahead of their age and the books that lagged too far l>ehind. I positively refuse to be always reading "Bob Boy" for the eighth time. I would rather read over again "Count Bobert of Paris" and "St. Bonan's Well" than do that; while, in point of fact, as soon as Professor Pococurante's back is turned I blaspheme the name of Sir Walter in a whisper, and I take up Smollett, or Leigh Hunt, or some yellow book of tales by poor M. de Maupassant. Anything for liberty and sympathy, and to assert the right of a free Englishman to read what he likes to read. Away with the "Mahabharata!" Away with the "Sheking!" If I want to be bored, I will be bored with what I choose. I will read "Polexander" or the "Leviathan" of Mr. Hobbes. Who, that is a real lover of books, does not ac- knowledge the charm of a squat volume that has had its day. It makes no demand upon us. It is so thankful to be read at all that it does not insist upon a rigorous observance of the rules of reading. If I take up the "Essay on Man" I feel that a great deal is required of me. "Awake, my St. John," says the poet, and you must not merely awake, but, in the frivolous language of the day, you must sit up. No skipping to the fourth page, no dipping here and tasting there, are permitted. You have an intellectual task before you, a very inspiriting and improving one; but you must give your unbroken attention to it. "Awake, my St. John," says the bard, and unless he is ready to make an effort, St. John had better put his classic volume back on the shelf again. But let me remind you how another poet suggests that you should read his verses, and perceive in it the accent of the man who knows what sympathetic reading is. This is how Herriek wishes us to approach those golden apples of his western orchard, his rich "Hesperides": In sober mornings, do not thou rehearse The holy incantation of a verse; But when that men have both well drunk and fed, Let my enchantments then be sung or read. When laurel spits in the fire, and when the hearth Smiles to itself, and gilds the roof with mirth; When up the thyrsc is raised, and when the sound Of sacred orgies flics around, around, When the rose reigns, and locks with ointments shine, Let rigid Cato read these lines of mine. In short, it is only needful to recall once more that happy phrase of Lucas do Penna, and re- member that a book should be lumen cordis, the light of the heart. No one can lay down rules or draw up lists which can help us much to discover what kind of lantern or candlestick will hold this light with most convenience. The heart must choose the book that shines on it. Experience alone can teach us where we shall find the sym- pathy of which we are in need among those silent servants " within whose folding, soft, eternal charm we love to lie." But the more we are thrown upon the sympathy of books, and acquire the habit of appealing to them in every mood, in every nervous vicissitude, the more we shall become convinced of the truth of what Isaac Barrow says, "that he who loveth a hook, will never want a faithful friend, a wholesome counsellor, a cheerful companion, or an effectual comforter."—St. James's Gazette. January 28th, 1892.  ## p. 328 (#732) ############################################ 328 THE AUTHOR. nr. On Literary Collaboration. (From the New Review of February 1892.) To sum up, the chief advantage of collaboration is that it is tolerably certain to produce clear- ness of purpose, a well-defined plot, and distinct characters. There is the danger that there may be too much distinctness—a loss of atmos- phere — not enough left to the imagination. Living men and women are not always distinct; tbey change from day to day; they possess more than one characteristic; the miser is not always paring the cheese; the man of science is not always in his laboratory; the shrew is sometimes good tempered; the wanton is sometimes serious and chaste. That is a real danger—and it is only to be avoided by giving, as I have demanded, the final revision to one of the two partners. As for collaboration being a saving of labour, it may be so sometimes, but I would not press that point. From my own experience, I should say that it is not, especially when it results in the improvement of the work, any saving at all. Discussion, you see, is far less rapid than thought. Meantime, let it be remembered that the dramatist or the novelist can find nothing more helpful to his work than to talk over it. When a plot, an incident, a situation, a character, is discussed, a thousand combinations occur and rise up in the conversation. Those which are useless, inartistic, or unnecessary are most easily picked out and thrown away in conversation. Those which remain are most easily passed in review in conversation. The great—the very great—objection to literary partnerships is the difficulty of finding your partner. Mr. Brander Matthews has been so happy as to find several: I have only been able to find two. To take a man into partnership, even for a short story or a short play, is a step attended with great risks; it may lead to certain failure, with certain quarrels, recriminations, and preten- sions. Why did the novel fail? Because of the other man. Or, if it was not a failure, why did the thing succeed? In spite of the other man. Of course, one knows men who could not possibly say such things. Unfortunately, there are men who could and would. Therefore, one would advise a young literary man not to attempt partnership until he has proved his own strength. Perhaps not even then: it is not always that an artist can admit another man to work upon his canvas. But let him not hamper himself at the outset. When he has had a few years' experience, the man whom he would now willingly accept as his partner may be far, very far below him. Reputations in literature are made sometimes very suddenly and very unexpectedly. Let him, there- fore, wait. In any case, a literary partnership, though it may result in many volumes when the partners are happily able to work together evenly and harmoniously, without jealousy, without measuring each other's share, can only, from the nature of the case, be one from book to book— from play to play—from one fable to another. There is, however, one kind of collaboration not put forward by Mr. Brauder Matthews, which may be recommended very strongly to every young literary workman. I would advise him to find among his friends—cousins—sister's friends—a girl, intelligent, sympathetic, and quick; a girl who will lend him her ear, listen to his plot, and discuss his characters. Perhaps he would like to get engaged to her—that is a detail: if he does it might not injure the collaboration. She should be a girl of (puck imagination, who does not, or cannot, write—there are still, happily, many such girls. When he has confided to her his characters all in the rough, with the part they have to play all in the rough, he may reckon on presently getting them back again, but advanced—much less in the rough. Woman does not create, but she receives, moulds, and develops. The figures will go back to their creator, distinct and clear, no longer shivering unclothed, but made up and dressed for the stage. Merely by talking with this girl, everything that was chaotic falls into order; the characters, which were dim and shapeless, become alive, full grown, articulate. As in every day life, so in imaginative work, woman should be man's best partner—the most generous—the least exacting—the most certain never to quarrel over her share of the work, her share of the kWoj, her share of the pay. Walter Besant. IV. The Critic. The critic is the Ishmaelite of the literary family. No one sympathises with him. The people he criticises, of course, will have none of him. His fellow readers, or playgoers, as the case may be, regard him as a wet blanket. Even the "serious intellects," with whom he thinks he may at least claim something in common, treat him with good-humoured contempt. Indeed, the wayward attitude of the "serious intellect" in these days is one calculated to stagger the critics. He never reads the books, or sees the plays, which call for the critic's keenest powers. He cannot be got to read "Eobert Elsmere," or "The Wages of Sin."  ## p. 329 (#733) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 329 Nor will he turn out at night to see Shakespeare, or Ibsen, or Mr. Henry Arthur Jones. He in- finitely prefers burlesque, or a broad farce. It is only the intellects of the second rank who revel in the analytical novel or psychological drama; and the poor critic, realising all this painfully, feels himself out in the cold. He is compelled to write to an audience he cares little about, while those whose ear he would fain reach will not take him seriously. "There is nothing," says an eminent scientific man of the day, "that serious intellects hate so much as an intellectual treat." People whose brains and bodies are systematically under- worked may care about them. But men who have done a hard day's work take more kindly to some- thing frivolous, and prefer—as Darwin did—a trashy volume from Mudie's to Shakespeare him- self. It baulks the critic to find people who will insist that fiction and the drama are intended, not for education, but for relaxation. His trade is to detect and measure the serious purpose which underlies most of the important work, both of novelists and playwriters, in this day. Both have ceased to be merely recreative. The onward march of education has absorbed them as factors in the moral development of the ago. The pulpit has admitted them amongst its coadjutors. They have ljccome, like the jam that envelops the powder, vehicles for truths, and lessons of the gravest kind. It is, therefore, heartless of the person of serious intellect to eschew them all, and addict himself to the lewd fellows of a baser sort, who aim at nothing beyond raising a laugh, or lulling the brain with drowsy nonsense. Happily for the critic, the second-rate intellects, who do concern themselves with fiction "with a purpose," still constitute the bulk of the British reading public. With them he is, or might be, a King supreme. For, without his help, they would be drowned in the floods of books and plays which pour in from every side. On him they depend to keep their heads above water, to guide them through the torrent, and bring them within reach of the few spots of foothold on which they may stand secure. It is rare indeed for anyone to-day to buy a book of one's own motion. It must previously have passed muster with the critic before we pay hard cash for it. It is conceivable that our judgment may not jump with that of the critic when the book is read. If so, the discipline to which long liabit has reduced us will probably lead us to assume that the mistake is ours, not his. More frequently we know what we are to think about a book before we take it up, and, to do us justice, we rarely fail to think accordingly.—Leeds Weekly Mercury, February 6th, 1892. V. Do Publishers Bead MSS. Submitted? Writing in the Western Daily Mercury on "Money - Making in Writing," as a phase of "Women's Questions," Miss S. F. Latimer says :—The idea that publishers do not trouble to read all the MSS. submitted to them is generally ridiculed. We are told that this is an essential part of their business, and if they were to neglect it they would soon go the wall, for the competition among them is now very keen. Nevertheless, I am inclined to believe their readers are not so keen as their employers may be, judging from two in- stances that have been given to me by a couple of my friends during the past week. The first lady did not take the matter much to heart, as she had met better fortune in a previous attempt; but she detailed the keeping of her MS. by a firm for over six months, from whom, despite various letters, she could get no response nor learn of the safe arrival of her copy into their hands, until a cousin made a personal call of inquiry, when the following day the MS. was returned to her—never having been apparently read or glanced through, as it came back done up just as she had sent it away. The second account of the fortunes of a novel that is still awaiting the fiat of a publisher is one that is none too encouraging to the chances of its establishment, nor gratifying to the amour propre of the wearied author. It started on its travels in a box made to fit and to keep its sheets clean. It came back minus the box after an absence of suffi- cient duration to have enabled the mastering of its contents. On removing the outer paper covering, the precious volumes proved never to have been opened. Each had been tied up separately and numbered to save the reader trouble; each pre- sented precisely the same appearance as when laid with expectation within the missing box. "I thought," said the narrator, "when I received their opinion of the novel, that they had evidently no idea of the work at all beyond my brief descrip- tions that accompanied it." It was next sent off, packed in a fine wrapper. A MS. soon.shows signs of having been through the post if not well pro- tected, and the trouble of rewriting, of course, is great. It was kept exactly the same time, and then returned with the communication that the reader's opinion was so unfavourable that the firm could not publish it. The wrapper no longer enveloped the sheets, but the pages bore equally plain evidence that they had not been looked through. The third attempt was to write to the publishers in advance, to ask if they would con- sider the novel if forwarded. After the lapse of a  ## p. 330 (#734) ############################################ 33° THE AUTHOR. fortnight a letter of the usual stereotyped form came from the house, saying " that they had given their best and careful attention to the work, and regretted that they tlid not see their way to its publication." The fact of its not having been sent had been forgotten. They waited the usual time, and returned the usual answer. And the hapless novelist sums up by saying, " I am at present just where I was a lew months ago, save being a loser to the amount of ios., MS. sent to and fro, one deal box, and one wrapper. Sore and downcast with disappointment, she exclaims, "It is very provoking to feel the time going past when the novel might take, and not be able to get a publisher to read it fairly and honestly I know that there is good matter in it, and that I have laboured hard to make it worthy of being read, and I am not given to over-value my own work." The lady has for years practised her ]x>n. The firms she has tried are influential ones, but there is such a tendency to deal with writers known to the public, and thereby save trouble and risk, that unless some favourable introduction or happy chance comes to the rescue among the flood of offers, the rejected find themselves in the majority. — Pall Mall Gazette. VI. Creative? A daring lady named Molly Elliot Seawell has excited the literary circles of New York. She has written an article in the Critic, and, with relent- less impartiality, has denied that her own sex has ever been great in creative literary genius. Readers of the Critic have withdrawn their subscription, by way of proving that Miss Seawell is wrong. Right or wrong, she has called from an opponent named Sidwell N. Breeze by far the most amusing of all exhibitions of literary patriotism. We know how good Americans insist that Emerson and Mr. Whittier have better chances of immortality than the Laureate. We know it, but we do not argue about it. We maybe prejudiced, and besides prophecy is a frivolous exercise. If humanity develops more people who admire Mr. Whittier than people who admire the author of the "Lotus Eaters," then the American patriots are right. We may hope that they are wrong, rather in the interest of humanity than of Lord Tennyson, but no one can be certain. However, this is a digres- sion. In the game of literary poker, Mr. or Miss Sidwell N. Breeze "bluffs" a much stronger hand than we hold in the Laureate, though that is a strong hand too. She (she must be a woman) "bluffs " the hand which ancient Greece holds in the case of Sappho. Miss Sidwell N. Breeze is ready to " see Sappho, and go two better "—two at least. Now the whole opinion of the world has recognized in the Lesbian lady Who with the deathless Muses, hand in hand, Sang side by side, the one great woman poet of the world. The fragments which remain, those wonderful fragments never to be translated even by poets, suffice to show the unapproached genius of Sappho. But Miss Breeze avers that these fragments "can easily be surpassed by Miss Helen Gray Cone or Miss Edith Thomas," whose rhymes we may have observed in the magazines. This delightful observation simply leaves patriots like Mr. Higginson nowhere in the race, and adds two to the Muses who are now twelve, including Sappho. No other vaunt can match this vaunt. But, if we examine the general Question, we may think that Miss Seawell has been too hard on her sex. They never created, she says, a Panta- gruel, a Becky Sharp, a Micawber, an Ivanhoe, a Don Quixote, a Faust. Well, we do not exj>ect them to produce Pantagruels. Ivanhoe, as Miss Breeze remarks, is no creation at all. Poor Wilfred is a lay figure; perhaps Scott would have called him, as he called Edward Waverley, "a sneaking piece of imbecility." "I am a bad hand at drawing heroes," he added, and Ivanhoe is a hero. As to the others, it is certain that no woman (unless it. be Miss Cone or Miss Thomas) has created a poetic figure like Faust, or Satan, or Don Quixote, or Lear, a humorous figure like Falstaff, or Mrs. Gamp, or anybody that is good in Shake- speare or Dickens. No woman (not even Miss Mtirfree nor Miss Wilkins) has designed a Captain Costigan, or a beauty and a Queen of Hearts, like Beatrix Esmond, or Rosalind, or Di Vernon. Women have created no great characters of any sort, and very few good ones, few whose names are household words. * * * It was a woman who gave us Mr. Collins and Anne Elliot, and all the immortal family of Bennets —Lydia and Kitty, their father and their mother George Eliot also created Mrs. Poyser and Caleb Garth, and the girl whom Mr. Gilfil wooed. But it is certainly curious, when we think of George Eliot, to consider how few of her people hold their own—how few of them are household words. When Manse Headrigg remarked that she would cease testifying for nae painted brick o' the Tower of Babel that's coloured scarlet and ca's itself a corporal, she quite, outshone Mrs. Poyser by mere native eloquence. Take away Mrs. Poyser, and who is there? Tito Melema is only the " Awful Example " of a sermon. Adam Bode is a stage-  ## p. 331 (#735) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 331 carpenter. These people do not wear, they do not last, like true and living creations. The name of George Sand is also invoked. But whom do we remember, or what do we remember, in George Sand's work? We remember descrip- tions, sentiment, a charm of style, such as never other woman wrote, and perliaps we remember Consuelo. Indiana is just a passionate Creole; Valentine is hardly more actual than Aurora Floyd. George Sand drew living people in her memoirs, much more than in her novels. It is really the humourous women who create characters, not the clever women, the learned women, the audjicious women. A woman (who might conceivably have been better employed) gave us Xaintrailles, Paillette, Madame de Flirt, and scores of others. Miss Broughton's people—not her heroes, but her chil- dren, her casual coquettes, her vulgar, good-hearted girls—are creations; they live, and move, and are remembered, simply by dint of humour. As to speaking "immortal words," in verse, passages that live as familiar quotations, we do not, unluckily, remember any of the many with which Miss Helen Gray Cone and Miss Edith Thomas have enriched the world. But the real prize would have to be given to no lady who writes in magazines, but to the women who composed "Auld llobin Gray," "The Flowers of the Forest," "And were na my heart light I would dee," and so forth. They were not profession^ poets, they struck the lyre but once or twice, yet still the notes are ringing.— Daily A'ews. VII. An American on American Literature. (From the Times, January i5th, 1892.) There has been a deal of talk back and forth across the water as to the bigness or littleness of our American literature. We talk about the bigness of it, you about the littleness of it, and the real truth concerning it is altogether ignored, or else it is not understood. By your gracious leave I would say what seem to me the facts in the case. We have had no creators of literary sentiment, or more truly discoverers, such as Wordsworth, who found for us the spiritual life in nature; like Browning, who has taught us the deeper, truer, meaning of love as a life passion of the human heart; like Carlyle, who knew more concerning the energy of life that wins results in the world than all his predecessors. We have not these. Let us frankly admit it. There is nowhere in our lite- rature the thoughtful substance that the Englishman thinks of when he thinks of even his modern literature. Our poet is Longfellow, a man of musical rhythm, sweet fascinating phrases—in short, a man of art in verse. But you have this, too, say you, in Tennyson, the poet of form, and a man of more substance than Longfellow. Let me distinguish. Tennyson is a creator of form, a dis- coverer of every possible new form in musical verse, a man who racked his brain from youth to find an exquisite phrase, a perfect word, a striking and enduring figure. Tennyson's eye was on the form itself, just as much as Browning's eye was on love, or Wordsworth's on the spirit of nature, while Longfellow touched the little nature, the little life, the little human passion that lay about him, with his eye on the human heart, not on his form or on his substance of thought. It is this wonderful adaptation of Longfellow's simple, sweet, beautiful verse to the common heart of man that makes it as significant as it is popular. Tennyson has done some bad work, shocking work; he has written verses that jar as well as verses that sooth to sleep or fill with life; so all the English poets, in their efforts to discover what was good, were unable themselves to distinguish the good from the bad in that which was to the world altogether new as it was new to them. Browning has written a considerable body of work which would not inspire even his own soul, let alone that of anyone else, and Wordsworth seemed utterly unable to tell his good work from his dry, meaningless verbiage, as Matthew Arnold him- self says. So it is with Mr. Arnold's own work, and with Keats and Shelley and Clough and Mrs. Browning and the rest. Even the popular Macaulav in his effort to be striking fell into serious blunders, and Carlyle is full of irregularity. Glance over such a book as Lowell's " From my Study Windows " and you will see plainly some of the chief characteristics of our literature. Lowell does not say anything of great moment, but what he does say is gracefully addressed to the heart and thought of us all; we can all enjoy it, we can all understand it, and we all are the better for his having written it. Browning and Shelley confess that they did not write their poetry for you or me or anybody else, but for themselves, for their own relief, to satisfy their own passion of ex- pression. If we get any good out of their work it is localise they were good men and worth some- thing, and we are free to borrow what we can from all good men. But that is not art in its true sense; that is accident. Conscious art writes for somebody, aims at a definite effect on a definite audience. The germ of that art we have and you have not. In us it has not yet borne very great  ## p. 332 (#736) ############################################ 332 THE A UTHOR. fruit, but it is sure to do so in the near future, as you yourselves admit when you incline to the view that the great novel of the future will come from America. We have not yet gone very deep, we have not yet even fully comprehended the thoughts that you have laid before us, but we are coming to just that, and we have the power—perhaps a power of youth—to put all thought, all feeling, all dis- coveries of the heart into a form which will be useful and will endure, as you have not at all. The mass of England's nineteenth century literature will be dead and buried within two centuries unless wo Americans rescue it from the mass of vagueness and verbiage in which it already languishes, and put it into the setting of the gold of the human heart—the common heart, the common intelligence —by which I mean the intelligence common to all humanity, high and low, and not the vulgar herd merely. The common human heart is your heart and my heart and yonder blear-eyed fellow's heart, and that common heart is dull of comprehension, weary it knows not why, and like a child must be fed by a trained nurse if it is to thrive. We are eoniinsr to be the trained nurses of future life and growth throughout the world, we have learned our business, and we are rapidly putting it into prac- tice. From you we get our materials to work with, our appliances, our food, our drink. We own our mother; we are not disloyal; England has as much right to be proud of us as we of ourselves, and perhaps more right, and the great novels which I fully believe we will soon send forth will perpetuate her name quite as surely as it will ours. But please, cultivated Englishmen, let us not hear any more about the lack in substance from which our literary art suffers. We may not have substance yet, but our literary work is adapted to the human heart more widely, more certainly, than anything of the best you can boast, and we will not be slow to utilize all the substance you have laid open to us. A. S. Cody. Boston, Mass., U.S.A., Jan. ist. VIII. Swindells v. Morgan and Tomkins. The business of Messrs. Morgan and Tomkins, who appear to be indifferent whether they transact it under the style of the " City of London Publish- ing Company " or that of the " Authors' Alliance, Limited," should be considerably curtailed by the revelations made yesterday in the Queen's Bench Division. These ingenious persons appear to derive much of their income from the remittances they receive from aspiring authors, among whom they appear to sow their circulars broadcast, other- wise it is hard to understand why they sent one to the plaintiff in the action just tried. Their anxiety to receive MSS. for publication led Mr. Joseph Swindells, employed in a warehouse at Manchester, to send a sbeaf of verses entitled "Ballads and Poems," besides a drama called "Charles I." Messrs. Morgan and Tomkins, with a frankness which must have won the author's heart, admitted that a most favourable impression had been created by the perusal of the MSS.; but they required a sum of money towards the expense involved in the intended publication. . . . Under the circum- stances there was little which was remarkable in this request, and Mr. Swindells expressed his willingness to comply with it. In short, he forwarded to the moving spirits in the undertakings we have named, and others, £40, some of which seems to have been raised "by subscription " from persons willing to take copies of the work. But, alas! the promised book has never been issued, nor have the MSS. ever been returned. Upon the whole the jury showed their sympathy with the troubled author in a manner which should do much to console him. He was awarded £500 damages, and in the event of his having the MSS. returned he must receive £200 for their detention. We can only hope that the order of the Court may be complied with, but, judging from the caustic remarks of Mr. Justice Grantham on the system of business pursued by Messrs. Morgan and Tomkins, it may be doubted if they will respond to all the demands involved iu yesterday's verdict.—Daily News. "AT THE AUTHOR'S HEAD." AMONG the more noticeable books of the month may be specially mentioned Carlyle's "Lectures on the History of Literature" (Ellis and Elvey), Aitkin's "Life of Dr. Arbutli- not" (Clarendon Press), Miss Gordon Cumming's latest book of travels (Blackwood), H. G. Keene's "Literature of France" "(Murray), Saintsbury's "Political Verse" (Percival), Earle's "Deeds"of Beowulf" (Clarendon Press), Watson's Poems (Macmillan), Lyon's "Colonial Furniture" (Houghton and Mifflin), Lord Selborne's "Facts and Fictions concerning Churches and Trees." The new novels include the " Duchess of Powys- land," by Grant Allen; "Nevermore," by Rolf Boldrewood; "A Strange Elopement," by Clark  ## p. 333 (#737) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 333 Russell; "Denzil Quarrier," by George Gissing; "The Bo's'un of the Psyche," by Claude Harding; fi Eagle Joe," by Henry Hermann; "A Partner from the West," by Arthur Paterson; and "Memoirs of a Mother-in-Law," by George Sims. A new literary paper is about to appear. It will be called the Library Review. The editor is Mr. Kineton Parkes, Librarian of the Nicholson Institute, Leeds. The publishers are Messrs. Hutchinson & Co., 25, Paternoster Square. There are promised (i) critical notices, "chiefly of an expository character," written by experts and signed. There are some subjects, one would suggest to the editor, which are best reviewed by persons who are not experts. The tendency of every expert is to find out something omitted, and to give undue prominence to that omission. However, the signature will have some effect in restraining the experts from too much contempt; (2) condensed estimates from the leading critical papers; (3) bibliographical details; (4) publica- tions of the month; (5) statistics of sales from booksellers and publishers—a promise difficult to keep—and of issues by libraries; (6) general notes; and (7) a library calendar. Nothing new in these features, except as regards the library intelligence. Signed criticisms are found in the Academy. Lists of publications in the Athenceum and in the Author. Notes and news everywhere. But we must not judge by a prospectus. Meanwhile we wish the Library Review every success. The Author cannot choose but welcome every new attempt to create and maintain an interest in literature, especially if it be remembered in each new venture that literature belongs to those who make it, not to those who sell it. The Publishers' Circular shows that the number of books published in England in 1891 was 5,706 —4,429 new books and 1,277 ncw editions. These figures show a slight decrease from those of the pre- vious year, a larger decrease from 1889, and a still larger when compared with the number in 1888, which was 6,5gi. Since 1880 the number of novels (new and old) published in a year has increased from 58o to 1,216, while " miscellaneous" (including pamphlets) has increased from 353 to 731. Books relating to the arts and sciences, and illustrated works, have decreased from 479 to 116, and theology from 975 to 627. The increase in the number of novels during the last ten years, so that there are now produced annually double the numl>er of the year 1880, is very remarkable. But in considering this increase we must remember that the Board schools have given us new readers by the million. This is shown in many ways, but especially by the immense circulation of the popular weeklies. We hope it is not libellous to say that Tit-Bits is reported to circulate 600,000 every week, while Pearson's has 3oo,ooo. At the same time the old favourites, such as Cliambers's, the Family Herald, and others maintain the position which they liave held for so many years. Then the increase of story books for school prizes and presentation becomes greater every year; and every year the demand for books from the colonies and India becomes greater. Nor must it be forgotten that of the novels intended for adult readers and those of the better class, a large proportion are actually paid for by the authors, while the better class politely decline to read them. Houghton, Mifflin and Co. will publish in March the first number of the Neio World, "a quarterly review of religion, ethics, and theology." It will be under the charge of an editorial committee consisting of Profs. Charles Carroll Everett and Crawford Howell Toy of Harvard; the Rev. Orello Cone, D.D., President of Buehtel College, and the Rev. Nicholas Paine Oilman (managing editor). The new periodical will have 200 pages in each issue, a fourth of which will be given to the careful review of important books in its field. A new magazine has appeared in America called the Philosophical Review, the first number of which, for January of this year, now lies before us. It is edited by Prof. J. G. Schurman of Cornell, and is supported in part by funds in the control of the same institution. "It will aim," says the editor, " at the organization, the diffusion and the increase of philosophical knowledge and activity in America." It will deal with all subjects that have hitherto been embraced by the term philosophy. A new weekly, literary and artistic in its aims, the Mahogany Tree, appeared at Boston with the new year. The first few numbers of such a venture rarely afford grounds for an exact and infallibly just appreciation of it. More criticism! The prospectus of another new venture, this time a quarterly review of very high aspirations, is now being sent out. It is to be called the Knight Errant, and devoted to criticism of all the arts, " working to this end without hope or, indeed, desire of pecuniary return." The expenses of the first year are assumed by forty guarantors.  ## p. 334 (#738) ############################################ 334 THE AUTHOR. Under the title "Some Aspects and Tendencies of Current Fiction," Mr. J. Stanley Little will contribute a series of articles on contemporary fiction to the Library Review, a journal for librarians and general readers, the first number of which appears this month. The Leadenhall Press has l>een turned into a limited liability company, with Mr. Andrew W. Tuer as managing director. No prospectus is issued. Who is " John Oliver Hobbes," author of " Some Emotions and a Moral "? There have been guesses and suggestions. Mr. Oscar Wilde has been con- fidently proposed as the probable author of the 1xk)1c. But it is not given to many to discover the author from internal evidence alone. It is not Mr. Oscar Wilde. Then many have thought that it was the work of a woman. They are quite right. John Oliver Hobbes is a woman. Further than that I am not allowed by my informant to go. Meantime, in the hope that these lines may reach her—since I have not been told her address—I venture to express, very humbly, the hope that we may, before long, enjoy more Emotions with or without a Moral. Mr. W. A. Gibbs is about to bring out a con- tinuation of his " Idylls of a Queen" in April, as an "Easter Offering to a Princess." The book will be published by Sampson Low and Co. In the last number, "Maisie Derrick" should have been announced as the work of Mrs. Katharine S. Macquoid. Mrs. Leith Adams (Mrs. Laffan) has just brought out her latest volume with Eden, Remington & Co. It is in one volume, and is called a "Garrison Romance." Bright, lively, natural, true, and womanly. One cannot use all these adjectives at once for many books. The serial current in House- hold Words, "Estelle," is also by Mrs. Laffan. Mr. W. Carlton Dawe's new Australian romance, "Mount Desolation," will be issued by Messrs. Cassells early in this month. Lady Fairlio Cunningham's new novel, "A Wandering Star,"—3 volumes—will be published about the 20th of March (Ward and Downey). D. Appleton and Co. are bringing out the third volume of McMaster's " History of the People of the United States." It covers the period from the Louisiana purchase down to the beginning of the War of 1812 and Hull's surrender at Detroit, and thus includes Burr's conspiracy, the Embargo and it effects, and a review of the social, economical, and political development of the people since 178+. Scribner's for March will contain the last poem written by James Russell Lowell, and "the only one of consequence that ho left in manuscript." It is called "On a Bust of Gen. Grant." One of the stanzas will be given in facsimile. A selection of Moltke's letters to his mother and to his brothers is promised by the Harpers. Mr. T. P. O'Connor, M.P., has translated Pierre Loti's work, "The Book of Pity and of Death," and it will be published by Messrs. Cassell. Mr. Joseph Knight, perhaps the l>est-kno\vn of London critics, is about to publish a volume of reminiscences of the stage. Fiction is to have a magazine all to itself. Under the title the Long Quarterly Mr. Elliot Stock will publish every three months a new novel. The Long Quarterly will be published at half-a- crown. The first number will be entitled " Until My Lord Returns," by Admiral Hinton. A new translation of the "Memoirs of Mar- guerite de Valois, Queen of Navarre." (Ninnuo.) The book will be provided with an introduction and notes by the translator, Violet Fane, and will be illustrated by portraits from contemporary en- gravings. It is dedicated to the Due d'Aumale. Mr. Fronde's masterly papers on the Spanish Story of the Armada, with other essays, are to be published in book form before long. (Longmans.) Mr. Charles Booth has ready for publication a book called "A Picture of Pauperism, with some remarks on the Endowment of Old Age." (Macmillan.) Sir Edwin Arnold's new volume will be called "Potiphar's Wife and other Poems." (Long- mans.) Lord Lytton's last Poems will probably appear this month. (Longmans.) The volume is entitled "Marah." The last poems of Philip Bourke Marston will be published in Boston by Roberts Brothers, with a preface and biographical sketch by Mrs. Louise Chandler Moult on.  ## p. 335 (#739) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 335 Mr. Lowell's "Lectures on the English Dramatists" will be published in book form next autumn by Messrs. Houghton, Mifliin and Co. Professor Karl Pearson has almost ready a book willed " The new University for London." (Fisher Unwin.) David Wingate, the poet, is dead at the age of sixty-four. Mrs. Spender's last three-volume novel "Lady Hazleton's Confessions" will be published imme- diately by Messrs. Sonnensehein. Her new novel, originally called " For better, for worse," has been run by a newspaper syndicate. That title has been already used, and it is now called "A Waking." The author of a "Game at Bluff" is getting steadily to the front. A man is always at a dis- advantage who has an elder brother in the same line and already successful, but Henry Murray is like Henry Kingsley. He cannot be mistaken for his brother, and he has a following of his own. The " Song of Sixpence," just out, is distinctly "clever," in the best sense of the word—dex- terous in construction, and possessed of the "grip" which the bad novelist toils after in vain, and the real novelist has by nature. NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS. Theology. Eyton, Preb. Robert. The Lord's Prayer. Sermons. Kegan Paul. Fleming, Rev. James, B.D. Recognition in Eternity : a Sermon preached before their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales in Sandringham Church on Sunday morning, January 24, 1892. Printed by command of their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales. Skeffington and Son, 16 3, Picca- dilly, is. 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Paper covers, is. 6d.  ## p. 337 (#741) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 337 Sims, Gkorgk B. Memoirs of a Mother-in-Law. George Newnes (Limited), is. 6d. Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin. Illus- trated by E. W. Kemble. 2 vols. Sampson Low. 16s. Terrell, Thomas. The City of the Just. Illustrated by Everard Hopkins. Trisehler. is. 6d. Yorke, Curtis. Two on an Island. F. V. White. Paper covers, is. General Literature. Annandale, Charles, M.A. A Concise Dictionary of the English Language. New and enlarged edition. Blackie and Son, Old Bailey. Cloth, 5s.; half morocco, 9s. Anstey, E. Mr. Punch's Young Reciter, with Introduc- tion, Remarks, and Stage Directions. Enlarged and illustrated edition. Bradbury, Agnew. Armatage, George, M.B.C.V.S. Every Man His Own Horse Doctor, in which is embodied Blaine's Veterinary Art. Eourth edition, revised and enlarged. E. Warne. 2 is. Arnold, Sir Edion. Seas and Lands. New edition, with illustrations. Longmans. 7s. 6rf. 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Annual Local Taxation Returns for 1889-90 (3s. 4§d.). Return as to Licensed Houses in England and Wales (id.). Return of the Proceedings of the Irish Land Commission during August, December, 1891 (3d.). Scheme for the Union of the Benefices of Upper Chelsea and St. Jude, Upper Chelsea (id.). Report of the Comptroller and Auditor-General upon the account of the Irish Land Commission for year ended March 3i, 1891, with the account for the period from August 22, 1881, to March 3i, 1891 (2d.). Royal University of Ireland—accounts for year ended March 3l, 1891 (Jd.). Abstract Accounts of Woods, Forests, and Land Revenues, 1890-91 (2^d.). Foreign Office Annual Series Report for 1892 on the Finances of the Netherlands (ijd.). Report for 1891 on the Trade of Patras (Greece) (id.). Report for 1891 on the Trade of Zanzibar (zid.). Report of Experiments conducted by the Irish Land Commission (Agricul- tural Department) in testing the value of Applications of Sulphate of Copper to the Potato Crop, and ap- pendix to the report. Thorn and Company, Dublin. Eyre and Spottiswoode.  ## p. 341 (#745) ############################################ ADVERTISEMENTS. 341 THE AUTHORS' SYNDICATE. HIS Association is established for the purpose of syndicating or selling J_ the serial rights of authors in magazines, journals, and newspapers. It has now been at work for more than a year, and has transacted a very satisfactory amount of business during this period. It has also entered upon a great number of engagements for the future. The following points are submitted for consideration :— 1. The management is voluntary and unpaid. No one makes any profit out of the Syndicate, except the authors who use its services. 2. The commission charged on the amounts received covers the expenses of clerks, travellers, rent, and printing. As work increases this may be still further reduced. 3. Only the serial rights are sold for the author. He receives his volume rights and copyright. 4. The Syndicate has an American agent. 5. The Syndicate will only work for members of the Society. 6. Its offices are on the same floor as those of the Society, and its assistance and advice are always at the service of the Society. 7. Authors are warned that no syndicating is possible for them until they have already attained a certain amount of popularity. 8. The Syndicate acts as agent in every kind of literary property. 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln'8 Inn Fields.  ## p. 342 (#746) ############################################ AD VERTISEMENTS. Not Work, but Play. Leave the drudgery of the Pen—Soiled Fingers—Blotted and Obscure Manuscript, to those who prefer darkness to light. Quick, up-to-date writers use THE BAR-LOCK TYPE-WRITER. 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The interests of Authors capably represented. Proposed agreements and estimates examined on behalf of Authors. MS. placed with Publishers. Transfers carefully conducted. Twenty-five years' practical experience in all kinds of publishing nnd book producing. Consultation free. Terms and testimonials from leading Authors on application to Mr. A. M. Burghes, Authors' Agent, I, Paternoster Row. London: Printed by Kyrk and SrOTTiswooiiE, Printers to the Queen's most Excellent Majesty. Why? Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author, Vol. 02 Issue 10 (March 1892) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 02 Issue 10 (March 1892) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927&amp;view=1up&amp;seq=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1892-03-01-The-Author-2-10 publications The Author