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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) 1903-07-01 Volume 13 Issue 10 Pages Page range in volume 253–280 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 19030701 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin Che #uthor. (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) FOUNDED BY SIR WALTER BESANT. JUNE Ist, 1903. Vou. XIII.—No. 9. [Prick SrxpPENnog. THE TELEPHONE. The Telephone connection has now been estab- lished, and the Society’s number is— 374 VICTORIA. ———_—__—_+—~@— NOTICES. —-~<> + OR the opinions_expressed in papers that are K signed or initialled the authors alone are responsible. None of the papers or para- graphs must be taken as expressing the opinion of the Committee unless such is especially stated to be the case. THE Editor begs to inform members of the Authors’ Society and other readers of The Author that the cases which are from time to time quoted in The Author are cases that have come before the notice or to the knowledge of the Secretary of the Society, and that those members of the Society who desire to have the names of the publishers concerned can obtain them on application. — + List of Members. THE List of Members of the Society of Authors, published 1902, can be obtained at the offices of the Society, at the price of 6d. net. It will be sold to the members of the Society only. —-—>+— The Pension Fund of the Society. THE investments of the Pension Fund at present standing in the names of the Trustees are as follows. This is a statement of the actual stock; the Vou, XIII. money value can be easily worked out at the current price of the market :— Coagole 25 Fees. £1000 0 6 POCH) LOANS obec. 500 0 0 Victorian Government 3 ‘ Consoli- dated Inscribed Stock ............... We lon 291 19 Tt 201 9 3s otal o1,995 9 2 Subscriptions. 1908. Jan. 1, Pickthall, Marmaduke 010 6 »» Deane, Rey. A.C. . 010 06 Jan. 4, Anonymous 0) 5. 6 - Heath, Miss Ida 0 5 0 “ Russell, G. H. ; Ll 0 Jan. 16, White, Mrs. Caroline 0.5 06 », Bedford, Miss Jessie 0 5. 0 Jan..19, Shiers-Mason, Mrs. 0 35.0 Jan. 20, Cobbett, Miss Alice ; 1 0 5 0 Jan. 30, Minniken, Miss Bertha M.M. 1 0 0 Jan. 31, Whishaw, Fred : - 0 10 0 Feb. 3, Reynolds, Mrs. Fred 0 5b 0 Feb. 11, Lincoln, C. . ; 0 5 0 Feb. 16, Hardy, J. Herbert . 0° 5 0 » Haggard, Major Arthur . 0° 5 0 Feb. 23, Finnemore, John . 05 0 Mar. 2, Moor, Mrs. St. C. . 1° 0 6 Mar. 5, Dutton, Mrs. Carrie 015 6 Apl.10, Bird, ©. PB. . : A - 0 10.6 Apl. 10, Campbell, Miss Montgomery. 0 5 0 May Lees, R. J... : ; 1 0 : Wright, J. Fondi . ; ~ 905 6 Donations. Jan. 8, Wheelright, Miss E. : , 0 10 6 » Middlemass, Miss Jean . ~ 010 0 Jan. 6, Avebury, The Right Hon. The Lord . D0 0 » Gribble, Francis. : . 010 0 Jan. 13, Boddington, Miss Helen . . 010 6 Jan. 17, White, Mrs. Wollaston 11 0 » Miller, Miss E. T. . 0 5.0 Jan. 19, Kemp, Miss Geraldine 010 6 226 Jan. 20, Sheldon, Mrs. French . - 0) 5) 0 Jan. 29, Roe, Mrs. Harcourt : . 0 16 0 Feb. 9, Sherwood, Mrs. . : » 0-10 6 Feb. 16, Hocking, The Rev. Silas 210 Feb. 18, Boulding, J. W. . : . 010 6 , Ord, Hubert H. . ‘ de) Teb. 20, Price, Miss Eleanor : . 010 0 » Carlile, Rev. J. C.. : . 010 0 Feb. 24, Dixon, Mrs. . : : a2 0-0 Feb. 26, Speakman, Mrs. . : . 010 0 Mar. 5, Parker, Mrs. Nella 2 0 10° 0 Mar. 16, Hallward,N. LL. . : ll 0 Mar. 20, Henry, Miss Alice . : - 0 8.9 » Mathieson, Miss Annie . . 010 0 » Browne, T. A. (“ Rolfe Boldre- wood”) . j : : 12 0 Mar. 23, Ward, Mrs. Humphry. 110.0. 0 Apl. 2, Hutton, The Rev. W. H. - 2070 Apl. 14, Tournier, Theodore : 0 2) 0 May King, Paul H. : : ~ 010-90 : Wynne, Charles Whitworth .10 0 90 » 21, Orred J. Randal . : pedo E70 The following members have also made subscrip- tions or donations :— Meredith, George, President of the Society. Thompson, Sir Henry, Bart., F.R.C.S. Rashdall, The Rev. H. Guthrie, Anstey. Robertson, C. B. Dowsett, C. F. There are in addition other subscribers who do not desire that either their names or the amount they are subscribing should be printed. Se Sir Walter Besant Memorial Fund. Tur amount standing to the credit of this account in the Bank is......... £336 4 9 May 22, Orred J. Randal............... Lied —____—<>—_e____\_ FROM THE COMMITTEE. ee HE Committee of the Society of Authors met on May 6th. Mr. Douglas Freshfield took the chair. ‘Twelve members and associates were elected to the Society. The list is printed below. The case of Parry v. Gollancz, with all the papers and letters, was laid before the Committee and carefully considered. The Committee decided to issue a summary of the case with comments in The Author, (See article, page 232.) The agent of the Society in New York has been forced to give up the work of the Society owing to the fact that he has taken up the work of a THE AUTHOR. literary agent. As he candidly expresses it, “ he found it difficult to have to write peremptory letters of demand to editors and publishers, when at the same time he might be offering them MSS. for acceptance.” Accordingly, the Society has been obliged to appoint another agent, and the Committee have nominated Mr. Morris P. Ferris, counsellor-at-law. ‘There were two or three cases before the Com- mittee. One dealt with the loss of a MS. by a publisher. It was decided to take the matter up on behalf of the member, as from the circumstances connected with the case, it appeared that the publisher had shown considerable negligence. Another case, that of alleged breach of agree- ment by a publisher, the Committee found they were unable to support, as the solicitors of the Society did not consider that there was cause for legal action. It was decided not to republish the list of members during the current year, but in the autumn, to publish a supplementary list of those members who had been elected since the last publication. oo Cases, Tue last statement of the cases taken up by the Society was printed in the March number of The Author. Since that date forty-three have been before the Secretary. They may be subdivided as follows :— Ten for the return of MSS. ; three for accounts ; five for accounts and money ; eighteen for money due ; one dealing with the false advertisement of a book; one with the infringement of copyright ; five embracing disputes which cannot be classed under any particular heading. The Secretary is pleased to report that all the cases chronicled in the March number of The Author have either been settled or have been placed in the hands of the solicitors.. All the cases from that date up to the beginning of April have also been settled or placed in the solicitors’ hands, with the exception of one case, where the author— unfortunately living abroad—had a claim against a magazine for non-payment. The record of the ten claims for the return of MSS. is as follows :— One case has been placed in the hands of the Society’s solicitors, to enable the member to claim damages for loss of a MS. by a publisher, as it appeared clear to the Committee that the publisher had been negligent. In two cases there has been no evidence that the MSS. had been received at the office of the paper. In the remaining seven the MSS. have been returned at the request of the Secretary. Set  In the three demands for accounts the Secretary has been able to obtain the requisite statement, with the exception of one case against a well-known firm that is always dilatory in meeting the demands of the author or the Secretary of the Society for details of this kind. No doubt a little mild persuasion will bring about the requisite result, There has been an increase with regard to demand for unpaid moneys, and the result. of the Secretary’s applications may be catalogued as follows :— In the claims for accounts and money two have been partially settled—this means that part of the money due has been paid, the rest will no doubt follow. One has been completely settled, and two are still in the course of negotiation. The last are demands against an American publisher, whose name is well known on the English market, but whose methods of doing business when it comes to the settlement of accounts appear to be far from satisfactory. In six cases the money has been paid without any difficulty. In five the matters have had to go into the hands of the Society’s solicitors. Two cases are still unsettled, and in one it is impossible to enforce the Society’s claim owing to the fact that the member resides abroad. This is, on the whole, a satisfactory record, especially when it is remembered that those matters referred to the solicitors deal with magazines that are most probably either in liquidation or on the verge of Jiquidation. The case of infringement of copyright has been satisfactorily settled. A full statement of this was printed in 7he Author. The false advertisement has also been remedied, and the remaining matters—various disputes on con- tracts—are in the course of negotiation. Out of thewhole forty-three there are only thirteen which have not been closed as far as the work of the Secretary is concerned. Some of them, as mentioned above, are being continued in other hands, it is hoped with satisfactory result. NEES “ESSE May Elections. 4, Gray’s Inn Squares W.C. Scarborough. Wentworth House, Key- mer, Sussex. The Cedars, Denmark Avenue, Wimbledon, Aitken, Robert Alcock, Joseph Crosby . Arthur, Miss Mary Bedford, Mrs. SW. Dickinson, F. James 6, Claremont Terrace, Hargreaves, F.R.S.L. Claremont Park, Blackpool. Lees, Robert James . Engelbery, Ilfracombe. Macdonald, Mrs. A. E. . Gordon Road, Gordon, Sydney, N.S. Wales, Australia. THE AUTHOR. 227 Merriman, B.C, Pickering, Sidney . Smith, Miss M. C, Labor A., Freetown, Sierra Leone. Stratton, Falmouth. Gretna Hall, Gretna Green, 200, Stockwell Road, Brixton, 8.W, Colonial Institute, Northumberland Avenue, W.C. Trost, Johann Wright, Edward Fondi . +-—<—e OUR BOOK AND PLAY TALK. ae | PROFESSOR RHYS DAVIDS’ “Buddhist | India” in the Stories of the Nations Series, may be out any day now. It was all passed for press some time ago, but it is being printed in America. he Professor has just finished editing the issues of the Pali Text Society for 1903 ; they form the Journal of that Society. He has also edited the second volume of “The Digha” in conjunction with Mr. E. Carpenter. These are now ready for distribution to members. The Government of India has determined to publish, through the Royal Asiatic Society, two series of historical volumes. Of these, one is on the History of India before the arrival of the English, and will be under the editorship of Professor Rhys Davids. The first volumes to be published will deal with the historical geography of ancient India, and with the historical evidence contained in the Vedas. The other series, to be called The Records Series, will embrace the period after the arrival of the English, and will consist mainly of official documents. The first volume will deal with the events connected with the Black Hole of Calcutta. Mr. Arnold White has had a trying experience : He lost, during the fire at the Hotel du Palais, at Biarritz, the MS. of the work on which he was engaged. It is a continuation of the series on Efficiency which began eighteen years ago in “The Problems of a Great City,” and ended in his last two books—* Efficiency and Empire,” and “ For Efficiency.” Mr. White, however, hopes in the course of the next twelve months to re-write and complete a work on National Efficiency, especially with regard to government and municipal administration, and its effects on the pockets, the health, and the lives of citizens of the Empire. Miss Mabel Quiller Couch, whose short stories are well known, has published two volumes of them under the titles of “The Recovery of Jane Vercoe,”  228 and “Some Western Folk.” At present she is completing serial work already ordered, but she means in the near future to write a story for girls on somewhat new lines. Our readers may remember a very interesting volume entitled, “ The Holy Wells of Cornwall,” which Miss Mabel Quiller Couch wrote in conjunction with her sister. Mrs. Mary M. Banks is engaged in editing a MS. collection of tales of the fifteenth century for the Early English Text Society. Some two years ago Mrs. Banks edited the alliterative ‘‘ Morte Arthur,” published by Messrs. Longmans. Since then she has given lectures on modern literature, besides writing articles on literary subjects. Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein have in preparation for the autumn a romance of Italy in the thirteenth century, by Emily Underdown (Norley Chester). This firm lately published “ Dante and Beatrice,” a play in blank verse suggested by episodes in the Vita Nuova, by the same author. It forms one of a series started by Miss Elsie Fogerty. “ Dante and Beatrice” is also published in a tastefully got-up edition, with a reproduction of Rossetti’s painting, “ Dante’s Dream,” as a frontispiece. Members of the Society will be interested to know that Mr. Poulteney Bigelow has been asked to address the United States Naval War College at Newport, on German Colonisation, on the 16th of June. This is the college before which Captain Mahan delivered his lectures on “‘ The Influence of Sea Power on History ”—a book which has been translated into almost every tongue, and yet which, at the time, was declined by the Harpers. Lismore, which the King is to visit next August, is the “ Innisdoyle ” of Julia M. Crottie’s “ Neighbours,” a book of Irish sketches, published by T. Fisher Unwin a year or two ago. Lismore is a quiet old town, beautifully situated on the poet Spenser’s Blackwater, and although now fallen away from its ancient importance, still possesses some features of interest in its fine old abbey and castle. Mr. Frank Rutter, the editor of To-day, has just published, through R. A. Everett & Co., a little volume of scenes and characters from eee life. ‘‘’Varsity Types” is the title of it. “Varsity Types” has a dozen illustrations by Stephen Haweis. The dedication runs thus—‘‘ To those who unconsciously have posed as models for the following sketches, this little volume is grate- fully and affectionately dedicated by the author.” Among the entertaining characters are ‘“ The Swot,” “The Trophy Maniac,” “ The Snob,” and “The Bedder,” while “‘ Ditton Corner,” “ An Art- less Dean,” and “An Academic Court-Martial,” are scenes to laugh over. THE AUTHOR. Miss Julie Sutter’s book on the Social Problems —Brirain’s Next Campaign ”—has just been issued at a shilling net (320 pp.) by R. Brimley Johnson, 4, Adam Street, Adelphi, W.C. The Daily News this winter thought it worth while to publish a series of articles from its pages, and Sir John McDougall (as chairman of the London County Council) invites ‘every Londoner, official on non-official, to make himself acquainted with this book.” Both he and Canon Scott Holland head the volume with a preface. Mr. F. Stroud’s publishers will issue almost immediately a much-enlarged edition of his Judicial Dictionary. It will be in three thick volumes of about nine hundred pages each. The work is unique in that, whilst it is a dictionary in the ordinary sense of that word, yet the pivot on which it moves is that it deals with the English of affairs as expounded by the English Judges and by Parliament. To search for verbal definitions through the many hundreds of volumes of Reports of Cases, and the Statute Book from Magna Charta down- wards, and to harmonise the authoritative exposition of words and phrases culled from these sources, must have been an enormous task, requiring much prior knowledge and the unfailing patience of years. The idea of this edition is to bring down the exposition from the earliest times to the end of the nineteenth century. Whilst we should imagine it to be indispensable to the practising lawyer, the book cannot fail to be of general interest, for inci- dentally it frequently presents striking phases of the picturesque past. Mr. Percy White has been kind enough to send us the following interesting extract from a letter written to him by a great admirer of George Meredith. The writer is himself a novelist and man of letters :— “THE Two MEREDITHS. “T am reading ‘ Evan Harrington,’ in the original edition of 1861. I find that in the final edition, published by Constable, many admirable passages have been cut out, and a good deal of broad humour and fun has been lost. An interesting little paper might be made on a comparison of the two editions—the old Meredith pruning the younger. It is remarkable how completely ‘modern’ this book of 1861 reads—a book which might have been written to-day, whilst its successful contemporaries, ‘ Framley Parsonage,’ ‘The Silver Chord,’ ‘The Woman in White,’ &c., are all as old-fashioned and uncouth as the crinolines, matador hats, and chenille hair nets of the early sixties.” “ Park Lane” is the title of Mr. Percy White’s new novel—needless to say a very readable one— which has been published by Messrs. Constable at 6s. Mr. G. W. Forrest, O.1.E., ex-Director of Records, Government of India, and author of “ Sepoy  THE AUTHOR. Generals,” has published through the same firm a copiously illustrated book called ‘‘ Cities of India” (10s. 6d. net). Mr. Forrest, who is one of the greatest living authorities on the ancient and modern history of India, has seen with his own eyes the cities he so admirably describes. The illustrations are excellent. ’ The Transactions of the Royal Society of Litera- ture are being edited, as indeed they have been ‘since 1894, by Perey W. Ames, LL.D., F.S.A. Besides publishing the following addresses : ‘‘ Posi- tivism in Literature,” “Supposed Source of the Vicar of Wakefield,” ‘‘ Racial and Individual Tempera- ments,” ‘‘ Superstition, Science, and Philosophy,” “Poetry and Science of Archeology,” &c., &c., Dr. Ames, in 1900, edited, with introduction and one lecture, “‘Chaucer Memorial Lectures.” In 1898 he edited, with an historical sketch of the Princess Elizabeth and Margaret of Navarre, “The Mirror of the Sinful Soul.” Before that he edited, with an introductory address, a volume of “ Afternoon Lectures on English Literature.” Mr. Sydney Lee has brought to a close his tour in America. He has been accorded an enthusiastic reception in the Hastern and the Western States. He has given fifty-three Jectures, and has travelled by rail more than ten thousand miles. Besides delivering addresses before the Library Association at Washington and the State University of North Carolina, Mr. Lee lectured at Staten Island, New York, at the request of Mr. William Winter, in aid of the library founded by him in memory of his son, the late Mr. Arthur Winter. Mr. Lee also gave addresses on Shakespeare at Indianapolis and before the State Universities of Ohio and Indiana. Among recently published books by members of the Society is Mr. Justin McCarthy’s ‘British Political Leaders” (T. Fisher Unwin: 7s. 6d. net). Though all may not agree with his point of view, may not see eye to eye with him, yet readers can scarcely fail to find this volume attrac- tive. It is charmingly written. There is also a couple of volumes issued by Mr. John Murray, entitled, ‘‘ More letters of Charles Darwin,” being a record of his work in a series of hitherto unpublished letters, edited by Francis Darwin, Fellow of Christ’s College, and A. C. Seward, Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. (32s. net.) Then, Mrs. Gertrude Atherton, whose remarkable novel, “The Conqueror,’ we all remember, has now published, through Harpers, “A Few of Hamilton’s Letters.” Those who are interested in that famous man’s personality will find this selection from his correspondence well worth reading. 229 Professor E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., etc., Direc- tor of the British Museum of Natural History, has contributed a Preface to Mr. S. Theodore Andrea Cook’s book, ‘ Spirals in Nature and Art” (John Murray). This is a study of spiral forma- tions based on the manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci, with special reference to the architecture of the open staircase at Blois in Touraine, now for the first time shown to be from his designs. This interesting volume is 7s. 6d. net. Miss Marie Corelli recently addressed a crowded meeting of the O. P. Club in the large hall of the Criterion Restaurant. Miss Corelli spoke on “The Trust on behalf of the Nation at Stratford-on-Avon.” She protested against the destruction of any buildings in Heniey Street, par- ticularly such old and valuable ones as were seen and known by Shakespeare, and were on that account priceless to the literary and dramatic world of to-day. Especially did she plead for the quaint little half-timbered dwelling of Thomas Green, once town clerk of Stratford and cousin of Shakespeare. Miss Corelli protested against the proposed destructive alterations, and earnestly requested that a committee might be formed to inquire into the case she put forward. She considered that the culpable ignorance and carelessness of the Executive Committee of the Shakespearean Trust proved that the time had come when their national duty should be taken up by a wider, more educated and more Shakespearean body. An appeal to Parliament for the preservation of Henley Street was being sent out for signature, and there was every reason to believe that it would bereceived with favour. The clause in the Employment of Children Bill which prohibits the appearance of children under fourteen upon the stage has evoked a series of protesting letters in the Daily Telegraph from such authorities as Sir Henry Irving, Miss Ellen Terry, Miss Ellaline Terriss, Mr. George Alexander, Mr. Beerbohm Tree, Messrs. Frederick Harrison and Cyril Maude, and Mr. Arthur Collins and Mr. F. W. Wyndham. We have room for two quotations only. Miss Ellen Terry says : “T cannot remain silent when I hear of disaster threaten- ing our future actors and actresses. Sir Henry Irving and others have urged the cruelty of taking joy and pleasure from the lives of children by prohibiting their employment on the stage. I go further, and say that the effect of such a law will be to take education from them, education in the widest sense technical. I can put my finger at once on the actors and actresses who were not on the stage when children. Withall their hard work they can never acquire afterwards the perfect unconsciousness which they learn then soeasily. .. . lam anactress, but first 1 am a woman and I love children. I don’tsay that the conditions under  230 which they work on the stage are perfect. I could point to many things which IJ should like tosee altered, particularly the practice of their being too many hours at a stretch in the theatre, as is the case when they are employed in two performances on one day. But surely it is not right to sweep away a fine training for children because it has faults ?” The second extract is from Mr. Tree’s letter : “T will leave to others the task of pointing out in detail how desirable it is for the children of poor parents to have the opportunity of learning in their early years those habits of obedience, cleanliness and orderliness which are part of the discipline of every well-regulated theatre ; also the social value to them in after life of daily mixing, while still young, with those who can teach them good manners and self-respect. The one point I am most anxious to make is this: The Bill as it stands would not only deprive the children of these benefits, but would also deprive hundreds of thousands of the public of the pleasure they derive from those theatrical performances (such as panto- mime, and the like), from which the services of children areinseparable. Moreover, any such new legislation would practically banish from our stage many of Shakespeare's most-admired plays, such as “The Midsummer Night's Dream,” “ The Tempest,” “ A Winter’s Tale,” ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor,” ‘Richard III,” “King John,” and other classical works. It is needless to point out that these remarks apply equally to grand opera and public concerts whenever the services of children form an integral part of the entertainment.” All the letters are worthy of careful considera- tion, and we refer our readers to the particular issue of the Daily Telegraph from which we have quoted, 7.¢., that of Monday, May 18th. ———_—_—__- ~~ PARIS NOTES. —— > ANATOLE FRANCE’S novel, “ Histoire Mi e Comique,” is now published in volume form, after running through the Revue de Paris as a serial. There is nothing comic about it except the one word in the title. It is, in fact, a most gruesome story. Félicie, an actress who is considered a star, has deserted her lover of less prosperous days for a young aristocrat, Robert de Ligny. ‘The ex-lover, Chevalier, warns her of his own jealousy and begs her to return to him. She pays no attention to his words and one day, when she is coming away from a rendezvous with de Ligny, Chevalier commits suicide in her presence. From this day forth Félicie has no peace of mind. The dead man’s face seems to haunt her, and at the most unexpected times and places she fancies that she sees him. Chevalier had been an actor, and all his thea- trical friends undertake the arrangements for his funeral. The Church refuses the burial service on account of the suicide, and Félicie, who hopes that the holy water may lay the ghost of the dead man, THE AUTHOR. joins with her comrades in insisting on the religious rites being performed. A certain Dr. Trublet, the medical adviser of the theatre to which Félicie belongs, is the philosopher whom we usually meet in Anatole France’s books. In this instance the artistes have recourse to him for a certificate proving that Chevalier was insane when he shot himself. A priest had suggested, in a wily way, that the dead man had, perhaps, not been respon- sible for his actions, and that if this could be proved the Church would not refuse to bury him. Dr. Trublet accordingly searches among his learned books, and finds various instances of temporary insanity. He delivers a long harangue on the subject of free will and determinism. His con- cluding argument is that the world is an amusing place on the whole, and that Chevalier must have been more insane than other men, since he had voluntarily resigned his place here. The certificate that he makes out is so full of technical terms that the doctor declares that it is “ too utterly devoid of any sense to contain a lie.” The funeral service is accordingly held in the church, All the artistes attend the ceremony and then proceed to the cemetery, but they are all so much occupied with their own private affairs and with ull the gossip and scandal they have to tell each other, that they only remember at intervals what has brought them all there together. Immediately after the funeral Félicie goes with her lover to luncheon at a _ restaurant, and endeavours to forget the dead man. It is of no use, though, and to the end of the story she is haunted by his reproachful eyes. There is not much plot and there is a great deal that is unpleasant in the book, but the keen observation, the delicate sarcasm, and, above all, the perfect style and language are all to be found in “ Histoire Comique” as in every work by Anatole France. In Brada’s new novel, “Retour du Flot,” we have a subject which lends itself well to the weaving of a romance. The mystery is that it has not been adopted more frequently by authors. It is the story of a woman who, after several years of happiness in her married life, loses her little girl and cannot recover from her grief. Her husband, who was also devotedly fond of the child, wearies of the gloominess of his home and the constant sadness of his wife and seeks amusement elsewhere. On discovering that he has been faithless to her his wife applies for a divorce and will hear of no: compromise. After two or three years of loneliness and misery she consents to marry a cousin who has always loved her, and who is a man of fine character. She is quite resigned to her new lot in life when, on the  THE AUTHOR. 231 sixth anniversary of her little girl’s death, as she is walking past her old home, she meets her first husband. He saves her from being knocked down by a vehicle as she is crossing the road. It is the first time they have met since their divorce, and they both realise, as they talk to each other once more, the fatal mistake they made in the old days. The struggle which now takes place in the woman’s heart between the love which has never died and her new duties is described with great delicacy. The loneliness and misery of the man who had formerly been everything to her appeal to her ; and when he begs her to meet him again she con- sents, Her life during the next few months is almost unbearable. The book is charming to the very end, and the dénowement seems most natural. All the characters live, and there is no seeking after effect. It is merely a simple story told in the most simple and natural way possible. During the last year the books which have been most discussed here have been those written by women. ‘This may seem rather flattering to the fortunate writers of them, but it is only fair to add that much of the discussion has been on the subject of the exaggeration of women writers, as shown in several of their recent novels. Judging by some specimens of these realistic novels that have been before the public, it seems as though “women rush in where men fear to tread.” In “La Maison du Péché” we had an example of this, and still more recently in “ La Nouvelle Espérance.” “ I,’ Inconstante,” too, is a novel that has astonished everyone, coming, as it does, from the pen of a woman. Exaggeration of this kind cannot be attributed to Madame Daniel Lesueur in the novel she has just published, “ Le Coeur Chemine.” It is a delight- fully natural story of a woman who makes the dis- covery that she is not as happy as she thought she was in her married life. Thanks to a poet whom she had known years before, and whom she meets by accident at Antwerp, she makes this discovery. She has accompanied her husband on one of his business journeys to Antwerp and Bruges, and the poet wanders through the museums and churches with her, with the result that she realises how prosaic her life is. There is no strong plot running through this book: it is just a psychological study from beginning toend. The poet makes love to the wife of the prosaic husband, and she is tempted to promise, at any rate, to be his friend and his muse. Things cannot stop at this stage, but just at a critical moment the wife discovers the nobility of character of her husband and remains faithful to him. As the years go by life is again most monotonous, and once more the poet crosses her path. She has another terrible struggle with herself, and once more comes out victorious, The minor characters in the story are all well drawn, and the author only attempts to show us the workings of the heart of all these human beings without trying to explain at all why so much that is unsatisfactory should remain so to the end. It is, as she says, a most pitiful mystery that one should be compelled to make sacrifices which, as far as we can see, do no final good, although they cost us so much. The second volume of “Souvenirs sur Madame de Maintenon” has just been published by the Count d’Haussonville and M. Hanotaux. It is one of the most interesting books that has yet appeared on this subject, as it contains the famous “ Cahiers de Mademoiselle d’Aumale.” We get a detailed account of life at the French Court under Louis XIYV., dating from his liaison with Madame de Montespan. In the Preface, by M. Hanotaux, we are told that Madame de Maintenon wished “to remain an enigma to posterity,’ and that she only intended those papers about her life to be published which she had prepared for publication. It was on this account that Madame de Maintenon destroyed all her correspondence with Louis XIV, and with various other persons. ‘ Mademoiselle d’Aumale commences her memoirs with a chapter on “Madame de Maintenon and Madame de Montespan.” Another chapter is on the ‘‘Duchesse de Bourgogne,” and there is also an account of the death of Louis XIV., which Mademoiselle d’Aumale witnessed, “Zette”’ is the title of the new story by MM. Paul et Victor Margueritte. “L’Amoureuse Rédemption,” by M. Armand Charpentier, is a strong book which appears to be having great success. Among other new novels are “ Ballons Rouges,” by Madame de Bovet, “TL Etape Silencieuse,” by Jean Saint-Yves, and “ Petite Fille d’Amiral,” by Pierre Maél. A new poet has also come to the front with a volume entitled “Jamais,” the preface of which is written by M. Sully Prudhomme. The poet is M. Charles Reculoux. Various books on religious questions have been published recently, and are no doubt due to the agitation now going on here with reference to the Congregations. One of these books is “ Le Concordat de 1801, ses Origines et son Histoire,” by Cardinal Mathieu ; and another is “La Révolution Francaise et les Congrégations,” by M. Aulard. At the last meeting of the French Academy literary prizes were awarded to Madame Bentzon  232 and to MM. Adolphe: Brisson, Mandat-Grancey, Pontsevrez, Victor du Bled, de Pommerol and A. Halley. The chief theatrical event here has been the production of Maeterlinck’s new play, “ Joyzelle,” at the Gymnase Theatre. Space forbids our giving any details about this piece this month. There is an excellent article on “ The Works of Maeterlinck ” in the May number of the Interna- tional Theatre, which gives a very good idea of the chief features of this author’s books and plays. M. Mirbeau’s piece at the Francais may be pro- nounced a success, and we hear it is to be put on the English stage by Mr. Alexander as “ Business is Business.” The great theme of the play is the influence of money in modern society. It is a somewhat daring piece and the banker is a cleverly drawn type of the financier of our times. “Le Ruban Rouge” is a melodrama taken from the novel by M. Pierre Sales, whose success as a « fenilletonist” has been as marked. It has been put on at the Ambigu, and was very much appreciated by the house. In honour of M. Rostand’s reception at the Academy, Madame Sarah Bernhardt will revive “J Aiglon” at her theatre, and M. Coquelin will give ‘Cyrano de Bergerac” at the Porte Saint- Martin. Auys HALLARD. __ 9 PARRY y. MORING AND GOLLANCZ. —+—~<—+ — N this action, to which two members of the Society, Judge Parry and Mr. Gollancz, were parties, a point of considerable literary im- portance was decided, and several others were raised either in the pleadings or in the newspaper con- troversy which followed it. The facts on which the action was based are briefly as follows :— In 1888 Judge Parry obtained from their then owner, the Rev. 8. R. Longe, with a view to pub- lication, copies of the original letters written before marriage by Dorothy Osborne to Sir William Temple in A.D. 1652-4. To the originals them- selves he had no access. The copies were made by the daughter-in-law of the owner, and the gratuitous offer of them had been occasioned by the publication in April, 1886, in the English Illustrated Magazine, of a sketch by Judge Parry, compiled from Courtenay’s “ Life of Temple,” and entitled Dorothy Osborne, Judge Parry re-arranged the letters, many of which were undated, in what he believed to be their proper sequence, and spent some time in modernising THE AUTHOR. their spelling and English and in annotating them. He proceeded to publish the letters after, at the request of his publisher, making excisions’ amounting in all to about 100 lines, in a guinea volume, entitled Zhe Letters of Dorothy Osborne to Sir William Temple. He registered the copy- right of his book on June 15th, 1888. In October, 1888, a second edition was issued at the price of 6s. _No mention appears to have been made at the time by the original owner, or by Judge Parry, of the copyright in the letters ; nor was any notice given of the copyright having been previously dealt with when in 1891 the original letters were, after the death of the Rev. 8. R. Longe, sold by the then owner to the British Museum, where the librarian arranged and bound them (with one exception) in the same order in which Judge Parry had printed them. In November, 1902, Judge Parry’s attention was called to the advertisement of a volume entitled Zhe Love Letters of Dorothy Osborne to Sir William Temple. Newly Edited from the original MSS. by Israel Gollancz. On the 1st December Messrs. Boote, Edgar & Co., Judge Parry’s solicitors, wrote to Mr. Moring, the publisher of the proposed volume, stating that their client: had copyrighted his publication, of which he was preparing another edition, and that if necessary he would take steps to prevent the publication adver- -tised by Mr. Moring. Mr. Moring answered, on the 2nd December, that the work in question had been prepared from the original letters in the British Museum, and that under these circumstances he presumed Judge Parry would take no further steps. in the matter. Messrs. Boote, Edgar & Co. repliedfon the 4th December stating that they and: Judge Parry were unable to understand how Mr. Moring claimed to be entitled to publish the book advertised by him, and under what permission or sanction from the British Museum he claimed such authority. On the 8th December Mr. Gollancz wrote to Judge Parry, alleging that “the fact of the originals now being the property of the nation made the letters common property,” and offering “to con- nect the new edition with your esteemed name.” On the 9th December Judge Parry referred Mr. Gollancz to his solicitors, and on the same day Messrs. Boote, Edgar & Co., wrote to both the defendants calling on them “to discontinue the issue of the edition published by you.” Mr. Moring, however—after three months delay issued the volume at 2s. 6d. in March, 1903; and on the 18th March Judge Parry filed an affidavit in the Chancery Division of the High Court in support of an action to restrain its further issue. In this he did not insist on the claim suggested in the correspondence to an exclusive copyright in  THE AUTHOR. the original letters, but based his case on the allegation that the copyright in his work already described had been infringed with regard to (1) his notes, (2) his arrangement of the letters, (3) his text, and (4) his title. The defendants replied by affi- davit alleging that “they had not made any unfair use of the plaintiff’s book,” and as to the notes, they contested in detail the evidences of any such use brought forward by the plaintiff. Mr. Gollancz for himself denied having copied the order of the letters, stating that he had followed with one or two exceptions (based on his own researches) the British Museum order. He ad- mitted that, “as rough working copy, a print was set up of the letters as appearing in the plaintiff’s book,” but he alleged that the editor had collated it with the original letters “ at least ten times” and corrected “about 2,000 errors and differences,” and restored numerous omissions extending from one line to thirty, “the result being a new and very superior text.” He entered into detailed explanation of the cases in which he was charged with having copied or retained errors in Judge Parry’s notes. He submitted that his title was no infringement of copyright. He added, “I have always bond fide believed that I was acting within my strict rights, and in a way that could not be thought unfair to other editors, or in particular to the plaintiff.” The case came on before Mr. Justice Farwell gn April 8rd, 1903, on an application for an interim injunction. The Judge ut once expressed his opinion that the defendants’ admission that they had taken Judge Parry’s book and had copied it was fatal. In reply to the argument that they might “‘have made it their own by ten or a dozen comparisons with the manuscripts,” he added, “ It seems to me the substratum is fatal to you ; you cannot use your scaffolding.” On this point, and on this alone, the case was decided. The defendants’ counsel, “ who stated “‘they were not altogether taken by surprise,” submitted to’ judgment for delivery up on oath of all the books and documents constituting the infringement, and an inquiry as to damages and costs down to the trial. There can be little doubt that the judgment, which was so readily accepted by the defendants’ counsel, was sound in law. No decision, it will be noted, was arrived at by the Court on the three further alleged infringements of copyright brought forward—the title, the arrangement of the letters, and the notes—nor does the Committee presume to express an opinion on the legal points involved. : With regard to the notes the question is a complicated one. The following sentences convey the opinion furnished to the Committee by an 233 eminent counsel on the general rules likely to be applied by a Court of Law dealing with similar cases: ‘The principle of the law, as laid down in various judgments, appears to be that an author may use his predecessor’s work, but must not copy it. He must, by adding something of his own, or derived from other and separate sources, by amalgamating and assimilating his literary material, create a new product. He must incorporate what he takes in his own work. Inthe words of Lord Eldon, he is allowed ‘ the legitimate use of a publication in the fair exercise of a mental operation deserving the character of an original work.’ Mere unintelligent copying, especially if mistakes are copied, will be stopped. Intelligent verification and assimilation of previous research in a work of substantial originality will: not be interfered with. The application of this principle to individual cases must be guided by the study of the particular facts involved.” The result of the trial gave rise to a newspaper correspondence, in which some well-known scholars took part. Dr. Furnivall, in the Zimes, asserted that the case had been decided on a technical point, and that a substantial injustice had been done by declaring illegal a practice which he asserted to be common among scholars and essen- tial in the interests of literature. His letter, however, was not mainly directed to the points brought before the Court, and still less to the point decided. He preferred to lay stress on Judge Parry’s assertion of his own belief that “if at any time an honest attempt were made to copy the MSS. in the British Museum, he could show circumstances entitling him to restrain publica- tion of such a copy if he so desired,” or, as Dr. Furnivall put it, “that he could show circumstances that would entitle him to restrain publication of these manuscripts in the British Museum if he so desired.” Professor Skeat also wrote calling attention to the excisions made by Judge Parry in his text, and commenting severely on his descrip- tion of it as “a complete edition.” In the opinion of the Committee there can be no question that any legal hindrance to the use of manuscripts in a national collection would be a misfortune to literature. But this claim was not put before the Court, and Judge Parry has speci- fically stated that he will never seek to enforce it. It may therefore be dismissed from the discussion. The Committee are unable to regard the point on which the case was decided as purely technical. Mr. Gollancz had the original letters at his disposal. It was open to him to copy them, and to collate his copies with his predecessor’s version if he thought it desirable. He preferred to take the opposite course. He borrowed: his predecessor’s text, and, without reference to Judge Parry, made it the  234 basis of his own. It can be no defence to allege that Judge Parry’s work was at once faulty and defective. If it is the custom among scholars to go to a faulty version, when the original is at hand, or to use a living editor’s text without communi- cating with him until after he has threatened legal proceedings, the Committee consider that the law has done a service to literature in declaring that such practices are illegal. The Committee have not overlooked the literary aspect of the case. Judge Parry’s edition of the letters is admittedly incomplete, and the reason assigned by him for the excisions, namely, the request of his publisher, cannot be considered adequate. It is not disputed that his text and notes stand in considerable need of revision. Although the second edition of his volume was published as far back as October, 1888, he had apparently not availed himself of the accessibility since 1891 of the original MSS. in order to revise his text. For it was not till January, 1903, that Judge Parry employed a copyist to compare the letters in his book with the originals in the British Museum, But, while admitting these considerations, the Committee feel that Judge Parry was entitled to be consulted before any use was made of his work in the preparation of a new edition of the letters. Finally, as in the Z%mes correspondence the action of the Secretary of the Society has been referred to, the Committee think it desirable to state the part he has taken in the matter. Before the trial Mr. Gollancz, as a member of the Society, called on the Secretary, who, at his desire, wrote to Judge Parry in the following terms :— THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS, Mareh 20th, 1903, DEAR SIR,— I have now perused your affidavit. I have also seen Mr, Gollancz, who has given me his view of the position. : Mr. Gollanez has asked me to put this offer before you— but without prejudice to his legal position if you do not accept it—that either I should endeavour to arrange the matter between you, or he is willing to abide absolutely by any decision come to by an arbitrator appointed by the Committee of Management of the Society....... Yours truly, (Signed) G. HERBERT THRING. The omitted portion of the letter is private, and does not refer to any offer. Judge Parry, in his reply, stated that any offer Mr. Gollancz desired to make must be made through the usual channels. This information was com- municated to Mr. Gollancz by the Secretary. ee THE AUTHOR. LITERARY, DRAMATIC, AND MUSICAL PROPERTY. a Opinions on United States Copyright Law.* I. Music Booxs DrEniep ImportTATION FEBRUARY 15, 1898. I. Reprints of musical compositions are pro- hibited importation. II. The term ‘ books” in the prohibiting clause includes music books. III. Music books made up partly of copyrighted and partly of uncopyrighted compositions cannot be imported. TV. Destruction of unlawfully imported musi¢ books, pursuant to rules of the Secretary of the Treasury, is legal. By the Solicitor-General. I. The Act of March 3, 1891, prohibits “ during the existence of such copyright, the importation into the United States of any book, chromo, litho- graph, or photograph so copyrighted.” Musical compositions are usually lithographed or set from type. They thus fall within the class prohibited. The act indicates an intent to pro- hibit copyrighted compositions, which includes musical compositions, when reprinted by type set or by drawings on stone made outside of the United States. Il. In the clause prohibiting importation, the word “books” signifies the mechanical means to place the author’s intellectual work in_ saleable shape. Courts have construed “books” in this sense to include a musical composition though on but one sheet. The reprint may be a book, a lithograph, or a photograph, according to the pro- cess. In any of these forms the reprint cannot be imported during the life of the copyright. III. Music books made up in part of copy- righted compositions are prohibited. A prohibited - article cannot be admitted by being attached to an article which is not prohibited. A book is an entity. If part is not admissible, it must all be excluded. IV. Under the convention with Canada pro- viding for the reciprocal return of mail matter which is “not delivered from any cause,” books imported in violation of law need not be returned. The Secretary of the Treasury and the Postmaster- General have power ($4958, R. 8.) to make rules to prevent importation of prohibited articles. Under this general authority rules for the forfeiture * Extracts from a pamphlet published by the Americam Publishers’ Copyright League.  THE AUTHOR. and destruction of prohibited articles unlawfully imported may be framed so as to provide “ due process of law.” II. DrRaMatic RIGHTS IN AMERICA JUNE 80, 1896. An unpublished drama need not be copyrighted to protect stage-rights. By Mr. Rives.* An American publisher is requested by an Eng- lish author ‘‘to copyright a dramatisation” of a forthcoming story by producing a simultaneous technical performance. In the United States stage-right rests entirely on common law right of property, not upon statute. An unpublished play is protected. The play is still unpublished if the text of the drama has not been printed, although the play has been produced on the stage and the novel from which it is taken has been published. The simultaneous performance desired is un- necessary to protect the stage-right. II. Notice oF CopyricuHt; Form or 1897. Marcu 4, When a story, published in a magazine and copyrighted, is reprinted in book form by another publisher, under an assignment of the copyright, the notice therein should give the date of the original copyright and name of the original publisher. By Mr, Rives. A story was copyrighted by the J. B. Lippincott Company when published in its magazine. The copyright was assigned to Dodd, Mead & Company, who are about to publish the story in book form, and who inquire as to the proper form for the notice of copyright. The law requires a notice to be printed in every book in order to entitle it to protection under its coypright. The notice must be in the required words, Congress declares it must give ‘the year the copyright was entered and the name of the party by whom it was taken out.” If the story is reprinted in the same form the notice should be “ Copyright, 1896, by J. P. Lippincott Company.” If it is not to be published in exactly the same form as in the magazine it may be copyrighted as a new edition, and the notice should be “ Copyright, 1896, by J. P. Lippincott Company ; Copyright, 1897, by Dodd, Mead & Company.” * My. Rives is the Counsel to the League. hd oe Or IV RE-BINDING CHEAP Eprrions ror SALE APRIL 3, 1899, Can the owner of a copyright, who sells a cheap edition of the book, prevent its being put in another cover, so as to compete at lower prices with a better edition of the same book ? By Mr. Rives. The question of how far the owner of a copy - right can impose restrictions upon the use of his book has often been before the Courts. The ques- tion seems to depend on the consideration whether the owner of the copyright has sold the book. If the owner of the copyright has nof sold the book he can restrict its use. So in case of an edition of Blaine’s “Twenty Years in Congress,” the publisher had not sold it to canvassing agents and the bookseller, who got a few copies, knowing of the agreement under which the agents got the book, was restrained. But the moment the book is sold, even though conditions are attached to the sale, the owner of the copyright must rely on his remedy for breach of contract, and not on his right to restrain an infringement of copyright. So, where books damaged by fire were sold toa dealer on condition “that all books be sold as paper stock only and not placed on the market as anything else,” but the books were rebound and put on sale, the Court held the remedy was not for violation of the copyright, but of the terms of the contract. The question next arises how far an owner of a copyright who se//s his books can protect himself by imposing conditions on their use. I think an agreement by which a dealer undertakes, for an expressed consideration, to sell the books only in a certain form would, be valid and enforceable as a contract ; without reference to any copyright. A greater difficulty arises with respect to the one to whom the first purchaser may sell. The contract might also provide that the first purchaser should insert similar conditions in any contract of sale with a subsequent purchaser. How far a con- tract between B. and C., made for the benefit of A., is enforceable by A., is hard to say. The rule varies in different States, but usually A. would have no remedy against C. I advise, the safest course is for the publisher to have a carefully drawn agreement with the dealer providing that the dealer shall not dispose of the books except in proper covers ; and also that in selling to other dealers the original purchaser shall agree to impose the same condition ; and that any breach shall be compensated by liquidated damages. It would also be well to print a notice in each copy of the book referring to the original contract.  236 Such contract should be enforced against the first purchaser, and he might be trusted to enforce it against the dealers to whom he sold. Vv. PUBLICATION TO SECURE COPYRIGHT OcToBER 30, 1901. Is publication of a book necessary to secure copyright ? ae By Mr. Rives. The text of the statute is silent on this point. The act, however, assumes that every copyrighted book is to be published. Copies of the book must be deposited “not later than the day of publica- tion.” No action for infringement can be brought unless a notice is printed in the “ copies of every edition published.’ The question is what the Court will infer from this language. In “ Drone on Copyright,” it is said that “ publication is made an essential prerequisite to securing copyright ; and hence there can be no statutory copyright in an un- published work.” The case of Boucicault v. Hart (Circuit Court of the United States in New York) held that a mere filing of title conferred no rights, unless there was a publication in a reasonable time. There is, however, a dictum in the case of Farmer vy. Calvert (Circuit Court in Michigan) that publi- cation 1s not necessary. The point, therefore, is somewhat doutbful. ‘he Constitution empowers Congress to pass copyright laws, not only to pro- tect authors, but (as it declares) ‘to promote the progress of science and useful arts,” or, in other words, to encourage the diffusion of knowledge. Part of the price an author pays for protection is that his work shall be available for consultation by all who desire it. I am, therefore, of the opinion that the purpose of the law is that the author shall, within some reasonable time, make his work public. As the question is not definitely settled, I should consider it unwise for a publisher to defer actual publication for a long time, as it would be running a serious risk of having his copyright declared invalid if he afterwards tried to prevent an infringement. ® ———+— A Curious ‘Case. In the autumn of 1902 a member of the Society received a communication from a firm of the name of Messrs, J. E. Stannard & Co., calling itself advertising agents aad contractors, offering to procure the copyright of certain of her books in America, for a fixed price. As, however, the books had already been published in England the author _ was advised that this would be impossible. THE AUTHOR. The contractors, however, were not to be beaten and claimed that they had a method of obtaining protection, although the work had already been published in England. They promised great things from the circulation of the book and offered to obtain the control of the whole American market. Still the author hesitated, but finally, under the advice of the Secretary of the Society, refused to accept the offer. The Secretary pointed out that as the American copyright was lost, it would be much better for her to deal with her former American publishers —an old-established and reliable firm—if she desired to test the American market. Her English publishers gave her the same advice. Still Messrs. Stannard & Co. were per- sistent, “ considering that it must be disheartening to theauthor to feel that rights worth somethousands of pounds might slip away at any moment.” Again, in a letter dated October Ist, 1902, they state as follows :— “We think it decidedly unfair that after we have taken the trouble to do for you what neither of your ‘ firms of standing’ ever thought of doing, that is, telling you how to rescue what you have lost, you straightway go and turn over the information to someone else. We could have secured the copyrights ourselves and no one would have blamed us for so doing, instead of which we offered to get them for you. Our clients learn to rely on us for straight- forwardness, and it is natural that we should expect the same in return. We should be pleased to hear from you in due course. We are tempted with an offer which would amply recoup us for our trouble, but as it would not be any to your advantage if we accepted it we have postponed the reply until you come to a decision.” The author was still obdurate. In a letter from Messrs. Stannard & Co., dated October 24th, we find the following paragraphs :— ‘Since we are not in business as philanthropists we have advised our American manager by this mail to secure copy- rights of your books if possible, and retain them in our name. “Failing this, he is to issue a par. to the American Literary Press that the American Literary Copyrights are not secured. “ Since respectability does not enter into the methods of American business men, we have no doubt that this will have the desired effect, and if some cute American publisher . copyrights the works in his own name and prevents you from issuing them in the U.S.A. you cannot say that timely warning was not given you. ‘* As we have pointed out before, the copyrights are worth as much to us as they are to you. If we get them, the law is with us. Under no circumstances will we sign your publisher’s agreement, and unless you are willing to agree to the terms stated in our agreement we must follow our own course in the matter. “A cablegram (prepaid) will be the only course open if you wish our American manager to await further instructions. “Since much valuable time has been wasted, we must ask for a final decision at your earliest convenience.” The daring of the gentleman who writes for the firm is interesting quite apart from his legal know- ledge, which is peculiar, It is abundantly clear  THE AUTHOR. 237 to those who have any knowledge of American Copyright Law that if any person actually obtains copyright in America without the English author’s sanction, he must be taking that which does not belong to him—that is to say, supposing the pub- lication in both countries to be simultaneous. If he does not obtain the author’s copyright, but merely publishes on the American market, he is only acting as a common but legalised pirate, On the 21st of January of the present year, Messrs. Lane and Stannard, presumably repre- senting the same firm in the United States, wrote as follows from New York :— “Re the U.S.A. copyrights of your books. We beg to inform you.that they have been secured in accordance with the law, and should therefore be pleased to hear from you with respect to the publishing of the same in this country. “As the general publishing price in this country is $1.50, and the wholesaler’s price but half that amount, it isnot possible to import an edition and sell at a profit, as there is a duty of 45 per cent. on imported books. Taking your offer of two shillings and sixpence (or 60 cents) per volume, and adding the cost of freight and duty, you will see that the importing cost would be at least $1 per volume, and therefore cannot be entertained as a business proposition. “Weare willing and ready to deal with you on equitable terms for the printing and publishing here, and offer and require similar terms given to your publishers in England, with exceptions which you will note in the enclosed agreement. Under these terms you can have full control over the MSS., and the books can go to press exactly as written, which I understand you keenly desire. “We wish you to understand, however, that unless they are purchased by you, the copyrights will remain in our possession, and we reserve the right, if you refuse our offer, to sell to an American publishing firm, without stipulation as to the editing of the MSS. Should, however, you desire to purchase, your offer would receive premier consideration. “In case you accept our offer to publish, the books will be issued by a New York firm, and will be advertised widely but economically. Please cable your reply on or before February 5th, as after that date we shall conclude that you refuse our offer and shall feel at liberty to conclude negotia- tions with a firm here for the sale of copyrights with the privilege of editing the MSS. as they desire. ‘‘We must warn you that any further shipments of your English edition to this country will be liable to be seized and confiscated, but we will, of course, allow you reasonable time to warn your publishers and agents.” The agreement that they asked the author to sign is interesting and instructive. There are three books in question: 25,000 copies of two of the books are to be published, and 50,000 of the third. The author agrees to pay all expenses of printing and publishing, including illustrating, binding, packing, freights, etc., and also one-half of the total cost of efficiently advertising the said books, No limit is fixed for the cost of production or for the advertisements, and the author has to deposit in cash a sum equal to the estimated cost of production and in addition a sum equal to the estimated initial cost of advertising with the Trust Company of the City of New York. Such deposit to be subject only to the draft or cheque of the said firm on the certification of such bills of indebtedness by the author if residing in New York, or in her absence by her legally appointed representatives. Should, however, bills or accounts as above stated be presented for certification and no action taken on the same within seven days, then the said bank or Trust Company is hereby authorised to pay such cheques or drafts out of the aforesaid deposits on receiving an affidavit by the said firm setting forth such default or negligence. And lastly, in con- sideration of the above articles being faithfully performed and carried out, the said firm agree to pay half profits. It is hardly necessary to make any comment on the above extraordinary agreement or upon the proposals made during the course of negotiations. The facts speak for themselves, Although the first letters were full of large promises of profits of all kinds to the author, yet the last offer is quite distinct. It is possible that the author might have been led away by the temptation held out of large returns arising from obtaining copyright in the United States, but no author, however unaccustomed to the ways and methods of publishers and their dealings in literary wares, could possibly be deceived by the final letter and the finalagreement. Nothing farther remains to be done. The author must stand and wait. If the books are produced in the United States, they are pirated copies of the English edition. If they are produced as copyright, under the American law, the firm will be subject to severe penalties, and if the books are produced as an authorised edition, the author’s remedy is to make the whole case public, G. HE. “FAIR COMMENT.” — oe HE Court of Appeal has now given its judgment in the case of McQuire v. The Western Morning News Company, Limited. The case is a very interesting one, not only from the point of view of the dramatist, but from the point of view of the author. All members of the profession of literature are subject to criticism. Although each particular case of “unfair com- ment’? must be to a certain extent decided on its own especial facts, yet there are certain broad rules which the Court lays down in order to determine on what lines and to what extent a criticism may be libellous. The case was brought by an actor who repre- sented a piece at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth,  238 and objected to the comment that appeared next day in the Western Morning News. In the Court of first instance judgment was given for the plaintiff with £100 damages. The defendant company pleading that the words were not libellous, but fair and bond fide criticism on a matter of public interest. The defendants appealed, and on the appeal the judgment in the Court below was reversed, The Master of the Rolls, in delivering an elaborate judgment, made some very weighty com- ments on the law of “ libellous criticism.” Firstly, as the libel complained of was a dramatic criticism of the play publicly acted, unless it exceeded “fair comment,” it could not be counted as libellous. After going carefully over the statements of the plaintiff and defendants, he proceeded to raise the most important question of what are the limits of “ fair comment.” “ One thing,” he said, “is perfectly clear. That the jury have no right to substitute their own opinion of the literary merits of the work for that of the critic, or to try the fairness of the criticism by. any such standard.” This point is most important, and although it has been made before, yet it cannot be sufficiently insisted upon. If the verdict of whether the criticism was fair or not depended upon the jury’s verdict of the merits of the piece, the result might be in a good many cases extraordinary. Authors and dramatists know but too well how even the highest critics have been known to disagree when writing about or discussing the features of works of art. Secondly, the Master of the Rolls quoted a saying of Lord Ellenborough’s bearing on this subject :— “The Commentator must not step aside from the work or introduce fiction for the purpose of condemnation. Had the party writing the criti- cism followed the plaintiff into domestic life for the purpose of slander, that would have been libellous.” And again, from the same judgment, “ Show me an attack upon the moral character of the plaintiff, or upon his character unconnected with his author- ship, and I shall be as ready as any judge that ever sat here to protect him.” Lastly, he states, “I think the word ‘ fair’ embraces the meaning of honest and also of rele- vancy.” And later, “‘ The comment, in order to be within the protection of the privilege, had to be fair, 7.¢., not such as to disclose in itself actual malice. It also had to be relevant; otherwise it never was within it. And the judge could hold, as a matter of law, that the privilege did not extend to it.’ THE AUTHOR. These are some of the general points, and in this particular case the Master of the Rolls stated that he was clearly of opinion that the verdict was against the weight of evidence, and that he con- sidered the latter part of the summing-up of the judge in the Court of first instance might have led the jury to apply the standard of their own taste to the appreciation of the thing criticised, and to measure the rights of the critic accordingly. Members of the Society from time to time come to the office with questions of this kind, and it is very useful to put before them those fundamental facts on which alone an action for libellous criti- cism will rest. G. Hoo. —$-—<—-—____ A COMMA AND A COW. ++ PWHE British Medical Journal of the 28th of March, 1903, had an interesting account of a dairy visited during an investigation into “The Milk Supply of Large Towns.” One of the incidents was described as follows :— “The driver having finished milking, his cow offered to take me into an adjoining room, where the milk was cooled.” In its following issue the British Medical Journal commented upon the freak of the “ devil” who had thus with the aid of a comma created a bovine successor to Balaam’s ass, and gave two amusing instances of the powers of misplaced punctuation. In the one a well-known Nonconformist divine, wishing to disclaim any ambition to appear in the black coat and white tie, or stock, of orthodoxy, was credited with a public declaration that he would “wear no clothes, to distinguish him from his fellow-Christians.” In the other, a Canadian firm having placed a new patent nursing-bottle on the market, accom- panied it with these recommendations, for the guidance of anxious mothers: “When the baby is done drinking it must be unscrewed, and laid in a cool place under a tap. If the baby does not thrive on fresh milk it should be boiled.” The last example would seem to require some- thing more than the minding of stops, in order to satisfy a critical literary taste. It is not, however, recorded that any baby suffered. In such a case an interesting question of legal responsibility might have been raised by an action for negligence against the vendors of the bottle brought by a chilled or par-boiled infant suing through his or her “next friend.”  THE AUTHOR. GENERAL MEMORANDA. ++ ERE are a few standing rules to be observed in an agreement. There are four methods of dealing with literary property :— I. Selling it Outright. This is in some respects the most satisfactory, if a proper price can be obtained. But the transaction should be managed by a competent agent, or with the advice of the Secretary of the Society. II. A Profit-Sharing Agreement (a bad form of agreement), In this case the following rules should be attended to: C.) Not to sign any agreement in which the cost of pro- duction forms a part without the strictest investigation. (.) Not to give the publisher the power of putting the profits into his own pocket by charging for advertisements in his own organs, or by charging exchange advertise- ments. Therefore keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Not to allow a special charge for “office expenses,” unless the same allowance is made to the author. (4.) Not to give up American, Colonial, or Continental rights. (5.) Not to give up serial or translation rights. (6.) Not to bind yourself for future work to any publisher, As well bind yourself for the future to any one solicitor or doctor ! Ill. The Royalty System. It is above all things necessary to know what the proposed royalty means to both sides. It is now possible for an author to ascertain approximately and very nearly the truth. From time to time the very important figures connected with royalties are published in Zhe Author, Readers can also work out the figures themselves from the ** Cost of Production,” IY. A Commission Agreement. The main points are :— (1.) Be careful to obtain a fair cost of production, (2.) Keep control of the advertisements. (3.) Keep control of the sale price of the book, General. All other forms of agreement are combinations of the four above mentioned. Such combinations are generally disastrous to the author. Never sign any agreement without competent advice from the Secretary of the Society. Stamp all agreements with the Inland Revenue stamp. Avoid agreements by letter if possible. The main points which the Society has always demanded from the outset are :— C1.) That both sides shall know what an agreement means. (2.) The inspection of those account books which belong to the author. We are advised that this is a right, in the nature of a common law right, which cannot be denied or withheld, o—~<>— WARNINGS TO DRAMATIC AUTHORS. —< + EVER sign an agreement without submitting it to the Secretary of the Society of Authors or some com- petent legal authority. 2. [t is well to be extremely careful in negotiating for the production of a play with anyone except an established manager,; 239 3. There are three forms of dramatic contract for PLAYS IN THREE OR MORE ACTs : (a.) SALE OUTRIGHT OF THE PERFORMING RIGHT, This is unsatisfactory, An author who enters into such a contract should stipulate in the con- tract for production of the piece by a certaindate and for proper publication of his name on the play-bills. (b.) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF PERCENTAGES on gross receipts. Percentages vary between 5 and 15 per cent. An author should obtain a percentage on the sliding scale of gross receipts in preference to the American system. Should obtain a sum in advance of percentages. A fixed date on or before which the play should be performed. (¢.) SALE OF PERFORMING RIGHT OR OF A LICENCE TO PERFORM ON THE BASIS OF ROYALTIES (e., fixed nightly fees). This method should be always avoided except in cases where the fees are likely to be small or dificult to collect. The other safeguards set out under heading (.) apply also in this case. 4. PLAYS IN ONE ACT are often sold outright, but it is better to obtain a small nightly fee if possible, and a sum paid in advance of such fees in any event, It is extremely important that the amateur rights of one-act plays should be reserved, 5. Authors should remember that performing rights can be limited, and are usually limited, by town, country, and time, This is most important. 6. Authors should not assign performing rights, but should grant a licence to perform. The legal distinction is of great importance. : 7, Authors should remember that performing rights in a play are distinct from literary copyright. A manager holding the performing right or licence to perform cannot print the book of the words. 8. Never forget that AMERICAN RIGHTS may be exceed- ingly valuable. ‘hey should never be included in English agreements without the author obtaining a substantial consideration. 9. Agreements for collaboration should be carefully drawn and executed before collaboration is commenced. 10. An author should remember that production of a play is highly speculative: that he runs a very great risk of delay and a breakdown in the fulfilment of his contract. He should therefore guard himself all the more carefully in the beginning. 11, An author must remember that the dramatic market is exceedingly limited, and that for a novice the first object is to obtain adequate publication. As these warnings must necessarily be incomplete, on account of the wide range of the subject of dramatic con- tracts, THOSE AUTHORS DESIROUS OF FURTHER INFORMA«# TION ARE REFERRED TO THE SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY &—~<}P— — HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. advice upon his agreements, his choice of a pub- lisher, or any dispute arising in the conduct of his business or the administration of his property. If the advice sought is such as can be given best by a solicitor the member has a right to an opinion from the Society’s solicitors. If the case is such that Counsel’s opinion is desirable, the Committee will obtain for him Counsel’s opinion, All this without any cost to the member, bs Ly VERY member has a right toask for and to receive  240 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright and publishers’ agreements do not generally fall within the experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use the Society. 3. Send to the Office copies of past agreements and past accounts, with a copy of the book represented. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The information thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4. BEFORE SIGNING ANY AGREEMENT WHATEVER, send the document to the Society for examination. 5. Remember always that in belonging to the Society you are fighting the battles of other writers, even if you are reaping no benefit to yourself, and that you are advancing the best interests of literature in promoting the independence of the writer. 6. The Committee have now arranged for the reception of members’ agreements and their preservation in a fire- proof safe. The agreements will, of course, be regarded as confidential documents to be read only by the Secretary, who will keep the key of the safe. The Society now offers : —(1) To read and advise upon agreements and to give advice concerning publishers. (2) To stamp agreements in readiness for a possible action upon them. (3) To keep agreements. (4) To enforce payments due according to agreements, 7. No contract should be entered into with a literary agent without the advice of the Secretary of the Society. Members are strongly advised not to accept without careful consideration the contracts submitted to them by literary agents, and are recommended to submit them for inter- pretation and explanation to the Secretary of the Society. .8. Many agents neglect to stamp agreements. This must be done within fourteen days of first execution. The Secretary will undertake it on behalf of members. 9. Some agents endeavour to prevent authors from referring matters to the Secretary of the Society ; so do some publishers. Members can make their own deductions and act accordingly. —_—_+—>_ +—___—_—_ THE READING BRANCH. — to EMBERS will greatly assist the Society in this branch of its work by informing young writers of its existence. Their MSS. can be read and treated as a composition is treated by a coach, The term JISS. includes NOT ONLY WORKS OF FICTION, BUT POETRY AND DRAMATIC WORKS, and when it is possible, under special arrangement, technical and scientific works. The Readers are writers of competence and experience. The fee is one guinea. ————_——__.——_o—_____ NOTICES. ———>+ HE Editor of The Author begs to remind members of the Society that, although the paper is sent to them free of charge, the cost of producing it would be a very heavy charge on the resources of the Society if a great many members did not forward to the Secretary the modest 5s, 6d. subscription for the year. THE AUTHOR. Communieations for Zhe Author should be addressed to the Offices of the Society, 39, Old Queen Street, Storey’s Gate, S.W., and should reach the Editor NOT LATER THAN THE 21st OF EACH MONTH, All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of the 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. i COMMUNICATIONS AND LETTERS ARE INVITED BY THE EDITOR on all subjects connected with literature, but on no other subjects whatever, Every effort will be made to return articles which cannot be accepted. —+— + THE SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY begs to give notice that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and he requests members who do not receive an answer to important communications within two days to write to him without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery Lane, or be sent by registered letter only. AUTHORITIES. ge R. G. H. PUTNAM, the Secretary of the American Publishers’ Copyright League, has forwarded to the offices a pamphlet privately printed for the League, entitled “ Opinions on Questions of Copyright.” The pamphlet contains opinions upon the more important issues that have been in dispute during the last ten years ending December, 1902. Mr. Putnam, in his letter to the Secretary, states, ‘he will be very pleased to meet any special require- ments that may arise for copies on the part of the managers of the Society.” If, therefore, any member for a special purpose should desire to have a copy of the pamphlet he is requested to communicate with the Secretary, who will, no doubt, under Mr, Putnam’s favour, obtain the work in question. We see, with interest, that the Publishers’ Asso- ciation of America means to print at different intervals further similar summaries as they are able to secure records of decisions on Copyright Cases. These publications will in time no doubt grow to great importance, as it will be possible in a handy form to have a collection of all the leading Copy- right Cases. We thank Mr. Putnam for his courtesy and consideration. Amone@ the Correspondence we print a letter from Mr. Thomas Hardy. It comes at a very suitable time, as the same subject was treated in the May number of The  Author, on page 206, when comment was made on the Annual Meeting of the Publishers’ Association, In that article we stated as follows :— “ Firstly, we have insisted, and now insist again, that it is absolutely essential that contracts deal- ing with the subject of serial rights should be clear and limited and should not be general or indefinite, and when serial rights are sold they should be sold either to one paper or to a limited circle of papers for one issue only or for a limited time.” Unfortunately, Mr. Hardy seems to have suffered from a complaint which is not infrequent among authors, the revival of an earlier work without any reference to the author. Legally, the position is quite correct. If the copyright has been sold or if serial rights without any limitation have been transferred, the position is often very unsatisfactory both for the author, or, as in the case quoted in the May number, for the publisher. It is necessary to warn authors who publish serial work to be careful about their agreements. In the early days of the past month the papers were full of the Stock Exchange walk from London to Brighton, and applauded the fact vociferously that out of some 90 starters 72 covered the distance under thirteen hours. From a physical point of view no doubt the result is highly satis- factory. : : : In the American Author there is an interesting article on the mental activity of authors. Mr. John Swinton, “journalist, orator, and economist,” was desired to write a novel based on certain economical questions, consisting of 500 octavo pages, small pica type, in twenty days. Reckoning a page to contain about 250 words, this meant a book of 125,000 words. Mr. Swinton objected, but the representative of the publishing firm was inexorable, and at last the author stated that he would make an effort. His own words are as follows :— “He demanded the preface of my book at once. I pondered. I was familiar with the subject, having thought and spoken and written much upon it in other years. I hastily sketched a plan as I talked with him. ‘“‘He said he would wait in the house till I had written the preface, which he desired to take to Philadelphia that evening. Becoming desperate under his urging eye, I sat down, and in an hour gave him the preface. The first chapter was mailed in a few days. Chapter followed chapter. I worked day and night, keeping up pluck with never-ending pots of coffee. Three hundred of the five hundred pages were written, and time was nearly up. I padded. I put in things I had formerly written. The twenty days were out, and over one hundred pages were yet needed. I had to get a few days of grace. Finally the book of 500 pages and 125,000 words was finished. Its title is ‘Striking for Life,’ ”’ This was certainly fine mental athletics, but the THE AUTHOR. 241 article goes on to quote from another American periodical, the Bookman, a few facts which have no doubt been fully verified by the writer. For instance—Frank Norris wrote 125,000 words in 89 days. Mrs. Oliphant always wrote at night, and more than once completed a three volume novel in six weeks. The following interesting statements about English authors, from the same article, may come as a surprise to some :— ““Weyman writes one novel a year, and cannot be per- suaded to attempt more. It took Hall Caine three years to write ‘The Manxman,’ Barrie four to write ‘ Sentimental Tommy,’ and four more to produce ‘Tommy and Grizel.’ Maurice Hewlett wrote ‘The Forest Lovers’ four times before he was willing to let it go from his hands, and the late Bret Harte tore up a dozen pages of manuscript for every one that he completed. Harold Frederic was five years writing ‘The Damnation of Theron Ware. ” But for sound mental athletics, consider gravely an offer made by a certain well-known publisher to a gentleman, whom he desired to employ to grind out fiction. This offer was quoted in’ the April number of Zhe Author, and is absolutely authentic. The serial writer was to have £600 a year. To earn this money he would have to produce 5,000 words a day for six days a week, without any provision for sickness or holidays. It will be seen that work under this offer comes nearly up to that of Mr. Swinton, but has to be continued year in and year out, until the publisher, the public, and the author are tired, and the last, a useless wreck, loses his position. In the American Critic an article entitled “Uncertainties of Literature,” written by Elliot Flower, follows the same lines as the articles that appeared in the February and March (1902) num- bers of Zhe Author, on “Some Free Lance Expe- riences.” In reading the record it would appear that the struggling ree Lance meets with much the same treatment on both sides of the water. The record is tabulated. Out of 53 MSS., each MS. had to be sent on its travels on an average slightly over five times before it could be placed. Nine were accepted at once, and 12 on a second trial, but at the other end of the scale, one was sent out 30 times before acceptance, one 18 times, and two 13 times. There is no doubt that when an author has reached a certain point of facility in writing there is nothing like persistence to bring success. Tux following rhyme, written, perchance, with a view to ridicule, has been dropped into the Society’s post bag. We print it for what it is worth, in the hope that  249 the author will put aside his cloak of modesty and discover himself. No doubt, he calls it an epigram. If so, he would, we feel sure, be a proper inmate for one of those beautiful and sanitary buildings that adorn the hills of Surrey and Sussex. To tHE Society of AUTHORS, 39, QUEEN STREET, SrorEY’s GATE. You flourish on Authors’ alarms ; You arouse the unfriendly in Man ; Then you sell healing balms, To stifle their qualms, At the cost of One Guinea per ann. But pause for a moment, I pray, A pen stroke :—your ruin is clear, From the Street that is clean, With the name of the QUEEN, To the street that is doubtful and QUEER. ee <> THE LYTTON CENTENARY. — + HE Lytton centenary has produced the ordinary crop of commemorative articles, the best being Mr. Francis Gribble’s paper in the Fortnightly Review, and the more sober appre- ciation in Blackwood’s Magazine. Of these two papers we think the latter has the greater value as criticism, for Mr. Gribble’s virile intolerance of any- thing savouring of affectation prompts him to con- vey the suggestion, though he does not actually formulate the charge, that Lytton’s vapourings about the Beautiful and the True originated in preciousness ” and were therefore insincere, and his resentment of the seeming insincerity prompts him to do scant justice to Lytton’s compensating merits. With the intolerance of affectation we are in full sympathy, but we do not endorse the very common opinion that Lytton was insincere. He was despe- rately in earnest, ever painfully conscious of his “mission”; he had indeed that high seriousness which, according to Matthew Arnold, comes from absolute sincerity. With it, too, he had a sense of humour ; “ Kenelm Chillingly” proves that, even as it proves its author’s funereal gravity and fathom- less sentimentality. And with those two qualifica- tions, high seriousness and humour, it is odds but what any man will go far. The mistake Lytton made was in allowing his mission to get in the way of his art. “In forming his conception,” Mr. Worsfold says, “the artist should be guided by the test of ‘great ideas ’; in executing his con- ception he must be guided by the ‘rules of art, THE AUTHOR. He, on the one hand, can never be, by the nature of things, so independent of the mass of mankind as to make artistic excellence his sole object; on the other, moral worth, however distinctive, can never of itself suffice to endow his work with the characteristic charm of art.” Lytton’s moral inten- tions were above suspicion, and his literary facility was so extraordinary that it is not surprising that he neglected the rules of art when, without them, he could achieve such an extraordinary vogue as he did at once. The measure of success that was meted out to him might well, indeed, have turned the brain of a much more robust man, and the wonder is, not that he enjoyed such a vogue in the earlier part of his career, but that he was not spoiled by it and wholly incapacitated for doing the much better work that he actually produced in the latter half of his career. Whether Lytton was a great artist or not is a question little likely to be brought up for discussion now ; the centenary merely offers opportunity for reconsidering him as a writer at the expiration of a given period. What he wrote, he wrote ; some of it suited and has been accepted ; “and that’s success.” ‘To describe him in a single epithet is not possible, but the epigrammatic criticism passed upon him by a writer in the Academy is pro- bably as fair a one as could be devised : that he was so full of talent that there was no room left in him for genius. That his bicentenary will be com- memorated, and those books which are read now be read a hundred years hence, may, we think, be assumed ; and of many a better writer so much could not be said. Or THE DISTRIBUTION OF BOOKS. — (Reprinted by kind permission from the Publishers’ Circular, May 2nd.) R. ANDREW LANG has been “ pitching in” to the booksellers in the Morning Post—or, what is much the same thing, he has borrowed the stick of a “ trenchant critic ” who writes in 7’e Author and re-applied it—with reservations. He lets his “author” point the moral, and then he adorns the tail, with another sting of the stick. «The bookseller’s affair is,” he says, “to know about books and men. My author, however, ‘believes that it is nearly impossible to exaggerate the lethargy and incapacity of the ordinary retail bookseller.” Mr. Lang kindly adds: “These be very brave words ; I should hesitate to apply them PohCenSORNRRI  THE AUTHOR. to his Majesty’s ministers, much more to the ordinary retail bookseller.” Then why, Mr. Lang, did you not hesitate before-taking such an unfair statement out of its coffin and publishing it to the world ?—it would have remained stillborn had you not godfathered it. ‘“ ‘The habit of reading,’ says my author, ‘is being all over the country dis- couraged by the insutficiency of the vast majority of booksellers.’” Mr. Lang quotes this silly libel, and adds that he deems it “ much too sweeping.” How much ? “*The country,’ says my author ferociously, ‘would be benefited by the bankruptcy of the whole lot of booksellers, and the transference of their business to more competent hands.’” Mr. Lang’s comment is: “This man _ has suffered much.” How much? Anyone would think the whole of the booksellers of the United Kingdom had united to offend him by refusing to stock his works, but all we are told is that some unnamed “suburban bookseller” failed to get him a cheap copy of Milton’s poems. “The book never came, but at the end of a fortnight the bookseller found energy enough to send a messenger to say it could not be procured.” If this cock-and-bull story were true, what ground is there in it for libelling the whole book- selling trade of the country ? Another ‘“ example,” as Mr, Lang calls it, of this man’s sufferings at the hands of the whole trade is that, despairing of getting a learned work on Egyptology from the suburban bookseller—apparently he did not even ask for it—he gives its title and the address of its publisher to a tobacconist, who at once procured it —whether the confiding tobacconist ever got paid for it we are not told. But why should Mr. Lang give credence and publicity to such a Blue Fairy story as this ? ’ “The larger part of the reading public cannot get the books it desires,” says Mr. Lang’s “ tren- chant critic.” If this is trne it only goes to prove that the larger part of the public is what Carlyle said it was. How interesting it would be to have the name and address of this “author” who would like to see the whole bookselling trade made bankrupt because some apocryphal suburban bookseller could not procure for him a copy of the “ Chandos’ Milton. Mr. Lang’s pen is not often dipped in disappointed author’s bile, and it is not as if he believed the charges were true; then why give currency to anonymous and unfounded abuse of the booksellers ? There are thousands of booksellers in the United Kingdom selling millions of books every year, and yet they are all condemned in this wholesale way because some nameless author says he could not get a cheap book from some unnamed bookseller. 243 It is true that one or two other “examples ” are given by Mr. Lang. Some old lady in Norway wrote for Mr. Lang’s books to an Edinburgh book- seller, who gaily replied that they were all out of print. Are we to infer from the strange conduct of this prevaricating Edinburgh bookseller that Mr. Lang has no honour in his own country ? Heaven forbid! Booksellers would be the last to claim that their knowledge and methods were never at fault—but even those of authors are not perfect. o—~<— HALF-PROFITS ON SHEETS TO AMERICA, — + T may seem dull reading to the constant reader of The Author to see the repetition of certain forms of agreement, certain clauses, certain methods of publishing, accompanied with the same comments; but as long as publishers persist in bad clauses so long must Ve Author's objections persist also. There is a clause often embodied in agreements issued by the best houses in London in which the author, who does not obtain the American Copy- right, is entitled to half of the profits on the sale of sheets to America. If this clause is inserted in the usual half-profit agreement there is little to be said against it. The only points at issue, then, are, Is a profit-sharing agreement desirable? In what proportion should profits be divided between author and publisher? But if the clause is inserted in an agreement where the author is to obtain a royalty on the publication of the English edition, there are two very strong points of objection. This sale to an American house is mere agency work. If conducted through the medium of an author’s agent the latter would be highly pleased with the payment of 10 per cent. on the net result. Not so the publisher, although he is constantly crying out against the agent and his charges, It is a well-known fact—instances have often been quoted—that the publisher, although he expresses strong disapproval of the intervention of the agent who charges a modest 10 per cent., makes—when he endeavours to undertake any of the agent’s duties—a general charge of 50 per cent. The lowest percentage which has ever been seen in any agreement before the Secretary of the Society was 25 per cent. Further arguments against allowing a publisher to undertake an agent’s work need not be repeated here. The second objection rests on the fact that a clause drafted on these lines is a distinct pitfall to the author. It is a pitfall for the following reasons :—1. Because to the ordinary person the  244 difficulties with which the clause is pregnant are altogether invisible. 2. Because the amount the author receives in royalty is always calculated— see the books of the Society on the point—on the basis that the full cost of composition is charged against the English edition. If this were not the case, the author ought to receive a higher royalty on British sales. : Let us explain what we mean more fully. ake the ordinary 6s. book :— Cost of composition of 3,000 copies ... £30 0 0 Cost of printing ; ee 16 0 8 Cost of paper a 2 58 0 0 Total... ..£104 0 0 Of the 3,000 copies the publisher sends 2,000 to America, and receives for the same (say) 1s. a copy £100. The cost of composition was compulsory for the completion of the English edition, the author’s royalty, as stated, being based on_ this understanding ; but the publisher takes two-thirds of this cost towards the American edition, as well as two-thirds of the cost for the print and the paper, leaving to be divided between himself and the author— By sale of 2,000 copies to America ...£100 0 0 ‘Two-thirds cost of production ~ 69 6 8 £30 13 4 As the cost of composition has no right to be charged against the American edition, but only the cost of print and paper, the difference would work out as follows :— By sale of 2,000 copies to America ...£100 0 0 ‘Two-thirds cost of print and paper... 49 6 8 £50 13 4 Instead, therefore, of the author receiving £25 6s. 8d., by the publisher’s method of calcu- lation of half profits, the author receives £15 6s. 8d. and the publisher £35 6s. 8d. It is almost as reasonable an arrangement as the ordinary half-profit agreement, whose clauses and workings have so often been exposed in Zhe Author. To show how this method may be worked out in the interests of untrustworthy publishers unfairly to the author, say the publisher in the first instance only publishes a thousand copies. The cost of composition would still be £30; printing, £10; paper, £20. He sells 500 copies to America, and on the same principle the following sum is worked out — THE AUTHOR. Half cost of production .. £30 0 0 By sale of 500 copies to America at 1s. per copy ... one ae «=. 202 0 0 £5 0.0 This would leave a deficit against the author’s account of £2 10s., as the sale to America has failed to cover the cost of production. As soon as the edition is sold and the amount is worked out against the author he prints 10,000 copies for the English edition, but never takes into account the proportion of the cost of production of the 500 sent to America to the 10,000 printed in England. Again, supposing you take the first instance and 20,000 were subsequently sold, the cost of the 2,000 sold to America is still taken in proportion to the cost of the 3,000 of the first edition printed, and not in proportion to the whole cost. It will be seen, therefore, that, quite apart from the contract being unfair and a pitfall to the unwary (as on the face of the agree- ment the difficulty is invisible), even if it is worked out by a publisher with an honest idea of doing nothing dishonourable, the result of its working, its natural evolution, becomes a fraud on the author, as it is impossible to calculate this sale to America on the basis of future sales. It must always be calculated upon the sales that have already been made. The position is ridiculous. It is to be hoped that the Publishers’ Association will dissociate themselves from this form of agreement. G. H. T. —_—-- AUTHORS AND MODERN THRIFT. II.—The Purchase of an Annuity. O possess an annuity is the dearest desire of a poor man’s heart. An income assured for life, against which neither the rumours of wars nor the depressions of the money market has any effect, isperhaps the most comforting of all prospects. For this reason doubtless—the immunity from finan- cial worry—the lives of annuitants extend beyond the common span. One company, in a recent report, stated that the average age of the annuitants dying during the year under review was eighty-eight. The records of other companies confirm this experi- ence, which is remarkable in view of the fact that many of the annuitants are in weak health when they effect their policies, and would not be accept- able for life insurance except at special rates. The Moral Objection is one which arises in the consideration of the annuity. It is held that as the capital invested with the company is forfeited  to them at the death of the assured ; that the con- tract is a peculiarly selfish one; at least this is often the opinion of near relatives. The question, however, depends wholly upon circumstance. For a married man with distracting responsibilites to sink all his available capital might very well be an unwise step. On the other hand, there area variety of situations in which to purchase an annuity might be a most prudent step, inasmuch as the annuitant is relieved immediately of all anxiety—providing the annuity is of sufficient amount—as regards his future. Annuity versus Investment—It is generally agreed by financial authorities that the highest return on money it is possible to obtain from abso- lutely secure investment is 8 per cent. he return from the annuity is much higher, varying from 5 to 20 per cent., according to age. A man of sixty would receive £30 a year from his investment of £1,000, whereas the annuity would produce him an income of £94. The difference might very well mean to him the path from penury to comfort. In consequence of the curious life- giving properties of the annuity it is regarded with disfavour by some of the insurance companies, as it is not a department which is very profitable to them. The occasional early death of an annuitant does not recompense them for the abnormally long lives on which they continue to make a high return. Another aspect of the annuity in comparing it with investments is that the return never varies. The recent depreciation in the value of Consols and certain railway stocks indicates a risk which attaches even to “ gilt-edged”’ investments. The choice of an annuity is necessarily confined to persons of capital. But the return per hundred pounds is the same as per thousand, and to persons whose income comes to them, as it were, in flashes, a few hundred pounds might very well be sunk in producing a small income which has the immense advantage of being guaranteed to them for life. The choice of an annuity, being a perfectly simple contract untroubled by side issues, is one which offers no difficulty. All the well-known British offices are absolutely safe. The object, therefore, should be to purchase the annuity in the office offering the largest return for the particular age. The returns differ far more than in ordinary insurance. For example, a man of sixty can pur- chase for £1,000 a life annuity of £94 in one office, whilst another will return him only £80 10s. The difference is over 14 per cent. Both offices are of the highest standing, but a man would be very unwise to take the latter policy when the former is obtainable. ‘The differences indicated at several ages is clearly shown in the following table. The terms quoted by the Post Office are also given for the purpose of comparison. THE AUTHOR. 245 INVESTMENT oF £1,000, Males. | | Age 40. Age 50, Highest re-| £ 5, d.| £ s.. d.| & $d. & sg 2 Gunn 62 10 0173 10.0104. .0 1134 oO 8 Lowest re- | tora =... | 62 1 0.) 63 10 0130-10 06 114 8 6 Difference..| £9 15 0/10 0 0/1810 01/19 15 0 Average of | 50 offices. | 5 | ! W1t 8) 68 7 6 | 8812 61196 6 § Post Office..| 55 17 6 |.66 18 4187 1 8 195 9 9 Females. : ee Age 40, | Age 50 Age 60. | Age 70, | d.| ee a A es as ga. Highest re-} £ s. | £ 8. CHI cs 56 12 0 | 66 10 O18 0 0 1193 0 6 Lowest re- | | nibunloy eee 48 0 0/5616 8| 7218 4|105 6 8 Difference..|£8 12 0| 918 4/1211 8|1713 4 Average of 50 offices.| 52 11 8 | 62 1 817915 O1115 0 0 Post Office..|] 50 5 0{60 510/78 8 4 111416 8 | -Vote.—For the return per £100 in each instance divide: by ten. There is no doubt, however, that the complete surrender of capital to the company is a material objection, in some minds, to the purchase of an annuity. “Should I die the day after, they argue, the money is absolutely lost, and my estate receives nothing!” The number of annuitants dying in the early days of their contract is so small as to be beyond practical consideration ; but all the same this objection remains. To meet this several com- panies have lately devised a plan by which the income is guaranteed over a stated number of years, usually ten or twenty. This provides against the early death of the annuitant, as, in any case, a return of ten or twenty payments is guaranteed to. the estate. We have shown that the best return obtainable for age sixty for £1,000 is £94 per annum. With the annuity guaranteed for tem years the return would be £80 3s. and for twenty years £62 9s. Such tables would appeal to persons. who wish to provide their estate against the risk of early death. But, on the other hand, most per- sons of mature age are more or less covered by life insurance, and it is perhaps better business to accept the slight risk of early death in order to: procure the materially higher income.  246 THE ANNUAL DINNER OF THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS. 1+ HE annual dinner of the Society, held at the Hotel Cecil, on Thursday, April 30th, was attended by about 170 members and guests. Mr. Douglas Freshfield, Chairman of the Committee of Management, was in the chair, with Captain Sverdrup, of the Fram, one of the gold medallists of the Royal Geographical Society for this year, on his right hand and Sir Clements Markham, K.C.B., President R.G.S., on his left ; and the vice-chairs were occupied by Mr. G. H. Thring (Secretary), Mr. Rider Haggard, Mr. Anthony Hope Hawkins, and Dr. 8. Squire Sprigge. When dinner was over the Chairman proposed the health of the King in a brief speech, followed by that of the Queen and Royal Family. After these loyal toasts had been duly honoured, Mr. Douglas Freshfield rose again to propose the toast of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Making reference to the important work done by the Society for authors at large and for its members in particular in enabling them to obtain the full market value for their work, he described it as a Society for the Protection of Authors. In their business relations with publishers authors often needed protection. He deprecated the idea that the Society led a crusade against publishers, and preferred to consider it as working to promote an alliance necessary to both; he likened it rather to a trades union, having, however, no power to call its members out on strike. Mr. Freshfield also referred to the subject of the foundation of an Academy of Literature, as a question of interest to authors, on which he believed that there was some- thing to be said on both sides, though he indicated his own doubts as to the advantages to literature and the public taste that might be derived from such a body counterbalancing the obvious draw- backs and difficulties connected with its creation and renewal. Mr. Rider Haggard replied for the Society in a vigorous speech, in which he deprecated the expression of any desire by authors for the institu- tion of an Academy, and inquired what the methods were likely to be by which election to such an Academy might be secured. He declared that he had no wish to see authors—men of letters—touting round to other men of letters in order to secure election to the Academy. He asked by what stan- dard it was proposed that their claims to election should be judged. Was popularity to be the test, and was the author of whose work many thousand copies were sold before it appeared to be the one elected to the Academy, or he whose work was considered to have high literary qualifications ? THE AUTHOR. He hoped that the question of the Academy would be left alone, and expressed the belief that every class had the right to combine for the mutual comfort and protection of its members, and that this was the spirit which actuated those who founded the Society of Authors, of which he had been a very early member. While alluding to the question of the prices paid for literary work and the success of the Society in bettering the position of authors with regard to payment, Mr. Haggard asked why Milton sold ““Paradise Lost” for £10? He answered his own question by saying, with emphasis, that it was because he could not get any more. For unpaid work, amateur work, he expressed no great respect, indeed he questioned the merits of work done without hope of reward in such terms that some of his hearers were inclined to express dissent from his views. In the course of his speech Mr. Haggard referred to the friendly relations which he believed to be those that should rightly exist between author and publisher, and in conclusion he paid a graceful tribute to the memory of Sir Walter Besant. In proposing the toast of the guests of the Society of Authors, Mr. Richard Whiteing referred to those preseut who, representing science, had maintained the connection ever existing between science and literature. He mentioned among those present Mr. C. Longman, Dr. Clifford Allbutt, Dr. Mill, Sir William Church, P.R.C.P., Sir Henry Howse, P.R.C.S., and Mr. G. W. Prothero. In par- ticular he made allusion to the work done recently by Captain Sverdrup on board the Fram, and to the kindred services to science and exploration with which the name of Sir Clements Markham is associated. With these gentlemen he joined Mr. Henry Newbolt as representing the guests of the Society. In replying for the guests, Sir Clements Markham laid emphasis upon the recent achievements of Captain Sverdrup in the department of scientific Polar exploration, and mentioned that Captain Sverdrup himself would probably find difficulty in making a lengthy reply to the toast in any but a foreign tongue. Unfortunately this was the case, and Captain Sverdrup, to the regret of his hosts and fellow-guests, confined himself to a_ brief expression of thanks for the cordial welcome received by him. Mr. Henry Newbolt, replying in his turn for the guests, described himself as being in a sense a publisher as well as an author, and was inclined to think that the attitude of author and publisher towards one another must necessarily be charac- terised by some hostility due to their relative positions and interests. Referring to standards by which modern literature may be judged, Mr.  THE AUTHOR. Newbolt took a hopeful view of his contemporaries, but compared their passage past our range of vision to that of a procession, pointing out that the procession as it goes by seems to be a confused succession of units, while the relative merit of the figures and groups composing it can best be appre- ciated as it passes into the distance. At the conclusion of Mr. Newbolt’s speech Mr. Oscar Browning rose to give the health of the chairman. Mr, Browning avowed himself able in doing this to speak from long acquaintance with the subject of his speech, whom he had first known as climbing Mont Blane while a school- boy at Eton, when he was himself a master there, and with whose work as an explorer of mountain peaks and ranges, and discoverer of ground untrodden by previous climbers, he had been familiar from his earliest days. Mr. Freshfield, in thanking those present for the warmth with which they had received the toast, made graceful reference to his memories of Mr. Browning as an Eton master, and to the long friendship with him which so many Eton and Cambridge men had enjoyed. A soirée was held after the toasts had been drunk, and the members and guests had an oppor- tunity of meeting one another. The following is a list of those present :— Ackermann, A. 8. E. Ackermann, Mrs. Allbutt, Prof. Clifford Armstrong, E. A. Ashley, Mrs. Back, Mrs. Eaton Baildon, H. Belsize Batty, Mrs. Braithwaite Begbie, Miss A, H. Bell, Mackenzie Berene, Sir K.C.M.G. Besant, Geoffrey Besier, Rudolf Bird, C. P. Boddington, Miss Helen Bolam, the Rev. C. E. Boutwood, Arthur Boutwood, Mrs. Browning, Oscar Bryden, H. A. Buxton, Dudley Buxton, Mrs. Dudley Campbell, Miss Mont- gomery Carlile, John C. Childers, Erskine Church, Sir William &., PEC, P, Churchill, Lt.-Col. Seton Henry, Colquhoun, Archibald Colquhoun, Mrs. Archi- bald Craig, Lt.-Col. R. Mani- fold Crawshay, Mrs. Croker, Mrs. B. M. Davidson, Miss L. C, Davy, Mrs. E. M. Doudney, Miss Sarah Douglas, Sir George, Bart. Dowsett, C. F. Duncan, Miss Sarah Jeanette Esler, Rentoul Esler, Mrs. Rentoul Free, the Rey. Richard Freshfield, Douglas Galpin, H. “ Wirt Gerrare ” Gowing, Mrs. Aylmer Grierson, Miss Griffin, H. M. *‘ Victoria Cross ”’ Groser, Horace G. Gunter, Lt.-Col. E. Haggard, Miss Dorothy Haggard, Miss Angela Haggard, H. Rider Hallett, Col. W. Hughes Harrison, Miss Rose Hawkins, A. Hope Henslowe, Miss Hepburn, David Hills, A. E. Hodges, W. O. Holman, Martin Howse, Sir Henry G., P.R.C.S. Humphreys, Mrs. Des- mond (‘‘ Rita ’’) Hutchinson, the Rey, HN, lliffe, Mrs. Irvine, Mrs. Duncan Irvine, Duncan Jacobs, W. W. James, Miss W. M. ( Austin Clare”) Jenkins, Mrs. L. Hadow Keltie, J. Scott Kenealy, Miss Arabella Lechmere, Mrs. Lechmere, Mr. Lee, Miss Alice Lefroy, Mrs. Lennox, Lady William Little, J. Stanley Little, Mrs. Longman, C. J. Lowndes, Mrs. Belloc ‘Maarten Maartens ” Magnus, Laurie Markham, Sir Clements, KO. BE RS: Marks, Montagu Mason, Miss EH. M. Meadows, Miss Mill, Dr. H. R. Montagu, Mrs. Drogo 247 Morris, Mrs. Frank Moscheles, Felix Newbolt, H. Oppenheim, E. Phillip Pennethorne, Deane Pennethorne, Mrs. Perrin, Mrs. Perris, G. H. Petano, D. K. Phibbs, Miss I. M. Praed, Bulkeley Praed, Mrs. Campbell Prelooker, Jaakoff Prothero, G. W. Rae, John * Allen Rainé” Reeves, Mrs. Reich, Emil Rogers, A. “ Leicester Romayne ” Royle, William Savory, Miss Isabel Stanton, Miss H. M. Stanton, Stephen J. B. Stroud, F. Stroud, Miss Smith, Mrs. Isabel Spielmann, M. H. Sprigge, Mrs. Squire Sprigge, 8. Squire Sverdrup, Capt. Thring, Mrs. Thring, G. H. Trench, Herbert Tweedie, Mrs. Alec Walrond, Charles Wells, Mrs. Wells, H. G. White, Arnold Whiteing, R. Wilson, Mrs. —_——___—_1+—>—_ 2 —____—- EDUCATE YOUR OWN CHILDREN. 9 EFORE the South African War it was some- times asked whether such and such a colony was really loyal. That question has been answered. ‘To-day, at any rate in Canada, an Englishman may be forgiven if he sometimes asks of himself “ Does the old country really want to keep us?” If she does not, why not say so openly, and let those who wish to, return to her, and those who wish to, join hands with the States. But if England really wants to keep Canada,  248 why does she allow the United States to educate the public opinion of her colony ? It is not enough that most of our daily news comes to us coloured to suit America, that our telegrams are not altogether reliable, that there are so many Americans amongst us and such go-a- head American towns close to us, that our people must take some tones and colours from their neighbours which an Englishman born would rather they did not ? To all this is added, for the sake of a few paltry pounds in the pocket of the English Post Office, the fact that almost all our light literature and practically all our magazines are American. The way of it is thus: American periodicals are not better than English. Far from it. Better illustrated two or three of them may be, but no one who could get a Blackwood would, I assume, take any ten American magazines in exchange for it. And our people know this; but the American magazines are cheaper than ours, thanks to the extremely high postal rates which our magazines have. to pay. Magazines which cost the same at the offices of publication differ as one to two in price when they reach the Canadian market. Here is an illustration: The Strand and Pearson's are both published in New York as well as in London. Our booksellers sell the old-style edition, of course, which costs them 74 cents in New York, and is mailed to them at 1 cent per lb. If they bought the English edition they would have to pay about 9 cents in London, and 8 cents per 1b. postage. The result of this kind of thing is that, taking the figures of one of our booksellers here as a criterion, we seil four American magazines for every British magazine, though we are a British people and like our own wares best. My first.point is a national one.. If you want to keep Canada British, you had better feed her mind on British literature. My second is for the authors. If you want to keep a market for British books in Canada, you had better ask British publishers to advertise a little (not necessarily in the vilely bad taste common on this continent, but in such a way that a man’s intimate friends may have a chance of finding out that he has written a book), and press for such postal rates as will allow the magazines in which they advertise to compete with American magazines, If any one is sufficiently interested in my subject to pursue it for himself, let him take up any of the leading magazines of the States and see how they advertise their books. When “David Harum” came out you could THE AUTHOR. not walk through the streets of Ottawa without being flipped in the face by long streamers of “extracts ” which floated from the booksellers’ doors ; you could not open a magazine without setting free a shower of notices ; the book haunted you. As to our books, I had to start a crusade against our booksellers, to wake them up to the fact that ‘The Four Feathers ” had been written. Are we not big enough as a nation to sacrifice a few dollars, that our children may learn at their mother’s knee, and not at another’s ? CLIVE PHILLIPPS-WOLLEY. —_—_____» <> ____ “SIR MACKLIN.” a OLLECTIVE psychology is a subject which, as this volume” testifies, has not escaped the attention of Mr. A. B. Walkley, but one reader, at least, inclines to the opinion that he has not applied his knowledge with sufficient particu- larity in this present instance. Had he done so he would not have forgotten that devices proper to the rhetorician are not always proper to the author and that a looseness of argument may pass un- challenged in the spoken word, but cannot escape so lightly in the written word: in short, that good lectures do not necessarily make good books. There is a certain sort of banter, wholly or partly good-humoured, that frequently is not only lawful but expedient to a lecturer who desires to carry with him the last obstinate objector in his audience ; but the same banter may have a contrary effect when the lecture is reproduced in the unsympathetic medium of printer’s ink and submitted to the leisurely consideration of the same individual in the seclusion of his library. I seem to detect such partly good-humoured banter in the first lecture in the volume before me. I am conscious of an attempt on Mr. Walkley’s part to anticipate any suggestions I may make of flaws in his work and to dispose of them before- hand by belittling my qualifications to estimate its value. He puts me in my place, so to speak, and the human nature in me is disposed to rebel against the operation. ‘Everyone who expresses opinions, however imbecile, in print calls himself a ‘critic.’ The greater the ignoramus, the greater the likelihood of his posing as a ‘critic.’” Sentences of this kind may serve to raise an unthinking laugh and break the ice between lecturer and audience, but they are not worthy of being perpetuated in print ; * “ Dramatic Criticism,’ by A. B. Walkley. London: John Murray, 1903. (5s. net.)  THE AUTHOR. 249 their inaccuracy is only equalled by their antiquity. The sole reason that 1 can find for their preserva- tion here is a desire to rule me, and others like me, out of court by writing me down an ass before I begin to suggest that perhaps Mr. Walkley does not embody all the law and the prophets. As a mere caudal appendage of “that great baby, the public,” I may be a barbarian, or, isolated, a harm- less citizen or a placid British vestryman ; with luck I may be an amateur of culture, in which case my judgment is probably spoiled by the literary bias, or a mundane person, in which case I have a bias either of the individual or the vogue. Whatever I may be, I don’t matter, which is a soothing reflection for Mr. Walkley and a chasten- ing one for me. And yet I can’t help wondering if it is quite true. “From the people whom the critic criticises it would be unreasonable to expect sympathy,” Mr. Walkley remarks ; he omits to say what it would be reasonable to expect from the people who criticise the critic ; perhaps the possibility never entered his head. But he also observes that ‘just as one solid body cannot collide with another with- out the manifestation of a form of energy which we call heat, so one mind cannot impinge upon another without the manifestation of that form of energy which we call criticism.” Inasmuch as it is due to Mr. Walkley, with Mr. Murray as a con- tributory party, that his mind has impinged upon mine, it is not only excusable but natural that I should manifest energy with the best of them. My dissatisfaction with this book is due to the fact that it does not take me any further forward than I was before ; it is nebulous and inconclusive. Portentously serious in intention it is not a serious contribution to the literature of criticism. The author has an irritating trick of proving all sorts of things, and then, when he has triumphantly written Q.E.D. at the end of his argument, hastening to explain that the theorem is wholly immaterial. He reminds me of Sir Macklin, who, as every schoolboy knows, “was a priest severe In conduct and in conversation, It did a sinner good to hear Him deal in ratiocination. “ He could in every action show Some sin, and nobody could doubt him, He argued high, he argued low, He also argued round about him.” It is not for me to suggest whom to cast for the bishop in the story. Thus he refers to Gibbon’s division of critics into three classes, takes leave to reduce them to two, compares these two, showing in the process that there is not so much difference between them as they themselves suppose, and then, having compared and contrasted them to his own entire satisfaction, war's us that the contrast must not be taken too seriously. By such a device the most exiguous contribution to literature might be bumped out to the most ample proportions, but its value, when so bumped out, would be open to question. On page 20 he quotes Mr. Birrell as follows :— “T have had some experience of authors, and have always found them better pleased with the ‘ unprofes- sional’ verdicts of educated men, actively engaged in the work of the world than ever they were with the laboured praise of the so-called ‘ expert.’ ” Then on page 35 he examines the passage as follows :— “ After the crowd, the average or uncultivated amateur, let us turn to Mr. Birrell’s candidate for the critical post— the man of affairs or of the world who dabbles in the arts ; in other words, the amateur of culture. Mr. Birrell puts in a very artful plea for this class. He says the authors like them, preferring their verdicts of approval to the ‘ laboured ’ praise of the so-called ‘expert.’ Here, however, we must be on our guard against the rhetorical device of the pro- fessional advocate—the familiar device of comparing one thing at its best with another thing at its worst. The praise of the ‘expert’ is not necessarily ‘laboured.’ And you will observe that the authors like the men of the world when they deliver verdicts of approval. What the authors think of this class when they deliver verdicts of disapproval we are not told.” I have italicised the words in these two passages which reveal the discrepancy between the text as given by Mr. Walkley and the text as criticised by him. I refrain from giving the exact text of Mr. Birrell’s words, and merely submit that the discrepancy ought not to have been passed in a considered argument, not so much because it affects, or does not affect, Mr. Walkley’s point as because it affects his credit as a dialectician. That there is plenty of good stuff in the book, of course, goes without saying ; most of it is Aris- totle’s, and a perverse and tricksy memory brings before me some lines from an obscure burlesque :— “My grievance is that in these modern plays, There's nothing new and good ; whate’er of praise Their lines deserve, you'll find in the antique ; Whatever's idiotic isn’t Greek.” With the necessary modifications the quotation has point, and in all seriousness I cannot think : : : that this volume will add to Mr. Walkley’s reputation. Meandering has a fascination for most ‘‘amateurs of culture.” I would like to meander a little and express an opinion which, however imbecile, I hold : : : z in common with a good many other people. That opinion is that what is wrong with the dramatic critic of the day is his appalling lack of the sense of humour. It is all very well for M. Anatole France to talk about “the adventures of a soul among master-pieces,” and for Mr. Walkley to announce that “judices nati’? may still be found  250 amongst us. I admire the pretty fancy of the one and rejoice at the good tidings of the other ; but recent happenings in the dramatic world dispose me to think that so far as the stage is concerned people take themselves much too seriously. Mr. Walkley snorts at the fatuity of the question, «« What is the wse of dramatic criticism?” Well, it is a fatuous question. Mr. Walkley replies to it from the point of view of the dramatic critic :— “ The use of any art is asa channel for the communication of ideas and emotions between man andman. It is a mode by which the producer of the art shares out his moods, his soul-states, his views of life, with the consumer. This is what is meant in popular language by ‘ being interesting.’ Just as you may have an interesting novel or an interesting play, so you may have an ‘interesting ’ dramatic criticism. And that is the use of it.” I find that answer very satisfactory, and hope that the “ club of play-goers ”—there is a world of sarcasm in the employment of that form of the genitive case—will perpend it. From the point of view of the manager a dramatic criticism in, say, the 7'imes, at the price of a stall costs only sixpence more than the hire of ten sandwich-men at a shilling a head for the day, and it carries farther. It advertises the “show.” And that is another use of it. As I suggested at the outset, I hesitate to put forward these comments as a “criticism” of Mr. Walkley’s book ; they are merely indicative of my soul’s adventures in that masterpiece. I hope I shall not be deemed irreverent if 1 speed them with yet one more quotation, protesting that they are quite honest in intention, and not born of that little-emindedness which finds pleasure in cheap sneers : “Go, soul, the body’s guest, Upon a thankless arrant ; Fear not to touch the best, The truth shall be thy warrant.” Vy. iE. M. ee POPULARITY. oe OBERT VINCENT, historian and man of letters, had received his death sentence. The physicians gave him one short year to live ; but their word was the signal for a cloud, impalpable as yet, but darker than that of death, to rise upon the dying man’s horizon. He was a young man, and it seemed to the world as if it was but yesterday that he had succeeded in making his name. But the world was mistaken. The initiated knew that the reputation which Robert Vincent had won was of no mushroom growth. He had won it by sweat, by blood, by years of patient labour and research. Nay, as was being proved now, he had bought it with his very life. THE AUTHOR. To this small band of scholars Robert Vincent had been known for years, young as he still was, as the rising historian of the day, as a writer in whom in the highest degree scholarship, imagina- tiveness, and honesty were combined. To this small band he was the ideal historian for whom the world had waited so long. Scholarly historians there have been. Honest historians’ are not altogether unknown. Picturesque writers of history have made their works as household words tous. But the combination of the three qualities in one person has often been pronounced to be an impossibility. 1t appeared in Robert Vincent, and scholars awaited with bated breath its further development. But the world in general, the world which nearly every man secretly craves to enlist on his side, even when he most professes to despise it, turned, for a long time, a deaf ear to the teaching of the historian. To those who knew, this deafness was simply a question of time. The world would hear, and hearing would accept Robert Vincent at his true value. The event proved that, for once ina way, those who knew were right. Robert Vincent won his place as a world power in literature by the publication of his great book, “The Welding of the Races.” It was a great book in every way. Great in conception, great in execution. Well balanced, accurate, and judicial, yet written in language almost passionately picturesque. ‘The Welding of the Races ” threw its search light on a period of English History at once the most obscure and the most salient. ‘‘As at the touch of an enchanter’s wand,” the darkness which for hundreds of years had lain upon the early middle ages was dissipated, and Englishmen knew at last the secret of the greatness of their country. “The dark ages have for England ceased to exist,” was the judgment of the greatest German critic. The wisdom of the small band of scholars was justified. The world knew and, knowing, acclaimed, as with one voice, Robert Vincent as the greatest writer of the century. The author him- self would have been more than human if he had not exulted in his triumph. He was young and he was ambitious, and it is given to few men indeed to realise, to any great extent, the ambition of their lives. “The Welding of the Races” rapidly proved itself the success of the day, and the fortunate author felt that his name had been made for all time, that he was destined to be numbered with the great ones of the earth. “‘ Westminster Abbey,” he said laughingly to his wife, “ will know me yet.” And then the end came. No prank which the Great Jester loves to play is dearer to his heart than the summoning of a man from the prize to gain which he has given  THE the best years of his life, given his very soul, when it is almost within his grasp. We die just when we are beginning to know how to live. So it was to prove with Robert Vincent. Perhaps it was due to the strain which the completion of his work had put upon him, perhaps there was an original weakness of constitution hitherto unsuspected, or perhaps—. Anyhow, whatever may have been the cause, at the very height of his fame the sentence, from which there is no appeal, was pronounced, “ You must die!” There is no need to dwell on the dull, sickening sense of hope frustrated which fell like a black shadow on Robert Vincent’s heart when he knew that he must leave the world, which appeared to him just then to be so full of brightness and beauty. But he was no coward, his life had shown that, and he resolved to face the music like a man, “My body will die,” he said to his wife, “but my soul will live ; for that I have won immortality. I have put my whole soul into ‘The Welding of the Races,’ and while England lasts it will last also.” This he said in no vainglorious spirit. To him it was a simple fact. But as he grew weaker there came upon him a mental uneasiness which puzzled greatly his wife and his doctors. To some extent, but to some extent only, it seemed to be assignable to the stress of previous literary work. The fact was, the dark, impalpable cloud gathered blackness and substance as time went on. It pressed in upon him, making the last few weeks of his life into a hideous, waking nightmare. “Qlang, clang! throb, throb! What are they printing so close to me? Who are printing? Is it Gradband & Shimmery ?” “No, dear,’ said his wife gently, “there is no printing near you.’ The doctor, who overheard the mutterings, looked grave and asked the wife “Did your husband ever have any dealings with these publishers, Gradband & Shimmery ?”’ “No,” she replied, ‘not that I know of. I never heard their names.” “Of course not,” said the doctor with a smile, “it is scarcely likely that Mr. Vincent would have had anything to do with publishers of that class.” The doctor was quite right. It was indeed unlikely—the most unlikely thing in the world. For Messrs. Gradband & Shimmery were known as publishers of fiction of the baser sort, fiction which had an enormous circulation among City ¢lerks and shop girls. The stuff which this firm turned out in vast quantities was lurid and sensational to a degree, especially that for which “Sydney Trevor,” popularly supposed to be an assumed name, was responsible, but it could no more claim to be literature than a farthing rushlight could claim to be the moon. AUTHOR. 251 Of course it was too wildly absurd to suppose that Robert Vincent, of all people in the world, could have had any dealings with such a firm as this. And the doctor made a mental note of his uneasiness as a curious illustration of an obscure brain lesion. But this did very little good to the patient himself. The noise of the printing presses at work seemed to become louder and more insis- tent every day. Every day too his imagination seemed to be haunted by a terror which ever drew closer and closer. His lucid intervals proved to those about him that he had no fear of death, nor even of the act of dying; but even his lucid intervals were haunted by the shadow of the fear which oppressed him so terribly in his delirium. Whatever the fear might be, it was associated with the idea of printing, and with the names of Gradband & Shimmery. Nothing that his wife could do or say—no news she might bring him of the ever increasing success of his book, no assur- ances of the high position, daily becoming more manifest, which he had secured for himself in literature, was able to expel this fear devil from his soul. Thereit sat, grinning at him till he died. As soon as Robert Vincent’s death was an- nounced, steps were taken by those whose word carried weight with the authorities to secure a place for him in Westminster Abbey. It seemed likely that their efforts would be crowned with suecess, and that the historian’s jesting remark to his wife would prove to be a true prophecy. It was urged that the country had only one way now of paying the recognition it owed to an admitted genius. What the leaders of thought said, the general public echoed with all its heart. No name was so constantly on men’s lips and before their eyes during these days as the name of Robert Vincent, historian and man of letters. Westminster Abbey was the place for him, and to Westminster Abbey he must be taken. And then suddenly all this talk stopped. Messrs. Gradband & Shimmery flooded the country with their advertisements—newspapers, hoardings, omnibuses, trains, sandwich-men— every available means of advertisement were pressed into the service of Messrs. Gradband & Shimmery. There had never been known, since books were first printed, such gigantic enterprise in advertising methods. Wherever men looked they saw the names of Gradband & Shimmery ; and underneath, only in larger characters, the name of “Sydney Trevor” in inverted commas ; and below that the name of Robert Vincent ; and below that again a list of books whose lurid and sensational titles spoke for them. Then the world learnt that Robert Vincent was identical with ‘Sydney Trevor,” and Westminster Abbey knew him not. CO. L:  ESSAY ON CRITICISM. Oe (Reprinted from Longman’s Magazine, by kind permission of the Author and the Publisher). (By A Lapy NoveEtist). S there no real critic on these shores Yet to be found? O Tempora, O Mores ! How shall they judge who measure all by rule While Genius, for them, might dwell in Thule? Tis quality, not quantity, decides The merit of such work as mine—Quid rides ? When will they learn the truth that each great writer Of prose or poetry—non fit—nascitur ? When cease to sneer with condescending smile At woman—vyarium et mutabile ? Yet why should I the critics heed? Whate’er They say, ’tis mine—aequam mentem servyare. My place among the Immortals is secure, *Tis mine—divino ac humano jure. I feel within my breast the sacred fire, And I—I know it—non omnis moriar. Already on Parnassus’ sacred slope I dwell with Melpomene and Calliope. No marble tomb I crave, no trophies pious, My monument is—aere perennius. FR. a a CORRESPONDENCE. —1—~> + AN ANSWER TO “A PROTEST.” Sir,—In reference to a letter entitled “A Pro- test’ in last month’s Author, I would like to say a few words in common justice to all concerned in the arrangement of the Society’s annual social function. In the first place, it is a puzzle how the receipt of the announcement of a dinner could shock even the most highly strung and sensitive nerves. If Shakespeare had lived in the twentieth century he would no doubt have participated in a meal at the Hotel Cecil with as much equanimity—and perhaps even enjoyment—as any other author. Next I would like to point ont to the writer in question that as the Soviety is formed for the pro- tection and maintenance of literary property, it must needs respect itself. So, if the Society of Authors were to hold its annual festival at a third or fourth rate restaurant, and charge a low price, as suggested, it would certainly be considered an inferior concern, and be looked down upon accordingly. : Further, the writer contradicts himself, for he says that he has attended several dinners each at THE AUTHOR. increased cost, and then confesses having been present at a guinea one. Comment is needless. If the protester could be present at a guinea dinner it seems inconsistent that the suggestion of a 10s. one should give him a shock. As I did not attend any of the guinea functions I cannot speak from personal experience as to whether it would have been “ dear at eighteenpence,’”” but I can honestly say that at all the four dinners which I have attended the food was as good and as well served as one could wish. I have always understood that the Society does not wish to make money by the dinner, but charges a price sufficient to cover expenses. If the com- plainant refers to the ‘ Annual Report,” he will find that the Society was 5s. 10d. out of pocket by last year’s dinner ; hence, no doubt, the decision to raise the price. With regard to the guests, it seems to me that the Society is honowred by the presence of such men as Sir Clements Markham, Captain Sverdrup. and others ; men noted for their good and useful work, some in one field, some in another. I have never heard of the Society asking subscriptions, so I don’t quite see how it can be brought down to the level of a charitable organisation. Lastly, I will say that I am so far in sympathy with the writer of “A Protest” that I think it would be more agreeable if it were possible to arrange a festival, or annual gathering, in which all the members could participate. It is clearly impossible to please everyone in a large body of people like the Authors’ Society, and if authors are “proverbially irritable,” what a large amount of self-control is needed by a committee formed of authors, whose task in endeavouring to please all can scarcely be an enviable one. H. M. E. Stanton. May 4th, 1903. SERIAL RIGHTS IN STORIES. S1n,—As I receive inquiries concerning my “new story” in the Sphere for May 2nd and 9th, will you allow me space to say that, so far from. being new, it is a resuscitated old story which appeared in a. country journal nearly twenty years ago, and that I am in no way responsible for its publication as if new ? ae I make this an opportunity of reminding inex-. perienced writers of fiction that, in disposing of ‘serial rights” in their productions, they should take care to limit the time during which such rights may be exercised. Tuomas Harpy. 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. 13 Issue 10 (July 1903) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 13 Issue 10 (July 1903) Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1903-07-01-The-Author-13-10 publications The Author