15 20 545 https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/266/1894-07-02-The-Author-5-2.pdf dc66703ab12c2304ef0fae78c3069717 PDF Text Text ���������������������������� 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 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) 1894-07-02 Volume 5 Issue 2 Pages Page range in volume 33–60 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18940702 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin C be El utb or, (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESAN. T. WoL. W.-No. 2.] JULY 2, 1894. [PRICE SIXPENCE. For the Opinions earpressed in papers that are signed or initialled the Authors alone are Tesponsible. Wome of the papers or para- graphs must be taken as earpressing the collective opinions of the committee unless they are officially signed by G. Herbert Thring, Sec. - HE Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and requests that all members not receiving an answer to important communications within two days will write to him without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery-lame, or be sent by registered letter only. Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub- jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS. *~ * ~ * g- - -, WARNINGS AND ADVICE, I. T is not generally understood that the author, as the vendor, has the absolute right of drafting the agreement upon whatever terms the transaction is to be carried out. Authors are strongly advised to exercise that right. In every form of business, this among others, the right of drawing the agreement rests with him who sells, leases, or has the control of the property. 2. SERIAL RIGHTS.—In selling Serial Rights remember that you may be selling the Serial Right for all time; that is, the Right to continue the production in papers. If you object to this, insert a clause to that effect. 3. STAMP YOUR AGREEMENTs. – Readers are most URGENTLY warmed not to neglect stamping their agreements immediately after signature. If this precaution is neglected for two weeks, a fine of £10 must be paid before the agree- ment can be used as a legal document. In almost every case brought to the secretary the agreement, or the letter which serves for one, is forwarded without the stamp. The author may be assured that the other party to the agree- ment seldom neglects this simple precaution. The Society, to save trouble, undertakes to get all the agreements of members stamped for them at no eaſpense to themselves eacept the cost of the stamp. 4. AsCERTAIN WHAT A PROPOSED AGREEMENT GIVES To BOTH SLDES BEFORE SIGNING IT.-Remember that an arrangement as to a joint venture in any other kind of busi- ness whatever would be instantly refused should either party WOL. W. refuse to show the books or to let it be known what share he reserved for himself. r 5. LITERARY AGENTS.—Be very careful. You cannot be too careful as to the person whom you appoint as your agent. Remember that you place your property almost un- reservedly in his hands. Your only safety is in consulting the Society, or some friend who has had personal experience of the agent. Do not trust advertisements alone. - 6. CosT OF PRODUCTION.——Never sign any agreement of which the alleged cost of production forms an integral part, until you have proved the figures. 7. CHOICE OF PUBLISHERS.—Never enter into any cor- respondence with publishers, especially with those who ad- vertise for MSS., who are not recommended by experienced friends or by this Society. 8. FUTURE WORK.—Never, on any accownt whatever, bind yourself down for future work to anyone. 9. PERSONAL RISK.—Never accept any pecuniary risk or responsibility whatever without advice. Io. REJECTED MSS.—Never, when a MS. has been re- fused by respectable houses, pay others, whatever promises they may put forward, for the production of the work. II. AMERICAN RIGHTS.—Never sign away American rights. Keep them by special clause. Refuse to sign any agreement containing a clause which reserves them for the publisher, unless for a substantial consideration. 12. CESSION OF COPYRIGHT.-Never sign any paper, either agreement or receipt, which gives away copyright, without advice. 13. ADVERTISEMENTS. — Keep some control over the advertisements, if they affect your returns, by a clause in the agreement. I4. NEVER forget that publishing is a business, like any other business, totally unconnected with philanthropy charity, or pure love of literature. You have to do with business men. Be yourself a business man. Society’s Offices :- 4, PORTUGAL STREET, LINCOLN's INN FIELDs. *— — —” e= * HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY, I. VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive 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 Com- mittee will obtain for him Counsel’s opinion. All this without any cost to the member, E 2  ## p. 34 (#48) ############################################## 3+ THE AUTHOR. 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright and publisher's agreements do not generally fall within the experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use the Society first—our solicitors are continually engaged upon such questions for us. 3. Send to the office copies of past agreements and past accounts with the loan of the books represented. This is in order to ascertain what has been the nature of your agree- ments, and the results to author and publisher respectively so far. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The infor- mation thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4. If the examination of your previous business trans- actions by the Secretary proves unfavourable, you should take advice as to a change of publishers. 5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro- posed document to the Society for examination. 6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in the case of fraudulent houses—the tricks of every publish- ing firm in the country. 7. 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 indepen- dence of the writer. 8. Send to the Editor of the Author notes of everything important to literature that you may hear or meet with. *- - -º r- - - THE AUTHORS' SYNDICATE, EMBERS are informed : 1. That the Authors' Syndicate takes charge of the business of members of the Society. With, when necessary, the assistance of the legal advisers of the Syndi- cate, it concludes agreements, collects royalties, examines and passes accounts, and generally relieves members of the trouble of managing business details. 2. That the expenses of the Authors' Syndicate are defrayed solely out of the commission charged on rights placed through its intervention. Notice is, however, hereby given that in all cases where there is no current account, a booking fee is charged to cover postage and porterage. 3. That the Authors' Syndicate works for none but those members of the Society whose work possesses a market value. 4. That the Syndicate can only undertake any negotiation whatever on the distinct understanding that those negotia- tions are placed exclusively in its hands, and that all communications relating thereto are referred to it. 5. That clients can only be seen by the Director by appointment, and that, when possible, at least four days' notice should be given. 6. That every attempt is made to deal with the corre- spondence promptly, but that owing to the enormous number of letters received, some delay is inevitable. That stamps should, in all cases, be sent to defray postage. 7. That the Authors' Syndicate does not invite MSS. without previous correspondence, and does not hold itself responsible for MSS. forwarded without notice. 8. The Syndicate undertakes arrangements for lectures by some of the leading members of the Society; that it has a “Transfer Department * for the sale and purchase of journals and periodicals; and that a “Register of Wants and Wanted” has been opened. Members anxious to obtain literary or artistic work are invited to communicate with the Manager. - *. - There is an Honorary Advisory Committee, whose services will be called upon in any case of dispute or difficulty. It is perhaps necessary to state that the members of the Advisory Committee have no pecuniary interest whatever in the Syndicate. NOTICES, HE Editor of the Awthor 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 6s. 6d. subscription for the year. The Editor is always glad to receive short papers and communications on all subjects connected with literature from members and others. Nothing can do more good to the Society than to make the Author complete, attractive, and interesting. Will those who are willing to aid in this work send their names and the special subjects on which they are willing to write P Communications for the Author 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. Members and others who wish their MSS. read are requested not to send them to the Office without previously communicating with the Secretary. The utmost practicable despatch is aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in which they are received. It must also be distinctly under- stood that the Society does not, under any circumstances, undertake the publication of MSS. The Authors’ Club is now open in its new premises, at 3, Whitehall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for information, rules of admission, &c. Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they have paid their subscriptions for the year P If they will do this, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker’s order, it will greatly assist the Secretary, and save him the trouble of sending out a reminder. - Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the warning numbered (8). It is a most foolish and may be a most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five years to come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest or dishonest? Of course they would not. Why them hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign them- selves into literary bondage for three or five years P Those who possess the “Cost of Production ” are requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 15 per cent. This means, for those who do not like the trouble of “doing sums,” the addition of three shillings in the pound on this head. In other words, if the cost of binding is set down in our book at eight pounds, to this must now be added twenty-four shillings more, so that it now stands at 389 4s. The figures in our book are as near the exact truth as can be procured; but a printer's, or a binder's, bill is so elastic a thing that nothing more exact can be arrived at. Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged in the “Cost of Production ” for advertising. Of course, we have not included any sums which may be charged for inserting advertisements in the publisher’s own magazines, or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too  ## p. 35 (#49) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 35 often go, there is nothing to prevent the publisher from sweeping the whole profits of a book into his own pocket, by inserting any number of advertisements in his own magazines, and by exchanging with others. Some there are who call this a form of fraud; it is not known what those who practise this method of swelling their own profits call it. *- - - r- > -s LITERARY PROPERTY. I.—A CASE OF SECRET PROFITs. WHE case which was mentioned in the Author for March, 1893 (p. 353), and June, 1894, (p. 14), plain as it may have appeared, has now dragged along for some four years, The French writer, known by the nom de plume of “Léo Taxil,” had some reason or other for suspecting that his publishers were treating him unfairly as to the number of copies of his many books printed and sold, and that they were thus depriving him wholesale of his royalty per copy. He therefore called for an account which, when received in July, 1890, showed him some 438 in debt to the publishing firm. The author, naturally indignant, set in motion a criminal prosecution for “abuse of confidence.” The outcome of this move was that the publishers informed the author that they had unfortunately omitted from the account rendered two whole editions of one of his books, and that there was due to him in consequence 3133. At the same time they admitted that on his other works the number of copies sold had exceeded the figures shown in the account rendered to such an extent that the royalty due to the author was understated by 312O more, making £253 due to him instead of 398 due from him. But expert accountants were then put in by the courts to examine the firm’s books, and the total damage to the author was assessed by them at no less than £152O, for Léo Taxil's books, what- ever may be thought of them, have had a con- siderable circulation. The criminal prosecution therefore went on, though the legal proceedings are somewhat diffi- cult to reconcile. Here, however, is a resumé of the facts as taken from the Journal des Débats, the Gazette des Tribunawa, and the Siècle. To begin with, the correctional tribunal (a criminal court) acquitted the publishers, in Feb., 1892, of “abuse of confidence.” On appeal by the Public Prosecutor (and by the author also on the point of damages) a decision of the court above, in the following April, quashed the previous pro- ceedings as having been in error, because the facts as alleged would, if proved, constitute not mere “abuse of confidence,” but falsification of documents and criminal use of the same. Accordingly, in Feb., 1893, the case was sent down again (in spite of a fresh appeal from the publishers) for retrial in this sense. Eventually the publishers were again indicted for entering in their books, and in their accounts rendered, certain erroneous items, with the effect of depriving M. Léo Taxil of a portion of his “author's rights” to the extent of £152O. In the meanwhile, however, as the Gazette des Tribunaua, reports the case, the publisher had induced the author to desist, paying him £4600 (115,000 francs) as damages. But the court, nevertheless, compelled him to continue to appear in the case as an interested party. The case only came on for trial at the May assizes of this year, when the defence was that the admitted errors in the books were merely clerical, and that, according to a custom of the trade, publishers had a right to print for them- selves twenty copies of a work over and above every 100 copies acknowledged to the author. That is to say, that when an author receives royalty on 5000 copies, 6000 have actually been printed and sold. The Public Prosecutor having admitted that there were “extenuating circumstances” in favour of the accused, a Parisian jury acquitted them, while M. Léo Taxil was, in consequence of this acquittal, cast in the costs. How much these may be we know not, nor are we told what offence he had committed to merit this penalty; but it would be well for English authors who may purpose any professional work in France to make a careful mote of this strange case, and of that alleged secret custom of confiscating one in six of the copies of every edition as publisher's per- quisites. J. O’N. The following is the official report from the Gazette des Tribunawa . L'affaire dont a eu ä connaitre aujourd’hui la Cour d’Assizes mettait en présence, d'une part, M. Léo Taxil et son gendre, M. Joubert, et de l'autre, MM. Letouzey et Ané, editeurs. Il s'agit, non d’un procès de presse, mais d’une affaire de faux, engagée sur la plainte de M. Léo Taxil. C'est l’épilogue des nombreux incidents qui signalèrent les démélés de M. Léo Taxil avec ses éditeurs et dont le début remonte à 1892. Ceux-ci ont successivement publié un grand nombre de volumes et des brochures de M. Léo Taxil. Soupçonnant que ses éditeurs ne lui remettaient pas exactenment les droits d’auteur auxquels il avait droit, M. Léo Taxil, ne pouvant obtenir un relevé de compte exact, déposa une plainte contre eux. Une instruction fut ouverte qui se termina par la com- parution de M.M. Letouzey et Ané et de M. Picquoin, leur imprimeur, devant le Tribunal correctionnel sous la pré- vention d’abus deconfiance et de complicité. Tous trois furent acquittés (W. Gaz. des Trib. du 17 février 1892). Le ministère publie et M. Léo Taxil ayant fait appel, la Cour confirma le jugement de première instance en déclarant que les faits relevés à la charge des prévenus constitue-  ## p. 36 (#50) ############################################## 36 THE A UTHOR. raient, s'ils étaient établis, des faux et non pas le délit d'abus de confiance (V. Gaz. des Trib. du 15 avril 1892), La Cour de Cassation, saisie d'une demande de règlement de juges et d'un pourvoi de MM. Letouzey et Ané, rejeta le pourvoi et renvoya les prévenus devant la Chambre des mises en accusation (V. Gaz. des Trib. du 12 février 1893). Un arrêt de cette chambre ordonna un supplément d'informa- tion à la suit de laquelle, l'imprimeur Picquoin a été écarté de la poursuite et MM. Letouzey et Ané renvoyés devant la Cour d'Assizes. C'est dans ces condition que ceux-ci se présentent aujourd'hui, devant le jury. L'accusation leurs reproche d'avoir porté sur leurs livres et dans leurs règlements de comptes, des chiffres inexacts, de manière à frustrer M. Léo Taxil d'une partie de ses droits d'auteur évaluée dans l'expertise à environ 38,ooo francs. Pour arriver à ce résultat MM. Letouzey et Ané auraient, non seulement indiqué un nombre de volumes inférieur à la réalité, mais aussi omis de mentionner deux éditions entières. Les accusés prétendent pour leur défense que les irrégu- larités constatées sont de simples erreurs de comptabilité ; que, de plus, d'après les usages de librairie, ils avaient le droit de tirer un nombre d'exemplaires supérieur de 2o p. IOO au chiffre officiel. L'expertise conteste l'exactitude de ces explications. • · Au cours de l'instruction MM. Letouzey et Ané ont obtenu de Léo Taxil son désistement, moyennant le paiement d'une somme de I 15,ooo francs, chiffre auquel a été évalué le préjudice éprouvé par celui-ci. M. Léo Taxil n'en a pas moins été assigné comme partie civile, qualité qu'il a prise dès le début de ces contestations. Il est assisté à l'audience par son gendre M. Joubert. Divers témoins sont entendus : M. Rossignol, expert, M. Eugène Moreau, éditeur, qui confirment les fait de l'accusa- tion. M. Picquoin, l'imprimeur primitivement compris dans les poursuites, fait une déposition embarrassée et très peu précise. M. Léo Taxil présente certaines explications et conteste les allégations des accusés. L'audience est levée à six heures et renvoyée à demain pour les réquisitions de M. l'avocat général Van Cassel, et les plaidoiries de M° Pouillet et de M° Georges Maillard, défenseurs des accusée. (Cour d'Assises de la Seine.—Présidence de M. le con- seiller Potier.—Audience du 28 mai.) · L'affaire de faux, suivie contre MM. Letouzey et Ané, éditeurs, sur la plainte de M. Leo Taxil, s'est terminée aujourd'hui devant la Cour d'Assises. M. l'avocat général Van Cassel soutient l'accusation ; il ne s'oppose pas à l'admission de circonstances atténuantes. M° Pouillet et Me Georges Maillard présentent la défense des accusés, qui sont acquittés. La partie civile est condamnée aux dépens. (Cour d'Assises de la Seine.—Présidence de M. le con- seiller Potier.—Audience du 29 mai.)—G. des T. 3o mai, I894. II.—PUBLISHING ON COMMIssIoN. It seems a method so fair and so simple. The author goes to a publisher and says : º Take my book and publish it. I will pay you for your trouble so much per cent. on all the sales.'' What can be fairer ? What, indeed ? Now, the following is an illus- tration of how the plan may work. This is an actual case which occurred yesterday. - First of all, the publisher demands payment in advance of the whole amount which, according to him, the book will cost. For himself, he pays the printer three or six months after the work is done. - If he takes six months'credit, he has the money to use for his own business purposes for this time. It is an addition to his working capital on which he calculates to make something like 2o per cent., but, if it is not to be considered working capital, it is money on which he may get interest at, say, 4 per cent. Next, he sends in an estimate lumping every- thing together, the said estimate being enormously overcharged. He explains that he has only allowed for binding of a certain number, He further notes, casually, that advertising is not included. But he points out that the sale will give the author so much for every hundred volumes sold. The luckless author falls into the trap, pays the money, calculates what he is to receive, and expects the returns. There will be so much profit, he thinks : he cannot lose anything. Alas ! He knows nothing : he actually forgets the adver- tising. There will be a tremendous bill on that account. And he forgets the corrections, and the remaining copies will have to be bound. Then there are the illustrations. Finally, the author, even when the whole edition has gone, will find himself a loser to the tune of a hundred pounds Ol" SO . In the case before us, the cost of production was overcharged by about 83o. The author stood to lose 87O on the most favourable result, viz., the sale of the whole edition. The publisher's profit would stand as follows : Overcharge of production s£3O O O Interest on money advanced (say)... 3 O O @ @ @ • • • • • • • • e Commission on sales .................. 23 O O Overcharge on binding the rest of the edition ........................... 3 O O Overcharge on advertisements reckoned on the same scale ...... 8 O O Illustrations overcharge on same scale ................................ I O O O Overcharge on corrections ............ 5 O O Whole profit ............ 4282 o o The reader will please observe these figures. Remark that, if not one single copy sells, the publisher makes 86o by the job, and the whole by secret profits ! And yet we are accused of " attacking pub- lishers " when we expose these tricks ! How, then, is an author to publish on commis- sion ? He must get advice from the Society on the proper firm to employ. He must then have  ## p. 37 (#51) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 37 an estimate showing the exact details on every point. This, with the agreement proposed, he must submit to the consideration of the secre- tary. # the publisher refuses to furnish the details, there is but one inference to be drawn. Meantime, let it be distinctly understood, when estimates are sent in, that the Society can get the work done at the prices given in the “Cost of Production,” with the change in the item of bind- ing, as advertised every month in the Author. III.-CANADIAN COPYRIGHT. Since the last article appeared in the Author on Canadian copyright, certain papers have been forwarded to the Society by the Secretary of State for the Colonies. The Society has taken the opinion of counsel on the papers. Mr. William Oliver Hodges, of 3, Paper- buildings, Temple, E.C., barrister, and Mr. G. Herbert Thring, secretary to the Society, have been appointed by the committee as delegates to attend the meetings of the Copyright Committee alluded to in the last number. The first meeting was held on Monday, June 25. A statement of what passed at this meeting will be printed, together with counsel's opinion on the papers on Canadian copyright, in next month's Author. IV.-AMERICAN COPYRIGHT. The Speaker, in recently reviewing an American book, said: “This book is twenty years old in America, and what is stated to be its fifth edition is now brought over here to be sold, having been printed and copyrighted in America by the American publisher, and then again copyrighted by him here, by entry at Stationers' Hall, as the liberal English law allows him to do. By the unfairly unequal American law—drafted and passed so as to be unfairly unequal—it is impossible for a book printed in England to be similarly copyrighted in the United States, for it must be first printed there too. Therefore this book is one of those by which the Yankee cobbler manages to cut a whang out of our leather.” W.—LIBRARIES AND NOVELS. The following circulars were published in the Daily Chronicle of June 30. At the moment of going to press we have not yet received a copy, but it may be supposed that the text is accu- rately printed, and first, Messrs. Mudie's runs as follows:— - - Owing to the constantly increasing number of novels and high-priced books, and to the rapid issue of the cheaper editions, the directors are compelled in the interests of the business to ask publishers to consider the following suggestions:— - - I. That after Dec. 31, 1894, the charge to the library for works of fiction shall not be higher than 4s. per volume, less the discount now given, and with the odd copy as before. | - II. That the publishers shall agree not to issue cheaper editions of novels, and of other books which have been taken for library circulation, within twelve months from the date of publication. The directors have no wish to dictate to the publishers, but, in making these suggestions, they point out the only terms upon which it will be possible in the future to buy books in any quantity for library use. - - The terms of Messrs. Smith and Son’s circular are these :— - For some time past we have noted with concern a great and increasing demand on the part of the subscribers to our library for novels in sets of two and three volumes. To meet their requisitions, we are committed to an expen- diture much out of proportion to the outlay for other kinds of literature. Most of the novels are ephemeral in their interest, and the few with an enduring character are published in cheap editions so soon after the first issue that the market we for- merly had for the disposal of surplus stock in sets is almost lost. You may conceive that this state of matters very seriously reduces the commercial value of the subscription library. We are therefore compelled to consider what means can be taken to improve this branch of our business. As a result of our deliberations, we would submit for your favourable consideration :- - (1) That after Dec. 31 next the price of novels in sets shall not be more than 4.s. per volume, less the discount now given, and with the odd copy as before. You will please observe that the date we name for the alteration of terms is fixed at six months from the end of this current month, in order that your arrangements may not be affected by the suggested alterations. - - (2) In respect of the issue of the cheaper editions, and the loss to us of our market for the sale of the best and earlier editions of novels and other works, through their publication in a cheaper form before we have had an opportunity of selling the surplus stock, we propose that you be so good as to undertake that no work appear in the cheaper form from the original price until twelve months after the date of its first publication. - The libraries, certainly, have a perfect right to name their own price within recognised bounds of fairness for a form of book which only exists for them. The price now proposed is, according to the Chronicle, 4s. a volume, discount and odd volume to remain as they are, i.e., 5 per cent. discount and twenty-five as twenty-four. This means 3s. 8d., within a very tiny fraction, per volume, or I Is. a copy. + The former price was not fixed; it varied with the library and with the house. If we take it at an average of 5s. a volume, with discount and the odd copy we have an average price of a little under I 4s. Let us suppose that there is a difference under the new tariff of 3s. a copy—a loss of 3s. a copy. , - . " - This loss must be met by the author as well as  ## p. 38 (#52) ############################################## 38 THE AUTHOR. the publisher. It can be met by changing the royalty to that extent. The advertised price of 31s. 6d. has, in this case, nothing at all to do with the question, because the circulating libraries alone need be considered. The problem is therefore very simple. Given a reduction of 3s. a copy, how is that reduction to be met by the author P Clearly, by reducing the royalty by half that amount. Thus the reduction being by one-fifth the former price the publisher and the author must each bear the loss of one-tenth. Or the royalty would be thus adjusted: Suppose the author had a royalty of 6s. a copy, i.e., a fraction on the assumed price of one-third. It would now have to be 6s. less one-tenth the former price, i.e., 6s. less one-tenth of 15s., or 6s. less Is. 6d., i.e., 4s. 6d. Bow would this work out P An edition of IOOO copies costs nearly £200, and can be produced for less. It would, under the new tariff, sell for £550. The clear profit is, therefore, 3350. The author's share at 4s. 6d. a copy is 3225. The publisher's share would be £125. The editor will be very glad to receive suggestions and opinions on the above. WI.-AN IMPORTANT CASE. The reserved judgment of the Court of Appeal delivered by Lord Justice Lindley, reversing - the decision of Mr. Justice Stirling in the “Living Pictures” case, involved a point of great importance and interest in the law of copy- right. Herr Hanfstaengl, who is a German Art publisher, brought two actions asking for injunc- tions to restrain the directors of the Empire Palace Company Limited and the proprietors and publishers of the Daily Graphic from infringing his copyright in certain pictures. In the former case he complained that his pictures were repro- duced in the form of tableaua vivants upon the stage of the Empire Theatre, but Mr. Justice Stirling held that the representations of these pictures on the stage by means of living actors were not an infringement of the plaintiff’s copy- right, and that decision was affirmed by the Court of Appeal in February last. In the case of the Daily Graphic, the complaint was that accounts were published in that paper of the represen- tations at the Empire Theatre, which were illus- trated by sketches taken by artists who attended the theatre for that purpose. Although the newspaper illustrations were sketched from the living figures employed in the representations on the stage, the plaintiff contended that they were copies of the designs of his original pictures, and therefore were infringements of his copyright. Mr. Justice Stirling adopted that view, and granted an injunction restraining the proprietors and publishers of the newspaper from printing publishing, selling, or offering for sale, or other wise disposing of, any copies or colourable imitations of the copyright pictures of the plaintiff. From that decision the defendants have successfully appealed, and judgment was directed to be entered for them with costs both of the appeal and of the application in the court below. The plaintiff based his claim for pro- tection on the International Copyright Act of 1886 and the Order in Council thereunder of the 28th Nov. 1887, and on the English Copyright Act of 1862, and it is highly satisfactory that, alike on the consideration of the facts and circum- stances, and of the law as it has been laid down and is applicable to them, the Court of Appeal has unanimously determined that the plaintiff has suffered no wrong which these statutes were intended to redress, and that he is not entitled to the protection which he claimed. Lord Justice Lindley cited and adopted the definition long ago laid down by the late Mr. Justice Bayley of a “copy” as that which so closely resembles the original as to convey the same idea as that created by the original. Both Lord Justice Lopes and Lord Justice Davey, in the brief judgments in which they assented to that of Lord Justice Lindley, quoted with approval this definition; and, tried by that test, it could not be reasonably suggested that the rough sketches in the news- paper of the tableaua vivants at the Empire were copies of the original pictures of the plaintiff, and were calculated to injure his rights or depreciate the value of the original pictures. The learned Lord Justice emphatically declared that neither intentionally nor unintentionally, neither directly nor indirectly, had the artist of the Daily Graphic copied in the correct sense of the term the plain- tiff's pictures so as to infringe his copyright in them. He had not in the slightest degree repro- duced, or attempted to reproduce, the artistic merits and beauties of the original pictures, which indeed, he had never seen. The whole intention of the sketch was to give a rough and ready impression of the representations at the Empire Theatre, and there was no design of making gain by a colourable imitation or reproduction of the plaintiff's pictures. The court founded its decision on broad grounds and on a wide view of the aspects of the case and of the law. “Copy- right law and patent law,” said Lord Justice Lindley, “conferred monopolies on individuals in certain respects, thereby preventing people from doing that which otherwise it would be lawful for  ## p. 39 (#53) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 39 them to do, and they were designed to insure to those protected the enjoyment of the advantages of their own abilities when these took the form of pictures, designs, inventions, and so forth. So far as they did this, and did this only, they were just and right, but they were not to be made the instruments of oppression and extortion.” This sound principle, will commend itself to every reasonable and fair-minded judgment.—Times. g- - - THE AUTHORS' CLUB, I.-AT HOME. N the 3oth ult., at 4 o’clock in the afternoon, () the Authors’ Club were “at home * to a select number of guests of both sexes. In spite of inclement weather and frequent showers of rain the rooms were crowded with literary and artistic people. No doubt the pro- longed inclemency of the elements had hardened the heart against its dangers. Mr. Oswald Crawfurd, C.M.G., the chairman of the club, was present to welcome the arrivals, and he was seconded by Lord Monkswell, Mr. Walter Besant, and Mr. H. R. Tedder, the other directors. Lady writers were very well repre- sented, Mrs. W. K. Clifford, Madame Sarah Grand, the Misses Hepworth Dixon, Mrs. Craigie, Mrs. Humphrey Ward, Mrs. Croker, Mrs. Hodgson Burnett, and Miss Helen Mathers being among those present. ..at The meeting was a success, and no doubt the club will repeat the gathering in the winter in the same or some other similar way. Mr. Hall Caine has joined the Board of Directors, -- II.-IN NEW YORK. At the Authors Club of New York the following gentlemen were in May elected honorary members:—Alphonse Daudet (France), Maartin Maartens (Holland), Maeterlinck (Bel- gium), Walter Besant (Great Britain). *- - --" -- - -, THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS, BEPORT of DINNER, 3 IST MAY, 1894. HE annual dinner of the Society of Authors T was held last night at the Holborn Res- taurant, Mr. Leslie Stephen presiding. The following is the list of the guests: E. A. Armstrong John Bumpus Mrs. Armstrong Miss Marie Belloc Oscar Browning Walter Besant WOT. W. Mrs. Walter Besant F. H. Balfour The Rev. Prof. Bonney W. H. Besant, Mackenzie Bell Poulteney Bigelow Mrs. Brightwen F. G. Breton Mrs. Oscar Beringer James Baker C. F. Moberley Bell Rev. Canon Bell, D.D. Rev. J. B. Baynard A. W. A. Beckett Thos. Catling Mrs. W. K. Clifford Miss K. M. Cordeaux and Guest Edward Clodd Miss Roalfe Cox and Guest Mrs. Craigie Mrs. McCosh Clarke Lieut.-Col. J. R. Campbell Miss Carpenter Sir. W. T. Charley R. Copley Christie Miss E. R. Chapman W. Morris Colles Mrs. Colles P. W. Clayden (President Institute of Journalists) Egerton Castle, F.S.A. Miss Lily Croft Professor Lewis Campbell Miss B. Chambers and Guest Moncure Conway Mrs. Custer E. H. Cooper H. Cust, M.P. John Davidson C. F. Dowsett Mrs. Dambrill Davies Arthur Dillon Austin Dobson A. Conan Doyle A. W. Dubourg Gerald Duckworth Miss Doyle Miss Duckworth Daily Graphic Daily News Daily Telegraph, Daily Chronicle A. Symons Eccles W. L. Ellis Mrs. Edmonds Mr. Edmonds Mrs. Walter Ellis Miss Agnes Fraser Mrs. Gerard Ford Prof. Michael Foster S. M. Fox Mrs. Gordon Henry Glaisher Alfred Giles (President In- stitute of Civil Engineers) Edmund Gosse Mrs. Aylmer Gowing J. C. Grant Mrs. Grant Dr. L. Garnett Miss Goodrich-Freer Miss H. F. Gethen Mrs. Gamlin Francis Gribble Mme. Sarah Grand Mrs. Spencer Graves Maj.-Gen. Sir F. J. smid, C.B. J. A. Goodchild A. P. Graves Miss Mabel Hawtrey Holman Hunt Bernard Hamilton Dr. Vaughan Harley E. G. Hobbes Miss W. Hunt Rev. W. Hunt Miss Hargreaves H. Holman F. de Haviland Hall Mrs. Wyndham Hill Clive Holland Comtesse Hugo Dr. Sophia Jex-Blake C. T. C. James Miss Kenealy A. C. Kenealy Rev. Dr. S. Kinns Lord Kelvin Royal Society) C. B. Roylance Kent. C. A. Kelly. Mrs. Lynn Linton Mrs. Long A. H. N. Lewers Sidney Lee Edmund Lee John Lane Sidney Low (St. James's Gazette) W. Meredith Mrs. W. Meredith • ' Rev. C. H. Middleton- Wake George Moore Mrs. Morgan Miss A. A. Martin Norman Maccoll Morning Post S. B. G. McKinney , Miss Helen Mathers and Guest Cosmo Monkhouse Miss Moss Gold- (President W. E. Norris Henry Norman The Lord Bishop of Oxford: John Warden Page Stanley Lane Poole Arthur Paterson Miss E. C. Pollock Sir F. Pollock, Bart., LL.D. Lady Pollock , -. D. H. Parry - Pall Mall Gazette The Queen W. Fraser Rae C. F. Rideal  ## p. 40 (#54) ############################################## 4O THE AUTHOR. Miss Ross R. Sisley Percy Spalding Douglas Sladen T. Bailey Saunders Mrs. Steel Leslie Stephen Mrs. Leslie Stephen David Stott H. G. Sweet The Standard S. S. Sprigge M. H. Spielmann. Howard Swan Rev. Prof. W. W. Skeat, LL.D. Ballard Smith Colonel Sutherland J. Ashby Sterry The Times T. S. Townend G. H. Thring Mrs. G. H. Thring Sir Henry Thompson A. W. Tuer W. Moy Thomas Mrs. F. Moy Thomas Mrs. Tweedie E. Maunde Thompson (Chief Librarian British Museum) Miss Traver - Miss Tabberner - Miss E. Underdown John Underhill Mrs. J. Owen Visger Rev. C. Voysey Westminster Gazette Hagberg Wright Library) A. P. Watt, Theodore Watts W. J. Walsham Mrs. Woolastom White Miss B. Whitby W. H. Wilkins S. F. Walker Colonel Sir Charles W. Wilson, K.C.M.G. Arnold White Dr. Wallace P. F. Walker I. Zangwill (London The Chairman first proposed the health of the Queen. The Chairman next proposed “The Society of Authors.” He said: I have now to undertake a more difficult task. It is not that I have any doubt that you will receive with sympathy the toast which I am about to propose, for I am going to ask you to drink your own health. But, however much you may approve the Society of Authors, I think it highly probable that you will doubt whether I am the proper person to propose it. As a matter of fact, I not only doubt, but am rather convinced that I am a highly improper person to do so. I will, however, say in self-defence that when I was first asked to accept this honourable position, I declined it. I was foolish enough (it is inconceivable that any- one could have been so foolish at my time of life) to give a reason, and of course my reason not only broke down, but recoiled upon myself in the way that reasons always will recoil. (Laughter.) My reason is, that I had not the honour to be a member of this Society, and it puts me in rather an uncomfortable dilemma, because the question naturally occurs, why am I not a member of the Society P I feel a great difficulty in answering it. I could not say, what would have been conclusive, that I disapproved of the Society on high moral grounds. (Laughter.) In the first place, it would not have been polite, and in the second place, it would not have come so near the truth as even those deviations which I generally allow myself will permit. I myself feel that my real reason is one which I must decline to confide to you, and I must be content to give you in imaginary reason which will answer for the present occasion. I will suggest as, at least, a possible reason, that in the first place I do not like to dwell upon my own mental defects and moral obliquities; I am attached to them, but do not like to intrude them upon others. I would suggest perhaps a more plausible, but still, perhaps, not the true, reason—namely, that I am known to most of you, not so much as an author as an editor. Now, you are aware that an editor is a kind of equivocal being, and that he resembles the bat in AEsop's fable, who was equally at war with the birds and with the beasts. The birds, of course, find their analogue in the author who soared into the literary heavens; as for the beasts, perhaps I had better not attempt to specify what would corre- spond to them. (Laughter.) Now, as an editor, I know what view the authors take of me. I remember a long time ago receiving a frank con- fession from a young gentleman (I hope he is wiser now) who had written a tragedy in five acts upon a subject which he had discovered in course of his researches into history. I believe it was Mary Queen of Scots (I may mention that I am not referring to Lord Tennyson)–(laughter) —and when I declined to publish this tragedy in the next number of the magazine which I was then editing, the author informed me that my refusal was due to a base jealousy, which was not surprising, as my own attempts to rival Shake- speare had never got into print. He was kind enough to add, that there was nothing to be ashamed of in this, because, he said, my occupa- tion was such as would have deadened any sense of justice or fair play, even in an angel, and he had no reason to believe that my qualities had ever been angelic. Now you will understand, that the class of persons who is regarded in this way by the unthinking author is apt to see the weaknesses of authors. I occasionally became aware of their little vanities, of their self-illusions, of their conviction that they are the objects of the demoniacal malignity of a clique of critics. I must add that I should have been a much harder hearted person than I believe I am, if I had not also learnt to see a great deal of the hardships of a literary career, and to sympathise with those who suffer. I had the honour to succeed to the cushion occupied by Thackeray before me, and I have found that some of the thorns of which Thackeray spoke are still left in it. I had to read letters from the decayed lady who had a widowed mother or a small family dependent upon her exertions, and who tried to brush up her old recollections of French, and expected to make a living by translating from that recondite language. There was something ridiculous, but a great deal more that was pathetic in such letters. I have had to  ## p. 41 (#55) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 41. deal with many of those people who in the last century would have been ridiculed and taunted with their poverty as occupants of Grub-street. When I had to cut down contribu- tions from such gentlemen to about a third of the length of that they had sent me, I used to feel that I was taking a crust from a beggar and scraping off the butter, and yet my action, how- ever cruel it might appear, was necessary, and was received on the whole with an amount of common sense and consideration for which I Ought to be grateful. I do not know whether I ever snuffed out a heaven-born genius. If I did, I am very sorry; but I snuffed him out so effectually that he has never been able to make any protest. People are apt to fall on the critics who extinguished Keats and poo-poohed Wordsworth. We are quite clear that we are much wiser, and yet I know one or two men, whom every one now honours, who have had to go through a long probation of disregard and contempt. I must confess that, with all respect to the critics of to-day, I do not think they are infallible, and I cannot help fancying it possible that some fifty years hence someone may point out how wrongly they have acted to the rising geniuses whose names none of them know at the present moment. I have only re- ferred to this to show that I have seen some of the seamy side of the author's profession, and I claim to have sympathised with their sufferings, and to be very anxious to see the pro- fession raised by every possible means. There are various opinions as to the best way in which that could be done; some people are of the opinion that authors ought to be paid for their writings; some are of the opinion that every promising aspirant should receive a good salary from Government, and that it should be left to their sense of honour to turn out whatever work seemed to them best. I am of the opinion that, considering how pleasant an occupation writing is, and how valuable it is to read what we write, perhaps the right plan would be for a future Chancellor of the Exchequer to lay a heavy tax on the luxury, and to make everybody who is impertinent enough to suppose that what he said would be of value to the public, pay for it. I won’t, however, argue the question, because I am afraid that I should not have either a sympa- thetic or impartial audience. I have no doubt that authors will be paid, and will want to be paid more for some years to come, and I also feel that there will always be more or less of that difficulty which naturally occurs now in the rela- tions between authors and publishers. The author is a man of genius, sometimes; he is always sensitive ; he is apt to place an excessive WOL, W. value upon the children of his own brain ; and if his work fails he is rather inclined to throw the blame upon any other cause than his own stupi- dity. The author is apt to be one of those persons to whom a balance-sheet is a source of hopeless bewilderment; he is rarely a man of busi- ness; while on the other hand the publisher is a man of business, and has that peculiar talent in which all men of business are so conspicuous, the talent for proving that he is always losing by his business, and yet of living as if his business were distinctly profitable; and very often he has had to console himself for the losses which he made by speculating in unsuccessful literature by accepting some of the profit made out of the brains of men of genius. Undoubtedly such a relation must be a very difficult one, and so far as this Society endeavours to put it on a better basis I most heartily and cordially sympathise with the work which it is doing. Undoubtedly it is desirable that when bargains are made, and when the author is for the time in partnership with the publisher, they should distinctly under- stand the terms on which they come together, and that they should take advantage of the experience of their comrades in making terms in such a form that it is not likely to lead to mis- understandings, and that honourable men on both sides may be brought together and put in such a position that if any misunderstanding arise it must be a mere accident, and not involve any disagreeable suspicion on either side. That is, I believe, a state of things which you are endeavouring to bring about, and there- fore, as I have said, I most cordially wish you success. Mr. Stephen coupled the toast of “The Society” with the name of Sir Frederick Pollock. In responding, Sir Frederick Pollock said: My Lord Bishop, ladies and gentlemen, the first thing which I must express in the name of the Society is the great pleasure which we all feel in having Mr. Leslie Stephen as our chairman. If there is to be found a worthy representative of the higher art of literature I think Mr. Leslie Stephen is that representative, but as Mr. Stephen is a very old friend of mine, and I am speaking not in my personal capacity, but in the name of the Society, it would be unfair to take the words out of the mouth of Mr. Gosse, who will have something to say on the subject. At present the question of Canadian copyright is the most urgent matter under our notice, and within a few weeks a joint committee will probably be formed, representing this Society, the Copyright Associa- tion, the Iondon Chamber of Commerce, and possibly other bodies, and I hope that that com- mittee will be able to do some useful work in strengthening the hands of the home authorities. F 2  ## p. 42 (#56) ############################################## 42 THE AUTHOR. Some people think that our Society encourages nothing but light literature, and that we look to nothing but a rapid sale of our volumes. I will simply observe that I have here at my right hand one of our most serious writers of literature, the Bishop of Oxford. He has shown us how litera- ture in the highest sense can be dealt with. The Bishop is one of those whom I was proud to count among my colleagues for a few years at Oxford. He has done more than write a classical history; he has shown us what history is and how history ought to be treated. Mr. Conan Doyle has shown us the legitimate use of history for the purposes of (what is called) lighter literature. The Society will doubtless join me in the hope that he will lose no time in giving us another “White Company.” I ask you, therefore, to couple the toast of Literature with the name of the Bishop of Oxford and that of Mr. Conan Doyle. The Bishop of Oxford, in responding, said: “Mr. Stephen, ladies and gentlemen, I will not waste your time by telling you how very grateful I am for the kind reception given to me. When I was told last week that it would be my duty to return thanks on behalf of the serious side of literature, I began to think what I should say. In the first place, I was not quite sure what serious literature was, and in the second place, I am not quite sure whether my writings are such as to entitle me to reply to the toast. I have written many hundred- weights of books, and have been frequently asked how I acquired my “style.’ I reply by saying I do not know that I have any special style; but, if I had, I acquired it by writing two sermons every week. I only wish that I could have answered better for the great society which I have been called upon to represent.” - Mr. Conan Doyle said: “While I had rather that it had been in other hands than mine, I am still glad that fiction should be represented on this occasion. It is an honour, and fiction is accustomed to be more popular than honoured. Our Colleagues of poetry, of science, and of history have made their way as high as the House of Peers and the Privy Council. But fiction has always been the Cinderella of the family. When her fair sisters go to the prince's ball, she remains behind with her wicked stepmother the critic. But she has her compensation. She still has that good old fairy godmother, and her name is Imagi- nation. With her aid, it is still as easy as ever to turn the pumpkin into the carriage and the white mice into steeds. One might even do more. With her help one might imagine that all is well with fiction, that among the successful business men from whom the peerage is recruited a place had been found also for a Scott, a Dickens, or a Thackeray; or, to come to more modern instances, that the State had shown its recognition of work done by such men as Charles Reade in the past, or Walter Besant in the present. We are periodi- cally informed by the papers, which are usually owned and edited by knights and baronets, that State recognition does not increase the prestige of the literary man. It is true. It does not increase the prestige of the author. But it enormously increases the prestige of the State. Still, come what may, we have our own kingdom of fiction, and in it we can all be kings and queens. But that kingdom has, in this country, well defined boundaries. We know how these frontiers run. To the north we are bounded by the Glasgow baillie, to the south the young ladies' seminary, and then to the east and west, of course by the two great circulating libraries. Still, it would be idle to deny that within these limitations there is room for plenty of good work. And our frontiers. are enlarging. Within the last ten years several noble novels have come from the pens of men and women which would have been, I think, impos- sible a decade earlier. It is becoming year by year more understood that it is not the indication of vice, but its glorification, which is objection- able, and that the most immoral thing which can befall literature is that it should be entirely divorced from life and truth. Fiction is at present in a state of unrest and fermentation, Some critics, I know, say that the old tree is barren, but it seems to me that I see green shoots on all her branches. I believe from my heart that the present generation will uphold the glorious inheritance which has come down to us, and will pass it on to our posterity in a manner which shall not be unworthy. Mr. EDMUND GossE.—Sir Frederick Pollock, my Lords, ladies, and gentlemen. —It is my pleasant duty to ask you to fill your glasses, and drink to the health of our chairman, Mr. Leslie Stephen. It Ought not, I think, to be difficult to speak appropriately of one who has himself spoken so wisely and so genially of a host of others. No one here to-night but must feel a debt of gratitude for some gift or other of Mr. Leslie Stephen's, But, as the Society of Authors, we welcome him among us with unusual cheer- fulness, because he is one of the prodigal fathers of our society. He is one of the very few leading men of his generation who have always looked out of window when anybody spoke of the Society of Authors. He has been not with us, and there- fore against us. He is now with us, and will for the future always be for us. We rejoice over Mr. Leslie Stephen more than over ten celebrities who have been perfectly kind to us from our foundation. If we regard the literary career of our chair-  ## p. 43 (#57) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 43 man of to-night, we are struck, I think, first of all, by the width and catholicity of his sym- pathies, and then by the curious fate which has driven him from one corner of the intellectual province to another. He has been an authority on mountaineering and on ethics, and alternately at home with the founders of deism and with the makers of dictionaries. He began literary life, I think, as one of those who, conscious of their unconfessed offences, voluntarily make them- selves excessively uncomfortable with penitential hard labour in the Alps. Flung from peak to peak, and picking himself up at last, more dead than alive, at the foot of a glacier, he decided in future to spend his hours in the shelter of a library. And there he began a new thing; there he took down book after book, and talked to us about them, not as one of the pedantic Sanhedrim, but easily, confidentially, penetra- tively. He was dragged out of his library to become editor of the Cornhill Magazine, and now a wider work of influence began. I think he must be a little moved to-night to see around him here not a few of those whom he marshalled and encouraged in the pages of that serial, then unquestionably the most purely literary magazine which has ever been issued in this country. It was in the capacity of a contributor to the Cornhill that my own acquaintance with our chairman began, just twenty years ago. It was quite a little close corporation, and there were always wel- come, before they were welcome elsewhere, many who are widely known to-day — Mr. Thomas Hardy, Mr. Norris, Mr Austin Dobson, Mr. Grant Allen, our lamented friend John Addington Symonds, you, Sir, yourself, and many whom I do not at this moment recall. And to these, one day in 1875, was added a new writer who signed himself R. L. S. I have a letter from our chair- man, written at that time, in which he says, replying to a question of mine, “The initials are not those of the Real Leslie Stephen, as a friend of mine suggests, but of a young Scotchman from Edinburgh, called Robert Louis Stevenson.” Everyone of these, I think I may boldly say, looks back to the patient encouragement, the cordial and tireless sympathy of the best of editors with genuine gratitude. In those early days, as many of us remember, and as he himself no doubt forgets, there was no one who laughed more gaily at the trivialities of biographical literature, or who less resembled Dr. Dryasdust. It is whispered to me that a letter exists in which Mr. Leslie Stephen repudiates with contempt the man who cares to know who any other man's grandmother was. Ah! the irony of fate | Some twelve years ago, he was called upon to undertake a colossal work, the very essence of which depends upon knowing everything about everybody’s grandmother, nay, more, upon being familiar with all those mysterious consangui- nities which we read on summer Sundays at the back of the church-door. Well, he took up this task, too, as he has taken up so many others, with perfect good-nature, with exhaustive erudition, with combined energy and patience, and we all know what he made of it. But now he is released at last, this weary Titan of National Biography. He has shaken off the cousins' sisters and the mother-in-law’s nieces' husbands of genius. He can come back to literature, and that is where we love to see him. We love to see him here, at the table of the Society of Authors, and I beg you all to join with me in testifying your satisfaction. Mr. Leslie Stephen! ar- - -s REAL AUTHORS, To the City Editor of the Pall Mall Gazette. SIR,-A paragraph-writer in this morning's press on the dinner of the Society of Authors is pleased to remark on the small proportion of “real authors” present. Apparently he does not mean to deny that (omitting all those who could be said in any sense to be officially present) such people as Mr. Austin Dobson, Mr. Morris, Mr. George Moore, Mrs. W. K. Clifford, Miss Helen Mathers, Mrs. (or Madame as the reporters will have it, I cannot think why) Sarah Grand, and so forth, are real authors, but only to be sur- prised that they were in a minority; in fact, he guesses that not more than one in three of the company was a well-known author. It may be well to point out that the Society of Authors exists for the benefit, not of those authors who have already made their reputation, and may be presumed able to look after their own interests, but of those who still have their reputation to make. It does not profess to be a club of literary celebrities. If a representa- tive gathering of the society did consist mostly of writers already well known, it might be a more brilliant assembly from the reporter's point of view, but the fact would only show that the society was failing in its proper work, and had ceased to be useful, or a centre of interest to those for whose sake it was founded. The society’s definition of a “real author’’ is a person who has written and published at least one book, or its equivalent. This is a much less ambitious definition than the commentator's, but I venture to think it more accurate.—Yours, &c. June I. F. POLLOCK.  ## p. 44 (#58) ############################################## 44 THE AUTHOR. AN AMERICAN MAGAZINE. HE President of the Century Company has been reading a paper on the methods and the production of the Century magazine. The paper contains certain facts which may be useful and instructive to ourselves, especially in the light of the fact that one or two American magazines, not for their cheapness, nor because they can be charged with a low standard of style and subject, can fairly boast that the circulation of each as a monthly actually represents by itself at least three times the circulation of all the English monthly magazines combined, excepting two or three; and that the circulation in this country alone, of one or two, is equal to the circu- lation of any three English magazines combined, still excepting these two or three. It is worth while, perhaps, to read this paper, and to attempt some explanation of what is certainly astonishing, and, except on the theory that the English maga- zines are written for the highest culture only—a theory which it would be difficult to maintain— extremely humiliating. The Century magazine contains 160 pages, making about thirty articles—long and short. There are, then, from 350 to 4oo articles every year. Out of this number about 175 are either poetry or fiction. The rest are historical, bio- graphical, of travel, of social matters, and miscel- laneous. It is found that fiction, even when a novel is produced by one of the foremost English or American writers of the day, does not seem to advance the circulation of the paper. Yet it keeps up the circulation which begins to drop when the fiction is weak or unattractive. This statement probably amounts to saying that general excellence in every branch must be main- tained or the circulation suffers. On the other hand, the most popular subject ever started by the Century was that of the Civil War, on which a series of papers appeared. This series caused the circulation to go up by leaps and bounds. It is found, next, that no American magazine has ever attained a popular success unless it was illustrated. In recognition of this fact, the Century has always paid the greatest attention to its illustrations, which are now the finest that can be procured. That is to say, the artistic branch demands now a very large part of the expenditure. So great is the outlay on illustrations, as well as contributions, that every number costs, before it goes to press, about £2OOO. Even if this includes the salaries of editors, managers, and clerks, the rent of offices and the service of distribution, it is evident that a very large capital is embarked in 'an American magazine, and that the risk of a fall in the circulation means a possible loss of this large capital. This danger alone proves the necessity for the most unceasing watchfulness, the most intelligent apprehension of the subjects that the public like to read about, and the greatest care in finding the writers most capable of presenting those subjects. That artists and authors when engaged should be paid in pro- portion to the services they render, i.e., greatly in excess of what they have been accustomed to receive from journals of less circulation, is a natural result of increased interests and a larger property to defend and to advance. What is the circulation of American maga- zines P Of one it is said that it circulates 200,000 in America and 30,000 in this country. Another is reported greatly to surpass this number in America, though its circulation is small in Great Britain; of two or three more it is said that they circulate over IOO,OOO in the States, besides having a small circulation in this country. Now, in America, our magazines are hardly ever seen; there are none on the bookstalls, either at the stations or in the hotels. Why does the American magazine come here P Why does not the English maga- zine go over there P. How comes it that while in a population of 60,000,000 some of their journals arrive at a circulation of 200,000, we find, in our own population of 37,000,000, without counting the I 5,OOO,OOO of Britons abroad and in the Colonies, our magazines crawling along with a circulation of 2OOO to 20,000 P. We speak here of old-estab- lished magazines which, like those of America, are “serious,” that is, do not aim at popularity alone. There are monthly magazines here which appeal to popular tastes, and, without being necessarily unwholesome or sensational, do attain to a popularity which rivals that of the Americans; but those we do not here consider. Why is it, in short, that the old established and highly respect- able paper the Cheapside is sending out every month its ten thousand instead of its quarter of a million ? Among some of the causes are, perhaps, these : In the States, the editor—always a man of proved ability—is engaged to give his whole time, all his thoughts, all his ability, to the conduct of his paper. He has assistants, all of whom are engaged also to give to the paper their whole time and all their thoughts. In this country the editor too often does a great many other things; he has engagements which distract his attention; he does work of his own which absorbs him. The first essential for the successful conduct of a magazine seems to be that one man, at least, should think for it—think all day for it. Again, it has hitherto been considered enough for an editor to sit at his table and receive the contributions poured in upon him by every post,  ## p. 45 (#59) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 45 to read them, reject most of them, and select a few. It is only quite recently that he has even begun the American method—to plan beforehand, to arrange what he will have for the next year, and for the year after, what fiction he will invite, what poetry he will invite, what special subjects he will treat, and, to be in touch with points of the day, what men will be best to treat them for him. One lesson for us would seem to be that the casual contributor by himself cannot be trusted to create a popular demand. Few of our magazines are illustrated. Is the absence of illustrations a cause of failure ? Some years ago a new illustrated monthly was started, in which the artistic element was treated most carefully. One knows not, with any certainty, how far this magazine failed or succeeded. But it has changed hands twice. Therefore good illustrations alone do not seem to bring success. Perhaps the English are not so keen after pictures as the Americans. Some English readers, certainly, do not like the photogravure processes with the broad black line all round which decorate the American page. As regards fiction, our magazines are apt to fall into one of two extremes; either, that is, they neglect and “starve” fiction, publishing poor weak stuff; or they sacrifice everything to fiction, running two or three serials and depending entirely on them for success. Fiction in a high class magazine must be of the best; but it must never be considered the only thing. Another lesson we may learn from the Americans. We have hardly yet got beyond the prejudice that the only serial in a magazine must be the novel. This is a very foolish prejudice, mischievous alike to the publisher of the magazine and to the author. For there are many books written every year—books of historical research, biographies, collections of verse, essays, travels, popular science, which, if first run through a magazine as serials, would attract thousands of readers, and give the book when published a far greater chance of success. At present the author has to be content, say, with a single edition of a thousand, or even 500 copies. If he expects any money he is disappointed. Perhaps he only expects general reputation or distinction. How much of either can he get from this mere mite of a circula- tion? One or two attempts in this direction have already been made—but tentatively. It is as if editors do not as yet recognise the fact that an extremely attractive serial may be made of a sub- ject not belonging to fiction at all. For instance, many volumes of poetry are run through various magazines first. I would run them through one magazine only. “Mr. Austin Dobson’s new volume of verse will be commenced in the January number of the New Year; it will run through twelve months, and will be published in volume form in November.” Would not such an an- nouncement be attractive P Or this: “Professor Dowden's new work on Shakespeare is nearly completed. It consists of twelve chapters, and is to run through twelve numbers of the Cheapside magazine; it will then be published in the autumn books of Messrs. Bungay.” Does any one pretend that the comparatively wide cir- culation of the magazine would not assist the author in disseminating his teaching and the publisher in afterwards distributing the book? The next point is the investment of large sums of money in the enterprise. This, no doubt, is risk; such risk as few publishers care to face. Yet, if one appeals to the great public there are but two ways: to hope for gradual recognition of work always good; or by a bid for popularity— immediate and wide-spread — by treatment of topics always fresh and interesting, and by wide advertisement. Both methods, however, mean the investment of money. g One more reason, perhaps, why our higher class magazines are not popular. Nearly all of them aim, more or less, at expounding and perhaps solving the many questions and problems of the day. Not, that is, the treatment of fresh topics, but the difficulties of the day. The articles are, as a rule, very well written; the American magazines do not seem to me, on the whole, nearly so well written as our own ; but if we take up the new numbers of any magazine of the better kind, what we find in it is too often the continuation or even the repetition of the daily and weekly leading article. If the editors would only con- sider that the same subject which we gladly read when treated in the Times of to-day and in the Spectator of next Saturday, will become wearisome when treated, without much new light or much new wisdom, in the monthly magazine of the week after next, they would perhaps refuse certain papers. There are, of course, brilliant exceptions, as when the One man who knows can be got to speak, or when one who is allowed to be a leader speaks. For the most part the writers are not known by the world to be of greater eminence on this question or on that than the anonymous writer in the Times or the Spectator. Another reason, perhaps equally weighty, is the undue prominence given by English maga- zines to literary papers and especially those of the mournful or the savage kind. It is a great mistake to suppose that people, even of culture, are always wanting to tear the literature of the day up by the roots, to see how it is getting on; and it is quite certain that the kind of criticism  ## p. 46 (#60) ############################################## 46 THE AUTHOR. which only sneers and depreciates, and can only find in the popularity of a writer a reason for pretended contempt, is offensive to all readers, whether of culture or not. Of the “Decay of Fiction,” the “Decay of Poetry,” the “Decay of the Drama,” people have already heard too much. Americans do not strike this note, nor will they endure it; theirs must be the note of hope, eager looking forward and confidence. There is no reason why in every field of intellect, art, science, imagination, this note of confidence should not be struck by ourselves. I, for one, believe that it is the true note—that the present is a time of great endeavour and of deserved success. It is true that there are failures by the million, because there are attempts by the million. Instinctively the people — better class and all — turn with disgust from the pessimist and the mournful downcrier of what he dares not even try to imitate. Let us leave the million failures to die in nameless peace. Let us rejoice in the successes, and lift up our heads with something of the American hope and confidence. We are a young country still, with our future still before us. These are some of the reasons why the English magazine is distanced and beaten by the American: rival. The problem before us is this: “How are we to maintain a high level of style and subject, and yet make a serious bid for the popularity which this rival obtains P” W. B. *- - -º - - - NOTES AND NEWS, Tº Literary Congress of San Francisco seems to have been a comparative failure. The original plans, a correspondent writes, were changed, and it was hurried upon the boards long before the time originally planned. Conse- quently few were there, and “it became merely a provincial gathering of people of unequal ability, and not in the least representative of California. It was disappointing to those who had been most active in planning it.” *- It is pleasant, for one who took part in it, to read that the Literary Congress of Chicago is bearing fruit in the best possible way. The following is an extract from the Critic of New York, the only paper to which we can look for a week-by-week record of American literature: It was evidently not in vain that Chicago lavished her millions in time and money upon the Fair. The intellectual returns are beginning to come in, and they indicate a remarkable enlargement of vision, an increased appreciation of science and art, and of what they can offer. It was inevitable that such would be the result; the mere labour of design and construction was bound to develop the ingenuity and the resources of the people. But the most sanguine of us looked forward many years before the evidence of this inspiration should appear. We did not expect the fruit to ripen overnight ; we forgot the rapidity with which the American people take up an idea and develope it and make it their own. Of course, it is too soon for the effect to be visible in deeds, but there are many things that indicate the general tendency. And not the least of these is the state- ment of Mr. Hill, the librarian of the Public Library, in regard to the changes in the demand for books. He says that the standard of quality in the books called for at the library is decidedly higher than it was a year ago. Art has felt the same stimulus from the Fair. The inte- rest in pictures and sculpture is evidenced by the crowds that enter the Art Institute, and even more positively by the statements of the dealers. Mr. O’Brien, who has been giving a series of delightful exhibitions of works by American painters, says that a year ago such pictures would have been utterly neglected here. But at present the galleries in which they are hung are crowded. Many collectors, too, have been developed by the Fair—men and women who, before it, never thought of buying a picture. These facts are, of course, merely straws, but they show the direction of the wind. The fruit of the fair in production will be slower in ripening, but the buildings, the statues, the pictures, and poems it will inspire will be worth the waiting for. “At the dinner of the Authors’ Club last week, which brought together a large company, who seemed to be toler- ably happy in spite of the continued existence of publishers, Mr. Leslie Stephen foretold ‘the coming of that glorious time ’ when writers will be better paid than they are now. The prophecy excited, on the whole, more doubt than belief. We hear, however, that a new literary agency is in process of formation, with a large capital behind it, which will employ its own readers, and pay authors a sum down as soon as it has approved their works. One of its chief objects will be to force up the average price of serial rights.” The above is a cutting from the Athenæum of June 9. One wonders who are the people who amuse themselves by concocting such paragraphs. The Authors’ Club has held no dinner at all except its monthly house dinner. Mr. Leslie Stephen has never yet favoured the club with his presence at that or any other function. The Authors’ Society held its annual dinner, and the president of the evening was Mr. Leslie Stephen. His speech, reported verbatim, will be found on p. 39 of this number. The words attributed to him were not spoken by him; he did not “foretell the coming of that glorious time ’’—the inverted commas mean a quotation, which makes it a deliberate invention—when writers will be better paid than now. He said nothing of the kind; he did not use the words “glorious time ’’ at all; what he said was that, in the aim of the Society towards the adjustment of their own affairs, he wished it every success. “The prophecy excited, on the whole, more doubt than belief.” Wonderful | First, to invent a prophecy, never uttered, and them to describe the way in which that prophecy was received Even a prophet of Baal had to say  ## p. 47 (#61) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 47 something before his audience began to consider his prophecy. As regards the alleged “new literary agency,” that bears on the face of it every sign of being another invention—perhaps an invention intended to be comic. Certainly no one in his senses could deliberately set himself to persuade people that a company had been formed whose “chief object” was to force up the “average" price of serial rights. What, to begin with, is the “average * price? Is it the average of all the magazines and journals that exist without reference to subject, circulation, name, character of the paper? As for “forcing,” one has always considered, in matter of papers for magazines, that the editor is a despot from whose word there is no appeal. He can say, and he does say, that his remuneration is a certain stipulated sum. It is for the author to “take it or leave it.” Nor can any “forcing ” alter this condition of things. Certain magazines and journals acquire a good name for their treatment of contributors in this respect; such a good name, no doubt, is a very useful thing for a journal to possess; one ventures to believe and to hope that it helps the circulation. Certain other magazines acquire precisely the opposite reputa- tion, insomuch that the literary world regards with complacency the decline and fall of those magazines. The only influences that can be brought to bear upon this monarch of all he surveys—the editor—are those of competition first—it needs no company “with a large capital behind it,” to create competition among editors; and, next, a sense of what is due to the producer, in other words, a sense of justice. Since the most friendly relations seem to prevail between the editors of our high-class magazines and their con- tributors, it seems as if this sense of justice does exist. The following is from the New York Critic. The same circular has been sent to myself, doubtless among many others: Authors have strange requests sometimes. Here is one recently received by a well-known novelist from the editor of a periodical which up to this time has devoted itself to illustration rather than to text :—“Although it is not the custom of our paper to publish stories, yet if you have an unpublished novel of medium length which you could remodel only to the extent of having a portion of the scenes laid in studios and art galleries, I should be pleased to have you submit the same, and am willing to pay well for it. We always pay for MSS. as soon as accepted.” There is some- thing attractive in this last statement, for authors as a rule are needy. The one in question is not, however, so he failed to be caught on this well-baited hook. The editor of this paper evidently thinks that authors have no feelings, or why would he expect them to recast their stories to suit his audience P A very useful compilation is the Index to the Periodicals of the World, published by the Review of Reviews Office. The list of periodi- cals fills thirty-seven pages devoted to English and American periodicals alone, and fifty pages for the periodicals of all countries. Reckoning roughly, an average of thirty-four to a page, we have 1700 periodicals of the whole world indexed in this volume, and I 258 English and American periodicals. Those that specially concern our- selves—the literary journals—are about Io2 in number, but there are many others — some educational, musical, artistic, historical, legal, economical, medical, and scientific, which concern many of our members. The papers and articles on literature in one or other of its branches are innumerable. It is the one subject of which editors seem never tired. The American perio- dical abounds with personal descriptions of literary men, especially with accounts of their methods of working, about which one wonders why there exists any curiosity at all; for certainly, if one knew the methods of every writer under the sun, without natural aptitude one would be not a whit advanced. The discussion of the novel is more favoured by English magazines. The reason, one fears, is not that the public demands this vast mass of criticism or talk about literature, but that it can be produced in any quantity, either from the man with a name or the man without a name. These indexes have become indispensable. . I have always advocated for those writers who are not men—or women—of business the employ- ment of an agent. The only argument which appears to me of any weight at all against the middleman is that where an author is able to manage his own affairs he may just as well do so, and save the commission. Even in that case it may be worth the author's while, if he is a busy man, to let his agent think for him and plan for him. As for those who do not possess the necessary knowledge or habits of business, the only danger, it seems to me, that they have to fear is that of falling into bad hands, and the only real objection that can be raised, by the other side to the agent, is that he is expected to conduct negotiations in a business manner; in other words, he prevents his client from being “bested ”—a word which very often covers, but does not hide, another and an older word. Now, if the agent works for the author, he must be paid by the author. This seems ele- mentary. But I have heard certain stories which ought, I think, to be brought out into light. There is, for instance, the story of the author who  ## p. 48 (#62) ############################################## 48 THE AUTHOR. comes to the agent, finds out the name of the editor or the publisher to whom he proposes to send the work, and then uses the information and goes there himself. There is, again, the author who, when he has been successfully placed, gets the cheque sent to himself, and then refuses to pay the commission. There is, again, the case where the publisher writes direct to the author after receiving an offer from the agent. It is of course the author's duty, as a matter of honour, to send that letter to the agent in whose hands he has already placed the MS., and whose work for him has obtained this offer. Unfortunately he does not always do so. Now, most of these practices come from failing to understand that transactions in literature are like those in every other kind of business, so that the same rules should obtain between author and agent as between client and solicitor. Of one thing writers may rest assured, that any attempt made to detach the author from his agent can only be due to an intention to profit by the author's ignorance. As for the pretended desire to maintain friendly relations, a friendship which will not survive the adjust- ment of honourable terms between two men is worth nothing — nothing at all. Any person who ventures to put forth this ridiculous plea stands self-condemned. On more than one occasion an agent's commis- sion of so much per cent. has been represented to an author as the deduction of a royalty of so much per cent. " This amazingly impudent assertion has been actually accepted and credited Let us there- fore see exactly what it means. We will suppose a royalty of 20 per cent., which is a little over Is. 2d. On a 6s. book. The returns show a sale, say, of 3OOO copies, which at this royalty means for the author the sum of £180. On this the agent takes, say, Io per cent., i.e., 318. Now, if the commission had been the deduction of a IO per cent. royalty, the agent would have received £90. A commission is a percentage on the whole amount received from royalties or from purchase; a royalty is a percentage on the advertised pub- lished price of each copy. This explanation may seem elementary, but there are really no “sums” in literary business which are too elementary to be explained. “But,” said a publisher plaintively, “why incur this extra expense P Why not come to me, as my friends, Lord Addlehede and Professor Insipiens always have done, direct, and so save the intervention of the other party P” Let us, in reply, without calling names, or getting angry, recognise the plain fact that when a man of business transacts affairs with a man who does not understand business, the former always gets the better of the latter, which is the reason why Lord Addlehede and the Professor above named would do well to consider their ways, and approach their publisher with the help of a man of business. The book of the month is, of course, our President’s new novel, “Lord Ormont and His Aminta.” A great many have followed it in its course through the Pall Mall Magazine. Meredithians—how large a company have they become !—will rejoice in it, while the old charge of obscurity certainly cannot be brought against any of the characters in this the latest, and, in some respects, perhaps the best of this author's remarkable series of novels. William Watson's sonnet to France (June 25, 1894), which appeared in the Westminster Gazette, seems to me very fine. To France— “immortal and indomitable France.” Nation whom storm on storm of ruining fate Unruined leaves—nay, fairer, more elate, Hungrier for action, more athirst for glory ! It is the gift and the privilege of the poet to speak the voice of one nation to another in days of great sorrow or great disaster, as well as in days of great joy and great victory. William Watson speaks to France for England: Little thou lov’st our island— Yet let her in these dark and bodeful days, Sinking old hatreds 'neath the sundering brine— Immortal and indomitable France — Marry her tears, her alien tears, to thine. The premature death of Mr. John Underhill from some affection of the brain—a tumour apparently—took place on Wednesday, June 27, at his residence, Wimbledon. Mr. Underhill was only twenty-nine years of age. He was born at Barnstaple, where he was privately educated by the Rev. Dr. Cunningham Geikie, at that time vicar of Barnstaple. He developed an intense love for books and for everything that belongs to literature. It became obvious that no career except that of literature was possible for him. He therefore came to London proposing such a career. He was armed with one or two letters of introduction. One of these was to Mr. W. T. Stead, who was at that time assistant editor, or actual editor, of the Pall Mall Gazette. Mr. Stead assisted the lad, as he has assisted many others, by giving him a start. He placed him in his office and taught him journalism. He remained on the staff of the Pall Mall Gazette till a few weeks ago, when  ## p. 49 (#63) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 49 he resigned his post, intending to devote himself entirely to literature. As an original writer he would not have succeeded; he knew his own limitations, and aspired only to the humbler but not less useful work of editing, annotating, writing biographies, and compilations. That is, he would never have become a bookmaker; but he would have been, and was already, a most useful and trustworthy editor. His private character was beyond all reproach ; he was always, as a journalist, on the side of honour and of truth; as a reviewer he was wholly unin- fluenced by personal feelings, he was incapable of rancour or of spite. That he had his own way to make in the world only increases the honour of having made his way so far with so much distinction. That he made friends every- where is a proof of his generous and sympathetic mature. He was especially engaged at the time of his death on a history of journalism. He leaves behind him a young widow and one child. WALTER BESANT. *- a .sº GEORGE ELIOT AND HER CREED, NE little story of George Eliot's childhood has lingered ſong in my memory, for in a measure it typified the creed shaping each novel and story, long after it ceased to be her personal one, remaining the much more widely diffused faith she chose to give to the world in her books. When a child at school, an essay was given her to write, and the subject set was God, little Marian Evans drew upon her paper, for sole essay, a large eye. And does not each novel and poem inclose the awful eye of unsleeping, unforgetting fate P For no single character is ever allowed “to fly responsibility.” Her mind hardly seems to have been wrought into creative sympathy with the thought of the nineteenth century; although her youth witnessed an era of great political reform, and her middle and later life was surrounded by the most advanced literary and philosophic thoughts of this century. Notwithstanding all these stirring influences at work around her, to a large extent her imaginative and constructive force remained alien to the “march of events,” political and social, which swept past her, and left her, the dispassionate his- torian of the provincial scenes of her early youth, and of fifty years earlier. Her creed at times discloses a tendency to an almost barren fatalism, her characters invariably creating an adverse destiny for themselves, woven out of their early follies and failures. Like the cruel god- mother of a fairy tale, George Eliot possesses the fearful and mysterious gift of dowering her dramatis personae with some one fatal, irradi- cable weakness, which the reader foresees from the beginning of their history pre-destines them to certain failure and disaster; the retributive justice of inexorable consequences frustrating their every effort to right themselves or retrace their hapless steps through the labyrinths of early sins and errors, a creeping Nemesis being evolved at each step, to hunt them down till they sink into the slow torture of their moral and social death. Maggie Tulliver, the slave of generous impulse, is doomed to high failure, with her gift of feeling and thinking nobly, yet of acting impulsively in crucial moments; from the early days of childhood, when on a visit to a severe aunt she upsets brother Tom's tea by the bestowal of a too impulsive caress, given at an inauspicious moment, down to the time when, a beautiful young woman, she runs away with Stephen, gliding, indeed, but a small way down the stream of temptation, but awaking to a sense of duty too late to save appearances or irreme- diable grief to those she best loved. So that when the choice of utter renunciation of personal happiness is made, her initial error has robbed self-sacrifice of the first bloom of dignified heroism, and her life has turned to the dull ache of failure and inadequate retrieval; but this is finely transmuted into the heroism of her death. Running up and down the gamut of George Eliot's creations, each one is the sport of some apparently wilfully self-created destiny; a Jugger- naut car of untoward consequences set loose upon the victim of circumstances; heredity and free will engaged in ceaseless warfare for the possession of the human soul. Lydgate, the lowable doctor in “Middlemarch,” full of enthusiasm for his profession and a great tenderness for the suffering—has not the author chosen that fate should use him too grievously ill, when she gave him a lovely, heartless, shallow wife, whom he had chosen to wed, partly from the fact that, with all his brilliant gifts and winning traits, there is in his character just a tinge of intellectual egoism which made him count brains superfluous in the woman he married; that lack of finer judgment making him lose his hold on the ennobling ideals of life. Yet these little flaws in Lydgate's character doom him to be another soul's tragedy of baulked achievement, and he tells his wife in late years, with sad irony, that she is like a certain plant which is known to flourish best on dead men's brains. Perhaps a less inexorable moralist than George Eliot would have con- ferred happiness upon him, later in his life, by  ## p. 50 (#64) ############################################## so THE AUTHOR. the bestowal of Dorothea's love, but so stern a moralist is seldom happy in the contemplation of too much unaccounted for happiness, unrelated to moral sequence—unweighed in the judicial moral scales. At times, one half suspects, the force of these ethical strictures arose from a lack of ideality, for an idealist abhors the fixity of moral judg- ments. George Sand, her French prototype, who suffered from an excess of luminous ideality, seldom or never passed moral judgment on her creations, for with her was the large tolerance of the humanist, and the love which says, com- prendre, c'est pardoner. In the “Spanish Gipsy” is worked out the modern conception of the forces of heredity, playing through the woof and warp of indivi- dual character, which she thus defines: “I saw it might be taken (the drama of the ‘Spanish Gypsy”) as a symbol of the part which is played in the general human lot by hereditary conditions in the largest sense, and of the fact that what we call duty is entirely made up of such condi- tions, for even in cases of just antagonism to the narrow view of hereditary claims the whole back- ground of the particular struggle is made up of our inherited nature. Suppose for a moment that our conduct at great epochs was determined entirely by reflection, without the immediate intervention of feeling which supersedes reflec- tion, our determination as to the right would consist in an adjustment of our individual needs to the dire necessities of our lot, partly as to natural constitution, partly as sharers of life with fellow beings. Tragedy consists in the terrible difficulty of this adjustment, ‘the dire strife of poor humanity’s afflicted will struggling in vain with ruthless destiny.’” “The collision of Greek tragedy is often that between hereditary entailed Nemesis and the peculiar individual lot, awakening our sympathy for the particular manor woman whom the Nemesis is shown to grasp with terrific force. . . .” IHence sprang the abiding sadness of George Eliot's creed, the insistent sombre criticism of life and human effort. Her private letters to her personal friends are melancholy reading, so often do her words limp between headache and peren- nial pessimism. Her literary career, however, was a smooth one, she served no long probation to the muse, her genius burst full blown upon a world which received it with unqualified praise, and she won success without ever experiencing that “grace of discouragement” by which Browning climbed to the bracing heights of his rare optimism. Did the gloom of her moral dynamics crush out of her the capacity for being happy?. She did not labour under the bane of being in too great advance of her time, nor of heralding unpopular truths; for her genius lay rather in presenting the old truths with matchless wit and pathos, than in lending that great genius to light the birth of the new. GRACE GILCHRIST. *~ * ~ * BOOK TALK, R. EDMUNID GOSSE has admitted into M the International Library, of which he is the editor, two novels by authors who have been previously represented in the series. The novels are “Farewell Love,” from the Italian of Matilde Serao, the author of “Fantasy,” and “The Grandee,” from the Spanish of Armando Palacio Valdés, the author of “Froth.” Whether it was the great success which attended the publication of “Fantasy.” in English, or whether the Editor considers “Farewell Love" to be the superior novel, does not appear from his introduction. Though perhaps the fact that it is a most enjoyable book would be reason enough for publication. Mr. Gosse lays great stress on the fact that the author is a jour- malist, and “all her life has been spent in minis- tering to appetites of the vast rough crowd that buys cheap Italian newspapers.” The story is true to its title; it tells of love and jealousy, of a baulked elopement, an unfortunate marriage, and self-destruction. One passionate scene follows another so quickly that the reader is surprised by the skill with which the real wickedness of the characters is concealed. There is a husband—one Cesare Dias—who is extremely like “Grandcourt,” cold, cynical, and “not a wordy thinker.” Except that he is Italian, he has a thoroughly English hatred for scenes, and finds his romantic young wife Anna Dias — née Aquaviva — a bore, and tells her so. In fact, previous to their engagement we are told she had taken the humiliating step of declaring her love; and here are three charac- teristic letters showing what happened : “Dear Anna, All that you say is very well; but I don’t know yet who the man is that you love.—Very cordially, Cesare Dias.” She read it, and answered with one line : “I love you.-Anna Aquaviva.” Cesare Dias waited a day before he replied: “I)ear Anna, Very well. And what then P-Cesare Dias.”—The translation is by Mrs. Harland, and reads very smoothly, though there is one odd phrase on p. 63: “‘Would you like a rose?” She asked to placate him.” Quite recently Mr. Grant Allen, in the West- minster Gazette, told us Londoners to go to Italy  ## p. 51 (#65) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 5 I and revel in beauty denied us here. One would think that in default we could not do better than read the novels of Matilde Serao. “The Grandee” is a powerful story, turning on the horrible subject of cruelty to children, or in this case rather to one particular child. The author describes the state of society in a Spanish town called Lancia, thirty or forty years ago, which is identified for us by the editor as Oviedo, a place of about Io,000 inhabitants, the capital of Asturias. It is with the private life of a few of the leading families in this town that the reader has to make himself acquainted, and, though he must not expect anything much more than the visits of friends, the description of At-homes and marriage fêtes, there is, in spite of some Sameness, hardly a dull page in the book. It is most inte- resting to note how, in spite of the narrowness of life which is generally found in provincial towns, the Spaniards here described never seem to be at a loss for an enlivening incident. The stock-in-trade of their amusement is, it is true, the eternal subject of match-making, which is described as being carried on with great vigour by the elders, in spite of their constant mistakes. We are uncertain whether the author intends to reprove this custom or not, for indirectly he cer- tainly brings out that it shielded the hero in his adultery, enabling him to appear in public as the accepted suitor of one lady while he is the lover of another. This is the more amusing side of the book; but, as we have said, there is another aspect which is not only extremely serious, but is of such a nature that we cannot help wondering what moral conclusion different readers will draw from it. That well-to-do people have been known to treat young children with cruelty cannot be denied, and Mr. Gosse writes: “Nor do the reports of Mr. Benjamin Waugh permit us to question that such horrors are daily committed at our own doors.” This brings the matter so directly into the sphere of practice that we may look to the pages of this novel for light on the question of child protection, actually under dis- cussion by those who are not simply interested out of curiosity, but deeply moved by the subject. We may suppose that, in spite of its danger to liberty, some people would ask for increased powers of obtaining evidence, when they were reasonably certain cruelty was being practised. The lesson we draw from this work is of a diffe- rent nature. We must remember that to abuse the parent is part of the bias of some professional men, notably the pedagogue and the cleric, and therefore in any case of alleged cruelty it is well to try and discover what the actual parentage of the child is, otherwise there is a danger of legislation being based on false information. The point that comes out most clearly in “The Grandee” is that where the victim is illegitimate as much would be gained by altering the position of such children, and so stopping the temptation to cruel treatment, as can possibly be gained by legisla- tion, which would also interfere with the well- established duties of lawfully married parents towards their children. Mr. Gosse also raises another nice point, “Whether these maladies of the soul are or are not fit subjects for the art of the novelist is a question which every reader must answer for himself.” To which it may be suggested, by way of reply, that as long as there are customs which shield gross immorality, the art of the novelist is well employed in laying bare the evil, lest these matters should fall into the hands not of the novelist, but of the sensation- monger, and become the cause of hurried and ill-considered legislation. The translation of “The Grandee’’ is by Miss Rachel Challis, and it seems to read quite as easily as many English novels; but we should like to know what authority the translator has for making the word “lover” feminine. Mr. Gilbert Parker's latest story, “The Trans- lation of a Savage,” is one which must come as a happy surprise to the most persistent novel reader. Whether the main idea is really possible we do not care to ask, because the author has used it so well that any carping criticism tending to spoil the illusion, when we have been given so much pleasure, would be entirely out of place. We are to take it for granted that an American Indian, the daughter of the chief of her tribe, being sent on her marriage with an English General’s son to his family in England, could be translated, as Mr. Parker calls it, into a refined member of English society. Once grant this difficulty, and then the amusement which arises out of the process of “translation” meets us at every page. We are not bored with details as to how the transformation is brought about, but the force of example and surroundings do much, and personal devotion does the rest. Only once does the young lady, as we may call her, really forget to be English, and then she takes to riding madly across her father-in-law's property in the dress and style of her tribe. A child is born to her in England, but her husband remains in Canada, and she has learnt to hate him. The reason of all this it is not our business to tell. The matter- of-fact reader who could find fault with Mr. Parker for his choice of incident would be very foolish indeed, for we have here a story in which the author has been able to depict malice and revenge, as well as true love and friendship, in a compass long enough to make one good volume, but with such a charming narrative style that  ## p. 52 (#66) ############################################## 52 THE AUTHOR. nearly every reader will make a point of finishing it at a single sitting. + Mr. Austin’s new volume, “The Garden that I Love,” has much in it to awaken the envy of his fellow poets. He obtained the lease of an old manor house, and the reader will learn how he converted it to suit the author-gardener's taste and his sister Weronica's sense of comfort and house room. It will be seen that, though the |book is properly enough named, it is more the garden-lover's leisure and his talks with his two guests rather than the garden apart that we have to hear about. Of the guests one is a poet, who is not only so in name but recites his own poetry, the other a young lady called Lamia. The garden becomes the happily suggestive subject for con- versation which takes a wide range from the almost frivolous to the lofty and serious. Of the two women “Veronica ’’ and “Lamia,” we prefer the latter, though poetic justice is done by making Veronica, the housekeeping lady, who has a sweet sense of tidiness, marry the poet. Her redeeming quality is a love for old-fashioned goods, especially if she can purchase them cheap. As to Tamia, with one’s recollection of Keat's, her name would suggest, not a reptile itself, for, though there four persons in this garden—two pairs—it is not the serpent of Eden she suggests, but the power of sudden transformation, always seeming to be possessed by a demon of contra- diction. Paying due attention to the large number of flowers, shrubs, and trees which are here given, some under their popular, others under their Latin names, we have allowed our- selves to imagine the author doing the honours of “The Garden that he Loves” to Lady Corisande, to Dr. Rappacini and his lovely daughter, and with almost equal pleasure to Mrs. Gardiner—Gardiner by name and gardener by nature as Tom Hood describes her. Lady Corisande would find much that is old fashioned and sweet smelling—just her garden in favoured spots, over which to grow enthusiastic. Dr. Rappacini would be able to ponder over the contrast between his own—the garden of an herbalist—and the garden that the poet loves. Mrs. Gardiner would find a friend who would understand at once why, in spite of her widow’s weeds she should still say of herself “I am single and white ” and of her maiden neighbour “she is double and bloody.” But we think these three visitors would each have asked how the Ampelopsis Veitchii got there, which belongs not to manor-houses and poets, but to the jerry- builder of the suburb. In the manor-house, if anywhere, the old Virginia creeper should hold its own. The Tennyson memorial, which is to be erected tion of a work by Wilhelm Joseph on “the ridge of the noble down '' at Freshwater, will be an international and not a local under- taking. The Americans are showing an active interest in the project. Mr. Arthur Warren, the London correspondent of the Boston Herald, who resides during a portion of each year in the Isle of Wight, is a member of the committee having the memorial in charge, and his recent appeal to his countrymen has resulted in the organisation of an American committee, which has among its members Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Miss Alice Longfellow, a daughter of the poet, Mrs. Burnett, daughter of the late James Russell Lowell, President Eliot of Harvard University, Mrs. Agassiz, the widow of the great naturalist, Professor Charles Eliot, Norton, T. B. Aldrich, Margaret Deland, the author of “John Ward, Preacher,” Professor Shaler, Mrs. James T. Melds, the widow of the publisher who intro- duced Tennyson, as well as Carlyle, to American readers, Dana Estes, the head of the publishing house of Estes and Lauriat, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, Miss Sarah Orne Jewett, the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, Mr. Martin Brimmer, and Mr. PIowells. The English committee met at Fresh- water on Monday, June 5, and accepted the design which Mr. Pearson, R.A., has submitted for the memorial. The design is an Iona cross, 34 feet high, graceful in proportions, and beauti- fully ornamented. By an arrangement with the Masters of Trinity House the cross will super- sede the present Nodes Beacon, a wooden struc- ture, and will be known as the Tennyson Beacon. On one face of the base will be carved in bold 1etters the name “Tennyson,” and on another face these words: “Erected by friends in Eng- land and America.” The cross will stand near the seaward edge of the great down, 716 feet above high water mark, and will be visible for many miles by sea and land. “The Violoncello and its History” is a transla- Won Wasielewski. The translation is executed by Miss Isabella E. Stigand, and the publishers are Messrs. Novello, Ewer, and Co. There is no other history of the instrument at all. “Mr. John Lee Warden Page is of medium height, his face tanned, and his moustache bleached in quite an Australian manner by expo- sure to sun and storm. Mr. Page lives just out- side Ilfracombe, and only pays flying visits to London now, though he was once a lawyer in London.” This notice was intended to be compli- mentary, and it is therefore unfortunate that it should contain so many mistakes. Mr. Page's second name is Lloyd, not Lee; he is not of “medium height,” unless six feet is medium ; his  ## p. 53 (#67) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 53 moustache is not bleached at all, either by sun or by storm; and he has never practised as a lawyer in London. Still, it might have been much WOTSé, We recently mentioned the publication of Mr. Joseph Hatton's early novel of “Clytie ’’ as being published in Swedish, following the success of his “By Order of the Czar” in that language. It is interesting to learn that an edition of the latter sent into Finland has been confiscated by the Russian authorities. The Swedish Press appears to be unanimous in its commendation of “By Order of the Czar,” and in most cases the criticism is couched in a high spirit of literary appreciation. The Smaalandposten says: “Of all the pictures of life in the great Eastern Empire of Europe which have appeared during recent years not one, probably, can bear com- parison with Joseph Hatton's novelin its startling vigour of delineation.” The Gothenburg Post describes the book as “No average commercial novel, but a literary work of enduring worth; ” and the Helsingborg Dagblad speaks of “The epic calm’’ with which the author describes the many horrors of Russian despotism. Messrs. Sampson Low announce in their 2s. 6d. series of novels uniform with Black, Blackmore, and other popular writers, two novels of Joseph Hatton previously in their 6s. library, namely, “The Old House at Sandwich’” and “Three Recruits and the Girls they Left Behind Them.” The locality of “The Old House at Sandwich * is no fiction; the house a reality and a very interesting one. “Patient Grizzle,” who was with us a popular figure till about two centuries ago, would pro- bably have been quite forgotten by this time if it were not for Chaucer's admirable “Clerke's Tale,” which still finds numerous readers and admirers. In Germany the memory of the heroine of patience has been kept up by Halm's famous drama, “Griseldis,” of which Professor Benbheim has just issued an edition at the Clarendon Press. The introduction contains, besides a short “Life " of the author, the Griselda legend as told by Petrarch and Boccaccio, and an account of its subsequent literary treatment in and out of Italy. The true gist of the drama, with its picturesque Arthurian background, is shown in the critical analysis. Rürschner’s “Deutscher Litteratur Kalendar ” which, thanks to the full notices, brought on this valuable literary annual by the Spectator and the Literary World, is now fairly well known in this country, has made its sixteenth appearance both enlarged and improved. Every information as regards living German authors and literary institutions now flourishing in Germany, may be found in this publication in a condensed form, so that it is not to be wondered at that the Litteratur-Kalendar was honoured two years ago, together with the same editor's highly useful Staatshandbuch, with a prize at Chicago. We have yet to add that the publication of the annual has been trans- ferred to the well-known firm of G. J. Göschen at Stuttgart. A story entitled “Phil Hawcroft's Son,” by Gerda Grass, will run in serial form through the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle from July 14. Mr. L. J. Nicholson, who is known among his friends as “The Bard of Thule,” is about to pub- lish, by Mr. Gardner, Paisley and London, a volume of his poems, which will be entitled “Songs of Thule.” Mr. Bloundelle-Burton’s first novel, “The Silent Shore,” is about to reverse the ordinary method of procedure adopted by romances, viz., having originally appeared in volume form, it is now going to be run as a serial in several country papers. It has already been dramatised—at the Olympic—it was reprinted in the United States, and it has had the somewhat unusual experience of running as a serial in the Spanish language in South America. A new edition (being the fifth) of “Chitty's Statutes of Practical Utility” is just being brought out by Mr. J. M. Lely, assisted by col- leagues at the Bar, in about twelve volumes (Sweet and Maxwell Timited; Stevens and Sons Limited). It is intended to contain all public general Acts of Parliament, except those repealed or obsolete, or applying to Scotland or Ireland only, or to limited areas only in England, or those which are of little or no interest to the lawyer or the general public. The Acts will be fully anno- tated and indexed. The first volume will appear in the present month. The publishers are issu- ing a circular stating that the price of the work when completed, will be a guinea a volume, but that a subscription of 6 guineas, prepaid before Aug. I next, will entitle the subscribers to the complete work. This is being done in order that the publishers may ascertain in advance the approximate number to print. In an editorial announcement which accompanies the circular, Mr. Lely states that the Acts comprised will number some 23OO, and enumerates the titles under which they will be grouped in alpha- betical order. The first volume is expected to contain the titles “Act of Parliament” to “Charities.”  ## p. 54 (#68) ############################################## 54 THE AUTHOR. “From Manuscript to Bookstall” ” is the title of a book on publishing by Mr. A. D. Southam, It professes to give information on the cost of production and on the various methods of pub- lishing. As regards the former, we have to notice that the charges for composition are in some cases higher than those in the Society’s book called the “Cost of Production.” We do not attach much importance to this discrepancy, because a printer's bill is always an elastic thing. Moreover, it is certainly not the desire of the Society to cut down the pay of printers and book- binders, but rather the reverse; therefore, we welcome the book, so far, and without accepting its figures, as a step in the right direction. Above all things, and as the preliminary to future and better arrangements, we must know what things mean, what printing and paper cost, and the rest of it. One notices a curious discre- pancy repeated in every page of the “Cost of Production.” It is that for an edition of 500 copies paper is reckoned by the ream, and for a thousand copies it is reckoned by the sheet, the ream in the first instance standing for the sheet. One would advise the compiler of the book to lay his prices before two or three other firms of printers when he produces another edition. Some- thing, too, is desired on the subject of discounts; the prices given in the Society’s estimates do not contemplate discounts. The part of the book devoted to the different methods of publishing is neither exhaustive nor satisfactory. For instance, the word royalty is a very vague expression. We want to know what, given certain conditions, should be accepted as a fair royalty; we want to know the meaning of a deferred royalty, The thanks of authors are, however, due to the writer for his recognition of the principles always advocated by the Society, viz: : I. The audit of the accounts. 2. The understanding at the outset of all the clauses in the agreement. 3. A voice as to the advertisements where there is division of profits. The real “intention” of the book, however, is to advocate a system of seals or stamps by which the author shall always know how many copies of his books have gone into circulation. The method seems to us cumbrous. It would certainly be difficult to get publishers to accept the system. The reader, however, is referred to the book for the arguments in favour of it. -* * “From Manuscript to Bookstall.” By A. D. Southam. London: Southam and Co., St. Paul’s-buildings, Paternoster- row. 58. Mr. Isidore G. Ascher, the author of “An Odd Man's Story,” and a Canadian volume of poems, “Voices from the Hearth,” has just sold Messrs. Diprose, Bateman, and Co., a one-volume novel, which will appear in the autumn. It is sensa- tional and physiological, a somewhat rare com bination. - *—- ~ 2--" r- - -, CORRESPONDENCE, I.—GRAMMATICAL : USE of “No R.” Grammar depends upon usage rather than logic. Usage depends partly upon logic and partly on euphony, or upon what is most readily intelligible when uttered. The best guide, in questions such as the present one is neither Murray nor Mason, but Mätzner, who gives a large number of examples from standard authors. Those who cannot read German may consult Grice's Translation, vol. iii., p. 355, &c. - “It did not rain nor blow" is logically correct. “It did not rain or blow ’’ is colloquially permis- sible, chiefly because the sentence is short. Lengthen it, and observe the difference. We could hardly say, “It did not rain any longer, or did it blow at all.” Mätzner shows that even good authors occasionally use neither—or instead of neither—nor. But much depends upon the length and general form of the sentence. I should advise every author to judge for himself. To doubt whether the word nor has a right to exist is needless. Of course it will exist as long as our language, because in many collocations it is indispensable. WALTER W. SKEAT. II.-KICKED OUT. I sent in the MS. of a short story to a well- known firm of publishers last February. Ten weeks afterwards it was returned to me as unsuitable. I then inquired whether the deci- sion was final, or if Messrs. So-and-So might be disposed to divide the risk. They wrote in reply: “We could not undertake the publication of the story even if you took the whole of the risk.” This struck me as quite a superfluous, un- friendly sting to add to a rejection. A SENSITIVE BookMAKER. Authors’ Club, Whitehall Court, S.W. III.-REPORTER’s HARD EARNINGs. . An occasional paragrapher for Le Figaro fell in debt to a money-lender, who, two years ago  ## p. 55 (#69) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. - 55 (April 25, 1892), served upon that journal an attachment of all moneys due or payable to the said journalist. The newspaper rejoined that there was nothing owing to the reporter, who received no salary, and was not regularly employed; but was always paid by the line, day by day, for every accepted paragraph, “echo,” or news-item he chanced to supply. The case was, however, pursued at law by the money-lender, who alleged the habitual employment of the journalist by the paper, and brought his action against the Figaro; but it dragged on, and it was only on May 3 I last that the matter was decided. The 6th Civil Court, having examined a file of the journal for two months prior to the date of the attempted setting up of a lien, was of opinion that the services rendered could not be called habitual ; but, on the contrary, that the para- graphs offered and accepted were of an “acci- dental” type, and showed no such regularity as would indicate an established engagement. The court thereupon held that the sale by a contri- butor of single articles for a sum there and then paid (which was the case before them) is mere buying and selling for ready money; that there existed no inherent right in the journalist's relations with this journal which could be con- strued into matter for seizure or attachment; and that thus the money-lender had shown the court nothing which legal process could lay hold of as attachable. The court therefore decided for the Figaro, and cast the money-lender in costs. Outside the court (and inside the journal) there is a prevalent opinion that if reporters' scant chance earnings were interceptable in this fashion, newspapers would very soon be short of Copy. J. O’N. IV.-SERIAL RIGHTS ONLY. “A Journalist” writes informing us that, “despite the very proper and energetic action of the Authors' Society in the interest of young authors, there are still proprietors of publications who send to contributors with their not too liberal cheques, formal documents in which the author is called upon to sign away to them all rights whatsoever in his work. It cannot be too frequently impressed upon authors that a contri- bution to a periodical is for the use of the said periodical and that only, the copyright for re- publication remaining with the writer. Further- more, I see that there is a question as to the time when payment should be made for contribu- tions. The money is due and payable when the accepted MS. is in the hands of the editor. I know several popular authors, and that is their ruling. Harper's, The Century, Scribner's, The Idler, The Ludgate Monthly, Macmillan's, and The English Illustrated, to which a friend of mine has contributed, always paid him on the delivery of his MS. ; then it must, of course, not be forgotten that the editors wanted his matter. The very severest terms as to payment from the honest publishers’ point of view does not go over a week after publication.” W.—AN AUTHOR’s GUIDE. Correspondents in the columns of the Author have from time to time expressed a wish to see produced an Authors’ Guide, having for its main object to give writers some practical and useful information about the various periodicals, news- papers, and publishing houses. It is a matter of complaint that, as things now are, the in- experienced author is quite unable to form an opinion for which of the numerous periodicals and newspapers his articles are most suitable, upon what terms editors would be willing to receive them, and also which of the publishing houses would be most likely to undertake the publication of any work which he may have written. It is said that the ignorance which prevails upon these points is the cause of much loss of time, unnecessary trouble, and not seldom of misunderstanding and irritation, and it is believed that a guide which would help to dispel this ignorance, and prevent these annoyances would be welcome to authors, editors, and pub- lishers alike. I am now enabled to state that Messrs. Southam and Co., of St. Paul’s-buildings, 29, Paternoster-row, have undertaken the publication of an Annual Authors’ Guide and Directory of Publishers, Periodicals, and Newspapers, in order to supply this want, and that they will gratefully receive any information or suggestions from members of the Society of Authors, with the view of making a good start in what it is hoped will be an annual publication. There is, of course, no royal road or short cut to literature, and Messrs. Southam and Co. do not intend to undertake the impossible task of trying to make one, but they hope that the book will be of real use to those who intend to apply themselves seriously to the profession of letters. All communications will be treated in con- fidence. C. B. ROYLANCE KENT. VI.-QUESTIONS FOR EDITORs. A circular to the same effect has reached us from Messrs. Southam and Co. It is accompanied by a list of questions sub- mitted to editors. They are as follows:  ## p. 56 (#70) ############################################## 56 THE AUTHOR. I. What class of contributions do you consider the most suitable for your paper ? 2. What length of contribution do you prefer? 3. What is your scale rate of remuneration for accepted articles? 4. What are the conditions to be observed by authors in sending their contributions and upon which you are willing to receive and consider them P - 5. Then give any information which you think may be of use to authors in connection with your publication. - Please send rates for advertising publications with the discount for a series and the approxi- mate circulation. VII.-“THAMES RIGHTS AND THAMES WRONGs.” “I4, Parliament-street, S.W., June 1st, 1894. Sir, Sir Gilbert East has drawn our attention to a mistake in “Thames Rights and Thames Wrongs” which we have just published. Sir Gilbert East was not a conservator at the time he gave evidence before the Select Com- mittee of the House of Commons on Thames Preservation. He was elected on Nov. 23, 1885. Your insertion of this would greatly oblige,_Your obedient servants, ARCH. ConstABLE AND Co.” *- 2-# g- * ~ * M. ZoDA’s “Lou RDES.” Paris, June Io. A telegram from Rome, published in Paris this morning, stated that the Congregation of Rites had put its ban upon M. Emile Zola's romance of “Lourdes,” which is being published by a Roman firm simultaneously with its issue in Paris. M. Emile Zola was interviewed upon the subject to-night, and said it was the first time that such an honour had been conferred upon him. He was all the more surprised, because “Lourdes” was not in any sense an attack upon religion, but simply a perfectly human picture of what would take place at the famous place of pilgrimage. One could, he added, be a very good Catholic, and yet not believe in the miracles of Lourdes.—Standard, June I I. *-- * ~ * a- - --> NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS, Theology. ALEXANDER, REv. S. A. Christ and Scepticism. Isbister. ANDERSON, ROBERT. A Doubter's Doubts about Science and Religion. Second edition. Kegan Paul. 3s. 6d. BENNETT, PROFESSOR. W. H. The Expositor's Bible : The Books of Chronicles. Hodder and Stoughton. 7s.6d. BUCKHOUSE, EDWARD, AND TYLOR, CHARLEs. Witnesses for Christ. Second edition, revised and somewhat abridged. Simpkin, Marshall. DIDON, REv. FATHER. Belief in the Divinity of Jesus Christ. " Kegan Paul. 58. DISCIPLESHIP : THE SCHEME of CHRISTIANITY. author of “The King and the Kingdom.” and Norgate. GOUGH, E. J. Preachers of the Age. The Religion of the Son of Man. Sampson Low. 3s.6d. HALL, REv. H. E. Manual of Christian Doctrine, chiefly intended for confirmation classes. With a preface by the Rev. W. H. Hutchings. Longmans. MALDONATUS, JOHN. A. Commentary on the Holy Gospels: St. Matthew's Gospel. Part I. Translated and edited By the Williams from the original Latin by George J. Davie. John Hodges. Is. MAx MüLLER, F. The Sacred Books of the East. Edited by. Wol. XLIX. Buddhist Mahāyāna Sūtras. Trans- lated by E. B. Cowell, F. Max Müller, and J. Takakusu. Oxford : At the Clarendon Press. Henry Frowde. I2s. 6d. MEUGENs, REv. A. M. The Lord’s Prayer, illustrated by the Lord's Life. By A. T. M. S.P.C.K. 6d. PALMER, JOHN. Catechisms for the Young. Second Series: Teachings from Old Testament History. Church of England Sunday School Institute. 2s. Power, REv. P. B. The Husbandry of the Soul. S.P.C.K. PRESTON, REv. DR. Anti-Ritualism. With a preface by the late Rev. Dr. Blakeney. Twelfth thousand, with appendices. Protestant Reformation Society. 2d. ROBson, WILLIAM. The Lord’s Supper : Its Form, Meaning, and Purpose, according to the Apostle Paul. Second edition, with additions. Elliot Stock. SINCLAIR, VEN. ARCHDEACON. The English Church and the Canon Law. The Fourth Charge. Elliot Stock. 6d. STRONG, JAMEs. The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Published by subscription. Hodder and Stoughton. 2 Is. WEDGwooD, JULIA. The Message of Israel, in the Light of Modern Criticism. Isbister. 7s. 6d. - WELSH PULPIT, THE. By a Scribe, a Pharisee, and a Lawyer. Fisher Unwin. Is. WILLIAMs, F. J. The Charm of the Presence of Christ. Partridge. Is. History and Biography. BELL, MACKENZIE. Charles Whitehead : A Forgotten Genius. New ediition, with an appreciation of White- head by Hall Cane. Ward, Lock. 3s. 6d. BELL, NANCY. Heroes of North African Discovery. Fourth edition. Marcus Ward. 3s.6d. BRITTEN, F. J. Former Clock and Watch Makers and their Work. Spon. 5s. CALENDAR of THE PATENT ROLLs preserved in the Public Record Office, Edward II. 1307-1313. Pre- pared under the superintendence of the Deputy Keeper of the Records. Eyre and Spottiswoode. CAMERON, WILLIAM E. History of the World’s Columbian Exposition. Edited under the personal supervision of. Second edition. Chicago: Columbian History Company. Four parts. 3 dollars each. CHRISTOPHER, CoLUMBUs. His own Book of Privileges, *…* 1502. Facsimile of the manuscript in the Archives of the Foreign Office in Paris, now for the first time published. Translated by George F. Barwick, with an historical introduction by Henry Harrisse. The whole edited, with preface, by Benjamin Franklin Stevens, 4, Trafalgar-square.  ## p. 57 (#71) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 57 CLIMENSON, EMILY J. The History of Shiplake, Oxon. For subscribers only. Eyre and Spottiswoode. CUPPLEs, GEORGE. Scotch Deer-Hounds and their Masters. With a biographical sketch of the author by James Hutchison Stirling. Blackwood. DUNN, WALTER T. Records of Transactions of the Junior Engineering Society. Wol. III.; 1892-3. Edited by. Published by the Society. - EHRLICH, A. Celebrated Pianists of the Past and Present Time. A Collection of 116 Biographies and I 14 Por- traits. Authorised English edition. H. Grevel. 7s.6d. FERGUson, RICHARD S. A. History of Westmoreland. Elliot Stock. 7s.6d. FISKE, JoHN. Life and Letters of Edward Livingston Youmans. Comprising correspondence with Spencer, Huxley, Tindall, and others. Chapman. 8s. HENDERSON, ERNEST. A. History of Germany in the Middle Ages. Bell and Sons. HoPE, MRs. The First Divorce of Henry VIII. Edited, with Notes and Introduction, by Francis Aidan Gasquet, Kegan Paul. 6s. LUDLOW, EDMUND. Memoirs, Lieutenant-General of the Horse in the Army of the Commonwealth of England, I625-1672. Edited, with appendices of letters and illustrated documents, by C. H. Firth. 2 vols. Oxford, at the Clarendon Press; Henry Frowde. 36s. LYALL, SIR ALFRED. The Rise and Expansion of the British Dominion in India. Third and enlarged edition, with maps. Murray. MACLAY, EDGAR STANTON. A History of the United States Navy from 1775 to 1893. With technical re- vision by Lieutenant Roy C. Smith, U.S.N. 2 vols. Vol. I. Bliss, Sands. MÉNEVAL, BARON CLAUDE DE. Memoirs to Serve for the History of Napoleon I., from 1802 to 1815. The work completed by the addition of unpublished documents, and arranged and edited by his grandson, Baron Napoleon Joseph de Méneval. Translated and anno- tated by Robert H. Sherard. Photogravure portraits and autograph letters. Wol. II. Hutchinson. PITMAN, SIR ISAAC. Life and Work. Illustrated. Pitman. Is. PORTAL, SIR GERALD. The British Mission to Uganda in 1893. Edited, with a memoir, by Mr. Rennell Rodd, with the diary of the late Captain Raymond Portal, and an introduction by Lord Cromer. Illustrated from photographs by Colonel Rhodes, with a portrait of Sir Gerald Portal by Lady Granby. Edward Arnold. 21s. SAUNDERS, F, BAILEY. The Life and Letters of James Macpherson. Swan Sonnenschein. SMITH, REv. DR. G. ADAM. The Historical Geography of the Holy Land. With six maps. Hodder. 15s. ToRRENs, W. M. History of Cabinets, from the Union with Scotland to the Acquisition of Canada and Bengal. 2 vols. Allen. 36s. WALLACE, ARTHUR. The Earl of Rosebery: His Words and his Work. Portrait. London : Henry J. Drane. Is. WoRSFOLD, REv. J. N. History of Haddlesey : its Past and Present. Elliot Stock. General Literature. ALLIES, T. W. The Formation of Christendom. Popular edition. Burns and Oates. ARTHUR, T. C. Reminiscences of an Indian Police Official. Illustrated by Horace Van Ruith and E. M. Cautley. Sampson Low. I6s. ATLAS OF ANCIENT EGYPT, with complete index, geo- graphical and historical notes, Biblical references, &c.; special publication of the Egypt Exploration Fund. Kegan Paul. 3s. 6d. BADMINTON LIBRARY : YACHTING. Large paper edition. 2 vols. Longmans. BELL, HoRACE. Railway Policy in India. Rivington, Percival. I6s. BERESFORD-WEBB, H. S. Stories of Greek Heroes. With notes and vocabularies. Rivington. BoothBY, GUY. On the Wallaby. Longmans. I88. BRABNER, J. H. F. The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England and Wales. Vol. 2. Cau—Goa. Mackenzie. BRAIDwooD, DR. The Mother's Help and Guide. The Scientific Press. 2s. 6d. JBRASSEY, LORD. Papers and Addresses : Naval and Maritime, from 1872-1893. Arranged and edited by Capt. S. Eardley-Wilmot, R.N. 2 vols. Longmans. IOS. BRIGGs, R. A. Bungalows and Country Residences. Second edition, with additional plates. Batsford. I 2s. 6d. BRINE, WICE-ADMIRAL LINDESAY. Travels amongst American Indians, their Ancient Earthworks and Temples. Sampson Low. C. K. By Celtic Waters. Holiday Jaunts, with rod, camera, and paintbrush. Illustrated. Davey. 2s. 6d. CAINE, HALL. The Little Man Island. Douglas, The Isle of Man Steam Packet Company Limited. CALVIERT, ALBERT F. The Coolgardie Goldfield, Western Australia. Simpkin, Marshall. Is. CARPENTER, DR. The Principles and Practice of School Hygiene. With illustrations. Fourth edition. Allen. 4s. 6d. CATALOGUE OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERs (1874-1883). Compiled by the Royal Society of London. Vol. X. C. J. Clay. CHESTERTON, THOMAs. Manual Drill and Physical |Bxercises. Third Edition. With an introduction by Charles Roberts. Gale. 2s. 6d. CoGHLAN, T. A. The Wealth and Progress of New South Wales. 1893. Seventh issue. Sydney : Charles Potter Petherick. CURTICE’s INDEx TO THE TIMEs, THE LONDON MORNING AND EVENING PAPERS, 120 WEEKLIES, AND 3.I PRO- v1NCIAL NEWSPAPERs. July 1—Sept. 30, 1893. Pub- lished quarterly by subscription. Edward Curtice. CUSTANCE, HENRY. Riding Recollections and Turf Stories New edition. Arnold. 2s. 6d. DERBY, EARL OF. Speeches and Addresses of Edward Henry, XWTH EARL OF DERBY, K.G., Selected and edited by Sir T. H. Sanderson and E. S. Roscoe, with a prefatory memoir by W. S. H. Lecky, and a portrait. 2 vols. Longmans. 2 Is. DICKENs's DICTIONARY OF LONDON, 1894-1895. I 8. ; DICKENs's DICTIONARY OF THE THAMES, 1894. Is. J. Smith. Douglas, JAMEs. Canadian Independence, G. P. Putnam's Sons. ELLIs, Robinson. The Fables of Phaedrus : An Inaugural Lecture. Frowde. Is. ELTON, CHARLEs J. An Account of Shelley's Visits to France, Switzerland, and Savoy in the years 1814 and 1816. Bliss, Sands. EUROPA’s MooDS AND BRITANNIA’s PERIL. In two cantos. By A. Pittite. Simpkin, Marshall. Is. 6d. FIELD, JoHN W. An Analysis of the Accounts of the Prin- cipal Gas Undertakings in England, Scotland, and Ire- land for the year 1893. Compiled and arranged. Eden, Fisher and Co. 15s. FINDLAY, SIR GEORGE. The Working and Management of an English Railway. Fifth edition, revised and en- larged, with portrait and biographical sketch. Edited by S. M. Phillp. Whittaker. 7s.6d. Foll ETT, FRED T. The Archer's Register, 1894. Cox. 58.  ## p. 58 (#72) ############################################## 58 THE AUTHOR. Fowl.E.R., J. K. Recollections of Old Country Life. - Longmans. Ios. 6d. Fox-DAVIES, A. CHARLEs, AND CROOKES, M. E. B. The Book of Public Arms. Compiled and edited. Edin- burgh, Jack. FRY, HERBERT. London in 1894. Originally compiled by. Revised and corrected up to date. Allen. Is. GoLFING ANNUAL, 1893-94. Edited by David Scott Duncan. Horace Cox. 58. GREENE, RoRERT. Green Pastures: Being Choice Extracts from the Works of Robert Greene, M.A., of both Universities, 1560 (?)—1592, Made by Alexander B. Grosart. Elliot Stock. HALL, ARTHUR. Hebrew Unveiled : Some Affinities of the - Hebrew Language. Asher and Co. I 8. HARTopP, CoL. E. C. C. Sport in England, Past and Present. Horace Cox. 3s. 6d. HAVERFIELD, F. Roman Inscriptions in Britain. 1892-1893. Exeter: Pollard. HAYES, FRED. W. The Great Revolution of 1905. Forder. 3s. 6d. - HIEROGLYPHIC BIBLEs : A Hitherto Unwritten Chapter of - Bibliography, by W. A. Clouston, with facsimile illus- trations; and a New Hieroglyphic Bible told in Stories, by Frederick A. Laing. Glasgow : Bryce. 218. Hobson, JoBN A. The Evolution of Modern Capitalism ; a Study of Machine Production. Walter Scott. 38. 6d. Hough TON, REv. W. British Fresh-Water Fishes. With numerous engravings. Deane. Ios. 6d. HounsELL, BERNARD. Coach Drives from London. Sportsman Offices. Is. HowLLLs, WILLIAM D. A Traveller from Altruria. Edin- burgh : Douglas. Simpkin, Marshall. INVESTORs’ REVIEw. Edited by A. J. Wilson. Wilsons and Milne. JARROLD’s ILLUSTRATED GUIDES TO CAMBRIDGE AND YARMOUTH. New editions. Jarrold. 6d. each. JARRoLD’s ILLUSTRATED GUIDE To Low ESTOFT. Eighth edition. Jarrold. 6d. JohnsToME, C. L. Winter and Summer Excursions in Canada. Digby and Long. 6s. - JokAI, MAURUs. Midst the Wild Carpathians. lated by R. Nisbet Bain. Authorised version. man. 3s. 6d. Jon Es, CHARLEs. Refuse Destructors, with results up to present time. Second and revised edition. With a paper on “The Utilisation of Town Refuse for Power Production ” by Thomas Tomlinson. Biggs. RELLY's DIRECTORY OF THE CABINET, FURNITURE, AND UPHOLSTERY TRADEs. Third edition. Kelly. 20s. KIRBY, W. F. European Butterflies and Moths, with coloured plates. Part I. Cassell. 6d. LATIN PROSE VERSIONs. Contributed by various scholars. Edited by Professor George G. Ramsay. Large paper edition of 3oo numbered copies. Oxford: At the Clarendon Press. Henry Frowde. 21s. LEONARD, ARTHUR. G. The Camel : Its Uses and Manage- ment. Longmans. 218. LILLY, WILLIAM. S. The Claims of Christianity. Chap- Iſlal). I2S. LINDLEY, PERCY. Walks in Belgium, with some Fishing and Boating Notes. Edited by. Sketches by J. F. Weedon and others. 30, Fleet-street, E.C. 6d. LONDON County CouncIL : REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL EDUCATION BoARD for the year 1893-94. Stanford. 6d. LOVELL, JoBN. Literary Papers. Edited by his daughter Kate R. Lovell. Liverpool: Howell. LUND, JOHN KEIGHLEY. England and the Continental Powers. Swan Sonnenschein. º - III. The Vol. 3. Trans- Chap- MACNAMARA, N. C., F.R.C.S. Regulations as to the Physical Defects which Disqualify Candidates for Admission into the Civil or Military Government Services. Churchill. 2s. MANCHESTER, BISHOP of. Church Work; its Means and Methods. Macmillan. 3s. & MANTEGAZZA, PAOLO. The Art of Taking a Wife. Gay and Bird. 5s. MAP of THE RAILwAY SYSTEMS OF SCOTLAND. Johnston. 58. MAx MüLLER, F. Three Lectures on the Vedānta Philo- sophy. Longmans. 58. My PARIs NoTE-Book. By the author of “An English- man in Paris.” Heinemann. NISBET JoHN. Studies in Forestry. Oxford : at the Clarendon Press. Henry Frowde. 6s. NoFTH AGAIN, GoLFING THIS TIME. According to the Badminton Library and W. Ralston. Simpkin, Marshall. - OLIVER, JoHN. Milk, Cheese, and Butter. Crosby Lock- wood. 7s.6d. % Owen, J. A. AND BoulgºR, PROFESSOR. The Country Month by Month : June. Bliss, Sands. Is. PEEL, HELEN. Polar Gleams, an account of a voyage on the yacht Blencathra, with a preface by the Marquis of Dufferin and Ava, and contributions by Captain Joseph Wiggins and Frederick G. Jackson. Arnold. I 58. PESTALOzzI, HEINRICH. How Gertrude Teaches her Children, translated by Lucy E. Holland and Frances C. Turner, and edited, with introduction and notes, by IEbenezer Cooke. Swan Sonnenschein. PRYER, MRs. W. B. A. Decade in Borneo. With an introduction by Joseph Hatton. Hutchinson. 3s. 6d. RAwNSLEY, REv. H. D. Literary Associations of the English Lakes. 2 vols. Vol. I.- Cumberland, Kes- wick, and Southey’s Country. Vol. II.-Westmore- land, Windermere, and the Haunts of Wordsworth. Glasgow : MacLehose. Ics. REPORT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS, NEw SouTH WALEs, for 1892. Sydney : Charles Potter. 7s. 6d. RICHARDs, A. M. O. India in Nine Chapters. Roxburghe Press. Is. RIVINGTON, SEPTIMUs. The Publishing House of Rivington. Edited by. Rivington. 68. RoAD MAP FoR CYCLISTS : Scotland, Central and Northern Districts. Johnston. Is. RoopFR, GEORGE. Thames and Tweed. Third edition. Sampson Low. RUSKIN, JOHN. Verona and other Lectures. illustrations from drawings by the author. Allen. Large paper, 30s. SALA, GEORGE AUGUSTUs. Things I have Seen and People I have Known. 2 vols. Cassell. 2 Is. SECCoMBE, THOMAs. Lives of Twelve Bad Men, Original Studies of eminent Scoundrels by various hands. Edited by. T. Fisher Unwin. I6s. SHARPE, REGINALD R. London and the Kingdom. 3 vols, The With George Vol. I. Longmans. Ios. 6d. SIMCOx, E. J. Primitive Civilization. 2 vols. Sonnen- schein. SLATER, J. H. God and our Right. Society, Church Defence Depot. SouTHAM, A. D. From Manuscript to Bookstall. and Co. STATISTICs of JEwisſ I PopULATION IN LONDON, &c., 1873-1893. Compiled by Joseph Jacobs, secretary of the Russo-Jewish Committee. London: E. W. Rabbi- nowicz, 64, Whitechapel High-street, E. The Anti-Liberation Southam  ## p. 59 (#73) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 59 STRACHEY, SIR John. India. New and revised edition. Kegan Paul. 68. STUDIA SINAITICA, No. IV. A TRACT OF PLUTARCH on the advantage to be derived from one's enemies. The Syriac Version, edited from a Manuscript on Mount Sinai, by Eberhard Nestle. C. J. Clay. 2s. THE NEW ZEALAND LOAN AND MERCANTILE AGENCY CoMPANY LIMITED : Verbatim Report of Mr. Justice Waughan Williams's statement, with full text of the Official Receiver’s Report and Reconstruction Scheme. Edited by Phillip Mennell. The British Awstralasian offices. “THE ROAD '''CoACH GUIDE, 1894. Compiled and edited by the Editor of the Road. 50, Strand, W.C. Is. THOMPSON, WILLIAM. A. Prospectus of Socialism. W. IReeves. º & TIEDEMAN, H. Wiá Flushing ! A Comprehensive and Unconventional Handbook. Iliffe. 38. TYNAN, PATRICK, J. P. The Irish National Invincibles and their Times. English edition, with appendices and index. Chatham. UNITED STATEs Commission OF FISH AND FISHERIES : Report of the Commission for 1889-1891. Washington. Government Printing Office. LINIVERSITY OF LONDON CALENDAR FOR 1894-95. Part I. Eyre and Spottiswoode. 38. VERESHCHAGIN, W. The War Correspondent, with Intro- duction by Poultney Bigelow. Osgood, M*Ilvaine. 3s. 6d. WALLIS, J. WHITE. Manual of Hygiene. Kegan Paul. 2s. 6d. WENLEY, R. M. Aspects of Pessimism. Blackwood. WHITE, ARNOLD. The English Democracy: Its Promises and Perils. Sonnenschein. YEIGH, FRANK. Ontario's Historical Sketch. Toronto. Company, Marlborough. Parliament Buildings. A The Williamson Book Fiction. BALDw1N, MRs. ALFRED. Richard Dare. Elder. BICKERDYKE, JOHN. A Banished Beauty. Blackwood. BLACKMORE, R. D. Kit and Kitty. New and cheaper edition. Sampson Low. BLACKMORE, R. D. Springhaven: a Tale of the Great War. New and cheaper edition. Sampson Low. 2s. 6d. Doy LE, FREDERICK. From the Frontier. Chapman. 3s. 6d. BRADDON, MIss. Thou art the Man. 3 vols. Simpkin, 2 vols. Smith, Marshall. BUCHANAN, RoRERT. Red and White Heather. Chatto. 3s.6d. CAFFYN, MANNINGTON. Miss Milne and I. Fourth edition. Hutchinson. 2s. 6d. A Bachelor’s Bridal. A Little Child’s Wreath. Elkin CAMERON, MRS. LOVETT. CHAPMAN, E. RACHEL. Matthews. 3s. 6d. g CHAPMAN, GEORGE, AND MARLOWE, CHRISTOPHER. Hero and Leander. Elkin Matthews. 35s. CLARK RUSSELL, W. A Sea Queen. New and cheaper edition. Sampson Low. 2s. 6d. COBBLEIGH, Tomſ. Young Sam and Sabina. Fisher Unwin. Is. 6d. CoLERIDGE, CHRISTABEL R. The Daughters who have not Revolted. Wells Gardner, Darton, and Co. Is. CRESSweLL, HENRY. A Precious Scamp. 3 vols. Hutchin- SOIl. CUTHELL, EDITH E. A. Baireuth Pilgrimage. Sampson Low. DAvENPORT ADAMs, W. Romantic Stories of our Scottish Towns. Glasgow; Morison. Is. 2 vols. DAVIDSON, H. CoI,EMAN. The Canvas Library : Mad or Married ? Drane. DAVIs, R. HARDING. Our English Cousins. Sampson Low. DAVIs, R. HARDING. The Exiles, and other Stories. Osgood, M*Ilvaine. - DAWE, W. CARLETON. The Confessions of a Currency Girl. 3 vols. Ward and Downey. DoudNEY, SARAH. Under Gray Walls. Sunday School |Union. 4d. Down EY, EDMUND. The Merchant of Killogue: A Munster Tale. 3 vols. Heinemann. DYAN, Meg. All in a Man's Keeping. 2 vols. Allen. 218. FARJEON, B. L. Aaron, the Jew. 3 vols. Hutchinson. FARR, FLORENCE. The Dancing Faun. Elkin Matthews. 3s. 6d. & FAVENE, ERNEST. Tales of the Austral Tropics. Osgood, M*Ilvaine. 3s.6d. - Fog ERTY, J. A. Hunted Life. 3 vols. Hutchinson. Fire Island. Sampson Low. The Star Gazers. Second and FENN, G. MAN VILLE. FENN, G. MAN VILLE. cheaper edition. Methuen. 3s. 6d. FENN, G. MANVILLE. The White Virgin. 2 vols. Chatto. FORSTER, FRANCIS. Major Joshua. Longmans. 68. GALE, NoFMAN. Cricket Songs. Methuen. GAULOT, PAUL. The Red Shirts. Translated from the French by J. A. J. de Williers. Chatto and Windus. GILKES, A. HERMAN. The Thing that hath been. Long- mans. 68. - r GOLDw1N, AGNEs. In Due Season. GORDON, ALEXANDER. Isbister. 2s. 6d. GOULD, NAT. Thrown Away. Routledge. GRANGE, A. M. Victims of Fashion. 2 vols. Bentley. GRAY, ANNABEL. The Ghosts of the Guard Room, and other stories. George Stoneman. Is. GREEN, Eve DYN EvKRETT. The Phantom Brother, and other stories. Isbister. 2s. 6d. GREsswRLL, GEORGE. The Wizard's Digby and Long. 6s. Greater Love and other stories. Lute. Second - edition. Griffith, Farran. Is. GUNTER, ARCHIBALD C. The King’s Stockbroker. Rout- ledge. HAGGARD, H. RIDER. Allan's Wife and other Tales. New edition. Longmans. 3s. 6d. HALSE, GEORGE. Phil Hathaway's Failures. 3 vols. - Henry. 31.s. 6d. - HODGE, E. BALDWIN. Keith Kavanagh, Remittance Man. Digby and Long. 3s. 6d. HoRNUNG, E. W. The Boss of Taroomba. Bliss, Sands. HUNGERFORD, MRs. The Hoyden. Popular edition. Heinemann. 3s. 6d. - IOTA. A Yellow Aster. Twelfth edition. Hutchinson. 6s, JAMES, CHARLEs T. C. Miss Precocity. 2 vols. Bliss, Sands. KEITH, LESLIE. A Troublesome Pair. 3 vols. Bentley. RIPLING, RUDYARD. Macmillan. 6s. The Jungle Book, with Illustrations. KENEALY, ARABELLA. Dr. Janet of Harley-street. New edition. Digby and Long. 2s. RENNEDY, A. C. Erotica. Gay and Bird. 3s. 6d. LANDER, HARRY. The Modern Library : A Consul’s Passenger. Bliss, Sands. Is. 6d. LESLIE, EMMA. The Ferryman's Family. The Sunday School Union. 4d. LUCAS, REGINALD. Hoist with Her Own Petard. 3 vols. Hurst and Blackett. MEREDITH, JOHN. Laura Arbuthnot. Sommenschein. MORAN, JAMEs J. The Dunferry Risin'. Second Edition. Digby and Long. I 8. - MUDDOCK, J. E. The Star of Fortune. 2 vols. Chapman.  ## p. 60 (#74) ############################################## 6O THE AUTHOR. PATTON-BETHUNE, FLORENCE. Bachelor to the Rescue. Remington. 3s. 6d. PENDEREL, RICHARD. Dick Wylder. 3 vols. Remington. RIDDELL, Mrs. J. H. The Banshee's Warning. Remington. RUSSELL, DORA. A Hidden Chain. 3 vols. Digby Long. 31s. 6d. SAPTE, W., JUN. Uncle's Ghost, Warne. Is. Scott, SIR WALTER. The Border Waverley: The Fair Maid of Perth. 2 vols. Ten etchings. With Intro- ductory Essay and Notes. By Andrew Lang. Nimmo. I2s. SHAKESPEAR, O. Love on a Mortal Lease. Osgood, M*Ilvaine. 6s. SIMs, GEORGE R. Memoirs of a Landlady. Chatto and - Windus. SMITH, CoNSTANCE. A. Cumberer of the Ground. 3 vols. Methuen. 31.s. 6d. STEEL, FLORA. A. The Potter's Thumb. 3 vols. Heine- II].8.11. STORIES FOR HEARTH AND HOME. Second series. Cassell. 38. 6d. STUART, ESMá. A Woman of Forty. Second edition. Methuen. 3s.6d. SUPERFLUous Wom AN, A. Fourth edition. Heinemann. 6s - SWAN, MYRA. Shallows. 2 vols. Hurst. TENNYSoN, MARY H. A. Cruel Dilemma. 3 vols. Frederick Warne. 31.s. 6d. TURGENEV, IVAN. Reidin. A Novel. Translated by Constance Garnett from the Russian. Heinemann. 38. net. TJNSELFISH Wom AN, AN. By the author of “Lord Elwyn's Daughter,” &c. Stevens. WALDíºs, A. PALACIo. The Grandee. A Novel. Translated from the Spanish by Rachel Challice. Heinemann. 2s. 6d. WENNEL, REv. RABson. Driven into the Ranks. Sunday School Union. 2s. 6d. WINTER, John STRANGE. Red Coats. White. Is. WooDLAM, WILFRED. With the Help of the Angels. Ward and Downey. 3s. 6d. The Poetry and the Drama. BELL, MARGARET T. Poems and other Pieces. Edited, with a memoir, by her brother. The Leadenhall Press. 58. BRIDGES, ROBERT. Plays. VIII.-Nero. Part 2. Bell and Sons. 38. net. CAMBRIAN MINSTRELSIE. Edited by Dr. Joseph Parry and David Rowlands. 6 vols. Wol. IV. Edinburgh : Jack. CLOUGH, ARTHUR H. Golden Treasury Series. Selections from the Poems of. Macmillan. 2s. 6d. HoARE, B. GEORGE. The Joys of Home and other Poems. Inverness: The Cowrier Office. MATSON, W. TIDD. Poetical Works. Now first collected, and including a large number of pieces not before published. Southsea : Stride. Elliot Stock. MILTON, JOHN. Poetical Works. Edited by John Bradshaw. 2 vols. Allen. Vol. I, 2s. 6d.; Vol. II., 3s.6d. PHILLIPs, STEPHEN. Eremus : a Poem. Kegan Paul. 2s. 6d. PoEMS AND LYRICs of NATURE. Edited, with an introduc- tion, by Edith Wingate Rinder. Walter Scott. 2s. RHEYs, ERNEST. A London Rose and other Rhymes. Elkin Mathews. 5s. SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM. The Temple Shakespeare. Measure for Measure and Comedy of Errors. Each with Preface, Glossary, &c., by Israel Gollancz. TXent. Is, each. SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM. THE CAMBRIDGE SHAKE- SPEARE. Edited by William Aldis Wright. Vol. XVII., the First Part of King Henry IV. ; Vol. XVIII., the Second Part of King Henry IV. 6s. per vol. Macmillan. SIMPSON, FRED. M. Drawing Room Duologues. Illus- trated by M. Greiffenhagen. Fisher Unwin. 6s. STEWART, BEATRICE. Silent Hours. Poems. First series. Eton : Drake. WAY, ARTHUR. S. The Tragedies of Euripides, in English verse. 3 vols. Macmillan. Wol. I. 6s. Science and Art. BLACKBURN, HENRY. The Art of Illustration. 95 illustra. tions. Allen and Co. BURBRIDGE, F. W., AND SPARKES, J. C. L. Wild Flowers in Art and Nature. Part W. Arnold. 2s. 6d. COLLINS, F. HowARD. Epitome of the Synthetic Philo- sophy. With a preface by Herbert Spencer. Third vol. (concluding “The Principles of Ethics”). Williams and Norgate. I5s. net. DRUMMOND, PROFESSOR. H. The Lowell Lectures on the Ascent of Man. Hodder and Stoughton. 7s. 6d. DüRER, ALBERT. Ninety-Three Drawings. Reproduced in facsimile from originals in the British Museum. Accompanied with descriptive text by Sidney Colvin. The Autotype Company. - FRANKLAND, PERCY, AND MRs. PERCY. in Water. Longmans. 16s. GRESSWELL, GEORGE. An Examination of the Theory of Evolution. Second edition. Williams and Norgate. HARPER, CHARLES G. A Practical Handbook of Drawing for Modern Methods of Reproduction. Chapman and Micro-Organisms Hall. 7s. 6d. HUXLEY, PROFESSOR. Discourses: Biological and Geo- logical. Essays. Macmillan. 5s. JACKSON, FRANK G. Theory and Practice of Design; an advanced Text-book on Decorative Art. 7oo illustra- tions. Chapman and Hall. KERNER AND OLIVER, The Natural History of Plants. Part 2. Blackie. 2s. 6d. LOCKE's ESSAY CONCERNING HuMAN UNDERSTANDING, Collated and annotated, with prolegomena, biographical, critical, and historical. By Alexander Campbell Fraser. 2 vols. With protrait. Oxford : At the Clarendon Press. Henry Frowde. 32s. MARTINDALE, W. Analyses of Twelve Thousand Prescrip- tions. Compiled by. Lewis. 2s. 6d. POORE, DR. Dry Methods of Sanitation. Stanford. Is. PRINGLE, ANDREW. Photo-Micrography. Iliffe and Son. QUAINE’s ELEMENTS OF ANATOMY. Edited by Professor Schäfer and Professor Thane. 3 vols. Vol. III., part III. Organs of the Senses. By Professor Schäfer. Tenth edition. Longmans. 9s. ROYAL ACADEMY PICTUREs, 1894. In five parts. Part W. Cassell. Is. SCHULTZE, DRS. G., AND P. JULIUs. Systematic Survey of the Organic Colouring Matters. Translated and edited, with extensive additions, by Arthur G. Green. Mac- millan. 21s. SKEFFINGTON, DR. WINN. An Exposition of the Fallacies of the Materialistie Theory and Physiological Psychology. STOKES, ANSON P. Joint-Metallism. Putnam’s Sons. |UNWIN, PROFESSOR. The Development and Transmission of Power. Being the Howard Lectures delivered at the Society of Arts in 1893. Longmans. Ios. WYLLIE, W. L., A.R.A. The Tidal Thames. With twenty full-page photogravure plates and other illustra- tions, after original drawings. Descriptive letterpress by Grant Allen. Cassell. 385 15s. 6d. 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. 05 Issue 02 (July 1894) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 05 Issue 02 (July 1894) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015013732253" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015013732253</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1894-07-02-The-Author-5-2 publication The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/265/1894-06-01-The-Author-5-1.pdf 2f6435581aeb2d669d6a4a4a489ff124 PDF Text Text �������������������������������� 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 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) 1894-06-01 Volume 5 Issue 1 Pages Page range in volume 1–32 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18940601 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin C be El u t b or, (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESAN. T. VoI. V.-No. 1.] JUNE 1, 1894. [PRICE SIXPENCE. Por the Opinions earpressed in papers that are signed or initialled the Authors alone are responsible. None of the papers or para- graphs must be taken as eaſpressing the collective opinions of the committee unless they are officially signed by G. Herbert Thring, Sec. HE Secretary of the Society begs to give notice that all remittances are acknowledged by return of post, and requests that all members not receiving an answer to important communications within two days will write to him without delay. All remittances should be crossed Union Bank of London, Chancery-lane, or be sent by registered letter only. Communications and letters are invited by the Editor on all subjects connected with literature, but on no other sub- jects whatever. Articles which cannot be accepted are returned if stamps for the purpose accompany the MSS. WARNINGS AND ADWICE, I , T is not generally understood that the author, as the vendor, has the absolute right of drafting the agreement upon whatever terms the transaction is to be carried out. Authors are strongly advised to exercise that right. In every form of business, this among others, the right of drawing the agreement rests with him who sells, leases, or has the control of the property. 2. SERIAL RIGHTS.—In selling Serial Rights remember that you may be selling the Serial Right for all time; that is, the Right to continue the production in papers. If you object to this, insert a clause to that effect. 3. STAMP YOUR AGREEMENTS. – Readers are most URGENTLY warned not to neglect stamping their agreements immediately after signature. If this precaution is neglected for two weeks, a fine of £10 must be paid before the agree- ment can be used as a legal document. In almost every case brought to the secretary the agreement, or the letter which serves for one, is forwarded without the stamp. The author may be assured that the other party to the agree- ment seldom neglects this simple precaution. The Society, to save trouble, undertakes to get all the agreements of members stamped for them at no ea pense to themselves eacept the cost of the stamp. 4. ASCERTAIN WHAT A PROPOSED AGREEMENT GIVES To BOTH SIDES BEFORE SIGNING IT.-Remember that an arrangement as to a joint venture in any other kind of busi- ness whatever would be instantly refused should either party WOL. W. business men. refuse to show the books or to let it be known what share he reserved for himself. 5. LITERARY AGENTS.—Be very careful. You cannot be too careful as to the person whom yow appoint as your agent. Remember that you place your property almost un- reservedly in his hands. Your only safety is in consulting the Society, or some friend who has had personal experience of the agent. Do not trust advertisements alone. 6. CoST OF PRODUCTION.——Never sign any agreement of which the alleged cost of production forms an integral part, until you have proved the figures. 7. CHOICE OF PUBLISHERS.—Never enter into any cor- respondence with publishers, especially with those who ad- vertise for MSS., who are not recommended by experienced friends or by this Society. 8. FUTURE WORK.—Never, on any account whatever, bind yourself down for future work to anyone. 9. PERSONAL RISK.—Never accept any pecuniary risk or responsibility whatever without advice. Io. REJECTED MSS.—Never, when a MS. has been re- fused by respectable houses, pay others, whatever promises they may put forward, for the production of the work. II. AMERICAN RIGHTS.—Never sign away American rights. Keep them by special clause. Refuse to sign any agreement containing a clause which reserves them for the publisher, unless for a substantial consideration. I2. CESSION OF COPYRIGHT.-Never sign any paper, either agreement or receipt, which gives away copyright, without advice. - 13. ADVERTISEMENTS. —- Keep some control over the advertisements, if they affect your returns, by a clause in the agreement. I4. NEVER forget that publishing is a business, like any other business, totally unconnected with philanthropy, charity, or pure love of literature. You have to do with Be yourself a business man. Society’s Offices :- 4, PORTUGAL STREET, LINCOLN's INN FIELDs. *~ * ~ * e- HOW TO USE THE SOCIETY. I. VERY member has a right to ask for and to receive 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 Com- mittee will obtain for him Counsel’s opinion. All this without any cost to the member. B 2  ## p. 2 (#16) ############################################### 2 THE AUTHOR. 2. Remember that questions connected with copyright and publisher's agreements do not generally fall within the experience of ordinary solicitors. Therefore, do not scruple to use the Society first—our solicitors are continually engaged upon such questions for us. 3. Send to the office copies of past agreements and past accounts with the loan of the books represented. This is in order to ascertain what has been the nature of your agree- ments, and the results to author and publisher respectively so far. The Secretary will always be glad to have any agreements, new or old, for inspection and note. The infor- mation thus obtained may prove invaluable. 4. If the examination of your previous business trans- actions by the Secretary proves unfavourable, you should take advice as to a change of publishers. 5. Before signing any agreement whatever, send the pro- posed document to the Society for examination. 6. The Society is acquainted with the methods, and—in the case of fraudulent houses—the tricks of every publish- ing firm in the country. 7. 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 indepen- dence of the writer. 8. Send to the Editor of the Author notes of everything important to literature that you may hear or meet with. *-- ~ *-* a- - - THE AUTHORS’ SYNDICATE, literary or artistic work are invited to communicate with the Manager. There is an Honorary Advisory Committee, whose services will be called upon in any case of dispute or difficulty. It is perhaps necessary to state that the members of the Advisory Committee have no pecuniary interest whatever in the Syndicate. *- - --> NOTICES. EMBERS are informed : 1. That the Authors' Syndicate takes charge of the business of members of the Society. With, when necessary, the assistance of the legal advisers of the Syndi- cate, it concludes agreements, collects royalties, examines and passes accounts, and generally relieves members of the trouble of managing business details. 2. That the expenses of the Authors' Syndicate are defrayed solely out of the commission charged on rights placed through its intervention. Notice is, however, hereby given that in all cases where there is no current account, a booking fee is charged to cover postage and porterage. 3. That the Authors' Syndicate works for none but those members of the Society whose work possesses a market value. 4. That the Syndicate can only undertake any negotiation whatever on the distinct understanding that those negotia- tions are placed exclusively in its hands, and that all communications relating thereto are referred to it. 5. That clients can only be seen by the Director by appointment, and that, when possible, at least four days’ notice should be given. 6. That every attempt is made to deal with the corre- spondence promptly, but that owing to the enormous number of letters received, some delay is inevitable. That stamps should, in all cases, be sent to defray postage. 7. That the Authors' Syndicate does not invite MSS. without previous correspondence, and does not hold itself responsible for MSS. forwarded without notice. 8. The Syndicate undertakes arrangements for lectures by some of the leading members of the Society; that it has a “Transfer Department” for the sale and purchase of journals and periodicals; and that a “Register of Wants' and Wanted ” has been opened. Members anxious to obtain 39 48. HE Editor of the Awthor 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 6s. 6d. subscription for the year. The Editor is always glad to receive short papers and communications on all subjects connected with literature from members and others. Nothing can do more good to the Society than to make the Awthor complete, attractive, and interesting. Will those who are willing to aid in this work send their names and the special subjects on which they are willing to write P Communications for the Author 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. Members and others who wish their MSS. read are requested not to send them to the Office without previously communicating with the Secretary. The utmost practicable despatch is aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in which they are received. It must also be distinctly under- stood that the Society does not, under any circumstances, undertake the publication of MSS. The Authors’ Club is now open in its new premises, at 3, Whitehall-court, Charing Cross. Address the Secretary for information, rules of admission, &c. Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether they have paid their subscriptions for the year P. If they will do this, and remit the amount, if still unpaid, or a banker's order, it will greatly assist the Secretary, and save him the trouble of sending out a reminder. Members are most earnestly entreated to attend to the warning numbered (8). It is a most foolish and may be a most disastrous thing to enter into an agreement binding for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five years to come, whatever his conduct, whether he was honest or dishonest ? Of course they would not. Why then hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign them- selves into literary bondage for three or five years P Those who possess the “Cost of Production ” are requested to note that the cost of binding has advanced 15 per cent. This means, for those who do not like the trouble of “doing sums,” the addition of three shillings in the pound on this head. In other words, if the cost of binding is set down in our book at eight pounds, to this must now be added twenty-four shillings more, so that it now stands at The figures in our book are as near the exact truth as can be procured ; but a printer's, or a binder's, bill is so elastic a thing that nothing more exact can be arrived at. Some remarks have been made upon the amount charged in the “Cost of Production” for advertising. Of course, we have not included any sums which may be charged for inserting advertisements in the publisher's own magazines, or in other magazines by exchange. As agreements too  ## p. 3 (#17) ############################################### THE AUTHOR. 3. often go, there is nothing to prevent the publisher from sweeping the whole profits of a book into his own pocket, by inserting any number of advertisements in his own magazines, and by exchanging with others. Some there are who call this a form of fraud; it is not known what those who practise this method of swelling their own profits call it. *~ * → g- -* THE AUTHOR, N the commencement of the fifth volume of the Author, it seems desirable that we should repeat the purpose for which the paper was founded and for which it exists. The fore words in the first number contain a state- ment of that purpose, which has always been kept steadily to the front. The Author is founded to be the organ of literary men and women of all kinds—the one paper which will fully review, discuss, and ventilate all questions con- nected with the profession of literature in all its branches. It will be the medium by which the Committee of our Society will inform its members generally of their doings, and it will become a public record of transactions conducted in the interests of literature, which have hitherto been secret, lost, and hidden for the want of such an organ. The chief aim of the Society—this has been advanced again and again—is to promote the recognition of the fact, hitherto most imperfectly understood, that literary property is as real a thing as property in every other kind of busi- mess: that it should be safeguarded in the same manner, and regarded with the same jealousy. Hitherto the mere existence of literary property even in the face of such patent facts as the enrichment of publishers, has been carefully concealed and even denied. Risks of publishing, costs of publishing, have been dangled before the eyes of authors, so that they should regard the subject as one of extreme peril and pure speculation. One can never even now read a leading article about publishing without being solemnly assured that the trade is one in which frightful risks are constantly run, and that the success of any book is pure speculation. - Now, as a matter of fact, there is very little speculation indeed in publishing, and there are very, very few publishers —only the leading houses—who ever run any risks at all, either by buying books or by bringing out books at a risk. Risks are run when a house starts a magazine, or when it embarks on illustrated editions of an expensive kind, or when educational books are published. The ordinary risk run in the production of books is, as a rule, next to nothing. For, first, the author is seldom paid except by results; next, the author, when a house consents to “take the risk,” is, for the most part, one who commands a certain sale. With the smaller houses books about which there is the slightest risk are always paid for by the authors in advance, either wholly or in part. And very, very seldom indeed, do the ill-advised authors who advance their money ever see it back again. . Again, as to the actual cost of production. By carefully keeping this a profound secret, interested persons have succeeded in establishing a kind of taboo, as of some holy, sacred thing which must not be so much as touched. We have, however, thoroughly investigated the whole question, and are now in a position to throw complete light upon the cost of producing any kind of book that can be named, in any type and in any form. This is a very important step. Its importance cannot be over-estimated. It enables the awthor, for the very first time in the history of literature, to know what it is he is asked to concede to the publisher, and what it is he reserves for himself. . We have also done more : we have collected together a vast amount of information as to publishers' agreements: especially as to what, in reality, is the meaning of the clauses contained in them ; we have ascertained what it is they ask the author to surrender and for what consideration. And we have acquired a knowledge of various frauds, made possible by the terms of these agreements, in the different methods of publishing. This knowledge is so beneficial to the author that its existence ought to be widely spread and made known to every person who is engaged in the production of literature of any kind. Again, the Society is constantly engaged in answering questions connected with every branch of literature and its practice. Many of these questions are answered by letter over and over again, taking up a great deal of the Secretary’s time. They would be answered much more effectively in a journal. It follows from these clauses that we may have a good deal to say about the seamy side of the publishing trade. It must, however, be borne in mind very carefully that the Society has not, and never has had, any quarrel with honourable publishers. It has always asked for one thing only—just and homest treatment, fair and open agreements, and honourable observance of those agreements. In further illustration of this programme let it be remembered that the Society, in its very first public utterance, and ever since, has always pointed out and repeated over and over again the fact that the literary and the commercial value of a book need not necessarily bear any relation to each other ; in other words, that the literary value of a book is not to be measured by its commercial success, and that the commercial success of a book is no gauge of its literary value. This, it would seem, is a self evident proposition, and would not need to be repeated but for the misrepresentations of those who wish to attack the Society and its organ. Let us therefore repeat one or two of the passages in which this distinction was clearly and unmistakably laid down. The same thing has been repeated over and over again : I. Literature, in all times, has had two sides—the artistic and the commercial kind. The singer expects to be paid, the poet is rejoiced at solid recognition of his genius. What is more, the artistic work of the highest genius in no way suffers from a careful attention to its material interests. Does anyone in his senses pretend that the work of Byron, Scott, Dickens, Thackeray, George Eliot, Wilkie Collins, Charles Reade, lost anything in Art because these writers were good and careful men of business P - II. Let us not confuse these two sides of the literary pro- fession. They are equally important, because unless the latter is looked after, the artist perishes. Both must be guarded jealously, the one because Literature is Art, and the other because the artist must be a free man—not the slave of the man who has the money, nor a hack, nor one who drives his pen all day long for a daily pittance, nor a man continually fretted by a sense of wrong and injustice, real or fancied.  ## p. 4 (#18) ############################################### 4. THE AUTHOR. When, therefore, we insist continually upon the necessity of safe-guarding literary property, of understanding what is meant by an agreement before we sign it, we are working in the highest and best interests of literature. III. Consider again. In no other branch of Art is a voice ever raised against those who fight for its material interests. The sculptor, the actor, the singer, the musician, the painter —all alike are understood to be working honestly at their art, even though at the same time they are watching care- fully over their material interests. No one accuses Meisson- nier of bad workmanship, because every one of his pictures is worth a pyramid of gold. Yet, directly a serious attempt is made to put these interests on a proper basis as regards letters, there is raised at once an outcry about degrading Art, taking all the joy out of Art, destroying the nobility of Art, and the rest of it. We mix up these two sides of literature. It is absurd to suppose that George Eliot was thinking of her commercial value when she wrote “Romola..” Yet she thought very much of it afterwards. That is the way of it. The true artist thinks about nothing but his work while he is engaged upon it. The man who is not an artist cannot understand how he can ever think about the business side of his work at all. Yet he always can, and does, as soon as he is satisfied that there is a business side to his work. -s:crºcº- Three or four accusations are, from time to time, brought against the Society or the Author or both. I. We are charged with saying that all pub- lishers are dishonest. When this accusation was last made, in the Athenæum, the publisher who advanced it was challenged to produce his autho- rity. He found a statement in one of the pamphlets published by the Society to the effect that “fraud and corruption were widespread.” That was perfectly true; it was more true ten years ago than it is now, thanks to the action of the Society. “Widespread,” however, is very different from universal. Over and over again it has been repeated that the Society has no quarrel with honourable houses. Those, there- fore, who endeavour to distort a plain statement, proved to the hilt by our exposures, into a universal charge clearly betray themselves. One never hears a respectable solicitor trying to distort the perfectly true statement that his profession contains a great number of black sheep into a charge that all solicitors are black sheep. 2. The next charge is, that we say that pub- lishers take no risks. We say no such thing. Over and over again we have said that in dealing with authors publishers take as few risks as they possibly can. In other branches of business, as when a publisher puts forth a new magazine, an encyclopædia, a dictionary of biography, a new atlas, he may incur very great risks. Since we, as authors, are not generally proprietors or venturers in this kind of property, we need not inquire into the nature of the risks thus incurred. But, in the production of books, the risk in- curred very rarely exists at all. In any case it is the difference between the cost of production and the number of copies subscribed at first, a mini- mum of which may be approximately known. If by risk the publisher means chance of great gains, then we are talking of different things. 3. The third charge is that of sordidness in looking after literary property at all. This is answered by the passages already quoted. 4. The fourth charge is that we measure literary value by commercial success. We have just shown how the contrary has been clearly laid down in the Author. Other charges will doubtless be invented and brought against us, but, so far, the repetition of one or other of these four is the only weapon which has been found by the gentry who object to the light of day. - Perhaps the policy of the committee during the Society’s existence may be fairly stated as this: The present conditions which belong to the acquisition and the administration of literary property are chaotic. Even with the best houses, no one, not the greatest historian, the greatest man of science, knows when he sends a MS. to a publisher on what terms he should confide to him the administration of his property. Nor does he know what terms the publisher will propose. Nor has he hitherto known what any terms mean. It is, on the other hand, highly desirable that he should know what terms may mean, and that he should know as much as possible about the reality and the extent of literary property, and particularly that of his own kind of literary property. The committee therefore have acquired and published, partly in pamphlets and partly in their organ, the Author, a tolerably complete explana- tion of these points: I. The cost of printing, binding, and advertis- ing various kinds of books. 2. The meaning of the “published price ’’ to the publisher or manager of a literary property. 3. Some of the various pitfalls and traps laid to catch the ignorant and the unwary author. - As regards the first point, one or two publishers have alleged that our estimates were too low. They were silenced by the offer to get their print- ing done on those terms. On the second point nothing has been disputed, for the simple reason that the figures given in the Society’s papers were actually lower than the truth. As to the pitfalls and traps, experience shows that it is necessary to examine jealously every agreement offered to an author, not always, be it understood, to detect a way open to fraud, but generally to detect some  ## p. 5 (#19) ############################################### THE AUTHOR. 5 clause by which the author, through ignorance, is tempted to surrender rights and to give up an unfair proportion of his property. In other words, the man of business is always tempted to use his superior knowledge for his own benefit. We do our best to place the author on the same level as regards the facts of the case. To throw a flood of light upon every point con- nected with the management of literary property is, and has always been, the settled policy of the committee. The next step, that of arriving at a modus vivendi recognised as fair by both sides will be taken, it is hoped, before long, and when the ersons chiefly concerned, viz., the producers, shall have thoroughly learned the facts revealed by this light. *= a -º LITERARY PROPERTY. I.—CANADIAN COPYRIGHT. HE question of Canadian Copyright has in the past few weeks again been brought into publicity, owing, in the first instance, to a rumour that the Canadians were once more pushing forward their claims. The question is naturally one of great importance to the English author on account of the great interests in- volved. As regards the present state of Canadian Copy- right, any member of the Society who is interested in the subject is referred to the November number of the Author, 1890, containing a very useful paper written by W. Oliver Hodges, honorary secretary of the Society's Copyright Committee, and to an opinion in the January number 1893, given at the request of the Society by J. Rolt, 3, New-square, barrister. With regard to the steps at present being taken, it will be as well to put forward a short statement. As soon as the rumour of the Canadian move had been substantially verified, the secretary of the Society, at the request of the chairman, wrote to the Colonial Office, and in due course received a reply, which was as follows: Downing-street, May 18, 1894. SIR,-Lord Ripon desires me to acquaint you that the Society is in error in supposing that there is any new Bill on copyright in Canada now before Her Majesty's Government. His Lordship presumes your letter refers to a clause in the Tariff Bill of the Canadian Parliament which is intended to remove the duty on foreign reprints of British copyright works. - I am to enclose a copy of the clause in question, which it is understood is not intended to come into operation until the end of the next session of the Dominion Parliament. In the meantime Lord Ripon has invited the attention of the Government of Canada to the effect which the second section of the Colonial Laws Walidity Act, 1865, may have upon this clause in the Tariff Bill. I am to add that a communication on the general question of copyright in Canada has been received, and will be sent to the Society when printed for any remarks they may have to offer.—I am, sir, &c. The following is the clause referred to : Books and Papers.-British copyright works, reprints of, six cents per pound, and in addition thereto 12% per cent. ad valorem until March 27, 1895, and thereafter six cents per pound. The importance, however, of the letter lies in the last paragraph. At about the same date the Secretary of the Society received a letter from the London Chamber of Commerce stating that a meeting of the copyright interests was going to be held, and requesting that the Society would appoint delegates to attend. At once a meeting of the committee was called, and Mr. Thring, the Secretary of the Society, together with Mr. W. Oliver Hodges, Hon. Secretary of the Society's Copyright Committee, and Mr. Emery, of Messrs. Field, Roscoe, and Co., the Society's solicitors, was appointed to attend. On Wednesday, May 23, the delegates met at the London Chamber of Commerce, where various copyright interests were represented, namely, the musical publisher, the photographer, the Copyright Asso- ciation, and the Society of Authors. Mr. Daldy, the Honorary Secretary of the Copyright Associa- tion, was voted into the chair, and, after a few preliminary remarks, he read through a series of letters written by himself to the Colonial Secretary and the replies from the Colonial Office. Mr. Thring, the Secretary of the Society, then read the letter he had received from the Colonial Office, which was dated later than Mr. Daldy's last letter from the same source, and which contained infor- mation with regard to the steps the Canadian Government were taking, which was not included in Mr. Daldy's letters. Then followed a discus- sion upon what was the fittest course to take, and it was finally decided to appoint a committee to hold as it were a watching brief upon the Anglo- Canadian copyright question. The following resolutions were then agreed to, placed before the meeting, and unanimously carried :— I. Proposed by Mr. Ashdown, and seconded by Mr. Thring (Secretary of the Society of Authors) : That a special committee representing all copyright interests be appointed to watch the question of Anglo- Canadian copyright, and to take such steps to protect that property as may to them seem best. 2. Proposed by Mr. Thring (Secretary of the Society of Authors), and seconded by Mr. Mendlesohn : That the said committee consist of two representatives of each of the undermentioned bodies and interests : The  ## p. 6 (#20) ############################################### 6 THE AUTHOR. Copyright Association, the Society of Authors, musical interests, fine art interests, photographic interests, dramatic publishers and authors, with power to add to their numbers from their own or other bodies as they think fit. The next step for the Society to take will be, of course, to elect delegates to attend upon the com- mittee. This committee, when formed, will care- fully go into whatever papers may be laid before them by the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and will consider the advisability of sending a deputation to the Marquis of Ripon on the matter. Further information will be conveyed to the members of the Society through the Author, as the question and the steps taken are proceeded with. II.--THE WORKING OF THE COPYRIGHT IAw. I. Mr. George Haven Putnam's thoughtful article on “Results of the Copyright Law,” in the January Forum, was an excellent summing up of the situation as developed since the passage of the Copyright Act of March 4, 1891. To my mind, his opinion that, in spite of the law’s defects, “it would be unwise at this time to make any effort to secure amendments * is the correct one. At the same time, the fact that a petition has been brought into the German Parliament calling for the abrogation of the copyright agree- ment between the United States and Germany, and that this petition has been approved by the committee having it in charge, gives a serious turn to the copyright situation. Mr. Putnam, in his article, noted that “it is almost impossible for a French or German author to arrange to issue his book in this country (either in the original or in a translation) simultaneously with the publication abroad. The re-setting in the Original language, for such limited sale as could be looked for here, would be unduly expensive, while time is required for the preparation of a satisfactory translation.” The great trouble, Mr. Putnam tells me, is that to secure copyright in a work in a foreign language, it must be re-set here in the original language. The copyright of a translation protects that translation only, and if the book is not also published in the original, anyone is at liberty to issue a new translation. This state of affairs was brought about by the eagerness of the typographical unions to grasp every advantage. The French Society of Authors made this discovery some time ago, and now that Germany threatens to take the matter up, the result of the immense amount of labour per- formed by our copyright leagues is somewhat dis- couraging. After all, I presume that our copy- right relations with Great Britain are the chief issue at stake, and these are progressing in a fairly Satisfactory manner at present. It is curious to observe how closely the success of books by new English authors is watched by the American reprinters. Of course, the successful English author's second book at once finds an authorised publisher in the United States, and is copy- righted; but the way every new English success is pirated in this country shows plainly the need of a time clause in the Copyright Act as long as the printing clause remains. - Another vexatious copyright question has been raised in a recent interview with Mr. Spofford, Librarian of Congress. I have not the slightest doubt that ninety in a hundred of those interested will be immensely surprised to learn from that interview that in the United States the name or title of a book is not protected by copyright. “The law is, said Mr. Spofford, “that the sub- stance, the literary contents, of a book or publica- tion may be protected by copyright, but not the name—not the title.” The filing of title-pages of books in this country, which is required by law, is not, then, for purposes of protection, but for identification merely. This seems to be a great injustice, and I asked Mr. Putnam if a change in this respéct were not needed when the Copyright Act is next amended. Mr. Putnam assented, and gave me some interesting information as to the present condition of English copyright law on this point, and as to certain proposed changes. In England, Mr. Putnam said, the law as to book titles goes as far in the contrary direction as does ours, in that it permits anyone to copyright all the titles he can think of with or without any real intention to use them for actual books. This copyright in a title or titles lasts for the full English term of forty-two years, or seven years after the copyrighter's death. In many cases, authors of books have had to pay such copy- righters to relinquish titles on which they unluckily had stumbled. Mr. Putnam thinks that authors should be at liberty to copyright the titles of their proposed books, but that such copy- right should be completed by the publication of the book within a reasonable period (six months or a year), and that failing of this the copyright should become void. Also he thinks that copy- right in a title should lapse if the book which it represents is out of print for a long period. The proposed new English law, introduced by Lord Monkswell in the present Parliament, and still pending, covers these points very fully. Copy- right in a title must be perfected by publication of the book within six months, and is lost in the case of books which remain out of print over two years. - II. The copyright questions touched upon in my last letter have brought me further information  ## p. 7 (#21) ############################################### THE AUTHOR. . 7 as to the working of the Act of 1891. A sufficient time has now passed to enable publishers generally to understand what methods of procedure to follow in securing themselves and their authors here and abroad. Single stories, poems, and articles in English periodicals, which have not been “placed ” in the United States, are now sent over in advance to this country, put in type, and issued in pamphlet form on the day of the periodical's publication in England, thus securing copyright here for the same matter when subse- quently issued in book form. It is becoming more and more dangerous to reprint such articles from English magazines, especially if the authors are distinguished. All this has, of course, become the A B C of the trade among publishers, but it will be in the nature of information to many of the writing guild. Such copyrighted matter as that just mentioned is published here in three different ways: first, by the American branch of the English house; second, by an American pub- lishing house, which is the agent of the English firm; third, by the private agent of the English publisher. In any case protection is legally secured. So thoroughly do the English houses under- stand this question, and in so many cases have they established branch firms here for the publi- cation of their own books, that a leading Boston author was tempted to remark to the head of a large American publishing house that the chief effect of the International Copyright Act seemed to be to enable English publishing firms to establish branch houses here, manufacture dupli- cate plates, and flood the market with English books. This is only partially true, however, as most English publishers still prefer to issue their books through American houses, who manufac- ture the plates for both sides of the ocean. As to American authors, they no longer have to compete with five-cent. editions of current books by leading English authors, but issue their works in even competition with the latter. In view of the working of the Act, there may be a modicum of wisdom in requiring plates to be manufactured in this country, as otherwise we might be swamped by cheap English sheets in a way to shut off American authors and publishers from fair competition. These are the views of a protectionist, however, and I understand that those interested in copyright reform insist that protection and free trade ought not to enter into the question. International copyright is now secured between the United States and Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, and Italy. The American Copyright League, so its secretary tells me, is now working for copyright WOL. W. with Greece, Norway, and Sweden, Spain, and Austria. Russia is considered hopeless on account of the press censorship. Austria, I believe, objects to the printing clause. Oddly enough, the printing clause is not considered a grave objection by the Spanish authorities, but they do object seriously to the requirement that American editions of Spanish books be registered at Washington and the fee paid before copyright can be secured. In most international copyright agreements between European countries, regis- tration in the author's country is all that is necessary for protection in other countries. Our late Minister to Spain, the Hon. E. Burd Grubb, was unable to overcome this objection on the part of the Spanish authorities. It has been suggested that a certificate of copyright from the United States Consul at Madrid, or from the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, could be made to serve at Washington by a special Act of Congress. The benefit would accrue chiefly to Spanish authors, so that Spanish hindrance seems absurd. — ARTHUR STEDMAN in the Chicago Dial. III.-FoED v. SMITH. (Before MR. JUSTICE MATHEw and a Special Jury.) This was an action (May 30) by Mr. Thomas Murray Ford, a dramatic author and journalist, against Mr. Valentine Smith, a theatrical manager and actor, arising out of the produc- tion of an English version of Adam's opera. “Si j’étais Roi.” The plaintiff's case, as stated by counsel, was that in December, 1888, he was asked by the defendant to translate and prepare an English version of “Si j’étais Roi.” No remuneration was fixed for the work, as the plaintiff said he could not tell how long it would take, but it was agreed that a reasonable price should be paid. The original libretto was by MM. Dennery and Brésil, and this was handed to the plaintiff by the defendant. Dr. Storer and Miss Harte- Potts assisted him, and, when finished, the English lyrics were written into a full score of the opera, by Dr. Storer. The work occupied two months, and was of a difficult nature, as first a translation had to be made of the French verse, and then English lyrics fitted to the music. When the words were completed they were sent to the defendant, who sent plaintiff a sum of £5 some time afterwards in reply to an application for payment. Plaintiff, however, wrote back and said that such a sum was quite insufficient. He, however, heard no more for four years, when he heard that defendant was performing an opera C  ## p. 8 (#22) ############################################### 8 THE AUTHOR. entitled “King for a Day,” which he suspected was his work. He accordingly procured a book of the words, which were identical with his version, and found that the defendant had registered both the opera and the book. The defendant's case was that he had only asked defendant to “write up ’’ a music score; that the version the defendant used was written up and adapted by him and Dr. Storer from what he remembered of the American version; that he had never used anything that plaintiff had written; and that he was unaware the plaintiff had prepared any version at all. Evidence was given on both sides in support of these statements. Mr. Justice MATHEw, in summing up, said the questions for the jury were--(1) Was the plain- tiff employed to do the work? If so, he was entitled to be paid for doing it. (2) Was the manuscript sold to the defendant P If it was, he was entitled to register it. (3) Was the version the defendant used substantially the one prepared by the plaintiff P and (4) Had the plaintiff, in fact, accepted the £5 in full payment or was he entitled to anything more ? The learned Judge then proceeded to review and criticise the evi- dence in detail. The jury immediately found a verdict for the plaintiff, damages 3850. ON ROYALTIES. INCE a great many of our members have S joined during the last four years—in 1890 the number of members was 4oo, at the present moment, May, 1894, it is nearly 1300– the facts and figures published in the early numbers of the Author are practically inaccessible to the younger members. But some of these are of the highest importance. Also, some of them require revision in consequence of slight changes. We purpose, therefore, to reproduce them. Per- haps the most important of all are those which relate to royalties. Nothing is more chaotic than the royalty system; but, since it is, for many reasons, the plan generally preferred by both authors and publishers, it is one that must be thoroughly understood. The figures given in the Author (Vol. I., p. 39, and Vol. III., p. 7) have been carefully revised. I. Cost of Production: As before, an ordinary six-shilling book is taken as an example. It may be a book of essays, a biography, a novel. Since a large circulation is contemplated, the figures will, in general, be found more useful for the novelist than for the essayist. But the latter will do well to consider the results on a single edition only. We take a very common form : it is one used for the greater number of six-shilling novels. The type is called Small Pica : there are twenty-nine lines in the page, and there are about 250 or 26o words to the page ; there are seventeen sheets, or 272 pages. The following is tendered as an approximate cost; that is to say, we could our- selves get the work done at these figures. It must be understood that a book of greater length will cost more; if, for instance, there are twenty-four sheets instead of seventeen, the cost of production would be increased, and the figures modified throughout. Illustrations would also increase the cost. I. A first edition of IOOO copies costs about £92 2. A first edition of 3000 copies costs g - about £180 3. A second edition of IOOO copies costs about £52 4. A second edition of 3000 copies costs about £135 In other words, in a first edition of S. d. ... IOOO copies, each copy costs about... I Io; 3OOO 25 5 x 2 3 » . . . I 2; , In a second edition of s. d. IOOO copies, each copy costs about... I o 3OOO 5 y 55 35 32 - - O The above is approximately the cost of produc- tion. The publisher now has IOOO copies in his hands—what does he get for them P. We reckoned in our last published figures 3s.6d. for an average price. We have since learned, on closer inquiry, that this is too low an average. There are slight variations with different firms, and sometimes special terms may be made. Thus, there are four or five firms who “subscribe’” their six-shilling books, i.e., issue them to the trade, on a first subscription at 4s., counting 13 as 12, and with 5 per cent. discount at the quarterly settlement. This is just over 3s. 6d. But a first subscrip- tion generally means a very small proportion of the whole afterwards taken in the case of a suc- cessful book. Other firms subscribe their 6s. books at 4s. 2d.; 25 as 24; or 13 as I 2 ; and 5 per cent. On the quarterly settlement. Thus we have, at 25 as 24, the price at 3s. 9%d., say 3s. 9%d. nd at 13 as 12 the price at 3s. 7+}d., or very nearly 3s. 8d. There are other variations. Some firms give a large discount for an order of so much. - - Stated generally, the average price to the trade 4. IO;  ## p. 9 (#23) ############################################### THE AUTHOR. - 9 of a 6s. book is 3s. 8d., and in all calculations as regards royalties this price may be taken as the basis of calculation. g - Thus with an edition of - IOOO copies the difference between return and cost is ... ... ... ... 3OOO copies the difference between return and cost is ... ... 2 5 Thus with a second edition of IOOO copies the difference between return and cost is ... ... ... ... 2 8 3OOO copies the difference between return and cost is ... ... ... ... 2 9% We can thus get an idea of what the royalty system means when an edition is completely exhausted. I. On the sale of an edition of IOOO only : - . Per cent. On a royalty of......... IO I5 2O 25 s. d. I 9 # # * smºs Publisher ........................ 360 ... 345 ... 330 ... 31.5 Author ........................... 383O ... 3845 ... 36O ... 3875 2. On the sale of a first edition of 30OO : Per cent. IO I5 2O 25 3O Publisher...... £280 ... 3240 ... 3190 ... 31.45 ... 38 IOO Author......... £90 ... 3135 ... 3180 ... 3225 ... 3270 3. On the sale of a second edition of IOOO : Per cent. IO I5 2O 25 3O Publisher............ £IOO ... 385 ... 370 ... 355 ... 3840 Author............... 483O ... 345 ... 386O ... 375 ... 3890 4. On the sale of a second edition of 3000: Per cent. IO I5 2O 25 30 Publisher...... £325 ... 3280 ... 3235 ... 3190 ... 31.45 Author......... £90 ... 3135 ... 3180 ... 3225 ... 3270 These figures show that for a half-profit system, supposing a book to be successful, a royalty of about 22% per cent. on such a work, of such a length, without illustrations, means half profits to author and to publisher. But it may be objected, very few books indeed attain to such a circulation as is here presented. As a matter of fact, many more books attain to wide circulation than we suspect. We are too much accustomed to think of novels alone as successful books. There are, however, educa- tional, religious, scientific, historical, biographical books which obtain very great success. We do not hear much about them ; of the novel we hear a great deal. Let us next, then, reserving this important fact, speak of books which cannot expect a large circulation. A philosophical treatise, for instance; a book of essays by a writer who is not popular; a book of poems by a poet not yet popular; can hardly expect a large WOL. W. sale. Indeed, in some cases, the writer is fortunate in getting published at all; and there are many cases in which a publisher has produced a book by which he cannot hope to do more than recoup his expenditure. Let us return to a book, of which a single edition of IOOO copies represents the whole. If it is a volume of essays it is generally longer than the example quoted. Suppose it contains twenty sheets. The cost of production, not counting moulding, would be about £1oo. This cost is covered with a sale of 550. If, however, it is saddled with a royalty of 15 per cent. to the author, the book is not covered until a sale of 723 copies. Now, the publisher may see his way to dispose of something like this number, but not of many more. Where, then, is his own share in the return ? It is manifestly impossible, with a sale so limited, to give so large a royalty. This consideration seems to introduce the deferred royalty; and, indeed, if the accounts are honestly presented, on an agreed understanding as to the proportion or share, a deferred royalty would seem the fairest. Thus with our figures a royalty would begin after 550 copies were sold. What should be the amount of the royalty P Clearly, the sale of every copy in the edition of Iooo, except the presentation copies, after 550 are gone, is so much profit. Therefore a royalty of 50 per cent. is only the old-fashioned half profit plan honestly carried out. Unfortunately the deferred royalty has been —and is—the easiest and the most common way of conveying the whole of the property into the publisher's hands. For instance, a case occurred some time ago in which such a book as we are considering was to be charged with a royalty of a shilling a copy after I 600 copies had been sold. Now, the book was of such a nature that its sale would probably never reach, or only just reach, I 600 copies. Suppose, however, an edition of 2000 copies were produced and all were sold. The cost of the book would be about 3130; the returns, at 3s. 8d. a copy, would be about £350. The author would receive Is. On 4OO copies, i.e., 32O ; the publisher would receive over £2OO. The figures are only approximate, but they are not far wrong. How does such an agreement as this strike the reader for equity ? Again, a very distinguished writer sought the advice of the Society sofme time ago on the following proposal. He was to give a certain firm a book—a little book which would cost a trifling sum to produce, and would be absolutely certain of success from the name alone of the writer. The firm proposed that a royalty of one-sixth should be given to the writer, to begin after 2000 copies had been sold / There • C 2  ## p. 10 (#24) ############################################## IO THE AUTHOR. is no need of figures in this case in order to show the beauty of the arrangement. A third case. It was concerning a three- volume novel. The author accepted terms which promised large returns after the sale of 350 copies. He never got anything. He found out afterwards that the publisher, guessing that there would be no demand for the book over and above 350 copies, had not only named that number as the starting point for the royalty, but had also printed that number and no more, and had then distributed the type. He gave away about twenty copies and the libraries took the rest, and he made the little profit of £150 or so on the trans- action. How does this strike the reader for loyalty and honour? Under these circumstances a proposal of a deferred royalty must be regarded with great suspicion. This paper does not advance any opinion as to the royalty which should be regarded as fair. It gives the facts, approximately, as regards cost of production and returns. Readers must remember that, though it is always neces- sary to consider the case of a great success, it does not by any means follow that their own books are going to be greatly successful. They must also remember that to recoup the cost of production alone is not exactly satisfactory to the publisher. These considerations belong to the application of the figures given above. *— — —” P- - -e TWO AFTER DINNER SPEECHES, N responding to the toast of the “Trade,” proposed by the Lord Mayor at the book- sellers' trade dinner, held on April 14, Mr. John Murray said: “As regards that section of the trade with which I am personally connected, I will say that we publishers get a great deal of abuse, but up to the present we have not perished under that abuse. I believe there are certain people writing against us frequently. I believe there is a periodical devoted more or less to our shortcomings. But you know an author would not be an author if he were not a man of brilliant imagination. Well, gentlemen, when I think of what has passed, I am reminded ºf a little inci- dent which may have come within your know- ledge. There was an American gentleman—one of those whose tendencies lead them to come to other nations and teach other people their busi- ness—who came to Scotland and addressed some tenants against the landlord, and, feeling he had the sympathies of his audience, he asked if any- one would like to ask him a question. An old farmer arose and said, ‘Well, Mr. George, I think you are an owner of land yourself?’ ‘No,' was the reply. “Never interested in one?’ said the farmer. “No ; I am neither agent or landlord, I have never had anything to do with land or landlords.” “No ; I thought so,” said the farmer and sat down. Now this is the way to treat our critics, and I offer them a hint not offered before. There were plans which in the long run would require the sanction of the courts to be enforced. I make a better sugges- tion: I say find me a man to write down in legal phrase, ‘Good feeling, mutual confidence, and friendship.' I say find me a man prepared in a right minded spirit to enter into an agreement honourably conceived, and I will show you the man who will draw up an agreement which will not require the courts to enforce it. That is the basis on which such a business should be made.” - It is fair to suppose that Mr. Murray directed these remarks against this paper—in fact, lest the audience should think that some other paper was intended, Mr. Macmillan afterwards explained that it was the Author. If so, one has to point out that the Author has never, at any time, or in any place, abused publishers. The Society of which it is the organ has pointed out most clearly and distinctly that it has not the slightest quarrel with honourable publishers. The Society has investigated and has exposed, partly in this paper, certain practices which make publishing in certain hands a mean and a dishonest trade. If Mr. Murray “has found certain persons writing against us,” I think he may fairly be called upon to explain more clearly what he TT168,1].S. - Next he relates a parable, by which he seems to imply that the Author tries to teach publishers their business. The Author does nothing of the kind; it does, however, try to teach authors their business. With this object in view it publishes the facts as to the actual cost of production, the trade allowances, the methods of advertising, the extent of copyright, the law of copyright, the meaning of royalties—all the points, in short, necessary to teach the author what the various clauses of an agreement may mean. Does Mr. Murray object to this kind of light? Finally, Mr. Murray offers to do the very thing which the Society most ardently desires and has always in view. I know not whether he was present at a meeting held in December, 1892, at which the chairman, Sir Frederick Pollock, stated plainly that it was incredible that honourable men could not meet and recognise some method or methods of publishing as fair and acceptable to both sides. That statement still stands unanswered—what is  ## p. 11 (#25) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. I I In the way ? Frankly, the chief obstacles are the men who, being the leaders of the publishing trade, assume, at such meetings as the Book- sellers' dinner, that exposures—exposures which must be made—of over-reaching or sharping by the baser sort—are meant as attacks upon them- selves. If Mr. Murray will turn to page 9 of this number he will find there, as illustration, three agreements, not fraudulent, but sharp, recently offered to authors. One would ask him if they are such agreements as he approves. One would further ask him if he does not approve of the exposure and explanation of such agree- ments. I will show Mr. Murray, if he cares to See them, one or two other curious little agree- ments and accounts. And I will tell him, if he wishes, in confidence, the names of the firms concerned. The Committee, one is quite sure, will gladly consider any agreement which Mr. Murray may communicate in the very spirit which he desires. But, one would ask, how can there be any agree- ment which can be outside, and independent of, the law P Are publishers unique among mankind in being, as a body and individually, beyond reproach P Does Mr. Murray really believe this P For myself, I have always thought it a great misfortune for literature that such a publisher as Mr. John Murray does not welcome the Society with open arms. I have often said this privately. I now say it publicly. For—consider—if we tell a solicitor of standing that there are many black sheep in his profession; if we expose the tricks and sharpings of these black sheep, does that Solicitor get up in public and complain that certain people are always abusing “us?” Our experience of the methods of publishing is wide, and, in fact, unique. It is nothing less than a knowledge of the methods pursued by every pub- lishing house in London. And of certain houses —I must not say in this place which they are or how many they are—I declare that I cannot Conceive it possible that a single sentence in the Author (not counting correspondence) should be able to offend or irritate any member of any one of these firms. At the same dinner, Mr. Frederick Macmillan also spoke at greater length about the Author. He is reported to have said: “The relations between publishers and authors have always been satisfac- tory, and I believe the contrary opinion is chiefly due to the Author, which I believe has hitherto been thoroughly misunderstood. When this periodical first made its appearance before the world, and put before us preposterous statements based on elaborately collected information, varied by vague but offensive charges of dishonesty, there were many respectable persons who had passed their whole lives producing books who were much surprised, and some went so far as to be annoyed. I gave it some consideration, and tried to find what this periodical was. . In fact, if it is once established that the Author is a comic periodical, no doubt its circulation will very much increase. This is a digression merely suggested by Mr. Murray's reference to the Author.” I cannot agree that the relations of author and publisher are, or ever have been, satisfactory, for the simple reason that they are absolutely undefined, and that an author has to go and ask a publisher what terms he proposes. This is simple fact, and not an opinion at all. It is a fact in no way due to the Author, but is known and lamented among all authors whose work has any commercial value. As for the “preposterous statements,” one would like to know in detail, and with reference to page and volume, what these are. “Vague, but offensive charges of dis- honesty.” What are these ? Our charges of dishonesty are not vague, but perfectly clear and precise. For instance, he who makes a false return of accounts to his partner—how should he be described P. In general terms, what would the world call such a man? This is not vague. Will Mr. Macmillan explain how such a charge is Offensive P Or, since we cannot assume that he could be offended by such a charge as this, what and where are the “offensive ’’ charges? There are other practices which have also been quite clearly defined, and will be so again. As for the facts published, they chiefly consist of the facts as to the cost of production. Does Mr. Macmillan refer to these ? Does he object to this kind of light? One cannot assume that it is possible. In that case, what are the offend- ing statements P The part of Mr. Macmillan's speech which was directed personally against myself, I have taken out ; it does not concern our readers. He con- cludes with the soothing reflection that the Author is a comic paper. It is astonishing how much consolation has been obtained by persons who, for this or that reason, are angry with a paper by the consideration that, after all, it is only a comic paper. Since that is so, let us laugh and go on our way. There are many more little jokes coming along which will, we hope, preserve the comicality of our columns. Meanwhile, I repeat, what are those preposterous statements which have made Mr. Frederick Macmillan so very angry with the Author? EDITOR.  ## p. 12 (#26) ############################################## I 2 THE AUTHOIR. BOOK TALK, HE report in the newspaper London, of April 19, dealing with the metropolitan and suburban free libraries has received much attention from those interested in the free library movement, because statistics are there given which tend to show that the working of the Free Libraries Acts is not as successful as had been expected. To begin with, there are some parishes which will not adopt the Acts at all, and, whatever may have been their original reasons, it would be short-sighted and impolitic not to ask whether these statistics supplied in the article “What Londoners Read,” furnish these parishes with any new arguments for con- tinuing in the same course. The article states that the “free library move- ment in London seems to have come to a dead stop. It was late in starting, and only made satisfactory progress for a short period. Recently there have been discouraging defeats. It looks as if all the energy and enthusiasm thrown into the movement in 1887 and 1889 had been exhausted. . . .” Only half the people have yet the benefit of these valuable educational institutions. What is read in these libraries P Turning to the statistics themselves, there is only one thing to be said—readers of fiction are the class who have been able to find their wants most easily satisfied. Fiction in all the libraries has always the highest percentage. The writer of the article, who seems to think that people ought not to read novels, adds a special warning to show that the “conclusion that the public libraries are mainly used for the dissemination of fiction is erroneous,” for, and these are the three chief reasons: (1) Libraries possess more novels than other works quite as much because they are cheap as that they are often asked for. (2) Novels take a much shorter time to read than serious works. (3) Many novels borrowed and recorded in the per- centages are not read at all. And then follow three other minor reasons. The writer then goes on to make a comparison between the free library novel reader and the subscriber to Mudie, Smith, and the Grosvenor. Nothing, however, can be gained for the free library movement by such a course. If the free library readers have their weaknesses, they are not excused because the patrons of Mudie and Smith have theirs. In the next column the writer shows us what he considers the special weakness of the free library, for he gives us the names of the six most popular novelists. By a process of exhaustion it seems as though we could always find one of these libraries in which one or more of the novelists, popular elsewhere, received but little attention ; but we ning through them all. should find one name—Mrs. Henry Wood—run- If we proceed in the same way with particular novels, there is but one novel which seems to be read everywhere— Chelsea, Holborn, Bermondsey, Clerkenwell—they must have “East Lynne.” Saint Martin’s-in-the- Fields requires eight copies. “It is the demand for ‘East Lynne' which gives Mrs. Wood the first position. “East Lynne’ being the favourite, it is perhaps, after all, a fair comparison to say that the free library is to one class of people what Mudie and Smith are to another. How very unwise then it is to pit the masses against the classes in this matter of reading, when really their tastes overlap. The outcome of this clearly is that, judged as an educational institution, the education furnished by the free library is chiefly conveyed through the modern novel; a form of text-book which teaches history, manners, customs, religion, morals, taste, and a great many things besides. It must, of course, be very trying to the autho- rities of public libraries to see so many works, which would well deserve a place on their shelves, published at prices far beyond the reach of the free library resources. We have before us a small volume, “The Life of Fra Paolo Sarpi,” by the Rev. Alexander Robertson, which is enjoying a large sale, and which seems to us to be suitable in every way for our free libraries. It is the history of a very great man which is here brought into a small compass without losing sight of either the material facts of his life, or, what is the essence of biography the spirit with which he went about his own and his country’s affairs. It is not usual to find a manual of history and biography which can be recommended as a guide and a stimulus to our own people in their attempt to be perfectly clear minded on the two most difficult political ideas of our time—pro- gress and patriotism. It is just possible that those who have hitherto been content to take their knowledge of Fra Paolo Sarpi from Miss Campbell’s life will be disappointed with Mr. Robertson's monograph, because, except in the last chapter, he does not appear to give any very fresh information. The chief reason for recommending the book just Inow is that it brings out most clearly how English sympathies have hitherto been entirely on the side of true freedom, both in action and in thought, whenever the sup- port of England has been sought by States struggling against religious tyranny. If there are any who are inclined to question the support given by England to the formation of the Italian kingdom—a united Italy, catholic, patriotic, and anti-papal, will not fail to note how easily the struggle could be misrepresented by the misuse of our current political terms or Tories and Liberals.  ## p. 13 (#27) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. I 3 It is almost impossible not to consider this volume as a political manual intended to show the triumph of the Liberals (using the word in a foreign sense) or constitutional party over the clerical party, the upholders of the absolute authority of the ruler of the then existing Papal States. Such an opposition of parties may seem strange to us who are, perhaps, accustomed to consider constitutionalism more as the property of Tories, or, let us say, Conservatives, than Liberals. Nevertheless, there is one reflection to be made, if we in England have not hitherto had a clerical party there are good reasons for believing that such a party may spring up and declare itself in the near future; and it will be interesting to see how the name Liberal, as we now use it, will have to be extended to include many who at the present time would style themselves Conserva- tives. It is from this consideration — the possibility of a clerical party arising in England —that Mr. Robertson's book will derive another element of popularity. He leaves us in no doubt whatever as to the vitality of the struggle. When we consider the varied literary and scien- tific achievements of our day, there is always a danger of overlooking the importance of pro- portion in time, especially in things political. For instance, we have here a conflict between liberty and tyranny which has been waged since the time of Dante. If we are considering the history of Man from Abraham to Darwin that is not a very long time, but if we are thinking only, as is here the case, of the development of con- stitutionalism, it is impossible not to contrast the quick growth of our free political institutions in England, after we had substituted the Sovereign for the Pope, with their growth in those countries which had still to reckon with the papal claims. To recognise that a constitution is a growth and not the creation of a minister—even a Sarpi–is the political lesson of this biography. It is shown that to be free to develop is the simple requirement of a constitutional commonwealth like the Venetian, or a constitutional monarchy like the kingdom of Italy. Mr. Robertson has written a most interesting book. As it is not our duty here to do more than find reasons for recommending its purchase to private buyers, and justifying the same by public ones, we may draw attention to the heads of the chapters showing the method adopted. We have three chapters dealing with Sarpi, as scholar, professor, and then provincial of the Servite Order of Friars. Chapter 4 describes him as scientist and philosopher, in which his position with regard to the discovery of the circulation of the blood and the amount of Harvey’s indebted- mess to him are noted. We observe that Mr. Robertson appears to take a somewhat different view of that question than Miss Campbell does. Up to this point Sarpi is shown rather as making preparation for the duties which afterwards devolved upon him; while the three following chapters are devoted to the noble and successful struggle of his political life. He is described as theological counsellor, as martyr, and as states- man-author. The last chapter, “In tomb and on pedestal,” tells how Sarpi's enemies tried to revenge themselves even on his remains, and gives their attempts—which were very successful—to prevent the statue decreed by the Senate and Doge On Feb. 7, 1623, being set up. This was not dome till 1892. Mr. Robertson writes: “In recognition of the fact that Fra Paolo embodied the spirit not only of the old republic of Venice, but also of the new kingdom of Italy, the day chosen for the unveiling of the statue was the auspicious one, Sept. 20.” The volume has a photograph from a picture of Sarpi, and another of the statue; there is also a fac-simile letter in Sarpi’s handwriting. * * * a- - -º CALIFORNIAN NOTES. HE following notes on two or three Cali- fornian writers, furnished by a Californian, may serve to infroduce them to the readers of the Author. The first is on Mrs. Margaret Collier Graham, whose stories in the Atlantic Monthly and in the Century magazine have attracted some attention during the past eighteen months. She is a California woman, having her home at Pasadena, in Southern California. Mrs. Graham first made her appearance in literature twelve years ago with a story which appeared in the California Magazine, a publication which after- wards became merged in the new series of the Overland. This story, “Jamie,” attracted much attention at the time, and was followed only by one or two fugitive efforts, after which the writer dropped into obscurity. The real cause for this suspension of literary effort was the prolonged illness of her husband, who died three years ago. The twelve years that intervened between Mrs. Graham's earlier and later work were filled with work and sorrow and love. But meanwhile the writer was unconsciously preparing for strong and purposeful effort in letters. This is why she seems to have sprung full fledged into literature. Her stories show the subtle discernment of cha- racter, and the happy sense of humour peculiar to Miss Mary E. Wilkins, whom she resembles without imitation. As Miss Wilkins belongs to the east, so Mrs. Graham belongs to the west. Where Miss Wilkins introduces us to the New  ## p. 14 (#28) ############################################## I4. THE AUTHOR. England sewing circle, Mrs. Graham tells us of the outdoor life of the Far West. While Miss Wilkins shows us the homely furrows ploughed on the stony hillsides of the Granite Hills, Mrs. Graham pictures the freshly upturned virgin soil, full of latent possibilities, bathed in sunshine. The pathos of life is in her tales, yet what most captivates us is their humour. She has a fine touch, and the little she has published has been talked about, thought about, and dis- cussed, like the work of few writers during these last two years. Yet one who knows her well, ventures the prediction that these exquisite pictures of western life that she has given the reading public, will seem but child's play when compared to the strong and serious work of which she is capable, and which she will yet accomplish. Another writer, as yet not popular with English readers, is Mr. Cromwell Galpin, a newspaper man of Los Angeles. chiefly by his contributions to the child-literature of the day. He has now nearly completed a novel whose scenes deal with the ancient life of the Pueblo Indians, of which he has made a special study. The subject is a unique one, and the novel is certain to have a literary and historical value. Mr. Galpin is the writer who conceived the very original undertaking of publishing a folk- lore tale of several thousand words, which should Tead pleasantly and with euphony, without the employment of a single word that was not of pure Saxon origin. This feat he accomplished successfully, and the result was published in Wideawake two years ago. The Overland Monthly, California's best known literary publication, and from which Bret Harte sprang from obscurity to fame, has lately changed hands, becoming the property of Mr. Rounseville Wildman, a consular representative and writer of some repute, who takes the editorial chair. It is understood that Mr. W. W. Foote, a San Francisco criminal lawyer of repute, will have a voice in the management, and will become a regular contributor to the magazine. *— - —” TO A DISCOURTEOUS BEAUTY. (From CoRNEILLE.) Although my features, fair marquise, A trifle weatherworn have grown, The day will come, remember please, When you’ll find furrows on your own Naught upon earth, however bright, Can brave the scathing touch of Time; My wreath, now wan with winter's blight, Had once, like yours, its April prime ! He has hitherto been known The same just stars in yonder blue, Life's course for both of us decree ; My past I gaze upon in you, Your future you behold in me ! Yet charms I own which, sooth to speak, When yours have perished, shall endure, Against the worst that Time can wreak, Proudly, impregnably secure : Tricked in mere beauty’s transient gloss, My charms in chill disdain you hold; Yet, when all yours are worthless dross Mine still shall gleam intrinsic gold ! They could preserve those lustrous eyes, Or bid their light extinguised be ; They could award you Helen's guise, Or hand you down as Hecate | Ay, with posterity, who'll lend Some slight regard to what I’ve writ, Your boasted beauty will depend On just what I may say of it ! Lay this to heart, then, fair marquise— When next with “hauteur’ superfine You’d fain some hapless oldster freeze, Choose one whose pen's less sharp than mine ! WILLIAM TOYNBEE. *-- ~ 2–? r—- * ~s NOTES AND NEWS. HE Report of the Dinner of the 31st ult. will appear in the July number. “Les éditeurs catholiques Letouzey et Ané com- paraissent aujourd'hui devant la cour d’assises de la Seine, présidee par M. Potier, sous l'accusa- tion de faux en écritures de commerce au préjudice de M. Léo Taxil. L'expertise aurait 6tabli que M. Léo Taxil avait été frustré, de la part de ses éditeurs, a propos du tirage de ses publications, d'une somme dépassant 38,000 fr. M* Pouillet et Georges Maillard assistent MM, Letouzey et Ané. M. l'avocat-général Van Cassel soutient l’accu- sation. - - - L'affaire a 6té renvoyée.”—Siècle, May 30. We are called upon to thank certain Americans for a graceful act. They have quite privately and secretly collected a sum of money. With this they have caused to be made a marble bust of Keats, which is to be placed in Hampstead church. Mr. Gosse was informed of the plan as soon as the bust was completed, and was permitted to communicate it to the Times of May 25. The bust has arrived. It was brought over by Mr. Day, the projector of the gift. I suppose we ought, long ago, to have put up such a monument to the poet; certainly no poet lives more surely and more lovingly in our hearts than Keats; yet, on  ## p. 15 (#29) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. I5 the whole, it seems a good thing that we have left this offering to the Americans. We read in it a claim, or, if you please, an acknowledgment, that everything good and great written in our common language belongs to all who speak that language. We recognised this truth when we put up the monuments to Lowell and to Long- fellow in Westminster Abbey. I wish we could do more. We might present a statue of Haw- thorne to the pretty little town of Concord. We might put up a bust of Washington Irving in the City Hall of New York. We might give a statue of Oliver Wendell Holmes to the great hall of Harvard. Let us consider the subject. Mean- time we must welcome our American friends. The Weekly Sun has discovered a poet in a coal mine. That is to say, he has been in a coal mine, but ill-health keeps him in the light of day. He is quite young, about twenty-two years of age; his education has been slender; he is very poor. The Weekly Sun has published one of his poems, called “Life at Play.” The following stanzas, which seem to me graceful, simple, and promising, are taken from this poem :— The field-flowers rise from out their beds Of undulating green, And shyly lift their pretty heads To look upon the scene. All things are gay ! For earth has doffed her garb uncouth, And beauty crowns and kisses youth, And Life's at play. The breeze blows gaily o'er the land, And whispers in the trees, And tosses with a playful hand The corn to tumbling seas. All things are gay ! A thousand waves in concert run, And glare and glitter in the sun, While Life’s at play. The world looks young, as golden gleams Of sunshine wreathe her brow ; And Nature’s wealth of fruitage teems, And Age seems younger now. All things are gay ! The living rules the dead again, The dreams of youth pulsate the brain, While Life’s at play. An attempt is being made to raise a small fund for this young poet. It is to cultivate his know- ledge. The editor of the Weekly Sun, Tudor- street, E.C., is willing to receive contributions. Will the readers of this paper, who should, above all others, love poetry and poets, respond to the appeal? The man may be another Burns— another Keats. I read in the Westminster Gazette that there will shortly be issued a History of the Riving- tons from the year 1711. There have been VOI,. W. published from time to time several books on the history of publishers and booksellers, but never, so far as I know, any complete history of any one house. We want in such a record, not only an account of the books published, and the general success, enterprise, and glorification of the firm, but also a history of its relations with authors. In the year 1711, for instance, and for a hundred years afterwards, the men who lived by literature were a miserably poor and, for the most part, a despised race; they were called Grub-street poets, publishers’ hacks, starveling authors, and other agreeable names; the luckless tribe were game for everybody, and especially for their more successful brethren. Will the historian of the Rivington House tell us something of the actual conditions under which literature was then produced ? What, for instance, was the extent of the market for English books? Was there any export to America P. Were the poor scribes paid for their work in anything like a fair proportion to its marketable value P When Oliver Goldsmith got 2960 for the “Vicar of Wakefield,” what did the purchaser make out of it? When Pope received the sum of £9000 for his translation of Homer, what did his publishers make P When was the practice of buying a work outright changed to that of a profit sharing agreement P When and by whom was a royalty system introduced? What losses show the existence of the risks that were certainly encountered in the last century? I have in my possession a bundle of accounts showing how publishers associated for the pro- duction of one book, each taking a proportion of the expense of production. I believe that, until quite recently, the practice was common. Then one would like printers’ accounts of the last century; others of fifty years ago, and others of to-day, showing the changes in that respect. And there should be an account of dealings with the country bookseller. In this way the history of the Publishing House of Rivington might become a most important contribution to the history of the commercial side of literature. The proposals for a collected edition of Steven- son's works are before me. They have been issued by several publishers in varying forms, and it has hitherto been rather difficult to put together a complete collection. Arrangements have been made with all his publishers, and the result has been a general consent to the issue of a uniform edition. Mr. Sidney Colvin will super- intend the edition; Mr. W. Hole, R.S.A., will provide an etched portrait ; Messrs. Constable, of Edinburgh, will print the work—their name is a guarantee that the printing will be the best D  ## p. 16 (#30) ############################################## I6 THE AUTHOR. possible.; and Messrs. Chatto and Windus will distribute the books when they are ready. The edition is limited to 1035 copies, of which thirty- five will be reserved for presentation copies; the remainder will be offered to the public in twenty volumes, at 12s. 6d. each. Of the thousand, 300 have been subscribed for America and the colo- nies. It is evident that the desire of the editors is to produce an edition which will become scarce and costly from the very commencement. Any bookseller will receive an order. I shall be very much surprised if there are any left within a week of this date. The Ossianic problem is to be reopened. It is like the “Man with the Iron Mask,” or the “Letters of Junius,” always waiting to be re- opened and discussed over again. The world should be thankful to Mr. Macpherson for pro- viding one more subject for the discussion of every successive generation. This time it is Mr. Bailey Saunders who revives the dispute, with a life of Macpherson in which to set it. “An Oxford Graduate” sends his literary experience. He says that he has for many years attempted to obtain entrance into the magazines, but with very discouraging results. The best magazines always return his MSS. ; he some- times succeeds in the second-rate papers. But he says: “However bad my work may be, it is at least as good as one-half of the average articles published even in first-class magazines. There is the sting ; this the bitterness one cannot get over.” Here lies, as the Oxford Graduate puts it, the true bitterness of failure, that the writer who cannot get in is unable to discern in what respects his work is worse than that accepted. It is not enough to say that MSS. offered by unknown writers are returned unread. A vast number of writers, from Boz downwards, have begun by offering their unknown work. Nor is it enough to say that editors do not read what is offered them. Editors may sometimes make mistakes; they may not always have the time to read all the MSS. sent to them; but it is a certain fact that editors, as a rule, do read contributions sent in to them, and do try to get good work. Otherwise they would not be editors, but mechanical clerks. There seems no reply possible to the “Oxford Graduate,” except the suggestion that long-con- tinued and almost unbroken failure must mean something—it may be in the form or the style— which militates against his success. § A correspondent asks the following question: “Could the Society give any indication to young writers as to the character of publishing houses, so as to avoid the great waste of time in sending work & priori unlikely to suit them P’’ The Society cannot possibly do this. It can advise, and daily does advise, authors in all branches of literature what houses are likely to consider their work, and what houses are likely to treat them fairly if they are inclined to accept their work. So that, if the writer confines himself to these houses, and is careful not to sign agree- ments without advice, he is at all events kept out of harm. But our correspondent means more than this. He is of opinion that publishers have certain leanings in this direction or that. This is not generally the case. Those publishers who publish novels will publish novels of any kind, provided they are not contra bonos mores and are likely to be in demand. And the same may be stated of every kind of book, except technical works, e.g., a general publisher should not be asked to produce new books on Arabic Philology, or on Medicine, or on Law, or on Cuneiform Inscriptions. But history, poetry, fiction, voyages, travels, and belles lettres generally of all kinds fall into the work undertaken by any publisher. The Society has to deplore the death of Mr. Edmund Yates. He had been a member of our council since the formation of the Society. He always took a deep interest in the welfare of the Society. At the outset, when our future was uncertain and extremely dark, the adhesion of every single man or woman of letters was important, and especially of such a man as Edmund Yates, novelist, journalist, and editor. His literary career, which practically ended with- the success of the World, was wide and varied. He was editor, One after another, of half a dozen magazines; he wrote many admirable novels, some of which still keep their place, and will continue to live a great deal longer than the space generally allotted even to successful novels. And he was a man of most kindly heart. With him has gone one of the few links remaining to connect the men of the Nineties with the men of the Fifties. Edmund Yates was from his birth associated with literary and dramatic folk. He was a personal friend of men much older than himself—Dickens, Albert Smith, Frank Smedley, Anthony Trollope. He began to write very early, and some of his novels still retain their hold upon the public. To the younger generation he is known chiefly as the editor of the World, which he himself founded in 1874. When one considers that the World is always regarded as a “personal ‘’ paper; that he was almost considered as the sole writer of it, though his staff was large, and included many writers of the very first order, it is wonderful that he made so few enemies. There are papers,  ## p. 17 (#31) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 17 for instance, whose editors make more enemies in a single year than Yates made in twenty years. The crowd of mourners—representing all kinds of people — which filled the Savoy Chapel at his funeral, and the grief that was marked on every face, proclaimed the loss that his death has caused. It was perhaps in kindness of heart that he once opened the pages of the World to a couple of men who were trying an experiment in collaboration. That was in 1876, and the turning point in that experiment proved to be that appearance in the World. I have always regarded this event in my little literary history not so much a stroke of good fortune as a personal favour bestowed, out of sheer kindness, upon my collaborateur, whom he knew slightly, and upon myself, whom he did not then know at all. — Another loss to letters is the death of Henry Morley. No two men could be more opposite than Edmund Yates and Henry Morley. The former an artist of the true artistic temperament; the latter a worker, always at work—learning, writing, teaching, transcribing, editing, inditing, histories of literature. We want such men as Henry Morley; they are most useful in their generation. Literature is like an army always on review. First and foremost are the fighting men; they are represented by the authors them- selves, the poets, dramatists, novelists, essayists, historians; then there are the critics, who repre- sent the bystanders and lookers on ; then the commissariat, represented by the publishers — some of the soldiers complain that the uniform of the commissariat is much finer than their own, and that their mess is much superior to the regimental mess; then there are the men like Henry Morley, who are represented by the clerks and keepers of the regimental records. Henry Morley was not one of the regiment, a fighting man, an original writer; nor was he a critic ; his work was to keep the records of the regiment, and he kept them very well. As a professor, and as the Warden of University Hall, he was widely and deservedly popular. Yet a third. Dr. Richard Morris is dead. With the single exception of Professor Skeat, no man living or dead has ever done so much for the study of our own old literature. It was fortunate for us, as well as the Early English Text Society, that his services were available, as well as those of Professor Skeat, during the early years of its existence. Very few societies have been able to command the work—gratuitous work, I believe—of such eminent scholars and patient workers as those two contributors, who simply created the success of the Society. The book of the month is Mr. Conway's Hima- layan Exploration. There has been universal agreement in all the papers on that point. One thing, at least, may be said concerning critics. When they all agree that a book is good the verdict may be accepted without a question. WALTER BESANT. *—— — —” -*. FEUILLETON, A PIOUS FRAUD. - Y the railway system irreverently known as the “Flying Watkin,” two gentlemen, with whom we are about to become acquainted, were travelling down into Kent. One was a man in the prime of life; a well-made fellow, with a pleasantly obtrusive waistcoat, and an evidence of comfortable prosperity about him. He had a merry eye, with attachments of white crow's-feet, as though he had been for a long time past smiling and laughing in a strong sunlight. And yet in spite of all this lurking mirth there was something hard about his face. His mouth was scornful, and there was something of the cynic apparent in spite of his look of bonhomie. His companion—or rather his fellow traveller, for they were not acquainted—was a much younger man, not more than twenty-five; rather above the middle height, and with a fine pair of intelligent eyes in his head. He was not good looking, but yet he was undeniably attractive. How, it would be perhaps impossible to explain. Grim determi- nation was his chief characteristic, tempered with a quiet air of disgust and weariness. These two travellers had the compartment to themselves, for it was a midday train, and almost empty. The younger traveller had exhausted his paper before they had travelled many miles, and then, with a muttered curse at the line in general, he rose, put his hat in the rack, and taking down down from that altitude something rolled in brown paper, began to undo the string. “I wonder what is wrong now,” he said under his breath, as he opened a small note inclosed in the parcel. He read the note and laughed, while his vis-à-vis looked at him in some amazement. It was not a pleasant laugh by any means, and it was not good to hear. Next he unrolled the document contained in the brown paper roll, and, as the elder traveller saw at a glance, it was a type-written play. He turned over certain leaves, removing certain marks as he did so, and laughing each time—if possible more unpleasantly than before. He soon, however, resumed his accus- tomed looked of weariness, and, leaning back in his corner, proceeded to read again. But by this  ## p. 18 (#32) ############################################## 18 THE AUTHOR. time he had excited the interest of the elder man, who, putting on his glasses, read the name of the play on the cover. He became uneasy, and rather excited—why he did not quite know. At length he could contain himself no longer. “Allow me, sir, to congratulate you on the name of your play.” The younger man looked up curiously and suddenly. The elder continued, “Hope you don't think me rude, but I’ve been watching you ever since you undid your roll. I watched your disgust, I heard your laugh. I am well acquainted with that sort of thing. I’m a playwright myself. My card.” The young man took the pasteboard smilingly. Looked at it. His face immediately became serious. He was so astonished that he was momen- tarily incapable of any other remark than “Oh.” For he read “Herod Wingiffle,” and knew then that he was sitting opposite to perhaps the leading playwright of the day “It’s rather a formidable name I’ll allow,” said Wingiffle apologetically. “It is, indeed,” said the young man, “I haven’t a card with me, but my name is Herbert Grant.” “Thank you,” said the other simply. “Yes, it is rather startling, but I didn’t christen myself or I’d have managed differently.” “Oh, I wasn’t meaning that way,” said Grant, laughing; “I was rather surprised at finding a man in such a position as yours”—Wingiffle inclined his head—“taking any notice of a new hand.” “Inoticed the title of your play, and whether it is a good name for that play or not of course I can’t say, but it's an attractive title anyway.” “You are very good.” “Not at all. I suppose you have had it returned P’’ “Yes—that’s it.” “They don’t like it?” “So they say here,” putting hand on note, “but I used certain marks which have not been disturbed at all !” “You mean ?” queried Wingiffle. “That it can’t have been read at all. have changed the wrappers, and that is all “Ah, there are a lot of funny little ways con- nected with theatrical management. Er—How old are you, and when did you begin to write for the stage?” He asked these two questions very abruptly. “I’m twenty-five, and I began to scribble when I was nineteen.” “Oh,” said Wingiffle, rather heartlessly, as Grant thought. Wingiffle continued musingly, “I began at seventeen, and my first produc- tion happened when I was thirty-five.” They 122 It was Grant's turn to say “Oh,” and he said. it with considerable fervour. “I don't want to discourage you,” Wingiffle was going on when Grant laughed—that hard hopeless laugh of his. “Ah! I see,” said the sympathetic playwright, “you have had a good deal of it; perhaps I had better say no more.” “Oh, please do,” said Grant, stopping his laugh suddenly. “I have had a good deal of discouragement, and I have been robbed, but you are the first playwright I have ever met, and— and—please go on.” Wingiffle smiled at the ingenuous young man. “Robbed, eh?” he queried. “Aye, robbed. I sent a play—not this one— up to a certain manager, say in the late spring. I got it back in August with an intimation that it was unsuitable, as “women did not do such things.’” “You had made use of the eternal woman question?” asked Wingiffle. “I had and I hadn’t. I had used woman— oh, well then—as she never was yet used. But that wasn’t to say that she won’t be so used Some day. Can you, can any man, get up and declare that there is anything a woman will not do P” - “You mustn't put me on my oath,” said Wingiffle, laughing. “Anyhow,” continued Grant, smiling in spite of his indignation. “Anyhow I got my play back in August. In the following January was produced—at this very theatre—a play by a crack author—Ishan’t mention names—dealing broadly with my subject, with the difference that it placed women in an absolutely impossible light. And I know for a fact that this play was not commenced until the late autumn after the return of my MS.” “Possible,” said Wingiffle. “It isn't always the playwright's fault. Managers, you see, are un- doubtedly inundated with MSS.; those belonging to unknown authors are perhaps scamped through. There are details, say, in a play by a new hand that are not liked while the main idea is approved. Then, instead of writing to the luckless author, saying, “I like your play, will you make certain alterations, and so forth,’ the fellow calmly returns your screed while he gives out an order to a dramatist, whose work he knows is generally approved, for a play to be written round an idea and some scenes. Your idea and your scenes. It is the greatest fluke for a novice to gain a footing. Be his work ever so good, someone is sure to object to something. His dialogue, his characterisation, his dramatic action, his Scenes, his curtains—all can be attacked. If he’s  ## p. 19 (#33) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. I9 right in one, A. says he's wrong in another, while B. reverses A.’s verdict. I candidly tell you that I got my first footing by fluke; the story is too long to tell now. I’ve been snubbed just as you have been ; but I beat you in one particular ”— and he laughed heartily—“I have actually been criticised before production—the production was delayed at the last moment, but the criticism came out ; and so did the recompense—out of the rascal's pocket.” Here both passengers laughed in concert until Wingiffle spoke again, for Grant was altogether too fascinated to utter a syllable. Wingiffle continued, - “But all this talk of myself isn’t touching you much. I don’t know how you’ll take it—you may be suspicious, I couldn't express surprise at it—but if you like, as a practical, accepted play- Wright, I’ll read your play and see if I can give you any hints that might be useful.” Grant thanked his new-found friend very much for his kindness. Wingiffle took no notice at all of this except by a bow. He said, “Written much P” “A good deal,” Grant replied, “but it all comes back to me; but I know—(here he looked dreamily out of the window)—I shall get a hear- ing some day.” His companion gazed at him critically ; he seemed interested in the young man. “I believe you will,” he said rather impres- sively. “I couldn't tell you why I say so or why I believe it, but—I believe you will.” “Really, this is very encouraging,” said Grant, brightening up, “and I think I shall try again, after all.” “Of course you'll try again—you weren't going to give up P” “For a time I was. You see, I do a little hack work for a paper or two, and I was going to devote myself more to that. I manage to scrape together enough to live upon down in the village, but I want to be doing something better. Still, I must go back to it for a time.” “Give me your play,” said Wingiffle. Grant rolled it up and handed it over. It gave him a little pang to see his cherished play coldly set aside with newspapers and gloves, but Wºme chatted so kindly that he soon forgot that. Even a railway journey by the S.E.R. must come to an end at some time or other, and in due course Grant got down at his station. Wingiffle had to go some seven miles further, where he had taken a cottage for the summer. “Then I'll write you and let you know all about your play. Mind, I shall criticise it, I promise you, just as it seems to me, a practical dramatist. Good-bye, good-bye ’’ and the cheery fellow drew in his head after waving adieu to his late companion, on whom his ex- hilaration and heartiness had acted like cham- pagne. You may be quite sure that Grant passed a very pleasant evening with the remembrance of Wingiffle's comforting words for company. Of course he couldn’t sleep when at last he went to bed, thinking it a wonderful thing that he should have awakened sympathy in a man at the top of his profession ; and equally of course, when he awoke next morning he was disposed to take a rather gloomy view of his prospects, just by way of reaction. At eleven in the morning Mr. Wingiffle sur- prised him by a visit. - “Mr. Grant,” he said, “I was distinctly patro- nising to you last night.” This was a bold statement which could bear more than one interpretation, so Grant looked uncomfortable and said nothing. “Yes, I was,” said Wingiffle as though Grant had denied it, “and I have come to apologise for it.” “I assure you there is nothing to apologise for.” “My dear young fellow,” said the dramatist rising, “allow me to shake hands again.” Grant rose. “I patronise you ! Ha!, ha. It's laugh- able. Your play is a masterpiece.” “Good heavens,” ejaculated Grant, pale as a ghost. “Yes, a masterpiece. It's well conceived, interesting, absolutely novel in treatment and design, and—in short, my dear fellow, allow me to congratulate you on a most striking performance. I—well—I can't tell you much now, I’m feeling almost excited but—are you doing anything parti- cular to-day ?” Grant said he was not. “Then it will be a real pleasure to my wife and self if you will drive back with me to lunch —you'll come won't you?” - “I’ll come with pleasure,” then he laughed, this time pleasantly. “You must excuse me,” he added, “if I seem at all wandering in my replies, but I—this is rather a shock. It would be mock modesty on my part to pretend that I didn’t think it a real good play. I know it is. . But I didn’t know it was a masterpiece.” “You go and change your clothes,” said Win- giffle, “at once, and come along.” Away went the young man. He trod on no floor—he encountered no stairs. It was all cloudland to him, and as for his bedroom that was fairyland, and his change of clothes wishing- garments. He wasn't long you may be sure, and soon he was seated beside Wingiffle bowling along towards the latter's cottage.  ## p. 20 (#34) ############################################## 2O THE AUTHOR. “And now then,” said Wingiffle, after lunch, as they sat out under the trees, “will you put yourself further into my power? Ha, ha!” he exclaimed, in melodramatic fashion, “but I must dissemble or I shall frighten my prey,” and the odd creature took two or three long strides of the sort favoured by stage conspirators, while his wife and his visitor laughed at his antics. “Seriously now,” and he sat down again, “this is what I want. Will you let me have that play run out again in type ; will you put a new title to it, and will you let my name appear as the author of it?” - “If it's any use—-” Grant was beginning. “Any use ! Look here. Only my name, it is still your play, but my name appears. I will take it again to Magnus Maximus. He hasn’t seen anything but the title, and probably not that. I know it is just the play for him, and I know it will be the play of the year. I can make a better bargain, too, with him than you could ; and, upon the whole, I think we shall make Magnus Maximus look rather insignificant.” “I don’t know what to say to you, or how to thank you - “Don’t try it then—don't try it. Wait until it is launched, and then we’ll see what we shall see. You will place yourself unreservedly in my hands P” - “I will.” “T'is well; ha, ha!” About a month later Wingriffle looked in upon Grant again. He was in a great state of excite- ment. - “Taken P” cried Grant. “Taken; I should just think so,” almost shouted the other. - And then Grant, forgetful of all dignity, began to perform one of the wildest dances ever seen upon this globe. His landlady, looking out of window on hearing the turmoil, withdrew shud- dering at the prospect of having a madman for a lodger. “In with you,” cried Grant. “Now tell us all about it.” “Well, you know,” said his hardly less excited friend, “I dressed the part so to speak—culti- wated a haggard look—and then rushed him with blood-shot eyes—as though I had been up all night superintending something stupendous.” “Good heavens, my dear chap,” said old Maximus, “here sit down here, sit down—here drink this,” and so on. “Oh, I played well, Herbert’” (by this time, of course, they were on front-name terms). “I laid my hand on the play. Read that. I said, read that ; if it doesn’t stagger you—if it doesn't bring you a fortune— never produce another play that I bring you. With that I walked straight out, leaving him staring after me in amazement.”. Grant laughed heartily at his description. “It won't hurt him,” continued Wingiffle, “and it's only a pious fraud. Maximus is not a bad fellow in his way, but he—well, he should attend to business better.” “But after all this?” queried Grant. “Why, he sends round to me same afternoon, is coming to supper with me that night. Never had anything like it, and so on. Well, the long and the short of it is that the play is accepted, that I have stipulated that it shall be produced friend’s within three months, and that I’ve made such terms that I can only whisper them. Now, no thanks— you're to wait, you remember that. Wait until the production Maximus likes the name—he likes his part—though I’m glad you haven’t put all the fat into one part—and he likes himself generally, for he knows, and I know, that he is going to produce a success.” - # # *: #: $: The long-expected night arrived at last. A typical first-night house had gathered to witness Herod Wingiffle's latest masterpiece. Herod himself was there in front (everyone said how calm and cool he looked, and how unusual, &c., and everyone was very much surprised), with his wife and a young friend, Mr. Herbert Grant, who for some reason was looking rather wild-eyed and pale. - * “Your friend unwell ?” whispered a critic to Herod. - “No, oh no!” Herod whispered back, “sympa- thetic, intensely sympathetic.” The critic replied by raising his eyebrows to express his surprise, and just then the curtain went up. - “Keep cool,” said Herod to his young friend, and Mrs. Wingiffle added a few soothing phrases. It soon became apparent that it was a singularly interesting play. At the end of the first act people turned to congratulate Herod, but he had mysteriously disappeared, though he returned to his seat as the curtain rose on Act II. The same thing occurred at the end of each act, and at the close there was a perfect hurricane of applause. After obeying the laws of precedent governing similar proceedings, the manager stepped before the curtain, when the author was called, with a puzzled look on his face, and a slip of paper in his hand. As soon as he could speak he said: “Ladies and gentlemen.—I have just received this note from Mr. Herod Wingiffle.  ## p. 21 (#35) ############################################## THE AUTHOI?. 2 I “‘Dear Maximus, I have imposed upon you piously, and with the consent of the real author of this play. I did not write it. You haven’t hurt yourself, and you have done an act of justice. I may say that the author is in front.—Yours, FIEROD.’ “Does anyone know what this means ?” asked the manager of the astonished house. “Is the author in the house P” he added. And then there was a short pause. Everyone looking at everyone else. “Get up and speak,” whispered Mrs. Wingiffle, and Herbert rose. They were seated rather to the right in the last row but one of the stalls. “I am the author,” he said, and his voice, though he did not speak loudly, rang through the house. A thousand eyes were instantly bent upon him. He continued rather mercilessly, “I sent this play up to Mr. Maximus myself more than six months ago. It was returned to me by him as being unsuited to his theatre. How he knew that then it is not for me to say, for certain marks I had placed between the leaves were undis- turbed when the play was returned to me. It had not been read at all. Only the title of the play has been altered since. Luckily I met Mr. Wingiffle. He offered to read my play. He said that he liked it and would play a pious fraud upon Mr. Maximus (some people laughed here, but seeing the sternness on the young man's face they looked grave again). He took it for me to him as his own piece, and that very day it was accepted. I have only to apologise to you all for making you so long a speech.” And he bowed to the house and sat down, while cheer after cheer rose to the roof. The manager had disappeared. R. S. *-* -º ar- ~~ S0-SO-SOCIOLOGY. 167. ISEASE is a medium between weaken- |) ing cause and wasting effect. - I68. When mystery becomes a luxury, misery seems a necessity. I69. It is far easier to love the unlikely than to like the unlovely. 170. Ignorance of ignorance is bad; indiffer- ence, worse; insolence, worst. I71. Civilisation is a concord of cohesion, co- operation, and culture. 172. Were the human always the humane, Man would have no despairs. - 173. The present is more miraculous than the past, but less mysterious. I74. The blend or the breed is of more avail than the brand: - - 175. Education gives Man a greater chance: evolution, a higher choice. 176. From the common conflict of options emerges the consensus of opinions. - 177. The value of machinery depends on whether it ministers or masters. I78. Gratitude is an education as well as an expediency expedience. - 179. Discipline ceases to be a duty when it becomes a tyranny. * 18O. Love will always out, but few can always recognise it. * 181. Only the wisest can ever find the best in the worst. 182. Love and contempt, though ever least akin, seem often most alike. º, 183. Spite is one of the commonest simulators of sincerity. 184. Folly is the favourite child of ignorance and of Vanity. 185. Gift without grace is like knowledge without wisdom. -- 186. Truth is oftener a talent than an accom- plishment. 187. Lies complicate existence: love simpli- fies life. 188. Man makes myths, myths make mysteries, mysteries make miseries. - 189. Energy may sink with the sun, but fancy rises with the moon. . I90. The least sound too often makes the most sound. 191. Not all the godliest die young; not all the best miss fortune. I92. It is easier to convert taste than to con- trol tendency. - - 193. We wish more than we can, but will more than we may. I94. Love's shams appeal to self; its spirit to soul. I95. Men may know their own minds more than their own motives. - I96. Capacity far oftener fails than oppor- tunity. I97. Misfortunes have consolations than compensations. I98. Self-love has no scientific frontiers. 199. Man, of both sexes, is God’s best and Worst practical providence to Man. 2OO. History is the great-grandmother of prophecy. oftener PHINLAY GLENELG.  ## p. 22 (#36) ############################################## a. - THE AUTHOR. “LIFE IN LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE." “TT is the office and function of the imagina- tion to renew life in lights and sounds and (motions that are outworn and familiar. It calls the soul back once more under the dead ribs of nature, and makes the meanest bush burn again, as it did to Moses, with the visible presence of God. And it works the same miracle for language. The word it has touched retains the warmth of life for ever. We talk about the age of superstition and fable as if they were passed away, as if no ghost could walk in the pure white light of science, yet the microscope that can dis- tinguish between the disks that float in the blood of man and ox is helpless, a mere dead eyeball, before this mystery of Being, this wonder of Life, the sympathy which puts us in relation with all nature, before that mighty circulation of Deity in which stars and systems are but as the blood- disks in our own veins. And so long as wonder lasts, so long will imagination find thread for her loom, and sit like the Lady of Shalott weaving that magical web in which ‘the shows of things are accommodated to the desires of the mind.” It is precisely before this phenomenon of life in literature and language that criticism is forced to stop short. That it is there we know, but what it is we cannot precisely tell. It flits before us like the bird in the old story. When we think to grasp it, we already hear it singing just beyond It is the imagination which enables the poet to give away his own consciousness in dramatic poetry to his characters, in narrative to his language, so that they react upon us with the same original force as if they had life in them- selves.”—Low ELL in the Century. *- as as-º CORRESPONDENCE, I.—A STRANGE CorncIDENCE. ^{ONTRIBUTORS to the Author sometimes point out strange coincidences in relation to subjects treated by several persons. The French proverb, Les esprits forts se rencontrent, sums up the matter with French precision. Here is another curious instance. . . In the year 1891 I was travelling rather out of the beaten track upon the eastern frontier of Germany, and I heard of a curious religious pro- cession. Never before had I seen anything of the kind, and only the local guide mentioned it. Naturally it struck me that it would make a good subject for an illustrated magazine article. So when I returned I set to work. Early in 1892 my MS. and drawing trotted about in the usual manner, and I received the usual polite letters from the editors of many first-class magazines— I never trouble the second and third-class folk. Then I threw the MS. into a drawer, where it rested for some nine months. I Ought to say that I first made a wash drawing, from which to make another in pen and ink, to accompany the MS. in its walks about town; strictly speaking, I ought to say in its globe-trottings, for it crossed the ocean, and likewise the so-called silver streak. * . In the spring of ’93 I brought out my MS. again, and towards the anniversary of the fête day described therein, I sent it on its way once more, when alas! after many days and many voyages, the MS. returned without the drawing, which is quite “lost in the post,” although my name and address were written upon the back— showing the carelessness of the returned letter department of the Post-office. Oris a drawing not of sufficient value to be worth returning P Possibly, in the eyes of officials. Well, this year I made another pen and ink drawing from my original wash one, with the same result—refusal. Only here is the gist of the business; not only was my matter stale instead of new, as I thought, but in the words of the editor : “So far from the matter being ‘untouchei you will find it all described and illustrated in of May, 1893. More- over, the sketch you send me is actually copied from the illustration we then published l’” This was rather strong ! * . I represented to the editor that my work had been done in 1891-2, and that I did not relish being accused of purloining other people's work. Here is the half-hearted apology: “I had not the least idea of making any accusation against you” (observe above “actually copied,” and the “!” at end of sentence), “what at Once occurred to me was that your sketch was made from the same photo- graph which we reproduced—a photograph which I suppose is sold in the shops l’ But note, that beyond the two illustrations representing a pro- cession, a crowd, and the same street, they differ much in detail. However, that is not the ques- tion. Why I relate this little history is simply to show that les esprits forts se rencontrent, even in matters which have lain dormant for many years, and even with a short interval between the results of les esprits. In my case, my fortunate rival forestalled me (in print) a year after my work was completed; which shows that the spirit which wafted me to in 1891, and whispered to me to write an article thereon, like- wise spoke to another scribe in 1893 after the same manner. Mean little spirit, why not have let me earn the reward of my labours ? M. S. A.  ## p. 23 (#37) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 23 II.-ConsoDATORY. Will you allow me to say a few words in answer to “Experto Crede?” I have a very large experience of penny papers, and I have met from their editors and proprietors the greatest kindness, consideration, and courtesy coupled with fair prices and prompt payments. We cannot all be famous, and if long prices for a single story do not fall to our lot, modest cheques are not to be despised. I have for many years earned a very comfort- able income by my pen solely from penny papers. I never expect to be famous, or even to see my name on a three-volume novel, but I sell my tales as fast as I can write them. Unlike the more distinguished folks who publish on the royalty system, I know exactly what they will bring in, I have no anxiety and no suspense, and I do not possess a single rejected manuscript, so that I have no cause to grumble. I fancy the con- tributors who write to you and complain of failure, either expect to succeed in too great a hurry, or else write their stories and then expect them taken by the first paper they think of, instead of deciding on the paper first and adapting the story to its style. Their plan is a kind of putting the cart before the horse arrangement, which must ail. - f Girls tell me their tales are much better than many they see in print, but they can’t get on because they have “no introductions.” I don’t like to reply they are not impartial critics, but I can and do assure them that introductions are useless. My testimony is just that of an average woman worker, for I have had no advantages to help me on, I never had an introduction to editor or publisher, and I don’t even (after years of literary work), possess a single “famous.” acquaintance. - C. O. III.-GRAMMATICAL. Which is correct after not and no, or or nor 2 In some extra good writers, whom one might be tempted to consider authorities, you find nor; in others as good, or. . It did not rain nor blow. It did not blow or pain. There was no rain nor wind. There was mo wind or rain. Which are correct of the above ex, mples? Neither Murray nor Mason answers the question. I used to put or until I began to think about the matter. Then it occurred to me that, as it is right to put nor after neither (an abbreviation of not either), upon the same principle it must be right to put nor after no and not (either being implied). But the other day a more knowing person than myself, when criticising a careful writer's work, said: “He makes just the mistake that so many authors—including even so fine a writer as Marion Crawford—make; he invariably puts nor after not and no, which, whether or not absolutely incorrect, is hideous,”—or something to this effect. I agree with him that or sounds better, but if nor is incorrect after not, it must have been created simply to suit the convenience of neither, and as a means of breaking the rule against two negatives, where they would naturally destroy one another. Nor sounds better than or after neither, but why should it be more correct after neither than after not either ? . . However, apart from right and wrong, eupho- nious, or non-euphonious effects, there are so many uses for the word or, that a person who does not understand the English language might be puzzled by the use of it in lieu of nor. For instance, “He is not pious, or pleasant,” might be taken to signify “He is not pious, by which I mean pleasant.” Still, of course, the thing could be differently expressed without the use of nor; and I do not feel at all sure that the word nor ought to exist. - A MEMBER OF THE SocIETY OF AUTHORs. IV.-REMAINDERs. I am obliged for your note in response to Iſl11162. You did not say whether you considered that at the present time authors were satisfied with the ordinary way of disposing of their remainders. I wrote under the assumption that they were not, and would perhaps have discussed the matter under the auspices of your Society. At present a large number of provincial book- sellers have no inducement whatever to purchase the works of numerous authors. The publisher takes little or no risk, and wants little or no trouble. If a bookseller buys from a publisher any but those books in most demand there is no possible means of getting a profit, and every chance of making a loss. If publishers will not come to the rescue, why not the authors them- selves through their business agency the Authors’ Society P It ought to be to the author's interests to see that every bookseller is put into a fair way of making a profit if he cares to push the sale of the book. But as no attempt has been made in this direction, I assume that that is impossible, and that when a book does not go under ordinary circumstances at once that it must be sold as a remainder.  ## p. 24 (#38) ############################################## 24 THE AUTHOR. Then could not the loss be lessened on re- mainders ? Why could not you or your repre- sentatives create a central agency, invite book- sellers to take up authors’ works on sale or return terms, and issue a general catalogue P E. B. W.—ExPERIENCES OF A LITERARY BEGINNER. I have had many painful experiences of the MS. that goes a begging ; yet, strange to say, they do not belong to the period when I was a beginner with the pen. The very first article which I submitted to a strange editor was accepted and printed, and the same success attended my second venture, and so on till in the course of time I had contributed quite a respectable series. But I am speaking now of nearly a quarter of a century ago, when journalistic lotteries were unknown, when the prize-giving periodical was quite in its infancy, and when the sole end and aim of an editor was not to sell the paper by the tens of thousands, so as to put money into the purse of the proprietor. And I am also speak- ing of a time when there existed one of the most generous, discriminating, impartial, and pains- taking of editors who ever lived, and one, moreover, who was always ready to encourage young authors, and help them to success if he found any good in their youthful essays. The name of that editor was Charles Dickens, and the journal which I had the honour of con- tributing to was then called All the Year Round. After Dickens' regrettable death I continued to contribute to his popular periodical, and to a few others which, like his, did not refuse a manuscript simply because they were overstocked with litera- ture of all kinds, or because the article offered happened to be too long, too discursive, or too something else. But, unfortunately for myself, some of those journals came to grief, or were unable to pay the same fees as before, owing, perhaps, to the increased competition which the “new journalism,” as it is called, gave rise to. Then my troubles as an outside contributor began in earnest, for I was tempted to try my “luck” with the new papers which now com- pletely flooded the market, and in doing so I learnt what it was to send an MS. “the round.” Out often or a dozen articles which I “submitted to the consideration” of various editors only one was accepted and used, and that one had cost me so much trouble in reconstructing, or re-writing to suit the requirements of the different journals to which it was sent on approval, that the fee eventually received scarcely repaid me for the time and labour bestowed upon it, to say nothing of the time and labour bestowed upon the other nine or eleven articles which I had written and submitted before this last one was accepted. So, as I am wholly dependent upon my work for the bread and cheese of existence, I have been reluctantly obliged to abandon my literary labours, which began under such promising auspices, and to turn my attention to something far less congenial, but rather more profitable. ExPERTO CREDE. WI.-MoRE ExPERIENCEs. My first work was on the past, present, and future of a cause in which circumstances caused me to be deeply interested. I submitted the MS. to the committee of a society to which I purposed to give the profits, if any, of publication. Reply from chairman (lord-lieutenant of his county): “Committee feel honoured by being associated with such a production, and propose to be respon- sible for the cost.” This I declined. A large edition was sold, and a useful amount was paid to the society in about twelve months. This success led to my writing a larger work. It was published on the “mutual profit” system. Whole edition disposed of ; but small profit to the author, notwithstanding most flattering notices of the book. One popular author wrote to me, “I hope your inkstand will never be dry.” Then a magazine, edited by a well-known Cambridge man, came under my notice. I wrote a short tale with a purpose, which, being appre- ciated, was followed by a series, and when the editor retired, he thanked me warmly for what he was pleased to call my “valuable aid.” I next proposed to write a series of articles on various subjects, to a then popular shilling maga- zine. Reply was: “Being already acquainted with your former works (reviewed in our magazine), any contributions from your pen will be valued.” A small work on religious subjects was brought out by one of the oldest leading publishers in London, on his responsibility, and is still recom- mended in a leading journal to inquirers. My next venture was a one-volume novel (pub- lished on the “mutual profit” system). Well re- viewed in first-class journals; but financially a failure. I then competed with several authors, whos names were known to the public, for leading serial in a magazine, established over a quarter of a century. I was successful, and, of course, received the usual remuneration. I may mention, en passant, that I have received 32 for quite a short article. I continued to write for the above magazine, and my articles were favourably noticed. Meanwhile I wrote a pamphlet on a subject of  ## p. 25 (#39) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 25 public interest and importance ; took the opinion of an eminent man; sent the MS. to a publisher, who was manifestly anxious to secure the publi- cation; and it was issued quickly. The price, at the publisher's suggestion, was fixed at one shilling. In an incredibly short time, a friend said to me that he wanted a copy, and could not get one as they were all sold. I at once wrote to the publisher. He replied that he wished my information was correct. That, expecting a large sale, he had kept the type set for five weeks, and had then broken it up, as the pamphlet was not selling. I called upon him when I went to London, but could get no intelligible statement from him. I had paid him a fixed amount for publishing and advertising. Yet he intimated that if I had the unsold copies he must charge extra for advertising. So he kept all but two dozen, which I had, and the matter ended. I ought to have taken advice, but being afraid of law proceedings, I weakly, as I now think, gave up the whole affair. Some years after I showed the pamphlet to a man in London, who has some knowledge of the ways of the world as well as of letters. He read it, approved and praised it, and gave his verdict in few words, “That pamphlet was suppressed; there is too much truth in it.” w Since then I have been a constant writer for a leading journal, and my articles have been criti- cised at home and abroad. Of one recent work 2000 copies were disposed; and now my last work, which I venture to think is not inferior to what I have previously written, and which has been so highly praised, is in one sense a failure. By no means so complete a failure as the suppressed pamphlet was—and in this case no suspicion can attach to the publisher —yet I cannot understand why this novel should fail to be a complete success. I wrote it with a definite purpose, and some reviewers consider that I have fully accomplished that purpose. One ends his critique with “ Unlike most novels, this is a book to be re-read—in fact, it ought to have an index, there is so much for reference, as well as of so much besides.” Another critic says: “We have looked in vain for a single sentence that could justify these discussions being printed.” Since that was written a New York publisher has written about taking 250 or 500 copies if a cheap edition is published, as he says that they (the firm) consider it “a remarkable and inte- resting book,” and that the purpose of it is of as much value in America as in England. M. M. “AT THE SIGN OF THE AUTHOR'S HEAD." R. C. H. COOK (John Bickerdyke) has published (Constable and Co.) a small volume called “Thames Rights and Thames Wrongs, a Disclosure; with Notes Explanatory and Critical on the Thames Bill of I894.” He says, by way of preface, that he is not writing as a lawyer for lawyers, but for the merry crowd who take their pleasure On the river, and his desire is that the facts dis- closed will startle the public out of its apathy, and bring about that legislation which is urgently needed. “The Plays of Sir Richard Steele” forms the new volume in the Mermaid Series (Fisher Unwin). It is edited, with a critical introduction and notes, by Mr. G. A. Aitken, who in 1889 published a life of Steele. “Doctor Quodlibet, a Study in Ethics" (Leadenhall Press), is a new story by the author of the “Chronicles of Westerley.” In a note the author reminds his readers that “Bishop Quodlibet’’ was a subordinate character in the above-named novel, and that now he has ventured to give him a small book all to himself. - “The Ghosts of the Guardroom,” a story by Annabel Grey, forms the first volume of the Annabel Grey Library (G, Stoneham). According to the author's preface, “the story deals with military life, of the struggles and trials of an English lad, a young recruit; it is, moreover, true.” Miss Mary Colborne-Weel has published a volume of verse entitled “The Fairest of the Angels” (Horace Cox). As the title implies, some of the poems are religious, of which there are one or two—“Jael,” for instance—which seem to us to be more successful than the one the author has chosen as a title. “The Local Government Act, 1894,” has just appeared, with introduction, notes, and index, by J. M. Lely and W. F. Craies, Barristers-at- law. The publishers are Sweet and Maxwell, 3, Chancery-lane; Stevens and Sons, I 19, Chan- cery-lane. Is. 6d. Also “The Sale of Goods Act, 1893,” with introduction, notes, and index. By the same authors, and the same publishers. - The “Goethe-Jahrbuch" for 1894 will contain an account, by Dr. Suphan, of “Napoleon's Unterhaltungen mit Goethe und Wieland und F. von Müller's Memoire darüber für Talleyrand.”  ## p. 26 (#40) ############################################## 26 THE AUTHOR. Messrs. G. P. Putnam's Sons announce “In Varying Moods,” by Miss Beatrice Harraden; “Red Cap and Blue Jacket,” a tale of the French Revolution,” by Mr. Robert Dunn ; and an “Autonym * series of stories by well-known writers. Mr. J. J. Haldane Burgess, M.A., the author of “Rasmie's Büddie”—a second edition of which was lately issued by Mr. Gardner, Paisley and London, and to which the Scotsman alluded as “a book which is likely to make a name for its author”—has just finished a romance of the Norse time, dealing with the Viking occupation of the Shetlands in the days of Harold Fair- Hair. A new novel, in 2 vols., by Mrs. Deith-Adams (Mrs. R. S. De Courcy Laffan) will shortly be published by Messrs. Jarrold and Sons. It is entitled “Colour-Sergeant, No. 1 Company,” and the scene is laid in the South of Ireland. The story of Soho-square and its associations has been taken in hand by Mr. George Clinch. This old aristocratic quarter is full of interesting associations with celebrities of the past. Collec- tions have been made of drawings, prints, pamphlets, and books bearing upon the quarter. Many of these, including the collection of the late Dr. Rimbault, have been placed in the hands of the author, who wishes us to state that he will grate- fully receive and acknowledge any information or suggestions from residents in the district or others. The work will be a volume of small quarto, and will be limited to a small number of copies. The fifth edition of “Marcella " (in three volumes) is announced. The cheap edition of “David Grieve" is also ready. Mrs. Steel's new novel “The Potter's Thumb,” 3 vols., is now ready. The publishers are Heine- mann and Co. The same publishers have the three novels of “Sarah Grand.” A new work by Ruskin, called “Verona and other Lectures,” will be issued early in June. The publisher, of course, is Mr. George Allen. The book will contain five lectures, delivered between the years 1870 and 1883. It will be illustrated by a frontispiece and eleven photogravure plates from drawings by the author. The Athenæum (May 26) notes the formation of a “Transatlantic Publishing Company,” which will publish a magazine intended principally for the purpose of copyrighting in America short stories written by our people. We shall be glad to hear more about this company. Without doubt there is great need of such a medium. Fuller inquiries shall be made at once into the proposed Company and the magazine. A new and cheaper edition of “The Way of Transgressors,” by E. Rentoul Esler, will be issued shortly. (Sampson Low and Co.) Baron Tauchnitz has secured the Continental rights of this author's Willage Idylls, “The Way they Loved at Grimpat.” After three editions of “A Superfluous Woman,” in three volume form, the publishers, Messrs. Heinemann and Co., have produced the book in a cheap Colonial series, and it will be shortly produced in England in a cheap form also. The New York Critic announces the formation of a Walt Whitman Society, which is about to be incorporated. Its aims are threefold: The consolidation within a single organisation of all persons who are interested in the life and work of Walt Whitman; the establishment of centres in different parts of the world, which shall bring together the lovers and admirers of Whitman, and which, by the maintenance of correspond- ence and the exchange of views, shall tend to close fraternal relations among the members of the society; and the publication, from time to time, of Whitman literature and of such essays and other papers as may be deemed valuable in elucidation of Whitman’s philosophy of life, or in exposition of his poetry and principles. The following announcements are also made by the same paper:— “The Phantoms of the Footbridge" is the title of a volume of short stories by Charles Egbert Craddock, to be published by the Harpers. Messrs. D. C. Heath and Co. are publish- ing a “History of the United States,” by Mr. Allen C. Thomas, Professor of History in Haverford College. The aim of this work is to give the main facts of the history of the United States clearly, accurately, and impartially. In the belief that the importance of the events which have occurred since the adoption of the Constitution is becoming more and more recog- Inised, much the greater part of the book is devoted to the era beginning with 1789. The earlier period, however, is treated with sufficient fulness to show clearly the origins of the people and their institutions. Throughout special atten- tion is given to the political, social, and economic development of the nation.  ## p. 27 (#41) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 27 Messrs. Longmans, Green, and Co. have become the owners of Colonel T. W. Higginson’s histories and miscellaneous works, by purchase from Messrs. Lee and Shepard. Mr. John Jacob Astor is about to make his first venture in literature with a story of the year 2000, entitled “A Journey in Other Worlds: a Romance of the Future.” * - - -º sº- * - WHAT THE PAPERS SAY, I. —LITERARY STANDARDs. 4 & S there such a quality in a literary pro- duction as absolute merit P” inquires W. J. L. “If so, is there a man or woman in the country of the capacity to judge it by that standard P I am moved to ask these questions by my own experience and lºy the history of literary productions which have wandered through a veri- table wilderness of editorial hands before reaching the promised land of publication. It is hardly necessary to recount the early trials of these martyrs since made glorious. As to my own work, which is journalistic rather than purely literary, I have had such queer experiences that I am beginning to lose faith in what has been called literary judgment. I have repeatedly had editors refuse my matter, only at a later date to reprint it from other papers; I have had articles refused once and accepted later; I have had one magazine refuse an article and one of higher class accept it at double the price; I have known editors correct the metre or rhyme of famous poems I may have had occasion to quote or to parody in places; I have known a newspaper of recognised literary standing refuse a poem at 5 dollars which a periodical accepted at 15 dollars; I have had good things rejected with promptness and despatch, and those of less merit accepted. And so on through a complexity of moods and measures. I don’t understand it, do you ? Is it due to the fact that publishers of literature—is it literature if not published?—are governed, not by the genuine merit of the article, but by the tastes and demands of their readers, or by a consideration of the interests of the business office P If you can throw a little light on this subject you will benefit a good many people who do not hesitate to damn the literary judg- ment of publishers with whom they have had experience.” - - The simple answer to the foregoing would be that no one is infallible. An editor is just as likely to make mistakes as any other man. Don’t you hear people say every day that, if they had only known, they would have bought certain land which had been offered to them for a few dollars and is now worth thousands P. The wise man is he who has foresight. The editor who can discover a Kipling in the callow efforts of a novice is such a one as is not often met. You oftener meet the man with foresight in matters of real estate transactions for a very simple reason: taste is never a factor in the sale of building lots. What is one editor's meat is another's poison. The editor of this magazine may have a weakness for dialect stories, while the editor of that maga- zine despises them. He may print those of a certain author because he has discovered that they have a market value, but he never would think of accepting them on their merits. Editors, I fancy, are governed by a great many things. The “genuine merit of an article” is an impor- tant factor in its favour, and “the tastes and demands of their readers” is another. How the “promulgation of the interests of the business office ’’ can be made to enter into the question at all I do not sce, beyond the matter of making a periodical that will sell. An editor who made a magazine that no one would buy would certainly be a very strange man, and one unfitted for his position. No journal can be published at a loss unless it is published by philanthropists, and even they would soon tire of the fun, for there is nothing that can swallow up umoney like an unsuccessful periodical. w As for literary judgment, who shall be the judge? A novel of which the Athenæum said that it was one of the best of 1893, the Critic declared not to have been worth publishing. The reviewers of the book were both unquestionably persons of intelligence, and yet what one pro- nounced a work of unusual merit the other pronounced unmitigated trash. The question is largely one of taste, and with posterity alone remains the decision as to what has come to stay.—New York Critic. II.-MR. TRAILL ON LITERATURE AND - Journ ALISM. Mr. H. D. Traill delivered, on Saturday after- noon, his second and concluding Royal Institution lecture on the relations between literature and journalism. The critics of journalism, he said, were prone to exaggerate its influence in respect of the undoubted over production in these days of literary matter. Of the existence of such over production there could, unfortunately, be no doubt. There never were so many people anxious to rush into print; never was the literary craft so invaded by amateurs. One  ## p. 28 (#42) ############################################## 28 THE AUTHOR. reason, perhaps, was the excessive cheapness of the material. Pen, ink, and paper were never dear commodities, and compared with the canvas, paint, marble, and studio of the artist were infini- tesimal items. Moreover, failure or incapacity was not so glaring with the literary amateur as in the case of painting, sculpture, or music. Popular education had more, however, to do with this tendency than any other cause. The State had renounced Dogberry’s maxim that to read and write come by nature and might be charged with going too far in the other direction —that people can be taught to write what others will care to read. A day might come on which we should all be so busy writing as to have no time for reading at all, and we might be reduced to the condition of the islanders who tried to get a living by taking in each other's washing. Exaggerated, however, as is the share attributed to journalism in this result, it had to be admitted that the flood of novels poured forth day by day was partly due to the daily journals. But the circulating libraries were more to blame than the newspapers, and any or no quality was good enough to find a place in the periodical box of books. The journalist, however, did perform a useful function in guiding the taste of the public, and he could not be accused of neglecting his duty in this respect. On the whole it may be said that this duty is performed honestly and capably. The verdict of the reviewer in the daily press was usually conscientious and generally correct. As to the merits of signed and unsigned articles much might be said on both sides. But anonymity was too firmly established in this country to be disturbed, and, in his opinion, pos- sessed the balance of advantage. If the journalist on the whole encouraged good literary work, it was to be feared that he did not do enough to discourage the bad. The publishers knew their public, and that it is a book's fortune to be talked about on account of its eccentricity or glaring impropriety or suggestiveness. The best remedy would be to leave bad books alone. This might be done if we were living in Utopia, but was hardly possible in the world in which we live. In Utopia the publisher would approach the critic as a petitioner approaches a judge, and the book would be noticed or disregarded in strict accor- dance with its merits. But, as things are, news- papers are not carried on merely from the love of letters or a desire to increase knowledge. They were, above all things, commercial enterprises, and the proprietors could not afford to disregard the advertisements of the publisher. Thus a kind of professional morality was established on the basis of the relative value of the notice to the publisher and of the advertisement to the owner of the newspaper. Another charge brought against the daily journals was that they were corruptors of the English language. The term “newspaper English" had become a byword. Thus jour- malists were promoted to a kind of sinister dignity as the debasers of their mother tongue—they became sinners on an heroic scale. Was this charge true P To a limited extent undoubtedly a verdict of “Guilty” must be recorded. The daily papers were not wells of English pure and undefiled. There was apt to be a lack of simplicity and directness, a tendency to circumlocution and verbosity, a wrong use of words and phrases. But it was easy to over- estimate the extent of the wrong done. The number of phrases so misemployed was after all not great; “transpire’ for “happen’; the mis- application of such terms as Frankenstein, “ comity of nations,” “benefit of clergy,” “Caudine Forks,” “ horns of a dilemma,” “cui bono,” and a few others would exhaust the list of habitual offences. Nor was the charge of corrup- tion of style based on a much larger foundation. It should be remembered that the daily paper was written against time, with no leisure for revision. The leisurely critic after breakfast, with his feet on the fender, complained of “newspaper slip- shods.” It would be more fair to use the term “in slippers” than slipshod. In any case, the style of the newspaper was a good deal better than that of the great majority of its readers. Another question is whether journalism ever makes real contributions to literature. Are its leading articles, its reviews, and its essays ever themselves really literature ?' It is not true to say that what is really good literature is always written slowly and at leisure, and it is equally wide of the mark to suppose that all the work of a newspaper is hastily performed. A substantial part of what appears in the daily prints is done under most favourable conditions. Days may be occupied over the review of a book, though it too often consists of little more than a summary of the contents. At other times so much time is taken up in the composition of the critique that none is left for the perusal of the book. The newspaper essay or article bears considerable resemblance to the sermon, though the one is composed five or six times as often as the other. Sermons, as we know, form a real part, some- times excellent, of literature. Then it was an open secret that the obituary notice is often composed at leisure, with many opportu- nities of revision. Indeed, it was a jour- nalistic superstition that the composition of a biography and the recovery of an illustrious patient were frequently connected as cause and effect. Even the political leader might now and  ## p. 29 (#43) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 29 º again rise to the dignity of literature, notwith- standing the disparaging observations of Carlyle. Speed is not always the enemy of excellence. It may tend to animation, and animation may pro- duce eloquence. Unfortunately, the form of the newspaper was against it. The column seems interminable, and the writer may be haunted with the consciousness that his leaders during a short period might reach from Charing-cross to Ludgate-hill. The fate, too, of the newspaper was more rapid and humiliating than that of the printed book, however vapid the latter might be. The virtuoso with the hand-barrow at the back door came all too soon for the ephemeral pro- ductions of the journalist. To-day is—to-morrow is for the dust-heap. Journalism unquestionably might be useful to literature—it might waken the interest and hold the attention of the reader and direct him to what is more abiding than itself. The journalist might have a good deal to say in defence against all the charges that are brought against him. He might say that he regarded literature as his instructress, his playmate, his guide, his venerated mother; but he might also complain that she did not discharge all the duties of a mother, but disclaimed all responsibility for his maintenance, and failed to supply him with the material necessities of existence, and that in his hour of need it was journalism which took him in and became his foster-mother, and that therefore, whilst holding literature in respect and affection, he could not disregard the charity which had taken compassion on him in his destitution.—Times, April 30. **. NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS, Theology. BARRETT, REv. GEORGE S. Family Worship. Second edition. Jarrold and Sons. 2s. 6d. BENNETT, REv. W. H. The Expositor's Bible: The Book of Chronicles. Hodder and Stoughton. 7s.6d. Book of NEEDs OF THE HOLY ORTHoDox CHURCH, done into English by G. V. Shann. Nutt. 5s. BUTLER, REv. DR. Meditations on the Hundred and Nineteenth Psalm. With a preface by the Bishop of Lincoln. Skeffington. CAMPBELL, PROFESSOR. The Epistles of St. Paul to the Thessalonians, Galatians, and Romans. By the late Professor Jowett. Wol. I. Translation and Com- mentary. Third edition. Wol. II. Essays and Dissertations. Edited by, Murray. 7s. 6d. each vol. CHRISTIE, T. W. The Controversy of Zion, being the miscellaneous works of the late. Edited by T. Williamson. Liverpool : Edward Howell. Simpkin Marshall. EAGER, REv. ALEx, D.D. The Christian Ministry in the New Testament. S.P.C.K. Is. 6d. - FENTON, FERRAR. St. Paul’s Epistles in Modern English. Fourth edition. Digby, Long, and Co. Is. * GEIKIE, DR. The Bible by Modern Light. Vol. IV. Rehoboam to Hezekiah. James Nisbet and Co. 6s. MOULE, REv. H. C. G. The Pledges of His Love : Thoughts on the Holy Communion. Seeley and Co. Timited. STIRLING, REv. CHARLEs. The Protestant Prayer Book. Edited by. Charles J. Thynne. Is. History and Biography. ASTLEY, SIR. JoHN D. Fifty Years of My Life. Hurst and Blackett. CASSELL’s HISTORY OF ENGLAND. Wol. VII. From the illness of the Prince of Wales to the British occupation of Egypt. Cassell and Co. Limited. 98. A History of the Christian T. F. Unwin. 2 vols. CHEETHAM, ARCHDEACON. Church during the First Six Centuries. IOs. 6d. CoRPORATION OF MANCHESTER : AN HISTORICAL RECORD. Manchester: Henry Blacklock. DAVIs, R. HARDING. The Rulers of the Mediterranean. Illustrated. Gay. 6s. DIPLOMATIC REM.INISCENCES OF LORD AU GUSTU's Lorrus, 1862-1879. Second Series. 2 vols. Cassell and Co. Limited. 328. GEAREY, CAROLINE. Louise, and Eugénie. Digby and Long. GEPP, REv. C. G. A Short Memoir of Emily Minet. Edited by. Rivington, Percival. 2s. HARwooD, REv. W. H. Henry Allon, D.D., Pastor and Teacher. Cassell. 6s. - HUNTER, P. HAY. James Inwick, Ploughman and Elder. Oliphant. 3s. 6d. LEE, EDMUND. Dorothy Wordsworth. New and revised edition with portrait. Clarke. 3s. 6d. MEN OF ACHIEVEMENT : STATESMEN, by Noah Brooks; ExPLORERS AND TRAVELLERs, by General A. W. Greely. Sampson Low. PECORDS OF THE TERCENTENARY FESTIVAL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF DUBLIN, JULY, 1892. Dublin : Three Empresses: Josephine, Marie- With portraits. Second edition. Hodges, Longmans. IOS. 6d. SMITH, G. BARNETT. Leaders of Modern Industry. W. H. Allen and Co. 78. 6d. SMYTHIES, CAPT. R. H. R. Historical Records of the 4oth (2nd Somersetshire) Regiment, now Ist Battalion the Prince of Wales’s Volunteers (South Lancashire Regiment). Devonport: A. H. Swiss. SouTHEY, RobHRT. The Life of Nelson. Blackie and Som. Is. 4d. WAKEMAN, HENRY O. Periods of European History. Period W., 1598-1715. Rivington, Percival, and Co. S. - - - - - - - Life of John Bentley. The 2 vols. WOLSELEY, GENERAL WISCOUNT. Churchill, Duke of Marlborough. WYNDHAM, REV. FRANCIs M. The Maid of Orleans: Her Life and Mission. From original documents. Second edition. St. Anselm's Society. -  ## p. 30 (#44) ############################################## 3O THE AUTHOR. Fiction. ALAN ST. AUBYN. In the Face of the World. 2 vols. Chatto. AMYAND, ARTHUR. Only a Drummer Boy. Osgood, M*Ilvaine, and Co. 3s. 6d. ANDREA, PERCY. Stanhope of Chester : a Mystery. Smith, Elder. 68. BARR, AMELIA E. Girls of a Feather. IS. BAYLOR, F. C. Claudia. and Co. 318. 6d. BLACKMORE, R. D. Mary Anerley. New edition. Sampson Low, Marston, and Co. Limited. 2s. 6d. BLIND, MATHILDE. Tarantella. T. F. Unwin. Is. BoIDREwood, Rolf. Macmillan James Henderson. 3 vols. Osgood, M*Ilvaine, A Modern Buccaneer. and Co. 31s. 6d. BRAY, CLAUDE. The Tavistock Library : Sir Joseph’s Heir. Frederick Warne and Co. Is. 6d. CARDELLA, G. The Perfect Way of Honour. 3 vols. Swan Sonnenschein and Co. CAREw, MAUD. Uncle Phil. S.P.C.K. Is. CHRISTIAN, E. B. W. At the Sign of the Wicket. Arrow- Smith. CHRISTIAN, SYDNEY. Sarah ; a Survival. 2 vols. Sampson Low. - CLARK RUSSELL, W. A. Sailor's Sweetheart. New edition. - Sampson Low. 2s. 6d. CRAwFoRD, F. MARION. The Upper Berth. T. F. Unwin. I s. 6d. DANA, R. H. Two Years Before the Mast. Blackie and Son. Is. 4d. DAVIDSON, HUGH. C. Mr. Sadler's Daughters. Chatto. DIxon, ELLA HEPwor'TH. The Story of a Modern Woman. Heinemann. 6s. DoNovAN, DICK. Found and Fettered. Hutchinson and Co. 2s. 6d. DREw, D'ARcy. Henry Standon. 3 vols. Simpkin Marshall. 31.s. 6d. DUNCAN, SARA JEANNETTE. A. Daughter of To-Day. 2 vols. Chatto. DUNN, GEORGE. Red Cap and Blue Jacket. 3 vols. Blackwood. EMERSON, P. H. Welsh Fairy Tales and Other Stories, collected and edited. D. Nutt. Fowler, M. E. Faith. S.P.C.K. is. FRANCIS, M. E. The Story of Dan. Osgood, M*Ilvaine, and Co. 3s. 6d. GERARD, DOROTHEA. The Rich Miss Riddell. Black- wood. GRAY, MAxwell. A Costly Freak. Kegan Paul, Trench, - Trübner, and Co. Limited. 6s. GROSSMITH, GEORGE AND WEEDON. The Diary of a Nobody. Arrowsmith. 18. HARCOURT, ALFRED. For Love and Liberty 2 vols. Chapman. 21s. HARRADEN, BEATRICE. Elackwood. - - HousTon, J. D. C. The Daughter of Leontius. Oliphant, Anderson, and Ferrier. 6s. HUFFER FORD. The Queen who Flew. With a Frontis- piece by Sir E. Burne-Jones. Bliss. In Varying Moods : Short Stories. HUNTER, P. HAY, AND WHYTE, W. My Ducats and My Daughter. New edition. Oliphant. Is. 6d. JAMEs, HARRY A. A Professional Pugilist. Illustrated by Kenneth M. Skeaping. Leadenhall Press. 18. JokAI, MAURUs. Eyes Like the Sea. Translated from the Hungarian by R. Nisbet Bain. New edition. Law- rence and Bullen. REITH, LESLIE. 'Lisbeth. Popular edition. Cassell. 6s LAwl, Ess, HoN. EMILY. Grania. New edition. Smith, Elder, and Co. 3s. 6d. MACDONALD, GEORGE. Stephen Archer, and other Tales. New edition. Sampson Low, Marston, and Co. 2s. 6d. MACLEOD, FIONA. Pharais : a Romance of the Isles. Derby : Frank Murray. MARRYAT, FLORENCE. A. Bankrupt Heart. 3 vols. White. MERRIMAN, H. SETON. With Edged Tools. 3 vols. Smith, Elder, and Co. MIDDLEMAss, JEAN. The Mystery of Clement Dunraven. 3 vols. Digby, Long, and Co. M’NULTY, EDwARD. Misther O'Ryan. Arnold. 3s.6d. MoRRIs, W. E. The Countess Radna. New edition. Heinemann. 6s. OLD CELTIC ROMANCEs. F. W. Translated from the Gaelic by P. W. Joyce. Second edition, revised and enlarged. David Nutt. 3s. 6d. RoBB, THOMAS D. In a Kingdom by the Sea. Alexander Gardner. ROBERTs, MoRLEY. The Purification of Dolores Silva and other Stories. Osgood. 3s. 6d. Row1ANDs, EFFIE A. My Pretty Jane. William Stevens Limited. SANBORN, KATE. A Truthful Woman in Southern Cali- fornia. Sampson Low, Marston, and Co. SHEw, E. L. If Men were Wise. 3 vols. Richard Bentley and Son. SMITH, C. E. For Better for Worse. S.P.C.K. 2s. SoMERVILLE, E., AND Ross, MARTIN. The Real Charlotte. 3 vols. Ward. SQUANCE, HERBERT S. Miss Mackerell Skye. T. F. TJnwin. STUART, ESMiº. The Power of the Past. 3 vols. Bentley. + SwAN, ANNIE. A Foolish Marriage. Hutchinson. Is. WARD, MRs. HUMPHRY. The History of David Grieve. Tenth edition. Smith, Elder. WAS IT WISE TO CHANGE P By the author of “A Hard Case,” &c. Cassell. Is. - WEYMAN, STANLEY. Under the Red Robe. 2 vols. Methuen. 2 I S. - WHITBY, BEATRICE. Mary Fenwick's Daughter. 3 vols. Hurst. -- WILKINs, W., AND WIv1AN, HERBERT. The Green Bay Tree. 3 vols. Hutchinson. WooDLEY, W. The Design of Buildings. Crosby Lock- wood. General Literature. ADDISON, Jose.P.H. Essays and Tales. Cassell. 6d. AMPHLETT, F. H. The Lower and Mid Thames : Where and how to fish it. Sampson Low. Is.  ## p. 31 (#45) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 3 I BADMINToN LIBRARY: YACHTING. By Lord Brassey, G. L. Watson, Sir G. Leach, L. Herreshoff, and other writers. Edited by the Duke of Beaufort, assisted by A. E. T. Watson. 2 vols. Longmans. Ios. 6d. each BAEDEKER, KARL. Northern France. Second Edition. Leipsic : Karl Baedeker. Dulau. 7s. BAINEs, A. The Popular Handbook of Finance. I8. BANCROFT, HERBERT Howe. The Book of the Fair. Part XIV. Chicago : the Bancroft Company. I dollar. BARCLAY, Rob ERT. The Silver Question and the Gold Question. Fourth Edition. Effingham Wilson; Man- chester: Cornish. 2s. 6d. Saxon. BELL, R. S. W. The Businesses of a Busy Man. Leaden- hall Press. 3s. 6d. BLIss, F. Jon Es. A Mound of Many Cities. Published for the Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. A. P. Watt and Son. Bow Es, RobHRT. A Catalogue of Books printed at or relating to the University of Cambridge from 1521 to 1893. With Bibliographical and Biographical Notes. Cambridge: Macmillan and Bowes. Ios. 6d. BRASSEY, T. A. The Naval Annual for 1894. Edited by. Portsmouth : J. Griffin ; Simpkin, Marshall. BROOKE, STOPFORD A. Tennyson : His Art and Relation to Modern Life. Isbister and Co. Limited. 7s. 6d. BUCKINGHAM, DUCHESs of. Glimpses of Four Continents: Letters written during a Tour in Australia, New Zea- land, and North America in 1893. With portraits and illustrations. Murray. 9s. - CoNSTABLE, H. S. Some Hints for Political Leaflets. Remington. 6d. CoNw AY, WILLIAM M. Climbing and Exploration in the Karakoram Himalayas. With 300 illustrationsby A. D. M'Cormick, and a map. Fisher Unwin. 31.s. 6d. Cook, C. H. Thames Rights and Wrongs: a Disclosure. Westminster : Constable. t CRoCKFORD's CLERICAL DIRECTORY for 1894. Horace Cox. 20s. D'ARCY EVANs, G. D. The Non-Commissioned Officer's Guide to Promotion. Gale and Polden. 28. 6d. “Dom INIE.” The “Gentlewoman’’ Handbook of Educa- tion : What a Parent Should Know. The Gentlewoman Offices. Is. DOUGLAs, R. K. Society in China. DUNCAN, H. O. Across Europe. Terront's Bicycle Ride from St. Petersburg to Paris. Iliffe. Is. DUTTON, DR. THOMAs. Domestic Hygiene. Henry Kimpton. Hirschfeld Bros. EASTER-HENDERSON, MRs. G. A Guide to Palmistry. Gay and Bird. 28, 6d. FASNACHT, G. EUGièNIE, Select Specimens of the Great French Writers in 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries, with Literary Appreciations by the most eminent French Critics, and a Historical Sketch of French Literature. Macmillan. 7s. 6d. GAMBLE, ELIZA. B. The Evolution of Woman. Putnam's Sons. 7s. 6d. GEORGE, E. Monson. The Silver and Indian Currency Questions. Effingham Wilson. Is. 3d. GREVILLE, EDWARD. The Year-Book of Australia for 1894, Edited by. Petherick. Ios. 6d. HAMILTON-Bow ER, CAPT. Diary of a Journey Across Tibet. With illustrations. Rivington, Percival. 168. Innes and Co. 16s. G. P. HARDY, E. G. Christianity and the Roman Government. Longmans, Green, and Co. 58. HUDson, W. H. Lost British Birds. With fifteen drawings by A. D. M'Cormick. Society for the Protection of |Birds. 6d. HUTCHINson, REv. H. N. Creatures of Other Days. With illustrations by J. Smit and others. Chapman. I4s. JEANs, J. STEPHEN. The Eight Hours' Day, in British Engineering Industries, an Examination and Criti- cism of Recent Experiments. Ballantyne, Hanson, and Co. LENN, CHARLEs H. Recherché Side Dishes. Haddon and Co. 3s. 6d. LonDon OF To-DAY FOR 1894. Edited by Charles Eyre Pascoe. Simpkin, Marshall. Boston, U.S.A.: Roberts Bros. MACCUNN, PROFESSOR. Ethics of Citizenship. Glasgow : James MacLehose and Sons. 48. 6d. MALET, MAJOR J. W. Handbook to Field Training in the Infantry. Second edition. Gale and Polden. 28. MILNER, ALFRED. England in Egypt New edition. Arnold. M“NEILL, A. A. Table of the Weights of Spirits. and Fage. MUNDAY, S. D. The Isle of Wight. Edited by. Illus- trated by Percy Robertson and others. J. S. Virtue and Co. Limited. Is. N'ZAU, BULA. Travel and Adventures in the Congo Free State and its Big Game Shooting. Illustrated from the author's sketches. Chapman. I4s. OFFICIAL YEAR-BOOK OF THE SCIENTIFIC AND LEARNED SoCIETIES OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. Eleventh annual issue. Griffin. 7s. 6d. PHIN, JOHN. Common Sense Currency. New York: The Industrial Publication Company. Root, J. W. Silver up to Date. Philip. 2s. 6d. SELL’s DIRECTORY OF REGISTERED TELEGRAPHIC AD- DRESSES.. First supplemental issue, April 1894. Henry Sell. SHERSTON, CAPT. J. Tactics as applied to Schemes. and Polden. 2s. 6d. SHUTTLEworth, REv. H. C. John Dring Gale Some Aspects of Disestab- lishment. Edited by. Innes. 38. 6d. SKEAT, PROFESSOR. The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. Edited by. Vol. II., containing Boethius and Troilus, Oxford: at the Clarendon Press. Henry Frowde. I6s. STONE, J. HARRIs, AND PEASE, J. G. A Practical Ready Reference Guide to Parish Councils and Parish Meetings. Philip. 2s. 6d. TERRELL, GEORGE. The Thames Yachting Almanac for 1894. Edited by. Horace Cox, Is. TwPEDIE, MAJOR-GEN. W. The Arabian Horse. wood. WALTER, RICHARD. Black- Anson's Voyage Round the World. Blackie and Son. 1s. 4d. WATERTON, CHARLEs. Wanderings in South America, &c. Blackie and Son. Is. 4d. WILKINson, SPENCER. The Great Alternative. A Plea for a National Policy. Sonnenschein. WolverTon, LORD. Five Months' Sport in Somali Land. With illustrations from photographs by Col. Paget. Chapman. 78. 6d.  ## p. 32 (#46) ############################################## 32 THE AUTHOR. Poetry and the Drama. AITREN, G. A. The Aldine Edition of the British Poets: Thomas Parnell. Edited, with memoir and notes. George Bell and Sons. - AITKEN, G. A. The Best Plays of the Old Dramatists: Richard Steele. Edited, with an introduction and notes by. T. F. Unwin. CLARK, K. M*COSH. Persephone and Other Sampson Low. CoLBORNE-WEEL, MARY. The Fairest of the Angels, and other verse. Horace Cox. 3s. 6d. DYCE, REv. A.L.Ex. Aldine Edition. The Poetical Works of Mark Akenside and of James Beattie. Each with a memoir by. George Bell. FULLARTON, R. M. Lallan Sangs and German Lyrics. Blackwood. - IBSEN, HENRIK. Brand : a Dramatic Poem. Translated into English verse in the original metres by F. Edmund - Garrett. T. F. Unwin. Ios. 6d. JEBB, PROFESSOR. Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments. Part VI., the Electra. Cambridge : at the University Press. LEE-HAMILTON, EUGENE. Sonnets of the Wingless Hours. Elliot Stock. LYNCH, ARTHUR. A. Koran of Love : the Caliph, and Poems. other poems. Remington. 2s. 6d. SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM. Plays. Edited by Professor Henry Morley. I3 vols. Cassell. 21s. SMYTHE, ALFRED. Poems. Sir T)unstan’s Daughter and other Digby and Long. 38. 6d. Sw1NBURNE, A. C. Astrophel, and other poems. and Windus. 7s. TOLLEMACHE, BEATRICE. Drawing-room Plays. 2s. 6d. ZoDA, EMILE. The Heirs of Rabourdin : A Comedy in Three Acts. Translated by A. Teixeira de Mattos. Henry. 2s. 6d. Chatto The Early Bird, and other Remington and Co. Limited. Science and Art. ADLER, HERMANN. Alternating Generations: a Biological Study of Oak Galls and Gall Flies. Translated and edited by Charles R. Straton. With illustrations. Oxford: at the Clarendon Press; Henry Frowde. Ios. 6d. BLACKBURN, HENRY. Academy Sketches. Edited by. Allen. Is. BLACKBURN, HENRY. The New Gallery, 1894. Edited by. Chatto. Is. EWING, PROFESSOR. The Steam Engine and Other Heat Engines. Cambridge: at the University Press. I5s. GoRE, J. E. The Worlds of Space. Innes and Co. 7s. 6d. ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE OF THE PARIs SALON, 3s. ; ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE OF THE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF THE FINE ARTs, PARIs, 3s. 6d. Chatto. MARSHALL, PROFESSOR. Biological Lectures and Addresses. Edited by C. F. Marshall. D. Nutt. - PHILLIPs, H. Josh UA. Engineering Chemistry. Second edition. Crosby Lockwood. PICTUREs of 1894. Office of the Pall Mall Publications. 18. - , , -- REYNOLDs, MICHAEL. Engine Driving Life. Crosby Lockwood. Is. 6d. ROSE, T. KIRKE. The Metallurgy of Gold. Edited by Professor W. C. Roberts-Austen. Griffin. 21s. ROYAL ACADEMY AND NEw GALLERY PICTUREs. and White. Is. SALOMONS, SIR DAVID. Electric Light Installations. Vol. II. Apparatus. Seventh edition, revised and enlarged. Whittaker and Co. 7s.6d. SINCLAIR DAVID. Lux Naturae : Nerve System of the Universe. Elliot Stock. SMITH, JOHN. Monograph of the Stalactites and Stalag- mites of the Cleaves Cove. Elliot Stock. Third edition. Black Law. BourDIN's Exposition of THE LAND TAx. Fourth edition, with a new and exhaustive index by the late Frederick Humphreys, and digests of cases decided in the Courts, by Charles C. Atchison. Stevens. 7s. 6d. FITZGERALD, J. WESEY. The Local Government Act 1894 (Parish and District Councils Act), and Incorporated Statutes, with full explanatory Notes of its Provisions and Application. Waterlow Bros. and Layton. FORTESCUE-BRICKDALE, C. Notes on Land Transfer in Various Countries. Horace Cox. Is. GEORGE. The Law Relating to Parish Stevens. 7s. 6d. JENKIN, A. F. The Law Relating to Parish Councils, being the Local Government Act 1894. Knight and Co. LELY, J. M., AND CRAIES, W. F. The Local Government Act 1894. Sweet and Maxwell Limited; Stevens and Sons Limited. Is. 6d. MEws, John. The Annual Digest of all the Reported Decisions of the Superior Courts, including a selection from the Irish, during 1893. Sweet and Maxwell; Stevens. - PARKER, F. Row LEY. The Duties of County Councils under the Local Government Act 1894, with the Act and the Regulations made thereunder. Solicitor and Parliamentary Agent. Knight and Co. HUMPHREYs, Councils. PIXLEY, FRANCIS, W. Chartered Accountants’ Charges, and the law relating thereto. Second edition. Gee and Co. Ios. 6d. UNDERHILL, ARTHUR. The Law Relating to Private Trusts and Trustees. Fourth edition, revised and enlarged. Butterworths. 21s. Educational. Bow ER, JoHN A. Simple Experiments for Science Teach- ing. S.P.C.K. 2s. 6d. CoNYBEARE, REv. EDwARD. School Chronology, by the Rev. W. J. Conybeare. New edition by. Sampson Low, Marston, and Co. Limited. Is. GIBBs, H. G. A. Bimetallic Primer. Cornish. Is. MACKENZIE, JOHN S. A. Manual of Ethics. Second edition. W. B. Clive, University Correspondence College Press. 6s. 6d. ROBERTS-AUSTEN, PROF. W. C. An Introduction to the Study of Metallurgy. Third edition, revised and enlarged. Griffin. 12s. 6d. 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. 05 Issue 01 (June 1894) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 05 Issue 01 (June 1894) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015013732253" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015013732253</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1894-06-01-The-Author-5-1 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/4/264/1895-The-Author-5-index.pdf 34c4c99c9cf00769b24bae9b46187e43 PDF Text Text ������� 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 Society of Authors Publications Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context publications Publication Date The date of an event (in YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD format) 1895 Volume 5 Publisher(s) When used for publications, publisher of the periodical or book. When used for people, list of publishers they worked with during their lifetime The Society of Authors Horace Cox Location The location of the event or organisation London 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 Index to The Author, Vol. 05 (1895) Subject The topic of the resource Index to <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 05 (1895) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015013732253" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015013732253</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Index Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1895-The-Author-5-index publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/263/1892-05-02-The-Author-2-12.pdf 66130398c839d97aa3ca93afaefd9b51 PDF Text Text �������������������������������������������� 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 Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em> Description An account of the resource A digitised run of the Society of Authors' monthly periodical, <em>The Author</em>, 1890<span>–</span>1914, made available together for the first time.<br /><br />Currently users can browse issues and <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?search=&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bjoiner%5D=and&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Index&amp;collection=&amp;type=&amp;tags=&amp;exhibit=&amp;date_search_term=&amp;submit_search=Search+For+Items&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">indices</a> (not available for all volumes). Full text search for all issues, and other additional search functionality, will be added in 2022. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890–1914 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context The-Author-Issues Publication Date The date of an event (in YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD format) 1892-05-02 Volume 2 Issue 12 Pages Page range in volume 343–380 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18920502 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin TLhc B u t b o t\ (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. II.—No. 12.] MAY 2, 1892. [Prick Sixpence. For the Opinions earpressed in papers that are signed or initialled the Authors alone are responsible. WARNINGS. Readers of the Author arc earnestly desired to make the following warnings as widely known as possible. They are based on the experience of seven years' work upon the dangers to which literary property is exposed :— (1.) Never sign any agreement of which the alleged cost of production forms an integral part, until you have proved the figures. (2.) Never enter into any correspondence with publishers, especially with those who advertise for MSS., who are not recom- mended by experienced friends or by this Society. (3.) Never, on any account whatever, bind yourself down for future work to anyone. Never accept any proposal of royalty until you have ascertained exactly what the agreement gives to the author and what to the publisher. (5.) Never accept any pecuniary risk or respon- sibility whatever without advice. Never, when a MS. has l>een refused by respectable houses, pay others, whatever promises they may put forward, for the production of the work. (7.) Never sign away American rights. Keep them. Refuse to sign an agreement con- taining a clause which reserves them for the publisher. If the publisher insists, take away the MS. and offer it to another. (+•) (6.) (8.) Never sign a receipt which gives away copyright without advice. (9.) Keep control over the advertisements by clause in the agreement. Reserve a veto. If you are yourself ignorant of the subject, make the Society your agent. (10.) Never forget that publishing is a business, like any other business, totally unconnected with philanthropy, charity, or pure love of literature. You have to do with business men. Society's Offices 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. NOTICES. T HE Secretary will be much obliged if any members who have kept the Report for 1890 will kindly send their copies to him. All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of this Society or not, are invited to communicate to the Editor any points connected with their work which it would be advisable in the general interest to publish. Members and others who wish their MSS. read are requested not to send them to the Office without previously communicating with the Secretary. The utmost practicable despatch is aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in which they are received. It must also be distinctly understood that, the Society does not, under any circumstances, under- take the publication of MSS. K f 2  ## p. 384 (#788) ############################################ 384 THE AUTHOR. The official directions for the securing of American copyright by English authors were given in the Author for June 1891. Members are earnestly entreated to take the trouble of reading those directions. Members are earnestly requested to forward agreements to the Society for inspection before they sign them. Once signed, the mischief is generally irreparable. Communications intended for the Authors' Syndi- cate should be addressed to W. Morris Colles, the Honorary Secretary. The Authors' Club, whose foundation has been so long delayed and obstructed by one accident after another, is now making a real start. It already numbers a very good roll of original members, and it is taking temporary premises in St. James's Place, St. James's Street. The position is rather more to the West than is desired for a permanent location. The Committee, however, have time to look about them, and it is best not to be in a hurry. Mean- time readers will please observe that the Club is .starting. It will be remembered that at the outset, every kind of prophecy was uttered about its certainty of failure, its impossibility of success. A trick of some importance has been brought before us on several occasions of late. A writer agrees with an editor to contribute papers to his magazine. He is perhaps a writer whose work is of more than ephemeral value. He has been accustomed to place his work subject to the con- dition that he sells serial right only. When the cheque arrives it is accompanied by a form of receipt which contains the words " for the copy- right," or words to that effect. He often signs without noticing the clause, and finds out too late what he has thrown away. Let, therefore, every one guard carefully against signing such a receipt, and let him, for better security, stipulate before- hand that it is the serial right alone which he assigns to his editor. There has been remonstrance. The editorial worm has turned. In the short space of three months one paper has borrowed from another to the following extent. Two important leading articles; three sketches of living characters; six- teen reviews of books; and various short notes. In each case the "conveyance" was accompanied by the words, "the — says." At last the proprietors of the paper have remonstrated, and the thing is slopped. The use of articles taken from other papers is a thing that concerns the Author, because so many of our members arc; journalists as well as authors. Surely some rules can be arrived at. It is very good in most cases, both for the contributor and the paper, to have articles quoted with due acknowledgment. On the other hand, it cannot be claimed that there is no copyright in the daily or the weekly paper. But in any case of reproduction it ought to lie made conspicuously clear where the article first appeared, and in common fairness the author of the article in question should receive some more substantial recognition than the honour of being reprinted in al) cases in which he has reserved his copyright. Perhaps the Institute of Journalists would see a way of takin<* up the matter. With the ratifications of the Literary Convention exchanged between Germany and the United States on the 15th ultimo, and President Harrison's proclamation extending the benefits of the Ameri- can copyright to Germany, German authors enter into the enjoyment of such advantages as they may be able to secure under the American statute. It is to be. feared, however, that the experiences of French authors will be repeated. The conditions of the American copyright requiring a foreign author to be simultaneously printed and published in his own country and in the States, have so far proved in a large number of cases practically prohibitive. In the result, American publishers are practically able to make their own terms, so that, so far as France, and, it is to be feared, Germany is concerned, with the exception of 11 favoured few, the American Copyright Act leaves matters much where it found them. There is a prevalent idea that the death of a holder of a pension on the Civil List creates a vacancy. That is not the case. The number of those on the List is not limited. A grant is made every year of £1,200. This is spent for the most part, as we all know, on persons for whom the grant is not made, and for whom the Reso- lution of 1837 was not passed. When any person on the List dies, that portion of the annual £'1,200 which he has received is no longer paid. But there- is no vacancy to fill up. The amount actually expended every year is about £27,000.  ## p. 385 (#789) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 385 The death of the Rev. Dr. Allon removes one who was a member of this Society from its very commencement, who cordially sympathised with its aims, and was most hopeful of its success. This alone should ensure his memory a grateful pre- servation among us all. But there was more. In his capacity as editor of the British Quarterly he conducted for many years a review which was a formidable rival—say, rather, an equal—to the Quarterly and the Edinburgh, lie was always eager to welcome good work. There are many— the writer of this note among others—who can bear testimony to his kindness and his sympathy. That he was also a Prince of Israel in his own Church, that he was a personal friend of all who were the wisest and the best in his own generation, to what- ever Christian community they belonged, are things which ltelong to the part of him outside literature. Another original member has passed away. Mr. Samuel Lee, M.A., Barrister-at-Law, of Lincoln's Inn, the translator of Virgil and Horace, with Professor Lonsdale, died suddenly on Thursday, April 14th. A constitutional indolence prevented him from doing justice to his own abilities. He did nothing but those two books. But with him has perished a wonderful mass of scholarship and information. He was, in addition to his classical attainments, a wide reader in Spanish, Italian, and French literature. Of a retiring disposition, he was seldom to be seen outside his two clubs, the Athenaeum and the United University. His col- laborateur, Professor Lonsdale, only survived him by a fortnight. Fiction and Egyptology have sustained a loss in Amelia B. Edwards. It is, however, several years since Miss Edwards wrote her last novel. It was with her Egyptian researches much more than her novels that Miss Edwards has been recently before the world. She was on the Civil List, but lived to enjoy her pension a very short time. It is not an uncommon thing in the case of disputed accounts or agreements taken up by the Society for the publishers to attempt to ignore the Secretary by writing to the author. The motive is evident. First, they wish to complicate the settlement of the question by dealing with one whom they have already found to be ignorant of the practical side of literature, or wanting in business capacity. Next, they would, if they could, bring about a division 1 Kit ween the Society and its members, In such a case the duty of the author is clear. He must not answer the letter, but send it on to the Secretary. In no case;—under no circum- stances— must he hold any independent correspon- dence with the publishers. Should he do so, the Society will return his papers at once, and refuse to take any further steps. Will members take the trouble to ascertain whether thev have paid their subscriptions for the year? If they will do this, and remit the amount or a banker's order, it will greatly assist the Secre- tary, and save him the trouble of sending out a reminder. The present number of the Author concludes the second volume. Readers are reminded that though the paper is sent to every member free of charge, every member is also free, if he pleases, to remit a year's subscription of 6s. bd., and that if every member would do so, the paper would cost nothing to the Society. Members are earnestly requested to forward any- thing that may be of interest or value to literature, whether news, comments, questions, or original contributions. The short space at the command of the editor forbids any attempt at reviewing, but books can always be noticed if they are sent up. Members are entreated to attend to the warning numbered (3). It is a most foolish and a most disastrous thing to bind yourself to anyone for a term of years. Let them ask themselves if they would give a solicitor the collection of their rents for five years to come, whatever his conduct, whether In; was honest or dishonest? Of course they would not. Why then hesitate for a moment when they are asked to sign themselves into bondage for three or live years? In the April number of the Author, the name of Sylvia Pens ([1.372) wrongly appeared as Sylvia Nein. THE AUTHOES' SYNDICATE. MR. Colles desires to inform readers of the Author as regards the Syndicate— 1. That he undertakes to work for none but members of the Society. 2. That his business is not to advise members of the Society, but to manage their affairs for them if they please to entrust them to him.  ## p. 386 (#790) ############################################ 386 THE AUTHOR. 3. That when ho has any work in hand he must have it entirely in his own hands; in other words, that authors must not ask him to place certain work, nnd then go about endeavouring to place it by themselves. 4. That when a MS. has been sent from pub- lisher to publisher, and from editor to editor, in vain, it is most likely impossible to place it. 5. That in the face of the present competition, authors will do well to moderate their expectations. To this it may be added, that where advice is sought, the Secretary of the Society, and not the Syndicate, must be consulted. On his behalf members are requested— 1. To place on paper briefly the points on which advice is asked. 2. To send up all the letters and papers con- nected with the case if it is a case of dispute. 3. Not to conceal or keep back any of the facts. ■— THE LOGROLLIAD. SOME months ago I wrote for the students' paper at St. Andrew's—College Echoes— part of a satire called the Logrolliad, supposed to be the work of an envious failure, named McStimey. The lines were preceded by a prose explanation, telling how McStimey had died of envy on reading a favourable review of someone else. By an accident at the printing office, or through the discretion of the undergraduate editors, the explanation did not appear in the College magazine. As the little paper has the very most limited circulation I thought the omission of no importance. I learn, however, that the verses have been published with my name attached to them, in one or two newspapers, and that they have been sent to the persons satirized by McStimey, one of whom was myself. Whether intentionally or not, the persons who published and circulated the lines have caused mis- apprehensions, which I now endeavour to remove. I did not suppose anyone capable of believing that I would make serious assaults on writers, some of whom are my personal friends, and to all of whom I owe gratitude for instruction and enter- tainment. Nor would my natural modesty urge me to remark with seriousness that I teach "by precept and example how to fail," as alleged by McStimey. A. Lang. "POETA NASCITUR, NON FIT; At niihi jam puero ccelcstia Sacra placebant: Inane suum furtira Musa trahebat opus. Sacpe pater dixit: "Studiura quid iuutile tentas? Moonides nullaa ipse reliquit opes." Motus eram dictis: totoque Helicone rclicto, Scriberc couabar verba soluta modis. Sponte sua carmen numcros veniebat ad aptos, Kt, quod tentabam scribere, versus erat. P. Ovidii Nasonis Trist., Lib. iv., El. 10. vv. 18-16. Me Harmony delighted from a boy As the Muse drew me on to her employ: "Why toil for nothing ?" oft my father cried, "Homer himself a very pauper died." His chiding! moved me: Poesy I left, And sought to write some words of song bereft. Put still ray lines flowed, apt to rhyme and scan, And as I wrote my thoughts, in verse they ran. J. M. Lely, [with apologies to P.O.N.]. LITERARY PROPERTY. I. Literary Theft. THE question of literary theft by means of reprinting newspaper articles, either in other newspapers or in books, now being brought into prominence by the Times is a very important one, ami it is to be hoped that it will not be allowed to drop without some practical remedy being discovered and applied. It is notorious that much valuable literature first appears in newspapers. Thackeray's "Snobs" first appeared in Punch; Sala's "Twice Round the Clock" in the Daily Telegraph; while Mr. Russell, Mr. Forbes, and other war correspon- dents innumerable have republished their letters in book form. For payment and without risk, the author (perhaps hitherto unknown) by this mode secures a publication which otherwise he might have to pay for and lose money by, and he also gains the advantage of being able to correct and revise after newspaper publication, and before re-issue, by the light of such criticism, and with the encouragement of such admirers, as newspaper readers may bring. The enormous and increasing output of literat ure in the present day gives every ground of expecta- tion that this mode of publication will become more and more general.  ## p. 387 (#791) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 387 The points of law to be borne in mind are three :— (1.) The copyright belongs to the newspaper proprietor, not the author, for 28 years if, and if only, the articles are written and paid for on the terms that the copyright shall belong to the newspaper proprietor. (2.) The newspaper proprietor cannot sue for breach of copyright without first " registering" his newsj>aper. (3.) To a certain extent, very difficult to define, copying is legitimate. By way of cure for these inconveniences to all concerned in the production of literature, it was proposed (amongst other things) by Lord Monks- well's Copyright Bill, which was read a second time in the House of Lords last session (on the curious condition, imposed by the Lord Chancellor, that it should not be further proceeded with), that— (1.) In the case of any article, essay, or other work whatsoever, being the subject of copyright, first published in and forming part of a collective work for the writing, composition, or making of which the original copyright owner shall have been paid, or shall be entitled to be paid, by the proprietor of the collective work, the copyright shall belong to the proprietor of the collective work for 3o years from publication. (2.) Except in the case of an Encyclopedia, the original copyright owuer shall have the right to republish the article in a separate form at any time after 3 years from the first publication. (3.) Copyright in respect of newspapers shall extend only to articles, paragraphs, communications, and other parts which are compositions of a literary character, and not to any articles, paragraphs, communications, or other parts which are designed only for the publication of news, or to advertise- ments. It is, we believe, a not uncommon practice for the proprietors of magazines to ask their contri- butors to sign receipts containing assignments of copyright as well as acknowledgments of payment. This we think the contributors should decline to do. The contract to assign the copyright can only be made when the article is arranged for. Any contract made after the article has been published is made " without consideration " and void. II. Mb. James Knowles. Two letters on this subject, written by Mr. James Knowles, editor of the Nineteenth Century, are published in the Times of April 29th and in the May number of Mr. Knowles's magazine. In the second letter Mr. Knowles defines what he considers legitimate criticism. He says—we hope that our own interest in the diffusion of these views will excuse our reproducing the lines— "I can of course make no objection at all to 'legitimate' criticism, supported by fair and moderate extracts of anything which is published in my review. "What I cannot recognise as 'legitimate' is extracting the substance of an article or quoting from it merely as a notice and apart from proper criticism of it. "That practice must be stopped by the pro- ducers and owners of literature, just as the practice of taking all the best cherries out of a basket without paying for them — under pretence of obtaining a sample—would be stopped by the law, if necessary, at the instance of the producers and owners of the cherries. "Your common sense and fairness will see the force of the distinction between criticism and pillage, and you will doubtless act accordingly without further pressure." III. Anthony Trollofe's Life. A correspondent writes: "I remember a case which very well illustrates the reckless way in which extracts are made. It is that of the post- humous 4 Recollections of Anthony Trollope.' The publishers were good enough to present me with a copy. For some reason, I had no time to look at it for three months after it appeared. I read during this interval the usual reviews and news- papers. When I at last cut the pages, I found that I knew every single thing of any interest. All had been picked out. What was left was rind and pulp." IV. "Baby" lifting extraordinary. The editor of Baby: the Mothers' Magazine calls attention to the following barefaced theft:— "Imitation is said to be the sincerest flattery; but when it takes the form of a gross piracy and wholesale robbery of ideas from a publication of which one is the originator, editor, and pro- prietor, it cannot be said to be acceptable to the person imitated. I may say that my feelings with regard to a new American publication, en- titled Baby: a Journal for Mothers, the first number of which was published in New York in January 1892, are of unqualified dissatisfaction and disgust at the colossal impudence of the proprietor and editor, whoever they may be. In  ## p. 388 (#792) ############################################ 388 THE AUTHOR. the words of my own prospectus, this magazine professes that its several departments are edited by "well-known writers, and articles will be obtained from the highest authorities on the bringing up of children." It would seem that no extraordinary expense will be incurred in carrying out this programme, as the editor evidently proposes to "annex" from my magazine all that may be required for the purpose. I have only seen the second number of this magnificent speculation as yet, but it is evident from this that the editor has had the four volumes of Baby: the Mo/hers' Magazine open during its preparation, although no acknowledgment is made of the fact. On p. 18, for example, there is a paragraph about the care of the eyes, which I wrote myself, and a hint about teething, taken from my third volume. On p. 19 is a drawing modified from one in my first volume; on p. 20 is the paragraph which forms the heading of my " Nursery Cookery" department; on p. 21, that from the heading of my "Parents' Parlia- ment"; and, on the same page, a whole article called "Hints about Teething," by Dr. T. L. Browne, stolen bodily from my fourth volume, p. 220. Such a production as this is a dishonour to journalism, and that it is possible to produce it is a disgrace to international law." V. American Piracy. There are two kinds of piracy: that, of new books and that of old books. A correspondent, a well-known novelist, writes that the New York Sunday Xeics has been presenting its readers with a complete story by himself, which was published in this country about five years ago. Another complete novel by another well-known writer is announced for the next week. The piracy of new books may be considered pretty well ended, but the piracy of old books will go on unchecked so long as the books which do not possess copyright continue to have any freshness. As regards Mr. Collier, whose correspondence and advertisements have attracted more attention, it is now stated that he has been "laying hands" as well on stories whose copyright is uncertain. A novel written for Tillotson and Son exclusively has very recently figured in three successive issues of the American Once a Week. We can only repeat our former caution. Do not entrust MSS. to any advertiser without careful business agree- ments beforehand and proper guarantees. . ■»-••♦ THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OP AUTHORS. AN important feature in this Society is the appointment of local secretaries in various centres of the country. Thus, at a meeting lately held at "Washington, a local auxiliary society was formed, at which Mrs. M. D. Lincoln was elected Vice-President. At the meeting certain plain truths were spoken. Mrs. Katherine Hodges, the general secretary, said :— "This is certainly one of the most vital subjects for consideration More the country to-day. It is a. question, not of war upon any man, or class of men, but it is one of principle, upon which the constitution of this Republic is founded—the principle of justice and fair dealing to all." Mr. George Smalley, of the iVeio York Tiibunc, was quoted in reference to the complete protection insured to authors by French law. "Why should we sit down contented with 11 position of inferiority to a nation whom we are not in the habit of thinking our superiors in civiliza- tion, or in that branch of it which consists in protecting the weak against the strong?" Mrs. Hodges also read a passage from a letter written by Mrs. Potter Palmer, President of the Board of Lady Managers of the Columbian Exposition, in which she said :— "I sincerely trust that the authors of this nation will be able to make such a showing of their wrongs, and of their inherent rights to the product of their own brains, and so arouse public sentiment on the subject, that the Columbian Exposition shall be recorded in history as the point beyond which such a robbery was made impossible." Continuing, Mrs. Hodges said: "Chaunccy M. Depew made a speech on the occasion of a celebration 011 the passage of the International Copyright Law, in which he said, as nearly as I can now quote it from memory: 'Piracy on the high seas has been abolished for a century, and burglary has been under control of the police for a hundred years, but it remained for a llepublican Congress to abolish the piracy and burglary of the human brain.' "But this has not been done," continued the lady, "as we can prove conclusively, and by unimpeachable testimony of prominent authors, who are victims of the piracy and burglary of human intellect now in full power in America. There is no limit to this practice of piracy, because there is no statute to forbid it under the present laws, and it is for the abolition of this wrong that the American Society of Authors has been orga- nized, confident that this enlightened Government and people will heed a demand for the protection of writers, which other civilized nations of the  ## p. 389 (#793) ############################################ THE AUTHOR 3% earth has already accorded to the authors of various countries. Every branch of trade and traffic has protection under our Government and laws except this one. And why should this form the sole exception?" "What plan do you propose to bring about the desired change? " Mrs. Hodges was asked. "Organization, as Mr. Smallcy suggests. An organization reaching from sea to sea, and through every part of the United States. We shall have at everv prominent point speakers on the topic, who will convey to the people the true situation as it has and does exist. At the Columbian Exposition, we shall have the world for an audience, as from every nation we mean to have those who will tell us the means employed for protection of their writers, and who will help us to perfect plans for the best method of protection here. Please be particular to observe that this movement is not a war on publishers as a class. Honest publishers express themselves as friendly to the cause. Such men have nothing to fear from the organization of authors for their own protection. It is purely a movement to establish the principle of just treatment to authors in this country, to protect them in their right of literary property in commerce, and to defend that right." "Docs not the International Copyright Act protect the American author?" "Abroad, perhaps, to an extent, but not here. The International Copyright Act does not yield the least protection to the native author against the native publisher. And it is quite as great a hard- ship to be robbed by a native as by a foreign publisher." ♦•»•♦ A&ENCIES. I. The Agency Bureau. INHERE is an institution called the "Agency Bureau." Apparently they—or he—advertise "for MSS. A certain lady sent them a paper, or a book, in MS. She received the following reply :— "Dear Madam, "I beg to acknowledge receipt of your favour enclosing MSS., and- should advise you, before proceeding further with them, to have a fair copy made of them on a typewriter, as our ex- perience has taught us that typewritten MSS. is greatly favoured by hard worked editors and publishers. Rejections are, without exception, eaused by MSS. being badly written. "Should you entertain this idea, I shall have great pleasure in having same executed in our vol. n. office at the low charge of 3s. (about 3,5oo words), including paper. "Should this fail to influence you, I will put your writings forward without further delay. Please state by return what you think a fair price for same. "Awaiting your favoured reply, "I am, Dear Madam, "D. Tomasin, "Secretary." The above shows resource. Even if a MS. cannot be placed, it may be typewritten. Fifty MSS. a week at 3s. would not be such very bad business. We have not seen the prospectus of the "Agency Bureau." When we do see " same "— to imitate the excellent style of the secretary—we may have a word or two to say to "same." Meantime, we shall be glad to learn what special powers this person has—what machinery—to place any MS. for anybody? Why will people persist in thinking that an agent can do for their MSS. what they cannot do by themselves? II. The Literary and Art Agency. (Before Mr. Ji/stice Grantham and a Common Jury.) Harington r. the Star Newspaper Company (Limited). This was an action for libel brought by the Rev. T. R. S. Harington, who was descril>cd as a Congregational minister and a journalist, and who for many years had been associated with various religious papers as chief and assistant editor, against the Star for publishing the following article. It was in the form of a letter, addressed by " An out- of-work journalist" to the editor of the Star, and headed, "The Literary Art, the Royal Road to Getting a Living in the Literary Line" :— "Yesterday morning, on the strength of a circular which has been pretty widely distributed, 1 called upon the Rev. T. R. S. Harington, at 2 2, Furnival Street, Holborn, W.C. The reverend gentleman calls himself the London Literary and Art Agency, and sends round an invitation to all and sundry, couched in the following terms :— 'Ladies and gentlemen seeking high-class appoint- ments as governesses, tutors, private secretaries, journalists, artists, &c, may have their names registered by paying a fee of 5*. For this fee they will not only l>e entitled to our services at all times, but will have their individual require- ments advertised in the Times, Mornitiy Post, Standard, Daily Xexcs, or some other influential G g  ## p. 390 (#794) ############################################ 39° THE AUTHOR. and suitable paper. . .' The Literary and Art Agency I found was a very small hack room, up two flights of stairs, and besides the Rev. T. R. S. Haring- ton boasted a desk and a couple of chairs. The rev. gentleman welcomed me sympathetically and listened with the shrewd air of a consulting philanthropist to my tele. ... I thanked him and regretted that it was not convenient for me at the moment to hand over the 5s. registration fee. Well, well, that did not matter. There was a half- crown fee, which entitled the applicant to some portion of solicitude of the London Literary and Art Agency. I regretted that it was not in my power to pay that small sum, hut said I would bring it round in the morning. . . The rev. gentleman in appearance is tall, sandy haired and sandy bearded ... It is to be hoped that the agency will proves of more use to private secretaries than to journalists; meanwhile it would perhaps be as well for 'gover- nesses, tutors, private secretaries, journalists, artists, &c.,' to suspend payment of their 5.?. until the rev. principal proves his bond fides and the practical usefulness of his agency." Mr. Lincoln Reed represented the plaintiff; Mr. Lankester the defendants. In the course of the case the plaintiff admitted he had not been a Congregational minister, but considered he had a right to call himself one, because he had been called to preach in a Baptist chapel in 1862 for two years. Since that date he had been sub-editor of the Christian World, but had given that up a short time ago, and had started this agency for the purpose of introducing people who wanted situations in the literary line to those who wanted to employ literary men and women. When asked by the judge if his scheme was of a philanthropic character, the plaintiff said of course he expected to be paid fees for his labour. He had received £i3 or £14 in fees of 5*. and is. 6d. each, but had only obtained two situations for people, one as tutor for three months, and the other as secretary to the Association for Preventing the Immigration of Destitute Aliens; and he had received 24s. in one case, and 3os. in the other as a commission on the salaries obtained. The plaintiff also said that the article in question had ruined his agency, which had only been started about a month, as his landlord had refused to let him continue the hire of his rooms. He did not remember the individual coming to him who purported to be the writer of the article. On a gentleman being asked to stand up, the plaintiff said he did not, remember the faces of ordinary-looking people; all he could say was, he looked and acted in such a way as to induce several Oxford and Cambridge men to pay him a fee. For the defence, it was submitted that the article in question was not published falsely or maliciously, that it was not libellous, was true in substance and in fact, and was a fair and bond fide comment on the plaintiff's conduct. The learned judge having summed up, the jury retired to consider their verdict, and after a long absence returned into court with a verdict for the defendants.— Times. III. The International Society. Here is another case of an unfortunate confusion of names by the " Society " with which the man Morgan, already exposed in these columns and elsewhere, is connected. (To the Editor of the Newcastle Daily Journal.) "Sir, I find that invitations are l>eing extensively sent to gentlemen resident in the North of England to join a society styling itself the International Society of Literature, Science, and Art, and I have received several letters making inquiries respecting its status. I should be obliged, therefore, if you would allow me to state through your columns that I neither have, nor desire to be supposed to have, any connexion with this society, and that the name printed among its honorary members, the « Rev. Canon Norman, M.A.' is not that of yours, &c, A. M. Norman, F.R.S., Hon. Canon, Durham Cathedral. Burnmoor Rectory, April 12, 1892." EDITING AND REVIEWING. 1. The Value of a Favourable Review. IT may be laid down as a general rule that it is not possible for an unfavourable review to kill a good book. It may retard its progress; it may inflict a heavy pecuniary loss upon it; but it cannot kill it. On the other hand, what can a favourable review do for a book? Here are two instances from the private history of a literary man :— Ten years ago he produced a book anonymously. For six weeks or so the book hung fire: no one noticed it; there was no demand for it. Then there appeared a notice, not. only favourable, bat highly laudatory, in the Saturday Review. Instantly the  ## p. 391 (#795) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 39i book sprang into popularity. Before many months there was a demand of something like i3,ooo copies. Again, the same writer produced a three-volume novel which has had as great a success as falls to the lot of most novels. For a time, however, it lay unregarded, the demand for it almost stagnant. Then there appeared a review in the Times—a long one-eolnmn, review—speaking of it in the highest terms, and then the demand began and continued, advancing daily, and the fortune of that book, as of the other, was made by that favourable review. II. About Reviewing. "To-morrow," says Mr. Phoebus in Lothair, "to-morrow the critics will begin. And who are the critics? Persons who have failed in literature and art." Dramatically, of course, this is very good. The criticised no doubt is the man to find out the weakest points in the armour of the critic. Nor is it without a germ of truth in itself, for the disap- pointed man is naturally more quick to find fault. But it is a little curious that some critics who have not themselves failed or are likely to fail write just as if they had. Who amongst us has not now and then suffered from the criticisms of such? The selection of the one misspelt word, or of the one line of poetry which will not scan, and complete silence about all the rest of a work, the crushing dctractation of a first effort in literature, the steady determination not to see the author's view; these and faults like these will not (infrequently be found in those who may themselves be; amongst the very favourites of fortune. And yet, perhaps, even such criticism is less really unjust than that of the lazy* penman who scarcely reads a line of a Iwok, but dismisses it with fluent generalities (whether of praise or blame) strung together to conceal his ignorance of it. On the other hand, many authors arc absurdly sensitive, thinking themselves ill-used if their reviewer deals out any blame at all, while here and there we find the man who has been so unduly puffed by his friends that a little undue scarification is positively welcome. Macaulay's celebrated review of Montgomery is a well- known case in point. Macaulay's name brings to my mind a bit of his biography well worth the notice of every critic. Into the hands of the great reviewer fell a friend's book, with, I think, a request from somebody or other that he would say some- thing good of it. He saw at once that it would not do, and declined to review it at all. Should not a reviewer always be anonymous? I rather think so. If solicited for a "notice," should he take it ill, and either review unfavour- ably or not review at all? Certainly neither. Soliciting is, of course, bad, but it may be after all a mere harmless form of bringing a book to an editor's recollection. Should an editor hand over a book written by one specialist, to be reviewed by another? I think yes, for the risk of unfairness and partiality of view is quite compensated by the certainty of knowledge of the subject. Should not all books which cannot be reviewed be returned? I know of a case where a book worth about ten pounds was courteously returned by one editor, and kept, but not even reviewed, by another editor. The cost of supplying copies for review is very great, and the sale of such copies, if sold (though I have heard that some editors destroy them), seems to compete somewhat unfairly with the sale of the ordinary copies. Why should not, at least review copies be machine cut, to help the reviewer, and why should not publishers always state the prices and dates of their books, and reviewers re{>eat this useful information for the benefit of the public? J. M. Lely. III. Magazines and Editors. In the early part of 1888, I wrote an article on "Dorothy Jordan," and sent it to the English Illustrated Magazine. About nine months later, proofs were forwarded to me, corrected and returned by me. Months passed, and the article did not appear. In February 1889 I applied for payment, and received £i3 iqs. Soon after, the magazine changed editors. In March 1890, I saw the new editor, and asked when would the paper be in- serted. He knew nothing of it, nor did his secretary. In 1891 I again made inquiries con- cerning the article, but received no satisfactory reply, nor did I bear of it again until I saw it in the April number just published. It was then reduced to about half its original size, and the private information regarding Mrs. Jordan's life and earnings, which 1 had obtained after much trouble, was left out. It was four years in the office of the magazine before being published. A story of mine appeared in another monthly. Three letters requesting payment received no answer, nor did a solicitor's letter. The proprietors were then sued for the amount, and the case was* set down for hearing on the 3ist of March. The day previously the debt was paid, and the solicitor's costs. FlTZCiERAI.l) MOLLOT. GK 2  ## p. 392 (#796) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 392 IV. Query. If an editor chooses to keep my MSS., sent for n magazine or weekly paper, and neither return it nor accept it, how can I enter into possession of it again so as to feel free to send a copy to a fresh editor? Would it be sufficient to send a stamped envelope for reply—" Sir—You have kept my MSS. a month (6 weeks). I have no news of it. I am going to try a fresh editor?" Peregrine. Does it not require an editor made wondrous kind by fellow feeling for young authors to get all tins literary property safe home to Us owners? Editor. V. Long kept and then returned. Under this heading in the last number of the A uthor a case was stated of a MS. kept for three years and a half. The contributor writes to say (l) with regard to his first statement that he was invited to write a paper on a definite subject, that the exact facts were these: "I submitted to Mr. A., at his own request, I having been introduced to him as a specialist by the secretory of a certain society, six short stories on approval." (2) That the editor has sent him a certain sum for compensation. This, as the Editor was not in the least obliged to do so, is extremely honourable in him. VI. VII. With no Name, With the complaint of " B " who has contributed "verse of a lyrical type to a certain high-class London journal," has been "most liberally and promptly" paid, but cannot get either his name or initials appended to his contributions, every author must fully sympathise. Only two possible reasons for the editor's refusal to print the name suggest themselves:—Either he fears that "B," when known by name, will be drawn away to rival prints, or that the poetry will go unread with an unknown name at the bottom of it. But whether his reason be good or bad or even none, he is of course within his legal rights. "B" however should forthwith insist on his name being printed under pain of his ceasing to contribute. SCRII'TOR IGNOTCS. From the Editor's I'oint of View. May an editor offer a few suggestions as to why the MSS. of young authors are occasionally absorbed by the Family Hearthrug, and other kindred publications? Reading the directions printed in the magazine is the last thing that appears to occur to contributors. A type-written MS. arrives with no stamps en- closed, no name or address written on it. Some time afterwards a letter arrives, asking why " my MS.," omitting the name of the paper, has not been returned? How is the editor to know which MS. is referred to? Stamps arrive separately, with apologies for having omitted to enclose them, but no mention as to the MS. for which they are intended. As for the number of the MSS. that appeared stamplcss, with requests for immediate publication and payment, these do not always come, from the young and inexperienced. The acrostic editor receives articles on the Rights of Woman; belated " lights " for the acrostics are thrown upon the chief editor, while the manager, under a nom de plume of some special department, is pestered with inquiries about serial stories. UNCUT LEAVES. AREMARKABLE association exists in Boston, U.S.A., whose members assemble at stated intervals for the purpose of hearing, not reading, new articles before their appearance in the magazines. Here is part of the programme for the season :— "The Boston Readings of Uncut Leaves, the imprinted magazine conducted by Mr. Lincoln, of the Deerfield School of History and Romance, will take place on the third Wednesday evenings of January, February, March, April, and May. Among the contributors will be Richard Henry Stoddard, Edmund Clarence Stedman, George W. Cable, Elizabeth Stoddard, Agnes Repplier, Mar- garet Deland, Sarah Orne Jewett, Kate Douglas Wiggin, Alice Wellington Rollins, Arlo Bates, Hamilton W. Mabie, Clyde Fitch, Annie Payson Call, Edwin D. Meade, and other well-known writers. "The magazine will not be published, and can only be heard at the readings. Many of the articles will be read by their authors. Nothing will be included which has been previously printed. The entire reading of any evening will not exceed two hours.  ## p. 393 (#797) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 393 "The first reading will begin promptly at 8 p.m., January 20th, at Dr. Chas. P. Putnam's, 63, Marlborough Street. No one will be allowed to enter during the reading of an article. Sub- scribers will pledge their good faith to observe entire secrecy as to the nature and contents of these magazines, in order to protect the rights of authors. No notes nor press reports can be permitted under any circumstances. "Subscription for the season, Five Dollars. "Three tickets for each reading, Ten Dollars. '' Names of subscribers must be submitted to Miss A. C. Putnam, 63, Marlborough Street, on or before January 16th. As the meetings will be in private parlours, only a limited number of names can be accepted." This is the nearest approach to a Private View Day in literature that has yet been made. There is a certain luxury in having one's articles read aloud, especially if they are articles in whose subject one is interested, and by writers whose; style has a charm for us. Mr. Lincoln, the Director of this society, suggests that we might find room for a similar organisation over here. This is doubtful. The difficulties, though not insuperable, would be grejit. For, first, it is a new thing, and editors and pro- prietors might think that such a reading would in jure the Side of the journal in which the paper after- wards appeared. The contrary would be the effect, just as a good novel is helped in its volume form by its serial form. Then, still because it is a new thing, the writers might object. These objections would, however, be removed in a very simple manner out of the subscriptions. The last objec- tion is the most serious. The essential for success is the inexorable observance of the clause pro- hibiting notes or reports of the pa[K?r. London is so vast a place, that there is no way at all of keeping out people who would disregard the most solemn promise of secrecy, and every lecture would be, somehow, fully reported in every paper. But, again, suppose the papers were not so anxious to anticipate the magazines, then this objection would not hold, and it must be confessed that, in the ease of most magazine articles, there is no such breathless eagerness to read them. The Contemporary and the Nineteenth Century, for instance, lie on the table awaiting their turn. How might such an association be formed and worked? Obviously, as a course of lectures is organised. The readings would be in the afternoon, from four to five. There should be no more than six in each of two sessions. They must be given by well-known writers, and the number of sub- scrilRTs must be sufficient to give a handsome honorarium to every reader. If, for instance, one guinea were the subscription for each course of six lectures, there should be enough subscribers to pay for the rooms and the service, and to leave two guineas at least for every reader. Should the Society follow the example of the Americans, and organise for the next winter one course, at least, of Uncut Leaves on the Literary Life from its various points of view? Will our meml>ers consider this suggestion? Of course, the proposed subscription may be very much smaller in case of a sufficient number of subscribers. THE LITERARY AGENT. ACORRESPONDENT writes about the lite- rary agent, evidently under a false impression as to the use and the nature of the services rendered by the literary agent. To one who has already succeeded, he says, a literary agent is of no use. His services are only required by one who has not succeeded. This creed is entertained by a good many people. They think that a literary agent is able to persuade publishers and editors to take work that they would otherwise refuse. Why should he? Is his opinion better than the opinion of the publisher's reader? But the agent does not, as a rule, read MSS.—he has not the time. Writers must learn for themselves—the earlier in their career they learn it the better—the truth that the only way to get on is to produce good work, or, at least, work that the world accepts as good work and reads and goes on reading. No agent, no private influence, can do any good at all to anyone. There is not, and there never has been in the history of literature, any case of a writer being perma- nently helped in this way. There has been perhaps log-rolling, but those few who seem to have been assisted by their friends have really done good work which by itself commanded success. They were, in faet, independent of log-rolling. It is when a man has reached a certain stage of success that his agent comes in. Then he takes over all the business arrangements of that writer, agrees with editors and publishers for him, places his work, and, in fact, relieves him of all trouble. To such a man a good agent is invaluable. But let the writer beware! He must not, on any consideration, go to the first man who offers. He must take advice. What, then, is the young writer to do? He should first get an opinion from one of the Society's readers as to the merits and chances of his book. It may be that certain points would be suggested for alteration. It may be that he finds himself recommended to put his MS. in the fire. He should then offer his MS. to a list of houses or of magazines recommended by the Society. There is  ## p. 394 (#798) ############################################ 394 THE AUTHOR. nothing else to be done. No one, we repent, can possibly help him. If those houses all refuse him it is not the least use trying others, and, if he is n wise man, he will refuse to pay for the production of his own work. If, however, as too often happens, he is not a wise man,but believes that he has written a great tiling, and is prepared to back his opinion to the extent of paying for his book, then let him place his work in the hands of tha Society, and it shall be arranged for him without greater loss than the actual cost of production. At least he will not be deluded by false hopes and promises which can end in nothing. ■ — ■ USEFUL BOOKS. I. DEAR Author,—I cull from my own Reference Library Catalogue the titles of just a dozen really useful books. When I have a little leisure I will send some more. I may mention that the " Sailor's Word Book " and " Old Sea Wings" will be found very valuable to maritime storytellers yearning to follow in the footsteps of Clark Russell; and I may further hint (at the risk of provoking the men of supercilious MSS.) that lady novelists might advantageously add to their shelf of reference books a "Newgate Calendar" (Knapp and Baldwin's), and an up-to-date edition of Blackstone's " Com- mentaries." The " Calendar " is full of intensely dramatic plots and characters; while occasional consultation of Blackstone would set the ladies right on many legal points, touching which, in their novels, they frequently blunder. G. A. Sala. M. Scheele De Veee, LL.D.—Americanisms: The English of the New World. (New York: C. Scribner and Co.) Mrs. Cowden Clarke.—The Complete Concord- ance to Shakspere. (London: Bickers.) Cruden's Concordance to the Holy Scriptures. (Any bookseller.) , Beeton's Great Book of Poetry. (Ward and Lock.) Smyth, W. H., Admiral.—The Sailor's Word Book: An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms. (London: Blackie and Son.) Leslie, Robert C.—Old Sea Wings and Words. (London: Chapman and Hall.) Jennings, G. H.—Anecdotal History of the British Parliament. (London: Horace Cox.) McCarthy, Justin, M.P.—A History of Our Own Times. 4 vols. (Chatto and Windus.) Lanciani, Rodoi.fo, Prof.—Ancient Rome in the Light of Recent Discoveries. (Macmillan.") Phillips, Lawrence B.—Dictionary of Biogra- phical Reference: containing 100,000 names. (Sampson Low.) Wheatley and Cunningham.—London Past and Present. 3 vols. (Murray.) Heaton, J. Hennikek, M.P.—Australian Dic- tionary of Dates and Men of the Time. (G. Robertson, Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide.) II. Scientific. Quain's Human Anatomy. (Macmillan.) Young's General Astronomy. (Ginn and Co.) Sach's Text Book of Botany. Now published in three parts. (Clarendon.) Roscoe and Schorlemmer's Treatise on Chemistry. (Macmillan.) Foster and Balfour's Elements of Embryology. (Macmillan.) Geikie's Text Book of Geology. (Macmillan.) Giinther's Study of Fishes. (A. and C. Black.) Mill's Logic. (Longmans.) Lauder Brunton's Pharmacology. Therapeutics and Materia Medica. (Macmillan.) Darnell's Principles of Physics. (Macmillan.) Foster's Text Book of Physiology. (Macmillan.) Nicholson's Manual of Zoology. (Blackwood.) Bain's Mental and Moral Science. (Longmans.) Be van Lewis's Text Book of Nervous Diseases. (Griffen.) Herbert Spencer's First Principles, Principles of Biology, Psychology, and Sociology. (Wil- liams and Norgate.) Ueberweg's History of Philosophy. (Hodder.) Carpenter's Microscope. (Routledge.) Dictionaries. Smith's Latin. Spier's French. (De Baudry, Paris.) Grieb's German. (Sampson Low.) Baretti's Italian. (Dulau.) Quain's Medicine. (Smith Elder.) Heath's Surgery. (Smith Elder.) Fleming's Vocabulary of Philosophy. (Gritlin.) Men and Women of the Time. (Ca&sell.) Hazell's Annual. F. Howard Collins.  ## p. 395 (#799) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. AUTHOR AND PUBLISHER. With .some New Points for the Society of Authors and for an Eminent Publisher. (From tin; New York Tribune by permission.) J piHE report of the Executive Committee of I the Society of Authors has the following paragraph: "Among those members whose loss by death we deplore are (i) Lord Lytton, always one of our greatest supporters. He took the chair at one of our public meetings, and at all times showed the warmest interest in the work and success of the Society. (2) Mr. James Russell Lowell, not only the American who had endeared himself to all hearts, but very specially the friend of this Society, and the advocate of international copyright. Those who were present at the dinner of the Society in 1888, and heard his brilliant and eloquent address, since printed in the Author, will want no reminder of his interest in our work and in the well-being of literature on this side of the Atlantic." The report is signed by Mr. Walter Besnit, chairman of the Executive Committee. He does not say too much of Lowell's interest in the Society. Nothing that concerned literature could lie indifferent to Lowell. I can imagine that the great American author had in his long career known moments when the advice of such a Society would have been useful to him, and would have meant money to him, as it now means money to many others. Lowell was, in truth, careless about such matters, and had a childlike faith in men; even in publishers, and even in second-hand book- sellers. I used to think he took pleasure in being their victim, and his easy good-nature forbade him to seek redress even when he had found out that a —well, that a mistake had occurred. Lowell once bought a copy of a scarce book for which he paid, I need not say, a long price. When the book arrived at Elmwood, it proved to be an imperfect copy; a number of leaves missing. The bookseller had not thought it worth while to mention the defect. "Of course you returned the book," I said. "Well, no," answered Lowell, with n dry look in his eyes. "I know the l>ook is often imperfect." The fact that he had paid a perfect price for his imperfect copy made little or no impression on him. The book is now, I presume, in Harvard College Library, to which Lowell meant his treasures to go. Unless the missing leaves have been supplied, that rather miscellaneous col- lection of books has therefore one more miscellaneous copy. There is but one golden rule for the collector: either a perfect copy or none. It is interesting to hear that the Society of Authors is growing at a great pace. Never before, Mr. Besant says, has so much work poured into their hands. Authors are at last awake to the benefits offered them. "They are bringing their agreements before accepting them; they are also— a thing without precedent in the history of author- ship—actually asking what their agreements mean for either side." Then comes this characteristic and most sensible passage: "The passing of the International Copyright Acts makes it doubly important for writers of success and position to know how to protect their property. It is not too much to say that never until the Society began was it possible for writers to realize, as at last they are learning, (1) that they possess property over which they should be as careful as over fields and houses and (2) that the mere administration of this property really does not entitle the agents to take over all the rent to themselves." To the publishers this last proposition will seem startling indeed. To others than publishers it may seem startling that there should l>c need of stating such a proposition and of dwelling on it. But there still is. The publisher himself still looks askance at the Society of Authors. Not all pub- lishers, perhaps, but some. Look at the tone of the leading trade organ, the Publishers Circular. Always a sneer at the Society, and always the suggestion that the author and publisher would naturally constitute a happy family but for the interference of outsiders. Look at the seventh case in the Appendix to this Report, where an author, unable to get either money or answer to his letters from a certain publishing firm, put his claim in the hands of the Society. There was a colonial house and a London house. The London house was very dignified. The intervention of the Society was, in its opinion, uncalled for. Their friends abroad would certainly deal honourably with the author. Notions of honour anil honourable dealing vary. The publisher's notion in this case might be thought peculiar. The author had sent his MS. to the colonial house. Six mouths later came a letter saying: "We hoped to have sent you a copy of your book by this mail, but regret it is not quite ready. We propose to style the book ." The author replied that as no terms had been submitted for his signature, he should like to know what lie was to get. No answer; and then it was that the Society intervened in the way which to the publish- ing mind seemed so uncalled for, pointing out that the honourable colonial house had appropriated the author's work and had offered no terms. The honourable colonial house was as much surprised as the London house at hearing "from a Society  ## p. 396 (#800) ############################################ 396 THE AUTHOR. calling itself a Society of Authors." It had been "too busy" to write the author, though not too busy to print and publish his book. "Finally they proposed certain terms and, subject to changes made by the Society, these proposals were accepted." Eight or nine of these sample cases are given. "Can anyone doubt," asks the rei>ort, "that almost all these authors would have been robbed had it not been for the vigorous intervention of the Society?" Now let us listen to a voice, I will not say from the other side but from among the publishers, Mr. Frederick Macmillan. No house stands higher than his. He presided last week at the annual t radedinner of the Booksellers' Provident Institution, and made a speech in the course of which he quoted a remark, author of it apparently unknown, that "the interests of booksellers and authors are highly antagonistic." Bookseller here means publisher, as it used to in the last century; so that the remark seems an old one. Old or new, Mr. Macmillan thinks that he who made it has a great deal to answer for. Why? Because "the antagonism between author and publisher is a foolish and mis- chievous fancy." Such is the answer of an honourable and success- ful publisher; the best he can offer. "It would be as reasonable," adds he, " to talk about the natural antagonism between the man who builds an engine and he who drives it." He might have drawn his analogy closer. It would he as reasonable to talk about the natural antagonism between the man who builds an engine and he who buys it. That would be perfectly reasonable. There is a natural an- tagonism. The man who builds the engine wants to sell it as dear as he can ; he who buys wishes to buy as cheap as he can. It is the natural antagonism which exists the world over in all commercial transactions. The interests of the buyer and the interests of the seller are not the same; they are hostile. So are the interests of the author who has a book to sell and of the publisher who buys it. True, as Mr. Macmillan says, both wish it to be successful; so far their interests are common. But in the division of the profits of the successful book the interests of the author and publisher are no longer common; they are antagonistic. Each wants as large a share as he can get. Thus do we. come back to the old point, and to the real grievance which the publisher keeps steadily in the background, namely, that the pub- lisher is a man of business dealing with the author who is not. The publisher draws up the contract, imposes his own terms, fixes his own proportion of profits, renders no accounts or imperfect accounts, avails himself of a hundred advantages under the plausible title "the custom of the trade," all un- known to the author; does, in fact, as a rule, by help of his business advantages and of the want of them in the author, take the lion's share of the profits. Therefore it is that a Society of Authors is needed which shall protect the interests and property of the author just as the publisher protects his own. Let Mr. Macmillan read the commentary on his speech by the editor of the trade organ al>ove mentioned: "Whatever may have been the state of affairs in the remote past, it certainly is not true to-day that publishers drink champagne from the skulls of unhappy writers. In the present era only amateurs imagine that the publisher is a sort of ghoul who appeases a diabolical appetite with innocent and confiding men and women of genius. The interests of authors and publishers, as Mr. Macmillan pointed out, must be, and are, identical. In the nature of things there can be no antagonism between the man who writes a book and the man who publishes it. If there were, both would speedily go to the wall, the publisher probably going first." Such is the attitude of a publisher of whom I will say nothing except that he must know lx-tter. The rancorous tone of his comment on a good- tempcred speech from his own side is only too marked. Ho represents, like the London branch of the colonial house quoted a moment ago, the class of publisher who resents the interference of the Society of Authors, resents its existence, and would, if he could, restore the good old days when the publisher settled for the author as well as for himself the terms of the contract between them. But. those days are going, if not gone. The number of members of the Society has risen from 25o three years ago to 780; its business has in- creased in a still greater ratio. If an author now makes a bad or stupid bargain with a publisher, he has only himself to thank, for here is a society which, without pay, will be delighted to help him make a good and wise bargain. O. W. Smalley. ♦■»■♦ GENEROSITY, LIBERALITY, AND EQUITY. "TTIS liberality is highly praised; and though we do I I not know precisely why authors should expect liberality from publishers any more than designers expect it from builders, it is certain they do, and that publishers who fulfil the expectation are the publishers whom literature reckons as friends. The publisher who was also a patron is passing away; and perhaps it is better so, and that the publisher should be merely the author's collecting agent. Hut there was something gracious and fine about the old position."  ## p. 397 (#801) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 397 These lines are taken from a short note in the Spectator of April gth. It is in some respects a remarkable utterance, because it reveals a mind still leaning towards the old and cherished delusions, but forcibly attracted by the new ideas—say rather, the new discoveries,—and, against its will, recog- nising them. It is not, perhaps, disrespectful to regard the editor of the Spectator, who has im- pressed upon his paper in a very remarkable manner his own very remarkable personality, as no longer a very young man. He was brought up in the belief that the good publisher is " generous" and "liberal" towards authors; that the true patron of literature is the publisher—the public mean well, but the publisher is the only friend; that he, and he alone, is the stay and prop of those who write; that his life is wholly spent in advancing the higher interests of literature; that in publishing books he is guided solely by those higher interests, and in most cases loses his money on every book. And he now learns the new discovery and is dis- turbed. "There is something," he says, regretfully, "fine and gracious about the old position." Yes, the old position of his own imagination. Did it ever exist in actual fact? Was the publisher ever, at any time, "generous" and "liberal"? Was he ever, at any time, a patron of literature in the only true sense? Was he not always and always a man of business pure and simple? What is it that authors should expect from these pub- lishers? Liberality? Generosity? But theirs is the property—their own—their creation, as much as a desk, a picture, a piece of machinery. The publisher administers it. What is meant by "liberality" on the part of the agent who ad- ministers the property? And what kind of respect can ever lie paid to literature while the world per- sists in regarding the author as standing, hat in hand, before his publisher, crying, "Oh! sir. This is, indeed, generosity! This is liberality indeed! What? Another half-crown? Another? Oh! My children will bless thee! Oh! Princely — Kingly—Generosity!" Of course, as we now know, the real fact is that no publisher ever gave any man anything at all for unsaleable work, unless in those cases where he did not know his own business, or where it was for his own advertisement and his own advantage to publish an unsaleable book. At no time has the author of such work ever experienced any "generosity" from any publisher whatever. Why should he expect it? A cabinet maker does not expect to be paid for a piece of work so bad that no one will buy it—why should an author? Why should a publisher be praised for paying for bad work? It is folly; it is madness; unless on the assumption that in this or that case to do so serves his interests. But publishers have at different times paid large sums VOL. II. to successful authors. Certainly. But at no time have they allowed those authors to see their books. What "generosity" is that which says, "My friend, I will give you £200 for your book. But I am not going to tell you what I get for it." There may be "something gracious and fine" about the old position, but the graciousness loses a good deal of its beauty when we remember that it degraded men of letters, even the most successful, to the position of humble dependents on the "bounty" of their publishers. Of course it is a very gracious and fine" thing to pretend to be a patron of literature; it is very fine to be accepted as a patron. Therefore, they all claim to be the patrons of literature — every little impecunious clerk who starts as a publisher by persuading silly people to pay for production; they all put on the airs of the man who nobly throws away his thousands in the advancement of literature; they all pretend that they take fearful risks; they all make the terms they offer a favour instead of a right. By such shallow pretences the fraudulent gentry whom we have exposed have been enabled to carry on their tricks and their frauds. This is the mere jargon of the craft. We are beginning to scoff at it. In the course of time respectable people will be ashamed to use this jargon; it will be forgotten. We shall all agree that business t* business, and has to be conducted according to the rules of all business. Meantime, we rejoice that the editor of the Spectator thinks that the new order may be better than the old, and that the publisher should be "merely the author's collecting agent." But that " old position "—one returns to the question— that time when publishers were patrons of litera- ture—when did it flourish? It is like the age of chivalry; it is a thing dreamed of and written about, but it never existed. Those who dream of it still are for the most part the camp followers of literature—not critics—who sometimes produce books of their own, literary books, biographies of literary men, mild essays on literary subjects, which the world does not care for, and takes in minute quantities. For such a book, a ten pound note—and publication—seems to the author gene- rosity unparalleled. To them their publisher is a patron indeed. But, for the successful author— why—let us see the ledger; let us look into the printer's account; let us examine the cash book; let us ask what proportion the author should receive in equity. We will then decline to take doles in the name of "generosity" and will demand our rights. Generosity! Liberality! Do not the very words degrade and insult the man of letters? —■ H h  ## p. 398 (#802) ############################################ 398 THE AUTHOR. YOUNa AND OLD. WjlEN I WAS YOUXO. When I was young, tlie stars then told n tale Of love beyond the grave, and worlds to prove, When we have never longer cause to wait, But only to explore and love, and love. When 1 was young, my friends then seemed so true, I was a hero in their eyes, and could J)o nothing wrong. Like flowers steeped in dew, My hopes were fresh, my impulses all good. When I was young, I hail not doubts, but took Each smile as meant, and gave it back the same, The world spread out as open as a book, I then felt confident of wealth and fame. When I was young, gold seemed an idle toy, Not worth the striving for; a higher goal Lured my hopes on, a greater, god-like joy, A something worthier of man's deathless soul. When I was young, I thought each woman fair And like an angel sent to lift up lips To God j so like a knight 1 thought to wear My coat of mail and guard them in the strife. When I was young, to make a sacrifice Seemed great and noble, so I sought the field With tender thoughts of humid tender eyes Reaming upon me as my knight's best shield. When I was young, I thought if heroes died Fighting for duty, this was best of all; To leave behind them, with a people's pride, Some kindly hearts to weep their early fall. When I was young, this world was fair and pure, And sin was of another world, while I Might fall and perish, still my soul was sure To reach those stars, that glisten in the sky. Now I in Old. Now I am eld and have gone through the fight, How do I view this fresh'ning world of ours? The stars arc only glimmering sparks of light, The friends but like the fleeting, vanished hours. Each speculation is a doubt, each dream A gourd which withers; fame a breath, and gold The only thing of earth w hich does not seem A fallacy on earth, now I am old. Hume Nishkt. NOTES AND NEWS. IT would be astounding that a work by no less a person than our illustrious President should appear without a note in the pages of the Author. But "The Foresters" was played just too late for the April number, and during the interval there has been sueh a chorus of notices, reviews, criticisms, and appreciations that anything at this late hour would be superfluous. Let us only congratulate ourselves on the master touch which shows as yet no feebleness, the voice that shows no touch of age, the hand as true as ever, the ear as delicate. A disquieting rumour has come across the Atlantic. We have more than once referred to the American Authors' Society; the prospectus of (as we thought) the only American Authors' Society- has been published in this Journal. It now appears that Mr. Charles Burr-Todd wishes to be the founder of -an association called the "Society of American Authors," while Mrs. Katharine Hodges is already the Secretary of the "American Society of Authors," an association which contains 200 members already, and is daily increasing. As Mr. Todd uses my name, I may explain that I was in ignorance that a second—a rival—society was contemplated by Mr. Todd. I naturally thought that he was writing in support of the society already established. Nothing could be more fatal to the interests which we seek to defend, than the existence of two rival societies. Let us trust that the Americans, who have the reputat ion of clearness at least, and common sense in all their relations of business, will be swift to understand that either the second society must not be attempted, or that the two societies may be at once merged into one. The "tyranny of the novel" exercises a good many minds at the present moment. Everything takes the form of a novel. We are didactic in a novel; we are political in a novel; we expose our enemies in a novel; we show what certain theories mean in a novel; we even illustrate our own lives, our sorrows, and our disappointments in a novel. The last illustration of the " tyranny of the novel" is the interesting case of Mademoiselle Helene Vacaresco, the young lady who had to break off her engagement with the Crown Prince of Rou- mania. It is said that she has written a novel, in which she tells her unfortunate love story. Eight years ago the New York Critic published a list of forty "Immortals." Of these, fourteen have now passed away. Their names are as follows :— Richard Grant White, died 5th April 1885, aged 63. Edwin P. Whipple, died 16th June 1886, ae;ed 67. Henry Ward Beecher, died 8th March 1887, aged 73. John Q. Saxe, died 3ist March 1887, aged 76. Mark Hopkins, died 17th June 1887, aged 85.  ## p. 399 (#803) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 399 Asa Gray, died 3oth January 1888, aged 77. A. Bronson Alcott, died 4th March 1888, aged 88. James Freeman Clarke, died 8th June 1888, aged 78. Theodore D. Woolsey, died 1st July 1889, aged 87. George Bancroft, died 17 th January 1891, aged 90. Alexander Burchell, died 19th February 1891, aged 66. Jiiines Bussell Lowell, died 12th August 1891, aged 72. Noah Porter, died 3rd March 1892, aged 80. Walt "Whitman, died 26th March 1892, aged 72. Out of these fourteen, how many are there whose principal works could be enumerated by the average reader, or even by the student of litera- ture? Not that one would scoff at their Immor- tality. Such an English list would probably show as many blanks after eight years; the voice of the living is always listened to before the voice of the dead, and posterity will have its own favourites. Immortality, in fact, is limited, save for the very, very few. Happy is the man who can please or instruct his own generation; happy he who can make them listen to him; more happy still if he does not in the least trouble his head about posterity. "A week or two ago reference was made in these columns to two articles which appeared in a recent issue of the Forum on the grievances of authors and the sins of pub- lishers. Roth were written from the author's point of view, and the unhappy publishers had it hot and heavy. But they have found an unexpected champion. An American author comes gallantly to the rescue. Here is part of his testimony: ' I believe their methods are strictly honourable. Now, for example, in spite of the fact that my last book is not selling nearly so well as I think it ought to sell, I would not for a moment question the integrity of my publishers. As to the suggestion that publishers should open their books for the inspection of authors—it is absurd. If authors were permitted to look at the books they would not understand them. No; I am satisfied that our publishers are not only honest in their dealings with authors, but that they offer us a fair proportion of the returns from our books.'" The above is quoted from the Publishers' Circular of March 26th last. The editor in pub- lishing the extract surely credits the world with a very, very great deal of credulity. The American author who conies "gallantly" (!) to the rescue knows nothing, and pretends to know nothing, about the thing of which he writes. He believes —honest soul! He believes. That is all. He says that authors would not understand accounts. True. That is the reason why we send accountants for the purpose. He is "satisfied" that his publishers are honest, and fair, and virtuous, and holy. No doubt. We do not for a moment say that they are not. Only—let us treat each other in this, as in every other kind of business, openly and fairly, and above board. And—which is an axiom—a man who refuses to let his partner in any joint enterprise see the books must be—what? Let this confiding American letter-writer answer the question. I venture to express the universal good wishes of all who know Mr. George Augustus Sala, either personally or by his work, for the success of his new magazine. As these lines are written news comes of a second large edition. So far I have not been able to get it at any of the bookstalls— "waiting for more copies." Walter Besant. ♦■»■♦ FEUILLETON. The Wish of His Heart. I. THE young man sat in the suburban garden; it was a very little garden about i5 feet wide and 25 feet long; only a scrap of a garden behind a little semi-detached house in the suburb of Forest Gate. Like most houses of the kind, there was a kitchen, with a room over it, built out at the back; things were hanging out to dry in the little area between the kitchen and the garden wall; a Virginia creeper climbed over the house. In the garden were two or three lilacs, a strip of grass, a narrow bed of flowers, now gay with the blossoms of the annuals, and a garden seat, where this young man sat. He was about nineteen, and in his hands was a book. He held it before his short-sighted eyes; he seemed to be reading it; his cheek glowed; his eyes brightened; his hand trembled. If we could put down in lame, slow, halting words the thoughts that filled the mind of that young mar., there would be read a series of ejaculations. For instance, "Oh! It is splendid! It is wonderful! It is splendid! It is wonderful!" What was so splendid? What was it that glorified the world in the eyes of that young man? Nothing but a dream. He was dreaming that he had written the book in his hands. In his imagi- nation he was already a novelist, delighting the whole world, read by all the English-speaking people in this realm of ours; in the kingdom of Man; across the Western seas; in the Isles of the II h 2  ## p. 400 (#804) ############################################ 400 THE AUTHOR. East; in the Austral continent. He heard his own name shouted to the very end of the world; he heard the trumpet of Fame; he actually saw that lovely, benevolent, generous, kindly goddess Hying over his head—over that suburban little garden at Forest Gate; in one hand a scroll—the scroll of his achievements, and in the other a trumpet; and her lips parted while she proclaimed his name—his noble name—the name of the Im- mortal Author—the Darling of the Muses—the admiration of the world—the despair of his rivals— his own name— "Tommy," cried a voice from the open window of the house, " Come in to supper." II. Tommy, or Tom, Crump sat in his bedroom—the little room over the kitchen, generally assigned to "the girl." The other residents of the house were in bed and asleep. He sat up and wrote. Yes, he wrote, for that vision was always with him, and he had begun to do his utmost to make it real; he wrote at night, from ten o'clock till midnight, or even till one and two in the morning. Tommy was a clerk in the City; he received already £60 a year: he was in a big House, and might be considered as having made a very good start: he was steady, wrote a good hand, was intelligent, and gave satisfaction. What more can be desired of such a young man at the outset? He had no secret vices; he did not desire strong drink; he did not play billiards; he did not frequent music halls; he was quite a good young man. When he had time, he read all the books he could borrow; every evening he had this vision of himself as a great writer and of the wonderful Fame that he would achieve; every night he spent two hours in writing stories. He would be a novelist. There was no one to advise him as to the qualifications that go to make a novelist; he knew nothing about style, dramatic effect, or construction; he was entirely ignorant of the elementary requirements of the Art; he did not even know that it was an Art; had he known it would not have helped him. Therefore, he ap- proached the business in complete ignorance how it should be managed. As for other qualifications, such as the possession of materials, observation of life and manners, knowledge of the social machinery, knowledge of society itself—he had none. He was a little clerk who had been at a school where all the boys were intended to be little clerks; his people belonged to a little Nonconformist chapel; he lived in a very quiet little suburb; he went to the City every morning .and came home every evening. He knew nothing; V did not even know that he was ignorant. And this unfortunate boy, so ignorant, so ill-equipped, so poor, so helpless, proposed to himself to become a novelist! What could happen to such a boy? HI. It was just before his twenty-first year that his success came to him. A story was accepted; it was taken by a certain weekly; the editor sent him a guinea for it and told him to call. He called. The editor was a kindly person—his kindliness lasted just so long as his authors were ready to accept a guinea for a story of six columns. He received the blushing, stammering young clerk with a shake of the hand and invited him to sit down. "I have taken your story," he said, "because there is promise in it. I shall get it altered a little. You may, if you like, send me some more. Bui you must take more pains "—Alas! The thing had been written and rewritten half-a-dozen times —"and you must try not to be so amateurish. Here! Take this bundle of the paper—read the stories—analyse them—study them—see how they are written—observe particularly how the attention of the reader is fixed from the outset. Very well. That will show you what we want. If you are clever enough to understand we may do a good deal of business together." Tommy was clever enough to understand. The editor did a good bit of business with him. But Tommy was not, unfortunately, clever enough to understand that without bricks or stone or wood one cannot build a house, and he had neither bricks, nor stone, nor wood. IV. It is fifteen years later. Tommy Crump is now Mr. Lancelot Cory, a name which looks a great deal better upon a title page. He lives in the same house, of which he is now the tenant, vice his father, deceased. But he goes to the City no longer. Tommy is what he so ardently desired to become— a writer of stories. Nobody, I suppose, of five-and-thirty, has written so many stories. No novelist that ever lived has written so much as Mr. Lancelot Cory. He writes all day long and every day. He knows no Sabbath. He takes no rest. He hardly ever goes outside the house. He sees no society. He remains as ignorant of the world as when he first began to write. He sits in the little room over the kitchen where he has always written. He has a wife and four children, and for their sakes his pen keeps driving—driving—all day long. He keeps the wolf from the door—but with difficulty—by these labours unceasing.  ## p. 401 (#805) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 401 He is pule and thin. He has become prema- turely bald. His eyes, which now wear spectacles, are red and watery. That solace of the hard- worked hack, the gin bottle, is not unknown to him. He stops from time to time and grasps his right wrist with his left hand. Yes—it is coming. There are convulsive movements of the fingers; there are shooting pains up the arm. He knows, with a sinking of the heart, that writers' cramp is coming. Presently he gathers up his papers. Some writers linger over their work, correcting here and adding there. Mr. Lancelot Cory does not. He knows hetter. He puts them together, and numbers them, and rolls them up. Then he takes his hat and disappears. "Well, Mister," says his employer, a gentleman with a red face, and a certain something in his look that would have made all the Muses together shiver and shake and tremble— " It's take it or leave it. There's plenty who'd jump at my terms. It used to be three pound ten for thirty thousand words. It's gone down now to two pound ten. And here's the money." "But, good God, sir, how am I to live?" "Don't know, I'm sure. That's not my business. Look here, I can got novelettes by the dozen — thirty thousand words—for two pound ten apiece. What is it — thirty thousand words? About fifty of your pages. Only fifty pages. You're all so infernally lazy. And mind — prices are going down — I shouldn't be surprised, at the rate things are moving, if we don't get the price down before long to fifteen bob the thirty thousand words. Ah! and we will, too—with the help of the girls." Mr. Lancelot Cor)'—Tommy Crump—took the money meekly and crept away. It was the pay for a fortnight's hard work. The work was not worth anything to be sure, regarded as work, but it was all he could do. This is the end of that noble dream. He sees it no more. Fame, with her trumpet and her scroll, has changed into a Fury with a scourge, driving— driving—driving—his pen as fast as it can fly across the page. Soon will come writers' cramp in earnest. Soon the price of the penny novelette will go down, as the large-hearted proprietor foretold, to fifteen shillings the thirty thousand words. And then— then—alas! Poor Tommy! His brothers, who have remained clerks, are drawing their four, five, or even six pounds a week, while he—Alas! Poor dreamer! NOTES FROM PARIS. MR. Walter Besant invites me to give some more information on the financial side of the relations between French publishers and authors. I should say that not in more than one case out of a thousand does a French publisher purchase an author's copyright outright. If the author is unknown the publisher will not run the risk. If the author has any reputation, it is he who would not part with his property, which, thanks to the French custom of continuous republication, may be an unceasing source of revenue to him. The system adopted by authors and publishers is the royalty system, the royalties varying, according to the status of the author, from 25 cents, to 1 franc per volume. The French volume, published at 3 francs 5o cents., is generally sold at 2 francs 75 cents., though the country booksellers and some old-fashioned Parisian retailers refuse to allow any discount to the public. The bookseller earns 5d. per volume, leaving for cost of production and for author's and publisher's profits the sum of twelve-thirteenths of 2 francs 20 cents. Where a royalty of 1 franc per copy is given, the author's remuneration is higher than the publisher's profits, but such a royalty is very exceptional. Zola, Daudet, de Maupassant, and a few others get it. Many first-rate men have to content themselves with a royalty of 5d. Some get 7^d., but the vast majority of writers do not receive more than 3\d., which is a very favourite figure with the publishers. Absolute beginners receive i\d., anil than this there is no lower royalty. Ten pounds on account of royalties is considered liberal, entail- ing as it does the obligation on the publisher to sell from live hundred to a thousand copies. That is where royalties are from 5d. to 2\d. a copy. Four pounds is the best a poet can hope for on account of a volume, and thinks himself liberally treated. An edition in France is supposed to consist of 1,000 copies. But publishers here are not without guile, and to whip up a sale a book may be issued in editions of 5o copies, so that by the time 1,000 copies have been disposed of, the book is in its twen- tieth edition. This is considered, rightly, foul play, and one Paul Bonnetain- once niade a fuss about it. "If my book has reached such an edition, bona fides, you are swindling me," he wrote to his publishers, "for you have only accounted to me for so many copies. If the editions arc imaginary, then the public is being swindled, inasmuch as you lead people to believe in a success and a demand which do not exist. In either case I object to your conduct." vol. it.  ## p. 402 (#806) ############################################ 402 THE AUTHOR. On the other hand, in the caw of one or two very popular authors, the first edition usually con- sists of many more copies than the regulation 1,000. I am told that of the first editions of Zola's books, 20,000 copies are always issued. The second edition then appears as "Twenty-first thousandth." This is because everybody wants a first edition of Zola's books. Formerly his books were issued in first editions of 1,000 copies, and such copies are now worth from 3o to 100 francs a piece. I saw a first edition of "L'Assommoir" marked io5 francs in the window of a shop where only rare volumes are sold. Since "La Terre" however, owing to the new arrangement, such larger first editions have been issued, that no copies of first editions of any of his later books are quoted at a premium. In the case of men of small popu- larity, it is usual for a publisher not to issue more than 5oo copies of a book as a first, often last, edition. If he sells all the 5oo he is quite satisfied, and the author also. If I had a wishing-ring, I think that one of the first twenty wishes that I should express, would be to possess an album giving portraits of the faces of all the readers of a recent issue of the National Observer, as they perused Mallarme's article in French on "Vers et Musique en France," in that number. The face of him who has always prided himself on his knowledge of French, as he puzzled over that prose, would have been delightful to see. I showed the article to two leading French jour- nalists here, and asked them if it was comprehen- sible, and they both said that, with their heads on the block, they could not make sense of it. One said it was pure charabia (Anglice: Double Dutch). Such, however, is Mallarme's invariable style. I have seen and possess letters from him on trivial matters, which are couched in prose as precious and as obscure. As a talker, however, Mallarme, being comprehensible, is exquisite, and I know few rarer delights than to pass an hour or two at one of his Tuesday evening receptions in the dining room of his little fourth floor apartment in the Kue de Rome, and to listen to the master's discourses on literature and art. He stands leaning against the tiled stove, with his disciples closely packed sitting round the long table. Cigarettes are smoked and in the winter the host serves excellent rum grogs. Few speak except the master, though now and then a suggestion will be made or a question asked. Mallarme is here at his best, and it is a pity his words are not taken down for the delight of the -larger world outside the little room. It is •:ademy in a fourth floor back. But Mallarme' has \ a contempt for the larger world, by reason of the Philistines, and prints with great luxury for the very few. He will not publish. I thought his name was derived from words meaning "The Man of Poor Armour." That was the idea of a roman- tique. The master holds it that his name means "The Man of Sad Tears." If English authors, who having achieved some success in England, are anxious to have their works and their names introduced to the Freuch public, would follow the counsel of a Kempis and limit their desires, they would know peace. At least, they would save themselves from much disappoint- ment. As a general rule, the French public does not care for translations of English literature any more than it would care for English lxmnets. Sensational novels have the best chance here, as there is always a public for such fare. But the prices which are paid for French rights are always very small, and it may bo. well for English authors who think of attacking the Freuch publishers, to grasp this fact. Hachette, the great publisher, who does the most publishing or French trans- lations of English books, whenever he is asked, as he often is asked, some "long" price for French rights, will produce, as his answer, the receipt signed by Charles Dickens for the right of pub- lishing the translation of "David Copperfield." It is for £20. An English author who can persuade a French publisher to give him £10 for the French rights of a novel, may con- sider himself very lucky. But it is bringing coals to Newcastle to bring foreign fiction into the most glutted literary market in the world. I should say the chances an English author has of finding a French publisher to translate and publish his book are about one in one hundred. Notoriety is in England so much considered a pass to commercial success in authorship that if a man, who might never have tried his hand at lite- rature before, could manage to stand on his head on the point of Cleopatra's Needle, for, say, 24 consecutive hours, he would very probably be asked to write for some of the most important magazines, and as probably would receive offers from enter- prising publishers of books. In America, he would be asked to undertake a series of lectures. In France, however, the best he could hope for, would be an engagement either as a waiter in some brasserie or eafd, or as a "number" in the pro- gramme of the Folies-Bergeres. Literature is, in France, considered as much a metier, requiring training and apprenticeship, as the craft of the locksmith or of the jeweller.  ## p. 403 (#807) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 4°3 French publishers do little advertising, as a rule. Unknown authors are never advertised, except at their own cost, and do not seem to care to incur the expense. Christinas and New Year's books are advertised, but I do not know of any publisher who advertises all the year round. Some pub- lishers believe in the value of puffs or reclames, the prices of which vary from 4*. to 3os. a line. Xavier de Montepin has, perhaps, made more money out of literature than any living author in France, and though he has been twice ruined, is once again in an excellent situation of fortune. He never knew the hardships of the craft, for his first book, which he published at the age of 20, was a great success, and his good fortune has never since deserted him. He has produced considerably over 400 novels, and hopes, though an old man, to produce as many more. He lives in fine style in a mansion at Passy, which is filled with modern pic- tures, but otherwise decorated and fitted to recall the feudal days, for de Montepin attaches great importance to the fact of his being a count of old family. He is very proud of his riding, and prefers to talk on horses and horsemanship than on any other subject. He works steadily, producing one feuilleton instalment of about 1,600 words a day, never missing a day. His feuilletons are published in the most important Paris journals, though most frequently in the Petit Journal. Though im- mensely popular with a certain public, his confreres complain that once he begins a story in a paper, he carries it on to interminable lengths, and so reduces their opportunities of an innings. He receives a number of insulting anonymous letters weekly. It is in this way that the spiteful, having no reviews or journals—as in England—in which to vent their jealous rage, revenge themselves for his success and fortune. Emile Bichebourg, another feuilletonist of the same school and of almost equal success, lives at Bougival on the Seine, where he has a lovely villa called La Charmeuse. His income cannot be much less than £5,ooo a year. He lives and dresses simply, and his great delight in life is to arrange dances and fetes for the villagers in his district, in which fetes he always takes a very active part. He is as democratic as de Montepin is aristocratic in his ideas. This is how a novel by a successful writer in France is such a gold mine to its author. In the first instance, it is published as a feuilleton in a newspaper, for which the author may receive as much as £3,ooo. Then it is published in volume form. Then Bouff, or some other publisher of the same class, brings it out again in weekly penny parts, paying the author at least as much as was paid for the original serial rights. Such publishers spend immense suras on advertising their publi- cations, both by coloured posters all over France, and by displayed announcements and puffs in the papers. Later on it is republished in book form, the illustrated weekly parts being bound up into a cheap volume. Then after a while, the smaller Parisian journals, or provincial papers, whose proprietors cannot afford original feuilletons, arrange with the Society of Authors for the use of it, so that in ten years, the same serial may have appeared in fifty different papers in various parts of France. The author gets a large share of the "boodle " in each transaction, so that it will easily be understood why French people say that a successful novel is worth a good deal more than a farm in Beauec. Was not George Augustus Sala a little hard on the typewriter in one of his recent letters in the Sunday Times? As a pastmaster in the craft, all that Mr. Sala says is worthy of the closest consideration. Still, I hope that young writers will not be dissuaded from the use of the writing machine by his attack upon it. It may not be as suitable for the production of the higher grades of literary wares as the pen, but for turning out good medium qunlities, it is as good, and so much more rapid. And there is, I should say, more demand for good medium, or even medium wares, than for fine work, for it is a Brummagem age we live in. It is money in a man's pocket—if it be true that time is money—to use a typewriter in the manu- facture of copy, which it produces at at least three times the speed of the pen. Of course, if a man can command his own prices let him use a pen, or even a peacock's quill, like the divine Sarah, but in the case of the writer who stands towards the purchasers of literary wares as a simple producer, whose goods are judged by quantity and actuality, and not by brand, let his argument be to such as object to "machine-uiade copy," "My prices for this quality are so much, but for fine work so much more." "Them as wants titivating"— was not it Mrs. Gamp who said so ?—" must pay according." But even for the professional producer of fine work the typewriter is useful. I fancy that a good way of writing a novel would be to write it off, a jet continu, on the machine, and then to re-write it from this ebauche as often as need be with a  ## p. 404 (#808) ############################################ 404 THE AUTHOR. view to stylo. The MS. would then be once more put on the machine, and the final fair copy turned out. TurgeniefE used to suggest re-writing a book at least six times, but then Turgenioff had a large private income, and could afford to " titivate" his readers at his own expense. Personally, I find it easy to turn out from six to ten thousand words of marketable medium wares per diem on the typewriter. At a pitch, I have produced double that quantity. A typewriter will yield three thousand words an hour easily. By its help I was once able to furnish a publisher in three (lavs, and without interfering with my routine work, with a translation of a French book of over fifty thousand wonls, which the publisher hud hoped I could let him have in a mouth. For the production of "shockers " the typewriter is simply grand. And the machine is pleasant to use if you keep it clean, and give it an occasional drink of oil, and will gallop you over the fields of fancy like a rollicking Pegasus. In speaking to a French author of standing, you address him .as "maitre." In writing to him, you begin your letter, "Sir, and most highly honoured Muster." Actors address the author of a play they are rehearsing as "maitre" also. In both cases maitre means "postmaster" in his craft. Literature is a craft not a trade in France. A man may be a " maitre," and be addressed as such, although his sleeves are out of elbow, and he has not twopence to his credit at either the Society or the dramatic agents. Everybody calls Verlaine "maitre." Nobody would dream of calling certain writers, who earn in half-an-hour what poor Ver- laine earns in a year, by this title. In England, the doubloons earned, not the pastmastership, command respect. It is sickening to read para- graphs in so-called literary papers in which the incomes and earnings of men of letters are dis- cussed. Whose business is it? Such a thing would be considered in France an insult to the whole craft. "What shopkeepers we are! The <SV. James' Gazdtc criticises Mr. Besant's editing of the Author for allowing my note on Itenan's opinion of Zola's novels to pass. A reference to the first paragraph in this magazine, printed in italics, would have shown the St. James' Gazette that the responsibility of all signed articles which appear in the Author lies with their writers. It was therefore very unnecessary to drag Mr. Besant's name into a discussion as to the good or bad taste of one of my notes. As to this particular "•ote, its justification may be found in the very <ls of the St. James' Gazette, which describes itself as " awaiting with unholy impatience" Zola's answer to llenan. Argal, the note was to certain persons interesting and newsy. As to its being calculated to damage " good fellowship and good feeling" amongst the authors alluded to, Mr. Zola's DO' reply to the French interviewer on this note is the best refutation thereof. Zola delights in battle and is the first to desire to know who is his foeman in the arena of letters. My remarks on a certain class of British criticism have been extensively commented upon, and, as I think, unwisely. One journal represented ine as writing—apropos of the deed—that "because a critic says that so-and-so writes indifferent English he deserves to have his brains blown out." Another remarks that" In France, according to our authority, critics are civil because they fear the duel, and show themselves unjustly kind, not from charity, but from cowardice." Now it has been said that a few lines of a man's writing are always sufficient to hang him, that is, that anything one writes can always be misconstrued. How much easier to make it sufficient to cover him with ridicule. Of course, the critics I referred to are those who indulge in offensive personalities, personalities about the writer's character, appearance, habits, dress, and so on, a class which is daily becoming more numerous in England. A favourite form of impertinence with these individuals is to make pleasantries about a young author's name, by repeating it over and over again, provided it have the slightest ring of pretentiousness about it. Such persons are in France kept in check by a sense of direct personal responsibility, and I regretted, and still regret, that the same check does not exist in England. As to the critics who confine themselves to one's works, nobody has greater admiration for, and cause for greater gratitude to them than myself. KOBKKT H. SUERARD. Paris, 20th April, 1892. LITERATURE IN THE MAGAZINES. THE journals which are generally accepted as illustrating the opinions, expounding the theories, and explaining the work of our scholars and philosophers are the Quarterly, the Edinburgh, the Contemporary, the Nineteenth Century, the Fortnightly, the National, and Macmillan. (Their enumeration in this order means nothing.) During the years 1889-1891, there appeared in these journals about 800 articles. They are dissertations on every subject that  ## p. 405 (#809) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. occupied the attention of the world during that time; they cover the whole ground of human thought, human enterprise, human investigation; nothing that belongs to the time but is treated in these magazines. All sides of politics are discussed; all forms of religion; all branches of science; every philosophic school is represented; art, literature, medicine, and trade; the many difficulties and the ever varying questions which belong to a great empire; the prospects of the future; the tendencies of the present; the lesson of the past: for everything room is found by editors whose chief difficulty in this busy age, in which new forces are continually producing new changes, is selection in accordance with the needs and the inte- rests of the day. Of writers willing to discourse on every conceivable subject there is ample choice, the only difficulty being to find a man who at once understands his subject and knows how to set it forth in a striking and iiiterestin<i manner. Of such men there is no great plenty, and there never will be. If, therefore, we are to tabulate the articles according to subjects, we should perhaps arrive at some idea of the relative importance that the subjects treated seem, in the eyes of the editors, to obtain with the public. Should the subject most often treated be polities—finance— art—science—hygiene—the component parts of the Empire—trade disputes—the spread of socialism— the condition of the army? It is, in fact, none of these. An examination of these magazines, conducted for the Author, has revealed the very extraordinary faet that out of the 800 articles published during the last three years in these magazines, 32o—that is to say, two out of every five—are devoted to literature. Does, then, literature occupy the attention of the instructed class in the proportion of two fifths of their whole thinking and reasoning moments? It would seem so from these figures. Yet one certainly knows a great many people who must be called instructed and cultured who read books, both new and old, but most certainly do not give much atten- tion to the history of literatiu-e, to literary move- ments and to the criticism of dead or living literature. In the same way there is an immense number of people who read a certain proportion of new books—those which interest them—and care absolutely nothing for purely literary jmpers. For these people, both the cultured class who read the best books in their leisure hours and the class which reads only for amusement, these papers are not written. They are written for that small scholarly circle which interests itself especially in nil literary subjects, delights in fine criticism, if haply that can be found, reads with avidity monograms on poets and novelists, and loves to hear of great writers and their private lives. It is by this circle that the Browning societies, the Shakespeare societies, and such associations are founded, and from this circle that they are kept up. The increasing extent of that circle is proved by the fact that there are five monthly magazines and two quarterlies which devote two fifths of their space exclusively to the inhabitants of this circle. Considering, next, the subjects treated in these articles we find, first, that the following authors have been passed in review : Mad. D'Arblay, Matthew Arnold, Roger Bacon, Marie Bashkirtseff, Balzac, Baudelaire, Theodore De Banville, Charlotte Bronte, Boswell, Browning, Byron, Carlyle, Chesterfield, Chaucer, Coleridge, Crabb, Cowper, Wilkie Collins, Victor Cousin, Dante, Davenport, Donne, Disraeli, Defoe, Edward Fitzgerald, Farrar, Gifford, Gold- smith, Goethe, Baring Gould, Anthony Hamilton, Thomas Hardy, James Hogg, Heine, Victor Hugo, Thomas Hood, Lessing, Lecky, Dr. Johnson, Ibsen, Rudyard Kipling, Lowell, John Locke, Massinger, Mirabeau, Maeterlinck, Montaigne, Mickiewicz, Milton, Prosper Merimec, Sir Thomas More, Motley, Pepys, Norris, Oliphant, Pope, Prior, Richardson, Renan, Sir Walter Raleigh, Rousseau, Rossetti, Shakespeare, Stent, George Sand, Scott, Spenser, Stendhal, Stevenson, Swinburne, Sedg- wick, Thackeray, Theocritus, Tennyson, John Wesley, Wiclif, Edwin Waugh, William Watson, Wordsworth, George Wither, Henry Vaughan, Vcrlaine, and Zola. Some, of less interest, have been omitted from this list. Among the contri- butors to the long series of critical articles are many whose names are well known in other fields. There are novelists, poets, and historians among them as well as critics. Against the name of Ibsen there stand those of William Archer, Oswald Crawfurd, Edmund Gosse, C. J. Herford, E. Lord, and Philip Wicksteed. J. M. Barrie, himself a novelist, writes on Thomas Hardy, Baring Gould, and Rudyard Kipling. Andrew Lang and Swinburne write on Wilkie Collins. Grant Allen writes on William Watson, and William Watson writes on Edwin Waugh. J. Addington Symonds writes on Theodore Dc Banville, on Dantesque Ideals, Zola, and Theocritus. Swin- burne on Victor Hugo, Wilkie Collins, Massinger, James Shirley, and Scott's Journal. George Saintsbury on James Hogg, Tom Hood, Crabb, De Quincey, Leigh Hunt, and Anthony Hamilton. Professor Dowden on John Donne, Coleridge, and Goethe; Andrew Lang on Robert Browning and Wilkie Collins; Dr. Abbot on Newman; Julia Wedgwood Laurence Oliphant on Shakespeare, receives an astonishing amount of attention. We have papers on Shakespeare's spelling; on his travels; on his Venice; on certain characteristics; on detached plays; on Macbeth as a Celt; on his  ## p. 406 (#810) ############################################ 406 THE AUTHOR. Ghosts; on his Religion and Politics, and on his stage. No writer, one supposes, has ever received so much study and attention as Shakespeare. Turning to articles on subjects and not on names, of which there are about a hundred and twenty, we find about twenty devoted to the con- sideration of fiction under various aspects. Here are some of the subjects: "Idealism in French Fiction "; "King Plagiarism," a very unworthy personal attack; "American Fiction "; "The Modern French Novel "; "Realism in French Fiction "; "Penny Fiction"; the "Light Reading of our Ancestors"; "Romance Realisti- cized"; "English Realism and Romance"; "Morality in Fiction "; "Irish Novelists in Irish Peasants"; "Fiction, Plethoric and Anremie"; "New Watchwords of Fiction "; the "Abdication of Mrs. Grundy "; the "Naming of Novels "; "Candour in English Fiction," and so on. Criti- cism is considered in "Critics in Court "; "Critics and their Craft "; in " Criticism as a Trade "; in the " Literary Criticism of France." Authorship is treated in "The Trade of Author"; "Literature Then and Now "; various papers on American copyright; the Story of the first Society of British Authors. Lastly, such papers as those called, "Children and Modern Literature "; "Poets and Puritans "; "Humour "; the "Poetry of Common Sense "; the "Savage Club"; "Poetry by Men of the World "; " Influence of Democracy on Literature "; "Chapters from the History of the Bodleian "; " Our Dramatists and their Literature"; "Hopes and Fears for Literature "; the "Future of American Literature"; the "Literature and Language of the Age," show that there are men and women always watching the changes and chalices of modern literature, and that there are other men and women —thousands of them—who never tire of hearing about these changes and chances. To those who find the literature of the day trivial and feeble, we may at least point to this extraordinary production of papers by scholars and critics dealing for the most part with the writers of the day. They read — these scholars — the writers of the day; they read their trivial and feeble work, compare them, weigh them. In fact, it may be laid down as a general rule that those who sneer at contemporary literature are either the elder men who now read none of it, or the younger men who as yet know nothing of it. The great fact remains, that while in these seven magazines, considered as the leaders from the critical and cultivated point, two-fifths of the articles are purely literary, the greater part of this fraction of two- fifths is devoted to contemporary writers and contemporary subjects. But we have only taken seven magazines. There remain others. Blackwood contains some excel- lent literary papers; so does Temple Bar; so does the Cornhill and Longmans'. There are others. We must not forgot the New Revieic, a paper quite as good as the Contemporary—written for, in fact, by the same men who write for the larger journal. Nor must we forget such papers as the Saturday Review, the Spectator, the Athenceum, full of literary papers, admirably written, and for the most part full of suggestion and instruction. The seven which we have examined, however, sufficiently establish the important point, that literature, ancient and modern, is a subject which interests very largely—more largely than any other subject —a very large number of people. The increase in these magazines and the apparent fact that they all flourish, prove that this class is largely on the increase. Yet it is not a very considerable class. Are there one hundred thousand men and women, in all, in these Islands, who read these papers with pleasure? Probably not nearly so many. They are, however, a very important class. Among them are the journalists of the better class, the more cultivated of the professions, professors, lecturers, and schoolmasters, a sprinkling of the clergy, and the critics, historians, poets, and novelists themselves. The influence of these people stretches out in all directions; no one can tell where a paper in the Contemporary may not be felt. Here is an opinion: it teaches, as from a recognized centre of authority, those who teach others; so it is spread abroad. Go into a country house; you will hear opinions expressed on the latest novelist, the latest dramatist; and you will presently learn that they are taken bodily—with or without acknowledgment—from a magazine. One more question is suggested by this list. Who are the men and women who write these papers? Their number is necessarily limited. If the editor wants a paper on a French or English writer, there are not many men whom he can a*k. Let us see, then, from this list who are the living writers who during these three years contributed the papers on Authors living and dead, and on the literary subjects we have mentioned. Their names are as follows:— Edwin Abbott. Prof. Blaikie. Canon Ainger. Walter Besant. G. Aitkin. Henry Blackburn. Grant Allen. Karl Blind. William Archer. Mathilde Blind. Alfred Austin. Madame Blaize de J. M. Barrie. Bury. Wyke Bayliss. Rev. Stopford Augustine Birrell. Brooke.  ## p. 407 (#811) ############################################ THE A UTHOR. Hall Caine. Dean Church. E. Courtney. Oswald Crawfurd, Prof. Dowden. Austin Dobson. A. Conan Doyle. R. Dunlop. Archdeacon Farrar. Edmund Gosse. P. Greenwood. E. Dirk beck Hill. Prof. Knight. H. A. Kennedy. H. G. Keene. * Andrew Lang. A. H. Lecky. W. S. Lilly. Mrs. Lynn Linton. Mowbray Morris. Gabriel Monod. Prof. Minto. P. Myers. George Moore. Wilfrid Meynell. Justin McCarthy. Canon MacColl. Walter Pater. E. E. Prothero. Kennell Rodd. Prof. Romanes. E. S. Shuckburgh. William Sharpe. George Saintsbury. A. Swinburne. . J. A. Symonds. Paul Sylvester. Prof. Tyndal. H. D. Traill. Stanley Weyman. William Watson. Dean of Wells. Oscar Wilde. H. B. Wheatley. Rev. Philip H. Wicksteed. Julia Wedgwood. Helen Ziminern. may be taken as whose opinion is likely to be asked. The number is 64. Of course, this list is not proffered as complete. Few of the specialists are here. One misses such names as, in Art, Middleton and Monkhouse; in Archaeology, Budge, Sayce, Loftie; in Architecture, Hayter Lewis; in Philo- sophy, Herbert Spencer, Sir Frederick Pollock, James Sully; in Science, the names of all the leaders. But the list is representative. It a first rough list of those most considered, and most Omissions will be discovered, and will be supplied by anyone who reads the list. And if one were to extend the research, to include a few other magazines—such as the Church Quarterly, the Lata Quarterly, Blackwood, Longmans', &c— and to take the last ten years instead of the last three, we should arrive at a complete list of those who are considered by editors, and accepted by the world, as having a right to speak. Shall the Author extend this research? It is, if one comes to think of it, no mean thing to become one of these accepted speakers to the world—these men are the select preachers to the English-speaking race. They speak to a vast audience of a hundred millions; not that all are listening; most have got the rake in their hands and are raking with deaf ears; but they may listen if they please. And round the select preacher's pulpit is gathered a little throng of a few thousands. These listen and go away and tell others, further off, who could not hear what the preacher has said. And these again toll others, until at last even the man with the rake lifts his head and pricks up his cars. OBSERVATIONS ON "THE TALE-TELLING ART" IN SIR WALTER SCOTT'S INTRODUCTIONS TO THE "WAVERLEY NOVELS." III. A few passages in Sir Walter Scott's introduc- tions still remain which may claim the attention of the novelist, who will regret that they are but few. Respecting too many of the details of the art of fiction, Sir Walter Scott does not in his prefaces Bay a single word. No remarks of any kind are to be found about description of scenery, no remarks upon portraiture, no remarks upon con- trast of characters, nor upon a number of those other details of the "craft of romance writing," in which Sir Walter himself excelled, and upon which it is evident that he must have bestowed no ordinary care and thought. Two passages, however, occur bearing upon the study of character. The study of character is, of course, scarcely a detail of the art of fiction; it is rather the very soul of good story-telling; and all that Sir Walter Scott says in both of these places deserves close attention, not only on account of the great suggestiveness of his remarks, but also on account of the high importance to the novelist of any hints he can gather upon the treatment of character. The first of these passages will be found in the "Advertisement" preceding "The Antiquary." It treats of the great value in romance of characters drawn from those ranks of life in which the passions are least restrained by cultivation, and the feelings are most frequently expressed without reserve :— "I have in the two last narratives ['Guy Mannering,' and • The Antiquary '] sought my principal personages in the class of society who are the last to feel the influence of that general polish which assimilates to each other the manners of different nations. Among the same class I have placed some of the scenes, in which I have en- deavoured to illustrate the operations of the higher and more violent passions, both because the lower orders are less restrained by the habit of suppressing their feelings, and because . . . they seldom fail to express themselves in the strongest and most powerful language."  ## p. 408 (#812) ############################################ 408 THE AUTHOR. The second passage deals with a point no less important, but much more difficult: the choice of such characters as the general reader's conception of life will enable him easily to comprehend. This restriction will bo felt by every author to be a hard one, for it narrows the range of the novelist, reducing him to something resembling the dra- matist's small stock-in-trade of characters, whom everyone can immediately understand. Upon reflection, however, it will probably be admitted that Sir Walter Scott's contention is in the main justified by the fact that everything which is intended to entertiiin, or, indeed, to instruct, must of necessity be perfectly intelligible. It was Sir Walter Scott's opinion that in Sir Percie Shafton the Euphuist, in "The Monastery," he had presented a character which was not in- telligible; and why not intelligible he is at much pains to explain in a long passage in the " Intro- duction to ' The Monastery.'" The whole cannot be quoted here, and should be read in its proper context. The chief points, however, are these "The author had the vanity to think that a character, whose peculiarities should turn on ex- travagancies which were once universally fashionable, might be read in a fictitious story with a good chance of affording amusement to the existing generation, who, fond as they arc of looking back on the actions and manners of their ancestors, might be also supposed to be sensible of their absurdities . . . He was disappointed . . . The Euphuist, far from being accounted a well- drawn and humorous character . . . was con- demned as unnatural and absurd . . . The author has been led to suspect that . . . his subject was injudiciously chosen . . . The manners of a rude people are always founded on nature, and therefore the feelings of a more polished generation immediately sympathise with them . . . It does not follow that the . . . tastes, opinions, and follies of one civilised period should afford cither . . . interest or . . . amusement to . . another. Let us take . . . Shaks- peare himself . . . The mass of readers peruse without amusement the characters formed on the extravagance of a temporary fashion . . . The Euphuist Don Armado, the pedant Holophernes, even Nym and Pistol, are read with little pleasure by the mass of the public . . .In like manner, while the distresses of Romeo and Juliet continue to interest every bosom, Mercutio, drawn as an accurate representation of the finished fine gentle- man of the period, and, as such, received by the unanimous approbation of contemporaries, has so little to interest the present age, that stripped of his puns and quirks of verbal wit, he only retains a place in the scene in virtue of his fine and fanciful speech upon dreaming, which belongs to no particular age . . . The introduction of a. humorist acting, like Sir Percie Shafton, upon some, forgotten or obsolete mode of folly ... is rather likely to awake the disgust of the reader, as un- natural, than find him food for laughter . The formidable objection of iucredulits odi was applied to the Euphuist, as well as to the White Lady of Avenel; and the one was denounced as unnatural, while the other was rejected as im- possible." In the first chapter of "The Bride of Lammer- moor," in the imaginary conversation with Dick Tinto, Sir Walter Scott has something to say upon the use and abuse of dialogue in romance. "Your characters," be [Dick Tinto] said . . putter too much . . . there is nothing in whole pages but mere chat and dialogue." "The ancient philosopher," said I in rejily, "was wont to say, ' Speak, that I may know thee'; and how is it possible for an author to introduce his dramatis persona to his readers in a more inte- resting and effectual manner than by the dialogue in which each is represented as supporting his own appropriate character?" The dangers of an excess of dialogue, and the value of descriptive narrative are a few lines below thus happily expressed :— "Description," he said, "was to the author of a romance exactly what drawing and tinting were to a painter; words were his colours, and, if properly employed, they could not fail to place the scene which he wished to conjure up, as effectually before the mind's eye, as the tablet or canvas presents it to the bodily organ. The same rules . . . applied to both, and an exuberance of dialogue, in the former case, was a verbose and laborious mode of composition which went to confound the proper art of fictitious narrative with that of drama, a widely different species of composition, of which dialogue was the very essence. . . . But as nothing can be more dull than a long narrative written upon the plan of a drama, so where you have approached most near to that species of com- position, by indulging in prolonged scenes of mere conversation, the course of your story has become chill and constrained, and you have lost the power of arresting the attention and exciting the imagina- tion, in which upon other occasions you may be considered as having succeeded tolerably well." The words are supposed to be addressed to Sir Walter, who here is again criticising himself. They suggest several questions. Do readers of the present day find their attention more arrested by the narrative portions than by the dialogues in the "Waverley Novels "? Does not fiction tend to use  ## p. 409 (#813) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. dialogue more and more, and narrative less? Was dialogue one of Sir AValter Seott's strong points? These are questions which the reader must answer for himself. One remark alone Sir Walter makes on romance style :— "Every work designed for amusement must he expressed in language easily comprehended." (General Preface to the "Waverley Novels.") The astonishing speed at which Sir Walter Scott wrote his novels must be considered one of the marvels of those marvellous compositions. Like a good many other authors he was advised by people, who certainly knew a good deal less about novel- writing than he did, to write more slowly, and to bestow more care upon construction and composi- tion. By these means, so his counsellors assured him, certain portions of his work which they found inferior to the rest would be vastly improved. Few lines that he has written will be more interesting to authors than his reply :— "The works and passages in which I have succeeded have uniformly been written with the greatest rapidity . . . the parts in which I have come feebly off wen; by much the more laboured." (Introductory Epistle, Captain Clut- terbuck to the Rev. j)r. Dryasdust, preceding "The Fortunes of Nigel.") When the "Waverley Novels" were collected into a complete edition, Sir Walter Scott subjected them all to a careful revision. A comparison of the texts of the first editions with the texts offered as final, might afford some curious points. Many of the alterations would, no doubt, prove trivial, but it is hardly possible to doubt that others might be of interest. Sir Walter says of his emenda- tions :— "These consist in occasional pruning where the language is redundant, compression where the style is loose, infusion of vigour where it is languid, and exchange of less forcible for more appropriate epithets." ("Advertisement," preceding General Preface to "Waverley Novels.") A single subject remains, about which Sir Walter Scott has a good deal to say: the difficult enterprise of choosing a title. On the one hand, he admits— "It is of little consequence what the work is called, provided it catches public attention." (Introductory Epistle, Captain Clutterbuck to the Rev. Dr. Dryasdust, preceding "The Abbot.") On the other hand, he was not at all blind to the fact that the title itself might much assist to "catch the public attention," and was very careful about the names of his books, "a good name being very nearly of as much consequence in literature as in life." (Introduction to "Rob Roy.") At the same time he was very shy of "taking titles." Of these he speaks in three different places, and all that he says is deserving of the consideration of everyone thinking of publishing a book:— "The publisher and author, however much their general interests are the same, may be said to differ so far as title pages are concerned; and it is a secret of the tale-telling art . . . that a taking title . . . best answers the purpose of the book- seller, since it . . . sells an edition not unfrequently before the public have well seen it. But the author ought to seek more permanent fame. . . . Many of the best novelists have been anxious to give their works such titles as render it out of the reader's power to conjecture their contents until they should have an opportunity of reading them." (Introduction to the "Betrothed.") "What is called a taking title serves the direct interest of the bookseller. . . . But if the author permits an over-degree of attention to be drawn to his work ere it lias appeared, he places himself in the embarrassing condition of having excited a degree of expectation, which, if he proves unable to satisfy, is an error fatal to his literary reputation." (Introduction to " Ivanhoe.") "A taking title is a recipe for success much in favour with booksellers, but which authors will not always find efficacious. The cause is worth a moment's examination. A tale . . . sure by the very announcement to excite public curiosity to a considerable degree ... is of the last importance to the bookseller. . . . But it is a different case with the author, since it cannot be denied that we are apt to feel less satisfied with the work of which we have been induced ... to entertain exagge- rated expectations." (Introduction to "The Abbot.") Sir Walter Scott received very large sums for his copyrights, and was so conscious of the money value of his work, that when he found himself, by no fault of his own, ruined and responsible for a gigantic debt, he courageously resolved to earn with his pen the sum Decessary to pay it. No author ever wrote with a more direct, or more laudable intention of obtaining money, and so the following lines from the Introductory Epistle preceding the "Fortunes of Nigel," may perchance, more fitly than any others close these brief notes on observations on the "tide-telling art" in Sir Walter Scott's introductions to the "Waverley Novels":— "No work of imagination, proceeding from the mere consideration of a certain sum of copy money ever did, or ever will, succeed." Hexhy Crksswell. ■  ## p. 410 (#814) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. WALT WHITMAN. I. An Interview. IT was in September 1881 that I had a personal interview with Wnlt Whitman. Accompanied by a well-known Boston journalist, I called in the forenoon upon the old bard. We set awaiting his arrival for some minutes. Then the door opened, and there walked into the room, with simple mien and unconstrained air, as out of an Ossianic poem or some ancient bardic lay, a veritable Brehon. Tall and slightly stooped, leaning on a stick and walking slowly (the effect of a stroke of paralysis), Walt Whitman, the poet of the American democracy, struck me as a very remarkable picture. His hair white and long, his eye a light blue, bright, intelligent, and brilliant, strongly marked nose, slightly blunted, over a white moustache, and the countenance framed all around with a long white beard and whiskers. Sui generis in dress as in literature, Walt Whitman was every inch an ideal poet to gaze upon, the open Byronic collar and loose coat and waistcoat, surmounted by his massive and venerable head, making an interesting and impressive picture. Whitman in conversation was measured and thoughtful, liked to hear about English literature, especially poetry, and had made up his mind very strongly upon the merits of modern bards. He was then beginning to be understood in Boston, and was acutely sensible of the change of opinion which was gradually coming over the American literary world with regard to his work. He himself has declared that the proof of a poet is that his country absorbs him as affectionately as he has absorbed it. He was fond of young men. "It does me good," he said to me, "to see the boys and young men, and to have them about me." The grandeur of his personal presence, the calm thought enthroned upon his brow, impressed one with the idea that he partook more of the seer and the sage than of the modern poet. I shall always carry with me a memory of Walt Whitman as the First Brehon of the American race. P. H. Bagenal. II. Walt Whitman's Last Room. When I described, on Nov. 29, a recent visit to Walt Whitman, I did not say half I thought of the squalor and wretchedness of his surroundings. It is a wonder to me that he did not die long ago from the effects of the unwholesome atmosphere of the place. Whitman was a man who loved and needed the sunlight and fresh air. In that wretched room he had neither. It faced the north, and the little light that might have shone upon him was kept out by dirty windows and closed shutters. I doubt if the room had ever been swept, much less thoroughly cleaned. The dirty carpet, the piles of old newspapers, the unmade bed, the rickety stove that gave out enough heat to dry up a much more vigorous body than that of the old poet, all had the most depressing effect upon me when I came into the place from the crisp, clear air of a bright October day. I have read descriptions of old misers who have been found dead amid their miserable surroundings, but Walt Whitman's bed- room gave me a far more vivid sense of what such dens must be than columns of mere description. The pathetic thing about it was his contentment. I am well taken care of," he said; "the people, here are very kind." The latter statement was probably true; but I do not call such care as he received good care. I would not have left a favourite dog to live in such a place. I have been told that his friends who visited him in his last illness were greatly annoyed by the unclean wretchedness of the place, but, seeing that he was too far gone to make expostulation advisable, they held their peace.—The New Yokk Critic. ■ FROM AMERICA. ICAN assure you that the condition of the author in America, so far as I am qualified to judge, is even more lamentable than his English brother. You say that " the sweating of authors— chiefly ladies and small authors—that goes on is really terrible." I think that in America, although all authors suffer, the case of the women writers, especially the young authors, is worse, because women, as a rule, are ignorant of business methods, and are especially timid about standing up for their just rights. I greatly desire to see a " Society for the Pro- tection of American Authors" established on the lines ably laid down in the Forum article, and to that end I should be most grateful if you would mail me any printed reports of your Society that you are willing to make public, and especially the two pamphlets mentioned: "The Cost of Production " and " Methods of Publishing," together with a few sample copies of your Author, which I am unable to get in Boston, or even to learn its subscription price. \  ## p. 411 (#815) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 411 I am an author myself ou a small scale, and a contributor to the American Press, but have suffered severely from the methods of payment employed by most publishers, and by all but a few of the largest magazines. Almost all American periodicals "pay on publication," and an author's MSS. are frequently detained, say five years, without any compensation. The syndicate method also works a great injustice to young authors. For instance, one of the largest syndicates in New York city pays at the rate of about 610 per column of 2,000 words for a timely, newsy article, generally not wishing more than a column and a half. This same article is sold perhaps to forty newspapers throughout the United States, and each editor pays for it at the rate of about $5 per column, some- times more, if the author is noted. The syndicate, therefore, takes in about $200 to the author's §10; if this is not a case of "sweating" I hardly know what is. Young authors often endure this in silence, for they hope that the wide circulation given to their article and their name may sometime come back to them in solid cash, but the expecta- tion is often disappointed. For instance, I sent an article of nearly two columns in length that had taken me some time in careful preparation to the above-named syndicate. In my letter to the editor I said that the work thereon was exhaustive, and that I "should like" $20 therefor. No reply was made, and I presumed my terms were accepted. Some weeks afterwards, when the article was published, and I was without redress, I 'received a curt note from the editor saying that the article was only worth Si2 to them, and they therefore sent me a check for that amount. On asking an editor-friend in Boston about the justice of the case, he assured me that I had no legal claim, because I had merely said " I should like," instead of saying plainly " The price is 320." Another syndicate to which I sent a carefully written article on a subject pertaining to women, detained my article of 4,000 words some four months, then offered me a beg- garly price for about 1,000 words: I declined it, and wrote requesting the editor to return me the article. After some weeks' delay he did so, but one-quarter of it, the portion he desired, was miss- ing. I could not get it until a newspaper editor and personal friend called and got it in person. Some weeks after, a friend from the West sent me a cutting, which contained the portion of my article which the syndicate had retained, and never paid for, almost verbatim. I had no redress that I could find out for this case of downright robbery. In a third case I sold a magazine article on a topic of interest to women to a certain magazine for §3o. It was to be paid for on publication, but the month before the article was to appear the magazine failed, and everything was put into the hands of a receiver. I wrote for my unpaid article, but received the reply that it was the property of the magazine, and was now in the editor's desk, which was sealed up, together with about thirty dollars worth of fine pen and ink sketches, the work of an artist friend, also unpaid for. I finally recovered the articles, but their timeliness was gone; I had to wait another year for a publisher, and the pen and ink sketches, although made to order, were detained for months, and finally returned unpaid for, resulting in a total loss to the artist, who had kindly offered to illustrate my work. In still another case I sold a series of letters upon European travel to a prominent New York weekly, giving them the copyright. They, how- ever assured me that if I wished to reprint the articles in book form I was at liberty to do so, if I gave them the credit. Before I had time to do as I had intended, a Boston international steamer agency, without communicating either with me or the editor to whom I sold the work, reprinted nearly the whole of it, issuing it in book form, as an advertisement. Just enough was omitted to make it safe to reprint a copyright work, and, though my name was given anil credit assigned to the paper from which the letters were taken, I did not make a penny by the transaction. When I heard that the book had been so popular that a second edition was to be brought out this season of 2,000 more copies, making 4,000 in tdl, I addressed a letter to the enterprising publisher, suggesting that I might make some additions to the book and corrections making it more valuable, for which I would charge only a nominal sum; the publisher then concluded that, on the whole, he woidd not bring out a second edition this season. I am now negotiating with a second publisher, but fear that owing to the first publication and gra- tuitous distribution of so many copies I have lost all chance of a sale. On another occasion I wrote a timely article for "Thanksgiving" on the "American Cranberry," giving a number of facts which I had been at some pains to obtain. It was sent in ample season, two months in advance, to one of the largest Boston Sunday papers, and I was told by the city editor, whom I knew slightly, that " it had passed the first acceptance." But the MS. had disappeared from the face of the earth; I have looked for it for three years in the paper, but it has never been published, and though I have called a dozen times for it at the newspaper office it has never been found. Although I valued it at $20, and, unfortunately, had no copy by which to replace it, no offer was ever made of payment, and I am told that I have no legal redress, as the article was not specially ordered, and the paper to which it was sent adver- tises "that unsolicited MSS. will not be returned."  ## p. 412 (#816) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. Still, previously that same paper had accepted and paid for a numl>er of my special articles, so I thought that I was safe in submitting this one. I met the loss of another article of equal value in a New York paper, and although I was assured several times that the New York .... always paid for an article if it lost it through its own fault, my modest little bill has remained totally unregarded. I know of a still worse case, where a well-known authoress of New York city sent a complete MS. of a child's book to a well-known Boston publishing house. The MS. was accepted; in some mysterious way between the time of acceptance and publica- tion the MS. disappeared. Although it contained about 8o,ood words, and represented the work of months, the poor author was forced to re-write it from beginning to end, without the offer of pay- ment of a single cent on the part of the. publishing house who lost the MS. Of course, apologies anil regrets were sent, but they did not pay for the loss of time and the double work. In the American newspaper work, especially, there is very sharp competition, and a special writer, like myself, not connected with any regular paper, often suffers severely, when he has an exclusive bit of news. For instance, some years ago, when I was less familiar with newspaper sharp practice than I am now, a new building of public importance was erected in Cambridge, near Harvard College, where I reside, I called ou the superintendent of this manual training school with a letter of introduction from a mutual friend, and he gave me an hour of his valuable time. I then prepared a very full and exhaustive report, of the new building, machinery, &c. The next morning early I called upon the managing editor of the largest paper in Boston, mentioned the fact that this building Was just completed, that no report of it had appeared, and that I had one prepared. The managing editor replied that they did not consider a single manual training school building of sufficient importance to warrant an extended notice; but that if I would visit all such schools in Boston and the neighbouring cities and make a general report they woidd probably accept it. I made my preparations to do so, but on returning for some additional data to the Cambridge school, I was told by the manager that early that morning, evidently directly after my visit in Boston, a special re[K>rter had been sent from the Boston Herald in hot haste to get all the facts, which the manager, knowing of my intention to write the article, out of courtesy to me, refused to give, so that only a maimed and unintelligent report appeared. I have taken the liberty to quote these personal cases to you, as there are thousands of a like kind, with which young writers are helplessly forced to grapple every day. You are at liberty to use these as you see fit, if you will not mention names. I am now a member of the New England Women's Press Association, which also includes a number of authors, and I should greatly like to get this association and the various authors' clubs throughout the country interested in the matter of a reform. E. T. — "AT THE AUTHOR'S HEAD." CITIES, as cities, rarely do honour to their citizens during their lifetime, even though such citizens may become world-famous ; but Bristol is about to break down the habit of letting men be only recognised as famous citizens after death, by acknowledging during his lifetime the valuable ethnographical work that Dr. John Beddoe has been enabled to accomplish, whilst acting also a.s a physician in the Bristol suburb, Clifton. A very representative committee, under Mr. Lewis Frv, M.P., as chairman, has been appointed to present Dr. Beddoe with a volume containing an address recognising his well known labours, that have made his name famous in the scientific world. Amongst the committee are the Earl of Ducie, Bishop Clifford, Canon Ainger, Canon "Wallace, Mr. Warren of Magdalene (a Bristolian); Pro- fessors Lloyd, Morgan, and Rowley of the Univer- sity College, Bristol; the headmaster of Clifton College, Mr. R. L. Leighton, head of the Grammar School, and certain members of the Town Council, in fact a representative, body. Mr. James Baker, acting as Hon. Secretary. The address is to be signed by all the official, literary, scientific, and artistic bodies in Bristol, and will be presented at a dinner during the month of May. Mr. Barry Pain's new volume, entitled " Stories and Interludes," will be published by Messrs. Henry and Co. and by Messrs. Harper & Bros, simul- taneously on May 3rd. Mr. Hall Cable's forthcoming storiette, entitled "Capt'n Davy's Honeymoon," which is to run in Lloyd's, will lie published al>out Midsummer by Mr. AVm. Heinemann. Mrs. George Augustus Sala's new volume, which bears the title " People I have met," has just been published by Messrs. Osgood, Macllvaine and Co. Mr. A. J. Balfour is to preside on the 29th anniversary of the Newspaper Press Fund, which is to be held at the Hotel Metroi>oIe on the 14th instant.  ## p. 413 (#817) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 4'3 Among the series of papers which will uppear in Scribucr's on the position of the great European cities is one by Mr. Walter Besant, dealing with the East London riverside. The parish chosen is that of St. James, Rateliff. Prize stories, with the notable exception of Mr. Goodman's " Only Witness," do not, it seems, catch on. It is reported that the Leadenhall Press have not made a success of their venture "Guess the Title." 10,000 copies were issued, and the Publisher's Circular reports that 9,000 still remain on hand. We are sorry that Mr. Tuer has not made a hit with this venture, but it is, perhaps, fortunate on the whole for the future of fiction that the dodge has not succeeded. We have the advertising fiend quite enough with us as it is, and the self-advertising story is an excrescence which we can very well afford to do without. Ben Brierley has a great popularity, both as a writer and as an entertainer, all over Lancashire, Cheshire, and Derbyshire, and has managed to main- tain himself in a frugal way up till within the last year or two. He was then attacked by illness which kept him confined to his bed for twelve months, and has left him partially paralysed, so that it is impos- sible for him to go on with his entertainments, upon which he mainly depended for a livelihood. A few Lancashire merchants proposed a tribute to him, and up to the present a sum of £25o has been collected in small sums. Among the subscribers were Lord Derby, Viscount Cranbourne, Sir W. H. Houldsworth, Mr. A. J. Balfour, Sir Ughtred Kay Shuttle\vorth,and other leading Lancashire men. It has now been arranged that the mayors of all Lancashire towns shall receive subscriptions for the fund, and it is hoped that it will attain suffi- cient proportions to enable Ben Brierley to be secure from want to the end of his life. If Mr. Gladstone attains to the somewhat doubt- ful honour of being "collected," his fondness for appearance in pamphlet form will lend an added interest to the hunt for complete sets of his works. The last addition to his brochures is a letter on Female Suffrage, addressed to Mr. Samuel Smith, the well-known Liverpool philanthropist, which has just been published by Mr. John Murray. Mr. C. F. Dowsett, F.S.I., has published (The Land Record Office) his promised work on " Land, its attractions and riches," by 57 writers. Principal Bond-deals with "Fruit Growing"; Mr. C. W. Heckethorn with "Investments "; Professor G. Henslow writes on "The Value of Botany to Country Residents"; the Rev. A. Styleman Herring on "Fresh Air for Poor London Chil- dren "; Professor Long on "Dairy Farming "; and the Rev. Compton Reade on "The Pleasures of a Country." Dr. B. W. Richardson deals with "Health in Relation to Land"; Professor A. H. Sayce with "Ancient Laws '*; and Professor R. Wallace with " Egyptian Lands." The death of John Hyslop at Kilmarnock, N.B., removes another of the true jwets of the people. Almost wholly self-educated, he left the machine- room to become a rural messenger something more than thirty years ago, and in the year of Burns' centenary became generally recognised by his tribute to the Ploughman Bard. We extract from the Pall Mall Gazette the concluding lines of his last poem, which was written on his death-bed for the Kilmarnock Standard— I hear the music in the upper rooms, My soul like pent hinl panteth to he free j When that has passed beyond life's prisoning bars, Then burn or bury, do what pleaseth thee With the worn cage that is no longer Me, l'"or I shall neither know, nor hear, nor see. ****** Sometimes, perchance, amid the hurrying years, With friends in shady nook or wooded glen, You'll say: "He coined his soul's best thoughts in words, And sent them rushing through his ready pen In songs of hope to cheer his fellow men." If any songs of all the songs I've sung Make any music where life's discord mars God's harmonies, and through the souls of men Goes echoing on to heal some hidden scars, Then I shall hear it from beyond the stars! The fifth and sixth volumes of Mr. C. G. Leland's translation of the works of Heinrich Heine, which have just been published by Mr. Win. Heinemann, contain the "Germany," the "Comments on Faust," the " Gods in Exile," and the " Goddess Diana." Mr. Leland claims that this is the first complete edition of Heine's "Germany," which, as he very justly contends, is a work of which no one can be ignorant who seeks sound or even superficial reading of modern literature. Mr. Hume Nisbet's new story, "The Bush- ranger's Sweetheart," has just been issued by Mr. F. V. White. M. Chedomil Mijatovich, formerly Servian Minister at the Court of St. James's, has issued an interesting book on the conquest of Constantinople by the Greeks, which embodies the result of great personal research. Messrs. Sampson Low anil Co. are the publishers. Hitherto, no single monograph on the conquest of Constantinople has existed in English, though as early as 1670 a tragedy entitled the "Siege of Constantinople" was published in London.  ## p. 414 (#818) ############################################ 414 THE AUTHOR. "Haunts of Nature," by H. W. S. Worsley- Benison, and illustrated by C. M. Worsley, is issued by Elliot Stock. Mr. Worsley-Benison is already very well known as the author of " Nature's Fairyland," and in his new book shows that he is not an unworthy successor even to Richard Jefferies. Mr. Edmund Downey (F. M. Allen) has ready a collection of Irish tales, which, under the title of "Green as Grass," will be published by Messrs. Chatto and Windus in a few days. Dr. S. P. Driver, the Regius Professor of Hebrew at the University of Oxford, has concluded a volume of sermons, entitled "Old Testament Criticisms." Messrs. Methuen are the publishers. Mr. Rudyard Kipling's " Barrack Room Ballads" —Japanese paper edition—was published on April 3oth by Messrs. Methuen. Mr. Arthur Symon's new volume of verse, which is to bear the title of " Silhouettes," will be published immediately by Messrs. Elkin Mathews and John Lime. There is to be yet another Metropolitan literary society, the Irish Literary Society, which is to be inaugurated next month under the presidency of Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, K.C.M.G. The Rev. Stopford Brooke is to deliver the inaugural address. Mr. E. F. Knight, the author of the "Cruise of the Falcon," promises a book relating his adventures during the recent campaign in Hun/.a, in which he acted not only as special correspondent of the Times, but as a combatant. The Rev. Chas. Voysey has prepared, and Messrs. Williams and Norgate have published, a third edition of a Theistic Prayer Book, greatly enlarged, and containing new services and many new hymns. Mrs. Frank St. Clair Grimwood's story, "The Power of an Eye," is running in Winter's Weekly, and will Ik- published shortly by Mr. F. V. White. Mr. Mackenzie Bell contributes a poem on a religious theme to the Christian Leader. The May number of the Library Revieiv con- tains a further contribution by Stanley Little on "Current Fiction," in which he will deal with woman as a creator in fiction; an article entitled "Tennyson as Dramatist" by Cuming Walters; another by Graham Aylward on "Mr. Meredith and his Critics"; and one by Percy White on "Daudet and his Literary Methods." Mr. Eden Philpotts's new story "A Tiger's Cub" has just been issued by Messrs. Arrowsniith. "Mark Tillotson " is the title of the new novel by the author of " John Westacott," which appears this month. It is dedicated to the veteran poet, Frederick von Bodenstedt, the good friend of "George Eliot " during her Munich life. Mr. E. S. Purcell has written the authorised Life of Cardinal Manning. He has had not only the Cardinal's permission but also his assistance, with the right to read and use private diaries and letters. We learn from the New York Critic, that shortly after the appearance of "Vain Fortune," Charles Scribner's Sons made Mr. George Moore an offer for tho right of reprinting it in America. The author accepted, stipulating only that he should be allowed to re-write his novel. This he has done with such thoroughness that the first half of the narrative has been entirely changed, and the main interest transferred from the hero to the heroine. Messrs. Osgood, Mcllvaine, and Co. are to publish this month a book by Mr. Hamilton Aide, entitled " A Voyage of Discovery," a novel illustra- tive of American Society as Mr. Aide found it last year when travelling here with Mr. Stanley. Those readers whose attention has been attracted by the life story of Travers Madge, as told by the Rev. Dr. Brooke Herford in "A Protestant Poor Friar," will be interested to know that from this strangely pathetic life Mrs. Humphry Ward drew the idea of her Ancrum, the crippled minister in "David Grieve." In "The Gentleman Digger"—Sampson Low and Co.—the Comtesse de Bremont sets forth with a good deal of spirit and actuality pictures of Johannesburg life in 1889, that is to say, at about the period of the famine, the crisis, and the collapse of the feverish "boom"of 1888-89. The varied types of mankind—ill enough for the most part— tlie hideous scenes enacted daily and nightly at the great gold and diamond mining camps of South Africa; the unutterable squalor, glitter, drunken- ness, chicanery, and crime; all these things are displayed in a very realistic manner. As depicting true phases of life, as a very real warning, this book undoubtedly has a value. And it is to the author's credit that she has raised her voice against that vilest of all systems of murder, the poisoning of native races, body and soul, by the horrible drink traffic.  ## p. 415 (#819) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 4i5 FROM THE PAPERS. I. The Lowell Memorial. DEAN Bradley's refusal to find room for a memorial to Lowell in Westminster Abbey is an act of which no explanation is yet forthcoming. Want of space is no explanation, any more than when the bust of Matthew Arnold was hid away in an obscure corner where not one visitor in a thousand will ever see it. Lowell, of course, has no claim. No American has a claim, nor any Englishman either. It rests with the Dean of Westminster, for the time being, to grant or refuse admission to the Abbey. There is no appeal from his discretion, or indiscretion, except to public opinion, or to Parliament, where public opinion is sometimes crystallized into a concrete reform. It was Parliament which intervened to save the Abbey from the intrusion of Prince Louis Napoleon, whom Dean Stanley was resolved to admit. The present is no cause for invoking that supreme court of appeal. Nor do I know that Lowell's American friends need care much about the matter. It is Lowell's English friends who made the request to the Dean, which he somewhat churlishly, they think, has re- jected. Lowell, says one of them, is not thought good enough for the Abbey. Perhaps not. He was merely the foremost American man of letters of his time, long resident in England and beloved here; a representative who did invaluable service to his own country and to this; admittedly the first—it is the English who admit it—scholar of English literature. What has he to do with Westminster Abbey? That mausoleum of non- entities is dignified, no doubt, by the tombs and memorials of some great men, but the majority are no company for Lowell. To say that Lowell shall not find a place tliere is to say that no American shall in the future, and that the few now there had better come away; Longfellow first of all, who will hardly care to remain now that his friend is ex- cluded. If any Dean of Westminster of the future regrets the exclusion, he may chisel into some vacant stone the line in which the French Academy does penance for the absence of Moliere: "Nothing was wanting to his glory. He is wanting to ours." —New York Tribune. April 10, 1892. II. The Glorious Traditions of the Book Agent. Napoleon Bonaparte, when a poor lieutenant, took the agency for a work entitled " L'Histoire de la Revolution." In the foyer of the great palace of the Louvre can be seen to-day the great Emperor's canvassing outfit, with the long list of subscribers he secured. George Washington, when young, canvassed around Alexandria, Va., and sold over 200 copies of a work entitled " Bydell's American Savage." Mark Twain was a book agent. Longfellow sold books by subscription. Jay Gould, when shirting in life, was a canvasser. Daniel Webster paid his second term's tuition at Dartmouth by handling "De Tocqueville's America," in Merrimac County, New Hampshire. General U. S. Grant canvassed for "Irving's Columbus." Rutherford B. Hayes canvassed for "Baxter's Saints' Rest." James G. Blaine began life as a canvasser for a "Life of Henry Clay." Bismarck, when at Heidelberg, spent a vacation canvassing for one of Blumenbach's handbooks.— New York Critic. III. The Chief Use of the Society. I conceive the Society's most important function to be the establishment of that solidarity amongst literary folk, notoriously a race of units, which has hitherto been non-existent. It is a great thing that voting authors should be able to get advice and help from those who know better than themselves; but it is much more that the whole profession of literature should have a focus, a rallying point, a central representative body—call it what you will. And it seems to me that it is the plain duty of every author, of whatever posi- tion, to further the consolidation of the Society by joining it. Many of its members, of course, do not need help themselves; they should, there- fore, add their own strength to the weakness of their less fortunate brethren. And of its power of immediate usefulness, the best testimony is to be found in the list of the more important cases in which the Society has interfered during the past year. It is very interesting reading, and will certainly convince all sceptics of the real usefulness of the Society and the justness of the ideal relations between author and publisher which it holds up.— IVinter's Weekly. IV. American Fiction. American fiction has distinctly forsaken the expansive and the illimitable to run after the contracted and the limited. Instead of a national novel we now have a rapidly accumulating series of regional novels, or rather—so far as the sub- dividing and minimising process goes—of local tales, neighbourhood sketches, short stories confined to the author's Imck yard.— The New York Nation.  ## p. 416 (#820) ############################################ 416 THE AUTHOR. v. Newspaper Copyright. In the interesting discussion on newspaper copy- right now proceeding in the Times, no one has yet called attention to the very definite agreement on the subject embodied in the Berne Convention. Article VII. of that instrument runs as follows :—• "Articles from newspapers or periodicals pub- lished in any of the countries of the Union may be reproduced in original or in translation in the other countries of the Union, unless the authors or publishers have expressly forbidden it. For periodicals it is sufficient if the prohibition is made in a general manner at the beginning of each number of the periodical. This prohibition cannot in any case apply to articles of political discussion, or to the reproduction of news of the day or current topics." It will thus be seen that countries in the Copy- right Union have agreed, in so far as their relations with each other are concerned, to recognise no copyright under any circumstances in (i) articles of political discussion; (2) news of the day; or (3) current topics—a somewhat vague clause this last one.—Pall Mall Gazette. VI. From America. In New York City alone are nearly a dozen publishing "nouses of great wealth, and a score more in a highly prosperous condition. One rarely hears of a publisher failing, from the Cheap Johns and publishers of penny dreadfuls to those of a higher order. On the other hand, there can scarcely be pointed out an American author who is able to make even a decent living by his books. However, the vital question is: How can this state of things be remedied? A partial remedy could be found, no doubt, in the formation of an American Society of Authors similar to the Incor- porated Society of Authors of Great Britain, or the Societe des Gens de Lettres of France. The British Society is organised for the protection of literary property. It has been already of incalcul- able benefit to the British author. The organisa- tion of a similar society has been long mooted among American authors, and signs point to the present time as being ripe for it. The writer, in his inquiries among literary men, has found every- one in favour of it, and none opposed to it. Such a society should be organised on the most liberal basis. It should be open to everyone, young or old, male or female, who has written a book, whether published or not, and to recognised writers for the press. It should retain the best legal counsel; it should provide from its concentrated wisdom and experience a form of contract in which the author's right should be protected—such contracts having been hitherto drawn by the publisher for the pro- tection of his interests. It should have at least one executive officer, who should be an author of experience, and who should give information to all members applying for it, and take cognizance of all complaints, and who should have for counsel and assistance an advisory board composed of three of the ablest and most experienced members of the society. Finally, it should assume, and carry to the courts if need be, all clear cases of extortion and oppression of authors on the part of publishers. Such a society would save American authors thousands of dollars yearly, and chiefly to the young and inexperienced, who need help most.— Charles B. Todd in the Forum. VII. The Education op Opinion. Many publishers, especially the younger men, are gentlemen who have their clubs and their social positions. Social position is like marriage; the man who has it gives hostages to fortune. He cannot afford to have it said that in business trans- actions he systematically cheats. Cold looks greet him, club acquaintances avoid him; he finds the atmosphere of the club chilling. This has already happened in one or two instances; it is the first expression of public opinion in its infancy. What else can the Society attempt; I wish I could publish in these pages, in order to show its work, the letters of a single day. Agreements are sent up for examination, questions of difficulty about copyright in articles or books, questions as to cost, questions as to the trustworthiness of pub- lishers, questions of every kind. Our secretaries are supposed to know everything; hard by our offices are those of our solicitors, to whom are referred almost every day some points of difficulty. We keep authors out of the hands of dishonest publishers—this is a tremendous weapon. There are certain houses from which we have kept many thousands of pounds; we prevent authors from signing unfair agreements; we have readers to examine the manuscripts of young writers and to advise them. The newr American Copyright Law has introduced a whole sheaf of difficulties. In a word, we are the only body which has ever existed for the maintenance and defence of literary property for its creators and producers. What it has still to do. There remains before us one more service to literature. We desire above all things to formulate the broad principles upon which publishing should  ## p. 417 (#821) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 4i7 be conducted, so as to give the author the full share that belongs to him, and to recognise to their utmost the services of the publishers. I do not think that the problem will prove insoluable, once fairly tackled. I have myself a solution to offer, if I can only persuade other people to accept it. Whatever method is ndopted must depend entirely upon the success of a book, and therefore must be some form of royalty. Publisher and author must be interested in its success, each in his own fair proportion. In this place I can only point out the thing as one which must be attempted. For my own part I have seen, every day since the formation of the Society, fresh evidence of the necessity of such a corporation as our own.— Walter Bksant in the Forum. VIII. An Outside Opinion on the Society. Old and business-like authors gratefully acknow- ledge their gratitude? to this wonderful undertaking; but to the young and untried writers it is even more invaluable. It lias saved many youthful aspirants from ruin, by persuading them not to produce trash at their own risk, and has helped the more promising by kindly advice and suggestions in a way that has enabled authors to remodel a faulty MS. until it presented a readable and sale- able book. The Society has a monthly paper of its own, conducted by Mr. Besant, helped by many of our best writers, in which all means of publication, new methods, pitfalls to be avoided, &c, are fully discussed. The Authors' Club is an off-shoot of the Society, and bids fair to rival the Savilc. Unfortunately there are no lady members, so that the feminine part of the world of letters have to be content with the Albemarle or the Writers'. Nevertheless, the Society itself does not close its doors to women, who muster strongly among its members. There is an erroneous idea current that the Society acts as publishers. This is not so. It is practically an agent. It is also a lawyer, and al>ove all it is an able and willing adviser.—The Queen. ♦■»■♦ NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS. Theology. Baxter, Ukv. M. Forty Coming Wonders from 1892 to 1901. Eightieth thousand. Christian Herald Office, Tudor Street, Salisbury Square, K.C. Bell, Captain Henry. Selections from the Table Talk of Martin Luther. Translated by. Cassell's National Library. Cloth, 6d. CaLTHROp, Ukv. Gordon. St. Paul: a Study. Addresses given in St. Paul's Cathedral. Paper covers, is. 61/. The Church in Walks. Full report of the debate on Mr. Samuel Smith's Resolution in the House of Commons on February 23, 1892. Paper covers (bd.). Also Speeches by Mr. Balfour and Sir E. Clarke on that occasion (it/, each). Church Defence Institution, Bridge Street, S.W. Corbktt, Kkv. F. St. John. Echoes of the Sanctuary. Skeffington and Son. Cornpord, Kkv. James. The Book of Common Prayer, with historical notes. Edited by. Eyre and Spottis- woodc. Griffith, Ralph T. H. The Hymns of the Rigveda. Translated, with a popular comment-try by. Vol. IV. (The previous volumes were published in 1889, 1890, and 1891.) E. J. Lazarus and Co., Benares. Gkimthokpk, Loud. A Review of Prebendary Sadler's "Church Doctrine—Bible Truth " anil of Mr. Gore's Theory of Our Lord's Ignorance. 6d. Protestant Churchmen's Alliance. Hill, Rowland, and Spurokox, C. II. Remarkable Sermons Preached from the same Text—" Christ Crucified." Passmore and Alabaster. Paper covers, 3d. Maurice, F. D. Sermons Preached in Lincoln's Inn Chapel. Sixth and last volume. New edition. Mac- niillan. 3j. id. Rawson, Sib Rawson W , K.C.M.G. The Gospel Narra- tive, or Life of Jesus Christ, collated from the Autho- rized Text of the Four Gospels, with Notes of all material changes in the Revised Version, and Epitome and Harmony of the Gospels. 5». net. Reynolds, H. B., D.D. Light and Peace. Sermons and addresses. "Preachers of the Age " Series. With portrait. Sampson Low. 3j. 6<f. Spurgkon, Rev. C. II. Sermons. "Contemporary Pulpit Library." Swan Sonuenschein. Voysey, Rev. Charles. The Theistic Prayer Book. Third edition. Williams and Norgate. Williams, Rowland, D.D. Psalms and Litanies: Coun- sels and Collects for Devout Persons. Edited by his willow. New edition. Fisher Cnwiu. ys. 6d. Wordsworth, Charlks, D.D., D.C.L. Primary Witness to the Truth of the Gospel, a series of discourses; also a charge on modern teaching on the canon of the Old Testament. Longiuaus. 73. 6d. History and Biography. AunoTT, Edwin A. The Anglican Career of Cardinal Newman. 2 vols. Macmillan. 2 5s. net. Beniiam, Charlks E. Colchester Worthies: a biographical index of Colchester. Simpkin, Marshall. Boask, Frederic. Modern English Biography, containing concise memoirs of persons who have died since 18 So. Vol. I., A to H. Truro: Netherton and Worth, for the author (25o copies only printed). 3o.«. net. Brighton, J. G., M.I). Admiral of the Fleet Sir Provo Wallis. A Memoir. With illustrations, charts, &c. Hutchinson. Butler, Arthur John. The Memoirs of Baron de Marbot, late Lieutenant General in the French Army. Translated from the French. 2 vols., with portrait and maps. Longmans. 32*. Chetwtnd-Stapylton, H. E. TheChetwynds of Ingestre: being a history of that family from a very early date. With illustrations by the author. Longmans. 14s.  ## p. 418 (#822) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. Conway, Ri'sset.t. H. Life of C. H. Spurgeon. Illustrated. A. T. Hubbard, Philadelphia. Foster, Joseph. Alumni Oxoniensis: The Members of the University of Oxford, their parentage, birthplace, and year of birth, with a record of their degrees, being the Matriculation Register of the University, alphabetically arranged, revised, and annotated. In two series—from i5oo to 1714 (five vols.), and from 17iS to 1886 (three vols.). Parker and Co. Fowler, VV. Warde. Julius Cajsar, and the Foundation of the Roman Imperial System. "Heroes of the Nations" Series. G. P. Putnam's Sons, Bedford Street, Strand. 5s. Heron-Allen, Edward. I)e Fidiculis Hibliographia: being the basis of the Bibliography of the Violin and all other instruments played with a bow in ancient and modern times. (Part II., Rook Sections and Extracts (continued) and Second Supplement.) Griffith, Far- ran. Paper covers, is. 6d. Holcroft, Thomas. The Life and Adventures of Raron Trcnck. Vol. I. Translated by. Cassell's " National Library." 6,/. Hutton, A. W. Cardinal Manning. With a Ribliography. Metbuen and Co. Lecky, W. E. H. A History of Eugland in the Eighteenth Century. Vol. IV. New edition. Longmans. 6s. Mijatovitch, Chrdomil. Constantino, the Last Emperor of the Greeks; or, The Conquest of Constantinople by the Turks (A.D. 1453), after the latest historical researches. Sampson Low. Musson, S. P., and Roxburgh, T. L. "The Handbook of Jamaica for 1892." Published by authority, com- prising Historical, Statistical, and General Information concerning the Island. Twelfth year of publication. Compiled from official and other reliable records. Edward Stanford. Pike, G. Holden. Charles Huddon Spurgeon. "The World's Workers " Series. Cassell. is. Ri eman, Dr. H. Catechism of Musical History. Second Part—History of Musical Forms. With biographical notices of the most illustrious composers. Translated from the German. Augencr and Co., Newgate Street, E.C. is. 6rf. (Paper covers, zs. net.) Sorel, Albert. Madame de Stael. With portrait. Great French Writers Series. Fisher Unwiu. 3s. 6d. Symonds, J. A., and Daughter Margaret. Our Life in the Swiss Highlands. A. and C. Black. Verney, Colonel Lloyd. A Description of the Parish Church of Llangurig, Montgomeryshire. G. Pnlman and Sons, Thayer Street, W. is. General Literature. Acland, A. H. D., and Smith, H. Llewellyn. Studies in Secondary Education. Edited by Arthur H. D. Acland, M.P., and H. Llewellyn Smith, M.A., B.Sc. With an Introduction by James Brycc, M.P. Percival and Co. 7s. 6d. Anderson, John. The Colonial Office List for 1891. Compiled from official records, by permission of the Secretary of State for the Colonies. 21st publication. Harrison and Sons, Pall Mall. ys. 6d. Ahcher, Frank. How to Write a Good Play. Sampson Low. Atkinson, Rev. J. C. Playhours and Half-Holidays, or Further Experiences of Two Schoolboys. Illustrated by Coleman. Macmillan. 3s. 6d. Atkinson, Rev. J. C. Walks, Talks, Travels, and Exploits of Two Schoolboys. A book for boys. New edition. Macmillan. 3s. 6d. "R" Brigadier-General. A General and his Duties. Gale and Polden, Amen Corner, E.C. is. 6d., post free. Reardmore, W. Lee. The Drainage of Habitable Build- ings. A reprint and revision of articles in the Plumber and Decorator and Journal of Gas and Sanitary Engineering. Whittaker, White Hart Street. Berry, James. My Experiences as an Executioner. By James Berry. Edited by H. Snowden Ward. Percy Lund, Memorial Hall, Ludgatc Circus, E.C. is. Booth, Charles. Pauperism—a Picture; and the Endow- ment of Old Age—an Argument. Macmillan and Co. Bottone, S. R. A Guide to Electric Lighting. Whittaker. Paper covers, is. Brody, G. M. Tennyson's " Queen Mary." A criticism. Simpkiu, Marshall. Paper covers, is. Butler, Samuel. The Humour of Homer. Metcalfe and Co., Cambridge. 6d. Chbal, J., F.R.H.S. Practical Fruit Culture. George Bell and Sons. Cheltnam, Charles S. The Dramatic Year Book and Stage Directory, 1892. Illustrated with portraits of popular actors and actresses. Edited by. Trischler and Co., New Bridge Street, E.C. Chilton, Young F. Work. An Illustrated Magazine of Practice and Theory. Edited by. From March 21, 1891, to March 12, 1892. Cassell. Clerke, Agnes M. Familiar Studies in Homer. Long- mans. 7s. id. Clouston, W. A. Literary Coincidences. A Bookstall Bargain and other Papers. Morison Brothers, Glasgow. Paper covers, is. Conder, Josiah. The Flowers of Japan and the Art of Floral Arrangement. With illustrations by Japanese artists. Sampson Low. Courtney, W. L. Studies at Leisure. Chapman and Hall. 6s. Distant, W. L. A Naturalist in the Transvaal. With coloured plates and illustrations. R. H. Porter, Prince's Street, W. 21s. Dowsett, C. F., F.S.I. Land. Its Attractions and Riches. By Fifty-seven Writers. Edited by. The "Land Roll " Office, 3, Lincoln's Inn Fields. Emiorants' Information Office Handbooks, 1892. Eyre and Spottiswoode. 2s. The Export Merchant Shippers; with their trading ports and class of goods shipped. Edited by a Custom House employ^, 1892-3. Dean and Son, Fleet Street. Fiskk, John. The Discovery of America. With some account of Ancient America and the Spanish Con- quests. Two vols. Macmillan. 18s. Forrest, G. W., B.A. The Administration of Warren Hast- ings, 1772-85. Reviewed and illustrated from original documents. (Government of India Record Office.) Office of the Superintendent of Indian Government Printing, Calcutta. Gates, E. Wilson. Hints to Emigrants. Self-Help Emigration Society, id. Gore-Browne, F., and Jordan, Wm. Joint Stock Com- panies: A handy book on their formation, manage- ment, and winding-up. 15th edition. Jordan and Sons, 120, Chancery Lane.  ## p. 419 (#823) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 419 Oork, Charles, M.A. Roman Catholic Claims. 4th edition, with new preface. Longmans. 3s. 6<l. Gowen, Rev. H. H. The Paradise of the Pacific. Sketches of Hawaiian Scenery and Life. Skeffington and Son, Piccadilly. Golf. A book for recording matches. Geo. Stuart and Co., Farriugdon Street and Edinburgh. Gullick, Thomas J. Oil Painting on Glass, including mirrors, windows, &c. With remarks upon the prin- ciples of painting and decorative art generally. Winsor and Newton, Rathbone Place, W. Paper covers, is. Hill, G. Birkbeck, D.C.L. Letters of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., collected and edited by. In two volumes. Vol. 1, Oct. 3o, 1731, to Dec. 21, 1776; vol. 2, Jan. i5, 1777, to Dec. 18, 1784. With a facsimile. Clarendon Press. 28s. Hubbell, Walter. Midnight Madness, Bingham Pub- lishing Company, Chicago. Paper covers, 25c. Hunter, Sin Wm. Wilson, K.C.I.K. Bombay, 188S to 1890: A Study in Indian Administration. Henry Frowde, Amen Corner, K.C. i5s. Irby, Lt.-Col. L. Howard. British Birds: Key List. 2nd edition. H. H. Porter, 18, Prince's Street, W. 25. 6d. Kelly's London Suburban Directory for 1892, with map engraved expressly for this work. Kelly and Co., Great Queen Street, W.C. 36s. Ksxnedy, E. S. A Tramp to Brighton. Simpkiu, Marshall, is. Kennedy, H. A. The Sunday Afternoon Song-Book: for "Pleasant Sunday Afternoons" and other gatherings. Compiled by. James Clarke and Co. zd. Knox-Little, W. J., M.A. Sketches in Sunshine and Storm, a collection of miscellaneous essays and notes of travels. Longmans. 7*. 6rf. Lanin, K. B. Russian Characteristics. Reprinted, with revisions from the Fortnighty Jicview. Chapman and Hall. 14s. Lee, Sidney. Dictionary of National Biography. Edited by. Vol. XXX., Johnes-Kenneth. Smith Elder. Lurmolieff, Ivan. Italian Painters: Critical Studies of their Works. The Borghese and Doria-Pamfili Gal- leries in Rome. Translated from the German by Constauce Jocelyn Ffoulkes, with an introduction by Sir A. H. Layard, G.C.B., D.C.L. John Murray. i5s. "Mac and O'." The Parnell Leadership and Home Rule, from an historical, ethical, and ethnological point of view. Gill and Son, Dublin. Paper covers, 6d. Macdonell, A. A. Camping Out. George Bell and Sons. Mackenzie, W. M. The Poor Law Guardian; his powers and duties in the right execution of his office. Third edition. Shaw, Fetter Lane. The Making of Italy. By The O'Clery of the Middle Temple. Kegan Paul. The Medioal Register, 1892: and Tin: Dentists Re- gister. Spottiswoode, Gracechurch Street, E.C. Mivart, St. George. Essays and Criticisms. Two vols. Osgood, McIIvnine, and Co. 32s. Nansen, Fridtjo. The First Crossing of Greenland. Translated from the Norwegian by H. M. Gepp, B.A. A new edition, unabridged. With illustrations and map. Longmans. 7s. 6d. Nasmito, David, Q.C. Makers of Modern Thought; or, Five Hundred Years' Struggle (1200 a.d. to 1699 a.d.) between Science, Ignorance, and Superstition. Two vols. George Philip, Fleet Street. 12s. net. Noble, John. Facts for Politicians. A new and revised edition. Henry Good, Moorgate Street. Paper covers, is.; cloth, 2s. The Nursing Directory for 1892 (first annual issue). The Record Press, 376, Strand. 5s. Ormond, George W. T. The Barton House Conspiracy: a Tale of 1886. E. and S. Livingstone, Edinburgh. Cardboard covers, is. Ouseley, Rev. Sir G. The Compositions of the Rev. Sir F. A. Gore Ouseley, M.A., Mus. Doc. Compiled by John S. Bumpus. T. B. Bumpus, George Yard, Lombard Street. Paper covers, 2s. Owen, J. A. Within an Hour of London Town, among wild birds and their haunts. By "A Son of the Marshes." Edited by. Blackwood. Palgrave, R. H. I. Dictionary of Political Economy. Edited by. Second part, Beeke-Chamberlayne. Mac- niillan. Paper covers, 3s. 6d. net. Pascoe, Charles E. London of To-Day: an Illustrated Handbook for the Season. Eighth annual edition, revised and illustrated. Simpkin, Marshall. Payne, J. F. Lectures on the History of Education, with a Visit to German Schools. By the late Joseph Payne. Edited by his son. Vol. II. of the works of Joseph Payne. Longmans. 10s. 6d. The Popular Guide to the Second London County Council, with full particulars of the polls and portraits. Pall Malt Gazette Office. Paper covers, 6d. Powell, J. C. The American Siberia; or, Fourteen Years' Experience in a Southern Convict Camp. Gay and Bird, 27, King William Street, West Strand. 3s. 6d. Riding: The Use and Misuse of Reins and Stirrui-h. 15 illustrations. By a Horseman. Third edition. King, Booksellers' Row, Strand. Paper covers, id. Rimmer, Alfred. Rambles Round Rugby. With an introductory chapter by the Rev. W. H. Payne Smith, M.A. Illustrated by the author. Percival. Roma. Joys and Sorrows; or, Two of Life's Stories. Sutton, Drowley, and Co., 11, Ludgate Hill. is. Russell, W. An Invalid's Twelve Year's Experience in Search of Health. R. B. Marten, Sudbury. 10s. Saintsbury, George. Political Pamphlets. Edited by. Pocket Library of English Literature. Percival and Co. 3s. 6d. Salaman, M. C. Woman, through a Man's Eyeglass. With illustrations by Dudley Hardy. Heinemaun. 3s. 6d. Savile-Clarke, H. A Little Flutter: Stage, Story, and Stanza. (The Whitcfriars Library of Wit and Humour.) Henry and Co. 3s. 6d. Satce, George C. Twelve Times Round the World. By "A Globe Trotter." Arrowsmith. Schneider, George. The Book of Choice Ferns. Vol. 1. From Introduction to Athyrium. Illustrated. Upcott Gill, 170, Strand. Souvenir of Shakspeare's King Henry the Eighth. Presented at the Lyceum Theatre by Henry Irving, Jan. 5, 1892. Illustrated by J. Bernard Partridge, W. Telbiu, J. Harker, and Hawes Craven. Black and White Publishing Company, is.  ## p. 420 (#824) ############################################ 420 THE AUTHOR. Stables, Gordon-, M.I). Our Humble Friends ami Fellow Mortals. Vol. I. of Homestead and Farm. Vol. II. of Hearth and Home. Vol. III. In Wood and Field. With illustrations by Harrison Weir. Sinipkin, Marshall. — The Cruise of the Land Vaeht "Wanderer," or "Thirteen Hundred Miles in my Caravan." With illustrations. Popular edition. Hodder aud Stoughton. 55. Stanton, Albert J. Foot-and-Mouth Disease: Symptoms and Treatment and Outbreaks in Great Britain. K. W. Allen, Ave Maria Lane. Paper covers, bd. Stanton, Stephen ]!. The liehring Sea Controversy. Brcntano's, Agar Street, Strand. Stray Thoughts. From the Note Hooks of Rowland Williams, D.D. Edited by his widow. New edition. Fisher Unwin. 3s. bd. Stuart, J. S. S., and Stu.vkt, Charles, E. The Costume of the Clans, with observations upon the literature, arts, manufactures, and commerce of the Highlands and Western Isles during the Middle Ages, and on the influence of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries upon the present condition. With 37 full-page plates, illustrating the history, antiquities, and dress of the Highland clans, copied from authentic originals, and biographical introduction. John Grant, Edinburgh. ^ Bernard Quaritch, London.) Wallace, Alfred H. Island Life. Second and Revised edition. Macmillan. 6s. Whvmpkr, Edward. Travels Amongst the Great Andes of the Equator. With maps and illustrations. Also a supplementary appendix to the same, with contribu- tions from various sources. John Murray. Williamson, William. Horticultural Exhibitor's Hand- book. Revised by Malcolm Dunn, gardener to the Duke of Buccleueh. William Blackwood. Wright, William Alois. The Works of William Shake- speare. Edited by. In nine volumes. Volume VI. Macmillan. 10s. id. Wrightson, John. Live Stock. Agricultural Text-books series. Cassell. 2.1. bd. Fiction. A Covenant with thk Dead. A Novel. By the author of "A Harvest of Weeds." 3 vols. Griffith, Farran. 3is. bd. Aide, Hamilton. A Voyage of Discovery: a Novel of American Society, 2 vols. Osgood, M'llvuine, aud Co. 2 IS. Bangs, J. Kendrick. Tiddledywink Tales. Griffith, Farran, and Co. Black, William. In Silk Attire. New and revised edition. Sampson Low. is. 6d. Bi anch, J. Tempest. "Our Hands Have Met." 3s. bd. Colmork, G. A Valley of Shadows. 2 vols. Chatto and Winuus. Crawford, F. Marion. The Three Fates. 3 vols. Macmillan. 31s. bd. Curtis, George William. From the Easy Chair. Os- good, M'llvaine, and Co. 3s. bd. Daudet, Ali'Honsk. Rose and Ninette: a Story of the Morals and Manners of the Day. Translated by Mary J. Serrano. Fisher Unwin. Donovan, Dick. In the Grip of the Law. Chatto and Windus. GiLKisox, Elizabeth. The Story of a Struggle : a Ro- mance of the Grampians. A. and C. Black. Graveniiill, Guy. Horsley Grange. A sporting story. 2 vols. Chapman and Hall. Griffith, Durham. An Arctic Eden. A tale of Norway. Skelfington. Paper covers, is. Hatton, Joseph. The Princess Mazaroff: a Romance of the Day. Hutchinson. 3s. bd. Hennikkr, Florence. Bid me Good-bye. Bentley. Hope, Anthony. Mr. Witt's Widow. A Frivolous Tale. A. D. limes and Co., Bedford Street, W.C. 6s. Horni ng, F. W. Under Two Skies, a collection of stories. A. and C. Black. Humphreys, Jennett. Some Little Britons iuliritt'iny: a Seaside Story. Sampson Low. Huntingdon, E. M., and A. The Squire's Nieces. Samp- son Low. LachSzyrma, Rev. W. Under other Conditions. A Tale. A. and C. Black. Lindsay, Lady. The Philosopher's Window ami other Stories. A. and C. Black. Lovett-Cameron, Mrs. A Daughter's Heart. A Novel. F. V. White. Lowry, James W. The Doll's Garden Party. Illustrated by J. B. Clark. The Leadenhall Press, 2s. bd. Maartens, Maarten. A Question of Taste: a Novel. Heincmann. 5s. Phillpotts, Edkn. A Tiger's Cub. Arrowsmith. 3s. bd. Robinson, F. W. A Very Strange Family. Heincmann. Spence, Edward F. A Freak of Fate: a Novel. Henry and Co., Bouverie Street. Picture boards, 2s. V. Betsy. Osgood, M'llvuine and Co. 3s. bd. Villars, P. The Escapes of Casanova and Latude from Prison, edited, with an introduction. Illustrated Ad- venture Series. Fisher Unw in. 5s. White, Roma. Punchinello's Romance. A. D. Innes, Bedford Street, Strand. 6s. Wiggin, K. D. Timothy's Quest. Gay aud Bird. 3s. 6rf. Winter, John Strange. Only Human. A Novel. In 2 vols. F. V. White. Poetry and the Drama. Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The Foresters: Robin Hood and Maid Marian. Macmillan. 6s. Dennis, John. The Poetical Works of Sir Walter SeolU Edited, with memoir, by. In 5 vols. Volume IV. Aldine Edition. George Bell. DunouRG, A. W. Angelica: Romantic Drama in Four Acts. Bentley. Paper covers. French Poetry for Children. Selected by Francois Louis. Sixth edition. Franz Thimm, Brook Street, W. 2s. bd. Hall, J. Lesslie. Beowulf: an Anglo-Saxon epic poem. Translated from the Hevne-Socin text by. Heath, Boston, U.S.A. Kipling, Rudyard. Barrack Room Ballads. Methuen. Low, C. Rathbone. Cressy to Tel-el-Kebir. A narrative poem descriptive of the deeds of the British Army. Mitchell and Co., Craig's Court, S.W.  ## p. 421 (#825) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 421 Rosetti. Dante G. Dante and His Circle, with the Italian poets preceding him (t 100-1200-13ooV A collection of lyrics translated in the original metres by. A new edition, with preface by W. M. Rosetti. Ellis and Elvey. 6s. Smith, G. Barnett. Illustrated British Ballads—Old and New. Selected and edited by. Part I. To be com- pleted in 24. Cassell. Paper covers, yd. Stevenson, It. L. A Child's Garland of Song, gathered from a Child's Garden of Verses. Music by Dr. C. Yilliers Stanford. Longmans. Paper covers, zs. WILSON, James H. Zahnoxis, and other Poems. Elliot Stock. The Works of Hkinrich Heine, translated from the German by C. G. Lelaud (Hans Breitiuann). Volumes V. and VI. Germany. Heinemann. 5*. each. Educational. Arnoi.d-Forster, II. O. The Laws of Every-day Life, for the use of schools. Cassell. zs. Ashford, Constance M. Latin Dialogues for School Representation. Swann Sonnenschein. Atlas ok Physical Geography. New, revised, and enlarged edition. W. and A. K. Johnston. Gambaro, Professor 11. Lessons in Commerce: a text- book for students. Revised and edited by James Gatilt, of the Middle Temple. Crosby Loekwood. Hay, IV. Shorthand Simplified and Improved. Swann Sonnenschein. Hoylk, W. T. Mental Arithmetic Problems. Standards I. to VII. 2''. or 3d. a volume. Answers to the same, 4<i. W. H. Allen and Co. Lund, II. "A Practical and Easy Method of Learning the Danish and Norwegian Languages." Eighth improved edition. Corrected according to the new Danish and Norwegian orthography. Franz Thimm and Co. 4s. REGULATIONS FOR MUSKETRY INSTRUCTION, 1892. Lee- Metford Rifle. Eyre and Spottiswoode. It. Royal University of Ireland: Examination Papers, 1891. Longmans. Savill, Stanley. The Civil Service Coach. New edition, revised. Crosby Loekwood. Schofield, A. T. Physiology for Schools. Cassell. II. 9</. Shaler, N. S. The Story of our Continent, a reader in the Geography and Geology of Noith America, for the use of Schools. E. Arnold. 3*. bd. Sweet, Henry, M.A. A New English Grammar, Logical and Historical. Part I. Introduction, Phonology, and Accidence. Clarendon Press. io«. bd. Tatiiam, M. T. Homer for Beginners. Iliad. Hook III. Edited, with introduction and notes, by. Clarendon Press, is. bd. Tolman, H. C. A Grammar of the Old Persian Language. E. Arnold. 41. 6d. Law. The Future Water Supply of Birmingham. Second edition. Simpkin, Marshall, is. net. Hewitt, Thomas. A Treatise on the Law relating to Corporation Duty, or the Duty on the Income of the Proper.'y of Bodies Corporate and Uncorporate. Butterworth, Fleet Street. Heywood, Judge. Courts Practice, 1892. Two vols. 2 5s. Sweet and Maxwell. MacLachlan, David. A Treatise on the Law of Merchant Shipping. Fourth edition, zl. zs. Paterson, James. The Intoxicating Liquor Licensing Acts, 1872, 1874, with introduction, notes, and index. Ninth edition. Shaw and Sons, Fetter Lane. 10s. Pollock, Sir Frederick. Leading Cases done into English, aud other Diversions. MacmiUan. 3s. bd. Rickards, A. G., and Saunders, R. C. Locus Standi Reports: Cases decided by the Court of Referees on Private Bills in Parliament during the Sessions 1890 and 1851. (In continuation of Rickards and Michael's and Clifford and Riekards's reports.) Butterworth and Co., Fleet Street. Royal 8vo., 18s. Whitehead, Benjamin. Church Law. A concise dic- tionary of statutes, canons, regulations, and decided eases affecting the clergy and laity. Stevens and Sons. I os. bd. Williams, James, B.C.L. FCdueation; a Manual of Practical Law. Adam and Charles Black. Science. Curtis, Charles E., F.S.I. The Manifestation of Disease in Forest Trees; the Causes and Itemedies. Horace Cox, the Field Office, Bream's Buildings, F].C. i«. Greene, Professor DasCOM. Introduction to Spherical aud Practical Astronomy. E. Arnold. 7s. bd. Kneipp, Sebastian. My Water Cure, tested for more than 35 years, and published for the Cure of Diseases and the Preservation of Health. Translated from the 36th German edition. II. Grevel and Co., 33, King Street, Covent Garden. Neumann, L. G. A Treatise 011 the Parasites and Parasitic Diseases of the Domesticated Animals. Translated and edited by George Fleming, C.B., LL.D., F'.H.C.V.S., late principal veterinary surgeon of the British Army. Bailliere, Tindall, and Cox, King William Street, Strand. 2 5s. Semple, C. F". A. Elements of Materia Medica and Therapeutics. Longmans. 10s. bd. Wormell, Richard, D.Sc. Mensuration, Lectures or. Sound, and Lectures on Light ; elementary text-books for Students. ¥.. Arnold, is. each. Parliamentary Papers. Correspondence relating to the Relief of Agricultural Distress in India in 1891-92 (td.~). Copy of the Report of the Committee on Grants to University Colleges in Great Britain (id.). Descriptive List of Standards of Weight and Measure deposited with the Board of Trade and of the Instrumental Equipment of the Standards Oflice(2f/.). Return as to Canals and Navi- gations under the Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1888 (id). Return as to Shipments of Coal, Cinders, &c. (id.). Treasury Minute relating to Army Votes (.^(/.). Report on the "Abyssinia" F'ire (1 }</.). Ordinances by the Scottish Universities Commissioners as to the Graduation and Instruction of Women (irf.). And as  ## p. 422 (#826) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. to Assistants ami Lecturers (id.)- Emigrants' Infor- mation Circulars for Canada, Australasia, and South Africa j Reports to the Board of Agriculture on the Plague of Field Mice or Voles in the South of Scot- land. Telegraphic Correspondence respecting Seal Fishing in Behring Sen during the season of 1892 (2d.). Copy of a Despatch from Her Majesty's Minister at Washington, enclosing a Treaty between Great Britain and the United States for Arbitration concerning the Seal Fisheries in Behring Sea (id.). Minutes of Evidence taken before the Koyal Commis- sion on the Redemption of Tithe Rcntohaige in England and Wales (is. 6</.). Rule made by the Secretary of Stntc for the Dietaries of the Prisons in England and Wales (i<A). Copies of Reports by the Board of Trade upon the Birmingham Corporation and Swansea Corporation Water Bills (\d. each). Poor Relief, England and Wales, Amount expended during the half-year ended Lady-day, 1891 (3d.). Compara- tive Statement of Pauperism for January (ild). Rule by the Board of Trade under the Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1888 (3d.). Statement as to Sales and Leases of Foreshores by the Crown (2jd.). Annual Accounts of the Royal Army Clothing Factory for 1890-91 (9$d.). First Report from the Committee of Public Accounts (2id.). Irish Land Commission— Rules issued in August, 1891 (6d.). Annual Returns of the Volunteer Corps of Great Britain for 1891 (3\d,). Census of Ireland. Part I., Vol. III., Ulster, No. 6, Fermanagh, 6d. Declarations made by Great Britain with Belgium respecting North Sea Fisheries, and with France for the Regulation of the Telephonic Service; Treaty with Spain for the Suppression of the African Slave Trade; Protocol with Uruguay for the Mutual Extradition of Fugitive Criminals j Agreement with Tonga as to the Trial of British Subjects, and with Persia as to Telegraphic Communication between Europe and India (id. each). Agricultural Produce Statistics of Great Britain, 1891 (43d.). Return show- ing the working of the regulations made in 1886 for carrying out the Prosecution of Offences Acts, 1879 and 1884 (is.). Special Report from the Select Com- mittee on Railway Servants' Hours of Labour, with proceedings of the Committee and minutes of evidence, (is. ajd.). Further Correspondence respecting the Behring Sea Seal Fisheries (is. io|d.). Irish Land Commission, Return of proceedings during January (id.). Report of the Intermediate Education Board for Ireland for 1891 (4</.). Census of Ireland, Parti., Vol. III. Ulster, No. 3, Cavau (6d.). Naval Defence Act, 1889. Accounts, 1890-91 (li</.). Return as to Laws or Regulations affecting the Hours of Adult Labour in the Colonies, with particulars as to hours and wages in various industries (7'/.). Correspon- dence respecting Commercial Treaties and Tariffs 4s. id. Report of Mr. W. Bcattic Scott, Inspector of Mines for the South Staffordshire district under the Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1887, the Metalliferous Mines Regulation Acts, 1872 and 1875, and the Slate Mines (Gunpowder) Act, 1882, for the year 1891 (3d.). Census of Ireland, 1891, Part I., area, houses, population, &c.; Vol. II., Province of Munster, No. 6. County and City of Waterford (7s.). Memorandum on the Proposed Grant for Higher Education (id.). Diplomatic and Consular Reports:—(1) Russia: Agriculture of the Consular District of Taganrog (id.). (2) France: The Trade of Bordeaux (23d.) j (3) Austria - Hungary: Vine Culture in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Jd.). Accounts relating to Trade and Navigation of the United Kingdom for March (6d.). Memorandum under the Naval Defence Act, 1889 (9d.). Account relating to National Debt Annuities ($d.V Seventh Report of the Trade and Treaties Committee, containing Translation of the French Customs Tariff Law of January 11, 1892, showing the duties now leviable under the new General and Minimum Tariffs of 1892 and those leviable under the Conventional Tariff of 1882 (6d.). Ninth Repoit of the Trade aud Treaties Committee, containing Translation of the Tariffs Annexed to the Treaties between Various Central European Powers, with a comparison between the old aud the new rates leviable on importations from the United Kingdom (7W.). Report from the Select Committee on the Plumbers' Registration Bill (id.). Pauperism (England and Wales) Return (A), Com- parative Statement (ijrf.). Diplomatic and Consular Reports on Trade and Finance:—(1) United States: the Trade of Baltimore and District in 1891 (ijd.); (2) Russia: the Trade of Riga in 1891 (2d.) j (3) The Netherlands: the Finances of Netherlands-India (1 3d.); (4) Paraguay: Finances and General State of the Republic (ijd.). Annual Accounts of the Ord- nance Factories for 1890-91, with Report of the Comptroller and Auditor-General thereon (is. %\d.). Irish Land Commission—Return of Proceedings during February (id.). Return of Proceedings under the Lord Chancellor's Augmentation Act from February si, 1890, to February 18, 1892 (\d.). Foreign Office Annual Series—Report for 1891 on the Agriculture of the Consular District of New Orleans (lod.). Diplo- matic and Consular Reports—(1) Finances of Turkey and the Administration of the Ottoman Public Debt (ijd.); (2) the Foreign Trade of Italy for 1891 (id.). Alien Immigration Return for March. Pier aud Harbour Provisional Orders. Monthly List of Parlia- mentary Papers. Correspondence respecting the Re- volution in Chili (2s. 35d.). Further Correspondence respecting the Condition of the Populations in Asiatic Turkey (9d.). National Debt (Savings Banks aud Friendly Societies) Accounts (2d.). Terms and Condi- tions of Service in the Army—Minutes of Evidence taken before Committee (5i. 6d.). Notes exchanged between England and France for the renewal of the Modus Vivendi in Newfoundland (4d.). Reports on the Cultivation of the Spanish Chestnut. Copy of the Annual Report of the Director of the National Gallery to the Treasury for the year 1891. Return of all Loans raised in England chargeable on the Revenues of India, outstanding at the commencement of the half- year ended March 3i, 1892. Return—County Courts Sittings (England and Wales) (is. 9:id.). Memorandum on the proposed Grant for Higher Education in Scot- land (id.). Government Insurances aud Annuities, Accounts made during the year ended December, 1891 (id.) Order of the Board of Trade creating the Milford Haven Sea Fisheries District (id.). Copy of the Report by Major Marindin on the Fatal Accident on October 16 at Weyhill Station, on the Midland and South-Western Junction Railway, uiul upon the Hours of Duty of the Company's Servants (34d.). Repoi t of Board of Trade Inquiry into Complaints against the Great Northern (Ireland) Railway (\d.). Return, Railways—Trams Passing over Single Lines (id.). Return as to Agra- rian Offences in Ireland in 1891 (lid.). Board of Trade Order creating the Devon Sea Fisheries District (ijd.). Report on Mines in West Scotland District (No. 2) for 1891 (9jd.). Foreign Office Anuual Scries—Report on the Financial Condition of the Argentine Republic (6d.)—Eyre and Spottiswoode.  ## p. 423 (#827) ############################################ ADVERTISEMENTS. 4 THE AUTHORS' SYNDICATE. THIS Association is established for the purpose of syndicating or selling the serial rights of authors in magazines, journals, and newspapers. It has now been at work for more than a year, and has transacted a very satisfactory amount of business during this period. It has also entered upon a great number of engagements for the future. The following points are submitted for consideration :— 1. The management is voluntary and unpaid. No one makes any profit out of the Syndicate, except the authors who use its services. 2. The commission charged on the amounts received covers the expenses of clerks, travellers, rent, and printing. As work increases this may be still further reduced. 3. Only the serial rights are sold for the author. He reserves his volume rights and copyright. 4. The Syndicate has an American agent. 5. The Syndicate will only work for members of the Society. 6. Its offices are on the same floor as those of the Society, and its assistance and advice are always at the service of the Society. 7. Authors are warned that no syndicating is possible for them until they have already attained a certain amount of popularity. 8. The Syndicate acts as agent in every kind of literary property. W. MORRIS COLLES. 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields.  ## p. 424 (#828) ############################################ 424 ADVERTISEMENTS. Not Work, but Play. Leave the drudgery of the Pen-Soiled Fingers—Blotted and Obscure Manuscript, to those who prefer darkness to light. Quick, up-to-date writers use THE BAR-LOCK TYPE-WRITER. Why? Easiest Managed; Soonest Learned; Most Durable; Writing Always Visible; does best work, and never gets out of repair. Chosen, by Royal Warrant, Type-Writer to the Queen. Only gold medals--- Edinburgh (1890) and Jamaica (1891) Exhibitions; is used in principal Government Departments, and greatest number of English business houses, and by the Society of Authors. We send interesting supply of further information free. THE TYPE-WRITER COMPANY, LIMITED, 12 & 14, Queen Victoria Street, London, E.C.; 22, Renfield Street, Glasgow. Local Agents in all Districts, THE AUTHOR'S HAIRLESS PAPER-PAD. (THE LEADENHALL PRESS, LTD., E.C.) Contains hairless paper, over which the pen slips with perfect freedom. Sirpence each : 58. per dozen, ruled or plain. MISS R. V. GILL, TYPE-WRITING OFFICES, 6, Adam Street, Strand, W.C. MRS. GILL, TYPE-WRITING OFFICE, 35, LUDGATE HILL, E.C. (ESTABLISHED 1883.) Authors' MSS. carefully copied from is. per 1,000 words. Plays, &c., Is. 3d. per 1,000 words. Reference kindly permitted to Walter Besant, Esq. Stickphast Authors' and Dramatists' Work a Specialty. All kinds MISS PATTEN, of MSS. copied with care. Extra attention given to difficult TYPIST, haud-writing and to papers or lectures on scientific subjects. 44, Oakley Street Flats, Chelsea, s.W. Type-writing from dictatior. Shorthand Notes taken and transcribed. AUTHORS' MSS. CAREFULLY TRANSCRIBED. REFERENCES KINDLY PERMITTED TO George AUGUSTUS SALA, Esq. FURTHER PARTICULARS ON APPLICATIO.V. Particulars on Application. MES DAMES BRETT AND BOWSER, TYPISTS, Selborne Chambers, Bell Yard, Temple Bar. Authors' MSS. carefully and expeditiously copied, 18. per PASTE 1,000 words. Extra carbon copies half price. References for joining papers and sticking in scraps : kindly permitted to Augustine Birrell, Esq., M.P. Sixpence and One Shilling, with strong useful brush. THE AUTHORS' AGENCY. Established 1879. Proprietor, Mr. A. M. BURGHES, 1. Paternoster Row. The interests of Authois capably represented. Proposed agreements and estimates examined on behalf of Authors. MS. placed with Publishers. Transfers carefully conducted. Twenty-five years' practical experience in all kinds of publishing and book producing. Consultation free. Terms and testimonials from leading Authors on application to Mr. A. M. Burghes, Authors' Agent, 1, Paternoster Row. LONDON: Printed by EYRE and SPOTTISWOODE, Printers to the Queen's most Excellent Majesty. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author, Vol. 02 Issue 12 (May 1892) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 02 Issue 12 (May 1892) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927&amp;view=1up&amp;seq=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1892-05-02-The-Author-2-12 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/262/1892-04-01-The-Author-2-11.pdf 9a16a0d63dfceab5b7b3f5b776eb7e76 PDF Text Text �������������������������������������� 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 Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em> Description An account of the resource A digitised run of the Society of Authors' monthly periodical, <em>The Author</em>, 1890<span>–</span>1914, made available together for the first time.<br /><br />Currently users can browse issues and <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?search=&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bjoiner%5D=and&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Index&amp;collection=&amp;type=&amp;tags=&amp;exhibit=&amp;date_search_term=&amp;submit_search=Search+For+Items&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">indices</a> (not available for all volumes). Full text search for all issues, and other additional search functionality, will be added in 2022. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890–1914 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context The-Author-Issues Publication Date The date of an event (in YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD format) 1892-04-01 Volume 2 Issue 11 Pages Page range in volume 343–380 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18920401 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin Hbe Hutbor* (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESA1TT. Vol. II.—No. ii.] APRIL i, 1892. CONTENTS. [Prick Sixpence. TAQE Warnings 345 Notices 345 Literary Property— I.—Transfer of Contract 347 II.—Literary Agents 348 11L—The supposed Increase of Magnalnra 348 IV.—The Output 349 The Authors' Syndicate 349 American Authors— 1.—The American Society of Authors 3S» II—The Book of the Authors' Club 35' The Report of 1891 352 The Story or Anita 354 Notes from Paris 35s Spring. Bv F. Bayrord Harrison 300 T^../..l D««l... .. .. 3OO 361 Useful Books Notes and News. By Walter Besant PAOB An Old Master 3<>4 Scott on the Art of Fiction 365 Author and Editor— I.—" Advice to Contributors" 367 II. —No Use in Writing 3*8 III. —A Kindness and its Sequel 30S IV. —Returned Unread 3'9 V.—With no Name 3('9 VI.—Long Kept, and then Returned 369 Correspondence— I.—Novels on Commission 3&9 II— The Library Stamp 37° III. —How Books are not Read 37° IV. —Mr. Traill's List of Poets 37< V.—The Great Use of a Table of Conteuts 37 > VI.—Compositors' Errors 37' "At the Author's Head" 371 New Books and New Editions 373 EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE. INVESTMENTS. A List of 1,600 British, Colonial, and Foreign Securities, with the highest and lowest prices quoted for the last twenty-two years. 25. 6(7. "A useful work of reference."—Money. PHILOSOPHICAL NOTES ON BOTANICAL SUB- JECTS. By E. Bonayia, M.D., BrigadeSurL-eon, I.M.D. With 160 Illustrations, a*, 6(7. KEAL ARMY REFORM, THE ESSENTIAL FOUNDA- TION OF. By Ioxo-rra. 6d. "Those who would understand the general argument of those who favour conscription cannot do better than read this pamphlet." —Army and Navy Gazette. MY GARDENER (Illustrated). By H. W. Ward, Head Hardener to the Right Hon. the Earl of Radnor, Longford Castle, Salisbury, zs. t>d. "The l>ook is replete with valuable cultural notes indispensable to the millions who arc now turning to gardening as a source of pleasure and profit."—Gardener's Chronicle. STATE TRIALS, Reports of. New Series. Vol. III., 1831—40. Published under the direction of the State Trials Committee. Edited by John Macdonell, M.A. io». PUBLIC GENERAL ACTS, 1891. Red Cloth, 3s. Contains all the Public Acts passed during the year, with Index, also Tables showing the etfeot of the .year's Legislation, together with complete and elassitied Lists of the Titles of all the Local and Private Acts passed during the Session. REVISED STATUTES. (Second Revised Edition.) Royal 8vo. Prepared under the direction of the Statute law- Revision Committee, and Edited by G. A. R. Fitzgerald, FORECASTING BY MEANS OF WEATHER CHARTS, Principles of. By the Hon. Ralph: Abeeceomuy, F.R. Met. Soc. as. HYGIENE AND DEMOGRAPHY. Transactions of the Seventh International Congress of. To be published in thirteen volumes. Vol. XII. (Municipal Hygiene and Demography). Now ready, as. (id. List of the Series on application. METEOROLOGICAL INSTRUMENTS, Instructions in the use of. a«. 6<7. THE LITERATURE RELATING TO NEW ZEALAND. A Bibliography. Royal 8vo. Cloth, 2*. (id. COPYRIGHT LAW REFORM: an Exposition of Lord Monkswell's Copyright Bill. With Extracts from the Report of the Commission or 1S78. and an Appendix containing the Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lelv, Esq., Itarrister-at-Law. i*. 6(7. KEW BULLETIN, 1891. Monthly, id. Appendices, ad. each. Annual Subscription, including postage, )s. gd. Volume for 1S91, 3s. yr/.. by post. MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. Descriptive Catalogue of the Musiral Instruments exhibited at the Royal Military Exhi- bition. 1S90. Compiled by Capt. Day, Oxford Light Infantry. Illustrated. 21s. "Unique, as no earlier l»ook exists in English dealing exhaus- tively with the same subject A very important con- tribution to the history of orchestration."— Athenaum. PUBLIC RECORDS. A Guide to the Principal Classes of Documents preserved in the Public Record Office. By S. R. Scaegill-Birp. F.S.A. 11. "The value of such a work as Mr. ScargillBird's con scarcely be over-rated."— Times. Esq. Vols. I. to IV. now ready, price 7*. 6(7. each. TEN YEARS' SUNSHINE. Record of the Registered Sunshine at 46 Stations in the British Isles, 1881-1890. a«. Monthly Lists of Parliamentary Papers upon Application. Quarterly Lists Post Free, an". Miscellaneous List on Application. Every Assistance given to Correspondents; and Books not kept in stock obtained without delay. GOVERNMENT AND GENERAL PIHLIKHERS. KVKK awl SPOTTISWOODE, Her Majesty's Printers, East Harding Street, Loudon, E.C.  ## p. 344 (#748) ############################################ 344 ADVERTISEMENTS. Cfje ^orietg of 8utfiora (finrorporatelO. PRESIDENT. The Right Hon. the LORD TENNYSON, D.C.L. Sir Edwin Arnold, K.C.I.E. Alfred Austin. A. W. a Beckett. Robert Bateman. Sir Henry Bergne, K.C.M.G. Walter Besant. Augustine Birrell, M.P. R. D. Blackmore. Rev. Prof. Bonney, F.R.S. Lord Brabourne. James Bryce, M.P. P. W. Clayden. Edward Clodd. Hon. John Collier. W. Martin Conway. Marion Crawford. Oswald Crawfurd, C.M.G. COUNCIL. The Earl of Desart. A. W. Dubourg. John Eric Erichsen, F.R.S. Prof. Michael Foster, F.R.S. Herbert Gardner, M.P. Richard Garnett, LL.l). Edmund Gosse. H. Rider Haggard. Thomas Hardy. Rudyard Kipling. Prof. E. Ray Lankkster, F.R.S. J. M. Lely. Rev. W. J. Loftie, F.S.A. F. Max Muller, LL.D. George Meredith. Herman C. Merivale. Rev. C. H. Middleton-Wake, F.L.S. Hon. Counsel—E. M. Underdown, Q.C. Pembroke and J. C. Parkinson. The Earl of Montgomery. Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart. LL.D. Walter Herries Pollock. A. G. Ross. George Augustus Sala. W. Baptists Scoones. G. R. Sims. J. J. Stevenson. Jas. Sully. William Moy Thomas. H. D. Traill, D.C.L. Baron Henry de Worms, F.R.S. Edmund Yates. MP., A- W. k Beckett. Hon. John Collier. W. Martin Conway. Edmund Gosse. H. Rider Haggard. J. M. Lely. COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT. Chairman—Walter Besant. Sir Frederick Pollock. A. G. Ross. Solicitors—Messrs. Field, Roscoe, & Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. Secretary—S. Squire Sprioge. OFFICES. 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C. PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 1. The Annual Report. That for January 1891 can be had on application to the Secretary. 2. The Author. A Monthly Journal devoted especially to the protection and maintenance of Literary- Property. Issued to all Members. 3. The Grievances Of Authors. (The Leadenhall Press.) 2*. The Keport of three Meetings on the general subject of Literature and its defence, held at Willis's Kooms, March 1887. 4. Literature and the Pension List. By \V. Morris Colles, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C.) 3s. 5. The History of the Societe des Gens de Lettres. By S. Squire Sprigge, Secretary to the Society, is. 6. The Cost of Production. In this work specimens are given of the most important forms of type, size of page, &c, with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds of books. Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. 2s. 6d. 7. The Various Methods of Publication. By S. Squire Sprigge. In this work, compiled from the papers in the Society's offices, the various kinds of agreements proposed by Publishers to Authors are examined, and their meaning carefully explained, with an account of the various kinds of fraud which have been made possible by the different clauses in their agreements. Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. 3s.' 8. Copyright Law Eeform. An Exposition of Lord Monkswell's Copyright Bill now before Parliament. With Extracts from the Keport of the Commission of 1878, and an Appendix containing the Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lely. Eyre and Spottiswoode. i*. 6d.  ## p. 345 (#749) ############################################ ^Ibe Hutbot\ (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. II.—No. n.] APRIL i, 1892. [Price Sixpence. For the Opinions expressed in papers that are signed or initialled the Authors alone are responsible. WARNINGS. Readers of the Author are earnestly desired to make the following warnings as widely known as possible. They are based on the experience of six years' work upon the dangers to which literary property is exposed :— (1.) Never sign any agreement of which the alleged cost of production forms an integral part, until you have proved the figures. (2.) Never enter into any correspondence with publishers, especialli/ with those who advertise for MSS., who are not recom- mended by experienced friends or by this Society. (3.) Never, on any account whatever, bind yourself down for future work to any one firm of publishers. (4.) Never accept any proposal of royalty until you have ascertained exactly what the agreement gives to the author and what to the publisher. (5.) Never accept any pecuniary risk or respon- sibility whatever without advice. (6.) Never, when a MS. has been refused by respectable houses, pay others, whatever promises they may put forward, for the productionjofjthejwork. (7.) Never sign away American rights. Keep them. Refuse to sign an agreement con- taining a clause which reserves them for the publisher. If the publisher insists, take away the MS. and offer it to another. VOL. 11. (8.) Keep control over the advertisements by clause in the agreement. Reserve a veto. If you are yourself ignorant of the subject, make the Society your agent. (9.) Never forget that publishing is a business, like any other business, totally unconnected with philanthropy, charity, or pure love of literature. You have to do with business men. Societi/'s Offices:— 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. NOTICES. THE Secretary will be much obliged if any members who have kept the Report for 1890 will kindly send their copies to him. All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of this Society or not, are invited to communicate to the Editor any points connected with their work which it would be advisable in the general interest to publish. Members and others who wish their MSS. read are requested not to send them to the Office without previously communicating with the Secretary. The utmost practicable despatch is aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in which they are received. It must also be distinctly understood that the Society does not, under any circumstances, under- take the publication of MSS. B b 2  ## p. 346 (#750) ############################################ 346 THE AUTHOR. The official directions for the .seeming of American copyright by English authors were given in the Author for June 1891. Members are earnestly entreated to take the trouble of reading those directions. Members are earnestly requested to forward agreements to the Society for inspection before they sign them. Once signed, the mischief is generally irreparable. Communications intended for the Authors' Syndi- cate should be addressed to W. Morris Colics, the Honorary Secretary. An American Success. "There are," writes an American author, "in our country as in yours, various kinds of success. Thus, the late Mr. E. P. Roe has obtained a success ; Mr. Howells is successful; and a certain writer, whom we will call Mr. Smith, to prevent jealousies, is also successful. But Mr. Hoe's success, if it is measured by sales, compared with Mr. Howells', and that again with Mr. Smith's, may be represented in the continued proportion of 1,000 : 7 : i. "The general method of publication with novels, by which the greatest successes are obtained, has hitherto been to bring them out at a dollar or a dollar and a half at first, and afterwards in paper at i*. or 2s., as a cheap edition. Let me give you one or two experiences. A novel was published two or three years ago by one of our most successful men. It was his most successful work. He published it first in serial form, for which he obtained the price of a thousand pounds, or perhaps more. His English publishers set it up in this country, and gave him—for sole remunera- tion—the plates, which he handed to his American publishers, who allowed him a i5 per cent, royalty, in consideration of having the plates given to them, which saved composition. There were sold 2,000 copies at 4s., or one dollar, and 16,000 at I*. You may easily calculate the royalty to the author. He got £180 only. His publisher, for his share, supposing the returns to have been honest, of which there was no proof, made about £260. And this with a man who stands in the front rank of American writers. "Here is another experience. A novel was brought out by a new writer. Here was risk, it may be said. But the publisher owned that he had sufficient prestige to plant at least 1,200 copies of every work he produced. And in this case the book was heralded by a letter of praise, written by one of the best known and best trusted critics in the country. The author was to receive 10 per cent, on all copies after the first 5oo. There were subscribed 7,000 copies at a dollar, and 20,000 copies at is. The author obtained £240 for his work. The publisher, for his share, netted £480 or £5oo—just twice as much. This with a book about which no risk at all could be pretended. You English authors will do well to be on your guard when you deal with our publishers. "But, above all, do not expect too great results. A circulation of 2,5oo copies of a dollar book is a remarkable—a noteworthy—success. That of 5,ooo copies is a most unusual success. One of 10,000 is phenomenal. Tilings may alter in accordance with the new Copyright Bill, but let your antici- pations be moderate and you will not be dis- appointed. For you, as for us, the serial right will remain the most valuable," The Pantheon. This is a gratis advertisement for the man Morgan, for the International Society of Literature, Science, and Art, and for the official journal of that institution. Undismayed by repeated exposure, this precious Association still sends out numberless circulars, and perhaps still receives a fair proportion of guineas in return. Blue Books and Bed Books, Clergy lists, and Calendars have all been ransacked, with the result that everyone of the slightest official position has been assured, that by a special resolution of the Council he can become a Fellow of the Society, without further formula, upon payment of one guinea. And now the Pantheon has arrived, the official organ of the Society. We reproduce from this sheet part of the article headed, " the Literary Department." "The Department under- takes the whole cost of the revision, production, and publication of Fellows' and Members' work, where more than usual merit is apparent (even though it be the Author's//'«Y work), paying to the Author an agreed share of the profits. In other cases the Author will be required to pay one-half of the estimated cost" (whose estimate ?) " taking one-half of the net proceeds arising from the Sides, but in no instance will the entire estimated cost of an accepted Work be required of the Author, as demanded by ordinary publishers. Works that are likely to prove a failure will not be undertaken. Arrangements have been made whereby all Works published will be reviewed by the press. Thus Authors will secure the two essentials to success too often denied them, viz., production of their first works and publicity." (Italics are the Pantheon's.)  ## p. 347 (#751) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 34; To anyone with the least idea of what a bona fide publishing offer looks like, these suggestions form a very clear case. But probably many people will be caught by them. "Here," will the aspirant siiy, " is my chance. Production and advertisement secured, with only half the risk to lie run! And to be dubbed an Author with a capital A ! and to see my MSS. called Work with a capital \V!" Of course the Secretary of the Literary Department will receive MSS. by the thousand. The particular method is so obvious to readers of the . tut/tor, and to all who know, that we refer to it apologetically. A Novel Book Club. A new kind of Book Club has been started at Bridgwater. It is designed partly to furnish new books for the Free Library in that town. A small library has been founded, consisting of about 400 volumes, selected with some care. Those who use the library find in every volume one of the deposit forms used in the Post Office. Every member affixes a postage stamp before returning the book. If, therefore, a l>ook is kept for four days and is then taken out, it will earn, not counting Sundays, 78 pence in the year. Now, with 78 pence, or 6*. 6d., certainly two, and possibly three, books can be bought for the library. And if there is a steady circulation of 3oo out of the 400 books on the shelves, the amount realised would be nearly £100 a year. Everything depends upon the honesty of the reader. In these little things honesty may perhaps be expected, especially pro- vided the readers feci a certain assurance that they may be detected in dishonesty. Here is a circular which runs as follows :— "Of Paramount Importance, and should be Bead by every Author! HINTS TO AUTHORS and LITERARY ASPIRANTS, by Liber. Cr. 8vo., 6d. a copy, sent post free on receipt of 7 stamps. Contents:— Advice to Authors and Literary Aspirants, Publisfters and Publishing, on makin;/ a Booh, Poetry, MSS., Proof-correctimj, SfC, Remuneration." It was with an expectant eye that we glanced over the pages of this little work, for the contents, as advertised, ought to interest us much, if they were properly done, and should be of much service to authors. We give an introductory sentence, which rendered it unnecessary to read more. "No one can write poetry, unless they have the poetic vein or gift, and most assuredly they cannot write books, or for the press, <$c, unless they have those natural endowments which ensures an ap- preciative public." We did, however, read a little more. The rest of the work is full of vague encouragement to all who have MSS. to print them, and in an accom- panying letter, Messrs. Alder & Co., "who have twenty years of experience in publishing," offer to revise MSS. and to generally assist the fortunate author. We give the firm this credit—it is not likely that their pamphlet will bring even the youngest of aspirants to them for advice. Their wording is too clumsy. When we remember the letters of the London Literary Society, of the City of London Publishing Company, of Mr. MeGuire, and of Messrs. Bevington and Co., and recall the fact that these letters secured applicants by the score, it is hard to believe that any lwit can be too coarse. But " Liber's" utter freedom from syntax would shake a baby's confidence in his advice. ♦•»••♦ LITERARY PROPERTY. 1. Transfer of Contract. "fTMIE Author calls attention to a recent advet*- I tisement in the Times, in which a firm of publishers, having more MSS. of novels in their possession than they can for some time publish, offer to part with the contracts relating to several MSS. by good authors (some being subject on publication to a royalty), and point out 'this is an admirable opjwrtunity for a young lirm who want to start with a good lot of publications without any loss of time,' the adver- tisement being addressed to 4 Young Publish- ing Firms or others commencing a publishing business.' The Author 4 has always been of opinion that a contract by one author with one publisher, except in the case of sale, could not be passed on to another publisher without the author's consent,' but thinks that the question is one for lawyers to consider. The general rule as to assignability of contracts is that all contracts are assignable by either party on notice to the other, but without the  ## p. 348 (#752) ############################################ 348 THE AUTHOR. consent of the other, except in cases where the individual skill or other personal qualifications of the assigning contractor were relied on by the party contracting with him, and the modern ten- dency of the Courts appears to be in favour rather of extending than narrowing the assignability of contracts (see 'Chitty on Contracts,' 12th edit, at p. 862, citing The British Waggon Company v. Lea, 44 Law J. Rep. Q. B. 321). In two cases, however—that of Stevens v. Benning, 6 De G. M. & G. 2 23, and Hole v. Bradbury, 48 Law J. Kep. Chane. 673—contracts between author and pub- lisher have been held not to be assignable. In Stevens v. Benning, a complicated case arising out of 'Forsyth on the Law of Composition with Creditors,' it was held that an agreement on the half-profit system was of a personal nature on both sides, so that the benefit of it was not assignable by either party without the other's consent. In Hole t\ Bradbury, another half-profit agreement between Canon Hole and Messrs. Bradbury and Evans for the production of 'A Little Tour in Ireland, with Illustrations by John Leech,' was held also to be personal, and to be put an end to by a complete change of partnership in the publishing firm. From the language of Lord Justice Fry in delivering judgment, it is clear that that learned and literary judge was of opinion that, except where the copyright passes, the contract between author and publisher is personal and not assignable, but that there is a great distinction arising if the copyright is sold to the publisher, and in such a case we cannot but think that as a copyright is assignable ad infinitum, a contract to produce copyright must be assignable ad infinitum also, but assignable by the publisher only, and not by the author also. At any rate, authors would do well, in contracting to produce a work of which they sell the copyright and receive no further re- muneration, to restrain the assignability of the contract in some reasonable manner, as it is obvious that publishers must differ very much from one another in capability to get a book sold.'' In ordinary cases, therefore, publishers' contracts are not assignable, and those authors who find their works passing into the hands of publishers others than those with whom they originally contracted, will do well either to consult their own solicitors or to apply to our secretary forthwith. It seems also to be worth while to restrict assignability in cases where the copyright is sold, otherwise an author who expects to be published in London may suddenly find himself published in Cornwall, and in Cornwall only.—Law Journal (March 19). II. Literary Agents. Two or three letters have been received on the subject of literary agents and their use in the literary world. A good deal of doubt and of mis- understanding exists on the subject. For instance, those, who think that an agent can succeed in placing work that has l>een already refused by editors and publishers arc certain to be disap- pointed. They may get the agent to make the attempt; in the end they will grumble at paying for services which have proved useless; they may suspect that these services have never been rendered at all. No one—not a literary friend, not a well- known man of mark, not an agent—can succeed in getting editors to accept MSS. unsuitable, or pub- lishers to produce work of no commercial value. No one can help the author but himself. He alone has to besiege the fort. Very often he has to retire; in some few cases the fort presently sur- renders. Of what use, then, is the agent? Of every use to the writer tcho has already created a demand. The agent undertakes his work, esti- mates his market value, keeps him out of mischief, and leaves him free from money worries. There are so few, comparatively, who have succeeded in creating this demand for their work, that they may reasonably Ijc siipj>osed to know the agents who can be trusted. A bad ageut—one who plays into the hands of fraudulent publishers—audits and passes fraudulent accounts—is a worse shark than the most dishonest of publishers. Beware of him! In a word. Let no one go to any agent on the faith of an advertisement. And let no one who is not already on the ladder of popularity go to any agent at all. III. The supposed Increase of Magazines. On the subject of magazines, we are always ready to cry out at the increase in their numbers of late years. The following, however, is a list of monthly magazines published in the year 1807, with their prices. It will be observed that, com- paring the population of Great Britain in 1807 with that of 1892, there were many more magazines in proportion to population than there are now; and comparing the proportion of reading classes, very many more. And if we consider the Colonies and India, there is no comparison possible. Then iu 1807 the population of England alone was 9,000,000. In 1892, it is 27,000,000, or three times that of  ## p. 349 (#753) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 349 the former year. Now, consider the magazines of 1807. They were :— Athenaeum, 2*. Monthly Repository, Agricultural, is. 6d. is. Britannic, 1*. Methodist, 6d. Botanical, 3s. Monthly, is. 6d. Christian Observer, is. Monthly Mirror, is. 6d. Evangelical, 6d. Naval Chronical, is.Sd. European, is. 6d. Naturalist's Miscellany, Gentleman's, is. 6d. 2*. 6d. Gospel, gd. Orthodox Churchman, Literary Recreations, is. 6d. is. 6d. Philosophical Mining, Literary Panorama, 2s. 6d. 2s. 6d. Philosophical, 2s. 6d. Ladies', is. Repertory of Arts and Ladies'Museum, is. Manufactures, 2s.6d. La Belle Assemblee, Records of Literature, 2S. 6d. 2 s. 6(7. Le Beau Monde, 2s. 6d. Sporting, i». id. Medical and Physical, Theological and Bibli- 2s. 6d. cal, 6d. Universal, is. 6d. Besides these there were the reviews:— The Annual, £1 is. Literary, 2s. 6d. Anti-Jacobin, 2s. 6d. Monthly, 2s. 6d. British Critic, 2s. 6d. Medical and Surgical, Critical, 2s. 6d. is. 6d. Eleetric, is. 6d. Oxford, 2s. 6d. Edinburgh, 5s. In short, there were in 1807,40 magazines to 9,000,000 people. But, at the very least, five-sixths of these, rustics, children and the working classes, read nothing. That makes one magazine for every 40,000 people. Observe again that these magazines touched only the better class. At the same rate we ought now to have 700 magazines of the higher class. IV. The Output. The autumn harvest of books is followed by a spring gathering almost as rich. The Laureate, our President, contributes his new drama, advertised for the last day of March. Lord Lytton's posthu- mous volume " Marah " is out. Sir Edwin Arnold has produced his " Potiphar's Wife "; Dr. Abbott, his book on the "Anglican Career of Cardinal Newman"; Mr. Molesworth, his "Stories of Saints for Children "; Prof. Earle, his "Deeds of Beowulf "; the Dean of "Winchester, his " History of France "; Prof. Jebb, the " Fifth Part of his Sophocles"; Archdeacon Farrar, his new Volume of Sermons; Grant Allen, his new novel, the "Duchess of Powysland"; a popular edition of Mrs. Oliphant's "Life of Laurence Oliphant"; Mr. S. Baring Gould, his new novel, " Margery of Quether"; Mr. Dubourg, whose silences are too prolonged, is ready with his romantic drama "Angelica"; "Melmoth the "Wanderer" is revived once more; Mr. George Gissing produces his "Denzil Quarrier"; Churchill's "Rosciad" is reprinted. And when we consider the long lists which are not advertised in the ordinary channels and never appear in the Saturday, the Spectator, or the Athaneum, there is little reason to doubt that the output of 1892 will equal that of the preceding years. All the more reason to keep hammering into the minds of those who are terrified at this output the fact that it is intended for an enormous multitude of readers, every day growing greater and more greedy for literary food. Wc need not l>e afraid about the quantity; that concerns the purveyors only; as for the quality, let us remember that it is what our educators make it. If the quality is low, raise the standard by education—or by example. Meantime, let us do our Iwst to prevent the publishing of books worth- less and not wanted. THE AUTHORS* SYNDICATE. THE progress of this offshoot of the Society has already fulfilled the expectations of those who are responsible for its formation and management. An Honorary Council is now formed, and the work is being put on an extended basis, so that it may now undertake the management of all forms of literary property. The difficulties which had to be overcome at the outset were not inconsiderable. The natural distrust of a new and unknown organisation, the active competition of rivals, and the overt or covert opposition of a few who regarded the association as " superfluous " were so far successful that they prevented progress from being as rapid as could be desired. Much time was occupied in establishing business relations with publishers and with the periodical press in all parts of the world. Our agents and travellers have been actively engaged in introducing the association and explaining its method of working. The result so far is as satisfactory as could be wished. A large number of publishing houses in this country and in America have not only expressed their willingness to co-operate but have entrusted tlx? Syndicate with negotiations on their behalf. It is not perhaps putting it too high to say that we have the ear of the British Press throughout the world. We are efficiently represented in  ## p. 350 (#754) ############################################ 35° THE AUTHOR. America by agents of tried integrity. From this it will be seen that the encouragement which the association has received is highly promising. Many publishers, nearly every journal of standing in the kingdom, many journals in the colonies, and in India, and either directly, or through our agents, a large number of established journals in the United States have requested that we will keep them constantly informed of the rights we have to offer. In addition, a large number of periodicals have expressed their willingness to deal through the Syndicate, provided it can supply them with the material they require. Only two journals and one magazine have expressed any unwillingness to do business, in each cast; simply on the ground that their conductors object to the intervention of such an intermediary. The applications which reach the Syndicate for the work of the best writers are steadily increasing. There is, too, a small but growing demand for work on its merits, apart from name, and the Syndicate has even been asked to send out work of all kinds with its imprimatur. When the necessary arrangements have been completed a reading staff will be esta- blished, whose recommendation shall be given with as much jealousy as that of a publisher's reader. It is obvious that work which secures so valuable a recommendation is certain to receive favourable attention. Again, the knowledge possessed by the advisers of the Syndicate of the markets for literary property will be, at least, instrumental in sparing members much disappointment. It must bo understood that this department is quite distinct from the reading department of the Society. The Syndicate does not give an educa- tional opinion, but passes judgment upon the commercial value of a MSS. submitted to it.* The Syndicate, it must lie repeated, acts merely as the agent of members, and its e.\j>enses are met by a commission charged upon moneys received. It is now in a position to look after all rights that may be entrusted to it. The information accumulated in the archives of the Society is at its service, and it is simply impossible to exaggerate the value of that information. Its conductors are by means of this knowledge acquainted with the methods of business of every publishing house in the trade. The future of the Syndicate now depends only on the support it receives from the members of the Society, and it is hoped that they will, in their own interests, strengthen the hands of its conductors. Members who receive applications for work from the manager will materially advance the interests of the Syndicate if they will endeavour, as far as possible, to meet its demands, although these must, necessarily, * No MSS. whatever must be sent to the .Syndicate without previous communication with the secretaries. often be somewhat peremptory. None of the work of the association is more important than that it should, as far as possible, satisfy the needs of its clients. It has been objected that the Syndicate is designed to sow distrust between authors and editors or publishers. Nothing could be further from the fact. The jiersonal relations of publishers and editors with authors will most certainly con- tinue cordial so long as their business negotiations are conducted for them by means of such an asso- ciation as our own. Nothing is so conducive to a rupture of the entente cordiale as those misunder- standings which constantly arise when an author conducts his own business for himself. The history .of literature is full of such misunderstand- ings and quarrels. It is a preposterous condition to insist that a distinguished author shall do his own "marketing." And it must be remembered that the only way in which authors can act with each other, and for themselves, is by means of such an association as this, in which they are not e.rploites for the advantage and interests of one |>erson. It is the interest of the Syndicate to advance the position of everyone who takes advantage of its services. There are no traps or secret profits. W. M. C. AMERICAN AUTHORS. I. The Amekican Society of Authors. Prospectus: PltOTECTION of authors and of literary property. First. By advice before publishing; by arbi- tration or by appeal to law in all cases where members have been swindled or oppressed by publishers. Second. By enacting here the French statutes in regard to!literary property; in particular that one which compels the publisher to affix to each book printed by him a stamp furnished by the author of said book and inflicting legal penalties if he neglects or refuses to do so. (A law which would do away entirely with the wholesale cheating of the author by the publisher in the return of books sold.) Third. Extension of the present term of copy- right to the lifetime of the author, or fifty years.  ## p. 351 (#755) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 35* Fourth. Carriage of literary property (MSS.) through the mails at the same rates charged for property not literary. Fifth. Co-operation with the British Society of Authors for needed amendments to the present International Copyright Law. Sixth. Cultivation of a fraternal spirit among writers by monthly meetings for discussion and the reading of papers on literary topics, and by the publication of a monthly journal devoted to the interests of authors and of the Society. Seventh. Reading of MSS. for authors, and opinions as to its value, &c. Membership. All persons, male or female, who have written a book, or are engaged in writing for the press, to be eligible to membership. Annual Dues. Limited to $5 (the dues of the British Society), in return, each member to be entitled to legal and expert advice gratis, and, if wronged, to have his case prosecuted by the Society; also to one year's subscription to the Society's journal. Officers. A President, Secretary, and Board of Managers, to be elected by members at an annual meeting, the Secretary to be executive officer, the Board of Managers to control the affairs and shape the policy of the Society. The above prospectus is followed by a letter, of which the following is an extract:— "We ought to have in America a society of at least 5,ooo members. If such a society did nothing more than force Congress to enact the French statutes (noticed above), it would prove abundantly its "raison d'etre." But it could do much more. Will you join us in creating such a society, by pledging your name as a member when organised, and, if convenient, by attending a meeting for organisation, to be held privately in New York not later than May 1 st? If 100 favourable replies to this circular are received, it is proposed to organise such a society at once. "To those who fear to incur the resentment of publishers by joining such a society, we would say that its proceedings and lists of members could be kept secret, if desired, but no publisher would be so foolhardy as to antagonise such a body, since with the British Society (whose co-operation is VOL. 11. pledged by their Committee) and the French Society, it would control nearly the entire literary output of the world. "Charles Burr Todd," Author of "Life and Letters of Joel Barlow." "Story of the City of New York." "Story of Washington, D.C." II. The Book of the Authors' Club. An erroneous account of a project recently entered upon by the Authors' Club appeared in several of the New York daily papers a few days since. The enterprise has proceeded so far that its success is no longer problematical, but the Club was not quite ready to announce it. Now, how- ever, the Critic is authorized to set forth the matter as it is. The Club will publish a sumptuous volume, made up of stories, poems, essays, and sketches, written specially for it by 100 or more of the members. One hundred and six have definitely promised to contribute. The length of the con- tributions will vary from one page to a dozen pages. Those contributors who are artists as well as authors arc asked to illustrate their articles. The volume will be as handsome typographically as the De Vinne Press can make it. The head of that establishment, by the way, is himself an author and a member of the Club, and will contribute to the book an article on " Typographic Fads." But one edition will be printed, and that one limited to 251 numbered copies, 25o of which are to be sold to subscribers. In every copy of the book, each article will be signed, in pen and ink, by its author. The subscription price is 8100, and the Club may reserve the right to raise the price after the first 100 copies have been sold. Type-written copies of the articles are prepared for the printer; and the original manuscripts, clean and whole, are to be bound up by themselves and sold to the highest bidder. About 5o of the contributors have already placed their articles in the hands of the Committee. These include, among others, essays by Poultney Bigelow, James Howard Bridge, Andrew Carnegie, George Cary Eggleston, Henry R. Elliott, George H. Ellwanger, Parke Godwin, Laurence Hutton, Rossiter Johnson, Albert Mathews, Brander Matthews, Oscar S. Straus and Charles Dudley Warner; poems by Henry Abbey, Elbridge S. Brooks, John Vance Cheney, Richard Watson Gilder, Arthur Sherburne Hardy, Henry Harland (" Sidney Luska "), John Hay, James B. Kenyon, Walter Learned, William Starbuck Mayo, James Herbert Morse, David L. Proudfit, Clinton Scollard C c  ## p. 352 (#756) ############################################ 35* THE AUTHOR. and "William Hayes Ward; stories by William H. Carpenter, John D. Champlin, Jr., Maurice F. Egan, Harold Frederic, Charles Ledyard Norton, Horace Porter, Theodore Roosevelt and George E. Waring, Jr.; sketches by Samuel L. Clemens (" Mark Twain "), Moncure D. Conway, Thomas W. Knox, James M. Ludlow and Horace E. Scudder. The intention is to carry the book through the press during the spring and summer, and have it ready for delivery next autumn. The Club has not yet formally opened a subscription list, but a good many subscriptions have been sent in. Letters re- lating to it should be addressed to the Secretary of the Club, Mr. Rossiter Johnson, i, Bond Street, New York. The money to be raised by this publi- cation will be held as the nucleus of a building fund; but as the Club has never been in debt, and its finances have always been managed remarkably well (belying the popular dictum that literary men do not understand business), it is not probable that a clubhouse will be erected very soon.—New York Critic. THE REPORT OF 1891. f | ^HIS Report is, in every respect, the most i satisfactory that the Society has had to show. There is advance in every direction. First, as regards numbers. The election of over 200 during the year; the loss, by death or retirement, of no more than 3o or so; the increase of members to 800; these are very satisfactory figures. They have not, as yet, assumed the proportions which we desire, but a list of 800 means a very consider- able advance in power. We now have among our members nearly all the best known writers of the day. The opposition which we formerly received has, in great measure, disappeared. It still pleases certain journals persistently to misrepresent the aims and the work of the Society. They have, no doubt, their motives and their inspiration. Meantime, it is now generally understood that our chief raison d'etre is the definition and the maintenance of literary property. With this end in view, we have investigated the exact meaning of the various systems of publication—" half-profits," royalties, &c.—and have shown what these mean to publisher and to author, and have exposed the various frauds practised under their methods. Wc therefore continually and earnestly entreat everyone who has nn agreement submitted to him to ascertain, before he signs it, what proportion in the returns of his own property is offered him, and what is reserved for the publisher. If he has any doubt on the point, let him ask the publisher for an estimate of this proportion on the supposition of certain results. Or, which is simpler, let him refer the agreement to the Secretary, remembering to forward not only the agreement, but the length of the MS. and the kind of form in which it is to appear. There has been, from the beginning of the Society, a persistent attempt made to represent it as hostile to publishers. This is, of course, the trick of the fraudulent publisher in order to cover his own iniquity. He pretends that not only he himself, but all the fraternity, are attacked. We will repeat, if necessary, with every number of the Author, that the Society fully recognises the necessity and the justice of allowing the publisher his just fees and share of the property whose rents he collects and which he manages. Like the solicitor, too, he must be paid first- But he must not make secret—which are fraudulent—profits. And in every agreement it must be clearly understood what share he is to receive, without any other secret—and fraudulent—profits. What is this share? Is it possible to arrive at a method of publishing which can be applied to every form of book alike, whether cheap or dear, large or small? Perhaps. Let us try. We will state the problem in plain language, and refer it to our members. Perhaps between us all an answer may be found. Suppose that answer will not be accepted by publishers? Well, in the present competitive condition of business no method based upon fair play is in the least likely to be refused by the better houses. If it were refused, the next step would be easy. In point of fact, men and women of letters have their independence in their own hands, if they choose to accept it on the only possible terms. They must cease, absolutely and at once, from believing that the material side of literature is a branch of gambling; they must cease from prating nonsense about publishers' generosity—a jargon as degrading to letters as it is mischievous and false in fact; they must regard their work as property for the administration of which they must pay; they must regard those who want to administrate it as they regard solicitors, of whom some are good and honourable, some indifferent, many dishonest and incapable; and, above all, thev must desist from talking as if the material side was beneath their dignity. The material side is everything; properly treated it gives indepen- dence and freedom to the artistic side; it must be watched jealously, closely, continually. Where wealth is gathered, thither flock the thieves; where property is to be administered, thither flock the rogues who hope to steal that property. Not to watch over property is the attitude of a madman;  ## p. 353 (#757) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 353 to drop contentedly into the nttitudc of a mendi- cant is the act of a slave. What literature—what art—comes from the bondsman? What—where —of what quality—are the fruits of Grub Street? All this is very different from clutching greedily after guineas. One does not desire that literature should be followed as a means of acquiring immense fortunes, nor does one envy in the least a successful publisher who honourably accumulates an immense fortune. But we must no longer ask what a publisher will give; the question henceforth must be what the book will bring in—if anything—on a definite system. That this will be the attitude—this the question—of the future admits of no doubt. That it will become immediately the attitude of all writers is matter of considerable doubt. Let those begin, at least, who have already achieved such a measure of success as will make that attitude possible. Consider, for a moment, the change which will be effected by the adoption of a common and recognised method of publishing. The author will have no trouble in bargaining; he will simply offer his book; he will understand his own popularity— if ho has any; the extent and nature of his own following; he will be in true partnership with his publisher; be will be under no delusions; ho will suspect no tricks; the accounts which concern his work will be his own, for inspection whenever he pleases. There will be no affectation of generosity on the one hand, no attitude of mendicancy on the other; there will bo no suspicion of trickery; both parties to the agreement will stand upright, man with man. Compare this independence, this openness, with the sullen suspicion, the jealousy, the smouldering wrath, the outspoken accusations which prevail at the present day. Listen to the talk of authors among themselves; listen to the stories they whisper or suggest of fraud and treachery ; some of them get into these columns, but not a fiftieth of what arc told. Are they all true? Those that we give are true, not all the rest; but they are all founded on suspicion, or on cases that are, unhappily, true to the letter. One would have thought that men engaged in this business would catch at anything—anything—that promised to relieve them of this atmosphere of suspicion. This, however, has not generally proved to be the case. Everything is in the hands of men and women of letters. But they must learn to act together, with common objects and that amount of confidence which springs from the possession of common interests. The Society has from the outset re- garded common action as one of the most inq>ortiint objects to be realised. Understand. No con- cession of individual freedom is desired. In the world of letters, foolishly called a Bepublic, where there is no equality jwssible, every man must stand apart and individual. But every man is not necessarily the enemy of every other man. There are common interests. Where these are concerned let us be friends; where they are not concerned, we need not be deadly enemies to each other, even though there may be disagreements. It is time that the old brutal slogging and hammering of author by author should cease—most of it, indeed, has ceased; it is more than time that men of letters should adopt those outward forms of respect towards each other which are enforced in the professions of the law and medicine. This does not preclude criticism. When a man sends his book to be criticised, he invites a judgment; he has no right to complain if that judgment is harsh; he has invited an opinion. But for a man to go out of his way in order to attack, wantonly, spitefully, and maliciously a man of the same calling, deliberately to sit down unasked, unprovoked, in order to stab a member of the same calling; deli- berately to besmirch a reputation by throwing mud, like a dirty little schoolboy; deliberately to insult another writer for the mere enjoyment of insult—■ all this is plainly and simply brutal and black- guard. A barrister who should dare to do such a thing would be disbarred; a physician would be expelled the college; in private life a man who should wantonly insult another man at a club would have his name removed. There ought to bo —there must be—found some way in which such men shall be made to feel that they arc exactly in the same position as those lawyers, physicians, or club men who have been expelled from the society of their brethren. Who, it may be asked, does such things? Perhaps, no one. The question may be answered by any reader for himself. The dependence of writers is, no doubt, greatly increased by the continual influx of those who have no business to take up literature as a profession, and no capacity to do more than the production of books which are not wanted, and of literary work which is purely hack. There must always be such writers. Let us do our best to urge and persuade those who would swell the unhappy ranks that in any other line—any other—a more easy living, with more money, more independence, more self- respect can be obtained than in the lowest walks of literature. If they must and will write—the impulse is sometimes as strong for the incompetent as for those who have the gift—let them take up some other position and give to writing their spare hours. Every member who sends his yearly guinea enables the Society to act for other members. This is the first step towards common action in matters connected with law and property. The creation of public opinion as regards literature as a calling has yet to be achieved. It may prove C c 2  ## p. 354 (#758) ############################################ 354 THE AUTHOR. difficult, but so much has been done already, owing to the efforts of the Society, that it does not seem impossible. And we look for the co-operation of editors in the enforcement of these outward forms of respect. Without them, indeed, the profession of letters would long since have been an arena of maddened gladiators. The newly formed Authors' Club will also prove of assistance in this respect. The club, even if it does nothing more, will make it difficult for men who meet in friendliness to go away and stab each other in spite and malice. The newly formed Writers' Club should exercise a similarly beneficent effect upon ladies. We have spoken of the work already effected by this Society. It. has already taught those who have work to produce what it will cost to produce; it has enabled them to understand, for the first time in the history of literature, what agreements mean. And it has made publishers far more care- ful in the agreements which they submit to authors. The old cynical impudence with which arrange- ments, ridiculously unfair, used to be offered, has almost vanished, while certain firms which a year or two ago were remarkable for barefaced trading on the ignorance of their clients, are now offering agreements which leave little to desire. The Society does not propose to arrogate to itself the functions of a judge; it neither protends to punish, nor does it bear malice; where fair agreements are offered, the past may be forgotten. But it does its best to keep away from fraudulent houses as much work as it possibly can. This course it has pursued for seven years with satisfactory success; it. has mulcted certain houses in many thousands of pounds; it has taken out of their hands authors by the dozen j and this course it will still continue to pursue. «~*-» THE STORY OF ANITA. IT became ridiculous; it became proverbial; it became maddening. What was there in the commonplace work of this commonplace girl —they liked the double use of the adjective- commonplace, they said—that caused her work to be taken by magazines—paid for properly, mind, with good sound substantial cheques—to be accepted by publishers and issued in series which included some of the very biggest names? Other maidens with similar ambitions, curiously turned over the leaves of her stories and tossed them contemptuously one to the other. Some said, " Well!" and it was as if there were rivers and lakes dammed up behind. Others said, " Ah!" and it was as if a cataract was ready to leap and bound. Others again looked round them and asked of the silent heavens, the patient earth, and the unsympathetic ocean, " Can anyone tell me why?" For it could not be denied, even by Anita's worst enemies, to say nothing of her most bosomly friends, that her tales were commonplace in the conception, slovenly in their execution, and vulgar in sentiment; that her plots were old, feeble, and ridiculous, and the style was what is commonly called that of the school girl. "Anita Palaska has got a story in the Chcapside this month!" It was in one of the halls of the British Museum. There were half-a-dozen girls talking together. She who spoke had the dis- cordant tones of envy. "She had one in the Hat/market last month!" With a wail of pain. "And one in the Regent Street the month before!" The voice was that of one who prefers an accusation against fate. "And she is doing a weekly fashion letter for the Young Ductess!" This in a minor key, as of one reciting a Penitential Psalm. "And oh !" cried another, "Mr. Cyril Muckle- more is announcing a new novel by Anita Palaska. 'Preparing. Will be ready in a month.' Ah! Can anyone—will anyone—anyone tell me why?" It was as the cry of a Lost Soul, antl along the sonorous ceiling of that vast hall rolled the notes, echoing as they rolled, " tell me why—why—hy—y —y—y." "I have read everything Anita has ever written," said one, " and there is not a lino, or a sentence, or a character—not a situation or a thought—which is not feeble and commonplace. Not one. All as commonplace as her appearance." "Well, my dear," murmured a bosom friend, "you certainly ought to be a judge of the commonplace." But she said aloud, "I have tried to read our Anita, and I confess that I cannot." They all had desks and drawers and chests and boxes full of MSS.—these inky Graces. They were all mad—insatiably mad—for literary fame. They were all poor, badly dressed, and insufficiently fed; they wanted dollars almost as much as they wanted literary fame. And here was Anita—one of themselves—who twelve months before had been in the same quagmire of neglect and contempt with themselves, now blossoming into a popular author. The thing called for a universal sniff to begin with—wrath could come after, but the sniff came first—a thing so absurd, so foolish, so unjust—a popular—popular—Hear! Oh Heavens! Anita Palaska was already a popular—popular—popular author, while they— they—they—the unsuccessful—those of the inky  ## p. 355 (#759) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 355 fingers—were as much on the outside as the Foolish Virgins! What did it mean? By what magic did Anita persuade editors to take her stuff? Let the truth be told plainly—her skimble skamble, foolish, futile, commonplace, weary, dreary, languid, miserable, copied, imitated, second-hand, humbug- ging stuff—while her sisters had their works—far better—everyone knew it, and was not ashamed to say it—better? Gracious! Comparison was out of the question.—Their lovely work returned, hurled back in their faces, with a slap of contempt, so that all the cheeks of all these maidens were always red and glowing, and their eyes aflame with rage, and their tongues like forked serpents charged with venom and hatred, and spite, and all uncharitablcness. There is nothing in the world for these cpialities like a disappointed literary woman, unless it is the disappointed literary man. It will be readily understood tiiat whenever these angry and defeated ladies met together the conversation speedily turned on the success— tenqwrary only — everyone agreed upon that— of their more fortunate sister. And the talk always assumed such a character as that indicated above. One day, then, while three or four of them were gathered together in the luncheon room of the Museum, that Tavern with the sign of the Inky Finger, the Spirit of Envy being in their midst, the subject of their discourse appeared. She opened the door and stood there for a moment smiling. By the quick snap of all the mouths; by the quick glance of all the eyes; by the little shudder which ran round the group; by the little blush of shame; by the sudden silence, it was plain to Anita, being a woman of at least ordinary intelligence, that they were talking about her. At this she was not surprised; she knew even the kind of discourse they would be holding about her. In such matters a girl has but one rule of judgment. She puts herself in the place of the others. Anita Palaska was a tall and rather fine-looking girl — her friends said that her real name — but that matters nothing. She looked English and had a foreign name—a Servian name? A Polish name? A Czetch name ?—what does it matter? Almost a handsome woman, large and generous in her proportions, and about 24 years of age. "Commonplace in her appearance," said her friends. Not quite. These ladies were not, perhaps, the best judges of what is attractive in a woman where man is concerned. Nor did they understand in the least—certainly they had never had an oppor- tunity of observing—the latent power in Anita's eyes. They could not even guess how those eyes could dilate; how they could tremble; how they could fascinate; how they could flicker; how they could mean wonderful inexpressible things; how they were, as she pleased, persuasive, coaxing, innocent, limpid, loving, fresh, candid, sincere, alluring, promising, saintly. Her friends never even suspected the magic, and said she was as commonplace in her style as in her manner. Poor deluded girls! As for literary style, that may be conceded. For her manner, however— "I have been correcting my new proofs," she said, addressing the assemblage. "My story is going into the Cheapside this month." "So we see," said the eldest of the damsels, with a little prolongation of the sibilant. "We were just asking each other if you would be kind enough to tell us the secret of your success, which, indeed, we cannot understand. Your stories, of course, are taken on their merits. . . ." She tossed her head. Anita laughed softly. "Outside the profession I should say, ' Send in good work and it will be taken.' To you I cannot say that." "No, no." They all hastened to exclaim assent. Had they not all—to a female—sent in good work which had been sent back to them? And Anita had sent in bad work and it was accepted. "No. To you I say this: There are just a few living writers who really have got the art of writing attractively. They are very few. Everybody wants their work, and there isn't enough to go round. Then there are a great many who all write up to a certain level, and that a low level. Now do you begin to understand?" They did not. They shook their heads. Each one felt that she, in fact, was a good bit above the level achieved by her sisters. "Well, it is so, however. And the great diffi- culty of editors is to select from this vast expanse of commonplace something a little better than the rest. Now do you see?" She spoke very sweetly, and they began to see, and the gleam of that new light brought fire into their hearts which burned them up, internally. "I am not a ltudyard Kipling nor a Barrie," Anita went on, modestly, " I don't pretend to such great ness. But I may be—you see—a little—just a wee bit—above the general level of those who send in contributions. That is why I am accepted. Only ever so little above the commonplace. The expla- nation is quite easy. You have only to be a little, very little, bit above the average level." She nodded pleasantly, and took a table by herself, where she taxed the resources of the establishment for her selfish gourmandise. And the rest felt themselves—all—all—lying on the low, cold, watery, despised levels of incompetence. They crept back to their work, one after the other, unhappy, crushed, trodden upon.  ## p. 356 (#760) ############################################ 356 THE AUTHOR. Anita, luncheon despatched, took a MS. out of her hand bag, and run through it hurriedly. "I think it will do," she said. "At all events, if it won't do he must make it do. If it is not good when he's dressed it up, it is his fault, not mine." She put it back—rose—and walked away. The editor of the Ilaymarltct sat in his room at work. It was a cosy room, with one or two comfortable chairs and a bright fire and the appear- ance of seclusion, with a window which looked out upon a quiet churchyard, not yet turned into a playground. A boy brought him a card. He read it; he changed colour; he put it down. "I am busy," he said. "Lady says she can wait any time," replied the boy. "She's taken a chair and a book." "In that case—show her up," replied the editor desperately. She came in smiling sweetly. She gave him her hand; nay, she pressed his hand tenderly with her softly gloved fingers. For purposes of pres- sure, the persuasive cover of a Swede is better than the nudity of bony and knuckly fingers. "Best of editors," she murmured. "What can I do for you, Miss Palaska?" "Fie! last time it was Anita—so—now we are friends again. Between friends everything is easy. I have brought you—" she opened her bag and af- fected not to hear his groan—"a MS. This is really very, very much better than the last. Oh ! I know there were weak—terribly weak—points about that tale, though your beautiful touches improved it so wonderfully. This, however, is much better. It is quite, quite an original story. I will tell it you in brief. There are two most charming lovers—girl like me, you know—and the man—vain creature! you look in the glass! They are separated by a horrid lack of money. There is little hope, but when things arc desperate, her long-lost uncle comes from India. Oh! it is beautifully original and full of pathos. I know you will like it. I wrote it on purpose for you—for you—my best of editors. She laid the MS. on the table, and touched his hand with her's accidentally. Were there ever such eyes, so full of admiration, of respect, of humble handmaidenly devotion? Was there ever a face so full of tender interest and sympathy? "You are quite well?" she asked, "Quite— quite well? Do they watch you enough? You are not working too hard or anything? You are not in love, are you?" She laughed softly and consciously. Now this wretched man had a wife— but he trembled and he reddened, and he murmured, "Except with you, Anita? Impossible." He leaned his face; he kissed her forehead. She held his hand, and her eyes lay upon his face like sunshine, filling it with glow and radiance. Then she rose. "You will put it in the very next number? Dear friend! make any altera- tions—any. Farewell!" She left him. The moment after she left the room, the spell of those eyes died away. He took up the MS.—looked into it—fell into a blind rage over it—hurled it on the floor and jumped upon it. Then he picked it up and smoothed it out, and spent the rest of that day and the whole of the next in correcting it and re-writing it. But it still remained, after his corrections, about as bad a paper as the magazine had ever seen. And he knew that unkind things would be said about it, and perhaps the proprietor might .... Anita went away with a dancing step and a laughing eye. This time she was going to see the publisher of her new novel, Mr. Cyril Mueklemore. He was an aged gentleman whose brows had long been frosted. As for his reputation, it was like unto that of the nether millstone. Anita possessed an agreement-signed by Mr. Cyril Mueklemore—the beautiful Christian name inspired confidence—in which the firm agreed and bargained to give her a deferred royalty. She was to receive 16s. a copy after the first 500 had been sold. It was a noble offer. No other house, Mr. Cyril Mueklemore assured her, would possibly make such an offer. In fact, as the libraries did not give him so much for a copy, it was what the world would call princely. Mr. Mucklemore's record is full of such princely episodes. But the good and generous patron of literature could very well afford these noble terms, because, you see, he knew very well that 3oo copies would be the very utmost that he could cram down the throats of the libraries, and nobody outside the libraries would buy one single copy. Therefore he had had an edition of 35o, and no more, printed, and he had already distributed the type. But this he did not tell the author. When the proper time came, he would be the first to lament the failure of the work, and to express regrets more on the author's account than on his own. As a matter of fact, he proposed to make a nice little profit of £100 and more, to the author's double duck's egg. "You think," said a certain adviser of Anita—a male novelist—" that old Mueklemore mains to let you have any money? Not he. I know his tricks and his ways. Not a penny will you ever get out of him." In fact, this good old man had the warm heart and the kind word of every author who had ever gone to him. Hence his princely fortune; hence, too, or closely connected with the warm heart and the kind word, was his eminent piety, for he was of a very advanced and stalwart form of Christianity, and in his will he has endowed a college for decayed—but this is anticipating the charitable intentions of a good and great man. "I think," said Anita, "that Mr. Mueklemore will  ## p. 357 (#761) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 357 be persuaded to give me a cheque on account." Her adviser laughed scornfully. Anita smiled darkly, mysteriously. "If you are a witch, Anita . . ." She smik'd again, and she sallied forth. "Dear Mr. Mucklemore !" said Anita, sinking into a chair and holding the hand of this Christian person in her own. "You are well? You look anxious. Do they consider you enough? Do they watch over you? You are not worried about anything? Have wicked men written you angry letters? You are not—Oh! you are not—anxious about my little book, are you? Dear Mr. Muckle- more! I could never forgive myself if I thought you were going to lose money over my little venture." "No, I shall not lose much money," said Mr. Mucklemore. A benevolent smile stole over his countenance. "Not more than I can afford, over your little book, Miss Palaska." He looked down upon her with a certain growing interest. The damsel was comely, and she met bis wrinkled old eyes with looks so full of sympathy, that he began to forget his seventy years. She certainly did show for him a tenderness and a consideration—and, could he be seventy? Those eyes—those eyes—" I feel your kindness so much, dear Mr. Mucklemore —Oh! so very, very much. I feel almost like a daughter to you." "Yet I can never feel like a father to you," replied the Inflammatory Old. "No? Well you are quite as kind as a father to me, anyhow. You may call your kindness what you please, dear Mr. Mucklemore." They were quite alone. Mr. Mucklemore melted. He felt less and less like a father. He told her that she reminded him of his young days, and that she made him lament his youth, and that he thought such an interest in a girl as he now felt had long since gone, and presently he had his benevolent old arms round her slender waist. Nobody would have recognised at that beatific moment the saintly Mr. Mucklemore. Presently Anita drew herself slowly away from this glimpse of Eden. "Dear Mr. Mucklemore," she murmured, "you must not take advantage of woman's weakness. But you will always be young in heart." "Um—urn—urn," murmured the Inflammatory over her fingers. "And oh!" continued Anita, "How good it is when one no longer—quite—so young is so young." "To you, Miss Palaska—Anita "—he became poetical with passion—the Passionate Publisher— "Methusalem would be young, and old Parr himself a boy in buttons." "Flatterer! But why did I call here this morning? You make me forget everything, even that I am wasting your most valuable time, and outside—outside," she said this without a ghost of a smile, "there are a dozen people at least waiting to bless your generous heart." Ho caught her by the hand, again murmuring his " Um—um —um." "What I came to say is only this, dear Mr. Mucklemore. You have given me an agree- ment by which you promise me a royalty—a most generous royalty—of 16s. a copy when ooo have been sold. You are the only man in the profession, everybody tells me, who would ever make such a splendid offer to a novelist. How can I ever sufficiently thank you? Meanwhile sit down, my dear friend, and write me a cheque for a £100—a little £i5o — that will do—in advance, and on account of those royalties." He did it. He did it without a word, as if it was the most natural thing in the world to do, and yet, as you have heard, he had only printed 35o copies, and the type was already distributed. Now you understand the secret of Anita's success, and yet they said she was as commonplace in appearance as in style. Something has happened, however. No one knows how these things do happen. Some one must have communicated the thing under promise of secrecy; then it got whispered in a club smoking- room—but nobody knows. Only one day, when Anita called with a new MS. upon one of her editors, she was coldly received, and was presently informed in plain words that her work could no longer be received in exchange for the pressure of a hand, and the kindly light of pretty eyes. She went away, feeling sad, and called on another editor. The same reception awaited her, almost in the same words. And good old Mr. Cyril Mucklemore has gone, and his heir has discovered that Anita's last novel resulted in a real loss. "I am going"—Anita was sitting with her friends, the Children of Defeat, in the Tavern of the Inky Finger at the British Museum—" I am going very soon to New York. I have been very much disgusted of late about several little things. I thought that editors were gentlemen. Well, you will hardly believe it, but I have met once or twice with things—things, you know—one of them once actually wanted to kiss me." "Imposs sible," cried the young lady who had called Anita commonplace. "True—and another—and another. What is the world coming to? Well, of course I cannot any longer offer to contribute when such insults have been attempted, and I have been considering. Now, I find that the American magazines are far better, richer, and finer than our own; that they welcome good work ." Everybody coughed slightly.  ## p. 358 (#762) ############################################ 358 THE AUTHOR. "Work above the average, when they can get it —they pay four times as well—and their editors are high-souled gentlemen, incapable of insulting a lady. Oh! America is fast becoming the only country in the world for a gentlewoman. Chivalry has a new and a better home in Broadway." She got up and went away, conscious that she could not make a better exit. Yet they had called her as commonplace in style as in manner! "Oh!" cried one of them, who spoke for all, "what does it mean? Can anyone—anyone—tell me why?" Along the lofty walls and along the cornice of the panelled ceiling rolled, and rang, and echoed her question, "Tell me—tell me—why—why—by —hy—y—y—y—." ——-—♦-♦-« NOTES FROM PARIS. SEVERAL paragraph-writers, commenting on what I wrote last month about Ishmael sweating Ishmael, have asked me why I did not give the names of the " reputed author " who sweated, and of the " unfortunate youth" who was sweated in the case I cited. My principal reason was to avoid giving offence to the latter, who, being now a successful feuilletonist on his own account, would hardly have; liked the record of his early struggles made public. A secondary reason was that the "reputed author" would certainly have sent me a challenge, and I have had all the duelling I care for. It is not dangerous, but each duello cost you—for landau, refreshments, doctor's fee for attendance, and lunch to one's seconds at the Cafe Anglais after the affair—a matter of £i5, and, what is worse, obliges you to rise at the unearthly hour of half-past live. Now I do not think I could get up at half-past five even to be guillotined. Apropos of duelling, it is perhaps to be regretted that the fashion of it has gone out so completely in England. I fancy if it existed still the critics of one's works and persons would be more civil. I could not help thinking this as I read the notices about Mr. John Gray's translation of " Lc Baiser," produced at the beginning of this month at the Independent Theatre, and the abominably offensive personalities which were indulged in against him. I understand that he has commenced one suit for libel, but the majority of the critiques were not such as could be attacked in a court of law, and in this way would very summarily have been dealt with. English literary criticism, by the way, is a thing which French men of letters are totally unable to understand. I remember reading some of those malevolent critiques, for which a particular paper has gained a reputation and a sale amongst our splenetic fellow citizens, to a very prominent novelist here. He said, "If a Paris newspaper were to publish such critiques, everybody would be convinced that it was attempting to blackmail either the author or the publisher." I had con- siderable difficulty in persuading him that these notices were written with a certain amount of bona fides on the part of their authors. There is little or no criticism of general literature in Paris. In sending you a book for review the Paris publisher also sends you his card, and—with a priere (Tinserer-—a small printed notice of the book. If one can find room the notice goes in, if not it does not. One would never think of reading the book for the sake of writing a few lines about it, unless the author were a friend and one wanted to oblige him. It would not pay to do so. Three hours is the least one would spend in gaining an honest opinion of a book, and there are very few books on which, in justice to one's journal and to one's public, one could write a critique of more than, say, twenty lines. Fourpenee a line is the maximum rate for articles in a leading Paris paper, so that the remuneration for three hours of such labour would amount at the utmost to eight francs. Three francs would, however, be nearer the average. With coals at 5os. the ton in Paris, men of letters cannot work at those rates, and so literary critiques are not supplied to the Paris papers. Of course, when any big novel or book— a Daudet or a de Maupassant, a Zola or a Dumas —appears, all the papers review it. It is the actuality and is dealt with in the leading article or premier Paris. But the minor authors do not get reviewed at all and seem none the worse for it. Spiteful criticism of the kind which helps to sell a number of moribund publications in England is practically unknown here. It would soon be put a stop to were any innovator to introduce it. That innovator would have to be getting up early most days in the week, to have an excellent balance at his bank, or to have a very tough hide. The only man of letters here who is attacked in the British fashion of attack is George Ohnet, who is a cripple and cannot defend himself. It is all the more cniel that he feels it deeply. I have often found him almost prostrate with mortification at spiteful  ## p. 359 (#763) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 359 tilings which have appeared against him. I remember his once pathetically exclaiming to me, "I wonder why they so hate me, I am sure I have never done anything wrong. I never stole any spoons, and am a decent lived man as a whole." I suppose it is the phenomenal success of his books stirs the gale. It is fair to say that the attacks are made by nonentities, the same class, I presume, who harass the British author. George Ohnet works three hours a day regularly, during which time he writes four pages of small MS., amounting to about one thousand words. He then revises carefully, and, having finished his corrections, hands his MS. to his wife, who makes a beautifully neat fair copy for the printer. She is an immense admirer of his talent, but never allows herself to make any suggestions. A thing which always astonishes French men of letters is to hear a British author talking about the number of words his novel is to consist of. When you tell him that custom has it that a book to be sold at such a price has to contain a minimum of so many words, incredulity first, and then pity comes into their eyes. The commercial side of literary production is what they never can and never want to grasp. It may be accepted as a general rule that all lwoks, other than those of authors who have made a name, which are published in Paris are produced at the author's cost. A French publisher would never dream of risking a farthing in a publication. When Charpentier settled a small income on Emile Zola, to enable him to have leisure to write, he did a most unusual thing. On the other hand, I have never heard of any Parisian publisher practising the frauds by which most British amateur authors are victimised. An ordinary French novel or volume of poems will be produced in good style at from £20 to £32. As soon as a man gets a little known the best he can hope for is a sum of £10 on account of royalties for a novel or a volume of poems. The author in Paris who wants to make money tries for the newspaper serial stories. These are splendidly remunerated. The majority of French authors and poets, however, write for glory. It would be considered lunacy on a man's part to look for a living to the production of books. Those here—barring a few exceptions—who live by their pens are engaged in journalism or in writing for the stage. Many well-known writers VOL. II. follow commercial or professional pursuits. Huys- mann, for instance, is employed at one of the Government offices, and is partner in a bookbinding business. Alexander Dumas is tired of life in Paris. He is selling his mansion in the Avenue Villiers, and all the art treasures it contains, and is about to retire definitely to the country. Most enviable Alexander, tired of worlds to conquer. The catalogue of the books in the French National Library has at last, after years of labour, been completed. Some time, however, must elapse liefore this most interesting work can be published. It appears that the money for its publication is not forthcoming, and cannot be hoped for for some time. Yet France spends £40 a minute on her army. I wonder if ever we shall succeed in getting the author's rights to the benefit of his work as fully recognised in England as they are in France. Here is an instance of this recognition in France. A friend of mine, who is just now collaborating with Catulle Mendes on a play, told me a night or two ago that he receives annually a few sous as heir of his grandfather, who many years ago wrote the libretto of a certain operette, of which Offenbach, I think, wrote the music. Of this operette only one air has survived the change of taste, and it is constantly being fitted to fresh words of topical interest. During the Exhibition, for instance, it was to this tune that a song about the Eiffel Tower was set. The original libretto in general and the song to this air in particular have long since been forgotten, but French justice holds that the writer of the libretto to some extent suggests the music to the composer, and is therefore entitled to a certain share in the proceeds of the music, even if his words are no longer used. Accordingly, when- ever that song is sung, the heir of the man who wrote the original words to it is credited by the agencies with a certain per-centage of the composer's droits cTauteun I hear from Madrid that the widow of de Gonzales has just died in an almshouse. Gonzales was the Dumas of Spain, and his works are still immensely popular. He received very large sums from his publishers, but was a sad spendthrift, and would only work when need pressed him. At last his publishers agreed to give £12 a day against so much copy to be delivered daily. He used to fetch D d  ## p. 360 (#764) ############################################ 36° THE AUTHOR. his money every evening at six, then hasten off to a cafe and keep it up all night till five in the morning. Then he would begin dictating to a couple of secretaries, and his task lx'iug finished, would go to bed until the time came for fetching a fresh supply of doubloons. As a rule, he never had enough money left to pay the cab that took him to his publishers. These, by the way, are all millionaires, chiefly thanks to the Gonzales copy- rights. Why did they let his widow die in a work- house? It may not be generally known that Mr. Oscar Wilde is by maternal descent the grand-nephew of Charles Maturin, where " Melmoth the Wanderer" is at List attracting attention in England. I say "at last," inasmuch as it has been a classic for nearly sixty-five years in France and Germany. It won for its author the admiration of Balzac, and was a livre de chevet of Baudelaise. It contributed greatly to the literary movement in France in i83o. In the course of a conversation I had the other day with Mr. Ernest Renan, I happened to ask him his opinion about Emile Zola's work. These are his own words: "Zola! Nay, Monsieur, you must not ask me about him, for I have no opinion on him. It is low, far away, beneath. It is the mud, and a pity for French literature. I have a horror for what is coarse. At Pompeii, all that was coarse was secreted and hidden away. It is a pity we do not do the same in these days. I confess that I cannot understand how the French, so lettered, so scholarly and so full of taste, can tolerate such horrors as are the modern French novels." I must now ask Zola what he thinks of Mr. Renan's work. SPKING. Oil! to wake at early morning, and to hear the thrushes sing, To watch the steady sunshine stealing over everything. And to know that now, at last, is come the first wann day of spring! Oh! to open wide the window, and to taste the scented bree/e— Sweet and pungent from the breathing of the flowers and tlie trees, And to listen to the humming of the discontented bees! Oh! to step out on the grassplot and to note the sprinkled dew, To look above the lurk's song at the deep unfathomed blue, And to feel the world is still the same as springs ago we knew! Oh! to sit at noontide idle in the chestnut's flickering shade, To hear the cuckoo calling from every knoll and glade, And to catch the perfect harmony by Nature's discords made! Oh! to wander in the evening, with the pink clouds over- head, To listen to the nightingale when his song is freely shed, With one companion by my side, one dear friend, long since dead! Oh ! to tell out all my thoughts to her, my loneliuess and pain, Pale hopes and glowing memories, the toil of heart and brain, And all my deep delight and grief that Spring is come again '. Oh 1 to lie at night and listen to her solemn whispering, While I strain my soul to try and hear what tidings she may bring, And to learn if I may dare to look for everlasting Spring! F. Baykord Harrison. USEFUL BOOKS. It is reported that the Parisian publishers are organising an immense lottery by means of which to rid themselves of huge accumulations of unsold stock. The prizes will lie assortments of reading with a work of art (cruel distinction) thrown in. One publisher declares himself ready to contribute one hundred thousand volumes. And still the pens run on Robert H. Shekard. Paris, March, 20th, 1892. ACORRESPONDENT recently suggested the formation of a list of useful books, i.e., books useful to those engaged in literary work. Here is a contribution to such a list. No doubt others will help to swell the list and to make it really serviceable :— P. M. Roget. Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases. (Longmans.) T. Stormonth. Etymological and pronouncing Dictionary of the English Language. (Black- wood.) Webster's Complete Dictionary of the English Language. Authorised and unabridged Edition. New Edition. (Bell and Sons.) T. Walker. The Rhyming Dictionary of the English Language. (Routledge.)  ## p. 361 (#765) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 361 W. B. Hodgson. Errors in the use of English. (Edinburgh. Douglas.) E. A. Abbot. How to write clearly. (Seeley, Jackson, and Halliday.) Chambers's Encyclopaedia. New Edition. (Chambers.) E. C. Brewer. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Cassell. E. C. Brewer. The Header's Handbook. (Chatto and Windus.) W. J. Lowndes. Reference Catalogue of Current Literature. (t. K. Portescne. Subject Index of Modern Works added to the Library of the British Museum from 1880 to 1885. W. J. Stead. Annual Index of Periodicals and Photographs. E. B. Sargeant and B. Whitshaw. A Guide Hook to Books. NOTES AND NEWS. THE literary event of the month, the appear- ance of the President's Drama, occurs just as these proofs have been ptssed, too late for notice here. American rights, long sighed after, have now become American expectations. We have been accustomed to think of the United States as the author's land of milk and honey. Every- body who produces a book now looks to its reproduction and a wide popularity in America. With this view every publisher and most editors in the States are deluged with offers, and books are given to newspapers for nothing in order to get copyright. -Time will, of course, bring its experiences and its disappointments. It will be discovered that it is not enough to lie a British author in order to command success; but that one must also write what the American public want, anil that will be done very largely for them by their own authors. In the. case, however, of the men thev do want, an American author, on p. 346, shows pretty clearly what they may expect. The figures will come to some of us as a revelation. I commend for our very serious consideration certain passages in Mr. Itoliert Sherard's Notes from Paris in this number. French men of letters are, he says, wholly unable to understand the criticisms, spiteful and cruel, which appear in cer- tain English papers. The love of insult is kept in check by the fear of the duel. No French publisher ever dreams of risking a farthing in the production of a book. Strange! Every English publisher is vol.. n. always dreaming that he risks immense sums. Perhaps Mr. Sherard will give us more information on this side of French literature. Here is a very curious and complete coincidence. One day last year an unfortunate girl connected with one of the theatres in London committed suicide on account of some love disappointment. Just, before this event a story was given in at the office of the New York Herald, for the London Sunday edition, in which the life of this girl—of whom the author had never heard—her love business, and her suicide were all faithfully pour- trayed, anil her very name, with one vowel wrong, was also used. This curious coincidence happened to Mr. Joseph Forster. It was mentioned in the New York Herald—in the American edition—nt the time, but seems not to have attracted any attention. The New York Critic, referring to a certain paper on the work of the Society of Authors in the Forum for March, sums up the situation by saying that "the cases brought forward against certain publishers could very easily be parallelled in every other branch of business." That is very likely. Does that, however, concern us? Do a thousand wrongs justify one other wrong? But there are certain considerations which make our position different from that of other producers. We are for the most part robbed under the guise of friendship; the fraudulent publisher will not, if he can help it, allow the business to be treated as business; he must be considered as the confidential adviser and friend—the generous, disinterested, large-hearted friend. If these things, and things like them, go on in all other lines of business, then a time will come when the whole edifice of cor- ruption will fall to pieces; and if these things are done in the holv name of religion, then it is the worse for that, religion, and for the people who should be guided by that religion. Walt Whitman is dead. It is a long time since we heard that he was paralysed, though he has gone on working almost to the end. When, many years ago, his earliest volume came over here, it was handled at first by critics and by readers with disgust and contempt. Then came a reaction: the book so gross, so coarse, so misshapen, was found to have great thoughts in it. The reaction pre- vailed; the reputation of Walt Whitman has been growing steadily higher. He is said to have, now, more readers in this than in his own country. E e  ## p. 362 (#766) ############################################ 362 THE AUTHOR. On Wednesday, March the 9th, a bust of Richard Jefferies, executed by Miss Margaret Thomas, was unveiled in Salisbury Cathedral by the Bishop in the presence of the Dean and a small company. The inscription on the bust is as follows :—" To the memory of Richard Jefferies, born at. Coate, in the Parish of Chiseldon and County of Wilts, 6th November 1848. Died at Goring, in the County of Sussex, 14th August 1887. Who, ob- serving the works of Almighty God with a poet's eye, has enriched the literature of his country, and won for himself a place among those who have innde men happier and wiser." The Bishop made a short speech, followed by the Dean, who spoke; at greater length. It is very much to be regretted that not one of those who had promoted the acquisition of this monument, nor a single man of letters, except Mr. Lcith Derwent, who resides in Salisbury, was present, on this occasion. Not even the sculptor was in- vited to be present or informed of the time at which the ceremony would take place. The committee were absolutely ignored. This discourtesy, or neglect, was the sole cause of the absence from the ceremony of those who would otherwise have marked their respect and affection to the illustrious author by their presence. The chief credit for the idea of this bust must be assigned to Mr. A. W. Kinglake, of Haines Hill, Taunton. He it was who conceived the idea and would have carried it out single handed, but for ill-health, which obliged him to hand over the matter to a London committee. It is not the last, one hopes, of the many acts of national recognition which have been instituted by the creator of the Somersetshire Valhalla. The placing of the bust of Jefferies in Salisbury Cathedral reminds us of the great increase of interest in everything connected with the world of Fields and Hedges. To be sure, he was only one of a succession—Gilbert White of Selborne, Thomas Burrows, Jefferies—a very fine procession, not to speak of the scientific explorers, Romanes, Lubbock and others. But the succession has not ceased, it is carried on by more than one diligent and peacef ul lover of nature. One of the new books, by one of Gilbert White's successors, is in my hands. It is " Nature's Fairy Land," by H. W. S. Worsley-Benison, already in its fourth edition; a book that one may take up in the evening for a quiet hour; which carries you away into country scenes, and to lovely places; on the sands; among the gorse; in the garden. If one who is not a student of nature, yet a humble reader of books on nature—may name with commendation such a book, I venture to do so. It is never tedious; nor is it a catalogue, as some of Jefferies' earlier books were cruelly said to be; it is always pleasant, and always instructive. The late Lord Lytton died, pen in hand, correct- ing and finishing the verses which, under the name of " Marah," have just been produced in a collected form, and in a daintily bound volume (Longman). One more poem still remains to be published, after which there will be no more of Owen Meredith. Perhaps many of the readers of the Author may like to possess this volume as a memento of a man who valued the Society so highly, and hoped so much for its future. The following lines are from the Epilogue :— 1 My songs flit away on the wing; They are fledged with a smile or a sigh; Anil away with the songs that I sing Flit my joys, and my sorrows, and I. 2. For time, as it is, cannot stay, Nor again as it was, can it be; Disappearing and passing away Are the world, and the ages, and we. 3. Gone, even before we can go, Is our past, with its passions forgot, The tears of its wept-away woe, And its laughters that gladden us not. 4- The builder of heaven and of earth Is our own fickle fugitive breath; As it comes in the moment of birth, So it goes in the moment of death. 5. As the years were before we l>egan Shall the years be when we are no more; And between them the years of a man Are as waves the wind drives to the shore. 6. Back into the Infinite tend The creations that out of it start; Unto every beginning an end, And whatever arrives shall depart. 7- But I and my songs, for awhile, As together away on the wing We are borne with a sigh or a smile, Have been given this message to sing.  ## p. 363 (#767) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 8. The Now is an atom of sand, And the near is a perishing clod; But Afar is as Faery Land, And Beyond is the Bosom of God. In a talk on things literary, one chanced to say, "I am convinced that an uncomfortable pen, or paper of a kind to which I am not accustomed, makes twenty per cent, difference in the quantity I write under ordinary circumstances in a given time. I know that it is absurd to be affected by such trifles—but that is so." "It is not absurd at all," replied the other, a man of science, " but perfectly natural. You speak of the point of a pen, or the degree of rugosity of the surface of the paper as small things. Have you ever considered how very much smaller things are the molecules of the brain, and the infinitesimal changes taking place in them that are all the time guiding your hand and thought? It is only reasonable to suppose that living fibres of a delicacy so infinite would bo very much affected by finding their operations hindered by objects comparatively so large as the point of a pen, or the grain of the surface of a sheet of paper." Those who have visited the Shakespeare house at Stratford-on-Avon of late years will regret to learn that the curator who did so much to give interest to every object preserved there, Mr. Joseph Skipsey, has resigned the post. He has returned to his native country, and now resides at Newcastle. A volume of his collected poems has just been pub- lished by Walter Scott . Many of the pieces have, no doubt, been seen already by the poet's friends. The whole form a collection of singular interest. The charm of the verse lies chiefly in its simplicity and purity. The source of inspiration is the village, the country, the coal mine, the village beauty. For instance—there are certainly poems of a higher flight than this, but everybody will recognise the sweetness and simplicity of the following lines :— Coal black are the tresses of Fanny; But never a mortal could see The coal-coloured tresses of Annie, And be as a body could be. White, white is her forehead, and bonnie; And when she goes down to the well, The beat of the footsteps of Annie, The wrath of a tiger would quell. Bed, red are her round cheeks, and bonnie; And when she is knitting, her tone— The charm of the accents of Annie, Would ravish the heart of a stone. Nay, rare are her graces and many; But nothing whatever can be Compared to the sweet glance of Annie, The glance she has given to me. At the dinner held in aid of the Booksellers' Provident Institution, Mr. F. Macmillan, the chair- man, in support of his contention that MSS. are really read and considered, made an interesting statement. Out of 166 books, including new editions, issued by his firm last year, no fewer than 22, he said, were printed from 3i5 MSS. sent in without being invited. I have always stated my own conviction that in the more important houses all MSS. are fairly read and honestly considered, and it is satisfactory to obtain this confirmation of my view. There are, of course, only some people can never be persuaded of this, houses and houses, publishers and publishers, just as there are lawyers and lawyers. From informa- tion received one is quite certain that in some firms MSS. are not properly considered. The per-cent- age of books accepted, 22 out of 315, or 7 per cent., is much higher than that which other publishers have reported as the result of careful reading. Mr. F. Macmillan is reported to have dwelt with some emphasis on the identity of interests of author, publisher, and bookseller. It was rather dangerous, unless the chairman was willing to accept the logical consequence, to dwell too strongly on identity of interests, though no one in this Society has ever questioned this identity. For, if we are all agreed, as we should be, alxwt this identity of interests, we must therefore be agreed upon the necessity of a mutual understanding as to a just division of these interests. At present things are so constituted that the publisher knows the share of interest which goes to the bookseller, but the bookseller does not know the share that goes to the publisher. In the same way the author knows his share, but has l)een hitherto care- fully prevented from knowing the publisher's share. What recognition of identity of interests is that in which the publisher stands in the middle and says to the bookseller, "Here, my identically in- terested friend, is your share," and to the author, "Here is your share out of our identical interests. Mine? Oh '. mine is my own affair to myself."  ## p. 364 (#768) ############################################ 364 THE AUTHOR. Here, for instance, is a little sum for booksellers and authors alike to consider. For book, our old friend the 6s. novel. A successful book. Cost of production, say iod., in order to be liberal. The bookseller gives, say, 3s. ^d. for it, and sells it for 4.S. 6d. The author gets, say, 2d. in the shilling, or is. a copy. The publisher pays iorf. for it to the printer, binder, paper maker, and advertisements. lie gives the author is., and he gets 3s. \d. The interest of all three parties are identical, says Mr. F. Maemillan. Quite so. Identical must, I apprehend, be taken to mean equal. If not, what does it mean? Here, then, are the actual shares of the three persons concerned in the publication of that book :— The publisher gets 15. 6d. The bookseller gets 1*. zd. The author gets 1 s. Suppose it were agreed—no fraudulent cost of production being allowed, no charging for adver- tisements where nothing has been paid—to make the interests of all three actually identical, then each would make is. 3d. by every copy on a large sale. Shall we "go" for a real identity of interests? But in many cases the trade pays more than 3s, $d., and in many cases the author does not get so large a royalty as a sixth. Walter Besant. AN OLD MASTER. AMONG the best books of this season is "Melmoth the Wanderer," of which Messrs. Bentley and Son have just issued a new edi- tion, together with a portrait of the author, a very interesting account of his life, a chronology of his work, and a scholarly estimate of his literary position. "Melmoth the Wanderer" has been known to most readers by name, and many attracted by the chance mention of the work in the writings of— among others—Scott, Thackeray, and especially Balzac, have promised themselves that at some time or another they would read Maturin's masterpiece. Few, however, have carried out this resolution, for the book has been very hard to come by. One or two incomplete versions have been presented to the public in cheap form, hut for most of the people whose curiosity had been stimulated by Balzac, such editions have no existence, and for many years " Melmoth the Wanderer" has been rather a book-collector's prize. It has never fetched any maniacal price, but its rarity has l>een sufficiently pronounced to make it a stimulating object for a collector, and to preclude any wide knowledge of the story. And now that the story is offer*! to the public in a complete, convenient, and hand ome form, it will be interesting to see in what spirit it is read, and, indeed, if it is widely read at all. For undoubtedly "Melmoth" l>elongs to an old- fashioned class of books. It is one long record of horror and mystery, and the author's designs to produce thrills are such as are now-a-days likely to have but little effect. Satanic compacts and the crimes of the Inquisition have had their day, with the terrors of oubliettes and of madhouse cells. The latter have been pictured for us now so often, that they have not only lost through familiarity their power of shocking, but they have actually become forbidden subjects for an author, taking their place in the category of rescues from mad- bulls or rapidly incoming tides, of the heroine's sprained ankle, and of mistakes in the identity of twin-brethren. And of treaties with the devil, what is to be said? Does the consideration of these blood-signed contracts cause the skin to tighten or the scalp to lift? No longer. It is to be feared that our growth in wisdom has led to serious dimi- nution of our happiness in many ways, notably, that what we have gained in solid knowledge we have lost in airy illusion. A story of diablerie, to be successful as such, must at this time have something of the sad, cynical, humourous, extravagant touch, for as a l>ogey-man Satan has got behindhand. "Melmoth the Wanderer," though it is extravagant enough, is certainly not sad, humourous, or cynical. Yet it is very possible that the book will be a popular success, though its subject is rococo, its incidents familiar, and its treatment not too artistic. Then the Reverend C. Robert Maturin is about to enjoy at the end of the century some little measure of the fame that he enjoyed at its commencement. For the hare-brained Irish parson has a magnificent power of story-telling. His romancing is consistent and spontaneous, and the action of his drama is so quick that the absurdities pass unnoticed in the whirl of events. Though the mysterious appearance of the "Wanderer" may not bring terror to our souls, nor the baleful glare of his eyes seem to us to gain in malignity by the origin that is suggested for it, yet the note of horror is struck—even for us. And it is the author's triumph that this should l>e, for our own horror is a direct tribute to his skill in telling the story. It means that the reader has been convinced that what frightens all the bold bad men in the book so really and so terribly, must have its real and terrible side. He takes this for granted, and hurries on to see what is going to happen. It is something in the nature of an experiment to issue such a book in these davs, but it is more than  ## p. 365 (#769) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 365 possible that the excellence of the story will outweigh its absurdities, and will secure for it a big public. The cheap mutilated editions seem to have had a vogue, and was certainly directed rather to meet the demands of an uncritical public, asking only for a good interesting story, than to supply cultured taste with a curio to speculate over, or a text upon which to hang essays in celebration of the improve- ment of fiction. This new issue, with its elaborate and trustworthy editorial additions, should secure for Maturin a fresh crop of admirers.* O. J. OBSERVATIONS ON "THE TALE-TELLING ART" IN SIR WALTER SCOTT'S INTRODUCTIONS TO THE "WAVERLEY NOVELS." 11. HAVING learned what, in Sir Walter Scott's opinion, constitutes perfection in a romance, and in what quarters an author should seek for the elements of his stories, it will be natural next to enquire what Sir Walter Scott has to say respecting the choice of subjects. Here, may well be placed first an observation, which, though it says no more than Horace's— Sumite materiam vestris, qui scribitis, scquam Viribus.f and indeed, contains but a very trite truism, still expresses happily a fact with which all authors must reckon. "It is not sufficient that a mine be in itself rich and easily accessible; it is necessary that the engi- neer who explores it should himself, in mining phrase, have an accurate knowledge of the country, and possess the skill necessary to work it to advantage."—(Introduction to St. Ronan's Well.) In several passages bearing generally upon the choice of subject, Sir Walter Seott insists upon attaching paramount importance to novelty. This is not novelty in the sense of some theme or motif never before attempted. That kind of novelty, indeed, many would assert to be impossible of dis- covery: though it seems more temperate to doubt whether all the possible combinations of human existence could ever be exhausted; whilst La Fontaine has pertinently remarked— La feinte est an pays plcin de terres desertes, Tons les jours dos autcurs y font des decouvertes.J * Maturin, Charles Eobert. "Mclmoth the Wanderer." Bcntley. A new edition from the original text with n memoir and bibliography of Maturin's works. Frontispiece. 3 vols. t Ars Poetica, 38. J Fables, Livre 3, 1. The novelty, however, upon which Sir Walter Scott insists, consists in the choice by an author of subjects of a sort that he himself has never pre- viously treated. This the great novelist seems to hold indispensable to success. It would be inte- resting to know how far the experience of the living novelists of the present day corroborates or goes against Sir Walter Scott's view. Do they really find that they recruit additional readers, and increase the circulation of their works when they quit the particular kind of romance in which they have hitherto laboured, to attempt a story of an entirely different description? Or is their ex- perience quite the contrary? Certainly, it is a very common thing to hear the enthusiastic readers of a well-known author cry out at once, when he quits the themes with which be has hitherto dealt to break some new ground. "So-and-so's new book," they promptly declare, " is not a bit like any of the others. It is just like a tale by such-an-onc." And the speaker almost always goes on to say that he hates such-an-one's books. This seems to indicate that to continue to excel in stories of the type an author has found most congenial to his taste should lie his aim, rather than to attempt novelties. And that is what most of our present authors appear to do. But Sir Walter Scott very distinctly expresses his opinion, that no author should write many books of the same kind, and that, if he wishes to maintain his popularity, new departures are indispensable. So, after the publication of his Scotch novels, commencing with "Waverley," and ending with "The Bride of Lammermoor," Sir Walter Scott writes in the preface to " Ivanhoe "— "The author of the 'Waterley Novels' had hitherto proceeded in an unabated course of popu- larity, and might, in his peculiar district of lite- rature, have been termed L'Enfant Gate of success. It was plain, however, that frequent publication must finally wear out the public favour, unless some mode could be devised to give an appearance of novelty to subsequent productions. Scottish manners, Scottish dialect, and Scottish characters of note being those with which the author was most intimately and familiarly acquainted, were the groundwork upon which he had hitherto relied for giving effect to his narrative. It was, however, obvious that this kind of interest must in the end occasion a degree of sameness and repetition. . . . Nothing can be more dangerous for the fame of a professor of the fine arts than to permit (if ho can possibly prevent it) the character of a mannerist to be attached to him, or that he should be supposed capable of success only in a particular and limited style." In his very next novel, " The Monastery," he is again in quest of something new.  ## p. 366 (#770) ############################################ 366 THE AUTHOR. "There was a disadvantage ... in treading the Border district, for it had already been ran- sacked by the author himself, as well as others, and, unless presented uuder a new light, was likely to afford ground to the objection of crambe bis cocta. To attend the indispensable quality of novelty, something, it was thought, might be gained by contrasting the character of the vassals of the Church with those of the dependants of the Barons."—(Introduction to " The Monastery.") And again, in the "Introduction to St. Ronan's Well ": "This style of composition was adopted by the author rather from the tempting circum- stance of its offering some novelty in his com- positions, and avoiding worn-out characters and positions." It seems, therefore, that, in Sir Walter Scott's opinion, novelty in choice of subject is indis- pensable. Some general remarks upon how Sir Walter proceeded in the construction of his plots, con- tained in the "Prefatory Letter—Dr. Dryasdust to Captain Clutterbuck," preceding "Peveril of the Peak," have been already quoted in the previous paper. To these may be added a con- siderable number of hints and passages, some of them too long to be here quoted at full length, bearing upon several different sorts of romance. Historical romance may be first mentioned. On this important kind of fiction, in the opinion of many the highest form of which romance is capable, Sir Walter Scott has written a complete short treatise in the "Dedicatory Epistle to the Rev. Dr. Dryasdust," preceding "Ivanhoe." In the "Introduction to Ivanhoe" this letter is mentioned as a formal statement of the author's views respecting historical romance—"expressing the author's purpose and opinions in undertaking this species of composition." It is full of remarks of the highest suggestiveness, but the reader must be referred to it. The "Letter" is too long to be quoted in extenso, and the connection of the whole so close that the value of the remarks it contains would be seriously impaired by the separation of selected passages from the context. The " Letter" deals with most of the difficulties of historical romance, and, whilst replying to many of the ob- jections that have been raised against this form of fiction, enunciates those general principles which now seem to be pretty widely accepted as rules of the legitimate treatment of historical facts in fiction. Respecting stories whose date is, to quote the dramatist, "the present," Sir Walter Scott nowhere offers any particular suggestions, saving a few remarks upon " St. Ronan's Well," in the Introduc- tion to that story, which will be again mentioned presently. In the first chapter of "Waverley," however, he makes a remark which shows his opinion to have differed from that of more recent authors, who have found themes for successful fiction in every epoch. "A tale of manners, to be interesting, must, either refer to antiquity so great as to have become venerable, or it must bear a vivid reflec- tion of those scenes which are pissing daily before our eyes, and are interesting from their novelty." We seem to possess no English equivalent for the expressive German term Tendcnz-Roman. "The novel with a purpose" is undeniably an awkward phrase. Of the value of "the novel with a purpose" opinions differ widely. Not even Horace's dictum— Ouine tulit punctual, qui miscuit utile dulci.* can persuade some people to like powders in their jam. And it would seem that these may claim Sir Walter Scott as a supporter of their opinion. In the "Introduction to the Fortunes of Nigel " he writes, "I am, I own, no great believer in the moral utility to be derived from fictitious composi- tions." In the "Introductory Epistle " preceding the same work, he says frankly, " I write, I care not who knows it, for the general amusement." Romance with a supernatural element is at present extraordinarily popular. Respecting this supernatural element Sir Walter Scott has a good deal to say in the " Introductory Epistle—Captain Clutterbuck to Dr. Dryasdust," placed before " The Fortunes of Nigel" (dated 1822; "The Monas- tery" was published in 1820), and in the " Intro- duction to the Monastery " (dated 183o). All has reference to the " White Lady of Avenel," of whom he writes, "There is a general feeling that the AVhite Lady is no favourite." "The formidable objection of incrcditltis odi was applied to the White Lady." In the "Introductory Epistle" Sir AValter Scott makes rather merry over his unsuccessful introduction of the supernatural, confessing the White Lady " too fine drawn for the present taste of the public," and promising that his next novel shall contain "no dreams, or presages, or obscure allusions to future events. Not a Cock-lane scratch, my son—not one bounce or drum of Jedworth—not so much as a poor tick of a solitary death-watch in the wainscot. All is clear and above board—a Scots metaphysician might believe every word of it." Writing the "Introduction to the Monastery" eight years afterwards, Sir Walter Scott enters into a more serious discussion of his "White Lady," concluding by saying — "Either . . . the author executed his pur- pose indifferently, or the public did not approve of * Ars Poetica, 340.  ## p. 367 (#771) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 367 it. For the White Lady of Avenel was far from being popular. He does not now make the present statement in the view of arguing readers into a more favourable opinion on the subject, but merely with the purpose of exculpating himself from the charge of having wantonly intruded into the narrative a being of inconsistent powers and propensities." This certainly reads as if Sir Walter Scott would have liked to find his supernatural incidents acceptable to the public, even whilst he keenly felt the force of Horace's terrible incredulus odi. Indeed, the tone of the "Introduction to the Monastery" contrasts strongly with the scathing satire which Henry Fielding, in the first chapter of the eighth book of " Tom Jones," pours upon " that species of writing which is called the marvellous." The "Introduction to the Pirate " contains an interesting remark on "the explained super- natural." It refers to Morna. "The professed explanation of a tale, where appearances or incidents of a supernatural character are explained on natural causes, has often, in the winding up of the story, a degree of improbability almost equal to an absolute goblin tale." To come to the plots of particular novels. Four prefaces present features of more interest than others. The "Introduction to the Monastery" relates the whole genesis of that romance from the selection of the first elements upon which it was built. The "Introduction to the Fortunes of Nigel" is much more brief, but of a similar character. Sir Walter Scott himself says that it presents " the materials to which the author stands indebted for the composition of the . . novel." The short "Introduction to the Pirate" plainly shows that romance to have been principally sug- gested by a locality and its scenery, whilst some of the dramatic elements the author has worked into his tale are contained in the "Advertisement." Finally, the short "Introduction to St. Ronan's Well" affords a few hints of how the elements of Sir AValter Scott's one tale of contemporary man- ners were selected. It is impossible to present the substance of these Introductions in any form better than that in which they stand, and the reader is therefore referred to them. The result of a novelist's labours in shaping his plot is his scenario. Sir Walter Scott only twice alludes, incidentally, to any kind of sketch or plan of his romances. Waverley was written without a scenario. "I must frankly confess that the mode in which I conducted the story scarcely deserved the success which the romance afterwards attained. The tale of " Waverley " was put together with so little care that I cannot boast of having sketched any distinct plan of the work."—(General Preface to the Waverley Novels.) In the " Introductory Epistle " preceding " The Fortunes of Nigel" Sir AValter Scott speaks of finding a great difficulty in keeping to the scenario after he had made it. "You should take time at least to arrange your story," observes the captain. "Author. That is a sore point with me, my son. Believe me, I have not been fool enough to neglect ordinary precautions. I have repeatedly laid down my future work to scale. . . . But I think there is a demon who seats himself on the feather of my pen when I begin to write, and leads it astray from the purpose. Characters expand under my hand; incidents are multiplied; the story lingers, while the materials increase; my regular mansion turns out a gothic anomaly, and the work is closed long before I have attained the point I proposed." Some remarks of Sir Walter Scott's on characters, titles, and a few other matters remain, and shall form the subjects of another paper. Henry Cbesswell. AUTHOR AND EDITOE. 1. "Advice to Conthiijutors." THE " advice to contributors " published in the March number of the Author, although good, is not, in my opinion, the best that could be given to the ordinary or casual contributor, for (i) if you, a comparatively unknown writer, suggest a good subject to the editor of a magazine or news- paper he probably knows someone who will treat the subject in a manner which will surely commend itself to him, whilst with your treatment of it he may not be satisfied, consequently it often happens that the only reply received to a suggestion or offer of this kind is that the same subject is being treated by one of the regular staff, or that an article upon it is already in hand. (2.) To put any price on your contribution is a sure method of obtaining its prompt return unread and without thanks. To the third and fourth rules no objection can be raised, but with respect to the fifth, whether you keep one copy, or fifty, of your MS. is nothing whatever to do with the editor, although some editors assume that you do keep a copy, and, consequently, take less care of MSS. sent in. The best advice that can be given to intending contributors is that they obtain a personal intro- duction to the editor of the magazine to which they  ## p. 368 (#772) ############################################ 368 THE AUTHOR. wish to contribute. To produce good work, readable work, marketable work, is not to obtain the open sesame of the market, the entrance to which can be effected easily by the intervention of one of the select few in possession of it. This method is that usually followed, and is the plan adopted by many now successful writers; an entrance may be forced, but in this few succeed. Why should editors treat MSS. so badly? What right have they to scrawl hieroglyphics and ciphers of their own upon a neatly named and signed manuscript? What right have they to scribble "Declined with thanks upon paper which is not theirs? Is it editorial etiquette or sheer careless- ness that results in MSS. being returned stained with coffee and porter; torn and creased, and without a wrapper; with the author's name scrawled by an office lx>y on the back thereof, and a postage stamp of the lowest denomination affixed thereto, although the correct postage for return was forwarded? Publishers of the highest standing and editors of the most successful periodicals are the worst offenders: the second-rate men cannot afford to be rude: those wonderfully kind letters which the great literary men are said to write when they are forced to return a manuscript are things we never receive, but of which we frequently read. As often as not MSS. are returned without a word, printed or otherwise, sometimes with a stereotyped refusal, still less frequently they are refused by postcard; a most reprehensible method, although practised by at least one London quarterly and one London monthly. At the Authors' Club there should be an album for the original " D. W. T." forms of all periodicals; the future generation of editors may then learn which to avoid. There is enough and to spare of editorial etiquette in London, but the home of editorial courtesy is, at present, north of the Tweed, as the place aVhonneur will be accorded to the Scotch firms. G. W. If. No Use in Writing. "I have had so much trouble to get my MSS. stories out of the Family Hearthrug that I must give you my experience, and beg you, if you have not had yours back, to act somewhat as I did. First, I wrote and called in all five times. Then I wrote saying I should be obliged for an answer, 'Yes' or 'No' as to whether they had the MSS. or had lost them, and enclosed a stamped envelope. Still dead silence. Then I sailed down to the office with a new novel—not in MS.—under my arm, and said I had come to stop until my packet was found, or till the editor could give me an explana- tion. The man in charge was exceedingly rude, but I did not care in the least. I sat down on a shelf in front of the counter (not at all uncom- fortable if you get your back against the window), pulled out my book, and read steadily from 11.4.5 till 2 o'clock, without speaking or stirring, except to cut the page. At 2 p.m., the man in charge, who had spent the time in staring at me, and shuffling in and out of a back hole (where presumably the editor was hiding), suddenly found my story and handed it to me, but with no explanation. I thanked him, and begged him to request the editor to accept the stamped envelopes I had showered on him, as a slight recognition of his trouble, and caine off triumphant. I tell you all this, because I am convinced that you will not get your story back by writing for it." [The lady to whom this letter was written sent it on to us, and we are happy to reproduce it for the benefit of other people who may be thinking of sending manuscripts to the Family Hearthrug, so that they may consider before doing so, if they are of the temperament to stand such treatment, if they can afford to give stamps away by the hand-full, and to spend half a working day in recovering their own property from a person who proposes to keep it. There is also another point on which we must add a few lines of warning. When the MSS. have once been despatched, we arc often powerless to help the author. If they have been destroyed we cannot recover them. If it should be denied that they have ever been received, we cannot prove the opposite. If they have been lost we cannot find them. But if the author will only consult us before sending his MSS. to the editor at all we can advise him as to the course he should pursue.] III. A Kindness and its Sequel. Here is a case of kindness not often met with and worthy of record. Years ago I sent a MS. to an editor, who, declining it for his own paper, told me he had sent it on to a friend who would print it, and pay the same price per column. This was my first entrance into a periodical which has printed a number of articles during some 10 or 12 years. The periodicals were published respectively in New York and Boston; the editors were, or rather are, both Americans. Is such kindness only to be found across the ocean? Such certainly is my experience. S. B.  ## p. 369 (#773) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 369 IV. Returned Unread. "I should like to relate my recent experiences with MSS. I was careful to observe the rules of the magazine to which I sent them. I had them type-written, so that they should be clear to read. I then started the MS. on their travels, forwarding in my letter an addressed postcard to acknowledge the arrival of the parcel. One editor used the postcard to state that the work was not suitable, und sent it back without opening the parcel. Most editors stated that they were flooded with con- tributions, and unable to consider anything for months. Only two attempts were made to read the MS. Now, I conduct a provincial journal. Whenever I put in work of my own the circulation increases. My work, therefore, suits my readers. Why not the general mass of readers? How can I, however, get editors to consider it?" V. With no Name. May I call attention to a fact in my literary exi>erience which has puzzled me a good deal, but which some of your readers may be able to explain. Here it is. I have contributed verse of a lyrical type to a certain high class, well-known London journal. I was most liberally and promptly paid by them. But—and here the shoe pinches— they would not append either my name or initials to the poems. This omission, to a poet feeling his way, as it were, amid the labryinths leading to Fame's Temple, is a fatal one. The increase of reputation was the desideratum in my case, even more than the "jingle of the guineas," and I may safely say, my reputation would have been increased materially, owing to the high standing of the journal in question, had only my name appeared. The omission seems to me rather "rough" on the contributor. What should we think of a pub- lisher who accepted a volume of poems from a young author, conditionally on his name not appearing on the title page? The author might tell his friends, of course, but the world at large would be in the dark, unless he turned egotist, and wrote to all the papers avowing the authorship! His reputation would not be increased one jot, at any rate, for some time. The puzzle for me lies in the reason the editor in question had for omit ting my name or initials. I cannot conceive any possible reason. If good enough for insertion, why conceal the writer's name. B. VI. Long Kept, and then Returned. Here is a case in which a writer was invited by the editor of a certain magazine to send him a paper on a definite subject. This he did. The paper was kept for three years and a half (!) and then returned with a curt note to the effect that the editor could not use it "this year," and there- fore returned it. What is to be done in such a case? Obviously, a claim for compensation, for the editor was bound, having invited the work, to return it if it was not suitable within a reasonable time. CORRESPONDENCE. I. Novels on Commission. Sir, You have advised many an author on the production of his own books, and by far the most frequent advice that you have felt it your duty to give him has been—do not do it. "Our first impulse," says the Author of January last, "has always been to try and turn him (the would-be author) from his project, because it is our general experience that these undertakings end in dis- appointment." But although you thus make it your usual rule to dissuade authors from publishing upon commission you allow that in more than one special case it is to the author's advantage to bear the cost of production himself, and, indeed, in the article from which I have just quoted you pointed out—to me convincingly—that this was the right course to pursue with regard to certain scientific and professional books. I should like to persuade you to go one step further, and admit that it may be the right course to pursue when an author's first novel is the work under consideration. I recognise that it would be a dangerous ad- mission for our Society to make, and that once made it would expose the Society to the insinuation that it was ready to encourage incompetency— for a consideration. Now, Sir, as this is exactly what I understand we do not do, and as for one person who wants to publish a scientific treatise there must always be 20 who want to publish a romance, I venture to think that some steps might be taken to assist them in this object—some- times. Not generally, but sometimes. In fact, I think there should be added to the classes of books where the author is encouraged by you to take the actual cost upon himself—scientific books and trade books—a third class, viz., first novels. At the  ## p. 370 (#774) ############################################ 37° THE AUTHOR. risk of taking up too much of your valuable space, I have set clown a few facts which appear to iue to support my proposition :— (i.) It is extremely difficult for a new author— good, bad, or indifferent—to get an immediate hearing. (2.) Yet every distinguished author—good, bad, or indifferent, and some distinguished writers are by no means good writers—must have been a new author at the beginning.- (3.) It is a fact that more than one master-piece of fiction, in more than one language, has been rejected by publishers, and only readied the public after much delay, with infinite mortification to the author. (4.) At the present day a work of fiction does not require to be a masterpiece at all, to be a very saleable piece of property: certainly more copies have been sold of The Mystery of a Hansom Cab in five years, than of Rhoda Fleming in over twenty years. I think it must appear from those that there are arguments in favour of occasionally relaxing your rule, and of occasionally encouraging the new author to publish his own romance for himself. If a book is not good enough for a good publisher, it may be urged that it is not good enough for the public. But the public is not as critical either as the young critic would have it, or as the first-class publisher seems to consider it, and surely our society must beware, lest in attempting to act as a check upon the excesses of the incompetent, we withhold from the public, matter that it would have welcomed. And more care will have to be exer- cised on this point from day to day, as more people begin to wield a facile and fluent pen, and, as by the spread of education a larger public is provided, whose hunger for fiction is not attended with an over-critical palate. I believe that many a story-teller—no great genius, no possessor of a Vanity Fair or a Jane Eyre—but still able to write as good a book as many that are in print, might with advantage be encouraged to try his luck for himself. There is much against him, but if he does not do this, how is be to start, yet, once started, though, as I have said, no great genius, he may fill a want and make nn income. And what matter that two or three people fail, if the Society should be the means of one such success. I would respectfully urge that every new author's MS., when it has been read by one of our readers, and has met with some commendation, should be looked at by our secretary, or by a sub-committee appointed for the purpose. If on such scrutiny the work appeared saleable—not, perhaps, a work of high genius, if I may be excused the repetition, but saleable—the author may be encouraged, nay, helped to publish at his own risk, if no publisher could be found for him. Again, if such a com- mittee proved instrumental in placing on the market one or two good books, there are many publishers who would seriously consider MSS. vouched for by people who had shown their discrimination. A Member op the Society. [The Syndicate can always find for such a work an honourable publisher, who will take it on com- mission. The warning offered every month against paying for publication is directed against the ac- ceptance of the terms proposed by low-class firms, who delude their victims with hopes of great returns when failure is certain. In the case suggested by our correspondent, of a work well thought of by readers, yet refused by good houses, prolwbly on the ground of risk, and also refused by editors of magazines, it might be the best thing possible for the author to get it—with the advice and help of the Syndicate—printed at his own expense, and placed in the hands of a publisher on com- mission. This, for example, is exactly what was done by myself twenty years ago with my collaborateur in our first novel, with admirable results.—Ed.] II. The Library Stamp. A number of copies of my first book were taken on approval by a certain library, but as some of them failed to be sold, they were ultimately returned. All these were stamped with the ineffacable name of the library. Now, sir, when a person buys an old library book from this firm, an additional stamp is made on the fly-leaf, " Sold." Anyone, however, who now buys these returned copies of my book finds nothing but the name of the library embossed inside, and to all intents and purposes it would appear as though they had purloined them. I do not think it fair on the part of the firm thus to deface the books. It may be of interest to note, perhaps, that I have just had an article accepted by a magazine to which I forwarded it twenty-two months ago. Everything comes to him who waits. A Waiting One. III. How Books are not Read. The last number of the Author contained an interesting reply to a correspondent who wished to know "bow books get read." Recently I met with an amusing instance of how books come not to be read.  ## p. 371 (#775) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 371 I was witli a young lady, a great novel reader, in the chief circulating library of a large and fashionable watering place. My fair companion was complaining that she could find nothing new to read, and I suggested a recent novel, in my opinion a very good one, by a well-known author. "What, one of So-and-so's books!" exclaimed the lady indignantly. "As if I would read anything written by that man! Why, he lircs here!" IV. Mr. Traill's List of Poets. To my note of omissions in Mr. Traill's list of poets I would now add Mr. Joseph Skipsey " the poet of the coalfields," Mr. Alexander Anderson, "the railway surface-man," and, may I be per- mitted? Mr. Traill himself. Presumably Mr. Traill does not intend his list to include, living hymn writers, however excellent their work, or it would be easy to mention the Rev. Sabine Baring- Gould, Dr. Walsham How, the Rev. H. R. Haweis, and others. Mackenzie Bell. V. The Great Use of a Table of Contents. Permit me to congratulate the Author on the very good example it has set in having a good table of contents printed on the page which soonest meets the eye. Why do not all newspapers, magazines, and reviews do this? Some of them come out with no tables of contents at all, with the result that an author who wishes to consult some back number for information valuable to him may have to expend an hour on a search which ought not to take up more than a minute. I suppose the reason for placing a table of con- tents either in a bad place or in no place at all is that the best place is wanted for advertisements. But surely advertisers might fairly be asked to pay a little more for space in a page to which readers would be so much more frequently sent by a good table of contents. SCRIPTOR IgNOTUS. VI. Compositors' Errors. In the "long ago," before I had ventured to tread the thorny paths of authorship, or to commit my "flights of fancy" to the public gaze, I was accustomed, in all good faith, to attribute whatever mistakes or absurdities appeared in story or article to the carelessness or ignorance of the author, and many were the derisive epithets and contemptuous criticisms launched, in consequence, at his unconscious head. I no longer make that mistake; experience, aggravating and reiterated, has taught me to "saddle the right horse," which is (in nine cases out of ten) the compositor. Not, I hasten to add, in wholesome dread lest the present philippic should never see the light, your compositor in particular, Mr. Editor, but everybody's compositor. For from all quarters of the scribbling world the cry goes up. Even across the sacred pages of the Author itself is seen the "trail of the"—again discretion stays my hand. Now, in accordance with the axiom, old as the hills—older—that "where there is smoke there must bo fire," so, for a practice thus widely extended, there must be a reason. What is it? "The reason is soon given," replies the cynic, "you authors write so execrably that the unfortu- nate compositor, in despair of deciphering, makes a dash at the nearest word." Well, "I'm no denyin'," as Mrs. Poyser says, that some authors do write execrably, and some— do not—yet the result in print, is so nearly the same that there is no difference. My own cali- graphy, for instance, has frequently been " awarded honourable mention "; yet, when in a praiseworthy endeavour to be abreast of the times, I ventured to transform an ancient "spook" into a "Kama Rupa," Mr. Compositor swooped down upon the (presumably) unknown word, and promptly changed "Ka " into' " Ye "! By what peculiar obliquity of mental or physical vision he " mistook" such utterly dissimilar letters I do not pretend to say, but "Icama Rupa" the unfortunate ghost appeared —and remains. Should it meet the eye of any wandering tlicophist, I shall get the credit of having discovered (or invented) a new denizen of the " Astral Plane " !" You expect too much of the genus compositor," urge other apologists," they do not profess to be highly educated men, nor to lie gifted with an intuitive perception of the ortho- graphy of strange and obscure words." Granted. Then why not, in doubtful cases, act on the supposition that possibly the author may be the best judge of what he intended to convey, and just content themselves with copying the letters of the text? To illustrate once more from my own experience—it is nearest to hand, wherefore the egotism—I am addicted to the (from a compositor's point of view) reprehensible practice of occasionally using out-of-the-way words. People say 'tis "characteristic," which may be intended as a compliment—and may not. Anyway it is slightly  ## p. 372 (#776) ############################################ 372 THE A UTHOR. disconcerting when reading over one's productions in print, to find the word upon which one had relied to give a touch to the picture, or point to the story, transformed into something altogether different. "Homey," for instance (meaning home- lihe), invariably appears as "homely"; a good enough word in its way, but not at all carrying the meaning I wished to convey. Again, why should a compositor when "setting up " a chatty descrip- tion of a country ramble, substitute "lump" for "tump "(my "Is" and "ts " are not identical)? "Tump" means, as even his attendant imp could have told him, a " hillock"; while " lump" might be anything (from putty to pudding), but one would scarcely choose to sit down upon it! Then why, oh why, should the well-known process of expelling an obnoxious member from clubland be transformed into " blackmailing," suggesting Hounslow Heath rather than Piccadilly. But now the apologist waxes wrath and demands, "Did it never strike you that compositors often discharge their duties under extreme pressure, especially in newspaper work, which renders mistakes unavoidable? You would substitute a wrong letter now and then with the ' devil' waiting importunately at your elbow." I should—more than one! And doubtless hurry has much to answer for. I am sure it had when a devout old lady, who figures in a story for which I am respon- sible, was represented as indulging in "irreverent (irrelevant) remarks "! But, Inn ing conceded so much, I return to the charge, and, on the strength of accumulated evidence, culled from observation no less than experience, I assert (sealing thereby the fate of this article !) that " compositors' errors" are not chiefly due to bad writing, to ignorance, nor to haste, but to the compositor's overweening conceit. He thinks he knows better than the author, and "acts accordin'." On what other possible supposition could that unfortunate "spook" have been re-christened? Sylvia Neun. -c->oc "AT THE AUTHOR'S HEAD." "rpHE ^aw of the Press," by Joseph E. Fisher, I B.A., and James A. Strahan, LL.B., is a most valuable work, and editors and proprietors of newspapers are strongly recommended to keep a copy by them. The whole of the law relating to the press in this country has been gathered into a single volume, and the result is not only a compre- hensive but a lucid digest. The book contains the answers to numerous questions that have been put to us at this office, different chapters being devoted to the registration of newspapers, to the postal regulations, to lottery advertisements, to copyright of articles, to contributors' piracy, to libel as a civil injury, to criminal libel, i-.nd to the foreign press laws. The want of such a book must often have been felt by persons connected with the press, to whom a knowledge of their legal rights and of the responsibilities incurred in their business must be very valuable. The book is published by- Messrs. Clowes and Sons at 27, Fleet Street. A volume of short stories by the late Mr. Bales- tier, "The Average Woman," is to be issued, with a memoir by Mr. Henry James. Mrs. Edmonds has translated another Greek novel, which will be published by Fisher Unwin. Its title is "The Herb of Love," and it is a tale of peasant life laid in Eubcea. The customs and superstitions of that district form the groundwork of the story. Mr. Horace Victor's novel "Mariam" has been issued by Macmillan & Co. simultaneously in England and America. A Colonial edition has also been prepared. Messrs. Bentley and Son have done the lovers of old books and old fashions of sensation a veritable kindness in reprinting Maturin's "Melmoth the Wanderer." It is the book of the month, and its anonymous editor must be heartily congratulated on his prefatory notes. Mr. Evelyn Ballantyne contributes a paper on "Some Impressions of the Australian Stage" to the April number of the Theatre. An article on "The Milky Way," by Mr. J. E. Gore, F.R.A.S., appears in the Gentleman's Magazine for March; and another on " New and Variable Stars," with especial reference to the new star which recently blazed out in the Milky Way in Auriga, will appear in the same magazine for April. Messrs. Jarrold and Son have published "A Charge to keep," by Mr. P. A. Blyth; and the Religious Tract Society have published "The Inheritance of Little Amen," and "A Tale of a Sign Post," by the same author. Mr. Alfred H. Miles, editor of "The Poets and Poetry of the Century," is about to issue a new volume. It will discuss the women poets from Joanna Baillie to Mathilde Blind. The principle contributors of articles are Dr. Garnett, Mr. Ash- croft Noble, Dr. Japp, and Mr. Mackenzie Bell.  ## p. 373 (#777) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 373 .Mrs. Grimwood's first novel begins this week (April 2ii<l) in Mrs. Stannard's periodical, Winter's Magazine, as a serial. The profound impression created by the heroism of Mrs. Grimwood at Manipur, and the immense success of her book "My Three Years in Manipur," will doubtless cause her first effort in fiction to be read with unusual interest and curiosity. The story will afterwards be issued in volume form by Messrs. F. V. White & Co. John Strange Winter's latest shilling story has just made its appearance under the title of "Mere Luck." This is the twenty-first novel published by Messrs. White & Co. for this author. During the present month the same publishers will bring out .her long novel, which is now running in Lloyd's News under the title of "Justice." It will be remembered that Mr. Herbert Spencer produced a book under this title a few weeks before John Strange Winter's story began in Lloyd's New. Mr. Spencer very courteously waived all objection to the title being retained—thereby avoiding the great expense and inconvenience a change of title at the last moment would have involved. When the book appears in two-volume form next week it will bear the title of "Only Human." A new work of fiction by Mr. J. A. Steuart will appear during the present month. It will be published in the "Whitefriars' Library of Wit and Humour " under the title of "Life's Medley: or the Order of the Jolly Pashas." Mr. Steuart's last novel, " Kilgroom: a Story of Ireland," besides being very favourably received by the press, attracted the attention of Mr. Gladstone, who wrote to the author that " The praises deservedly given to Miss Lawless for her ' Hurrish' " were due to him," but in a higher degree for a fuller and better adjusted picture." Mr. Gladstone adds that he finds the story " truthful, national, and, highly inte- resting." The book is receiving attention abroad too. The Allr/cmcine Zeitung, in reviewing it the other day, called it a "striking romance," and, speaks of "the fine flow of the narrative, and the delicate characterization of the individual person- ages," adding that it gives an "unusually vivid picture of the Ireland of to-day." A new edition of "Kilgroom" will shortly be issued. ♦-»•♦-— NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS. Theology. Davidson, Rev. A. B., D.D. The Book of the Prophet Eiekiel. With Notes and Introduction. "Cambridge Bihlc for Schools and Colleges." At the University I'ress. 5*. Ellicott, C. J., D.D. A New Testament Commentary for English readers. Edited by. Part I. Cassell. Paper covers, yd. Fleming, Canon, D.D. The Clcud of Witnesses. A Sermon preached at Windsor Castle on Sunday morn- ing, Feb. 28. Lamer ;md Stokes, Chester Square. Paper covers. 6d. Fowler, Rev. G. H. Things Old and New. Sermons and Papers by the. With a Preface by the Rev. E. S. Talbot, D.D., Vicar of Leeds. Percival. 5s. Huntingdon, Rev. S. P., and Metcalf, Rev. H. A. Tho Treasury of the Psalter. An aid to the better under- standing of the Psalms. Compiled by. With a Preface by the Bishop of Central New York. Third edition, revised and enlarged. Eyre and Spottiswoodo. Cloth, 7.5. 6d. Leather, lot. 6d. James, Rev. C. C. A Harmony of the Gospels, in the Words of the Revised Version, with copious references, tables, &c. Arranged by. C. J. Clay, Ave Maria Lane. 5s. Lewis, W. Sutherland, M.A. Festival Hymns. "Church Monthly " office, New Bridge Street, K.C. Lias, Rev. J. J. The Second Epistle to the Corinthians. With Notes and Introduction. "Cambridge Greek Testament." At the University Press. Liddon, H. P., D.D. Sermons on Some Words of Christ. Longmans. 55. Mollot, J. F. The Faiths of the People. Ward and Downey. 2 vols. 21*. Moore, Canon Aubrey L. From Advent to Advent. Sermons preached at the Chapel Royal, Whitehall. Percival. 6s. Percival, Henry R. The Doctrine of the Episcopal Church so far as it is set forth in the Prayer Book. Digested and arranged by. G. P. Putnam, is. Scott-Holland, H., M.A. Sermons. The Contemporary Pulpit Library. Swan Sonnenschein. Vauohan, C. J., D.D. The Faith and the Bible and Tho Sympathy of Jesus Christ with Sickness and Sorrow. Sermons preached in the Temple Church on February 7, and on January 514 (the Sunday after the funeral of the Duke of Clarence and Avondalc). Macmillan. Paper covers. Wakefield, Bishop of. The Knowledge of God and other Sermons. Preachers of the Age series. With Portrait. Sampson Low. 3*. 6d. Whitehousk, W. F., M.A. The Redemption of the Body. An examination of Romans viii. 18-23. Elliot Stock. History and Biography. Abbotts, Evelyn, M.A. A History of Greece. Part II. From the Ionian Revolt to the Thirty Years' Peace, 500-445 B.C. Longmans. 10s. 6d. Browning, Oscar. The Flight to Varcnncs, and other Historical Essays. Swan Sonnenschein. Cassell's History of England. The Jubilee Edition. Vol. V. From the Peninsular War to the death of Sir Robert Peel. Text revised throughout and illustrated. Cassell. 9s.  ## p. 374 (#778) ############################################ 374 THE AUTHOR. Cook, Theodore Andrea, B.A. Old Touraine: the Life aud History of the famous Chateaux of France, z vols. Percival and Co. 16s. Fane, Violet. Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois, Queen of Navarre; written by her own hand. Newly trans- lated into English, with an Introduction and Notes. With Eight Portraits from contemporary engravings. John C. Nimmo, King William Street, Strand. 211. net. Graetz, Prof. H. History of the Jews, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day. Specially revised for this Euglish edition by the Author. Edited, and in part translated, by Bella Lowy. Vols. III., IV., and V., concluding. David Nutt. Griffith, Rev. H. A History of Strathfield Sayc. Com- piled by. Murray. 10*. 6d. net. Jessofp, Kev. Augustus. The Coming of the Friars, and other Historic Essays. Fifth Edition. Fisher Unwin. 3s. 6d. TiEckv, W. E. II. A History of England in the Eighteenth Century. New edition. Vol. III. Longmans. 6*. Lydk, L. W. A History of Scotland, for junior classes. Percival and Co. Matthew, James E. Manual of Musical History. With Illustrations, Portraits, and Facsimiles of rare and curious works. H. Grevel, King Street, Goveut Garden. 10s. 6</. Oliphant, M. O. W. Memoir of the Life of Laurence Oliphant and of Alice Oliphant, his Wife. New edition. Blackwood. 75. 6<i. Sharp, William. The Life and Letters of Joseph Severn. Sampson Low. Shindler, Kev. K. From the Usher's Desk to the Tabernacle Pulpit: the Life aud Labours of Pastor C. H. Spurgcon. Passmore and Alabaster. 25. 6d. Sienkiewiez, Hkxry K. With Fire and Sword: an Historical Novel of Poland and Kussia. Translated from the Polish by Jeremiah Curtin. Osgood, M'llvaine. Sutherland, J. Middleton. William Wordsworth: the Story of His Life, with critical remarks on his writings. Second edition, revised and enlarged. Elliot Stock. Worthy, Charles. The History of the Suburbs of Exeter. Henry Gray, Leicester Square, W.C 8s. Fiction. Adair-Fitzgerald, S. J. The Wonders of the Secret Cavern: an original fairy whimsicality. With illus- trations. Sutton, Drowlcy. 2s. 6d. Barrie, J. M. The Little Minister. 1 vol. Cassell. 7s. 6d. Barr, Robert (Luke Sharp). In a Steamer Chair, and other shipboard stories. Chatto and Windus. Carpenter, Edward. Towards Democracy. T. Fisher Unwin. 5s. Chilton, H. H. Woman Unsexed: a Novel. Foulsham and Co., Pilgrim Street, Ludgate Hill, E.C. Conway, Hugh. A Cardinal Sin: a Story. Eden Remington. Corelli, Marie. The Soul of Lilith. 3 vols. Bcntley. Cregan, Conway. A Strange Case of a Missing Man: a Romance. Gale and Polden, Amen Corner. Paper covers, is. Dickinson, Evelyn. A Vicar's Wife: a Story. Methuen. Doyle, A. Conan. The Doings of Raffles Haw. Cassell. 5s. Francis, Francis. Eternal Enmity: a Novel. 2 vols. F. V. White. Foster, Hanna. Zululu, the Maid of Anahuae. G. P. Putnam. Glyn, A. L. Fifty Pounds for a Wife. Arrowsmith. 3s. 6d. Gordon, J. E. H. Eunice Anscombe: a Story. Sampson Low. Grken, Anna K. The Old Stone House, and other Stories. G. P. Putnam, is. Hale, Edward E. Sybil Knox j or, Home Again. Cassell. 7s. 6d. Harland, Marion. His Great Self. F. Warner. 6s. Harris, J. Chandler (" Uncle Remus "). A Plantation Printer: the Adventures of a Georgia Boy during the War. Osgood, M'llvaine. Howard, B. W., and W. Sharp. A Fellow aud His Wife. Osgood, M'llvaine. 6». Hungerfohd, Mrs. Nor Wife, nor Maid: a Novel. 3 vols. Ileinemann. James, Fred. Fred James under a Spell. Illustrated. Tin; Lcadenhall Press. Lawless, Hon. Emily. Grania: the Story of an Island. 2 vols. Smith, Elder, and Co. Lib, Jonas. The Commodore's Daughters. Translated from the Norwegian by H. L. Brcekstad and Gertrude Hughes. Volume of the International Library. William Heinemann. Paper covers, 2s. 6d.; cloth, 3s. 6d. Lucas, Reginald. Dunwell Parva. F. Warne. 3s. 6d. Maartens, Maarten. The Sin of Joost Avelingh. 1 vol. Beutley and Son. 6s. MacDonald, George. Castle Warlock: a Homely Romance. New edition. Kcgan Paul. Macquoid, K. S. Maisie Derrick: a Story. A. D. Inncs and Co. 21s. Manville Fenn, G. King of the Castle: a Novel. 3 vols. Ward and Downey. Marks, Mr. Alfred. Dr. Willoughby Smith. 3 vols. Bentley. Mathers, Helen. T'Other Dear Charmer: a Novel. F. V. White. Paper covers, is. Maturin, C. R. Melmoth the Wanderer. A new edition from the original text, with a memoir and bibliography of Maturin's works. 3 vols. Bentley. 24s. Meredith, Owen. Marah. Longmans. 6s. 6d. Mouat, James. The Rise of the Australian Wool Kings: a Romance of Port Phillip. Swan Sonneuschein. Mr. Facey Romford's Hounds. By the author of "Sponge's Sporting Tour." The "Jorrocks" edition. Bradbury, Agnew.  ## p. 375 (#779) ############################################ THE A UTHOR. 375 Naillen, A. Van der. On the Heights of Hiinalay: a Theosophical Novel. Illustrated edition. Gay and Bird. 3s. 3d. Oliphant, Mrs. The Marriage of Elinor. 3 vols. Mac- millr.ii. Page, Thomas Nelson. Elskct, and other Stories. Osgood, M'llvaine. 3s. 6d. Philips, F. C. Jack and Three Jills: a Novel. New edition. Griffith, Farran. Paper covers. is. Boss, Clinton. Improbable Tales. G. P. Putnam. is. M. The Adventures of Three Worthies. G. P. Putnam, as. 6d. "Boy Tellett." Pastor and Prelate: a Story of Clerical Life. 3 vols. Blackwood. Warden, Florence. Balph Byder of Brent: a Novel. 3 vols. Bcntlcy. Wills, C. J. His Sister's Hand: a Novel. 3 vols. Griffith, Farran. 3 is. 6rf. Winter, John Strange. Mere Luck : a Novel. F. V. White, is. General Literature. Adams, Francis. Australian Life. Chapman and Hall. Aknold-Forstkh, H. O. Our Home Army. A reprint of letters published in the Times in November and December, 1891, with a preface and notes, to which are appended suggestions for remedying some of the existing defects in the condition of the British Army on the Home Establishment. Beprinted by permission of the Editor of the Times. Casscll. Paper covers. IX. The Badmington Library.—Skating. By J. M. Heath- cote and C. G. Tebbutt. Figure Skating. By T. Maxwell Withaui. With contributions on Curling (the Bev. John Kerr), Tobogganing (Ormond Hake), Ice Sailing (H. A. Hack), Bandy (G. C. Tebbutt). Illustrated. Longmans. Large paper. i5o copies only. Beattt-Kingston, W. Intemperance: its causes and its remedies. Second edition. Boutledge. Paper covers. 6d. Buckland, F. O. Health Springs of Germany and Austria. Second edition. W. H. Allen. Burke, Edmund. Thoughts on the Present Discontents, and Speeches. Casscll's National Library. Cloth. 6d. Buxton, Sydney, M.P. A Handbook to Political Questions of the Day, and the arguments on either side, with an introduction. Eighth edition, revised, and with new subjects. John Murray, 10*. 6d. The Clergy Directory and Parish Guide for 1892. J. S. Phillips, Fleet Street, E.C. 4s. 6rf. Coohlan, T. A. The Wealth and Progress of New South Wales, 1890-91. Petherick and Co., Sydney and London. The Complete Annual Digest of every Beported Case in all niE Courts for 1891. Edited by Alfred Emden, compiled by Herbert Thompson, M.A., assisted by W. A. Briggs, M.A., all of the Inner Temple. Clowes. 1 5j. Davies, D. C. A Treatise on Metalliferous Minerals aud Mining. Fifth edition, revised and enlarged by his son, E. H. Davies. With illustrations. Crosby Lock- wood. Dowsett, C. F. The Ground Values Delusion. Dowsett and Company, Lincoln's Inn Fields. Paper covers. 3rf. Engels, Frederick. The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844. With a preface written in 1891. Translated by Florence Kclley Wischncwetzky. Swan Sonnenschein. 3s. 6d. The English Catalogue of Books: an alphabetical list of works published in the United Kingdom, and of the principal works published in America, with dates of publication, indication of size, price, edition, and publisher's name. Vol. IV. January 1891 to December, 1889. Sampson Low. Falkneh, Edward. Games Ancient aud Oriental and How to Play them. With photographs, diagrams, &c. Longmans, lis. Greville, Lady. The Gentlewoman's Book of Sports. I. Edited by. Henry, Bouverie Street. 6s. Harrison, Mary. Cookery for Busy Lives and Small Incomes. Longmans, is. Heales, Major A. The Architecture of the Churches cf Denmark. Kegar. Paul. Heron-Allen, E. I)e Fidiculis Bibliographia: the basis of a bibliography of the violin. Part II. Book sections and extracts, (■rillitli, Farnin. Paper covers. Hultzsch, E. South Indian Inscriptions. Edited and translated by. Vol. II., Part I. (Archaeological Survey of India.) W. II. Allen. Four rupees. Hyndman, II. M. Commercial Crisis of the Nineteenth Century. Swan Sonnenschein. 2s. 6d. Inglis, Hon. Lady. The Siege of Lucknow. A Diary. Osgood, M'llvaine. 10s. 6<l. Lowndes, F. W. Beasons why the Office of Coroner should be held by a Member of the Medical Profession. J. and A. Churchill, New Burlington Street, W. Paper covers. 6d. Marsh, John B. St. Paul's Cross, the most famous spot in London. Baithby, Lawrence, and Company, Imperial Buildings, Ludgate Circus, E.C. Middletok, J. H. The Lewis Collection of Gems and Bings, in the possession of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge; with an Introductory Essay on Ancient Gems. C. J. Clay, Cambridge University Press. Millais, J. G. Game Birds and Shooting Sketches. Illustrating the Habits, Modes of Capture, Stages of Plumage, and the Hybrids aud Varieties which occur among them. Containing coloured plates, woodcuts, and autotypes, with frontispiece by Sir J. E. Millais, B.A. Henry Sotheran, Piccadilly. SI. 5s. net. Morley, Henry. English Writers—an Attempt Towards a History of English Literature. VIII. From Surrey to Spencer. Cassel. 5s. Mi nro, JonN H. M. Soils and Manures. With chapters on Drainage and Land Improvement by John Wright- son, M.B.A.C. Casscll's Agricultural Text-book Scries. 2s. 6d. Nicknames and Traditions in the Army: the most complete record ever published. Third edition. Gale and Polden, Amen Corner. Paper covers, is.  ## p. 376 (#780) ############################################ 37$ THE AUTHOR. Pensions for all at Sixty and an Eight Hours Day. By the Chairman of a. Yorkshire School Board. Sampson Low. Paper covers. 6c/. Pickard, A. S. The Labrador Coast: a Journal of Two Summer Cruises to that Begion. With maps and illustrations. Kegan Paul. Pott, Mrs. Henry. Francis Bacon and His Secret Society: an attempt to collect and unite the lost links of a long and strong chain. Sampson Low. Public Opinion on hie Intended Interference with the New Forest, under the Ranges Act, 1891. Issued by the New Forest Association (Morton K. Peto, Hon. Sec., Littlecroft, Lyndhurst). Paper covers. Bansome, J. S. Capital at Bay. Articles reprinted from the Globe. S. II. Cowell, Ludgate Hill. Paper covers. 6rf. Begistkk of Weather. (Forms for daily registration of thermometer and barometer readings, remarks, &c.) Duncan Campbell, St. Vincent Street, Glasgow. Kunciman, James. The Ethics of Drink and other Social Questions: or Joints in Our Social Armour. Dodder and Sloughton. 3s. (id. Eye, Walter. The Bights of Fishing, Shooting, and Sailing 011 the Norfolk Broads. Considered by. Jarrold, Paternoster Buildings, is. Salford, Bishop of. A Catechism on the Bights and Duties of the Working Classes, arranged by the. Burns and Oates. Paper covers, id. Shore, Lt. the Hon. H. N. Smuggling Days and Smug- gling Ways, or, The Story of a Lost Art. With plans and drawings by the author. Cassell. 7s. Oil. Sinnett, A. P. The Rationale of .Mesmerism. Began Paul. Smith, A. H., M.A. A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities—British Museum. Vol. I. Printed by order of the Trustees. Snei.l, Simeon. Miners' Nystagmus, and its relation to position at work and the manner of illumination. Sinipkin, Marshall. Spender, J. A., M.A. The State and Pensions in GUI Age. With an introduction by Arthur H. D. Acland, M.P. Swan Sonnenschein. 18. 6d. Stevenson, E. H. and Borstal, E. K. Metropolitan Water Supply, considerations affecting its adequacy and control. King, Bolt Court, Fleet Street. Paper covers, is. Streeteu, E. W. Precious Stones and Gems: their History Sources, and Characteristics. Illustrated. Fifth edi- tion, revised and largely re-written, with chapters on the Ruby Mines of Burma. George Bell. 15s. 6d. The Statesman's Year Book, statistical and historical annual of the States of the World for 1892. Edited by J. Scott Keltic, Librarian to the Royal Geographical Society. Bcvised after official returns. Macniillan. 1 os. fid. Ward, H. Marshall. The Oak: a Popular Introduction to Forest Botany. "Modern Science " Series. Edited by Sir John Lubbock. Kegan Paul. Warner, Charles Dudley. The American Italy (Our Italy). With illustrations. Osgood, M'Hvaine. Warner, G. F. The Nicholas Papers: Correspondence of Sir Edward Nicholas, Secretary of State. Edited by. Vol. 2. January i653—June 1655. Printed for the Camden Society. Wiixson, Heckles. Harold: An Experiment. Fifth edi- tion. Globe Publishing Company, Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lane. Paper covers. Wintringham, W. II. The Birds of Wordsworth, Poeti- cally, Mythologically, and Comparatively examined. Edition limited to 2S0 copies. Hutchinson & Co. I os. 6d. Yorke-Davies, Dr. N. E. Foods for the Fat : the Scientific Cure of Corpulency. Fourth edition, 14th thousand. Chatto and Windus. Educational. Crellin, Philip. Hook-keeping for Teachers and Pupil:-. Whittaker and Co. Davis, J. F. Army Examination Papers in Mathematics, with Answers. Whittaker and Co. Enc.i.emann, Dr., and Anderson, W. C. H. Pictorial Atlas to Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. Illustrations from works of ancient art, with descriptive text and an epitome of the contents of each book, for the use of schools and students of literature and art. H. Grevel, King Street, Coveut Garden. 7s. 6d. Goodyear, W. H. A History of Art, for classes, art students, and tourists in Europe. 3rd edition revised, with new illustrations. Sampson Low. G res well, Eev. W. P. Geography of Africa, South of the Zambesi. With Notes on the Industries, Wealth, and Social Progress of the States and Peoples. With three maps. Under the auspices of the Royal Colonial Institute. Clarendon Press. 7s. 6d. Lockie's Marine Engineers' Drawing-book, adapted to the requirements of the Board of Trade examinations. By John Lockie, C.E. (Whitworth Scholar). Crosby Lockwood. 3s. 6rf. Marshall, Alfred. Elements of Economics of Industry, being the first volume of Elements of Economics. Macniillan. 3s. 6</. Oughton, Frederick. Students' nnd Amateurs' Note- book on Oil Colour Technique, &c. Moffatt and Paige, Warwick Lane, Paternoster Bow. is. Pruen, G. G., M.A. Latin Examination Papers. Specially adapted for the use of Army Candidates. Whittaker and Co. Storb, F., B.A. The School Calendar and Handbook of Examinations, Scholarships, and Exhibitions, 1892, with a Preface by. George Bell. is. Swan, H. Travellers' Colloquial Italian. Idiomatic Italian phrases with the exact pronunciation, represented on a new system, based upon a scientific analysis of Italian sounds. David Nutt. is. Tisdall, Bev. W. St. Clair. A simplified Grammar of the Gujarati Language, with a short Beading-book and Vocabulary. Kegan Paul. U.nderhill, G. E. Plutarch's Lives of the Gracchi. Edited, with introduction, notes, and indices by. Clarendon Press. 4s. 6d.  ## p. 377 (#781) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 377 Poetry and the Drama. Aizlewood, J. W. Warbeck: an Historical Play, in two parts, partly founded on "The Perkin Warbeck of Ford." Kegan Paul. Arnold, Sib E. Potiphar's Wife and other poems. Long- mans. St. net. Buchanan, Kobkkt. The Buchanan Ballads, old and new. Haddon and Co., Salisbury Square, K.C. is. Gipps, L. M. Jael and other Poems. David Stott. 3«. 6d. Leioh-Joynes, James. On Lonely Shores and other Rhymes. Printed for the Author at the Chiswick Press. Ss. Old English Drama, Select Plays: Marlowe, " Tragical History of Dr. Faustus ": Greene, "Honourable History of Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay." Edited by Adolphus William Ward, Litt.D., Principal of the Owens College. Third edition, revised and enlarged. Clarendon Press. 6s. 6d. Pinero, A. W. The Hobby-horse. A Comedy in three Acts. Heinemann. Paper covers, is. 6d. Cloth, is. id. The Song op Dermot and the Earl, an old French Poem. From the Carew Manuscript, No. 596, in the Arehi- episcopal Library at Lambeth Palace. Edited, with literal Translation and Notes, a Facsimile and a Map, by Goddard Henry Orpen, late Scholar of Trinity College, Dublin, and of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at- Law. Clarendon Press. 8s. 6d. Law. Anson, Sir William R. The Law and Custom of the Constitution, Part II. The Crown. Clarendon Press. 14s. Bodkin, A. H. Wigram's Justices Note Book. Sixth edition. Stevens and Son. 12s. 6d. Forbes, Urquhart A. The Statutory Laws relating to Savings Banks (1863-1891), with the Treasury Regu- lations and the scheme for the appointment of the Inspection Committee of Trustee Savings Banks. Stevens and Haynes, Bell Yard, Temple Bar. Paper covers, Ss. Lely, J. M., M.A. Wharton's Law Lexicon, forming an Epitome of the Law of England. Ninth edition. Stevens, Chancery Lane. 38*. Manson, Edward. The Law of Trading and other Companies formed or registered under the Companies Act, 1862. Clowes. Neale, J.A., D.C.L. An Exposition of English Law by English Judges. Compiled for the use of layman and lawyer from the most recent decisions (1886-1891). Clowes. 12*. 6d. Smith, J. W., B.A. A Handy Book on the Law of Banker and Customer. 22nd thousand. Effingham Wilson. Ss. Wheeler, Percy F. Partnership and Companies: a Manual cf Practical Law. A. and C. Black. Ss. Science. Carns, Dr. Paul. Homilies of Science. Edward Arnold. 6». bd. Douglas, W. D. The Geometrical Problem Solved. A manual for scientists and students. How to trisect or divide any angle into any number of equal parts or fractions of parts. Davis, Douglas, aud Co., Cardiff. Parliamentary Papers. Supplement to the 20th Annual Report of the Local Government Board, 1890-91—Report of the Medical Officer for 1890 (4s.). Report of the Meteorological Council to the Royal Society for the year ended March 31, 1891 (5\<l.). Summaries of the Statistical Portion of the Reports of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Mines for 1891 (6d.). Civil Service Estimates, 1892-93, Class III.—Law and Justice (is.). Irish Land Commission—Return of Judicial Rents fixed during August, 1891 (is. Sd.). Ordinances made by the Scottish Universities Commissioners with regard to Degrees and Examinations. Army, Appropriation Account, 1890-91, with the report of the Comptroller and Auditor-General thereon (is. 6</.). Report of the Emigrants Information Office for 1891 (id.). Duchy of Cornwall—Account for 1891 (id.). Royal Irish Constabulary Return as to Free Quota and Extra Force for the year ended March 3i, 1891 (Jd.). Copy of Rule by Secretary for Scotland as to Jedburgh Police Cells (id.). Agricultural Statistics, Ireland- Tables showing the Extent in Statute Acres and the Produce of the Crops for 1891 (3id.). Reports of the Chief Registrar of Friendly Societies for 1890—Part B, Industrial and Provident Societies (8|d.). The Annual Local Taxation Returns, 1889-90—Parts 4 (8d.), 5 (5Jd.), and 6 (yd.). Post Office Telegraphs- Accounts for the year ended March 3i, 1891 (id.). Report on a Journey in the Me-Kong Valley, by- Mr. J. W. Archer, of the Consular Service |in Siaiu (6d.). Report of the Committee appointed by the Secretary of State for War to consider the Terms aud Conditions of Service in the Army. Scotch Education Department Code of Regulations, with Appendixes (3d.). Roll of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal (i^d.). Alphabetical List of the same. Greenwich Hospital (Age Pensions) Correspondence (2d.). Eyre and Spottiswoode. Returns of Evictions from Agricultural Holdings (Ireland) (id.). Twenty-seventh detailed Annual Report of the Registrar-General for Ireland (is. 6d.). Betuni of Particulars of Relief Works in certain parts of Ireland in 1890 and 1891 (6d.). Alex. Thom and Co., Dublin. Census of Ireland—Part I., Vol. II., Munster, No. 5, Tip- perary (is. 6d.). Supreme Court of Judicature (Ire- land—Accounts in respect of the Funds of Suitors in the year to September 3o, 1891 (Jd.). Accounts relating to Trade and Navigation of the I'nited King- dom for February (6d.). Consolidated Fund. Abstract Account, 1890-91 (2d.). Irish Land Commission (Tithe Rentcharge and Instalments in lieu of Tithe Rentcharge) (id.). Rule as to the Visiting Committee of Cambridge Prison (^d.). Reports of the Board of Trade on the Great Western Railway (Neath River Crossing, &c.) and the Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway Bills (id.). On the North-Eastern Railway (Hull Docks) Bill (Jd ). On the Southampton Docks Bill (id.). And of the Proceedings of the Board as to Piers aud Harbours (1 id.). Amendment to Statute 13 of Corpus Christi College, Oxford (Jd.). Navy Esti- mates for 1892-93 (is. Sjd.). Estimates for Civil Services for the year ending March 3i, 1893 (2d.).  ## p. 378 (#782) ############################################ 3;8 THE AUTHOR. Civil Service Estimates, 1892-93, Class L, Public Works and Buildings (7(1.). Memorandum of the Financial Secretary to the Treasury relating to the Civil Service Estimates, 1892-93 (2d.). Alien Immi- gration Return for February (id.). Accounts of the Russian, Dutch, Greek, and Sardinian Loans (id. each). Reports on the Malago Vale Colliery Explosion (jd.). Imperial Defence Act, 1888 (Naval Section), Austral- asian Agreement, Account, 1890-91 (\d.). Report of the Hoard of Trade on the Cork Harbour Pilotage Dill (id.). Amendment to the Statutes of Corpus Christi College, Oxford (id.). Further Correspondence respecting Anti-Foreign Riots in China (is. Sd.). First Report from the Select Committee on the House of Lords Offices (id.). Civil Services, 1890-91, .Statement of Excesses (^d.). Eastbourne Improve- ment Act, 1885 (Prosecutions for Open-Air Services, &c), Return of Charges under the Act between June 1, 1891, and February 18, 1892 (iJ.). Trustee Savings Hanks Inspection Committee Scheme (id.). Nationality in Brazil—Article 69 of the Brazilian Constitution (id.). Census of Ireland, Part I., Vol, II. Minister. No. 4. Limerick (is. id.). Return as to Schools in Ireland (3s. id.). Census of Ireland, Part I., Vol. 2, Minister, No. 3, Kerry (n.). Returns as to Loans raised respectively in India and in Kugland, Chargeable on the Revenues of India out- standing at the beginning of the half-year ended September 3o, 1891 (id. each). Petitions of Univer- sity and King's Colleges, praying for the grant of a charter for the "Oresham" University, with the draft of the proposed charter (2d.). Local Taxation (England) Account, 1890-91 (z\d.). Returns of the number of Agrarian Outrages reported in Ireland during the third and last quarters of 1891 (id. each). Naval Manoeuvres, 1891—The Partial Mobilization of the Fleet and the Manoeuvres of Last Year j Civil Services and Revenue Departments, Appropriation Accounts, 1890-91 (4s. Sd.). Civil Services Estimates, 1892-93, Class II., Salaries and Expenses of Civil Departments. Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the Redemption of Tithe Rentcbarge in England and Wales (i^d.). Colonial Reports, Annual, Victoria: Digest of Statistics for 1890 (3id.). Jamaica j Report for 1889-91 (20!.). Income Tax: Return of assessments by Counties from 1884-90, and of other particulars (10!.). Estimates for Civil Services and Revenue Departments, 1892-93 ; Votes on Account (id.). Deer Forests, Scotland (return substituted for that previously circulated) (id.). Supreme Court of Judicature (Circuit Allowances, &c.) (id.). Education Department Code of Regulations for 1892, with Schedules and Appendices (6d.). Glebe Lands (Sales) (^d.). Mr. Hastings—Record of his Trial (id.). Teachers Pension Fund (Ireland), Memorandum on the Position of the Fund on December 3i, 1890 (Jd.). Statistical Tables of Corn Prices for 1891, with comparative tables for previous years (3</.). Report of the Committee on Questions connected with the Royal Naval Reserve (gd.). Return as to Medical Officers of Health appointed by County Councils (i|d.). Return as to Courts Martial in 1890 (id.). Civil Service Estimates, Class IV., Education, Science, and Art (7<Z.). Foreign Office, Annual Series—Trade of Tonga (1890) (id.). Trade of Zanzibar (1891 sup- plementary) (i^d.). Trade of Suakin (1891) (\d.). Miscellaneous Series—Netherlands; Report on the Effects of the Law of 1889 for the Protection of Women and Children engaged in Factory and other Work (2d.). Contracts entered into by the Admiralty by virtue of the Naval Defence Act, 1889, section 7 (id.). Civil Sen-ice Estimates, 1892-93, Class V., Foreign and Colonial Services (4$d.). Class VI., Non- effective and Charitable Services (3|d.). Parcel Post (United States of America and Great Britain), Corre- spondence (2d.). Foreign Office, Annual Series—Trade of Galveston (1891) (lid.). Miscellaneous Series— The Aloe Fibre Industry of Somaliland (Egypt) (id.). Report on the Administration, Finances, and Condition of Egypt, and the Progress of Reforms (4|d.). Report to the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the Explosion of Fireworks on a Floating Magazine below Gravesend (i.'.d.). Index to the Estimates for Civil Services, 1892-93 (2d.). Further Papers relating to the Malay States. Reports for 1890 (lojd.). Revised Instructions to Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools and Applicable to the Code of 1892 (4d.). Elementary Education (Schemes of Charity Commis- sioners applying funds to, since 1870) (3d.). Return of Railways comprised in the Railway Rates and Charges Orders Confirmation Bills, 1 to 26 (id.). Accounts of the Lighthouses maintained in British Possessions Abroad (id.). Bank of England, applica- tions made for Advances to Government from January 5, 1891, to January 5, 1892 (jd.). Return of the Court Martials on Non-Comniissioned Officers for Gambling in 1888-89-90 (id.). Foreign Office, Mis- cellaneous Series; Report on Legislation for Protection of Women and Young Children Employed in Factories in the Netherlands (id.). Mr. Magan, Correspondence (2id.). Board of Agriculture—Report of Proceedings under various Acts, 1891 (l\d.). Yeomanry Cavalry Training Return, 1891 (id.). National Debt (Military Savings Banks)—cash account ({d.). Return of Proceedings under the Augmentation of Benefices Act, from February 21, 1891, to February 18, 1892 (id.). Intermediate Education (Ireland)—Rules (|d.). Ordnance Factories Estimate, 1892-93 (id.). Army Estimates of Effective and Non-Effective Ser- vices for 1892-93 (2s.). Statistics of the Colony of New Zealand for 1890. Didsbury, Government Printer, Wellington, N.Z. Census of Ireland, Part I., Vol. 2, Munster; No. 2, Cork—County and City (2s. 3d.). Returns of licences for the Sale of Opium and Intoxicating Liquors issued in Upper Burma since January i, 1888 (6<f.). Foreign Office, Annual Series, Trade of Mozambique (Portugal), 1891 (ijd.). Trade of Guayaquil (Ecuador), 1891 (id.). Budget of the German Empire for 1802-93 (id.). Trade of Galatz (ltoumanin), 1891 (ijd.). Miscellaneous Series.— Roumanian Trade, Agriculture and Danube Navigation from 1881 to 1890 (id.)—Eyre and Spottiswoode.  ## p. 379 (#783) ############################################ 379 THE AUTHORS' SYNDICATE. THIS Association is established for the purpose of syndicating or selling the serial rights of authors in magazines, journals, and newspapers. It has now been at work for more than a year, and has transacted a very satisfactory amount of business during this period. It has also entered upon a great number of engagements for the future. The following points are submitted for consideration :— 1. The management is voluntary and unpaid. No one makes any profit out of the Syndicate, except the authors who use its services. 2. The commission charged on the amounts received covers the expenses of clerks, travellers, rent, and printing. As work increases this may be still further reduced. 3. Only the serial rights are sold for the author. He receives his volume rights and copyright. 4. The Syndicate has an American agent. 5. The Syndicate will only work for members of the Society. 6. Its offices are on the same floor as those of the Society, and its assistance and advice are always at the service of the Society. 7. Authors are warned that no syndicating is possible for them until they have already attained a certain amount of popularity. 8. The Syndicate acts as agent in every kind of literary property. 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. W. MORRIS COLLES, Honorary Secretary.  ## p. 380 (#784) ############################################ 380 ADVERTISEMENTS. Not Work, but Play. Leave the drudgery of the Pen-Soiled Fingers—Blotted and Obscure Manuscript, to those who prefer darkness to light. Quick, up-to-date writers use THE BAR-LOCK TYPE-WRITER. Why? Easiest Managed; Soonest Learned; Most Durable; Writing Always Visible; does best work, and never gets out of repair. Chosen, by Royal Warrant, Type-Writer to the Queen. Only gold medals-- Edinburgh (1890) and Jamaica (1891) Exhibitions; is useil in principal Government Departments, and greatest number of English business houses. We send interesting supply of further information free. THE TYPE-WRITER COMPANY, LIMITED, 12 & 14, Queen Victoria Street, London, E.C.; 25, Market Street, Manchester; 1, South John Street, Liverpool; 22, Renfield Street, Glasgow ; 35, Charles Street, Bradford. MISS R. V. GILI, MRS. GILL, TYPE-WRITING OFFICES, TYPE-WRITING OFFICE, 6, Adam Street, Strand, W.C. 35, LUDGATE HILL, E.C. (ESTABLISHED 1883.) Authors' and Dramatists' Work a Specialty. All kinds of MSS. copied with care. Extra attention given to diíficult Authors' MSS. carefully copied from 1s. per hand-writing and to papers or lectures on scientific subjects. 1,000 words. One additional copy (carbon) Type-writing from dictation. Shorthand Notes taken supplied free of charge. Plays, &c., 18. 3d. per and transcribed. 1,000 words. Carbon copies 18. per Act. Refer- FURTHER PARTICULARS ON APPLICATION. ence kindly permitted to Walter Besant, Esq. MISSES E. & S. ALLEN, MISS PATTEN, TYPE AND SHORTHAND WRITERS. TYPIST, TRANSLATIONS and Scientific Work 44, Oakley Street Flats, Chelsea, S.W. a Special Feature. AUTHORS' MSS. CAREFULLY TRANSCRIBED. REFERENCES 39, LOMBARD STREET, E.C. KINDLY PERMITTED TO GEORGE AUGUSTUS SALA, Esq. Office No. 59 (close to Lift). Particulars on Application. MESDAMES BRETT AND BOWSER, TYPISTS, Selborne Chambers, Bell Yard, Temple Bar. Authors' MSS. carefully and expeditiously copied, 1s. per 1,000 words. Extra carbon copies half price. References kindly permitted to Augustine Birrell, Esq., M.P. THE AUTHORS' AGENCY. Established 1879. Proprietor, Mr. A. M. BURGHES, 1Paternoster Row. The interests of Authors capably represented. Proposed agreements and estimates examined on behalf of Authors. MS. placed with Publishers. Transfers carefully conducted. Twenty-five years' practical experience in all kinds of publishing and book producing. Consultation free. Terms and testimonials from leading Authors on application to Mr. A. M. Burghes, Authors' Agent, 1, Paternoster Row. LONDON: Printed by EYRE and SPOTTISWOODE, Printers to the Queen's most Excellent Majesty.  ## p. 381 (#785) ############################################ ^Ibe Hutbor. (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. II.—No. ij.] MAY 2, 1892. [Price Sixpence. CONTENTS. PAGE • 3«3 ■ 3*3 • 3«.< . 386 . 3H6 Warnings Notices The Authors' Syndicate The Lnirrolliad "Porta Nascitur, Noli Fit" Literary Property— I.—Literary Theft 3»6 II.—Mr. James Knowles 3»7 III. —Anthony Trollope's Life 3J7 IV. —" Baby Lifting extraordinary 3*7 V.—American Piracy 3j>-j Tho American Society of Authors »» Agencies Editing and Reviewing:— 1.—The Value of a Favourable Review II.—About Reviewing III.—Magazines and Editors 3*9 S90 391 391 3t> 393 Hew .192 VII.—With no Name 393 TJneut Leaves 391 The Literary Agent 393 IV.—( V.—I-ong kept and then returned VI.—From the Editor's Point of Vie I'scTnl Books Author and Publisher Generosity, Litienility, and Equity .. Young anil Old Notes and News. By Walter Besant Feuilletou Notes from Paris PAGR • 394 • 395 ■ 39« • 398 • 398 • 399 401 iierature in the Miwnizines 404 Scott on the Art of Fiction Walt "Whitman From America "At the Author's Head 4°J 410 410 4" From the Papers :— I.—The Lowell Memorial 415 II.—The Glorious Traditions of the Book Agent .. .. 41 j 111.—The Chief Use of the Society 41 j IV.—American Fiction '.. .. 41 j V.—Newspaper Copyright 416 VI.—From America 416 VII.—The Education of Opinion 416 VIII.—An Outside Opinion on the Society 417 New Books and New Editions.. 417 EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE. INVESTMENTS. A List of i,6oo British, Colonial, and Foreign Securities, with the highest and lowest prices quoted for the last twenty-two years, is. bd. "A useful work of reference."—Money. PHILOSOPHICAL NOTES ON BOTANICAL SUB- JECTS. By E. B05AVIA, M.D.. Brigade-Surgeon, I.M.I). With 160 Illustration*. a«. bd. KEAL ARMY REFORM, THE ESSENTIAL FOUNDA- TION OF. By Ionotus. bd. "Those who would understand the general argument of those who favour conscription cannot do liettcr than read this pamphlet." —Army and Xavy Gazette. MY GARDENER (Illustrated). By II. W. Ward, Head Gardener to the Right Hon. the Earl of Radnor, Longford Castle, Salisbury, is. bd. "The book is replete with valuable cultural notes indispensable to the millions who are now turning to gardening as a source of pleasure and proiit."—Gardener's Chronicle. STATE TRIALS, Reports of. New Series. Vol. III., 1831—40. Published under the direction or the State Trials Committee. Edited by Joii.v Macdonell, M.A. km. PUBLIC GENERAL ACTS, 1891. Red Cloth, 3*. Contains all the Public Acts passed during the year, with Index, also Tables showing the etl'rct of tho yenr's legislation, together with complete 111 id classified Lists of the Titles of all the Local and Private Acts passed during the Session. REVISED STATUTES. (Second Revised Edition.) Royal svo. Prepared under the direction of the Statute Law Revision Committee, and Edited by G. A. R. Fitzoerald, Esq. Vols. I. to IV. now readv, price 7*. bd. each. TEN YEARS' SUNSHINE. Record of the Registered Sunshine at 46 Stations in the British Isles, 1881-1800. 2*. FORECASTING BY MEANS OF WEATHER CHARTS, Principles or. By tho Hon. Ralph Abbecromdy, F.R. Met. SOC. 2.1. HYGIENE AND DEMOGRAPHY. Transactions of the Seventh International Congress of. To be published in thirtivn volumes. Vol. XII. (Municipal Hygiene and Demography). Now ready. 2*. btl. List or the Scries on application. METEOROLOGICAL INSTRUMENTS, Instructions in the use ot. 2t. bd. THE LITERATURE RELATING TO NEW ZEALAND. A Bibliography. Royal Svo. Cloth, is. bd. COPYRIGHT LAW REFORM: an Exposition of Lord Monksw ell's Copyright Bill. With Extracts from the Report of the Commission of 1S78. and nn Appendix containing the Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lely, Esq., liarrist«r-at-Law. i». bd. KEW BULLETIN, 1892. Monthly, 2d. Appendices, id. each. Annual Subscription, including postage, 341. 9*/. Volume for 1891, is. id., by |>ost. MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. Descriptive Catalogue of the Muural Instruments exhibited at the Royal Military Exhi- bition, 1890. Compiled by Cnpt. Day, Oxford Light Infantry. Illustrated, lis. "Unique, 11s no earlier liook exists in English dealing exhaus- tively with the same subject A very important con- tribution to the history of orchestration."— Athcnamm. PUBLIC RECORDS. A Guide to the Principal Classes of Documents preserved in the Public Record Office. By S. R. Scaucill-Bird, F.S.A. is. "Tin- value of such a work as Mr. Scargill-Bird's can scarcely lw over-rated."—Tiuvts. Monthly Lists of Parliamentary Papers vpon Application. Quarterly Lists Post Free, id. Miscellaneous List on Application. Every Assistance given to Correspondents; and Books not kept in stock obtained without delay. GOVERNMENT AIVD GENERAL PUIIEISIIERS. KYUK and SPOITISMOODU, Her Majesty's Printers, East Harding Street, London, H.C.  ## p. 382 (#786) ############################################ 383 AD VERTISEMENTS. Cfje Jswtetg of gutljors (fincorporatrtO* PRESIDENT. The Kight Hon. the LORD TENNYSON, D.C.L. Sib Edwin Arnold, K.C.l.E. Alfred Austin. A. W. a Beckett. Robert Bateman. Sir Henry Berone, K.C.M.G. Walter Besant. Augustine Birrell, M.P. R. D. Ulackmore. Rev. Prof. Bonnky, F.R.S. Lord Brabourne. James Bryce, M.P. P. W. Clayden. Edward Clodd. Hon. John Collier. W. Martin Conway. Marion Crawford. Oswald Cbawfurd, C.M.G. COUNCIL. The Earl of Dksart. A. W. Dubourg. John Eric Erichsen, F.R.S. Prof. Michael Foster, F.R.S. Herbert Gardner, M.P. Richard Garnett, LL.D. Edmund Gosse. H. Rider Haggard. Thomas Hardy. Rudyard Kipling. Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S. J. M. Lely. Rev. W. J. Loftie, F.S.A. F. Max Mullee, LL.D. George Meredith. Herman C. Merivale. Rev. C. H. Middleton-Wake, F.L.S. Hon. Counsel—E. M. Underdown, Q.C. Pembroke and J. C. Parkinson. The Earl of Montgomery. Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart. LL.D. Walter Herries Pollock. A. G. Ross. George Augustus Sala. W. Baptists Scoones. G. R. Sims. J. J. Stevenson. Jas. Sully. William Moy Thomas. H. D. Traill, D.C.L. Baron Henry de Worms, M.P., F.R.S. Edmund Yatks. COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT. Chairman—Walter Besant. A. W. a Beckett. Hon. John Collier. W. Martin Conway. Edmund Gosse. H. Rider Haggard. J. M. Lely. Sir Frederick Pollock. A. G. Ross. Solicitors—Messrs. Field, Roscoe, & Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. Secretary—S. Squire Sprigge. OFFICES. 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C. PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 1. The Annual Report. That for January 1891 can be had on application to the Secretary. 2. The Author. A, Monthly Journal devoted especially to the protection and maintenance of Literary Property. Issued to all Meml>ers. 3. The Grievances Of Authors. (The Leadenhall Press.) 2*. The Report of three Meetings on the general subject of Literature and its defence, held at "Willis's Eooms, March 1887. 4. Literature and the Pension List. By W. Morris Colles, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry Glaisher, g5, Strand, W.C.) 3*. 5. The History of the Societe des Gens de Lettres. By S. Squire Sprigge, Secretary to the Society, is. 6. The Cost Of Production. In this work specimens are given of the most important forms of type, size of page, &c, with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds of books. Henry Glaisher, g5, Strand, W.C. 2s. 6d. 7. The Various Methods of Publication. By S. Squire Sprigge. In this work, compiled from the papers in the Society's offices, the various kinds of agreements proposed by Publishers to Authors are examined, and their meaning carefully explained, with an account of the various kinds of fraud which have been made possible by the different clauses in their agreements. Henry Glaisher, g5, Strand, W.C. 5s. 8. Copyright Law Reform. An Exposition of Lord Monkswell's Copyright Bill now before Parliament. With Extracts from the Report of the Commission of 1878, and an Appendix containing the Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lely. Eyre and Spottiswoode. is. 6rf. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author, Vol. 02 Issue 11 (April 1892) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 02 Issue 11 (April 1892) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927&amp;view=1up&amp;seq=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1892-04-01-The-Author-2-11 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/261/1892-03-01-The-Author-2-10.pdf e105fde168b241125d5d64ab4bdec94a PDF Text Text ������������������������������������������������ 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 Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em> Description An account of the resource A digitised run of the Society of Authors' monthly periodical, <em>The Author</em>, 1890<span>–</span>1914, made available together for the first time.<br /><br />Currently users can browse issues and <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?search=&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bjoiner%5D=and&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Index&amp;collection=&amp;type=&amp;tags=&amp;exhibit=&amp;date_search_term=&amp;submit_search=Search+For+Items&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">indices</a> (not available for all volumes). Full text search for all issues, and other additional search functionality, will be added in 2022. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890–1914 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context The-Author-Issues Publication Date The date of an event (in YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD format) 1892-03-01 Volume 2 Issue 10 Pages Page range in volume 295–342 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18920301 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin ZIbe Hutbot\ (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. II.—No. io.] MARCH i, 1892. [Price Sixpence. CO NT PAGE Warnings »" Notices J97 Literary Property— I.—Registration 300 II.—Transfer of Books 3°' Swindells v. Morgan and Others— I.—Report of the Case 3°i II.—On the Case 3°' The Output—Past and Present 3°3 Notes from Paris 3°4 An Old Pirate Song. By C. G. Lcland 3°* Titles of Honour 3<>7 Red Clover 3°8 A Fine Plav 3°9 Notes and News. Bv Walter Besant 3" Men and Women of tho Time—1788 3'3 The Dance of Death 3"S Without a Publisher 3'5 Scott on the Art of Fiction 3"s ENTS. International Copyright— I.—Annual Meeting of the Copyright League .. ..311 II.—Canada and the United States 3» Author and Editor 3" The Letter H. By William Westall 3*4 Correspondence— I— Mr. Traill's List of Poets 3»S II.—Useful Books i'S From the Papers— I.—" One who knew Him" I'S II—Mr. Edmund Gosse on Reading S'b III. —On Literary Collaboration. By Waltor Besant .. jj» IV. —The Critic 3»8 V.—Do Publishers read MSS. submitted? 3*9 VI.—Arc Women Creative 33° VII —An American on American Literature 33' VIII.—Swindells v. Morgan and Tomkins 33» "At the Author's Head" 33» New Books and New Editions • ■ 33S EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE. INVESTMENTS. A List of 1,600 British, Colonial, and Foreign Securities, with the highest and lowest prices quoted for the last twenty-two years. 2a. bd. "A useful work of reference."—Money. PHILOSOPHICAL NOTES ON BOTANICAL SUB- JECTS. By E. Bonavia, M.D., Brigade-Surgeon, I.M.D. With 160 Illustration'*, as. bd. BEAL ARMY RKFORM, THE ESSENTIAL FOUNDA- TION OF. By Igkotus. bd. MY GARDENER (Illustrated). By H. W. Ward, Head Gardener to the Right Hon. the Earl of Radnor, Longford Castle. Salisbury. M. bd. "The book is replete with valuable cultural notes indispensable to the millions who are now turning to gardening as a source of pleasure and profit."— Gardener's Chronicle. STATE TRIALS, Reports of. New Series. Vol. III., 1831—40. Published under the direction of the State Trials Committee. Edited by Joitx Macdoneli,, M.A. 101. PUBLIC GENERAL ACTS, 1891. Red Cloth, 3*. Contains all the Public Acts passed during the year, with Index, also Tables showing the clft'ot of the year's Legislation, toget her with complete and classified Lists of the Titles of all the Local and Private Acts passed during the Session. REVISED STATUTES. (Second Revised Edition.) Royal 8vo. Prepared under the direction of the Statute Law Revision Committee, and Edited by G. A. R. Fitzgerald, Esq. Vols. I. to IV. now ready, price 7». bd. each. FORECASTING BY MEANS OF WEATHER CHARTS, Principles of. By the Hon. Ralph Aberckohby, F.R. Met. HoC. 23. Monthly Lists of Parliamentary Papers upon Miscellaneous Lis Every Assistance given to Correspondents; and METEOROLOGICAL INSTRUMENTS, Instructions in the use of. at. td. THE LITERATURE RELATING TO NEW ZEALAND. A Bibliography. Roval Rvo. Cloth, is. bd. POLYNESIAN MYTHOLOGY AND ANCIENT TRA- DITIONAL HISTORY OF THE NEW ZEALAND RACK. BvSirGKOROKGKEY.K.C.B. Illustrated. Koyal 8vo. Cloth, j». COPYRIGHT LAW REFORM: an Exposition of Lord Monkswcll's Copyright Bill. With Extracts from tho Report of the Commission of 1878. and an Appendix containing the Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lely, Esq., Barrister-at-Law. is. bd. KEW BULLETIN, 1891. Issued by the Director of Kew Gardens, ys. (Ready shortly.) KEW BULLETIN, 1892. Monthly, 2d. Appendices, 2d. each. Annual Subscription, including postage, 3*. qd. DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE OF MUSICAL INSTRU- MENTS recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition. Compiled by Capt. Day. Oxfordshire Light Infantry, under the orders of Col. SnAW-llELLIEE, Commandant Royal Military School of Music. Illustrated by a series of Twelve artistically executed Plates in Heliogravure, and with numerous Wood Engravings, hi, "Unique, as no earlier work exists in English dealing exhaus- tively with the same subject A very important con- tribution to the history of orchestration."—Atheneeum. PUBLIC RECORDS. A Guide to the Principal Classes of Documents preserved in tho Public Record Office. By S. R. Scargill-Bibd, F.S.A. is. £ "The value of such a work as Mr. Scargill-Bird's can scarcely be over-rated."—Times. Application. Quarterly Lists Post Free, arf. t on Application. Books not kept in stock obtained without delay. GOVERNMENT AND GENERAL PU11MSHERS. EYRE and SPOTTISWOODE, Ber Majesty's Printers, East Harding Street, London, E.C.  ## p. 296 (#700) ############################################ 2g6 ADVERTISEMENTS. %\yt &ockty of 9utI)ors (EncorporatrtD, PRESIDENT. The Eight Hon. the LORD TENNYSON, D.C.L. Sir Edwin Arnold, K.C.l.E. Alfred Austin. A. W. A Beckett. Robert Bateman. Sir Henry Bergne, K.C.M.G. Walter Besant. Augustine Birrell, M.P. R. D. Blackmore. Rev. Prop. Bonnet, F.R.S. Lord Brabourne. James Beyce, M.P. P. W. Clayden. Edward Clodd. Hon. John Collier. W. Martin Conway. Marion Crawford. Oswald Crawfurd, C.M.G. COUNCIL. The Earl of Desart. A. W. Dubourg. John Eric Erichsen, F.R.S. Prof. Michael Foster, F.R.S. Herbert Gardner, M.P. RicnARD Garnett, LL.D. Edmund Gos.se. H. Rider Haggard. Thomas Hardy. Rudyard Kipling. Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S. J. M. Lely. Rev. W. J. Loftie, F.S.A. F. Max Muller, LL.D. George Meredith. Herman C. Merivale. Rev. C. H. Middleton-Wake, F.L.S. Hon. Counsel—E. M. Underdown, Q.C. Pembroke and J. C. Parkinson. The Earl of Montgomery. Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., LL.D. Walter Berries Pollock. A. G. Ross. George Augustus Sala. W. Baptiste Scoones. G. R. Sims. J. J. Stevenson. Jas. Sully. William Moy Thomas. H. D. Traill, D.C.L. Baron Henry de Worms, M.P., F.R.S. Edmund Yates. A. W. a Beckett. Hon. John Collier. W. Martin Conway. Edmund Gosse. H. Rider Haggard. J. M. Lely. COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT. Chairman—Walter Besant. I Sm Frederick Pollock. | A. G. Ross. Solicitors—Messrs. Field, Roscoe, & Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. Secretary—S. Squire Sprigge. OFFICES. 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C. PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 1. The Annual Report. That for January 1891 can be had on application to the Secretary. 2. The Author. A Monthly Journal devoted especially to the protection and maintenance of Literary Property. Issued to all Members. 3. The Grievances Of Authors. (The Leadenhall Press.) 2*. The Keport of three Meetings on the general subject of Literature and its defence, held at "Willis's Eooms, March 1887. 4. Literature and the Pension List. By W. Morris Coixes, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry Glaisher, g5, Strand, W.C.) 3*. 5. The History of the Societe des Gens de Lettres. By S. Squire Sprigge, Secretary to the Society, is. 6. The Cost Of Production. In this work specimens are given of the most important forms of type, size of page, &c, with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds of books. Henry Glaisher, q5, Strand, W.C. 2s. 6d. 7. The Various Methods Of Publication. By S. Squire SrRiGGE. In this work, compiled from the papers in the Society's offices, the various kinds of agreements proposed by Publishers to Authors are examined, and their meaning carefully explained, with an account of the various kinds of fraud which have been made possible by the different clauses in their agreements. Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. 3s. 8. Copyright Law Reform. An Exposition of Lord MonkswelFs Copyright Bill now before Parliament. With Extracts from the Report of the Commission of 1878, and an Appendix containing the Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lelt. Eyre and Spottiswoode. 1*. 6d.  ## p. 297 (#701) ############################################ ^Ibe B u t b o t\ (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. II.—No. io.] MARCH i, 1892. [Price Sixpence. For the Opinions expressed in papers that are signed or initialled the Authors alone are responsible. WARNINGS. Readers of the Author are earnestly desired to make the following warnings as widely known as possible. They are based on the experience of six years' work upon the dangers to which literary property is exposed:— (1.) Never sign any agreement of which the alleged cost of production forms an integral part, until you have proved the figures. (2.) Never enter into any correspondence with publishers, especially with those who advertise for MSS., who are not recom- mended by experienced friends or by this Society. (3.) Never, on any account whatever, bind yourself down for future work to any one firm of publishers. (4.) Never accept any proposal of royalty until you have ascertained exactly what the agreement gives kto the author and what to the publisher. (5.) Never accept any pecuniary risk or respon- sibility whatever without advice. (6.) Never, when a MS. has been refused by respectable houses, pay others, whatever promises they may put forward, for the production of the work. (7.) Never sign away American rights. Keep them. Refuse to sign an agreement con- taining a clause which reserves them for the publisher. If the publisher insists, take away the MS. and offer it to another. vol. n. (8.) Keep some control over the advertisements by clause in the agreement. If you arc yourself ignorant of the subject, make the Society your agent. (9.) Never forget that publishing is a business, like any other business, totally unconnected with philanthropy, charity, or pure love of literature. You have to do with business men. Society's Offices:— 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. NOTICES. THE Americans have committed a very graceful and complimentary action. They have allowed the piece of plate presented by the Society to Mr. R. U. Johnson, Secretary of the American Copyright League, to be admitted to free entry on importation. We submitted the case to Mr. Rol>ert Lincoln, the American Minister, who kindly pro- mised us his good offices in the matter, with the result that a copy of the following letter from Mr. Spaulding, the Acting Secretary of the Treasury, Washington, to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Blaine, has been forwarded to us. It will be observed that this is only the second concession of the kind made by the States. "Sir, "I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 13th instant, enclosing, for the consideration of this Dejwirtmeut, a De- spatch, No. 587, from the Minister of the United States at London, inquiring whether a piece of silver plate, to be presented by the Incorporated Society of Authors of Great Britain to Robert U. Johnson, Esq., Secretary of the American Copy- right League, as a testimonial of recognition of Y 2  ## p. 298 (#702) ############################################ 298 THE AUTHOR. the services of himself and his Society in the esta- blishment of the International Copyright Law now existing, can be admitted to free entry on importation. "In reply, I have to state that, under date of 5th May 1887, free entry was authorised for certain vases imported for presentation as testimonials to members of the American Committee who super- intended the installation of the Bartholdi Statue of 'Liberty enlightening the World,' and that, in accordance with the practice of admitting to free entry, under paragraph 648 of the Tariff Act, cups and plate as prizes and trophies, it would seem tliat the piece of plate in question would be exempt from duty on importation. "Respectfully yours, "O. J. Spaulding, "Acting Secretary." "To the Hon. F. G. Blaine." The following letter appeared in the Times of February 24th:— Sir, To-day is the birthday of James Russell Lowell, and I understand that a commemorative ceremony is being performed in his honour at his native place. It has occurred to me that English- men might be glad to show their respect for a man who was one of the most eminent writers in the common language of England and America, and who, as Minister in this country, did so much to promote goodwill between the two nations. A monument is erected in Westminster Abbey to Lowell's friend and fellow-countryman, Long- fellow. It seems to me that it would not be out of place to give in some similar way a proof of our national regard for Lowell himself. If anyone who agrees with this would communi- cate with me, I should be very glad to co-operate in taking the necessary steps for giving effect to the proposal. Yours, <fcc. Leslie Stephen. 12, Hyde Park Gate, S.W., Feb. 22nd. This proposal should be supported by every member of our Society, not only because Lowell was one of the most eminent writers of the century, but also because he fought manfully and all his life long for the cause of International Copyright, and because he was, in a very especial sense, the friend of this Society, whose aims he cordially approved and whose growth he always watched with interest. It is hoped that every member will hold himself in readiness to support Mr. Leslie Stephen in the promotion of this monument. The Authors' Club has now passed from the preliminary stage to that of actual existence. The Club is to be founded upon a Limited Joint Stock Company, already established and registered, the possession of a single share in which will serve in lieu of entrance fee. The shares in the Company- are limited to 600 of £5 each, of which it is not anticipated tliat more than £3 will ever be called up, and the shares will be allotted upon application in the usual form by the directors. The Company is not a commercial one, its Directors will receive 110 fees, and all profits will accrue to the Club. When the first 600 shares are applied for and allotted, the election of members will be according to usual club-land law, by proposer, seconder, payment of entrance fee and election by the general committee; the shareholding members, therefore, will possess an advantage over ordinary members. The annual subscription is fixed at four guineas, and the entrance fee at ten guineas; the usual facilities and remissions being extended to country members. The number of members is fixed at 600; and the Club house will be as near that centre of the civilised world, Piccadilly Circus, as possible. A great many names of men at once eminent (and clubbable) in every branch of letters—scientific, informatory, or recreative—and in the ranks of the higher journalism, are already upon the list of the general committee of the Club. Its first Directors are Lord Monkswell, Mr. Walter Besant, Mr. H. Tedder (the secretary and librarian of the "Athenanini "), and Mr. Oswald Crawfurd, C.M.G. (Chairman). The qualifications for membership are that a man should be a British subject, or a citizen of the United States; an author, in the widest acceptance of the term; a contributor to a leading periodical; or a journalist of established position. It will be gathered from these lines that the main objects of the Authors' Club are: first, the union of authors as such, which makes the Club a natural outcome and offshoot of the Society, and (2) the consolidation of literary interests of all kinds. Application for shares can be made to the Company's linkers, Messrs. Barclay and Co., No. 1, Pall Mall, or to the Chairman, who may also be applied to for any general information at the temporary office of the Authors' Club, Queen Anne's Mansions, S.W. An advertisement has appeared in several of our papers, dated from New York, inviting MSS., and promising a circulation of hundreds of thousands. The Secretary answered the advertisement, asking what machinery the advertiser possessed by which he could insure so enormous a circulation. A reply has been received in which the advertiser states that he is editor and proprietor of an illustrated American paper, whose subscription list numbers  ## p. 299 (#703) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 299 200,000, and which has 3o branch establishments in the principal cities of ihe Union. The circu- lation promised is the publication of the works accepted by this advertiser in the pages of his magazine. Nothing is said as to the price paid to authors, but those who think of answering the advertisement would do well to submit a question on this point before parting with their perhaps valuable American rights. The advertiser affects surprise at being asked to give references and explanations. Does he really believe that we should advise authors to despatch MSS. to a foreigner in a foreign country, solely on a vague promise made in an advertisement? One has not been accustomed to attribute to American men of business this guileless innocence. Our advice, which we repeat, is to get the business arrangements placed on a satisfactory footing before sending out the MS. A case was recently tried before one of the inferior courts, in which it was held by the judge that the publishers had no right in sending in an account, based upon a share of profits, to charge for "production" more than the sums actually expended by them. The publishers attempted to justify charges which gave them a profit on items forming cost of production on the wording of the agreement signed by the author, but the judge held that this did not justify the charges, and he was evidently of opinion that for a publisher to entitle himself to a profit on the cost of production in such cases he must clearly stipulate for it beforehand. It was hoped that the publishers would appeal to a higher court, but this they have not done. Meantime the decision is a step in the right direction. We have the notes and report of the case. The chief weapon of offence in the return of accounts is the item of advertisements. The pub- lisher advertises in his own magazine if he has one, by exchanges for nothing with other maga- zines, or, if he does not exchange, he pays and expects a return of the same kind. He charges for inserting the book in his circulars and lists. He charges, in fact, what he pleases, and advertises what he pleases, and as often as he pleases, in organs which cost him nothing. In this way he can, and often does, sweep the whole profits of a tolerably successful book into his own pockets. This is done every day; it is the commonest, the most specious, and the most impudent form of swamping profits. Of course, the pretence set up is that the sale was entirely due to the publisher's own organ and the advertisement in it. For instance, an author, some time ago, re- ceived an account in which a considerable sum was charged for advertising. He went to the publishers and informed them that he would pay for none but advertisements for which they would produce vouchers. They sent an amended bill for a sum less than one-eighth the original charge! The meaning, as between publisher and author, of the so-called "Royalty System "—where there is no system—was explained in the Author for November 1891. Writers are entreated, in their own interests, to study the facts and figures there set forth. Communications intended for the Authors' Syndi- cate should be addressed to W. Morris Colles, the Honorary Secretary. All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of this Society or not, are invited to communicate to the Editor any points connected with their work which it would be advisable in the general interest to publish. Members and others who wish their MSS. read are requested not to send them to the Office without previously communicating with the Secretary. The utmost practicable despatch is aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in which they are received. It must also be distinctly understood that the Society does not, under any circumstances, under- take the publication of MSS. The official directions for the securing of American copyright by English authors were given in the Author for June 1891. Members are earnestly entreated to take the trouble of reading those directions. Members are earnestly requested to forward agreements to the Society for inspection before they sign them. Once signed, the mischief is generally irreparable. A correspondent writes to ask for information as to the "loss" of copyright. A few elementary points arc, therefore, advanced. Copyright is the right to copy or reproduce. It must not be parted with, except for a consideration fair and reasonable. Most publishers' agreements contain a clause which  ## p. 300 (#704) ############################################ 3°° THE AUTHOR. assigns to thorn the copyright. It is called some- times by its own name, sometimes it is called the right to first and all subsequent editions, some- times it is called the right to produce future editions at cheaper prices, should the publisher think fit. Then follows the consideration for which the author is asked to surrender his property. Writers who sign this agreement in too many cases do not even know what they are giving or selling, and in some instances are too inexperienced in business matters to understand plain English. Let them before signing any agreement ask themselves these questions: 1. Does the agreement assign the copyriglit to the publishers? 2. If no, for what consideration? 3. What does that consideration leave to the publishers on the sale of the first and all subsequent editions? LITERARY PROPERTY. i. Begistration. (From the Law Quarterly Review.) BEITISH subjects will be well advised not to publish foreign literary or artistic works in England because they cannot find them registered at Stationer's Hall, or to defend actions for piracy because the plaintiff was not registered at Stationer's Hall before the issue of the writ, in reliance on the judgment of Stirling J. in Fishburn v. Hollingshead ('91, 2 Ch. 371) cited without dissent in the last number of the Law Quarterly Review, at p. 3oi. In that case Stirling J. un- doubtedly expressed an opinion that the foreign author of a painting could not sue in England without registering under the English Copyright Acts; but this opinion was clearly obiter, as the learned judge also decided that the work before him was properly registered in England. It has since been doubted by Smith and Grantham J J. in the argument in Moul v. Groenings, 'g 1, 2 Q.B. 443 (though the doubt is not reported), and Judge Martineau has felt himself justified by that doubt in declining to follow it in the case of Moul v. Devonshire Park Co. {Law Times Paper, Sept. 19th, 1891). The point is one of great importance, as, if Stirling J. is right, the British Legislature has failed to carry out the intention of the Berne Con- vention, which was that an author who complies with the formalities required by law in the country where he first publishes his work should thereby obtain copyright in the foreign countries, parties to the Convention, without also having to comply with the formalities in each of such countries (Article 11 of Berne Convention). This benefits the British author equally with the foreigner; the only person aggrieved is the pirate, and the great feature of the Berne Convention is that for the first time it treats copying other people's work as at the risk of the copyist, instead of impeding the author by technical restraints. The Copyright Statutes on the point are, as the Law Quarterly Review observed, an "ungodly jumble," but the point admits of being shortly- stated. 1. The Act of 1842 (5 & 6 Vict. c. 45, § 24) required registration of copyright as a condition for bringing an action for its infringment. 2. The International Act of 1844 (7 Viet. c. 12, § 19), provided that copyright in a work first published out of Her Majesty's dominions should only be obtained under the provisions of that Act; and provided that the Queen might by Order in Council confer on authors of countries named therein the same benefits as they would have under the English Copyright Acts. The Act further required (§ 6) every such foreign author to comply with certain formalities of registration, differing from those of the Act of 1842, as a condition of obtaining the benefit of the Act of 1844. Pausing here for a moment, it has never been suggested that a foreign author before 1886 ought to register both under the Act of 1844 and under the Act of 1842, though it might be argued that as the benefits of the English Acts were conditional to English subjects on their registering under those Acts, a foreigner taking the same benefits as an Englishman must also register under the English Acts. 3. The Art Copyright Act of 1862 (25 & 26 Vict. c. 68, § 12) included the provisions of the International Act of 1844, while providing that English authors of paintings, &c, must register at Stationer's Hall, and that any proprietor should not be entitled to the Ixmefit of the Act until registered, and could not sue for anything done before registration. Tho Act of 1844 had included provisions for tho registration of works of art. 4. The International Copyright Act of 1886 (49 & 5o Vict. c. 33, § 4) provided that when any Order in Council was made by Her Majesty under the International Copyright Acts, the provisions of those Acts as to the registry and delivery of copies of works should not apply to works under the Order in Council, except so far as provided by the order. 5. The Order in Council of November 28th, 1887, made under this Act, contains no provision as to registration and delivery of copies, and incorporates  ## p. 301 (#705) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 301 the Berne Convention of September 5th, 1887, which in Articles 2 and 11 appears to show an intention that the "accomplishment of the conditions and formalities prescribed by law in the country of origin of the work" shall give an author copyright throughout the countries of the Convention. It seems fairly clear, therefore, that the provisions of the International Copyright Acts as to registry and delivery of copies do not apply to foreign works, by reason of section 4 of the Act of 1886. But it is suggested that, as the foreign authors take the same benefits as they would have had under the English Acts, they are liable to register and deliver copies under the English Acts. But if this were so, foreign authors before the Act of 1886 would have been liable to register both under the English and the International Acts, and, still worse, to deliver copies both under the English and Inter- national Acts; and authors of foreign books at the present time are liable to deliver five copies to certain libraries as an English author is. This consequence is so startling, and, as regards the practice before the Act of 1886, so contrary to the facts, as almost to prove its error. But it would seem clear that the provisions of the International Act of 1844. supersede instead of supplementing the provisions of the English Acts of 1842 and 1862; and that the effect of the Act of 1844 being in its turn superseded by the Act of 1886, is not to revive the old provisions, but to leave the foreign author to register in his own country, obtaining thereby copyright under the Convention throughout the countries under the Convention. And apart from the construction of statutes, the hardship would appear to be if Mr. Justice Stirling's decision is right. Under the Art Copyright Acts an author cannot sue for infringements which have preceded registration; registration is to that extent a condition of the right as well as of the remedy. It is said that there is a hardship on the "innocent copyist," who has had no notice of copyright. I may be permitted to doubt the existence of the "innocent copyist," whom I have not'yet met in my experience of copyright cases. I have met the tradesman who desires to get his wares cheap, without too scrupulous inquiry as to the cause of their cheapness, and in many cases with direct knowledge that he is copying someone who he thinks has omitted to technically protect his rights, but I do not feel much sympathy with him. In any case this class of person will be well advised not to place too much reliance on Fishburn v. Hollingshead, '91, 2 Ch. 371. T. E. S. II. Transfer of Books. TO YOUNG PUBLISHING FIRMS or others commencing a publishing business. —A firm of publishers, having more MSS. of novels in their possession than they can for some time publish, are ready to part with the contracts relating to several MSS. by good authors. Some of these are already in the press and almost ready for publication. Some of the MSS. are subject, on publication, to a royalty, others have been paid for in full. This is an admirable opportunity for a young firm who want to start with a good lot of publications without any loss of time. For parti- culars apply by letter to ... . Address and Inquiry Office, The Times Office, E.C." The above advertisement appeared in the Times of February 24th, 1892. We have always been of opinion that a contract by one author with one publisher, except in the case of sale, could not be passed on to another publisher without the author's consent. For instance, in a royalty agreement, it is with out; certain publisher that the author makes his contract, not -with all or any publishers, good or bad. This, however, is a question for lawyers, to whom we intend to submit the case. SWINDELLS v. MORGAN AND OTHERS. The Report of the Case. (Before Mr. Justice Grantham and a Common Jury.) fl^HIS action was brought under somewhat 1 peculiar circumstances. The plaintiff, James Swindells, sued William James Morgan, Joseph Sydney Tomkins, the City of London Publishing Company, and the Authors' Alliance (Limited) for the return of some literary MS., and also damages for their detention, fie further sought to recover £40, which he had paid on account of nn intended publication. The Authors' Alliance entered no appearance to the action, but certain pleas were raised by the other defendants. Mr. Bethune was for the plaintiff; the defen- dants did not appear personally, nor were they represented. In opening the case Mr. Bethune said the plaintiff claimed the return of the MS. of "Ballads and Poems," and a drama called "Charles I.," which he had delivered for publication. The  ## p. 302 (#706) ############################################ SQ2 THE AUTHOR. plaintiff was about fifty years of age, and he was employed at Manchester in the position of ware- houseman. Notwithstanding this, however, he succeeded in educating himself, and he had written various works which had appeared in Manchester local papers. In June 1885, he received a com- munication from Messrs. Morgan and Tomkins, which was headed "City of London Publishing Company, in succession to the Charing Cross Publishing Company." This document said that they would be glad to receive MS., and would offer special facilities for publication. The learned counsel said that Messrs. Morgan and Tomkins were two men who had for years been defrauding unhappy authors. Mr. Justice Grantham said that as the defendants did not appear, the matter need not be gone into at length. Mr. Bethune answered that he would not be long, but as the jury would have to assess damages, he should have to inform them of some of the circumstances. These men had from time to time registered limited companies for a short period, and one limited company was succeeded by another. In the meantime, they sent out circulars like the one in this case, and then, when they got MS. for publi- cation, they said that there was a favourable report from their reader, and they asked that money should be sent on account of publication. The money having been sent them, the poor author never heard any more of the matter. Such authors were generally poor, and, therefore, their case was a particularly cruel one. Having got Mr. Swindell's MS., they suggested that he should get his friends to subscribe for copies of his works, and he did in fact get from Lord Selborne, Lord Derby, and others very kind letters, which he, in his turn, sent to the defendants; and he also sent them £40, which he had received in subscriptions from his friends. Now he was in the unfortunate position that he could not produce his book, for he had not the MS. He could not return his friends their money, and, his name being Swindells, he had had a most uncomfortable of it, and he therefore came to the jury for redress. In 1884, Messrs. Morgan and Tomkins were in possession of premises in Friar Street. They traded under the name of a company, and they said that whatever they did was as servants of the City of London Publishing Company. He (Mr. Bethune), however, said that the company was Messrs. Morgan and Tomkins only, and he should ask for an order against them for the return of the MS. The learned counsel said that he would refer to some of the correspondence which had passed. Mr. Justice Grantham: There was no necessity for reading those letters to show that they were swindlers, for the nature of the claim had been shown, and the defendants did not appear. Mr. James Swindells, the plaintiff, was then called. He said that he was a warehousemen at Manchester, his wages were 24*. a week, and he had a wife and family. In June i885, he sent the MS. of " Ballads and Poems " and " Charles I." to the defendants. He did this because he had received a letter from them. He had not had that MS. back again. He collected money by sub- scriptions, as he was to find £40 on account of the risk of publication. He mooted the matter to his friends, and they liberally subscribed to the extent of £40. Lord Derby subscribed £5, and the late Mr. Peacocke, M.P. Mr. Justice Grantham: You need not tell us all that. Witness continued: He remitted £40 in various sums to the publishing company, and from that time to this he had not had his £40 nor his MS. back. He got receipts for all the money he sent, except for the amount of a postal order for 25$. sent in 1887. Mr. Justice Grantham said that the jury had heard the case. It certainly was a very bad one, and he had no doubt that it was not the first time that unfortunate authors had been robbed in this way, and particularly those who were poor. Of course, the plaintiff was entitled to have back his £40, and he would advise the jury to give him a considerable sum in addition. It was impossible to know the value of these MSS.; but the defendants were not here, and they would be justified in estimating them at the highest price possible, to mark their view of the conduct of the defendants in not giving them back. The jury at once gave a verdict for the plaintiff for £5oo. In reply to questions of the learned judge, the jury said they found that the plaintiff was entitled to the return of the £40, and that if the MSS. were returned, the defendants should pay £200 for the detention. If they were not returned, their verdict would be for £460, in addition to the £40. Judgment was entered accordingly. — Daily News. II. On the Case. The case Swindells v. Morgan and Tomkins, tried before Mr. Justice Grantham, on February 17th, 1892, has, one hopes, effectually disposed of these gentlemen. The case, which we have copied from the report in the Daily Telegraph of February 18th, is one the particulars of which had already been brought before the Society. It  ## p. 303 (#707) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. was the old, old story; money paid in advance for the production of a book; manuscript for- warded; the book not produced; the money kept; and the manuscript not returned. The verdict of the jury was simple, for the plain- tiff, with 40/. for retention of manuscript, and damages, 200/., with costs. One fears that the money will not be paid, but the defendants will be effectually blown upon. There was, in fact, no defence at all, and the parties did not appear in court. We have been for six years calling atten- tion to the bogus publishers, of whom the man Morgan was eminently a representative. The Charing Cross Publishing Company, the City of London Publishing Company, the Authors' Alli- ance, and the International Society of Literature, Science, and Art, were four of the attempts of Morgan to catch the inexperienced author. His method, however, was always the same. It has been exposed over and over again in the columns of Truth. Only a month ago, on January 3oth, the editor of Truth exposed his last attempt, the so-called " Society of Literature, Science, and Art." This, says Truth, is a " bogus learned society, the promoters of which obtain fees averaging from two to fifteen guineas, by offering people ' membership' and 'fellowship,' with privilege (!) of writing 'M.S.L.' or 'F.S.L.' after their names. These payments are obtained by the pretence that a 'Council' of the ' Society' has passed a resolution, pursuant to which the invitation is sent. . . . The promoter and moving spirit of the 'Inter- national Society of Literature, Science, and Art' is one W. J. Morgan, who has appointed himself 'Curator ' and a member of the Executive Council. . . . He now carries on business as a publisher under the name of James Longman & Co., in an office opening out of that of the 'International Society'." It is a constant subject of amazement to watch the ease with which the author is deluded. The silly sheep is a miracle of wisdom compared with him. A swindler advertises; the author jumps at the chance; he sends his manuscript; he sends his money; he asks nobody's opinion or advice; he believes implicity whatever is told him; he trusts his property to a perfect stranger in the blindest confidence. In no other business, in no other relations of life, would he be such a fool. Would he lend his gold watch to a stranger met in the crowd? Woidd he lend that stranger a ten pound note? It is exactly the same thing. The man Morgan is is only one of many. There was another man who stole manuscripts and money in exactly the same way; there was a man who pretended to belong to a very well-known London firm; he went off to America with waggon loads of manuscripts; there VOL. 11. are people who are advertising for manuscripts at this moment with the same intention. They will go on advertising and catching their victims. The would-be author's desire to see himself in print overrides everything; his reason; his prudence; even such exposures as those of Truth; even such revelations as those of this action in the High Court of Justice. Morgan will die a rich man; very likely a member of a west end club. THE OUTPUT-PAST AND PRESENT. BETWEEN the years 1700 and 1756 the pro- duction of books from the London Press, according to Charles Knight, amounted in all to 5,280 new works. That is to say, to an average of 94 books for every year. There were not wanting those who held up their hands in astonishment at this prodigious annual increase to literature. Now, in the first half of the eighteenth century, it is quite certain that none of the country gentry bought books, that in the country towns there were no bookshops, that the great mass of the country clergy were careless of new literature, and that the only place, outside London, where new books could be procured were the university and the cathedral towns. Johnson's father, we know, was a bookseller of Litchfield, a cathedral town, and he used to attend markets and fairs at country towns with a bookstall. Among other places, at Birmingham, already an important town. For how many readers were these ninety new books issued? The population of England and Wales was then about six millions. Deducting children, rustics, working men, and those who, like the country squire, confined their reading to books on farriery and the like, we shall certainly not be far wrong in estimating the number at half a million. Consequently there was, roughly, a new book for every 0,000 readers. This, however, does not mean 5,ooo readers for every new book. Between the years 1792 and 1802, there were issued 4,096 new works, or an average of 372 every year. The population of England and Wales was then ten millions, with a greatly in- creased proportion of readers, say two millions in all, so that we had then a new book every year for every 4,000 readers. Between 1802 and 1827, there was an average of 588 new books every year. The population at the latter date, without counting Ireland, was four- teen millions. Education was greatly extended, and, not including children, there were probably six million readers, or a new book to every 10,000 readers. But, among these so-called readers, there Z  ## p. 304 (#708) ############################################ 3°4 THE AUTHOR. were many who never read anything at all, except the newspapers. Perhaps, however, children ought not to be excluded, because the branch of children's books, which was only commenced towards Un- close of the last century, had already assumed considerable proportions. In the year i8gr, according to the Publishers' Circular, the number of books issued was 5,706. The population of the British Islands is now 08,000,000, of whom all, or nearly all, can read. That is to say, there is now issued, every year, one new book for every 6,000 readers. But of course we ought to deduct young children and all those rustics and poor people who never read a book at all. Let us deduct ten millions. There remain 28,000,000, and, according to the estimate, a new book is provided every year for every 5,ooo readers. Surely that does not represent any extra- ordinary eagerness for new literature. The modern 'output of books, which seems so enormous when it is written down in its thousands, comes, briefly, to this. From 1700 to 1756, there was every year one book for every 5,ooo readers; from 1792 to 1802, there was every year one book for every 4,000 readers; from 1802 to 1827, there was every year one book for every 10,000 readers; and there is now every year one book for every 5,ooo readers. So that, taking these islands alone, there is no greater literary activity in pro- portion, and, as shown by the production of literature, than there was nearly two hundred years ago. But there are other considerations which very greatly lessen the proportional output. Those who every year.deplore the enormous production of books take a narrow parochial view of English literature. They cannot get beyond Fleet Street, daily journal and weekly review land, club land. They can under- stand, perhaps, something of the vastness of London itself, but of the vastness of Lancashire, Yorkshire, Durham—the crowded north—they understand nothing. Nor do they gauge the demands of the millions who are now demanding books. And if they cannot take in the needs of their own country, how can they understand those of the Empire? Australia, New Zealand, India, Burmah, South Africa, Ceylon, the far East, the West Indian Islands—and where there is a great market for new books as well as old. Again, beyond the Atlantic, there are sixty millions who read our books as we read theirs. Shall we try to grasp these things? If we can succeed, only partly, to understand how great is the area covered by the English language, how enormous is the demand for books, how the area occupied by readers becomes every year greater, how thickly populated, better educated, so that the demand is increasing by leaps and bounds, and yearly more and more, we shall then begin to understand the influence, the power, the force, of that thrice fortunate man who succeeds in being listened to by the whole of the English speaking race at once. Other things, too, will become more plain to us, of which the first is the necessity of using every effort to make the calling of literature independent, and to maintain that independence. NOTES FROM PARIS. IN my last I recorded that the next meeting of the Societe des Gens de Lettres was to be held on the 3ist ultimo. So it had been arranged. But on the 3ist not sufficient men of letters put in an appearance at the Hotel Conti- nental to constitute a quorum, and the meeting had to be postponed. Emile Zola, the president, did not like this, and on returning home sat down and wrote personally to each one of the hundreds of members of the Society present in Paris, urging him to attend. The result was that the meeting which was held yesterday was very well attended indeed, and a quantity of business being got through before the men of letters se]>arated. Con- sidering the amount of writing Zola has to do, it was simply heroic of him to write all those letters, but Zola takes his presidency of the Society in earnest, and is thorough in this work as in all he undertakes. Maupassant's state continues as it was. This is bad, and, to a certain extent, justifies the evil rumours that are afloat. In mental maladies the stationary state is as bad as retrogression. I am afraid from what I have heard from the very best sources that, as a writer at least, we may speak of de Maupassant in the past. What a pity for literature! Some weeks ago I noticed in an American paper a foolish paragraph anent Jules Verne, in which" the writer professed to describe the life of this remarkable novelist. Amongst other things a description of Mr. Verne's cabinet de trarail was given which was as imaginative as all the rest. Verne was described as working surrounded by electrical instruments and other scientific para- phernalia. I have a particular joy in watching the canard's flight, and that particular canard winged its way across the columns of quite a number of papers. The last I saw of it was in the columns of the Sunday Sun. As a matter of fact,  ## p. 305 (#709) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. Jules Verne does all his writing in a small bedroom at the top of his house in Amiens. The room contains a lx'd, a table, and a chnir, and a couch, as bare as room well can be. Neatness is the characteristic. The paper on the table is methodi- cally arranged. There is no waste-paper basket. Verne writes very deliberately and rarely erases. When not at home he spends his time at the Literary and Scientific Institute of Amiens city, where he reads up the scientific facts that he requires for his stories. We read in the Author, month by month, a good deal about the sweating of authors by publishers. I suppose all of us have in our day been so ex- ploited. I can remember receiving from the proprietors of a well-established London magazine a cheque for one guinea for a story of seven thousand words, the said proprietors being rated very high amongst London publishers. But the sweating of authors by brother authors seems to me a very much worse affair, and I am cognizant of numerous cases of it. There is something particularly hor- rible about Ishmael turning on a brother Ishmael, but he does do it. Here in Paris there are many reputed authors who employ hacks to do their work for them. I know of a feuilleton that appeared not long ago in the Petit Journal, which was signed by one of the best names in the literary market. The presumed author received fifteen hundred pounds for this story. Every line of it, however, was written by an unfortunate youth, who was promised eighty pounds for his work. That was some time ago. Up to the present he has received in small sums about a third of what was promised him. Occasionally the reputed man of letters gives him a five-franc piece towards the balance. I know of many similar cases in England also. Madame Marinoni, the wife of Marinoni, the well-known inventor and director of the Petit Journal, reads all the manuscripts sent in for publication in feuilleton in the Petit Journal, and, what is more, enjoys doing it. It is she who selects the stories for that publication. They are the making of the paper. The Petit Journal publishes two concurrently, and there is no literary work better paid. A fairly well-known writer gets about lod. a line for a serial in this paper. It is to the interest taken in its fiction columns that the immense success of the paper is due. Renan's " Souvenirs" is the book of the month. Everybody is reading it. As a contribution to philosophy it is a decided failure, but the writing is beyond praise. The people, however, for whom Ecnan specially writes consider the philosophy very pretty indeed, and, accordingly, all are satisfied. Zola's " La Debacle" is appearing in feuilleton in the Vie Populaire, although the author has not finished more than two-thirds of the book. The reason of tliis is that serial rights in case of such an author are of considerable value. For the French publication, for instance, Zola gets a thou- sand pounds. Had he waited till April, when he expects to have finished the manuscript, before authorising the publication in serial form, the publication of the book in volume form would have had to be delayed until long after the Grand Prix. Now no book issued after the Grand Prix in Paris has anything like the sale that a book issued earlier in the season obtains. Zola is a good business man, and, though he spends money lavishly, has always about 15,ooo francs to his credit at Char- pentier's. Daudet, on the other hand, has always an account on the wrong side with the same publishers. Doctor Jacques Bertillon, the statistician, is bringing out a table of statistics, or rather a statis- tical map, to show what books are read and in what pro]x>rtions, at the Paris municipal free libraries. Books are lent out at these libraries or may be read in the libraries themselves. In one year the public of these libraries borrowed 1,115,800 books to read at home, and read 161,636 books in the library reading-rooms. More than half the books read were novels, Zola being most asked for, indeed there are always eight or nine people waiting for every volume by this author. Verne comes next. Sue and Dumas continue very popular. George Sand is little wanted, and Balzac, our master, the father of us all, is but rarely asked for. Poetry, and notably that of Victor Hugo, is a great deal read. Geographical works and travel come third in popular demand, and then science and the arts. Women, however, never ask for any books belonging to either category. Historical works come fifth, musical books sixth, and last of all books in and on foreign languages. The demand for the latter is very small indeed. Oscar Wilde has numerous friends in Paris, and the delight at the great success he has obtained with his new play at the St. James's is universal Z 2  ## p. 306 (#710) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. in Paris. His "Salome" promises to be equally successful, and a run is assured on the translation of the "Portrait of Dorian Gray," which is being undertaken by a leading man of letters of this city. Tons les succes, alors. Some years ago, a Mr. Jogand, writing as Leo Taxil, made himself vastly notorious as the author of a number of grossly blasphemous anti-clerical and irreligious works. The time came, however, when Mr. Jogand, otherwise Leo Taxil, recognised the error of his ways and became as fervent a son of the Holy Church as he had one time been a rebel against it. Rome opened her arms to the penitent sinner, and Leo Taxil, destroying all the anti-clerical and irreligious books he had written, put his really fluent pen at the service of the Church. His blasphemies and cure-baiting lite- rature had, however, an excellent market value, and in spite of the author's interdiction, a firm of publishers, Messrs. Letouzey and Ane, who had published for him while a heretic, considered it good business to go on issuing his books and brochures, interdiction or not . . . Leo Taxil sued them for the fraud, not for profit, but with a view to stopping them from publishing works which, by his later lights, he saw as unclean things ... A few days before the trial came on at the Ninth Chamber of Correctional Police, the publishers offered to "square" the matter with a sum of sixty thousand francs (£2,400), but this Leo Taxil refused, and ordered the prosecution to proceed. The verdict of the court was in the favour of the publishers, who have got off scot-free. This judgment has been condemned by every paper in Paris as a piece of sheer nonsense, and Leo Taxil has appealed, determined to carry his case before the jury of the Paris Assize Court. It is more than probable that the Assize jury will reverse the illogical judgment of the police court magis- trates. The hearing of the appeal is being anxiously looked for by all interested in letters in Paris. RoBEBT H. ShEBABD. Paris, February 23rd. The following is the brief report given in the Intransigeant:— Tribdnatjx. Auteurs et Editeurs. Le proces intente aux editeurs Letouzey et Ane par M. Jogand, l'auteur de divers ouvrages clericaux, s'est terinine bier par un jugement qui le deboute. L'auteur reprochait aux editeurs d'avoir, sans le prevenir, tire de ses livres plusieurs editions dont ils ne lui avaient pas tenu compte. Une enquete judiciaire et une expertise etablirent le bien-fonde de ses reclamations, et les editeurs qui, lors des premieres plaintes de l'ecrivain, lui cepondaieut qu'il etait leur debiteur d'une centaine de francs, lui offrirent, a, la veille de l'audienco 60,000 francs, pour se desister. Apres de longs debats, malgre les aveux et les offres des prevenus, la neuvieme chambre a declare qu'il n'y avait pas lieu d'accueillir la demande du plaignant, attendu que les mensonges, Paugmen- tation frauduleuse des benefices, la dissimulation des tirages ne constituent pas, de la part d'editeurs, le delit d'abus de confiance. Voila qui serait rassurant pour les hommes de lettres, si la cour confirmait cette jurisprudence absolument insensee.—Intransigeant. AN OLD PIEATE SONG. INHERE is a quaint legend of the Church of Saint Aleswill super mare—I do not swear to the name—that after it had utterly vanished from the face of the earth, an entei prising young rector restored it in all its entirety, whole- ness, plenitude, integrity, yea, and even in all its antiquity, out of the remnants of the "restoration" of three churches in the neighbourhood—on the principle by which ingenious men in America often construct a "bank note" out of three, leaving four—which process, as it paid largely at little risk, was before the modern era of entire greenbacks, a sure dependence for "a world of honest fellows who get their living by stealing and cheating." On the method employed by the young rector of Saint Aleswill and the American financiers referred to, I have put together the fragments of song gathered from three separate sources, making thereof a new one. But whether these fragments were originally portions of one and the same ballad, or whether the ballad in question is like some Chinese plays, or Spenser's "Faerie Queene," an endless series of parts, which like a polypus are continually dismembering and uniting, I cannot swear, aflirm, or declare. An American ex-sailor, who gave me a few of the verses, called it a mutineer's song, adding that if an officer should hear a man sing it, the vocalist would be sure of receiving 26 lashes with a rope's end, by way of reward. This was all long ago, when slavers, who were all pirates on occasion, swarmed in New York city, glorying in their  ## p. 307 (#711) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. calling, and no man made them afraid, and Senor Guare/. had his offices there for "the Guinea traffic" in bozalcs, or "sacks of charcoal," i.e., negroes; and the United States Marshal (whom I remember as one of the keenest and "spryest" little men whom I ever met), was wont to go on board the slavers, and accept their hospitality, and aid them to get away in safety, his sworn duty being to intercept them. Let it be remembered to the credit of Abraham Lincoln that his very first act on coming to power was to break up this infernal nest of Guarez & Co.; in fact, he hung one of the gang. In those days I knew many men who had been slavers, and they are not all dead as yet. There were, of course, among the English- speaking seamen who were in " the ebony trade," songs, some perhaps which had come down from the days of the Buccaneers, and I believe that some of the verses which I here give are of this antiquity. But to the lyric. The reader of Scott's " Pirate" will recognise the opening verse: Hold Itohin Rover Said to his crew, Up with the Mack flag, Ami down witli the blue. Up with the black boy All men to show: And over the water And off let us go! A man-of-war he hailed us "Come under my lee!" "See you damned," said the pirate, "For I'd rather sink at sea. In the blue water, Far out and free, Cruising down on the shore By the coast of Bar-ba-rce!" We met the Flyiug Dutchman, To windward he came. His hull was all of hell-fire, His sails were all of flame, Fire in the maintop, Fire on the bow. Fire on the gun-deck. Fire down below. Four and twenty dead men, Those were the crew, The devil in the bowsprit Fiddled as she flew. We gave her n gun shot Kight in the dip. Puff, like a candle, Out went the ship! We met a gallant vessel A sailing on the sea; For mercy, for mercy, For mercy she did plea, But the mercy we gave her We sank her in the sea; Cruising down on the shore By the coast of Barbarcc. Four and twenty Spaniards Mighty men of rank With their scfioras Had to walk the plank, Over the gunwale Into the sea; Cruising down on the shore By the coast of Burbaree. Oh, devil take the captain! And devil take the ship! And devil take the cargo! And devil take the trip! And devil take the first mate! And devil take the call! And devil take the doctor! And devil take 'cm all. Over the quarter. Over the rail, Into the water Dead as a nail, Flung like a biscuit Hot as a coal Where the sharks may take the body. And the devil take the soul! Truly not a song for the piano, or for young ladies; indeed, there are not many men who can understand the grim and terrible, yet intense relish with which these ditties of the devil were sung in the olden time. Yet there is a scent as of cold salt water in them—a rocking of the vessel in the waves in their metre, and a fierce ml gleam as of sunset lasting into the black night perceptible in the scenes which they recall. Should any of my renders be able to give any further information as to, or contribute additional verses to, or show what the ballads were from which these fragments came, I—and perhaps the. Editor as well—be very much obliged for the information supplied. Charles Godfrey Leland. Florence, February 5th, 1892. TITLES OF HONOUR. ISHOULD like to say very shortly why I agree with Mr. Lang rather than with Mr. Besant in the matter of conferring titles, orders, or other official State honours on the sole ground of literary or artistic merit. First, we have already the honorary degrees of our universities. Is it likely that any corresponding honours given by the State would l>e as highly esteemed, or more wisely conferred? Next, the proper object of official honour in this country, it seems to me, is official service, public service in the strict sense. Of the value of such services the State (that is, in the concrete, the head  ## p. 308 (#712) ############################################ 308 THE AUTHOR. of the department concerned) is or ought to be not only a competent, but the most competent judge. In so far as literary and artistic institutions are under State direction or control (as the National Gallery, the Theatre Francais) this principle applies to persons who serve the State as directors or officers of such institutions, but not farther or otherwise. General literary or artistic reputation, on the other hand, must depend in the long run on the general opinion of persons of knowledge and taste; an opinion which often is not settled for a genera- tion or more. I see no reason to think that an official judgment in these matters would l>e specially competent, or even free from danger of being incompetent. I am quite aware that the existing distribution of official honours could be reduced only with difficulty, if at all, to uniform principles, and that it does not invariably give satisfaction. This, I think, rather strengthens my argument. Also my purpose is to suggest what I believe to be the true general rule, not to deny that exception may fitly be made in singular cases. That of Lord Tennyson will occur to every reader. To discuss how far it is really exceptional would involve careful consideration of the relation of the peerage to other "titles of honour," and would exceed both the Author's space and my time. F. Foixock. My own case, as I endeavoured to set it forth, was, if I may state it once more, as follows :— 1. The service rendered to the State by the poet, the dramatist, the historian, the novelist, the essayist, is service as real and as impor- tant as the service of a great general, a statesman, or a great lawyer. 2. It is right and fitting that the State should recognize all kinds of State service with the same kind of distinction and honour. 3. The stock arguments against granting distinc- tions to art and letters—as, that distin- guished authors should be satisfied with the reward of their own success—apply equally against granting distinctions to any other profession. For instance, what could pos- sibly be a greater honour in itself than the winning of a great victory? Yet no one says that we should tell the successful general to be content with that honour. 4. The exclusion of any branch of the higher work of the world from national honour lowers that branch in the eyes of the general mass of the nation. The exclusion of literature tends to make literature in the eyes of the nation contemptible. To the official eye, everything that is excluded from national distinction is contemptible. As, for example, when five years ago, on the occasion of the greatest national function of the century, not a single man or woman of letters was invited to be present, as such. 5. The most formidable objection is that raised above by Sir Frederick Pollock, among others. It is the danger that the official judgment would prove, in art and letters especially, incompetent. Is it not incom- petent in other branches? But the in- competence of officials in the way of literary distinction would very soon be challenged and remedied, because the whole question of titles and their bestowal will be raised and discussed, as soon as the literary class becomes concerned with it. At present, nobody ever discusses the subject, and the most ridiculous persons receive the national distinctions without a protest. 6. In short, my case is that to exclude literature from the national distinctions means either that such distinctions are worthless, nnd not to be desired by any class; or that the production of worthy literature is not a special service to the State. W. B. BED CLOVER. Call me new born thy worshipper, sweet flower, Soft laughter of the meadows! I have seen Thy pink spheres shake away the dewy screen From night's caress to greet the dawn's glad hour. I feel the rich wTeight of thy blossoms cower When wild winds sweep across the wastes of green, Startling the bees, who, restful wings a-sheeu, Steal thy sweet riches for their queen's bright dower. Thou seem'st to all pure things allied, and so Thy blossoms touched no stranger when they lay So proudly 'neath that rose-tipped chin of hers. For she, though bred in cities, yet doth know The finer thoughts of nature. Her soul stirs To greet thee as thine own to greet the day. Habkiet Monroe.—New York Critic.  ## p. 309 (#713) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 3°9 A PINE PLAY. HAS a dramatist done his duty towards the public, when he tells a good story in such a way as to thoroughly interest and amuse his audience? Some persons think so, and as one of those who do, I venture to congratulate Mr. Oscar Wilde upon having done his duty, though so commonplace and middle-class a performance as duty-doing may appear to this brilliant and para- doxical author a poorish subject for congratulation. "Lady Windermere's Fan" is brilliantly and audaciously funny—upon that everybody seems agreed—but certain objections have been urged against the story :—that it is improbable, that it is old, that it is told the wrong way, and so on. Here is the story:—Lord Windermere in attempt- ing to help Mrs. Erlynne, his wife's dishonoured mother, back into good society, manages so indis- creetly that he is considered by society to be the lady's protector. The audience, like society, is kept in ignorance of this lady's relationship to Lady Windermere. Lady Windermere is told that her husband is devoted to an adventuress, and the husband, at the same moment, insists that the woman in question shall receive a card to his wife's ball. This she will not send. Her standard of morals is a very high one, and her ideal is the mother whom she believes to have l>een deail for twenty years. Lord Windermere sends the card himself, and his wife declares that when Mrs. Erlynne is announced, she will strike her across the face with her fan. And so the curtain comes down oti a capital first act. In the second act, Mrs. Erlynne appears at the ball, to the malicious astonishment of Lady Windermere's guests, all of whom believe that she is playing the part of the complacent wife, in spite of her claims to the before- mentioned high standard. The blow is not struck, for Lady Windermere's courage fails her. But enraged at the public insult which she con- ceives to have been put upon her, she flies, on impulse, from her home to a man, whose dishonourable proposals she had put aside a few minutes earlier. The curtain rises for the third time upon the two women in the rooms of the would-be seducer, for Mrs. Erlynne has followed her daughter with the intention of persuading her to return to Lord Windermere. Just as Mrs. Erlynne's appeals have their proper effect upon Lady Windermere's heart, steps are heard outside the chamber and a party of men enter, among whom is Lord Windermere. Mrs. Erlynne takes refuge in an inner room, and Lady Windermere hides in the window-alcove behind the curtains. But Lady Windermere leaves her fan on the sofa. It is found. Lord Winder- mere demands from his host an explanation, threatening to search the place if it is not a satisfactory one. Mrs. Erlynne appears from the bedroom and owns to having brought the fan by mistake, and while all the men are absorbed in Mrs. Erlynne's confession, Lady Windermere escapes from the room unnoticed. Her reputation is saved, and Mrs. Erlynne's chances of returning into society—so frail and so carefully built up—are disposed of at once. Curtain, upon a very strong situation. In the fourth act we have a sort of reverse of the opening position. Lady Winder- mere, who knows that Mrs. Erlynne's act has saved her reputation, wants to see her again in order to thank her, but cannot of course say why. Lord Windermere, who believes that Mrs. Erlynne is a disgraceful woman, will not hear of his wife seeing her, but also cannot explain why, or reconcile his refusal with his expressed wishes of the night before. Mrs. Erlynne gets them out of the dilemma. She comes to say that she is leaving England for ever. She does not reveal herself to her daughter, and exacts from Lord Windermere that he also will respect her secret. _ The last curtain falls on the announcement that she is going to marry an unintelligent and amiable nobleman, to whom she has " explained everything." Such is Mr. Oscar Wilde's story, and there is much in it which, thus baldly put, stamps it as rather improbable. Now it must be admitted that even in the play all the improbabilities do not dis- appear. Lady Windermere is willing to "exchange in a trice the lilies and languors" for "the roses and raptures," but the reasons for her conversion —impulse and pique—are not quite convincing. The fact that the villain was inefficient, and thus rendered particularly unpersuasive, must not, how- ever, be counted as a fault to the story. Again, society's ignorance of Mrs. Erlynne's real identity, and Lady Windermere's ignorance of her mother's existence, are both a little difficult to believe in. Still the story is not wholly improbable; it only has that amount of improbability which stage representation has made a necessary factor in story-telling for dra- matic purposes. All plays that are truly interesting have a more or less improbable story, or have a story in which more or less improbable incidents occur. The skill of the dramatist is shown in making these improbabilities of no particular account in his story, or in hiding them behind the strong interest which he creates in his characters. In reality probability has as little to do with making a play good as has morality. An immoral play can never be a good play, because it can never give general pleasure. It is outside the limitations which the necessity of giving general pleasure imposes. The very skilful man can say more than the clumsy man, but each  ## p. 310 (#714) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. alike is bounded by respect for his audience's self- respect. It is the same with probability. A splendid story-teller can bo improbable, because the last thing that the fascinated recipient cares about, when listening to what his author has to say, is how far the incidents could really have happened. He believes in the impossible, because it is pre- sented to him as the inevitable, and all he wants to know is—what is going to happen next. If he finds that he is pulled up in his stride to consider the probability of the story, he is irritated with the author, and he is right to be so. It means that the story has been too big for the author, who has been unable to create illusion. There is no difficulty of this sort in Mr. "Wilde's case, and thus probability does not matter at all. Many people have said that it is an old story, and it seems to have suggested several French origins to several critics. But in almost every case the novel or play suggested was a different one, so that the story may be said to be one whose central idea has always been floating about among the dra- matically-minded. Mr. Oscar Wilde, to his im- mense credit, appears to have used a complication which previously had struck Messrs. Balzac, Dumas, Augier, and Sardou (among others) as good. It is to his credit, because the new treatment is dis- tinguished, adequate, and personal. He treats the theme of the erring mother and innocent daughter most delicately and reasonably. Although the characters are so superior to sentiment, and although Mr. Wilde has devised so happily cynical an end to the story, cynicism never forces mother and daughter into any position where the daughter is forced to act towards her unknown mother in a way that the audience might find horrible. The author would be the first person, we are sure, to admit that he has not made the theme his own because he has treated it from one point of view. He has only added one to the difficulties of the next dramatist who attempts to treat of the subject, by subjecting all successors to a comparison with another brilliant treatment. It would be as reason- able to say that Mr. Hardy might write no more strong bucolic stories, because of the wide circula- tion of " Ruth," as to try to prevent dramatists from treating of unrevealed mothers because " Odette" was a popular play. With regard to the way the story is told, Mr. Wilde originally decided that he would not reveal the identity of Mrs. Erlynne until the last act, and at its brilliant reception on the first night the story was played in that way and seemed to us quite intelligible. Neither Lord Windermere or Mrs. Erlynne would have acted exactly as they did, had not the connexion between them been what it was. "If I am a good story-teller," said the author, "deduce from the behaviour of my characters what relations they must bear to each other." This, however, though a sensible attitude, is against the critical canons, which demand that the audience should not be asked to reason. Your audience, says the unwritten law, must know what the motives of action are, so that they may judge of the way in which the resulting actions are rendered. To me it seems that cither method is quite capable of being the right method, and that, as in the amount of improbability that can be made to look probable, the personality of the author decides the question. If early in his story the author can show such good sense and reasoning power, that his listeners can trust him not to be making his characters say and do things without a reason, then he is right to keep the secret back, and the pleasure of gradually guessing the motive will be added to the pleasure of hearing the story. If, on the other hand, the author excels more in showing how a thing is done than why it is done, he must not leave his public in doubt about anything. Mr. Wilde now takes the audience into his entire confidence in the first act, which seems to me to be a concession to the sluggish, although it is in accord with generally expressed opinion. Having settled to one's own satisfaction that the story is probable enough and new enough, because the author's skill and individuality of treatment have made it both, it remains only to add that the dialogue must have been a revelation to most present—to all, in fact, who had not read "The Decay of Lying." No such witty dialogue has been heard on our stage for many a long year. Paradox and epigram followed each other thick and fast. Too thick and too fast; but what a pardonable mistake! In "Lady Windermere's Fan," Mr. Oscar Wilde has given us a strong and dramatic story, and has set it in brilliantly witty words. I hope—and believe—that his play will meet with its deserts. O. J. —■ NOTES AND NEWS. IHAVE religiously published a mass of corre- spondence on the treatment of contributors by editors. At the same time, I think that many of the complaints against editors are ground- less. It is a great pity that, when contributions arc invited, editors should not show every conside- ration to those who respond. In the high class magazines and papers, I am sure that they do. In my own case I have frequently, in old times, received my papers back, but never without courtesy. Further, I am bound to say, that when time had passed and I could read the MS. in cold blood, I always approved of the decision of the  ## p. 311 (#715) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. editor. Next, one must consider the frightful mass of ImuI work that is every day submitted to an editor. I do not think it is possible for any editor to read all that is sent him. The most he can do is to select, according to subject, and after reading the first page or two, a few for more careful consider- ation. I was once shown a pile of MSS. covering half the wall of a room. "Have you," I asked the editor, " read all these things?" He sighed wearily—"But," I urged, "there must be some beautiful work in this heap." "There may be," he replied, with another weary, weary sigh," " Would you like to sit down and pick out the beautiful work?" In fact, every magazine ought to have a large staff of readers—some of the great American magazines have. It is the only way to insure the reading of MSS. If every magazine cannot afford it, then, as Mr. Justice Stareleigh observed, every magazine ought to be able to afford it. The over- worked editor, with the best goodwill in the world, cannot possibly without assistance read all that is heaped upon his table. I have often wondered what has become of that mass of MSS. which I saw on the occasion referred to. The journal is now extinct, and the MSS.—where are they? Where are they? What becomes of the immense piles of MSS. which are refused and not sent back? It is sad to think of these brilliant works of genius going back to the paper mills. -**— - In another part of the paper will be found a passage, quoted from the Pall Mull Gazette, on the reading of MSS. by publishers. The story told is not pleasant reading, especially to myself, localise I am one of those who have always main- tained that publishers do read MSS. I do so, first, arguing from the fitness of things, because it is their interest to read everything .submitted; second, because with all the publishers—not a few —who have talked to me about the conduct of their business, I have found them anxious not to let a good chance slip out of their hands; thirdly, l>ecause I have known men who read and advise for publishers, and I have known them to be men of honour, who would not take pay for work scamped; and, lastly, because; I have myself read MSS. and advised, and I declare honestly that I always did read them and gave the best advice in my power. Of course I do not speak of so-called publishers who, whenever a MS. is sent in, write back to say, in stereotyped terms, that" their reader has reported so favourably of the work that they are prepared to offer the following favourable terms, viz., the author to pay half the cost of production" —naming rather more than the whole cost—and so on—and so on. The last passage in the extract that we print (see page 33o) furnishes VOL. II. another illustration of my reiterated assertion that publishers very seldom incur any risk at all. Hence it is becoming increasingly difficult for a new writer to make a beginning. Of course there are masses of MSS. which can be dismissed by the most conscientious reader at once, after reading the first ten pages, and without the least hesitation. On page 3o6 there will be found a very astonish- ing case. A firm of Parisian publishers named Letouzey and Ane, deliberately falsified their figures to prevent paying royalties. When proceedings were commenced they offered to pay 2,400/. down, if the complaint would be withdrawn. The police court ruled that though the publishers had robbed the author in this wholesale way, their acts do not legally constitute the crime of "abuse of confidence." What a very remarkable law must be that which obtains in France! And what a very remarkable confirmation of the justice of our claim that authors have a full right to have accounts audited! How does a book get read? The question is asked in the February Author (p. 282). The correspondent explains that he wants to know in what way the general public, living all over the world, gets to hear of a book, and is stimulated to read it. Formerly, he says, there were the book- sellers' shops, but these have certainly not increased in proportion to the vast increase of the book trade. That is very true: booksellers have gone down instead of up. In the old days the country book- seller had all the new books on his counter; he was often a person held in great esteem for his reading anil his knowledge, especially in Cathedral towns. But there is now one shop which has in- creased and multiplied, and spread itself until it has well nigh swallowed up all the rest. This is the rail- way bookstall. Look at the great Iwokstall at the Great Western, for instance; or at any important station on that line, Swindon, Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth. All day long the buying goes on; before every train goes out; from morning until evening. And this at all the stations over the whole country. That is the principal way in which books are sold in the country. Who tells the people what to buy? Partly, the Sidesman; partly, the name of the author; partly, the advertisements; partly, the reviews; partly, the title of the book; partly, the subjects. The great mass of readers do not read reviews, they are moved by some of the other considerations referred to above. And, perhaps, more than all, by that whisper, which, directly a book attracts attention, runs like light- ning over the whole country. In the train, in the A a  ## p. 312 (#716) ############################################ 312 THE AUTHOR. omnibus, at dinner, wherever people meet and talk, a book is recommended and at onee ordered, if only of the library. How to attract that attention? Well, the only known way—the only way yet discovered—is to present attractive work. The questioner goes on to ask how the publisher sells his books? Some do not. There is the greatest possible difference between publishers in this respect. Some seem not to know how to sell books at all. Some sell their books rapidly and easily. The difference is so great, that in some cases we have deliberately sent authors to publishers whose agreements we know to be unfair and one- sided, because, in spite of this fact, the author will do better with them than with other houses where they will give him a better agreement. As to the methods of sale, they have travellers for town and country; they get their books subscribed at Smith's and Mudie's; they get them taken for the .stalls; they have them sent to India and the colonies; they advertise them; they send out copies to the press; they print their, titles in their lists and circulars; they watch the press notices. Some publishers are also very elastic in their prices, and, to make a deal, will often lower the price very materially. This fact must be borne in mind when the question of equitable royalties is considered. And it must be remembered that while a careless publisher or an incompetent publisher may grievously damage a book, not the most zealous publisher in the world can make the world buy what. the Avorld does not want. We were talking of literary collections. We discussed the hunter after first editions, the collector of rare books because they are rare, the haunter of book auctions, the man who eagerly turns over "all this lot at fourpence," the man who has stories of how he picked up a rare bargain, and the man who buys and keeps books which he thinks will become valuable. Thus, "Payne's translation of Villon," and Burton's " Arabian Nights," have been bought and kept on the chance of the price going up. Again, as any second-hand catalogue shows, there are the first editions of Louis Stevenson and Andrew Lang, at the present moment first favourites with the collectors of new first editions. Then there are the collectors of books about places and people. I could name one man who has all the Wordsworth editions; another a nearly exhaustive collection of books on Coleridge. I have myself a goodly lot of books on London; another man has n great collection of books connected with the navy. All these belong to the serious—the literary —collections. There are again the autograph collectors, whose name is legion, and whose im- pudence is colossal. Then there are the lighter and more frivolous collections. Of these then- are endless varieties. Ami here the other man came out strong. One man, he said, lias col- lected election squibs for the last three or four general elections. Another collects penny song- sters; another, halfpenny ballads; another, shilling shockers; another, chap books; another—'who must have a library as big as a barn—dramatic- posters. "But the cream of the fancy collections," he concluded, " is the most curious and the most valuable, to wit. a collection of those editions of contemporary plays, so familiar to the dramatic world, which are ' printed as manuscript, not pub- lished.'" They invariably differ from the copy deposited with the Lord Chamberlain (or with whomsoever they be deposited now), for that copy represents the play as about to be performed, these its shape after it lias gone through the fire of the "first night," and has been invariably modified somewhat by experience, or in conformance with public taste. The copies, printed to save the labour of type-writing " parts " and copies for prompters, are distributed only among performers and persons closely connected with the theatre, and not only are they not to be bought, but the authors guard them very jealously. A man who could collect them would have collected about as uncollectable a species of literature as exists. And he must make haste. If the copyright laws once make the printing and publishing of plays safe—these un- published "printed as manuscript " curiosities will disappear. Here is a bibliographical description of the edition of the popular farcical comedy "Jane " :— Jane: a farce in three acts. By Harry Nichols and W. Lestocq. First played at. the Comedy Theatre, London, 18th December l8qo. David Allen and Son, Belfast. [No date," 16" [?].] Printed as manuscript. Not published, and not for sale. The book is printed on one side of the paper only, recto. Title page, characters, and a diagram of scenery form three separate leaves inserted before sig. A. Only there is no sig. A, the first sheet being without signature. Then follows sigs. B, C, D, in 16" of, I think double-post; but the book has been ait. After sigs. D, one leaf is inserted without signature. Our correspondent, C. S. Oakley, shows how a book mav, by taking a vast deal of trouble, be introduced to the public without a publisher at all. It is true that it would be at a disad vantage to begin with, but it is possible that, in the case of a fairly successful book, the author might really do better for himself by dispensing  ## p. 313 (#717) ############################################ THE A UTHOR. with an agent, Ruskin tried it, with the result that he has created a publisher. A lady in Cali- fornia, however, well known as an effective story- teller, has started a venture of her own. She brings out a monthly magazine containing one story of her own, and nothing else, every month. The enterprise has begun with what promises to be an action at law. A paper in one of the Eastern States has deliberately stolen the work of her first number. Meantime, the experiment seems to be attracting a good deal of attention in literary America. The lady's name is Flora Haines Longhead; her stories are called the Gold Dust Series. I was asked last December by Mr. Archibald Grove to give hiin a paper for the Neio Review on literary collaboration. I took as my text an essay written by Mr. Brander Matthews, introductory to his new collection of collaborated stories. In another part of this journal will be found the conclusion of my little paper. But I very particularly invite all who contemplate col- laboration to read that essay by Mr. Matthews, and, in order to do so, to get his book. Mean- time, it is right to own that the experience of some men makes rather against than for collaboration. I have myself been exceptionally and greatly for- tunate in my own ventures into the field of collabo- ration. But all are not so fortunate?. I have known examples where the work has been simply ruined through the partners being either unsuited to each other or ignorant of the proper methods of colla- boration. In any case let the partnership be tentative at first, and, if successful, let it be carried on from book to book. But the best collaboration, as I have endeavoured to point out, is that gained by talking a thing over. If I were younger I would make a most valuable little library by cutting out all the really good articles from the magazines and all the really good short stories. There is, on an average, one article in every month's pile which one woidd like to keep, and one or two stories every month which one would like to cut out of the magazines and the collections. For instance, I should cut out, for this month, Dr. Benjamin Ward Richardson's paper in Longman's on the "Mastery of Pain," as an article whose subject goes straight to every- one's heart, while the story which it tells is of extraordinary interest. Then there is Frederick Anstey's little story in his new book of collected tales, called "Shut Out," which I recommend to those youthful critics who arc always informing the world that we cannot write short stories. And there is, perhaps—I am not sure whether it would last—Andrew Lang's nightmare in the same number of Longman's. The author of an excellent little story called the "History of a Failure," which appeared in the pages of Longman's—say, rather shone in the pages of Longman's—last October, is going to be repro- duced in volume form by the same publisher. The book will be entitled "The History of a Failure and other stories, by E. Chilton." I have not the honour of E. Chilton's acquaintance, but if the other stories are on the same level with the first, the book ought to receive the warmest of welcomes. Walter Besant. ♦■»■♦ MEN AND WOMEN OF THE TIME-1788. IT is called a catalogue of "Celebrated authors now living." There are 472 of them—actually 472, in the deadest period of English letters! The catalogue contains a complete list of their publications with "occasional strictures." Such a catalogue in these days enumerates the works with- out the strictures, and, indeed, presents features of suspected autobiography. It is in these occasional remarks that the interest of the volume chiefly consists, though it is also interesting to note how long the memory of many indifferent writers may survive, and how generous are the bounds of limited immortality. The animus of some of the remarks upon, and the space assigned to, certain persons, now utterly forgotten, shows that there were then, as there are now, some who made as much noise as they possibly could, hoping that people would mistake noise for prophecy. For instance, who now remembers Stephen Addington, D.I).? He lived, however, and he talked; and he must have been greatly pleased to find himself described in the following remarkable terms: "With specious abili- ties, he is reported to have carefully modelled those abilities to the meridian of a coterie of canting old women, and has published several pious pamphlets full of grace and edification. He is also concerned in a presbyterian hotbed for the instruction of grown gentlemen in all sciences in the course of a twelve month." Again, John Andrews, LL.D., is said to be an author of moderate abilities, who appears to have taken some pains for the improve- ment of mankind. Again, one Miles Andrews is A a 2  ## p. 314 (#718) ############################################ 3'4 THE AUTHOR. said to have produced plays, " each of which has taken its station in the region of mediocrity." Charles Anstcy's "New Bath Guide" is spoken of as "that exquisite poem "—but. t hen the use or custom of adjectives varies. Of Samuel Ayscough, assis- tant librarian to the British Museum, who made catalogues and indexes, it is cruelly written : " Per- formances of this sort have their use, though they should happen, as in the present instance, to be extremely incorrect." Mrs. Brooke is "a female writer of very distinguished merit." Up to that year in her distinguished career she had published a tragedy, three novels, and a farce,besides translat ions. Now, unless Mrs. Brooke was a personal friend of the compiler of this catalogue, the praise l)cstowcd upon her shows that she was a woman with a following of disciples. Is there any single person now living who has read a work by Mrs. Brooke? One name, which we omit, because it would be cruel to quote it, is given in connexion with a "tragedy never performed." Heavens! If "Men of the Time" of 1892 were to include authors of plays never performed, novels never published, poems declined with thanks, how rich and splendid would be the literary army of the day! Of "Geoffrey Gambado" we have all heard, but who knows its author's "most admired drawing," called Lord's Day Evening Amusements? It is, however, pleasing to learn that his wife "is much admired for her personal charms and mental accomplishments." In the career of General Buvgoyne, again, we all remember a most unfor- tunate day at Saratoga, but do we remember that this gallantly incapable officer was also incapable in other directions, especially in playwriting? Of Frances Burney it is sadly stated that since her appointment as keeper of the robes, "the hours of this celebrated genius have been chiefly occupied in the folding of muslins." Here is a somewhat cold reception to the first of (then) living poets. "Burns, Robert, a ploughman in the, county of Ayr, in the kingdom of Scotland. His poems were published in the year 1787." George Canning "is a young gentleman of the kingdom of Ireland, late of Eton College. He was the most approved writer in a periodical called the Microcosm." Of Clarkson, we learn that his efforts against slavery dated from a prize essay gained at Cambridge in the year 1780. William Cooke is the "author of the 'Life of Doctor .Johnson,' which appeared about three days after his death, and has very worthily been bound up with a jest book." William Cowper "has taken a turn to Methodism, is of a serious and melancholy humour, and spends his whole time in rural retirement. His works are poetical . . . they are greatly deformed and obscured by the total neglect of method. He is best known by a kind of rhyming romance, entitled John Gilpin's Journey to Edmon- ton, which is the most indifferent of all his per- formances." Lady Craven is a person of extreme grace and vivacity in private life, who has successfully transferred these qualities to paper. Among her productions is one which ought not 1o be forgotten, if only on account of its title, "The History of the Baron Kinkvervankotsdarspruken- gotchderns." Thomas Day is the author of a work of "more reputation than merit," called "Sandford and Merton." Of Catherine Macaulav, the historian, we are told that her style is "loose, incoherent, and ungrammatical," and that "her present husband is said to entertain such a fondness for money as to oblige her to live without a servant, and to officiate himself in the character of cook and chambermaid." Of Samuel Horsley, D.D., Bishop of St. David's, "Dr. Horsley married his maid- servant, and is editor of the 'Principia of Sir Isaac Newton,' "—the two events being considered equally remarkable. Of Hannah More, we learn, after the examination of her works, that she has lately been celebrated for her animated patronage, and still more animated quarrel, with Mrs. Anne Yearsley, the "poetical milkwoman." What were the circumstances of this historic quarrel? Anne Newry, whom we seem to have forgotten, is harshly called "one of the mob of writers who have lately undertaken to produce books for the instruction of children." Of John Nichols, whose "Collection of Poems" is now rather rare, it is said that his characteristic qualities are "industry without taste, and the faculty of col- lecting a vast quantity of materials without discrimination." Here is a sad episode in the life of a man of genius. It occurred to O'Keefe, actor, dramatist, and poet. He had to leave the Dublin stage and his native country owing to "the accident of having demolished his wife's nose in a fit of jealousy." Was there ever a more untoward event in the history of a poet? Mrs. Thrale is treated kindly. She "had long borne with the moroseness and petulance of Johnson for the sake of his great respectable qualities, but her second marriage occasioned an open and violent rupture between them, and produced several angry and ill-bred letters from her former preceptor." John Potter—a clergyman—wrote "luscious" novels—he is now rightly punished for his lusciousncss by oblivion. Pratt—without a Christian name—a bookseller of Bath, who called himself Courtney Mchnoth, Esquire— that a bookseller should dare to call himself Esquire!—wrote a quantity of books, and, says the catalogue sarcastically, "there are people now living who believe that they possess a degree of , merit "! Of one Stockdale, who wrote sermons and poems, it is said that "lie is  ## p. 315 (#719) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 3lS paradoxical without being ingenious, even without the faculty of invention; and lie possesses the true poetic melancholy without one of poetic imagination." Of another clergyman we are told that he wrote a tragedy which he could not get acted; he therefore engaged a company of actors himself and produced it. The work " is reported to have produced all the effects of a genuine comedy." And of yet another clergyman it is said that " his writings are not good prose, because they are tagged witli rhymes; and they are not good poetry, because they are cold, insipid, pleonastic, and prosaical." Mrs. Trimmer—our own, our pro- verbially admired Trimmer!—is said to be "a devout lady who dedicates her slender talents "— slender !—" to the instructing from the press of the rising generation. Her works are a Sacred History, in four volumes, 121110, and a spelling book, price sixpence." She was fated to do even greater things. One Waldron published an edition of Hen Jon- son's " Sad Shepherd." He "appears by no means deficient in that sort of industry which leads a man to peruse all such writers a3 were never read." Poor Ben Jonson! Of Horace Walpole, that great authority on manners, it is actually said that "an acute and refined sensibility is not the strong side of Mr. Walpole's character." It will be seen that even so far back as the year 1788, authors had acquired the elements of the art of saying extremely disagreeable things about each other, in fact, those very things which were well understood to be the most disagreeable. It must also bo acknowledged that the "occasional strictures " of this critic are for the most part well deserved. It is difficult to ascer- tain what amount of vogue had been obtained by the writers whom he ridicules or censures, but in every age there are reputations undeserved and popularities ephemeral. And it must also be acknowledged that this list, which does not contain half-a-dozen names worth preserving, does yet contain a great number—a surprisingly great number—of mediocre writers whose names, and even their works, have somehow survived to the present day. ♦■»■» — THE DANCE OP DEATH! Shrouded in white, ami with dishevelled hair A strange wild dance the awesome woman flung Atween the ebon coffins lying there, While a weird ditty to herself she sung:— "' The Dance of Death t' 'Twas thus she said, That's the Donee for me! Flouting round the coffined dead Softly, silently." A tiny silver lamp, a niche within, Upon the Dancer threw a sickly gleam, Showing the features of this child of sin; And still she chanted ou as in a dream :— "The Dance of Death amid the dead! That's the Dance for me! Gliding round the coffin head, Softly, silently." 3. From out the depths of night her spectral bird, The ghostly owl did send its chilling cry; No other sound in that dim vault was heard, Save the poor maniac's ghastly monody :— "The Dance of Death amid the dead! That's the Dance for me 1 Floating round the coffin head, Softly, silently." F. B. Doveton. — - WITHOUT A PUBLISHER? MANY years ago Mr. Herbert Spencer pointed out "that in the present state of the evolu- tion of society it would be perfectly possible, if people would only help themselves and look at things as they are, for an author to do without a publisher. But if we try to examine the manner in which publishers probably arose, we may take for granted, I think, that originally the author did so, and that the gradual differentiation of the publisher was simply a natural working of the law of distribution of labour. When a man had written a book he set about to get it printed, and the man who printed it also had a shop where it was sold. And since he made terms with the writers who came to him he gradually became a publisher; and the publisher, as publisher, became differentiated from the bookseller and the printer by the growth of trade. But in those days (and in the next two sentences I go back to the substance of what Mr. Spencer has said) travelling was difficult, and advertisement was difficult, and distribution was dillieult, and without the occult machinery of the middleman it was impossible for the writer to obtain a market. Railways, newspapers, the penny post and the telegraph have created n different order of things, but the writing man has been the last person to perceive it practically. He still insists on employing a very expensive middleman to do things which, in very many instances, he would be perfectly capable of doing himself. First of all, let us take the case of a perfectly unknown author, and let us suppose him to liavs written a political or social pamphlet, such as would naturally be sold in paper covers at a shilling. He  ## p. 316 (#720) ############################################ 316 THE A UTHOR. may have a well-founded belief in the usefulness of his ideas. If he takes this pamphlet to a dozen publishers in succession, he will meet with the reply that it is not in their line, and that nothing but a notorious name on the cover could make any- body ask for it. He may send it to reviews, but, unless it is trimmed to catch more than one breeze it will come back to him.* Again, supposing a publisher to take it on commission ; he may furnish (as a sine qua non) an estimate which more than covers the actual expense, and may insist on 750 copies being printed, though having a shrewd suspicion that not more than 5o will ever be wanted, and most of these for presentation. Furthermore, he may just conceivably fail in interest in the matter after the cheque has been paid. But if the aspiring writer went to a printer and asked for the price of so much printed matter in paper covers, and at the outside of 5o copies, and paid his bill, which would be but a trifling sum, he could then insert in two newspapers the announcement that such and such a pamphlet coidd be obtained at such and such a private house on payment of one shilling by the passer by, or of one shilling and twopence to include postage paid. Not much response would come to this, but what came would be all profit to the writer. Meanwhile, he would simply go and ask at certain journals' offices that the thing be noticed; asking no unworthy favour, be it remarked, but making an honest request, as an honest traveller might leave samples of his goods with a country firm. If there were anything in the book some favourable notice would very likely come, and all the money returns would be profit. With the profit the wise author would slightly increase his machinery, as by leaving it with certain booksellers on commission, or nego- tiating directly with W. H. Smith & Co. to place it on every bookstall. He would have parted with no right, and profit would probably come to any man who was originally justified in his under- taking. Next, let us take the case of an established and successful author. He, of course, can do as he likes; he is really entirely independent of his publisher. The immense occult machinery of the publisher, of course, offers him great advantages; but are they not too dearly bought? No one really knows this in its entirety but the publishers themselves. What may be called shrewd sus- picions point to the conclusion that they are. The successful author would, of course, have to appoint an agent, and the being such an agent would grow- up into a trade, but employing one man who was his servant and private secretary, and making * I make this statement on the supposition that the name nf the author is not eminent. always his bargain with his printer, there is little, doubt he could make immense savings on the pub- lishing system. I admit that what I say operates less in favour of well-got-up pretty-looking books, especially those in which illustration plays a part, and more in favour of books in which the subject- matter is all in all. But this again is a con- summation devoutly to be wished, and the market is at the moment perhaps over-flooded with publi- cations in which secondary accessories really determine the sale. However, the case of the unknown author is really the more important of the two; and the matter to be insisted on in his case is, the advantage of beginning with nothing more than that which vou actually want. If you are forced to commence by paving for 750 copies, there is a strong proba- bility that you will be asked to take back about 707 copies as waste paper at the end of 18 months, and an incidental advantage to the publisher of the insistence on at least this number, has been that the general estimate can be made more impenetrable. But if a man goes himself to the printer and asks the price of 5o copies, and sells them himself, he has no unnecessary expenses for a problematical result. In this way he makes the thing pay itself. The next time he goes to his printer he can almost pay him out of results. And then pure profit (or almost pure) begins to set in. An analogy may be suggested in the case of a private tutor, who is asked to pay t,ooo/. for a connexion, but who has a belief in himself and declines. What does he do? He sits down in a single room next door to the man who wishes to be bought out; he knows that one or two privately know his worth, that pupil will bring pupil, and that the small actual profit will pay for gradual increase of accommodation. This illustrates that side of the difficulty which touches on expense. The question of distribution is illustrated by what often happens in the case of ladies who live in the country and want to sell flowers. They advertise that by sending a shilling or two shillings to a certain address, the sender will receive in return small boxes of early flowers. The senders of money finding that the flowers honourably arrive tell their friends, and profit ensues. Meanwhile experience grows to tin1 flower- producer; and the mingled experience and profit then justify a small shop at the west end. Courage and limitation of actual expenses come to repay themselves. All this is thrown out for the benefit of any untried author who believes in himself; and it is thought that such people exist. But there is a way in which all this affects the Authors' Society. The Authors' Society has an office, it has a few clerks, and most of all it employs its readers men very competent to give opinions as to what has merit in it among manuscripts  ## p. 317 (#721) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 3*7 submitted. Merit in itself I mean, apart from commercial value from the publisher's view of the probable existing demand. The Society may feel called upon to recommend the authors of such manuscripts to publish at their own expense, ami may even suggest their having the courage, to be their own distributors. But these authors may lack the means for the initial expenses, and they may on o'her grounds be unwilling. There is no reason why the Authors' Society should not say to these men, "We recommend you to be your own pub- lishers, and you should see your own printers immediately; but you may refer the public to this tifjiec by your advertisements. We will undertake the storage and the details of distribution, and our charges will be only sufficient to recoup expenses of distribution and management. It is obvious that this privilege will only be given to the deserving; that is, to those only of whose manuscripts the Society's readers shall have so reported as to cause the Society to say that they are people entitled on public grounds to a fair hearing. The Society therefore says to them that if they should be refused by publishers, or if they prefer to brave the market in their own way, they do so with the great advantage of bearing to this extent the imprimatur of the Society, and the growing know- ledge on the part of the public that this imprimatur will be extended only to those whose manuscripts seem in their several ways excellent, independently of any existing demand in particular directions to the exclusion of other directions equally good in themselves, will cause probably a larger number of manuscripts to be submitted to them. Now, as the charge for reading will be given partly to the reader and partly to the Society, the Society will itself profit by its public-spirited effort. But the subject does not stop here. The moment the Society has assumed this position, another aspect of the matter shows itself, and this is the most important aspect perhaps of all. There are certain matters of intellectual development in which it is good for competent people to create an artificial market. At least Chantrcy thought so in matters of pictorial or sculptured art, for he left a sum out of what he had gained by his genius to enable his successors to buy what they felt to be good, and felt that it was unlikely that the public would buy. He wished that a painter who paints his best, independently of the market, should feel that he had the chance of one purchaser, namely, a body which contained the best opinion on art obtainable, and that this body, by purchasing his work for the nation, should give him a position he could not otherwise obtain. In literature, of course, there could be no question of purchasing for the nation. Nevertheless it might be good not so much to create an artificial market, because in literature only the public can ultimately decide that, as to give those a chance of a hearing to whom the chances of the market would probably deny it, therefore the Authors' Society should at once be taking steps towards setting aside a sinking fund, which should become the nucleus of a capital destined to act the part of the Chantrey Bequest. This could be done in various ways:—(1.) To begin with, authors who hud in this way been helped to publish might be compelled to make it part of the bargain that they should set aside a per-centage out of the first year's or two years' profits of their aided work towards such a fund, or that they should contribute their three guineas or so, directly the aided work hail yielded them more than a certain sum of profit. So a schoolmaster who has obtained a place through an agent is compelled to pay commission on the first year's salary. (2.) Members of the Authors' Society who are well off, or those generally interested in literature, should be asked to contri- bute a guinea a year to the fund. (3.) Men who have really made money by literature, or who love literature on inde|>endeut grounds and have wealth, should be invited to larger subscriptions, or to leave sums in their will to such a fund. (4..) This matter is more important to literature than an Authors' Club, because all authors who have vitality will feel that to mix with the general world is more important to them than to mix with authors. Walter Scott in an authors' club would have only partially enjoyed himself. But the Authors' Club will have many advantages in giving solidarity to those who use the pen, and it can be made to sub- serve this very point. Great luxury of residence and style would be out of place in an authors' club, and therefore by a self-denying ordinance a per-centage of all actual profit on the ultimate working of the club might be set aside for the fund, and thus well-to-do authors would be com- piled, unconsciously as regards many of them, to help the possible coming man, and to secure an independent position to really worthy effort as against the prevailing market of the hour. I think I am not wrong in saying that the Burlington Fine Arts Club has published engravings, and so the Authors' Club, independently of the formal examination of manuscripts, might be the means of discovering where to assist. This capital, when obtained, would be intended to be drawn upon that the Society might contribute to, or [jay all, the expenses of the first book published by an author, or of his first book on an unpopular subject, and it might be accompanied by a stipulation that where the profits were considerable the expenses should be repaid. The policy of such a stipulation woidd be matter for consideration. The use of the fund might apply to poems or novels as well as to any other form of literature. But, as  ## p. 318 (#722) ############################################ 3*8 THE AUTHOR. an instance of the way in which considerations of the market may hamper the publication of what might he beneficial in itself, 1 will instance that only the other day I heard of this. An essay dealing with social improvement, which was thought to have some strong points, had been offered to a publisher. This essay criticised prevailing senti- ments, both social and political, which have their probable foundation in religion. The answer given by the publisher was that it was useless to put such a book on the market, unless it bore on its title- page the name of an F.It.S. or a bishop. Now, it is obvious that if a well-directed attack on such sentiments was to come it would be more likely to come from one who had not yet attained the dignity of F.R.S., and certainly it would be more likely not to come from a bishop. This subject is not wholly alien to that of the miserable little pensions to survivors which are fought for, as a piteous spectacle for the world, when men who have done service in literature die. Personally, I am inclined to deprecate any State patronage of literature, and I think it is of very doubtful advantage that authors should ever use this fund to take the place of the State in this matter; yet, if they thought otherwise, there would, in what I suggest, be the nucleus of a fund for doing so. The actors provide for the weaker brethren; and they at least show authors that a body of men can value themselves, and not come to the State for aid. My remarks amount to this, that I propose a trades' union for authors; and indeed it is high time that they had one, for it is a profession that is essentially weak in the individual members of it, except in the two or three who have "arrived" and more than arrived. And having used the word trades' union, I may add that there is no reason why the Authors' Society should not do yet one or two things more. There is no reason why they should not fight actions. The law of "mainte- nance" is formidable on paper. One of its sources may have been a fear lest the poor should combine. But in so far as it still exists it may be defeated, and it is not dishonourable to defeat it. Pub- lishers, in so far as they are a hostile bod}-, should be made to feel that they have to fight the whole purse of the society over agreements, or the absence of them. Again, there is no reason why it should not be an entirely honourable and moderate loan office. There is no creature who is more in need of it than the honourable man with ideas, that cannot be put upon the market in a moment. 1 mention this because, of course, such a development is entirely dependent upon the creation of the suggested fund. I will illustrate this idea first of all by one of the best known passages in literary history, which the pencil of Frith has made familiar to many whom a charming book would not appeal to. It happened to a shiftless person, and literature has escaped from Bohemia; but without Bohemian ways, many a man could fairly ask for a loan on work accomplished, at the present day. When Goldsmith or Goldsmith's landlady sent round for Johnson, Johnson found the com- pleted " Vicar of Wakefield " as an existing asset. His quick eye saw there was money in it in io minutes. But what was he to do? A loan would have been accompanied by exorbitances and delays unimaginable. Moreover at that day it would not have been entertained. Nor woidd it now, by the publishers, except, on terms which are equitably unfair. Johnson was obliged to sell out- and-out; and nothing but his authority and unselfishness could have obtained the 6o/. that he did obtain. But an Authors' Society, with a reading staff, a lawyer, and a cash fund, could have given Goldsmith a few pounds at the moment, which would not have tempted him to invite the land- lady to drink, could have subsidized him with a few more pounds when matters had been examined, and could have retained for him his full interest in a remunerative work. There are no few men here and there who could satisfy an Authors' Society of the existence of accumulated material of a certain value, and when credentials of character and intention had been obtained, they could be sub- sidized in such a way as to enable them to continue useful work without distressing sacrifices. Five per cent., and the payment of necessary investiga- tions, is all the Society would ask. They would oidy be doing what a solicitor will do for land. There must be a slightly greater risk, for literature is intangible. This slightly greater risk can be measured in a practical way by lenders whose aims are public ones, and who have no private ends to serve. C. S. Oakley. — OBSERVATIONS ON "THE TALE-TELLING AET" IN SIR WALTER SCOTT'S INTRODUCTIONS TO THE "WAVERLEY NOVELS." - —- fl^HE aim of the following paper is to collect f together the scattered hints and observations on "the tale-telling art" that occur in the various "Introductions," "Introductory Epistles," "Prefaces," and "Advertisements," which Sir Walter Scott at one time or another prefixed to the different editions of the "Waverley Novels." The number of such hints and remarks is not small.  ## p. 319 (#723) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 3*9 But they lie almostperdus in this heap of prefatory essays of various kinds. Students of Scott are, of course, well aware of their existence. Prefaces, however, are things which a great many people— including some authors, who certainly ought to know better—do not read. "Whilst even, in the case of those who do read them, the casual and frequently almost accidental manner in which some of the most pregnant and most valuable of these observations arc introduced renders it easy to over- look their importance, and difficult to remember them. Respecting their value there cannot be too opinions. They represent conclusions about fiction, and about the writing of fiction, to which one of our greatest novelists had been led by his own experience. And it will be readily admitted that, if anyone ever lived competent to speak with authority on such matters, it was "the Wizard of the North." His various Introductions are also included in all copyright editions of the " Waverley Novels "—books that ought to be in every English house—and everyone will, therefore, be in a position to compare the extracts here presented with the context in which Sir Walter Scott himself offered them to the world, and to supplement the contents of these brief articles with his own reading; and observation. It maybe well, first of all, to remark that two of Sir Walter Scott's introductions contain much more information respecting his views on the art of fiction than any others. These two are the " Intro- ductory Epistle, Captain Clutterbuek to the Rev. Dr. Dryasdust," prefixed to "The Fortunes of Nigel," and the "Introduction to the Monastery." In the former, as everyone will remember, the imaginary Captain Clutterbuek relates how, having called upon his bookseller in Edinburgh, he chanced to penetrate into a certain "labyrinth of small dark rooms," and at last, all unexpectedly, came upon the "Eidolon of the Author of Waverley." The "Vision" bade him be seated, and then he and the author of Waverley discussed various topics, including the "Waverley Novels," (he captain stating a good many of his own views about these works pretty freely, and the author making reply. The Introduction to "The Monas- tery," is of on entirely different character. In it Sir Walter Scott himself relates how the romance was by degrees built up from his first conception of a motif, adding, as he goes on, a considerable number of criticisms upon the work, which, as he plainly says in another place, he considers "some- thing very like a failure." (Introduction to "The Abbott.'') There is so much in both these intro- ductions that defies quotation, that (though extracts from them will Ikj given l>elow) the reader win; desires to see what kind of lesson Sir Walter Scott's prefaces have to teach, cannot do better than give both of them a careful perusal from end to end. Every line of the Introduction to "The Monastery" (though Sir Walter Scott did consider the tale "something very like a failure ") will be read with interest, revealing, as it does, the whole genesis of the romance, and offering a fuller and more elaborate criticism of the author's own work than any other of his Introductions. In the second place it is self-evident that the greatest lesson of all to be learned from Sir Walter Scott's prefaces is how a legend, a ballad, or a simple tale is converted into a long romance. It is not necessary here to point out how large a propor- tion of Sir Walter Scott's novels are built upon a foundation of this sort. But every reader who has perused the simple narrative as given by Sir Walter Scott in his Introduction, and the romance he has constructed out of it, must have reflected upon how vast a treasure of legend and ballad, and piquant tale, historical and domestic, still exists untouched, whilst a cry is being raised that all the stories have been told, and whilst some authors are casting about them anxiously for any kind of new theme. How the lesson of Sir Walter Scott's example is to be taken to heart, how the magical transforma- tion of a tale of a couple of pages into a romance of some i3o,ooo words (that is about the length of "The Bride of Lammermoor") should be effected, it is not for the writer of these lines to say. But this is evidently one of the biggest lessons which the author's introductions and the "Waverley Novels" themselves, taken together, have to teach. In the various prefaces preceding the tales, and in the notes added at their conclusion, the reader is put into possession of the artist's studies. In the novel itself he has the completed work. No one will be so foolish as to suppose that, because he has both set before him, he will be able to rival the magic with which Sir Walter Scott changed the one into the other. Neither, on the other hand, can anyone be so obtuse as not at once to perceive that in this open presentment of the tale and of its elements, a great master is offering lessons of price- less value. If it is pardonable to offer (very diffidently) an opinion respecting which tales might be first studied in this way with the greatest advan- tage, perhaps "Guy Mannering," "The Bride of Lammermoor," and "The Heart of Midlothian" might be selected. Or should "Kenilworth" be preferred to "Guy Mannering," because, in the case of the latter, Sir Walter Scott broke away from his original design? Only the very fact of his having broken away from that original design, and his reason for so doing, and what he substituted in its place, seem all to be pints of the lesson his work offers. He tells us :— "The author of 'Waverley' had imagined a possibility of framing an interesting and, perhaps,  ## p. 320 (#724) ############################################ 3 20 THE AUTHOR. not unedifying tale out of the incidents of the life of a doomed individual, whose efforts at good and virtuous conduct were to be for ever disappointed by the intervention, as it were, of some malevolent being, and who was at last to come off victorious from the fearful struggle." But he adds below— "It appeared, on mature consideration, that Astrology, though its influence was once received and admitted by Bacon himself, does not now retain influence over the general mind sufficient even to constitute the mainspring of a romance. Besides, it occurred that to do justice to such a subject would have required not only more talent, than the author could be conscious of possessing, but also involved doctrines and discussions of a nature too serious for his purpose, and for the character of his narrative." But, to continue, Sir Walter Scott does not leave us altogether without information respecting how the conversion of a short story into a long one was effected by himself. Many hints, which must be read in their proper context, are scattered amongst his prefaces and notes, and something more general is said in the "Prefatory Letter: Dr. Dryasdust to Captain Clutterbuck," preceding "Peveril of the Peak." "A poor fellow like myself, weary with ran- sacking his own barren and bounded imagination, looks out for some general subject in the huge and boundless field of history, which holds forth examples of every kind—lights on some personage, or some combination of circumstances, or some striking trait of manners which he thinks may be advantageously used as the basis of fictitious narrative—bedizens it with such colouring as his skill suggests—ornaments it with such romantic circumstances as may heighten the general effect—invests it with such shades of character as will best contrast it with each other, and thinks perhaps he has done some service to the public if he can present to them a lively fictitious picture, for which the original anecdote or circum- stance . . . only furnished a slight sketch." To proceed next to particulars. First of all, the people who think that fiction is an art have Sir Walter Scott on their side. In the "General Preface to the ' Waverley Novels '" he calls this art the "craft of romance writing," and in " The Introduction to the Betrothed," "the tale-telling art." Whilst in his imaginary conversation with Captain Clutterbuck in the '' Introductory Epistle" preceding the "Fortunes of Nigel," already men- tioned, the captain having quoted " Tom Jones" as a novel that satisfies the highest conceptions of a romance, the author of "Waverley" replies, "True, and perhaps ' Amelia' also. Fielding had high notions of the dignity of an art which he may be considered as having founded." This immediately suggests the question—what constitutes a good novel? We find these replies :— "To describe manners minutely ... to arrange an artificial and combined narrative these two requisites of a good novel." ("Advertisement" preceding "Antiquary.") And, as a description of a perfect novel,— "Natural and probable—commencing strikingly, proceeding naturally, ending happily—like the course of a famed river, which gushes from the mouth of some obscure and romantic grotto—then gliding on, never pausing, never precipitating its course, visiting, as it were, by natural instinct, whatever worthy subjects of interest are presented by the country through which it passes—widening and deepening in interest as it flows on; and at length arriving at the final catastrophe as at some mighty haven, where ships of all kind strike sail and yard." ("Introductory Epistle" preceding "Fortunes of Nigel.") Tu quid ego et mecum populus desideret audi! Only, where is the poor author to find the materials for these paragons of tides? The inspira- tion of some happy moment is the good fortune upon which many would-be authors are content to build their hopes. Such was not, however, Sir Walter Scott's method. "No, captain, the funds from which I have drawn my power of amusing the public have been bought otherwise than by fortuitous adventure. I have buried myself in libraries, to extract from the nonsense of ancient days new nonsense of my own. I have turned over volumes . . . which might have been the cabalistic manuscripts of Cornelius Agrippa. . . . From this learned sepulchre I emerged ... to mingle in the crowd, and to elbow amongst the throng, making my way from the highest society to the lowest, undergoing the scorn, or, what is harder to brook, the patronising condescension of the one, and enduring the vulgar familiarity of the other, and all, you will say, for what? ... to write a successful novel." (" Answer to letter from Captain Clutterbuck" preceding " The Monastery.") So much for what a good novel should be, and whence an author may hope to procure one. What Sir Walter Scott has to say concerning motifs and plots shall be reserved for the next paper. Henky Cressweli..  ## p. 321 (#725) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 321 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT. r. Annual Meeting of the Copyright League. ri^HE adjourned annual meeting of the American I Copyright League was held at the rooms of the Authors' Club, on Tuesday afternoon, December 29th, Mr. Edmund C. Stedman in the chair. The Treasurer's report showed a cash balance on hand of $469.02. The following memorial resolution on the death of Mr. Lowell, written by Mr. Stedman, was adopted by the league:— "Resolved, That in the death of Mr. Lowell, not only the League, but his country and the entire republic of letters, have lost the scholar and writer upon the whole most eminent in various branches of learning and literary pro- duction, and confessedly at the head of his guild throughout the English-speaking world. In common with all Americans, the members of the League grieve for the loss of the i>oet, the patriot, the firm, eloquent, and gracious adjuster of national and international affairs. As writers, we shall feel the absence of the best equipped, the most subtle, witty, pene- trative master of our English tongue. "As a League organized to restore the American good name for integrity, to protect the rights of authors without distinction of nationality, and to foster the growth of our native literature, we have sustained the most grievous blow that could befall us. In our late President we have lost one who cheerfully, and with the purest sense of duty, lent his great name and his earnest personal labours to the movement for International Copyright. He took the place assigned him at the head of our column, and remained there until the victory was won. We owe to him the advance- ment of our cause on the principle of abstract right. We owe to him the most brilliant and incisive elucidation before Congress of the difficult problems involved. We owe to his epigrams, and to his attitude, that legislative comprehension which finally enabled us to obtain an effective recognition of our claim. Even in the hour of bereavement, and while there is yet much to do, the League rejoices that he was not taken until after the principle of International Copyright had been legally established by Congress, and not before the common gratulation in view of its reduction to practice had reached his knowledge. Ani- mated by his example and monitions, the American Copyriglit League can never retract its course; it must steadily move towards the full attainment of his own high ideal of what in the end shall constitute a true literary federation of enlightened Powers." On motion of Mr. R. W . Gilder, seconded by Mr. It. R. Bowker, the following resolution was adopted :— "Resolved, That the American Copyright League desires to place on record its especial obligation to Dr. Edward Eggleston, as the originator of the idea of the League, one of its first promoters, and one of the most arduous and effective workers in the cause. While not present in the final campaign, owing to ill-health, largely the result of his exertions in the interests of the League, we recognize that his continuous and intelligent labours at an earlier date led up to that great victory. Dr. Eggleston was esi>ecially active, and of paramount use in the establishment of relations between the League and the publishers, and in carrying on the most delicate and difficult negotiations between the Publishers' and Authors' Leagues. He also took the initiative in the negotiation with the typographical unions; and in general served the League and the cause of copyriglit with enthusiasm, devotion, and initiative, which make his part in the long conflict one of peculiar honour, and deserving of the gratitude of all who have at heart the interests of literature, and the honour of our country." On motion of Mr. Bowker, seconded by Dr. Eggleston, the Chairman was requested to write to Mr. P.. U. Johnson, Secretary of the League, and to express the regrets of the League at his illness, and wishes lor his speedy re- covery: also to put on record the sense of the League as to his great services to the cause of International Copyright. It was stated that Mr. Johnson was convalescing from the attack of yellow fever by which he had l>ecn prostrated, but would not bo out and about again until February. The following members of the council were re- elected, with the addition of the name of Mr. Frank Millet, in the place of Mr. Lowell, deceased :— Henry M. Alden, Charles Barnard, It. It. Bowker, H. H. Boyesen, Noah Brooks, II. C. Bunner, George W. Cable, Titus Munson Coan, the Itev. Robert Collver, Alfred R. Conkling, Samuel L. Clemens, George William Curtis, Edward Eggles- ton, Richard Watson Gilder, George Walton Green, Bronson Howard, W. I). Howells, Laurence Hutton, Robert Underwood Johnson, Thomas \Y. Knox, Brander Matthews, Albert Mathews, Edward Mm iroe Smith, 1 liorv.ild Solln/rg,Kdniuinl Clarence. Stedman, Frank K. Stockton, the Rev.  ## p. 322 (#726) ############################################ .322 THE AUTHOR. Dr. Henry Van Dyke, Gen. Lew "Wallace, Chas. Dudley Warner, and James C. Welling, LL.D. At a meeting of the Council which followed, Mr. Stedman was elected President, Dr. Eggleston, Vice-President, Mr. Johnson, Secretary, and Col. Thomas W. Knox, Treasurer. II. Canada and the United States. It is stated in Ottawa (the Times'1 correspondent says) that Lord Salisbury has sent a despatch to Lord Stanley which joins issue with the Canadian Government on the refusal to allow to citizens of the United States the privileges of copy- right in the Dominion without domicile. Canadian action is based on the existing Dominion law, under which registration is only permitted to foreigners whose Government has a copyright treaty with Croat Britain. But Canada contends that the United States Copyright Act of 1891 and the President's proclamation of July last granting certain privileges to British subjects do not constitute a copyright treat)', and that, therefore, the citizens of the United States cannot be regis- tered under the Dominion Act. The Canadian legal authorities affirm that the Canadian view is correct. The present difficulty lies in the fact that Lord Salisbury assured the Washington Cabinet that all the British possessions would grant copy- right to Americans—an assurance which Canada repudiates. It is hoped that the difficulty will soon be settled, although it is feared that the public sentiment of the Dominion is clearly in favour of the right to legislate for herself on the subject. This right so far the Home Government has not admitted. — AUTHOR AND EDITOR. Advice to Contributors. ~1"*EF011E sending a contribution to any maga- I'm zinc or journal the author should observe the following simple rules, which, if they are olnsyed, will sweep away most of the complaints against editors :— (1.) He should write to the editor offeriug his paper, describing its subject and its length; he should also state his own special quali- fications for treating that subject, and his experience and record as a writer. (2.) If he is satisfied with the position and stand- ing of the paper, he should say that he will accept the scale pay. If he has any reason for doubt on these ]n>int he should name the minimum price he will accept. (3.) If the paper is on a subject interesting only for the moment, he should ask for its return, if it is not accepted, by a certain date. (4.) Before sending to any editor, he should first look at the announcements made in its pages. Some papers state that they do not ask for outside contributions. In that case, a writer cannot expect his MS. to be considered, or returned, or noticed in any way. (5.) In any case he should keep a copy of his MS. A draft of the above notes was submitted to the editor of a well-known journal. He suggested certain changes which have been made in the third clause; he says that the advice is, on the whole, "entirely reasonable," and on the last clause he writes, "This is his only way of insuring himself against its loss, though if an editor says he will return the paper, the chance of its being lost is presumably small." Value of a Pseudonym. I l>eg to bring under your notice the following unfair procedure of the editor of a well-known journal, the name of which I give below. For some years I had been a contributor to the journal in question, having run a serial and several short stories in it. Quite suddenly, and without any apparent reason, the editor fell into the habit of rejecting each and all my MSS., without, as I suspected from the promptitude with which they were returned, even taking the trouble to read them. As the MSS. were afterwards accepted by journals of as high, if not higher standing, I could not think it was lack of merit which threw them out of the journal just mentioned. I acted on the advice of a friend, and had one of my short stories copied by a relative, assumed a pseudonym, and another address, and sent it to the editor. It was at once accepted. About a week before, I had sent the same MS. to the journal, without even a different title, and it was promptly returned, with- out being looked at, I am forced to conclude. Since then, MSS. sent under my pseudonym have been, with one exception, accepted; those sent under my own, as invariably rejected. I consider that such conduct, which an unlucky author is forced to submit to, is subversive of all the confidential relations which ought to exist between editor and contributor. I may add that  ## p. 323 (#727) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 323 this particular editor, not knowing me personally, could have no personal animus against me, and I cannot account for his acting in so unfair and arbitrary a manner. H. B. M. [This case seems purely accidental. If the editor has no animus against this contributor, why should lie send hack her work? Probably the paper accepted under the ps.'udonym pleased him so much that he readily looked at other work by the same hand. H. B. M. had better stick to her new name.—Ed.] A Far too Common Case. In January of last year I offered the editor of a certain monthly to "do" an article upon a subject that was just then attracting a consider- able amount of public attention. A journey to town (100 miles) and an interview with a specialist upon the matter in hand, resulted in an article which was accepted "upon the terms named in (my) letter." In due course, the contribution was published. After a lapse of several months, as I had received no remittance, I wrote to the editor, who ignored that and two subsequent communica- tions. In December (after waiting, threatening legal proceedings) I placed the matter in my solicitor's hands. He succeeded in getting firstly a denial of the debt; secondly, an inquiry as to how much was claimed; and lastly, a statement that the editor understood that the remuneration expected (although he had my letter distinctly stilting the sum I was prepared to accept) was io«. The article was only 10 columns in length, and had only involved a journey of a hundred miles to London and back, and the best part of four days to write. The editor, a more or less well-known person, is now stated to be away. Surely, sir, an editorial black list, in which such men could be pilloried, should be started in the Author. I have more cases for a future occasion. C. H. Editorial Etiquette. I am glad to find in the current number of the Author some indication of the treatment which editors accord those who send them MSS. on approval. I once forwarded, by request, to the editor of a monthly review an article on a current political topic. Weeks after, when the subject discussed had died out, and my "copy" could not be used elsewhere, it was returned to me. Has not every writer, famous or obscure, expe- rienced the sweets of .editorial etiquette? Has he not sent MSS. to editors to find them unacknow- ledged; written to editors to find his letters ignored; sent stamps to editors to find them appropriated without a word? When one merchant sends samples and quotations to another, his letter is replied to, or at least preserved. You may write to a pork-butcher and be sure of getting a civil reply. You may write to architects, builders, surgeons, and lawyers, and receive courteous treatment; but when you write to an editor your communication is as sent to the dead. The chances are that the waste paper basket receives your letter, and the office boy pockets your stamps. Editors are now endeavouring to elevate their calling to the dignity of a profession. They have founded a Journalist's Institute, and incorporated it by Royal charter. Is it, then, too much to ask that they should acknowledge some common and humane standard of professional etiquette? E. H. Stamps for Return. A correspondent calls attention to a very curious difficulty. He calls it, indeed, by a stronger name, but the thing can hardly be designed. He says, in effect as follows. He has sent MSS. to a certain journal. The only address of the editor is that of the publishers. He always carefully encloses stamps in case of rejection. Now in one case he sent a paper on which he set some value. Not getting it back or accepted, he wrote again and again for it; he obtained no reply. At last, after a very sharp letter, he received a note from the editor saying that the stamps had been used in forwarding the MS. from the publishers to his private address, and that, as there were no more stamps, the MS. could not be returned. Now, it is quite certain (1) that if a magazine asks contributors to forward stamps for return, they are lx>und to return rejected MSS.; in which case the editor's place of residence is a private consideration for himself and the pub- lishers. But (2) if the magazine does not invite contributions, MSS. must be sent to take their chance. Should members of the Society fall into such a difficulty as this, a letter to the secretary, with the particulars of the case and the name of the paper, would probably lead—if that paper invites contributions—to the return of the papers. Accepted and Kept. A correspondent, not a young writer, but well known in the world of letters, scuds us particulars of treatment to which he has recently lwn subjected.  ## p. 324 (#728) ############################################ 324 THE AUTHOR. He offered m certain paper to a certain magazine. The editor, writing in November, said "I am quite willing to use your article in , but every page is arranged for so far ahead that I see little chance of being able to use it till the January or February number. If you are willing to wait until I find room for it, I shall be very glad to keep it." In January he writes again, "I am obliged by your note, and shall send proof as soon as ready to the Club, unless I hear from you to the contrary." In February he writes again, "As it is evidently of importance to you that your article should appear soon, I return it to you herewith, as it is quite impossible for me to promise any date for its appearance in and I may not be able to find room for it until the Mav or June number." Here we have an article deliberately accepted, and kept for three months, when it is uncere- moniously sent back to the author. Suppose a fruiterer, who buys of a grower fruit which must be eaten within a week or two or it will spoil, were to keep that fruit for a week, and send it back rotten, saying that he could not use it. This is exactly a similar case. Nearly all the papers pub- lished in the magazines belong more or less to the day. Suppose the contents of the current Contem- porary, for instance, were kept for six months. How flat' and stale and unprofitable they wotdd appear! Editors who are open to receive unsolicited contributions might, at least, remember that the wares offered them belong for the most part to the day, and not to this day ten years. They should, therefore, be sent back at once, if they cannot be used within a reasonable period. In this case, however, there was a definite promise. Unless the author himself released the editor, he seems to have boiind himself to produce the paper in January or February. ♦*•»♦ THE LETTER H. AFTER the great catastrophe in " Vanity Fair" —the downfall of Becky, the departure of her husband and the debacle of the house- hold—Haggles addresses Mrs. Rawdon Crawley thus: "Har you a goin' to pay mo? You've lived in this 'ouse four year. You've 'ad my substance: my plate and linning. You ho me a milk and butter bill of two 'undred pound, you must have noo laid eggs for your homlets, and cream for your spaniel dog." It will be observed that Thackeray makes Raggles reverse his aitches—put in the aspirate where it ought to be omitted, and omit it when it ought to 1)0 put in—and novelists generally soem to take it for granted that the illiterate and imperfectly educated talk in the same fashion. As a matter of fact, they do not, and thoro is no reason why they should. Without deliberate intent and much practice nobody could consistently reverse his aitches. I daresay Raggles said "Har you?" by way of being emphatic. He probably omitted the aspirate from " house" because ho knew no better; but why, if he omitted it from "house," should ho take the trouble of saying "heggs" and " homlets." If you listen attentively to the talk of the uncul- tured, you will find that though they may mix their aitches they never consistently reverse them. There are people so fond of the aspirate that they not only never drop it but sound it before every word beginning with a vowel. Others never sound it at all, while many use it only when they desire to l>e emphatic. Lancashire folks, like cockneys, make a great hash of their aitches. I have heard a Lancashire man of good education say that ho was too busy to bother about aitches; and I once knew a Lancashire lawyer who intentionally omitted the aspirate—except in words preceded by the indefinite article. For instance, though he would say, "Give me my 'at," he would say, "That is a hat," on the ground that it is easier to say " a hat " than "a 'at." On the other hand, Scots who use the aspirate incorrectly are as rare as cockneys and Lancas- trians who use it according to rule. The moral of all which, as I take it, is that in writing dialogue you should follow no conventional rule nor merely imitate your betters, but observe for yourself, and make your characters talk and mispronounce as people talk and mispronounce in real life. It is a curious, and not an irrelevant question why so much importance is attached to the proper use of the, aspirate; why it is considered a more heinous offence to drop an aitch than commit any other solecism. The very writer who pokes fun at one of his puppets for saying " 'ouse " or " homlot," will employ " constant" as a synonym for " often" and "always"; and write "if" when he means "though" or "whether." But of all errors in writing and speaking, the commonest and most grotesque is that of using the perfect form of the infinitive, after a perfect verb, for the simple or indefinite form, e.g., "I intended to have scon him " for " I intended to see him." "It would have been impolitic to have refused the invitation" for "It would have been impolitic to refuse the invita- tion." This mistake is committed by our best writers and speakers. You find it everywhere—in the Times, and the Saturday Hcvietc, and the works of John Ruskin and Charles Reado, not to mention loss shining lights. Why I wonder,  ## p. 325 (#729) ############################################ THE A UTHOR. 325 should so gross an error Ik' more leniently regarded than the occasional dropping of an aitch, or tlie aspiration of a word which begins with a vowel? William Wkstall. CORRESPONDENCE. 1. Mr. Traill's List of Pouts. "fW^" is quite right in calling attention to the I omission of Mr. Gerald Massey and Dr. W. C. Bennett. But he has forgotten to take note of several other omissions, which are equally, if not more, remarkable. A list of living poets is indeed incomplete which does not include women like Mrs. Hamilton King, Isa Craig Knox, and B. Nisbet (Mrs. Bland), and men like Philip James Bailey, author of "Festus," <fcc, Dr. George Mac- douald, Professor John Stuart Blackie, Dr. Walter O. Smith, author of "Hilda, or Broken Gods," &*>., the Rev. T. E. Brown, author of "FoVslc Yarns," and Mr. Rudvard Kipling. Mackenzie Bell. II. Useful Books. The Author does not, I believe, admit "notices" of new publications. Criticism, I am sure, none of us wish to see in its pages. Enough of that iv to be had anywhere. But I think that the Author ought somehow to bring before our notice books either especially designed to assist literary men, or of very great service to them. I mean, for ex- ample, works such as the more important English lexicons, or books like Dr. Roget's "Thesaurus," or Dr. Hodgson's "Errors in the Use of English." Works of this kind are not very numerous. The notices of them in the ordinary literary journals are very brief, and are often, also, inserted in places where they are liable to be overlooked. Here the Author might help us. Could the authors them- selves be invited to send paragraphs, simply mentioning the character and scope of any new publication of this kind? Or could any that may appear be announced in the Author fairly con- spicuously, say, always in some particular part of the journal where we might look out for them, and easily afterwards refer back to the announcement? I wish something of the kind was possible, for my own experience is that very useful books of this sort often escape my notice until someone chances to tell me of them. And, whilst I am writing this, it occurs to me that if a few experienced authors would draw up and send to the Author a little list of books of this description, which they have them- selves found useful, and would therefore recommend others to have on their shelves, the information would be valuable to many of us. A Member. [Will the "Member" kindly begin with a list and description such as he proposes?—En.] FROM THE PAPERS. I. "One who knew him." {By One Who Knows Him.) fl^HE breath has scarcely left the body -when I "One Who Knew Him " takes pen and paper, in profoundest grief, and proceeds to earn a guinea by describing, with the greatest unction,trivial details as to the dead man's manner of existence, picked up, as the fruit of vulgar curiosity, at a few chance meetings. The less the acquaintance of the writer with his subject—and, generally speaking, it is evidently a good deal less—the more "chatty" and "readable" is the resulting article. If the poor man who was unfortunate enough to be "known" drank coffee after dinner, with or with- out sugar, there is material for an article. From this fragment of truth the new journalist who knew him will build up a memoir with far greater . ease than that with which an Owen can reconstruct the frame of an extinct beast from its jawbone, and, of course, many miles further away than the original. When caution in the invention of facts is advisable, imaginary conversation dishonouring to the subject's intellectual capacity, and the auto- biography of the writer, make up the necessary column of matter. Autobiography, in fact, is indispensable, and has been so this long time. It is in this department that "One Who Knew Him" is really at home, and can let fly something that is warranted to interest the reader—as, for instance, "He gently glided from business into general topics, knew all about my career, congratulated me on some recent success, had known some of my belongings, inquired about my school and college, was delighted to find that I had been, like himself, at Harrow and at Oxford, and, when an hour's pleasant chat was ended, said, 'Now you must stay and have some luncheon.' From that day I was a frequent visitor at the Cardinal's house, and, as long as he was able to go down stairs to meals, at his table." There is none among the living who can know that he will be exempt from this new and terrible  ## p. 326 (#730) ############################################ 326 THE AUTHOR. scourge when (load, there are many who must be sure that their friends will have to undergo this additional horror in their death. No matter who it be, prince, cardinal, politician, criminal, or nonentity, everyone is fair game for the author of "Imaginary Conversations with the Demi; to which an; added Notes on their Idiosyncrasies in the Payment of their Washing Bills.'' There is always "One Who Knew Him "—generally several more—who is ready to reel off an endless string of trivialities, imaginary or otherwise, as to his habits and manners, which, even if historically true, are the last things to be remembered or brought up against the dead. There would be no objection to these journalistic memoirs if they took the form of respectful tributes to the memory of those who have done something for the world or their fellow-men; but this is the very last shape they take. They are calculated to belittle their subjects, to reduce them to the standard of the narrowest life, of which the most remarkable incidents are the appetite for meals and the hour of going to bed. The ordy possible effect is to place the whole world in the position of a valet to the mighty dead. And the worst of it all is, that there is no one who can rid us of this insolent pest.—Satitrdoy Review. II. Reading as a Recreation. By Mr. Edmund Gosse. (From an Address given at the College for Men and Women. By permission of the Author.) There is at the present day a certain danger of our taking the act of reading, as so many other of the daily acts of our little desultory life, too pompously. It is one thing to set up a high general standard of literature, and another thing to allow ourselves to be bullied by the best hundred books. In this matter our liberties—the right of the British citizen to amuse himself with what he finds amusing —are threatened by two enemies whose hands are usually at one another's throats, but who on this occasion have joined arms against our peace of mind: I mean the Rev. Dr. Prig and Professor Pococurante. Dr. Prig, who has no conception of the need of pleasant things in life and no sense of proportion between our plain capacities and the cravings of his own erudition, wants us to master the classics of the world before we presume to be entertained. He marches round, with his cane behind his back; and if he finds us grinning in our corner, with "Treasure Island" or "Little Lord Fauntlcroy" on ,our knees, he snatches it from us and bids us be studying the "Mahabharata." He tells us the awful tale of Sir William Jones, who in the brief leisure of a busy career, invariably rends through, every year, the entire works of Cicero. But Dr. Prig is really not very dangerous. He is so lumbering and so unpractical that we laugh at him and his hundred best books, and run away to read what we like best. Professor Pococurante is a far more insidious enemy. He pretends to sympathize with us; he has not read the "Mahab- harata " any more than we have, and laughs at the idea of reading it. But, of the two, I think I like poor old Dr. Prig the best, for he has a sort of superstitious respect for literature, while the whole essence of the Professor is that ho comes to sneer at the charming illusions of the book world, to toll us that he has tried them all and found them dust and ashes. If I remember rightly, it was Mrs. Pipchin who told Miss Pankey that she would never go to heaven if she sniffed. I am sometimes afraid that, in spite of all his gifts and graces, the heaven of literature will bo closed to Professor Pococurante. He advances sniffing to the rank of the fine arts. He has little offensive and defensive formulas, taking in vain the names of one or two authors whom he patronises—Dumas's, Thackeray's, Scott's—that he may from behind these ramparts fire down contempt upon all other novelists, as though ginger were not still hot in the mouth in spite of our virtuous partiality for roast saddle of mutton. In the course of sniffing the Professor reaches the world of old books, and would fain forbid us to read any genial-hearted brown quarto that attracts us, because, forsooth, wo might be spending our time letter in reading " Rob Roy " for the eighth time, or chewing the lamentable cud of Thackeray's least inspired fragment. The strength of the Poco- curante position is that it conceals its listlessness, its radical contempt for literature, under the shelter of one or two noble names, so that he who ventures to denounce this evil trick of sniffing may be charged at once with disrespect to Scott or Homer. But I risk this danger, and I urge you not to be the dupes of this cynicism. Do not despise the day of small books, nor believe that you can restrain a genuine taste for literature within the narrow limits of a handful of accepted classics. It is amusing to find that the very writers on whom cynics of the Pococurante school base their scorn of second-class literature were themselves, without exception, indulgent to and enamoured of little books. Nothing in the shape of a volume was too obscure or too old-fashioned to amuse and attract Sir Walter; Thackeray's fondness for dumpy twelves amounted to a passion. What a pretty letter is that of Scott's to Terry lamenting that he cannot buy all the rarities he desires  ## p. 327 (#731) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 327 because of the expense that the building of Abbots- ford is putting linn to. Yet there are two books which, poor as lie is, he must secure if possible. What are these? One is the " Mahftbharata," you will be bound; and the other a copy of "Rob Boy "? By no means. The books that Scott so much longed to amuse himself with were a "Treatise on Dreams, by the author of the New Jerusalem," and a volume of "Loyal Poems, by N.T."—no more illustrious a person than Nahum Tate, who wrote such afflicting hymns in company with Brady. For this latter curiosity Sir Walter was willing to give a guinea or thirty shillings. Turn away your face, Professor Pococurante. To limit our sympathies in books to those which are the best-accredited and the most classical is like refusing to know anybody whose movements are not. chronicled in the Morning Post. It is not an enviable social aim to be always trying to know none but the "best" people. EveryIwdy who is worth his salt has seedy friends, friends who have been failures, friends who possess some uncontrol- lable foible which prevents them from being universal favourites. Each of us, I hope, under- stands the weakness of loving some one who does not seem loveable to all the world. So it should be with our book friendships. In idle moments, when one is tired or dispirited, one finds one's fingers drumming on the panes of one's bookcase, and one asks one's self, " What shall I read?" I know that, in my own case, some rascally old comedy often gets taken down, although "Paradise Begained " is austerely frowning at the side of it, or else Sterne glides naturally into hands which know they ought to be engaged on Gibbon. Is it that if some one suddenly came up and said, "Do you seriously prefer the lax frivolities of Vanbrugh to Milton's noble appeals to the sanctified imagination," I could answer "Yes"? Certainly not. But why should I pretend to be always "seriously preferring" anything? There are moods in which it is our privilege not to be serious; and then the second-rate and the third- rate literature has its dav, all the queer books and the silly books, the books that run too far ahead of their age and the books that lagged too far l>ehind. I positively refuse to be always reading "Bob Boy" for the eighth time. I would rather read over again "Count Bobert of Paris" and "St. Bonan's Well" than do that; while, in point of fact, as soon as Professor Pococurante's back is turned I blaspheme the name of Sir Walter in a whisper, and I take up Smollett, or Leigh Hunt, or some yellow book of tales by poor M. de Maupassant. Anything for liberty and sympathy, and to assert the right of a free Englishman to read what he likes to read. Away with the "Mahabharata!" Away with the "Sheking!" If I want to be bored, I will be bored with what I choose. I will read "Polexander" or the "Leviathan" of Mr. Hobbes. Who, that is a real lover of books, does not ac- knowledge the charm of a squat volume that has had its day. It makes no demand upon us. It is so thankful to be read at all that it does not insist upon a rigorous observance of the rules of reading. If I take up the "Essay on Man" I feel that a great deal is required of me. "Awake, my St. John," says the poet, and you must not merely awake, but, in the frivolous language of the day, you must sit up. No skipping to the fourth page, no dipping here and tasting there, are permitted. You have an intellectual task before you, a very inspiriting and improving one; but you must give your unbroken attention to it. "Awake, my St. John," says the bard, and unless he is ready to make an effort, St. John had better put his classic volume back on the shelf again. But let me remind you how another poet suggests that you should read his verses, and perceive in it the accent of the man who knows what sympathetic reading is. This is how Herriek wishes us to approach those golden apples of his western orchard, his rich "Hesperides": In sober mornings, do not thou rehearse The holy incantation of a verse; But when that men have both well drunk and fed, Let my enchantments then be sung or read. When laurel spits in the fire, and when the hearth Smiles to itself, and gilds the roof with mirth; When up the thyrsc is raised, and when the sound Of sacred orgies flics around, around, When the rose reigns, and locks with ointments shine, Let rigid Cato read these lines of mine. In short, it is only needful to recall once more that happy phrase of Lucas do Penna, and re- member that a book should be lumen cordis, the light of the heart. No one can lay down rules or draw up lists which can help us much to discover what kind of lantern or candlestick will hold this light with most convenience. The heart must choose the book that shines on it. Experience alone can teach us where we shall find the sym- pathy of which we are in need among those silent servants " within whose folding, soft, eternal charm we love to lie." But the more we are thrown upon the sympathy of books, and acquire the habit of appealing to them in every mood, in every nervous vicissitude, the more we shall become convinced of the truth of what Isaac Barrow says, "that he who loveth a hook, will never want a faithful friend, a wholesome counsellor, a cheerful companion, or an effectual comforter."—St. James's Gazette. January 28th, 1892.  ## p. 328 (#732) ############################################ 328 THE AUTHOR. nr. On Literary Collaboration. (From the New Review of February 1892.) To sum up, the chief advantage of collaboration is that it is tolerably certain to produce clear- ness of purpose, a well-defined plot, and distinct characters. There is the danger that there may be too much distinctness—a loss of atmos- phere — not enough left to the imagination. Living men and women are not always distinct; tbey change from day to day; they possess more than one characteristic; the miser is not always paring the cheese; the man of science is not always in his laboratory; the shrew is sometimes good tempered; the wanton is sometimes serious and chaste. That is a real danger—and it is only to be avoided by giving, as I have demanded, the final revision to one of the two partners. As for collaboration being a saving of labour, it may be so sometimes, but I would not press that point. From my own experience, I should say that it is not, especially when it results in the improvement of the work, any saving at all. Discussion, you see, is far less rapid than thought. Meantime, let it be remembered that the dramatist or the novelist can find nothing more helpful to his work than to talk over it. When a plot, an incident, a situation, a character, is discussed, a thousand combinations occur and rise up in the conversation. Those which are useless, inartistic, or unnecessary are most easily picked out and thrown away in conversation. Those which remain are most easily passed in review in conversation. The great—the very great—objection to literary partnerships is the difficulty of finding your partner. Mr. Brander Matthews has been so happy as to find several: I have only been able to find two. To take a man into partnership, even for a short story or a short play, is a step attended with great risks; it may lead to certain failure, with certain quarrels, recriminations, and preten- sions. Why did the novel fail? Because of the other man. Or, if it was not a failure, why did the thing succeed? In spite of the other man. Of course, one knows men who could not possibly say such things. Unfortunately, there are men who could and would. Therefore, one would advise a young literary man not to attempt partnership until he has proved his own strength. Perhaps not even then: it is not always that an artist can admit another man to work upon his canvas. But let him not hamper himself at the outset. When he has had a few years' experience, the man whom he would now willingly accept as his partner may be far, very far below him. Reputations in literature are made sometimes very suddenly and very unexpectedly. Let him, there- fore, wait. In any case, a literary partnership, though it may result in many volumes when the partners are happily able to work together evenly and harmoniously, without jealousy, without measuring each other's share, can only, from the nature of the case, be one from book to book— from play to play—from one fable to another. There is, however, one kind of collaboration not put forward by Mr. Brauder Matthews, which may be recommended very strongly to every young literary workman. I would advise him to find among his friends—cousins—sister's friends—a girl, intelligent, sympathetic, and quick; a girl who will lend him her ear, listen to his plot, and discuss his characters. Perhaps he would like to get engaged to her—that is a detail: if he does it might not injure the collaboration. She should be a girl of (puck imagination, who does not, or cannot, write—there are still, happily, many such girls. When he has confided to her his characters all in the rough, with the part they have to play all in the rough, he may reckon on presently getting them back again, but advanced—much less in the rough. Woman does not create, but she receives, moulds, and develops. The figures will go back to their creator, distinct and clear, no longer shivering unclothed, but made up and dressed for the stage. Merely by talking with this girl, everything that was chaotic falls into order; the characters, which were dim and shapeless, become alive, full grown, articulate. As in every day life, so in imaginative work, woman should be man's best partner—the most generous—the least exacting—the most certain never to quarrel over her share of the work, her share of the kWoj, her share of the pay. Walter Besant. IV. The Critic. The critic is the Ishmaelite of the literary family. No one sympathises with him. The people he criticises, of course, will have none of him. His fellow readers, or playgoers, as the case may be, regard him as a wet blanket. Even the "serious intellects," with whom he thinks he may at least claim something in common, treat him with good-humoured contempt. Indeed, the wayward attitude of the "serious intellect" in these days is one calculated to stagger the critics. He never reads the books, or sees the plays, which call for the critic's keenest powers. He cannot be got to read "Eobert Elsmere," or "The Wages of Sin."  ## p. 329 (#733) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 329 Nor will he turn out at night to see Shakespeare, or Ibsen, or Mr. Henry Arthur Jones. He in- finitely prefers burlesque, or a broad farce. It is only the intellects of the second rank who revel in the analytical novel or psychological drama; and the poor critic, realising all this painfully, feels himself out in the cold. He is compelled to write to an audience he cares little about, while those whose ear he would fain reach will not take him seriously. "There is nothing," says an eminent scientific man of the day, "that serious intellects hate so much as an intellectual treat." People whose brains and bodies are systematically under- worked may care about them. But men who have done a hard day's work take more kindly to some- thing frivolous, and prefer—as Darwin did—a trashy volume from Mudie's to Shakespeare him- self. It baulks the critic to find people who will insist that fiction and the drama are intended, not for education, but for relaxation. His trade is to detect and measure the serious purpose which underlies most of the important work, both of novelists and playwriters, in this day. Both have ceased to be merely recreative. The onward march of education has absorbed them as factors in the moral development of the ago. The pulpit has admitted them amongst its coadjutors. They have ljccome, like the jam that envelops the powder, vehicles for truths, and lessons of the gravest kind. It is, therefore, heartless of the person of serious intellect to eschew them all, and addict himself to the lewd fellows of a baser sort, who aim at nothing beyond raising a laugh, or lulling the brain with drowsy nonsense. Happily for the critic, the second-rate intellects, who do concern themselves with fiction "with a purpose," still constitute the bulk of the British reading public. With them he is, or might be, a King supreme. For, without his help, they would be drowned in the floods of books and plays which pour in from every side. On him they depend to keep their heads above water, to guide them through the torrent, and bring them within reach of the few spots of foothold on which they may stand secure. It is rare indeed for anyone to-day to buy a book of one's own motion. It must previously have passed muster with the critic before we pay hard cash for it. It is conceivable that our judgment may not jump with that of the critic when the book is read. If so, the discipline to which long liabit has reduced us will probably lead us to assume that the mistake is ours, not his. More frequently we know what we are to think about a book before we take it up, and, to do us justice, we rarely fail to think accordingly.—Leeds Weekly Mercury, February 6th, 1892. V. Do Publishers Bead MSS. Submitted? Writing in the Western Daily Mercury on "Money - Making in Writing," as a phase of "Women's Questions," Miss S. F. Latimer says :—The idea that publishers do not trouble to read all the MSS. submitted to them is generally ridiculed. We are told that this is an essential part of their business, and if they were to neglect it they would soon go the wall, for the competition among them is now very keen. Nevertheless, I am inclined to believe their readers are not so keen as their employers may be, judging from two in- stances that have been given to me by a couple of my friends during the past week. The first lady did not take the matter much to heart, as she had met better fortune in a previous attempt; but she detailed the keeping of her MS. by a firm for over six months, from whom, despite various letters, she could get no response nor learn of the safe arrival of her copy into their hands, until a cousin made a personal call of inquiry, when the following day the MS. was returned to her—never having been apparently read or glanced through, as it came back done up just as she had sent it away. The second account of the fortunes of a novel that is still awaiting the fiat of a publisher is one that is none too encouraging to the chances of its establishment, nor gratifying to the amour propre of the wearied author. It started on its travels in a box made to fit and to keep its sheets clean. It came back minus the box after an absence of suffi- cient duration to have enabled the mastering of its contents. On removing the outer paper covering, the precious volumes proved never to have been opened. Each had been tied up separately and numbered to save the reader trouble; each pre- sented precisely the same appearance as when laid with expectation within the missing box. "I thought," said the narrator, "when I received their opinion of the novel, that they had evidently no idea of the work at all beyond my brief descrip- tions that accompanied it." It was next sent off, packed in a fine wrapper. A MS. soon.shows signs of having been through the post if not well pro- tected, and the trouble of rewriting, of course, is great. It was kept exactly the same time, and then returned with the communication that the reader's opinion was so unfavourable that the firm could not publish it. The wrapper no longer enveloped the sheets, but the pages bore equally plain evidence that they had not been looked through. The third attempt was to write to the publishers in advance, to ask if they would con- sider the novel if forwarded. After the lapse of a  ## p. 330 (#734) ############################################ 33° THE AUTHOR. fortnight a letter of the usual stereotyped form came from the house, saying " that they had given their best and careful attention to the work, and regretted that they tlid not see their way to its publication." The fact of its not having been sent had been forgotten. They waited the usual time, and returned the usual answer. And the hapless novelist sums up by saying, " I am at present just where I was a lew months ago, save being a loser to the amount of ios., MS. sent to and fro, one deal box, and one wrapper. Sore and downcast with disappointment, she exclaims, "It is very provoking to feel the time going past when the novel might take, and not be able to get a publisher to read it fairly and honestly I know that there is good matter in it, and that I have laboured hard to make it worthy of being read, and I am not given to over-value my own work." The lady has for years practised her ]x>n. The firms she has tried are influential ones, but there is such a tendency to deal with writers known to the public, and thereby save trouble and risk, that unless some favourable introduction or happy chance comes to the rescue among the flood of offers, the rejected find themselves in the majority. — Pall Mall Gazette. VI. Creative? A daring lady named Molly Elliot Seawell has excited the literary circles of New York. She has written an article in the Critic, and, with relent- less impartiality, has denied that her own sex has ever been great in creative literary genius. Readers of the Critic have withdrawn their subscription, by way of proving that Miss Seawell is wrong. Right or wrong, she has called from an opponent named Sidwell N. Breeze by far the most amusing of all exhibitions of literary patriotism. We know how good Americans insist that Emerson and Mr. Whittier have better chances of immortality than the Laureate. We know it, but we do not argue about it. We maybe prejudiced, and besides prophecy is a frivolous exercise. If humanity develops more people who admire Mr. Whittier than people who admire the author of the "Lotus Eaters," then the American patriots are right. We may hope that they are wrong, rather in the interest of humanity than of Lord Tennyson, but no one can be certain. However, this is a digres- sion. In the game of literary poker, Mr. or Miss Sidwell N. Breeze "bluffs" a much stronger hand than we hold in the Laureate, though that is a strong hand too. She (she must be a woman) "bluffs " the hand which ancient Greece holds in the case of Sappho. Miss Sidwell N. Breeze is ready to " see Sappho, and go two better "—two at least. Now the whole opinion of the world has recognized in the Lesbian lady Who with the deathless Muses, hand in hand, Sang side by side, the one great woman poet of the world. The fragments which remain, those wonderful fragments never to be translated even by poets, suffice to show the unapproached genius of Sappho. But Miss Breeze avers that these fragments "can easily be surpassed by Miss Helen Gray Cone or Miss Edith Thomas," whose rhymes we may have observed in the magazines. This delightful observation simply leaves patriots like Mr. Higginson nowhere in the race, and adds two to the Muses who are now twelve, including Sappho. No other vaunt can match this vaunt. But, if we examine the general Question, we may think that Miss Seawell has been too hard on her sex. They never created, she says, a Panta- gruel, a Becky Sharp, a Micawber, an Ivanhoe, a Don Quixote, a Faust. Well, we do not exj>ect them to produce Pantagruels. Ivanhoe, as Miss Breeze remarks, is no creation at all. Poor Wilfred is a lay figure; perhaps Scott would have called him, as he called Edward Waverley, "a sneaking piece of imbecility." "I am a bad hand at drawing heroes," he added, and Ivanhoe is a hero. As to the others, it is certain that no woman (unless it. be Miss Cone or Miss Thomas) has created a poetic figure like Faust, or Satan, or Don Quixote, or Lear, a humorous figure like Falstaff, or Mrs. Gamp, or anybody that is good in Shake- speare or Dickens. No woman (not even Miss Mtirfree nor Miss Wilkins) has designed a Captain Costigan, or a beauty and a Queen of Hearts, like Beatrix Esmond, or Rosalind, or Di Vernon. Women have created no great characters of any sort, and very few good ones, few whose names are household words. * * * It was a woman who gave us Mr. Collins and Anne Elliot, and all the immortal family of Bennets —Lydia and Kitty, their father and their mother George Eliot also created Mrs. Poyser and Caleb Garth, and the girl whom Mr. Gilfil wooed. But it is certainly curious, when we think of George Eliot, to consider how few of her people hold their own—how few of them are household words. When Manse Headrigg remarked that she would cease testifying for nae painted brick o' the Tower of Babel that's coloured scarlet and ca's itself a corporal, she quite, outshone Mrs. Poyser by mere native eloquence. Take away Mrs. Poyser, and who is there? Tito Melema is only the " Awful Example " of a sermon. Adam Bode is a stage-  ## p. 331 (#735) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 331 carpenter. These people do not wear, they do not last, like true and living creations. The name of George Sand is also invoked. But whom do we remember, or what do we remember, in George Sand's work? We remember descrip- tions, sentiment, a charm of style, such as never other woman wrote, and perliaps we remember Consuelo. Indiana is just a passionate Creole; Valentine is hardly more actual than Aurora Floyd. George Sand drew living people in her memoirs, much more than in her novels. It is really the humourous women who create characters, not the clever women, the learned women, the audjicious women. A woman (who might conceivably have been better employed) gave us Xaintrailles, Paillette, Madame de Flirt, and scores of others. Miss Broughton's people—not her heroes, but her chil- dren, her casual coquettes, her vulgar, good-hearted girls—are creations; they live, and move, and are remembered, simply by dint of humour. As to speaking "immortal words," in verse, passages that live as familiar quotations, we do not, unluckily, remember any of the many with which Miss Helen Gray Cone and Miss Edith Thomas have enriched the world. But the real prize would have to be given to no lady who writes in magazines, but to the women who composed "Auld llobin Gray," "The Flowers of the Forest," "And were na my heart light I would dee," and so forth. They were not profession^ poets, they struck the lyre but once or twice, yet still the notes are ringing.— Daily A'ews. VII. An American on American Literature. (From the Times, January i5th, 1892.) There has been a deal of talk back and forth across the water as to the bigness or littleness of our American literature. We talk about the bigness of it, you about the littleness of it, and the real truth concerning it is altogether ignored, or else it is not understood. By your gracious leave I would say what seem to me the facts in the case. We have had no creators of literary sentiment, or more truly discoverers, such as Wordsworth, who found for us the spiritual life in nature; like Browning, who has taught us the deeper, truer, meaning of love as a life passion of the human heart; like Carlyle, who knew more concerning the energy of life that wins results in the world than all his predecessors. We have not these. Let us frankly admit it. There is nowhere in our lite- rature the thoughtful substance that the Englishman thinks of when he thinks of even his modern literature. Our poet is Longfellow, a man of musical rhythm, sweet fascinating phrases—in short, a man of art in verse. But you have this, too, say you, in Tennyson, the poet of form, and a man of more substance than Longfellow. Let me distinguish. Tennyson is a creator of form, a dis- coverer of every possible new form in musical verse, a man who racked his brain from youth to find an exquisite phrase, a perfect word, a striking and enduring figure. Tennyson's eye was on the form itself, just as much as Browning's eye was on love, or Wordsworth's on the spirit of nature, while Longfellow touched the little nature, the little life, the little human passion that lay about him, with his eye on the human heart, not on his form or on his substance of thought. It is this wonderful adaptation of Longfellow's simple, sweet, beautiful verse to the common heart of man that makes it as significant as it is popular. Tennyson has done some bad work, shocking work; he has written verses that jar as well as verses that sooth to sleep or fill with life; so all the English poets, in their efforts to discover what was good, were unable themselves to distinguish the good from the bad in that which was to the world altogether new as it was new to them. Browning has written a considerable body of work which would not inspire even his own soul, let alone that of anyone else, and Wordsworth seemed utterly unable to tell his good work from his dry, meaningless verbiage, as Matthew Arnold him- self says. So it is with Mr. Arnold's own work, and with Keats and Shelley and Clough and Mrs. Browning and the rest. Even the popular Macaulav in his effort to be striking fell into serious blunders, and Carlyle is full of irregularity. Glance over such a book as Lowell's " From my Study Windows " and you will see plainly some of the chief characteristics of our literature. Lowell does not say anything of great moment, but what he does say is gracefully addressed to the heart and thought of us all; we can all enjoy it, we can all understand it, and we all are the better for his having written it. Browning and Shelley confess that they did not write their poetry for you or me or anybody else, but for themselves, for their own relief, to satisfy their own passion of ex- pression. If we get any good out of their work it is localise they were good men and worth some- thing, and we are free to borrow what we can from all good men. But that is not art in its true sense; that is accident. Conscious art writes for somebody, aims at a definite effect on a definite audience. The germ of that art we have and you have not. In us it has not yet borne very great  ## p. 332 (#736) ############################################ 332 THE A UTHOR. fruit, but it is sure to do so in the near future, as you yourselves admit when you incline to the view that the great novel of the future will come from America. We have not yet gone very deep, we have not yet even fully comprehended the thoughts that you have laid before us, but we are coming to just that, and we have the power—perhaps a power of youth—to put all thought, all feeling, all dis- coveries of the heart into a form which will be useful and will endure, as you have not at all. The mass of England's nineteenth century literature will be dead and buried within two centuries unless wo Americans rescue it from the mass of vagueness and verbiage in which it already languishes, and put it into the setting of the gold of the human heart—the common heart, the common intelligence —by which I mean the intelligence common to all humanity, high and low, and not the vulgar herd merely. The common human heart is your heart and my heart and yonder blear-eyed fellow's heart, and that common heart is dull of comprehension, weary it knows not why, and like a child must be fed by a trained nurse if it is to thrive. We are eoniinsr to be the trained nurses of future life and growth throughout the world, we have learned our business, and we are rapidly putting it into prac- tice. From you we get our materials to work with, our appliances, our food, our drink. We own our mother; we are not disloyal; England has as much right to be proud of us as we of ourselves, and perhaps more right, and the great novels which I fully believe we will soon send forth will perpetuate her name quite as surely as it will ours. But please, cultivated Englishmen, let us not hear any more about the lack in substance from which our literary art suffers. We may not have substance yet, but our literary work is adapted to the human heart more widely, more certainly, than anything of the best you can boast, and we will not be slow to utilize all the substance you have laid open to us. A. S. Cody. Boston, Mass., U.S.A., Jan. ist. VIII. Swindells v. Morgan and Tomkins. The business of Messrs. Morgan and Tomkins, who appear to be indifferent whether they transact it under the style of the " City of London Publish- ing Company " or that of the " Authors' Alliance, Limited," should be considerably curtailed by the revelations made yesterday in the Queen's Bench Division. These ingenious persons appear to derive much of their income from the remittances they receive from aspiring authors, among whom they appear to sow their circulars broadcast, other- wise it is hard to understand why they sent one to the plaintiff in the action just tried. Their anxiety to receive MSS. for publication led Mr. Joseph Swindells, employed in a warehouse at Manchester, to send a sbeaf of verses entitled "Ballads and Poems," besides a drama called "Charles I." Messrs. Morgan and Tomkins, with a frankness which must have won the author's heart, admitted that a most favourable impression had been created by the perusal of the MSS.; but they required a sum of money towards the expense involved in the intended publication. . . . Under the circum- stances there was little which was remarkable in this request, and Mr. Swindells expressed his willingness to comply with it. In short, he forwarded to the moving spirits in the undertakings we have named, and others, £40, some of which seems to have been raised "by subscription " from persons willing to take copies of the work. But, alas! the promised book has never been issued, nor have the MSS. ever been returned. Upon the whole the jury showed their sympathy with the troubled author in a manner which should do much to console him. He was awarded £500 damages, and in the event of his having the MSS. returned he must receive £200 for their detention. We can only hope that the order of the Court may be complied with, but, judging from the caustic remarks of Mr. Justice Grantham on the system of business pursued by Messrs. Morgan and Tomkins, it may be doubted if they will respond to all the demands involved iu yesterday's verdict.—Daily News. "AT THE AUTHOR'S HEAD." AMONG the more noticeable books of the month may be specially mentioned Carlyle's "Lectures on the History of Literature" (Ellis and Elvey), Aitkin's "Life of Dr. Arbutli- not" (Clarendon Press), Miss Gordon Cumming's latest book of travels (Blackwood), H. G. Keene's "Literature of France" "(Murray), Saintsbury's "Political Verse" (Percival), Earle's "Deeds"of Beowulf" (Clarendon Press), Watson's Poems (Macmillan), Lyon's "Colonial Furniture" (Houghton and Mifflin), Lord Selborne's "Facts and Fictions concerning Churches and Trees." The new novels include the " Duchess of Powys- land," by Grant Allen; "Nevermore," by Rolf Boldrewood; "A Strange Elopement," by Clark  ## p. 333 (#737) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 333 Russell; "Denzil Quarrier," by George Gissing; "The Bo's'un of the Psyche," by Claude Harding; fi Eagle Joe," by Henry Hermann; "A Partner from the West," by Arthur Paterson; and "Memoirs of a Mother-in-Law," by George Sims. A new literary paper is about to appear. It will be called the Library Review. The editor is Mr. Kineton Parkes, Librarian of the Nicholson Institute, Leeds. The publishers are Messrs. Hutchinson & Co., 25, Paternoster Square. There are promised (i) critical notices, "chiefly of an expository character," written by experts and signed. There are some subjects, one would suggest to the editor, which are best reviewed by persons who are not experts. The tendency of every expert is to find out something omitted, and to give undue prominence to that omission. However, the signature will have some effect in restraining the experts from too much contempt; (2) condensed estimates from the leading critical papers; (3) bibliographical details; (4) publica- tions of the month; (5) statistics of sales from booksellers and publishers—a promise difficult to keep—and of issues by libraries; (6) general notes; and (7) a library calendar. Nothing new in these features, except as regards the library intelligence. Signed criticisms are found in the Academy. Lists of publications in the Athenceum and in the Author. Notes and news everywhere. But we must not judge by a prospectus. Meanwhile we wish the Library Review every success. The Author cannot choose but welcome every new attempt to create and maintain an interest in literature, especially if it be remembered in each new venture that literature belongs to those who make it, not to those who sell it. The Publishers' Circular shows that the number of books published in England in 1891 was 5,706 —4,429 new books and 1,277 ncw editions. These figures show a slight decrease from those of the pre- vious year, a larger decrease from 1889, and a still larger when compared with the number in 1888, which was 6,5gi. Since 1880 the number of novels (new and old) published in a year has increased from 58o to 1,216, while " miscellaneous" (including pamphlets) has increased from 353 to 731. Books relating to the arts and sciences, and illustrated works, have decreased from 479 to 116, and theology from 975 to 627. The increase in the number of novels during the last ten years, so that there are now produced annually double the numl>er of the year 1880, is very remarkable. But in considering this increase we must remember that the Board schools have given us new readers by the million. This is shown in many ways, but especially by the immense circulation of the popular weeklies. We hope it is not libellous to say that Tit-Bits is reported to circulate 600,000 every week, while Pearson's has 3oo,ooo. At the same time the old favourites, such as Cliambers's, the Family Herald, and others maintain the position which they liave held for so many years. Then the increase of story books for school prizes and presentation becomes greater every year; and every year the demand for books from the colonies and India becomes greater. Nor must it be forgotten that of the novels intended for adult readers and those of the better class, a large proportion are actually paid for by the authors, while the better class politely decline to read them. Houghton, Mifflin and Co. will publish in March the first number of the Neio World, "a quarterly review of religion, ethics, and theology." It will be under the charge of an editorial committee consisting of Profs. Charles Carroll Everett and Crawford Howell Toy of Harvard; the Rev. Orello Cone, D.D., President of Buehtel College, and the Rev. Nicholas Paine Oilman (managing editor). The new periodical will have 200 pages in each issue, a fourth of which will be given to the careful review of important books in its field. A new magazine has appeared in America called the Philosophical Review, the first number of which, for January of this year, now lies before us. It is edited by Prof. J. G. Schurman of Cornell, and is supported in part by funds in the control of the same institution. "It will aim," says the editor, " at the organization, the diffusion and the increase of philosophical knowledge and activity in America." It will deal with all subjects that have hitherto been embraced by the term philosophy. A new weekly, literary and artistic in its aims, the Mahogany Tree, appeared at Boston with the new year. The first few numbers of such a venture rarely afford grounds for an exact and infallibly just appreciation of it. More criticism! The prospectus of another new venture, this time a quarterly review of very high aspirations, is now being sent out. It is to be called the Knight Errant, and devoted to criticism of all the arts, " working to this end without hope or, indeed, desire of pecuniary return." The expenses of the first year are assumed by forty guarantors.  ## p. 334 (#738) ############################################ 334 THE AUTHOR. Under the title "Some Aspects and Tendencies of Current Fiction," Mr. J. Stanley Little will contribute a series of articles on contemporary fiction to the Library Review, a journal for librarians and general readers, the first number of which appears this month. The Leadenhall Press has l>een turned into a limited liability company, with Mr. Andrew W. Tuer as managing director. No prospectus is issued. Who is " John Oliver Hobbes," author of " Some Emotions and a Moral "? There have been guesses and suggestions. Mr. Oscar Wilde has been con- fidently proposed as the probable author of the 1xk)1c. But it is not given to many to discover the author from internal evidence alone. It is not Mr. Oscar Wilde. Then many have thought that it was the work of a woman. They are quite right. John Oliver Hobbes is a woman. Further than that I am not allowed by my informant to go. Meantime, in the hope that these lines may reach her—since I have not been told her address—I venture to express, very humbly, the hope that we may, before long, enjoy more Emotions with or without a Moral. Mr. W. A. Gibbs is about to bring out a con- tinuation of his " Idylls of a Queen" in April, as an "Easter Offering to a Princess." The book will be published by Sampson Low and Co. In the last number, "Maisie Derrick" should have been announced as the work of Mrs. Katharine S. Macquoid. Mrs. Leith Adams (Mrs. Laffan) has just brought out her latest volume with Eden, Remington & Co. It is in one volume, and is called a "Garrison Romance." Bright, lively, natural, true, and womanly. One cannot use all these adjectives at once for many books. The serial current in House- hold Words, "Estelle," is also by Mrs. Laffan. Mr. W. Carlton Dawe's new Australian romance, "Mount Desolation," will be issued by Messrs. Cassells early in this month. Lady Fairlio Cunningham's new novel, "A Wandering Star,"—3 volumes—will be published about the 20th of March (Ward and Downey). D. Appleton and Co. are bringing out the third volume of McMaster's " History of the People of the United States." It covers the period from the Louisiana purchase down to the beginning of the War of 1812 and Hull's surrender at Detroit, and thus includes Burr's conspiracy, the Embargo and it effects, and a review of the social, economical, and political development of the people since 178+. Scribner's for March will contain the last poem written by James Russell Lowell, and "the only one of consequence that ho left in manuscript." It is called "On a Bust of Gen. Grant." One of the stanzas will be given in facsimile. A selection of Moltke's letters to his mother and to his brothers is promised by the Harpers. Mr. T. P. O'Connor, M.P., has translated Pierre Loti's work, "The Book of Pity and of Death," and it will be published by Messrs. Cassell. Mr. Joseph Knight, perhaps the l>est-kno\vn of London critics, is about to publish a volume of reminiscences of the stage. Fiction is to have a magazine all to itself. Under the title the Long Quarterly Mr. Elliot Stock will publish every three months a new novel. The Long Quarterly will be published at half-a- crown. The first number will be entitled " Until My Lord Returns," by Admiral Hinton. A new translation of the "Memoirs of Mar- guerite de Valois, Queen of Navarre." (Ninnuo.) The book will be provided with an introduction and notes by the translator, Violet Fane, and will be illustrated by portraits from contemporary en- gravings. It is dedicated to the Due d'Aumale. Mr. Fronde's masterly papers on the Spanish Story of the Armada, with other essays, are to be published in book form before long. (Longmans.) Mr. Charles Booth has ready for publication a book called "A Picture of Pauperism, with some remarks on the Endowment of Old Age." (Macmillan.) Sir Edwin Arnold's new volume will be called "Potiphar's Wife and other Poems." (Long- mans.) Lord Lytton's last Poems will probably appear this month. (Longmans.) The volume is entitled "Marah." The last poems of Philip Bourke Marston will be published in Boston by Roberts Brothers, with a preface and biographical sketch by Mrs. Louise Chandler Moult on.  ## p. 335 (#739) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 335 Mr. Lowell's "Lectures on the English Dramatists" will be published in book form next autumn by Messrs. Houghton, Mifliin and Co. Professor Karl Pearson has almost ready a book willed " The new University for London." (Fisher Unwin.) David Wingate, the poet, is dead at the age of sixty-four. Mrs. Spender's last three-volume novel "Lady Hazleton's Confessions" will be published imme- diately by Messrs. Sonnensehein. Her new novel, originally called " For better, for worse," has been run by a newspaper syndicate. That title has been already used, and it is now called "A Waking." The author of a "Game at Bluff" is getting steadily to the front. A man is always at a dis- advantage who has an elder brother in the same line and already successful, but Henry Murray is like Henry Kingsley. He cannot be mistaken for his brother, and he has a following of his own. The " Song of Sixpence," just out, is distinctly "clever," in the best sense of the word—dex- terous in construction, and possessed of the "grip" which the bad novelist toils after in vain, and the real novelist has by nature. NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS. Theology. Eyton, Preb. Robert. The Lord's Prayer. Sermons. Kegan Paul. Fleming, Rev. James, B.D. Recognition in Eternity : a Sermon preached before their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales in Sandringham Church on Sunday morning, January 24, 1892. Printed by command of their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales. Skeffington and Son, 16 3, Picca- dilly, is. Kempis, Thomas X. Meditations on the Life of Christ. Translated and edited by Archdeacon Wright, M.A., and the Rev. S. Kettlewell, M.A., with a preface by the latter. Parker and Co. MacLaughlin, Rev. J. Is one Religion as Good as Another? 27th thousand. Hums and Oatcs. 2». Magee, the late W. C., D.D. Christ the Light of all Scripture. Edited by Charles S. Magee. Isbister, Tavistock Street, Covent Garden. ys. id. Maurice, F. D. Sermons preached in Lincoln's Inn Chapel. In 6 vols. Vol. IV. New edition. Macmillun. 3«. 6d. Metropolitan Tabernacle PoLrrr. Sermons preached and revised by C. H. Spurgeon during 1891. Vol. XXXVII. 7*. Metrics:, Frederick, M.A. The Church in Spain. With Map. The "National Churches" Series. Wells, Gardner, Darton. Rawlinson, Canon. The Pulpit Commentary—Job. Ex- position. Homilectics by the Rev. T. Whitelaw, D.D. Homilies by various authors. Kegan Paul. Robertson, James, D.D. The Early Religion of Israel. The Baird Lecture for 1889. Blackwood. Taylor, Rev. E. H. Messages from the Cross to the World. Griffith Farran. is. 6d. Voysey, Rev. Charles. The Bible and Modern Criticism: Three Sermons preached at the Theistic Church. Williams and Norgate. Paper covers, $d. Wickham, Rev. E. C. The Church Catechism. Notes and Questions intended to help towards its teaching in the middle forms of public schools. Percival and Co. History and Biography. Adam, G. Mercer. The Life and Career of Sir John A. Macdonald. Based on the work of Edmund Collins j revised, with additions to date. Sampson Low. i6». Aitkin, George A. The Life and Works of John Arbuthnot, M.D., F.R.C.P. With Portrait. Clarendon Press. 16s. Beesly, E. Spencer. Queen Elizabeth. "Twelve English Statesmen" Scries. Macmillan. is. 6d. Carlyle, Thomas. Lectures on the History of Literature. Delivered by, April to July, 1838. Now printed for the first time. Edited, with preface and notes, by Professor J. Reay Greene. Ellis and Elvey. 5*. Lectures on the History of Literature, delivered in i838 by. Now first published from the Anstey MS. in the library of the Bombay Branch, Royal Asiatic Society. Edited, with an introduction and notes, by R. P. Karkaria. Johnson, Times of India Office, Fleet Street. 12J. Cotton Smith, Rev. H. A History of Spilsby in Lincoln- shire, with notes on Ercsby and other places connected therewith—" The Town of Sir John Franklin." The Spilsby Printing Company. Dunbar-Ingram, T., LL.D. England and Rome: a History of the Relations between the Papacy and the English State and Church from the Norman Conquest to the Revolution of 1688. Longmans. 141. Fyfe, H. Hamilton. Annals of Our Times, a record of events sccial and political,home and foreign. Vol. III. Part II., 1891. Macmillan. Paper covers. 1*. Also in cloth boards.  ## p. 336 (#740) ############################################ 336 THE AUTHOR. Hosmer, .Tames K. A Short History of German Literature. Itevised edition. Sampson Low. 7s. Sd. Keene, H. G., CLE. Mddhava Rao Sindhia, otherwise called Madhoji. "Rulers of India" Series. Edited by Sir W. W. Hunter. Clarendon Press. 2s. 6d. Lecky, W. E. H. A History of England in the Eighteenth Century. New edition. Vol. II. Longmans. 6s. Oxdcastle, John. Memorials of Cardinal Manning. Arranged and edited by. Bums and Oates. Old England: Sketches of English History. By E. A. W. Hunt and Co., Paternoster Row. 3s. 6d. Oliphant, Mrs. Jerusalem: its History and Hope. With wood engravings from drawings by Hamilton Aide, and photographs by F. M. Good. Macrnillau. 5os. Pike, Godfrey H. The Life and Work of Archibald G. Brown, preacher and philanthropist. With an intro- duction by Sir S. A. Blackwood, is. 6d. Passmore and Alabaster. Praeger, F. Wagner, as I Knew Him. Longmans. 7s. 6d. Rousset, Camille. Recollections of Marshal Macdonald, Duke of Tarentum. Edited by. Translated by Stephen Louis Simeon. 2 vols. Bentley. Saunders, Wm., L.C.C. History of the First London County Council, 1889, 1890, 1891. National Press Agency, Whitefriars street, E.C. Schwabe, Ludwio. Teuffel's History of Roman Literature, revised and enlarged. Authorised translation from the 5th German edition, by George C. W. Warr, M.A. Vol. II. The Imperial Period. George Bell. iSs. Stow, Elizabeth. Stories from Ancient History, from the Earliest Records down to B.C. 363. David Stott. Symonds, Mrs. J. A. Recollections of a Happy Life, being the autobiography of Marianne North, edited by her sister. 2 vols. Macrnillau. 17s. net. Fiction. Allen, Grant. The Duchess of Powysland: a Novel. 3 vols. Chatto and Windus. A Woman's Victory. By the author of "Ludley's Widow." Family Story-Teller. Stevens, Strand. Baring-Gould, S. Margery of Quether, and other Stories. Methuen and Co. Boldrewood, Rolf. Nevermore. 3 vols. Macmillan. 3 is. 6d. Braunston-Jones, W. Mithazan: a Secret of Nature. 3 vols. Fisher Unwin. 3 is. 6d. Cambridge, Ada. Not all in Vain. 2 vols. Heinemann 3 is. 6d. Chronicles of Westerly: a Provincial Sketch. By the author of " Culmshire Folk." 3 vols. Blackwood. Clark-Russell, W. A Strange Elopement. Illustrated by W. H. Overend. Macrnillau. 3s. 6d. Cobb, Thomas. Miss Merewether"s Money. 2 vols. Ward and Downey. . The Westlakes. Griffith, Farran. 6s. Crim, Matt. Adventures of a Fair Rebel. Chatto and Windus. Gerard, Dorothea. Orthodox. Cheap edition. Eden, Remington. 3s. 6d. ■ On the Way Through, and other Tales. Eden, Remington. Gissing, George. Denzil Quarrier: a Novel. Lawrence and Dullen, New Bond Street. Grein, J. T. Eline Vere. Translated from the Dutch of Louis Conperus by. Chapman and Hall. 5s. Harding, Claud. The Bo's'un of the Psyche. 3 vols. Fisher LTnwin. 3 is. 6d. Herman, Henry. Eagle Joe: a Wild-West Romance. Griffith, Farran. 3s. 6d. Hewson, J. J. This and my Pipe. Illustrated. Second Edition. Paper covers. Simpkiu, Marshall, is. 3d. In Tent and Bungalow. By the nuthor of "Indian Idylls." Methuen. Jones, Charles. The Solicitor's Clerk. Second and revised edition. Effingham Wilson. 2s. 6d. Leigh-Fry, E. N. A Scots Thistle. 2 vols. Bentley. Lytton, Lord. A Strange Story. Caxton Novels. Routlcdge. Marryat, Florence. There is no Death. Griffith, Farran. 3s. 6d. Mitfobd, Bertram. Golden Face, a Tale of the Wild West. Trischler. 2s. 6d. Nibbet-Bain, R. Pretty Michal. A free translation of Maurice Jokai's romance, "A Szep Mikhal." Autho- rised version. Chapman and Hall. 5s. Paterson, Arthur. A Partner from the West. Chapman and Hall. 5s. Pendleton, Edmund. One Woman's Way: a Novel. Appleton and Company, New York. Phillpotts, Eden. Folly and Fresh Air. Trischler. is. 6d. Pidwell, Ellen. Condemned; or, In the Dark. King, Sell, and Railton, Bolt Court, Fleet Street. Paper covers, is. Rose, F. W. "I Will Repay." Eden, Remington. "Rox." Through the Mill, or Rambles in Texas. Sampson Low. Paper covers, is. Schallenbergeh, V. Green Tea: a Love Story. Vol. of the Pseudonym Library. Fisher Unwin. Paper covers, is. 6d.  ## p. 337 (#741) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 337 Sims, Gkorgk B. Memoirs of a Mother-in-Law. George Newnes (Limited), is. 6d. Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin. Illus- trated by E. W. Kemble. 2 vols. Sampson Low. 16s. Terrell, Thomas. The City of the Just. Illustrated by Everard Hopkins. Trisehler. is. 6d. Yorke, Curtis. Two on an Island. F. V. White. Paper covers, is. General Literature. Annandale, Charles, M.A. A Concise Dictionary of the English Language. New and enlarged edition. Blackie and Son, Old Bailey. Cloth, 5s.; half morocco, 9s. Anstey, E. Mr. Punch's Young Reciter, with Introduc- tion, Remarks, and Stage Directions. Enlarged and illustrated edition. Bradbury, Agnew. Armatage, George, M.B.C.V.S. Every Man His Own Horse Doctor, in which is embodied Blaine's Veterinary Art. Eourth edition, revised and enlarged. E. Warne. 2 is. Arnold, Sir Edion. Seas and Lands. New edition, with illustrations. Longmans. 7s. 6rf. Attwood's Volunteer Artilleryman's Handbook. Re- ports of the Shoeburyness meetings from 1865 to 1892. Truelove and Shirley, Oxford Street, is. 6d. Ancient Facts and Fictions concerning Churches and Tithes. By Roundell, Earl of Selborne. Second edition, with a Supplement containing remarks on a recent history of tithes. Macmillan. 7s. 6d. Bennett, A. R. On the Telephoning of Great Cities, and on an Electrical Parcel Exchange System. Papers read before the British Association. Revised, with notes. Whittaker & Co. Paper covers, is. Brown, Dr. Robert. The Story of Africa and its Ex- plorers. Assisted by eminent African travellers. In monthly parts. Part I., with may and illustrations. Cassell. Paper covers, yd. Bullock, Charles. Temperance Talks. Home Words Office, Paternoster Square. Paper covers. $d. Britannic Confederation. A series of Papers by Admiral Sir John Colomb, Professor E. A. Freeman, G. G. Chisholm, Professor Shield Nicholson, Maurice H. Hervey, and Lord Thring. Edited, with an intro- duction, by Arthur Silva White. Published by the authority of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. Reprinted from the Scottish Geographical Magazine. With a new map of the British Empire. George Philip, Fleet Street. 3s. 6d. Cobb, A. Stanley. Metallic Reserves and the Meeting of Parliament. Effingham Wilson. Paper covers. 6d. Cochrane, Patrick, R. W. Mediaival Scotland: Chapters on Agriculture, Manufactures, Factories, Taxation, Revenue, Trade, Commerce, Weights and Measures. James Maclehose, Glasgow. 7s. £></. net. Craie, Alexander, F.S.A. America and the Americans. A narrative of a tour in the United States and Canada, with chapters on American home life. Gardner, Paternoster Square. Dilke, Sir Charles and Spenser Wilkinson. Imperial Defence. Macmillan. 3s. 6d. Dredge, James. The Columbian Exposition of 1893. What to see, and how to get there. Part I., The City of Chicago and her Exposition. Part II., The Poly- technic Cheap Trips to Chicago. The Polytechnic, Regent Street. Paper covers. 6d. Edwards, F. A. Early Hampshire Printers. Hampshire Independent Office, Southampton. Paper covers. Florence, W. J. The Handbook of Poker. Routledge. Flugel, Dr. Felix. A Universal English-German and German-English Dictionary. Supplementary part. Asher, Bedford Street, Covcut Garden. Goschen, Rt. Hon. G. J., M.P. The Theory of the Foreign Exchanges. Fifteenth edition. Effingham Wilson. Harper, Charles G. English Pen Artists of To-day. Examples of their Work, with some Criticisms and Appreciations. Percival and Co. 3/. 3s. Hessels, J. H. Archives of the London Dutch Church. Register of attestations or certificates of membership, confessions of guilt, and other papers preserved in the Dutch Reformed Church, Austinfriars, London, i568 to 1872. Edited by David Nutt. Hodgkins, J. E., and Edith. Examples of Early English Pottery, named, dated, and inscribed. Printed for the authors, by private subscription, by Cassell & Co. Hoffmann, Prof. Card Tricks with Apparatus, and Card Tricks without Apparatus. With illustrations and diagrams. E. Wanie. is. each. Huish, Marcus B. The Year's Art. Compiled by. With full-page illustrations. J. S. Virtue. Ignotus. The Essential Foundation of Real Army Reform. Eyre and Spottiswoode. Paper covers. 6d. The India Office List for 1892, containing an account of the services of officers in the Indian service, and other information. Harrison and Sons. 6s. The India List, Civil and Military. January, 1892. W. H. Allen, Waterloo Place. 10*. 6<f. Journal of the Leprosy Investigation Committee. Edited by Phiueas S. Abraham, M.A., M.D., Medical Secretary to the Committee. No. 4. December, 1891. Published for the Committee by Macmillan. 2s. 6d. Kalm's Account of ins Visit to England, on his way to America, in 1748. Translated by Joseph Lucas, with maps and illustrations. Macmillan. 12s. Keene, H. G. The Literature of France. University Extension Manual Series. John Murray. Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed, and Official Classes for 1892. Kelly & Co., Great Queen Street, W.C. 16s.  ## p. 338 (#742) ############################################ 338 THE AUTHOR. Kennedy, Admiral. Sporting Sketches in South America with map and illustrations. E. H. Porter, Princes Street, Cavendish Square. Lang, Andrew. Books and Bookmen. A new edition. Longmans, u. 6d. Loeing, G. B., M.D. A Year in Portugal, 1889-1890. G. P. Putnam's Sons, King Willian Street, Strand. Lyon, I. Whitall, M.D. The Colonial Furniture of New England: A Study of the Domestic Furniture in use in the 17th and 18th centuries. Illustrated. Houghton and Miffin, Riverside Press, Cambridge. "M." A Prosperous Kingdom : or a Vision of the Possible. The problem of pensions for old age discussed, and how to empty the workhouses. Slater, Strand. Paper covers. 6d. Macquere, T. Miller, LL.D. A Summary of the Powers and Duties of the London County Council. Second edition. Simpkin, Marshall. Paper covers, id. Mew, James, and J. Ashton. Drinks of .the World, with illustrations. The Leadenhall Press, it. is. Morris, Rev. M. C. F. Yorkshire Folk Talk, with characteristics of those who speak it in the North and East Ridings. Henry Frowde, Amen Corner: York, John Sampson. 7s. dd. net. Nottklle, L., B.A. The French Peasantry since the Revolution of 1789. Simpkin, Marshall. Paper covers, is. Picot, M. Georges. Self-Help for Labour: an Address. Some French solutions of working-class problems. Published by the Liberty and Property Defence League. Victoria Street, S.W. Paper covers, id. Priestley, Neville. Distance and Route Tables, India: showing the shortest distance and route between any two stations in India, also alternative routes between them. Indian State Railways. Second edition, revised and corrected. Printed at the Education Society's Steam Press, Bombay. Reeves, Edward. Homeward Bound, after Thirty Years. A Colonist's Impressions of New Zealand, Australia, Tangier, and Spain. With illustrations. SwanSonnen- schein. Richards, H. C., and W. H. C. Payne. The Metropolitan Water Supply: a compendium of the history, the law, and the transactions relating to the Metropolitan Water Companies from earliest times to the present day. Collected and collated by. Argus Printing Company, Temple Avenue. Saintsbury, George. Specimens from Defoe's Minor Novels. Edited by. Volume of the Pocket Library of English Literature. P ercival. 3s. 6d. Sayce, Professor A. H. Records of the Past: being English Translations of the Ancient Monuments of Egypt and Western Asia. New series, edited by. Vol. V. Samuel Bagster, Paternoster Row. Schaffer, D. A. The Impossibility of Social Democracy: being a supplement to "Quintessence of Socialism." Authorised English edition, with a preface by Bernard. Bosanquet, M.A. Swann Sonnenschcin. Scidmore, E. R. Westward to the Far East. A guide to the principal cities of China and Japan. Issued by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. Smith, Arthur H. Chinese Characteristics. Kegar. Paul. Smith, H. Gkeenhough. The Romance of History. Bentley. Teegan, Thomas H. Technical, Industrial, and Commercial Education in France. Simpkin, Marshall. Tegetemier, W. B., F.Z.A. Poultry for the Table and Market versus Fancy Fowls. With an exposition of the fallacies of poultry farming. Horace Cox, Field Office, E.C. Tredwell, Daniel M. A Monograph on Privately Illustrated Books: a Plea for Bibliomania. Privately printed at Lincoln Road, Flatbush, Long Island, U.S. Verga, Giovanni. The House by the Medlar-Tree. Translated by Mary A. Craig, with an introduction by W. D. Howells. Red Letter Stories Series. Osgood, M'llvaine. 3s. 6d. Walters, Alan. Palms and Pearls; or, Scenes in Ceylon. Bentley. Webb, W. S. California and Alaska, and over the Canadian Pacific Railway. Second edition. Illustrated. Put- nam's Sons. White, W. H. The Architect and his Artists: an essay to assist the public in considering the question, Is archi- tecture a profession or an art? Spottiswoode and Co., New Street Square. Wilkinson, J. Fhome. Pensions and Pauperism. With Notes by T. E. Young, B.A., Vice-President of the Institute of Actuaries. Mcthuen. is. Wright, H. C. Children's Stories in English Literature, from Shakespeare to Tennyson. Fisher Unwin. Ss. Educational. Baker, Major Eden, R.A. Preliminary Tactics: an introduction to the Study of War for the use of junior officers. Kegan Paul. Bkndall, H., and C. E. Laurence. Graduated Passages from Greek and Latin authors for first sight translation. Selected and supplied with short notes for beginners. Part II. Moderately easy. Cambridge University Pres... Cameron, D. A. An Arabic-English Vocabulary, for the use of English Students of Modern Egyptian Arabic Compiled by. Bernard Quariteh. Harrison, W. Jerome. Guides to the Examinations in Chemistry and Geology, and Answers to Questions. Blackie's Guides to the Science Examinations. Blackie, Old Bailey. Paper covers. 6d. each. Hughes, Wm., and J. F. Williams. Advanced Classbook of Modern Geography, Physical, Political, Commercial. George Philip, Fleet Street. 6s.  ## p. 339 (#743) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 339 Jaschke, Richard. Nutt's Conversation Dictionaries, English-French. Compiled by. David Nutt. Pellissier, Eugene, M.A. French and English Passages for Unseen Translation and Composition, with Exami- nation Papers in Grammar and Idioms. Senior course. Edited by. Practical Abithmktic Exercises for Senior Pupils, con- taining upwards of 6,ooo Examples, with Answers. Blackwood. Rotal Atlas op Modern Geography. Part IV. W. and A. K. Johnston. Paper covers. Stanford's Handy Atlas op Modern Geography 3o coloured maps. Stanford, Cockspur Street, S.W. 10s. 6d. Wormell, Richard. Plotting, or Graphic Mathematics, is. Arnold's Mathematical Series. Edward Arnold, Bedford Street, W.C. Wright, Joseph, Ph.D. A Primer of the Gothic Lan- guage, with Grammar, Notes, and Glossary. Clarendon Press. 4«. 6d. Poetry and the Drama. "A." Sonnets and Poems. John Flack, High Holborn. Blakeney, E. H., and D. M. Panton. Poems by Two Friends. Palmer, Little Queen Street, W.C. Paper covers. I*, net. Dennis, John. The Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott. Edited, with Memoir, by. In 5 vols. Vol. I., with portrait. Aldine Edition. George Bell. is. 6d. Earle, John, M.A. The Deeds of Beowulf: an English Epic of the Eighth Century, done into modern prose. With an Introduction and Notes by. Clarendon Press. is. 6d. Lamb, Charles and Mary. Poetry for Children, i vols. The Leadenhall Press. Leather binding. Ross, Ronald. The Deformed Transformed: a Play. Chapman and Hall. 3j. 6d. Saintsbury, George. Political Verse. Edited by. Volume of the Pocket Library of English Literature. Percival. 3s. 6d. Shorter, C. K. Lyrics and Sonnets of Wordsworth. Selected and edited by. The Stott Library. David Stott, Oxford Street. Towndrow, R. F. A Garden and other Poems. Fisher Uuwin. 2S. 6d. The Professor and other Poems. By the author of "Moods." Kegan Paul. Watson, Wm. Poems. Macmillau. Ss. Law. Crawley, Charles. The Law of Husband and Wife. Clowes and Sons, Fleet Street. ios. The Law of Mcstcal and Dramatic Copyright. By Edward Cutler, Q.C., Thomas Eustace Smith, and Frederick E. Weatherly, Barristers-at-Law. Revised edition. Cassell. 3s. 6d. Oswald, J. F. Contempt of Court, Committal, and Attachment, and Arrest upon Civil Process in the Supreme Court, with the Practice and Forms. Clowes. us. 6d. Practical Hints on the Preparation and Registration of Joint Stock Companies' Forms. With prece- dents, table of fees, and stamp duties, and an index. Waterlow and Sons, London Wall. u. 6d. Piooott, F. T. Exterritoriality: the Law relating to Consular Jurisdiction and to Residence in Oriental Countries. Clowes, lit. Warbhrton, Henrt. A Selection of Leading Cases in the Criminal Law (founded on Shirley's leading cases), with notes. Stevens, Chancery Lane. 9*. Science. Bell, Robert, M.D. Tuberculosis and its Successful Treatment. David Bryce, Glasgow. i«. 6d. Bcbddicker, Otto. The Milky Way, from the North Pole to 10 deg. of south declination. Drawn at the Earl of Rosse's Observatory at Birr Castle. Longmans. 3os. Meyer, Lothar. Outlines of Theoretical Chemistry. Translated by P. P. Bedson, D.Sc, and W. Carleton Williams, B.Sc. With a preface by the author. Longmans, qs. Shaw, John, M.D. Epitome of Mental Diseases. For practitioners and students. Simpkin, Marshall; and Wright, Bristol. Parliamentary Papers. Analysis of the evidence taken before the House of Lords Committee on Metropolitan Hospitals (i«.). Agree- ment between Great Britain and Tonga relative to the Trial of British Subjects by the 'J'ongan Courts (£</.). Protocol between Great Britain and Uruguay amending the Treaty of March 26, 1884, for the Mutual Extra- dition of Fugitive Criminals (J</.). Treaty between Great Britain and Spain for the Suppression of the African Slave Trade (id.). Declaration between the Governments of Great Britain and Belgium respecting the North Sea Fisheries (id.). Declaration between the Governments of Great Britain and France for the execution of the agreement signed last year for the re- gulation of the Telephonic Service between the two countries (id.). Return of Tramways (Street and Road) Statistics for the year ended June 3o last (3d.). Consumption of Opium in India. Letter from the Government of India (is.). Annual Report of the Educational Endowments (Ireland) Commissioners for 1890-91 with abstract of the minutes of the Commis- sion, minutes of evidence and appendices (3s. qd.). Foreign Office, miscellaneous series. Netherlands, report on the evidence taken at Rotterdam and Amster-  ## p. 340 (#744) ############################################ 34° THE AUTHOR. dam by the Dutch Labour Commission (i|d.). further Correspondence respecting the Egyptian Exiles in Ceylon (i£d.). Comparative statement of Pauperism for December, 1891 (2d.). Return as to Alien Immigration for January (jd.). Report by the Board of Trade upon all the Railway, &c. Bills of Session 1891 (5jd.). Foreign Office—Miscellaneous Series, Nos. 209 to 219, reports of the subjects of general and commercial interest. Foreign Office—Annual Series, Nos. 938 to 978, Diplomatic and Consular reports on trade and finance. Annual Report on the instruction carried on at the School of Musketry, Hythe, during 1890, and on the progress of musketry instruction iu the Army during the year ended March 3i, 1891 (63.), Report on the Strikes and Lock-outs of 1890, by the Labour Correspondent of the Board of Trade (2s. 1 id.). Return as to Licensed Premises in Scotland (2s. 3d.). Reports of the Chief Registrar of Friendly Societies for the year ending December 3i, 1890, Part O, Appendix (L), Trade Unions (2^/.). Comparative Statement of Pauperism (England and Wales) for November, 1891 (2d.). Foreign Office Annual Series. Report for 1891 on the Trade of France (i^d.). Accounts relating to Trade and Navigation of the United Kingdom for January, 1892 (4^/.). Ten Years' Sunshine in the British Isles, 1881-1890 (ts.). Harmonic Analysis of Hourly Observations of Air, Temperature, and Pressure at British Observatories (12s.). Hourly Means of the Readings obtained from the Self-recording Instruments at the Four Observa- tories under the Meteorological Council, 1888 (20s.). Post Office Telegraphs (Capital Account) (id.). Chelsea Hospital, account 1890-91 (id.). Imperial Defence Act, 1888; Ports and Coaling Stations, account 1890-91 (id.). Irish Land Commission, report on sales completed within the six months ended June 3o, 1891 (id.). Post Office Contract as to the Portsmouth and Ryde mails (id.). Military Forces Localization, Account 1890-91 (id.). Official Paper: Agricultural Returns of Great Britain, with Abstract Returns for the United Kingdom, British Possessions, and Foreign Countries (nd.). Census of Ireland, 1891. Part I., vol. I, Leinster. No. 2, County and City of Dublin (is. 8d.). Report of the Irish Laud Commissioners for the period from August 22, 1890, to August 22, 1891 (7jd.). Statistical Tables and Report 011 Trade Unions for the years 1889 and 1890 (5*. ijd.). Barracks Act, 1890, Account 1890-91 (id.). Supreme Court of Judicature, Account 1890-91 (3Jd.). Report to the Home Secretary on an Explo- sion of Gunpowder at Kaines Factor}' on September 11, 1891 (id.). Army (Ordnance Factories) Appropria- tion Account, 1890-91 (2^d.). Church Temporalities (Ireland)—Report upon the account for the year ended March 3i, 1891, with the account for that period, and that from July 26, 1869, to March 3i, 1891 (2^d.). Duchy of Lancaster—account for the year ended December 21 last (id.) Bank, of England—annual accounts of Exchequer Bills, &c. (id.). Universities of Oxford and Cambridge Act, 1877—amendment to the statutes of Peterhouse College, Cambridge (^d.). Reports, &c., respecting Peterhead Harbour Works (id.). Returns showing particulars relating to Im- migration of Indian and Chinese Coolies into Trinidad since 1871 ($d.), and into British Guiana since the report of the Commission of Inquiry in 1871 (id.). Annual Local Taxation Returns for 1889-90 (3s. 4§d.). Return as to Licensed Houses in England and Wales (id.). Return of the Proceedings of the Irish Land Commission during August, December, 1891 (3d.). Scheme for the Union of the Benefices of Upper Chelsea and St. Jude, Upper Chelsea (id.). Report of the Comptroller and Auditor-General upon the account of the Irish Land Commission for year ended March 3i, 1891, with the account for the period from August 22, 1881, to March 3i, 1891 (2d.). Royal University of Ireland—accounts for year ended March 3l, 1891 (Jd.). Abstract Accounts of Woods, Forests, and Land Revenues, 1890-91 (2^d.). Foreign Office Annual Series Report for 1892 on the Finances of the Netherlands (ijd.). Report for 1891 on the Trade of Patras (Greece) (id.). Report for 1891 on the Trade of Zanzibar (zid.). Report of Experiments conducted by the Irish Land Commission (Agricul- tural Department) in testing the value of Applications of Sulphate of Copper to the Potato Crop, and ap- pendix to the report. Thorn and Company, Dublin. Eyre and Spottiswoode.  ## p. 341 (#745) ############################################ ADVERTISEMENTS. 341 THE AUTHORS' SYNDICATE. HIS Association is established for the purpose of syndicating or selling J_ the serial rights of authors in magazines, journals, and newspapers. It has now been at work for more than a year, and has transacted a very satisfactory amount of business during this period. It has also entered upon a great number of engagements for the future. The following points are submitted for consideration :— 1. The management is voluntary and unpaid. No one makes any profit out of the Syndicate, except the authors who use its services. 2. The commission charged on the amounts received covers the expenses of clerks, travellers, rent, and printing. As work increases this may be still further reduced. 3. Only the serial rights are sold for the author. He receives his volume rights and copyright. 4. The Syndicate has an American agent. 5. The Syndicate will only work for members of the Society. 6. Its offices are on the same floor as those of the Society, and its assistance and advice are always at the service of the Society. 7. Authors are warned that no syndicating is possible for them until they have already attained a certain amount of popularity. 8. The Syndicate acts as agent in every kind of literary property. 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln'8 Inn Fields.  ## p. 342 (#746) ############################################ AD VERTISEMENTS. Not Work, but Play. Leave the drudgery of the Pen—Soiled Fingers—Blotted and Obscure Manuscript, to those who prefer darkness to light. Quick, up-to-date writers use THE BAR-LOCK TYPE-WRITER. Easiest Managed; Soonest Learned; Most Durable; "Writing Always Visible; does best work, and never gets out of repair. Chosen, by Royal Warrant, Type-Writer to the Queen. Only gold medals— Edinburgh (1890) and Jamaica (1891) Exhibitions; is used in principal Government Departments, and greatest number of English business houses. We send interesting supply offurther information free. THE TYPE-WRITER COMPANY, LIMITED, 11*14, Queen Victoria Street. London. E.C.; 2J. Market Street. Mnnrliester: i. South John Street, Liverpool; 32, Rcntield Street. Glasgow ; a, Charle* Street, Mrndford. MISS H.. V. GILL, TYPE-WRITING OFFICES, 6, Adam Street, Strand, W.C. TYPEWRITING OPPICE, ST. PAUL'S CHAMBERS, 19, LUDGATE HILL, E.C. (ESTABLISHED 1883.) Authors' and Dramatists' Work a Specialty. All kinds of MSS. copied with care. Extra attention given to difficult hand-writing and to papers or lectures on scientific subjects. Type-writing from dictation. Shorthand Notes taken and transcribed. Authors' MSS. carefully copied from i*. per 1,000 words. One additional copy (carbon) supplied free of charge. Instruction given in Pitman's System of Shorthand and in type- writing. References kindly permitted to Walter Besant, Esq. FURTBER PARTICULARS ON APPLICATION. MISSES E. & S. ALLEN, ilVEISS PATTEJT, TYPE AND SHORTHAND WRITERS. TYPIST, 44, Oakley Street Flats, Chelsea, S.W. TRANSLATIONS and Scientific Work a Special Peatnre. Authors' MSS. Carefully Transcribed. References 39, Lombard Street, E.C. KINDLY rERMITTKD TO GEORGE AUGUSTUS SaLA, Esq. Office No. 5!) (clou to Lift). Particulars an Application. AUTHORS.—The New York Bureau of Revision aids Authors in completing their books; gives competent and unbiassed criticism of Prose or Verse; and offers MSS. and proofs in the American Market. Address— Dr. TITUS MUNSON COAN, 20, West lith Street, New York. THE ORIGINAL AUTHORS' AGENCY. Established 1879. Proprietor, Mr. A. M. BURGHES, 1, PaternOSter ROW. The interests of Authors capably represented. Proposed agreements and estimates examined on behalf of Authors. MS. placed with Publishers. Transfers carefully conducted. Twenty-five years' practical experience in all kinds of publishing nnd book producing. Consultation free. Terms and testimonials from leading Authors on application to Mr. A. M. Burghes, Authors' Agent, I, Paternoster Row. London: Printed by Kyrk and SrOTTiswooiiE, Printers to the Queen's most Excellent Majesty. Why? Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author, Vol. 02 Issue 10 (March 1892) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 02 Issue 10 (March 1892) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927&amp;view=1up&amp;seq=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1892-03-01-The-Author-2-10 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/260/1892-02-01-The-Author-2-9.pdf 8a3dc447aadd45ab15d1cdb5cf0eaa74 PDF Text Text ���������������������������������������� 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 Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em> Description An account of the resource A digitised run of the Society of Authors' monthly periodical, <em>The Author</em>, 1890<span>–</span>1914, made available together for the first time.<br /><br />Currently users can browse issues and <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?search=&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bjoiner%5D=and&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Index&amp;collection=&amp;type=&amp;tags=&amp;exhibit=&amp;date_search_term=&amp;submit_search=Search+For+Items&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">indices</a> (not available for all volumes). Full text search for all issues, and other additional search functionality, will be added in 2022. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890–1914 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context The-Author-Issues Publication Date The date of an event (in YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD format) 1892-02-01 Volume 2 Issue 9 Pages Page range in volume 255–294 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18920201 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin ^Ibe Hutbor. (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. II.—No. 9.] FEBRUARY i, 1892. [Price Sixpence. CONTENTS. PAGB • 'SI • »57 Warnings Notices , On Literary Property— I.—Author and Editor 359 II.—An Instructive Caso 259 III. —American Rights 260 IV. —The Literary Fraud 360 V.—Sale of Copyright 261 VI.—Return of MSB 161 VII.—A new Device 262 Gossip in a Library. By Edmund Gosse 362 A Hint for British Museum Readers 364 The Day shall Como 264 Notes from Paris 365 Like the Authors ..366 A Magnificent Story 368 Notes and News. By Walter Besant 369 "Eric and Robert" 373 Criticism and Fiction 374 Oxford, and the English School 376 To Busy Men in Good Positions 377 Burns and Scottish Poetry 377 Periodical Lists of Continental Books 378 Correspondence— I.—Illustration jg, II.—The new American Society 383 III.—Press copies 383 IV—The Mild Domestic Novel .'38, V.-How? VI.—Gerald Massey js| From the Papers— I.—Modem Poets , 33, II.—Names and Work ."384 III.—Copyright in Lectures asj IV.—A New Terror 385 V.—Literature and the State ag< VI.—The Commonest Delusions 386 "At the Author's Head" a86 New Books and New Editions 288 EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE. STATE TRIALS, Reports of. New Series. Vol. III., 1831—40. Published under the direction of the State Trials Committee. Edited by Jons Macdohell, M.A. 10*. INVESTMENTS. A List of 1,600 British, Colonial and Foreign Securities dealt in upon the London and Provincial Exchanges, giving the highest and lowest prices of each particular Stock for each of the last twenty-two years, or from the time of the creation of such Stock, also the price onjoth May, i89i,and the yield percent, to the Investor. Compiled by G. Brown. i». 6d. PUBLIC GENERAL ACTS, 1891. Red Cloth, 3*. Contains all the Public Acts passed during the year, with Index, also Tables showing the effect of the year's IiCgislation, together with complete and classified Lists of the Titles of all the Local and Private Acts passed during the Session. REVISED STATUTES. (Second Revised Edition.) Royal 8vo. Prepared under the direction of the Statute I*w Revision Committeo. and Edited by G. A. R. Fitzgerald, Esq. Vols. I. to IV. now ready, price 7». M. each. FORECASTING BY MEANS OF WEATHER CHARTS, Principles of. By the Hon. Ralph Abercromby, F.R. Met. METEOROLOGICAL INSTRUMENTS, Instructions in the use of. 3t. bd. THE LITERATURE RELATING TO NEW ZEALAND. A Bibliography. Royal 8vo. Cloth, «. bd. POLYNESIAN MYTHOLOGY AND ANCIENT TRA- DITIONAL HISTORY OP THE NEW ZEALAND RACE. By Sir George Grey, K.C.B. Illustrated. Royal 8vo. Cloth, s». ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE MAORI. By John White. Demy8vo. Half Morocco. 4 vols, ica.jpervol. PLIOCENE DEPOSITS OF BRITAIN, THE. By ('1 I'M km Re-ID, F.L.8.. F.G.S. Five Plates (48 cuts), s». bd. LONDON AND NEIGHBOURHOOD: Guide to the Geology of. Bv William Whitakbb, B.A. is. COPYRIGHT LAW REFORM: an Exposition of Lord Monkswell's Copyright Bill. With Extracts from the Reportof the Commission of 1878, and an Appendix containing the Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lely, Esq., Barrister-at-Law. i». bd. KEVV BULLETIN, 1890. Gardens, it. tod. KEW BULLETIN, Issued by the Director of Kew Monthly, 2d. Appendices, 2d. each. Annual Subscription, including postage, j*. ad DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE OF MUSICAL INSTRU- MENTS recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition Compiled by Capt. Day, Oxfordshire Light Infantry, under the orders of Col. Shaw-Hellikb, Commandant Roval Military School of Music. Illustrated by a series of Twelve artisticallv executed Plates in Heliogravure, and with numerous Wood Engravings. 31J. "Unique, as no earlier work exists in English dealing exhaus- tively with the same subject A very important con- tribution to the history of orchestration."—Athenaum. PUBLIC RECORDS. A Guide to the Principal Classes of Documents preserved in the Public Record Office. Bv S R Scarcill-Bibd. F.S.A. is. 'The value of such a work as Mr. Scargill-Bird's can scarcely be er-rated."— Times. Monthly Lists of Parliamentary Papers upon Application. Quarterly Lists Post Free, id. . Miscellaneous List on Application. Every Assistance given to Correspondents; and Books not kept in stock obtained without delay. Remittance should accompany Order. GOVERNMENT AND GENERAL PUBLISHERS. EYRE and SPOTTISHOODE, Hrr Majesty's Printers, East Harding Street, London, E.C.  ## p. 256 (#660) ############################################ 256 ADVERTISEMENTS. The " Swan" is a beautiful Gold Pen joined to a rubber reservoir to hold any kind of ink, which it supplies to the writing point in a continuous flow. It will hold enough ink for two days' constant work, or a week's ordinary writing, and can be refilled with as little trouble as to wind a watch. With the cover over the gold nib it is carried in the pocket like a pencil, to be used anywhere. A purchaser may try a pen a few days, and if by chance the writing point does not suit his hand, exchange it for another without charge, or have his money returned if wanted. There are various points to select from, broad, medinm, and fine, every handwriting can be snited, and the price of the entire instrument, with filler complete, post tree, is only 10s. 6d. The Gold Pens in the "Swan" are Mabie, Todd, & Co.'s famous make. They are 14-carat tempered gold, very handsome, and positively unaffected by any kind of ink. They are pointed with selected polished iridium. The " Eucyclopajdia Britannica" says:—"Iridium is a nearly white metal of high specific gravity, it is almost indestructible, and a beautifully polished surface can be obtained upon it." They will not penetrate the paper, and writer's cramp is unknown among users of Gold Pens. One will Outwear 90 grOSS Of Steel pens. They are a perfect revelation to those who know nothing about Gold Pens. Da. Oliver Wendell Holmes has used one of Mabie, Todd, & Co.'s Gold Pens since 1857, and is using the same one (his " old friend ") to-day. Sydney Grundy, Esq., says (referring to the Fountain Pen) :—" It is a vast improvement on every Stylograph." Moberly Bell, Esq., Manager, The Times, says (referring to the Fountain Pen) :—" One pen lasted me for six years." S. D. Waddy, Esq., Q.C., M.P., says (referring to the Fountain Pen) :—" I have used' them constantly for some years, and, as far as I can remember, they have never failed me." Send Postal Card for Free Illustrated List (containing interesting Testimonials from the Best People, who have used them for years) to— MABIE, TODD, & BARD, S3, OHEAPSIDB, LOKTDOKT.  ## p. 257 (#661) ############################################ ^Ibe H u t b o t\ {The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. II.—No. 9.] FEBRUARY 1, 1892. [Price Sixpence. For the Opinions expressed in papers that are signed the Authors alone are responsible. WARNINGS. Readers of the Author are earnestly desired to make the following warnings as widely known as possible." They are based on the experience of six years' work upon the dangers to which literary property is exposed :— (1.) Never sign any agreement of which the alleged cost of production forms an integral part, unless an opportunity of proving the correctness of the figures is given them. (2.) Never enter into any correspondence with publishers, especially with advertising publishers, who are not recommended by experienced friends or by this Society. (3.) Never, on any account whatever, bind yourself down for future work to any one firm of publishers. (4.) Never accept any proposal of royalty without ascertaining exactly what the agreement gives to the author and what to the publisher. (5.) Never accept any pecuniary risk or respon- sibility whatever without advice. (6.) Never, when a MS. has been refused by respectable houses, pay others, whatever promises they may put forward, for the production of the work. (7.) Never sign away American rights. Keep them. Refuse to sign an agreement con- taining a clause which reserves them for the publisher. If the publisher insists, take away the MS. and offer it to another. VOL. 11. (8.) Never forget that publishing is a business, like any other business, totally unconnected with philanthropy, charity, or pure love of literature. You have to do with business men. Society's Offices:— 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. ■ NOTICES. THE Annual Report of the Society has been delayed for the universal reason of universal delay—the influenza stops the way. The accounts could not be drawn up for the auditor. As soon as possible this will now be done, and the Report will then be issued. The First Report of the Authors' Syndicate, which is a branch, though an independent branch, of the Society, will be issued at the same time as the Report of the Society. It will be found to show a vigorous and a promising record of the first year's work. On Thursday, January 28th, the Committee pro- ceeded to elect a secretary in place of Mr. S. S. Sprigge, resigned. Their choice fell upon Mr. G. Herbert Thring, M.A., formerly of Hertford College, Oxford. Mr. Thring is a son of the late head master of Uppingham. He is a passed solicitor, and is not unacquainted with the work of the Society. He enters upon his duties at the end of March. The Committee desire to express their thanks to the gentlemen who offered their services. That the post should have attracted candidates of such marked ability is a gratifying proof of the position now held by the Society. T 2  ## p. 258 (#662) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. Cardinal Manning was one of the first Vice- Presidents of the Society of Authors. He attended at several of the earlier meetings, and always took a lively interest in the welfare of the Society. It was, indeed, the adhesion of men such as our illus- trious President, the Cardinal, and others, men whose position commanded respect, which gave the Society at the outset a claim to attention which a mere gathering of well-known literary men might have failed to command. Such is the situation of literature in this country. In America, on the other hand, a gathering of literary men would command the most widespread and the most respectful attention. Our readers will be sorry to learn that for the last two months Mr. R. U. Johnson, the secretary of the Copyright League in New York, has been dangerously ill with typhoid fever. Mr. Johnson is still unable to write or communicate in any way with his English friends, and it is even believed that he is still unaware of the gift which the authors of this country have presented to him. We are happy to say, however, that as we go to press we receive from Mr. Gilder, the Editor of the Century Maga- zine, a telegram, which states that Mr. Johnson is now convalescent, and is believed to be out of all danger. Mr. Rudyard Kipling has been elected a member of the Council. An American Society of Authors has been founded. Its President is Mr. Richard H. Clarke, LL.D., its Executive Council consists of the Rev. Dr. Alfred H. Moment, Rev. Edward P. Ingersoll, Mr. J. Fairfax McLaughlin, and Mr. C. B. Lewis. Its secretary is Mrs. Katherine Hodges. The prospectus begins with an extract from a letter written by Mr. G. W. Smalley to the New York Tribune, a copy of which has already appeared in this journal. The five points which are put forward as the objects of the Association are as follows :— 1. To promote acquaintance and sociality among authors. 2. To secure a clear understanding of the position and rights of authors in literary property. 3. To furnish information as to copyright laws, methods of publishing and form of contract. 4. To assist authors in gaining accurate in- formation as to the true value of their productions, and, when necessary, to secure that value. 5. To endeavour to elevate American literature. We do not know yet how the Association has l>een taken up in the way of membership; we have invited the committee to forward news as to their progress. We wish them every possible success, and we hope to publish from time to time reports of a triumphal inarch. At the Committee meeting of January 2 8th the following resolution was unanimously passed: "That this Committee welcome with great satis- faction the foundation of the American Society of Authors, and that the secretary is instructed to furnish all information and help in its power to the sister Association." The meaning, as between publisher and author, of the so-called "Royalty System "—where there is no system—was explained in the Author for November 1891. Writers are entreated, in their own interests, to study the facts and figures there set forth. Communications intended for the Authors' Syndi- cate should be addressed to W. Morris Colles, the Honorary Secretary. All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of this Society or not, are invited to communicate to the Editor any points connected with their work which it would be advisable in the general interest to publish. Members and others who wish their MSS. read are requested not to send them to the Office without previously communicating with the Secretary. The utmost practicable despatch is aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in which they are received. It must also be distinctly understood that the Society does not, under any circumstances, under- take the publication of MSS. The official directions for the securing of American copyright by English authors were given in the Author for June 1891. Members are earnestly entreated to take the trouble of reading those directions. Members are earnestly requested to forward agreements to the Society for inspection before they sign them. Once signed, the mischief is generally irreparable.  ## p. 259 (#663) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 259 ON LITERARY PROPERTY. I. Authok and Editor. WITHIN what period has an author a right to have unused manuscript returned to him? Has he any right to have it returned to him at all? If it should be lost, has he any right to compensation? These are questions as difficult as they are important. To return an exactly accurate reply to them is impossible, but an endeavour must be made to return an approxi- mately correct one. And, first, a wide distinction must be drawn between cases subject to special agreement and cases not so subject. In a large number of magazines the editor prints in each issue the terms on which he is prepared to receive manuscript, intimating that "he cannot undertake to return rejected communications," or the like. Out of the four corners of such agreements there is no escape, but they should be clearly printed and easily to find. They are, as a rule, however, not only clumsily worded, but incomplete. For instance, they do not state the latest day at which manu- script must be sent in order to ensure insertion in the next issue of a montldy magazine. It is believed that the 8th of each mouth is almost universally the latest day. Numerous contributions being strictly topical, all authors should be put on their guard on this point, and thus saved much useless " writing up to date." It is submitted that all topical contributions which arrive after this fatal 8 th should be returned to the author forthwith. But how about contributions not topical? It is notorious that some editors will keep such for many months, and, perhaps, eventually allow them to be wasted. On this point I confidently submit that no editor has a right to retain manuscript on the chance that room may eventually be found for it. As for corrected proofs which after all do not appear, or what is called "over matter," the right of the author to be paid for such is, or should be, beyond dispute. But where there is no notification in a magazine as to terms on which contributions may be sent, what are the relations between publisher and contributor? Some would say that the publisher solicits manuscript from all the world, and is bound to have all manuscript attended to, and either accepted or returned. It is greatly doubted whether this view will hold water, aud in 1884 the late Mr. Justice Williams, in an action brought unsuccessfully against Sir Augustus (then Mr.) Harris by a dramatic author for compensation for a lost play, laid down the law in terms which show that he did not share such a view, and non-suited the dramatic author. All things considered, and especially looking (1) to the excess of the supply of contributions over the demand for them, and (2) to the great risk of the same subject being selected for treatment by many more contributors than one, authors should surely either not contri- bute at all to magazines containing no special notifications as to handling of manuscript, or else make such terms for themselves by special agreement. A word as to remuneration. Whether rightly or wrongly, no magazine throughout the civilised world has as yet publicly notified any fixed scale. It need hardly be pointed out that the author has a right to be paid for each contribution accord- ing to its value—unless, indeed, the contribution be put in the form of a letter, when it is supposed that merely to insert is sufficiently to remunerate— and that a "scale pay," though in nine cases out of ten it ought to be accepted as fair, is not conclusively adequate. Much less would a publisher have any ground to stand upon who, after inserting a contribution, should venture to tell an uathor that the magazine is being run gratuitously. Such treatment should l>e met forthwith by a writ for the amount claimed. So much for magazines. Now for books. Here there can be no special agreement by public notifi- cation, but there is always opportunity for an author to make a special agreement when delivering his manuscript for consideration by the reader. What form should this special agreement take? So varying are the subjects and the sizes of manuscripts that of course no general rule can be laid down. It would perhaps, however, be reasonable to stipulate for a limit of three months' detention of manuscript in all ordinary cases. But why should not the Authors' Society draw up a sort of scale for publishers to agree to? And why should not a reasonable demurrage become payable by publisher to author after a reasonable period of detention? And why should not an author submit copies of the same manuscript, or offers to write on the same subject, simultaneously to several publishers, with the view of closing with the highest bidder for his work? II. An Instructive Case. A.B. is one of those pcisons who are wholly unfitted either by education, or by special study, or by natural powers, or by acquired powers, to write a single word for the furtherance or help or solace of his fellow creatures.  ## p. 260 (#664) ############################################ 260 THE AUTHOR. He is also one of those persons who become possessed of a single idea, generally a wrong idea, based upon misunderstanding, and impossible for anyone to conceive or to cherish who had any real knowledge of any subjects with which it may be concerned. Some of these persons write letters to the papers; now and then the letters get inserted. Then they are happy and look for the conversion of the world to their own opinions. Less frequently they write a book. A.B. wrote a book. It was a long and dreary MS. on an absurd and ridiculous subject; a book which any publisher with the least regard for literature would, without hesitation, refuse; a book which nobody would buy ; a book which ought never to have been published. Having written his book, A.B. sent it to pub- lishers. The extent of the travels of that MS. is unknown. At last a firm offered to publish it for him if he would pay the whole cost. So far, the only objection to the proceedings is that the book should never have seen the light. They appended an estimate. The printing, machinery, and paper, they said, would cost, for 750 copies, so much. They would recommend adver- tising to the extent of so much. The binding of 25o copies—to begin with—would cost so much. They also stated that they should charge a publishing fee and a commission on sales. The author accepted the terms without question or examination. The book came out and the accounts came in. The printing, machinery, and paper, set down according to the estimate which the author had accepted, was about £3o more than they cost. The binding was set down at a quarter more than it cost. The advertisements "in papers, lists, and cir- culars" were charged double the stipulated sum. No details were rendered, and it is clear from the wording that a good part of the money had been charged for advertising in the firm's own lists. The " publishing fee" was not forgotten. There were next to no returns. In other words, this firm took up a perfectly worthless book, knowing that it was perfectly worthless, in order to make out of it (1) a trifling publishing fee, (2) a trifling commission, and (3) the by no means trifling sum of £5o or £60 by fraud. This was not a little unknown firm: it was a large firm which advertises a long list. In the face of one single fact, such as the above, is there not ample justification for the existence of this Society? Should not the knowledge that the Society has dozens of such cases in its possession prompt all authors to ask its assistance, if only to be kept out of the hands of such a firm as this? III. The Value of American Rights. This is the day for warning authors—it is done very seriously by the disinterested brethren who manage literary affairs—not to expect too much from American rights. Let us not expect too much; let us wait and watch; meantime, we will keep these American rights, whatever they are worth, in our own hands, and not let the dis- interested brother have them at all. An article on the subject in an American journal states that most authors—all those who are not yet in a position to dictate their conditions—are compelled to accept a ten per cent, royalty. A few, he says, can command a twenty per cent, royalty. Now, we have not yet got behind those figures; we do not quite know what they mean, in America, to publisher as well as to author. Therefore, let us for the present say nothing, but make the best arrangement possible. The cost of production and of advertising does not, it is said, follow the same law of proportion to the price as in this country. The writer who is quoted gives us, however, one or two useful pieces of information. A work by a tolerably well-known writer which sells 3,ooo copies does well. Often a publisher is satisfied with a sale of 2,000 copies. At a fifteen per cent, royalty on a price of one dollar and a half, the author would get, on a sale of 3,ooo copies, the sum of £i35. In this country, on the same sale of a 6s. book, and with the same rate of royalty, the publisher would net about £2 70, that is to say, publisher: author :: 2 : 1 on that scale. On a larger sale it may become a pro- portion of 3:i. The American writer goes on to say that he numbers among his friends two well-known and successful writers, whose income from literature is not equal to that of an ordinary clerk in a prosperous business house. IV. The Literahy Fraud. "What protection has an editor against the man who sends him old and stolen papers as his own? None, except the police court; and it is really wonderful, considering the impunity with which the thing may generally be done, that it is not done oftener. In the States, it appears, the trick is much more common than here. The Harpers are reported to be resolved upon ferreting out and  ## p. 261 (#665) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. bringing to justice this class of offenders. There is more than one way of trickery. A man may stoal a paper from an old, or translate one from a foreign, magazine, and pass it off as his own. This, one imagines, is what is commonly done. If an obscure magazine is chosen, the chances of detection are very slight. Of course, if a man stole from old numbers of the Cornhill, or Temple Bar, he would be found out at once. Another plan is for a writer to offer an editor work done, sold, and published years before. A third is to sell the same thing to two or more different magazines. The exposure of the criminal's name is something, but in this, as in every other infringement of literary property, the courts of law are the only real preventive. V. The Sale op Copyright. If a man sells his copyright to a publisher, can the publisher do what he likes with the manu- scripts? I hear everyone say at once—certainly. Softly! Can he mutilate the work? Surely that might be to the author's detriment. Can he burn it? That also might damage the author. For an author is paid in two ways—by money and bv repute. If he is only to obtain his money pay- ments, they should be proportionately large where he is going to be done out of his fame. The matter is one for legal exposition, which is invited. The case is put in the form of a story in this paper. VI. The Return of MSS. The following notices have been extracted from the January numbers of the magazines mentioned, and if aspiring contributors would read them they would spare themselves a great deal of disappoint- ment. A large number are silent as to their practice with regard to the return of manuscripts, and in a still larger number of cases their bark is worse than their bite. Among these must be included the Quarterly Review, Edinburgh Review, Con- temporary Review, Blackwood's Magazine, and Cornhill Magazine :— The Law Quarterly Review: "It seems convenient to repeat, in a conspicuous place, that it is not desirable to send manuscript on approval without previous communication with the Editor, except in very special circum- stances; and that the Editor, except as afore- said, cannot be in any way answerable for manuscripts so sent. The Editor cannot undertake the return or safe custody of manuscripts sent to him with- out previous communication." The Nineteenth Century: "The Editor of the Nineteenth Century cannot undertake to return unaccepted manuscripts." The National Review: "Correspondents are requested to write their name and address on their manuscripts. Post- age stamps must be sent at the same time if they wish their manuscripts to be returned in case of rejection." The New Review: "The Editor of this Review does not undertake to return any manuscripts." The Fortnightly Review: "The Editor of this Review cannot undertake to return any manuscripts." Temple Bar: "Every manuscript should bear the name and ad- dress of the writer (not necessarily for publica- tion) and be accompanied by postage stamps for its return in ease of non-acceptance. Every care will be taken, but the Editor and publishers cannot be responsible for accidental loss, &e. « # • # Poetry. From the large number of pieces received every month, it is impossible to return them. A copy should be kept, as rejected pieces are destroyed." Longmans' Magazine: "A stamped addressed envelope should accom- pany the manuscript if the writer wishes it to be returned in case of non-acceptance. The Editor can in no case hold himself responsible for accidental loss." Macmillan's Magazine: "Every manuscript should bear the name and address of the writer, and be accompanied by the necessary postage stamps for its return in case of non-acceptance. Every endeavour will be made to send back unaccepted articles, but the Editor cannot guarantee their safe return. There is no rule in this magazine entitling a contributor to the publication of his signature. This and all other kindred matters rest solely on the Editor's discretion." "We shall give further editorial announcements next month.  ## p. 262 (#666) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. VII. A New Device. "The wily publisher has lately adopted a new device for fleecing his secular victim that may be recommended to the notice of the Author. The wretch has taken to sending the author all the unfavourable reviews that appear of his immortal work, and suppressing the favourable ones. The result is, or is expected to be, that the author supposes his work to be a failure, and, when the time of submitting accounts arrives, either expects no cheque or is delighted with one of a most modest amount." The above is from the Athenceum (Jan. 2, 1892). The adjective "wily " affixed to the word "publisher" probably means that the whole paragraph is an elaborate joke. "Secular victim" is a good phrase—also part of the recondite and cryptic joke. If it is not a joke, then somebody has been deliberately thieving, and ought to be tried in a criminal court. But when was it expected that a publisher should collect and send to an author all the notices of his book? Authors in their younger days have sometimes favourable notices sent them by their publisher to promote confidence, and always have unfavourable notices sent them—to promote despondency—by private friends. One would like to know more about the origin of this paragraph. It looks as if it had teen communicated by some publisher who had been rashly accused of the thing by a suspicious author. If not that, then it is the suspicion, probably unfounded by examination into the facts, of a suspicious author, communicated by him to the Athenceum. If that is so, his remedy is easy. He has only to send a chartered accountant to audit that publisher's accounts. If the publisher is an honest man he cannot possibly refuse. If he does refuse, there is another step possible, and very easy, which will overrule that refusal. GOSSIP IN A. LIBRARY. "Dbvden's Fables. "Fables, Ancient and Modern. Translated into verse from Homer, Ovid, Boccace, and Chaucer. With original Poems. By Mr. Dryden. London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, within Gray's Inn Gate, nea t Gray's Inn Lane. MDCC." This is an elephant among books, and makes us sigh as we lift it. At the close of the seventeenth century the British public grew more and more to address the poets in the words of Armado in Love's Labour's Lost: "Devise, wit; write, pen; for I am for whole volumes in folio." Until that time these grandiose forms, properly dedicated to the theologians and the philosophers, had been com- monly eschewed by the poets until they came to collect in a final shape their works (" that is to say, their plays"). The volumes in which the famous lyrical poets of the middle of the century made their appearance were delightfully exiguous. A young dreamer of dreams might carry his Lovelace or his Crashaw next to his heart without any fatal injury to the elegance of his doublet; the first edition of Waller, slipped into the pocket of his cloak, would add nothing appreciable to its weight. But, as the century closed, books of verse became steadily taller, and, above all, there came in this taste for folios. It was the enterprise of Jacob Tonson that first encouraged this latter fancy. One of his earliest ventures, as a young man of five and twenty, had been Dryden's Absolom and Achitophel, which he brought out, in defiance of all precedent, as a thin stitched folio pamphlet. He was immediately imitated, and this form, incon- venient as it seems to us, became the one generally chosen for the first appearance of occasional poetry. But among the enormous books of verse with which the century closes the one before us was the hugest, as it was the last. It was published, it is believed, in the month of November 1699, and therefore less than six months before the death of Dryden. The noble poet, worn out at last in his unequal struggle with misfortune, succumbed at length to a cluster of ailments which had tormented him all through the winter. His surgeon offered him the chance of prolonged life if he would submit to an operation, but Dryden refused. He told Mr. Hobbes, as Ward reports in his London Spy, "that he was an old man, and had not long to live by course of nature, and there- fore did not care to part with one limb, at such an age, to preserve an uncomfortable life on the rest." And so, on the 1 st of May, 1700, he died, calmly and resignedly, "taking of his friends," says one of those who were with him, "so tender and obliging a farewell as none but he himself could have expressed." This tall folio, then, possesses a singular interest as the final message of this great poet to the world in which he had fought, and laboured, and fallen, and persevered, for seventy arduous years, the last crop from this gnarled and broken but still richly fruitful tree. If the Fables showed signs of a mental decay responding to the physical, they would still awaken our interest and demand our respect. In those days a gigantic book of this kind was not rapidly worked off nor readily circulated. If, indeed, certain copies were subscribed in November, it must have been nearer Easter before some country clients of Tonson received the ponderous packet. Life went upon leisurely wheels in rural places then, and many a fine lady and lettered squire may have  ## p. 263 (#667) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 263 seen the ominous paragraph in the Postboy: —" John Dryden, Esq., the famous poet, lies a- dying,"—before they had mastered the contents of their last purchase. All their lives through such readers would have awaited the utterances of the one great writer of the age with the same certainty with which they awaited the changes of the seasons. That winter would follow autumn seemed not more inevitable than that Mr. Dryden would oblige the town, as he had obliged it since the earliest memories of man, with an ode or a satire, a tragedy or a translation. And now he "lies a-dying!" With what zest, with what melancholy eagerness, would they turn to his new volume. Nor would there be any possibility of disappoint- ment to a reader of that day. To compare the pleasure given by this folio to its immediate readers, we have to think of the reception proposed for the second Childe Harold or for the Idyls of the King. In spite of the insolence of his controversial opponents, Dryden was now to the world at large what Byron was in 1816, or Tennyson in 1864, that is to say, a writer intimately in sympathy with his public, of uncontested mastery, perfectly sure to provide exactly what his readers would wish to receive. The only doubt admissible was, whether disease of body and old age had reduced the creative and executive gifts. A glance at the folio would remove this fear. Never had Dryden written, in his own way, with a more brilliant force; never had his powers of narration been so pictorial, his artistic resources so completely under his control. Never till now had he shown what fire was hidden under the lids of those " sleepy eyes." The? chorus of critical praise rang out louder and clearer than ever before, and the laurels weighed down the weary body as it passed to its long sleep between the dust of Chaucer and of Cowley. The impression produced by this particular volume was not destined to be ephemeral. A hundred years after its publication, one of its most important sections could still be placed by so influential a critic as George Ellis " on the very topmost shelf of English poetry." Later still, Mr. Saintsbury has called the Fables "the most brilliantly successful of all Dryden's poetical experiments." It is therefore here, if anywhere, that we may attempt to solve the question why the admitted masterpiece of one who is acknowledged to Ik? one of the greatest of the English poets, is no longer widely read or enthusiastically enjoyed. I know no problem more difficult to solve, none more embarrassing to our critical pretensions. It is of no use to affirm that the Fables are enjoyed as much as The Fairy Queen, let us say, or as Prometheus Unbound, because? it is matter of common experience that this is not so. It is of i VOL. 11, equally little use to affirm that, therefore, Dryden must be a poet of a rank inferior to Spenser or Shelley, because it is easily demonstrable that he is quite as prominent a figure as either in our literary history. Let us, first of all, see what this volume really contains, a feat not to be achieved, even in Mr. Saintsbury's splendid (but alas! unfinished) resuscitation of Sir Walter, except in the original issue. The edition of 1700 consists of a prose dedication, a long critical preface, a poem addressed to the Duchess of Ormonde, a paraphrase from Chaucer, an Epistle to John Dryden of Chester- ton, a translation from Ovid, a paraphrase from Boccaccio, three more pieces out of Ovid, the first Iwok of the "Iliad," successive paraphrases from Chaucer, Boeeaeeio, Ovid, and Chaucer again, the ode called " Alexander's Feast," five more pieces of Ovid and Chaucer, an original poem to the memory of a Fair Maiden Lady, and a paraphrase from Boccaccio, all since distributed to various chambers in the complicated works of John Dryden. Of all these, one, and one alone, is familiar to every educated person, the " Alexander's Feast." Most literary men luive read or know they ought to have read the poem to the Duchess of Ormonde, and, of the paraphrases, " Palamon and Arcite," " Theodore and Honoria," and " Cymon and Iphigenia." The rest is familiar only to those few who read every- thing in the English literature of the past. Let us quote a passage from what lies outside the selected pieces I have named. Here is a description of a delicate young girl, who died at the very threshold of her life :— So faultless was the frame, as if the whole Had been an emanation of the soul, Which her own inward symmetry revealed, And like a picture shown, in glass annealed j Or like the sun eclipsed, with shaded light, Too piercing, else, to be sustained by sight. Kach thought was visible that rolled within, As through a crystal case the figured hours are seen j And heaven did this transparent veil provide, Because she hail no guilty thoughts to hide. Here is a courtly and cordial piece of compli- ment :— No porter guards the passage of your door, To admit the wealthy, and exclude the poor; For God, who gives the richos, gave the heart, To sanctify the whole, by giving part; Heaven, who foresaw the will, the means has wrought, And to the second son a blessing brought; The first-begotten had his father's share, But you, like Jacob, are Rebecca's heir. Each of these passages suffers by excision, for Dryden's beauties are those of sustained substance and extended form, so that to judge his poetry by a fragment is almost like trying to appreciate a marble Venus by examining one of her broken lingers. Yet which of the essential qualities of U  ## p. 264 (#668) ############################################ 264 THE AUTHOR. poetry is missing even in these brief quotations? Here are elevation of thought, felicity of expression, life approached from the dignified and imaginative side, versification that is as strong and as buoyant as a wave. What is wanted? The wilful modern reader says,—the charm of Spenser and of Shelley. What the particular charm is which seems lacking, not merely in Drydcn, but to a still greater degree in Pope, is, I think, mainly a technical one. It is not romantic subject, for nothing in English poetry is more romantic than "Theodore andHonoria"; it is not sweetness of verse-music, for the whole of this huge folio is ringing with a sober and majestic melody. It is rather the lack of preciousness in the details, the wide sweeps of the brush precluding all minute foreground work, the absence of pre-Raphaclite touches, which disappoint us in this manly body of poctrv. Wc expect, in our age, to have the entire canvas covered with delicate handicraft, and we find that where the painting poets of the Eliza- bethan age succeed their pictures have the same peculiarity. In Dryden's age a great effect was sought for, a poetical bravura, bold sweeping lines of narrative. It was expected that poetry should be seen from a distance, not pored over with a lens, as we treat our favourites. Doubtless our con- ception of the art gives us a more varied and a more vivid pleasure, but a perusal of this folio, Dryden's farewell gift to his country, may serve to remind us that the other, the simpler, plainer art also exists. Our taste should be catholic, and to those who would insist on our preferring one style to another, and putting Marlowe in a class above Drydcn, we may reply— "Kach heaven's alternate beauty well displays." Edmund Gosse. A HINT FOR BRITISH MUSEUM READERS. ON the 13th of July last, a register, open to the public, was placed in the hall just at the entrance of the Reading Room of the Dibliotheque Nationale in Paris, the object of which is explained in the following notice placed against the wall beside the register: "Conforme- ment an desir cxprime par des lecteurs, le present registre est mis a leur disposition pour l'inscription des deinandes on des offres de collaboration (re- cherches, copies, dessins, etc.) portant sur les collections de la Bibliotheqne Nationale. L'ad- ministration demeure absolument ctnmgere mix indications contemiei dans ce registre." Up to the present date (January 6) 109 pages of the register have been filled, or an average of nearly four entries per day, the nature and variety of which are quite interesting. It is to be noted that nearly all the entries are by ladies and gentle- men who seek literary employment, not by i>ersoiis in search of assistants. There are a few investi- gators in foreign countries who sent their names to lie entered for the purpose of finding co-workers, chiefly for gathering statistics. The numl>er of languages in which researches are proposed to be made, or lessons given, is astonishing. Let . me quote a few specimens of the entries, namely :— Demande recherches historiqnes, scientifiques, et techniques .... recherches en tons genres, transcriptions, documents de la noblesse, etc. . a faire des copies et a mettre des manuscrits au net .... a se mettre en rapport avec personnes s'occupant de la question juive . a faire traductions de russe en francnis, lecons et copies .... des travaux qnelconqiies (prix ties doux) .... s'oecupe de recherches heraldique .... desire donner des lecons d'anglais .... voyagerait avec une faniille on une. personne senle .... preceptorat on emploi de secretaire .... offre de vendre le manuscrit d'un roman .... collabomteiir avec petit capital pour fonder un journal .... place ile comptable .... ecritnres diverses . a changer conversation de francais contre conversation d'allemand .... place de redac- teur .... lemons de coniptabilite .... lecons de violin et de piano .... apprentisage d'un metier artistique .... place de gerant . . . . place de garde champetre. The supply in all these fields of labour is enor- mously greater than the demand. Would such a condition be materially different in the British Museum—in England, where education is not so free as in France? I doubt that there would l>e much difference. The fact is that we live in an age of research, and that the business is vastly overdone. An age of research is followed by a period of destruction, and the question of the XXth Century is, Can we utilize the results of our researches for the purpose of saving civilization from collapse? C. S. THE DAY SHALL COME. The day shall come—surely as time rolls by— When true strong souls to heights of God will reach— Aye, kiss His feet and hearken to His speech, The distance vanquished between earth and sky; As they draw nigh to Him, will He draw nigh  ## p. 265 (#669) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 265 To them, and bend His face a little down That glory from His eyes their beads may crown, Their hearts may strengthen to sueh tension high, But sometimes, too, I think that now and then, (Leaving some garment, lest they lonely cry, For them to hold, so, peaceful, childlike lie) God will withdraw a little from these men; And in far reaches out of ken and sight Will live awhile in awful lonely light. Sidney Caxton. NOTES PROM PARIS. ICALLED at Dr. Blanche's this afternoon to hear the latest news of Guy de Maupassant. He is only allowed to see very few people, amongst these being his publisher, M. Ollendorff, who visits him every day. De Maupassant, I was glad to hear, is very much better. His wound is healed, and he is very much calmer. A dav or two ago he expressed a desire to resume the writing of his novel, so tragically interrupted, but yielded to the advice that it would be better for him, as for the work, to rest a little longer. He is, hovever, allowed to write letters to his friends, anil one, which I saw yesterday, certainly showed no signs of having been penned by a man whose intellect is in any way deranged. His new novel "La Debacle " is killing Emilo Zola. Usually delighting in his work, he is loud in complaint at the enormity of his task. "I do not think that I would ever have begun it, had I known. . ." he said to me. Still he is making progress, and is now well on with the second part of the book, which, composed of eight chapters, is entirely taken up with a description of the battle of Sedan. He hopes to have it finished by the end of April. I called on Zola the other day on a very dis- agreeable errand. It was to ask him to put Ins autograph in a birthday book. This book belonged to a friend who is an ardent collector of autographs, and also a great admirer of the chief of the naturalist school. To oblige my friend I did what I would not have done for myself. Still, I did not care to face M. Zola with the request. I feared an "Et tu, Brute," but sent up, as ambassador, a note in which I explained my purpose. Zola came running downstairs, cordial as usual, and had me up to his study. "Have you the instrument of torture with you ?" he asked. Then opposite April 2nd, wrote his laborious signature. "I hate giving autographs," he said, "when the request reeks of coininereiality. I am constantly receiving circulars, chiefly from America, but never answer them." That birthday book contained the last signature Victor Hugo ever wrote. I obtained it a few davs before his death. It was pathetically feeble and illegible. An amiable eccentric is travelling in the south of France as Paul Bourget. He has allowed himself to be interviewed several times on various literary subjects. Bourget published a letter putting people on their guard against him, as it was thought he might be a swindler. But it appears all that he seeks to obtain by his false pretences is the satisfaction of vanity. He pays his bills anil behaves properly. Bourget ought to seek him out. He should be worth analysing. The last meeting of the Societe des Gens de Lettres was held on Sunday, the 17th, at the Hotel Conti- nental. Two hundred and ten members attended. M. Zola presided. The meeting was a lively one. It was divided as to the question whether the old system of admitting members on the rejwrt of a rapporteur, elected by the committee, should lie maintained, or whether Article 5 should be modified so that in future the claims of every would-be member should 1« examined by a special committee of three, who, after writing three several reports, should elect a rapporteur to make a final report on the admissi- bility of the candidate. The old system was main- tained by a large majority. The next meeting will be held on the 3oth of the month. I have seen M. Rodin's rough model of the statue of Balzac, which is to be erected in Paris by public subscription. It premises a remarkable work of art. Balzac is represented in the monkish dressing-gown which he used to wear when writing, and which, it will be remembered, was always kept spotlessly white. The face is an excellent likeness, and the pose bespeaks the wonderful vitality and energy of the Goliath of the pen. Rodin is staking his great reputation on this work. Is " avid " English? It is an adjective that I should often have had a use for, but the dictionaries ignored it. Of late I have seen it frequently used, as recently as last Sunday by a man of no less U 2  ## p. 266 (#670) ############################################ 266 THE AUTHOR. authority than T. P. O'Connor in one of his masterly reviews in the Sunday Sun; and I am anxious to know quo warranto. In France the Academy settles the y randes and the yetites entrees of words into the national vocabulary: in Germany the Kaiser decides in these matters, but who or what in England? Is the Englishman inde|>endent, of an official Word-Mint, or is it coining to invent words? There are many words which, like "avid," seem tout indiques, and I am curious whether a writer incurs n charge of lesS- lanyuc in introducing them as occasion warrants. Oscar Wilde's " Salome " is to be produced at the Theatre d'Art here next month. It is in one act and in prose, a highly poetical dramatization of the story of John the Baptist. Oscar Wilde wrote in French from the beginning. It is very much ad- mired by those who have read it, and the production of a French play of considerable literal')' pretension is being eagerly looked forward to by artistic Paris. Robert H. Shehakd. Paris, January 20th, 1892. ♦■>•-♦ LIKE THE AUTHORS, or A REFORMED PROFESSION. "TTTATT a minute," said the man at the table, VV looking up. "Sit down. Take a pipe. * T I shall not be long." His visitor took a chair—there were only two in the garret—and sat down. It was a cold day in January, but there was no tire. The man writing at the table had a rug wrapped round his legs. The furniture was scanty and shabby. Presently the writing man collected his papers, numbered them, and looked over the last two or three pages in his hand. "There !" he cried, "It is finished, and now I think that old humbug Sir George will sit up and look round about." "Oh! they are all made to sit up every week," said the other wearily. "What good does it do?" "I've shown that he knows no law; I've shown that he never did know any law; that his eloquence is twopenny froth; that he is a hack and a . . . ." "That will do. You have written one of the usual beastly things, I suppose. What good will it do if it is true? Besides, you know that it isn't true, or only half true. He is what circum- stances have made him." "It will mean a few guineas in my pocket to begin with." "And to end with. Nobody will think anything the better of you, or any the worse of Sir George, for your article, or a dozen articles like it. Never a number of any magazine comes out in which there is not some article by » clever young fellow like yourself"—the speaker was at least eight-and-t went v, and his friend was perhaps three years younger—" 011 the Decay of the Legal Profession. The magazines must be filled somehow. Formerly it was the Decay of Literature, and the pipers were filled by the young men who wanted to show their superiority bv down-crving favourite authors. I was looking the other day at some magazines of 1892. How- stale and dull they were—the articles written by the men of the Higher Criticism, as they called themselves! And how dead and forgotten are the writers of those papers! I think people got tired of the thing, if they ever liked it, which one cannot believe. Fortunately the reform of the professions and the destruction of our old corporations set us free to abuse each other. Well, we have got our liberty, and the result . . . ." He looked about the emptv garret. His eye fell upon the empty fireplace and his friend's shabby coat. He stopped and sighed. "Yes," cried the other hotly, "we have our liberty and we use it. What? Why should we remain in silence when such a humbug as old Sir George keeps all the business to himself? Humbug or not he is fifty years of age; it is time for him lo retire in favour of the younger men." "Quite so. Envy of success; jealousy of age; but Sir George is a great advocate; juries think so." "What do juries know altout law? But you are always carping at things as they are. I don't believe they were ever any better. Why should not barristers, physicians, preachers—everybody— criticise each other just as literary men have always done?" "Rather, why should authors have been allowed to set the evil example of knifing each other? Bemeinber that the best men—even the second- rate men—have seldom, if ever, done it. The personal abuse, the misrepresentations, the envious sneers that went on under the name of literary criticism, all this was done by men who notoriously had created or invented nothing, and were jealous of the men who had. The pipers which filled up the monthly magazines fifty years ago with lamen- tations 011 the Decay of Art and Literature were not the work of the craftsmen, but of the men who wished to be taken as critics. Their papers were sometimes accepted by editors because they could be had for the asking and at a prettv low figure, and because they filled up his paper. Nolwdy  ## p. 267 (#671) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. wanted them; nobody read them; they hud no influence; the things they cried down went on flourishing just the same. Nobody whs hurt by them, except the profession of letters. That was very much hurt, I suppose; it was made contemp- tible as far as it. can be made contemptible. What could the world, as then constituted, when pro- fessions were guilds, think of a calling in which every man's hand was turned against his neighbour, and abuse, depreciation, envy, and spitefulness were suffered without rebuke or power of remedy, except action for libel?" "By which you would infer that we our- selves" "Let us see. Fifty years ago the profession of the law was a closely guarded corporation. Those who belonged to it were governed by laws; if they broke those laws they were liable to be disbarred. For instance, they could not canvass, tout, adver- tise, or beg for work; tliey could not bargain with solicitors; they could not haggle and be beaten down; they could not sue for fees; they could not attack each other, as authors did—and as von do—had your grandfather written that paper in your hands he would have been most certainly disbarred. In fact, fifty years ago a barrister was, before all, a gentleman, according to the good old meaning of the word." "Whatever has happened, we have our liberty. Freedom before all!" "Freedom? Look out of window. Who is that great fat man swelling along like a turkey cock? A rich solicitor, is he not? He is to us what the publisher was to the author. He lavs the money; he gives out the work; he pays us. Formerly he paid ns at rates fixed by ourselves. We sat here and the work came to us. Now his chambers— that man has got a whole set of stairs in Stone Buildings—are besieged by barristers waiting to receive the work, begging for it, humbly receiving what he will give, hoping for his generosity. "Look at that fellow taking off his hat in the court. He is a great lawyer—a great scholar— a man of immense powers. Yet he has to take off his hat to the solicitor who has got the money, and he has to so himself to the man's chambers to ask for work." "Our liberty—Our liberty "—said the other man more feebly. "Your liberty! stuff and rubbish! wc had your liberty and we threw it away ; we were indepen- dent, and we made ourselves slaves. We imitated the authors—we cut the painter and east the boat adrift. Lil>erty is only to be achieved by combina- tion. As authors were fifty years ago, afraid of publishers, dependent on their so-called 'gene- rosity,' snarling at each other, so are we now, because we have destroyed our corporation. That splendid great hall, over there; it is used, you know very well, by the solicitors for their banquets —they sometimes ask us to sit down with them— it was ours once; the library next to the hall—ours —but we threw all away when we destroyed our corporation. As for the physicians, you know what they are now—think of what they were fifty years ago. •' Do you mean to say that we are not to speak the truth when a humbug ." "My dear fellow, reflect. Why should you speak the truth? How do you know that it is the truth? Have you shown that you could do any l>etter? Have you shown that you can do anything at all? Who constituted you a judge? Why should (he world accept your verdict? How much envy is there in this paper that you have written, and how much pure love of justice and yearning after excellence? How much knowledge of law—principles of criti- cism—do you show in this article of yours?" The other hung his head. "They all do it," he said; "my dear fellow, I should starve if it were not for the chance of making a little money this way." "Well, it is a bad way. In the old times, before the men and women of letters saw a way to combine, and to regidate the former license, the same kind of talk went on about criticism and the pricking of wind bags. Every little prig who offered his precious contribution was allowed to pad out the pages of the magazines with the newest jargon al>out Art, and with his crude and impudent judgment on men he never even took the trouble to read. They were just like you, my dear l>oy. They had never been tried; nobody knew whether they could do anything or not. Mostly they could do nothing. Mostly they no more had the critical than the creative faculty. In fact, the former is much the rarer of the two. And they were mostly consumed with spite and envy. Just like you, my dear lwy. Now you have got your knife into Sir George. That was the way the would-be man of letters generally began. You do not tell us, you sec, because you do not know, what you would do if you were in Sir George's place. He has to convince the jury; to please his employer the solicitor; to win his case. What is the use of saying that he knows no law? He has to win his case. What is the use of saying that he plays to the gallery? He has to win his case." "Is there to Ik' no criticism at all, then?" "Let us distinguish. A man in practice desires the favourable judgment of his employers, the solicitors. That is all the criticism he wishes, Most of your criticism is directed, and intended, to prejudice him in the eyes of his employers, Next, he desires to be thought a persuader cf  ## p. 268 (#672) ############################################ 268 THE AUTHOR. juries. If the world accepts Lim as such, he is, to a certain extent, independent of the solicitors, because they must employ him. Therefore a great part of your criticism is intended to prejudice him in the eyes of the; world. If a man is jwpular von deride the -world for liking him—just us the unsuccessful and the. untried writer used to do. You invent a thousand reasons why the world should despise him. But there is only one reason— envy. You want to take his place. That is, while you are young. At your present age you hate the men who have got on, because you wish to be in their place. When you grow old you will hate them worse, because you have failed to get on. That is about the sum of vour criticism, my dear friend." The other man did not reply. There was no reply possible, because it was all true. "When all is said," the speaker continued, "wo remain the slaves of the solicitors; we belong to the men who have money and can give out the work; we have to take what they choose to dole out we have no protection against them. They have cut our fees down to vanishing point; they have found out a thousand ways to rob us and beat us down. If we grumble they put on men like yourself, my dear Jack, hard up, envious, and j>erhaps incompetent— which is not like yourself—to call attention to our sordid and money grubbing spirit when we ought to be contented with the honour and the. glory of the spouting. These hacks talk about the dignity of the profession, and ask if law is to be measured by the guineas it will bring in. We are in rags, and our miseries and our helplessness bring upon us the contempt of the world. Why, men are ashamed to call themselves barristers, just as they were formerly ashamed to call themselves authors, l>ecause they were so helpless, and so poor, and so very much sat upon and robbed!" "There are too many of us," said the other. "Yes, we have abolished examinations, you see. Well—we live in garrets, like this j solicitors live in stately clubs; they have robbed us of all the good things that used to be ours. They are now Chancellors, Law Officers, Judges, Masters, Re- corders—everything. Why? Because, for the sake of the miserable freedom which you prize so much —the power of hating and deriding and abusing each other, we have given up the independence which was ours by combination and ours by disci- pline." There was a step on the stair and a knock at the door. A man marched in with his hat on, fussy and important. "Messrs. Vellum and Sheepshanks," he said, pulling out a bundle of papers, " Mr. Sheepshanks sends compliments and brief. You must call to- morrow morning at u.3o, when he will see you. Case set down for hearing. Documents in the case. Junior counsel, brief endorsed four-and-six. With you, Sir George. Here you are—want your money- down, I suppose, like all of 'em. Got sixpence change?" He threw the papers and the silver on the table and marched out again, slamming the door behind him. "There!" cried the young lawyer, jumping up, "My chance has come at last." "It used to come, fifty years ago, with a little more respect to counsel. And the fee! Four-and-six! Good Heavens! To what are we reduced? Well, it may be your chance. Meantime, this precious article! Will you add one more name to the long list of envious and malignant articles written by the young and the unsuccessful against their elders and their betters? "Let me keep it," he said. "If the case leads to others I will tear it up. If not . . . ." "And as for me," said the other, " I shall go on with the impossible task of trying to persuade this scattered company of barristers to unite, to associate once more, and to return to the old order. The older men cannot; it is too late for them. They have been too long accustomed to fight, every man for his own hand. They cannot understand the independence of the former order; senility to solicitors is in their blood; they have grown up to think it the finest thing in the world to slate and scarify each other. But with the young men it may be different. Jack, tear up this filthy rag," —he chucked the article into the empty fireplace— "and join me. Let us work together, let us try to restore the Inns of Court, let us try to bring back the old order, the old discipline, and the former independence." A MAGNIFICENT STORY.* EVERYONE has been reading "Tess of the D'Urbervilles," and Mr. Hardy's splendidly pathetic story has cominanded the outspoken praise of all competent to judge of its merits. It is a curious comment upon the attitude of the English reader—for this, of course, dictates the attitude of the editor who caters for him--that it should have been thought expedient to mutilate this perfectly restrained and delicate book in its original production lest it should give offence. To us it seems that if blind people will walk ulwut, they must take the chance of bruising their shins * Tess of the D'Urbervilles, a pure woman, faithfully presented by Thoma9 Hardy. 3 vols. Osgood, Mcllvnine, & Co.  ## p. 269 (#673) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. ngiiinst stumbling blocks. The world is to the clear-eyed. "Teas of the D'Urbervilles" is the faithful pre- sentation of a pure woman. This is on the title page, where it was easy to put it—the printer could have done it—but it is also in the text, where not another living writer could have put it, under the difficulties which Mr. Hardy has created for himself, that he might move us to admiration by overcoming them. For Tess is twice a guilty lover. As a child she is deceived by a man, and as a woman she is sacrificed to circumstances, but throughout her terrible story there is no doubt whatever that she loathes the sin that has lost her, that she is an absolutely pure woman faithfully presented. She starts as a healthy hoyden, soon to be a dishonoured mother, and she ends on the gallows, the mad murderess of her paramour, but from end to end she shows no trace of levity, no smear of sensuality. There is but one passionate time for her—her brief life as a bride. The story depends wholly upon the method of its telling. Throughout her misery Tess is always within a few feet of happiness, throughout her sin she is always within a few feet of virtue. She walks to her doom along one of two parallel piths. The other, separated from her by only a little hedge, would conduct her to happiness. She never sees over the hedge. Her first lover would have married her had she "resisted him longer. Her mother placed her in his power, and ignorance completed her ruin. But she is not ruined for ever. She lives down her fault. She is betrothed to the man she loves. Surely now she is on the other path! No. The man who married her would have lived out a life of happiness with her, if she had told him all her story before their marriage, or told him nothing afterwards. Her mother prevented the first course, her honour prevented the second, and at once she is back on her path of sorrow. She could have kept her husband by her side if she had put out her seductive powers. Her delicacy prevented her from doing this, so his delicacy urged him to desert her. She has one more chance. Her husband's parents would have helped her had she appealed to them. She starts to do so, and a trivial accident prevents her from accomplishing her purpose. Once again she was on the path to happiness, and once again she is forced away to her allotted track. The pretty generosity of Marian and Izz Huett might have saved her, but it was not to be. With complete fidelity to his conception of the girl and to his knowledge of life, the author hurries her to her doom. She has never known how near she has been to happiness. Tragedy is not the caterwauling of a Princess in a burlesque castle, and sensation is not a question of undiscovered crime. For those who can understand it this book is most tragic and most sensational, but it is not a book for house- maids. Tess is a very simple creature. She luis very little reasoning power and no religious convictions whatever. Therefore, stayed neither from within nor from without, she easily falls a victim to cir- cumstances, and her cruel fate becomes logical. But she is a pure woman. Mr. Hardy justifies his title by his book. Read it and see that the book justifies our title. It is a magnificent story. »■«■♦ NOTES AND NEWS. NO English paper, so far as I have seen, has noticed the very remarkable case brought before the Sydney Court, under Sir Frederick Darley, a few weeks ago. It was in the New York Nation that I saw the note upon it, which will be found in another part of this paper. A certain firm of Australian publishers had brought out a book called "Australian Men of Mark." The judge ruled that all contracts entered into on account of the book should be null and void, because it did not contain biographies of men really remarkable, but only of local importance. The Nation calls attention to certain dangers rising out of such a judgment. Others may be suggested. Thus, "Claribel: a Romance of the Day." (3 vols. Washington Jones. 1892.) What is to prevent a judge from ruling that the publisher is not bound to give the author any of the royalties stipulated for on the ground that there is nothing romantic in the book at all? Again, what is to prevent a judge from ruling that the publisher of a periodical called Noble Thoughts is not entitled to claim his rights because the Thoughts, in the opinion of the judge, are not all Noble, or that he who guides Little-Bits can enforce no claim )>ecause the "Bits " are not " Little," or that the Spectator does not spec tale and therefore has no rights? What with the decision in the Piunock case and this of the Sydney judge the law, as regards both author and publisher, is becoming confused and miscellaneous. The foundation of the American Society of Authors should prove an event of the highest importance to American literature. Elsewhere will be seen a longer notice of this event. It is hoped tliat they may follow our leading in certain particulars, viz., in the accumulation of all the facts  ## p. 270 (#674) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. connected with the management of literary property, the reform of the law as regards literary property, the creation of jealousy and suspicion as regards literary property. It is also hoped that they will show us an example in public spirit, clearness of action and union. Not to move too quickly, but to he always moving, has been our aim. There are some who think we do not move quickly enough. There are others who cry out to us that we are moving far too quickly. It. is neither helpless crying nor a wrathful strike that is wanted; it is steady increasing education and creation of public opinion, and the publication of the actual facts. There is one point in which I hope that the new American Society may be distinguished over our own. I hope that we shall hear that the whole body of honourable publishers have joined in support of the Society. In this country they have not. Partly, of course, it is the difference between a trade and a profession, that the former is not careful and jealous about its name and honour, and the latter is. What a barrister cannot do if he wishes to remain a barrister is well known. What a publisher can do and remain a publisher should be by this time very well known to our readers. Yet one might have expected that personal considerations, self-respect, dignity, even self-interest, should have caused those publishers who have given these hostages to fortune would have pressed forward to the support of an association whose principal object is the protection of property against those who live by pillage of that property. The case of the State and men of letters has been summed up by Mr. Earl Hodgson in the National Review. The spirit of the paper we cannot but commend. To begin with, Mr. Hodgson treats the question of the exclusion of literature from national recognition quite seriously, which is the first thing wanted j in fact, it is the only thing wanted. That the question is serious is the one tiling asked for. The proper answer will follow Very naturally. Mr. Hodgson, however, goes wrong at the outset by asking whether there is among literary men such a desire for titles that the Patronage Secretary of the Treasury would be "justified in ignoring the custom that the brewing interest has a practical monopoly of new peerages." And he points to the fact that men of letters have not come forward to complain that they have not received the titles which are freely given to everybody else. How should a man complain almut himself? It would make him on the spot ridiculous for ever. Even I, from my humble corner, when I began to speak on the subject, did so in the full knowledge of the cheap sneer that woidd certainly follow. A man of letters, asked if he would like a title— asked if he considers the withholding of national recognition from literature a scandal—must put the question aside or fence with it. Can a poet write in reply that he ought to have been a K.C.B. long ago? Of course he cannot. Mr. Lecky expressed this very well when he said that it is hardly for literary men to take the initiative in asking for distinctions. Most of the objections advanced by men of letters take the form of fear that the wrong men would be distinguished. But that objection applies to all professions. Some, as Lord Selborne, write the conventional talk about the "greatest honour of literary men is the power they exercise over the minds of men "—a phrase which may be used of lawyers, artists!, engineers, physicians, architects—all the liberal professions. Lord Selborne, observe, docs not object to the conferring of distinction upon lawyers. The only serious objection hitherto advanced is that literature should have a special order of distinction, and at present there is none. Certainly one would not wish that literary men should be knighted—a distinction pour rire when we consider the men who arc thus decorated. What, then, is Mr. Hodgson's solution of the question? He says that the answer is only matter of time. No class will ever have titular distinctions conferred upon its prominent members merely l>ecause it demands recognition. Yet it is inevitable that the distinctions will come to men of letters by-and-byc. There is to be, at last, a selection from the old and, to me, familiar pages of the Athenian Oracle. Mr. John Underbill has made the selection; Mr. Walter Scott will publish it. The book is simply invaluable to everyone who wishes to study the mind of the middle class at the beginning of tlic last century. The thing cannot Ihj found anywhere else in its entirety. Some of it is in Pepys. If we had the whole of Pepys without any omissions, we should doubtless find a great deal more, because Pepys was not at the outset in the very l>cst society. "For my own part," he writes, " I never did think my own family anything considerable- There is some of it in Defoe, but then Defoe was « strong self-contained man, whose ideas were very far in advance of his friends. Besides, Defoe was a Bohemian, and Defoe was a Dissenter. There W none of it in Tom Brown and Ned Ward, for the bourgeois mind has always been rojmtablc *D" decorous, if dull. There is very little of it i» Essayists, because Addison & Co., though 'hey might sit beside the smug cit at the coffee-house,  ## p. 271 (#675) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 27 r did not go homo with him and sit with his wife and daughters. The Athenian Oracle, with its succes- sor, the British Apollo, is the only place where the middle mind stands revealed. "God save the mark!" What does it mean? The words are now used at random; as often as not they mean nothing, unless it is a mild depreciation. "He calls himself a poet—Ciod save the mark!" There has been a little talk in the New York Nation on the origin of the phrase. It occurs, with its identical "God bless the mark !", four times in Shakespeare. It has been conjectured to refer to the mark in archery, or to the cross instead of signature. But the explanation explains nothing. Now, one of the four places is in Itomeo and Juliet, where the Nurse says: "I saw the wound, I saw it with mine eyes—God save the mark !— here on his manly breast." She touches her own breast while she speaks. The writer in the Nation, Mr. W. Hand Browne, thus comments on the passage and the phrase: "We know that in superstitions times men believed that they lived in a perpetual beleagnerment of malignant powers or demons, always on the watch to harm them in body or soul; and a careless act, word, or gesture might give a disastrous opening. Against such mishaps Christians were taught that the handiest prophylactic was the sign of the cross, which put all demons at once to flight. So I con- ceive that when the Nurse touches her breast she makes a cross upon it—' God save (he mark!' being equivalent to 'God protect from harm the place I now cross'; and this custom I surmise to have given origin to the phrase. As the English gave up the habit of crossing themselves, the original significance was gradually forgotten, until the phrase was used much as writers and speakers of the present day occasionally use it, without any idea of what it means or what they mean by it. "A curious passage in Petronius seems to support this view, and indeed gave me the notion of this explanation. Trimalchio is telling a story of witches veiling around a house in which a youth lias just died. One of the family, a bold Cappa- docian, draws his sword, rushes out of the house, 'et mulierem, tanquam hoc loco (salrum sit quod tango), medium trajecit.' Here Trimalchio evi- dently touches his own or his neighbour's body to indicate the spot where the witch was pierced, and uses at the same time a protective, or avermucine, formula to avert possible mischief." In another page will be found part of an address by Mr. Andrew Lang on Burns and Scottish poetry, filled with patriotic pride in the great and vol. n noble literature that is purely Scottish, on which nobody can—or does—speak so well as Mr. Lang himself. But is it the case, as he thinks, that the age is not " ending in song "? Only yesterday we were all asking each other where was the poet under forty? It had become a commonplace to lament that poetry attracts no longer the keener spirits. One worries through a good many commonplaces in the course of this pilgrimage; they are born; they live; they die. Sometimes they are nearly true, and die only when the conditions change; sometimes they are only half true; sometimes they present a small fraction of the truth. The history of the commonplace has yet to be written. Of this one commonplace, at least, I hope we shall hear no more. Mr. Traill, himself a poet of no mean repute, has shattered it. He enumerates sixty poets—real poets—to whom the title cannot be refused; sixty, not including himself, purposely omitted, the author of "Ioniea," Dr. W. C. Bennett, and Mr. Gerald Massey, accidentally omitted. There is going to be a fresh outburst of song, if I read the signs aright. They are the signs of serious attempt of serious reception, of awakening love for verse, of improved form. In America, if study and practice and perseverance can make poets, there ought to be many poets already. Mr. Howells, the parochial, I believe, claims all the leading poets of the age for his own parish. This is an age which, I venture to think, will end with the warbling of multitudinous songsters. The whole world will be a tuneful choir, and each bosky grove will be melodious. Whether there will be any great poet among them all, 1 know not; but I am fond of listening to songs, and I shall listen with the greatest pleasure. We may expect before long a great invasion of American literature. It must come, in fact, unless the American papers are far more kindly to their writers than our own. The invasion will, I suppose, ruin us all. Who can stand up against such writers as Paul Hamilton Hayne, "greatest of all southern poets," Celia Thaxter, J. T. Turbridge, Mrs. Helen Hunt Jackson, Mrs. Henson, Miss Edith Thomas, and Miss Helen Gray Cone, of whom we read that they have very often surpassed the remaining lines of Sappho, Danske Dandridge, "the West Virginia poetess," Miss Malt Crim, the "new southern novelist," Lafcndio Ilearn, and others who are revealed to us in the pages of the American journals? Seriously, how- ever, there is a great, a vast, increase in the United States of literary endeavour of all kinds, and they are attempting excellence with a newly born, but much fuller, recognition of form and style than we see in this country. If study and perseverance can X  ## p. 272 (#676) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. make poets, novelists, and dramatists, then will the United States speedily lead the way; the whole country, from highest to lowest, is full of respect for literary achievement; there is the stimulus of the highest national honours—such as the representation of the Republic at the courts of St. James's and Berlin; there are, available for literary art of every kind, inexhaustible materials within their own frontiers; it seems to me almost safe to prophecy an outburst before long of genius in the United States such as we ourselves have not seen since the time of Elizabeth. All the conditions are favourable—encouragement, honour, ambition, study, confidence, materials— everything is there waiting for natural aptitude or genius, and this will not be long before it shows itself in a full and flowing Hood. The book of the month—i.e., the book which lias attracted the greatest interest, during the month —is undoubtedly Mrs. Humphrey Ward's "David Grieve." There will be great diversity of opinion as to the place in literature which this work will occupy. Meantime, apart from opinions as to the development of mind here portrayed, there can be no doubt that the judgment of the Times, in reviewing the work, was sound when it pronounced the novel to l>e impressive. No other adjective could so completely sum up the book. One would like—this has nothing to do with the worth of the book—that the people who talk so glibly .about writing to a three-volume length on the assumption that all three-volume novels are of the same length, would kindly consider this three-volume novel as to length. It is very nearly twice as long as the ordinary novel. Of course the cry about Procrustean length belongs to that prattling bird the parrot, but it is seldom that its absurdity is so readily noted as here. Walteb Bksant. ERIC AND ROBERT, OR REVENGE IS SWEET. ILIKE these old titles. Out on your "Some Ideas and their Exegesis," a plague on your "Developmental Evidences," your "From Prig to Prime Minister," your "From Bookmaker to Bishop." Under such a title as I have chosen all can guess what sort of story they may expect. Eric and Robert were at school together. They were neighbours at home, and so far friends at school, that they walked together and talked to- gether more than a little, although they did not like each other much. I knew them both, and it always seemed to me that they kept up consider- able semblance of friendship, and some of its practice, because each distrusted the other; but I may have wronged them, and |K>ssibly they were a.s fond of each other as school friends usually are. This, at least, was notorious—they were desperately jealous of each other. And circumstances gave them cause, for circumstances constantly pitted them against each other. Robert, the son of an officer in Her Majesty's Army, would occasionally adopt a condescending tone towards Erie, the son of a solicitor. Eric, the sou of a thriving business- man, would at times show an obtrusive symjiathy for Robert, the son of an impecunious half-pay major. When Eric got a scholarship, for which Robert had competed, Robert congratulated him with a long face. When Robert was selected to represent their school at cricket, in the place that Eric had confidently expected for himself, Eric's interest in the national game waned, and he took to lawn-tennis. Both entered the same University, but availing themselves of the increased liberties of college life, they took different courses and saw little of each other. And this was the easier that they had but few common friends. If a man knew Eric he somehow did not care to meet Robert. If a man was on confidential terms with Robert he would get an impression that Eric was rather a person to be avoided. But they remained "Eric" and "Robert"' to each other. The University worked changes upon them. Eric grew idle, but read promiscuously, and adopted a didactic and critical tone. Robert grew diligent and became bitten with Orientalism. The result of this was to make him the only examinee in certain unpronounceable dialects, while it took seven savants to examine him. With a not unnatural generosity they awarded him a first-class in the tripos. It was about this period in their lives that the affair with Edith took place. I can say but little about it, for I know but little. Probably Edith would have married Robert, if Eric had not interfered. Probably she would have then married Eric, if Robert had shown a proper dignity and taken his refusal as final. He continued, as Eric said, to pester the girl. Now, she was a peaceful lass, and for the sake of peace she married the local brewer. With a University career and the regulation love affair brought to their definite conclusions, each young man felt that the business of life was now before him. Robert took pupils in the Cashmere dialects and began to make a reputation for himself as a Numismatist. His Oriental studies bad  ## p. 273 (#677) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 273 infused a certain enthusiasm into a school-boy trick of coin-collecting, and had thrown over it a glamour of classic learning. At two or three public sides he gave the highest prices on record. From the newspaper notoriety which he thus acquired to public recognition as an expert in his subject was but a short step. Next came rumours of his for- tunate bargains. The British Museum cut Robert's own records, by giving him more for certain coveted bits of metal than he had given himself. Then the museums of New York and Melbourne followed suit, and in course of time he acquired a second reputation, as big as the first, by the sales from his collection. He was chosen with acclaim the Librarian and Curator of the New Institute of a northern town, became a serious candidate for election to the Royal Society, and was believed to be writing an exhaustive book on the enthralling hobby that he had made his own, and lifted into the position of a science. Meanwhile, Eric had also fallen upon his legs. Shortly after leaving college he had entered a well- known publishing firm, and as time went on he became the presiding genius of the business. He was very modern. He republished certain Eliza- bethans' poetry in numbered copies on hand-made paper. He ran a serious magazine, entitled " The Mirror of Contemporary Thought," to which he obtained contributions from an archbishop, a prize- lighter, and Mr. Gladstone. Of course he had his series. It was called the Victorian series, and consisted of little manuals stuffed with home-truths about the Great People of the reign. It had a certain vogue, chiefly among the little people of the reign, but that is a very respectable public to appeal to. Soon after the establishment of " The Mirror of Contemporary Thought," there were hints in various literary periodicals that the coming book of re- search—a book from which amusement and artistic pleasure were to be derived as well as mere infor- mation—was Robert's Manual of Numismatics. With an impartial spirit, hardly to be too highly commended in these log-rolling days, Erie lent the pages of his review to Mr. Mortimer Watson, who essayed, firstly, to dispose of Numismatics as a science for ever, and, secondly, to indicate that Robert's Numismatics presented that foolish science in a more contemptible light than it had ever pre- viously appeared. Mr. Watson was thorough and his work was very creditable, for he only had three little stray articles from Robert's pen and a few annotated catalogues to guide him to his conclu- sions, but those who read the article could scarcely fail to see that Robert was a vicious, ignorant, and pretentious man. Eric said in more quarters than one that he was deeply sorry that Robert should have been exposed. It was about this time that Eric came on for election at Robert's club. Robert was so busy in the matter, that more might have been expected from his efforts in behalf of his old friend, than actually came of them. Eric was not elected; and Robert said in more quarters than one that he was deeply sorry that Eric should not have been more fortunate. To his inner self each owned that he hated the other. The position between them would have been clearer to all of us, had not Robert's appointment kept him far from London. As they never met, a formal agreement not to meet seemed superfluous to both. Yet, oddly to say, at the very time when it seemed most clear to us all that they could never pretend to friendship again, business brought about a rapproehement. Eric wrote to Robert and asked him if he would give him the publication of the book, allusion to which lind appeared in the papers. He would like so much to publish it, he said, iirstly because he felt sure that it would be a good book, one—not to make too great a pretence to disin- terestedness—that would bring him in a certain amount of money; and, secondly, because he wished to dissociate himself for ever from Mr. Mortimer Watson's vile attack on Robert. "Why should not Robert," he asked, "run up to town, dine, and talk the matter over?" So they dined and they talked, and they jHirtcd dissatisfied with each other. For Robert had been exacting; of this there could be no shadow of doubt. He had also been exasperating. He had spoken of his book as the only work that had ever l>een done on the subject that could be worthy of serious consideration. He boasted that it would not only open to him the exclusive portals of the Royal Society, but that it would cause him to be quoted as a pioneer in Numismatic circles for ever. "It has taken me ten years to write, sir, and two more to illustrate," said he, banging the table, "but it will pay me with ten lifetimes of fame. The book is unique." Eric listened to these gasconnades without interrupting. The next day- lie made Robert an offer for his book. It was accepted. It was boundlessly generous—at any rate by comparison with the offers that had been made by other publishers. The brief conditions were that Robert was to deliver the MS. by a certain date, and that he was to assign absolutely ami for ever all his rights in the book to Eric, in return for a thousand pounds. • * • • On the morning of the day upon which the MS. was to be delivered Robert received a letter from Eric, laudably anxious to keep his share of the contract, reminding him that the work was due and hoping that Robert would bring the original illustrations, and leave their reproduction to him, X 2  ## p. 274 (#678) ############################################ 274 THE AUTHOR. as he could make bettor arrangements for their reproduction than the author. "Fidgetty fool!" said Robert, who had already tied up the illustrations, and into whose mind no idea of interfering in the details of publication had ever entered. "Fidgetty fool !" he repeated. Suddenly a thought occurred to him that made him shiver. "Oh! that's it, is it? That's why you pay a thousand pounds," said he, and sitting down he telegraphed to Eric that the work could not be ready for a day or two. He spent those days, assisted by his pupils, in making rough imi- tations and tracings of all the original illustrations in his work, while he sent the text to be type- written. Two more days saw him in London, with a parcel in each hand, one containing the original illustrations and the type-written text, the other the rough imitations of the. pictures and the original MS. The first parcel he left with a well-known publisher, asking for an appointment later on in the day, and the second he took with him to Eric. Eric was very white, and received him affectionately. Kobert spoke in friendly tone, but, with the greed of authors, suggested business, putting his parcel on Eric's desk. "I am quite ready for you," said that excellent publisher, " Here is the agreement for your signat lire, assigning to me all your rights in your work, on consideration of my giving you a thousand pounds, and here is a cheque for that sum." Robert looked at the cheque. "When shall you bring the book out?" he asked. Eric had in the meantime untied the parcel, and was running his eye hastily over the MS. He seemed satisfied with the perusal. "I can tell you at once what I am going to do with it," he said, " but I wish first to put it in safety," and he walked into a little room behind the ollice, carrying the precious MS. "This is a joke," said Robert, and, staid Orient- alist as he was, he actually capered. And then there was the sound of fire-irons from Eric's retreat, whereat he capered again, and with more nbandon. Eric came back in two or three minutes and his face was now a vivid crimson. "As I have bought your book right-out," he said, " of course I can do what I like with it." "Of course," said Robert. "Well," said Eric, " I have paid you, and I have burnt your book." Said Robert, "You've burnt the work of my life?" Then he added, after a moment's silence, "Aren't you afraid that I shall kill you?" "No," said Eric, putting his hand in the drawer of his desk, whence a click immediately proceeded. "Melodrama ?" said Robert. "Oh no! Tragedy," said Eric, " It's loaded." "I suppose you really have burnt it," said Robert. "I hope so," said Erie. "Are you sorry ?" said Robert, looking at the cheque. "Not in the least," said Eric. "Then there's nothing more to be said?" "Nothing." Robert cashed the cheque. He then went to the publishers with whom he had left the other parcel. "Print it regardless of expense," he said. <: I am prepared to spend a thousand pounds, if necessary, on its production and advertisement." * • * • Six weeks afterwards the book appeared, and in a short preface Robert bore eloquent testimony to the generosity of Eric, who had crowned a life- long affection by an act of splendid munificence, in making a noble contribution to the cost of his old friend's work. Eric wrote a letter to the publishers, threatening to take proceedings to restrain them from publishing the book, but Robert pointed out that he had better, for the sake of his own reputation, keep quite quiet. "About the burning of the thing," he said, "I don't know that people would think so much. After all, many would say it was only a MS., meaning that it was only two shillings' worth of paper. And many more would consider your malice so ingenious, so mediaeval, so pic- turesque, that they would almost forgive it, even though the author did not. What no one would ever forgive you, if the matter came out, is the fact that you were fooled. My dear old schoolfellow, my open-handed patron, dry up." And, as the reporters say, proceedings then terminated. O. J. *~~-+ "CRITICISM AND FICTION." THIS little book, written by Mr. W. D. Howells, and published in London by Messrs. Osgood and Co., seems to have received much less attention from the English papers than it deserves. For to sum up, at the outset, it is a book helpful to the novelist of everv age and of every degree; it is suggestive, en- couraging, kindly; it is full of wise saws; it is admirably written, and abounds with unexpected happinesses in phrase and word. For English readers, however, everything that Mr. Howells  ## p. 275 (#679) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 2/5 writes is marred l>y that anti-English warp of his mind which amounts to an actual craze. He belongs to the irreconcileablcs; his ancestors kicked ours out of America after we had spent immense treasures and thousands of lives in making their home secure from foreign invasion; he, with the other American irreconcileables, can never forgive us for the benefits we conferred upon his forefathers and for the gratitude with which these benefits were repaid. Consequently, he cannot allow any good thing, whether in literature or in anything else, to England or Englishmen. Then he is afflicted with a most pestilent self-consciousness, which compels him to be perpetually measuring himself, or some immortal genius of his own country, with Thackeray and Dickens. Indeed, when you have cut down Thackeray by a head and shoulders and deprived Dickens of his legs, Mr. Howells and tliat other immortal do really stand much about the same height with these two Britons. In this little volume, for instance, the English writer is continually spoken of with open or veiled contempt, while Mr. Howells's warm heart and real admiration are reserved for that world-widely known lady, Mrs. Rose Terry Cooke, who "now carries the art of story telling to its highest" (page 169), or to that other illustrious favourite of the Muses, Miss Jewett, whose sketches are "perfectly satisfying." For this singular feature in Mr. Howells's criticism, and for one or two other points, which need not be pointed out here, a writer of his own country—one of those whom he has not measured beside Thackeray—compared Mr. Howells, as u critic, to a socialist in a dress coat, pretending that he did not know the taste of beer. It is, besides, a parochial method, and must make people on the other side laugh, while it makes ]>eoplc on this side a little irritated and a great deal contemptuous. It is unfortunate when such a form of madness is allowed to appear in such a book as the one before us. We all have our weaknesses and our crazes. These cannot be helped; but when they would injure the quality of work, they should be kept carefully apart and bestowed upon some other piece of work. Now, in a well-known case—a leading case—quoted by a tenth-rate writer named Charles Dickens—far, far below Rose Terry Cooke, and not to be compared with Miss Jewett—there was a man who used to get mixed al>out Charles the Blessed Martyr. It was arranged by his friends that this man should keep two desks whenever he sat down to write; one for his thoughts concerning King Charles, the other for the work in hand. This settled, he got on very well indeed. If Mr. Howells had only kept two desks, one for England, English institutions, and English literature, and the other for his own prope r work, how delightful this book might have l>een! For instance, that little passage on page 125 clearly belongs to the other desk :— "There can belittle question that many refine- ments of thought and spirit which every American is sensible of in the fiction of this continent, are necessarily lost upon our good kin beyond seas, whose thumb-fingered apprehension requires some- thing gross and palpable for its assurance of reality. This is not their fault, and I am not sure that it is wholly their misfortune: they are made so as not to miss what they do not find, and they are simply content without those subtleties of life and character which it gives us so keen a pleasure to have noted in literature. If they perceive them at all it is as something vague and diaphanous, something that filmilv wavers before their sense and teases them, much as the beings of an invisible world might mock one of our material frame by intimations of their presence. It is with reason, therefore, on the part of an Englishman, that Mr. Henley complains of our fiction as a shadow-land, though we find more and more in it the faithful report of our life, its motives and emotions, and all the comparatively etherealizcd passions and ideals that influence it." This little trouble about Charles the Martyr apart, the book is as good a treatise on the Art of Fiction as has ever appeared; written in a perfectly clear style by a man who knows what he means. There is nothing woolly in his utterances. He lets us see clearly what he means. He is intelligible. The young novelist could do nothing better than to buy and study the book. Beneath the parochial view there is wisdom and there is guidance. The author has forgotten the index and the table of contents, so that, though the work is divided into chapters, which are not even headed, there is nothing to guide the reader. This is a singular omission for so practised a hand. Let us justify our appreciation of this little work by two or three extracts—for our limited space— perhaps as much as should be taken from so small a volume. What is Guxirs. "In fact, the whole belief in 'genius' seems to me rather a mischievous superstition, and if not mischievous always, still always a superstition. From the account of those who talk about it, 'genius' appears to be the attribute of a sort of very potent and admirable prodigy, which God has created out of the common for the astonishment and confusion of the rest of us poor human beings. But do they really believe it? Do they mean anything more or less than the Mastery which comes to any man according to his powers and diligence in any direction? If not, why not have an end of the superstition which has caused our  ## p. 276 (#680) ############################################ 2j6 THE AUTHOR. race to go on so long writing and reading of the difference between talent and genius? It is within the memory of middle-aged men that the Maelstrom existed in the belief of the geographers, but we now get on perfectly well without it; and why should we still suffer under the notion of 'genius,' which keeps so many ]>oor little authorlings trem- bling in question whether thev have it, or have onlv 'talent'?" On Standards. "If I were authorised to address any word directly to our novelists, I should say, Do not trouble yourselves about standards or ideals, but try to be faithful and natural: remember that there is no greatness, no beauty, which does not come from truth to your own knowledge of tilings; and keep on working, even if yoiu- work is not long remembered." Fiction, Present and Future. "Fiction is now a finer art than it has ever been hitherto, and more nearly meets the requirements of the infallible standard. I have hopes of real usefulness in it, because it is at last building on the only sure foundation; but I am by no means certain that it will be the ultimate literary form, or will remain as important as we believe it is destined to become. Oi: the contrary, it is quite imaginable that when the great mass of readers, now sunk in the foolish joys of mere fable, shall be lifted to an interest in the meaning of things through the faithful portrayal of life in fiction, then fiction the most faithful may be superseded by a still more faithful form of contemporaneous history." ♦■»■♦ — OXFOED AND THE ENGLISH SCHOOL. (From an article by Mr. F. York Powell in the Educational Review, by permission of the Editor.) MP HE Hebdomadal Council (which alone lias I the power of initiating University legislation at Oxford) has rejected, by a division of 10 to 9 the proposal to introduce a "statute" for the establishment of a final school of English language and literature. The University has, by this extraordinary decision, been prevented from discussing and deciding a question of the utmost importance. Yet the memorial which Council was thus replying to was one of the most weighty that has been before it for years—no less than 108 persons, comprising nearly every Master of Arts interested in or really qualified to give an opinion u]K)ii the brandies of knowledge for which thev desired to secure the ad- vantages of University patronage and organisation. No reason was given by Council for the rejection of the memorial, and naturally, because the memorial was rejected bv a combination of persons for various reasons and very different motives. It will be remembered that on a big division of 94 to 94. in Convocation, the regular Parliament of the University only a few months ago, the casting vote alone decided against a final school of modern language and literature. According, therefore, to all constitutional ideas, the present denial of discus- sion to a project neither so ambitions nor so novel as a complete modern literature and language school can onlv be regarded as a cunning, but not very credit- able, attempt to burke a measure which would mast probably have been carried had the University assembly been allowed to vote iqioii it. The real opposition comes from two bodies of persons who believe that their interests are at stake, and who will therefore fight bitterly. The first an' those who think the beloved "college system" will be compromised by the demands for instruction which can onlv be met by the creation of fresh college lecturers (to which course, for various reasons, they are opposed), or by allowing their pupils to go to University officials for instruction— a natural proceeding one would have thought, but a proceeding they very cordially dislike. The boarding-school interest, as it has been called, is therefore against the new school. Their companions are persons to whom the college is less important, but to whom the very name of philology is a word of fear. They detest a science thev wot not of; thev are too old or too obstinate to look into the matter for themselves; but they are firmly persuaded that philology spells ruin, and that the proposed school for English literature and language would be nothing more than a mask for the insidious advances of new gram- marians and phoneticians upon an ancient and respectable University. This race of opponents will die out, and that before long; their number lessens rapidly every year. Next come the eccentric people who vote against a school of literature because "you can't examine in literature," and therefore, in order to prevent people trying the experiment, cast out the whole project. Of course, most of the very people who use this argument are examining every year in Greek and llonian literature without difficulty. We may leave them to be converted by facts (as they possibly will be), or to persist in their Partingtonian position. Lastly, among the opponents of the teaching of English at Oxford comes that well-known and  ## p. 277 (#681) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. Z77 not unloved type, the Oxford paradoxist. When lie says literature is such a beautiful thing that he cannot vote for encouraging anyone to learn or teach English literature, that it is really too beautiful for use, one knows he will probably go home contentedly to his college and lecture on Homer or Euripides or Lucretius or Juvenal, who have managed to survive some centuries of hard use in .schools and places where they teach. The paradoxist is, at least, amusing and disinterested. To sum up the situation. It is the wrongly called "college interest" and the foes of philology that really stop the way at Oxford. Their opposi- tion must be counted upon and fought down. This need not take very long. A final school of English language and literature is needed by teachers of all grades and by learners of nil classes in this country. The University needs it as much as any place in England. A reasonable demand supported both inside ami outside the University must soon be granted. ♦•»•♦ TO "BUSY MEN IN GOOD POSITIONS." THERE is si bookseller, librarian, and pub- lisher, who seems, if the slang may be pardoned, to "have got a soft thing on." Tbc following remarks will not, it is hoped, spoil his market. An eminent and popular novelist, a really eminent novelist, and a really popular novelist, whose work is valuable as well as good, received a request from this gentleman that he would do a tiny volume for him. The subject mentioned was one on which the novelist had special knowledge, and this, as the publisher allowed, had dictated tlie choice of author. A most reasonable dictation! Fifteen guineas were offered for 2,5oo words. A most reasonable proposal! And a specimen "tiny volume" was enclosed. Undoubtedly this volume was tiny, and so was the type in which it was printed. In fact, it contained 25,ooo words instead of 2,5oo. The novelist wrote to ask for an explanation. Was the wage offered for the larger number of words contained in the "tiny volume," or for the smaller number of words suggested in the letter? The publisher allowed that it was the larger amount that he required, "and the copyright for his little series." The novelist in expressing his inability to comply with the publisher's request, took the opportunity to point out that it was hardly a compliment to him to have l>een selected as a specialist upon a subject, and then invited to work for six weeks or more at the rate of seven and six- pence a day or less. He also pointed out that, in his opinion, if cheap books could not be produced without sweating the author, they had better not be produced at all. The publisher was hurt. He answered and said that all he wanted was a sketchy thing that could have been put clown in a week. But, O man of business, why apply to a good workman if you wanted bad work? He also said that half the number of words mentioned would have satisfied him. But, again, O man of business, why enclose a s|>ecimen of work, if you do not want an article similar to the specimen? And in justification of his proposal, and in repudiation of the author's remark aliout sweating, he said "the sum I offer is double what I was asked for by the specialist who wrote my other stories .... he is a busy man in a good position." Now, a word of adv ice to this "busy man in a good position" on the chance that it may catch his eye, and the advice applies to all who, ignorant of the value of their work, or con- temptuous of its money returns, accept the first mean offer that is made to them. Quadruple your price. Why divert proper pay from those who want it? Why put money in the publisher's pocket which he ought not to have? If you want to give money away, why not take from the publisher your legitimate pay, so that you may dictate for yourself the direction in which your alms shall go? Of money, Sir, you may lje indifferent, but you should not be indifferent to the power of doing good. BURNS AND SCOTTISH POETRY, "nPHEY were not a people of one poet only, I though that was an impression which some tried to give to the world. They neglected Lindsay and Dunbar. If using poetry for school- books were not the best way to disgust children with poetry, he could wisli that Dunbar and Lindsay were read in Scottish schools as Chaucer was used in English education. The ballads might certainly be so read, for nothing could spoil 'Kinmont Willie ' and 'Jamie Tclfer of the Fair Dodhead.' There was not such a body of ballad poetry so noble, so pathetic, so spirited, so weird in any lan- guage in the world As for the songs— humorous, amorous, Jacobite—songs by ladies who, perhaps, sang only once; by peasants whose names are forgotten, but whose strains are immortal, be did not think it was too characteristic to Bay that no country, except perhaps France and England in  ## p. 278 (#682) ############################################ 27S THE AUTHOR. the Elizabethan age, bad their equals. They might make a Scottish anthology which, considering that they had but five, centuries to choose from, and the Greeks had near 2,000, would rival that of Greece—would be the golden treasury of the North. They bad but to listen a moment, in this din of an age which was not ending in songs, and they beard those sweet, piercing, and melancholy notes from the dead years, eclioes of the horns blown in raids and reivings; echoes of the shep- herd's pipe, of the wedding festival, of the dirge and (lie lament; minstrel Burns grieving for— 'Many a place in evil case, 'Where bhthc folk kenned no sorrow; 'Of Humes that dwelt in Leader braes, 'And Scotts that dwelt in Yarrow.' Tradition wailing for— _' The flowers o1 the forest arc a'wede awa'.' As to the greatest of till, it was needless to speak. In the Odyssey the returned wanderer tells one of bis people that be was come, and 'no other Odysseus will come again for ever.' No other Homer, no other Shakespeare, they might have said, would come again, but both came together in Walter Scott. Verily they were not a people of one lonely poet, though in one Nature combined many of the voices of the past, much of the music of the future, in the good, the generous, the tender, the kindly, the homely, the impassioned Burns, the brightest of our lyrists, the most human of our satirists, the most perfervid of the perfervid Scots. They sometimes lamented that be fell on evil days and evil tongues, they regretted his narrow fortunes, thev blushed for till the reward that bis country gave him. But the Maker and the Master of poets knew best, perhaps, what was fitting, and, had Burns not been lwrn to labour and poverty, be could not have been the poet of poverty and labour. As to his later profession, in the life of Mr. Joseph Train—himself a writer of verse spirited and sincere—they learned how happy and bow bene- ficent, how valuable to letters and to society the life of a Galloway ganger might be. Had Burns been living to-day, would the world that lay around him have been so lit to inspire him with song? The mirth, the sport, the tradition are 'a'wede nwaY London would inevitably have sucked him into its dingy and disastrous Corrievreckan. He would have buttered at the. door of the theatre, be might have scribbled articles for the Press and drunk in Fleet Street, and contributed verses to the magazines. His magnificent genius would luivo licen frittered away in the struggle for life. He was not happy; no man with bis passionate nature could be happy; few men of genius, indeed, have been happy, 'even as mortals count happiness.' They might not be more miserable than others, but oue heard more of it. Whoever represents hu- manity, as Burns represents it, whoever was to utter its voice, as Burns utters it, must know its sufferings in his own heart, and endure them in bis own life. Some bear them belter, as Virgil— 'For gently comes the world to those 'That are cast in gentle mould.' Some carry them more fiercely, as Burns, but endure them all must, who would utter their com- plaint. In the Scottish phrase they were not there as 'doon-heartit loons' to 'make a poor mouth' over Burns, nor greatly to blame the world for its treatment of him. He bad received what lie would have valued more than wealth, or ease, or inglorious life: lie had added renown to the country lie. loved, anil for himself had gained that immortal garland, which was not to lie run for without dust and sweat."—From an Address by Mr. Andrew Lang, reported by the Times of January 26th, 1892. PERIODICAL LISTS OF NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS PUBLISHED ON THE CONTINENT. THE Author has from its commencement contained a monthly list of English "New Books and New Editions," and if the writer of these lines may judge from bis own experience, this list must have been found convenient and helpful, in different ways, by a great many authors, who will not need to be here reminded how useful the catalogue of "New Books mid New Editions" has on occasions proved, or how much labour of searching it lias sometimes saved them. The nim of the present article is to inform those authors who, having found this English list of use, would like to be provided with a similar periodical register of new publications in such European languages as they may happen to read, where they may procure regular periodical announcements of new books and new editions published in most of the countries of the continent. A word, in parenthesis, 011 the use of biblio- graphies and carefully compiled catalogues. The great assistance afforded by such publications to workers in every department of literature is so well understood by all who have served their apprentice- ship to letters, that experienced authors will probably consider any allusion to the subject superfluous. The case, however, is not quite the same with begin- ners. The literary tyro is generally ceasing to be a tyro when be wakes up to a consciousness of the enormous number of books that have, been already written and are at the present moment being  ## p. 279 (#683) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 279 written, and when ho realises that what other people are writing is n matter of importance to everyone who writes. Then he hegins to see that bibliographies and catalogues are indispensable to some, guides for many, and useful to all. No scientific work can l>e done without the assistance of bibliographies; no solid acquaintance with the belles-lettres of any language can exist apart from them. They save the beginner from undertaking work that has been already done. They discover to those engaged in increasing the sum of human knowledge the firm foundations already laid, upon Which others may securely build. They keep the busy contemporary author informed of all that is going on in the wide world of letters around him. This last service is especially performed by such periodical lists as appear in each number of the Author, anil in the works about to be mentioned below, and it is therefore hoped that the information here offered may be found of service to many. If it l>e found so, the following list may appear again, augmented, the compiler trusts, in a manner that will render the record less imperfect than it now necessarily is, in consequence of the small literary enterprise at present existing in many parts of the continent. In offering this list of periodical announcements of continental publications to the readers of the Author, the compiler begs to call their attention to the following points. The catalogues and bibliographies here enume- rated are not all of the same character. Some arc official publications, sonic trade circulars of various booksellers' unions, some simply announce- ments of new books sent out by leading houses for the convenience of their customers. Some are much more trustworthy than others. Some mention every publication that has appeared within a given period, so far as that is possible. Others record only the, books thought likely to be popular. The list is sadly imperfect. A good deal of trouble has been taken to obtain as far as possible bibliographies of each country, and the list is as complete as it has been found possible to make it. Unfortunately, several countries and several modern literatures have, at the present date, no regular {K>riodical announcements of new publications. This incidentally throws some interesting light upon the present literary activity and inactivity of certain countries. Thus Wallachia has a brave little monthly "catalogue" of new publications, Portugal none, ltussia and Poland have good monthly lists, and Bohemian books appear in the Austrian Booksellers' Correspondence. Put regular announcements of works in the other Slavonic languages are, just at present, lacking. Both the Slovansky Katalog, which contained all Slavonic literatures except Itussian, and the quarterly Anzeiger fitr Slavische IJtemtur, which contained works in all the Slavonic languages, have ceased to appear. Something that would take their place is a desideratum with Slavonic scholars. The literatures of the most unini]>ortant European languages, whose few publications are carefully recorded in learned periodicals, supported by scholars interested in special studies, are in better case than the literatures of Portugal, Servia, and Bulgaria. It has seemed, as a general rule, best to give the titles and addresses in the language of the periodical, and the rest of the information in English. In some cases a few notes, in square brackets, have been added, conveying information which appeared useful but was not contained in the periodical itself. The prices named arc those announced as the prices of the periodicals at the places of publication. Many mention a second higher price charged abroad or in the provinces. But in any case the purchaser in London will expect to \my considerably more. In the case of gratuitously circulated cata- logues too much reliance must not be placed upon receiving them, even when the postage is lor wan led. Most of the catalogues here named may l>e seen at Mr. D. Nutt's, 270, Strand. Bound volumes (not current numbers) of those marked * will be found in the British Museum Beading Boom. Press BB.B. Continental Literature in General. Monthly list of new books published in Germany, France, England, America, Italy, Spain, Scandi- navia, Bussia, and other countries. London : David Nutt, 270, Strand. [Annual subscription, is. A catalogue of selected works of a very handy sort. It may be fairly said to contain all recent foreign books of any real and general importance.] Scandinavia. Nordisk Boghandletertidende. Editor: E. Jes- persen. Published by the " Boghandlerforeningen." Copenhagen. Quarterly subscription, y5 ore [equal al>out lod. Published every Friday. Con- tains Danish, Norse, and Swedish publications]. Germany. Allgemeine Bibliographic fiir Deutschlaud. A weekly catalogue of all novelties in the German l>ook trade. Leipzic: J. C. Hinricbs. [Animal subscription, 7 marks 5o.]  ## p. 280 (#684) ############################################ z8o THE AUTHOR. Monutlickes Verzeichniss der Neuigkeiten und Fortsetzungen des Deutschen Buchhandels. [Same publisher. The contents are the .same as those of the " Allgemeine Bibliographic," but alphabetically arranged under authors' names. This catalogue is supplied only to subscribers to the "Borsenblatt fiir den Deutschen Buchlmndel."] Vierteljahrs-Catalog aller neuen Erscheinungen im Felde der Literatur in Deutschland. Wissen- schaftlich geordnct. [Same publishers. A quar- terly compendium of the contents of the "Allge- meine Bibliographic" Annual subscription, 9 marks.] •Verzeichniss der neu erschienen und neuauf- gelegten Biicher, Landkarten, etc. [Same pub- lishers. Appears half-yearly, and contains a Subject Index, as well as complete bibliography of the German publications of the previous .six months. Price of the volume (bound) varies; about 6 marks.] The following bibliography may also b? found useful to scholars :— Bibliographischer Monatsbericht iiber neu crschieuene Schul-und Universitiitsschriftcn. (Dissertationen. — Programmabhandlongen. — Habilitationsschriften, etc.) Leipsic. Gustav Fock, publisher. [Appears monthly. Annual subscription, 2 marks. Contains Classical Philology and Antiquities, Orientalia, Theology, Philosophy, Educational works, History and cognate subjects, Law, Political Economy,' Medi- cine, Natural Sciences, Exact Sciences, Chemistry.] Holland. Nederlandsche Bibliographic. Catalogue of new books, maps, etc. published in the Netherland and its foreign possessions. The Hague. Mart in us Nijhoff, publisher. [Apj>ears monthly. Annual subscription, 1 florin.] Belgium. ♦Bibliographic de Belgique. Journal officiel de la librarie paraissant le ier et le i5 de chaqne inois. A. Manceaux, editeur. Bue des Trois-Tetes, 12, Bruxelles. Abonnement annuel 4 francs. [Contains French, Flemish, and "Walloon publi- cations. An annual index of authors' names.] .France. Bibliographic de la France Journal general de l'imprimerie et de la librairie. Publid sur les Documents fournis jwir le Ministere de l'Intericur. Paraissant tous les Samedis. Au Cercle de la librairie, boulevard Saint Germain, 117. Paris. Abonnement: un an, 20 francs. [Annual indexes. Alphabetical index of titles. Alphabetical index of authors. Alphabetical index of new periodicals. "Table systematique," arranged under subject headings. This publication is the queen of periodical bibliographies.] Catalogue mensuel de la Librairie Francaise. Publisher, K. Nilsson. 8, Rue d'Alger. Paris. [Api>ears monthly and contains the principal works published in France, and in the French language in other countries. Annual subscription, 2 francs 5o. An alphabetical list of authors is published at the end of the year. Price, 2 francs.] Switzerland. •Bibliographic et chronique litteraire de la Suisse. Parait un fois par inois. Editeur, H. Georg. Bale. Prix par an, 4 francs. [Contains French, German, and Italian publications, and has a short annual index of authors' names.] Italy. •Giornale della Libreria della tipografia e delle urti e Industrie aflini. Published by the Associa- zionc Tipografico-Libraria Italiana. Milan. Via S. Giuseppe. No. 5. Published every Sunday. Annual subscription, 6 lire = 6 francs. The Bibliographia Italiana is published every fortnight, and not sold separately, but with the above journal. Annual subscription, 20 lire = 20 francs. [Two indexes every six months; one, alphabetical, of authors' names; the other arranged under subject- headings.] Novita della Letteratura Italiana. Published monthly by Ubrico Hocpli. Milan. Galleria De- Cristoforis, Nos. 59-63. These catalogues are distributed gratuitously to customers. Spain. •Bolctin de. la Libreria. Published monthly by M. Murillo. Madrid. Calle de Alcala, No. 7. Annual subscription, 20 reales = about 5 francs. [Two annual indexes: one of new works; authors' names, and titles of books alphabetically arranged together: the other of old works, similarly arranged.] Austria. Oesterreichisch-ungarische Buchhaudler-Corre- Rpondenz. Editor, A. Einsle. Published every Saturday. Vienna. Bieinergasse, No. 11. Annual subscription, 8 florins =16 marks. [Contains German, Bohemian, and Slovakian publications.]  ## p. 281 (#685) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 281 Hungary. Corvina. Organ of the Hungarian Booksellers' Union. Published on the 10th, 20th, and 3oth of every month. Editor, Aigner Lajos. Proprietors, The Hungarian Booksellers' Union. A Magyar Konyvkereskedok egylete. Budapest. Zsibarus Ulca, No. 1. [No price mentioned; appears to Ik? circulated amongst members of the union and their customers.] Wallaciiia. Catnlogu Mensual al Librfiriei Romaue. Pub- lished by Sosecu & Co. Bucharest. Calea Victoriel. No. 21. This catalogue is distributed gratuitously to customers. Russia. HnHXBbia IIoboctii. A monthly extract from the "Literary Messenger." Published by K. L. Rikker, St. Petersburg. Nevsky Prospect. No. 14. [Annual subscription, about 2s.? This catalogue contains Russian and Ruthenian = Little Russian publications. It is unique in mentioning in every case the number of copies constituting the edition.] Poland. Przewodnik Bibliograficzny. Published on the 1st of each month by G. Gebethner, Cracow. Annual subscription, 1 florin 25 cents. Greece. hi^XtoyfoupiKw AcXtuv. Published monthly by G. Kasdones. Athens. Bi/3Xiott&>X€i<>v tij$ 'Eor/af. Distributed gratis. [Contains, besides bibliography, occasional scraps of literary intelligence. Recent numbers have failed to reach Loudon, and the publication may, perhaps, have been abruptly discontinued.] As the publications above mentioned will be of use principally to students of foreign languages the following most valuable bibliography of all philo- logical and linguistic publications of all countries may be mentioned by way of conclusion. •Bibliotheea Philologica oder vierteljiihrliche systematisch geordnete Ucbersicht der auf dein Gebiete der gesainmten Philologie in Deutschlaud und dem Auslande neu erschieneuen Schrifteu und Zeitschriften-Aufsiitze. Herausgegeben von August Blau. Dr. phil. Giittingen. Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht. Annual subscription, 5 marks. [British Museum Reading Room. BB.T. c. 6.] Henry Cresswei.l. CORRESPONDENCE. 1. Illustration. To the Editor of the Author. Sir, It has been suggested that the observations you permitted me to make in the November number of the Author, on the "misuse of processes," would have been more practical if I had given any examples from lx>oks lately published. To do this at all thoroughly would take up too much space, and lead too far into technicalities. But it may be interesting, and useful, to take from the shelves of an editor's room two small books waiting for review; one with the fascinating title of " The Stream of Pleasure," the other " The Blue Poetry Book," by Andrew Lang. The illus- trations to "The Stream of Pleasure" are by that well-known artist Mr. Joseph Pennell, and are reproduced, for the most part, by mechanical (photo- relief) processes. They are interesting in a high degree as showing how an artist of great ability and experience can go wrong. I know of no book published last year in which so many drawings have been injured in reproduction. (See pages 72 and gg as examples in two different methods, tone and line, of "how not to do it,"—given a clever artist and the adjuncts of good paper and printing); and yet, if there is one man who should l>e able to show the way to draw for reproduction, it is the author of Pen and Pencil! All this is very hard upon the makers of "process" blocks. Turn from "The Stream of Pleasure" to "The Blue Poetry Book," illustrated by Mr. Lance- lot Speed, an artist whose work, from a purely artistic point of view, cannot be compared to that of Mr. Pennell, but who has a knowledge of technique,—and of the possibilities and limitations of the art of drawing for " process,"—equal, if not superior to, anyone in England. Some of your readers—artists, publishers or reviewers—may be "surprised to learn," on turning over the pages of "The Blue Poetry Book," that all the illustrations are reproduced by the same cheap processes as the line drawings in Mr. Pennell's lxx>k, and the latter artist's Russian drawings in the Illustrated London News of December 12th! I could quote other instances, but the above may serve. The serious side, as it seems to me, is not so much the mystification of reviewers as to methods of illustration, as the misleading and disheartening effect on students when they see the work of experts going so very wrong. I am, yours faithfully, Henry Blackburn. 123, Victoria Street, Westminster, 12th January i8g2.  ## p. 282 (#686) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. n. The New American Society. A correspondent writes to us concerning tliis new Society. "Our Association is growing in a surprising degree in the face of opposition arising, on the one hand, from persons whose self-interest is jeopardized, and, on the other, from a class too timid or cowardly or supine to demand a right. In addition to these two there is, perhaps, a third force operative against the progress of the measure; but combined, or singly, they will not prevail. "In this country, favourable to swift growth, conditions are auspicious to advancement, if there is this resolution to advance; and there is swift response to appeal for fair play, if that appeal is loud and broad enough to reach the people. "Already our Society has vice-presidents and auxiliaries in almost every State and territory of the United States, and will soon have them in all. It is not true that publishers who rob authors are rare in this country; on the contrary, they are so many that it may be said that the honourable men in the business are the exception, not the rule. Heretofore every whisper of this condition was carefully suppressed. The knowledge of it once diffused, it is greatly mitigated, if not abolished, in America, for it is against the spirit of the nation— the whole nation—to favour a wholesale pitiful thieving of that kind after it has been thoroughly made known Our Society will do a grcflt work. It is bound to demand nothing but the right." III. Press Copies. A correspondent calls attention to the fact that popular religious books as well as little story books are sometimes sent about broadcast to the papers. And another suggests that educational books are sent out in large numbers. Both statements are, doubtless, quite true. My own statement is also quite true. When one speaks of serious literature one does not exactly mean little story books or popular religious works. The "Lux Mundi," for instance, would not be sent out broadcast, but to a small and carefully chosen list of papers. As for educational books, they are sent out in large numbers, not to the papers, but to head masters. Sonic publishers are getting very chary of their books. I know a ease in which one book only—it was by a well-known author—was sent for review. It was to the Times. And the publisher always said that the absence of any other notice made no difference whatever to the book. W. B. IV. A Plea fob the Mild Domestic Novel. The feminine reading public owes the Author a debt for gently protesting against Mr. Andrew Lang's desire to witness a massacre of that poor innocent, " the common, mild, middle class domestic novel." If Mr. Lang's wish were carried out, lamentation and weeping would certainly lie heard in the land. I myself do not read the mild domestic novel, but I know many women who do, and I believe it is a mistake to suppose that " ladies in these cases are apt to let the supply regulate the demand." In what way is a taste for the mild domestic novel more reprehensible or regretable than a taste for the shilling shockers and three volume thrillers, which try to make up by wild improbability of scene and incident for slipshod writing and vacuous silliness? Is the mild domestic novel inferior in workmanship or good sense to the society novel flavoured with a little "sport," which delights the soul of the ordinary male novel reader? The ladies who make from fifty to a hundred pounds a year by supplying the mild domestic article—they have no monopoly of the trade, and gentlemen compete with them—deserve congratulation rather than reprobation, and when that happy day comes when the publisher no longer "sweats" the author, their incomes will increase astonishingly. Mr. Lang is frankly contemptuous of the femi- nine reading public, towards which Mr. Besant shows himself kindly condescending. We note the kindness, but the condescension also. Yet both these gentlemen owe a heavy debt of gratitude to "the ladies." Could they make inquiries they would probably find out that for every male reader they have ten female ones, or should 1 say twenty? The novelist or writer of literary essays who estranged tin; feminine reading public would indeed find his "occupation gone." Is the literary taste of the average (non-literary) Englishwoman less critical or at all inferior to that of the ordinary (non-literary) Englishman? I believe it to be on tin? whole superior. One wonders what Mr. Lang would projiose to give us in the place of the " common, mild, middle- class domestic novel," and there are indications which lead one to suppose that he would substitute unlimited "adventure stories," and the works of Dumas jiere. Well, thousands of Englishwomen have doubtless taken pleasure in " Treasure Island" and also in "Solomon's Mines," but a woman's taste for what are, strictly speaking, " boy's books" usually dies out before she is far on in her teens. A taste for Dumas should be cultivated early, and his works are not often to be found in girl's schoolrooms. The pai»cr covered volumes of the forcigu library are a more tempting substitute.  ## p. 283 (#687) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. The writer of this letter takes refuge alike from the mild domestic novel and the tale of the wild and wonderful in foreign fiction, which she believes to be quite harmless to her personally, but which certainly is not mild. But should those Indies in "deperately dull houses" of whom Mr. Besant speaks so feelingly (plenty of desperately dull houses, by the way, may l)e found in London), take to reading one hundred and thirty French novels a year, she would hesitate to regard the change as an improvement, and so she imagines would Mr. Lang. S. P. [I hope that the condescension attributed to me by the author of this letter was not observed in my remarks by any other reader.—W.B.] V. HOW? "I, myself, and I think a great many others would be very glad to get some information on two points which have always interested me. 1 want to know how a book gets read, that is, in what way the general public living all over the world gets to hear of a book, and is stimulated to read it? Next, I want to know how a book gets sold, that is to say, who buys the book, and how it is supplied? In the old days there were booksellers' shops. These exist still, but in number and importance quite out of proportion to the vast increase of the book trade. The Author is always insisting that we should learn all we can about the management of our property. Here is a branch of the management about which I, for one, know nothing." A Member. VI. Gerald Massey. "In the list of minor poets enumerated the other day by Mr. Traill, I observe a very curious omission. The name of Gerald Massey is not among them. Surely this is accidental. Gerald Massey's verse has been so long before the world, he has so many fine qualities, and so many admirers, that a list of living poets is incomplete without his name. The same may be said for Dr. W. C. Bennett." T. FROM THE PAPERS. I. Modern Poets. THERE are plenty of facts which warn us how difficult it is to generalise safely about lite- rature, and especially about poetry. At pre- sent we live under high pressure, as Mr. Lang, like so many other critics, has reminded us. We live among railways and telegraphs, and under conditions of instantaneous communication which enormously increase what Sir Arthur Helps used to call social pressure. Nothing less favourable to poetry, as the world used to believe, could be imagined; and yet we have around us a volume <Jf good poetical production greater, perhaps, than England ever saw before. Perhaps we have no Burns, but we have a crowd of excellent writers of verse, the least of whom would have been thought much of had he lived in Burns's day and written as he writes now. A critic in one of the recent magazines has taken the trouble to enu- merate quite sixty English writers of the present day, to whom, without any great indulgence, the name "poet" may be applied. There are major and minor among them, of course, and we may safely cut out half as not really important. But, even so, that leaves a larger numl>er than were ever to be found before producing work of that quality. Some of the names arc obvious, and every constant reader of poetry endeavours to keep up with whatever conies from the hand of our three chief poets—idas ! they were five before Browning and Matthew Arnold died. But beyond this small circle, how many writers of pure vein there are! How perfect are some lyrics of Stevenson; how noble the l>est order of Coventry Patmore; how tender and gracious the muse of Aubrey de Vere; how finished is Robert Bridges; how gem- like are the "vignettes" of Austin Dobson; how original, under their borrowed form, are the "ballades" of Mr. Lang himself! It may be that the highest poetry, which grows from seeds that are sown no one knows how, or when, or where, is best developed in a less crowded and less com- petitive society than ours; but it would at least appear that the mnnysidedness of modern life anil the width of modern culture bring their compen- sations with them. The greatest poet, whose home is "the general heart of men," may, perhaps, Ixdong only to a simpler world; though the question cannot be solved till either a Burns arises in modern London or till the world comes to an end. But, on the other hand, it does not seem probable that of literary poets, charming, elegant,  ## p. 284 (#688) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. and masters of their craft, there will ever cease to l>e a copious supply.—From the Times, January 26th, 1892. II. Names and Wokk. A wail comes from New England. The true literary worker, says he who waileth, is pushed aside to make room for the millionaire, the society woman, actresses, English lords and ladies, and "asinine royalties." He goes on to explain that the English nobilities have the pleasure of paying for their productions, which nobody buys or reads. In that case the English nobilities cannot do any injury to American or English litterateurs. We, therefore, on our side are blameless in this matter. Again, as we on this side do not read the feeble lwoks produced by American millionaires, we are not harmed by them. In fact, I am quite certain that l)oth here and across the water the production of feeble books, whether written by well-known people or not, does no harm either to literature or to men of letters. They are produced; they fall; they die; they are forgotten; they are more ephemeral than the day's paper, which does get read and produces its effect; and as nobody buys feeble books the true worker is not hurt. I have never been able to feel any sympathy with wratli— which seems to me simulated—over harmless little blocks of paper in guise of books. Let them be printed; they make work and jmiv for publishers, printers, paper-makers, book-binders, and adver- tising columns. And nol>odv reads them; and nobody is a bit the worse for them, except the author, who pays. However, this American writer, Mr. W. B. Harte {New England Magazine), seems to think he has a real grievance, and this is what he says. His remarks about certain noble English authors are omitted, not so much because they are uncom- plimentary as because they are superfluous. "We are told by the publishers that to-day is the day of 'big things' in literature. The ordinary old-fashioned means of achieving success are no longer adequate. This means book-making, not writing. The ' big things ' are books by men who have become famous or notorious—more often the latter—in finance, in politics, or on the turf, whose names, publishers say, attract the attention and pique the curiosity of the public. It is not big things by big literary men, but little things by men with big names, and usually an amazing illiteracy. "The late Admiral Porter's novels found pub- lishers because he was Admiral Porter, and for no other reason, William Waldorf Aster is a novelist too, and of course, being the head of the Astor family, he experiences no difficulty in finding a publisher, and perhaps less difficulty in obtaining the highest praise in the press. If James G. Blaine could 1x3 persuaded to write a novel, and draw his hero sitting before his own mirror, he would probably realise a million dollars for it. All the world would like to know what Mr. Blaine thinks of Mr. Blaine. Chauneey M. Depew, I am told, was offered a salary of one hundred thousand dollars a year for five years, if he would write editorials for one of the big newspapers. He probably thought his stock of old stories would not last as long as the contract demanded. He de- clined the offer. Senator Ingalls is credited with having refused two offers—one of ten thousand dollars a year, and another of twenty-five thousand dollars a year, to furnish three editorials a month to one of the leading periodicals of the country. This is probably a fish story, for it is said that Mr. Ingalls lives principally u]>on his literary work, now that he is not busy at Washington, and a man that lives by literary work would not be likely to refuse twenty-five thousand dollars a year for thirty-six flimsy editorials. There are other rumours that Mr. Thomas Piatt and Mr. Thomas B. Heed, and Mrs. Harrison, the President's wife, are also pes- tered with invitations to l>ecome literary lights. Mrs. P. T. Barnum has already made her debut in literature, and a startling debut it was. In Boston, every woman you meet in society has written at least one novel, and in New York the per-centage is abcut every other woman." III. Copyright in Lectures. THE forthcoming volume of hitherto unpub- lished lectures by Carlyle "On Successive Periods of European Culture" appears likely to give rise to some rather subtle questions of literary property. Practically the " Lectures Copy- right Act, 1835," has been a dead letter owing to its vexatious conditions. Where the lecture, how- ever, has not been given to the world, save by word of mouth, equity has been more kind, and Lord Eldon, in Abernethy's case, and Mr. Justice Kay, in the case of Nichols v. Pitman, eight or nine, years ago, laid it down that, whether the lecture had been committed by the lecturer to writing before delivery or not, a member of the audience would have no right to publish it for profit from shorthand notes. The contents of the forthcoming volume seem to have been obtained in this way when the lectures were delivered in 1838 at an institution near Portraan Square. Possibly they  ## p. 285 (#689) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. were read by Carlyle from an existing manuscript, in which case the right of his personal represen- tatives to restrain publication would be unques- tionable. It is possible, on the other hand, that they were mere orations that were never committed by the author to wiling either before or after delivery, in which case there would be nothing wherewith to compare the forthcoming book on the question of infringement. It is a curious feature in the case that if the representatives of the reporter, who was probably the only pei^on who took these lectures down, cannot be restrained, they will, though they are neither the author nor the assignees of the author, virtually have secured a copyright in the book running for forty-two years; because though the original source may have been open to all, one man may not copy another man's report. These are the lectures of which Leigh Hunt said that it seemed "as if some Puritan had come to life again, liberalised by German philosophy and his own intense reflections and experience j" but a Scotch gentleman, who was also present, was only moved to exclaim, "Can any living man point to a single practical passage in these lectures? and if not, what is Mr. Carlyle himself but a phantom ?"— Dally News, January 6th, 1892. IV. A New Tkerob. Again does English law come forward with a decision calculated to develop the bump of caution in publishers. A firm in Sydney issued a sub" scription work in two volumes, entitled "Aus- tralian Men of Mark." A certain subscriber declined to take the books, on the ground that his own biography did not appear therein, although the promise had been made him that it should so appear. The publishers brought suit to compel performance of contract, but the Chief Justice of New South Wales, Sir Frederick Darley, threw them out of court. His decision took a wider range than the contention of the defendant that a private understanding had been violated, and was based upon the broad ground that the contents of the book did not correspond to its title. He declared that the biographies it contained were of merely local celebrities, who had no right to lie considered as Australian men of mark. In view of this fact, the Chief Justice decided not only that the defendant should be acquitted, but that, in general, all contracts entered into on account of the book were null and void. This certainly adds a new difficulty to the traditional ones of an author in choosing a title for his writings. Of what avail to select a taking name, when it may only result in a prosecution for obtaining money under false pretences? Particularly ominous is this decision for the publishers of such works as "The Best Books" or "The Greatest Thing in the World." A buyer with a different standard of judgment from the author's may hereafter throw such books back on the publishers with a demand for a refund. The principle must apply to sub-titles also, and this suggests tin; danger of appending "a poem" or "a farce " to an otherwise legally unobjectionable title.—The Nation (New York), January 7, 1892. V. Literature and the State. "He has l>een loudly blamed for his insensibility to literary merit; so far, at least, as such sensibility is shown by distribution of the funds and patronage of the Crown. We do not know what were his principles as to such matters, for during his 20 years of government he was, though assailed by Mathias and Montagu, never taken to task in Parliament on that subject. This fact, while it deprived us of his explanation, throws so remark- able a light on contemporary opinion as possibly to illnstrate his own. If he was convinced that literature, like war, thrived l>est upon subsidy, he was culpable indeed. But it Ls conceivably possible that he may have thought differently. He may have lielieved that money does not brace but relax the energies of literature; that more Miltons have remained mute and inglorious under the suffocation of wealth than under the frosts of penury; that, in a word, half the best literature of the world has been produced by duns. Pension- less poetry may at least bear comparison with that which has flourished upon bounties. Under the chill rays of Pitt, we had Burns, Wordsworth, Cowper, Southey, Scott, Coleridge, Canning, Cralle, Joanna Baillie, Rogers; and even under the tropical effusion of twelve hundred a year, dispensed in heat-drops of fifty or a hundred pounds apiece, we have had nothing conspicuously superior. It is not easy at any rate to cite the names of many eminent men of letters who have received material assistance from the State since the time of Pitt, Hook, and Moore had reason even to curse the ill-judged bounty of their country, and yet they were provided with lucrative offices. Nothing, Pitt may have thought, is so difficult as for a Parliamentary Government to encourage literature. It may begin by encouraging a Shakespeare, but it is far more likely to discover a Pye. You start with a genius and end with a job."  ## p. 286 (#690) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. The above is from Lord Rosebcrv's "Pitt." It is a jMissage wortli reading. But the author is not probably aware that all sueeessive Governments have followed the example of Pitt in his insensibility to literary claims. It is true that they get every year £1,200 for literature, science, and art, but as they always give it away to widows and daughters of men in the Army, Navy, and Civil Services, literature remains where it was in the days of Pitt. VI. The Commonest Delusions. Beginners in literature nurse one delusion with singular persistence. Next to the confidence that they have in their own genius, the strongest basis of all their hopes of success is the imaginary" friend at court," whose interposition in their behalf is one day to launch them into the full tide of fame and fortune. The most pathetic part of every well-established writer's experience is connected with the letters he receives from ambitious young people, who fancy that all they need is a note of recommendation. The covert meaning of these letters is that the beginner has extraordinary talent, against which all the editors have studiously set their faces. Of course, such a theory is known to be preposterous by every competent writer who easts a glance back over the road by which he lias come to success in his profession. No amount of friendly recom- mendation can advance the interests of an aspirant for literary rewards. The editor cares not a lig for any man's "influence"; the publisher depends upon his well-paid literary advisers. This is so, and it is right tliat it is so. The vision of a " friend at court" is at best a dishonest vision. The writer who indulges it loses self-respect with every glance, every thought, every calculation connected with it. A friend at court is a lobbyist, who is to work the writer's manuscripts into the favour of editor or publisher by means of a powerful influence not inherent in the manuscript itself. In the first place, the man or woman who would accept any success in literary life, save that com- pelled by the intrinsic value of art and thought, could never feel a clear right to what is highest and best in that life. Doubtless young persons whose imaginations have become inflamed by literary ambition do not fully realise the shame of contem- plating any means of forcing accomplishment save simple desert. From America. ■ "AT THE AUTHOR'S HEAD." Who wrote the poem called "The Children," ascribed to Charles Dickens? Mr. Douglas Sladen sends an interesting note on the subject to the Atherueum of January 16. When in New York in i88g he was introduced by Mr. E. C. Stedman to Mr. Charles M. Dickinson as the real author of the ]K)em. In his book called "Younger American Poets," Mr. Sladen has included the }>oem with the name of Mr. Dickinson as author, on that gentle- man's own authority. He then received a letter from a lady in Australia stating that the real author of the poem was a certain man named Zachariah Sutcliffe, who died in Melbourne in 1891. This Sutclifte, the lady stated, possessed an auto- graph letter from Charles Dickens, thanking him for sending a copy of the poem, and expressing admiration of it. Where is that autograph letter, and what can Mr. Dickinson tell us of the circumstances attendant upon the birth of the poem? Mr. Justin Huntly McCarthy has in the press a volume of Selections from Hattz. The book will be published by Nutt. Mr. Eugene Field in the Chicago News attacks those who use the word wended. He says there, is no such word. "Infinitive, To wend; \ti\si, went." Yes, but there is nothing to exclude the other form of the past. One would rather sin with Scott than be correct with Mr. Eugene Field. A lady of San Francisco, Mrs. Flora Haines Longhead, has begun the publication of her novels, with the simple assistance of a bookseller. John Ituskin has long done the same thing with his works. There is no reason at all why, with some simple machinery of an agent or salesman, authors of standing should not imitate this example. Is the time ripe for such a step? That it will be taken before long no one who can read the temper and spirit of the times can possibly doubt. Mr. Joseph Hatton has in the press a volume of reminiscences called "Cigarette Papers." Mr. Hatton's experience has been so wide and varied that the work ought to be most interesting. It is when such a book as Mackail's " Epigrams from the Ci reek Anthology" (Longmans) appears that we regret not having space to give for such a review as would do justice to a volume produced by a scholar for scholars. When our members are numbered by the thousand instead of by the hundred, the Author will be able to do justice to such books as these—rare and few and far between.  ## p. 287 (#691) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 287 Mr. Brander Matthews has published (Chatto and Windus) in London his "Dramatic Essays of Charles Lamb." There is an introductory essay of his own which is well worthy of the subject. Mr. Matthews is one of the very few English speaking writers who can speak about the theatre and thinjr* dramatic. A pamphlet entitled, " Intemperance: its Causes and Remedies," by Mr. W. Beatty-Kingston, is about to be published by Messrs. Routledgc & Co. Mr. C. J. Wills has in the press "His Sister's Hand," a novel in three volumes, to be published in January, and, to be published in March, "In and about Bohemia," a collection of short stories. The publishers of both books are Messrs. Griffith and Farran. Professor Middleton has in the press :— 1. "The Lewis collection of Engraved Gems," with an introductory essay. One vol., 8vo. Clay and Sons, Cambridge. 2. "The Remains of Ancient Rome." Two vols., 8vo. A. and C. Black, London. (This month.) 3. "The Art and Technique of Illuminated MSS." One vol., large 8vo. Cambridge University Press. (In press.) Mr. Thomas Macquoid's new novel is to be published by Messrs. Innes & Co. It will be in two volumes. The title is "Maisie Derrick," and the work will be ready shortly. The Clarendon Press will shortly issue a thin quarto volume, containing twelve facsimiles of pages of important Old English MSS., from the Ninth to the Fifteenth Century, accompanied by transcriptions and a palasogrophical introduction by Professor Skeat. This is, in some degree, a new departure. There is no reason why reproductions from old manuscripts should not become familiar to all who care for them. A little monthly journal—the youngest and the smallest—has been sent to me. It contains, on four pages, nothing at all but songs written for music. The writers of these songs pay so much for insertion of their productions, which are classified under the heads of Nautical, Amatory, Martial—is it without meaning that the love songs stand between the Nautical and the Martial, between the Sailor and the Soldier?—Sacred, Pathetic, Humourous, and Tragic. Each poet affixes the price of his verses for the information of the happy composer who may secure them. In the Humourous, one remarks, we do not excel. The Editor promises to post the paper to as many composers as he can find. Why not? The verses are not a bit worse than most of those which form our popular ditties. The rhymes are our dear old familiar ones: The wavelet gleams and the maiden dreams: the Pilgrim sings his Song of Faith and the Matin Bell awakes: the reaper touches his brow and angels bear him home: when the lilies bloom again, my love, when the lilies bloom again. For thou art the star of night, and I am a shadow apart, longing for one ray of light to gladden the shade of my heart. Let us wish every success to the song writers. Perhaps they have got their chance at last. Vol. V. of "Bible True from the Beginning," by the Rev. E. Gough, B.A., is just issued. It deals with early portions of the Gospels. Mr. M. Powis Bale's book on Steam Pumps and Pumping (Crosby Lockwood and Son) is going into a second edition. It will be ready early this month. Mr. Charles T. C. James's new novel, entitled "Holy Wedlock," will appear almost immediately in a single volume (Ward and Downey). A fourth edition of "Nature's Fairyland," by Mr. H. W. L. Worsley-Benison (Elliot Stock,5*.), has been issued. The following books, by Miss Seliua Gaye, have been recently published by T. Nelson and Sons: "Dickie Winton, or Between Gate and Front Door," "All's Well that Ends Well," being a reprint of "A Storm in a Tea-cup," "Ilka, the Captive Maiden, and other Stories from Hungarian History." Mr. Robert Louis Stevenson has in the press a volume of Essays, which will be published by Messrs. Chatto and Windus next month. We learn from the Athenaum that Mr. Steven- son has also ready a volume on Samoa, and the novel written in collaboration with Mr. Lloyd Osborn, which has l>een running in Scribner. Mr. Walter Besant will bring out in April, in volume form (Chatto and Windus), the papers which he has contributed to Harpers' Magazine during the last nine months on London. The papers, which had to be cut down to meet the limited space of the magazine, will be published as they were 'written, with additions. Mr. John Underbill has in the press (Walter Scott & Co.), a selection from the Athenian Oracle. There will be an introductory essay by Mr. Underhill, and a letter by Mr. Walter Besant.  ## p. 288 (#692) ############################################ 288 THE AUTHOR. Mr. Wilfred Meynell has in press a monograph on Cardinal Manning. No one is more fitted for the task, if long friendship can constitute fitness. When an author arrives at the dignity of being the subject of critical essays and a bibliography, it is a sign that there is not much left between him- self and the top of the tree. This is the case with Mr. Thomas Hardy. The first number of the Albemarle is pre- mising. To say that some of the articles are good because they are short may sound hardly com- plimentary, but it is the case. For example, the head master of Haileybury's little essay makes us all understand the Greek question at schools. We may agree, or we may not, with his answer, but at any rate we know what the question is. And that, we take it, is a distinct advance for most of us. Mr. Oscar Browning's article on the Primrose League is witty and pretty, and Miss Mabel Robinson's Storicule—to poach from Punch—is a very clever and pathetic sketch. One of the later volumes of the Pseudonym Library, " Some Emotions and a Moral," by John Oliver Hobbes, has just fallen into my hands. It is a brilliant little book! There is no story —that is to say, not much—but it is brilliant. And who is John Oliver Hobbes? You swear first that it is a man, and next, from a touch, a word, a way of presentment, that it is a woman, but you can never be quite certain which it may be. The writing is so good that it suggests the influence of many summers and much experience; yet I think the author is young. There is a curious sort of contempt for all that so many frail mortals find fascinating, running through the whole story, and this, I think, is more likely to have sprung from early cleverness than from later disillusion. But, I repeat, a brilliant little book! FOR DISPOSAL. Two £5o shares in a well-known leading Review. Apply to J.N., care of Secretary. NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS. Theology. Alexander, Wm., D.D. The Leading Ideas of the Gospels. Macmillan. 6s. Alford, B. H. Nutford Place Sermoni. Preached in St. Luke's Church by. David Stott. Bird, Rev. J. J. L. The Homilist. A Magazine for all who are engaged in preaching, teaching, or studying the Word of God. Edited by. Volume LXII. Houlston, Paternoster Buildings, E.G. 7s. 6d. Bevan, A. A., M.A. A short Commentary on the Book of Daniel, for the use of Students. At the Cambridge University Press. Brooke, Kev. S. A. "Short Sermons." Macmillan and Co. 6s. Church, Dean. Village Sermons preached at Whatley by the late. Macmillan. 6s. Hughes, Rev. H. Price. Ethical Christianity: A Series of Sermons. "Preachers of the Age " Series. With Portrait. Sampson Low. 3s. 6<f. Hugh-Games, Vex. Archdeacon. The One Book. A Treatise on the unique character of the Bible. Hunt, Paternoster Row. 3*. 6<f. Jamieson, George, D.D. Revised Theology: the Church as it ought to be compared with the Church as it is. Hodder and Stoughton. 6s. Julian, John. A Dictionary of Hymnology, setting forth the Origin and History of Christian Hymns of all Ages and Nations, with special reference to those contained in the hymn books of English-speaking countries, and now in common use; together with Biographical and Critical Notices of their Authors and Translators, and Historical Articles on National and Denominational Hymnody, Breviaries, Missals, Primers, Psalters, Sequences, &c. Edited by. John Murray. zl. is. Kitchen, Rev. J. A. On the Use of Models and Objects for Scripture Teaching. Church of England School Institute, is. id. Religious Systems op the World: a Collection of Addresses delivered at South Place Institute. Second Edition, with several new Articles. Swan Sonnenschein. Warren, Right Hon. Robert, LL.D. The Kingdom of Christ and the Church of Ireland. Hodder and Stoughton. 3s. History and Biography. Burnblana: a collection of literary odds and ends re- lating to Robert Burns. Compiled by John D. Boss. Round Burn's Grave: the pecans and dirges of many bards gathered together. By John D. Ross. New and enlarged edition. Alexander Gardner. Ellis, Rev. J. J. Thomas Cromwell. "Men with a Mission" series. Nisbet, Berners Street, is. History of Art in Persia, from the French of Georges Perrot and Charles Chipiez. Illustrated. Chapman and Hall. 21s.  ## p. 289 (#693) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 289 Kate, Walter J. The Leading Poets of Scotland from early times. Illustrated. Simpkin, Marshall. Lawbon, Sir Wilfrid, M.P. Wisdom Grave and Gay, being select Speeches of, chiefly on Temperance and Prohibition. With biographical sketch. Selected and edited by R. A. Jameson (by permission). Partridge and Co. is. net. Langhorne, J. and W. Plutarch's Lives of Alexander the Great and Julius Ctesar. Translated by. Cassell's National Library. Cloth, 6d. Leckt, W. E. H. A History of England in the Eighteenth Century. New edition. Vol. L Longmans. 6s. Life of Archibald Campbell Tait, Archbishop of Canterbury. By Randall T. Davidson, D.D., Bishop of Rochester, and William Benham, D.D., Honorary Canon of Canterbury. Third edition, in two volumes. Macmillan. 10s.net. Longmobe, Surgeon-General Sir T. Richard Wiseman, Surgeon and Sergeant-Surgeon to Charles II., a bio- graphical study. With portrait and illustrations. Longmans, ics. 6d. Medhurst, Rev. C. E. The Rev. Samuel Strong Forster, M.A., for 19 years Head Master of the College for Blind Sons of Gentleman, Worcester. A brief account of bis life and work on behalf of the higher education of the blind. Deighton, High Street, Worcester, Paper covers. Morris, Mowbray. Montrose. English Men of Action Series. Macmillan. 2s. 6d. Moule, H. C. G., M.A. Charles Simeon. English Leaders of Religion Series. Mcthuen and Co. 2s. 6d. Wood, Rev. Theodore, F.E.S. The Rev. J. G. Wood: a Naturalist's Life and Labours. Popular edition, with portrait. Cassell. 5*. Fiction. Alexander, Mrs. Mammon: A Novel. 3 vols. William Heinemann. 3is. 6d. Ahstey, F. The Talking Horse, and other Tales. Smith, Elder. Armstrong, Jessie. From Out the Past: A Story. Houlston, Paternoster Square, is. Cameron, Mrs. Lovett. Weak Woman: A Novel. 3 vols. F. V. White and Co., 3i, Southampton Street, W.C. 5*. Combe, T. Jonquille: or, The Swiss Smuggler. Translated from the French by Beatrix L. Tollemache. Percival and Co. 6s. Cbes8well, Henry. Fairest of Three: a Novel. 3 vols. Hurst and Blackett. FooERTY, J. Mr. Jocko: a Novel. 3 vols. Ward and Downey. Giberne, Agnes. Tim Tcddington's Shoes. Home Words Office, Paternoster Square, is. Griffith, Cecil. Corinth in Marazion. A Novel. 3 vols. Chatto and Windos. Haggard, H. Rider. Beatrice. A Novel. Fourth edition. Longmans. 3s, 6d. Hbwett, Georgb. In Nelson's Days. Wells, Gardner and Co. James, C. T. C. Holy Wedlock: a Story of Things as they are. Ward and Downey. Krikorian, Jessie. A Knave and a Fool. A Novel. Second Edition. Eden, Remington. Leith-Adams, Mrs. A Garrison Romance. Eden, Remington. Lytton, Lord. Kenelm Chillingly. The Caxton Novels. Author's Copyright edition. Routledge. Paper covers. M'Lennan, Malcolm. Muckle Jock, and other Stories of Peasant Life in the North. Macmillan. 3s. 6d. Martin, Emily. Even Mine Own Familiar Friend. A Novel. 2 vols. Sampson Low. 12*. Mercier, Mrs. Jerome. Arum Field: or, Life's Reality. Wells, Gardner and Co. No Rent. By the Author of "Society's Verdict," " The Family Story-Teller." Stevens, Strand. Peard, F. M. The Baroness: a Dutch Story. 2 vols. Bentley. Phillips-Wooley, C. Snap: a Legend of the Lone Mountain. With Illustrations by H. G. Willink. New edition. Longmans. 3». 6d. Roberts, Morley. King Billy of Ballarat, and other Stories. Lawrence and Bullcn. New Bond Street. Russell, W. Clark. Mrs. Dines' Jewels: a Mid-Atlantic Romance. Sampson Low. 2s. 6d. Scarron, Paul. The Comical Romance and other Tales. Done into English by Tom Brown of Sbifnal, John Savage, and others. With an introduction by J. J. Jusserand. Illustrated from the designs of Oudry. 2 vols. Lawrence and Bullen, New Bond Street. Sergeant, Adeline. Under False Pretences. A Novel in 3 vols. Ward and Downey. Tasma. L^ncle Piper of Piper's Hill. A Novel. W. Heinemann. 3s. 6d. Tourg£e, Albion W. A Son of Old Harry. A Novel. Illustrated. Breutano's, Agar Street, Strand. 6s. Ward, Mrs. Humphry. The History of David Grieve. 3 vols. Smith, Elder. Wassrrmann, Lilias. The Daffodils. A Story. Chatto and Windu;. WurrcOME-RiLEY, James. An Old Sweetheart of Mine. Gay and Bird. 10s. Wilford, Florence. Vivia: a modern Story. Wells, Gardner and Co. Yonge, Charlotte M. Mothers in Council. Edited by. Vol. I. Wells, Gardner, Darton. General Literature. Allen, M. L. Luncheon Dishes. Kegan Paul. Paper covers, is. Almanack, 1892. Embossed in the Braille type by the British and Foreign Blind Association, Cambridge Square, Hyde Park. Anderson, Capt. L. Among Typhoons and Pirate Craft. With illustrations. Chapman and Hall. 5s. Bailey, Welleslet C. The Lepers of our Indian Empire; a Visit to them in 1890-91. J. F. Shaw, Paternoster Row.  ## p. 290 (#694) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. Bastable, C. F., LL.D. The Commerce of Nations. Methuen & Co. is. 6d. Beerbohm Tbke, H. Some Interesting Fallacies of the Modern Stage. An Address delivered at St. James's Hall. William Heinemann. 6d. Browne, Sir Thomas. Heligio Medici, and other Essays. Edited, with an introduction, by D. Lloyd Boberts, M.D., F.E.C.P. The Stott Library. David Stott. Burdett, Henry C. Hospitals and Asylums of the World: their Origin, History, Construction, Administration, Management, and Legislation. In 4 vols. Vol. I., Asylums—History and Administration; Vol. II., Asylums Construction, with plans and bibliography. Churchill, New Burlington Street, W. 4/. 10s. Defok, Daniel. Kohinson Crusoe. Cheap illustrated edition. Griffith, Farran. Paper covers. 6d. Denning, David. The Art and Craft of Cabinet-making. With illustrations. Whittaker, White Hart Street. 5*. Ehrenfechteb, C. A. Technical Study in the Art of Pianoforte-playing (Deppe's principles). With illus- trations. Beeves, Fleet Street. FiTzoEBALD, Percy. The Art of Acting. Swan Sonncn- schein & Co. Gatehouse, T. E. The Strange History of a Dynamo. Alabaster, Gatehouse & Co., Paternoster Bow. 1*. Grekn, J. L. The Old Yeomen of England and Small Holdings in Land. Marlborough, Old Bailey. Paper covers. Hailstone, H. The Clergy List, 1892. Edited by. Kelly, Great Queen Street, W.C. Hasluck, P. N. Milling Machines and Processes. With engravings. Crosby Lockwood. Heoderwick, T. C. H. The Parliamentary Election Manual. Stevens, Chancery Lane. 7*. 6d. Howe, W. F. Classified Directory to the Metropolitan Charities for 1892. Seventeenth annual edition. Longmans, is. Jenktns, C. Carlyon. Hard Life in the Colonies, and other experiences by sea and land. Now first printed. Compiled from private letters by. Illustrated. Ad- venture Series. Fisher Unwin. 5s. Johnson, V. E., B.A. Egyptian Science, from the Monu- ments and Ancient Books, treated as a general intro- duction to the History of Science. Griffin, Farran & Co. 3s. 6d. The Journal ok the Boyal Agricultural Society ok England. Third scries. Vol. II., Part IV., No. VIII. John Murray. Paper covers. 3s. 6d. Keene, H. G. The Literature of France. University Extension Manuals series. John Murray. 3». Keene, J. Boddely. Power and Force, Spiritual and Natural, their discreted differences, mutual inter- relation, and specific atmospheres. Fisher LTnwin. 3s. 6d. Laveleye, M. Kmilk de. Letters from Italy. Translated by Mrs. Thorpe and revised by the author. Popular edition. Fisher Unwin. 3s. 6d. Lean, Lt.-Col. Francis. The Boyal Navy List, January 1892. Witherby & Co. 7s. 6d, Lloyd, W. W. P. and O. Pencillings. Published for the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company by Day and Son, Berners Street, W. Losing, G. B., M.D. A Year in Portugal, 1889-90. G. P. Putnam's Sous. Marshall, Mrs. A. B. Larger Cookery Book of Extra Becipes. Dedicated to Princess Christian. With portrait and illustrations. Simpkin, Marshall. Meredith, George. The Tragic Comedians. A study in a well known story. New edition. With introductory note on Ferdinand Lassalle by Clement Shorter. Ward, Lock, Bowden. 6». Mill, H. K., D.Sc. The Bealm of Nature, an Outline of Physiography. With mai>s and illustrations. Uni- versity Extension Manual Series. John Murray. Ocean Steamships: a Popular Account of their Construc- tion, Development, Management, and Appliances. By F. E. Chadwick, U.S.N., J. D. J. Kellev, U.S.N., Kidgely Hunt, U.S.N., J. H. Gould, W. H! Kideiug, and A. E. Seaton. With illustrations. John Murray. 12s. Ochorowicz, Db. J. Mental Suggestion. With a preface by Charles Bichet. Translated from the French by J. T. Fitzgerald, M.A. Gay and Bird, King William Street, W.C. 10s. 6d. Payne, A. G. Vegetarian Cookery: a Manual of Cheap and Wholesome Diet. Cassell. is. 6d. Beeves, Edward. Homeward Bound, after 3o years. A Colonist's Impressions of New Zealand, Australia, Tangier, and Spain. Illustrated. Swan Sonnenscheiu & Co. Boss, Bonald. The Deformed Transformed. Chapman and Hall. 3s. 6d. Bussell, Henry. The Kuiu of the Soudan: Cause, Effect, and Bemedy. A Resume of Events, 1883-1891. Assisted by William Gattie. With maps and illustra- tions. Sampson Low. Bussell, Stuart A. Electric Light Cables, and the Dis- tribution of Electricity. With illustrations. Volume of the Specialist Series. Whittaker. Bussell, T. B. Last Year: the Events of 1891, with a Chronological Table, Obituary, and Appendix. With portraits and maps. Foxwell, Temple Chambers, is. Stables, Gobdon, M.D., B.N. The Girl's Own Book of Health and Beauty. Jarrold, Paternoster Buildings. 2s. 6d. Stuart, Villiers. Adventures Amidst the Equatorial Forests and Rivers of South America; also in the West Indies and the Wilds of Florida; to which is added "Jamaica Revisited." With illustrations and maps. John Murray. Skating. By J. M. Heathcote and C. G. Tebbutt. Figure Skating. By T. Maxwell Witham. With Contri- butions on Curling (the Rev. John Kerr), Tobogganing (Ormond Hake), Ice-sailing (Henry A. Buck), Bandy (C. G. Tebbutt). Illustrated by C. Whymper and Captain B. M. Alexander, and from photographs. Volume of the Badminton Library. Longmans. 10s. 6d. Stepniak, S., and W. Westaxl. lu Two Moods. From the Bussian of Korolenko. Ward and Downey. Taylor, J. Traill. The Optics of Photography and Photographic Lenses. Illustrated. Whittaker. 3s. 6d Tollemache, Beatrix. Grison's Incidents in Olden Times. Percival & Co. 2s. 6rf.  ## p. 291 (#695) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. Toller, T. Nortiicote. An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. Based on the Manuscript Collections of the late Joseph Bosworth, D.D., F.li.S. Edited and enlarged by. Part IV., Section i. Clarendon Press. 8*. 6rf. Tyndall, John1, FJ5.A. New Fragments. Longmans. 104. 6ll. Vkee, Aubrey de. The Legends of Saint Patrick. Cassell's National Library. Cloth. 6d. Wardle, Thomas. Tussur Silk, a paper read at the Society of Arts on May 14th, 1891, by. Trounce, Gough Square, Fleet Street. West, B. B. Half Hours with the Millionaires. Arranged and edited by. Longmans. 6». Educational. Babtholomew, J. G. The Globe Hand Atlas. Nelson, Paternoster Row. 2s. 6d. FitKAM, W., LL.D. Elements of Agriculture: a Text-book, prepared under the authority of the Royal Agricultural Society of England by. John Murray. 2s. 6d. Gabdineb, S. R. A Student's History of England. Vol. III., 1689-1885. Longmans. 4*. A Student's History of England; from the earliest times to 1885. Complete in 1 volume, with illustrations and index. Longmans, izs. Gawthrop. A Manual of Practical Instruction in the Art of Brass Repousse for Amateurs. Artificer in brass and iron. Illustrated. Sutton, Drowley, Ludgate Hill. Paper covers, is. Harrison-, W. Jkromk. Guides to the Science and Art Department Examinations in Magnetism and Electri- city, and answers to questions, 1883-91. Blackie, Old Bailey. Paper covers. Manual of Horticulture and Agriculture, 1891. Published by Kelway and Son, Langport, Somerset. Paper covers. i.t. Half's Rapid Road to Spanish. Parts I. and II. Second edition, revised and enlarged. George Philip, Fleet Street. 5s. each. Sullt, James, M.A. The Human Mind: a Text-book of Psychology, 2 vols. Longmans. 21s. Tobbend, J. A Comparative Grammar of the South African Bantu Languages. Kegan Paul. Poetry and the Drama. Bell, Mrs. Hugh. Nursery Comedies. Twelve tiny plays for children. Longmans, is. 6d. Bbadshaw, John. The Poetical Works of John Milton. Kdited by. 2 vols. Aldine Kdition. George Bell, u. 6d. each. Butler, A. Gray. Harold: a Drama in Four Acts, and other Poems. Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press Warehouse. 5s. Cooksox, Lt.-Col. Fife. A Dream of Other Days: a Romantic Poem. Kegan Panl. Davidson, John. In a Music Hall, and other Poems. Ward and Downey. Dobson, Austin. Poems and Plays of Oliver Goldsmith. Edited by. J. M. Dent and Co. Lang, Andrew. Selected Poems of Robert Bums, with an introduction by. Kegan Paul. Lovat, Lady. Seeds and Sheaves: Thoughts for Incur- ables. With prefatory verses by Aubrey de Vere. Kegan Paul. Matthews, Brander. The Dramatic Essays of Charles Lamb. Edited, with an introduction and notes by. Chatto and Windus. Scully, W. C. Poems. Fisher Unwin. Siiarpe-Younos, Ella. Khartoum: a Lyrical Drama in five acts. Published at San Remo. Paper covers. Sinclair, May. Essays in Verse. Kegan Paul. Tynan, Katharine. Ballads and Lyrics. Kegan Paul. Yolande. The Church's Seasons, and other Verses. Longmans. 4s. 6d. Science. E. H. A New Departure in Astronomy: the Revolution of the Solar System. Chapman and Hall. Paper covers. 2*. Wagner, Rudolf von. Manual of Chemical Technology. Translated and Edited by William Crookes, F.R.S., from the 13th German edition as remodelled by Dr. F. Fischer. With illustrations. Churchill. 32». Waite, A. E. The Occult Sciences: a compendium of transcendental doctrine and experiment. Kegan Paul. Parliamentary Papers. Calendar of the Department of Science and Art for 1892, is. 6d.; Return as to Hours of Closing in Scotland, id. j Return—County Boroughs (Rates and Receipts from Local Taxation Account), $d.; Return (in part) as to Alien Immigration during December, \d.; Return as to the National Debt, 3d. The Annual Local Taxation Returns, 1889-90; Part II., $\d. List of Parliamentary Papers for sale, with prices and postage affixed, 1890-91. Kyre and Spottiswoode.  ## p. 292 (#696) ############################################ ADVERTISEMENTS. THE AUTHORS' SYNDICATE. THIS Association is established for the purpose of syndicating or selling the serial rights of authors in magazines, journals, and newspapers. It has now been at work for more than a year, and has transacted a very satisfactory amount of business during this period. It has also entered upon a great number of engagements for the future. The following points are submitted for consideration :— 1. The management is voluntary and unpaid. No one makes any profit out of the Syndicate, except the authors who use its services. 2. The commission charged on the amounts received covers the expenses of clerks, travellers, rent, and printing. As work increases this may be still further reduced. 3. Only the serial rights are sold for the author. He receives his volume rights and copyright. 4. The Syndicate has an American agent. 5. The Syndicate will only work for members of the Society. 6. Its offices are on the same floor as those of the Society, and its assistance and advice are always at the service of the Society. 7. Authors are warned that no syndicating is possible for them until they have already attained a certain amount of popularity. 8. The Syndicate acts as agent in every kind of literary property. W. MORRIS COLLES, Honorary Secretary. 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields.  ## p. 293 (#697) ############################################ ADVERTISEMENTS. 293 Cfje i?wtetg of gutfiors (EncorporatrtO- PRESIDENT. Thk Right Hon. the LORD TENNYSON, D.C.L. Sie Edwin Arnold, K.C.I.E. Alfbkd Austin. A. W. k Beckett. Robert Bateman. Sir Henry Berone, K.C.M.G. Walter Besant. Augustine Birrell, M.P. R. D. Blackmore. Rev. Prof. Bonnet, F.R.S. Lord Brabourne. James Bryce, M.P. P. W. Clayden. Edward Clodd. Hon. John Collier. W. Martin Conway. Marion Crawford. Oswald Crawfurd, C.M.G. COUNCIL. The Earl of Desart. A. W. Dubouro. John Eric Erichsen, F.R.S. Prof. Michael Foster, F.R.S. Herbert Gardner, M.P. Richard Garnett, LL.D. Edmund Gosse. H. Rider Haggard. Thomas Hardy. Rudyard Kipling. Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S. J. M. Lely. Rev. W. J. Loftie, F.S.A. F. Max Muller, LL.D. George Meredith. Herman C. Merivale. Rev. C. H. Middleton-Wake, F.L.S. Hon. Counsel—E. M. Underdown, Q.C. J. C. Parkinson. The Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery. Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., LL.D. Walter Herriks Pollock. A. G. Ross. George Augustus Sala. W. Baptiste Scoones. G. R. Sims. J. J. Stevenson. Jas. Sully. William Moy Thomas. H. D. Traill, D.C.L. Baron Hknby de Worms, M.P., F.R.S. Edmund Yates. A. W. a Beckett. Hon. John Collier. COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT. Chairman—Walter Besant. I W. Martin Conway. 1 H. Rider Haggard. I Sir Frederick Pollock. I Edmund Gosse. | J. M. Lely. | A. G. Ross. Solicitors—Messrs. Field, Roscoe, & Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. Secretary—S. Squire Sprigge. OFFICES. 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C. PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 1. The Annual Report. That for January 1891 can be had on application to the Secretary. 2. The Author. A Monthly Journal devoted especially to the protection and maintenance of Literary Property. Issued to all Members. 3. The Grievances Of Authors. (The Leadenhall Pres9.) 2s. The Report of three Meetings on the general subject of Literature and its defence, held at Willis's Rooms, March 1887. 4. Literature and the Pension List. By W. Morris Colles, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C.) 3*. 5. The ffistOiy of the Societe des Gens de Lettres. By S. Squire Sprigge, Secretary to the Society. I*. 6. The Cost Of Production. In this work specimens are given of the most important forms of type, size of page, &c, with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds of books. Henry Glaisher, q5, Strand, W.C. 2*. 6d. 7. The Various Methods Of Publication. By S. Squire Sprigge. In this work, compiled from the papers in the Society's offices, the various kinds of agreements proposed by Publishers to Authors are examined, and their meaning carefully explained, with an account of the various kinds of fraud which have been made possible by the different clauses in their agreements. Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C. 3*. 8. Copyright Law Reform. An Exposition of Lord MonkswelPs Copyright Bill now before Parliament. With Extracts from the Report of the Commission of 1878, and an Appendix containing the Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lely. Eyre and Spottiswoode. i*. 6d.  ## p. 294 (#698) ############################################ 394 AD VERTISEMENTS. MISS IFt. GILL, MRS. GILL, TYPE-WRITING OFFICES, 6, Adam Street, Strand, W.C., and 5, Air Street, Piccadilly, W. TYPE-WEITIHQ OFFICE, ST, PAUL'S CHAMBERS, 19, LUDGATE HILL, E.C. (ESTABLISHED 1883.) Authors' and Dramatists' Work a Specialty. All kinds of MSS. copied with care. Extra attention given to difficult hand-writing and to papers or lectures on scientific subjects. Type-writing from dictation. Shorthand Notes taken and transcribed. Authors' MSS. carefully copied from is. per j,ooo words. One additional copy (carbon) supplied free of charge. Instruction given in Pitman's System of Shorthand and in type- writing. References kindly permitted to Walter Besant, Esq. FUETHER PARTICULARS ON APPLICATION. MISSES E. & S. ALLEN, MISS PATTEN, TYPE AND SHORTHAND WRITERS. TYPIST, 44, Oakley Street Plats, Chelsea, S.W. TRANSLATIONS and Scientific Work a Special Feature. Authors' MSS. Carefully Transcribed. References 39, Lombaud Street, E.C. KINDLY PERMITTED TO GEORGE AUGUSTUS SaLA, Esq. Office No. 59 (close to Lift). Particulars on Application. AUTHORS.—The New York Bureau of Revision aids Authors in completing their books; gives competent and unbiassed criticism of Prose or Verse; and offers MSS. and proofs in the American Market. Address— Dr. TITUS MUNSON COAN, 20, West Uth Street, Neiv York. TOE ORIGINAL AUTHORS' AGENCY. Established 1879. Proprietor, Mr. A. M. BURGHES, 1, PaternOSter ROW. Tlic interests of Authors capably represented. Proposed agreements and estimates examined on behalf of Authors. MS. placed with Publishers. Transfers carefully conducted. Twenty-five years' practical experience in all kinds of publishing and book producing. Consultation free. Terms and testimonials from leading Authors on application to Mr. A. M. Burghes, Authors' Agent, i, Paternoster Row. It Makes Writing Easy. Leave the drudgery of the Pen—Soiled Fingers—Blotted and Obscure Manuscript, to those who prefer darkness to light. Quick, up-to-date writers use The Bar-Lock Type-Writer. Why Easiest Managed; Soonest Learned; Most Durable; Writing Always Visible; does best work, and never gets out of repair. Chosen, by Royal Warrant, Type-Writer to the Queen. Only gold medals—Edinburgh (1890) and Jamaica (1891) Exhibitions; is used in principal Government Depart- ments, and greatest number of English business houses. We send interesting supply of further information free. THE TYPE-WRITER COMPANY, LIMITED, IS & w, Queen Victoria Street, London, E.C. ; 25. Market Street, Manchester; i, South John Street, Liverpool 22, Renlield Street, Glasgow; 35. Charles Street, Bradford. London: Printed by Etke and SroTTiswooDE, Printers to the Queen's most Excellent Majesty. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author, Vol. 02 Issue 09 (February 1892) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 02 Issue 09 (February 1892) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927&amp;view=1up&amp;seq=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1892-02-01-The-Author-2-9 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/259/1892-01-01-The-Author-2-8.pdf dbd922fb812fc0c504ae6fa3a97d08c9 PDF Text Text ������������������������������ 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 Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em> Description An account of the resource A digitised run of the Society of Authors' monthly periodical, <em>The Author</em>, 1890<span>–</span>1914, made available together for the first time.<br /><br />Currently users can browse issues and <a href="https://historysoa.com/items/browse?search=&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bjoiner%5D=and&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&amp;advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Index&amp;collection=&amp;type=&amp;tags=&amp;exhibit=&amp;date_search_term=&amp;submit_search=Search+For+Items&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CTitle">indices</a> (not available for all volumes). Full text search for all issues, and other additional search functionality, will be added in 2022. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890–1914 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context The-Author-Issues Publication Date The date of an event (in YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD format) 1892-01-01 Volume 2 Issue 8 Pages Page range in volume 225–254 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18920101 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin ^Ibe Hutbor. [The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. II.—No. 8.] JANUARY 1892 [Price Sixpence. CO NT TAGE Warnings "9 Notices "9 Misprint '1' The Cost of Production 333 American Copyright 233 Literary Criticism 333 Two Actions at Law— I.—Pinnock v. Chapman and Hall 333 II.—The Proprietor of a Magazine v. The Proprietor of a Country Paper 334 ENTS. PASI The Storyteller's Night aj4 Notes and News 334 Publishing on Commission 33K The Art of Fiction and the Authors of Antiquity 340 The Independent Theatre 343 Literary Rights 343 Death and the Lifeboat 344 Correspondence 34$ "At the Author's Head" 347 New Books and New Editions 350 EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE. STATE TRIALS, Reports of. New Series. Vol. III., 1831—40. Published under the direction of the Slate Trials Committee. Edited by Jonx Macdonkll, M.A. io>. INVESTMENTS. A List of 1,600 British, Colonial and Foreign Securities dealt in upon tho London and Provincial Exchanges, giving tho highest and lowest prices of each particular Stock for each of the last twenty-two years, or from the time of the creation of such Stock, also tho price on 30th May, 1891, and the yield per cent, to the Investor. Compiled by G. Brown, is. bd. PUBLIC GENERAL ACTS, 1891. Red Cloth, 3*. Contains all tho Public Acts passed during the year, with Index, also Tables showing the effect of the year's Legislation, together with complete and classillod Lists of the Titles of all the Local and Private Acts passed during the Session. REVISED STATUTES. (Second Revised Edition.) Royal 8vo. Prepared under the direction of the Statute Law Revision Committee, and Edited by G. A. R. Fitzokrald, Esq. Vols. I. to IV. now ready, price 71. bd. each. FORECASTING BY MEANS OF WEATHER CHARTS, Principles of. By the Hon. RAi.rn Abkrcromiiy, F.R. Met. Soc. IS. METEOROLOGICAL INSTRUMENTS, Instructions in the use of. a«, bd. THE LITERATURE RELATING TO NEW ZEALAND. A Bibliography. Royal Svo. Cloth, is. bd. POLYNESIAN MYTHOLOGY AND ANCIENT TRA- DITIONAL HISTORY OF THE NEW ZEALAND RACE. By 8ir GEORGE Gret, K.C.B. Illustrate. Royal Svo. Cloth, $s. ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE MAORI. By John Wiiitk. Demy 8vo. Half Morocco. 4 vols. io». per vol. PLIOCENE DEPOSITS OF BRITAIN, THE. By Clkme.xt Reid, F.L.S., F.G S. Five Plates (48 cuts), s«. bd. LONDON AND NEIGHBOURHOOD: Guide to the Geology of. Bv William Whitaker, B.A. i». COPYRIGHT LAW REFORM: au Exposition of Lord Monkswell's Copyright Bill. With Extracts from tho Reportof the Commission of 1878. and an Appendix containing the Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lely, Esq., Barristcr-at-Law. is. bd. KF.W BULLETIN, 1890. Issued by the Director of Eew Gardens. 3*. iod. EEW BULLETIN, 1891. Monthly, ad. Appendices, id. each. Annual Subscription, including postage, 3s. yd. DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE OF MUSICAL INSTRU- MENTS recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition. Compiled by Capt. Day. Oxfordshire Light Infantry, under the orders of Col. SnAW-HBLLiER, Commandant Royal Military School of Music. Illustrated by a series of Twelve artistically executed Plates in Heliogravure, and with numerous Wood Engravings, a is. "Unique, as no earlier work exists in English dealing exhaus- tively with the same subject A very important con- tribution to tho history of orchestration."— Athentrum. PUBLIC RECORDS. A Guide to the Principal Classes of Documents preserved in the Public Record Office. By S. R. ScaRGILL-Bird, F.S.A. 7». "The value of such a work as Mr. Scargill-Bird's can scarcely bo over-rated."— Times. Monthly Lists of Parliamentary Papers upon Application. Quarterly Lists Post Free, »d. _ Miscellaneous List on Application. Every Assistance given to Correspondents; and Books not kept in stock obtained without delay. Remittance should accompany Order. GOVERNMENT AND GENERAL PURLISHERS. BYRE and SPOTTISWOODK, Her Majesty's Printers, tiast Harding Street, Uudon, K.l.  ## p. 226 (#630) ############################################ 226 AD VERTISEMENTS. MISS XI.. -V. QIX.L, TYPE-WRITING OFFICES, 6, Adam Street, Strand, W.C.. and 5, Air Street, Piccadilly, W. Authors' and Dramatists' Work a Specialty. All kinds of MSS. copied with care. Extra attention given to diilicult hand-writing and to papers or lectures on scientific subjects. Type-writing from dictation. Shorthand Notes taken and transcribed. FURTHER PARTICULARS ON APPLICATION. MISS -A.. JEt. LBKTTY, TYPE WRITING OFFICE, 165, QUEEN VICTOKIA STEEET. Highest Testimonials for all kinds of Work. Price List on Application. MRS. GILL, T Y P E - W It ITIN G OFFICE ST. PAUL'S CHAMBERS, 19, LUDGATE HILL, E.C. (ESTABLISHED 1883.) Authors' MSS. carefully copied from if. per 1,000 words. One additional copy (carbon) supplied free of charge. Instruction given in Pitman's System of Shorthand and in type- writing. References kindly permitted to Walter Besant, Esq. VICTORIA TYPE-WRITING OFFICE. (FRANCES A. COX.) 565, Mansion House Chambers; 11, Queen Victoria Street, E.C. Authors' MSS. carefully typed. Legal and General Copying. PROSPECTUS ON APPLICATION. AUTHORS.—The New York Bureau of Revision aids Authors in completing their books; gives competent and unbiassed criticism of Prose or Verse; and offers MSS. and proofs in the American Market. Address— Dr. TITUS MUNSON COAN, 20, West lith Street, Neiv York. TO LYRIC AUTHORS, LIBRETTISTS, Sc. ARLY in the New Year will be issued Monthly, One Penny, "The Lyric Author's Advertizer and Composer's Magazine," a Mart for Lyric writers, Librettists, and Composers. Entire Lyric Poems, or extracts, with the Author's name and the price attached, will be inserted as advertisements at a low charge, viz., 2S. per 100 words, and pro rata. No agency business undertaken. The Magazine will be posted free to all the well-known composers; and, it is hoped, will prove a boon to buyers and sellers. Address— THE CONDUCTOR, ASHMOBE BUSSAN, HOBSFOBTH, LEEDS. All applications relating to Advertisements in this Journal should be addressed to the Printers and Publishers, EYRE & SPOTTISWOODE, East Harding Street, Fetter Lane, London, E.C.  ## p. 227 (#631) ############################################ A D VER TISEMENTS. CJje J*wtetg of autfjors (finrorporatrtX PRESIDENT. The Right Hon. the LORD TENNYSOX, D.C.L. Sib Edwin Arnold, K.C.I.E. Alfred Austin. A. W. a Beckett. Robert Bateman. Sir Henry Bergne, K.C.M.G. Walter Besant. Augustine Birrei.l, M.P. R. I). Blackmore. Rev. Prof. Bonnet, F.R.S. Lord Brabourne. James Bryce, M.P. P. W. Clayden. Edward Clodd. W. Martin Conway. Marion Crawford. Oswald Chawfurd, C.M.G. The Earl Of Desart. COUNCIL. A. W. Dubourg. John Eric Erichben, F.R.S. Prof. Michael Foster, F.R.S. Herbert Gardner, M.P. Richard Garnett, LL.D. Edmund Gosse. H. Rider Haggard. Thomas Hardy. Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S. J. M. Lely. Rev. W. J. Loftie, F.S.A. F. Max Muller, LL.D. George Meredith. Herman C. Merivale. Rev. C. H. Middleton-Wakr, F.L.S. J. C. Parkinson. The Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery. Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., LL.D. Walter Herries Pollock. A. G. Ross. George Augustus Sala. W. Baptiste Scoones. G. R. Sims. J. J. Stevenson. Jas. Sully. William Mot Thomas. H. D. Traill, D.C.L. The Right Hon. the Baron Henry de Worms, M.P., F.R.S. Edmund Yates. A. W. a Beckett. W. Martin Conway. Hon. Counsel—E. M. Underdown, Q.C. COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT. Chairman—Walter Besant. I Edmund Gosse. J. M. Lely. | H. Rider Haggard. | Sir Frederick Pollock. Solicitors—Messrs. Field, Roscoe, & Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. Secretary—S. Squire Sprigge. OFFICES. 4., Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C. A. G. Ross. PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 1. The Annual Report. That for January 1891 can l>e had on application to the Secretary. 2. The Author. A Monthly Journal devoted especially to the protection and maintenance of Literary Property. Issued to all Members. 3. The Grievances of Authors. (The Lendenhall Press.) zs. The Report of three Meetings on the general subject of Literature and its defence, held at Willis's Rooms, March 1887. 4. Literature and the Pension List. By W. Morris Cot.les, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C.) 3s. 5. The History of the Societe des Gens de Lettres. By S. Squire Sprigge, Secretary to the Society, is. 6. The Cost Of Production. In tliis work specimens are given of the most important forms of type, size of page, &c, with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds of books. 2s. 6d. Out of Print, New Edition now preparing. 7. The Various Methods of Publication. By S. Squire Sprigge. In this work, compiled from the papers in the Society's offices, the various kinds of agreements proposed by Publishers to Authors are examined, and their meaning carefully explained, with an account of the various kinds of fraud which have been made possible by the different clauses in their agreements. Price 3s. Second Edition. 8. Copyright Law Reform. An Exposition of Lord Monkswell's Copyright Bill now before Parliament. With Extracts from the Report of the Commission of 1878, and an Appendix containing the Berne Convention, and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lely. Eyre and Spottiswoode is. 6d. Other works bearing on the Literary Profession will follow. vol. 11. P i  ## p. 228 (#632) ############################################ A D VER TISEMENTS. The " Swan" is a beautiful Gold Pen joined to a rubber reservoir to hold any kind of ink, which it supplies to the writing point in a continuous flow. It will hold enough ink for two days' constant work, or a week's ordinary writing, and can be refilled with as little trouble as to wind a watch. With the cover over the gold nib it is carried in the pocket like a pencil, to be used anywhere. A purchaser may try a pen a few days, and if by chance the writing point does not suit his hand, exchange it for another without charge, or have his money returned if wanted. There are various pints to select from, broad, medinrn, and fine, every handwriting can be suited, and the price of the entire instrument, with filler complete, post tree, is only 10s. 6d. MAfciE TOOO J. BAUD NtW V0«K fej%^ The Gold Pens in the "Swan" are Mabie, Todd, & Co.'s famous make. They are 14-carat tempered gold, very handsome, and positively unaffected by any kind of ink. They are, pointed with selected polished iridium. The " Encyclopedia Britannica" says:—"Iridium is a nearly white metal of high specific gravity, it is almost indestructible, and a beautifully polished surface can be obtained upon it." They will not penetrate the paper, and writer's cramp is unknown among users of Gold Pens. One will OUtwear 90 grOSS Of Steel pens. They are a perfect revelation to those who know nothing about Gold Pens. Dr. Olives Wendell Holmes has used one of Mabie, Todd, & Co.'s Gold Pens since 1857, and is using the same one (his " old friend ") to-day. Svdnky Gbumdy, Esq., says (referring to the Fountain Pen) :—" It is a vast improvement on every Stylograph." Moberly Bell, Esq., Manager, The Times, says (referring to the Fountain Pen) :—" One pen lasted me for six years." S. D. Waddy, Esq., Q.C., M.P., says (referring to the Fountain Pen) :—*' I have used them constantly for some years, and, as far ns I can remember, they have never failed me." -^^^3r3>-cf^ Send Postal Card for Free Illustrated List (containing interesting Testimonials from the Best People, who have used them for years) to— MABIE, TODD, & BARD,  ## p. 229 (#633) ############################################ ^Ibe Butbor* (The Organ of the Incorporated Soviety of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. II.—No. 8.] JANUARY i, 1892. [Price Sixpence. For the Opinions ex-pressed in papers that arc signed the Authors alone are responsible. WARNINGS. Readers of the Author are earnestly desired to make the following warnings as widely known as possible. They are based on the experience of six years' work upon the dangers to which literary property is exposed :— (l.) Never sign any agreement of which the alleged cost of production forms an integral part, unless an opportunity of proving the correctness of the figures is given them. (2.) Never enter into any correspondence with publishers, especially with advertising publishers, who are not recommended by experienced friends or by this Society. (3.) Never, on any account whatever, bind yourself down for future work to any one firm of publishers. (4.) Never accept any proposal of royalty without ascertaining exactly what the agreement gives to the author and what to the publisher. (5.) Never accept any pecuniary risk or respon- sibility whatever without advice. (6.) Never, when a MS. has been refused by resectable house.s, pay others, whatever promises they may put forward, for the production of the work. (7.) Never sign away American rights. Keep them. Refuse to sign an agreement con- taining a clause which reserves them for the publisher. If the publisher insists, take away the MS. and offer it to another. (8.) Never forget that, publishing is a business, like any other business, totally unconnected with philanthropy, charity, or pure love of literature. You have to do with business men. Society's Offices:— 4, Portugal Street, Linxoln's Inn Fields. NOTICES. THE Committee have to announce with great regret the resignation of the secretary, Mr. S. Squire Sprigge. He finds himself unable to give his whole time to the Society, and the greatly increased work which has now to be done makes it necessary that the secretary should henceforth devote the whole of his time to that work. When Mr. Sprigge became secretary three years ago, the number of members was 25o. It has since trebled and the work has more than trebled. This rapid increase is, the Committee feel, largely due to the zeal and the intelligence which Mr. Sprigge has brought to the work. The kind of work is often of an extremely delicate nature; authors are not always in the right in their disputes; and, when they are, it is not always expedient to set things right by the immediate intervention of the lawyer; many disputes have been amicably arranged by Mr. Sprigge in interviews and by conversation; in such a position as that held for three years by Mr. Sprigge, enemies may be very easily made. It may be said of Mr. Sprigge that he has made very few, and of those few, some—the persons, namely, who live by dishonest practices—are of the kind whose enmity is an honour. Mr. Sprigge retires at the end of March. The Committee hope to appoint his successor before that date, in order that he may have a little time to learn the work.  ## p. 230 (#634) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. The Committee very seriously entreat members to sign no agreements without submitting them, confidentially, to the secretory. The points, how- ever, which are most to be kept in mind are, (i) what the author gives up—his copyright, his American rights, his rights of translation, and, in most cases, his control of his own property. (2.) "What consideration he gets for it. (3.) What the publisher proposes to reserve for himself. If a royalty is offered, the author must ascertain what that means, both in view of a limited and of a large sale. If he is to share in profits after the book has jmid its expenses, he must have it dis- tinctly laid down in the agreement that expenses mean actual expenses paid for production, and not a fancy charge, giving the other side a fraudulent profit at the outset. Also he must have something to say in the matter of advertisements, remembering that it is not an uncommon practice for the fraudu- lent publisher to charge what he pleases under this head, and to "spend the money" (!) on advertising in his own periodicals or trade lists. In other words, the Society earnestly and un- ceasingly exhorts those who write books to take as much care of their property in books as they do of their property in houses, and lands, and shares. It may be only a very small property, or it may be large—in either event let it be guarded as carefully as any other kind of property. There is no subject on which everybody is so willing and ready to write as on the subject of publishing, and there is no subject on which there prevails such extraordinary ignorance. This is because the figures of one side only have been accessible. Those of the other side have now been presented by this Society, and anyone can ascertain by the help of these figures, or by special appli- cation to the secretary, what these figures are, ami what they mean. To those who do know what this means and why they have been so carefully withheld, the ordinary article which treats of publishing is a thing which would be contemptible if it was not pitiful and mischievous. Let it be remembered tliat the Society has a mass of pub- lishers' accounts, printers' estimates, information from booksellers, bookbinders, printers, advertising agents, agreements and returns, which has never before been collected together, and could never be collected except by such a Society. It is hoped that members will consult the Secretary and use this knowledge freely in their own interests. It is also hoped that editors will recognise, the fact that no articles on publishing methods are worth the paper they an; written on unless the figures on both sides are attainable. The recent labour agitation in the bookbinding trade has resulted in the concession of an eight hours' day with higher wages to the workmen in the trade. As to the justice of the case we are not called upon to speak. The working of the result is that for ordinary binding an advance of "j\ per cent, will be made on bookbinders' charges to pub- lishers for books, and of 12 per cent, (perhaps) for magazines. In other words, bookbinders say, prac- tically, "we are already cut down as far as we can go. Somebody else must lx>ar this burden." Let us see what it means. The cost of binding an ordinary octavo volume ranges from ^d. to jd. An advance of 7 \ per cent, adds \d. on the 4c?., and ^d. on the jd. In case of any attempt being made to reduce royalties on the plea of this increase, these figures should be borne in mind. It is not, however, in books so much as in magaziues that the difference will be felt. If the 12 per cent, advance is made, it will make a difference to a sixpenny magazine, perhaps all the difference. Would the world be any the poorer if the sixpenny magazine became a shilling magazine? The New Review began at 6c?., was advanced to gd., and will immediately become is. So much the better for everybody. On November 1st the readers of the Author, and members of the Society, were invited to subscribe in order to present Mr. K. U. Johnson, Secretary of the International Copyright League. On December 1st the Committee announced that they had received enough money to carry out their intentions. A silver salver has been pur- chased, and will be sent to New York immediately. The subscription was limited in amount, so as to enlarge the number of those who might wish to join. Many who would have joined were prevented by the announcement that enough had been re- ceived. If we had wanted more money the list could have been extended indefinitely. We have lost one of our earliest members. Mr Egerton Warbnrton, one of the best known of. Cheshire squires, was a member of the society from the first. Without being a great author, he was well known as the writer of excellent hunting songs, and was at all times devoted to literature and literary pursuits. He yvas a gentleman of what is called the old school—of ancient descent—  ## p. 231 (#635) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 231 conservative, ami a churchman—indeed, he was one of the late Beresford Hope's friends—a good hunting man—with all the best traditions attaching to his class. Some years ago he instituted a May Queen ceremony. For twenty years he was afflicted with blindness. Another, and a more prominent member from the literary point of view, has been lost in Mr. W. G. Wills. If success proves greatness, he was a great dramatist. If prolific production means greatness, he was great. The time has not yet come for his work to be judged impartially as to its place in literature. Few will forget, who ever saw those pieces, "Oliver," and "Charles the First." He possessed the first and greatest gift for one who aspires to be a dramatist. He could hold his audience. He has been charged with the sadness of his pieces. They are lugubrious. It was, however, in the nature of the subject that they should be so. The man himself was far from being lugubrious. His muse was tearful, but his heart was light. "We have also to regret the loss of Mr. G. T. Bettany, who died of heart disease at Dulwich on December 2nd. He was born at Penzance in 185o, and, being intended for the medical profes- sion, entered Guy's Hospital in 1868. After graduating B.Sc. at London University with First Class Honours in Geology, he proceeded to Cam- bridge, where he took his B.A., coining out (bracketed Third) in the First Class of the Natural Science Tripos in a remarkable year, Professor H. N. Martin and the late Mr. Frank Balfour being respectively first and second. Air. Bettany lectured for some years at Newnham and Girton Colleges, and at Guy's Hospital, but ultimately decided to devote himself to literature. His chief works are "The Morphology of the Skull," which he wrote in collaboration with Professor W. K. Parker, P.B.S., "Eminent Doctors; their Lives and their Work," "Life of Darwin" (Great Writers' Series), "The World's Inhabitants," and "The World's Religions." At the time of his death he was writing a "History of Christianity," and a "History of Guy's Hospital," the latter in collaboration with his friend Dr. S. Weeks, F.R.S. Mr. Bettany was a contributor to the Times, the Atheneeum, the Contemporary Jfevieic, and " Dic- tionary of National Biography," and has, with only one or two exceptions, edited more books than any man living. The "Minerva Library of Famous Books," of which he was ihe originator and sole editor, is now generally admitted to 1h> the cheapest and most valuable series of cheap books in existence, and has attained an enormous sale, while his "Popular Library of Literary Treasures" was also the means of bringing much that is valuable within the reach of a very large public. The meaning, as between publisher and author, of the so-called "Royalty System "—where there is no system—was explained in the Author for November 18g t. Writers are entreated, in their own interests, to study the facts and figures there set forth. Communications intended for the Authors' Syndi- cate should be addressed to W. Morris Colles, the Honorary Secretary. Mr. Colles will issue a report on the financial side of the Syndicate, drawn by a firm of chartered accountants, at the beginning of the new year. All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of this Society or not, are invited to communicate to the Editor any points connected with their work which it would be advisable in the general interest to publish. Members and others who wish their MSS. read are requested not to send them to the Office without previously communicating with the Secretary. The utmost practicable despatch is aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in which they are received. It must also be distinctly understood that the Society does not, under any circumstances, under- take the publication of MSS. The official directions for the securing of American copyright by English authors were given in the Author for June 1891. Members are earnestly entreated to take the trouble of reading those directions. Members are earnestly requested to forwanl agreements to the Society for inspection before they sign them. Once signed, the mischief is generally irreparable.  ## p. 232 (#636) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. MISPRINT. The Author, December 1891, page 200, column 2, line 4 from bottom— For "Again, there are no periodicals," read, "Again, there are two periodicals." The passage, us quoted, is unintelligible. W. W. Skeat. *■■*■■* THE COST OF PRODUCTION. ANOTHER edition of this very useful little work is now ready. Those who possess the earlier editions will please note that since they were issued there has been a rise in compositors' wages, which, so far as London is concerned, will affect the item of composition, or setting-up, and press work, or machining, to the extent of about i5 per cent. It has not, we are assured, touched prices in Edinburgh. Those who consult the book should also bear in mind that our estimates are very liberal, so us to be on the safe side. A printer's bill is a very elastic thing, one that may be shortened as well as lengthened, in a most surprising manner. For in- stance, a certain piece of work required for the Authors' Syndicate, which began by costing 364'. a week, has now gone down to l5*., without the least alteration in length. And the other day the account of a book was sent in which showed the cost of production considerably less than the estimate in the Society's book. Nor is this the only occasion in which we have found the figures supplied to us to have been liberal ones. AMERICAN COPYRIGHT. I. IE annual meeting of the American Oopy- I right League, by the courtesy of the Executive Council of the Authors' Club, was held at the rooms of the Club, 19, West 24.th Street, on Friday afternoon, Nov. 20th, Dr. Edward Eggleston, third Vice-President, in the chair. On motion the meeting was adjourned to a date in December, to be determined by the Secretary, of which (hie notifica- tion will be given. At a preliminary meeting of the Executive Council of the Leagues some routine business was transacted, and a committee consisting of Mr. E. Stedmun, first Vice-President and acting President of the League, and Mr. 11. U. Johnson, Secretary, were appointed to draft resolutions on the death of James Russell Lowell, late President of the League, to be reported at the December meeting, which will also receive rejwrts, elect officers, and decide upon the future policy of the League. II. The following is important. It is an extract from a communication made to an English editor by an American house :— "In the case of the publisher of a magazine who uses matter which is also copyrighted in the United States, we think it very important that he should secure from the author in writing his or her autho- rity, not only to publish it in their magazine, but also his or her authority to export it, i.e., the said magazine to the United States; also to sell the same in the United States. This authority should \n: given in legal form, and signed in the presence of two witnesses, and copies of the authority should be sent over to us, so that in case questions should come up here we should have positive proof that the author had given his authority to import and sell the publication in the United States." The Associated Press of New York has been interviewing English publishers as to the working of the Copyright Law. As reported, the general opinion seems to be that none of the evils prophesied for the printing trade are likely to come to pass. Composition in America is twenty-five per cent, at least more than it is here. American authors are asking larger prices; literature which appeals to the million will undoubtedly be greatly affected by the Act; other literature, naturally, to a much less extent. The benefit to the author who commands a hearing in America will be enormous. An American' writes to remonstrate with an expression used in the Author. It described the. Copyright Law as a Printer's Protection Act. He points out that the printers are no more protected than they were before. This is quite true; the expression should not have been used. We regret that it was used.—Editor. ■ ♦•«■♦ LITERARY CRITICISM. IP literary criticism may be said to flourish among us at all, it certainly flourishes im- mensely, for it flows through the periodical press like a river that has burst its dykee. The  ## p. 233 (#637) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 233 quantity of it is prodigious, and it is a commodity of which, however the demand may be estimated, the supply will be sure to be, in any supposable extremity, the last thing to fail us. What strikes the observer above all, in such an affluence, is the unexpected proportion the discourse uttered bears to the objects discoursed of—the paucity of ex- amples, of illustrations and productions, and the deluge of doctrine, suspended in the void, the profusion of talk, and the poverty of experiment, of what one may call literary conduct. This, indeed, ceases to be an anomaly as soon as we look at the conditions of contemporary jour- nalism. Then we see that these conditions have engendered the practice of " reviewing "—a practice that, in general, has nothing in common with the art of criticism. Periodical literature is a huge open mouth which has to be fed—a vessel of immense capacity which has to be filled. It is like a regular train which starts at an advertised hour, but which is free to start only if every seat be occupied. The seats are many, the train is ponder- ously long, and hence the manufacture of dummies for the seasons when there are not passengers enough. A stuffed manikin is thrust into the empty seat, where it makes a creditable figure till the end of the journey. It looks sufficiently like a passenger, and you know it is not only when you perceive that it neither says anything nor gets out. The guard attends to it when the train is shunted, blows the cinders from its wooden face, and gives a different crook to its elbow, so that it may serve for another run. In this way, in a well-conducted periodical, the blocks of rcmplissage are the dummies of criticism —the recurrent, regulated billows in the ocean of talk. They have a reason for being, and the situation is simpler when we perceive it. It helps to explain the disproportion I just mentioned, as well, in many a case, as the quality of the particular discourse. It helps us to understand that the "organs of public opinion" must be no less copious than punctual, that publicity must main- tain its high standard, that ladies and gentlemen may turn an honest penny by the free expenditure of ink. Henby James (Philadelphia Paper). TWO ACTIONS AT LAW. I. Pinnock v. Chapman and Hall. THE same number of the Times—Wednesday, December 9th—contained two reports of cases, Iwth of the greatest importance. The first of these was Pinnock v. Chapman and Hall. This case VOL. II, was probably seen by all our readers, who have also read the comments upon it in most of the papers. Briefly, it was an action by a private person against a firm of publishers for an alleged libel contained in a certain book of stories. In this book the plaintiff stated that he had been introduced in such a manner as to make the identity impossible to be doubted, and in such a way as to convey charges affecting his honour. The defence set up was not that a novelist has the right to place any person he pleases under disguise, real or slight, but tliat the plaintiff was not intended. The judge, in summing up, put these two questions to the jury: (1) Did the author have the plaintiff in his mind and intend him when writing this story? (2) Was the tale so written that those knowing the plaintiff would reasonably infer that he was intended? If either question was answered in the affirmative, the jury would have to consider only the question of damages. The jury did find an affirmative reply to these questions and returned a verdict for the plaintiff with 200/. damages. The comments on the case mostly turned on the publisher's side of the question. Every- body asked how a publisher could protect him- self. Nobody seems to have perceived that it is perfectly simple to insert 11 clause in every agree- ment to the effect that the author is liable for any damages or costs in fighting an action for libel. Such a clause is inserted in some agreements, and it is one which no author could refuse to accept. With this clause, and with the additional pre- caution of a careful reader—in this case the reader was led to believe that the whole book was fiction —there should be little danger for the publisher. Of course, the author might be unable to pay the damages. On that point tin; publisher would take care to be informed beforehand. Some twenty years ago a similar case was brought. The offending author was reported at the time to have paid the damages inflicted on the firm out of his own pocket. If he did so his action was just and honourable. The real difficulty is the novelist's, not the pub- lisher's. Our whole gallery of fictitious characters is a gallery of portraits. There is not a novelist living or dead whose books are not filled with portraits drawn from the life. There is not a single book of any note in which there are not living characters, and for the most part characters well known and easy to be recognised. Fiction, like painting, must have models. It will be the beginning of the end for fiction when she ceases to draw from the life. Now, it is easy to get a model for the studio—but difficult—almost impossible—to get a model for the study. AVho would consent to sit for the Marquis of Steyne—for Major Pendennis—for Jos Sedley —for Blanche Amory—for Ralph Nickleby—for Squeers—^for the Egoist? These portraits have to Q  ## p. 234 (#638) ############################################ 234 THE AUTHOR. bo taken surreptitiously—a line here, ft line there— here the Kodak—there ft word of talk. They have to be drawn with selection and discrimination. Hitherto, none of these unwilling models have brought their unwillingness into court. All the world, perhaps, knew who was meant, but the subject pretended either not to know or not to care. Henceforth the novelist must l>e very careful. If he takes from his acquaintance a villain, a hypocrite, a sensualist, an egotist, a man selfish, voluptuous, vain, foolish, priggish, a hum- bug, a bully, a poseur—anything—he must be very careful so to disguise him that the model, though he may know, may have no legal cause for complaint. He may transform to his canvas the mental qualities of the model or the physical peculiarities or the conditions and facts of the model's life. But not all together. Thus, if his character adorn New York, transfer him to London; if he be mentally humpbacked transpose the hump to a person physically unlike the real man. The effect is not quite so happy as the bodily transfer of the whole man with all his surroundings, and the conditions which have made him what he is. But it is safer. The portrait of a dead man may, one supposes, be shown accurately without danger of legal'proceedings. In such a, case the painter need only fear the vengeance of able-bodied sons, brothers, or cousins. II. The Proprietor of a Magazine v. The Proprietor of a Country Paper. This case is also one of considerable importance, because it involves some definition of the right of a newspaper to copy or abridge work appearing in a magazine. The defendant admitted the pub- lication of an abridgment, but contended that he had acted in perfect good faith; that he had received a copy of the magazine containing the story, and that he had believed that he had the consent of the plaintiffs to publish the story. It does not appear, in fact, that the defendant did more than has been very often done by country papers. Yet it was necessary that the powers of a newspaper to reproduce magazine articles should be defined. There can be no doubt that the reproduction of papers or portions of papers from certain magazines may materially advance their popularity and increase their circulation, so that, to some extent, editors should be encouraged to reproduce them. But it is well to remember that the copyright belongs to the man who has bought it, and that copyright means the right to publish. There can be no harm done so long as editors recognise the necessity of getting permission to reproduce, and so long as that permission is freely granted, But it should not be asked, nor would it be granted, in the case of stories which form the most attractive part of most magazines. ♦■»■♦ THE STORYTELLER'S NIGHT. HERE is a hint for the Authors' Club. At the Aldiue Club, New York, they have a Storyteller's Night. Their last was on Thursday, December 17th. Mr. Frank Stockton took the chair. The storytellers were Mr. George Cable, M. Paul du Chail'lu, Mr. Charles Dudley Warner, Mr. W. Hamilton Gibsou, Mr. Will Carlines, and others. One after the other they stood up and told their stories, and sat down again. In one respect we cannot imitate the Aldine Club. Their dinner was not served till ten o'clock. Our ]>eople wouldn't stand that. Here is Mr. Charles Warner's story as reported in the Critic :— "There was once a robber in Cairo who fell from the second story of a house he was trying to enter, and broke his leg. He went to the Cadi aud complained. The man's window was badly made, and he wanted justice. The Cadi said that was reasonable, and he summoned the owner of the house. The owner confessed that the house was poorly built, but claimed that the eaqienter was to blame, and not he. This struck the Cadi as sound logic, aud he sent for the carpenter. 1 The charge is, alas, too true,' said the carpenter,' but the masonry was at fault and I couldn't fit a good window.' "So the Cadi, impressed with the reasonableness of the argument, sent for the mason. The mason pleaded guilty, but explained that a pretty girl in a blue gown had passed the building while he was at work, aud that his attention had been diverted from his duty. The Cadi thereupon demanded that the girl be brought before him. 'It is true,' she said, 'that I am pretty, but it's no fault of mine. If my gown attracted the mason, the dyer should be punished and not I.' 'Quite true,' said the Cadi,' send for the dyer.' The dyer was brought to the bar and pleaded guilty. That settled it. The Cadi told the robber to take the guilty- wretch to his hoiiBe and hang him from the door-sill, and the populace rejoiced that justice had been done. Hut pretty soon the crowd returned to the Cadi's house, com- plaining that the dyer was too long to be properly hanged from his door-sill. 'Oh, well,' said the Cadi, who by that time was suffering with ennui,' go find a short dyer aud hang him. Justice shall prevail.'" — NOTES AND NEWS. MB. Brander Matthews, a writer of distinction in the world of fiction, has just published (Longmans, " With my Friends "), a dainty volume of short stories idl written in collaljomtion.  ## p. 235 (#639) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 235 His literary partners are Mr. H. S. Bunner, Mr. Walter Pollock, Mr. George H. Jessop, and Mr. F. Anstey. All the stories are good, but the first and the third seem to nie especially good. There is an introduction in which Mr. Brander Matthews (without a collaborateur) treats of the art and mystery of collaboration. I think that this is the only essay ever written on the subject; that is to say, many have written about literary partners, but none 011 what is really meant by a literary partnership; how men may collaborate in literary work; what constitutes partnership; the advantages of such partnership; its dangers and disadvantages and limitations. The scanty limits of the Author do not permit a summary, however brief, of this valuable essay, nor do they permit certain comments which one would like to make. These must be reserved for another place. Mean- time I beg to recommend the book to all who write fiction, not only for its excellent stories but for this introductory essay. One point I note in this place. Mr. Brander Matthews claims for collaboration an educational value so far as concerns construction. "It succeeds," he says, "most abundantly where clearness is needed, where precision, skill, and logic are looked for, where we expect simplicity of motive, sharpness of outline, ingenuity of construction, and clearness of effect." Observe that these are all things which are absolutely essential to the success of a drama. It is, he thinks, because the habit of collaboration so much obtains in France that the constructive part of their work is generally so much better than with us. Now, in fiction as well as the drama, all these qualities are desirable. And a want of clearness in outline, a want of sharpness, is one of the most common faults in English fiction. If this could be removed by a little collaboration, let us collaborate. The reason why collaboration proves a remedy for this fault is, I apprehend, that the inventor of the fable—there can be two minds working upon it, but there can be but one inventor—is thus enabled to see his own idea projected upon another brain; he sees it as it is, not as he imagines it is; he sees it in the mind of another man. Why is it that the unsuccessful man of letters so often cannot understand his ill success? Mainly, perhaps, because he cannot really see his own work; he sees the vision of it in his own brain, and he cannot understand that he has not transferred it to the page. With a collaborateur he would have had to bring out every character, every incident, every name to be discussed, arranged, altered, and made presentable. Collaboration has many dangers and many difficulties. One would "ot recommend a young writer to collaborate, except for quite short things, first of all; to feel his way; to enter into no lasting engagements; and never, whatever disputes may afterwards happen, to claim more than a just half share in the work. Perhaps, after all, the best form of collaboration is that which has produced this volume. It is when two friends, in after-dinner talk, hit upon an idea, begin to turn it about, to see its possibilities, and in an hour's amusement actually to construct a story which cither of them can write down. Every great thought proves to have been antici- pated by somebody else. For instance, when wo talked of a school for novelists and of the possi- bility of teaching those capable of learning some- thing of the elements, just as rhetoric may be taught to one who wishes to know how to conduct an argument, we were quite ignorant that there was already in the field a Professor of the Art—a Literary Tutor—and that he had been in practice for many years. That is, however, the case. This gentleman edits a magazine—not one of those, apparently, which pander to the taste of the day and are read by such people as ourselves, because it is not on the bookstalls. Moreover, on application to the office we found it gone—the people knew not whither. The tuition is conducted by letter only. The fees are decidedly low—thirty shillings for three months and five guineas a year, and the tutor offers (at least he has offered to one editor) the splendid commission of half a guinea on every literary pupil obtained for him. He says in his prospectus that many of his former pupils have now "ascended several steps up the ladder of Fame." Now, in all departments of learning, the teacher must be able to show that he is able to do, himself, the thing that he teaches. Let us, therefore, beg all who think of getting such help as that proffered by this gentle- man, or others like him, ascertain that he has shown himself, by his own writings, a corn- latent guide. That one has never heard of him is not enough to make one refuse his services or to warn others against him. Let him prove his competence in the only way possible, by the pro- duction of his own work. If it is good work, there is a possibility that he may be able to teach. But that proved, the next question is whether the man 1* able to teach? Meanwhile, that offer of the half guinea commission does not, somehow, inspire one with confidence. A communication has been received from the advertiser in the Daily News whose proposal was commented on hi the last number of the Aut/ior (i 2  ## p. 236 (#640) ############################################ 236 THE AUTHOR. under the title of "A Now Departure." What he says is practically this—which one is quite ready to admit—that a literary agent, or middle- man, may be very useful for an author. It is quite true, and there are literary agents already in existence; the advertiser would do well to find out a good one and employ him. He must be very careful not to employ any- one not well recommended. He goes on to say that " not a quota "—what is that ?—of MSS. sub- mitted to publishers are ever read. My own experience is that MSS. are always read by pub- lishers. He therefore thinks that a literary agent would read them though the publisher will not. A literary agent would not read MSS.; he cannot possibly do so. Ho might, as publishers do, em- ploy a staff of readers, but he could not, personally, read MSS. Here then is advice for this adver- tiser. Withdraw your advertisement; apply to the society for advice; if you employ a literary agent you will have to pay him a great deid less than the 25 per cent, you foolishly offer to any shark who may be on the look out for prey. "It is a part of the literary gift," says a cor- respondent, "that authors should express their disagreements in the most disagreeable manner possible." Profound observation! It explains in one short sentence the whole of the history of authors and their quarrels. It also affords hope to the despondent. There may be a brighter future for literature, when its followers will cease to scratch and claw and revile and scarify each other. Manners will, some time or other, be taught. Thus the natural woman, when she disagrees with her friend, scratches, clapperclaws, and tears out hair. One has seen the natural woman so dis- playing her disagreement; the onlooker, at such a moment, thinks of authors with a sigh. But the blessings of civilisation are teaching the natural woman a better method; you may now walk about the streets for a twelvemonth without finding such a natural woman. In course of time we shall find our own profession educated up to the point of disagreeing with politeness. The Bludyers, how- ever, are a long-lived race. A correspondent in the St. James's Gazette writing on the old grievance—far more real for playwrights than for novelists—of the difficulty of getting a piece produced, he makes a practical suggestion. It is that the manager, like the publisher, shall have a reader or a staff of readers. Why not? He goes on, however, to suggest that the dramatist shall pay the reader himself. Why? The author does not pay the publisher's reader. He is part of tlie office. Why should not the manager pay his reader? But the circumstances are not quite similar. Editors of magazines and publishers must always l>e bringing out new things—every month for the magazines—every season for the book list. The manager only brings out a new thing when he is obliged. If he gave the world a new play every two months or so—as he could yvere it not for the present lavish expense of mounting and dressing—he would want a reader. As he looks for a run of twelve months at least, he does not; he prefers arranging for a new play with an old hand. Think of a new piece every month at the Lyceum, and another at the Haymarket, and another new piece at the Comedy, the Prince of Wales's, and all of them! In ten years we shoidd have such a company of dramatic authors in this country as was never before known. A successful play would not then be worth, as it is now, a small fortune; it would, as it should, be worth what a successful novel is worth, and no more. But that shoidd be quite enough to stimulate hundreds of active brains. And then the manager's reader would be a very useful person indeed. Mr. Andrew Lang's "Sign of the Ship" is always a thing to look for— it is one of the minor events of the month—though, like the delicacies of the Christmas season, he does not always agree with one. This month he contributes a few interesting statistics concerning novels. There have been, he says, 270 novels of the year, as recorded in a library catalogue. As a fact, there have been many more. A "student"—of fiction or of folk lore?—has kindly erased 254 from this catalogue, as not to he sent. Of these, about 24 had been read before; of those left on the list, twelve, at least, wore experi- mental. Of the whole 270, there were about forty that " a male human being might read." The rest, he says, yvere all for ladies. "Ah !" he cries, "that authors would not write, that publishers would not publish, that libraries would not buy, the common, mild, middle-class domestic novel any more!" If one were obliged to read them, one would certainly echo that sigh. But then, you see, one is not obliged—and one does not read them. In the same way as we pass a pastrycook's shop, and observe the masses of tarts, cakes, buns, chocolate, and confec- tions of jam, one might cry, "Ah! that pastrycooks would not make, that people would not buy, that children would not eat the common, mild, domestic biliousness any more!" Or, when one passes the fragrant fried fish-shop, one might equally ejacu- late, " Ah! that fryers would not fry, that sho[>s would not sell, that workgirls would not eat, this  ## p. 237 (#641) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 237 terrible, horrible, awful mess!" Or, again, when one goes to an exhibition of pictures, and sees the acres of wall space covered with feeble and conven- tional daubs, one might cry, "Ah! that painters would not paint, that exhibitions would not exhibit, that people would not buy these mild, domestic, middle-class conventional pictures any more!" Now, let us make out what case we can for the mild novel that nobody wants. In the first place, does it injure the circulation of the forty which the male human being can read? It may injure, to a very small extent, their circulating library circula- tion. That is to say, the latest work of the Eminent novelist may be bought by the hundred instead of the hundred and twenty, and readers are made to wait a little for him, because—it is rejK>rted—the small fry can be bought—" sorted out "—at a much lower price—sometimes at five shillings the three volumes. But at Smith's they will get, I l>elieve, any book that the subscriber asks for. If that is the case, then the Eminent one suffers not at all, however many domestic novels are produced. But readers always have the remedy in their own hands. They can send back, by return post, the rubbish which fills the box. Or, better still, they can select books for themselves, and return all those which 'are not in the list. As to the cheap edition—the one-volume edition—of course the mild domestic novel, which never gets to that edition at all, injures nol>ody. In fact, the whole 23oout of the 270 appear, flutter about for a month or two, and then vanish for ever. Their real end, which is pieces, comes to them after a few seasons in the seaside circulating library. Broadstairs, for instance, hath a noble, unique col- lection of the novels that nobody wants. Even little Llanfairfechan is not without this museum, though on a smaller scale. Again, there are many, very many, desperately dull houses in country towns and country villages where the ladies must, perforce, devote part of the day to reading. I hope we have long since passed the old fashioned stage of believing that one must read only with a view to improving the mind. Those ladies read with a view to getting out of their dullness—away from themselves. They therefore read novels. They read a novel in two days, or three at the most, say three a week. They therefore read a hundred and fifty in the year, or, leaving out eight weeks for amusement, travel, and other distractions, they read one hundred and thirty-two novels in the year. Now, if there were published none hut the forty readable by superior VOL. IT. man, these poor ladies would simply have nothing to read, nothing to talk about, nothing to distract them from the deadly petty gossip of the place, for about fort)- weeks in the year. Think—oh! think—What a calamity would l>e the suppression of the Two Hundred and Thirty! Again, let us acknowledge, for argument, the feebleness and the conventionality of the stuff. But it is intended for the distraction of minds not too strong at best, and, in their hours of relaxation, at their feeblest. Do these books harm anybody? Indeed, no, unless feebleness of writing injures the mentally weak. Do they lower, for those who read, their standard of purity, of nobility? No. These writers accept this standard to the best of their abilities, and, for the most part, maintain it. I do not profess to have read much of the work of this poor company of Two Hundred and Thirty, shiver- ing and trembling beneath the forefinger of scorn, but I believe that if they ventured to assail our morals, they would lx? instantly annihilated. There is an Eye—a watchful Eye—upon the morals of the novelist. In my own humble way, I have received remonstrances which revealed the existence of that Eye. Once—only once—I suffered—nay, encou- raged—a sailor to kiss a girl in a summer house— only a kiss, nothing more, but it was wrong—it was sinful, and I heard of it. "I thought," wrote the indignant moralist, " that your lxwks were safe reading for my daughter. Most providentially I looked into that one called 'The World went very- well then' before placing it in my child's hands. I can only say—may God grant you repentance and forgive you!" If this wholesome watchfulness is kept upon the male novelist, how much more upon the artist of the other sex! Again, there are about thirty or forty ladies who, by writing these domestic novels for other ladies, manage to make a little income, varying from fifty to a hundred pounds a year, bringing out one every year. The libraries take three or four hundred copies of each. The publishers make— say, a hundred pounds to a hundred and fifty pounds by each work. Are we to deprive these ladies of their income? It is of vital importance to them. If we have no pity on the poor ladies, shall we not find one tear for the innocent publisher? Or, if this company of Two Hundred and Thirty were annihilated, think what would happen to the R  ## p. 238 (#642) ############################################ 238 THE AUTHOR. young gentlemen who write papers for the thought- ful magazines on the Decay of Fiction! Magazines have got to be filled, as Mr. Henry James has pointed out. What so easy to write as an article on the Worthlessness of Modern Fiction! The editors like the subject. Anybody who can write at all, whether he knows anything about, fiction or not, whether he is capable, of writing or inventing the smallest anecdote, thinks he can write an article upon it. If we were to approach the editor with an article on the Fried Fish craving which seems so deplorably on the increase in certain cpiarters, he would not take it. I am sure he would not. But an article on novels? Why, he takes at least three every year, and sometimes more. And then there are the weekly reviews. The novels find employment in their pages for many eminent hands. And there are the daily papers. The reviewer of novels finds in their columns con- stant and remunerative occupation. And the writer of the literary letter. He has hardly anything to talk about but, novels and novelists. There is also the writer of the paragraphs—what would he do without his novelists? Indeed, when we think of the re- viewers alone, we shrink in terror from a measure of suppression which would abolish their chief source of income. "Strike," we hear them cry, " strike at church and constitution; abolish the House of Lords; suppress the House of Commons; but leave, oh! leave us this company of Two Hundred and Thirty." Put all together, the libraries, the publishers, the publishers' readers, the advertise- ment columns, the reviewers, the thoughtful young gentlemen of the Higher criticism who write on Decay, the printers, the lx>okbinders, the paper makers, the artists, and the authors, and consider what would be meant by abolishing this poor Company. No. Let us rather say," Go on—goon— ye Two Hundred and Thirty. Go on writing as long as the people go on reading. When some other amusement is found, as attractive, as ready to hand, as cheap as reading, perhaps there will be no longer any demand for you. When you cease to write, then we—your reviewers—cease to flourish. Go on. But we reserve, meantime, the right to scoff and sneer at you whenever there is nothing else to write about, and whether we read you, or whether we do not. Indeed, we never intend to read you. Your function, next to pleasing the girls who read you, is to furnish subject for contemptuous writing for those who do not read you." There is only one thing more to be said. Out of the Two Hundred and Thirty, at least eighty are authors who pay for the production of their books. And then, because the library catalogue by no means exhausts the list of new novels, there is probably another eighty or more also paid for by the authors which never even get into the libraries at all. Walter Besant. PUBLISHING ON COMMISSION. i. General Literature. 2. Medical Literature. OUR first impulse at the office of the Society of Authors, on hearing from an author that he intends to bring out a book at his own expense, is to dissuade him from his project, for it is our general experience that these undertaking* end in disappointment. Accordinglv, wo publish a warning every month, urging a young author never, never to pay for production. But although we make it a rule to dissuade young authors from publishing in this way, we have never lost sight of the fact that in certain special cases it may be fo the author's advantage to bear the cost of production himself. For instance, let us suppose that an author has n book for which a quick sale can bo expected in certain quarters, owing to bis own personal efforts or private; influence, or both. This is not a very rare state of affairs. His public is a ready-made one and does not require to be approached through any special channels, or with any publishing wiles. He is more or less in the position of a man who has a certain number of subscriptions guaranteed to him for his work; he am get at his public himself, am! does not want any assistance. Such a man hail l>etter publish upon commission. He runs no risk and his pecuniary returns will be greatest in this way. Take, again, the ease of an author whose chosen subject precludes him from ever achieving real popularity. His work may be a valuable contri- bution to literature of the highest kind, and a useful addition to the world's store of knowledge. There would be good grounds for recommending the owner of such a work to produce it at his own expense, but we should warn him of the probability that much of his money would be sunk, and that he would have to take out his reward in glory for ever. It is true that many such books are pub- lished from time to time at the cost of learnea societies, while a few are published on the time- honoured subscription method, but an author is not always so fortunate as to find either societies or individuals, who are ready to pay his printer's bill. It often happens that these books, thoroughly valuable work as they may be, are left to find their  ## p. 239 (#643) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 239 way to the public through the author or not nt all. If the author does not expect anything else, but is satisfied to lose money in making his name, and spreading the knowledge he has gained for the good of his fellow-man, it is most right that he should publish at his own expense. No one asks tliiit the author's reputation should be made at the expense of the publisher's purse. All the Society does in such eases is to say: "Publish by all means, but put yourself in honourable hands, so that you may not be cheated over the accounts, and do not anticipate large profits." But besides these classes of books there is another, where, the author's resolve to publish at his own expense can be justified by sensible and practical reasons, although the result may be a pecuniary loss to him. This is the position in the publication of certain medical books. All purely medical books may be said to belong to one of three classes :— (1.) Works of general medical reference. (2.) Books written in one of the popular series. (3.) Monographs on special medical subjects. To the first class belong the historic medical works. They generally remain the property of their publishers, though it is not unknown for the copyright to have been held by the author, editor, or compiler. There is a steady annual sale for these books to the, medical profession, to the general public, to students, and to hospital and general libraries; and the new editions, as they are issued, are brought up to date by the author, or, in case of his death, by the most fitting person whom the owner of the copyright can secure for the purpose. The price at which they are, sold is, as a rule, by no means a popular one, so that many of these books an'^aluable pecuniary properties. And this is very ^Jtting, for most of them are monuments of industry and research. The books of the second class—those written as parts of a scries—have the double value, to their author, always possessed by books written for a scries, i.e., they bring him in some money and Wime reputation. The author's name becomes widely known, for these books always sell largely. The good ones sell the bad ones, and the popular prices suit the purse of a great many people. Every copy of every book contains an advertisement of the rest of the series. Again, as it is widely believed— a very justifiable belief—that the best available men for the different subjects are always desired to write these series, the public spread of a doctor's name attached to one of the books is directly or indirectly so good for him, that the small fee received for writing the book is counterbalanced thereby. The pay and the fame should be, and doubtless are, self-compensating and self-arranging. The more the author was the favourably-known man in VOL. 11. connexion with his subject, the higher will be his price, and the less his desire or necessity for advertisement; the less known he is, the cheaper would he sell his work, and the more good would he expect to get from the publicity. Or it may be that a doctor is approached by the owner of one of these series, and is asked for a work on a special subject at a certain figure,* and is told that the sum named is the sum that is to be paid to all the authors of all the monographs. There is here no question of sticking out for a higher price. If the scientist wants the notoriety and the lucre he will exchange his brainwork for them. If he is not tempted, the proprietor will easily find some other person equally fitted for the task to undertake it at the suggested price. But it is of the third class, the monographs on special subjects, that we particularly wish to speak, l)ecause they appear to occupy a unique position in publishing. Most often the work is written by a man who is not yet widely known, in the hopes of becoming widely known. It is thus in a way an advertisement pure and simple, an expression, however, for which a few words of explanation will be necessary. But the first point to be noted is that it may l>e a very good book, and, as a matter of fact, it generally is a very good book. If mere excellence would sell a medical work, so that there should be a pecuniary profit upon it, many of these works would l>c worth more to the publishers than those written under contract. But, alas! mere excellence will not by itself achieve so desirable an object. For the public to which a purely medical book is sold is a very small one, though it be one, with whom excellence would have due weight. And here, of course, conies in the great difference between the publication on com- mission of the medical work, and the same proceeding, when applied to the ordinary novel. Both acts may be looked upon as an act of adver- tisement, but the novel addressed to a very large and uncritical public may sell to great jiecuniary advantage, although it be exceedingly bad, while the treatise, being of interest only to a small and thoughtful body, cannot ever realise a profit for its author, though it be an exceedingly good and valuable work. So far is this true, that we make bold to say that if Professor Koch's discovery had been a trustworthy or perhaps, it is more correct to .say a complete and conclusive piece of work, and he had embodied the results of his researches in a book, whoever published the book would have lost money by the transaction. Details of elaborate experiments, with figures, numbers, illustrations, * Fifty pounds down, and another fifty pounds towards the cost of illustration, is the offer made by the proprietor of one of these series to his authors. S  ## p. 240 (#644) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. foot-notes, side-note, and cross-references cannot be printed with the ease and cheapness characteristic of the production of a " yellow-back." And when the expensive book, containing within its pages priceless and authentic information as to one of the scourges of humanity is ready for sale, who is going to buy it? A suffering public—of course not. It is not written for them. If it were written for them it would not have been worth writing. The whole medical profession? Cer- tainly not. Doctors are not rich people, and those books cost so much to produce, that some sub- stantial price must be put upon them, while the practical use to the rank and file of the medical profession of an elaborate scientific monograph is very small. "Who buys the work, then? A few savants, a few professors, and a few libraries. But from these sources the knowledge contained in the work is disseminated in lectures, comments, re- views, and scientific articles, so that the book becomes broadly useful to an enormous public, who could have gained nothing, however, by buying it for them- selves. The good to the public is obtained, but—to put it flippantly—where does the author come in? This way, for there is no especial disinterested- ness about the medical author. Public recog- nition by his fellows as the author of a valuable work is a reward that may at any time prove as substantial to his pocket as it is grateful to his self-esteem. Upon such recognition follow appointments, upon appointments pupils, upon these lectureships, upon lectureships practices, and upon these legitimate notoriety, with its substantial results. This, of course, is the rosy future for the author of the medical book published upon com- mission. That it actually occurs often is not suggested, but some part of the programme is carried out in a fair proportion of eases. Com- paratively speaking, this sort of success is as often met with among medical authors, as is a large pecuniary success among the producers of fiction upon commission. In taking as an imaginary case a work by Koch, it may be said that here the author had previously obtained the very things which it is suggested are the medical author's sole reward. This is so. That case was selected merely to point out the unsalc- ability of medical books. If a work by a great man on a subject of world-wide urgency cannot pay its way, how can pecuniary profits be expected for the more specialistic work of a less known man? That is the question it was desired to raise. It is true there is no substantial reward to come to the von- great physician who writes a purely medical book. He is one of the authors who ha.s to take out his reward in fame. In this Society we have always insisted that literary property ought. to receive some tangible recognition, but there are cases when in the natural course of events this is not forthcoming. And this is so here. Let it l>e remembered, however, that in no very far-fetched way, the successful and distinguished physician cam be supposed to have been prepaid for his work. His practice and his appointments have made it possible for him to acquire the necessary information, and he owes it to his world-wide reputation that he should make his discoveries public. In speaking of "advertisement" it must he understood that no reproach is intended by the word. Such a medical book as we have referred to is only intended to justify its author's position, or enchance his reputation among his fellows. It is not an appeal to the public to come to him and be healed, and the Royal College of Physicians can be trusted to see that no one whose conduct seemed to be o[>en to this interpretation, attains to a position of professional authority, whatever may be his public repute. There are those who have chosen to rely upon public opinion only, and to these—still without reproach—the word advertisement applies in its full sense. THE ABT OF FICTION AND THE AUTHORS OF ANTIQUITY. THE majority of mankind have resolved to believe that there is no such thing as an "art of romance," and the novelist, in the opinion of the greater part of his fellow creatures, is merely a man who, being too idle, or, more likely, too great a fool to do anything else, wastes his time—probablv worth nothing—and pens, ink, and paper—which cost something—in writing at random "anything that comes into his head." Human lieings are slow to correct received opinions, and probably society must be left to enjoy this error, amongst, a great many others, for a very long time to come. Meanwhile the "scribbler" of "trashy novels," whilst turning over the pages of his masters, the great authors of all ages, observes with delight that the writers of antiquity were well acquainted with all the canons of his art. The classical authors were themselves guided by these same canons in the composition of their immortal works; their writings abound with allusions to them; and in works upon authorship, of a purely didactic kind, they expound these fundamental rules of construc- tion with all their familiar force and precision. Indeed, it would be easy to compile from Aristotle's Poetics and Horace's Epistle to the Pisones, a code of maxims comprehending almost all that the beginner in fiction has to learn, and a great  ## p. 241 (#645) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. deal more than writers long engaged upon this difficult art are always happy enough to be able to remember. Aspirants after literary or dramatic fame will scarcely find anywhere manuals of equal value for their guidance; and whilst consulting them may assure themselves that they are in the very best company. Anyone who pleases may convince himself that Fielding had been reading Aristotle's Poetics when he wrote the second chapter of the third book of Joseph Andrews, his first novel. But, to offer some evidence of an assertion that will certainly seem startling to a good many people. In the first place the authors of antiquity were fully convinced that the composition of any kind of "history "* was an art that could be taught, and ought to be learned. It seems odd that anyone can be found to dispute the fact, one who knew, and whom everyone knows, having written, pretty nearly two thousand years ago, Kgo nec stadium sine divite vena Nec rude quid possit video ingenium; altering sic Altera poscit opem res, et conjuntt amiee.f But what is talent and what is art, the majority do not concern themselves to discover, and, in consequence, starting from some vague misappre- hension of both, they easily arrive at all sorts of absurd conclusions. Lucian, however, in his interesting work "How History should be written" (chap. 33), deals with this very point at some length, and what he says is in substance this:— "The author should have these two principal tilings to start with, intelligence and descriptive power. The former is a thing that cannot be taught, a natural gift; but the power of description must be acquired by much exercise, and by continuous labour, and by emulation of the ancients. The former, then, is not a matter of art, and here there is no need of 'advice from me. For this little book of mine does not profess to make people clever and quick who are not so by nature. It would be a valuable book, or rather the most valuable of all books, if it could effect transmutations and transfor- mations of that sort But where then is the use of art and advice? Not to create abilities where they already exist, but to show the right way to use them So, pray, let no one look askance at me if I profess to have discovered an art in so great and difficult a matter. For I do not say that I can make an author of anyone you please; but that I can show a man, who is naturally intelligent, and who is well versed in literature, certain right ways by which he may more rapidly and more easily attain to a certain success." * Novels are histories. "We have properly enough entitled this our work a history." Fielding. "Tom Jones," book 2, chap. 1., and passim throughout the same work. t Horace. Ars poetica, 409. Now the distinction between ability and artistic power could hardly be better explained than in this passage. Again, in the forty-eighth chapter of the same work, Lucian insists upon the importance of working from a scenario, a matter about which even a great many authors are sceptical. Here is what W says:— "When the author has gathered all together, or the greater part, first of all he should weave a sort of memorandum, ami make a kind of corpus, without any adornments, or any joining together of the various parts. Afterwards, when he hits further introduced arrangement, he should add ornament, and then set forth his book, with art, and reflection, and finished style." But we may turn to a writer greater than Lucian. Aristotle's work on poetics brims with suggestions of the highest value. The only difficulty is to select one or two passages amidst so great an embarras des richesses. Aristotle addresses himself more particularly to the tragic dramatist and the epic poet; but as both of these must have a story, what he has to say about the " mythos " is equally useful to the novelist. And it is worth while to notice— considering some opinions that have been expressed in late years—that Aristotle sets the highest value upon the story. "The story," he says, "is the beginning, and, so to say, the soul of the tragedy."* Whilst in the twenty-fourth chapter of his work, he observes, "narrative art is above the others." This is the sort of remark that brings the heart of the " trashy novelist " into his mouth. But to return to the story. A story, Aristotle declares, should be "a whole and perfect action, having a certain length."! Next he explains what he means by "a whole "—something that has a beginning, and a middle, and an end. The beginning is that which does not of necessity result from something else. But after it something else naturally follows. The middle is that which both succeeds in consequence of something and leads to something else. And the end is that which naturally follows, "either of necessity or in all probability," but after which nothing further neces- sarily ensues. Therefore "those who would put stories together well, must neither begin acci- dentally anywhere nor end accidently anywhere." Aristotle is always brief to obscurity, but every writer who has discovered with Jean Paul Richter that, "es gibt in der ganzen entdeckten Welt keine verdammtere Arbeit als einen ersten Secktor zu schreiben," will feel that the Stagyrite is a friend in need in having, at any rate, something to say about where the story ought to begin. * Aristotle, Poetica. Chapter 5. t Aristotle, Poetica. Chapter 7.  ## p. 242 (#646) ############################################ 242 THE AUTHOR. Respecting length, Aristotle's rule is that the story should he of such a length that the whole may be conveniently carried in the memory. He considers that " taking into consideration the nature of the action related in the story, the longer tale, provided it be connectedly clear from end to end, will be the better. So that we may sav, giving a simple rule, that a sufficient length is that which affords room for the successive incidents which effect in some necessary or probable manner the change of the fortunes of the diameters from happy to sad or sad to happy."* And these great writers were practical. It is at this very point that Aristotle pauses to add that in the question of length the habits and requirements of the public must not lie overlooked. Aristotle must not detain us longer, for to leave Horace unquoted would not be pardonable. At the same time to adduce passages from the familiar "De arte pnetica" is almost an impertinence. Some interesting lines occur, however, in the second epistle of the second book, respecting the great art of " cutting " :— At qui legitimum cupiet fecisse poema, Cum tabulis animum censoris sumet honest!; Audebit, quscumque parum splendoris habebunt Kt sine ponders enint et honors indigna fercntur, Verba movere loco, quamvis invita reccdant Et versentur adhuc intra penetralia Vesta:; The novelist cannot exist who does not feel the force of the last two lines. How often the very passage that lias to be cut out, the incident, the morsel of word painting, the author's philosophic reflection is emphatically something "most un- willing to quit its place." How often it is some- thing that has dwelt by the hearth-fire of the author's thought, and has haunted his imagination from the day when he commenced his tale. But, "sed nunc non erat his locus," and the favourite passage must go. Which suggests another of Aristotle's maxims, "Whatsoever, whether introduced or not, makes no difference in the storv, is no part of the storv." Such are a few passages only out of works abounding with suggestive remarks of the greatest value. Anyone who will open them may find for himself paragraphs that will appear to him more helpful than the half-a-dozen brief extracts here offered. But these liave been selected as an evidence that the construction of a story was regarded as an art by the great writers of antiquity, and one whose principles they did not think unworthy of their serious attention. H. C. * Aristotle, l'oetica, Chapter 7. ♦<*•-* THE INDEPENDENT THEATRE. ONE of the most interesting examples of the intellectual activity of our time is the revived interest among the public in the present con- dition of the English Drama. An enthusiastic num- ber of gentlemen, following the example of Berlin and Paris, have lately banded themselves together, under the title of the Independent Theatres Society—a society whose motives have been much canvassed. If, from the point of view of subscrip- tions, there is much to be desired, they have a hard fighter in Mr. George Moore and an enthusiastic helmsman in Mr. G. T. Grein, to guide their ship through the waves of criticism. Among the many changes which they are anxious to bring about is the introduction, on the English stage, of the Literarv Drama. It is not the place here to dis- cuss the vexed question of actor and author and stage manager—the fitness of "ghosts" for public representation or the evils of the "star" system prevailing in England and America, and the supe- riority of the French conventions of the Comedie Francaise. Suffice it to say, that the Independent Theatre Society hold strong views on all these subjects. I shall confine myself to the Literary Drama, the possibilities of which Mr. H. D. Traill, in the December number of the New Review, has so skilfully criticised. The Inde- pendents have been abused and misrepresented, as founders of all new movements have been in the world's history. All the penalties of success promise to be theirs, and if they take themselves a little too seriously, it is a fault on the right side. They are accused, among other things, of trying to crush healthy English Drama by introducing Norwegian and French varieties. It should be remembered, however, that it was owing to the efforts of Mr. J. T. Grein that the "Profligate" and the " Middleman" were performed in Holland and Germany with great success. If I understand them aright, they are only anxious to expel provin- cialism from the stage, whether in Germany, England, or Holland, or any country. Their admirable performance of "Therese Baquin" is, perhaps, the best answer to their critics. In England, though there are many capable dramatists, many capable actors, and very comfortable theatres, and a public of moderate intelligence, there is, practically, no such thing as a " Literary Drama." There are hundreds of plays we are always glad to see, but, with the exception of Mr. Pinero's and Mr. Gilbert's, not many that we care to read. The poetical drama is dead, Mr. George Moore admits. Save a few instances, as the "White Pilgrim" of Mr. Hermann Merivale, and a few others, the modern poetical drama is a very gloomy affair. So that witnessing n modern play, we are unable to  ## p. 243 (#647) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 243 experience that pleasure which Shakes])eare or Moliere on the stage give to some people. We may be thrilled by dramatic situation, psychological analysis, tine acting, stage management (whether of the author or actor kind) but we do not feel the intellectual excitement that literature alone can give. In French or Norwegian plays, we do ex- perience this feeling, even when the dramas are not- poetical; so let us make the experiment in England. That is all the Independent Theatre ask. Surely it is not a very terrible request. They may be asking the impossible—asking too much of the drama—or, at any rate, of the English Drama. Perhaps they are. Mr. Traill is certainly of that opinion. It may be as absurd as asking art critics to tell us what they mean, or architects to build us houses that we can live in. Monstrous requests that no one in his senses would think of making. Still, it is an interesting experiment. And, after all, it is the duty of art to be unable to answer silly questions. However delightful it may be to witness the plays of Mr. Henry Arthur Jones and Mr. Pinero at our leading London houses, there are moments when at a second-rate theatre I am fain to believe that the only legitimate English Drama is the Drury Lane Pantomime, as interpreted by those incompar- able artists, Mr. Herbert Campbell and Mr. Harry Nicholls. To inquire for a moment into the objection to a Literary Drama. Mr. H. D. Traill does not meet the pioneers of the new drama with the stale old phrase of "Shakespeare is good enough for me," used by persons so thoroughly convinced of the merits of "Hamlet" as a play, that they would have dramatists imitating all Shakespeare's faults, even if they cannot approach him in merit. Mr. Traill points out how very few of Shakespeare's plays have survived the stage, and how when he is dramatic (very seldom, Mr. Traill thinks) he is never literary— in short, that as plays for the present requirements of the stage they are failures, because of their literary quality. This opinion the of one whose sympathies would lean rather towards literary excellence than dramatic achievement. And he continues, after exploding the hopes of returning to the conventions of Elizabethan and Greek dramas (owing to the altered conditions of the stage), to- show that "The School for Scandal" and "She stoops to conquer" are not played because they possess the imperishable quality of literary excellence, it is for the story, the situation, and the opportunity for the actors. And Mr. Tree, who has had'practical experience from the dramatic side, as Mr. Traill from the literary side, in his lecture to the Playgoers' Club, endorses every word. "The first duty of a player is that he should be actable, in fact, dramatic," said Mr. Tree, and again "by all means let the drama be literary, but first let it be dramatic. The drama has a literature of its own." Mr. Tree might have adopted Mr. Whistler's immortal principle, "That art is art. Mathematics are mathematics," by saying "Drama is drama and literature is literature." Mr. Tree's inimitable acting,and Messrs. Stevenson and Henley's brilliant dialogue did not make "Beau Austin " a good acting play, any more than his more wonderful impersonation of the " Village Priest," or Mr. Sydney Grundv's splendidly written adaptation make that drama anything but a silly caricature of a Sacrament in the Catholic Church. Yet the "Village Priest" was dramatic, "Beau Austin" was not. Both had the literary quality, and failed in spite of it, the other succeeded in spite of the violation of fuct and probability. So there is in reality as much reason on the side of Mr. Tree as there is rhyme on the side of the advocates of literary or poetic drama. There is only one unfair criticism of the Independents, and Hamlet's unfortunate remark about the mirror and nature cannot fairly be quoted against them, but rather for them. It may or may not be right to put the Whitcchapel murders on the stage, or to dramatize divorce proceedings, but to say "How unnatural!" is ridiculous. If the mirror is advocated, we must not blame it for reflecting unpleasant images. If Mr. Tree brings us nearer to the angels, the Independents can humble us by reminding us what we once were. Mr. Mathew Arnold rather contemplates the more ardent reformers when he said our drama was the most contemptible in Europe ; but that is hardly true at the present moment, and the future must be exciting even if is not literary; whether we are content with the Shakespearean past and the Pineroan present, as Mr. Tree bids us be, or go to Norway for subject, and to France for a convention with the Independent Theatre, or remain interested spectators of the scene with Mr. H. D. Traill in the pages of the New Review. L. F. ■ ♦•»■♦ ■ LITERARY RIGHTS. I. "\\J E have living minds who have done their WW duty to their own age and posterity. Such men complain not of the age, but of an anomalous injustice in the laws. They com- plain that authors are deprived of a perpetual property in the produce of their own labours, when all other persons enjoy it as an indefeasible and acknowledged right; and they ask, upon what principle, with what equity, or under what pre- tence of public good, they are subjected to this injurious enactments? Is it because their labour is so light, the endowments which are required for it  ## p. 244 (#648) ############################################ 244 THE AUTHOR. so common, the attainments so cheaply and easily acquired, and the present remuneration in all cases so adequate, so ample, and so certain? The Act is so curiously injurious in its operation that it bears with most hardship upon the best works. For l>ooks of great immediate popularity have their run, and come to a dead stop; the hardship is upon those which win their way slowly and difficultly, but keep the field at last. In such cases, when the copyright, as by the existing law departs from the author's family at his death, or at the end of 28 years from the first publication of every work (if he dies before the expiration of that term), his representatives are deprived of their property just as it would begin to prove a valuable inheritance. The last descendants of Milton died in poverty. The descendants of Shakspeare are living in poverty, and in the lowest condition of life. Is this just to these individuals? Is it grateful to the memory of those who are the pride and boast of their country? Is it honourable or becoming to us, as a nation, holding the name of Shaks[>eare and Milton in veneration? To have placed the descendants of Shakspeare and Milton in respect- ability and comfort, simple justice was all that was required; only that they should have possessed the perpetual copyright of their ancestor's works— only that they should not have been deprived of their proper inheritance. Believing, as I do, that if society continues to improve, no injustice will long be permitted to continue after it has been fairly exposed, and is clearly apprehended, I cannot but believe that a time must come, when the rights of literature will be acknowledged, and its wrongs redressed; and that those authors hereafter who shall deserve well of posterity, will have no cause to reproach themselves for having sacrificed the interests of their children when they disregarded the pursuit of fortune for themselves." SOUTHEY. If. "Fortune has rarely condescended to be the companion of genius; the dunce finds a hundred roads to her palace; there is but one open, and that a very indifferent one, for men of letters. Why should we not erect an asylum for venerable genius, as we do for the brave and helpless part of our citizens? When even fame will not protect the man of genius from famine, charity ought. Nor should such an act l>e considered as a debt incurred by the helpless member, but a tribute we pay to genius. Even in these enlightened times such have lived in obscurity, while their reputation was widely spread; and have perished in poverty, while their works were enriching the booksellers." D'Israeli. No artist recognises any standard of lxjauty, but that which is suggested by his own temperament. The artist seeks to realise in a certain material his immaterial idea of beauty, and thus to transform an idea with an ideal. This is the way an artist makes things. That is why an artist makes things. The artist has no other object in making things. Oscar Wh.de. (From a letter to the Pall Mall Gazette.) ■—■ — DEATH AND THE LIFEBOAT. From the German ofRvv. Otterlich. I stood without a ruined nave, Whose mossed and ivied luxury Was fed from many a circling grave: Below me lay a still dull sea. Then brightly grey the midnight grew; I felt a Spirit pass me by; Upon my cheek the breath he drew Fell ill a chill and lingering sigh. And straight the ivy overhead Dropped withering on the withering turf; And angrily the sea of lead Curled up to break in milky surf. For Death stood by the shattered fane, Stood on his thick-sewn ground—a King; His robes a shroud, his gems the train Of death-worms on it slumbering. What sound fulls on my shuddering ear? A suppliant shot from off the deep; Death laughs: his worms awake and rear A hissing crest and o'er him creep. Death turned, and with a jaunty trip Passed through the shrinking grass, to reach The sea, where on a mastless ship Plunged headlong towards the sucking beach. He came to the wave-smitten shore: Hearts brave for rescue were afloat: Is there not room for one heart more? Death stepped into the bobbing boat. I screamed. He heard and smiled reply Then touched the tiller with his hand; And lo! there lay before my eye A waste of waves, a strip of sand.  ## p. 245 (#649) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 245 CORRESPONDENCE. I. Reading Unions. WHILE reading in the last issue of the Author a paragraph on Reading Guilds, it occurred to me that a programme of a Heading Circle which we started a year or two ago might prove of interest. Rules. I. That the Society shall be called the " Sesame Reading Circle." II. That its aim shall be to promote, by the method of association, careful and thoughtful read- ing, and the study of good literature; to approach the subject under consideration in an inquiring spirit, and to avoid, as far as possible, all dogmatic opinions and personal expressions. III. The Circle shall consist of i3 members, one of whom shall be chosen as secretary. The execu- tive committee shall consist of three members, of which the secretary shall he one. IV. At the general meeting of the Circle the books to be studied during the next reading term sliall be chosen. To each member shall be allotted a work which he shall study, and upon which he shall write an essay during the first two months. The essays shall then be handed to the secretary, who will redistribute them. Each memher shall then read the book corresponding to the essay he has received, and appending a statement that he has perused both book and paper, he shall proceed to criticise the subject and add his comments thereon. A similar course shall be adopted at the end of each successive period of six weeks. Each period shall be understood to expire on the 14th, or the last day of the month, as the case may be. V. Each essay shall be retained by the writer of it, together with the critiques, at the end of the reading term. It shall be accessible to anv of the members. VI. If a member fail to read the allotted works on two occasions during the reading term without giving adequate reasons, he forfeits membership, and his place shall be filled by a new member chosen by the committee. VII. A business meeting shall be held at the end of the term. X. II. The Generosity of the Religious Society. In the December number of the Author there was a paragraph on the generosity of a religious society, and in the October number another on the honourable conduct of a religious society. By mistake the two paragraphs were supposed to refer to the same author. They were different authors. It is the same melancholy story, however, with both. The publishing company, under the guise of religion, buys up work for ten, twenty, thirty pounds, out of which it means to make hundreds, and knows that it will make hundreds. III. The Authobs' Club. I read the announcement of the projected "Authors' Club" with the warmest satisfaction. As is stated in the Author, the Athenteum is the only literary club pure and simple—though, perhaps, the word " simple" is scarcely the correct descrip- tion of that august institution—admittance to which by the ordinary literary man is as difficult as admit- tance to the Marlborough. In the November number of the Century are an article and illustra- tions describing the new Players' Club of New York, founded by Edwin Booth. We can scarcely hope to vie with the magnificence of this club, but I think we should endeavour to emulate its solid comfort. In addition to the usual dining, drawing, and smoking rooms there should be a cosy library in which the literary man from the country may find a corner—like those in the National Liberal— where he can, undisturbed, write his copy and correct his proofs. For the best of all reasons the tariff must not be an expensive one; and I would suggest, with all deference, that the country subscription should not be more than two guineas. If pictures are wanted for the walls, and they should be wanted, I am convinced that they would be readily offered either as loans or gifts, portraits of living and departed authors, scenes from their lives or works, would be forthcoming from many literary men who for years have l>een longing for some central spot in the great city in which they could feel "at home." If well-known men would, from time to time, recount their experiences or read papers on their calling so much the better. What is wanted is a comfortable, artistically arranged club, where the London author can meet and welcome his fellow laliourer from the country, and strengthen that union of hearts and brains which has too long been neglected by the profession which needs it more than any other.  ## p. 246 (#650) ############################################ 246 THE AUTHOR. In conclusion, may I express a hope that all the shares—it is, I believe, intended to make it a joint stock affair—will be held by literary men. If a man holds only one share of £1, £2, or £5, as the case may be, he must necessarily feel a personal interest in the venture, and it is this personal interest which will tend to make the club the success we all heartily wish it. c. o. IV. 'A member of the Society signing himself "Iota- Subseript" asks a question as to publishers' liabilities under certain cases. Will he Ik; kind enough to send his name? It is manifestly impossible to answer anonymous questions. V. The Bookman on Royalties. Sib, If words have any meaning, the Editor of the Bookman did, on his own showing, accept a very important statement that a royalty of a penny in the shilling yields as much to the author as to the publisher. There is not a word of correction or of contradiction. The note which he quoted does endorse the statement, because it does not contradict it. Your obedient servant, A Constant Reader. [Other communications have been received from readers, all to the same effect, and none contrary to this.—Editor.] VI. The Editor of the Bookman (Dr. Robertson Nicoll) sends the following communication. It does not touch the real point at issue, which was that he printed, without a word of correction or contradiction, the statement that a royalty of one penny in the shilling gives the author as much as it gives the publisher, and is a fair royalty. To the Editor of the Author. Sir,— A very few words will suffice in answer to your notes on my letter. 1. As you have printed my own words, I confi- dently leave it to your readers to decide whether I "advocated on a six-shilling book a profit of £75 to the author, and to the publisher of £3o5," or whether the statement was not as I styled it, and style it again, as gross a misrepresentation as can possibly be imagined. 2. We are all much indebted to you for formu- lating a system of publishing on royalties easily understood and remembered. It is stated in two propositions :— (1.) "Whether the book is a shilling lxx>k or a six-shilling book, the proportion is the same." That is, upon all books, irre- spective of their price and size, the same percentage should l>e paid as royalty. (2.) "Why should well-known writers receive more than beginners on a royalty?" That is, all writers, known or unknown, should receive the same percentage as royalty. (3.) The only point remaining to be settled is, what should be the percentage? Ob- viously, the highest royalty any writer is receiving. It remains therefore, to find out that, and the whole business of publishing is simpler than A.B.C. Whenever I receive the name and address of any publisher who conducts his business on these principles, or of any person willing to invest a shilling in any business so conducted, I am ready to discuss the matter. Of the extraordinary statement that thirty or so (!) is the average number of press copies, I say nothing. 3. I did not ask you who wrote the article on the Bookman. I asked by what right the author of the article used the words "As a society of lwokmen and bookwomen, we," <fcc. The answer is, By no right. No one has the slightest authority to pose as the spokesman of our society. More especially should such action be avoided when it is remembered that we do not elect our own com- mittee, that no opportunity is given us for private conference, and that our opinions are notoriously divergent on many points. By throwing the Author open for free discussion, some good might be done. I am, Sir, your obedient Servant, The Editor of the Bookman. Here are two or three simple notes :— 1. A royalty of a penny in the shilling applied to a six-shilling book does produce the astonishing result quoted in my notes. He who maintains that to be a fair royalty does advocate this astonishing result. 2. The proportion of a penny in the shilling is certainly the same applied to any lxx>k at any price. How can it be otherwise? 3. I certainly cannot understand why there should be one royalty for the widely popular and another for the less popular. I exclude the  ## p. 247 (#651) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 347 question of risk, because the publishers seldom take any risk. If of two books at the same price one sells ten thousand and the other two thousand, both authors should be paid in proportion to their circulation. 4. What percentage should be paid? Not neces- sarily what the highest-paid author receives, because an author may for special reasons receive special terms, but that percentage which may be adopted as just and fair both for author and publisher, fully recognizing the services of the latter and the rights of the former. No greater service can be rendered to literature than to further the adoption of such a plan. We hare paved the way for it by learning and publishing what has hitherto been concealed— viz., the cost of production and the profits of pub- lishers on the various systems of publication now current. 5. The number of press copies is about " thirty, or so." We do not, at this office, s]>eak of pub- lishers' methods as they might be, or as we imagine them to be, but as they are. "About thirty, or so," is a fair statement of the general practice in sending out books of serious literature—jicrhaps in little story books a greater liberality may be found worth while. For instance, there are nine London dailies; about a dozen weeklies, and about a dozen great provincial papers exhaust the list. People may send as many copies as they please, but it is the usual practice of the trade not to waste good lwoks on papers which have no weight. 6. No one has ever in the Author jwsed as the spokesman of the Society. But the writer of the notice which has so greatly exercised the editor of the Bookman is surely not pretending to be the spokesman of the Society when he used the simple and harmless words, " Asa Society of bookmen, and l>ookwomen, we would earnestly invite our new friend to consider that literature has many sides, that there are many readers, and many books and standards, and many ideals of excellence and of style." The " direct question " of the last number referred to notes signed by the writer. 7. What kind of " private conference " does the editor of the Bookman desire? He has made no proposal for any conference of members. Such a conference might be extremely interesting, and most useful, provided the meeting was conducted in the spirit of mutual courtesy and friendliness. 8. I, as the editor of the Author, have always thought the columns open for discussion. There is correspondence every month. Does not the inser- tions of Dr. NicolFs letters prove that the paper is o[X'n to discussion? But no more correspondence on this subject can be inserted. Walter Besant. "AT THE AUTHOR'S HEAD." MR. George Meredith's new volume of verso is called "Modern Love: a Reprint, to- gether with the Sage Enamoured ami the Honest Lady." Macmillau & Co. are the English publishers. Mr. Lecky's "History of England" is to be issued in a cheaper edition in monthly volumes (Longmans), twelve in number. Some of Mr. Andrew Lang's books are to be re-issued in a half-crown form. It is a great pity that the many admirers of this writer can only procure complete editions of his works by painfully toiling through publishers' lists. No writer of the day, unless it is Thomas Hardy, is so scattered. There is a library somewhere in a garden; the casement windows stand wide open; outside there are flowers of the old fashioned kinds,—gilliflowers, sweet william, ragged robin, bachelors' buttons, stocks, pinks, mignonette—each blooming in her season; the rose spray Haps in at the window; there are Japanese vases; the room is lined with books; the table is covered with books; there is no litter of books such as one finds in a place when a student is searching and investigating; in this library the lwoks are arranged neatly and in order; many of them are old and shabby, but not for that reason held in lesser honour. It is a silent library; the silence is like that which one feels in an ancient almshouse beside a busy road; outside, in the road, is the sound of hoofs and wheels; within is peace. In this library there is silence; outside, the bees hum and the birds sing, the branches rustle, the scythe mows down the grass; but their noise is best heard within. "My library," says the happy owner of this place, " is the identical library in which Christian Mentzelius was at work when he heard the male bookworm flap his wings and crow like a cock in calling to his mate. Come with me round the room. Let me show you some of my books. Nothing that a book lover likes so much as to show and talk about, as his books. Oh! I am no buyer of scarce books because they are scarce. Mine are here for read- ing. I will read bits of them to you if you like to sit an hour with me. Here are the works of George Wither. Do you know that poet? Here is Gerard's 'Herbal.' Do you know Lady Win- chelsea? Do you know Amasia? Do you know Christopher Smart? Sit down, my friend, and listen. The air that steals through the case- ment this hot afternoon is fragrant; that chair invites you to rest. So you shall listen and I will talk." Fortunately, the talk has been taken down.  ## p. 248 (#652) ############################################ 248 THE AUTHOR. and everybody can hear it, because it is on Mr. Heinemann's list, and he generously allows anyone to become the possessor of "Gossip in a Library" ■who pays the toll and uses the name of the author, Mr. Edmund Gosse, in such a way as to show that he can be trusted with the book, and that he has a feeling for a Library. In a more civilised world we shall liave to pass examinations before we are allowed to possess books of this kind or of that. Not only will ignorant persons have to surrender treasures of classical learning or of science, but literature itself will have its stages, and every man shall belong each to his own level, and shall have the books corresponding to his degree, but with the power of passing the examination for a higher degree. Mr. Robert Louis Stevenson and Mr. Rider Haggard will contribute the serials for the Illus- trated London News of 1892. There will also lie occasional short stories. The literary department of the paper shows a considerable increase in activity under the editorship of Mr. Clement Shorter. Mr. James Sully has nearly ready a new work on Psychology. It is said to aim at meeting the special wants of those who desire a more complete presentment of the results of the recent ramii'orm developments of the science than was possible in his earlier and more elementary work on the subject. The new treatise will be in two volumes, and will be published in January. Mr. "William Black has made arrangements with Sampson Low and Co. for an entirely new edition of his novels in twenty-five monthly volumes. The novels will be carefully revised by Mr. Black. The first to appear will be " A Daughter of Heth." A sister of Mr. Rudyard Kipling has joined the band of story tellers. May her brother's fortune and his genius be hers as well! The " Whitefriars Library of Wit and Humour" seems to attract good writers. With the names of Messrs. Andrew Lang, Arthur a Becket, Barry Pain, Justin McCarthy, and Walter Pollock already on the title page or promised, then; should be hardly any stronger series in the market. The lwok of the month is Austin Dobson's "Hogarth," a book as beautifully written as we have a right to expect of Mr. Dobson, and as beautifully got up and illustrated as the subject demands. Mrs. Cashel Hoey, the best translator living, has finished her version of Robida's "Centuries of Toilette" (Sampson Low and Co.). It is a book which all ladies who wish to understand anything more about dress than the fashion plate of the day- must certainly possess. Sir Edwin Arnold seems to have fairly " caught" the American public, if not the English as well, by his "Japonica" (London: Osgood and Mell- vaine). This is what the New York Critic savs of it:— "It is hard to decide between penman and draughtsman in praising this dainty work of art. Never before have we seen so happy a marriage of pen and brush. Of the author of 'The Light of Asia' we know, and know favourably, as an inter- preter of Japanese aesthetics; but, fascinating as are his word-pictures, we must award equal praise to the artist who has brought Japan before our eyes bv his wonderfully accurate and deeply svnqia- thetic drawings. With only ink, and no colours such as flush the sky and ocean, and all surfaces in Japan, or deepen in nook and shadow, Mr. Robert Blum has achieved wonders. As a lady may be handsome, and enthrall a man's heart bv her expression, even though her face lack colour, so Mr. Blum's pictures have the rich charm of repro- ducing Japan's witchery of form and grace. Sir Edwin is in his happiest vein and humour while discoursing of the country, the jwople, their ways, and their thoughts. To him Japan is the Land i>f Great Peace, gentle manners, pleasing thoughts, fair morals, and exquisite conceits. He seems a veritable child in exuberance of enjoyment, and has reached that land, so rarely entered by the middle aged, which is behind the looking-glass. A fascinating freak of geography and ethnology is this country to him, and no less fascinatingly freakish are its people. After hearing what all the literary, scientific, theological, and other critics say of them, this English knight of the pen is still the lover. 'My own opinion is,' he declares with that solid assurance which belongs to the lover who imagines his vision to be crystal, clear, and scienti- fically achromatic, 'that the central characteristic of the Japanese is self-respect, and that their patience, their fearlessness, their quietism, their resignation, and a large proportion of their other virtues, have root in this deep and universal quality.'" There are notable papers in the new volume of the " Dictionary of Biography," especially Dr. Gur- nett on Edward Irving, Mr. T. R. Gardiner on James I., Mr. Leslie Stephen on Lord Jeffrey, the Rev. William Hunt on King John, and Mr. Regi- nald Lane Poole on John of Salisbury.  ## p. 249 (#653) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 249 Just before his death, says the New York Critic, James Parton expressed his views on the earnings of authors in the following words: "An indus- trious writer, by a legitimate exercise of his calling, that is, never writing advertisements or trash for the snke of pay, can just exist, no more. By a compromise, not dishonourable, though exaspe- rating, he can average during the best years $7,000 to §8,000 a year. But no man should enter the literary life unless he has a fortune, or can live contentedly on $2,000 a year. The best way is to make a fortune first and write afterward." Mr. Henry Cresswell has in the press a new novel, in three volumes, entitled " Fairest of Three," which will be published by Messrs. Hurst and Blaekett this month. If this novel prove as clever and entertaining as " The Hermits of Crizebeck," considerable popularity may be foretold for it. "Lester the Loyalist:' is one of the most beautiful books we have seen for a long time. It was printed in Japan, in one of the styles pre- scribed by their etiquette for the printing of poetry. It was manufactured entirely by Japanese. The only difference is that the lines are printed horizontally, as in English, instead of vertically. The letterpress is a poem by Douglas Sladen, author of "Australian Lyrics," "The Spanish Armada," &c. It is called a "Romance on the Founding of Canada," and is in hexameter verse. The publishers are Griffith, Farran, and Co. In " Great Pan Lives" (London: Luzac and Co.) "Clelia" offers a paraphrase of Shakespeare's Sonnets, and proffers an answer to the question, "Who and what is the 'Lovely Boy' of the Sonnets?" The answer takes the form of a genealogy, beginning with "Beauty All," and ending with "Will Shakespeare." It is one more book added to the literature of the Sonnets, and may be left to those who have studied the subject. A "Winter Cruise in Summer Seas," by Charles G. Atchison (Sampson Low and Co.) is a chatty, pleasant book, descriptive of a voyage on board one of the Royal Mail Steam Packets to the Brazils, Buenos Ayres, and other places. Anyone who wants to take a holiday of two months, and does not know where and how to spend his time, will do well to study this book. Those who would like to spend a holiday of two months, but cannot get the leave or the money, would do well to read this book. The " Merchant's Children," by Eleanor Stred- der (T. Nelson and Sons), is a story for the young on life in China. It is a little book to be recommended. Mr. E. A. Reynolds Ball has written the article on Naples in Messrs. CasselPs magnificent fine art publication "The Picturesque Mediterranean," 2 vols., price £4 4*., which has recently been published. The latest addition to the " Adventure Series" is the story of the " Life and Exploits of Theodore Kolokotrones," the Greek hero. Tt is translated from the Greek by Mrs. Edmonds, author of "Greek Lays," &c. The translator has written an introduction and furnished explanatory notes. A preface has been added by M. Gennadius, Greek envoy to our Court. Messrs. Cassell & Co. will bring out in January a collection of Mr. Egerton Castle's shorter stories under the title of " La Bella and others." It is to be hoped that the volume will include "A Para- graph in the Globe," which appeared a few years ago in Remington's Christmas Annual, and was not only one of the best Christmas stories of its year, but one of the best of its kind in English. Our litera- ture is by no means rich in good short stories, though Mr. Louis Stevenson, Mr. Andrew Lang, Mr. Pollock and others have set us such admirable examples, and this one of Mr. Castle's was worthy of Balzac himself in his fantastic vein. Mr. Howells' daughter, Miss Mildred Howells, has entered the field of literature, as a poem in the November St. Nicholas shows. It is entitled "Romance," and conveys some of the fancies of young dreamers. Mr. G. A. Henty has written for the new volume of Young England a serial story of seafaring life in the last century, entitled "In the Grip of the Press Gang." The other serials which will appear in this magazine are "Beneath the Sur- face," by Sarah Tytler, and " The Golden Lion," a romance of Elizabethan days, by Robert Leighton, author of " the Pilots of Pomona."' "Charles Kingsley: the Story of his Life" is the title of an article to be contributed by Mr. Mackenzie Bell to an early number of the new series of the Welcome Hour. "Hypocrites," the serial story by Mr. Hugh Coleman Davidson, which is now appearing in Hearth and Home, will be published early in the new year by Messrs. Sampson Low & Co. It will be illustrated by Rene. Two very interesting papers on Burmese life and manners which have recently appeared in the Globe were written by Mr. Henry Charles Moore. They are chapters from a projwsed work on Burmah.  ## p. 250 (#654) ############################################ 250 THE AUTHOR. NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS. Theology. Alexander, Wm., D.D., D.C.L. Verbum Crucis: being Ten Sermons on the Mystery and the Words of the Cross, to which are added some other sermons preached on public occasions. Preachers of the Age Series. Sampson Low. 3s. 6d. Beet, J. A., D.T). The Firm Foundation of the Christian Faith: a Handbook of Christian Evidences, for Sunday School Teachers. Wegleyan Methodist Sunday School Union, Ludgate Circus Buildings, E.C. is. Denney, Rev. James. The Epistles to the Thessalonians. Volume of the Expositor Bible. Hodder and Stough- ton. 7s. 6d. Duff, Archibald, M.A., LL.D. Old Testament Theology; or, the History of Hebrew Religion from the year 800 B.C. to 640 B.C. A. and C. Black. Ellicott, C. J., D.D. Christus Comprobator; or, the Testimony of Christ to the Old Testament. Seven addresses. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Fife, E. G., M.U. Analysis of Theology, Natural and Revealed: an Essay Contrasting the Pretensions of Religion aud Atheism to Scientific Truth. Williams and Norgate. Mabtineau, James. Home Prayers, with two services for public worship. Longmans. 3s. 6d. Maurice, F. D. Sermons preached in Lincoln's Inn Chapel. Vol. III. (of VI.). New edition. Mac- millan. 3s. 6d. Stannard, Rev. J. T. The Divine Humanity, and other Sermons. Edited by the Rev. John Hunter. Maclc- hose, Glasgow. Stanton, V. H., D.I). The Place of Authority in Matters of Religious Belief. Longmans. 6s. Vaughan, C. J., D.D. Sermons, preached in the Parish Church of Doucaster. New edition. Mac mil lan. 1 os. 6d. History and Biography. Adams, Henry. Historical Essays. Fisher Unwin. 7J. 6d. — History of the United States of America during the first Administration of James Madison. Volumes 5 and 6. G. P. Putnam's Sons. 9s. each. Broglie, Due de. Memoirs of the Prince de Tallyrand. Edited, with a preface and notes, by the. Translated by Mrs. Angus Hall. Volume IV., with a portrait. Griffith, Farran. Browning, Oscar, M.A. Dante, his Life and Writings, and Goethe, his Life and Writings. Volumes of the Dilettante Library, enlarged from articles in the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." Swan Sonnenschein. Clinch, George. Mayfair and Beigravia, being an Historical Account of the Parish of St. George, Han- over Square. With illustrations. True-love aud Shirley. 1 2s. Goulburn, E. M., M.D. John William Burgon, late Dean of Chichester: a Biography, with Extracts from his Letters and Early Journals. Two vols., with portraits. John Murray. 14s. Graham, P. Anderson. Nature in Books: Some Studies in Biography. Methuen and Co. The History of the Popes, from the Close of the Middle Ages. Drawn from the secret archives of the Vatican and other original sources, from the German of Dr. Ludwig Pastor, Professor of History in the University of Innsbruck. Edited by Frederick Ignatius Antrobus, of the Oratory, with an introduction by Cardinal Manning. Two vols. John Hodges, Agar Street, Charing Cross. 12s. "Jehu Junior." The " Vanity Fair " Album—a Show of Sovereigns, Statesmen, Judges, and Men of the Day, with biographical and critical notices by. Vol. 23. 1S91. Vanity Fair Office, 181, Strand. Lounsbury, T. R. Studies in Chaucer: His Life and Writings. 3 vols. Osgood, M'llvaine. 42s. Palmer, A. H. The Life and Letters of Samuel Palmer, painter and etcher. Written and edited by. Illus- trated. Seelcy. Puschman, Dr. Tiieodor. A History of Medical Educa- tion, from the most remote to the most recent times. Translated and edited by Evan H. Hare. H. K. Lewis. Gowcr Street. Selby, Charles. Events to be Remembered in the History of England. 28th edition, with additions. Crosby Lockwood. Stebbing, Wm., M.A. Sir Walter Ralegh: a Biography. With a frontispiece. Clarendon Press. 1 os. 6d. Symes, J. E., M.A. The French Revolution, 1789-1795. With map of France. University Extension Series. Methuen. 2s. 6d. Trebutien, G. S. Journal of Maurice de Guerin. With a Biographical and Literary Memoir by Sainte-Beuve. Translated from the 20th French edition by Jessie P. Frothiugham. Edited by Chatto and Windus. 2*. 6d. Waylen, James. The House of Cromwell and the Story of Dunkirk : a Genealogical History of the Descendants of the Protector, with Anecdotes aud Letters. Illus- trated with engravings, portraits, and plans. Eliot Stock. 1 os. bd. Wicksteed, P. H., M.A. Four lectures on Heiurik Ibsen, dealing chiefly with his Metrical Works. The Dilettante. Library. Swan Sonnenschein. Fiction. Black, William. A Daughter of Heth. New aud revised edition, with portrait and preface by the author. Sampson Low. 2s. 6d. Burnett, F. Hodgson. Children I have known, and Giovanni and the Other. Stories. Osgood, M'llvaine. 6s. Campbell, Sir G. The Romance of the Ruby. Illustrated. Beeton's Christmas Annual; containing also an original musical faroe by R. Andre. Ward, Lock, Bowden. Cardklla, G. A King's Daughter. A Novel. 3 vols. Swan Sonneschein. CoixODi. C. The Story of a Puppet: or, The Adventures of Pinocchio. Translated from the Italian by M. A. Murray. Illustrated. Fisher Unwin. is. 6d.  ## p. 251 (#655) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. Conan Doyle, A. A Study in Scarlet. A new edition, with illustrations by George Hutchinson. Ward, Lock, Bowden. 3s. 6d. Ccshino, Paul. Cut with His Own Diamond. A Novel in 3 vols. Blackwood. Dowlino, Richakd. A Baffling Quest. A Novel. 3 vols. Ward and Downey. Eckknstein, Lisa. The Little Princess and the Great Plot. Illustrated by Dudley Heath. And Tales from the Mabinogion. Kdited by Meta E. Williams. Vo- lumes of the Children's Library. Fisher Unwin. 2s. 6d. each. Fonblanque, Albany de. Jcdwood Justice. A Novel. 3 vols. Bentley. Francillon, R. E. Gods and Heroes: or, the Kingdom of Jupiter. Illustrated. Blackwood. Gray, Annabel. Through Rifted Clouds. A Novel in a vols. Eden, Remington. Green, F. G. Dean's Fairy Book. A Companion to the Doyle Fairy Book. With illustrations. Edited by. Dean, Fleet Street. Hardy, Thomas. Tess of the D'Urbervilles. 3 vols. Osgood, M'llvainc. 3is. 6d. Hocking, Silas K. For Light and Liberty. With original illustrations. F. Wanie. is. 6d. Humphreys, Jennett. Some Little Britons in Brittany: a Seaside Story. Sampson Low. 2S. 6d. Hutchinson, Horace G. Mr. Batter's Pedigree: or, Experiences of a Tenderfoot. Illustrated by George Hutchinson. Whitefriars Library. Henry. 3s. 6d. Hutchinson, Rev. H. N. The Story of the Hills: a Popular Account of Mountains and how they were made. Seeley. Jones, C. A. A Modern Red Riding Hood. Frederick Warne. 3s. 6d. Kennedy, Patrick. Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts. Collected and narrated by. Macmillan. 3s. 6d. Larder, Alfred. A Sinner's Sentence. 3 vols. Chatto and Windus. Lawrence, Boyle, and Cadett, Herbert. Fin-de- Siecle Stories. Biggs, Salisbury Court, Fleet Street. Paper covers, is. Leake, A. J. de Courcy. Ad Finem Esto Fidelis, and Scaffold or Ferry. Eden, Remington. Linton, W. J. The F'lower and the Star, and other Stories for Children. Written and illustrated by. Lawrence and Bullen. Lucas, Annie. Love's Victory: a tale of Dursley Mine. Home Words Office, Paternoster Square, is. 6d. Lynch, L. L. A Slender Clue: a Detective Story. Ward, Lock, Bowden. Martius, "I Will Repay." Eden Remington. Peard, Frances M. The Baroness. A Novel, 2 vols. Bentley and Son. The Abbot's Bridge. National Society's Deposi- tory. 3s. 6d. Pinkerton, T. A. A New Saint's Tragedy. A Novel. 2 vols. Swan Sonnenschein. Ritchie, Anne Thackeray. The Fairy Tales of Madame D'Aulnoy. Newly done into English, with an intro- duction by. Illustrated by Clinton Peters. Lawrence and Bullen. Stacpoole, W. H. The Three Boots. Dean, Fleet Street. Stock, Lady Gertrude. A Wasted Life and MairM. 3 vols. Hurst and Blackctt. Stoker, Bram. The Snake's Pass. New and cheaper edition. Sampson Low. 3s. 6d. Varty-Smith, A. A. Matthew Tindale. A Novel in 3 vols. Bentley. Verney, Lady. Essays and Tales. Simpkin, Marshall. Yorke, Curtis. A Romance of Modem London, a Novel. 3 vols. F. V. White. General Literature. Aitchison, C. C. A Winter Cruise in Summer Seas: a Two Months' Voyage to Buenos Aires and back. Illustrated with photographs and sketches. Sampson Low. Allen, Grant. Falling in Love: with other Essays on more Exact Branches of Science. A new edition. Smith, Elder. Bates, Fanny B. Between the Lights: Thoughts for the Quiet Hours. Arranged by. Third Edition. Burnet, Henrietta Street, Strand. Bell, Ernest, M.A. Handbook of Athletic Sports. Edited by. Vol. IV. Illustrated. George Bell. 3s.6rf. * Bishop, Mrs. Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan: in- cluding a Summer in the Upper Karum Region, and a Visit to the Nestorian Rajahs. 2 vols. With portrait, map, and illustrations. John Murray. 245. Bolton, S. K. Famous Artists. Nelson and Sons. Bonvalot, G. Across Thibet: being a translation of " De Paris au Tonkin a travers le Tibet inconnu." With illustrations from photographs taken by Prince Henry of Orleans, and map of route. Translated by C. B. Pitman. 2 vols. With illustrations. Cassell. 3is. Calmore, Alfred C. Practical Play-writing, and the Cost of Production. With an introduction by W. Davenport Adams. Arrowsmith. is. Christian, John. Behar Proverbs. Classified, arranged, and translated into English, with notes, appendix, and indexes. Kegan Paul. Cook, Charles. The Prisons of the World. With Stories of Crime, Criminals, and Convicts. With an intro- duction by C. H. Spurgeon. Second edition. Morgan and Scott, Paternoster Buildings. 2s. 6d. Corballis, J. H. Forty-five Years of Sport. Edited by Arthur T. Fisher, major, late 21st Hussars. Bentley. Dixon, Edward T. An Essay on Reasoning. Deighton Bell, Cambridge. Eardlet-Wilmot, Capt. S., R.N. The Development of Navies during the. last half century. With illustra- tions. Seeley. Earl, Ethel. Dinners in Miniature. Reprinted from the Queen. Chapman and Hall. zs. 6d.  ## p. 252 (#656) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. Elm hirst, Capt. P. (" Brooksby"). Foxhound, Forest, and Prairie. Illustrated, Eoutledge. Gambier-Parry, Major. The Combat with Suffering. John Murray. Paper covers. 3s. 6d. Gkli., Hon. Mrs. Lyttleton. The Cloud of Witness. A daily sequence of great thoughts from many minds, following the Christian seasons. With a prefatory note by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Cloth extra, 3s. 6d.: also an edition on Oxford India paper, cloth guilt, 6s. 6d. London, Henry Frowdc, Oxford Univer- sity Press Warehouse. Goosestep. Splay-feet Splashings in Divers Places. The Leadenhall Press. 3«. 6d. Gosse, Edmund. Gossip in a Library. William Heine- mann. js. 6d. Hamerton, Philip G. The Portfolio: an artistic periodi- cal. Edited by. Seeley. The Present State of the Fine Arts in France. With illustrations. Seeley. Ha/.ell's Annual for 1891—Revised to November 10, 1891. Seventh year of issue. Hazell, Watson, and Viney, Creed Lane, Ludgate Hill. Henderson, W. J. Preludes and Studies: Musical Themes of the day. Longmans. 6*. Hoffman, Prof. Home Gymnastics, for Youug and Old. With illustrations. Routledge. Howells, W. D. Venetian Life. With illustrations from original water colours. In 2 vols. Longmans. 21*. Irving, Washington. The Alhambra. 2 vols. Darro edition. G. P. Putnam's Sons. iSi. Junker, Dr. Wilhelm. Travels in Africa during the years 1879—1883. By. Translated from the German by A. H. Keane, F.R.G.S. Illustrated. Chapman and Hall. 2i«. Jusserand, J. J. English Wayfaring Life in the Middle Ages (14 Century). Translated from the French by Lucy Toulmin Smith. Illustrated. Fourth edition. Fisher Unwin. Kebbel, T. E. The Old and New English Country Life. Blackwood. Kennan, George. Siberia and the Exile System. 2 vols. Osgood, M'llvaine. 32s. Millican, Albert. Travels and Adventures of an Orchid Hunter. Illustrated. Cassell. 12s. 6d. Mitchell, Kate. The Gentlewoman's Book of Hygiene. Victoria Library. Henry. 6*. Morison, Jeanie. Of "Fifine at the Fair," "Christmas Day and Easter Ev<>," and other of Mr. Browning's Poems. Blackwood. Morris, W. B. Ireland and Saint Patrick. Bums and Oatcs. Mulhall, M. G. The Dictionary of Statistics. Rout- ledge. Neil, James, M.A. Pictured Palestine. With Illustra- tions. Nisbet, Berners Street. 7*. 6d. Norman, Henry. The Real Japan: Studies of Con- temporary Japanese Manners, Morals, Administration, and Politics. Fisher Unwin. 10*. 6d. Oliphant, F. R., B.A. Note of a Pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Holy Land. Blackwood. Oliphant, Mrs. Jerusalem: its History and Hope. With engravings from drawings by Hamilton Aide, and photographs by F. M. Good. Macmillan. 211. O'Reilly, Mrs. "Much Land to be Possessed," and other sketches. Vickers-Wood, Churton Street. Priestley, Eliza. Hygiene under Difficulties. Allmau, New Oxford Street, W.C. Prince, ^Elian. Of Joyous Garb. New edition. E. W. Allen, Ave Maria Lane. Pyle, Howard. Men of Iron. Illustrated. Osgood, M'llvaine. ys. Cd. Rees, J. D., CLE. The Duke of Clarence and Avondale in Southern India. With a Narrative of Elephant- catching in Mysore by G. P. Sanderson. With map, portraits, and illustrations. Kegan Paul. Rigby, Cuthbert. From Midsummer to Martinmas: a West Cumberland Idyl. With illustrations. George Allen, London and Orpington. Rodd, Rennell. The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. With illustrations by Tristram Ellis. David Stott. Rubinstein, Anton. A Conversation on Music. Trans- lated for the author by Mrs. John P. Morgan. Augener. Paper covers. Sterne, Laurence. A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy. Illustrated by Stanley L. Wood. Aldine edition. Pickering and Chutto. 6s. Vinogradoff, Paul. Villaiiiage in England. Essays in English Mediieval History. Clarendon Press. 16s. Warren, Mrs. The Ladies' Treasury for 1891 : a House- hold Magazine. Edited by. Illustrated. Benirose, Old Bailey. Whittaker, T. P. Barker's Facts and Figures for the year 1892, with census and election supplements. Edited by F. Warne. 1*. Whittaker, Thomas. Brighter England and the Way to it. With frontispiece. Hodder and Stoughton. 3s. 6d. Educational. Alexandrow, F. A New Practical and Easy Method of Learning the Russian Language, after the system of Mathias Meissner. Sixth improved and corrected edition. Franz Thimm, Brook Street, W. Arnold Forster, H. O. This World of Ours. Intro- ductory Lessons to the Study of Geography. Illus- trated. Cassell. 3s. 6d. Beames, John. Grammar of the Bengali Language 1 Literary and Colloquial. Clarendon Press. 4*. 6d. Chambers's New Historical Readers. (1) English History Easy Stories (9<f.); (2) Simple Stories (9<f.); (3) Stories from Early History (is.); (4) Stories and Biographies (is. id.); (5) The Tudor Period (is. 4a1.); (6) The Stuart Period (is. 6d.); (7) The Hanoverian Period (is. 6<f.). W. and R. Chambers. Harrison, Jane E. Introductory Studies in Greek Art. With map and illustrations. Second edition. Fisher Unwin. 7s. 6d. Holmes, G. A. The Academic Manual of the Rudiments of Music. Weekes, Hanover Street, W. is.  ## p. 253 (#657) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 253 Holmes, G. A. Macmillan's History Headers: Stories and Tales from early English History. A reading book for Standard III. Macmillan. is. Palmer, E. Davidson. Manual of Voice-Training (with a complete course of exercises). Joseph Williams, Herners Street. Paper covers, zs. Ranken, George. The Federal Geography of British Australasia. With maps. Sampson Low. 'Royal Atlas of Modern Geography. Part II. W. and A. K. Johnson. Paper covers. Schofield, Dr. A. T. Physiology for Schools, in three stages. Stage I. Cassell. Cloth 61I., paper Sd. Scott-Keltie, J. The Worldwide Atlas of modern Geo- graphy, political and physical, with an introduction. W. and A. K. Johnson. 73. 6d. Smith, Charles, M.A. Arithmetic for Schools. Cam- bridge University Press. Smith, E. Singleton. Historica Prima r a class-book of English history for junior forms of schools. James Parker. Webb, H. J., Ph.D. Elementary Agriculture: a Text-book specially adapted to the requirements of the Science and Art Department and other elementary examinations. Longmans, is. 6d. Whitfield, E. fi., M.A. French Commercial Dialogues, with Notes for Advanced Pupils. Edited, after Thuni and Drucker, by. Hachette and Co. Poetry and the Drama. Dennis, G. R., and Dennis, John. The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope. A new edition in three volumes, revised by. With a Memoir by. 3 vols. Aldiue edition. George Bell. Dale, Philip, and Havilland, Cyril. Voices from Australia. Verses. Swan Sonnenschein. Foster, Will. The Fallen City and other Poems. Blackwood. Guinness, H. G., D.D. The City of the Seven Hills. A Poem. James Nisbet. 5*. Hughes, Thomas, Q.C. The Poetical Works of James Russell Lowell. With an Introduction by. Mac- millan. 75. 6d. Morris, William. Poems by the Way. Reeves and Turner. Powis, T. J. Poems. With Portrait. Kegan Paul. Quillinan, Edward. Poems. With a Memoir by William Johnston. Middleton, Old Mill Bridge", Ambleside. Paper covers. Sheila. Sketches from Nature. A Book of Verses. Kegan Paul. Spenser, Edmund. Daphuaida and other Poems. Cas- sell's National Library. Cloth, 6d. Law. Addison, C. G. A Treatise on the Law of Contracts. Ninth edition, by Horace Smith, Bencher of the Inner Temple, Metropolitan Magistrate, assisted by A. P. Perceval Keep, M.A., of the Midland Circuit. Stevens, Chancery Lane. Hamlyn, Clarence. A Manual of Theatrical Law, con- taining Chapters on Theatrical Licensing. Music, and Dancing generally, and on Dramatic Copyright. Of the Middle Temple. Waterlow. Haycraft, T. W. Law of Innkeepers and the Licensing Acts. Effingham Wilson. i». 6d. Lawrance, G. W. Precedents of Deeds of Arrangement between Debtors and their Creditors. Fourth edition. By H. A. Smith, M.A., LL.B., of the Middle Temple. Stevens, Chancery Lane. 7*. 6d. Palmer, F. B. The Shareholders' and Directors' Legal Companion. Twelfth edition. Stevens, Chancery Lane. is. 6d. Tyssen, Amherst D., D.C.L. The New Law of Charitable Bequests: being an Account of the Mortmain and Charitable Uses Act, 1891. Clowes. Paper covers. 1*. 6d. Science. Althaus, J., M.D. The Pathology and Prevention of Influenza. Longmans, is. Ball, Sir Robert. The Cause of an Ice Age. "Modern Science" Series. Edited by Sir John Lubbock, M.P. Kegan Paul. Dutton, Thomas. Indigestion Clearly Explained, Treated, and Dieted, with Special Remarks on Gout, Rheuma- tism, and Obesity, and Chapter on Rearing of Infants. H. Kimpton, High Holborn, W.C. Kennedy, S. The Cancer Controversy: Mattei v. the Knife. With Epitome of Mattei Treatment of Cancer and General Diseases. David Stott. is. net. Scientific Mysteries: a Collection of Simple and Effec- tive Experiments Illustrating Chemical, Physical, and Optical Wonders. Chemist mid Dniygist, Cannon Street, E.G. is. Scott, Alexander. An Introduction to Chemical Theory. A. and C. Black. Parliamentary Papers. Returns of Local Taxation in Ireland for the year 1890. 5d. Irish Land Commission. Return of Judicial Rents fixed during July. is. Reports from Her Majesty's Consuls respecting the Working of Cargoes on Sundays in Foreign Ports. Part II. America. i\d. Historical Manuscripts Commission. 12th Report. Appendix, Part V.—The MSS. of the Duke of Rutland, K.G., preserved at Belvoir Castle. Vol. II. {is.). Navy.—Seagoing War Ships return (Jrf.). Return relating to Postmen's Pay in 188S and as fixed in August, 1891 (.2d.). Returns relating to all Authorised Gas Undertakings in the United Kingdom, belonging to Local Authorities for the year ended March 25, 1891 (4-d.), and other than those of Local Authorities for the year ended December 3i, 1890, S{d. Turkey. No. 6 (1891). Further correspon- dence respecting Affairs in the East. 6d. 46th Annual Report of the Board of Supervision for the Relief of the Poor and of Public Health in Scotland, 1890-91, is. id.; Return as to Drunkenness in Scotland during 1890, id.; Census of Ireland, Part 1., Vol. I., Province of Leinster, No. 12, County of Wicklow, gd. Report to the Board of Trade on the Relation of Wages in Certain Industries to the Cost of Production, u. yd. Kyre and Spottiswoode.  ## p. 254 (#658) ############################################ 254 A D VER TI SEME NTS. ELECTROTYPES OF ENGRAVINGS FOR SALE. THE attention of Authors, Publishers, an<l others is directed to the large and varied Collection of Engravings in the possession of Cassfll and Company, Limited, from which they offer Electros for Sale. The Collection embraces every class of subject — History, Topography, Natural History, Scientific, Figure Subjects, &c, Ac., produced by the best Artists and Engravers. Call and examine this Collection, or apply for specimens, giving full particulars of the subjects and sizes required to— CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED, LA BELLE SAUVAGE, LUDGATE HILL, E.C. HOW SHALL I WRITE MY MANUSCRIPT? —oaaoooaaa . THE old-fashioned way was by quill or steel pen; the modern way is by a Typewriter. If you adopt the modern way, then the success of the change depends upon the Typewriter you select. And, remember, there is a great difference in Typewriters. Correct theory, substantial construction, and mechanical details rendered perfect by unlimited expenditure and three years' practical experience. Ease Of Management, Durability, VISIBLE WRITING, Perfect Writing, Automatic Line Spacing, Automatic Inking, Duplicate Keyboard, we among the qualities which make every owner of a BAR-LOCK MODERN STANDARD TYPEWRITER So content and satisfied. We want you to have a BAR-LOCK on Free Trial for a week—you will not want to use a pen again. We supply them for Cash or by 12 Monthly Payments of £1 ig*., or 24 of £1 is. 8</. The BAR-LOCK was awarded the only Gold Medal at Edinburgh, 1890, and Jamaica, 1891. It is used by the Sub-editor of the Times and many London and Provincial Papers. It is also in use at the offices of the Morning Post, St. Step/ten's Review, the Star, the Manchester Guardian, the Western Morning News, the Plymouth Mercury, &c, &c. Illustrated Catalogue sent Post Free on Application to— THE TYPEWRITER COMPANY, LTD. LONDON: 12 & 14, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.C. MANCHESTER: 45, Market Street. LIVERPOOL: 1, South John Street. GLASGOW: 22, Renfield Street. IiOKDOK: Printed by Etke and Spottibwoode, Printers to the Queen's most Excellent Majeity. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author, Vol. 02 Issue 08 (January 1892) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 02 Issue 08 (January 1892) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927&amp;view=1up&amp;seq=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1892-01-01-The-Author-2-8 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/258/1891-12-01-The-Author-2-7.pdf 5edf29e2b7b666b61cdcb15f6666520d PDF Text Text �������������������������������� 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 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) 1891-12-01 Volume 2 Issue 7 Pages Page range in volume 193–224 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18911201 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin XT b e Hutbor* (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. II.—No. 7.] DECEMBER 1, 1891. [Pkice Sixpence. CONTENTS. PAGE Warnings '97 Notices '97 The Authors' Club 98 On Royalties '99 The Cost of Production 300 International Copyright Joo Tho Study of English aoo Tempota (et Fcniuuc) Mntantur 301 An Arabian Night 301 To a Young Violinist 302 The Growth of Literature in New Zealand 303 Notes and News 305 The Hygiene of the Literary' Li'" 308 "The Arrowmaker" 309 TAQE I Spirit! Dei Ponti. The Spirits of Bridges 310 A Method of Advertisement 313 A Puzzling Experience 314 Correspondence— I.—A New Departure 314 II.—A New Reading Union 214 III. —On New Work aij IV. —Novels in a Batch 315 V.—The Generosity of tho Religious Society .. .. 31J VI.—The Bookman 316 Notes on the Above 316 "At the Author's Head" 317 New Books and New Editions 319 EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE. STATE TRIALS, Keports of. New Series. Vol. HI., 1831—40. Published under tho direction of the State Trials Committee. Edited bv .loiix Macdoxeli.. M.A. io». INVESTMENTS. A List of r,6oo British, Colonial and Foreign Securities dealt in upon the London and Provincial Exchanges, giving tho highest and lowest prices of each particular Stock for each of the last twenty-two years, or from the time of the creation of such Stock, also the price on 30th May, 1801, and the yield per cent, to the Investor. Compiled by G. Brown. 2.1. 6d. PUBLIC GENERAL ACTS, 1891. Keel Cloth, 3*. Contains all the Public Acts passed during the jear, with Index, also Tables showing the effect of the year's legislation, together with complete and classified Lists of the Titles of all the Local and Private Acts passed during the Session. JOURNAL OF THE BRITISH ASTRONOMICAL ASSOCIATION. Monthly, i». 6d.; Annual Subscription, in- cluding postage, i8». FORECASTING BY MEANS OF WEATHER CHARTS, Principles of. By tho Hon. RAXPH Abecrohby, F.R. Met. 800. 3*. MKTEROLOGICAL INSTRUMENTS, Instructions in the USe Of. 3T. 6d. THE LITERATURE RELATING TO NEW ZEALAND. A Bibliography. Royal Svo. Cloth, is. 6d. POLYNESIAN MYTHOLOGY AND ANCIENT TRA- DITIONAL HISTORY OP THE NEW ZEALAND RACE. BySirGEOROEGREY. K.C.B. Illustrated. Royal 8vo. Cloth, 5«. ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE MAORI. By John WniTE. Demy Svo. Half Morocco. 4 vols. iw. per vol. PLIOCENE DEPOSITS OF BRITAIN, THE. By Clemest Reid, F.L.S., F.G.S. Five Plates (48 cuts), s*. 6rf. LONDON AND NEIGHBOURHOOD: Guide to the Geology of. By William Wiiitaker, B.A. is. LONDON AND OF PART OF THE THAMES VALLEY, Tho Geology of. Bv W. WniTAKER, B.A., F.R.S., F.G.S., Assoc. Inst. C.E. Vol. I. DESCRIPTIVE GEOLOGY. 8vo. Cloth, 6s. Vol. II. APPENDICES. 8vo. Cloth, j». KEW BULLETIN, 1890. Issued by the Director of Kcw Gardens. 28. lod. KEW BULLETIN, 1891. Monthly, zd. Appendices, id. each. Annual Subscription, including postage, 3s. gd. DESCRIPriVE CATALOGUE OF MUSICAL INSTRU- MENTS recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition. Compiled by Capt. Day, Oxfordshire Light Infantry, under the orders of Col. Shaw-Hellieb, Commandant Royal Military School of Music. Illustrated by a series of Twelvo artistically executed Plates in Heliogravure, and with numerous Wood Engravings. 3 iff. "It affords information obtainable nowhere else, and it has been put togetht r with so much care and thoughtfulness that Capt. Day's volume will be indeed welcomed by all who have to deal with the wind instruments, and can be accepted without question as tho standard authority."—Musical News. PUBLIC RECORDS. A Guide to the Principal Classes of Documents preserved in the Public Record Olllce. By S. R. Scargill-Bird. F.S.A. 7*. "The value of such a work as Mr. Scargill-Bird's can scarcely be over-rated."—Times. Monthly Lists of Parliamentary Papers upon Application. Quarterly Lists Post Free, id. Miscellaneous List on Application. Every Assistance given to Correspondents; and Books not kept in stock obtained without delay. Remittance should accompany Order. GOVERNMENT A\D GENERAL PUHLISHERS. EYRE anil SPOTTISWOODE, Her Majesty's Printers, East Harding Street, London, E.C.  ## p. 194 (#598) ############################################ i94 AD VERTISEMENTS. Messrs. METHUEN'S LIST. #cto Boofts for Cljrtstmas presents. THE COLLEGES OF OXFORD : their History and their Traditions. Twenty-one Chapters by Members of the Colleges, Edited by Andrew Clark, M.A., Fellow of Lincoln. 8vo. 18s. "Whether the reader approaches the book as a patriotic member of a college, as an antiquary, or as student of the organic growth of college foundations, it will amply reward his attention."—Times. THE LIFE OF ADMIRAL LORD COLLINGWOOD. By W. Clark Russell, Author of "The Wreck of the 'Grosvenor.'" With Illustrations by F. Brangwyn. 8vo. ijs. "Those that believe that there is no better reading than the lives of those who have fought and bled and died for their country will be glad that there has at length appeared a really adequate biography of such a true Englishman as Lord Collingwood."—Anti-Jacobin. OLD COUNTRY LIFE. By S. Daring Gould, Author of "Mehalah," &c. With Sixty-seven Illustrations by W. Parkinson-, F. D. Bediord. and F. Masey. Larue crown 8vo., cloth super extra, top edge gilt. ios. bd. Third Edition. "' Old Country Life," as healthy, wholesome reading, full of breezy life and movement, full of quaint stories vigorously told, will not be excellod by any book to bo published throughout the year. Sound, hearty, and English to the core."— World. S. BARING GOULD. URITII: A Story of Dartmoor. By S. Baring Gould Author of "Mehalah," &c. Xow Edition. Crown Svo. 6s. "Mr. Baring Gould is at his Iwst in ' Until." "—Timet. Mrs. MOLESWORTH. THE RED GRANGE. By Mrs. Molesworth, Author of "The Cuckoo Clock," Ac. With Illustrations by Gordon Browne. Extra crown Svo. 6s. Mrs. WALFORD. A PINCH OF EXPERIENCE. By L. B. Walford, Author of "Mr. Smith." With Illustrations by Goudok Brown e. Extra crown Svo. 6*. THE AUTHOR OF "MADEMOISELLE MORI." THE SECRET OF MADAME DE MONLUC. By the Author of "The Atelier du Lys." Crown 8vo., cloth extra, $$. NEW NOVELS. L. T. MEADE. THE HONOURABLE MISS: A Tale of a Country Town. By L. T. Meade, Author of "Scamp and I," " A Girl of the People," 4c With Illustrations by Everard Hopkihs. Crown 8vo. 3s. bd. GIRL OF THE PEOPLE. By L. T. Meade. Illustrations by R. Barnes. Crown Svo. 3*. 6d. With HEPSY GIPSY. By L. T. Meade, Author of "A Girl of the People," Ac. Illustrated by Evbrard Hopkins. Crown SVO. 28. bd. Mrs. PARR. DUMPS. By Mrs. Parr, Author of "Dorothy Fox," &c. Illustrated by W. Parkinson. Crown Svo. }*.M. NEW AND CHEAPER EDITIONS. MASTER ROCKAFELLAR'S VOYAGE. By W. Clark Russell, Author of "The Wreck of the 'Grosvenor,'" &c. Illustrated by Gordon Browne. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. "Mr. Clark Russell's story of 'Master Roekafellar's Voyago' will be among the favourites of the Christmas books. There is a rattle and go all through it, and its illustrations are charming in themselves, and very much above the average in the way in which they are produced. —Guardian. SYD HELTON; or, the Boy who would not go to Sea. By G. Manville Fenn, Author of " Iu the King's Name," flee. Illustrated by Gordon Browne. Crown Svo. 3s. bd. "The pick of the adventure books for this season. There is not a dull page in it. 'Syd Bclton' is a capital book."—Sptakrr. MY LAND OF BEULAH. By Mrs. Leith Adams. With a Frontispiece by Gordon Browne. Crown 8vo. "is. 6d. NATURE IN BOOKS: Studies in Literary Biography. By P. Anderson-Gkaiiam. Crown 8vo. 6s. This is an attempt to trace the influence of surrounding circum- stances, and especially of the influences of nature, on some great writers. The chapters are entitled :—I. "The Magic of the Fields" (JefCeries). II. " Art andXature" (Tennyson). 111."The Doctrine of Idleness" (Thoreau). IV. "The Romance of Life" (Scott). V. •• The Poetry or Toil" (Burns). VI. "The Divinity or Nature" (Wordsworth). The Latest Translation of Ibsen. BRAND. A Drama by Henry Ibsen. Translated by William Wilson. Crown Svo. j*. THE IMITATION OF BUDDHA: being Quotations from Buddhist Literature for each day in the year. By E. M. Bowden. With Preface by Sir Edwin Arnold. 34010. 2s. bd. LYRA HEROICA: a Book of Verse for Boys. Selected and Arranged by W. E. Henley. Crown 8vo. Buckram, gilt top. 6s. VERSES. By Graham R. Tomson. With Frontispiece by A. Tomson. Fcap. 8vo. 3s. id. Also an Edition on hand-made paper, limited to So copies. Large crown 8vo. 10s. bd. net. FREAKS OF FANATICISM. By S. Baring Gould. Crown 8yo. 6s. A New and Cheaper Edition of the Book originally published as the Second Series of" Historic Oddities." HISTORIC ODDITIES AN I) STRANGE EVENTS. By S. Baring Gould. First Series. Third Edition. Crown 8VO. bt. METHUEN & Co., 18, Bury Street, W.C.  ## p. 195 (#599) ############################################ AD VERTISEMENTS. J95 THE CENTRAL TYPE-WRITING OFFICE, (ESTABLISHED 1887.) 57 & 58, Chancery Lane, W.C. $JrtlUt|)HM: Miss M. E. DUCK and Miss I. B. LOOKER. Type-writing and Copying of every Description under- taken for the Literary, Dramatic, Clerical, Legal, and other Professions. Type-writing from Dictation a Specialty. Highest Testimonials for Excellence of Work and Promp- titude from AUTHORS and others. PRICE LIST O.V APPLICATION-TERMS MODERATE. miss n.. sr. g-xxjXj, TYPE-WRITING OFFICES, 6, Adam Street, Strand, W.C, and 5, Air Street, Piccadilly, W. Authors' and Dramatists' Work a Specialty. All kinds of MSS. copied with care. Extra attention given to difficult hand-writing and to papers or lectures on scientific subjects. Type-writing from dictation. Shorthand Notes taken and transcribed. FURTHER PARTICULARS ON APPLICATION. TYPE-WRITING. Authors' MSS. carefully Transcribed. Writings by Post receive prompt attention. Scientific and Medical Papers a Specialty. MISSES ERWIKT, 13, Dorset Street, Portman Square, W. MISSES E. & S. ALLEN, TYPE AND SHORTHAND WRITERS. TRANSLATIONS and Scientific Work a Special Feature. 39, Lombard Stheet, E.C. Office No. 59 (close to Lift). .TTBKT, TYPE-WRITES, 44, Oakley Flats, Oakley Street, Chelsea, S.W. Authors' MSS. carefully copied from Is. per 1,000 Words. One additional Copy (Carbon) supplied Free of Charge. References kindly permitted to George Augustus Sala, Esq. Particulars on Application. ASHWORTH & Co., 4, Abchurch Yard, Cannon Street, E.C. Authors' MSS. type-written from Is. 3d. per 1,000 words. TRANSLATIONS. CITY TYPE-WRITING & SHORTHAND OFFICES, MANSION HOUSE CHAMBERS, 20, Bucklershury, London, E.C. Tho Department for Lndy Pupils has unremitting attention, as evidenced by the unqualified Success whicb has attended its management. The Course includes Shorthand, Type-writing, Book-keeping, and Commercial Correspondence, and when Pupils have acquired proficiency— POSITIONS ARE GUARANTEED. Particulars on application to— MARY H. X>-A-Y. 2XT. S. GILL, TYPE-WRITING OFFICE, ST. PAUL'S CHAMBERS, 19, LUDGATE HILL, E.C. (ESTABLISHED 1883.) Authors' MSS. carefully copied from I*, per 1,000 words. One additional copy (carbon) supplied free of charge. Instruction given in Pitman's System of Shorthand and in type- writing. References kindly permitted to Walter Besant, Esq. MISSES AIRD & WEDDERSPOON, SHORTHAND, TRANSLATING, and TYPEWRITING OFFICES, ft, SX7W COURT, CORIJHILL, E.C. Translations carefully and correctly made. Shorthand and Typewriting Clerks sent ont on short notice. Type- writing of all kinds done with neatness, accuracy, and despatch. Special pains taken with Authors' MSS. Pupils trained in Pitman's System of Shorthand, and in Type- writing. -A.. ES. LEHTTY, TYPE WRITING OFFICE, 165, QUEEN VICTOKIA STREET. Highest Testimonials for all kinds of Work. Price List on Application. VICTORIA TYPE-WRITING OFFICE. (FRANCES A. COX.) 565, Mansion House Chambers; 11, Queen Victoria Street, E.C. Authors' MSS. carefully typed. Legal and General Copying. PROSPECTUS ON APPLICATION. HOW FEW CAN WRITE CORRECTLY, and how very few express their thoughts gracefully and with precision! The grammar, punctuation, and style of writing (whether of important private letters, essays, sermons, public addresses, or MSS. intended for thepress),inost carefully revised byG. WASHINGTON MOON Hon. F.R.S.L., Author of "The Dean's English," "Bud English Exposed," " The Revisers'English," "Common Errors." and other critical works on the English language, and Reader to one of the largest of the London publishing tinus.—Terms on application at IB, New Burlington Street, W., London. LADY SECRETARY, with thorough knowledge of Type-writing and Shorthand requires a rc-appointuient. Excellent References. Address, B., c/o Miss Gill, 6, Adam Street, Strand, W.C, who would also answer persoual enquiries. VOL. II. JJ 2  ## p. 196 (#600) ############################################ , 96 AD VER TISEMENTS. The <; Swan" is a beautiful Gold Pen joined to a rubber reservoir to hold any kind of ink, which it supplies to the writing point in a continuous flow. It will hold enough ink for two davs' constant work, or a week's ordinary writing, and can be refilled with as little trouble as to wind a watch. With the cover over the gold nib it is carried in the pocket like a pencil, to be used anywhere. A purchaser may try a pen a few days, and if by chance the writing point does not suit his hand, exchange it for another without charge, or have his money returned if wanted. There are various points to select from, broad, medium, and fine, every handwriting can he suited, and the price of the entire instrnmeut, with filler complete, post free, is only 10s. 6d. The Gold Pens in the "Swan" are Mabie, Todd, & Co.'s famous make. They are 14-carat tempered gold, very handsome, and positively unaffected by any kind of ink. They are pointed with selected polished iridium. The " Encyclopaedia Britannica" says:—"Iridium is a nearly white metal of high specific gravity, it is almost indestructible, and a beautifully polished surface can be obtained upon it." They will not penetrate the paper, and writer's cramp is unknown among users of Gold Pens. One will outwear 90 grOSS Of Steel pens. They are a perfect revelation to those who know nothing about Gold Pens. I)k. Oliver Wendell Holmks has used one of Mabie, Todd, & Co.'s Gold Pens since 1857, and is using the same one (his " old friend ") to-day. Sydney Gucndy, Esq., says (referring to the Fountain Pen) :—" It is a vast improvement on ever}- Stylograph." Mobeklt Hell, Esq., Manager, The Times, says (referring to the Fountain Pen) :—" One pen lasted me for six years." S. I). Waddy, Esq., Q.C., M.P., says (referring to the Fountain Pen) :—" 1 have used them constantly for some years, and, as far ns I can remember, they have never failed me." Send Postal Card for Free Illustrated List (containing interesting Testimonials from the Best People, who have used them for years) to— MABIE, TODD, & BARD, 03, CHEAFSIDB, LOIXTDOHT. *'  ## p. 197 (#601) ############################################ ^Ibe Hutbor* (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authort. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. II.—No. 7.] DECEMBER 1, 1891. [Price Sixpence. For the Opinions expressed in papers that arc signed the Authors alone are responsible, WARNINGS. Readers of the Author are earnestly desired to make the following warnings as widely known as possible. They are based on the experience of six years' work upon the dangers to which literary property is exposed:— (1.) Never sign any agreement of which the alleged cost of production forms an integral part, unless an opportunity of proving the correctness of the figures is given them. (2.) Never enter into any correspondence with publishers, especially with advertising publishers, who are not recommended by experienced friends or by this Society. (3.) Never, on any account whatever, bind yourself down for future work to any one firm of publishers. (4.) Never accept any proposal of royalty without ascertaining exactly what the agreement gives to the author and what to the publisher. (5.) Never accept any pecuniary risk or respon- sibility whatever without advice. (6.) Never, when a MS. has been refused by respectable houses, pay others, whatever promises they may put forward, for the production of the work. (7.) Never sign away American rights. Keep them. Refuse to sign an agreement con- taining a clause which reserves them for the publisher. If the publisher insists, take away the MS. and offer it to another. (8.) Never forget that publishing is a business, like anv other business, totally unconnected with philanthropy, charity, or pure love of literature. You have to do with business men. Society's Offices:— 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Ins Fields. «-«~» NOTICES. THE Committee have to acknowledge with thanks the ample response made to their request for subscriptions towards the pro- posed presentation to Mr. Robert Underwood Johnson. No more money need be sent, as the amount received and promised will fully cover the amount spent. We will render a further account uext mouth. The meaning, as between publisher and author, of the so-called "Royalty System"—where there is no system—was explained in the Author for November 1891. Writers are entreated, in their own interests, to study the facts and figures there set forth. Communications intended for the Authors' Syndi- cate should be addressed to W. Morris Colles, the Honorary Secretary. Mr. Colles will issue a report on the financial side of the Syndicate, drawn by a firm of chartered accountants, at the beginning of the new year,  ## p. 198 (#602) ############################################ ig8 THE AUTHOR. All persons engaged in literary work of any kind, whether members of this Society or not, are invited to communicate to the Editor any points connected with their work which it would be advisable in the general interest to publish. Members and others who wish their MSS. read are requested not to send them to the Office without previously communicating with the Secretary. The utmost practicable despatch is aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in which they are received. It must also be distinctly understood that the Society does not, under any circumstances, under- take the publication of MSS. The official directions for the securing of American copyright by English authors were given in the Author for June 1891. Members are earnestly entreated to take the trouble of reading those directions. Members are earnestly requested to forward agreements to the Society for inspection before they sign them. Once signed, the mischief is generally irreparable. A correspondent writes to ask for information as to the "loss" of copyright. A few elementary points are, therefore, advanced. Copyright is the right to copy or reproduce. It must not be parted with, except for a consideration fair and reasonable. Most publishers' agreements contain a clause which assigns to them the copyright. It is called some- times by its own name, sometimes it is called the right to first and all subsequent editions, some- times it. is called the right to produce future editions at cheaper prices, should the publisher think lit. Then follows the consideration for which the author is asked to surrender his property. Writers who sign this agreement in too many cases do not even know what they are giving or selling, and in some instances are too inexperienced in business matters to understand plain English. Let them before signing any agreement ask themselves these questions: 1. Does the agreement assign the copyright to the publishers? 2. If so, for what consideration? 3. What does that consideration leave to the publishers on the side of the first and all subsequent editions? ■ ■— THE AUTHORS' CLUB. 1. AFINAL meeting of the Parliamentary Com- mittee of the proposed Authors' Club was held at the Society's Office on Thursday last. Mr. Oswald Craufurd, C.M.G., in the chair. The rules have now been finally adopted. The pro- spectus of the club has been drawn up and adopted. It has been decided to bring out the club, as many other new clubs have been successfully started, as a Joint Stock Company. The committee have every reason to be sanguine of success. Up to the present moment they have received the names of many well known men of letters. The subscription will be, at first, four guineas a year. II. Prospectus. Literature, which formerly was taken to include little beside history, belles lettres, and poetry, now includes writing on any and every subject that can occupy the wit of man. There are those who write on science—an army in them- selves; those who write fiction—another armv; those who write on music, painting, sculpture, architecture, and all branches of art. There are those who write on law, those who write on medicine, those who write on social and political economy, those who write on theology, those who write their travels, those who write biography, those who write essays and magazine articles. There are journalists, and there are those who sit in judgment on all who write. In every liberal profession there are authors. In every calling out- side the liberal professions there are authors. Those who write books are not necessarily authors by profession. They think they have a thing to say, and they say it by means of a book. In may be a contribution to their own profession, the subject in which they have been trained. It may- be only one book that makes its writer an author. The living authors, including every man and every woman who has written a book, may now be numbered by thousands. The Authors' Club is established for the associa- tion of authors in every branch of literature, including in that term the writers and editors of books, dramatists, journalists, and contributors to leading periodicals, or to the transactions of learned and scientific societies, and writers in collective publications. But it will be understood, the fact of a man having written books—however good or successful  ## p. 199 (#603) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 199 —will not alone qualify him for admission to the Club unless he is iilso a clubbable person. At present it cannot be said that there is any literary club at all. There are men of letters at the Athenaeum, just as there are men distin- guished in the church, in science, and in art. There are men of letters in the Savile, the Gnrrick, the Arts, and the Savage, but there is no such thing as a'club where the first qualification is that the members shall belong to the republic of letters. There is no club which serves the interests of literature in the same way as the Service Clubs act for the Army and the Navy. And just as there exist in the Army and the Navy the widest possible differences and distinctions among the members, .so the widest possible differences exist among authors, and should not be a bar to union. It is intended to make the Club a high-class in- stitution. It will, for instance, contain reading and ■writing rooms, billiard rooms, smoking rooms, card rooms, dressing rooms, dining rooms, &c. Some of the special advantages of the Club for members will be as follows :— (1.) It will be a Club with a very reasonable subscription and charges. (2.) It will be placed in a central position. (3.) Every member will be supposed to know every other member. (4.) It will aim at being a social club on the lines already followed by some of the newer clubs. (5.) Members will have the privilege of enter- taining their friends. (6.) It will contain rooms for writing, provided with a referenee library. (7.) There will be a table d'hote dinner as well as dinners at separate tables. (8.) The Club will necessarily, from the quali- fications demanded of its members, step at the outset into the front as a society composed of men who have at least shown some intellectual activity. (9.) Its members will be limited to 600. III. The advantages which this Club, successful and well managed, ought to confer upon the pro- fession of letters, may be briefly summed up as follows: It has long been one of the chief aims of the Society of Authors to bring together, as barristers are brought together, though they may l>e united by a more slender tie, those who produce the literature of the day. It is found that the Society, whose chief work is the defence of the property created by these producers, has developed some power of awakening the spirit and cama- raderie belonging to a common profession; but that it necessarily lacks the power of bringing together the members of the profession. We cannot have a common hall, we cannot have benchers to maintain the dignity and watch for the honour of the profession. But, we have a Society, and we may, if we please, have a club. The spirit engendered by the existence of common interests lies at the root of all professional unions. When these interests are recognised and understood to be common to all, the professional spirit will grow and spread. The old jealousies and quarrels of authors, which disgrace the history of literature, will be rendered impossible when, as in the legal profession, men are restrained by public opinion, or by professional etiquette, from the old miserable practice of rending, abusing, and scarifying each other. No reasonable person ever can or will object to open and honourable criticism, especially when it is invited by sending books to an editor for review. But it is above all things desirable to create and to foster that professional spirit which shall make authors feel that they owe to each other the same respect, and must pay the same outward forms of respect, as barrister owes and pays to barrister, or physician to physician. Now the Authors' Club should be able, far more efficiently than the Authors' Society, to lead in the creation of this spirit. Another advantage to literature will be that the work done by the Society—the diffusing of know- ledge; as to the cost of production—the meaning of royalties—the frauds practised by the fraudulent houses, &c, will become more accessible by means of a club whose members are all men of letters, and, therefore, interested in spreading abroad among their own class these facts and figures. It may be objected that the elder writers among us will not wish to join a new literary club. It is true that they have their own clubs, and that we cannot expect many of them to break up old habits and to change their circles, and to go into strange clubs among new people. Still, some of them, for the love of letters, will certainly join the club, and we must remember, as regards the rest, that the future belongs to the young. Only let the young men join us, and the future of the club is assured. ON ROYALTIES. LAST month we gave approximately the mean- ing of what is called tlie " Royalty System" in a series of tables, which readers will do well to study and to note carefully. A timely incident may show one of the dangers against which  ## p. 200 (#604) ############################################ 200 THE AUTHOR. au author should l>e on his guard in signing gureoments based u]>on this system. A.B. wrote a book, which lie took to a publisher. The latter offered the author an agreement granting a certain royalty on the published price, but inserted a clause stipulating that, should he sell the book at. less than half price, the royalty should be only a certain amount on the nett sales instead of the published price. This agreement was signed by the author, who supposed that the clause could only refer to remainder stock. Not at all. The publisher sold the bulk of the edition just under half price; but he gave the author no hint of his intention. What he gained on the royalties over what he. lost by lowering the price put something into his pocket on every volume. THE COST OF PRODUCTION. ANOTHER edition of this very useful little work is now ready. Those who possess the earlier editions will please note that since they were issued there has been a rise in compositors' wages, which, so far as London is concerned, will affect the item of composition, or setting-up, and press work, or machining, to the extent of about i5 per cent. It has not, we are assured, touched prices in Edinburgh. Those who consult the book should also bear in mind that our estimates are very liberal, so as to be on the safe side. A printer's bill is a very elastic thing, one that may be shortened as well as lengthened, in a most surprising manner. Eor in- stance, a certain piece of work required for the Authors' Syndicate, which began by costing 36*. a week, 1ms now gone down to ids., without the least alteration in length. And the other day the account of a book was sent in which showed the cost of production considerably less than the estimate in the Society's book. Nor is this the only occasion in which we have found the figures supplied to us to have been liberal ones. INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT. I. CERTAIN French writers and composers have formed the " Societe Civile du Copyright," and have appointed Edward Brandus, publisher, of New York, their agent. The French Copyright Company has been incorporated with a capital of ?5o,ooo, with headquarters at No. 26, Rue Caumartin, in Paris, and an office in New York, at 3o, Broad Street. The object is to protect the property of French authors and composers in the United States. To a Tribune reporter, who asked him whether he had any individual contracts with well-known authors, Mr. Brandus replied: "Few great authors arc willing to bind themselves to publish their books in any- particular way or place. However, our Society has met the approval of Frenchmen, and we shall publish many works of many famous authors." He also expressed the opinion that the Society will be as beneficial to American authors as to French. II. With regard to the difficulty of retaining copyright in America for a story that is being published serially in England, it appears to me that the difficulty might be got over somewhat in the way the right in plays was retainer], by producing to a few friends. Produce the book in America simultaneously with the first instalment being issued in England; but produce also in England, say, eight copies of the book at a prohibitive price—five for the libraries, the rest for those who like buying scarce articles; this would be publication simultaneously of the whole book, here and in America, but not a publication that would injure the run in the serial. Perhaps opinions upon this suggestion may be obtained. James Baker. THE STUDY OF ENGLISH. PROFESSOR Skeat's paper on the Educational Value of English, published in the Educational Review of November, is a claim for our own language and our own literature as instruments of the higher education. It is the first chapter onlv. He shows that the true value of our language was actually left to foreigners to discover. The first Anglo-Saxon grammar of any scientific value was written by a Dane. The only grammars of the, English language, of any importance are written by Germans. The best treatise on English metre is written by a German. The best account of Early English Literature is by a Dutch- man, and the best book on Shakespeare is by a German. Again, there are no periodicals in Germany—in this country there are none—devoted to the study of English Literature. "With a certain few exceptions of well-known names,"  ## p. 201 (#605) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 2Q\ writes Professor Skeat, "the editor of either of tliese periodicals would not accept a contribution sent him by a correspondent from England, lest he should find that, when the article appeared in print, it would prove the incompetency of the author, and his own mismanagement." This affords a safe measure of the reputation which English scholar- ship enjoys abroad. TEMPORA (ET FEMIN5J) MUTANTTJR. "Jocund his muse was, but his life was chaste." (Herkick.) I. Old Herrick's dead and gone, Yet no hoary granite stone Remains the Poet's resting-place to tell— But the vicars ever since Have been trying to convince The world each caught his mantle as it fell! II. Thus you see a silly fellow Who cannot pluck a yellow Buttercup, without apostrophizing odes; While my laughter-loving lasses I must view with other glasses Than those prescribed by Education Codes. III. I suppose the air of Devon Lends a soft poetic leaven To those who court it's enervating breeze; For though old Herrick rated Dean Prior, which he hated, He worked away at his Hesperides! IV. His Julia is dead, Anthea too has fled To the land from whence no travellers return, But his Daffodills shine bright And his Glow-worms lend their light, And there roars upon the rocks his rugged bourn. V. Yes! The mosses ami the flowers, Fed by everlasting showers, Luxuriate on venerable banks; But, alas! in vain you seek For the cherry lip and cheek That can coax a very anchorite to pranks! VOL. II. VI. No! The beauties of the parish Are not the sort to ravish Your eyes, or pay for intimate inspection; I could never care a stiver For a lass with too much liver Or a tallowy and sallowy complexion! VII. Oh! Herrick ! could you rise, You would view with sad surprise A cuticle of parchment or of paste; And would own that at the most 'Twould be now a sorry boast That while your muse was jocund you were chaste. Dean Prior Vicarage, Buckfastleigh. ♦■»■♦ AN ARABIAN NIQHT. (From the American Author.) OvCHEHEKAZADE had just begun her thou- sand-and-second narration. The Sultan Schahriah held up his hand in impatient weariness, and she stopped. "Is this the same old thing?" he demanded. "Genii, disguised califs, enchanted palaces, roc's eggs, magic lamps, and all that?" "It must be so, your Serene Placidity," the trembling romancer replied. "Naught else is there wonderful enough to frame a tale for ears like thine." "Then out you go!" The sultan gave a wrathful signal. Slaves seized the hapless girl and dragged her, shrieking, toward the place where the bowstrings were kept. She broke from them and threw herself at the sultan's feet. "I have thought of another one!" she cried. "This is a new one!" "If it be both new and good, well. We desire originality, but we desire imagination also. The new tale must be more wonderful than any you have submitted to us these thousand-and-one nights past." "It is much more wonderful." "Then we will consider it. There are also other requirements. Don't ask us what they are. If you are left alive, you may know that you have satisfied them. If you are slain, you may know that you have failed. Proceed. If your new story is just the thing we want, we may accept it. Wo can soou tell. So can you!" O  ## p. 202 (#606) ############################################ 2QZ THE AUTHOR. Thus encouraged, poor Scheherazade began for the second time her thousand-and-second narration. "In the time of my youth wealth was my slave, and luxury was the air I breathed. A wish un- gratified was a thing I could not imagine. Another tiling I could not imagine was the need for any sort of effort. As for work, it simply did not exist within my knowledge." "Pretty good invention !" muttered the sultan. "Rather too good, since we remember what hard scratching your father's family had to do to get along!" "One terrible day," Scheherazade continued, "all this happiness became a memory. A sudden tempest of misfortune uprooted the beautiful tree of prosperity; and where its roots had been was now only the deep, black hole of poverty. In the depths of that hole I was engulfed. I was left alone, without help. I, who had never learned what exertion meant, must now work if I would keep alive, even at the bottom of the dismal hole." "You said something about this being a new storv," Schahriah suggested grimly. "If it is, you had better get to the new part right away!" "Patience, O Most Serene! It was all terribly new to me! But I conie now at once to the blissfully thrilling part. By one timely and supreme effort I got out of the hole 1 was in, and renewed the atmosphere of luxury I had l>een wont to breathe. Pens, ink, and paper had been saved from the wreck of our fortune. They were the instru- ments of my deliverance. Without an instant of delay I began to write for the magazines!" The sultan uttered a howl. The slaves sprang forward to seize once more the unhappy fabricator. Their master motioned them to stand back. He could endure yet a little more. "The magazines, eh? That may account for the lack of flesh on your bones when you came to live at the palace," he remarked to Scheherazade. "But goon. Tell us how you managed it. In that, must lie tin; new and wonderful part of your story—if it have any such part!" "It managed itself, O Most Credulous One ! I but went forth among the makers of magazines and told them my wish. Some of them prayed me, in tones of melting kindness, to show them what I had written. No word, as yet, had ever been written by me; for I knew not how to write. Then thesB gentle-hearted men knelt before me and begged that I would straightway begin. I granted their prayer. The first thing I wrote for them they published and paid for,—and never thereafter did I write a line that was not published and paid for. I wrote much, and forgot poverty. That is the tale, O Most Gullible!" The sultan reflected in silence for a little time. "It has been told many times before," he said at last. "We have seen it on the printed page. Foolish men and women seem to love the telling of it. Therefore, it is not new. It is sufficiently marvellous to make up for that, however. It is more wonderful than ' The Slave of the Lain]),' and that is a recommendation. In all the thousand and one nights you have told us nothing so in- credible. So, only for one thing, your story might be accepted. Among the requirements we did not mention is truth. Truth we must have. Now, we could believe in 'The Valley of Diamonds'; but who could believe this latter tale? Therefore" He gave once more the signal to the slaves; and thev did what was expected of them. James C. Pi*udt. Moorestown, N. J. TO A YOUNG VIOLINIST. At her Debut, New York, Oct. 18, 1S91. Fair sister of the Muses! 'tis the hour Dearest of all, when thou dost wed thy Art. No bride more radiant a more single heart Gave to her chosen—and what noble dower! Graces akin to forest and to flower; A spirit blithe as dawn; a soul astart; A nature rich, to keep thee what thou art — A star of beauty and a flame of power. Now, while the tranced throng turn each to each Sharing their joy, think'st thou on those young years When many a day and night was unbeguiled Save by this love that lightened toil and tears? Thy music melts upon the verge of speech— Fame crowns the artist, I, the constant child. R. U. Johnson. (New York Critic.) THE GROWTH OF LITERATURE IN NEW ZEALAND. By Mrs. James Soisted, Cor. Mem. R.G.S. (Australasia). THE practical " nation making" work in which New Zealand colonists are engaged, leaves the majority, at least, scant leisure for intellectual pursuits.  ## p. 203 (#607) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. It is therefore a good augury for the literary future of this beautiful country that amid the absorbing demand upon their energies the belles letties are not wholly neglected. It would be impossible within the compass of this short article to do more than briefly glance at the intellectual history of New Zealand. It will, however, be readily granted by my readers that the national literature of any country must necessarily be greatly influenced, not only by the character of the natives, but also by the nature of the country itself. Moreover, every country should have its distinc- tive character faithfully expressed in a literature which is a reflex of the land in which it had its birth. Further, nothing can better show the growth of a nation than its progress in literature. Nor does it necessarily follow that because such literature bears a local colouring, the writers are either narrow or insular. There were many and exceptional causes which led not only to political, but also to literary activity, from the very earliest inception of settlement in this colony. For, in addition to the ordinary political struggles—and they were many and bitter—there was the dealings with a warlike native population whose numbers have been variously estimated; but it is certain that in the North Island there must have been over 70,(XK) people when the settlers first arrived. It was a meeting of races, one, well trained in civilisation, guided by their own moral code, the other with quite a different rule of life. A stubborn conflict of races seemed inevitable, albeit, the natural fierceness of the Maori tribes was not infrequently tempered with an admirable fidelity and generosity not often surpassed. These early struggles, extending, as they did, ovar many years, combined witli causes to be presently touched upon, gave the lirst impetus to literary culture, as they led to debates, to pamphlets, to memorials, and to a sharpening and an educating that had a good mental effect on the colonists generally. One great advantage that cannot well be over- estimated was due to the fact that among the very earliest bands of settlers in New Zealand might be found many men of high standing and culture, who brought with them to the scene of their labours elevated views of colonial life, and exidted ideals, up to which they endeavoured to live in the new existence; with its peculiar environment, and in so doing they largely in- fluenced the lives of all around them. Greed of gain formed no part of the plan of life mapped out for themselves by such men as Fitzgerald, Clifford, Weld, Domett, Swanson, Godley, Pollen, Cargill, Maeandrcw, Burns, Gillies, Martin, Wakefield, Fit/.herbert, Richmond,Fox, Featherston,Whitaker, Sinclair, &c. These anil many others were men of whom any nation under the sun might well be proud. They were actuated by the highest motives and aimed at founding, not merely "a bit of England" in the midst of a Polynesian population, but a grand nation that would in time to come develop and ultimately become the veritable " Britain of the South." That newspapers are no mean factors in literary culture is an established fact, and in ably con- ducted journals New Zealand stands pre-eminent. As early as August 1839, there appeared the first number of the New Zealand Gazette, while at the present time no fewer than i3o newspapers are published in this country. Sir Julius Vogel, to whose ability and energy the colony is so largely indebted, is the acknowledged father of the daily press of New Zealand. The leading dailies and weeklies issued now in the chief cities, namely, Wellington, Auckland, Dunedin, ami (Jhristchurch, will bear favourable comparison with similar publications in the large English towns. Once a year the large weekly journals open their columns to locally written novelettes, but beyond such limited opportunity, New Zealand authors receive but scant encouragement in their own country. This is probably due in some measure to the smallness of the population, the immense quantity of books imported, anil also to the fact that articles and stories are copied from English magazines by the newspapers, who pay nothing for the privilege of doing so. Still, new aspirants for literary fame are constantly appearing in the field, and latent talent is being developed which cannot fail in causing our literature to rank higher year by year. Already some of our novelists are well known in the world of letters. Sir Julius Vogel, Fergus Hume, B. L. Farjeon, W. Watson, and Vincent Pyke, are amongst those who are leading the way in fiction. In poetry we can point with pride to such sweet singers as Bracken, Bathgate, Domett, and Mrs. J. G. Wilson, all of whom have, and are, helping to originate a national literature. It is, indeed, chiefly to the early poets of a new country, with their warm sympathy, their tuneful eloquence, and fervid imagination, that we look, not only for the lirst vivid description of scenery, new flowers, trees, birds, and animals, with their varied habits and peculiarities, but also for the strange and hitherto unrecorded manners, customs and legends of a newly-discovered race of men. Science has by no means been neglected, as New Zealand is fortunate in possessing many admirable naturalists, including botanists, zoologists, and geologists, whose labours have produced most excellent results; notably the zoological researches O 2  ## p. 204 (#608) ############################################ 204 THE AUTHOR. of Sir James Hector. Since the founding of the "New Zealand Institute" in 1869, with its annual volume of proceedings and transactions, science has become thoroughly systematised, and a marked advance has been made in the various branches. And, I think, without undue .exultation, we may congratulate ourselves on having outstripped the other Colonies in the race for scientific honours. Even Canada, with all the resources at her command, has produced nothing at all comparable with the "Transactions of the New Zealand Institute," or Sir Walter Buller's magnificent ornithological works. Although born and reared in New Zealand, long study among the museums of Europe, and acquaint- ance with the literature of the subject on which he writes, renders Sir Walter Buller absolutely the first authority in the world on the New Zealand avifauna, and his "History of the Birds of New Zealand" is a book to be coveted, not only by savants, but by all lovers of natural history. The author was elected Fellow of the Royal Society, and Her Majesty conferred upon him an imperial distinction, in recognition of the great value of his work to science. A melancholy interest, indeed, attaches to the avifauna of this wonderful country, where so many of the beautiful indigenous birds are either extinct or on the verge of extinction. Apropos of this, I may mention that on a recent occasion when the Earl and Countess of Onslow paid a visit to the Ngatihuia tribes at Otaki, for the purpose of presenting to the chiefs the Governor's infant sou, a godson of Her Majesty the Queen, who had been named Huia, in compliment to the Maori people. Allusion was made there to the rapid disappearance of the sacred huia bird. During the unique and most interesting ceremonial, of which I would fain have given a full description did space permit, throughout which Sir Walter Buller acted as interpreter, and after the child had been duly presented to the chiefs, who cast rare and beautiful presents before him; the women meanwhile chanting a soft and plaintive lullaby. The young hereditary chief, Tamihana TeHuia, concluded an eloquent and stirring speech in the following characteristic manner. Pointing with outstretched arm in the direction of a magnificent mountain range that could be clearly seen from the tribal meeting-house where the reception was being held, he exclaimed :— "There yonder is the snow-clad Ruahine range, the home of our favourite bird. We ask you, O Governor to restrain the Pakehas—white men— from shooting it, that when your boy grows up he may see the beautiful bird which bears his name. We thank you and Lady Onslow again for this proof of your regard for the Maori people, and of your earnest desire to promote theirswelfare. You have heard the words of the tribe. There is nothing more to say." But to return. The powerful personality of such a man as Sir George Grey has unquestionably exercised an incalculable influence in the moulding of literarv taste and culture in a land throughout whoso history he has played such a prominent and important part. A scholar himself, he has done more to encourage and foster colonial talent than any other man in the country. Painters, as well as poets, scientists, and novelists, are producing good work, and pictures from the studios of such clever artists an Mrs. Gilbert Mair, Miss White, John Gully, Barriuid, and others, are gradually attracting attention outside the colonies. Art societies flourish in all our principal towns, and in the four chief cities art galleries have been established. Public libraries are to be found everywhere, booksellers abound, magazine literature is more than ever plentiful, and local tales and poems art' beginning to be more sought after than heretofore. The educationarv system prevailing hen; aims at a high standard of excellence. The schools both primary and secondary, are thoroughly well oquip|>ed and taught, and a sound university training is now open to the young colonial. In 1889, there were no fewer than 496 matricu- lated students in New Zealand. Thus it will be * seen that the aim of the colony is to give in literarv culture all that even England could bestow. Anil all these agencies must have their effect in the years to come. One thing at least is certain, namely, that future generations, who may people these lovely islands, will have no cause for com- plaint that the dominions of their inheritance lacked any of the advantages which tend to pro- mote the growth of national development, through the intellectual dormancy or supineness of the earlier colonists. AVhatevcr may Ik; the ultimate destiny of these fair daughters of the parent State, the records of their infancy will ever remain as mementoes of the capability, industry, and eminence of a large number of early settlers in nearly every department in the wide empires of knowledge. Even at the present da}', New Zealand possesses a literature which has rendered its magnificent resources tolerably familiar to the educated world. I am aware that some English cities are of opinion that colonial authors introduce too much Maori into their work, thereby making it too New- Zealandish for the taste of English readers. But surely a characteristic nationalism is much to be desired, especially here, where the time has been too short to develop any historical associations, and far less racial peculiarities. Moreover, it is only by the use of local colouring that anything like a  ## p. 205 (#609) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. national flavour can ever be imparted to colonial writing. That our writers exhibit no desire to become slavish imitators of the old models is, I am inclined to believe, a healthy and hopeful sign of the growth of a true colonial literature, which, being indigenous and the product of colonial ability and culture, cannot fail to have a peculiar attraction. But better, far letter it. should be said of the reading public of New Zealand, that they exercise a sobriety of judgment and correctness of tjiste which prevent their being satisfied with anything which is not really good, rather than that they encourage productions of inferior merit for the sake of boast- ing of the increasing literature of the country. New Zealand is, indeed, rich in all that is capable of affording inspiration, both in poetry and fiction. A land of mountains, torrents, geysers, rivers, plains, sea-girt, and with a thousand harbours, will assuredly nurture authors and poets, just as certainly as it will sailors. Let us hope then, that our literary pioneers may be as successful in founding a national literature as have been the pioneers in politics, in government, and in all the institutions that go to ennoble a race. There can be little doubt that despite drawbacks of many kinds experienced in the past, the future greatness of New Zealand in literature, as in other enter- prises, is well assured, based as it is upon a solid foundation of steady progress. [I have to acknowledge my indebtedness to the' kindness of my friend, Sir Robert Stout, for much valuable information contained in the above article.—L. I. S.] NOTES AND NEWS. IFIND it necessary (sec p. 216) to remind certain readers of the Author that the an- nouncement on the front page—" For the opinions expressed in papers that are signed the authors alone are responsible "—means what it says. Especially does it apply to the columns which are signed by my name. The lamentable death of Lord Lytton deprives this Society of one of its strongest and most dis- tinguished supporters. Lord Lytton became a Vice-President of the Society on its first foun- dation. He presided at our first public meeting, at Willis's Booms: he never failed to express on every possible occasion the greatest interest in the welfareand prospects of our Association, and he was one of the few who really understood the possibilities which lie before us, to be realized if we only know how to make use of our power and our opportunities. It, is not necessary that, at such a time, we should speak critically of his contributions to literature. That he possessed the highest love and respect for literature in all its branches is well known to all. All his poems were written in the intervals of diplomatic work. They arc, at least, remarkable for delicacy of expression and for refinement. No man ever filled more important posts or was known to a larger circle of ac- quaintances. Attache and Secretary of Embassy at Florence, the Hague, St. Petersburg, Constanti- nople, Vienna, Copenhagen, Athens, Lisbon, and Madrid, Viceroy of India and Ambassador to France, his life was spent in Courts. Yet he always found time for the cultivation of letters. His kindness of heart, his admirable social qualities, his urbanity, a ready wit which was never spiteful, gathered round him an immense circle of private friends. He died writing verses, the ink not yet dry on the page, when lift; was extinct. We have also lost, in the Bishop of Carlisle, another member of distinction. He, too, was one who entirely approved of the objects of the Society, and, so far as can be known, of its methods. During a recent controversy with a certain society, touching very closely the honour of the Episcopal Pencil who are its vice-presidents, he wrote in kindness and sympathy. What active steps he took in the society itself I do not know. I ventured to call attention in the October Author to the reckless way in which people who write letters to the papers garble or invent their quotations. In the Times, for instance, half the letters every day are taken up with denying alleged statements, or protesting against inferences drawn from garbled ([notations. Let me give an illustra- tion instructive of the rapid growth of false inference from garbled quotation. It happened the other day. I mentioned in a certain paper— apropos of Milton's cottage at Chalfont St. Giles —the fact that very few visitors ever go to see the cottage. This fact is proved by the visitors' book, which everyone signs on payment of (sd. I then asked whether Milton could be forgotten, and advanced two other innocent little opinions— which I fondly thought as much beyond question as an axiom in Euclid. They were—(1) that very few people read Milton through more than once in their lives; and (2) that certain poems, and certain portions of poems, would always continue household words.  ## p. 206 (#610) ############################################ 2o6 THE AUTHOR. This little innocent passage was quoted by an evening paper. Then the fun began. First a learned Q.C. wrote an indignant and scornful letter, arguing that a man who had said such things was an ignorant creature who had never even heard of "L'Allegro," &c. Setting this person right, I again pointed out that very few people go to visit the cottage, and added, a.s an encouragement to visitors, that there is a village inn where people can get lunch or whatever they want. Then the Q.C. appeared again—after bim other correspondents. The indignation of all was virtuous, unanimous, heartfelt, wonderful. They all started with a good bold assumption. "This man says that Milton is forgotten." The man, observe, had said nothing of the kind. One of them, a lady, filled—inflated with holy wrath—invented a new charge. "Here is a man," she said, "who actually consults public-houses us to the vitality of Milton!" No one can stand such an outrage as that; so this lady, feeling that she really did well to be angry, poured all the contents of the pepper-and- spitebox into her letter. Another writer adopted the sarcastic vein—everybody knows the sarcastic letter- writer—and would like to ask, &c, &c. Of course he neglected to say where the assumed statement had been made. Then came along the solemn man, who is never wanting on these occasions. He was constrained to thank Heaven that this state- ment was not allowed to pass without contradiction. He, too, neglected to say where he found the statement. Then librarians wrote to contradict "this statement"—neglecting to say where they found it—on the ground that many readers ask for Milton. And others wrote to contradict the statement—but did not say where they found it— on the ground that new editions of Milton are constantly issued. Not a single person ever re- ferred to the real original statement that very few people read Milton through more than once in their lives. Wen; they blind or malignant? Neither. They were simply following the trick of the day to accept whatever they read in the paper without examination or question. Two more things happened in this wonderful correspondence. In answering the Q.C, I had observed, with the mildest possible sarcasm, that this kind of reasoning belonged, I supposed, to the legal mind. The Q.C. cried out to the world that here was a man insulting the whole legal profession. Lastly, there appeared a leading article in the same evening paper, in which the writer concluded by rebuking me for making inquiries of public- houses instead of publishers! So that it comes to this. I stand convicted on three charges. I have stated that John Milton is forgotten; I have insulted the whole, legal profession; I am proved to be in the habit of consulting public-houses on literary matters. It only remains now to repeat the words which caused the indignation :— 1. Very few people visit Chalfont St. Giles to see Milton's cottage. 2. Very few people read Milton through more than once. 3. Certain of his poems are known by heart to all people who read at all. But if these ladies and gentlemen had only been so very good as to read what I did say before they commented on it! I have received a bundle of the American papers called the Author and the Writer. With these papers we may, I hope, borrow and lend, and so be mutually helpful. One thing to be observed about them is that they are eminently practical. There is none of the pretence about art for art's sake, which some of us are always advancing. Literature is frankly approached as a profession— a thing which some among us, especially the disinterested persons who conduct the affairs of authors, oppose most vehemently. These Americans discuss their magazines, their circulation, and their tariff. with wonderful frankness; they write about points of practical working; in the matter of fiction they consider endings, openings, the conduct of dialogue—all those things which we are generally taught to believe instinctive! and due to nature's promptings, just as nature teaches one baby to play the violin; and another to compose a sonata in the cradle. The Americans, in fact, show in these journals that they are eminently a practical people. They mean to study the art of fiction, anil to make a profession of it, as our people have never yet thought of doing. What will lie the consequence? A general raising of the level; a vast improvement in the technique; so much, cer- tainly. Not the production of the greatest work any more than at present. Great men do not appear with every generation. The standard, however, of literary excellence may be raised very much higher. And if our writers do not, in like manner, consider and study the art as an art, so much the worse for them. In a recent libel case, tried at the High Court of Justice, when a singer sued for damages on the ground of a so-called libellous criticism, it was  ## p. 207 (#611) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. argued by counsel for defendants that when criti- cism is invited, the subject 1ms no right to coin- plain of hostile judgment. This seems very reasonable. At the theatre scats are given to the critics; at concerts seats arc reserved for the critics; at the offices of newspapers hooks arc presented to the critics. These gentlemen may very fairly say, "You ask me to tell the world what I think of your book, your plav, your music, your singing. Well, I think you are incapable of singing or writing or doing anything at all worth hearing. You had better go into obscurity, and stay there." The per- former lias brought it upon himself ; he ought not to complain. He has asked for an honest opinion, and he has got it. Most probably had he not invited the critic to witness and judge his performance, that critic would not have seen, heard, or read it. On the other hand, it may fairly be contended as a general principle, and without reference to any case, that there should be observed a certain polite- ness. In criticism, as in society, one should remain a gentleman, courteous in word and manner. A gentleman should be ashamed to jump upon the writer of a harmless book only because it is ii weak book; nor should he shriek and swear over that book; nor should he call the writer names. In fact, the old fashioned blood and bludgeon style of abuse, invective, and contempt is brutal. Where it still lingers, which is in very few quarters, it is brutal still. When one has to light, the rapier, and not the club, is the weapon of a gentleman. Some critics, it is true, have never learned to use the rapier. That is another way of saying that they have not received the education of a gentleman. In any case, there is another way open to an author. If he does not like the criticisms of a paper he has only to refuse a press copy of his book to that paper. If it then reviews him, another question arises, namely, what is permitted by the law. Any man may criticise within limits the work of any other man, but not to the injury of his credit or his means of liveli- hood. And this whether a man be a fishmonger— in which case we may not say that he habitually sells stinking fish—or an author, in which case we may not say, unless we are prepared to plead justification, that his books are pernicious, immoral, ignorant, stolen, or anything else which may interfere with his livelihood. If an editor a fortnight, ago had wanted a paper on the Political Function of Imagination, to whom would he have applied for that paper? It is not an easy subject. Of course there are tliousands of able pens ready to write on any subject, difficult or not. But, as the children say, "seriously," whom would he ask? He might ask Mr, John Morley or Mr. Leslie Stephen—he would have an excellent paper from either. He might ask any of twei.ty novelists anil poets; he would get a pleasant paptr, easy to read, but not greatly advancing the subjei t. The last person in the world of whom he would have thought is the one person who has actually done it better, I believe than any other person in the world could have done it. Mr. Goschcn, tl e man of the city—the financier—has beaten tl e literary craftsman in his own craft. Hardly any better essav has ever been written than Mr. Gosehen's discourse on Imagination. The other great essay, that by Mr. Arthur Balfour on Progress, is^ the work of a craftsman, one of the Company of Authors. Books for boys! Do any of us realise the immense annual output of books for bovs—the enormous mass of literature which exists for the sole and exclusive use of bays? The other (lav, among a lot of boys, the question rose as to their favourite author. There was but one opinion. It was led off by the one who spoke first. He lifted his head, and remarked briefly, "Henty for me." That was the opinion of all—"Henty for me." Of course, Marrvatt will never lose his followers among boys; nor Walter Scott; while there are writers like Kingston, Collingwood, George Manville Fenn, and others—good men and true. But "Henty for me." There is a list before me, showing thirty-three stories for boys, all written by this wonderful story teller. A boy who has read the whole of Henty has read a great part of the world's history. In fact, he is the schoolboy's historian. The school histories only teach him dates and lay figures. His home historians put life into the figures and meaning into the dates. It is now live years ago, I think, that the current number of Lonymaiis Magazine was glorified by the appearance of the most beautiful paper ever written by Richard Jefferies—a paper into which he poured his whole soul, all his knowledge, all his love for nature—a paper which shall always stand for the man, because an author must always be judged by his best work. This paper, as everyone remembers, was called " The Pageant of Summer." The present (December) number of the magazine contains another paper recently found by his widow, called "The Coining of Summer." It is like a first draft of the "Pageant," a study, a series of sketches, which the writer was afterwards to endow with breath and vision and a soul. Most curious ami most, interesting compared with that other article. Bead without reference to the " Pageant,"  ## p. 208 (#612) ############################################ 2o8 THE AUTHOR. it is ii paper full of knowledge, written in the earlier style of the " Gamekeeper at Home." When Jefferies died, a reviewer in the Athenecum remarked that in a few years there would be no more recollection of Jefferies and no more documents connected with the name. At the present moment his books are going up every day higher and higher in value; new editions are being issued—a new edition of "The Dewy Morn" is out this day—and people are discussing, in . the papers, the facts of his life; as, for instance, whether he died a Christian, or whether his faculties were so weak at the close that it mattered nothing what he. said. There is every sign, as his friends believe, of such immortality for Jefferies as belongs to White of Selborne. Some time ago we announced in these columns, for the information of those who l>elong to the company of readers of Jefferies, that a bust of him was to be executed and placed in Salisbury Cathedral. The bust is now ready. The Hon. Treasurer, Mr. A. W. Kinglake, Haines Hill, Taunton, says that he still wants about £5o, to complete the payment for it. Will this company of readers wipe off this debt, if only as a mark of the love they bear the author? The same number of Longman contains a short story—the "History of a Failure "—which every- body must read. Perhaps it will make some of the readers angry; it will certainly make all of them laugh and cry. In the Sign of the Ship Mr. Andrew Lang has a few words on the subject of titles. He says that they are exploded—matters of old custom—that nobody of an)' sense wants to be made a peer or pines for the Garter; that he himself does not want a title; that " Sir Charles Dickens " would be ridicu- lous; that every author who did not get a title would be jealous of everyone who did, and that he would rather be commended bv the bookstall bov. I hope 1 have put his case fairly—But—but is it so true that nobody of sense—nobody of sense— pines for a peerage or the Garter? Is it so true that nobody wants a title? And is there anything in the jealousy argument that docs not apply to every other profession? Yet it is never urged that titles must not be given to lawyers and soldiers because other lawyers and soldiers would be jealous. However, my point, which I repeat, is this. The nation has only one way of recognizing distinction and good service. It is by the bestowal of a title. The man so decorated is not thereby made any greater; it is the nation which makes itself greater by- showing that it recognizes bis worth. This is, I believe, the theory of rank and titles. If it is the true theory, I want to know why men of letters are jealously excluded from such recognition: Brown- ing, Charles Dickens, Thackeray, and George Eliot would have been no greater, but it would have Wen better for the country had those great writers received the highest honours the nation can bestow. For, you see, it would be a very great thing if the people generally could be taught to honour science, art, and literature. It would be better for the national character; better for those who follow science, art, and literature. But the country at large only honours those professions or callings whose followers are honoured bv the Sovereign or by the State. They accept the rule of usage. Men of letters are not honoured, ordinary people think, because they follow a pursuit which is not worthy of honour. Waltek Besant. ■ THE HYGIENE OF THE LITERARY LIFE. TWO papers are published in Boston, both intended, like our own, for the literary class. Thev do not profess to be reviews, they are meant to be professionally useful. One of these, the Writer, appears to be designed especially as a practical help to aspirants; the other, called the Author, addresses itself to those already engaged in the work of writing. The present year is their third of existence. Apart from the personal columns, which are too full of details for a literary paper of this country, the Author contains a good deal that may be of great use to its readers. Thus, an article on hygiene reminds writers that bodily exercise is absolutely necessary for the continued production of good work, an elementary reminder, which, like the Decalogue, cannot be too often repeated, or too strongly insisted upon. A "one or two mile walk," says our American friend. Translated into English read a six or eight mile walk for men, and half as much for women. He recommends in the matter of diet a light breakfast, nothing at noon, and the evening meal when the work is done. But can any person go on from nine in the morning till seven in the evening working on a light breakfast? Wine and tobacco this hygienist prohibits absolutely, a rule with which we disagree absolutely. Of sleep, take, he says, eight hours a day. Evervone must find (ait for Jlimself what sleep he wants. Nine hours a day  ## p. 209 (#613) ############################################ THE A UTHOR. 209 seems not too much for the average brain worker, whether he l>e a man of science or of literature. Kxercise in plenty, especially after breakfast. That seems the first ami most important rule for the literary life. Richard Jefferies, for instance, walked in all weathers, without great coat or umbrella, for an hour and a half every morning after breakfast, and every afternoon from three to half-past four. The next important rule is to study diet. There seems nothing gained, but epiite the reverse, by too great abstinence. It is certain that the brain of a worker must be well nourished, and, therefore, the. body. Also—a doctrine to be advanced with hesi- tation—it seems to the present writer that a dull uniformity of living, whether in respect to exercise, sleep, hours of work, society, or diet, is a great enemy of good work, and that the imagination is stimulated by variety. A feast is good for all kinds of men occasionally; a gathering where the guests are joyous and careless, and the "best work possible" is forgotten for the time. He, indeed, who is always thinking of producing the "best work possible," will certainly end in producing the Prig's work, which is the worst work possible. Another simple suggestion. The present writer finds that occasional—and frequent—changes of scene tend to strengthen the excision of the imagina- tion. He goes away as often as he can ; takes a night out; visits country places; and makes notes of what he sees and hears. When he gets back his work becomes brighter, the handling firmer, the colouring more delicate. The writer of the American article recommends oild forms of exercise—Indian clubs, dumb bells, and '• lung gymnastics "—which is the filling of the lungs with pure air and then expelling it; the "Delsarte movement," and so on. They are, doubtless, very good, but not so good as walking or rifling. He also instances the late William Cullen Bryant, who "was in the habit of taking exercise by bending backward over a wooden chair two or three times in succession, and performing sundry other feats with the same instrument every morning." The poet in his study doing gymnastics with a wooden chair would make a pleasing illustration to his works. Lastly, the literary worker must certainly agree with this American writer when he lays it down as a principle that the literary worker needs a long life. Yes—yes—oh! yes, that is what we espe- cially need; and it would be comforting to think, as he thinks, if we could think it, that the greatest and best work comes to a man late in life. But we cannot, unhappily, think this. The pear becomes ripe; then the |>ear becomes rotten. Let Us, by taking exercise and not working too hard, defer the day of |)erfect ripeness as long as we can, »■»■» "THE ARROWMAEER."* Day in, day out, or sun or rain, Or sallow leaf, or summer grain, Beneath a wintry morning moon Or through red smouldering afternoon, With simple joy, with careful pride, He plies the craft he long has plied: To shape the stave, to set the sting, To fit the shaft with irised wing; And farers by may hear him sing, For still his door is wide: "Laugh and sigh, live and die,— The world swings round; I know not, I, If north or south mine arrows fly!" And sometimes, while he works, he dreams, And on his soul a vision gleams: Some storied field fought long ago, Where arrows fell as thick as snow. His breath comes fast, his eyes grow bright, To think upon that ancient fight. Oh, leaping from the strained string Against an armored Wrong to ring, Brave the song that arrows sing! He weighs the finished fight: "Live and die; by and by The sun kills dark; I know not, I, In what good fight my arrows fly!" Or at the gray hour, weary grown, When curfew o'er the wold is blown, He sees, as in a magic glass, Some lost and lonely mountain-jwiss; And lo! a sign of deathful rout The mocking vine has wound about,— An earth-fixed arrow by n spring, All greenly mossed, a mouldered thing; That stifled shaft no more shall sing! He shakes his head in doubt. "Laugh and sign; live, and die,— The hand is blind: I know not, I, In what lost pass mine arrows lie! One to east, one to west, Another for the eagle's breast,— The archer and the wind know best!" The stars are in the sky; He lavs his arrows by. Helen Gray Conk. * The Ride to the Lady, and other poems. Hy Helen Oniy Cone. £i. Honphton, Mifflin, and Co.  ## p. 210 (#614) ############################################ 2 lO THE AUTHOR. I SPIRITI DEI PONTI. THE SPIRITS OP BRIDGES. "I stood upon a bridge and heard The water rushing by, And as I thought to every word The water made reply." I spoke ono day in Florence to a witch, asking her if such a being as The Spirit of the Water was known to her. And this was the answer: "Yes—there is a spirit of the water, as there is of fire, and everything else. That is to say, molti- moltissimi—as many of them as there are men and women. You don't see them, or only now and then, but you can make them to be seen." How? "Oh, easily enough, if you let them know what you want, for they are affectionate to those who care for them. But they are capricious and appear in many delusive forms. "And this is a good way to see them. You go of an evening, and look over a bridge, or in the daytime in the woods at a smooth stream or dark water—chc sia sempre un poco oscttro—and pro- nounce the incantation, and throw a handful or a few drops of its water into the water itself. And then you must look long and patiently; sometimes for several days; when, poco d poco, you will see dim shapes passing by in the water, one or two, and then more and more, and if you are quiet, they will come in great numbers, and show you what you desire to know. But if you tell anyone what you have seen, they will never appear again, and it will be well for you should nothing worse happen. "There was a man, a young man, near Civitella, and he was in great need of money—like all of us—but his was dire and dreadful need. Kbbene— this young man had an uncle, who was believed to have left a great treasure buried somewhere, but no one knew the place. Now this nephew was a reserved, solitary youth; much by himself in lone places—old mines — in the woods — tin poco straghon—and he learned this secret of looking into streams or wells or lake.-, till at last, whenever, he pleased, he could see swarms of all kinds of figures sweeping along in the water. And one evening he saw a shape like that of his uncle who had died, and, in surprise, he called out ' Zio tnio!' Then the uncle stopped, and the youth said, 'Did'st thou but know how I suffer from poverty!' Then he saw in the water his home, and the wood near it, and the form of his uncle passed along the wood, anil so on to a lonely place till it came to a great stone, and on this it laid its hand, and looked at the young man, and so disappeared. The next day the young man went there, an<| under the stone found a great treasure. So he became rich—ami I hope the same to all of us!" This account of the shapes and shades who— "pass As in a inagie glass." made a great impression on me, and as the witch had said, "Looking day after day they will l>econie more clear," so I found that thinking day by day on this Bosicrucian-like fancy revealed to me the wondrous truth that one may dwell in the ineffable beauties anil mysteries of nature, among oaken or piney forests, and rushing lonely rivers in their shades, looking at wild flowers as at girl acquaint- ances, and at, rocks as dwelling places of thoughts, and at one's own thoughts as spirits (just as the Indians chronicled by Bekker believed that at our every heart-beat a spirit is born), until poetry becomes our own true, dearest life, and this real life an unreality. For the qualities of matter, and the beautiful are indeed immanent and eternal, but matter is only that wherein they act and display themselves. And this thought with me took tin- following form :— I looked into the deep river, I looked so still and long • Until I saw the Elfin shades Pass by in many a throng. They came and went like silent dreams, Forever moving on, As darkness tikes the starry beams, Un-noted till they're gone. I saw what oft I wished to see, Anil what I ne'er had seen; And what I oft had longed to be, And what I had not been. For lie who looks in the dark river, In the hour of the Klfin grey, Will wish that he might never go, Or else had staid away. And to him who looks in that river. This thing will eome to pass, He would not give for diamonds The dew-drops in the grass. He would not eall for silver bright The moon light in the leaves, Nor give for all the gold on earth The sun light on the sheaves. For all this world seems little worth, All earthly things unsound, 'I'o him who once has seen the dreams Which pass o'er Elfin ground. This seeing spirits from a bridge in the water recalls a very curious phenomena, which of every twelve or fourteen readers, one, at least, may realize with only a few days' practice, and all, perhaps, witli patience in time. This i* based on what is called  ## p. 211 (#615) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 21 I pseudapia, volitional percept ion, or, as I term it, eve memory, and it has been thoroughly established by the experiments of many men of science, such as Francis Galton, Clarke, and others.(i) It amounts briefly to this, that by looking at images we can get them by heart or by eye, so that we can at will reproduce them to our vision. Thus, if we take, let us say, a few coloured pictures representing birds, or animals, or men, and look at them intently and then close the eyes, and repeat the process, and then put. In'fore us a mirror reflecting only a plain grey or black or any uniform surface, we can soon see the images exist, passing along if we will. This is simply a matter of perseverance and deter- mination with everybody, and in time it can be brought to great perfection. But there is a very marvellous phase of this voluntary perception which comes in time. This is when images which we have not learned by effort begin to come from the secret store-houses of the brain, and mingle in these mystic processions. Of this there are many curious instances recorded. For these latent thoughts come forth so that what is apparently marvellous becomes so in reality, recalling an old story told by Grosius or Prsetorius, of someone who would fain have a grand masque or procession of fair devils and quaint bonny goblins, in a certain magnificent feast. Against which a holy friar remonstrated as an exceeding wicked and profane thing, but to no avail, save that by his preaching he frightened more than half of those who were to have played the parts of demons, so that they stayed away. At which the lord who gave the feast was very angry. How- ever, when the procession came to [miss, there was no lack of actors in it—for not only were there twice as many as had been at first engaged, but still new ones kept coming after them, and ever more and more, and these all so wilil and strange, some horrible, some lovely, that mortal man never dreamed the like. There wen? Venus, her nymphs, and satyrs, red, green, blue, and violet imps, devils of all horrors, giants of every coarseness, fairies, like, wines, of every fineness, howling savages, goblins, night-mares, camias, lennires, empusai, trees as men walking, yea, all the fancies of Jerome Basch and Hollenbreiighel in the original casks. But when at last they swarmed along by thousands, us Dutch spuyten fcln, spitting tire and flames, and appearing in naught, but ghastly insupportable terror, the people began to ga,sp and croak for fear. And what would come of it all, I know not, but just then the priest who had forbidden the procession thundered out a terrible exorcism—and the whole diabolical spuk vanished into air. (1) For a full account of the subject, vide my work on Practical Education, London, Whittaker aud Co. 1886. The reader need not fear that the forms which will come by practising with pictures and a mirror will be so melodramatic as these here described. But that images and ideas will be evoked from the brain and blend with the figures originally con- ceived is true, and has been notably proved by the experience of wise observers. More than one of the old polyhistors and curiosity hunters describe waters on whose surfaces mysterious forms, like strange reflections in a mirror, were ever seen coming and going. The conception is one of the most picturesque or sweetly strange which ever sprung up out of that wonderful worship of nature which was so deeply implanted in the Teutonic races, and of which curious beaux restcs may still be seen in all Germans. At any hotel in Europe it is always the Germans who want to take tea in the arbour, breakfast on the balcony, dine al fresco, and lunch by waterfalls in lonely forests. Not many years ago, a burgomaster in Germany cut down an avenue of lime trees in a town, for which sacrilege he was promptly shot dead by a student who gloried in the deed. It was (as Saintine, who narrates the fact, justly observes) only an hereditary breaking out of the old German tree-worship of Teutoburgian time. In Bavaria many still believe that fairies live in water lilies, where they sit comfort- ably of summer afternoons sewing, knitting, and gossiping—alien selir achon—" cradled in silent waters." You understand, reader, that this exquisite pantheistic polytheistic spirit which took form in Psellus, and became perfectly poetical in Paracelsus and Rosicrucianism—this religion which peoples the waters with naiads, and kelpies, and nixies, and the air and earth, and all that bides therein with peculiar sprites, leads, as no other inspiration can do, to a sincere and deep enjoyment of Xature. I may say to the on/// very deep love of it which is pure and real. They who go about picking out "beautiful bits," after reading of Ituskin, or any other of the writers or books who teach you how and what to admire in proper form—citr, quit, qitomodo, it quibus auxiliis—only feel beauty at second hand, or see the tapestry as some reviewers see books, entirely from the wrong side. "But," I am told, "there are really no fairies." Well, a knowledge of what man has believed in goes very far to remedy that want. The monks have left the old cathedral shades, the bedesman sleeps among his ashes cold; but the cathedrals—T mean the forests—are still with us, and it is some- thing to know how they were once ]>copled by man. But the new philosophy or evolution impresses it deeply on us, that we, our very thinking selves, are one with the life of trees, waters, rain,  ## p. 212 (#616) ############################################ 212 THE AUTHOR. air, and all that is. The electricity and mysterious essence of ether, and all hidden forces are in us, as in the rocks and flowers, a million years ago you were in it, millions of years hence you will still live and act, for we were all ever immortal and ever shall act in Nature or in God—life thou canst, not escape. In this view all things have a true life in the Beautiful, and Nature from a dead object of aesthetic twaddle becomes inspired with soul. And he wrho will give to this, and to the faiths of the olden time, serious thought or repeated meditation, till they shall become familiar to him, will soon live in Nature a new life, streams shall speak to him with laughing voices, elfin songs resound among the cliffs, and the wondrous light which shines invisibly to common eyes wherever the heroes of ancient time lie buried, shall make clear his path, and he will see from that which was, that which is to come. As I write on a sunny day, I see to the right, spreading far away, the blue Mediterranean under as blue a sky, the white line of waves breaking on the beach, and hear their mysterious sough ever varying, like voices. There goes a vessel by as in a dream, the same high prow and stem, the same strangely long diagonal sail, which we see on old Greek or Carthaginian coins. Therein I see and feel the life of ancient days, which shall ever be. Charles Godfrey Lelanu. Florence, Nov. 12, 1891. ♦•»■» A METHOD OF ADVERTISEMENT. "TT OU cannot," said Mr. Daventry, "get on 1 unless fellows jaw about you. There's no use telling me that, if I get on first, the jaw will follow, perhaps faster than I like, for it is not. true. That was the old way. Now-a-davs it's the jaw first and the success afterwards, and the more jaw the more success. Why, there's no rubbishing yarn I couldn't sell to the public, if I was only known as a Mahatma, or a disciple of the Higher Criticism. I should get a big practice at the bar, if men would go about swearing that I was the illegitimate son of a Begum, or one skin short. But nobody knows my name." For Robert Daventry was seriously discouraged. ITnappreciative publishers had sent, back his novel, and callous editors had rejected his articles, while, two years close attendance at the courts had not brought him in enough to pay for his wig. "I will be heard of," he continued, addressing a group of highly unsympathetic friends. "I will be heard of, and one day you shall all go about swaggering that you knew me to speak to, and your female cousins, when they hear it from you, will say, 'Really, how awfully nice!' And it won't be very long before I manage it somehow." And his words came true. It chanced that one day he went up the river with a lady. Shortly after leaving the station, the door of the railway-carriage, on which she was leaning, flew open. Robert Daventry jumped forward. He could not quite reach her skirts, but she clutched wildly and desperately in the direction of his outstretched arm, by good fortune secured it, anil was saved. "That was a shave, young woman," said he, us he settled her on a seat and adjusted his wristband, which had been almost, torn off his shirt. "Before vou play those pranks again, kindly cut vour 'nails." "I was nearly killed, Bob," said she, laughing a little hysterically. "If I had fallen out," she added, " it might have been very awkward for you, for people would have certainly said that vou threw me out of the carriage." But. Rol>ert made no reply. "Wouldn't they, Bob?" "We'll do it," he said, suddenly breaking silence. "It will be splendid." And then and there he unfolded this project, which his brain had rapidly formed on the hint contained in his companion's words. "We will go to the ' Horn,' have some lunch, and start for a row. I will land you near the X Station, and you shall run up to town by the first train you can catch. Leave your hat on the bank. I will return to the inn alone, pay for the boat, anil come up by the next train. The passer-by who finds your hat is sure to conclude you are drowned. We will dine together at K— 's, where I will meet you, and we shall probably be able to read some pari! - graphs in the evening paper about 'the mysterious disappearance of a lady,' 'supposed drowning fatality,' and so on. Then, when those beastly editors have quite done making public asses of themselves, I shall explain that the hat was left there to sec what would happen, and all those papers will have to talk about me. I shall send my photograph to all the illustrated periodicals. I should think some manager might see that I am the man for n real good drama. What do you say to doing it?" The lady thought, that it would not be a bad joke, supposing it was necessary to make; a joke at all, but rather demurred at leaving her hat on the bank. "You can get another one in London," said Mr. Daventry. "If you don't leave something  ## p. 213 (#617) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. tangible on the bank, the casual passer-by will not detect the presence of the crime. Everybody knows that a hat on the bank is the recognised sign of a corpse in the water. You can wear my cricket cap up to town." Now it fell out that in the street of the village where it was proposed to have lunch, and to hire their boat, Mr. Robert Daventry saw a laxly of his acquaintance coming towards them, and he turned up a back way rather abruptly. This did not escape his companion's notice, who began to cross- examine him upon the subject. Robert, intent upon his scheme, was not inclined to waste time in idle words, and said so with a sweetness that proved exasperating. The lady said, " You coward, you are ashamed to be seen with me." Bob said, in his turn a little angry—for no one likes the epithet of coward—" Perhaps you think I ought to introduce you about the place as the girl I'm going to marry?" Then the waiter was seen standing inside the door, looking for an opportunity to announce to the visitors that their boat was ready. So they laughed and were friends again. They were a little nervous as they went down to the water. Indeed, it is hard not to be nervous, when on the edge of perpetrating a practical joke. It is only the most callous and practised performer who can venture boldly, where failure must entail ridicule. Mr. Daventry sculled in silence up stream, until they reached a spot which seemed admirably suited to their purpose. This was a small reach about four hundred yards long, and hidden from the gaze of anyone who chanced to be above or below, by the abrupt winding of the stream. Here he turned into the bank, and helped his accomplice out. "Leave your hat," he said, "and run down stream about a quarter of a mile, and you will see the station (mite near the river. Here's my cap. K 's at 8.3o. Shove her out with your foot." He went on sculling up stream. She, in obedience to his instructions began to run down the bank. As she did so, she turned every now and then to watch him, for he was a good-looking man, and the sculling action suited him. Seeing which he took one of his hands off his sculls every now and then, and waved a little encouragement to her in the prosecution of their splendid joke. And he came to the up-corner, and she came to the down- corner, and he began to disappear trom her gaze, and she hung over the brink to watch him,—and, alas, she slipped. Vainly she clutched at all within her grasp; the rotten twigs snapped, the rotten bank yielded, she slipped further, and fell in. Two hours afterwards the body was found by a passer-by, who noticed the hat lying on the bank. Mr. Robert Daventry's cap was firmly clutched in her convulsive grasp. In the meantime the gentleman had further elaborated his joke. Why should there be only one person drowned? Why not two or more? To think was to act. Your practical joker is above all things careless of the personal propertv of other people. Mr. Daventry headed for the other bank, landed, turned the boat bottom upper- most and sent it spinning with a kick down stream. Then he walked rapidly to the nearest railway station. That evening he was arrested for murder. At his trial the following points were clearly made out by the prosecution :— He had quarrelled with the deceased at the Horn Inn before starting on the fatal expedition, and had said that he would not marry her. He looked very pale on starting. Later he was seen to turn the boat over anil kick it down stream, and then to start running into the country. When arrested his hand was severely scratched, uud his shirt cuff nearly torn off. There were signs of a scuttle on the bank, and the victim had the prisoner's cap in her hand. The theory of the prosecution was that he had been strolling along the bank with the unfortunate girl—the mark where the boat had been put in had been found by a detective—that he had quarrelled with her and had pushed her into the river. That he had then turned the boat over, hoping to make his act appear the result of an accident. For the defence the true story was told. He was found guilty. In reply to the awful question of the judge whether he had anything to say why the utmost penalty should not be inflicted, he said, " My Lord, it was all a joke." Many have sung, and many have narrated, the charms of mediocrity, but no one appreciates it highly for himself. But few consider themselves commonplace. Yet occasionally it will be borne in upon a man that he is but an average specimen. Sometimes he will sit down under his fate, and will court only the average destiny; holding all public achievements as very wondrous, for in this way his inability to perform them may l»e best excused. Sometimes he will turn hither and thither, vaguely, hurriedly, inconsequentially, if haply he may cheat his own mediocrity, or encompass fame by some rapid bye-path.  ## p. 214 (#618) ############################################ 214 THE AUTHOR. Robert Daventry was mediocre, and his soul loathed mediocrity. And he did not die for nothing. "The Evening Scorpion" had in their office a manuscript signed with the assassin's name. It had been the design of the editor to lose this work, for he had employed the accompanying stamps in his urgent correspondence. But now he saw a more honourable course open to him. He published the story with a fac-simile of Robert's signature attached, and he sold two editions of the paper on the day of issue. O. J. A PUZZLING EXPERIENCE. THE "puzzling experience" related in the current number of the Author recalls very pointedly to my mind an occurrence of a some- what similar nature which once happened to myself. My own experience throws no light upon that of your other correspondent; but it shows that, puzzling as such occurrences no doubt often are, they may still be nothing more than mere coincidences. A year or two ago, I had occasion to pay several visits to America. On one of these (I think in 1887) I was in a Liverpool tramear, on my way to join a steamer of the Allan Line, when there entered a certain official of the Canadian Govern- ment with whom I was well acquainted, and whom I expected to meet on my arrival at my destination. I was not aware that he was then in Europe, but it turned out that he had, for a time, left his official duties on sick leave. My friend left the matter he was at the moment engaged ii]jon and came down to the docks to see me off. His last words, just as the vessel was moving, were: "God-bye. I shall be in [naming it well-known Canadian city] about a fortnight after you will arrive there." I landed at Halifax, Nova Scotia, and travelled over the Intercolonial Line to Montreal. An hour or two later, as I was seated in the writing-room of the Windsor Hotel, attending to some corre spondence, I felt a touch on the shoulder and looking up, I saw the friend from whom I had parted in Liverpool only about ten days before. At first, I confess, the idea occured to me that it was a case for the Psychical Society; but his cheerful salute, "Well, Christy, here we are again," at once proved the reverse. He pro- ceeded to explain that, having been recalled by cable, through pressing business, a fortnight earlier than the date when he had told me he should leave, he had left Liverpool by an "Ocean Greyhound" the day after I did and travelling by the quicker New York route, had arrived in Montreal a day earlier than myself. Thus, within about ten days, I had twice by the purest accident, met the same individual, at places nearly 5,ooo miles apart, and in different conti- nents, when in each case I had the best of reasons for supposing him to be in the other. Millek Christy. CORRESPONDENCE. I. A New Departure. fT^IIE following advertisement, which "caught I my eye" in the columns of the Daily Aeir* on November i3th, is somewhat of a new departure in the struggle for literary fame. "The author of a well-reviewed novel will give 20 per cent, commission to one who can place two MSS. one-volume stories.—Address, 53o M, 'Daily News' Enquiry Office, 67, Fleet Street, E.C." We have all heard of those misguided individuals who are so anxious to shine in the literary world that they are eager to pay even a disreputable publisher to "bring out" their lucubrations; but here we have a new genus of simpleton. Mirabile dirtu, the author of a " well-reviewed" (not neces- sarily, however, a successful) novel is willing to pay 25 per cent, to someone—anyone — who will "place" t wo others !" M," whoever he or she may be, must be singularly innocent of any- thing except the. writing of the two MSS. in question to suppose that the author of a well- reviewed novel would find insuperable difficulties in placing the MSS. in question if they trerc worth printing at all. If he cannot do this alone, no third party would be able to get them placed, unless payment were made for publication. Let "M" no longer tempt sharks by foolish advertisements. It would cost him much less to submit his work to the Society, and take their advice. II. A New Reading Union. The world of novelists should be interested in a society of working miners and others, winch has been formed at Backworth, in Northumberland, for the study of classical novels. After a course of lectures upon fiction had been given by Mr.  ## p. 215 (#619) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 2*5 Moulton, of Cambridge, it was found tlmt hardly any of the greatest works of fiction were known to his hearers, and this effort to popularise them was the outcome. The members of the union agree to read a specified novel every two months, meet for discussion, and write papers upon some given points. They ask novelists or other literary authorities to assist them by suggesting main ideas to be kept in view while reading a subject for debate, and another for the essays. At the head of their circular stand these true words, " Literature is the Science of Life, and the great classical novels arc among life's best text books. To study these is the true antidote to trashy and poisonous fiction." The books already read, or to be read, include "Vanity Fair," " The Newcomes,"" Silas Marner," "Bomohi," "Anne of Geierstein," "Wood- stock," "Sintram," "Westward Ho!" "Jane Eyre," '"93," "Les Miserables," "Persuasion," "Wives and Daughters," "Martin Chuzzlewit," "Tale of Two Cities," " Put yourself in his place," &c. Many authors of standing have helped them with ready kindness, and it is hoped that others on reading this may write to the secretary, Mr. J. Barrow, Northumberland Terrace, Backworth, Neweastle-on-Tync. It is self-evident that books suggested should be such as are published in cheap editions. Necessarily the books chosen must be get-at-able in cheap editions. III. Ox New Work. As bearing on "Berserker's" assertion in the November Author, that it is impossible to get a publisher to take up original work, it may be interesting to your readers to know that this has been frankly admitted by at least one of our leading publishing houses. The firm to whom I first offered my book on ""in refusing to bring it out except at my own expense, gave as their reason for declining it that it was written "on totally new lines of thought." J. B. C. [It is only another way of expressing the great fact that publishers very seldom take any risk. If we keep on dinning this truth into the heads of people, they will some day, perhaps, get to look upon publishing as a trade—which it is—like any other trade, conducted for profit.—Editor.] IV. Novels in a Batch. A correspondent sends us, as an illustration of the care and thoroughness with which the reviewing of novels in the batch is conducted, the interesting fact that a genealogical work, published in the summer, was lately noticed in one of the leading reviews as a novel among the weekly batch! V. The Gexkrosity of the Religious Society. Further particulars have now been received as to the case of munificent generosity on the part of a religious publishing society, recorded in the No- vember Author. The book in question was published by this religious publishing society — not the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge —at the price of two shillings. On a royalty of 5 per cent., which is iniquitous and sweating, the writer would receive £5 a thousand. On a royalty of 10 per cent., which is also a sweating royalty, the author would receive <£io a thousand. On a royalty of twopence in the shilling, or 16 per cent., he would receive £16 i3s. 4//. for every thousand. If 3,ooo copies were sold, the following is the estimated result :— per cent. S per cent. 10 per cent. '5 £ £ e Publisher's profits 60 45 30 Author ... ■ 5 3° AS, The generous society, however, did not give any royalty at all. They gave the writer the magnificent, princely sum of JE12!!!! It is only a religious society which can be so truly, nobly generous. It will be remembered by those who read a little pamphlet, published last year, called the "Literary Handmaid of the Church," that one of the many princely acts of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge was to give an author £12 for a book of which 6,000 copies were sold, and to refuse anything more, although the author pleaded that, they had promised more if the book should prove a success. How wonderfully do these societies promote the cause of true religion! With what self-sacrificing courage do they hold aloft the banner of justice! Let us always and always thank Heaven for the religious publishing society!  ## p. 216 (#620) ############################################ 2l6 THE AUTHOR. VI. The Bookman. 27, Paternoster Bow, London, Sir, 25th November, i891. In the lust number of the .Author you refer to ii letter by a lady authoress published in the first number of the Bookman. You say that the letter is " endorsed by the editor." You go further, and actually declare that on a six shilling book a profit to the author of £jb, and to the publisher of £3o.">, is " the full and equal royalty advocated by the Bookman!" No more gross misrepresentations could possibly be imagined. So far from endorsing the letter, I added the following note :— "The spirit of this letter is worthy of all admiration, but it should be remembered—(1) that on tin; matter of royalties well-known writers should not be put on a level with beginners; and (2) that the writer of the letter was in the habit of publishing books which sold at a low price, and contained a good deal of matter." Ignoring this note, you attempt to make out that I considered a royalty of one penny a shilling on a very popular six shilling book as fair. No such thing. The author of the letter was referring to books selling about one shilling and sixpence and two shillings, and so long as to involve quite as much setting as an average six-shilling volume. On such, I believe, a royalty of one penny per shilling may be fair, but I expressed no opinion even on that. On a book priced at six shillings and selling well, I agree with you that a much higher rate may be paid; in fact, my note was written to make this clear. Hut I do not accept your statements on this subject. How can an addition of a thousand copies of a six-shilling volume be all sold? Out of a thousand a considerable number would be sent to reviewers, and could not, therefore, be included in an estimate of money received. But I have no hesitation in saying that the great majority of books published at six shillings do not reach any- thing like a sale of a thousand. Several hundred copies have to be got riil of for what they will bring. And you take no account of the element of time, one book selling a thousand in a day, another struggling through its thousand in ten years. I need not say that this consideration should influence the whole reckoning I now desire to put a direct question. I am, and have been for years, a member of the Society of Authors. Many of the contributors to the Bookman arc also members. None of us, as far as I know, have ever given you permission to speak our minds on all subjects. We, acquiesce in the publication of the Author at the expense of the Society, because we think that, on the whole, it does good, though I, for one, do not see why it should not easily pay its way. But some of us, at least, feel when we read you on such subjects i:s "The man of the magnificent imagination." "Titles for Authors," Ac, as you feel towards the Spectator. If we cared to use your own elegant language, we should say, we are "grieved and humiliated to see such stuff in your columns." Our trouble is that you talk as if you had a right to be our spokesman. You say to me, "As a society of bookmen and bookwomen, we would earnestly invite, &c. Who gave you a right to say that? At what meeting of the Society of Authors was this invitation resolved upon? Did the Committee authorise you to extend it? Oris it simply you, the conductor of the paper, who are speaking without authority from any other human being i If so, I venture to suggest that the practice of speaking for men who have given you no authority to represent them, and who repudiate many of your most cherished opinions, should be dropped at once. Let the opinions be given simply as those of Mr. Walter Besant, and they will receive the respect they are entitled to, and from none more willingly than from, Sir, Your obedient Servant, The Editor of the " Bookman." Notes on the Above. 1. "Endorsed by the Editor." The lady who wrote the letter did so on the assumption that a royalty of a penny in the shilling was a fair royalty —the usual royalty—and that it gave the writer as much as it left the publisher. This was the whole point of her letter, and it was entirely erroneous. The Editor did not correct these mis- statements. He let them pass. If he did not endorse them, what did he do? Our readers, however, have his words before them. They may judge for themselves. 2. Whether the book is a shilling book or a six shilling book, the proportion is tlie same. The example of a six shilling book is given as the most convenient and the most intelligible. 3. Why should well-known writers receive more than beginners on a royalty? A royalty gives so much a copy. The beginner will not be in such great demand as the well-known writer, and will, therefore, on the same royalty, get less. 4. "The writer was in the habit of publishing books at a low price containing a good deal of  ## p. 217 (#621) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 217 matter." Well, I have myself published books for a shilling each containing as much matter as is found in most si.v shilling books. But never, certainly, for a penny royalty. So that I speak from personal experience and not from theory. 5. "How can an edition of a thousand copies of a six shilling edition be all sold?" You may deduct thirty or so for press copies. The rest will be all sold if the book is successful to that extent. If it is not going to be successful to so small an extent the publisher will beforehand—and quite rightly—make the author pay towards the pro- duction of the book. Those six shilling books which are not paid for by the author sell sometimes a great many thousands—in every case which can be called in the least successful a good deal more than a thousand. The Editor of the Bookman wants to consider the length of time in getting the book off. Well, let us consider it. A six shilling book costs about £100 with advertising. The first subscription, always supposing that it is a book sure of a reasonable success, and therefore not paid for by the author, will certainly earn more than half by the first subscription, in nearly all ciises the other half in the first three months. There will not, in any case, be much left to be covered after the first five hundred are gone. There is nothing whatever to be altered in the notes of last month's Author on this unfortunate letter. 6. In answer to the Editor's "direct question," I have only to call his attention to the notice at the beginning of every Author, that signed articles represent the opinions of the writer only. The paragraphs to which he refers are signed by me as the writer. W. B. "AT THE AUTHOR'S HEAD." IN the long list of books published in November, note for purchase or circulating library pur- poses Austin Dobson's " Hogarth," Gardiner's "History of the Great Civil War," Vol. III., Lord Rosebery's " Pitt," Traill's "Marquis of Salisbury," Churton Collins' "Illustrations of Tennyson," Mrs. Grimwood's " Escape from Manipur," Andrew Lang's "Angling Sketches," Maudslay's " Nature's Warnings," William Morris' " Story of the Glitter- ing Plain," Bullen's "Lyrics from Elizabethan Dramatists," Leeky's "Poems." A one-volume edition of George Meredith's "One of our Conquerors" is now ready. (Chapman and Hall). A cheap edition is ready of George Macdonald's "There and Back." (Kegan Paul & Co.) A book out of the common, and far more than commonly interesting, is Mr. Athol Maudslay's "Nature's Weather Warnings and Natural Phe- nomena." Here are simple rules for forecasting the weather, obsolete weather prognostications, folk lore, flower lore, moon lore—all kinds of things unexpected. It is a little book published by Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. In the new number of the Educational Beview are papers by Arthur Sedgwick on "The Women's Question at Oxford "; by Lyulph Stanley on "The Work before the London School Board"; by A. G. Vernon Harcourt on "Greek from the Science man's Point of View "; by Pro- fessor Skeat on "The Educational Value of English," Part II. ; and by Arthur Monteliore, on "Nautical Education." The spirit of progress and activity has at last been aroused even in educational papers, which of old were wont to be the dullest of dull organs. "Glimpses into Nature's Secrets," by Edward Alfred Martin (Elliot Stock), is an attempt to bring under the observer's notice a few facts re- lating to those creatures of the sea-shore, which, familiar more or less to all, are always replete with interest to the seaside sojourner. The descriptions are neither lengthy nor technical, yet the infor- mation is trustworthy, and conveyed with a scientific spirit, although the manner chosen has been a popular one. There is a new edition of Jefferies' "The Dewy Morn." It now finds a place among Messrs. Bentlcy and Son's "Favourite Novels." The narrative of Mrs. Frank Grimwood's escape from tin' Mutiny of Manipur is a most wonderful story, simply and beautifully told, full of pathos and of situations terrible as well as pathetic. Its success is said to be as great as it deserves. Let us welcome among the company of novelists a new comer in the person of Miss Mary Dickens, granddaughter of her grandfather. In the children of the great novelist, their father's genius, as con- stantly happens, has manifested itself in other lines. Perhaps it has reappeared in his granddaughter. The name of the. work is "Cross Currents." The publishers are Chapman and Hall. Surely all who love their Charles Dickens will at least pay his memory the compliment by calling for the novel of his grandchild.  ## p. 218 (#622) ############################################ 2l8 THE AUTHOR. Mrs. W. K. Clifford brings out her "Love Letters of a Worldly Woman" this day—with Edward Arnold. Miss Mabel Robinson has gone to the same publishers with her new book, " Hovenden, V.C." Under the same name are new books by Clark Russell, Barry Gould, MacLaren Cobban, L. B. Walford, Mrs. Molesworth, W. E. Henley; not a bad list for a new house. Messrs. Longmans have in the press the auto- biography of an actress, not a great London actress, but an obscure member of a country company—of that class formerly called strolling actors. It is the only book which gives the actual life of the modern strolling actor. The experiences and anecdotes are strictly true. The author calls herself " Dorothy Wallis," and Mr. Walter Besant, who is personally acquainted with her, will contribute a preface to the work. The author of "John Westaeott" has com- pleted a three-volume novel, dealing with English characters, the scene being laid partly in the west country and on the Cornish coast, and some exciting scenes in a picturesque part of Bohemia. The publication is delayed for the American edition. Amongst the publications in which this writer's work has appeared during the present year are Cornhill, the Times, Black and White, Spectator, Leisure Hour, Athenceum, the Author, Cassell's, &c.; and he is also contributing notes to some of the principal provincial dailies. His article upon St. David, which appeared in the English Illustrated some three years since, under the title of "A Dead City," has become the acknowledged guide to that quaint place, and in the programme of the meeting of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland at Killarney this year it was especially recommended to the members for comparison with the pre-historic remains in West Kerry. The Duke of Argyll and his son, the Marquis of Lome, have joined the Company of Novelists, in the series published by the Automatic Company. Mr. George Saintsbury has introduced the Essays of Edmund Scherer to the English public in translation, with a critical preface. (Sampson Low & Co.) We have received " A Descriptive List of British Novels," compiled by W. M. Griswold, and pub- lished at Cambridge, Massachussetts. The number of novels noticed is 916, from No. i,025 to No. 1,941. What precedes No. 1,023 probably belongs to another collection. The intention of the collection is to supply a notice of every novel taken from the reviews of the day. Generally these are laudatory; sometimes they are the reverse. A pleasing surprise is introduced by a novel system of spelling. We have "ar" for "are," "we'r" for "were," "britly" for " brightly," and so forth; the result is that the critics' remarks appear absolutely fresh and new. Mrs. Edmonds, whose "Greek Lays, Idylls, and Legends" (Triibner and Co.) were favourably noticed some five years ago, has recently published a new book, entitled "Kolokotrones, Klepht and Warrior" (Fisher Unwiu). The same publisher has also recently issued "Amaryllis," by the same author, and a book of fairy tales. Mr. A. R. Ropes has published, with Seelev and Co., a Selection from the Letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montague, with an introduction. "Cora Langton," the author of "Jock and his Friends," has written another children's book, "A Parliament of Pickles." It is a funny, natural, and pathetic story. With regard to our announcement of Mr. Bert nun Mitford's new novel " Golden Face; A Tale of the Wild West," Trischler and Co., we learn that its publication is postponed until the end of January next. William Wilson's translation of "Brand," Ibsen's most powerful drama, has been published by Methuen. It is not a play to be acted, but the situations are splendid in their simplicity mid the central character is certainly as fine as anything that Ibsen has ever drawn. Immediately will be published "When Town and Country Meet." Longmans. Price 6*. By Mrs. Alfred Baldwin. The Cassell Publishing Company, New York, have bought the American rights of " Indian Idyls, by an 'Idle Exile,'" originally published 'by Messrs. Thaeker and Spink, Calcutta, and also of a one-volume novel by "An Idle Exile," entitled, "By a Himalayan Lake," which ran as a serial in the "Pictorial World." Messrs. Methuen, London, also have in the press "In Tent and Bungalow," another collection of short stories by the author of " Indian Idyls." Miss Peard's new Dutch novel, "The Baroness," will be published simultaneously in London (Bentley) and New York (Harper) at the beginning of the year.  ## p. 219 (#623) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. Among the new books of the month must be included Mr. Henry Charles Moore's "Who was She?" published by Dean and Son with the October books. The title of Mr. Walter Besant's new novel, about to run through Chamber's Journal, is "The Ivory Gate." It is the title of a novel by the late Mortimer Collins, which was published in the year 1866. Mr. Bosant has been very kindly j>ermitted by Miss Mabel Collins to use the title for the new story. A Fourth Edition is ready of Sir Monier Williams' "Brahminisiu and Hinduism." (John Murray.) NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS. Theology. Benham, Rev. W. The Dictionary of Religion; an En- cyclopaedia of Christian and other religious doctrines, denominations, sects, heresies, ecclesiastical terms, history, biography, &c. Edited by. Cassell. io«. 6rf. The Church and Hek Doctrine. By the Bishop of Sydney, the Bishop of Ossory, Canon Girdlestone, the Rev. Henry Wace, D.D., and others. J. Nisbet and Co. 6s. Farrar, Archdeacon. The Life of Christ. Illustrated. Cassell and Co. yt. 6d. Geikie, Rev. C, D.D. The Holy Land and the Bible. With illustrations from original drawings. By Henry A. Harper. Cassell. 2is. Granger, M. E. Advent Readings, arranged for daily reading and meditation. Griffith, Farran. 3«. 6d. Huntinoford, Rev. E., D.C.L. Popular Misconceptions about the First Eleven Chapters of Genesis. Second edition, continued to the death of Joseph. Bickers, Leicester Square, is. Maoee, C. S. Growth in Grace, and other Sermons. By the late W. C. Magee, D.D., Archbishop of York. Edited by. Isbister. 7s. 6d. Maurice, F. Denison. Sermons Preached in Lincoln's Inn Chapel. In 6 vols. Vol.11. New edition. Macmillan and Co. 3». 6d. Robinson, J. A., B.D. Texts and Studies, Contributions to Biblical and Patristic Literature. Edited by. Vol.11., No. I., a Study of Codex Beza?. Cambridge University- Press. 7s. 6d. Skene, W. F., D.C.L. The Lord's Supper and the Pass- over Kitual; being a Translation of the Substance of Professor Bickncll's work, termed "Messe und Pascha." With an introduction by the Translator on the connexion of the Early Christian Church with the Jewish Church. Clark, Edinburgh. 5j. What We Believe: a simple Statement of the Christian Faith. Griffith, Farran. White, Edward, Archbishop of Canterbury. Living Theology. With portrait. Preachers of the Age Series. Sampson Low. Williams, Sir Monies, K.C.I.E. Brahminism and Hinduism; or, Religious Thought and Life in India. Fourth edition, enlarged and improved. Murray. i8». History and Biography. Armstrong, W. The Life and Work of Briton Riviere. Christmas number of the Art Journal. With numerous illustrations. Art Journal office, Ivy Lane, E.C. Belford Bax, E. Selected Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer. With a biographical introduction and sketch of his philosophy. George Bell. 5*. Belmore, Earl of, G.C.M.G. The History of the Corry Family of Castlecoolc. Longmans; Thorn, Dublin, io*. 6d. Brugsch-Bey, H. Egypt under the Pharaohs: a History derived entirely from the Monuments. A new edition, condensed and revised by M. Brodrick. Maps and illustrations. Murray. 18s. Crawford, Frederick. Hans Christian Andersen's Cor- respondence with the late Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, Charles Dickens, and others. Edited by. With portrait and memoir. Dean, Fleet Street. 6*. Dobson, Austin. William Hogarth. Sampson Low. Edwards, S. J. Celestine. From Slavery to a Bishopric j or, the Life of Bishop Walter Hawkins, of the British Methodist Episcopal Church, Canada. Kensit. London. Fleav, F. G., M.A. A Biographical Chronicle of the English Drama, 1559-1642. In 2 vols. Reeves and Turner. 1/. 10s. Forbes, Archibald. The Afghan Wars, 1839-42 and 1878-80. With portraits and plans. Seeley, Essex Street, Strand. Frith, Henry. The Biography of a Locomotive Engine. Illustrated. Cassell and Co. St. Gardiner, S. R., M.A. History of the Great Civil War, 1642-49. Vol. III. 1647-49. Longmans. 28s. Goff, G. L. Historical Records of the 91st Argyllshire Highlanders, now the 1st Battalion Princess Louise's Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, containing an account of the formation of the regiment in 1794, and of its subsequent services to 1881. Arrunged by. Bentley. Hamerton, P. G. Paris, in Old and Preseut Times. Illus- trated (new edition). Seeley and Co. Hope, M. J. Novalis: His Life, Thoughts, and Works. Edited and translated by. Stott. Oxenden, Right Rev. A., D.D. The History of My Life: an Autobiography. Longmans, 5s. Picton, J. Allansox, M.P. Sir James A. Picton: a Biography, with facsimile sketches. Isbister and Co. 12*. Ropes, A. R., M.A. Lady Mary Wortlcy Montagu: Selected Passages from her Letters. Edited by. With nine portraits, after Sir Godfrey Kueller and other artists. Seeley. Rosebery, Lord. Pitt. Twelve English Statesmen Series. Macmillan. 2s. 6d.  ## p. 220 (#624) ############################################ 220 THE AUTHOR. Sciierer, W. A History of German Literature, from the Accession of Frederick the Great to the Death of Goethe. Translated from the third German edition by Mrs. F. C. Conybeare and edited by F. Max Miiller. Clarendon Press. 5s. Siborne, Maj.-Ge.v H. T. Waterloo Letters: a selection from original and hitherto unpublished letters bearing on the operations of the 16th, 17th, and 18th of June, 1815, by officers who served in the campaign. Edited, with explanatory notes, by. Illustrated, with maps and plans. Cassell. 21s. Traill, H. D., D.C.L. The Marquis of Salisbury. The Prime Ministers of Queen Victoria Series. Edited by Stuart J. Heid. Sampson Low. Villari, Prof. Pasquale. The Life and Times of Niccolo Machiavelli. Translated by Madame Linda Villari. Anew edition. Augmented by the author; revised by the translator. Illustrated. Two vols. Fisher Uuwin. 321. Educational. Chisholm, G. G., M.A. Longmans' School Geography for India and Ceylon. Longmans. 3.1. 6d. Easton, Rev. .T. G., M.A. A First Book of Mechanics for young beginners, with numerous easy examples and answers. Cassell. 4s. 6d. Ferguson, F. O. Architectural Perspective. Illustrated. Crosby Lockwood, and Son. Maycock, W. Pekkk.n. A First Book of Electricity and Magnetism. With illustrations. Whittakcr and Co. 2S. 6(1. Meakin, J. E. B. An Introduction to the Arabic of Morocco; English-Arabic Vocabulary, Grammar, Notes, &c. Kegan Paul. Mitchell, C. F. Forty Plates on Building Construction. Cassell and Co. 10s. 6d. Ramsay, Ci. E., LL.D., M.A. Latin Prose Composition. Third edition. Volume I., containing Syntax, Exer- cises with Notes, Vocabulary, and Appendix. Clarendon Press. 4s. 6d. General Literature. Armstrong, A. E. Marian, or the Abbey Grange. Illus- trated. Blackie and Son. is. 6d. Armstrong, F. Changing Lots. Griffith, Farran. Ss. Armstrong, J. Dan's Little Girl. With illustrations. Beligious Tract Society. 3s. Baldwin, Mrs. Alfred. Where Town and Country Sleet. Longmans. 6s. Baring Gould, S., M.A. Historic Oddities and Strange Events. Third edition. Methuen. Beale, Anne. Fay Arlington. Griffith, Farran. Ss. Bell, Ernest. Handbook of Athletic Sports. Edited by. Vol. V.—Athletics, Cycling, Skating. Illustrated. George Bell and Sons. 3s. 6d. Bewsiier, Mrs. M. E. Mischief Makers, or the Story of Zipporah. Griffith, Farran. 3s. 6d. Birch, U. E. Ivy's Dream. Illustrated. Religious Tract Society, is. Bland, E. A. Foxy Fielding's Friend. With illustrations. Religious Tract Society, it. Bouvet, Marguerite. Sweet William, a Tale of Early Times in Normandy. Nelson and Sons. Bramston, M. Neal Russell. The Story of a Brave Man. Swan Sounenscheiu. A Village Genius: a True Story of Oberain- mergau. National Society's Depository. is. Bremner, C. S. A Month in a Dandi, a Woman's Wander- ings in Northern India. Simpkin, Marshall. 6s. Brightwen, Mrs. Wild Nature won by Kindness. With illustrations by the Author and F. Carruthers Gould. Popular edition. Fisher I'nwin. Paper covers, is. Brodie, Emilv. The Orphans of Mertou Hall. Illustrated. Religious Tract Society, is. Brown, Frances. Granny's Wonderful Chair. Illustrated by M. Seymour Lucas. Griffith, Farran. Brown, Maggie. Pleasant Work for Busy Fingers; or Kindergarten at Home. Illustrated. Cassell and Co. Ss. Butler, M. M. Waiting and Serving: or the Major's Little Sentinel. Nelson and Son. Carey, Rosa N. Averil. Illustrated. Religious Tract Society. 3s. Our Bessie. Illustrated. Religious Tract Society. 3». Clark, Alfred. A Dark Place of the Earth. Forest Department, Ceylon. Sampson Low. Clutterbuck, W. .1. About Ceylon and Borneo. Illus- trated. Longmans, 10s. 6d. Collins, J. Churton. Illustrations of Tennyson. Chatto and Windus. Craddock, C. E. In the "Stranger People's" Country: a Novel. Osgood, M'llvaine. 6s. Cresswell, H. W. How to Buy and Sell at Auction Rooms. Routledge. Cusack, M. F. The Story of my Life. "The Nun of Kenmare." Hodder and Stoughton. 6s. Debenham, Mary H. For King and Home and Mistress Phil. National Society Depository, is. each. Doudney, Sarah. The Love Dream of Gaily Funning Hutchinson, is. 6d. Where Two Ways Meet. Illustrated. Hutchin- son. 5s. Drayson, Lt.-Col. A. W. Among the Zulus. Griffith, Farran. 2s. Edwards, A. B. Pharaohs, Fellahs, and Explorers. Illustrated. Osgood, M'llvaine. 18s. Everett-Green, E. Dare Lorimer's Heritage. Illustrated. Hutchinson. 5s. Falk, David G. Rick, or the Kecidiviste: a Romance of Australian Life. Trischler and Co. Fenn, G. Manville. The Rajah of Dah. Illustrated. W. and R. Chamlwrs. The Crystal Hunter. A Boy's Adventures in the Higher Alps. Partridge, Paternoster Row. 5*. Fullerton, W. M. In Cairo. Macmillan. 3s. 6rf. Ganconagh. John Sherman and Dhoya. The Pseudonym Library. Fisher Unwin. Paper covers. 1*. 6<f.  ## p. 221 (#625) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 221 Garland, HAin.ra. Main-Travelled Roads. Mississippi Valley Stories. Fisher Unwin. 3*. 6d. Glanville, Ernest. The Fossicker: a Romance of Mashonaland. Chatto and Windus. Gollock, G. A. Light on Our Lessons; or, What is the Use? A missionary book for Roys and Girls. With preface by Eugene Stock. Church Missionary Society, Salisbury Square, E.G. Giikvillk, Lady. The Gentlewoman in Society. Henry and Co. 6*. Grimwood, E. St. Clair. My Throe Years in Manipur, and Escape from the Recent Mutiny. With illustra- tions and plan. Rentley. Harden, Henley J. Elizabeth, or Cloud and Sunshine. W. and R. Chambers. Hatton, Joseph. The Princess Mazaroff, a Romance of the Day. Two vols. Hutchinson, Paternoster Square, us. Hayes, Mrs. M. H. My Leper Friends: an Account of Personal Work among Lepers, and of their Daily Life in India. Illustrated. W. Thacker and Co., 87, New- gate Street. Hill, G. R., D.C.L. Writers and Readers. T. Fisher Unwin. 5s. HiTcncocK, Thomas. Unhappy Loves of Men of Genius. Illustrated. Osgood, M'llvaine. 5*. Holt, E. S. Countess Maud: a Tale of the 14th Century. T. F. Shaw. Kaplan, A. 0. Raby's Souvenir. Illustrated by Frances Bruudage. Dean, Fleet Street. 10s. 6d. Karsland, Vera. Women and their Work. Sampson Low. i«. Kenyon, Edith C. Ernest's Golden Thread. W. and R. Chambers. Kingston, W. II. G. Ben Haddeii. Religious Tract Society, is. Kingsland, Wm. The Mystic Quest: a Tale of Two Incarnations. George Allen. Lang, Andrew. Angling Sketches. Illustrated. Long- mans. 7s. 6d. Laurie, A. The Secret of the Magian: or the Mystery of Ecbatana. Illustrated. Sampson Low. Lkpth-Adams, Mrs. My Land of Beulah. With frontis- piece by Gordon Browne. Methuen. Lysaght, E. J. Grannie: a Story. Blackie and Son. is. 6d. Lysah, C. The Little Princes in the Tower. (England's Royal Children Series.) Illustrated. Trischler and Co. Macquoid, K. S. The Prince's Whim, and other Stories. Innes. 3s. 6d. Malot, Hector. Conscience. Translated by Julia E. S. Rae. In 2 vols. Richard Bentley and Son. Mannering, G. E. With Axe and Rope in the New Zealand Alps. Illustrated. Longmans. 11*. 6d. Manning, W. S. Hints and Encouragements for Profitable Fruit-Growing. Jarrold and Sons. u. Marshall, E. Little Queenie: a Story of Child Life Sixty Years Ago. T. F. Shaw. Maudslay, Athol. Nature's Weather Warnings and Natural Phenomena. Simpkin, Marshall. Marryat, F. The Little Marine and the Japanese Lily: a Tale for Hoys. Illustrated. Hutchinson. 3s. (id. Martin, Annie. Home Life on an Ostrich Farm. With ten illustrations by. Second edition. George Philip. 3*. 6d. Meade, L. T. The Honourable Miss: a Story of an old- fashioned Town. Illustrated. Methuen and Co. ——— A Sweet Girl Graduate. Illustrated. Cassell and Co. 3*. 6d. The Children of Wilton Chase. Illustrated. W. and R. Chambers. Miles, Alfred H. The Now Sunday School Reciter and the Ladies' Reciter. Edited by. Platform Series. Hutchinson, Paternoster Square, is. each. Molesworth, Mrs. The Bewitched Lamp. W. and R. Chambers. Morris, Wm. The Story of the Glittering Plain: or, The Land of Living men. Reeves and Turner. Newman, Mrs. Begun in Jest: a Novel. 3 vols. John Murray. 3 is. 6</. Nisbet, Hume. The " Jolly Roger ": a Story of Sea Heroes and Pirates. Digby and Long. Norman, M. M. A Girl in the Karpathians. Fourth edition. George Philip and Son. 3s. 6d. O'Reilly, Mrs. Joan and Jerry. W. and R. Chambers. Pearce, J. H. Inconsequent Lives: a village chronicle. Heineinann. 5s. Praed, Mrs. Campbell. The Romance of a Chalet: a Story. Two vols. F. V. White. Rae, Ji'lia S. K. Robinson Crusoe; Uncle Tom's Cabin; and The Swiss Family Robinson: Old Stories told anew. Edited by, and illustrated by Floreuce Maple- stone. Trischler and Co. Reid, Erskine, and Comiton, H. The Dramatic Peerage, 1891. Compiled by. Raithby, Lawrence, and Co. Rideal, Charles F. Young Ladies of To-day. Illus- trated. Dean and Son. Riddell, C. E. L. A Mad Tour. Richard Bentley and Son. Roberts, Cecil. Adrift in America; or, Work and Adventure in the States. Lawrence and Buller, 169, New Bond Street. Roberts, Morley. Land-Travel and Seafaring. Illus- trated by A. 1). M'Cormick. Lawrence and Buller. Robinson, F. Mabel. Hoveudcn, V.C. 1 a Novel. 3 vols. Methuen and Co. Robinson, F. W. Poor Zeph. Willoughby, Paternoster Row. is. Ross, Fred., F.R.H S. Yorkshire Family Romance. Simpkin, Marshall. 6s. Rowsell, Mary C. Petronella and Madame Pono-s'ski. Skeffiugton. Paper covers. IS. Russell, W. Clarke. The Tragedy of Ida Noble. Being the Christmas number of Atlan'a. Illustrated by Everard Hopkins. Trischler. Paper covers, is. — The British Seas. Picturesque Notes by Russell and other writers. With etchings and engravings. Seeley and Co.  ## p. 222 (#626) ############################################ 222 THE AUTHOR. Ryce, John. The Rector of Amesty: a Novel in 3 vols. Sampson Low. St. Aubyn, Alan. The Junior Dean; a Novel. 3 vols. Chatto and Windus. Sargent, G. E. John Tincroft, Bachelor and Benedict Illustrated. Religious Tract Society, is. 6d. Severne, Florence. Uneven Ground: a novel. 3 vols. David Stott. Skipton, Helen. Twilight. Innes. 3s. 6<l. SlAden, Douglas. Lester the Loyalist: a Romance of the Founding of Canada. Made in Japan. Griffith, Farran. 2*. 6d. Soans, Rev. R. G., and Kenton, Fdith. Harold's New Creed, or Brothers Still. Illustrated. Religious Tract Society. 2s. fid. Speak, John W. Rudolph of Rosenfeldt: a Story of the Times of William the Silent. Hodder and Stoughtou. 3s. 6rf. Stables, Gordon, M.D. Leaves from the Log of a Gentleman Gipsy in Wayside Camp and Caravan. Illustrated. Jarrold, Paternoster Buildings. tSs. Two Sailor Lads. T. F. Shaw. Our Home in the Silver West: a Story of Struggle and Adventure. Illustrated. Religious Tract Society. 3s. fid. Stevenson, R. L. "The Treasure Island " Series. Trea- sure Island, Kidnapped, and the Black Arrow. Cassells. Stuart, Esm£. The Silver Mine: an Underground Story. National Society's Depository. 3s. Swan, Annie S. Who shall Serve: a Story for the Times. Oliphant, Anderson, and Ferrier. 3s. 6d. Swevn, Frances. Millicent Simonds, or Through Cleansing Fires. Illustrated. Religious Tract Society, is. Symington, Maggie. Two Silver Keys: a Story. Illus- trated. Biggs, is. 6d. Tasm\. The Penance of Portia James: a Novel. Heine- mann. 5s. Taylor, Lucy. Jeanette, or the Charity that Encourages a Multitude of Sins. Illustrated. Religious Tract Society, is. 6d. Thorne, Eglanton. Aldyth's Inheritance. Illustrated. Religious Tract Society. 3s. 6d. Totten, C. A. L., M.A. Our Race: its Origin and Destiny. With an Introduction by Professor C. Piasii Smyth. Robert Banks and Son. 3s. Verne, Jules. A Journey to the Centre of the Earth. Griffith, Farran. 3s. fid. Vesper. Bobby: a Christmas Eve Story. Sampson Low. Paper covers, is. Vincent, Frank, aud Lancaster, A. E. The Lady of ('awupore: a Romance. Funk and Wagnalls. Volkhovsky, Felix. A China Cup, and other Stories for Children. Illustrated. T. Fisher Unwin. is. fid. Warakeb, T., LL.D. Naval Warfare of the Future: a consideration of the Declaration of Paris, 1856; its Obligation and its Operation upon Maritime Bellige- rents. Swan Sounenschein. Ward, E. A Pair of Originals: with illustrations. Seeley. Ward, H. W. My Gardener: a Practical Handbook for the Million. Eyre and Spottiswoode. Warden, Florence. St. Cuthbert's Tower. Cassell and Co. is. Warner, Dudley. As We were Saying. Illustrated. Osgood, M'Uvaiue. 3s. 6d. Webb, Mrs. Alypius of Tagaste: a Tale of the Early- Church. Religious Tract Society, is. Weyman, Stanley E. The New Rector. In z vols. Smith, Elder. White, Rev. Henry. Echoes from a Sanctuary. Edited and arranged by Sarah Donduey; with an Introduction by the Bishop of Ripon. Hutchinson and Co. 5*. Whittemore, Rev. W„ D.D. Sunshine for 1891. Edited by. Illustrated. George Stoneman. is. 6d. Willock, A. Devar. Taradiddles. Illustrated. Gilbert Dalziel. is. Woods, Margaret L. Esther Vanhomrigh: a Novel. 3 vols. John Murray. 31s. bd. Wrightson, I. Farm Crops. The "Downton" Series. Cassell. Yonge, C. M. The Constable's Tower, or the Times of Magna Charta. National Society's Depository. 3s. Poetry and the Drama. Allen, Clement F. K. The Book of Chinese Poetry, being the collection of ballads, sagas, hymns, and other pieces known as the Shih Ching or Classic of Poetry. Metrically translated by. Kegan Paul. Blind, Mathii.de. Dramas in Miniature. Poems and Lyrics. With a frontispiece by Ford Madox Brown. Chatto and Windus. Bullen, A. H. Lyrics from the Dramatists of the Eliza- bethan Age. Edited by Lawrence and Bullen. 5s. Lyrics from the Song-books of the ElizabctJtan Age. Edited by Lawrence and Bullen. 5». Ewald, A. C, F.S.A. The Dramatic Works of George Farquhar. Edited, with life and notes, by. 5t vols. Nimmo. Garrett, Edmund H. Elizabethan Songs in Honour of Love and Beautie. Collected and illustrated by. With an introduction by Andrew Lang. Osgood, M'llvaine. 3 is. 6rf. Ibsen, Heinrik. Brand; a Dramatic Poem. Translated into English Prose by William Wilson. Methuen. Lecky, W. E. H. Poems. Longmans. 5s. MacDonald, G. A Threefold Cord: Poems by three friends. Edited by. W. Hughes. 5s. Mansfield, R. Don Juan: A Play in Four Acts. J. W. Bouton, New York. Pascoe, Elizabeth Mary. Poems by the late William Caldwell Pascoe. Edited by his daughter. Macmillan. 7s. Sheridan, R. Brinsley. The School for Scandal. A Comedy. With illustrations by Lucius liossi. Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. iZ. 5s.  ## p. 223 (#627) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 223 Sullivan, T. D. Blanaiu; and other Irish Historical anil Legendary Poems from the Gaelic. Mason and Son, Dublin. Tomson, Graham R. A Summer Night; and other Poems. With frontispiece by A. Tomsen. Methuen. Law. The Annual Practice, 1892. A collection of the statutes, orders, and rules relating to the general practice, pro- cedure, and jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, with notes, forms, &c. By Thomas Snow, M.A., of the Inner Temple, Charles Burney, B.A., and F. A. Stringer, of the Central Office, Royal Courls of Justice. 2 vols. Stevens, Chancery Lane. 25f. Brown, Archibald. The Married Women's Property Acts, with copious and explanatory notes and an appendix of Acts relating to married women. Sixth edition. Stevens and Haynes, Bell Yard, Temple Bar. Edwards, W. 1)., Barrister-at-Law. A Compendium of the Law of Property in Land. Second edition. Stevens and Haynes. Layman, F., B.A. -The Lawyer's Companion and Diary, and London and Provincial Law Directory for 1892. Edited by. Stevens, Chancery Lane. 5*. Lelt, J. M. The Statutes of Practical Utility in the Civil and Criminal Administration of Justice, passed iu 54 and 55 Victoria (1891), alphabetically arranged, with notes thereon and a copious index. Vol. III., Part I. Sweet and Maxwell. Paper covers. 12s. Redgrave, Alexander, and Redgrave, Jasper. The Factory and Workshop Acts, 1878 to 1891. With introduction, copious notes, and an elaborate index. Fourth edition. Shaw. Russell, G. E. The Times Law Reports. Edited by. Vol. VII. (1890-91). George Edward Wright. The Stamp Laws, as charged by the Stamp Act, 1891. Sixth edition. Waterlow Brothers and Layton. 3». Urlin, R. Denny. Law of Trustees, with the new rules as to Investments and the Trustee Acts, 1888 and 1889. New and revised edition. Effingham Wilson. is. Science. Bax, Cait. E. Ironside. Popular Electric Lighting; with a chapter on electric motors. Illustrated. Biggs, Salisbury Court, E.C. 2*. Gillies, H- Cameron. The Interpretation of Disease; Part I., the Meaning of Pain. David Nutt. is. net. Indigestion. By George Herschell, M.D. Baillierc, Tindall, and Cox. Seth, Andrew, M.A. The Present Position of the Philo- sophical Sciences: an Inaugural Lecture. Blackwood. Paper covers. 6d. Tyrrell, Walter. Nervous Exhaustion: its Causes, Outcomes, and Treatment. Kegan Paul. Parliamentary Papers. Metropolitan Hospitals, &c. Second Report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords, 6s. yd. Ele- mentary Schools, Attendance, &c. Return for London and certain municipal boroughs for the year ending August 3l, 1890, \d. Report by the Board of Trade of operations under the Weights and Measures Acts, 1878 and 1889. Eyre and Spottiswoode. 3d. Irish Land Commission: Return of Judicial Rents fixed during June, 1891. Alexander Thorn, Dublin, is. id. Reports—Friendly Societies, Industrial and Provident Societies, and Trade Unions, 1890. is. 4(1. Reports made to the Board of Trade in respect of the River Ouse Navigation, the Kenuett and Avon Canal Navi- gation, and the London and Hampshire Canal. i\<l- East India, Manipur (No. 5). Further Correspondence. Return as to Joint Stock Companies, is. 9J<f. Census of Ireland, Part I., Vol. I. Province of Leinster. No. 4. County and City of Kilkenny, is. Return as to Business of the House (days occupied by Go- vernment and by private members). i\d. Ecclesias- tical Business Fees. 3s. 6d. Correspondence relating to the despatch of expeditions against («) the Samil Clans of the Orakzai Tribe on the Miranzai Border of the Kohat District; (6) the tribes of the Black Moun- tain. Sd. Reports from Her Majesty's Representa- tives in Europe respecting assistance afforded or facilities given by Foreign Governments to the Pro- vision of the Industrial Population for Old Age. id. Twentieth Annual Report of the Local Government Hoard, 1890-91. 45.41/. Census of Ireland: Parti., Vol. I. Province of Leinster. No. 7. County of Louth and County of the Town of Drogheda. Sd. Appendix to the 57th Report of the Commissioners of National Education iu Ireland for 1890. 4*. id. Sta- tistical Report of the Health of the Navy for 1890, is. 6{d. Returns as to Railway Accidents during the six months ended June 3o, 1891, with reports upon certain accidents inquired into. b\d. Reports from Her Majesty's Representatives in Europe respecting Assistance afforded or Facilities Given by Foreign Governments to the Provisions of the Industrial Population for Old Age. (3f/.) Reports of the Boards of Visitors on the Royal Military College, Sandhurst {id.), and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich (ijrf.). Return as to Alien Immigration from the Continent to Ports in the United Kingdom during the month and ten months ended October 3i last. (£<f.) Census of Ireland, 1891—Province of Leinster, County of Kildare, gd., Thom and Co., Dublin. Pauperism (England and Wales), Monthly Comparative Statements. 2d. Railways, Continuous Brakes. Return by the Railway Companies of the United Kingdom for six months ended June 3o, 1891, is. id. Eyre and Spottiswoode.  ## p. 224 (#628) ############################################ 224 ADVERTISEMENTS. NOPS' ELECTROTYPE AGENCY. FINE AET ELECTROS. We have at our disposal 2,000,000 (Two Millions) of Engravings suitable for Illustrating Newspapers, Hooks, Circulars, Magazines, Pamphlets, Children's Papers, &c., &c., and have Comprehensive Indexes of Portraits and Views always ready for reference. We shall be glad to receive a call from any one requiring Illustrations of any kind; and if clients at a distance will kindly send us a list of subject* they require, together with site limit, a Selection of suitable Proofs will be at once despatched to them. Cuts found to illustrate MS. or Text. Agents for the "Illustrated London News," "Graphic," "Black and White," "Lady's Pictorial," "Strand Magazine," "Pictorial World," Sec., and the principal Foreign Illustrated Papers. Telegraphic Address—" DEN0PS, LONDON." Telephone Number—1880. 19, LUDGATE HILL, LONDON, E.C. Branches in Paris, New York, Melbourne, Ontario, and Bombay. HOW SHALL I WRITE MY MANUSCRIPT? t-noaaoooav-™- THE old-fashioned way was by quill or steel pen; the modern way is by a Typewriter. If you adopt the modern way, then the success of the change depends upon the Typewriter you select. And, remember, there is a great difference in Typewriters. Correct theory, substantial construction, and mechanical details rendered perfect bv unlimited expenditure and three years' practical experience. Ease Of Management, Durability, VISIBLE WRITING, Perfect Writing, Automatic Line Spacing, Automatic Inking, Duplicate Keyboard, are among the qualities which make every owner of ti BAR-LOCK MODERN STANDARD TYPEWRITER So content and satisfied. We want you to have a BAR-LOCK on Free Trial for a week—you will not want to use a pen again. We supply them for Cash or by 12 Monthly Payments of £1 ig*., or 24 of £1 is. id. The BAR-LOCK was awarded the only Gold Medal at Edinburgh, 1890, and Jamaica, 1891. It is used by the Sub-editor of the Times and many London and Provincial Papers. It is also in use at. the offices of the Morning Post, St. Stephen's Review, the Star, the Manchester Guardian, the Western Morning News, the Plymouth Mercury, &c, &c. Illustrated Catalog te sent Post Fkee on Application to— THE TYPEWRITER COMPANY, LTD. LONDON: 12 & 14, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.C. MANCHESTER: 45, Market Street. LIVERPOOL: 1, South John Street. GLASGOW: 22, Renfield Street. Lohdok: Printed by Eyre and Spottiswoode, Printers to the Queen's most Excellent Majesty. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author, Vol. 02 Issue 07 (December 1891) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 02 Issue 07 (December 1891) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927&amp;view=1up&amp;seq=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1891-12-01-The-Author-2-7 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/257/1891-11-01-The-Author-2-6.pdf f94917f29e601ca051577e5aebd20967 PDF Text Text �������������������������������� 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 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) 1891-11-01 Volume 2 Issue 6 Pages Page range in volume 161–192 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18911101 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin Uhc Mutbor* [The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. II.—No. 6.] NOVEMBER i, 1891. [Price Sixpence. Warnings Notices "65 On Royalties iM The Form and Cost of a Stamp 166 Copyright in America 167 An Old Dream 16S A Plea for the Popular iOS Assorted Aphorisms '7° "Slating" '1' Notes and News 17' The Bookman OS The Harvest of the Year I7S The Independent Theatre 77 CONTENTS. PAGB 1 .. 165 PAGE To England "7s A Bureau of Literary Revision >78 The Writers'Club '79 Correspondence— I.—All for Nothing '79 II.—Good Work, Sure Pay 's° III. —" Good Work, Sure Pay" '80 IV. -More Light "8' V.—An Honourable Action 183 VI.—Authors and Illustrations l8' A Case for the Society for Psychical Research 83 "At the Author's Head" l8« New Books and New Editions '85 EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE. STATE TRIALS, Reports of. New Series. Vol. 1831—40. Published under the direction of the State III., Trials Committee. Edited by John Macdoxell. M.A. 10*. INVESTMENTS. A List of 1,600 British, Colonial and Foreign Securities dealt in upon the London and Provincial Exchanges, giving tho highest and lowest prices of each particular Stock for each of tho last twenty-two years, or from the time of the creation of such Stock, also the price on 30th May, 1891, and the yield per cont. to the Investor. Compiled by G. Brown, u. 6<i. PUBLIC GENERAL ACTS, 1891. Red Cloth, 3s. Contains all the Public Acts passed during the year, with Index, also Tallies showing the effect of the year's legislation, together with complete and classilicd Lists of the Titles of nil the Local and Private Acts passed during the Session. JOURNAL OF THE BRITISH ASTRONOMICAL ASSOCIATION. Monthly, it. bd.\ Annual Subscription, in- cluding postage, iR*. FORECASTING BY MEANS OF WEATHER CHARTS, Principles of. By the Hon. Raj.fii Abecbomby, F.R. Met. Soc. 21. METEROLOGICAL INSTRUMENTS, Instructions in the use of. a*, (td. THE LITERATURE RELATING TO NEW ZEALAND. A Bibliographv. Roval «vo. Cloth, is. 6d. POLYNESIAN MYTHOLOGY AND ANCIENT TRA- DITIONAL HISTORY OF THE NEW ZEALAND RACK. By Sir Geobge Gkkt. K.C.B. Illustrated. Royal 8vo. Cloth, St. ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE MAORI. By John White. Demy 8vo. Half Morocco. 4 vols. ios. per vol. PLIOCENE DEPOSITS OF BRITAIN, THE. By Clembst Reid. F.L.S., F.G.S. Five Plates (48 cuts), St. 64 LONDON AND NEIGHBOURHOOD: Guide to the Geology of. Bv William Wiiitakee, B.A. i». LONDON AND OF PART OF THE THAMES VALLEY, Tho Geology of. By W. Wiiitakeb, B.A., F.R.S., F.G.S., Assoc. Inst. C.E. Vol. I. DESCRIPTIVE GEOLOGY. 8vo. Cloth, bt. Vol. II. APPENDICES. 8vo. Cloth, j». KEW BULLETIN, 1890. Issued by the Director of Kew Gardens, is. tod. KEW BULLETIN, 1891. Monthly, id. Appendices, id. each. Annual Subscription, including postage, 3s. gd. DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE OF MUSICAL INSTRU- MENTS recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition. Compiled by Capt. Day. Oxfordshire Light Infantry, under the orders of Col. Sua w-Heli.ike. Commandant Royal Military School of Music. Illustrated by a series of Twelve artistically executed Plates in Heliogravure, and with numerous Wood Engravings. lit. "It affords information obtainable nowhere else, and it has lwen put together with so much care and thoughtfulncss that Capt . Day's volume will be indeed welcomed by all who have Ui deal with tho wind instruments, and can be accepted without question as the standard authority."—Musicat Xctct. PUIiLIC RECORDS. A Guide to the Principal Classes of Documents preserved in the Public Record Office. By S. R. ScABGILL-BlBD, F.S.A. It. "The value of such a work as Sir. Sc&rgill-Bird's can scarcely be over-rated."— Timet. Monthly Lists of Parliamentary Papers upon Application. Quarterly Lists Post Free, id. Miscellaneous List on Application. Every Assistance given to Correspondents; and Books not kept in stock obtained without delay. Remittance should accompany Order. GOVERNMENT AND GENERAL PURLISIIERS. KYRE and SI'OTTISWOOOK, Her Majesty's Printers, East Harding Street, London, B.C.  ## p. 162 (#566) ############################################ A D VER TISEMENTS. THE CENTRAL TYPE-WRITING OFFICE, (ESTABLISHED 1887.) 57 & 58, Chancery Lane, W.C. $}rtnttjial4: Miss M. E. DUCK and Miss I. B. LOOKER. Type-writing and Copying of every Description under- taken for the Literary, Dramatic, Clerical, Legal, and other Professions. Type-writing from Dictation a Specialty. Highest Testimonials for Excellence of Work and Promp- titude from AUTHORS and others. PRICE LIST ON APPLICATION-TERMS MODERATE. miss n. ~ST. GULL, TYPE-WRITING OFFICES, 6, Adam Street, Strand, W.C, and 5, Air Street, Piccadilly, W. Authors' and Dramatists' Work a Specialty. All kinds of MSS. copied with care. Extra attention given to difficult hand-writing and to papers or lectures on scientific subjects. Type-writing from dictation. Shorthand Notefl taken and transcribed. FURTHER PARTICULARS ON APPLICATION. TYPE-WRITING. Authors' KISS, carefully Transcribed. Writings by Post receive prompt attention. Scientific and Medical Papers a Specialty. MISSES BRWIKT, 13, Dorset Street, Portman Square, W. MISSES E. & S. ALLEN, TYPE AND SHORTHAND WRITERS TRANSLATIONS and Scientific Work a Special Feature. 39, Lombard Street, E.C. Office No. 59 (dote to Lift). MISS □F»^-TT3ES3NT, type-writer, 44, Oakley Plats, Oakley Street, Chelsea, S.W. Authors' MSS. carefully copied from Is. per 1,000 Words. One additional Copy (Carbon) supplied Free of Charge. References kindly permitted to George Augustus Sala, Esq. Particulars on Application. ASHWORTH & Co., 4, Abchurch Yard, Cannon Street, E.C. Authors' MSS. type-written from Is. 3d. per 1,000 words. TRANSLATIONS. CITY TYPE-WRITING & SHORTHAND OFFICES, MANSION HOUSE CHAMBERS, 20, Bucklersbury, London, E.C. The Department for Lady Pupils has unremitting attention, as evidenced by the unqualified Success which has attended its management. The Course includes Shorthand, Tjpe-writing, Book-keeping, and Commercial Correspondence, and when Pupils have acquired proficiency— POSITIONS ARE GUARANTEED. Particulars on application to— MARY IFJL. DAY. MRS. GILL, TYPE-WRITING OFFICE, ST. PAUL'S CHAMBERS, 19, LUDGATE HILL, E.C. (ESTABLISHED 1883.) Authors' MSS. carefully copied from is. per 1,000. words. One additional copy (carbon) supplied free of charge. Instruction given in Pitman's System of Shorthand and in type- writing. References kindly permitted to Walter Besant, Esq. MISSES AIRD & WEDDERSP00N, SHORTHAND, TRANSLATING, and TYPEWRITING OFFICES, 4, SUIT COTJKT, COBNKZLL, E.C. Translations carefully and correctly made. Shorthand and Typewriting Clerks sent out on short notice. Type- writing of all kinds done with neatness, accuracy, and despatch. Special pains taken with Authors' MSS. Pupils trained in Pitman's System of Shorthand, and in Type- writing. MISS IE. LESTTY, TYPE-WRITING OFFICE, 165, QUEEN VICTOKIA STEEET. Highest Testimonials for all kinds of Work. Price List on Application. VICTORIA TYPE-WRITING OFFICE. (FRANCES A. COX.) 565, Mansion House Chamhers; 11, ttueen Victoria Street, E.C. Authors' MSS. carefully typed. Legal and General Copying. PROSPECTUS OX APPLICATION.  ## p. 163 (#567) ############################################ A D VER TISEMENTS. Cljc ^orietjj of 3ttt!)or* (Incorporate^)* PRESIDENT. The Night Hon. the LORD TENNYSON, D.C.L. Sir Edwin Arnold, K.C.I.E. Alfred Austin. A. W. a Beckett. Robert Bateman. Sir Henry Berone, K.C.M.G. Walter Hesant. Augustine Birrell, M.P. R. D. Blackmore. Rev. Prof. Bonnet, F.R.S. Lord Brahourne. James Bryce, M.P. P. W. Clayden. Edward. Ci.odd. W. Martin Conway. Marion Crawford. Oswald Crawfurd, C.M.G. The Earl of Desaht. COUNCIL. A. W. Dubourg. John Eric Erichsen, F.R.S. Prof. Michael Foster, F.R.S. Herbert Gardner, M.P. Richard Gaunett, LL.D. Edmund Gosse. H. Rider Haggard. Thomas Hardy. Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F'.R.S. J. M. Lely. Rev. W. J. Loftie, F.S.A. F. Max Muller, LL.D. George Meredith. Herman C. Merivale. Rev. C. H. Middleton-Wake, F.L.i J. C. Parkinson. The Eahl of Pembroke and Montgomery. Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., LL.D. Walter Herries Pollock. A. G. Ross. George Augustus Sai.a. W. Baitiste Scoones. G. R. Sims. J. J. Stevenson. Jas. Sully. William Moy Thomas. H. D. Traill, D.C.L. The Right Hon. the Baron Hknhy de Worms, M.P., F.R.S. Edmund Yates. lion. Counsel—E. M. Underdown, Q.C. A. W. A Beckett. W. Martin Conway. COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT. Chairman—Walter Besant. Edmund Gosse. J. M. Lely. H. Rider Haggard. Sir Frederick Pollock. A. G. Ross. Solicitors—Messrs. Field, Roscoe, & Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. Secretary—S. Squire Sprigge. OFFICES. 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C. PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 1. The Annual Report. That for January 1891 can be had on application to the Secretary. 2. The Author. A. Monthly Journal devoted especially to the protection and maintenance of Literary Property. Issued to all Members. 3. The Grievances of Authors. (The Leadenhall Press) 2s. The Report of three Meetings on the general subject of Literature and its defence, held at Willis's Rooms, March 1887. 4. Literature and the Pension List. By W. Morris Colles, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry Glaisher, g5, Strand, W.C.) 3*. 5. The History of the Societe des Gens de Lettres. By S. Squire Sprigge, Secretary to the Society, is. 6. The Cost Of Production. I" this work specimens are given of the most important forms of type, size of page, &c, with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds of books. 2s. 6d. Out of Print, New Edition now preparing. 7. The Various Methods of Publication. By S. Sqimre Sprigge. In this work, compiled from the papers in the Society's offices, the various kinds of agreements proposed by Publishers to Authors are examined, and their meaning carefully explained, with an account of the various kinds of fraud which have been made possible by the different clauses in their agreements. Price 3s. Second Edition. 8. Copyright Law Reform. An Exposition of Lord Monkswell's Copyright Bill now before Parliament. With Extracts from the Report of the Commission of 1878, and an Appendix containing the Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lely. Eyre and Spottiswoode. is. 6d. Other works bearing on the Literary Profession will follow. vol. 11. L 2  ## p. 164 (#568) ############################################ , 64 AD VERTISEMENTS. The " Swan" is u beautiful Gold Pen joined to a rubber reservoir to hold any kind of ink, which it supplies to the writing point in a continuous flow. It will hold enough ink for two days' constant work, or a week's ordinary writing, and can be refilled with as little trouble as to wind a watch. With the coyer oyer the gold nib it is carried in the pocket like a pencil, to be used anywhere. A purchaser may try a pen a few days, and if by chance the writing point does not suit his hand, exchange it for another without charge, or have his money returned if wanted. There are various points to select from, broad, medium, and fine, every handwriting can he snited, and the price of the entire instrument, with filler complete, post tree, is only 10s, 6d. The Gold Pens in the "Swan" are Mabie, Todd, & Co.'s famous make. They are 14-carat tempered gold, very handsome, and positively unaffected by any kind of ink. They are pointed with selected polished iridium. The "Encyclopaedia Britannica" says:—"Iridium is a nearly white metal of high specific gravity, it is almost indestructible, and a beautifully polished surface can be obtained upon it." They will not penetrate the paper, and writer's cramp is unknown among users of Gold Pens. On© will OUtwear 90 grOSS Of Steel pens. They arc a perfect revelation to those who know nothing about Gold Pens. Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes has used one of Mabie, Todd, & Co.'s Gold Pens since 185;, and is using the same one (his " old friend ") to-day. Sydney Grundy, Kso.., says (referring to the Fountain Pen) :—" It is a vast improvement on every Stylograph." Moberly Bell, Est)., Manager, The Timet, says (referring to the Fountain Pen) :—" One pen lasted me for six years." S. I). Waddy, Esq., Q.C., M.P., says (referring to the Fountain Pen) :—" I have used them constantly for some years, and, as far as I can remember, they have never failed me." Send Postal Card for Free Illustrated List (containing interesting Testimonials from the Best People, who have used them for years) to— MABIE, TODD, & BARD, 83, CHEAPSIDE, LONDON. *  ## p. 165 (#569) ############################################ XI b e Hutbor* (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly,) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. II.—No. 6.] NOVEMBER i, 1891. [Price Sixpence. For the Opinions expressed in papers that arc signed the Authors alone arc responsible. — »■»■♦ WARNINGS. Readers of the Author are earnestly desired to make the following warnings as widely known as possible. They are based on the experience of six years' work upon the dangers to which literary property is exposed :— (1.) Never sign any agreement of which the alleged cost of production forms an integral part, unless an opportunity of proving the correctness of the figures is given them. (2.) Never enter into any correspondence with publishers, especially with advertising publishers, who are not recommended by experiencetl friends or by this Society. (3.) Never, on any account whatever, bind yourself down for future work to any one firm of publishers. (4.) Never accept any projKisal of royalty without ascertaining exactly what the agreement gives to the author and what to the publisher. (5.) Never accept any pecuniary risk or respon- sibility whatever without advice. (6.) Never, when a MS. has l>oon refused by respectable houses, pay others, whatever promises they may put forward, for the production of the work. (7.) Never sign away American rights. Keep them. Refuse to sign an agreement con- taining a clause which reserves them for the publisher. If the publisher insists, take away the MS. and offer it to another. (8.) Never forget that publishing is a business, like any other business, totally unconneeU-d with philanthropy, charity, or pure love of literature. You have to do with business men. Society's Offices:— 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. NOTICES. THE friends of the late James Runciman, a member of this Society, will learn with pain that he has left a widow and children totally unprovided for. His literary success came too late to enable him to put by anything, and he was cut off at the early age of 3g. Contributions are received by Mr. W. E. Henley, National Observer, Edinburgh, or will be sent to him if forwarded to the Secretary at this office. Members and others who wish their MSS. read are requested not to send them to the Office without previously communicating with the Secretary. The utmost practicable despatch is aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in which they are received. It must also be distinctly understood that the Society does not, under any circumstances, under- take the publication of MSS. The official directions for the secviring of American copyright by English authors were given in the Author for June 1891. Members are earnestly entreated to take the trouble of rending those directions.  ## p. 166 (#570) ############################################ i66 THE AUTHOR. Members are earnestly requested to forward agreements to the Society for inspection before they sign them. Once signed, the mischief is generally irreparable. II.—On the sale of the next 3,ooo. ON ROYALTIES, fT^HE invention of what is called the royalty I system was one of the neatest and prettiest strokes eyer invented for the. pillage of the luckless author. For, before that disaster, no publisher ever ventured to ask for more than half profits. To be sure he took more, in fact, he frequently took all, and left the poor author none. But there was the principle. He said, " I take all the risk; that is my contribution to the joint enterprise. Therefore I am entitled to take half the profits." This agreed upon, the fraudulent publisher took them all, and refused to show his books. Then somebody invented royalties. The author, as the silly trout le«ps to the fly, leaped to the bait of " something." He had been so long accustomed to get nothing on the "half profit" system that he thought any change would be a change for the better, and, as has always been the curse and bane of all dealings between author and publisher, he never looked at the other side at all. The publisher offered him 10 per cent., even 5 per cent. Even now there are writers who think themselves nobly treated at 10 per cent. Of late, since the 10 per cent, royalty has become a little fly-blown, he has been offering a penny in the shilling or twopence in the shilling. Let every writer understand exactly what he is giving away when he signs a royalty agree- ment. The following table, taken from "Methods of Publishing," will give him the necessary infor- mation. It is calculated for a 6s. novel. In proportion it will do for anything else, the cost of production of the first edition being roughly about one-fourth of the advertised price. The " conclu- sions" are also taken from the same book, which ought to be in the hands of every one who writes books of any kind. I.—On the side of the first l.ooo. £175—£100 to divide. Per cent. S 10 ■5 30 30 Publisher - £ £ £ £ £ € 60 45 jo Author • 30 45 Co 55 90 £52S-£iSO to divide. Pit eent. 5 15 20 25 30 35 £ £ 385 £ £ .£ £ £ 60 Publisher ■ 330 240 195 ISO 10S Author - 4S 90 '35 1S0 "5 370 3>5 III.—On the sale of an edition of 10,000. Per cent. £1,750—.C400 to divide. 5 20 30 3S £ £ £ £ £ Publisher - I.2C0 1,050 900 750 600 45o 300 Author - I50 300 450 600 750 400 1,050 Conclusions:— (1.) No author should sign an agreement whereby he binds himself to receive a low royalty for an indefinite number of editions. This is equivalent to saying that he should retaiu his copyright, and so give himself the opportunity of reaping the rewards of any big success, by securing for himself a higher percentage of the results. (2.) No author should sign an agreement whereby he is not to receive a royalty until a certain number of copies have been sold, unless the agreement provides facilities for the verification of the publisher's account. (3.) No author should sign an agreement whereby he is not to receive a royalty until the cost of production is covered, unless he has every oppor- tunity of satisfying himself that no more than the actual cost is charged. To these conclusions may be added the corollary that no oik; should sign any royalty agreement without learning what the publisher who proposes it reserves for himself. THE FORM AND COST OF A STAMP. IT has been for a long time, as the papers in our office show, and still is, as our daily work informs us, a very usual custom in many of the large publishing houses to affix to their forms of agreement a sixpenny adhesive stamp, and formally cancel it by writing the date or their initials over it. This proceeding has been supposed to be a compliance with the law, and to obviate any  ## p. 167 (#571) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. risk of future penalties, should it Iwconie necessary to produce the contract or agreement in a court of law. Upon this subject a few words of explanation and of caution have become necessary, for this use of a sixpenny adhesive stamp does not necessarily constitute the safeguard against penalties that seems to be expected from it. The second clause of the Stamp Act of 1891 is as follows:—" All stamp duties for the time being chargeable by law upon any instruments are to bo paid and denoted according to the regulations in this Act contained, and, except where express pro- vision is made to the contrary, are to be denoted by impressed stamps only." Under certain circumstances this express provi- sion is made for the use of adhesive stamps,—but only, it may be added, up to a small sum—so that upon occasion this method of stamping the contracts between author and publisher is effective. But, certainly adhesive stamps of a lower value cannot be used so as to evade the ad valorem duties chargeable at Somerset Ilouse upon all conveyances. Where the agreement consists of a transfer or assignment of literary property from one person to another these ad valorem duties have to be paid, and to use a sixpenny adhesive stamp upon such contracts would not be held to satisfy the Act. Even if stamps of the correct value were affixed, it is doubtful whether the penalty would not have to be paid before the document in question could be admitted in evidence in a court of justice, as the Act demands an impressed stamp; but it is certain that to affix an adhesive stamp of a lower value is a futile proceeding. Yet this is constantly done. During the past twelvemonth many agreements stamped in this way have come through our office. Some have been royalty agreements on the printed forms of a publisher's office, ami such agreements are very clearly liable to ad valorem duties. Some have been merely letters containing the terms of the assignment. This fixing of a sixpenny adhesive stamp at the bottom is not sufficient. The duty of 6d. upon an agreement may l>e denoted by a sixpenny stamp, to be cancelled in the usual way, but a sixpenny stamp is not available for the conveyance of literary property, and authors cannot too soon understand this. In all question of doubt application should be made to Somerset House for light on the matter. If an agreement should be insufficiently stamped at Somerset House, the deficit has to be made up l)cfore the document can be produced as evidence, but no penalty lies against the producer. On page 32 8 of the Author, Vol. I., will be found complete instructions on the procedure necessary to get an agreement properly stamped. Briefly, the agreement must be taken to Somerset House, and the officer whose duty it is must be asked to stamp it with the amount of duty charge- able upon it. This amount is probably correct according to the Act. If there is anv doubt the Commissioners may be requested to assess it. If any appeal is made from the decision of the Com- missioners, it comes before the High Court of Justice, or even, ultimately, before the House of Lortls. COPYRIGHT IN AMERICA. ATRANSATLANTIC "boom" was the inevitable sequel of the Printer's Protection Act. It is no exaggeration to say that the whole writing tribe is making a rush to secure a place in the new market. But if 60,000,000 readers, now that they have to pay for their residing, represent a public worth capturing, it may be just as well to bear in mind that the value of American Copyright is and must long be, in every case, an unknown quantity. In the case of unknown writers, or of writers who, if they have a decent circulation here, are unknown to the American public, the necessity for securing American Copy- right adds a new difficulty to their already suffi- ciently complicated business transactions. The immediate effect of the Act has been to restrict the output pending the completion of arrange- ments for printing and publishing on the other side of the Atlantic. In this connexion, moreover, American newspaper rights have acquired an altogether exceptional importance. There is, it appears, no doubt whatever that publication in the columns of a newspaper from type set within the limits of the United States satisfies the statute and affords a valid protection of the American Copyright, leaving the author or his assigns free to publish in book form if and when this is desired. The difficulty of retaining American Copyright in the case of matter published serially in England only, will, perhaps, be got over by sending out advance sheets and reprinting in America in time to issue in l>ook form before the completion of the English serial form. In many cases, however, new writers will find it much easier to secure American publication in serial than in book form. It is, therefore, of some importance that it should 1k» known that American Copyright can be secured in this way. A word of warning, however, seems to be necessary. The value of American rights is, as we have said, still in all but a very few cases (probably 3o at most) absolutely unascertainable. They can only be secured at the expense of considerable  ## p. 168 (#572) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. trouble, and there is a danger that authors, in their anxiety to secure tliein, may accept any offer, however inadequate. Nor is that by any means all. A clause is coming to be inserted by common form in agreements for the purchase of either serial or book rights which covers all American rights, although it may be questioned whether in many cases this is understood by the author. It should be borne in mind, therefore, that in all contracts for the sale of the American serial right the American Copyright should be expressly reserved. Authors will have only themselves to blame if by carelessness or through ignorance they contract themselves out of the benefits of the statute or assign them to others otherwise than for good consideration. Mr. Herbert Spencer has written to a Phila- delphia correspondent as follows :—" I want to say through you that I shall not take advantage of the new American Copyright Law. I shall continue to do as I have done heretofore. I shall send over to America the stereotype plates of my books and have them printed there, without seeking for any protection from the American Government. This new law is really prejudicial to the interests of grave literature. . . . With this copyright law, it will pay the American publisher less than before to take up books of a kind which are of doubtful sale. The fatal defect in the law is that it puts the author or publisher to the expense of a double manufacture in supplying two communities. . . . Instead of encouraging the unknown author, and the author of serious books, this law makes it harder for him to gain due recognition than it was before. Under this American law the publisher will seek out the man who has made his name; he will buy the popular author's works and dis- tribute them very widely, and meantime the rising man will be left to his own devices. The general effect will be to multiply the reproduction of books which have no serious influence on the world, and to discourage those who write books of instruction." AN OLD DREAM. Und als die Wahrheit ward geboren, Da Kroch sie in ein Jagerhorn: Der Jiiger bliets sie in der Wind, Dahor man koine Trcu mchr find't. German Proverb. This verse I learned in German tongue, And heard it by a harper sung, That "when on Earth the Truth was born, She crept into a hunting horn; The hunter came—the horn was blown But where Truth went was never known." And yet sweet Truth is living still, And sometimes on a lonely hill In whispering leaves or reeds at choice, I oft at evening hear her voice. Or else it seems to softly ring Where nightingales in woodlands sing, Or where the lark at early morn Kings chorals over hill and bourn. And yet again whene'er I pass, In dew drops over sprinkled grass, Or violet stars in summer skies, I see her softly shining eyes. When in the forest shade I lay Beside a brook one autumn day, And breathed the fresh leaf scented air I joyed to feel that Truth was there. And in the mountains wild and lone Where the wind sings its monotone; And every thought has liberty, There is the Truth, where man is free. In valleys still in ocean foam I feel sweet Truth where'er I roam, Ho for the greenwood—rock and forn! Alone I'll go—alone return! Cu.w.es Godfrey Leland. — A PLEA FOR THE POPULAR, MY name k placarded on every railway stall; my books are piled in heaps behind the placards. You may watch these heaps diminishing rapidly as the people buy them up; you may see them reading my books in the first class as much as in the third. I get a royalty of twopence in the shilling, an arrangement which gives the publishers a good deal more than it gives me. But I am content. The side of sixty, eighty, a hundred thousand, two or three times a year, yields, as you can easily calculate for yourselves, a tidy little income. In fact, I cleared, last year, close upon £2,000. Which is really not bad. In any walk of life it would be a solid success. In literature it is phenomenal. But there is one drop of bitterness which poisons all the cup. It is that whenever the reviews mention my name—every week, that happens—they all with one consent hold me up to contempt as the  ## p. 169 (#573) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. kind of monstrous creature whom the coarse and uneducated public delights to honour. They gird at my fun, they deride my pathos, they ridicule my philosophy. Cheap, Brummagen, sham, melo- dramatic, commonplace, vulgar, are a few of the adjectives which they habitually heap upon me. This kind of criticism, observe, does not hurt my income a bit, and therefore 1 ought not to mind it. But it makes my publisher mad, because he wants to Ik; considered as a pat ron and producer of nothing but high-class literature.—the very highest—and he can- not bring himself to forego the profit of bringing out Me. As for me, I can very well afford to laugh and let the critics rail. Yet the adjectives prick a bit sometimes. They sting and prick and make one wince. At such times I feel inclined to turn. Although I cannot hit back I can turn and I can explain my position. I am turning now. "Messieurs the critics," I say, "gentlemen, all you who write for the high-class reviews and the 'thoughtful' monthlies, are for the most part, I believe, classical scholars. You have had the very great advantage of the finest education that the world can offer; you have been trained in the very best models; you learned quite early in life what is meant by style and taste; you sniff vulgarity a mile off. Further, you have assumed the office of censor; you stand up officially and for payment as the professional defenders and advocates and pro- tectors of literature; you demand for literature a lofty standard of taste and style ; you insist upon measuring all who write—that is to say, all from you read—bv this standard, which may be, for aught I know, an everlasting canon, handed down whom ancient times, or a little yard measure of your own. "Very good. But, I pray you, consider a little. "You, and your fathers before you, have been for a hundred years continually advocating the education of the whole people. You have succeeded so far that you have given them the tools by which education is achieved or imparted. You thought when you taught them to read, that you were actually educating them. You commonly talk as if you think so still. It is not so, I assure you. The people are as far from being educated now as they were a hundred years ago. But they have learned to read, which is the first step. When you open free public libraries, you talk as if you were creating students in science and literature. You do not, I assure you. There are no more students after the libraries are opened than there, were before. Readers, however, there are in plenty You have given, in fact, to all the people, what was formerly the property of a few, a new ne- cessity of life. You have taught them to read. They must read. They will read. Heading is their favourite occupation when they are neither VOL. II. working npr playing. They read when they are in train or omnibus; they read when they are alone; they read in the evenings; they read on Sundays. All the world reads. They read the newspaper first; the novelette next; and Me, and those like me, they read next. Last of all, gentle- men, and least of all, they read those modern and living authors whom you praise, those who have style, taste, refinement, breeding, scholarship, and poetry. "When you have imparted to the moss of the people that craving for taste and style which is an instinct with yourselves, they will read your favourite authors. But not till then. And I see no signs of your even attempting this colossal task. "You arc perfectly right, however, in your efforts to keep up the standard of literature. You are, I think, wrong in not recognizing the fact that in modern literature there are many mansions— many standards—and that the highest is as im- possible for the general mass as the lowest is for you. "Again, in your public schools, gentlemen, and at your universities, all the youths have the same education. Yet those who travel first-class read Me, and the like of me, as much as those who travel third. Why? Because with all jour educa- tion it is but a few—you yourselves, gentlemen, and your friends—who achieve any real knowledge or understanding of style and taste. The many cannot arrive at this knowledge; they do not even try; they are content with Me and with my like. "Since this is so, would it not be well not to demand of Me—and such as me—those qualities, which, if I possessed them, would ruin me and do no good to mv readers, because they would instantly cease to read me? I am what the people want me to be. I write what I know will please the people. I found out what they wanted, because I know what pleased me. I write for myself; therefore, I write for the world. I was educated at a great middle class school to go into the City like my father. I did. Then I felt prickings. I always read as much as I could lay hands upon. When the pi'ickings became sharp goads I began to write. Comic things I wrote first, pathetic things next, stories of tears and laughter next. At first, stories about the people. But they like, 1 find, something rather above their own level. So now I give them a baronet, or even an earl sometimes. The language is a little above them. The way of life as much above their own as I can make it. The manners also as much above theirs as I can go. That is not, I acknowledge, very much. So 1 succeeded, and 1 am in the City no more. Again, take my essays. It is wonderful to think of the really savage way in which my essays have been received by you gentlemen. Yet they are written on exactly the same principle as my stories. M  ## p. 170 (#574) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. They are as commonplace, as gaudy, as cheap, as trite as you plea.se. But, gentlemen, they are not so to these people. They are only just a little above their way of looking at things. My readers understand me by an effort of the mind—not a fatiguing effort—yet an effort. I teach them; I educate them. To them 1 reveal things previously unknown. Do you call a l>ook of arithmetic commonplace? It is not so to the school boy; it is to him new and difficult. So with mv essays. I teach the j)cople. Well, then, you will say next that I ought to teach better, to teach more, to teach a higher philosophy. Forgive me; I can only teach what the peoples want to learn. Should 1 preach a philosophical Atheism of the more abstruse kind; should I bid them rise to higher works; should I tell them that successful shopkeeping is not the highest ambition of man; should 1 teach the girls that to marry a man with si good business is not the highest lot of woman- kind; should I denounce money-getting; should I preach a scrupulous honesty; no one would buy me; no one would read me. Where would Ik- my income? And some other chap would find out the trick. As it is with me, so it is with the preachers who please the people. Go into a chapel filled with them. Are the preachers exhorting them to a higher life? Not a bit. Do they persuade their flock to honesty? Not so. They go hammering away at an old conventional religion which leads them to heaven by faith, and leaves their works dubious, and their ways crooked. But I am getting angry, and indignation is out of place in one who looks for sales. "In a word—gentlemen—my l)ooks represent, though you are unwilling to confess the fact, the average taste and the average demand. Take a pyramid of half-a-dozen layers to stand for the world of humanity. The lowest layer hardly reads at all. The second, the third, and the fourth, especially the last, read Me—and such as me. They read none but such as me. They read whatever I give • hem—balhuls— not the thing with the e at the end of it— stories, essays, anything. On the fifth level I am also read, but not so widely. The sixth 1 leave to you. It is a very, very small ]>art of the whole, but it contains, my critics, pretty nearly the whole of those who read the literature that you approve. "You think that the pyramid will become a pillar by the contracting of the lower levels, and the broadening of the upper. Perhaps. But not in my time. Therefore I am not greatly concerned about it. I have to do with the pyramid, so have you if you will only recognize it. "The broadening anil the contracting will be an affair of many centuries. Remember that the education of man has only just commenced. We cannot all—to repeat—read the Differential Calculus; I cannot for my own part. Most of u.s have to lie satisfied with arithmetic, and not very far in that. What I should like to ask you, if I may, is that you should take Me—or such as me— and put yourselves, if you can, in the position of one who has few ideas, very little knowledge, and no literary cx[>erience or judgment. This done, ask how far this book of mine is good or bad, for such a person a.s you have conjured up, and whether a better liook—a deeper philosophy—would not be thrown away upon them. "Take Me—and such as me—for what we are, a product of the times; a necessity for the time; representative of the time. You might, if you had the time, ask through my books what are the things which- the people want and will have. Believe me, you will find something—a good ileal more than you expect—of true dramatic force, of genuine situation, and of realistic fidelity. Mean- while, I must return to my new volume, nearlv ready. It will 1m» very funny—quite the cheapest kind of fun. Yes. Vulgar too. Oh! Yes—Yes. And flashy. Yes—Yes—Yes. And commonplace —Yes! "Yes! Yes! But the book, will it be bought? It would surprise yon to see how it will be bought. And it will really teach the people something—not much. And as far as the trade . . • but you are, of course, far above these conside- rations." Solomon Stallabras, Novelist, Essayist, and Poet. . ASSORTED APHORISMS. 1. Inability to perceive a joke is no proof of moral superiority. 2. To the greatest minds, nothing is insigni- ficant. 3. Love for the creature is the highest honour payable to the creator. 4. It is better to stimulate thought than to bestow knowledge. 5. Only the future has never deceived. 6. The ugly are the children of the other woman. 7. Imperial women lead: imperious women drive—or try. 8. The age of an idea is no gauge of its untruth, g. Poverty is not always essential to happiness. 10. Every sect is somewhat uncharitable but our own. 11. Superstition is the religion of the other man.  ## p. 171 (#575) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 12. An ever-young heart is better than an ever- green memory. 13. The highest life, like the lowest, suffers in silence. 14. Revolution at top is safer—for the top. 15. Petty troubles worry: big misfortunes educate. 16. The weak war with epithets, and only the weak fear them. 17. Man is a clubbable animal—as a sage, or by a savage. 18. Whole truths are apt. to spoil popular digestions. ig. It is too often easier to be loyal to friends than to facts. 20. Humility often apes infallibility. 21. Theology demands a creed: religion com- mands a character. 22. Some friendships are like e^gs: they dete- riorate with age. 23. Knaves misuse science: fools abuse it. 24. Reiteration solves no problems. 25. The always polite must often deceive. 26. Inconsistency is unpardonable—by the other inconsistent. 27. Tears, like diamonds, avail most when rarest. 28. Economy is the twin-sister of generosity. 29. Any fool may discourage: only the angels hearten. 30. Lying natures imitate candour, by a veneer of insolence. 31. Poison is the beneficent in excess. 32. New truths are often received as old lies. 33. Compromise, the life of society, is the death of science. 34. One must pay dearly for the rare privilege of helping man. Phislay Gi.enkt.g. "SLATING." MAY I be permitted to say that I do not admit the correctness of the very inadequate and far-fetched explanation which assumes that this word was "clearly originally slat?" I have all the materials for proving that it was originally slate, a distinct word, just as there is a difference between hat and hate, rat and rate, pat and pate. The old unscientific notion that vowel- length does not matter has long ago been knocked on the head. What amuses me is the appe.d to Webster's dictionary, because that work recognises this very distinction, and only so much was quoted as happened to be convenient. Even the old edition of Webster gives " slate, to set loose, at a dog, at anything." The new edition adds " to bait, to slat." Anil by the Inst entry it is merely meant to refer, not to" slat (2), to slap," but to "slat (3), to set on, to incite," in which I believe the form really meant is slaat, a northern form, distinct from slat, with a as in hat. In my edition of Hay's "Northern Words" (1691). the spelling is s/ete, a correct variant with long e. The form in Hotten is slate, also with a long vowel. I believe it will be found that, as has happened before, I am right, despite contradiction. Of course my difficulty is that 1 cannot here produce all my evidence at length. Bui I think the students of phonology will understand me. W.Ai.Tun W. Skeat, NOTES AND NEWS. fl^HE Secretary is urgent with me to give as I much publicity as the Author will allow to what is, perhaps, the greatest of the many diffi- culties with which this Society has to contend. It is this. A large number of those who send up their names for election do so only when they are in trouble with their publishers. They have known all along that the Society exists, and that it is always at work for the protection of authors. Put thev do not feel any call to support the Society until they actually need its advice. They do not, as yet, un- derstand that the very fact of joining the great com- pany of book-writers (not necessarily autho:s by pro fession) lavs upon them the duty of supporting the only institution which exists for the protection of their literary property. They do not, further, under- stand as yet the importance of getting advice from the only office which can give it on the subject of agreements. But, after they have signed a one- sided agreement, by which they have given awav three-fourths of their property, and rendered them- selves liable to be cheated out of the rest, thev come to us for help. We give them what help can be given. We procure for them for nothing the best legal advice possible, as to how they should proceed, we place at their disposal the experience of our office and our six years of work j we give them all this. Frequently it happens that a writer in trouble comes to us and costs the Society ten guineas, or more, in getting legal counsel. The questions involved are intricate, and there are few precedents on which to go. In return this member M 2  ## p. 172 (#576) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. pays one guinea. Now it is obvious that but for a large support of those who join for the sake of the general good, nothing could be done at all. There is a case on our records—there may he more than one—in which a writer engaged the Society to see her out of a mess. We did so; we extri- cated her from the clutches of a great thief; we spent about fifteen guineas upon her ease without taking from her even the single subscriptions for the year. She then said that she was very much obliged to us indeed—as she ought to have been— that she had had a lesson, and should not try any more writing, and, therefore, she would not ask to be made a member. This was real gratitude. There are other cases in which the applicant ex- pected that the Society would fight his or her case, at the costs and charges of the Society—probably some case depending on the interpretation of a clause in the agreement designed to deceive the writer—a clause which would never be allowed at this office. Again, some applicants have complained that they could get legal advice just as well from their own solicitors. As a matter of fact, they cannot. It is no discourtesy to the average solicitor to say that he knows nothing whatever about literary property or its management. And if they consult their own solicitor they will certainly have to pay, while, if they come to us they will get an opinion for nothing. It comes to this. The Society has by this time done enough to earn and to deserve the confidence of all who belong, directly and indirectly, to the calling of letters. It should be supported by every- one who has written a book—only one book even —in any branch whatever, and especially by those who write books as part of their profession, whether scientific, medical, legal, educational, or literary. We do not complain because people come to us— the more the better—there cannot be too many members. But we ask them to come at once, before they get into trouble, even if they are never to get into trouble, for the sake of their less fortunate brethren. Not the least reason why an author should be careful to whom he entrusts his books is the con- sideration of the inconvenience and loss caused by having books published by different houses. For instance, a great many people desire to possess complete works of Jefferies. These are in any case difficult to procure, but the difficulty is multiplied tenfold by the other difficulty of knowing exactly what he wrote and where everything was published. Of course the wise author would reserve the copy- right, unless he sells it outright. But very, very few are so wise. One of the papers—the Sunday Sun—heads a notice of the life of Laman Blanchard (by Clement Scott and Cecil Howard) with the title " The Dog's Trade of Literature." Truly, under certain con- ditions, it is a veritable dog's trade. But then, con- ditions are changing. The trade is no longer quite so canine for those who are fit to follow it. Blanchard wrote for the stage at the time when a dramatic author received the magnificent sum of las. an Act for the whole copyright in his play. He wrote for publishers at a time when for editing maga- zines, writing novels, essays, and successful plays, an author thought himself lucky indeed if he made £3oo in a single year. Things have improved, thanks to the enormous increase of readers first; to tilt; competition of publishers next; and to the light thrown upon the business side of literature' during the last two or three years by this Society. It is a dog's trade still to the unhappy writer who tries to live by bookmaking, that is to say, by finding out a subject which will, perhaps, tempt a publisher to give him twenty or thirty pounds for a book upon it, ami then, with scissors and paste, to make up a volume upon that subject. The lwokmaking tribe has of late suffered grievous minishing, but it still exists, and it goes on plundering and blundering. Also it goes on—poor unhappy tribe !—starving and writing letters for money to successful men, and making applications to the Royal Literary Fund. There seems, however, some reason to hope that with the end of the century the race will have vanished altogether. It is a dog's trade, too, to the unhappy folk who aim at imaginative work, and just fail of success. They win, perhaps, a certain literary success, they command a certain sale, but they just fall short of popularity, and that for reasons which they cannot discover for themselves. If they are compelled to live by letters, a dog's lot, truly, is theirs. Again, it is a dog's trade to those who try to make money — being, to put it mildly, imperfectly equipped—by writing for the magazines. In a word, literature is a dog's trade—and should be no man's trade—without natural aptitude—one is not allowed to say genius —without a good education, without the charm of style, and without the gift—the unknown—the indefinable gift—of winning the ear of the people. Then, if a man can be kept from sharks, he may presently thank the Lord that he has taken up the profession of letters. He will not grow as rich as Vanderbilt or Astor, but he will thrive, he will live in comfort, he will even — Oh! dream of the bourgeois!—he will, perhaps, " put by "!  ## p. 173 (#577) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. In an early number of the Author it was suggested that among the immense number of dead and forgotten books there must be some worthy of revival. The past is common property; in the vast heaps of dead literature all may delve and search about for treasures. There is no law to prevent anyone from carrying away and repro- ducing whatever he pleases. Is then' anything worth republishing? Is not the contemporary verdict sufficient? Is not the verdict of the next generation sufficient? In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred. Sometimes, however, there is a book which for some reason or other attracts, on its first appearance, no attention; the reviewers neglect it; the publisher docs not advertise it; readers do not hear of it; the book falls still- born. Yet there is something in it which should give it life. Can we find such a book in the dtisthcap? Again, there is the man who has produced, among a mass of stuff all deservedly dead, one volume in which he says all that he has to say —delivers the one message that was in him; proclaims the one live thing which his eyes could see. There was once a writer named Charles Maturin. How many could answer any questions about. Charles Maturin? Yet he made some little figure in his day, which was between 1782 and 1824. He wrote half a dozen novels, produced three or four tragedies, taught a school, wrote two or three poems, preached man)' sermons. Out of all his works one alone deserves to live; in fact, it does live with those who read their native literature; this is a novel called "Melmoth the Wanderer." A reprint has been issued of this once famous book by Richard Bentley and Son. It will be very curious to learn whether it proves a success. The case, by the way, is one of the few in the production of which there must be a certain risk. Given an author once popular, but before the memory of living man; given a book highly praised by Walter Scott in the old days of the llegency; will that author, appearing again almost a stranger, l>e able to repeat his former success? It is an ex|x'riuient of great interest, and I hope that we may be permitted to learn the secret of the result. We who have so often proclaimed the self-evident fact, so stupidly denied, that publishers very seldom take any risks at all, that is, very seldom produce at their own cost any lx>oks of which there is not an assured minimum sale enough to cover the cost—ought to be the first to recognize an exception to this rule when we find it, and, when the exception is prompted by pure love of literature, we ought to wish it every success. The Spectator has just made the third—one hopes not the last—of a series of brilliant dis- coveries. In the first, a most sapient member of its staff announced to an astonished world that poets and novelists come into the world completely equipped with a full knowledge of their art. All other workers have to learn their trade. The poet and the novelist alone — happy mortals !— have nothing to learn. They sing; they tell tales by instinct: as tin; skylark sings ; as the pig grunts; as the laughing hyena laughs, so sing they, so they tell their tales. There is no art at all; it is pure instinct. Was not that a noble discovery for the Spectator to make? We have already done our best to give a world-wide publicity to this dis- covery. After a week or two, being on the l ight scent, they make a second discovery. Literary men, for their own good, must be excluded from any national recognition of their services to the State. No honours or distinctions must be bestowed upon them. "They arc far better with- out," says the Oracle, leaving it in doubt whether she refers to their insides or to their poetry. Again a week or two, and another brilliant discovery. This time the same Sage. The article liears every sign of being by the same writer—may one guess the honoured name of Angelina Gushington? She has discovered that men of science must be debarred, not only from national recognition by way of the ordinary distinctions, but even from the applause of their friends. What saith the Sybil? "Up till now the men who have devoted themselves to abstract science have generally done so from pure love of the pursuit of knowledge ... In a great measure, men of science have been persons who have proved their indifference to worldly considerations and their love of knowledge for its own sake." As the Scotch minister said on a certain well-known occasion, "Ah! Loard! It's just too reedecklus!" On what facts, from what knowledge of scientific men, or scientific society, is this confident statement so confidently advanced? What scientific society has this dear lady known? Now everyone who has had the privilege of knowing men of science—there are no men more delightful, more truly sincere, more companion- able—who has enjoyed their friendship; who has sat at their tables; will lx>ldly declare that this is the greatest rubbish—the most unreal, the most conventional stuff—ever placed before intelligent readers. It is perfectly true that the man of science is passionately possessed, filled, and seized with the love of knowledge, and a rage for extending know- ledge. But to say that he is indifferent to applause or to recognition is sheer midsummer madness. First of all, he always ardently desires that recog- nition of his work which is conveyed by a Professorship or a Fellowship; next, he desires to  ## p. 174 (#578) ############################################ i/4 THE AUTHOR. be spoken of, ami to lie considered us an authority —a leader in his own line; then he is never happy until the distinction of F.R.S. is awarded him— one little fact which blows the Spectator's article into smithereens. In other words, like all men, the follower of science eagerly desires recognition of his work: he is jealous of his work; he claims and tights for every discovery that he may have made; he wishes, above all things, for the applause of his fellows. This I say without the least blame or reproach. It is a human desire, an intelligible desire, a laudable desire, an honourable desire, a desirable desire. The idea that men could possibly work without such a desire could only be enter- tained by persons wholly ignorant of human nature. Jiut there may be eases where such a feeling is not apparent to the vulgar. The sagacious writer of this article adduces the case of a great mathematician. Now a mathematician, because he is an abstruse writer whose methods and conclusions are absolutely unintelligible to the ignorant and the vulgar, cannot look for the applause of the world. Nevertheless, he does look for, and he does obtain, the re- cognition of the few who can understand hint. The Spectator also introduces, in the middle of the article, the subject of money making. Scientific men, we are next told, never want to make money. Oh! Really! Indeed! Wonderful! Is that so? Let us see. Well, there are certain branches of science in which money cannot possibly be made. In these branches the professors wisely agree not to attempt the impossible. But in those branches where money can be made I do not see that scientific •men object to make it. For instance, medical science may make medical men very rich indeed; engineering, which is one of the greatest of modern sciences, may make for its followers vast fortunes; electricity, in the hands of its most earnest students, is producing large incomes; by some applications of chemistry great incomes are made. In fact, though it is perfectly true that scientific men, or literary men, or artists, should not, and do not, make dollars the chief reason of their existence, they are never indifferent to dollars, and there is no reason why they should be. This imaginary indifference is the consolation of the unsuccessful and the creed of school girls. But surely the conventional school girl creed ought not to be produced in a paper like the Spectator. Personally, it grieves and even humiliates me to see such stuff in its columns. I have read the Spectator for live-and-twenty years. No paper has taught me more; none has suggested more. I have for all these years regarded the paper as n private and personal friend—one may sometime differ with a personal friend. So that it saddens one to find it apparently preparing to step down and to become the organ of the school girl. Could the old friends of the paper entreat the editor in a Round Robin to give Angelina a letter of introduction, with a view to employment on the staff, to the Editor of that sweet journal, the Girts' Delight? Nearly every year there stands out a head and shoulders above its companions one work which promises to make the year memorable. The pro- mise is not always kept, but it is something to Ik.' so good as to seem to hold forth that promise. Everybody remembers the first appearance of "Vice Versa," "She," "Treasure Island," Rud- vard Kipling's stories, to speak only of later works. This year a promise of lasting vitality is distinctly made by Mr. Hall Caine's " Scapegoat." It is a great book, great in conception and in execution; a strong book, strong in situation and in character; and a human book, human in its pathos, its terror, and its passion. Like the authors of the other books named, Mr. Hall Caine will henceforth have the "Scapegoat" always behind him. Can he produce even finer work? Perhaps. The following circular has been sent to every member of the Society. It is hoped that a response, unanimous and immediate, will l>c made to this appeal. It will be observed that we not desire large sums; let everyone who feels that he ought to be grateful to Mr. R. I'. Johnson send some- thing, not more than a guinea. It is not so much the value of the gift as the manner of it that will be appreciated:— "It was resolved at a Meeting of the Committee held before the Vacation that we should prepare and engross on vellum the thiinks of this Society to the Secretary of the American International Copyright Association, Mr. Robert Underwood JOHNSON, of New York, for the very considerable part played by him in the successful agitation for, and the passing of, the International Copyright Act. "Since this resolution was passed the French Government have presented Mr. Johnson with the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, in recognition of his services to the interests of Literature. "We have looked in vain for any such recogni- tion on the part of our own Government, although the interests of British Authors involved in the Act. are ten-fold or a hundred-fold greater than those of French Authors. "It has been therefore determined by this Society to express in a more concrete form their gratitude. It is proposed to invite subscriptions  ## p. 175 (#579) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. ■with which to purchase a piece of plate for pre- sentation to Mr. Johnson. "The subscription will be limited to one guinea as u maximum and 5*. as a minimum. ".Should you feel disposed to join in this move- ment I shall be glad to receive your name and the amount. "S. Squibb Spbigoe." THE BOOKMAN. THE new literary journal, the Bookman, made its first appearance on October 1st, too late for notice in our own columns. We are always eager to welcome anything calculated to he helpful in the interests of literature and of book- men. And we therefore wish every success to the Bookman. As a society of bookmen and IkkjIc- women we would earnestly invite our new friend to consider that literature has many sides, that there are many readers and many levels and standards and many ideals of excellence and of style. It is, however, unfortunate that the very first number should contain a paper intended to be practical, and endorsed by the editor, which contains about as many misleading statements ns could well be crammed into the space. It takes the form of a letter written by a lady—and by one who is most sincerely anxious for fairplay and justice. Unfortunately she illustrates the danger of writing loosely, and without considering the figures which this society has provided. She says, taking the end of her letter first, " I am quite content that my publishers should get as much as I do by my books, only I do not like them to get more." Very well. She then gws on to say that a penny in the shilling—meaning, of course, on the advertised or published price—is "the ordinary rate." And further, she says, that it is a "fair rate," or, as explained by her own words later on, that it gives as much to herself as to the publisher. Now, let us see. An ordinary one volume 6s. novel, containing 17 sheets of 258 words to a page, printed in small pica and plainly bound, can l>e produced as follows:— One thousand copies, with stereotyping and advertising, less than £100—for simplicity's sake say £100. If they are all sold the gross return is very nearly £166. The profit on the edition is £66. At one penny in the shilling the author gets £25 and the publisher over £41. If the l»ook is a success, so that another edit.'on of 3,ooo is called for—which is unusual—the cost of producing it would be under £120. The sale of the whole would produce £5oo. The profit would be £38o, the author would make £75, anil the publisher would make £3o5. And this is the fair and equal royalty advocated by the Bookman! Next, the lady says that "the publisher has often to sell thousands lief ore he recoups himself the cost of production and advertising." Thousands! Now, see the mischief of loose talk. In the case before us, the publisher provides an outlay of £100. Mind, he does not even pay the money down; he waits for returns. But never mind. Here, then, is the problem. Given a l>ook which costs £ico to produce, saddled with a royalty of 6rf. a copy to the author, how many has the publisher to sell, at 3s. 4r/. a copy—it is more often 3s. 6d. a copy— Ix'fore he recoups himself? Answer—by a little algebraical equation—a little over 700. Now, these figures of ours are beyond any doubt; they are furnished by different printers, and acknow- ledged by other printers; they have also been acknowledged by several publishers; they have never been seriously challenged. But it may be said that the book referred to by the lady was a dearer book to produce in pro- portion to its price. Boughly speaking, a first edition of a l>ook may be taken to cost about one- fourth of the published price. The first cost of a book advertised at 3s. 6d. is recouped when laden with a royalty of a penny in the shilling by some- thing less than the first edition of 1,000—in fact, a little over 900 copies. The lady adds certain remarks, all out of the goodness of her heart, about good books paying for had ones—amiable rubbish which we had thought long since exploded. The ordinary royalty now proposed to writers of fair circulation by the more honourable houses is, of course, exactly double that advocated by this lady, and approved by the Bookman, and even this gives the publisher on a large scale a very great advantage. «~«~» < THE HARVEST OP THE YEAE. TN the last number of the Author we gave a I brief and necessarily incomplete notice of some of the announcements of the season. We have now, by taking the advertisements of the leading |>apers and reviews for two or three consecutive weeks, arrived at a clearer idea of the season's harvest. We may omit all books of medicine, physics, chemistry, geology, and science  ## p. 176 (#580) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. generally; all books on theology; all technical and educational books, children's books, military and naval lx>oks, and books on social and political economy—though of these last there is a consider- able number advertised. It is, indeed, a sign of the times that a subject once thought so hopelessly dismal in its conclusions and so uncertain in its data, should Ik! attracting, year after year, more and more of those, who read, and more of those who make it their professional pursuit. Our analysis, however, considers only those books which belong to the general reader, not to the expert or the specialist. The names of the writers and the subjects treated —to those who know anything of the subject—will be found to bear out our contention—which is, of course, a mere commonplace, of common sense— that publishers very, very seldom issue anything at their own risk which has any risk. Biography, the most popular form of history, is represented by lives of Bishop Wordsworth, Boswell, Cobden, Thomas Payne, Charles West Cope, Frederick the Great, Mrs. Carlvle, Darwin, Caldeeott, Cervantes, Rodney, Lady Mary Wort ley Montague, Gustavus Adolphus, Pericles, Theodoric the Goth, Sir Philip Sidney, Nelson, Collingwood, Watts Phillips, and E. L. Blunt-hard. History is represented by the new work of Froude. Travel by works on Thibet, California, New Zealand, the Philippines, the Himalayas, the Corea, the Holy Land, Manipur, Canada, the Black Forest, New Guinea, Kieff, Afghanistan, and the Caspian. Essays by the names of Lady Martin, Lady Wilde, Augustine Birrell, W. W. .Story, Davenport Adams, and Edmund Scherer (in translation). There are two collections of verse, edited by Andrew Lang and W. E. Henley. Very little new poetry is announced—it is, indeed, astonishing to observe how, with all this enormous extension of readers, the love of poetry either advances not at all, or continues steadily to di- minish. A new volume by one of the few accepted poets is welcomed by a small circle—how small that circle is can only be judged by the numbers of editions, and these are indeed limited. The poets themselves keep silence on the subject, a fact to be regretted, because the decay of the national love of poetry is a distinct factor in any examination into the intellectual position and advance—or retreat—of the generation. On the other hand, the recent examples of Mr. William Watson and the author of "Iouica" ought to encourage young poets. There are, next, anti- quarian books, such as " Schlieman's Excavations," and Hubert Hall's •' Curiosities of the Exchequer," with a county history or two. There are letters, such as those of Marie Bashkirtseff; artists' books, such as Walter Crane's "Queen's Summer"; books which can hardly be classified, as Knight's "Cruise of the Falcon "; a history of Mahdisin; Miss Chapman's companion to " In Memoriam "; certain American books; certain reprints, as Maturin's "Melmoth," and Washington Irviug's "Alhambra "; books of country life, as "On Surrey Hills"; books on anthropology, which may be counted as scientific books; a treatise on Heraldry; Sycd Ameer Ali on the Teachings of Mohammed; Gordon's "Events in the Taiping Rebellion; Sir George Birdwood's "Records of the India Office; Clement Scott's "Thirty Years at the Play," and many others. Lastly, there come the novels. Here we have an astonishing list. We have selected only those— about three-fourths—by writers already and favour- ably known, novelists with whose work no one could for a moment pretend that any risk was connected. Making an attempt at alphabetical order, we find novels announced as ready, or nearly ready, by Grant Allen, Frederick Anstey, Duke of Argyll, Rolf Boldrewood, Frank Barrett, E. M. Bnrrie, Rev. A. J. Church, Hall Caine, M'Laren Cobban, Marion Crawford, Alice Dield, Conan Doyle, Kick Donovan, Miss Doudney, Archdeacon Farrar, G. M. Fenn, Lanoe Falconer, B. I/. Farjeon, Percy Fitzgerald, .Jessie Fothergill, George (iissing, Hating Gould, Henry Hermann, Joseph Hatton, Rudyard Kipling, Katberine Lee, Marquess of Lome, Florence Marryatt, T. L. Meade. Mrs. Marshall, Maarten Maartens, George Meredith, Mrs. Molesworth, Lucas Malet, W. E. Norris, Ouida, James Payn, Mrs. Phillips, Richard Pryce, Amelia Rivers, Mabel Robinson, Clark Russell, Frank Stockton, T. W. Speight, J. W. Shorthouse, Alex. Shand, L. D. Walford, E. Werner, Beatrice Whitby, Florence Warden and Stanley Weyman. Here are fifty-one in all, popular and weli-known writers, who will be widely read; some of them have a special clientele, others are simply favourite authors at the circulating libraries; one docs not go so far as to say that they are immortal, or that they will even enjoy the limited immortality which awaits many popular authors; but they are in demand. Fifty novels by as many novelists all in demand! But there is more. For there are at least fifty more in the advertisements before us whose names we have not set. down because they were to the writer of the present lines unknown. Again, among the second fifty are included a good many novels paid for by the authors. These should form a separate list by themselves, but it would be cruel to the unfortunate people who have been persuaded to pay. Again, then; are publishing houses not represented in these papers. The Religious Societies, the Society lor the Pro- motion of Christian Knowledge, the Religious Tract Society, and the National Society, are not  ## p. 177 (#581) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 177 represented here at all. But their lists include a gretit quantity of fiction, chiefly by writers who are unknown. And it will be further ob- served, that the lists do not include many of the well known names. For instance, setting down only the, names that occur at the first moment among these writers, one does not find among the advertisements the names of Mrs. Alexander, Miss Braddon, Rhoda Broughton, Edwin Lester Arnold, William Black, R. D. Black- more, Walter Besant, Rol>ert Buchanan, Mrs. Lovett Cameron, Miss Betham Edwards, Mrs. Edwardes, Justin McCarthy, Justin H. McCarthy, Henry Harland, Bret Hartc, George Henty, Thomas Hardy, Howells, Henry James, Edna Lyall, Mrs. Lynn Linton, George Maedonald, George Moore, Christie Murray, Henry Murray, Florence; Montgomery, Mrs. Oliphant, E. C. Philips, Mrs. Campltell Praed, F. W. Robinson, Mrs. Thackeray Ritchie, Mrs. Riddell, Rider Haggard, George Sims, Louis Stevenson, Moy Thomas, Sarah Tytler, Mark Twain, William Westall, W. (i. Wills, Charlotte Yonge,—as many omissions, in fact,as apj>earances. There are also many others whose names have been for the moment passed over. Theif* "re, In taet,anout l5o living writers of fiction —without counting tint young journalist who sends to the papers the paragraphs on the Society of Authors—who have a sure and certain grasp on our public—some of them American, but by far the larger number English, Scotch, and Irish. Outside this body there are always fifty or sixty hangers on—writers who are on the borderland, lwtween popularity and failure. They can persuade respectable publishers to produce their wares. They are even so far successful that the number of copies taken by the circulating libraries does justify their production, but they never arrive at a cheap edition; nor—surest test of all—are they ever invited by editors to contribute to their magazines. They are read because they are offered at the libraries. They are never asked for, never missed, never wanted. Nobody knows their names or inquires for their former works. They may write a dozen books, but they never impress the mind of the public in the least. Certainly, if the circulating library system were to break down -— which will not suddenly happen — or the three-volume system were to be changed— which is not likely—these dingers to the fringe would swiftly vanish and be no more seen. It will be seen that in quantity, in bulk of output, the literature of October 1891 is enormous. To repeat what has been said before: For whom is this mass of literature published? For a people which docs not buy books? That, is the common opinion. Only for the circulating libraries? That is often asserted. In order that publishers may get rid of their money? That, too, is a doctrine widely circulated by conventional writers, interested writers, and unpractical persons. In order to gratify authors with the disinterested satisfaction of producing good work? Another doctrine per- sistently and widely taught. Not so; they are written mainly, and published solely, for the sake of profit and gain. And most of them—all the novels —are written with the same spirit, the same 1iojh>, the same intention as actuates the cabinet- maker when he makes a cabinet; namely, that he mav produce good work, and that he may receive, and enjoy in peace, that share of the proceeds of his labour which is justly his. So long as the Society of Authors exists it will endeavour to secure for him that share. ♦•»•♦ THE INDEPENDENT THEATRE. EVERYTHING attempted in this day must be ticketed anil labelled with the name of one man. Formerly it was enough that a thing vwas designed and proposed, perhaps, by a company. The object sought was the subject discussed. The subject is now the man who has attempted it. Therefore the Theatre Libre, or the Independent Theatre of London, will certainly become Mr. George Moore's theatre. He expounded the ralson d'etre of the new theatre in a letter to the Times of October i3th— a letter in many ways remarkable and in many ways calculated to make people angry. Setting aside the latter part of the letter, we find an eloquent and earnest ap|>eal to the world to secure the freedom of the stage from the trammels of convention and prejudice. "Dramatic art is the art that to-day pre-eminently demands to l>c pro- tected against the disease of popularity and its concomitant commercialism. The people have had their way with the theatre; they have made it their recreation ground." The Independent Theatre is founded in order to place More audiences as refined and as highly cultured as those which read Tennyson, Swinburne, George Meredith, dramatic pieces which belong to literature. If, its pro- moters argue, the dramatic art is not to perish utterly, we must have an uncommercial theatre, one which does not aim at making money; one which will not play for either stalls or gallery; one which shall create a public capable of de- manding and of understanding good work. Well, the demand for good work will undoubtedly create the supply, up to a certain point, but no further. In no age and by no imaginable demand, coupled either with honour or with dollars, can more than a certain amount of good work be produced A  ## p. 178 (#582) ############################################ 178 THE AUTHOR. by a single generation. For instance, tliere is at the present moment an enormous demand for good fiction, good essays, good writing—attractive and pleasant writing—in all branches. How many are there who can furnish what is wanted? Mr. George Moore's arguments lead irresistibly to the conclusion that the Independent Theatre ought to be well supported. It may not achieve all that its founders ho[>e for it. That, indeed, may be confidently predicted. On the other hand, it will certainly do something, and even the per- formance of a new piece running on lines quite different from the old conventional grooves should stimulate departure from those grooves and new experiments. They ask for £i,5oo a year. That is not much. Each subscription is at present £2 10s. a year. That means only 600 subscribers. The very smallness of the sum will militate against the success of the promoters. It would be better to ask at once for £10,000 a year in £10 subscriptions. There are lovers of the drama in plenty who would give a £10 subscrip- tion. And then we could have fifty performances instead of six. Of course there is an evident danger, though it is not contemplated by the founders, that the Independent Theatre might become the Theatre of Crotchets and Hobbies, of Cranks and Enthusiasts. Even then it would, to some extent, serve its purpose, and so be well worth all the money spent upon it. Nothing is more wholesome for the Body Politic than to let Cranks and Zealots have their say. Nothing more surely reduces them to insignificance. Again, if a piece succeeds at the Independent, it is sure to 1*' presented at an open theatre. And, which is worth considering, even if it is true that the people have had the theatre to themselves, it is also true that they have in many cases shown themselves willing to learn, and ready to like a piece which they arc told they ought to like. The people do not want to prefer bad things to good; they would rather like what better taught people like, if only in order to be a little superior to their neighbours. A hopeful sign, perhaps. TO ENGLAND. A new-raised voice from 'yond thy westward sea Would sing unto thine ear the songs it sung In its own land in the same Saxon tongue Our fathers learned at thy loved mother-knee— They, who their very life-blood drew from thee. Ami though, in thought and speech we've somewhat swung, From our old moorings, yet to much have clung That thou once heldst in full fidelity. But I—what light have I my songs to bring E'en to a kindred nation's judgment seat? All! none, except the right of all to sing, E'en though their songs be neither strong nor sweet, And with the hope, perchance one may be found With voice to sing itself the world around. New York. W. S. Bate. A BUREAU OF LITERARY REVISION. WE were as yet in comparative ignorance when we proposed as a branch of the Society's work likely to prove useful to aspirants, the reading and criticism of young writers' work. The two objects of such a branch then (and still) in view were (1) that it might do a great deal to the repression of bad work, anil the persuading of those who could never succeed to abandon the attempt, and (2) that in the rarer cases of young writers who show the unmistakeable signs of. promise and natural aptitude we might prevent many mistakes and much dis- appointment by a little judicious advice—such as that which a coach would give to his pupil—as to style, arrangement, and other points with what is very frequently wanted, instruction in quite the elementary points of technique. In other words, we laid the foundations for a school of novelists. Our readers do not read, that is to say, as the pub- lisher's reader must, with one eye always on the commercial value of a book, but solely having regard to its literary and artistic worth. We are cettins on very well with this branch. Something like a hundred and fifty MSS. will have passed through our hands this year—not like those sent to pub- lishers for acceptation or the reverse, but sent for an opinion which may be a guidance and a help. Those who send their works have the first quality of an artist—diffidence—pity that they have not ail the rest. We have learned, however, that the Americans have been before us with such a Bureau. It is now nine years since the New York Bureau of Literary Revision and Criticism has lieen estab- lished. It professes to give " unbiassed and com- petent criticism " both for publishers and authors. It offers to revise MSS. for the press and to "edit'' them, which must mean, in many cases, to re-write them. And it offers to give advice to those in search of a publisher. Its fees are elastic, as in such kind of work would be necessary. To give an opinion or to give advice woidd l>e easy. But al>out revising MSS., editing them, passing them through the press; what fee would be asked? When the work was done, whose name would appear on the title-page? Anybody could  ## p. 179 (#583) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 179 suggest a subject, ami perhaps set down certain facts; but it requires a literarv hand to draw them up and set them forth to effect. And when that wan done, who would be the author? Doubtless there an' plenty of people who would pay well for such work, provided their own names' appeared upon the title; but the real hand—the hack—the Ghost—how would he like it? Again, it. seems as if there must be a delicate line where revision ends and authorship begins. One can quite understand a man rendering such little assistance to a young writer as would make all the difference between success and failure, ami yet leave him the actual author of the thing. But with a slovenly, ill-constructed, badly put together lump of writing, which has to be pulled to pieces and then re-arranged and re-written, where is your author? Not the first hand on it, certainly. To put his name as the author might, by purists, be taken us a fraud. Perhaps, so as to avoid any chance of the question arising here, we may leave that branch of the work entirely to our cousins. _ —- - THE WRITERS' CLUB. AFEW weeks ago a little body of women, mostly journalists, were bold enough to express a wish that it were possible to start some sort of club for literary women, which would not only serve the ordinary purposes of a club where its members could (line, write, and meet their friends, but would also bye-and-bye develop into a Sisterhood of Letters, and be a means of bringing literary women—successful and unsuc- cessful—into eloserand more friendly relations than have hitherto been found possible. No sooner had the wish found expression than a host of critics sprang up to throw cold water on the idea. Such a club, they said, was not wanted, and if it were wanted it ought not to l>c, ending up, as a rule, with various unkind comments on the habits and ways of the unhappy lady journalist. The unkindest cuts of all came from the one or two highly suc- cessful women journalists, who, for some reason or other, took it into their heads to he jealous of their less successful confreres—if I may use this expres- sion—and who have steadily misrepresented the views and hopes of the promoters. It is, however, satisfactory to learn that, in spite of criticism and opposition, the "Writers' Club" has sprung into being during the last month, and has already nearly 60 members, all bond fide literary women. It is intended to start the Club on a modest scale, and at first our chief efforts will be directed to make the place useful and comfortable to women journalists. There are a large number of journalists with feet upon the lowest steps of the ladder, who are lighting a hard and uphill battle in the attempt to make a respectable living by legitimate work. Many who are solitary and reserved, and keep the struggles anil disappointments of their lives locked in their own breasts, might find their lives made sweeter and easier if some older and more fortunately placed woman would hold out to them the right hand of fellowship. It is this spirit of camaraderie which it is hoped the Club will promote, and, judging from the way that the well-known writers have come forward and offered their co-operation, there is every reason to l>e sanguine. A few more ladies who will come forward and help us financially at the start are still wanted, and will no doubt lie forthcoming. Amongst the Vice-Presidents are :— Mrs. Woods, Mrs. Richmond Ritchie, Lady .Icune, Lady Paget, Countess of Minister, Miss Edith Simcox, Mrs. John Richard Green, Edna Lyall, and many others. The President of the Club is Mrs. Stannard ; the Honorary Secretary, Miss Low, 21, Queen Square, Bloomsbury; ami the Treasurer, Miss Honor Morton, Ivy Hall, Richmond, Surrey. Any lady who is interested in promoting the Club is invited to attend the meeting to be held on Wednesday, November 4th, at 4. o'clock, at the Society of Authors, 4, Portugal Street, Strand, when definite steps as to premises will be taken. A Women Journalists' Club is not a new thing any more than an Authors' Club. Everything begins in America, and most things in New York. We are indebted to Woman (October 14, 1891) for a note on the New York Women's Press Club. It is unfortunately too much of a note. One would have liked information as to the subscription, the management, the number of members, and the way in which the club is worked. The note, says only that it is a " model of organisation, tact, and good comradeship." It also gives pictures of three leading members. CORRESPONDENCE. I. Am. for Nothing. APROPOS of our recent remarks on magazine contributories, a correspondent writes: "A literary magazine was recently offered for side, and 11 point was made of the fact that I lie editor had arranged with 'one of the foremost writers of the day' to contribute gratuitously.  ## p. 180 (#584) ############################################ i8o THE AUTHOR. The editor's services were to lie retained at a salary of £200." He would be dirt cheap at four times that sum. All the proprietors of all the magazines will now be advertising for that editor. A man who can engage the foremost writers of the day to write for nothing is indeed invaluable. II. Goon Work, Suhe Pat. In your comments on the clever article in the last number of the Author under the above heading, you draw a distinction between good work and saleable work. For the latter adjective allow ine to substitute the word profitable. There are, I consider, two kinds of profitable books (I am dealing with fiction): I. Those written by authors who have an established reputation; II. Those written, in the penny novelette style, by scribblers who are willing to pay all the costs of production so long as their vanity is satisfied by appearing in print, and for whose writings, nevertheless, there is a large demand. Go into any circulating library, and the books which are most in request are trashy novels, which might have been written by ladies' maids, professing to describe the inner life of the aristocracy. These are devoured bv that lanre section of the reading public—the young women of the lower middle- class, who are the best customers of the circulating library. The better, though smaller, section of the reading public confine themselves to the works of known authors, who are in a position to dictate terms to publishers; but how can a writer of good average merit get his works published unless he is pre- pared to pay the cost, so long as he is systematically boycotted by publishers, whose interest it is to keep down the number of authors who expect fair remuneration for their work? The early histories of literary men and women, as far as I have read them, are all very much alike: heart-breaking struggles against the current of adversity, which are soon forgotten when the tide turns, and they are borne along with the stream. A man with grit, who believes in himself, is not satisfied to be extinguished by that obscure indi- vidual, the publisher's reader, but is desirous of appealing to a higher tribunal; how is he to reach it? For those who can afford to do so, I see no objection to their paying the cost of producing their books, so long as they are dealt with honestly, and have a fair share of the profits of a successful work; if, though given a good chance, their book still proves a failure, they have purchased a valu- able experience. The difficulty seems to be how to obtain honest treatment. The Society of Authors has done much to raise the status of literary men; but it deserves most credit for throwing some honest rays of light on that insufferable bugl>ear, the publisher, and his mysteries. Claud Harding. [Our contributor wishes to use the word profitable instead of saleable. Very well, though it does not seem to make any difference. He makes, however, a great mistake when he .says that there is a great demand for the rubbish for whose publication bad writers have to pay. Does he not understand that if there were such a demand the writers would no longer have to pay? Is it. the ca.se that it is publishers' interest to keep down authors who must be remunerated? It might be so if bad authors were profitable. But they are not profitable. Therefore, our corre- spondent's view seems untenable. Why do the circulating libraries everywhere in every town contain such rubbish? Because they buy up at next to nothing a ropy, the remainder stock. That is the whole mystery. A bad writer pays a hundred pounds and is published. Sales— perhaps not one, perhaps a dozen or twenty. The rest sold off as remainder stock. At this office we do not speak from guess, but from knowledge of the facts. Some time ago a creature who published in this way brought out several hundreds of such volumes. Not one single book had any side to speak of; not one writer got anything. Others there are still carrying on the same game; holding out false and lying hopes of immense sale; charging double the cost of pro- duction, and making their profits by the theft first and the sale of the remainder stock next. Literally, one young fellow who was fooled into [laying for publication, received a return for his book of no sales at all—not one single copy sold. Perhaps Mr. Harding is quite right in this con- tention: That if an author really believes that ;he has the stuff in him, and that he has produced good work, he might do well to produce his book at his own expense if he can only find a man ivho will do it honestly. But he would generally do far better to send his MS. to one of the firms whom we should advise, and first see what they say.— Editob.] III. "Good Work, Sure Pay." Mr. (J. Davenport Jones, in his plea that the rejection of a work by publishers and editors must not be accepted as proof of literary worthlessuess,  ## p. 181 (#585) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 181 might have gone farther; lie might have added that it is no proof of commercial worthlessness. Of publishers, speaking generally, and acknowledging exceptions, it is true to say that no body of trades- men know less about their own business. I will not pause to give the reasons for this assertion; they will be sufficiently obvious to those who rcniemlier that evil communications corrupt good manners; the laxity of authors cannot but have a demoralizing effect upon publishers. I assert, without fear of contradiction, that out of every I,ooo novels—for the purposes of this argument I will confine myself to one branch of literature— passing through the hands of any publisher, those which are just above mediocrity are those which find readiest acceptance. Out of 1,000 MSS., about o,5o will be "impossible;" these, as in the case of g5 in 100 pictures rejected by the Royal Academy Selecting Committees, will be virtuously rejected by the publisher. As touching the re- maining 5o, about 3o MSS. will contain much that is good, but defects of workmanship will place them outside the pale of the " practicable;" the authors of tHese books have yet to learn their business. Twemty works remain. Fifteen of these will be just sufficiently above the dead level of mediocrity to insure readv acceptance by the rank and file of the reading public, and pari passu by the publisher. There remain five works which will \w distinctly good; it may even so happen that among these there mav be one absolutely original work, in other words, a creation of genius. These five are the only books which from a literary, from an artistic, and, in the true meaning of the word, from an economic point of view, should be published at all; but ofthe.se, none will stand much chance of accept- ance, unless it have a sponsor—a friend at court — or unless the writer, whose name it bears, has already secured a reading clientele. If these five l>ooks are by authors unknown, or only slightly known—other things being equal—their very merits will cause them to l>e looked at askance. Publishers' readers are human, very human; very fallible. What right has an unwreathed A, B, C, I), or E to give token of individuality? Indi- viduality? No, it is not individuality; it is mannerism, perhaps even worse, affectation. As for the unknown author of the really original book, he is in the worst plight of all. That his work should find favour almost presupposes that the publisher or his reader should be a person of genius, in that the discovery and acknowledgment of nnproclaimed genius is alone possible to genius. Again, having discovered a work of genius, the reader must have, in a very high degree, the courage of his opinion. The publisher's reader knows, none better than he, that 99 in 100 readers of books are fools, who, moreover, like their books cast in the moulds of old conventions: fools do not appreciate off-hand a new prophet. It is, indeed, because he knows this, that he recommends for acceptance to the firm he represents, those mediocre works which require no literary or intellectual acumen for their appreciation. This lack of knowledge, or of courage on the part of publishers or of their readers, has caused many a publisher secret heart- burnings at the loss of a fortune once within his reach. The writer of real power and originality knows by an unerring instinct who and what he is. Being able to produce books of the stoutest literary fibre, he is the soundest critic of his work; its most severe critic; he knows therefore that no self-vanity deludes him. He has given months, perhaps years, to the consideration of the work to which a publisher's reader may have only devoted a few hours. His sufferings before full recognition is his will be of the keenest; these no one can save him; but he rememliers that if he be given sufficient physical strength to hold out to the end, his triumph will be all the better worth having for being delayed. Indeed, the obstacles to the progress of the strongly individual man are of the greatest benefit to him; they strengthen and deepen that individuality, which is the very essence of his genius. The historic cases mentioned by Mr. Davenport Jones are not the only cases of the refusal of epoch-making books. I might almost go so far as to say that no work of genius of an unknown and unaided author finds ready accept- ance. Anyone who is familiar with the early struggles of novelists of distinction, from Defoe to Short house, will bear me out in this contention. Bekskrkkr. IV. More Light. To the Editor of the Author. Sin, Will you allow me a short statement of a case which has long battled my powers of compre- hension. It may be simple enough to a disinte- rested reader; but, not being disinterested, I don't quite understand it. In 1878 Messrs. Allen & Co. published my "Warren Hastings; a Biography," on the half profits system. The book was intended as a counterblast to Mill and Macaulay. Some people arc prone to complain of their critics, but I have no cause to complain of mine. By the press in general, both at home and abroad, my book was received with warm approval, both as a " readable" work and as a timely "corrective" of the popular notions imbibed from Macaulay's well-known  ## p. 182 (#586) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. essay. My reading of Impey's conduct in the Nuncoinar affair anil on some other occasions was amply justified, a few years later, by Sir James Stephen's "Nuncomar and Impey." My general estimate of Hasting'* character and policy has now been finally confirmed by Mr. G. Forrest's volumes of Selections from the Bengal State Papers. All this may seem very satisfactory from a certain point of view. But il faut vivre, and even authors must sometimes think of money, especially if they have families. Has this book brought me any substantial profit? Xot one halfpenny, so far. My publishers inform me that they have sold about 35o copies of my book. Assuming the correctness of their statement, I may be excused for wondering at so poor a return for labours which many competent judges had'deemed so fruitful. It is a puzzle which fairly floors me. Out of a population of 35 millions or so in these islands, only 3oo persons have bought copies of a work which, in 383 post-octavo pages of largish type, deals with the foremost figure in one of the stormiest periods of our Indian history. Did the publishers charge too high a price—ten shillings—- for such a volume? It was double what I would have charged, but they ought to know their own business best. Was it a dull book on a dull subject? The critics all assured me to the con- trary, and so have many private readers, who had no special interest in Indian subjects. Was the book insufficiently advertised? Such a question might be unjust to the publishers. Other questions occur to me, but why go on quessing in the dark? With dying Goethe I ask for "more light." Can you, Sir, or any other expert help me to a single ray? Yours obediently, L. J. Trotter. v. An HoxoniiAiir.E Action. Having seen the notice of the "Honourable Action," signed llossignol, in your last issue, I should like to say that an almost exactly similar circumstance occurred with me, but the publishers were, in my case, the Committee of a Religious Society. Like Rossignol, I received a letter offer- ing me about two-thirds of what I expected, and, thinking I must have been mistaken in thinking my story as long as it was, I accepted the offer, and signed the agreement of copyright. Six months after, the Editor wrote asking me to kindly correct a few mistakes in the type-writing of the story before it went to press, and sent it. to me for that purpose; and then, to my surprise, I found it really was a third longer than they had evidently calculated it to be. In fact, on the back of the MS. were the figures made by some clerk in adding up the words, and he had made a mistake in the last line which made it appear 20,000 words shorter than it really was. I sent my representa- tion of the facts to the Editor, and at the next meeting of the Committee they at once ordered a cheque to be made out for me for the additional amount, and expressed their regret that the mistake had occurred. I may add that I have had between 20 and 3o story books for the young published, and, with one exception, the Religious Societies have paid iue better than the publishers with whom I have had dealings. [A very satisfactory letter. It would, however, have been better had the writer given the name of the Society, ■ and still better had she given the following particulars: (1) the cost of producing the book; (2) the price of the book; (3) the number of copies the Society was certain of selling; (4) the sum paid to her. We should then have been in a position to state the profit received by the Society, and to acknowledge, if possible, that it was a just, and fair, and Christian proportion of profit.—Editor.] VI. Authors and Illustrators. To the Editor of the Author. Sir, The following, which appeared in Truth of October loth, and since in other papers, has been responded to by several members of the Press. 1 A few weeks back I mentioned that Mr. Henry Blackburn proposed to undertake the task of educating the critics of illustrated books—a work for which I can readily believe that there is plenty of room. In pursuit of this end, Mr. Blackburn asks me to state that he now invites his brethren of the Press to spend an hour at his studio, 123, Victoria Street, there to familiarize themselves with the various mechanical processes employed in the art of illustrating books and news- papers. Mr. Blackburn writes :— "At this particular time of year, when piles of illustrated books lie waiting for 4 review,' it may not be inopportune to ask that those upon whom the reputations of so many artists, engravers, and makers of ' process ' blocks depend, should know something more than they have hitherto done of the mcdus opcr<indi of book and newspaper illustration, and especially of the reasons for the failures which they see before them. "In England it is, unfortunately, not considered 'good form ' to know much of workshops, and our best artists, as a rule, take little interest in the  ## p. 183 (#587) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. methods by which their works are reproduced. Hence the ignorance of writers—art critics learned in schools and styles—of what is common knowledge in France."' As the matter is really an important one to authors, perhaps you will allow me to extend the invitation through your columns, beyond the domain of the "live" journalist to that of the more isolated literary man. The main object is to bring the author more " en rapport" with the illustrator; to do this in the easiest way and with the least restraint. Ac- knowledge which an author can thus gain, quietly, in an hour's visit, will, if I may say so, be useful to him sometime or other; and amongst the uses, not the least will be the knowledge of how he can best aiil his illustrator. As to "educating critics" and the general statement that illustrations in books are continually criticised without sufficient knowledge, I feel bound, in a plain-speaking journal like the Author, to give "chapter and verse." My contention is that our leading art critics are not, from force of circumstances, well informed on matters of technique, e.g., that the writers in the Athcna-urn, the Saturday Review, and the Times speak erroneously of the photo - mechanically- produced blocks used in the type-press, as "inferior and rubbishing processes" (sic), which in jure the artist's work and degrade modern illustration; that, they ignore the fact that it is generally the misuse of the processes, and not the processes themselves which are at fault. The beautiful methods of photo-engraving now available do actually improve the illustrator's work, if he will learn to draw aright. This can be proved beyond question, and the younger generation of illustrators are giving daily demonstration of the fact. For the misuse of the processes, of course both publishers and the makers of blocks are mainly responsible, the latter especially for under- taking work for which the "processes" are unfitted, such, for instance, as attempting to turn a wash drawing into a relief block when it should have been handed to a wood engraver. In the Athcnteum illustrations produced mechani- cally are constantly referred to as "cuts" (as if wood-engraved), a most misleading expression for an author to read in his weekly organ. But not to go further into details, if you think the subject of sufficient importance, the Author may do good service in ventilating it and inviting discussion. Yours faithfully, Henry Blackburn. 123, Victoria Street, Westminster, 19th October, 1891. ■ A CASE FOR THE SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH. ABATHER puzzling experience has just been related to me. A man who was going abroad last mouth met in Broadway, the day before he sailed, an Englishman whom he believed to be in London, and whom he expected to see when he reached that city. As soon as he saw him, he said to himself, "Hello, there's Vaulter !"—or words to that effect, the real name bring immaterial to the story. The two men—not old friends, but acquaintances on very friendly terms—seemed glad to see each other, and stopped anil shook hands. The American had a moment's misgiving as to the identity of his vis-a-vis, but it disappeared under the reassuring influence of the replies his questions drew forth. "When did you get here?" he asked. "Last. Wednesday," was the answer— Wednesday being one of the days on which the fast steamers arrive from England. "Is your wife with you?" "Yes." "When do you return?" "Next Saturday." "I shall be sorry not to see you upon the other side: I sail on the 'Majestic' to-morrow" (it was then Tuesday) "and had counted on seeing you and your wife in London." "I shall be very sorry to iniss you," was the polite response. "By the way," exclaimed the American, "where is Mrs. . She was to be in London now, and I had expected to learn her address front you." The name mentioned was that of a well- known American writer, whose cousin the English- man had married. "She is down in the country visiting some of her relations." After exchanging a few more words, the two men shook hands again, smiled, touched their hats, and parted. On arriving at his office, five minutes later, the American dropped a line to the son of the lady whose exact whereabouts he had neglected to ascer- tain from his English friend: and by return of post received an address in Clarges Street. "What you say about Vaulter," added the young man, " is [Hire abracadabra to me: the last I heard of him lie was with my people in England. Quare: Is this a ease for the Society for Psychical Research?" The puzzled American sailed from New York the next day, and on his arrival at Liverpool posted to the London address of the lady in the ease a note reporting the contradictory statements as to her place of sojourn. When he reached London two days thereafter, an answer to his letter awaited him at his hotel in Jermyn Street. It contained an invitation to dinner; and the next evening over a spotless cloth around which a typical English butler  ## p. 184 (#588) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. moved with noiseless dignity, the tale of tlie inter- view of ten days ago in Broadway was told at length. "I have been visiting relations in the country," said the hostess, "but not for several weeks; and Mr. Vaulter hasn't been out of England for many months." Needless to say, the mystified American made a point of calling upon the Vaulters at their pleasant apartment overlooking Hyde Park. Of' course they were out. "Out of town?" "No, sir, in town, but not at 'omc," A letter with a London postmark and an English stamp brings excellent evidence that they were in town a very few days after this fruitless call; but it does not account for the striking resemblance to Vaulter of the gentle- man in Broadway, nor for his appropriate replies to the questions of his puzzled interlocutor, who is now strongly inclined to think this is "a case for the Society for Psychical Research." From the New York Critic. •»..-♦ "AT THE AUTHOR'S HEAD." ARCHDEACON Farrar, in his new book "Darkness and Dawn, or Scenes in the Days of Nero," returns to his old field, the beginnings of Christianity, but not to his old publishers. Messrs. Longmans, Green, and Co. produce his new book. There is a perennial charm in anything written about Cervantes and Don Quixote, always provided that the writer is competent in his subject. Mr. H. E. Watts is well known as the latest and best translator of the immortal work. He has now contributed a life of the great Spaniard to the series known as "Great Writers," which, if names could make a serial succeed, should l>e a very great success indeed, containing, as it does, such writers as Hall Caine, Augustine Birrell, Rossetti, Sharp Hannay, Austin Dobson, Garnett, Edmund Gosse, Sime, Oscar Browning, and last, not least, H. E. Watts. It has a stirring eventful story to tell, set in a stirring time. The life illustrates the great book. The book illustrates the life. Let no one read the life who does not know the book, let no one hence- forth read the book again until he has read the life. A most valuable bibliography is appended to the work. Mrs. Goddard Orpen has just completed a series of papers entitled "Chronicles of the Sid," which will begin in the November number of the Leisure Hour, and will run through- out the year. The "Chronicles" are mainly concerned with the journey of a lady through the Algerian Sahara and Upper Egypt. Miss Augusta A. Varty-Smith (Sa'imath), author of " The Fawcette and Garods," is about to issue a novel in three volumes, entitled " Matthew Tindale." The story, which has already appeared in serial form, will be published by Messrs. R. Bentley and Sons. On November 2nd will appear Mrs. F. Marsh's new novel, "The Junior Dean." (Chatto and Windus.) 3 vols. "The Railway Foundling," by "Nomad," has been issued in a cheap edition, 2s. 6cl. It has been highly spoken of as a work of vivacity and adven- ture with a clever story. A fourth edition of Mr. M. Powis Bale's "Handbook for Steam Users" will he published immediately by Messrs. Longmans. Mr. Ernest M. Bowden's " Imitation of Buddha," enriched by a preface from Sir Edwin Arnold, will l>e issued immediately by Messrs. Methuen & Co. It will contain quotations from Buddhist literature for every day in the year. The price will be 3s. 6d. Mrs. (Emma) Marshall will publish early in November, through Messrs. Seeley and Co., "Winifrede's Journal," in the days of Joseph Hale, D.D., sometime Bishop of Exeter and Norwich, author of "Under Salisbury Spire and Winchester Meads." The same author will shortly issue— "Little Queenie," a story of child-life 60 years ago. Messrs. John Shaw and Co. "These Three," a story for girls. "Born in the Purple." "My Lady Bountiful." All through Messrs. Nisbet and Co. "Bear Hunting in the White Mountains" (Chapman and Hall) is the title of the new work by Mr. Hey wood W. Seton-Karr. It should have been announced in the October number. •ft-  ## p. 185 (#589) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. Note a charming little book for children, " Bub," by Ismay Thorn (Blackie & Son). Among the new books of the season must be mentioned " United States Pictures." Drawn with pen and pencil by Richard Lovett, M.A. It has u map and 100 engravings. It is published by the Religious Tract Society. appeals to everybody alike. It is Mr. Athol Maudslay'snew book on Nature's Weather Warnings and Natural Phenomena, published by Simpkin, Marshall & Co. It is a book of rules for fore- casting the weather, with a number of old world rustic and seagoing prognostications, as useful as they are interesting. We regret to announce the death of Mrs. Price, a novelist who was rapidly rising to distinction. Several of her tales are still coming out or are arranged for. A serial from her pen is about to run through a Glasgow paper. She has left a one- volume story completed, and an unfinished two- volume story. Mr. C. H. Cope produces "Reminiscences" of his father, Charles West Cope, R.A. (Bentley and Son). He has also brought out a short memoir (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge), entitled " Strength Made Perfect in Weakness." On Thursday was published "Mr. and Mrs. Herries," by Miss May Crommelin, author of "Goblin Gold," "Queenie," "Midge," "Violet. Vyvian," <fcc. Another work, by the same author, is running in Woman, called " For the Sake of the Family." Mr. Hume Nisbet's new Romance, entitled " The Jolly Roger," a Tale of Sea Heroes and Pirates, will appear immediately. The work is illustrated by the author. Miss Mary C. Rowsell, author of " Love Loyal," "Miss Vanbrugh," &c, is producing (Skeifington and Co.), a volume of stories called "Petronella," of which the title story is the novel form of the drama produced some months ago. Those who spoke well of that play will be glad to hear that it will be probably produced again before long and with considerable alterations. Among the multitude of new books all crying out to be heard and all belonging to this or "that school, calling, or persuasion, here is one which NEW LOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS. Theology. Axo.v, W. K. A. The Collected Sermons of Thomas Fuller, D.D., i63i-i65<). Edited by the late J. K. Bailey, F.S.A. Completed by. x vols. Unwin Brothers. Berry, T. .S. Christianity and Kuddhism. zs. 6J. Balk, R. L., LL.D. Fellowship with Christ and other discourses delivered on special occasions. Hodder and Stoughton. 6.v. Diggi.e, Rev. Canon'. Sermons for Daily Life. 5s. Kx-ei.t., Rev. J. S. The Biblical Illustrator—St. John, Vol. III. Nisbet, Berners Street. 7s. 6d. Foster, Rev. J. K. Pain, its Mystery and Meaning, and other Sermons. 3.s. 6J. Frif.di.ander, M. The Jewish Religion. Kcgan Paul. Harrison, Rev. Alex. Problems of Christianity and Scepticism. Longmans, ys. 6(1. Macduff, J. R., D.D. St. Paul's Song of Songs: A prac- tical exposition of the Eighth Chapter of Romans. 3s. 6d. Maurice, F. I). Sermons Preached in Lincoln's Inn Chapel. Vol. I. (in 6 vols.). Xew Edition. Mae- millan. 3s. 6rf. Moore, A. L., M.A. The Message of the Gospel. Ad- dresses and Sermons. Percival. 3s. 6ri. Stokes, Prof. Sir G. G., M.P. Natural Theology. The Gilford Lectures, delivered before the University of Edinburgh in 1891. A. and C. Black. Texts and Studies contributing to Biblical and Patristic Literature, Vol. I. No. 2. The Passion of S. Perpetua, w ith an appendix on the Seillitan Martyrdom, by J. A. Robinson, B.D., 4s. No. 3. The Lord's Prayer in the Early Church, by F. II. Chase, B.D., 5s. No. 4. The Fragments of lleracleon, by A. E. Brooke, M.A., 4s. Cambridge University Press. Wordsworth, John, l).l). (Hishop of Salisbury). The Holy Communion, Four Visitation Addresses. Parker, Oxford ami London.  ## p. 186 (#590) ############################################ i86 THE AUTHOR. History and Biography. Adams, W. Davenport. Some Historic Women: Bio- graphicul Studies of Women who have Made History. With portraits. Hogg, Paternoster Row. 3s. 6d. Bigger, E. B. Anecdotal Life of Sir John Macdonald. Stanford, Charing Cross. Brown, Cornelius. A History of Nottinghamshire. Elliot Stock. 7s. 6d. Burnky, James, F.R.S. History of the Buccaneers of America. Reprinted from the edition of 1816. Swan Sonnenschein. Clark, Andrew, M.A. The Colleges of Oxford; their History and Traditions. 11 chapters contributed by Members of the Colleges. Edited by. Methucn. CoMPTON, Herbert. A Master Mariner; Being the Life and Adventures of Capt. R. W. Eastwiek. Edited by. Illustrated. The Adventure Series. Fisher I'nwin. St. Craui-urd, Rev. A. H. General Craufurd and his Light Division. 16s. Daniell, G. W., M.A. Bishop Wilberforce. "English Leaders of Religion " Series. With portrait. Methucn. zs. 6d. Froude, J. A. The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon. The story as told by the Imperial Ambassadors resi- dent at the Court of Henry VIII., in usum laicorum. Being a supplementary volume to the author's History of England. Longmans, ids. Green, J. R. A Short History of the English People. Issued in monthly parts. Illustrated. Part I. Mac- millan. Paper covers, is. Greenwood, Thomas, F.R.G.S. Public Libraries: A History of the Movement and a Manual for the Organization and Management of Rate-Supported Libraries. Fourth Edition, revised and brought up to date. Twelfth Thousand. Cassell. zs. 6d. Hannay, David. Rodney. English Men of Action Series. Macruilian. zs. 6d. Jerrold, Blanchard. Life of Gustave Dore, with illus- trations from original drawings by Dore. W. H. Allen. Phillimore, Adm. Sir Aug., K.O.B. The Last of Nelson's Captains (Admiral Sir William Parker, 1781-1866). Harrison, Pall Mall. Robertson, .1. Looie, M.A. Thomson—the Seasons and the Castle of Indolence. Edited, with biographical notice, introductions, notes, and a glossary, by. Clarendon Press. 45. 6</. Robertson, John R., and Hunter, H. The Life of Robert Coates, better known as "Romeo" and "Diamond" Coates—the celebrated Amateur of Fashion. Sampson Low. Scott, C, and Cecil Howard. The Life and Reminis- cences of E. L. Blanchard, with Notes from the Diary of William Blanchard. With portraits and illustrations. z vols. Hutchinson, Paternoster Square, izs. Swinnerton, Emily. George Eliot, Her Early Home. Illustrated by G. G. Kilburnc, R.A., and Patty Towns- end. Raphael Tuck. 16s. Watkin, Sir E. W., M.P. Alderman Cobden of Man- chester; Letters and Reminiscences of Richard C'obdeu. With portraits, illustrations, facsimiles, and index. Ward, Lock, and Bowden. 16s. Watts Phillips, E. Watts Phillips, Artist and Play- wright. With portraits and facsimiles of letters and sketches. Cassell. 10s. 6d. Weber, F. A Popular History of Music, from the Earliest Times. With illustrations. Simpkin Marshall. Wordsworth, C, D.D., D.C.L. Annals of My Early Life, 1806-46, with Occasional compositions in Latin and English verse. Longmans. Educational. Dyer, J. M., and Whitcombe, Rev. R. H. Elementary Trigonometry. Assistant Masters at Eton College. George Bell. 4*. 6d. Gardiner, S. R., M.A. A School Atlas of English History. Edited by. Companion Atlas to the "Student's History of England." Longmans. 5s. German Declensions and Conjugations by Help of Reason and Rhyme. By F. Storr, B.A., Master at Merchant Taylors* School, is. 6d. Outlines of Logic, Psychology, and Ethics. By Arthur Baker, M.A. 45. 6d. Pope's Iliad of Homer. Vol. II. Selections from Books IX.-XYI., with introduction and notes by H. L. Earl. lod. Percival. Lawrence-Hamilton, J., M.R.C.S. Suggestions for Fisherfoiks' Primary and Technical Education. Paper Covers, is. Loney, S. L., M.A. A Treatise on Elementary Dynamics. Second Edition, revised and enlarged. Cambridge University Press. Monro, C. H., M.A. Digest XIX. 2, Locati Coudtieti. Translation, with notes, by. Cambridge University Press. Primary French Exercises. By A. A. Somcrville, M.A. is. 6d. Le Violon de Faience. Par Jules C'hamp- fleury. Edited by Cloris Bevenot. zs. Pierre et Camille, et l'Histoire d'un Merle Blanc. Par A. de Musset. Edited by W. Dewar, M.A. zs. Pecheur d'Islaude. Par Pierre Loti. Edited by R. J. Morich. zs. Recits de Guerre et de Revolution. Edited by B. Minssen, M. es A. 8<i. The Structure of Sen- tences. By R. Somervell, M.A. is. 6d. An Intro- duction to the Differential and the Integral Calculus. By T. H. Miller, B.A. 3s. 6d. Physiography: A Class-book for the Elemeutary Stage of the Science and Art Department. By J. Spencer, B.Sc. zs. 6d. Percival. Waller, Augustus D., M.D. An Introduction to Human Physiology. Longmans. 18s. Ward, Rowland, F.Z.S. The Sportsman's Handbook to Practical Collecting and Preserving Trophies. Sixth edition, with numerous illustrations. Simpkin, Marshall. General Literature. Anderson, A. A., and Wall, A. The Romance of N'Shabc; being a record of startling adventures in South Central Africa. Illustrated. Chapman and Hall. 5*.  ## p. 187 (#591) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 187 Andkrton, Thomas. Letters from a Country House. Reprinted from the Midland Counties Herald. Simp- kin and Marshall. Archer, William. Tales of Two Countries, from the Norwegian of Alexauder L. Kielland. The translation and introduction by. Osgood, M'llvaine. 3s. 6d. Armstrong, A. E. Three Bright Girls: a Story. Illus- trated. Blackie. 3s. 6rf. Arnold, Sir Edwin, M.A., K.C.I.E. Seas and Lands. Reprinted by permission of the proprietors of the Daily Telegraph from letters published under the title " By Sea and Land" in that journal by. With illustrations. Longmans, iis. Ashton, John. Ileal Sailor Songs, collected and edited. Illustrations. Leadenhall Press, il. is. Balguy, Gut. The Bantams of Sheffield. Leadenhall Press, is. 6d. Barrett, Erank. The Sin of Olga Zassoulich; a Novel. 3 vols. Chatto and Windus. Benson, Mary Eleanor. At Sundry Times and in Divers Manners. A Story. 2 vols., with portrait. Kegan Paul. Bhkesford, Emma. My Lady Bountiful: a Story. Nisbet. is. bd. Blades, William. The Pentateuch of Printing, with a chapter on Judges. Elliot Stock. To subscribers lis. 3d. Boa-SE, Erederic. Catalogue of the Printed Books in the Library of the Incorporated Law Society. Printed for the Society by Spottiswoode, New Street Square, E.C. Boswell, It. li., M.A. Zadig and other Talcs. By Voltaire (1746-1767). A new translation bv. George Bell. 3s. 6d. Brkton, Jules. The Life of an Artist. Art and Nature. Translated by Mary J. Serrano. Sampson Low. Brooks, Noah. The Boy Settlers. A Story of Early Times in Kansas. Illustrated. Sampson Low. Bryce, Lloyd. Bomance of an Alter Ego. Routledge. at. Caine, Hall. The Scapegoat: a Romance in two volumes. Heincmann. 21s. Cambridge, Ada. A Marked Man. Popular edition. Heincmann. 3s. bd. Chamberlain, B. H., and Mason, W. B. A Handbook for Travellers in Japan. Third edition, revised, and for the most part re-written. With maps. John Murray. 15.v. Child, Theodore. Delicate Dining. Osgood, M'llvaine. 3s. 6d. Clark, E. B. Twelve Months in Peru. Illustrated. Eisher Vnwin. 5s. Clark Russell, W. My Danish Sweetheart: a Novel. 3 vols. Methuen. Clayden, Arthur. British Colonization: a Colonial Want and an Imperial Necessity. A lecture. Clarke, Eleet Street. Paper covers. bd. Cobban, J. Maclaren. A Reverend Gentleman. Methuen. Coleridge, C. R. Amethyst: the Story of a Beauty. 2 vols. Innes, Bedford Street, W.C. 12s. Cooke, M. C, M.A. British Edible Fungi: How to Distinguish and How to Cook Them, with coloured figures. Kegan Paul. Cross, Joseph. A Daughter of the Gods: Ballads from the First, Second, and Third Books of the Iliad. Etchings by Tristram Ellis. Leadenhall Press, -s. bd. Dalin, Tai.maoe. European Relations. A Tirolese Sketch. Volume of the Pseudonym Library. Eisher Unwin. Paper covers, is. 6d. Davey, Henry. The Student's Musical History. Curwcu, Warwick Lane, E.C. Paper covers, is. Da vies, Mary. At the Antipodes. Travels, 1888-89. By G. Verschuur. Translated by. With illustrations. Sampson Low. Deane, Mary. Mr. Zin/.an of Hath: or, Seen in an Old Mirror. A Novel. Innes, Bedford Street, W.C. 6s. Dennehy, W. E. The Story of the Union: Told by its Plotters. Lalor, Mid Abbey Street, Dublin. Paper covers, is. Dickixs, Charles. David Copperfield. Illustrated. Chapman and Hall. Paper covers, bd. Doudney, Sarah. Godiva Durleigh: a Novel for Girls. 3 vols. Sampson Low. Fisher, Annie G. Daisy's Story. With illustrations. Houlstou. 2«. bd. Fletcher, R. Howe. Marjorie and her Papa: How They Wrote a Story and Made Pictures for It. Illustrated by R. B. Birch. Fisher Unwin. 3s. bd. Gow, Greoson. Brave and True, and other Stories. Blackie. 2s. Gregs, Joseph. Humorous Art: the Social Aspect of Life in the Royal Navy. Illustrated from pictorial broadsides, naval sketches, sea songs, and popular caricature, with engravings and descriptive notes by. Sampson Low. Paper covers, is. Gulland, J. W. How Edinburgh is Governed: a Hand- book for Citizens. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh, is. Haines, Randolph. Unless: a Romance. Blackwood. Hall, Hubert, F.S.A. The Antiquities and Curiosities of the Exchequer. Illustrated by Ralph Ncvill, F.S.A. With preface by Sir John Lubbock, F.R.S., F.S.A. Volume of the Camden Library. Elliot Stock. Hall, Edward, M.A., LL.D., &c. The Physical Geology and Geography of Ireland. Second edition, revised, with coloured maps and illustrations. Stanford. Harrison, F. Bayford. Littlehourne Lock. Blackie. is. bd. Mary Harrison's Guide to Modern Cookery: with a preface by Sir T. Dyke Acland. Sampson Low.  ## p. 188 (#592) ############################################ 188 THE AUTHOR. Henty, G. A. A Talc of the Nile Expedition. Blackie. 6s. Held Fast for England: a Tale of the Siege of Gibraltar [1779-8?]. Blackie. 5s. Hibbard, G. A. Iduna, and other Stories. Osgood and Co. 5s. Hobbes, J. Oliver. Some Emotions and a Moral. Volume of the Pseudonym Library. Fisher Unwin. Paper covers. is. 6d. Hoffman, Professor. The Illustrated Book of Patience Games. Translated from the German and edited by. Boutledge. HooAlf, J. F. The Convict King: being the Life and Adventures of Jorgeu Jorgenson. Keloid by. Ward and Downey. Holmes, Richard. The Black Friars of Pontefract: an account of their rise, progress, and fall. Printed for the Yorkshire Archaeological and Topographical Association. The Homeless Poor of London. Report of a Special Committee of the Charity Organization Society, June, 1891. Published by the Charity Organization Society. Printed by Spottiswoode, New Street Square. Paper covers, is. Hope, Anthony. Father Stafford: a Novel. Cassell. Hope, Asoott K. Redskin and Paleface: Romance and Adventure on the Plains. Illustrated. Hogg. 3*. 6d. «—— The Wigwam and the Warpath: or, Tales of the Red Indians. New and cheaper edition. Blackie. 3s. IIozer, M. A. A Canterbury Tale. Illustrated. Hogg, is. Hutton, Laurence. Literary Landmarks of Edinburgh. Illustrated. Osgood, M'llvainc. 5s. Curiosities of the American Stage. Illustra- tions. Osgood, M'llvaine. 12s. 6d. IIyne, C. J. Stimson's Reef: a Tale of Adventure. Blackie. is. 6d. Japp, Alex. H., LL.D. Uncle Tom's Cabin. By Harriet Becchcr Stowe. With the original illustrations by George Thomas, and a biographical and critical sketch of the author, by. Hogg, Paternoster Row. 4s. 6d. Kino, J. Percv. As the Wind Plows: Stray Song in many Moods. Leadenhall Press. 5s. Lee, Katiikrine (Mrs. H. Jenner). Love or Money. A novel by. 3 vols. Bentley. Lovktt, Richard, M.A. United States Pictures; drawn with pen and pencil by. With map and illustrations. Religions Tract Society. 8s. Ludlow, James M. A King of Tyre: a Tale of the Times of Ezra and Nehemiah. Osgood, M'llvaine. Lvall, Edna. Max Hereford's Dream. Simpkin Marshall. Parchment covers. 6d. McCarthy, M. T. F., B.A. Mr. I$alfour's Rule in Ireland. Simpkin, Marshall. Paper covers, is. McIntyre, Maj. Gen. D., V.C., F.R.G.S. Hindu-Koh: Wanderings and Wild Sport on and beyond the Himalayas. New edition. With illustrations. Black- wood. 7s. 6d. Marchbank, Agnes. Some Edinburgh Bohemians. Illus- trated. Simpkin, Marshall. Paper covers, is. Mason, A. G. The Women of the French Salons. With portraits and illustrations. Fisher Unwin. a5s. Matthews, Brander. With my Friends: Tales told in Partnership by. With an introductory essay on The Art and Mystery of Collaboration. Longmans. 6s. Maupassant, Guy de. The Odd Number: i3 Tales. Translated by Jonathan Sturges. "Red Letter Series." Osgood, M'llvainc. 3s. 6d. Maurier, George du. Society Pictures. Drawn by. Selected from Punch. No. i3. Bradbury, Agnew. Paper covers, is. Muir, Alan. Charming to Her Latest Day: a Novel. Illustrated by Hal Ludlow. Sutton, Drowley. 3s. 6J. Moore, George. Vain Fortune. Illustrated by Maurice Greiffcuhagen. Henry. 6s. Morris, M. O'Connor. Peeps at Portugal. Harrison, Pall Mall. Paper covers, is. Norris, W. E. Mr. Chaine's Sons: a Novel. 3 vols. Bentley. Osmaston, Francis. Loose Blades from the One Field. Kegan Paul. Pearce, John. The Merchant's Clerk; the Operations of the Counting House. 18th edition. Effingham Wilson. Phelps, E. S. Fourteen to One. Volume of the "Short Story" Library. Cassell. 6s. Phillips, Mrs. A. A Rude Awakening: a Romance in three volumes. Trischlcr. Pjrkis, C. L. A Red Sister: a Novel. 3 vols. Sampson Low. Pool, Maria L. Dally: a Story. Osgood, M'llvainc. 6s. Quiller-Cocch, A. T. The Warwickshire Avon. Notes by. Illustrations by Alfred Parsons. Osgood, M'llvaine. 12s. 6d. Rockhill, W. W. The Land of the Lamas. Notes of a journey through China, Mongolia, and Tibet, with maps and illustrations. Longmans. 15s. Rives, Amelik. Accordingly to St. John: a Story. Hciuemann. 5». Scott, Sir W. Keuilworth. Cheap edition. A. and C. Black. Paper covers, 6rf. Skarle, Rev. F. C, M.A. To a Boy leaving School for the I'niversity. With a preface by the Rev. J. E. C. Welldon, M.A. Percival. Shorthouse, J. H. Blanche, Lady Falaise: a Tale. Mac- millan. 6s. Smart, Hawley. Beatrice and Benedict: a Romance of the Crimea, 2 vols. F. V. White.  ## p. 189 (#593) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 189 Stanley, H. M. Coomassie and Magdala: the Story of Two Campaigns in Africa. Illustrated by Melton Prior and other artists. Sampson Low. Stockton, F. R. The Squirrel Inn. Sampson Low. Stkahan, S. A. K., M.I). Instinctive Criminality; its True Character and Rational Treatment. A paper read before the Hritish Association. With Prefatory Note and Appendix by. Bale, Great Titchfield Street, W. Paper covers, is. Teegan, T. H. Elementary Education in France. Dublin. Simpkin, Marshall. Thompson, Louisa, Gladys Anstruther, or "The Young Stepmother." Illustrated. Blackie. 2s. bd. Tytlee, SaBah. Girl Neighbours. New and cheaper edition. Black ic. 3s. Wall, J. C. The Tombs of the Kings of England. Illus- trated by the author. Sampson Low. Welches, Adair. Tales of the " Wild and Woolly West." Leadenhall Press, is. Wilkinson, W. H. Those Foreign Devils! A Celestial on England and Englishmen, by Yuan Hsiang-Fu, translated by W.H.W. Leadenhall Press. 2s. bd. Wintek, John Strange. Lumley the Painter: a novel. F. V. White. Paper covers, is. Poetry and the Drama. Bkresford, Gilbert. Poems. Nisbct. 3s. bd. Bradshaw, John, M.A., LL.D. The Poetical Works of Thomas Gray, English and Latin. Edited with an introduction, life, notes, and a bibliographv by George Bell. Collier, J. Payne. The Poetical Works of Edmund Spenser. Edited by. 5 vols. Aldine edition. George Bell. Collingwood, W. G., M.A. The Poems of John RnsVin. Written between the ages of 7 and 26. With an appendix of later poems. Now first collected from original manuscript and printed sources, and edited, in chronological order, with notes, biographical and critical. In 2 vols., with 23 plates, never before pub- lished, from drawings by the author, illustrative of some places mentioned in the text; also facsimiles of two poems, and an early letter to his father. A special edition (limited to 750 copies). George Allen, Sunny- side, Orpington, and 8, Bell Yard, Temple Bar, London. 31. 3s. Gowing, Mrs. Aylmer. Ballads of the Tower, and other Poems, mostly adapted for recitation. Griffith, Farran. Paper covers, is. Lang, Andrew. The Blue Poetry-book. Edited by. With illustrations by H. J. Ford and Lancelot Speed. Longmans. 6s. Lehmann, R. C. In Cambridge Courts: studies of University Life in Prose and Verse. Illustrated. Whitefriars Library. Henry, Bouverie Street. 3s. bd. Lecky, W. E. H. Poems. 5*. Moli&re. Le Misanthrope. A comedy by. Edited, with introduction and notes, by H. W. Gegg Markheim, M.A., Fellow of Queen's College, Oxford. Clarendon Press. 3s. bd. Merry, W. W. Selected Fragments of Roman Poetry: from the earliest times of the Republic to the Augustan Age. Edited, with introduction and notes, by. Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford. Clarendon Press. 6s. bd. Norton, C. E. The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighicri. Translated by. I.—Hell. Macniillan. 6s. Parsons, Alfred. A Selection from the Sonnets of William Wordsworth. With illustrations. Osgood, M'llvaine. »5s. Whitman, W. Good-bye, my Fancy. 4s. 6d. Law. Aire, E. N. The Law of Stamp Duties on Deeds and other Instruments j being the second edition of "A Digest of the Law Relating to Stamp Duties." Jordan, Chancery Lane. 5*. net. Highmork, N. J. Stamp Act, 1891, and the Stamp Duties Management Act, 1891. Stevens. 5». Roberts, James, M.A., and GoLLAN, H. C, M.A. The Law relating to the Public Health of London: being the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, annotated, &c. Hutterworth, Fleet Street. 14s. Rumsky, Almarie. A Legal Haudl>ook for Executors and Administrators. Swan Sonnenschein. Smith, J. W., LL.D. A Handy Hook on the Law of Bills, Cheques, Notes, and I.O.U's. Entirely rewritten. Fifty sixth thousand. Effingham Wilson, is. 6d. YOUNG, T. E., B.A. The German Law of Insurance, 1889, against Invalidity and Old Age: a history, analysis, and criticism. A paper read 'before the Institute of Actuaries. Layton, Farringdon Street. Paper covers. Science. Adams, W. S. Scientific and Practical Treatise on Diseases, &c, to which the horse is liable. 10 s. bd. Clouston, E. S. Neurosis of Development. 7s. bd. Dixon, C. Birds of our Rambles. 7s. 6<f. Durham, W. Food, Physiology, &c. "Science in Plain Language " Series. A. and C. Black, is. bd. Gore, J. K. Star Groups. 5s. Parker, J. Elementary Thermodynamics. 9s. Proctor, R. A. Other Suns than Ours. A Series of Essays, with other Science Gleanings, two Essays on Whist, and Correspondence with Sir John Hersehel. Second Edition. W. H. Allen. Wbightson, Prof. Crops. 2s. bd.  ## p. 190 (#594) ############################################ 190 THE AUTHOR. Parliamentary Papers. Copy of memoranda and tables prepared in view of the proposed inquiry into the Financial Relations between England, Scotland, and Ireland, 311. Census of Ireland, Part I., Vol. I., Province of Leinster. No. 1, County of Carlow, 7d. Irish Land Commission Return for July last, id. Report on Railway Rates and Charges Provisional Order Bills, Part II., 78. 2d. A List of the Principal Indian Government Publications on sale in this country and at the various Government presses in India. Translations of Laws recently passed in France and Germany affecting the Bounties on Sugar, 2d. Eyre and Spottiswoode. Memorandum by the Inspectors of Irish Fisheries relating to the Mackerel Fishing on the Coast of Ireland during the Spring of 1891. Thom, Abbey street, - Du Second Report from the House of Lords Committee on Metropolitan Hospitals, with proceedings and minutes of evidence. Session 1890-91 (6s. 7d.) Census of Ireland, Part I., Vol. I., Province of Leinster. No. 6. County of Longford. 6d. Report of the Directors of Convict Prisons for 1890-91, Part II., 31d. Third Report of the Royal Commission on Mining Royalties, with minutes of evidence, 28. Return for year ended March 31 last of the Army and Navy Officers permitted to hold Civil Employments of Profit in Public Depart. ments, 1d. Report of the Lord Chief Justice's Judgment in the cases of Connor v. Ritson, Gibson v. Lawson, and Curran v. Treleaven on July 14 last, id. Returns as to Still-birth Interments during 1890, 24d. Return of Parishes Divided and districts assigned to Churches by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England, 5d. Reports by Board of Trade on the Classification of Merchandise and Schedule of Maxi- mum Rates determined in respect of the North British, the Ayrshire and Wigtownshire, the Severn and Wye and Severn Bridge Railway Companies, and the Cavan and Leitrim and Roscommon Light Railway and Tramway Company, 6d. each. 14th Report of the Commissioners of Prisons for the year ended March 31, 1891, 5d. 69th Report of the Commissioners of Woods, Forests, and Land Revenues, dated June 29, 1891, Is. 51d. Return of Public Income and Expen- diture for 15 years ended March 31, 1891, 2 d. Kew Bulletin of miscellaneous information for September, 2d. Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1888. Reports by the Board of Trade on the Classification of Mer- chandise Traffic and Schedule of Maximum Rates applicable thereto, in respect of the London and North Western and Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Companies' Joint Railways; the Glasgow and South- Western Railway; and the Cockermouth, Keswick, and Penrith Railway, 6d. each. Accounts relating to Trade and Navigation of the United Kingdom for September, 6d. Statistical Abstract relating to British India, from 1880-81--1889-90, 18. 3d. Return relating to Aliens who became Naturalized Subjects between July 29, 1890, and August 1, 1891, itd. Agricultural Statistics of Ireland for 1890, 18. 3d. Report and Tables relating to Migratory Agricultural Labourers in Ireland, 20. Return of an article on Opium, by Dr. Watt, Reporter on Economic Products with the Government of India, 8d. Return as to Convictions for Drunkenness in England and Wales during 1890, Ad. Report by the Board of Trade on the Classification of Merchandise Traffic and Schedule of Maximum Rates, determined in respect of the Londonderry (Seaham to Sunderland) Railway Company, 6d. Finance Accounts of the United Kingdom for 1890-91 83. Report from the Select Committee on Corn Sales with Proceeding and Minutes of Evidence, 6 d. Reports by the Board of Trade on the Classification of Merchandise Traffic and Schedule of Maximum Rates, determined in respect of the Metropolitan and North Staffordshire Railway Companies, 6d. each. 9th Annual Report of the Fishery Board for Scotland, in three Parts--I. General Report (ud); II. Report on Salmon Fisheries (8d.); III. Scientific Investi- gations (45. 8d.). Report of the Committee on the Spacing and Construction of Watertight Bulkheads in the Mercantile Marine, 6s. Reports by the Board of Trade on the Classification of Merchandise and Sche. dule of Maximum Rates determined in respect of the Bishops Castle, Buckley, and Bridport Railway Com- panies, 6d. each. Judicial Statistics, 1890.--England and Wales. Part 1.--Police, Criminal Proceedings Prisons. Part II.--Equity, Common Law, Civil and Canon Law, 28. Report by the Board of Trade on the Classification of Merchandise Traffic and Schedule of Maximum Rates determined in respect of the Cleator and Workington Junction Railway Company and certain other companies, 3s. 3d.; also in respect of the Limavady and Dungiven Railway Company, 6d.; also in respect of the North-Eastern Railway Company, 6d. Correspondence respecting the Claims of British Sub- jects against the Hellenic Steam Navigation Company, 4d. Census of Ireland, 1891, Part I., Vol. I.--Pro- vince of Leinster. No. 5, Kings County, 8 d. Report from the Select Committee on House of Commons (Ventilation), with proceedings of the Committee and Minutes of Evidence, is. ud. Mineral Statistics of the United Kingdom for 1888 and 1889, 28. 5d. 37th Report of the Postmaster-General on the Post Office, 4d. Return of Public Expenditure (Exchequer Issues), Charges on Taxes for each year, 1857-58 to 1890-91, id. Report on Sanitary Measures in India in 1889-90. Vol. 23. 13. 6d. Eyre and Spottiswoode.  ## p. 191 (#595) ############################################ A D VER TISEMENTS. THE SOCIETY OF TYPISTS. (EMPLOYERS AND CLERKS.) ZFOTTlsriDIEID MAY, 1888. To protect Employers from undercutting in price; to ensure Clerks being paid a fair "wage; and for the prevention of the Sweating practised in cheap work Offices. SCHEDULE OF PRICES. Legal and General Copying - Carbon Duplicates of ditto Author's MSS. iu quantities of 3,ooo words and over - - Medical and Scientific MSS. - Ralancc Sheets (Red Ruling extra) - Carbon Duplicates, each copy two- thirds top copy. Prompt Books, per Act, 18 pp. 4to. typed - Prompt Rooks, after 18 pp. - Actors' Parts when Prompt Rook is not typed (size of page half- foolscap) - Carbon Duplicates, each copy half price top copy. Typing from Dictation - Hire of Type-writer and Operator folio (71 id. per folio. 1 \d. per words). it. id. per 1,000 words, from m. 6d. per 1,000 words. 2</. per folio. LIST OF MEMBERS. per page. irf. per page. Hire of Type-writer and Operator ()perator only day ex- from 2«. 6d. per hour, iw.' per day (10 to 5). £2 5s. per week 7s. 6rf. per (travelling pensei extra). Addressing envelopes - - from 7s. 6<i. per 1,000. Typing from French, German, Italian, or Spanish - - from 3<f. per folio. Typing Plays from above Languages Half as much again as ordinary price. Postage and special qualities of paper charged extra. Fee for Instruction in Type-writing, £2 2«. for six weeks, two hours daily, morning or afternoon, payable in advance. All information can be obtained from the HONORARY SECRETARY, 55, Chancery Lane, W.C. Miss Allen, 39, Lombard Street. Miss Ashworth, 28, Victoria Street, Westminster. Mr. H. H. Rill, 22, The Avenue, Redford Park, W. Mr. J. H. Rarber, 193, L'nion Street, Plymouth. Mrs. Callard, Savoy Mansions. Mr. Cassal, 21, Parliament Street, S.W. Mr. J. C. Casso.v, 55, Chancery Lane, W.C. Mr. J. Darke, Lion Chambers, Rroad Street, Rristol. Mr. Davison (Caligraph), Queen Street, E.C. Mr. J. W. Karle (Remington), 100, Grucechurch Street, E.C. Fitch Typewriter Co., Queen Victoria Street. Mr. H. L. Hall, 100, Gracechurch Street, E.C. Mr. F. .1. Hallett, Taunton. Misses Hadwen & Fleming, Queen Street, Edinburgh. Mrs. Marshall, i 26, Strand, W.C. Mdme. Monchablon, 26, Austin Friars, E.C. Messrs. North, South, & Co., 14, St. George's Square, Edinburgh. Mr. H. Quinton, 1, Pavilion Parade, Rrightou. Miss Richardson, 5, Victoria Street, W.C. Mr. W. J. Richardson (Rar-loek), 12, Queen Victoria Street, E.C. Mr. A. M. Ross, North John Street, Liverpool. Miss A. Stewart, 32, High Street, Southampton. Mrs. Si'Rinoett, 4, Abchureh Yard, E.C. Miss Taylor, Poultry Chambers, E.C. Messrs. Treadwell & Wright, Devereuz Ruildings, Dcvereux Court, W.C. Miss Weyman, Hillside, Mortimer, Rerks. Clerks employed on Piece Work in Society Offices are paid extra for carbon copies. HONORARY SECRETARY, 55, Chancery Lane.  ## p. 192 (#596) ############################################ 192 ADVERTISEMENTS. NOPS' ELECTROTYPE AGENCY. FINE ART ELECTROS. Wk have at our disposal 2,000,000 (Two Millions) of Engravings suitable for Illustrating Newspapers, Hooks, Circulars, Magazines, Pamphlets, Children's Papers, &c., &c., and have Comprehensive Indexes, of Portraits and Views always ready for reference. We shall he glad to receive a call from any one requiring Illustrations of any kind; and if clients at a distance will kindly send us a list of subjects they require, together with sire limit, a .Selection of suitable Proofs will be at once despatched to them. Cuts found to illustrate MS. or Text. Agents for the "Illustrated. London News," "Graphic," "Black and White," "Lady's Pictorial," "Strand Magazine," "Pictorial World," &c, and the principal Foreign Illustrated Papers. Telegraphic Address—" DEN0PS, LONDON." Telephone Nmber—1880. 19, L U D G A T E HILL, LONDON, E. C. Branches in Paris, New York, Melbourne, Ontario, and Bombay. HOW SHALL I WRITE MY MANUSCRIPT? -—Q»3O0ttr»--rH THE old-fashioned way was by quill or steel pen; the modern way is by a Typewriter. If you adopt the modern way, then the success of the change depends upon the Typewriter you select. And, remember, there is a great difference in Typewriters. Correct theory, substantial construction, and mechanical details rendered perfect bv unlimited expenditure and three years' practical experience. Ease of Management, Durability, VISIBLE WRITING, Perfect Writing, Automatic Line Spacing, Automatic Inking, Duplicate Keyboard, m-e among the qualities which malce every owner of a bar-lock: modern standard typewriter So content and satisfied. We want you to have a BAIl-LOCK on Free Trial for a week—you will not want to use a pen again. We supply them for Cash or by 12 Monthly Payments of £1 ig*., or 24 of £1 is. id. The BAR-LOCK was awarded the only Gold Medal at Edinburgh, 1890, and Jamaica, 1891. It is used by the Sub-editor of the Times and many London and Provincial Papers. It is also in use at the offices of the Morning Post, St. Stephen's Review, the Star, the Manchester Guardian, the Western Morning News, the Plymouth Mercury, &c, &c. Illustrated Catalogue sent Post Free on Application to— THE TYPEWRITER COMPANY, LTD. LONDON: 12 & 14, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.C. MANCHESTER: 45, Market Street. LIVERPOOL: 1, South John Street. GLASGOW: 22, Renfleld Street. London: Printed by Evuu and Si'OTtiswoodk, Printers to the Queen's most Excellent Majesty. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author, Vol. 02 Issue 06 (November 1891) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 02 Issue 06 (November 1891) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927&amp;view=1up&amp;seq=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1891-11-01-The-Author-2-6 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/256/1891-10-01-The-Author-2-5.pdf c85859c2bc77d44eeff6fc50420726fd PDF Text Text �������������������������������� 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 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) 1891-10-01 Volume 2 Issue 5 Pages Page range in volume 129–160 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18911001 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin The Author. (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT.. - --- - Vol. II.—No. 5.] - - - OCTOBER 1, 1891. [PRICE SIXPENCE. - - - -- ::: :::: ::: ::': ::: PAGE . 119 .. 149 ::: 1 Notices The Authors' Club.. . A Ladies' Club .. . To an Author who complained of Neglect.. My Brother Charles. An Extract Pegasus in Harness .. .. “Authors' Complaints and Publishers' Profits Popular Platitudinous Philosophy Notes and News .. Lists and Risks From America Reviewers and Reviews .. Magazines and Contributions ... Commission Books 138 :::::::::::::: --- -- CONTENTS. PAGE 1 .. 133 An Instructive Case .. 134 The Marlowe Memorial “Good Work, Sure Pay" .. 135 Correspondence- .. 135 I. The Statute of Limitations .. II. Fiction and Reality 1 38 II. Slating .. .. .. IV. Words and Bricks 140 V. A Provident Society. VI. An Honourable Action 146 VII. Reviews and Reviewers 147 Pages Cut or Uncut "At the Author's Head " .. 148 New Books .. .. .. :::::::::::::: :::::::::::::: 151 150 152 152 152 ::::::: 145 ::::::: ::::::::::: :::::::::: :::::::::: ::::::::::: :::::::::: 152 152 153 153 148 < < EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE. PLIOCENE DEPOSITS OF BRITAIN, THE. By | STATE TRIALS, Reports of. New Series. Vol. III., CLEMENT RBID, F.L.S., F.G.S. Five Plates (48 cuts), gs. 6d. 1831–40. Published under the direction of the State Trials Committee. Edited by JOIN MACDONELL, M.A. 108. LONDON AND NEIGHBOURHOOD: Guide to the | MANUAL OF BIRDS OF NEW ZEALAND). By Geology of. By WILLIAM WHITAKER, B.A. 18. LONDON AND OF PART OF THE THAMES VALLEY, WALTER L. BULLER, C.M.G., Sc.D)., F.R.S. Numerous Plates. Royal 8vo. 108. The Ge Jogy of. By W. WAITAKER, B.A., F.R.S., F.G.S.. INDIGENOUS GRASSES OF NEW ZEALAND. By Assoc. Inst. C.E. Vol. I. DESCRIPTIVE GEOLOGY. 8vo. Cloth, 68. Vol. II. APPENDICES. 8vo. Cloth, 58. JOHN BUCHANAN. Full-page Illustrations. Imp. 4to. Half Morocco, 158. KEW BULLETIN, 1890. Issued by the Director of Kew FOREST FLORA OF NEW ZEALAND. By T. KIRK, Gardens. 28. iod. F.L.S., late Chief Conservator of State Forests, N.Z., &c. KEW BULLETIN, 1891. Monthly, 2d. Appendices, 2d. Numerous Plates. Fcap. folio. Cloth, 128. 6d. each. Annual Subscription, including postage, 38. 9d. HANDBOOK OF NEW ZEALAND FISHES. By R. A. SHERRIN, Demy 8vo. Cloth, 28. DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE OF MUSICAL INSTRU. ORANGE CULTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. By G. C. MENTS recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition. Compiled by Capt. DAY, Oxfordshire Light Infantry, under ALDERTON. Demy 8vo. Cloth, 28. the orders of Col. SHAW-HELLIER, Commandant Royal Military MANUAL OF NEW ZEALAND MOLLUSCA. By School of Music. Illustrated by a series of Twelve artistically Prof. HUTTON. Royal 8vo. 38. executed Plates in Heliogravure, and with numerous Wood NEW ZEALAND DIPTERA, HYMENOPTERA, AND Engravings. 218. ORTHOPTERA. By Prof. HUTTON. Royal 8vo. 28. " It affords information obtainable nowhere else, and it has been NEW ZEALAND COLEOPTERA. Parts 1 to 4. By put together with so much care and thoughtfulness that Capt. Day's volume will be indeed welcomed by all who have to deal with the Captain T. Broux. Royal 8vo. 78. 6d. wind instruments, and can be accepted without question as the THE LITERATURE RELATING TO NEW ZEALAND, standard authority.”-Musical Neus. A Bibliography. Royal 8vo. Cloth, 28. 6d. PUBLIC RECORDS. A Guide to the Principal Classes POLYNESIAN MYTHOLOGY AND ANCIENT TRA- of Documents preserved in the Public Record Office. By S. R. DITIONAL HISTORY OF THE NEW ZEALAND RACE. SCARGILL-BIRD, F.S.A. 78. By Sir GEORGE GREY, K.C.B. Illustrated. Koyal 8vo. Cloth. 5: « The value of such a work as Mr. Scargill-Bird's can scarcely be ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE MAORI. By Jorche over-rated."-Times. WHITE. Demy 8vo. Half Morocco. 4 vols. 1os. per vol. home Monthly Lists of Parliamentary Papers upon Application. Quarterly Lists Post Free, 20. f fraud Miscellaneous List on Application. Second Every Assistance given to Correspondents ; and Books not kept in stock obtained without delay. Remittance accompany Order. Parliament. GOVERNMENT AND GENERAL PUBLISHERS. con ERS. containing the EYRE and SPOTTISWOODE, Her Majesty's Printers, East Harding Street, Lond. I 2  ## p. 130 (#534) ############################################ i3o AD VER TISEMENTS. Messrs. METHTTEN'S NEW BOOKS. By W. E. NORMS. JACK'S FATHER. By W. E. Norris, Author of "Matrimony," 4c. Crown 8vo. 3*. bd. By M. BETHAM EDWARDS. DISARMED. By M. Bktham Edwards, Author of "Kittv," Ac. Crown 8vo. 3*. bd. By EDNA LYALL. DERRICK VAUGHAN, NOVELIST. By Edna Lyaix, Author of "Donovan." New and Cheaper Edition. Paper cover, 15.; limp cloth, 1 *. bd. Thirtv-lirst Thousand. By S. BARING GOULD. ARMINELL: A Social Romance. By S. Baking Gould, Author of "Mehalah." Ac. Third and Cheaper Edition. Paper lioards, 2s.; limp cloth, 3s. bd. By WALTER H. POLLOCK and A. G. ROSS. BETWEEN THE LINES. By Walter H. Pollock and A. G. Ross. Post 8vo. it. By E. McCtUEEN GRAY. ELSA:ANovcl. By E. McQueen Gray. Crown 8 vo. 6«. By W. CLARK RUSSELL. THE LIFE OF ADMIRAL LORD COLLINGWOOD. By W. Clark Russell, Author of "The Wreck of the 'Grosvenor.'" "With Illustrationshv F. Brangwyn. 8vo. i$s. By HANNAH LYNCH. GEORGE MEREDITH: A Study. By Hannah Lynch. With Portrait. Crown 8vo. $s. A limited LarRe-Paper Edition, 2 it. By R. PRYCE. THE QUIET MRS. FLEMING. By Richard Pryce. Crown 8vo. 38. bd. [ Ready. By J. B. BURNE, M.A. PARSON AND PEASANT: Chapters of their Natural History. By J. B. Buene, M.A., Rector of Wasing. Crown 8vo. <*• [Ready. By E. LYNN LINTON. THE TRUE HISTORY OF JOSHUA DAVIDSON, Christian and Communist. By E. Lynn Linton. Tenth and Chea|icr Edition. Post 8vo. is. [Ready. Works by S. BARING GOULD, Author of" Mehalah," Sec. OLD COUNTRY LIFE. By S. Baring Gould. With Sixty-seven Illustrations by W. Parkinson, F. D. Bedford, and F. Masey. Large Crown 8vo, cloth super extra, top edge (tilt, 10*. 6d. Third Edition. "Old Country Life, as healthy wholesome reading, full of breezy life and movement, full of quaint stories vigorously told, will not be excelled by aiiy book to be published throughout tho year. Sound, heartv, and English to the core."— If 'arid. HISTORIC ODDITIES AND STRANGE EVENTS. By S. Baring Gould. Fihst Series. Demy 8vo. iu, bd. Second Edition. "A collection of exciting and entertaining chapters. The whole volume is delightful reading."— Timet. SECOND SERIES. HISTORIC ODDITIES AND STRANGE EVENTS. Second Serieb. By S. Baring Gould, Author of "Mehalah." Demy 8vo. lew. bd. [Ready. "A fascinating book."—Leeds Mercury. b ver SONGS OF THE WEST: Traditional Ballads and Songs of the West of England, with their Traditional Melodies. Collected by 8. Baring Gould, M.A., and H. Fleetwood Sitefpard, M.A. Arranged for Voice and Piano. In 4 Parts (conlaiuinic a$ Songs each), it. each nett. Part I., Third If jUition. Part II., Second Edition. Part III., n ady. Part IV. . '-dy. s«. llo\Vo\er-ich and varied collection of humour, pathos, grace, and author \0^y- "~Sat"rday Review. RE ODDITIES AND STRANGE EVENTS. ■no Gould. New and Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo. [Aoro Ready. METHUEFS NOVEL SERIES. Three Shillings and Sixpence. Messrs. METHUEN will issue from time to time a Series of copyright Novels, by well-known Authors, handsomely bound, at the above popular price. The first volumes (now- ready) are: 1. THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. By F. Mabel Robinson. 1. JACQUETTA. By S. Baring Gould. 3. MY LAND OF BEULAH. By Mrs. Lkith Adams. 4. ELI'S CHILDREN. By G. Manville Fenn. 5. ARMINELL: A Social Romance. By S. Baking Gould. 6. DERRICK VAUGHAN, NOVELIST. By Edna Lyall. With portrait of Author. 7. DISENCHANTMENT. ByF. Mabel Robinson. 8. DISARMED. By M. Bktham Edwards. 9. JACK'S FATHER. By W. E. Norms. Other Volumes will be announced in due course. (Sitglisfc ftaiurs of Religion. Edited by A. M. M. STEDMAN, M.A. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. A series of short biographies, free from party bias, of the most prominent lenders of religious life and thought in this and the last century. CARDINAL NEWMAN. if. //. Button. [Ready. JOHN WESLEY. J. H. Overton. [Heady. UNIVERSITY EXTENSION SERIES, Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. Under the above title Messrs. Methuen have commenced the publication of a series of books on historical, literary, and economic subjects, suitable for extension students and home-reading circles. THE INDUSTRIAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND. By H. DE B. Gibbins, M.A., late Scholarof Wadham College, Oion'., Cobden Prizeman. With Maps and Plans. [Ready. A HISTORY OF ENGLISH POLITICAL ECONOMY. By L. L. Price, M.A., Fellow of Oriel College, Oxon., Extension Lecturer in Political Economy. | Ready. VICTORIAN POETS. By A. Sharp. [Head,/. PROBLEMS OF POVERTY: An Inquiry into the Industrial Conditions of the Poor. By J. A. Hobson, M.A . late Scholar of Lincoln College,Oxon., U. E. Lecturer iu Economies. [Ready. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. By J. E. Symes, M.A., Principal of University College, Nottingham. [Nearly Ready. SOCIAL QUESTIONS OF TO-DAY. A series of volumes upon the most important topics of social, economic, and industrial interest—written by the highest authorities on the various subjects. The first two volumes will be— TRADES UNIONISM—New and Old. By G. Howell, M.P. [Ready. THE CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT TO-DAY. By G. J. Holyoakk. Crown 8vo. M. id. [Ready. London THUEN & Co., 18, Bury Street, W.C.  ## p. 131 (#535) ############################################ ADVERTISEMENTS. Cl)f ^orietg of gutftors (fiiworporatrt)- The Sir Edwin Arnold, K.C.I.E. Alfred Austin. A. W. a Beckett. Robert Rateman. Sir Henry Bkronk, K.C.M.G. Walter Hesant. Augustine Birrell, M.P. K. 1). Blackmore. Ret. Prof. Bonnet, F.R.S. Lord Brabourne. James Bryce, M.P. P. YV. Clayden. Kdward Clodd. W. Martin Conway. Marion Crawford. Oswald Crawfurd, C.M.G. The Earl of Dksart. PRESIDENT. Hon. the LORD TENNYSON, D.C.L. COUNCIL. A. W. Dubouro. John Eric Erichsen, F.R.S. Prof. Michael Foster, F.R.S. Herbert Gardner, M.P. Richard Garnett, LL.D. Edmund Gosse. H. Rider Haggard. Thomas Hardy. Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S. J. M. Lely. Rev. W. J. Loftie, F.S.A. F. Max Muller, LL.D. George Meredith. Herman C. Merivale. Rev. C. H. Middleton-Wake, F.L.S. J. C. Parkinson. The Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery. Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., LL.D. Walter Herries Pollock. A. G. Ross. George Augustus Sala. W. Baptiste Scoones. G. R. Sims. J. J. Stevenson. Jas. Sully. William Moy Thomas. H. D. Traill, D.C.L. The Right Hon. the Baron Henry de Worms, M.P., F.R.S. Edmund Yates. Hon. Counsel—E. M. Underdown, Q.C. A. W. a Beckett. W. Martin Conway. COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT. Chairman—Walter Besant. Edmund Gosse. J. M. Lely. H. Rider Haggard. Sir Frederick Pollock. A. G. Ross. Solicitors—Messrs. Field, Roscoe, & Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. Secretary—S. Squire Sprigge. OFFICES. 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C. PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 1. The Annual Report. That for January 1891 can be had on application to the Secretary. 2. The Author. A Monthly Journal devoted especially to the protection and maintenance of Literary Property. Issued to all Memliers. 3. The Grievances Of Authors. (The Leadenhall Press.) 2s. The Report of three Meetings on the general subject of Literature and its defence, held at Willis's Rooms, March 1887. 4 Literature and the Pension List. By W. Morris Colles, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry Glnisher. q5, Strand, W.C.) is. 5. The History of the Societe des Gens de Lettres. By S. Squire Sprigge, Secretary to the Society. I*- 6. The Cost Of Production. In this work sj>eciuiens are given of the most important forms of type, size of page, Ac., with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds of books. 2s. 6d. Out of Print, New Edition now preparing. 7. The Various Methods of Publication. By S. Squibb Sprigge. In this work, compiled from the papers in the Society's offices, the various kinds of agreements proposed by Publishers to Authors are examined, and their meaning carefully explained, with an account of the various kinds of fraud which have l>een made possible by the different clauses in their agreements. Price 3s. Second Edition. 8. Copyright Law Eeform. An Exposition of Lord Monkswell's Copyright Bill now before Parliament. With Extracts from the Report of the Commission of 1878, and an Appendix containing the Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lely. Eyre and Npottiswoode 1 *. 6d. Other work* bearing on the TAteranj Profession will follow, vol. n. I 2  ## p. 132 (#536) ############################################ The 11 Swan" is a beautiful Gold Ppn joined to a rubber reservoir to hold any kind of ink, which it supplies to the writing point in a continuous flow. It will hold enough ink for two days' constant work, or a week's ordinary writing, and can be refilled with as little trouble as to wind a watch. With the cover over the gold nib it is carried in the pocket like a pencil, to be used anywhere. A purchaser may try a pen a few days, and if by chance the writing point does not suit his hand, exchange it for another without charge, or have his money returned if wanted. There are yarions points to select from, broad, medium, and flue, every handwriting can he suited, and the price of the entire instrument, with filler complete, post free, is only 10s, 6d. The. Gold Pens in the "Swan" are Mabie, Todd, & ;Co.'s [famous make. They are 14-carat tempered gold, very handsome, and positively unaffected by any kind of ink. They are pointed with selected polished iridium. The "Encyclopaedia Britannica" says:—"Iridium is a nearly white metal of high specific gravity, it is almost indestructible, and a beautifully polished surface can be obtained upon it." They will not penetrate the paper, and writer's cramp is unknown among users of Gold Pens. One Will OUtwear 90 grOSS Of Steel pens. They are a perfect revelation to those who know nothing about Gold Pens. Dr. Oliver Wkndell Holmes has used one of Mabie, Todd, & Co.'s Gold Pens since 1857, and is using the same one (his " old friend ") to-day. Sydney Grundy, Esq., says (referring to the Fountain Pen) :—"It is a vast improvement on every Stylograph." Mobkrly Bell, Esq., Manager, The Times, says (referring to the Fountain Pen) :—" One pen lasted me for six years." S. D. Waddy, Esq., Q.C., M.P., says (referring to the Fountain Pen) :—" I have used them constantly for some years, and, as far as I can remember, they have never failed me." 11 H-c-a^E->-iJI 11 ■ Send Postal Card for Free Illustrated List (containing interesting Testimonials from the Best People, who have used them for years) to— MABIE, TODD, & BARD, ©3, CHBAPSIDE, LONDON.  ## p. 133 (#537) ############################################ ^Ibe Hutbor. (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. II.—No. 5.] OCTOBER 1, 1891. [Pbice Sixpence. For the Opinions expressed in papers that are signed the Authors alone are responsible. NOTICES. MEMBERS and others who wish their MSS. read are requested not to send them to the Office without previously communi- cating with the Secretary. So large a number of MSS. are sometimes sent in, that it is impossible to guarantee that the Society's Readers will furnish rejwrts by any fixed date. The utmost practicable despatch is aimed at, and MSS. are read in the order in which they are received. It must also be distinctly understood that the Society does not, under any circumstances, undertake the publication of MSS. The official directions for the securing of American copyright by English authors were given in the Author for June 1891. Members are earnestly entreated to take the trouble of reading those directions. In the Author for June 1890, and in "Methods of Publication," a brief statement is laid down for the guidance of authors in their agreements on the meaning of the different royalties proposed from time to time—what is given to either side by those royalties. Members are earnestly requested to forward agreements to the Society for inspection before they sign them. Once signed, the mischief is generally irreparable. The Honorary Secretary of the Syndicate Depart- ment will be glad to know the titles and lengths of any stories written, or to be written, by Members available for serial publication. Application is constantly made to the Department for stories of all descriptions which are ready. There is a great demand tor "second rights" for newspaper use, and Members will greatly oblige by forwarding the names of tales already published, of which they are willing to sell the serial use. MSS. should, how- ever, in no case be forwarded to the Office without previous communication with the Honorary Secre- tary of the Syndicate Department. THE AUTHORS' CLUB. MR. Oswald Crawfurd, C.M.G., has accepted the post of chairman of committee of the proposed club. The form of approval sent round with the last number of the Author has resulted in a very good numl>er of names—quite as many as were expected, considering the holiday time. The same form is again enclosed. Readers are earnestly begged to consider the Resolutions published in the August number of the Author. They are not final; they are tentative only, and are subject to reconsideration. They contem- plate a club of men only, because so many ladies pointed out that they could not possibly pay so large a subscription. Now, with a subscription lower than five guineas it is perfectly impossible to think of running a high-class club. That amount will do no more than provide a moderate sized house and a respectable service. It is in contempla- tion to give the club a social character on the lines already followed by some of the newer clubs. It is intended to make it a comfortable house; a house of rest, and a house of recreation. The word Author is taken to include that large and impor- tant branch of literature called journalism. But it must not be taken to include only those persons who follow the profession of letters. Then; are authors most eligible for the club among all professions under the sun. Literature is catholic. The club should include all kinds of humanity which possess the requisites of culture and of literary ambition and experience. —  ## p. 134 (#538) ############################################ '34 THE AUTHOR. A LADIES' CLUE. APRELIMINARY meeting has been held at the Society's office of ladies engaged in lite- rature and journalism anxious to found a club themselves. The chair was taken by Mrs. Stannard (John Strange Winter). The meeting was nume- rously attended. It is understood that a resolution was unanimously passed iu favour of such a club. — • TO AN AUTHOR WHO COMPLAINED OP NECJLECT AND DEPRECIATION. Friend, l>c not fretful if the voice of fame, Along the narrow ways of hurrying men Where unto echo echo shouts again, Be all day long not noisy with your name. When dumb the noon-day din of praise and blame, And heavenly constellations hush the ken, If yours be light celestial, you will then Shine like a star, eternally the same. Nor in your upward journeying stoop to con The straining petulance of tethered spite, That still hath railed whenever Genius shone: As, when dogs bay the moon in midmost night, The moon nor looks nor listens, but sails on, Slowly ascending her predestined height. Alfred Austin. MY BROTHER CHARLES: An Extract. • ••••• After these melancholy events, nothing remained but for the company to break up, and for every member of it to go his own way. I took a tender farewell of Dollie, with great sorrow on both sides, many promises of constancy, and some tears. But I felt sure—I had a presentiment—that I should never see her more. The dear girl proposed to return for the moment to her " Pop," who conducted a store at Syracuse, 111., and was a strict church meml>er. She thought tliat by burying in oblivion, or carefully editing, the history of the last three months, and by pretending that she had another en- gagement as a schoohnarm, she might get some dollars oiit of the old man, with the help of which she could try the stage again with better luck. Cer- tainly, one who has once l>eeii on the boards returns to them quite naturally, and can never again do anything else. My presentiment proved true, that is to sav, I have only seen her once since. I was tramping through the city of Detroit, when I saw a name—her name—on a poster with a picture. I went to the gallery in my rags. I saw her dressed in tights dancing a breakdown, singing saucy songs, looking so happy and lively, that it made me sick and ill just to think of her happiness and mr rags. And all through one thing. I suppose she had got the dollars out of her " Pop," and so got back to the boards with l>etter luck. Well, when I had taken her ticket and seen her off, I made the melancholy discovery that I was left absolutely penniless—stone broke. I returned to the hotel and spent the rest of that day and most of the night in trying to find a way out of the mess. What I wanted was money to carry me on to New York, and to keep me going there until 1 should find another engagement. When I fell asleep, I had fully resolved what to do. I do not defend the plan which I finally adopted. I am aware that it mav lie attacked, especially if a harsh and one-sided view is adopted; but I do declare that it was forced upon me, and that I fully intended, but for the accursed accidents which followed, to repay all the money I should make by my false pretences. I daresay I shall not l>e believed, but that was my honest intention. I was then six and twenty years of age, an Englishman by birth, and, as you have guessed, an actor—not as yet a very successful actor—by profession. I still think that if I had had the luck to light upon a really new part, and to make it my own, I had the touch and go, light comedy style, and might have made a reputation—ah ! equal to any. I've seen Charles Wyudham, and it is absurd to suppose that I could not . . . But it is too late. And all through the most extraordinary mis- fortune that ever befell any man. There I was, an honourable, scrupulous young man—I repeat, that I intended to pay back the money—and I was wrecked, ruined by one—just one—accident, which nobody could have foreseen. At the same time, I admit that I ought to have got away at once without an hour's delay. I might have guessed; and here I am, all in consequence of that accident, tramp, gaolbird, swindler, thief, and can't raise myself again as long as I live. Sometimes when I think of that accident I feel as if the top of my head was being lifted off. In the morning, my plan fully formed, I dressed myself as carefully as my slender wardrobe would allow, and after breakfast sallied out, thankful that it did not occur to the clerk as I passed him in the hall, to remind me of the hotel bill. The place was Philadelphia, which is full of rich people, and has some liu-niry people. I had procured from the directory certain names and addresses which I thought would be useful. There was a great Shakespearean scholar; there was a rich—ft very rich—editor; there was a poet of eminence; there were three or four clergymen; there W«* others—scholars and authors. I called upon all of them. The Shakespearean scholar lent me $icc; the rich editor, $125; the poet, $zo; the others, from §to  ## p. 135 (#539) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 135 to $20 each. I went l>ack to my hotel that morning richer than when I left it by about S3oo—say, £60 in English money. This was very good business, so good that I ought to have cleared out at once without the least delay. I ought to have suspected that something was going to happen after such wonderful luck. For I had no dilliculty whatever with my little plan. It came off without a hitch. Such a plan generally does. It must be simple; it must be well and naturally told; there must be no hint or suggestion that the story could be suspected or disbelieved. What I did was this: I sent in my card, " Mr. Wilford Amhurst, Dramatic Authors' Club, London." I was taken to see my man —it was the Shakespearean scholar—in his study. Now I certainly looked very English, and I believe I had at that time an honest face and a frank manner. After all these prisons, and ups and downs, my face may be English still, but it is no longer honest, nor is my manner frank. I began by apologizing for intruding. I ventured to do so on account of his well known sympathy with letters. Then I paused a moment. He 1 rowed his head in silence. I went on to say that the name on my card, Wilford Amhurst," was not my real but my stage name, that I was really Wilford Ingledew, and that I was the youngest brother of Charles Ingledew, the well known novelist. The scholar started and looked suspicions. "Charles Ingle- dew," he said, " must be a good deal older than yourself." "Not so very much," I replied, putting something on my own age and taking something from his. "I am 36 and he is 46." He asked me, still in a doubtful kind of way, but open to conviction, to tell him a little more about myself. I said that I was at Rugby and afterwards at Pembroke, Cambridge, where I did not stay to take a degree, but left at the end of my second vear. It was rather a lucky guess about Pembroke, because I had once stayed with a man who was stage-struck, and I knew something about the College, a nil so did lie. He asked me if I had written anything. I gave him a long list of plays and poems, none of which I had with me. He then asked me if I had any letter or anything from my brother which would go to prove my statement. I pulled out of my pocket-lxx>k a letter written on some English note paper—fortunately rather soiled and dirty, which helped ine. It began "My dear Wilford." It lamented my bad luck, gently intimated that extravagance was partly the cause of it, and exhorted me to return to England, where, he said, he had little doubt that with my undoubted talent I should certainly succeed. He ended it with two or three purely family matters— a reference to my mother's health, and' another to a married sister who had recently been happily confined of twins, and he remained, hoping to sec me at home before long, my affectionate brother Charles Ingledew. I had written the letter myself that morning. As for the signature, I copied it from a magazine. "This," said my scholar, "is certainly Charles Ingledew's signature. I suppose there is no doubt that you are the person you repre- sent yourself to be; and, in that case, what do you want of me?" "Well, I am absolutely j>enniless. That is my case. I cannot beg or steal. I want to borrow. Only I want to borrow so that my brother should not know. He would l>c disgusted if he knew anything about it. He is always pitching into me about extravagance. Will you, on my word of honour only, lend me a hundred dollars? I am going back to London, and I shall send you the money as soon as I possibly can. If I don't get it by my own work, I shall have to borrow it of Charles." Without a word he opened a drawer and took out notes to that amount. "There," he said, "take these for your brother's sake." I wrung his hand, and I went away without another word. That was the best thing to do. Gratitude, chokes you see. You press the hand of your benefactor and yon go, with bowed shoulders, opening and closing the door with just a little demonstration and without noise. In all the other cases I was equally successful. Not a doubt was raised. Only I asked less of the clergymen, and wanted nothing more than to pay my hotel bill and to get on to New York, where I hail friends. Now, I .say again, had I possessed any sense at all, I ought to have been so astonished at my wonderful good luck that I should have made tracks at once. I should have gone on by the first train to New York. I should have made any further question, discussion, or difficulties impossible. I ought to have known that such ease in getting would have been followed by tremendous difficulty in keeping. It is always the way. The easier you get, the quicker you lose. Well, I had impressed upon every one the necessity of keeping my secret. They had all promised, and to this day I cannot tell who, if any, did betray me. I incline on the whole to the belief that the old scoundrel, villain, rogue who but there, you shall see. I dined pleasantly and had a small bottle of Burgundy—fancy a stone-broke player drinking Burgundy in Philadelphia! and I really felt quite happv, comfortable, and free from anxiety. As for baing found out, or anything, that did not enter into my imagination. After dinner I strolled into the saloon and s it d jwn with a cigar looking on at the p.;ople. They came and went in twos an J threes; they sat down and talked or they stood at the bar and drank. I watched and listened, sitting lazily in a corner under a gas light.  ## p. 136 (#540) ############################################ 136 THE AUTHOR. Presently two men came in, ami one had un evening paper. He began to run his eve down the columns, telling the news as he went on. One thing after the other lie noted. Then he came to u paragraph which he rend out at length. "There is staying at the Lone Star Hotel a young English- man who is at once actor, poet, and dramatist. His theatrical name is Wilt'ord Amhurst. His real name is Wilford Ingledew, and he is the youngest brother of diaries Ingledew, the English novelist. He has called upon one of the most prominent citizens and revealed his name. He is said to be a handsome Englishman of a thoroughly Britannic aspect, looking younger than he is— probably from wearing neither beard nor moustache. He is ten years younger than his brother, who is now forty-six, and he greatly resembles him in face and stature. He has been a member of a travelling variety company which has not been eminently successful." You sec that nothing here was said about begging and borrowing. Yet I felt uneasy. He read this out, and said, "Why, I remember Wilford Amhurst in the piece—what was it—the Criterion comedy piece. And ..." His voice stopped short, for he recognised me. Even then there was still time. I should have left the saloon immediately and taken the night train. Fool! double—treble Fool! The man advanced to me. "Mr. Wilford Ingledew," he said, " I have the pleasure of wish- ing you well. Your brother's works are so well known to me that I feel as if-no introduction was necessary to" This beautiful and trustful beginning was com- pletely spoiled, however, by a third person. He was, to look at, a Brute—a Brute and a Beast. He was clad in a filthy greasy gaberdine—the poor despised Jew in the middle ages always wore a gaberdine, therefore I use that word to describe the ragged old thing that hung on his shoulders. He was a man of short grey hair and long grey bristles —the former on his head, the latter on his chin. He had a swollen and pimply face, a swollen red nose, and blue lips. He looked as if he was half drunk. I never knew him afterwards or saw him but what he looked half drunk. He had been standing by, apparently taking no heed of what was said. Now he came lurching forward. "Wilford Ingledew? I believe it is. Good Lord! Here's a chance! Wilford—Wilford, I say. Wilford Ingledew—Ingledew—don't you know me? Look at me, man. Don't you know me now 'i Your eldest brother—Jack Ingledew— I am. Jack Ingledew. Him that went away 3o years ago and never went home again. Boys," —he turned to some loafing blackguards behind him,—" you all know Jack Ingledew—old Jack." They murmured with ono consent that they all knew Jack—old Jack. "Old Jack—that you thought dead—eh '< long since dead. And to think that we meet here after all these years. It makes me thirsty. Brother—brother Wilford—a little baby three years old when I went away—shake hands—shake hands with your eldest brother— long parted—grief as is felt—happy to part— happy to meet again. Joy demands a drink. We must celebrate this happy occasion with a drink. Come." This was the terrible accident. This was the cause of all the trouble. Through the accursed mischance of that eldest brother—if he was an eldest brother—Lord knows !—turning up at that juncture. The man who had first spotted ine stepped aside, leaving me to the Beast of the Greasy Gaberdine. What I ought to have done is perfectly plain and simple. 1 did not do it. In fact, I gave him a drink. I ought, of course, to have refused any knowledge of the Beast. I ought to have said that there was no John Ingledew—was there, in fact? Was this man really Charles Ingledew's elder brother? I don't know. I never could find out. But the knowledge of my own guilt made me weak. I accepted his filthy hand. I gave him another drink. I owned up to the eldest brother; I was civil to him. I pointed out that I could not very well remember a man whom I had not seen for so long. He then asked certain questions which I answered as well as I could. I incline to the belief that he was what he pretended, because at one point he stopped and looked suspicious. Then he caught me by the waistcoat button and he whispered, "Brother, Brother Wilford! They've telegraphed across to know if Charles Ingledew has got a brother Wilford." I started, I turned pale. "Brother—you'd better bolt. I knew you were a bunco-steerer at the go off. Now, you go in and make up your grip—quick. Else, to-morrow, you'll be laid by the heels. I'll wait here for you—I'll see you through. You rely on me." I was so knocked over with the thought of the telegraph that I curdled and curled up. I did what he told me. My grip took no time, because it was reduced to an empty box. I told him so. "Then," he said, "we'll leave it behind. Now, let's have one more drink and than catch a train. I'll see you through. Your eldest brother John—• old Jack—he'll stand by the family." Yet he had just before called me a bunco-steerer. But I was in such a fright about the telegraph that I hardly knew what he said, and I walked along beside hi in in a dream. "We'll take tickets to New York and we'll get out at a station I know," he said, " That will pre- vent your being nabbed as soon as you get out of  ## p. 137 (#541) ############################################ THE A UTHOR. i37 the train. You'll have just to lie quiet for a day or two, and then you can go on." I thought that the first thing I would do was to get rid of him. That proved, as you will see, not quite so easy. We took a night train; it left Philadelphia at eleven. We sat down together—this evil-smelling l>east ami myself. He talked fami- liarly to the eonduetor—told him that I was his younger brother, and he grinned; said that younger brothers ought to look after the seniors, and that 1 was a model younger brother. He said many more fncetious and pleasant things. You can suppose that I greatly enjoyed his society and his conversation. In aliout two hours or so we stopped at some small station. "Now," he whispered, "let's get down. I know where you can find a place to hide in for a bit—a snug quiet place, where the drink is good. Come along." We got down just as the train began to move on again. The night wits pitch dark; the petro- leum lamps of the station were extinguished directly after the train went on. "This way," the man took my arm and led me along in the darkness. I knew not what direction we took nor how long we walked. It seemed to me a walk of hours. Presently we stopped at a house in the midst, as it seemed, of a wood, where lights were shown in the windows. My man blew a whistle, and the door was thrown open. "Walk in, brother Wilford," he said, grinning, " Here you will l>c real welcome. Such a chance as this has never come to you before." Within, the place proved to be a kind of log house. It consisted of one large room with a stove. Along the walls were lynches, and on these benches were mattresses, on some of which men were sleeping. I saw that four were asleep; two more were playing cards at a table; there was a lire burning; anil there was the usual detestable smell of jx'troleum from the lamp. And I discovered at once that I was fallen among a den of thieves and rogues. "Gentlemen," said my eldest brother, "I have brought you my brother—my younger brother Wilford—Wilford Ingledew. He is in a little trouble just now, on account of certain alleged false pretences—people will say anything—we have all suffered from calumny—I've asked him here to share our hospitality for a bit. A clever fellow, I think, you will find my younger brother Wilford." The two men who were playing looked up anxiously. Then they threw down their cards, and stood up, feeling at their belts, and I began to perspire at the nose. "What does he know, Jack?" "Nothing. Leave that to me. Now, brother as we are all friends here and brothers, let us l>cgin VOL. II. by sharing. What did you make by the job? Come—don't look scared—you can't get out of this if you try—by . . ." He lugged out a re- volver. "So begin. Clear your pockets. You've got to do what you're told. You've got to—or—" he fingered the pistol. I had to turn every pocket out, and to show it empty. I had to take off my boots and coat and waistcoat to show that nothing was concealed. The whole now lay upon the table—three hundred dollars and more. "There are seven of us," said old Jatk. "You make eight. Every man's share is $40, odd. As for your share, we'll keep it for you. Oh! You shall not lose it. You are among men of honour. And now, brother, if you like to lie down and go to sleep, you can. If you like a drink, say so. If you like to cut in with the cards, say so. We're all friends here and all brothers. Them as are not brothers we make dead uns, which saves trouble." I stayed in that den for three weeks. I was never left alone. I was given to understand by old Jack and one or other of them that if I chose to throw in my lot with these miscreants I should be received as one of the gang. If not, I should not be allowed to escape, and in fact . . . you may guess. In a month's time, I was dressed like a gentle- man: I was an English nobleman, and I was living at a high-class New York hotel. I had a pocket-full of money, and I was working for a big thing. You see what I am now—a broken-down tramp, in rags and penniless. The gang is dispersed; we have all had sentences to work out. As for old Jack—my eldest brother—I don't know what has become of him, but I should like to murder him. If I were to meet him on a lonely road I believe I should murder him. And the moral of my story, I often think, is that when you have made a lucky hit you must get away as quick as you cati before some cussed accident sets things agee. Now, if I had gone straight away that very moment—think —I should now—who knows ?—be managing a London theatre. I might have married Dollie. Oh! it makes me mad only to think of it. Because I stayed I had to run awny at night and fell into a gang of rogues, and was compelled to l>ccome their confederate and got into prison and . . . there . you see. It's all very well to say that I shouldn't have pretended to be the brother of an English writer. I was stone-broke and I had to get some money somehow, and I meant to give that money back. The devil of it was that I stayed and went into that bar. I stayed. That way the lmd luck came in. ♦••■» K  ## p. 138 (#542) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. PEGASUS IN HARNESS. Put Pegasus in hnrness And tench him how to trot; Take him to the market With his wares piping hot, All fresh anil glowing From his owner's mind, Three a penny, four a penny, Best of their kind. Lord! here's a bother, The creature wants to fly! Quiet, there, my beauty, We'll loose you by-and-bye! Come now, it's useless, Customers don't soar; It won't pay, alack, to scorn Their muddy floor. Why, what a blessing The harness was so strong: What a task 'tis to get The chafing steed along! Fold your wings, do, now! Keep them for the sky; Men pay to touch their feathers, not To see them fly. Pegasus, when night comes We'll fly up to the stars, We'll soar above Venus, And we'll mount beyond Mars; Earth lies a ball lx»neath— Alx>ve, still there's blue— By day we must earn our bread; At night we'll be true. There—we endeavour, Here—we must win; There—lift up our hands, Here—stoop for a pin; Turn every penny Another to gain: Heaven bids—struggle! Earth bids—uttain! But oh ! when night comes To the earth-wearied man, To one master he's true, And he sleeps while he can— Swoop ! and a rushing, The great steed has gone: The Boundless receives him, His master sleeps on. I'mph! what's to do now? There's the bread winner's flown. Why—fetch up a mule, man, Put the gold trappings on; He'll give time to see them; He's safe, sure, and slow, If you speak still of " Pegasus" Xobody '11 know. Sidney Caxton. ♦*••♦ "AUTHORS' COMPLAINTS AND PUBLISHERS' PROFITS." IHAVE read with much interest Mr. George Putnam's paper on this subject in the Forum of September, the more so because I have lnul from time to time several conversations with the writer on the points raised in his paper, and I always found him willing to meet me half way on all essential points, and, to the best of my recollec- tion, perfectly ready to admit the useful functions of our Society, and the reasonableness of its aims. So much, indeed, he admits in this article when he says—the italics are my own—"Whatever shape the compensation of the author may take (excepting only that of a purchase outright of his copyright) he is of course entitled to precise information us to the publishing statistics of his boohs." Exactly. This concession covers nearly the whole ground. The chief grievance of the author is that he has been, and still is, called upon to surrender his property on terms the half of which are carefully concealed from him; tliat he is offered this and that without being informed what the arrangement gives to the other side. Let us know what the other side receives for himself as well as what he ijices the author. Then we shall understand what we are about. Now, the most important part of the work of the Society has been the publication—approximately only, for nothing is more elastic than a printer's bill—of the actual cost of production. With this in our hands, we have a very simple sum in arithmetic:—(i) The actual cost of production. (2) The royalty paid to the author. (3) The trade price of the book. The publisher's profit can be easily calculated. Now, Mr. Putnam in this article talks round and round the subject, but does not touch the real point at issue. For instance, he carefully enumerates the various methods of dealing with authors; he points out the increased cost of printing, and binding, and distribution; but he evades the main points, viz., the actual profit made by the publishers on the various methods described and the proportion which, in his opinion, should be taken by the publisher. He complained that I consider only tin? question of books with a side of 10,000. I suppose he alludes to Mr. Sprigge's book—the " Methods of Publication"  ## p. 139 (#543) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. *39 —and to the "Cost of Production." But in those books, the sale of 1,000 copies, and even less, is carefully considered, as well as the sale of 10,000. He says in one place (p. 74.) that I am " inclined to contend that there are, as a matter of fact, no such things as publishing losses," and that I "claim that the publishers rarely take any risk in publish- ing, as they make a practice of putting their money only into books that an- sure to pay." On p. 7a he says, "It is the contention of the English Society of Authors that the publisher who understands his business must take, ami, as a matter of fact, does take, no risk in his undertakings." Now, there is a difference between "rarely" and "never"—a very great difference. What I have said, over and over again—what I am prepared to prove, by hundreds of cast's and agreements brought to our office—by verbal information from persons who have been employed in publishers' offices—and by examination of advertised publishers' lists, is this. There has grown up of late years a custom of making authors pay whenever there is any real risk. It is very seldom that publishers take any risk. I might go further and say that there are some houses which never will take any risk at all. Bv this I mean the simple meaning that the words convev. In other words, it is very seldom that a publisher will produce a l»ook unless he sees his way to the sale of at least as many copies as will pay the cost of production, with something for his services or the interest of his money. Over and over again has this proposition been stated. Nothing in the world could be more true— nothing more reasonable and probable. Over and over again interested or malicious persons have dis- torted the statement into quite a different one, and have virtuously argued themselves black in the face on the assumption that 1 have said that there are no risks in publishing. There may be plenty of risk in publishing. You may produce a lwok on a subject which no one wants; you may produce a bad book on any subject; vou may produce tot) large an edition of a l)ook; vou may spend more money in advertising a book than the l>ook will bear; you may bring out a book at a wrong time; many tilings of the kind may happen. But a skilled—or a well advised publisher—in this great world of English readers— with this immense market before him—with all the various branches of letters—with all the different audiences—with all the favourite leaders and authorities in all these branches—need never, I maintain, unless he pleases, run any risk at all. And he very seldom does. He may, it is true, l>c disappointed in the ulti- mate proceeds. But that is not risk. My con- tention is that he need never publish a book unless he knows that the minimum of the sales will cover his expenditure and something over. And I do not for a moment agree with Mr. Putnam that a man would be valuable to a publishing firm who would keep them from losses, because an educated man, brought up in the business, will easily, and does easily, learn for himself. Of course, I am not speaking of American risks,of which I know nothing. I agree with Mr. Putnam—and he with me—in so many points that I should like him to agree with ine in all. For instance, he is perfectly right when he says that authors cannot expect compensation— he means pay—for work which proves to have no marketable value. An author can only be paid out of the proceeds of his book. But that must be a very poor publisher who cannot tell beforehand whether a book has a marketable value or not. One publisher—de mes amis—has an eagle eye for the detection of marketable value in novels He never fails—at least, I think not—I hope not—in this in- stinct of his. He produces works by unknown writers, and they Income known and popular. He knows. With this and other examples before me, when a publisher writes complaining that he has lost by this book and by that book, I am inclined to say, "Friend, if that is true, you do not know your own business." But he never shows his books, remein- l>er. Mr. Putman makes a great ileal about the "generosity" of certain publishers. First of all, we do not want generosity. We do not want to keep up the old notion which caused a publisher to be considered as a (generally) malevolent old man (but sometimes benevolent), who sat upon a bag of gold—an enormous bag of untold gold—and dealt out capricious gifts, varying according to his temper. Nor do we want the other notion which made of the publisher the guardian angel of letters, thinking only how he could advance the holy cause of literature, and careless whether he ruined himself or not. Nor do we want the old sorry spectacle of the writing-man who goes humbly, hat in hand, body bent, voice hushed, to the man who pays, ami takes with tears of gratitude whatever he may offer or may chuck. What we now say is this, "What do you mean by your 4 generosity'? Hang your generosity! Keep it for the charity sermon. Give us plain and simple justice. You have graciously heretofore given this and tossed that; what have you kept for yourself? Show us your accounts before you talk of generosity." Then; are one or two other points in which Mr. Putnam unfortunately fails to understand the position. Thus, he girds at Canon Farrar, saying that he appealed to the public for sympathy, because his publishers had made more money than himself when he had signed a contract to do and work for so much. Canon Farrar did nothing of the kind. The grievance in his case was this: He did agree to do a certain piece of work for a certain sum of K S  ## p. 140 (#544) ############################################ 140 THE AUTHOR. money. The work proved enormously successful. He had no claim for anything more, and never set up any claim. But when the firm in question invited him to do another work, they did not let him understand how successful his first work had been. They said nothing about the proportion of profit they had made for themselves; they said nothing about what they knew they should make on the next work. This, no doubt, was what is called business. But the English publisher has always endeavoured to make the English author believe that he is his friend. My own contention in that matter is that Farrar should not have signed that second agreement until the firm had shown him by their books what it had made out of the first. The same remark applies to all cases of so-called "generosity." Let the accounts be produced. Then we shall see. We do not wish to rob the publisher by accepting his "generosity." We, do not wish him to rob us under the name of "generosity." I pass over all Mr. Putnam's remarks on American publishing for obvious reasons. I think, for the same reasons, he should not have entered the lists al>out English publishing. And I also wish very much that he had read what has l>een said and printed by my friends on the subject before committing himself to statements and charges which cannot be sustained. He says that we have made "sweeping charges" against publishers as a class. We have done no- thing of the kind. We have proved " up to the hilt," as the Spectator allowed, that fraudulent practices exist, and are, indeed, rife. The fact that many of us are on friendly terms with publishers is quite enough to disprove the assertion of " sweeping charges." It is also a fact that many of the prac- tices which we have proved to exist are now carried on in a much more secret and guarded fashion than prevailed four or five years ago. Meantime, I commend to Mr. Putnam the consideration of our great principle that in all business relations, part- nerships, joint adventures, and enterprises, it is right, just, and proper that the two parties should each and severally have a full knowledge of what the agreements give to either side. That once conceded, the rest, viz., an equitable understanding that shall safeguard both parties may be arrived at. Such an understanding is very much to be desired in the interests of publishers as well as of authors, and, indeed, cannot but Ixj desired by every honour- able publisher as well as by any honourable and self-respecting author. Walter Bksant. POPULAR PLATITUDINOUS PHILOSOPHY. 1. The publisher risks dire poverty who pays a new author anything. 2. Publishing is the most precarious form of "plunging." 3. Every author should rest content with the honour of appearing in print. 4. An artist should be above alimony: Art is degraded by any money. 5. Publishing is a matter of favouritism, by which paper-makers, printers, lxx>kbinders, and booksellers all conspire against unknown genius 6. Artists should Ik; angels—all soul: eating is merely animal, and therefore inartistically vulgar. 7. The general public is divisible into those who buy books but do not read them, those who read but do not buy, and those who neither buy nor read. 8. What we manufacture we should be jmid for; but what other people make they should give us for nothing. 9. All best work is borrowed, and therefore belongs to someone else. 1 o. The alphabet is public property, and whoso disarranges it into Iwoks only disturbs what belongs to everybody. 11. Everything that was best contrived to live in the past. 12. In the multitude of conventionalisms is to be found the highest wisdom. 13. A publisher is a philanthropist who scorns coarse commerce. 14. What is conscience in ourselves is only conceit in the other man. 15. Civility is what the other people owe us. 16. There is no fine art in fiction; it is just as easy as lying. Phinlay Olknelo. NOTES AND NEWS. fl^HE Spectator devotes an article to some I remarks made by me in another place on the distribution of national honours, orders anil titles. The editor, it appears, does not agree with these remarks. Now there is one thing for which I especially respect the Spectator. It always seeks to represent the views which it attacks,  ## p. 141 (#545) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 141 honourably and fuirly. This conceded, let me state my case again. The State confides to the Sovereign the task of recognising distinction and good service l>y the grant of certain orders and titles. The Spectator says that these decorations are part of the wages of the State for servants of the State. My position entirely. But I maintain that everything — every kind of service — that advances the happiness, the safety, the welfare, the moral and intellectual level of mankind, is a distinct service to the State, and should be recog- nised as such. The Spectator would narrow the service of the State, apparently, to service paid for by the State. The writer says that decorations and titles are "part of the wages of the State, outward and visible signs of good conduct." In that case why were Bass, Allsopp, and Guinness raised to the peerage? Why, again, is a plain country gentleman made a baronet? Why is the warden of a city company made a knight? That defini- tion clearly will not serve. There is, in fact, no rule whatever, no principle recognised in the dis- tribution of honours. Somebody advises the Queen. Is it the Prime Minister? I do not know. Whoever it is, he makes no reservation whatever about paid servants of the State. None whatever. He says that a soldier or a sailor, a lawyer, a politician, a rich man, if he is rich enough, a man in the Treasury, or the Foreign Office, or the Diplomatic Service, may look forward to receiving some kind of distinction. No one, he says, however distinguished in medicine, architec- ture, painting, literature, music, acting, sculpture, science, or teaching, must ever expect a peerage. If a physician were to discover a certain way of curing gout or rheumatism and abolishing that agony for ever, he would have no more than a baronetcy. If a man brews enough beer, of course, he shall lie raised to the Upper House, and sit apart—he and his—for ever, but not if he writes the most splendid play ever produced. In some of these branches they from time to time offer a very distinguished man—say a Huxley—the saine distinction—the smallest of all—that they give the mayor of a country town. Now, for all these branches—for every noble calling—I claim the right of national recognition, in whatever way tin? nation can or does exercise that recognition. Especially I claim it for literature, because of all noble callings it is the one which has lieen the least recognised. Observe that I do not ask, as the Spectator mistakenly asserts, that great authors should receive the honour of Knight Bachelor. The Spectator, you see, cannot conceive it possible that any great author in his wildest ambitions should look beyond a knighthood. I want a very great deal more for them. I want ■whatever honours the State has to bestow—the very highest. The Spectator mentions the peerage of the Laureate. I wonder if the Sjwctator rememliers that at the time when Lord Tennyson received an honour which recognised the very point I insist upon, some of the papers tried to make out that it was conferred upon him because he was of good birth. Others said that poets ought not to want peerages—the Spectator to-day says as much. The answer is clear; great poets do not want peerages; they confer services upon the State which cannot be measured; but, in whatever way the State chooses to recognise great services, it is bound in that way to recognise a great poet. It is no honour to Tennyson that he is a peer; it is the acknowledgment of his vast services to the State in the way open to a grateful nation. Such acknowledgments are due to literature as much as to any other profession. Not that writers will do better work, but that the world will liegin to think more highly of its writers and will begin to value their work more and will lie influenced more readily by them when it sees that they are recognised by the State. Now, here is a case in point. In the year 1887, when the nation rejoiced over an event of a most remarkable kind, cards of admission were sent to the most distinguished persons in the country for the great ceremony in Westminster Abliey. There were present men of every calling; it was a national representative gathering. For most of those who were present, the card was not so much an honour as a thing due to their position. Very well. Not one single man or woman of letters was invited as such. The whole of litera- ture was absolutely ignored and contemptuously passed over. Would that insult have been possible had men of letters lieen regarded, like soldiers, as servants of the State, and, like soldiers, to lie recognized in the distribution of honours? The Spectator sup]Kises the Prime Minister worried between the rival claims of half-a-dozen poets; well, why not? There is nothing so very absurd about that. I suppose he is now worried lietween the rival claims of Mr. Facing-both-Ways, politician, and Mr. Creeping Backstairs, professional Worm, both of whom ardently desire to be knighted. Then we are told dogmatically, "We have no business whatever to give titles and deco- rations to literary men. They are far lictter without them." Does this mean that they write lietter without them? If so, one might just as well say that they have no business with new coats —" they are far better without them." Or does it mean that they will feel better in their insides without titles and decorations? There is, in fact, absolutely nothing that can be said against  ## p. 142 (#546) ############################################ 142 THE AUTHOR. granting titles to one class any more than to any other class j the arguments of the Spectator apply- just as well to engineers as to poets. Do Millais and Leighton paint worse since they had titles? Can anyone in his senses believe that either Lecky or Meredith would write worse if he were made a Peer? Does anyone believe that Lord Lytton is a worse ambassador because he is a poet? Lastly, the Spectator asks what Browning would have done as an ambassador? Of one thing I am quite certain: If he was in other respects fitted for the post of ambassador, his poetry would have l>een no disqualification. The Victorian reign will be glorified in after ages mainly for three splendours. First, the enormous and unparalleled increase of the English- speaking race; so that they began with thirty millions, and, after fifty years, have grown to a hundred millions. Second, the wonderful ad- vancement of science, by means of which almost the elementary conditions of life have been revo- lutionized. Thirdly, the magnificence of the Victorian literature. When the future historian dwells upon these illustrations of the period, he will go on to remark that all of them flourished under the absolute neglect and contempt of the English Court and the English Government. The colonies owed nothing, except snubs, to the Colonial Office. No Government has ever attempted to organise, to control, to assist, to direct, or to advise emigration. The Government, without making an effort to divert the stream, allowed the half of the Irish ]>eople to go over bodily to the United States, and to lend their invaluable legs and arms to the material progress of that Republic. Until the latter years of the reign, no colonist, however great his services, was recognised even by the insignificant distinction of a Knight Bachelor. As for science, there have never been, since the world began, such giants as those of our century. Have any of these men of science been raised to the House of Lords? Not one. Has there ever been any national recognition of the best of them? Perhaps it may be replied that a knighthood was offered to one. A knighthood? In literature it is an age which has produced two or three; English writers of the first rank—the very first rank; it has also produced a great number of writers whose work is good, lasting, most useful, ami helpful, beyond anything of the sort ever seen lx>fore in any generation. Have these men received any national honours or recognition? None whatever. The House of Commons grants a little sum of £400 a year for distinguished service in literature, and the First Lord of the Treasury refuses to use it for that purpose—gives it to widows of officers instead. One simple distinction, or recognition, is the command to dine with the Sovereign. Do these men ever receive such a command. Never. My " grievance," as the Spectator calls it, is, in short, that national distinctions, which should belong to every intellectual calling, are limited to one or two, and are even bestowed without reference to distinction at all. I have received a paper—Hearth and Home— which contains an account of a little discussion between three persons—a Member of Parliament, a "Labour Leader," and a lady journalist. The dis- cussion turned on the influence of a certain novel on certain changes in opinion and reforms in action. The Member of Parliament and the Labour Leader maintained that the novel had nothing to do with any reform. The lady said that, the novel had everything to do with it. It was clear, from the remarks of the other two, that they were totally ignorant of the force of sentiment, or the power of the artist to create, arouse, and direct public opinion. They could not understand that senti- ment, of which they doubtless supposed themselves to have none, could possibly have anything to do with practical things. That is to say, they knew nothing of the history of popular opinion on popular movements, and nothing whatever of the part played by the poet, the dramatist, and the novelist. This is very interesting. The same men who, after reading " Uncle Tom's Cabin," would be maddened by the cruelty and the wickedness of slavery, and if the opportunity arose, would be spurred to action by that madness, stoutly maintain that sentiment plays no part in affairs; and that poet, artist, actor, and novelist can effect nothing. On the same day, as an illustration of the supposed powerlessness of sentiment, all the world reads that Mr. Hall Caine is going to Russia to study the question of the Jews with a view, if he sees his way, to write a novel about it. The English Jews who have proposed this task to him are wiser, you see, than the Member of Parlia- ment and the Labour Leader. The genius of the novelist, who concentrates the attention and the interest on a single group of the wretched, starving fugitives—perhaps on a single figure—will do more to bring home to our understanding the true, nature of their sufferings than a thousand telegrams and as many leading articles. The story which is going about the papers con- cerning French publishers is simply incredible. It is said that the enormous editions of novels adver- tised on the covers of the books are to a great extent fictitious, and that those magnificent figures —200th edition—5ooth edition, which fill the  ## p. 143 (#547) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. *43 breast of the British publisher—and, to a humbler extent, the British author—with envy, are simply trade lies. It is further stated that French authors have been receiving royalties on the fictitious numbers—in other words—that the publishers have been paying for thousands of books which have never been sold: in other words again that they are possessed of secret mines of gold. It is again stated that they have actually printed, though they have not sold, the numbers they advertise, and that their warehouses are bulging and bursting from top to bottom with unsold novels. Lastly, it is stated that certain firms are on the verge of bankruptcy in consequence of this practice. We are not sur- prised. There is, however, a way of explaining the story. The trick of advertising edition after edition of a book is not unknown in this country. The edition may be as small as you please—a single copy, perhaps—or fifty copies. It is a dirty trick; a fraudulent trick; it assures the public that the book is so much in demand that all these editions have been taken up; the public believes that a genuine edition is meant and is deceived ; the state- ment was issued with intent to deceive; it is therefore fraudulent. The trick is brother or sister of that other trick by which a publisher buys a whole edition of the author without stating the number and trades on the omission. Henceforth I shall accept the French novel in its 5ooth edition as having probably circulated to the extent of a thou- sand. Let us cease therefore to wish we had been born in a country so eager to possess new literature. The circular of a Society called the " British and Foreign Association" lies before me. It has about 90 " Honorary Meml>ers," among whom are several very good names indeed. It lias a President, a Chief Secretary, General Councillors, and Repre- sentative Councillors. Its prospectus states that it has 4,000 members. Its objects are three-fold: (l) To promote fraternity among the nations. Very good indeed. (2) To encourage literary talent among the members by means of a monthly magazine. Hum! By means of a monthly maga- zine? But surely there are already dozens of monthly magazines which do that very same thing. And (3) to aid in popularising the works of the members. Surely that is done already by the reviews, and by the recommendation of readers one to the other. What other method has this Association? Turning to the "advantages of membership," we find that the first advantage is social. Wrecked on a desert island, you find the other inhabitants also members—and there you are. The next advantage is that you can find persons with whom you will correspond—" exchange ideas "—says the prospectus. This opens up a new, broad, and hitherto unworked field of misery. Fancy belonging to a Society which will provide an endless supply of unknown correspondents anxious to exchange ideas! A third advantage is found in "the Literary Branch." This means the monthly magazine of which I have never yet seen a copy. If there are 4,000 members all wanting to get their con- tributions in, where is the advantage? If the magazine is not known to the world, what is the good of appearing in it? If the contributions are worthy of publication, there are dozens of magazines which will gladly pay for them. Fourthly, there is a "Tutorial" department. This seems to be a bid at a tutorial agency. Do many of the 4,000 members join in the hope of getting a tutorship? Fifthly, there is the "Hotel Tariff." Members get a reduction at certain hotels—it is not stated which these are, or where they are, or why they make a reduction. Sixthly, the "Commercial" side. Valuable business connexions are said to have been formed by correspondence between members. This seems quite a new departure for a Literary, Peaceful, Popular Association. Here you have the Association—its objects and advantages—all drawn up by its own officers; the annual subscription is only half-a-guinea. What is that in return for the chance of getting into the magazine, and "exchanging ideas" with all kinds of wonderful people, and opening valuable business connexions, and getting tutorships? Meantime, one would like to know on what representations the 90 Honorary Members gave permission for their names to appear? We will inquire further into this very interesting "British and Foreign Association." The competitive columns of certain popular papers are producing very dangerous consequences in inducing young winners of prizes to l>elieve themselves born for literary fame. I fear that these lines will not fall into the hands of any such, but if they do, let me most earnestly implore, them not to attempt Editor or Publisher with original work without taking advice ns to the quality of their work, either of the Society or of some competent friend. We have been richly blessed, as they used to say, in our efforts at dissuasion. We have succeeded in leading out of the stony fields of unsuccessful Literature many who are now grazing sweetly in pastures of Clerk- land or Trade-land. Sometimes those who are thus turned aside kick and are restive. Then they answer the advertising publisher's letter that he  ## p. 144 (#548) ############################################ 144 THE AUTHOR. will moot all demands up to 5,ooo copies for £60, and proceed to learn the rest of the lesson which never fails to follow. After that they go hack into Clerk*land meekly, if somewhat bruised and battered. Some months ago I wrote a little paper called "A School for Novelists," in which I pointed out how, given the natural aptitude to begin with, the aspirant in Romance might rind his way greatly smoothed, and might be saved from many dis- appointments and humiliations, by learning the technique of the Art. There was the usual and expected kind of comment. Everybody who saw his way to a clever thing ignored my saving clause concerning the natural aptitude, and extended the finger of scorn at the man who could lie such a fool as to suppose that novelists can be made by schools and lectures. But the project still remains even when the clever things have all been said at the cost of truth, and by the suppression of the most important part of my contention. We shall see a School of Fiction yet. If I had the time I would start one myself, and I believe that I should do very well with it, both for myself and for my pupils. I now learn that there has been founded, or will soon be founded, a College for Journalists in the United States, out of which should come many good things, and especially that regard for truth which is surely the one thing most wanted in American Journalism. And I am re- minded that there has existed for some years a School of Journalism in this London Town. The school gives lectures and instruction in all the various duties of a journalist: among them, on paragraphs, reviewing, special and war correspondence, art and dramatic criticism, leaders, editing, sub-editing, &c. In other words, the school undertakes to turn out a practical journalist in 12 months. It is directed by Mr. David Anderson, himself a well-known leader writer on the best London Papers. Now, here comes in the reservation. The School of Journalism can no more make a journalist, than a School of Fiction could make a novelist; but it can prepare the way for one who has the natural aptitude. Many of those who pass through the course may fail afterwards in their profession; but that failure ought not to bring discredit, on the school, so long as some can be found who attribute their success mainly or in part to the work of the school. For my own part, I welcome such schools as additional proof, for the eyes of the world, that Literature is a profession, and one with many branches, of which journalism is one. Certain not unfriendly critics have questioned the use of my suggestion that authors should practise the art of public speaking. "Why," asks one, "should authors make public speeches at all?" Because they are sometimes very much wanted to do so in the interests of their own calling. Because they often know a great deal on special subjects on which their spoken judgment might be very useful indeed. Because authorship belongs to every pro- fession and (idling under the sun, and he who would teach or guide the world should lie able to do so by word of mouth as well as by pen. Cer- tainly there are men, as this critic points out, who could never become orators. Thackeray was one; Anthony Trollope was another; John Stuart Mill was a very ineffective, unattractive speaker. Yet, had one of those three studied and practised the. art, he might at least have been able to say the thing he wautcnl to say effectively and convincingly. The last named might certainly have increased his influence and power enormously. He did his best and the House emptied the moment he rose. Their desk, my critic goes on to say, is their proper place. If so, John Morley had lietter go liack te his desk; Mr. Arthur Balfour also, the author of one admirable book at least, had better go back to his; Mr. Gladstone to his; all the Divines and Theologians must go back to their desks. In fact, everylnxly who writes books must be forbidden to do anything else. Docs not this seem a little absurd? Behind the notion, you see, is concealed some of the old contempt of the literary man. He is still, as of old, held te be useless except with a pen in his hand, and not of much use then. I find a very apt illustration of my remarks con- cerning authors and oratory in a certain ceremony which took place at Canterbury the other day. The address of the occasion, which is given l>elow, was delivered by Mr. Henry Irving. Now, there is no iM'tter speaker than Mr. Irving — 'tis his vocation. Also, the address was everything that could lie desired. But I should have preferred seeing a poet—a dramatic poet—or a leading man of letters at least, deliver that address. And I take it that the reason why Mr. Henry Irving was invited to perform the task was the difficulty of finding an English author of eminence who can speak. It was not altogether because Mr. Lowell was an American that he was invited to deliver the address on the unveiling of Fielding's bust.  ## p. 145 (#549) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. J45 Vague reports are flying about concerning a monster pet ition about to be drawn up and presented to the Archbishop of Canterbury. It will be signed by millions, and it will bo a request that prayers should l>e put up in all the churches, and con- tinued for twelve months, that the heart of the young journalist may be inclined unto verifying his references, and that the heart of the editor may be inclined unto visiting the neglectful with stripes. My sympathy is entirely with that petition. I find, for instance, that at least a dozen paragraphs have appeared stating (i) that I myself have by myself decided against admitting ladies to the Authors' Club: (2) that my reason is that they write for religious periodicals, and therefore they cannot pay the five-guinea subscription. These statements are entirely false. "What happened was this. At the preliminary meeting of the Temporary Committee, July 23rd, a set of tentative Resolutions were drawn up and passed. These Resolutions con- templated a club of men only. One of the chief reasons for such a conclusion was the fact that so many ladies had written to say that they could not jwssibly pay a subscription of five guineas. Therefore, the Committee, and not I myself, passed Resolutions contemplating a club for men only. They inserted these Resolutions in the Author, and asked for opinions. Moreover, in the Sep- tember number of the Author I expressly called attention to these facts, so that it is pure invention to say that I have excluded ladies. Another ingenious inventor of copy has added that the reason why ladies cannot afford five guineas is that they work for religious periodicals. Another want of verification! What I said was this: "An ideal club of authors should admit women as well as men. Literature is, above all others, a profession open to both sexes. Yet literary women are even more mercilessly sweated than men, especially by religious societies, who pretend not to know that sweating was specially contemplated in the framing of the Eighth Commandment; and the number of ladies who live by their literary work, and can afford even so reasonable a subscription as five guineas is very small." It is, indeed, very small indeed. Some day I hope to show what the sweating of women in literature really means. In the case of one religious society I have already done something in tliat direction. Walter Besant. ♦■»■♦ LISTS AND RISES. f |^HE long lists of announcements of new books I show no falling off in numbers, at least. Modern English literature appears to flourish in every branch. Those who think that nobody buys books may look at these lists and ask themselves for whom the new books are all printed and published? To lie on the shelves? To l>e given away? For the pride of the publisher? Nay, but to be sold. There is, again, we are expected to believe, an enormous risk in bringing out every one of these books. The very length of the lists shows the absurdity of the risk bogey. Looking through the lists one sees a book here and a l>ook there whose success seems doubt- ful—new poems, but these are always paid for by the author; novels by unknown hands, which are also paitl for by the author, unless they are so striking as to leave no doubt in the mind of the reader; books of essays, by unknown writers; biographies of unknown persons, and so forth, of which all that one can say is that if a publisher were to bring them out at his own risk he would l>e a very sanguine person and a very bad man of business. But the chief lesson to be learned by this enormous output is the enormous market. We who live in London are too apt to fall into the error of judging everything by a London standard; more than that, by the standard of a small piece of London. For instance, in Club land nolxxly buys Ixwks, news- papers, or magazines; but in the suburbs there are hundreds—thousands of houses—who buy both books and magazines, while in the country houses and country towns, though the circulating library goes for much it is not everything, and there are India and the Colonies. The inquiry which we con- ducted some months ago gave us some insight into the vastness of the book market. The autumn lists enlarge that view. To take nine publishers only out of the daily increasing number of firms, we find the following numbers of new lxx>ks announced re- spectively :—82, 57, 57, 5i, 43, 37, 36, 35, and 34, or an average of 43' 2 among the nine. Probably there are a thousand in all for the autumn output. This represents at an average of £100 a-piece, an outlay, or an investment, of £ioo,coo, and, of course, this is only a part of the whole year's enterprise. It is a large sum of money. Would it be embarked year after year—would new firms, some of them without any capital at all—come into the business if it were full of risks? Of course not. For my part I have never been able to understand why some publishers—not all—affect to be engaged in a kind of gambling business. It is not reputable to them as business men; it is not in the least true; and it damages literature by making authors believe that everything is a toss up. "Rider Haggard has succeeded," says some lunatic, who thinks he can write, "Why shouldn't I get a chance as well as he?" Literally, this notion is widespread. A great many people write to the Society in this sense and under this idea. And they are greatly helped by the absurd way in which some publishers wish risk to be considered as the first element in their work. You can hardly read a  ## p. 146 (#550) ############################################ 146 THE AUTHOR. leading article on the subject which does not start with the assumption that publishing is pure gamb- ling—speculation—a toss up. The bogey springs up like a jack-in-the-box in all kinds of unexpected places. The other day I bought Mr. Andrew Lang's "Hypnerotomachia," in a second-hand bookseller's, and carried it home. It is prefaced by an introduction which is both attractive and instructive. In the middle of it occurs this remarkable passage, "and there is risk in pub- lishing, though a hundred Mr. Besants say there is not." Where are these hundred? I only know one person of that name who has written upon the subject, and he most certainly has never said any- thing so foolish. There is risk, and plenty, as I have said elsewhere and everywhere, in publishing. But then publishers of the present day very seldom take any. If anybody takes upon himself to deny this statement he must do so only after he has care- fully examined publishers' books, with the aid of an accountant, if he is not skilled in accounts. If anyone will produce such proofs I am ready to modifv my statement. For my own part, I have been enabled to see, what nobodv else in the world has seen, except our secretaries, a very large and perfectly unique collection of pub- lishers' agreements and publishers' accounts, to which we have added a mass of information on the cost of production never l>efore possessed by anyone. And with this knowledge in my hands, I lx)ldly say that very few publishers ever take any risk in the production of new liooks. As to new magazines and such ventures I sav nothing, of course. I take only new books written by living authors. Meantime, this absurd sentence stands in the middle of Mr. Lang's Introduct ion to a mediaeval book like a bit of modern common earthenware on a shelf filled with Murano glass. The effect is very striking. There will not, I suppose, be another edition of the liook for a hundred years to come, and many a pleasant little controversy will arise when we are all forgotten as to this wonderful glimpse of a hundred all clamouring like one man, that there was no risk in publishing.—What hun- dred? Who were they? Where did they clamour? Why, in the nineteenth century it was notorious that every publisher quickly went to immortal smash, and the Court of Bankruptcy was filled with unhappy publishers who had failed, and on days "out," the streets were crammed with publishers dressed in the livery of their Union! W. B. FROM AMERICA. WE are certainly not going to interfere between American authors and American publishers. But the following seems to show that all is not complete happiness across the ocean. It is taken from the New York Critic:— "A publishing-house of old and high standing bought a MS. of 3o,ooo words at an agreed price, plus a share on sales. A year elapsed and then the author was asked if he would extend it to 60,000 words, which he did, without asking that the original price should be doubled, but he drew the balance, which was not to have been paid until publication. At the end of 18 months it was found that the lxx>k could not l>e issued until two years had elapsed since the original sale. There was no stipulation as to date of publication. At this stage the author sent in proposals to the publisher asking that, in consideration of the unreasonable delay of two years, and also of his complacency in doubling the work at their sugges- tion, they should make a further payment, either in full purchase of author's interest, or as an advance. No sort of complaint had been made against the MS. from first to last. To this the representative of the firm replied with a flat refusal to submit the proposal, on the ground (to quote his letter) that ' it is absurd to claim that the delay in publication is either a matter for which we should be blamed or that has caused you loss.' As to the suggestion of reciprocity in goodwill based on the author's readiness in furnishing twice the quantity of matter specified in the contract, the reply is simply the remark 'you readily offered to enlarge it without charge.' From which it appears that time is not money to the author tribe, and the driving of a sharp bargain absolves the gainer from any obligation, to do a favour to the one who suffers through his lordly leisureliness." Thus far the correspondent, on which the editor remarks— "There seems in this case to have been some 'reciprocity in goodwill,' as the writer admits having been paid 'the balance ' which was to have been paid on publication." True, Mr. Editor, but what were the respective values of the "reciprocity in goodwill"? The writer was to have received, say, £100 on publication. This was delayed for 18 months, although when the bargain was made, immediate publication was, in fact, contemplated. The writer, however, got paid his £100, so that the publisher clearly lost 18 months' interest on his money. But the writer doubled the length of the work, and should have received double the pay. Therefore the writer lost £100, while the publisher lost only £7 io«., reckoning 5 per cent, interest. But in what other profession in the world would an employer dare to propose that payment made for a stipulated piece of work should be made to serve for double that piece of work?  ## p. 147 (#551) ############################################ THE A UTHOR. EEVIEWEES AND EEVIEWS. I. IT would appear, from certain papers which have at various times occupied your columns, that many writers believe that favourable notice from the various reviews is sufficient to secure a reasonable sale for most books. If such an impres- sion prevails, there may be some use in detailing my own experiences. Some years since, I made my first venture with a volume of verse. My reasons were various, the proverbial vanity of the verse-writer amongst them, but the hope of profit was not. My own knowledge, lmcked by competent advice, and the opinion of my publisher was sufficient, I think, to prevent any disappointment upon that head, when a publication which had cost me about £70 brought in a return of £|5 in sides. Yet, in one way, I was unfortunately very successful. The reviews, from which I had expected very mixed criticism, were uniformly in my favour, and some half-dozen proved enthusiastic. It may cut matters short if I say that, encouraged by their tone, I followed this first venture with two similar ones, the results, pecuniary and critical, being almost identical, so that I was the proud possessor of some 70 eulogiums of my work in print, besides letters from various writers, including our great poet, in return for which I had invested a capital of some- thing over £200. A wealthy man might consider this money well invested for such a result. I did not, and encouraged this time by the advice of friends, I set to work to recover my stake by publishing, at my own cost, a prose work. The reviews were even warmer in tone than they had been as regarded my verse, with a solitary ex- ception in a non-literary pa|X'r, and I ln-gan to feel confident of a return ; so that I was considerably mortified this time on receiving once more an account of the sale of about a hundred copies out of what I had hoped, from the tone of the critics, would prove to be merely a first edition. This time I thought that my publisher might be at fault, though I had no definite cause of dissatis- faction with him. Accordingly, I carried my fifth venture, a work of fiction, to another firm to which I had l>ccn recommended. With regard to the manner in which I was advised and treated by this firm, I may have something to say at a future date. Once again, all the papers which reviewed my tale praised it, and I lost something over £40. I returned to my old publishers, anil had a sixth book printed last year. Results were about the same: one unfavourable review in the Church Times; about a score of favourable notices in various well-known papers; side about ioo copies. Now, as many of the sales of my various works were made in quarters known to myself, I am able to state, with fair certainty, that from 100 to i5o favourable reviews have not averaged a return of more than three or four shillings apiece from sides obtained by their influence. How many sales the two unfavourable notices may have prevented is a doubtful question. It may possibly lx- of some interest if I set down, in conclusion, the course taken by the four chief weekly Metropolitan Reviews, as showing the risks which an author, otherwise favourably received, may have of being overlooked by them. The Saturday Review ignored my first two volumes, and published favourable notices of the last four with fair promptitude. No beginner need complain of such a course. The Spectator commenced with number two, and has fx-en extremely kind: however, the notices appeared at from three months to a year after publication, and my last work, published ten months since, is, I believe, still unnoticed by them. The Athcnrrum noticed number five only. The Academy noticed number one only. I may mention that both these last notices were favourable, and the notice in the Academy of my first volume of verse, coupled with those in the Scotsman, Graphic, <&c, was the chief inducement to the publication of my second and third volumes. Y. A. G. II. We have recently had a little talk about the reviews of novels. It may be interesting to some of our readers to see how an American paper, the New York Critic, reviews novels. First of all, the Critic gives to each work its own separate space and title. The notices are short, but they are detached. The author is treated as an individual, not as one of a herd. This is respectful and polite. The reviewer then gives a short account of the work—so far as one can judge, a fair account. In this account he tells something of the story. And it ends with a few words of appreciative approval or the reverse. This method is not pro- posed as a model, but it is suggested for considera- tion. The following, for instance, is the notice of Hardy's "Group of Noble Dames " :— "At a meeting of one of the Wessex Field and Antiquarian clubs, held in the museum of the town, certain stories were partly told, partly read from manuscript. The club was of an inclusive and intersocial character, the meeting was to extend over two days, the rain came down in an obstinate jwtter which revealed no sign of cessation, and the members agreed to let the stories do duty for the  ## p. 148 (#552) ############################################ 148 THE A UTHOR. regulation papers on deformed butterflies, fossil ox-horns, and other prehistoric relics. Some of them observed tlint a storm-bound club could not be selective, and they were much pleased to hear such curious chapters from the domestic histories of the country. There was no lack of material in Wessex. Many were the legends and traditions of gentle and noble dames, renowned in times past in that part of England, whose actions and passions were now, but for men's memories, buried under the brief inscription on a tomb or an entry of dates in a dry pedigree. The stories, once told, were too good to be lost, so they were gathered together and published in a volume called 'A Group of Noble Dames.' Truly fascinating tales they have proved to be, well calculated to while away the dreary and monotonous hours of many a club called together for more serious work. Their local colour is perfect, their interest is absorbing, and the style in which they are told is so simple and so natural that, in speaking of them, one drops unconsciously into the quaint old English expressions in vogue in those days. They are among the best things that Thomas Hardy has ever done, and are issued in a very attractive cover. (81.25. Harper & Bros.)" MAGAZINES AND CONTRIBUTIONS. AGliEAT many letters from time to time have reached the Society on the subject of prices paid for articles in magazines. There have been so many that the Society has now an actual knowledge of the ordinary rate of pay of every magazine, including certain organs whose editors (or proprietors) go on the principle of never paying anybody if they can possibly avoid it. The rates vary very largely, partly depend- ing on the name and reputation of the writer, partly on the circulation of the magazine, and, in some cases, on the sweating disposition of the proprietor. They vary, indeed, in an astonish- ing manner. One or two of the oldest and the best- known magazines are offering their contributors sums which would be thought contemptible by the new and cheaper organs, while some of the latter are offering prices for work by well-known men far above any dreamed of by their older contem- poraries. It would seem that there is, and can be, no fixed rate for contributions. Journals do not all have a wide circulation. When the circulation of a magazine has begun to go down, the effect upon payment of contributors must, sooner or later, be marked; in fact, at this moment certain magazines are proving their decline and impending fall by the decrease in the amount of the contributor's cheque. It is impossible, without loss; to pay the old scale for half the old subscription. On the other hand, these things get whispered abroad. Then good writers cease to send in work. Then the paper is no longer looked at, or inquired after; at the clubs it remains in its case ; no new subscribers take it in; it gradually fades into decay and forgetfulness. There are, besides, certain maga- zines—of which an example was given in last month's Author—which simply go on the broad and intelligible principle of never paying any contributor at all unless they are compelled. The Society is accumulating evidence on all these points. Other considerations affect tht question. Thus: (I) There are always a great many people who will willingly contribute papers for nothing, except the joy of seeing their names in print. If, therefore, there were enough of these writers to fill a magazine with papers attractive, pleasant, and popular, it could be run for nothing. Happily, the numlier of writers who are pleasant and popular is very limited; therefore, this resource is soon exhausted. Yet the number of articles offered to editors on all conceivable subjects is incredible. (2) It must be remembered that the question is, or should be, one of bargain only. The writer, for instance, who might possibly be accepted on some magazine if he offered his work for nothing, would be cer- tainly rejected if he demanded what he might himself consider a reasonable sum for his work; and, even in the higher-class magazines, if an editor chooses to offer only so much—a great deal less, perhaps, than the writer expected—it is oi>en for him to refuse or to accept the offer. Only, as said above, where such small offers are made, it is a proof of a falling circulation. It wotdd be, perhaps, as well if writers, before sending a paper to a magazine, were to ascertain at the Society's office the usual scale of pay. They could then decide whether it was worth while to send in their papers, and could stipulate beforehand what price they would be prepared to take. COMMISSION BOOKS. fl^HE Secretary is continually receiving letters I and requests on the subject of commission books; that is to say, books which the author pays for and the publisher sells on a commission of 10 or 15 per cent, There are a great number of books published at the author's expense, and yet there are not many commission l>ooks. In other words, as we arc always insisting, a vast number of novels are issued every year by foolish and deluded people who pay in advance what they are  ## p. 149 (#553) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 149 informed is half the cost, and afterwards receive what they are informed is half the proceeds. They can then imitate Mr. Bob Sawyer by placing their profits in a wine-glass ami covering them with a gooseberry skin. Generally, however, they cannot even do that, for the profits turn out to be "nuppence." That is not commission pub- lishing. Yet, if a man has got a good book, there can be no better way of publishing, provided he can get a good house. It is said, and lielieved, that a house will not push a book on a 10 per eent. commission. That may be true. If it is, perhaps they would push it on a i5 per cent, commission. Let us see how this works out, taking the average six-shilling novel of about 17 sheets. The first edition of 1,000 copies costs about £90. The next edition of 3,ooo costs about £118. The price being 3s. ^d., the first edition, allowing for pre- sentation copies, realizes about £i5o, the next about £5oo. On the first edition the publisher, at 15 per cent., takes £22 ios., and on the second edition £75. The author, on the other hand, makes on the first edition £37 10s., and on the next edition of 3,ooo he makes about £3oo. It certainly seems to me as if this was a very equitable arrangement. I suppose that all the trouble of printing the book is taken by the author. AN INSTRUCTIVE CASE. AN agreement and a bundle of accounts are l)efore us. The agreement contains as an integral part an "estimate" of the cost of production. Observe, that if the author, having signed the agreement, afterwards discovers that the "estimate" was fraudulent, he has no redress except by action in the High Court of Justice, and a very difficult business it is to prove by experts the fraud in such a case. In the Author we have repeatedly warned readers against signing any agreement containing an "estimate." Now the book before us being submitted to a printer, it is actually found that his "estimate" has been exactly doubled, i.e., that the printing and produc- tion of the book really cost exactly half of what was stated in the "estimate." The author in the agreement bound himself to pay half the " estimate," i.e., he was made liable, really, for the whole of the cost. He did pay, in reality, half the sum in advance, and left the rest to come out of sides. At the close of the iirst edition the publisher having, in addition to the other fraud, and contrary to the agreement, charged a much larger sum for advertisements than was arranged, how does the account stand? 1. According to the publisher's returns, the cost of the book exceeds the sales by about £70. Placing against this the sum actually paid by the author, he loses aliout £3o. Very bad business indeed. 2. According to the reality of the case, the sales of the book exceed the cost by about £5. Add the sum paid by the author, and the publisher is in pocket to the tune of about £40. Not such IkkI business, after all, with quite a little book, and quite a little fraud. THE MARLOWE MEMORIAL. f|>HE following is the address of Mr. Henry I Irving on the unveiling of the Marlowe Memorial, as reported in the Times:— "We are here to-day to pay tribute to a great memory and to repair a great omission. England has always set much store by the men who helped to save the State in the supreme crisis of her history. The statesmen and warriors of the Elizabethan times have never lacked a grateful recognition from their descen- dants. The literature which was the flower and crown of that period of our national growth ban remained our chief glory to these days, and the works of its greatest representative are the most enduring possessions of all who speak the English tongue. Of Shakespeare there are memorials which attest at almost every turn in our daily lives our reverence for his surpassing genius. But till to- day we have presented to the world no conspicuous symbol of our enormous debt to a man who was contemporary with Shakespeare, and in one sense his tutor, antl who was the first to employ with a master hand the greatest instrument of our language. It was natural enough that the fame of Christopher Marlowe should be overshadowed by that of William Shakespeare, but it is surely some discredit to Englishmen that the fine sense of Marlowe's gifts and services to letters, which scholars have always had, have hitherto found no substantial shape in some trophy for the acclama- tion of the world. To-day this long oversight has been repaired. Here, in the birthplace of Marlowe, rich as it is in the commanding associations of our history, you have erected a monument which to future generations will speak with a voice no less potent than the. historic echoes of this city.  ## p. 150 (#554) ############################################ THE A UTHOR. (Hoar, hear.) What manner of man Marlowe was in outward seeming I suppose nobody knows. Even if it were fmniliar to us, the counterfeit presentment could not have the force and signifi- cance of the beautiful figure which we owe to the art of the sculptor; but it is not with Marlowe; the man that we need busy ourselves, even if there were more material than there is for judgment of his brief and sad career, for it is the ideal of the poet whose " raptures were all air and fire" that must constantly be present to our minds as we gaze on this image of his worship. It recalls some of his own Hues which are eloquent of this devotion :— "Our souls, whose faculties can comprehend The wondrous architecture of the world, And measure every wandering planet's course, Still climbing after knowledge infinite And always moving as the restless spheres, Will us to wear ourselves, anil never rest Until we reach the ripest fruit of all." The man who struck such chords as these is not unworthy of a monument in his native place. (Hear, hear.) It was Marlowe who first wedded the harmonies of the great organ of blank verse which peals through the centuries in the music of Shakespeare. It was Marlowe who first captured the majestic rhythms of our tongue, and whose "mighty line" is the most resounding note in England's literature. Whatever may be thought of his qualities as a dramatist, and whatever place he may hold amongst the great writers who framed the models of English tragedy, he stands foremost and apart as the poet who gave us, with a rare measure of richness, the literary form which is the highest achievement of poetic expression. I do not pretend to do justice to Marlowe in this very imperfect utterance of some thoughts which are in your minds. It has been a great privilege to me to come here to-day to perform an office which might have been placed in far worthier hands. But I am glad to have an opportunity of speaking as an Englishman of the claims of Marlowe's fame to be prized and cherished by his countrymen. His reputation should be an abiding element of our national pride. And, finally, as an actor, I am proud to remember that Marlowe's work, like Shakespeare's, was written primarily for the stage, that, if not an actor himself, Marlowe was intimately associated with the actor's calling, and that the Elizabethan dramatists, with Shakespeare, the actor, at their head, in employing the stage as the first medium of their appeal to posterity linked it for ever witli an imperishable glory." (Cheers.) GOOD WORE, SURE PAY. IN a paragraph which recently appeared in the Author, under the somewhat mystic headline "One Word from you. Sir," literary aspirants who are constantly having their overtures declined by editors and publishers were exhorted to produce '• (food Work "—a direct and perfectly intelligible proposition—as the one way out of their difficulties; and they were further assured that " Good Work," of no matter what kind, had always its mercantile value, and could always (consequently or presum- ably) command its price. It seems almost a pity that so genteel and reputable a fallacy, the fostering of which may suit the interests of more than one faction in the literary state, should be doomed to fall beneath the slow cruel axe of Time, yet fall it must. No doubt editors and publishers are made the recipients of a vast deal of trash (for which commodity, by-the-bye, there is always a brisk and healthy demand at the bookstalls, which makes it a wonder why publishers should decline any of it); but these gentlemen, who have some- how l>een empowered to direct and regulate the reading of the nation, may be accredited with dis- crimination sufficient to enable them to know the true metal from the base. But, distinctly and emphatically, once and for all, the refusal of a manuscript by an editor or publisher, or by all the editors and publishers existent, is simply no criterion of its merit; a fact which it seems the object of certain (possibly interested) persons to deny, conceal, or disguise, while it should l>o proclaimed far and wide. Need I do more than name the historic cases of " The Vicar of Wake- field," "Vanity Fair," and "Sartor Resartus "? The other day a highly popular and (it must be concluded) able author, who made his name two or three decades since, told me that " every publisher wants a good work, and would not refuse one." He subjoined—as if he were making an unexpected and handsome concession—" Of course a publisher's judgment is not infallible." We are told on good authority that there is nothing either good or Imd but thinking makes it so, and we may be sure that in most cases the non-accepting publisher thinks he is doing right. The fallacy which I have defined and denounced is bolstered up in other quarters. One example: A certain pub- lishing house in London issues a printed circular for the guidance, or rather misguidance, of uninitiated writers, wherein the latter are treated to the statement (in effect) that if he, the publisher, does not entertain a work, it is practically useless to try it elsewhere. Of course, every author who has a right to the name merely chuckles at such audacious irrelevancies. Then as for the printing  ## p. 151 (#555) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. one's book at one's own expense, when publishers will not take the risk, a course which is uniformly discouraged by this Society (of which I have the honour to l>e a Member, and in regard to which I hope and predict great things). This position implies that if (say) half-a-dozen publishers decline your book the book is probably worthless, and had letter therefore be left unpublished. In the majority of cases this may Ik- the fact; in certain others it is quite otherwise. The writer of con- scious individuality and power will not have his faculty explained away thus lightly, and small wonder if, despite probable loss, he prints and pays for it. The weakling or pretender, on the other hand, is easily discouraged—and very pro- perly so. If the man who, in English creative and realistic art, stands next to Shakespeare, had not possessed both the courage and the money to print at his own cost, in the teeth of at least 20 head-shaking publishers, the world might this day l>e without "Vanity Fair." Here we may pause and tremble. This ease may be claimed as exceptional. I do not think it is. I think—I fear—that masterpieces have been lost to us owing to the pecuniary helplessness of their producers. We cannot too much insist on the hard-and-fast distinction between intrinsic value and marketable value. The two are sometimes associated—not always. Every true man of letters will seek (at least so far as his own work is concerned) to make the two identical. But there seems to linger some little doubt or confusion on this point in the public head, unless it is that the idea that the successful book is the good book—an idea which, strange? to say, even successful authors will not very warmly combat—is fixed immovably there. C. Davenport Jones. [Our correspondent is perfectly right in his position that a good book may be refused by pub- lishers, and that the refusal is not in itself a sufficient condemnation. At the same time, our contention was, and is, that publishers are always on the look out for go<xl work—especially saleable work—and that no publisher will let good work— i.e., saleable work—leave his house if he can keep it there. This is equivalent to saying that pub- lishers are men of business, and that they do not go to their offices for the sake of fooling away their money. To argue that good l>ooks —i.e., saleable l>ooks—are often refused is to argue that publishers do not know their own business, and that their readers are incompetent. Does not our correspon- dent confuse two things, good literary work and good saleable work? It is quite possible that a very good liook indeed might be produced—good from the literary point of view—which would, be quite unsaleable for some defects, or from its length, or from its subject? For instance, a mathematical treatise on elasticity, such as is announced, would not l>e sold on the bookstalls. If Browning were an unknown person offering a MS. called "The King and the Book," nobody, certainly, would publish it for him, and it has been suggested that the reason why "Vanity Fair " was sent round to so many houses was its very great length, twice the length of an ordinary novel. To be sure it was not an ordinary novel. The advice persistently given by the Society to an author, not to publish at his own expense a work refused by publishers, is based on the assumption that the latter know their business, and that the work is commercially worthless. It may not lie artistically worthless, but that is a very different thing. We seek to protect our profession in all questions that have to do with their property. If they believe that their work ought to appear, without consideration of its commercial value, we can still protect them by keeping them in honest hands.—Editor.] +~~~* CORRESPONDENCE. 1. The Statute of Limitations. IN 1886 I suggested a subject for an article to a magazine editor. The article was ordered and written, delivery being made in November 1886. After a long delay and some correspondence a proof wits submitted, corrected, and returned; the article has not yet appeared, and of course has not been paid for. If I allow the matter to remain another 12 months, shall I be barred, by the Statute of Limitations, of power to recover at law? If I am to be so barred, is it possible to recover now, i.e., prior to the publication of the article, by taking out a county court summons, or by any other means? G. W. II. Fiction and Reality. Some years ago a well-known novelist described, let us say, a Polish Count as occupying rooms in the Grand Hotel in London. The other day two less well-known writers of fiction described another noble Pole as occupying rooms in the same hotel. Then comes a critic who wisely says, "This is shocking; it is a mixture of fiction and reality." Query: Which of the two Polish Counts is the live man?  ## p. 152 (#556) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. in. Slating. One must hesitate before challenging Professor Skeat on a point of etymology. But may I call attention to the fact that in "Books and Bookmen" Mr. Andrew Lang, in a note to his " Ballads of the Ileal and Ideal," says:—" Slate is a professional term for a severe criticism. Clearly the word is originally 'slat,' a narrow board of wood with which a person might Ik; l>eaten." Webster gives the verb " slat," and the quotation from Marston :— "How did you kill him? Slat[t]ed his brains out." Surely this "will serve." Jamks Nias. IV. Words and Biucks. The writer of the following letter is evidently of opinion that "the Editor" should recognise his initials, and arrive at his subject by intuition. He also seems to think that words, like bricks, arc sold by the thousand, and that one man's word is as good as another's. Andrew W. Tukr. The Leadenhall Press, E.C. [Copy.] To the Editor of the Leadenhall Press. Dear Sir, I shoold feel obliged if you would inform mc whether you have any opening for a MS. consisting of 11,000 words, the Copyright of which I am desirous of selling. I want an early reply. Yours truly, P. 11. R. V. A Provident Society. Whether or not Mr. Andrew Lang believes in the existence of a New 'Grub Street, it is certain that some of us writing-people have a perpetual struggle to keep above water. May I suggest to you the possibility of forming an "Authors' Provident Society?" What I propose is this. A graduated scale of subscriptions varying according to the income of the writer, aud entitling him to a weekly amount in time of sickness or nou-employ- ment. I do not think you would find a single poor author who would be so foolish or so reckless as not to take advantage of a club of this kind. The fees might lie as low as is. 6d. a week, and the scheme be started on precisely the same lines as working men's sick benefit clubs. As to the rich authors, let them subserilK', and be entitled to some advantage; in the way of recommending a poorer brother for the club's aid. Quill Driver. VI. An Honourable Action. When so many unjust editors and publishers are pilloried in the Author, it is only fair to give some- times an opposite instance. I lately sent a book to certain publishers, and in time received a letter stating they were willing to give me so much—about three-quarters of what I expected—as the book would make a certain size— which, like the sum offered, was about a quarter less than I bad calculated. Greatly puzzled tliat my MS. should prove so short, I still thought that they must be able lxjst to judge the length it would make in print, and so I accepted the sum offered, and signed the agreement of copyright. But when the proof came, I found I had l>ecn right. The book was even longer than I expected. When I pointed this out to the publishers, they honourably gave me the remainder of the price without a question. But this is a hint to me—and may be to others— in future to notice very carefully the length of my MS. Other publishers might not be so just to the unwary writer. RossiGNOL. VII. Reviews and Newspapers. Your note in reply to my letter printed in the Author this month, does not seem to me to contain such a strong objection to what I propose as at first sight appears. I do not for a moment advocate that copies of new books should not be supplied to newspaper proprietors or editors by the publishers, but that, after the books have been sent, the bill for them should follow. The reviewer would be at no more trouble than now in getting his copy, for it would l>e supplied to him either by the publisher direct, or by the editor. It is only just that the books should be paid for by the newspaper proprietors, for it is primarily for the benefit of the papers that reviews are inserted therein. H. Haes.  ## p. 153 (#557) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. PAGES CUT OR UNCUT? SHALL we have our books and magazines cut or uncut? For the cutting of the pages the following advantages are claimed :— 1. The convenience. One receives the book ready for reading, as it ought to be. A book whose pages have to be cut is not ready for the reader. It still lacks some- thing which must be done to it. Suppose the reader had to number the pages before he could begin the book. Yet to cut them is no more trouble. 2. The neatness. Very few men can cut abook properly. They grow impatient; they slip the paper-knife and carve into the page; they hold it loosely and tear the page; the only way to get a neat edge is to cut the pages with a machine. 3. The saving of time. To cut the pages of a thick octavo takes at least half-an-hour of valuable time. We do not waste half-an-hour in sweeping the floor, dusting the table, or laying the tire. Why should we waste our time in doing any other perfectly menial act, such as cutting the leaves of our books? 4. Its cheapness. The cost of cutting the leaves is estimated at something under io«. per 1,000 volumes. This is nothing. Against these arguments it is urged that the fashion of collectors is the book with rough and uncut leaves; that a book which has been cut will not sell so well as an uncut book. But we are considering the general convenience of readers, not the hobbies of collectors; and the the interest of readers, we think, will be best served by giving them their books ready cut. - • "AT THE AUTHOR'S HEAD." AMONG the announcements of the season, we can pick out an edition de luxe of a volume of Essays by Professor Huxley; the " Vision of Saints," by Lewis Moris; a novel by J. M. Barrie—" The Little Minister "; a " Dictionary of Religion," by the Rev. AVilliam Benham; Dr. Cunningham Geikie on the Holy Land, with illustrations by that most charming artist, Mi-. Henry A. Harper; a cheap illustrated Edition of Farrar's " Life of Christ"; the eighth volume of Professor Morley's "English Writers"; Sidney Colvin's" Letters of Keats" ; Buchheim's "Balladen mid Romanzen "; the publication of Mr. Henry A. Jones's "Saints and Sinners"; new tales by Marion Crawford, Rudvard Kipling, and Rolf Boldrewood; a book on the Elements of Polities by Henry Sedgwick; Sir William Muir's "History of the Caliphate "; new novels by George Manville Fenn and Algernon Gissing; verses by George Sand; "Hone Sabbatiea'," a collection of essays contributed to the Saturday lieview by Sir James F. Stephen; essays by E. A. Freeman; a novel by Mr. J. H. Shorthouse; a novel by Mrs. Oliphant; essays by Bishop Lightfoot; sermons by the late Dean of St. Paul's, by F. Denison Maurice, by Archdeacon Farrar, by Professor Kirkpatrick; two new volumes of " Men of Action "; "Rodney," by Mr. Hannay; and " Montrose," by Mr. Mowbray Morris; two new volumes of " English Statesmen "; Mr. Churton Collins 011 the Study of English Lite- rature; a posthumous work of Gifford Palgrave; novels by Clark Russell, Miss Doudney, C. J. Wills, Florence Marryat, Norris, Rider Haggard, Baring Gould, L. T. Meade, Hall Caine, Jessie Fothergill, Robert Buchanan, Tasma, Maarten Maartens, Mrs. Chandler Moulton, and many others. It is, as said elsewhere, a truly wonderful list; but then it is addressed to a hundred millions of readers. An example of the growing curiosity on the continent about English contemporary literature is a translation of Mr. Swinburne's "Poems and Ballads," 1st Series, into French by Gabriel Mourey, with an introduction by M. Guv de Mau- passant, the greatest, perhaps, of living French novelists. As in all translations, the magic of Un- original has disappeared, but admirers of Mr. Swinburne (that is to say, all competent judges of poetry) should get this work, if only for the intro- duction. The "Poems and Ballads," though Mr. Swinburne calls them "Peches de Jennesse," are after all one of the milestones in our life of literary appreciation. Nothing can ever quite take their place, thoHgh we have become old, good, anil respectable. Everyone will have read with interest Mr. Archer's article on Maeterlinck, the new Belgian dramatist, in the September number of the Fortnightly Review. This is, however, by 110 means the first account of his marvellous dramas that have been written in England. A review of "La Princesse Maleinc" appeared in the St. James' Gazette a long while ago, and in the June  ## p. 154 (#558) ############################################ 154 THE AUTHOR. number of the Author there was a critical estimate of Maeterlinck's dramatic and literary methods in "Les Avengles" anil "LTntruse." Mr. Archer writes as if he were the first in the field. Mr. Heinemann is about to publish a translation of "La Princesse Maleine," with an introduction by Mr. Oscar Wilde, and then everyone will have an opportunity of judging the merits of the Flemish Shakespeare. In the next Author there will be something more, it is hoped, about the i st issue of the Oriental Translation Fund (new series), edited bv Dr. F. F. Arbuthnot, M.R.A.S., printed and published under the auspices of the Royal Asiatic Society. The undertaking is due to the energetic and untiring efforts of the editor, who is a well-known expert in Oriental literature. Uninitiated readers should not be frightened by the name "Rawsat-Safa, or the Garden of Purity." Some of the Persian versions of the old familiar Biblical stories are delightful, being no less interesting to Christians than Moslems. Miss Frances Younghusband, the able trans- lator of the "Myths of Hellas" has again used her talents by a version of Witt's "Retreat of the Ten Thousand," which is based on Xenophon's "Anabasis." Xothing could possibly be better done, though Miss Younghusband might give us some original work for which she is so thoroughly capable. The illustrations are artistic and in- structive, and go far to enhance the value of this work. Many schoolboys would like to confine their knowledge of Xenophon to Miss Young- husband's version, but let us hope that it will regenerate them rather than spoil them for their Greek studies. The book is published by Messrs. Longman. "The Critic's exposure of the young man who passed himself off on credulous Americans as a brother of Mr. Walter Besant had the effect of stopping his depredations upon the literary guild, and turning him off to prey upon the represen- tatives of other professions. Sir Morell Mackenzie has receive:! a letter from Mr. A. P. Gordon Gumming, in which the latter informs the eminent 'medicine man' of his son's appearance at Sykesville, en route to Xew York, after a disastrous experience on the stage in Australia. And one of Sir Morell's veritable sons, who is an actor and manager, and calls himself H. H. Morell, without the Mackenzie, writes to the Spirit of the Times from London that he himself is the only son of his father who is connected with the theatrical pro- fession, and that his only brother is a physician. Mr. Morell is Miss Fortescue's manager. The Dramatic Jfirror also has exposed his swindling double."—Xew York Critic. Miss Frances Armstrong, author of "Her Own Way," &c. has brought out a new novel called "Changed Lots." Griffith and Farran. 5*. Dr. L. A. Buchheim sends a copy of his "Balladen und Romanzen" (Macmillan & Co.). It is a selection of German ballads uniform with the "Golden Treasury," and belonging to the series so-called. It is a very beautiful collection, and ought most certainly to be in the jwssession of all who read and love German poetry. A portrait of Uhland adorns the title page. It is a pity that it was not taken before the poet's hair fell off. A lady sends me a little volume of verse called, simply, " Poems," bearing the initials "D. M. B." and with the names of "Young and Cooper, Maidstone," on the title page. It is a very little volume, and there are in it verses which are quite too simple for publication. On the other hand, there are sonnets which seem to have the true ring, and we may very well imagine this writer soaring high above these early rhymes, and be- coming ashamed of them. Then this copy in my hands would become rare and priceless. May this be so! William Westall is writing Christmas stories for the Manchester Weekly Times and the Glasgmc Herald. He has also written a short serial for the Traveller, a new magazine which is to appear in December, and a novel which is being syndicated by the Authors' Syndicate, and will "run" in sundry English and American newspapers next year. "It is said that there are three million volumes of unsold novels lying on the shelves of the Paris publishers, and that the number increases every dav. What to do with these unsold and apparently unsaleable b >oks is a problem. It was proposed by someone that they should be distributed at country fairs as prizes for children, instead of gingerbread or Scripture texts. The innocent country people were greatly pleased with this proposition, and quite e.iger to accept it; but the more knowing  ## p. 155 (#559) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. i55 prefect of police interfered and stopped the dis- tribution; not, however, until some volumes had been given away. It is hoped that the local Sunday schools will put in their best work in this neighbourhood l>efore the seed already sown has bourgeoned ami born fruit."—New York Critic. Miss Elizabeth Bisland is said to be now engaged on a romance and play in collaboration with Bhoda Broughton. Mrs. Bernhard Whishnw has disposed of the American rights of "Zephyr," and it will be produced before long in New York with Miss Loie Fuller in the title part. It will be remembered that this young actress made a decided hit its " Zephyrina" when the play was performed at the Opera Comique last May. A new volume by Mr. J. E. Gore, F.B.A.S., entitled, " Star Groups: a Students Guide to the Constellations," is in the press, and will be published immediately by Messrs. Crosby, Lockwood, and Son, Stationers' Hall Court. The following books are about to be issued by Miss Bramstou, author of " Apples of Sodom " :— "Abby's Discoveries." Tale of child-life 5o years ago. National Society. "A Village Genius." Story of the Composer of the Passions music still sung at Ober Ammergau. National Society. "Neal Russell." One-volume tale, suitable for free and parish libraries. Swan, Sonnenschein Miss Jessie M. Barker's "Daisy's Dream: a Story of the Earth and its Sculptors," is to appear in the October, November, anil December parts of the Girls' Own Paper. "In Two Moods," by Stepniak and Westall, from the Russian of Korolenko, was published on September 18, in New York, by the American Book Company; and in London by Ward and Downey. Mrs. Alfred Baldwin has a one-volume novel in the press called "Where Town and Country meet." It will be published by Longmans and Co. Mr. Bertram Milford will publish in the middle of October a novel called "Golden Fan : A Tale of the Wild AVest." (Trischler and Co.) A new edition of "The Sandcliff Mystery," by Scott Graham, author of " The Golden Milestone," "A Bolt from the Blue," &c, is published at 2s. and 2*. 6d. by Messrs. Oliphant, Anderson, and Ferrier. Mrs. Jenner's novel "Love or Money," which has been running in Temple Bar, will be issued in volume form on October the 19th. Bentley and Son are the publishers. Miss Selina Gaye's new book "From Advent to Advent " was published in the summer by Messrs. Griffith and Farran. 2i3pp. Price 3-v. bd. The forthcoming memoir of the late Watts Phillips, which is to be issued by Messrs. Cassell and Co., is written by Miss Emma Watts Phillips, the sister, not the daughter, of the subject. Mr. Walts Phillips had one daughter only, who is now in Australia. NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS. Theology. Drivf.u, S. R., I).I). An Introduction to the Literature of tlie (Jlil Testament. Clark, George Street, Edinburgh. Vol. of the International Theological Library. 12*. McEvilly, Most Rev. J., 1).I>. An Exposition of the Epistles of St. l'uul anil of the Catholic Epistles. With introductions, analyses, a paraphrase of the text, and a commentary, interspersed with moral reflections. Two vols. Fourth Edition, revised. Dublin: M. II. Gill. PiiKi-rs, Austin, LL.D., D.I). My Note Hook. Frag- mentary studies in theology and subjects adjacent thereto. With portrait. Fisher 1'uwiu. 6s. Thk Powkb of thk Phkskxck of God. Hy the Author of "Prayers and Responses for the Household." Skeffing- tou. Paper covers. Stkwart, Pkof. Alkxandkb. Handbook of Christian Evidences. A. and C. Black, (xl. Tkmperaxtia. Ity the Kev. H. H. Gowen. Six Short Sermons on the Apostles Creed. By the Kev. J. J. Soden, M.A. Short Sermons for Children. By the Kev. H. J. Wilmot Buxton, M.A. Third Edition. On the Way Home. Sixty Short Sermons for Life's Travellers. By the Kev. W. H. Jones. Sermon Out-  ## p. 156 (#560) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. lines. By the Bev. V. St. John Corbett, M.A. The Master's Message. A Series of Plain Sermons, By the Rev. H. .1. Wilmot Buxton, M.A. Sermons for the Christian Year. Two vols. By the Rev. A. Noel Hunt, B.A. Skeffington, Piccadilly. History and Biography. Belcher, T. W., D.l). Robert Brett (of Stoke Newington), his Life and Work. Griffith, Furruii. 3s. bd. Brown, James. The History of Sanquhar. Burgh Asses- sor. To which is added the Flora and Fauna of the district. By Dr. Anatruthcr Davidson. Anderson, Dumfries. Crump, C. G. Imaginary Conversations. By Walter Savage Landor. With biographical and explanatory notes. In Six vols. Vol. II. J. M. Dent, Great Kastern Street. 3s. bd. net. Dictionary of National Biography. Kdited by Sidney Lee. Vol. XXVIII. Howard—Inglethorp. Smith, Elder. Evkbard, Major H. History of the 29th (Worcestershire) Foot, Thos. Farrington's Regiment. (1694 to 1891.) Worcester: Littlebury & Co. Fitzgerald, Percy, F.S.A. Life of James Boswcll (of Auchinleck), with an account of his sayings, doings, and writings. Two vols., with four portraits. Chatto and Windus. Historic Houses ok the United Kingdom. Descriptive, Historical, Pictorial. Part I. Cassell. Paper, jd. Hoddkr, Kdwin. George Fife Angas, Father and Founder of South Australia. With portrait. Hodder and Stoughton. 11 at. Hume, Martin A. S. Chronicle of King Henry VIII. of England: being a Contemporary Record of some of the Principal Events of the Reigns of Henry VIII. and Edward VI. Written in Spanish by an unknown hand. Translated, with notes and introduction, by. George Bell. is. bd. Law, George, B.A. History of Hampton Court Palace. Vol. III. Orange and Guelph times. George Bell. Lewis, J. G. Christopher Marlowe: Outlines of his Life and Works. Gibbings, Bury Street, W.C. Muir, Sir W. The Caliphate, its Rise, Decline, and Fall. 8vo. 1 os. 6'/., cloth. Sydney, W. Connor. England and the English in the 18th Century; Chapters in the Social History of the Times. Two vols. Ward and Downey. Educational. Bebesford-Webb, H. S. German Military and Naval Reading Book: For the use of Candidates for Army and other Examinations. Percival, Covent Garden. Ss. Fletcher, Banister. Dilapidations; A Text-book for Architects and Surveyors, in tabulated form, corrected to the present Time, with all the most recent legal cases. With the Conveyancing and Law of Property Act and the Agricultural Holdings (England) Act. Fourth Edition. B. T. Batsford, 5z, High Holboru. 6s. 6d. Kingsbury, G. C, M.A., M.D. The practice of Hypnotic Suggestion, an Elementary Handbook for the use of the Medical Profession. Siutpkiu. Marshall, A. Milnes, M.D. The Frog: An Introduction to Anatomy, Histology, and Embryology. Fourth Edition, revised and illustrated. Smith, Elder. Martinkau, G. A Village Class for Drawing and Wood Carving, is. 6d., cloth. Nisbet, H. Lessons in Art. Crown 8vo. is. 6d., cloth. Ostwale, W. Solutions. Being the Fourth Book, with some additions, of the Second Edition of Ostwald's "Lehrbuch der Allgemeineu Chemie," translated by M. M. Pattison Muir, Fellow of Gouville and Cains College, Cambridge. Longmans. 10s. bd. Philip's New Series of Travelling Maps: South Ame- rica, with Index. George Philip, Fleet Street. Solly, J. Raymond. Acting and the Art of Speech at the Paris Conservatoire. Hints on reading, reciting, acting, and the cure of stammering. Elliot Stock. Solms-Laubach, H. Graf. Fossil Botany, being an Intro- duction to Palffophytology from the Standpoint of the Botanist. The authorised Kuglish translation by Henry E. F. Garnsey, M A., Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, revised by Isaac Bayley Balfour, M.A., M.D., F. R.S. With illustrations. Clarendon Press. 18s. A Text Book of Musical Knowledge. Part II., Inter- mediate. Part III., Senior. Also Questions and Exercises intended for practical use during the study of the foregoing. Prepared for the use of Students, more especially for the local examinations in musical knowledge of Trinity College, London. Hammond, Vigo Street, is. each. General Literature. Adams, F. John Webb's End. 2*. Alexander, Mrs. A Woman's Heart. A Novel in 3 vols. F. V. White. Well Won. In 1 vol. F. V. White. Paper covers, is. Bali.axtyne, R. M. The Buffalo Runners. A Tale of the Red River Plains. Illustrated by the author. James Nisbet. Ss. Behnke, Emil. Stammering: its Nature and Treatment. Second thousand. Fisher Unwiu. Besant, W. Armorel of Lyonesse. 3s. bd. Burton, Mina E. Ruling the Planets. 3 vols. Richard Bentley. Carey, R. N. Our Bessie. 3s. Colvills, H. E. Wafted Seeds. Nisbet. is. Cook, W. The Horse: its Keep and Management, is.bd. Craik, Georoina M. (Mrs. A. W. May). Patience Holt: a Novel. 3 vols. Bentley. Davenport-Adams, W. With Poet and Player. Essays on Literature and the Stage. Elliot Stock, Dawson, W. J. The Redemption of Edward Stratum: a Social Story. Hodder and Stoughton. 3s. bd. Donovan, Dick. A Detective's Triumphs. Chatto and Windus. Edgar, Matilda. Ten Years of Upper Canada in Peace and War—i8o5-i8i5—being the Ridout Letters, with annotations. Fisher Unwin. 10s. bd. Fenn, G. M. Mahine Nousie. 2 vols. 21s.  ## p. 157 (#561) ############################################ THE A UTHOR. Ford, James L. Hypnotic and Other Tales. Illustrated. Brentano's, West Strand. Fotheroill, Jessie. Aldyth: or, Let the Knd Try the Man. A Story. Rentier. Frederic, Harold. In the Valley: a Novel. Popular edition. Heinemann. 3s. 6d. Gaskell, Mrs. Mary Barton. With biographical intro- duction. Volume of the Minerva Library. Ward, Lock, Bowden. IS. Gellie, M. K. (M.K.B.). Raffan's Folk: a Story of a High- land Parish. I lines, Bedford Street. Green, K. E. Fir Tree Farm. 5«. Haggard, H. Bider. Maiwa's Revenge: or, The War of the Little Hand. Illustrated. Longmans. is. Henty, G. A. Tliose Other Animals. With portrait of the author, and illustrations by Harrison Weir. Volume of the Whitefriars Library of Wit and Humour. Henry, Bouverie Street. 3s. 6</. Herman, Henry. Scarlet Fortune: a Story of the New World and the Old. Trischler. Coloured boards, is. Hudson, W. C. The Man with a Thumb. Cassell. is. Huefher, F. H. Madox. The Brown Owl: a Fairy Story. With two illustrations by F. Madox Browne. Volume of the Children's Library. Fisher I'nwin. is. 6d. Hughes, Josiah. Australia Revisited in 1890: being Kxtracts from the Diary of a Trip Bound the World. Simpkin, Marshall. Johnston, H. H., C.B., &c. Livingstone and the Explora- tion of Central Africa. With illustrations and maps by E. G. Bavenstein, F.B.G.S. George Philip. 4*. 6d. Kenton, F. G., M.A. Classical Texts from Papyri in the British Museum; including the newly-discovered poems of Herodas. With autotype facsimiles of MSS. Clarendon Press. K.NEirp, Sebastian. My Water Cure, as tested through more than 30 years. With illustrations. Translated from the 3oth German edition by A. de F. Blackwood. Lindlev, Percy. Walks in Epping Forest. With illustra- tions and maps. New edition. 113, Fleet Street. 6d. Lynch, A. Modern Authors: a Review and a Forecast. 5*. Marshall, Emma. Those Three: or, Little Wings. A Story for Girls. James Nisbet. 5». Born in the Purple: a Story. James Nisbet, is. M. Mathers, Helen. My Jo, John: a Novel. F. V. White. Paper covers, is. Maude, F. W. A Merciful Divorce: a Story of Society, its sports, functions, and failings. Second thousand. Trischler. Maurier, G. du. Society Pictures. Drawn by. Selected from Punch. No. 11. Bradbury, Agnew. Paper covers, is. Meade, L. F. Hepsy Gipsy. Illustrated by Everard Hopkins. Methuen. Meadows, A. M. The Romance of a Madhouse. Arrow- smith. Paper covers, is. Molesworth, Mrs. The Red Grange: a Tale. Illus- trated by Gordon Browne. Methuen. Montt, Pedro. Exposition of the Illegal Acts of ex- President Balmaceda, which caused the Civil War in Chile. Brentano's, Strand. Paper covers, is. 6d. MuiR, Sir Wm. The Caliphate: its Rise, Decline, and Fall. From Original Sources. Religions Tract Society, Paternoster Row. ios. 6d. Murray, R. W. South Africa: from Arab domination to British rule. Edited by. With maps. Stanford. Norris, W. E. Miss Wentworth's Idea: a Novel. Ward and Downey. Phillpotts, Edex. Folly and Fresh Air. Trischler. Potter, G. W., M.I). Ministering Women: the Story of the Royal National Pension Fund for Nurses. The Hospital, i4o, Strand. Pryce, R. Miss Maxwell's Affections: a Novel. 2 vols. Chatto and Windns. Sargant, G. E. John Tincroft, Bachelor and Benedict, is. 6d. Serrano, Mary J. Letters of Marie Bashkirtseff. Trans- lated by. With Portraits. Cassell. Shaw, G. B. The Quintessence of Ibsenism. is. (nl. Sherard, R. H. By Right not Law: a Story. Cassell. Picture boards, is. Somerville, E. R. and Ross, M. Naboth's Vineyard: a Novel. Spencer Blackett. 3s. M. Stone, Percy G. The Architectural Antiquities of the Isle of Wight, from the nth to the 17th Centuries. Part II. Collected and drawn by, and published by him at 19, Great Marlborough Street, W. Story, W. W. Excursions in Art and letters. Black- wood. Turner, J. H. An Endeavour to Fix the Date of the Crucifixion. J. Palmer, Alexandra Street. Walford, L. B. The Mischief of Monica: a Novel. 3 vols. Longmans. iSs. 6d. Watson, H. Marriott. The Web of the Spider: a Talc of Adventure. Hutchinson, Paternoster Square. 6s. Wheeler, Owen E. Military Photography. Iliffe, St. Bride Street. Paper covers, is. 6d. Witt, Emilie de. Sinner or Scientist: a Novel. Tallis, Farringdou Street, is. Poetry and the Drama. Byron, Lord. The Poetical Works of, with original and additional notes. In 11 vols. Vol. I. (Hours of Idle- ness—English Bards and Scotch Reviewers). Griffith, Farran. Paper covers, is. Chambers, R. The Life and Works of Robert Hurns. Edited by. In 4 vols. W. and R. Chambers. Ecritt, W. H. Heart Throbs. Harrison, Pall Mall. E. S. G. S. The New Christian Year; or, Thoughts (in verse) on the Present Leetiouary. Stoneman, Warwick Lane, Paternoster Row. Jones, Henry* Arthur. Saints and Sinners: a new and original Drama of Modern English Middle-class Life, in Five Acts. Macinillan. 3s. 6d. Levy, Amy. A Minor Poet and other verse. Volume of the Cameo Series. With Portrait. Fisher Unwiu. 3s. 6d. O'Brien, Constance. Possible Plays for Private Players. Griffith, Farran. is.  ## p. 158 (#562) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. Palgrave, Francis T. The Visions of England: Lyrics on Leading Men and Event! in English History. Cassell's National Library. Cloth, 6d. PMLirs, E. C, and Grindy, S. The Dean's Daughter: a Play in Four Acts; as produced at the St. James's Theatre in October 1888. Trischler. Paper covers, is. Williamson, J. K. A Ballad of a Jester and other Poems. Heywood, Manchester and London. Law. Russkll, Francis, M.A. A Treatise on the Power and Duty of an Arbitrator and the Law of Submissions and Awards, with an Appendix of Forms anil of the Statutes relating to Arbitration. Seventh edition, by the author and Herbert Russell, B.A., of the Inner Temple. Stevens, Chancery Lane. 3o.s.; for cash, 24s. Science. Kingsbury, G. C. Practice of Hypnotic Suggestion. 6*. Robkrts, J. Handbook of Weights and Measures. 4a. 6d. Watkrdalk's Fresh Light on the Dynamite Action and Ponderosity. 3». id. Watts, W. Marshall. A Practical Introduction of the Elements of Chemistry. James Xisbet. IS. Parliamentary Papers. Keturn as to Alien Immigration during August, \d. Com- parative Statement of Pauperism, June 1891, id. Re- port from the Select Committee on Railway Servants' Hours of Labour, with Proceedings of the Committee and Minutes of Evidence, 5.». i\d. Standing Order of the House of Commons relating to Public and Private Business, it. id. Eyre and Spottiswoode. Railway Statistics of Canada for 1890. Annual Report of the Department of Fisheries, Dominion of Canada, for 1890 ; and Fisheries Statements and Inspectors' Reports for 1890. Brown Chamberlen, Ottawa. 34th Report of the Commissioners of the Inland Revenue for the year ended March 3i last, 6d. Return of Ships ordered by the Board of Trade to be provisionally detained as unsafe from July 1, 1890, to June 3o, 1891, i\d. Report of the Hoard of Trade's Pro- ceedings during last Session under the Tramways Act, 1870, and the Gas and Water Works Facilities Act, 1870, ir/. Special Report from the Select Committee on Teachers' Registration and Organization Bill, 3 s. 3rf. Report from the Select Committee on Town Holdings, 3s. Sd. Department of Science and Art Directory, revised up to June 1891, with Regulations for esta- blishing and conducting Science and Art Schools and Classes, (id. Return as to the Salaries of Attorneys and Solicitors General, \d. Return showing the Annual Output of Principal Minerals of Great Britain and Ireland from i860 to 1890, ijrf. Return as to persons suffering sentences for Treason-Felony, \d. Return of Information as to the detention of prisoners before trial in England and Wales during 1890, z\d. General Report to the Board of Trade on the capital, traffic,expenditure,and profits of the Railway Companies of the United Kingdom for 1890, ikd. Abstracts of Returns to the Board of Trade on Shipping Casualties from July 1, 1889, to June 30, 1890, 4». 6<f. Report of the Committee of Council on Education in Scotland, 2.v. Hoard of Trade Reports on the classification of Merchandise Traffic and Schedule of Maximum Rates in respect of the Abbotsbury, Aylesbury, and Bucking- ham, Ballycastle, and certain other railway companies, 6d. Report of the Committee of Council on Education (England and Wales), with Appendix, 1890-91, 3». id. 23rd Report on the Judicial Statistics of Scotland for 1890, I*, id. Accounts relating to Trade and Navi- gation of the United Kingdom for August, 6rf. Board of Agriculture Report on the Distribution of Grants to Agricultural and Dairy Schools in Great Britain for the Financial Year, 1890-91, Sd. Annual Colonial Re- ports.—Reports for 1890: No. 12.—Turks and Caicos Islands, id. No. i3.—Gibraltar, id. No. 14.—Zulu- land, irf. No. i5.—Sierra Leone, i\d. Government Departments Securities: Return of the Amounts of British Government Securities held by the several Government Departments and other Public Offices on the 31st of March 1891, specifying whether held in England or Ireland (in continuation of Parliamentary- Paper No. 263, of Session 1890), id. Return : Savings Bank-. <)\d. Australasian Federation : Official Record of the Proceedings and Debates of the National Australasian Convention, held in the Parliament House, Sydney, New South Wales, in the months of March and April, 1891, 4*. 3d. Eyre and Spottiswoode. Agricultural Statistics, Ireland: General Abstract, showing the acreage under crops, also the number and de- scription of live stock in each county and province, 1890-91. Banking, Railway, and Shipping Statistics, Ireland, June 1891, id. Alexander Thorn and Co., Dublin. Electrical Standards: Report of the Committee appointed by the Board of Trade on New Denominations of Standards for the Measurement of Electricity, lid. Board of Agriculture: Report on the Distribution of Grants to Agricultural and Dairy Schools in Great Britain for the Financial Year 1890-91, with an Ap- pendix, Sd. Public Accounts: Third Report from the Committee of Public Accounts, with proceedings of the Committee and Minutes of Evidence, is. Town Holdings: Report from the Select Committee, with proceedings of the Committee and Minutes of Evidence, 3». Sd. Railway Returns for England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, for the year 1890, with Sum- mary Tables for I'nited Kingdom for each year from 1854 to 1890, 11 J. Department of Science and Art Directory, with regulations for establishing and con- ducting science and art schools and classes, 6rf. Re- turn of Episcopal Fees and Charges paid by every Archbishop and Bishop since January 1, i885, Reports by Board of Trade on the Classification of Merchandise Traffic and Schedule of Minimum Rates, determined in respect of the East London Railway Joint Committee, and the Loudon and North-Western and Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Companies, and the Corporation of Preston, Ribble Branch, Joint Railway, 6d. each. Reports by the Board of Trade on the Classification of Merchandise Traffic and Schedule of Maximum Rates determined in respect of Barry Docks and Railway Company (3s. 3d.), the Fe.stiniog Railway Company (6</.), and certain other companies. Reports by the Board of Trade on the Classification of Merchandise Traffic and Schedule of Maximum Rates, determined in respect of the Ely Valley, Brecon and Merthyr Tydfil Junction, and Golden Valley Railway Companies, 6rf. each. Eyre and Spottiswoode.  ## p. 159 (#563) ############################################ ADVERTISEMENTS. 159 THE CENTRAL TYPE-WRITING OFFICE, (ESTABLISHED 1887,) 57 & 58, Chancery Lane, W.C. Principals : Miss M. E. DUCK and Miss I. B. LOOKER. CITY TYPE-WRITING & SHORTHAND OFFICES, MANSION HOUSE CHAMBERS, 20, Bucklersbury, London, E.C. Type-writing and Copying of every Description under- taken for the Literary, Dramatic, Clerical, Legal, and other Professions. Type-writing from Dictation a Specialty. Highest Testimonials for Excellence of Work and Promp- titude from AUTHORS and others. PRICE LIST ON APPLICATION-TERMS MODERATE. The Department for Lady Pupils has unremitting attention, as evidenced by the unqualified Success which has attended its management. The Course includes Shorthand, Type-writing, Book-keeping, and Commercial Correspondence, and when Pupils have acquired proficiency- POSITIONS ARE GUARANTEED. MISS R. V. GILL, TYPE-WRITING OFFICES, 6, Adam Street, Strand, W.C., and 5, Air Street, Piccadilly, W. Particulars on application to - MARY R. DAY. MRS. GILL, TYPE-WRITING OFFICE, | ST. PAUL'S CHAMBERS, 19, LUDGATE HILL, E.C. Authors' and Dramatists' Work a Specialty. All kinds of MSS. copied with care. Extra attention given to diíficult hand-writing and to papers or lectures on scientific subjects. Type-writing from dictation. Shorthand Notes taken and transcribed. Author's MSS. carefully copied from 1s. per 1,000 words. One additional copy (carbon) supplied free of charge. References kindly permitted to many well-known Authors and Publishers. Further particulars on application. FURTHER PARTICULARS ON APPLICATION. TYPE-WRITING. Authors' MSS. carefully Transcribed. Writings by Post receive prompt attention. Scientific and Medical Papers a Specialty. MISSES ERWIN, 13, DORSET STREET, PORTMAN SQUARE, W. MISSES AIRD & WEDDERSPOON, SHORTHAND, TRANSLATING, and TYPEWRITING OFFICES, 4, SUN COURT, CORNHILL, E.C. Translations carefully and correctly made. Shorthand and Typewriting Clerks sent out on short notice. Type- writing of all kinds done with neatness, accuracy, and despatch. Special pains taken with Authors' MSS. Pupils trained in Pitman's System of Shorthand, and in Type- writing. All applications relating to Advertisements in this Journal should be addressed to the Printers and Publishers, MISSES E. & S. ALLEN, TYPE AND SHORTHAND WRITERS TRANSLATIONS and Scientific Work a Special Feature. 39, LOMBARD STREET, E.C. Office No. 59 (close to Lift). MISS PATTEN, TYPE-WRITER, 44, Oakley Flats, Oakley Street, Chelsea, S.W. Authors' MSS. carefully copied from 1s. per 1,000 Words. One additional Copy (Carbon) supplied Free of charge. References kindly permitted to George Augustus Sala, Esq. Particulars on Application. ASHWORTH & Co., 4, Abchurch Yard, Cannon Street, E.C. Authors' MSS. type-written from 1s. 3d. per 1,000 words. TRANSLATIONS. EYRE & SPOTTISWOODE. East Harding Street, Fetter Lane, London, E.C.  ## p. 160 (#564) ############################################ i6o ADVERTISEMENTS. NOPS' ELECTROTYPE AGENCY. FINE ART ELECTROS. —»«:<*<«'— Wk huvc at our disposal 2,000,000 (Two Millions) of Engravings suitable for Illustrating Newspapers, Itooks, Circulars, Magazines, Pamphlets, Children's Papers, &c, &e., and have Comprehensive Indexes, of Portraits and Views always ready for reference. We shall be glad to receive a call from any one requiring Illustrations of any kind; and if clients at a distance will kindly send us u list of subjects they require, together with size limit, a Selection of suitable Proofs will lw at once despatched to them. Cuts found to illustrate MS. or Text. Agents for the "Illustrated London News," "Graphic," "Black and White," "Lady's Pictorial," "Strand Magazine," "Pictorial World," &c, and the principal Foreign Illustrated Papers. Telegraphic Address—" DENOPS, LONDON." Telephone Number—1880. 19, LUDGATE HILL, LONDON, E.C. Branches in Paris, New York, Melbourne, Ontario, and Bombay. THE BAR-LOCK TYPE-WRITER writes in full sight of the operator. THE BAR-LOCK TYPE-WRITER saves the eyesight. THE BAR-LOCK TYPE-WRITER prevents writer's cramp. THE BAR-LOCK TYPE-WRITER prevents round shoulders. THE BAR-LOCK TYPE-WRITER enables you to keep pace with your thoughts, the operation requires less mental effort than the use of a pen, allowing you to concentrate your mind more fully on the matter you are writing on. The writing of the BAR-LOCK TYPE-WRITER is equal (o a printed proof, and can la1 used as such for corrections, thus saving large printer's charges which are sufficient in many books to defray the cost of a Bar-Lock. Supplied for Cash, or on Our Easy Payment System by Twelve Monthly Payments of £119s., or on Hire at £2 2s. per Month. CORRESPONDENT AND INSPECTION INVITED. THE TYPE-WRITER COMPANY, Limited. 12 & 14, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.G. 1, South John Street, Liverpool; 22, Renfield Street, Glasgow; 25, Market Street, Manchester. Type-Writing Taught by Experts. Author's MSS. Copied at Is. 3d. per 1,000 Words at all our Offieet. Londos: Printed by Ktrk ami Spothbwoopb, Printers to the (Jneen's most Excellent Mnjcsty. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author, Vol. 02 Issue 05 (October 1891) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 02 Issue 05 (October 1891) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927&amp;view=1up&amp;seq=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1891-10-01-The-Author-2-5 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/255/1891-09-01-The-Author-2-4.pdf ddac9390f3ea9cbb9c6299ce0251cd3b PDF Text Text �������������������������������� 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 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) 1891-09-01 Volume 2 Issue 4 Pages Page range in volume 97–128 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18910901 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin Zhc Hutbor. (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. II.—No. 4.] SEPTEMBER 1, 1891. [Price Sixpence. CONTENTS. TAQE International Copyright— I. From the New York Critic 101 II. From Frank Leslie's Paper 103 Association Littcrairo ct Artistique International!' 05 Conference of Journalists at Dublin .. .. 105 Au Old New Word. By Professor Skeat 106 The Authors' Club 107 Notes and News. By Walter Besant 07 On a New Novelist 112 A Day at Olyinpia 113 Some Early Experiences 116 PAOE Enemies of Literature 19 Correspondence— I. "O Word of Fear" 1:1 II. Foreign Reprints, ill "At the Author's Head" 121 Women Booksellers 22 Some of the Indignities of Literature .. 123 Parisians and their Fiction 133 Night-Tempest 114 New Books and New Editions 124 EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE. PLIOCENE DEPOSITS OK BRITAIN, THE. By Clf.mfst Rkid. F.L.S.. F.G.S. Five Plates (48 cuts), .<». 6<f. LONDON AND NEIGHBOURHOOD: Guide to the Geology of. Bv William Whitaker, B.A. is. LONDON AND OF PART OF THE THAMES VALLEY, The Geilogy of. Bv W. WniTAKER. H A., F.R.S., F.G.S., Assoc. Inst. C.E. Vol. I. DESCRIPTIVE GEOLOGY. 8vo. Cloth, 6*. Vol. II. APPENDICES. 8vo. Cloth, 5*. KEW BULLETIN, 1890. Issued by the Director of Kew Gardens. is. iorf. KEW BULLETIN, 1891. Monthly, 2<i. Appendices, id. each. Annual Subscription, including postage, 3.*. gti. DESCRIPl'IVE CATALOGUE OK MUSICAL INSTRU- MENTS recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition. Compiled by Capt. Day. Oxfordshire Light Infantry, under the orders of Col. Sua w-Hei.likb. Commandant Royal'Militnry School of Music. Illustrated by a scries of Twelve artistically execulcd Plates in Heliogravure, and with numerous W(kxI Emiravines. 21*. "It affords information obtainable nowhere else, and it has been put together with so much care and thoughtfulncss that Capt. Day's volume will lie indeed welcomed by nil who have to deal with the wind instruments, nnd can lie accepted without question as the standard authority."—Musical Xews. PUBLIC RECORDS. A Guide to the Principal Classes of Documents preserved in the Public Record Office. By S. It. Scari.'Ill-Bibd, F.S.A. j». "The value of such a work as Mr. ScargillBird's can scarcely be over-rated."— Times. STATE TRIALS, Reports of. New Series. Vol. III., 1831—40. Published under the direction of the Stab1 Trials Committee. Edited bv .Ions Macdoxell. M.A. 10*. MANUAL OF BIRDS OF NEW ZEALAND. By Walter L. Bcllee, C.M.G., Sc.D., F.R.S. Numerous Plates. Rova] Hvo. 10*. INDIGENOUS GRASSES OF NEW ZEALAND. By Joinf Bi'CHANAN. Full-page Illustrations. Imp. 4to. Half Morocco. 15*. FOREST FLORA OK NEW ZEALAND. By T. Kibk, F.L.S., late Chief Conservator of State Forests, N.Z., 4c. Numerous Plates. Fcap. folio. Cloth. i2.«. id. HANDBOOK OK NEW ZEALAND FISHES. By R. A. Siirrrix. Demy Svo. Cloth, is. ORANGE CULTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. By G. C. At.UERTOjf. Demv 8vo. Cloth, is. MANUAL OK NEW ZEALAND MOLLUSCA. Prof. Hrnox. Royal 8vo. 3s. NEW ZEALAND i)IPTERA, HYMENOPTKRA, ORTHOPTERA. Bv Prof. HrTTON. Royal 8vo. is. NEW ZEALAND COLKOPTEBA. Parts 1 to 4. Captain T. Broix. Royal 8vo. is. 6d. THE LITERATURE RELATING TO NEW ZEALAND. A Bibliography. Rnval Svo. Cloth, is. M. POLYNESIAN'MYTHOLOGY AND ANCIENT TRA- DITIONAL HISTORY OF THE NEW ZEALAND RACE. By Sir George Grey. K.C.B. Illustrated. Royal svo. Cloth,». ANCIENT HISTORY OK THE MAORI. By John White. Demy Svo. Half Morocco. 4 vols. ioj. per vol. By AND By Monthly Lists of Parliamentary Papers upon Application. Quarterly Lists Post Free, id. Miscellaneous List on Application. Every Assistance given to Correspondents; and Books not kept in stock obtained without delay. Remittance should accompany Order. GOVERNMENT AND GENERAL PUBLISHERS. EYRE and SrOTTISWOODE, Her Hajesfy's Printers, East Harding Slrcft, Londou, VA.  ## p. 98 (#502) ############################################# 98 AD VER TISEMENTS. THE CENTRAL TYPE-WRITING OFFICE, (ESTABLISHED 1887,) 57 & 58, Chancery Lane, W.C. $3rtncq>aW; Miss M. E. DUCK and Miss I. B. LOOKER. Type-writing and Copying of every Description under- taken for the Literary, Dramatic, Clerical, Legal, and other Professions. Type-writing from Dictation a Specialty. Highest Testimonials for Excellence of Work and Promp- titude from AUTHORS and others. PRICE LIST ON APPLICATION-TERMS MOVERA TE. MISS H.. T7\ GILL, TYPE-WRITING OFFICES, 6, Adam Street, Strand, W.C, and 5, Air Street, Piccadilly, W. — — - Authors' and Dramatists' Work a Specialty. All kinds of MSS. copied -with care. Extra attention given to difficult hand-writing and to papers or lectures on scientific subjects. Type-writing from dictation. Shorthand Notes taken and transcribed. FURTHER PARTICULARS OX APPLICATION. TYPE-WRITING. Authors' MSS. carefully Transcribed. Writings by Post receive prompt attention. Scientific and Medical Papers a Specialty. MISSES 13, Dorset Strkkt, Portman Square, W. MISSES E. & S. ALLEN, TYPE AND SHORTHAND WRITERS. TRANSLATIONS and Scientific Work a Special Feature. 39, Lombard Street, E.C. Office No. 5(1 {close to Lift). MISS PATTEN, type-writer, 44, Oakley Flats, Oakley Street, Chelsea, S.W. Authors' MSS. carefully copied from Is. per 1,000 Words. One additional Copy (Carbon) supplied Free of Charge. References kindly permitted to George Augustus Sala, Esq. Particulars on Application. ASHWORTH & Co., 4, Abchurch Yard, Cannon Street, E.C. — Authors' MSS. type-written from Is. 3d. per 1,000 words. TRANSLATIONS. CITY TYPE-WRITING & SHORTHAND OFFICES, MANSION HOUSE CHAMBERS, 20, Bucklersbury, London, E.C. — — — Tho Department for Lady Pupils has unremitting attention, as evidenced by the unqualified Success which has attended it* management. The Course includes Shorthand, Type-writing. Book-keeping, and Commercial Correspondence, iind when Pupil;, have acquired proficiency— POSITIONS ARE GUARANTEED. Particulars on application to — MARY 33 .A. Y- ICUE IFt S. GILL, TYPE-WRITING OFFICE, ST. PAUL'S CHAMBERS, 19, LUOGATE HILL, E.C. Author's MSS. carefully copied from i*. per 1,000 words. One additional copy (carbon) supplied free of charge. References kindly permitted to many well-known Authors and Publishers. Further particulars on application. MISSES AIRD & WEDDERSP00N, SHORTHAND, TRANSLATING, and TYPEWRITING OFFICES. 4, SUN COURT, COBHHILL, E.C. Translations carefully and correctly made. Shorthand and Typewriting Clerks sent out on short notice. Type- writing of all kinds done with neatness, accuracy, and despatch. Special pains taken with Authors' MSS. Pupils trained in Pitman's System of Shorthand, and in Type- writing. All applications relating to Advertisements in this Journal should be addressed to the Printers and Publishers, EYRE & SPOTTISWOODE, East Harding Street, Fetter Lane, London, E.C.  ## p. 99 (#503) ############################################# ADVERTISEMENTS. 99 The Society of Authors (Incorporated). PRESIDENT. The Right Hox. THE LORD TENNYSON, D.C.L. COUNCIL. SIR EDWIN ARNOLD, K.C.I.E. I A. W. DUBOURG. THE EARL OF PEMBROKE AND ALFRED AUSTIN. JOHN ERIC ERICHSEN, F.R.S. MONTGOMERY. A. W. À BECKETT. PROF. MICHAEL FOSTER, F.R.S. SIR FREDERICK POLLOCK, Bart., ROBERT BATEMAN. HERBERT GARDNER, M.P. LL.D. SIR HENRY BERGNE, K.C.M.G. RICHARD GARNETT, LL.D. WALTER HERRIES POLLOCK. WALTER BESANT. EDMUND GOSSE. A. G. Ross. AUGUSTINE BIRRELL, M.P. H. RIDER HAGGARD. GEORGE AUGUSTUS Sala. R. D. BLACKMORE. THOMAS HARDY. W. BAPTISTE SCOONES. Rev. PROF. BONNEY, F.R.S. PROF. E. RAY LANKESTER, F.R.S. G. R. SIMs. LORD BRABOURNE. J. M. LELY. J. J. STEVENSON. JAMES BRYCE, M.P. REV. W. J. LOFTIE, F.S.A. JAS. SULLY. P. W. CLAYDEN. F. Max MÜLLER, LL.D. WILLIAM Moy THOMAS. EDWARD CLODD. GEORGE MEREDITH. H. D. TRAILL, D.C.L. W. MARTIN CONWAY. HERMAN C. MERIVALE. THE RIGHT HON. THE BARON HENRY MARION CRAWFORD. Rev. C. H. MIDDLETON-WAKE, F.L.S. DE WORMS, M.P., F.R.S. OSWALD CRAWFURD, C.M.G. J. C. PARKINSON. EDMUND YATES. THE EARL OF DESART. Hon. Counsel-E. M. UNDERDOWN, Q.C. COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT. Chairman--- WALTER BESANT. A. W. À BECKETT. EDMUND Gosse. J. M. LELY. | A. G. Ross. W. MARTIN CONWAY. H. RIDER HAGGARD. Sir FREDERICK POLLOCK. | Solicitors— Messrs. FIELD, RoscoE, & Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. Secretary-S. SQUIRE SPRIGGE. OFFICES. 4, PORTUGAL STREET, LINCOLN's Inn FIELDS, W.C. PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 1. The Annual Report. That for January 1891 can be had on application to the Secretary. 2. The Author. A Monthly Journal devoted especially to the protection and maintenance of Literary Property. Issued to all Members. . 3. The Grievances of Authors. (The Leadenhall Press.) 28. The Report of three Meetings on the general subject of Literature and its defence, held at Willis's Rooms, March 1887. 4. Literature and the Pension List. By. W. MORRIS COLLES, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C.) 38. 5. The History of the Société des Gens de Lettres. By S. SQUIRE SPRIGGE, Secretary to the Society. 18. 6. The Cost of Production. In this work specimens are given of the most important forms of type, size of page, &c., with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds of books. 28. 6d. Out of Print, New Edition now preparing. 7. The Various Methods of Publication. By S. SQUIRE SPRIGGE. In this work, compiled from the papers in the Society's offices, the various kinds of agreements proposed by Publishers to Authors are examined, and their meaning carefully explained, with an account of the various kinds of fraud which have been made possible by the different clauses in their agreements. Price 3s. Second Edition. 8. Copyright Law Reform. An Exposition of Lord Monkswell's Copyright Bill now before Parliament. With Extracts from the Report of the Commission of 1878, and an Appendix containing the Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. LELY. Eyre and Spottiswoode. 18. 6d. Other works bearing on the Literary Profession will follow. VOL. II. 7. The 25. od Page,  ## p. 100 (#504) ############################################ IOO A I) VEli TISEMENTS. The " Swim" is ii beautiful Gold Pen joined to a rubber reservoir to hold any kind of ink, which it supplies to the writing point in a continuous flow. It will hold enough ink for two days' constant work, or a week's ordinary writing, and can l>e refilled with as little trouble as to wind a watch. With the cover over the gold nib it is carried in the pocket like a pencil, to be used anywhere. A purchaser may try a pen a few days, and if by chance the writing point does not suit his hand, exchange it for another without charge, or have his money returned if wanted. , There are yarions points to select from, broad. Minn, aiiil fine, eyery handwriting can be snited, and the price of the entire instrument, with filler complete, post free, is only 10s. 6d. The Gold Pens in the "Swan" are Mabie, Todd, & Co.'s famous make. They are 14-carat tempered gold, very handsome, and positively unaffected by any kind of ink. They are pointed with selected polished iridium. The " Encyclopaedia Britannica" says:—"Iridium is a nearly white metal of high specific gravity, it is almost indestructible, and a beautifully polished surface can be obtained upon it." They will not jxmetrate the paper, and writer's cramp is unknown among users of Gold Pens. One will OUtwear 90 grOSS Of Steel pens. They are a perfect revelation to those who know nothing about Gold Pens. Dr. Outer Wendkix Holmes has used one of Mubio, Todd, & Co.'s Gold Pens siuce 185;, and is using the same one (his "old friend ") to-day. .Sydney Guundy, Kho,., says (referring to the Fountain Pen) :—" ft is a vast improvement on every Stylograph." Mobkrlt Bbll, Esq., Manager, The Times, says (referring to the Fountain feu) :—" One pen lasted me for six years." S. D. Waddt, Ksq., (i-C, M.P., says (referring to the Fountain Pen) :—" I have used them constantly for some years, and, as fur as t can remember, they have never failed me." Send Postal Card for Free Illustrated List (containing interesting Testimonials from the Best People, who have used them for years) to— MABIE, TODD, & BARD, S3, CHEAPSIDE, X-03XT1D03V.  ## p. 101 (#505) ############################################ ^Ibe Hutbor* (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. II.—No. 4.] SEPTEMBER 1, 1891. [Price Sixpence. For the Opinions c.vprcssed in papers that arc signed the Authors alone arc responsible. - +~»~* INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT. I. (From the New Vork "Critic.") Protection and Literature in France. "A MOXG the measures of reprisal proposed in f\ the Belgian Parliament last March," savs the Times, " when the new French protec- tionism with its discriminations against Belgian products was brought into the French Chamher, was a withdrawal of the property rights accorded French writers and artists. J11 fact, it was only a little later that the treaty between France and Bel- gium, negotiated in 1881, for the reciprocal guarantee of literary and artistic rights, was denounced by the latter country, and will consequently soon expire. . . . . Just about that time Switzerland came forward and gave notice of her desire to terminate the corresponding treaty covering the rights of authors and artists in existence with France since 1882 But it seems probable that the rights of workers in French literature and art are too securely guaranteed abroad to be imperilled even by so exasperating a law as the Bill brought in by M. Meline. Even in the case of Belgium and Switzerland, something more than the termi- nation of the existing treaties on the subject must Ikj done before French authors and artists will suffer. Belgium has had a law on her statute hooks since 1886 relating to Copyright, in which the same rights are accorded foreigners as those secured to citizens. This law would have to be repealed or amended in order to make the proposed reprisal of Belgium effective. And in Switzerland there is a Federal law dating from 1883, giving to foreign authors the same rights as natives, provided the country of the former has reciprocal legislation, as France has. "Moreover, both Belgium and Switzerland are signers of the Berne Convention of 1886. The second article of that agreement grants*to the citizens of any signatory Power the l ight to dispose of their literary and artistic productions in any other, under the same legal protection as that enjoyed by natives. True, Belgium and Switzer- land might withdraw7 from the Berne Convention, but they could not do it simply as concerns France; they would have to do it absolutely, and become outer barbarians to all the other signers. This is a step which they would hesitate to take. Espe- cially would Switzerland hesitate to take it, since it would necessarily involve the loss to Berne of the Bureau of the International Union, maintained there at present by the signatory States at an expense of $12,000 a year. Thus it would appear that whatever reprisals in other forms France may be subjected to on account of her rush into MeKinleyism, the property rights of her writers and artists are too thoroughly secured in other countries to be easily forfeited." Penalties for Violation of the new Law. The Secretary of the Treasury has prescribed the following regulations :— 1. Copyrighted books and articles, the importa- tion of which is prohibited by section 49,56, Revised Statutes, as amended by section 3 of said Act, shall not be admitted to entry. Such books and articles, if imported with the previous consent of the proprietor of the Copyright, shall be seized by the collector of customs, who will take the proper steps for the forfeiture of the goods to the United States, under section 3o82, Revised Statutes.  ## p. 102 (#506) ############################################ 102 THE AUTHOR. 2. Copyrighted books mid articles imported contrary to said prohibition, and without the previous consent of the proprietor of the Copyright, being primarily subject to forfeiture to the pro- prietor of the Copyright, shall lie detained by the collector, who shall forthwith notify such proprietor, in order to ascertain whether or not he shall institute, proceedings for the enforcement of his right to the forfeiture. If the proprietor institutes such proceedings and obtains a decree of forfeiture, the goods shall be delivered to him on payment of the expenses incurred in the detention and storage and the duties accrued thereon. If such proprietor shall fail to institute such proceedings within 60 days from date of notice, or shall declare in writing that he abandons his right to the forfeiture, then the collector shall proceed as in the case of articles imported with the previous consent of the pro- prietor. 3. Copyrighted articles, the importation of which is not prohibited, but which, by virtue of section 4965, Revised Statutes, as amended by section 8 of said Act, are forfeited to tin; proprietor of the Copyright when imported without his previous consent, and are, moreover, subject to the forfeiture of $1 or §10 per copy, as the case may be, one-half thereof to the said proprietor, and the other half to the use of the United States, shall be taken posses- sion of by the collector, who shall take the necessary steps for securing to the United States half of the sum so forfeited, and shall keep the goods in his possession until a decree of forfeiture is obtained, and the half of the sum so forfeited, as well as the duties and charges accrued are paid; whereupon he shall deliver the goods to the proprietor of the Copyright. In case of failure to obtain a decree of forfeiture the goods shall be admitted to entry. The Importation of Books in foreign Tongues. There appears to be no room for doubt that the new copyright law admits foreign books, of which only the translations are copyrighted here; and that it admits them duty-free. The free list of the new tariff law includes (paragraph 5l2) works 20 years old), (paragraph 5i3) "books and pamphlets printed exclusively in languages other than English," and l>ooks and music in raised print for the blind, (paragraph 614) works intended for use by the Government, and (paragraph 516) works owned, and in actual use for more than one year, by persons or families from foreign countries. The copyright law says tlistinctly that, "in the case of books in foreign languages, of which only translations in English are copyrighted, the prohibition of importation shall apply only to the translations of the same, and the importation of the books in the original language shall be per- mitted." An exception in this law suspends the rule against importing copyrighted works not re- printed in this country "in the cases specified in paragraphs 5i2 to 516, inclusive," as above. The Librarian of Congress kept busy. "Mr. Spofford, the Librarian of Congress, is kept very busy these warm days," says the Evening Post, "answering the corres])ondence which pours in upon him with every mail, most of it concerning the interpretation of the new copyright law. A surprisingly large number of persons manifest an interest in the subject of the 'catalogues of title- entries' which the law requires the Librarian to furnish to the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Secretary to print, at intervals of not more than a week, for distribution among the collectors of customs and postmasters at offices receiving foreign mails. These catalogues are designed, of course, primarily to inform the officers mentioned what publications are to lie excluded from entry; but incidentally they are of value to American authors, publishers, librarians, collectors, and persons other- wise interested in literature. Hence the Govern- ment proposes to accept subscriptions for them, at the rate of $5 a year, a sum which is expected nearly to cover the expense of getting them out. "The impression has got abroad that Mr. Spofford is designated to receive subscriptions, and he is deluged with applications and inquiries in consequence. To all he is obliged to send the uniform answer that the subscribing must be done through the collectors of customs, whose duty it is to account for the money so received, and instruct the Department how many copies will be necessary each week to supply their local demands." "It is a curious thing," observes the same paper, "that so large a number of professional writers, musicians, publishers, &c, who make it a part of their regular business to take out Copy- rights, should not feel enough interest in the protection of their own property to examine the statute and follow its language literally in furnishing the Librarian of Congress with the data on which they base their claims. Some of the provisions of the new statute are too blind for even an accom- plished lawyer to interpret with ease, but the par- ticulars required by the Librarian can be ascertained by any layman's intelligent reading. A great many applicants for Copyright—perhaps it would be not too much to say the majority—make their appli- cations in a way that would ascrilie to the Librarian  ## p. 103 (#507) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. clairvoyant [xnvers, or an acquaintance with the family history of persons ho has never heard of before." In the Case of Residents who are not Citizens. "Doubt has arisen," says the Tribune, "in respect to the proper construction of section i3 of the Act, so far as it may affect foreign-born residents of the United States who have not been naturalized. That section provides that the Act 'shall only apply to a citizen or subject of a foreign State or nation when such foreign State or nation permits to citizens of the United States of America the benefit of Copyright on substantially the same basis as its own citizens; or when such foreign State or nation is a party to an inter- national agreement which provides for the reci- procity in the granting of Copyright, by the terms of which agreement the United States of America may, at its pleasure, become a party to such agree- ment.' The old law in relation to Copyright has always been liberally construed for the benefit of unnaturalized foreigners resident in the United States, so that thousands of Copyrights have been granted to citizens of France and subjects of Great Britain, Germany, and other countries residing in this country. Now, what shall be done if a subject of Germany, Italy, or any other country not em- braced in the President's proclamation of July I, who is a resident of the United States, shall apply for Copyright under the new law?" The ooPYRiGHTrNG of foreign Music. "Mr. Spofford," says the Post, "stands firmly by his decision that foreign music may lx> copy- righted without reprinting in this country. He bases this view upon the fact that the new law makes the distinction, in plain terms, lx'twoen 'a lxx>k, photograph, chromo, or lithograph,' which it requires 'shall be printed from type set within the limits of the United States, or from plates made therefrom,' and the general list. , There will, doubtless, ta a contest over this, as certain American music publishers insist that the new law requires that foreign books shall be reprinted here in order to obtain the benefits of Copyright, and that a piece of sheet-music is, for the intents of the law, to lx> regarderl as a book. . . . The music publishers are evidently dis- turbed by the prospect. If they cannot get a decision in their favour they have little hope of getting relief from Congress for a good while to come. Moreover, by the argument they are making, they obviously intend to put a broader construction on the statute than could possibly have been in anybody's mind when the Bill was under discussion, for they claim that tlx.' word • type' should be held to include 'all punches and other devices by which books, and all publications construed to be books, are made.'" II. (From " Frank Leslie's Paper.") The brilliant gathering of British writers on Thursday night, July 16th, at the Hotel Metropole, in London, under the auspices of the Society of Authors, may Ira said to close the cam- paign of International Copyright. The British authors have now ratified, in a public and official manner, and with a significant emphasis, tho legislation of last winter, and that they have done this lx-speaks at once their magnanimity and their wisdom—magnanimity, lx»cause they undoubtedly are hampered by some of the restrictions of the Act as passed; wisdom, lx?cause in spite of these limitations, and, from a purely literary standpoint, these blemishes, the Act is a distinct step forward in the march of ideas. The veteran Laureate of England, and of the English speech, struck the keynote and summed the whole matter up in his concise despatch of greeting, wherein he said the Society congratulated the United States "on their great act of justice." It is as a "great act of justice" rather than as legislation, which will immediately benefit the pockets of authors and publishers, that the world feels its chief interest in the present International Copyright law. It was this consideration which prompted Henry Cabot Lodge to say at the recent Copyright dinner in this city, that perhaps the Fifty-first Congress would ultimately lx> best re- membered for the passage of this Act. Unregarded as the reformers were for many years, and reckoned of only small and incidental consequence, even at the very last, possibly their "little Bill" may yet reflect more lustre on the Fifty-first Congress than some others which now appear to lxi its most important legacies. The friends of the measure fought their tattles o'er again, and exchanged congratulations at Thursday's meeting in London, and the temptation is great to do so on this side also, for when all is said, scanty justice is done to that small and devoted tand of men, armed with the irresistible power of an idea, who besieged Congress for so many years, until finally their tireless efforts brought victory. Some of them are now receiving  ## p. 104 (#508) ############################################ 104 THE AUTHOR. the formal recognition which their labours deserve. If ever decorations were deserved, they are those that are worn by the Copyright veterans, and that eagle should be indeed a "proud bird of freedom" who furnished the quill with which President Harrison signed this "great act of justice"—this literary magna chart a—and which he so grace- fully presented afterward to the indefatigable secretary of the Copyright League, Mr. Robert Underwood Johnson. This particular pen was mightier than many swords. The world will not forget, however, the efforts of several men whose names have not yet won these formal honours. All the world of writers are under a deep obligation to Dr. Edward Eggleston for the patient and judicious campaigns, one after another, which that eminent writer made from an unselfish devotion to the interests of literature and of his fellow-workers in that field. It was entirely proper that, by an agreement among literary workers, his latest novel, "The Faith Doctor," received the unique distinction of obtaining the first Copyright under the new law. The name of ex-Senator Chace is also indelibly linked with the new epoch, as the law as it now stands on the statute books was practically drafted by him, and all the material amendments were submitted to him and had his cordial approbation and support. Without subtracting from the importance of the work in the two halls of Congress done by Breck- inridge, Adams, and Simonds in the House, and by Senator Piatt, of Connecticut, in the Senate, we still remember that it was "the Chace Bill" which finally became the International Copyright law. We have also to remember that but for the earnest efforts of such men as R. R. Bowker, Dr. Henry J. Van Dyck—who earned the sobriquet of "chaplain" of the cause.—of Messrs. Lothrop, Brauder Mathews, R. W. Gilder, Howard Crosby, Henry Cabot Lodge, Charles Seribner, the Apple- tons, and a host of other strong and devoted advocates, the efforts of the "rush line" at Washington would have been a failure. What a mighty scrimmage that valiant "rush line" had, and how gallantly they behaved them- selves in it! The literary world has not yet done talking about the bull-dog grip and the quick adaptability to every emergency which were dis- played by Senator Piatt, Representative Simonds, and Secretary R. U. Johnson, the triumvirate! who did the hand-to-hand fighting. A dozen times when every danger seemed passed, a new crisis suddenly stared them in the face, but their resources were infinite, and, aided by Madam Fortune, who always smiles upon such determined gallants, the goal was finally reached and the battle won. But aven after the President scratched his approval with the eagle's quill it was a question whether the law would be practically operative. Essentially it was reciprocal in its provisions, and would have fallen a dead letter, therefore, but for corresponding action on the part of foreign governments. Would this be given? Certain provisions in the law prejudiced it in the eyes of foreigners, and it required some breadth of view on their part to accept them. At this point the efforts of true friends of the reform in France and England were of much help. Men like Professor Bryce and the Count de Keratry proved themselves valuable allies, and their names should not be omitted in a list of the heroes of the war. In good time the necessary ratifications were made by England, France, Belgium, and Switzerland, so that now in five of the principal nations of Christendom Inter- national Copyright is in practical operation. It may now be a.sked, What are the fruits to date? In reply to such an inquiry, which is a very natural one, it must be said that thus far little appears in the way of changes at the business end of literature. Although several of the leading publishers are in negotiation for foreign works, we believe that only one of these transactions has been concluded. We understand that the Cassells have purchased tin; right to bring out an American edition of Zola's "La Guerre," and this work will be the first sold in our market under the new regime. Recent interviews with a number of New York publishers show that several important works are soon to follow, among them a volume by Pro- fessor Bryce. It will take some time, however, before the law modifies to any obvious extent exist- ing conditions, and, as we said at the start, the Act is of consequence more because it inaugurates a new era than because it involves any very dramatic change in the publishing business. That these changes will come in their proper time is now generally believed by both authors, publishers, and booksellers, but the habit of a trade is not often revolutionised at a blow. The official indorsement of the Act by the British authors comes in the nick of time to place in the right view the selfish opposition to the law de- veloped by certain elements of the printing and publishing trades in England. These interests are bestirring themselves to arouse a sentiment of hostility to the law, as they fear—with some reason- that what is known as the "printing clause" in the law will have the effect of transferring to New York a considerable part of the mechanical work in current, literature now done abroad. The friends of the Chace Bill have always maintained that one of its effects might be to make New York the centre of the publishing trade of the world. The anxiety of the craft in England would go to show that this claim may have some solid basis. To obstruct any such tendency, the English printers  ## p. 105 (#509) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. are demanding of their Government that Parlia- ment shall require that the printing of American works having an English copyright shall be done in tluvt country. Thus far, however, the Government has turned the cold shoulder to these demands. Sir Michael Hicks Beach, replying to a deputation who had an interview with him a few days ago on this subject, said he did not think that in the present state of the case it would be necessary for the Government to take any action; that the printing clause in the Bill affected only 5 per cent, of printed matter, and it was too early yet to see what its operation would be, even within this narrow area. The em- phatic ratification of the law by the authors, coming on top of this snub from the Government, will probably put a quietus on this movement, certainly until the law has a fair chance to show its merits. We may assume, therefore, that a new principle has l>een established and a new epoch opened. Intel-national property in literary ideas is recog- nised and imbedded in the law of the land, and America joins hands with the principal nations of Christendom in securing to authors the full and just reward of their labour. Henry B. Elliot. ASSOCIATION LITTÉRAIRE ET ARTISTIQUE INTERNATIONALE. AGENERAL invitation has been extended to the Members of this Society for the Congress which meets at Neufchâtel on the 26th of September and continues its sittings to the 3rd of October. It will be remembered that the Association held a Congress at London two years ago, which began by ignoring the existence of this Society, and in consequence was not attended by one single English man of letters. This omission, there is reason to believe, was not occidental but intentional, and suggested by certain warm friends of the Society. It is not probable that the omission will be repeated. As regards the journey to the Congress of this year, a reduction of 5o per cent, is made on the French and Swiss lines for Members, and the daily expenses at the hotels, the secretary informs inquirers, may be set down at a maximum of 10 or 12 francs. The following is the official programme of the Congress :— Programme des Travaux. i° Rapport sur les travaux de l'année. Rap- porteur: M. Jules Lennina. 2° Etude sur le projet de loi anglais. Copyright. Rapporteurs: MM. Henri Morel et Rothlisberger. VOL. 11. 3° Etude sur la nouvelle loi Copyright, pro- mulguée aux Etats-Unis. Rapporteurs: MM. Darras et Maillard. 40 De la propriété artistique. Peinture et sculpture. Ripporteur: M. Armand Dumaresq. 5° De la propriété artistique. Musique. Rap- porteur: M. Victor Souchon. 6° De la propriété artistique en matière de photographie. Rapporteur: M. Bulloz. 70 Essai de législation en matière de contrat d'édition. Rapporteurs: MM. Ocainpo et Max Nordau. 8" De l'état de la propriété intellectuelle dans les pays qui n'ont pas adhéré à la Convention de Berne. Rapporteur: M. Frédéric Bœtzmann. 90 De la revision de la Convention de Berne. De la Conférence diplomatique de 1892, à Paris. Rapporteur: M. Eugène Pouillet. Réunion préparatoire, Samedi 26 Septembre, à dix heures du matin, au Cercle du Musée. La séance solennelle de réception des membres du Congrès aura lieu le Samedi 26 Septembre en présence des autorités, à la Salle «les Etats, au château de Neuchâtel. Tenue de soirée. Le soir réception et concert, au Cercle du Musée. Les séances plénières et les Commissions se tiendront dans l'ancienne salle du Conseil d'Etat et des annexes. Dimanche 27 Septembre. Excursion sur le lac de Neuchâtel, à l'île Saint-Pierre. Du Lundi 28 Septembre au Samedi 3 Octobre. Séances de travail. Mardi. Banquet offert par la ville de Neuchâtel. Jeudi. Excursion à la Chaux-de-Fonds et au Saut-du-Doubs. Samedi. Séance de clôture et banquet (l'adieu. La langue officielle du Congrès est la langue française: mais chacun a le droit de s'exprimer dans sa langue nationale. Des programmes seront imprimés chaque jour et adressés par la poste aux congressistes, à la première distribution. THE DUBLIN CONFERENCE OF THE INSTITUTE OF JOURNALISTS. fl^HE Conference of Journalists in the Irish I capital, which took place on August the 20th and following days, proved to be one of the most interesting meetings the Institute has ever held. The Dublin Reception Committee had made strenuous efforts to enhance the pleasure of their visitors, and the military, civic, and learned autho- rities seconded them so ably, that the whole time of five days was fully filled with the most pleasur- able incidents. On the day of arrival visits were H  ## p. 106 (#510) ############################################ io6 THE AUTHOR. made to the historic and commercial monuments of Dublin, and in the evening the Royal Hibernian Academy gave a charming reception in their rooms, which were hung with the work of the members especially for the occasion. Many knotty points of journalistic laws were acutely and thoroughly discussed at the meetings held in the City Hall; upon one or two points, especially upon the Orphans' Fund question, ladies taking a noteworthy part. Miss Drew's sj>eech upon the system of foster parents versus large orphanages, eliciting much sympathy and applause. At the Annual Dinner most of the principal dignities of Dublin were present, the Lord Mayor being on Mr. Gilzean Reid's right, whilst upon his left-hand sat the Lord Chancellor of Ireland. From Lord Ashbourne's lips fell one of the brightest and wittiest speeches that it could fall to the lot of journalists to listen to, and yet it embodied much sound and useful advice as to the usage of the mighty power of the Press. The Royal Dublin Society met the members at their premises at Ralls Bridge, and conducted them over the admir- able premises which were prepared for the great horse show. On the Saturday evening the Lord Mayor gave a banquet to some 5oo guests in the great circular hall of the Mansion House, which was built to entertain George the Fourth, and a most interesting sight was this crowded hall, when the Lord Mayor from beneath the canopy, above which in light blazed the Irish Harp and Shamrock, gave most heartily the toast of " The Queen "; that was received with ringing and renewed cheering. On the evening before, this toast was accompanied by the singing of the first two verses of the National Anthem. ' The Sunday was devoted by some of our members to visits to the Cathedrals and Churches of Dublin, and by others to short excursions to such spots as Bray, and the Seven Churches of Qlendalough. One of the most marked instances of Irish hospitality to the United Journalists was the invitation of a large body of them by Lord and Lady Wolseley to lunch at Kihnainham Hospital. Lady Wolseley afterwards receiving a still larger number of the meml>ers at an " At Home," giving all an opportunity to inspect the Hospital grounds and pictures under the guidance of Lord Wolseley. This brought the Dublin proceedings to a close, but Irishmen had not vet exhausted their generous, cordial greeting to the "Strangers within their gates," for the great railway companies had signified their wish that all members should visit other parts of Ireland, and hail placed free passes at their disposal to the Western Highlands and to Belfast; and the Cork ami Bandon Railway also threw open the Glengariff route to Killarney. The Great Northern Railway even provided lunch at the Giant's Causeway. In short, all Ireland welcomed the English, Scottish, anil Welsh press- men with true Irish generosity and warmth, hoping only in return for fair, generous descrip- tion and criticism of Ireland and her people; and most assuredly those who had the pleasure of being at the Conference must leave Ireland with increased knowledge of her country and her people, and with hearty longings for the happiness of so warm- hearted a people, and with pens steeped in friendship towards their generous hosts. James Baker. ♦■»■» AN OLD NEW WORD. IREGRET to see that there has been some talk, in late numbers of the Author, about "a slating with slates." It looks as if some people actually suppose that "to slate " means " to pelt with slates." That is not it at all. I cannot go into the whole matter, as I regret to say that it involves delicate questions of vowel- gradation, in which the general public cannot be expected to take much interest. I will merely sav that I "happen to know"; because, though the verb is not in any Anglo-Saxon dictionary, it happened to turn up in an Anglo-Saxon text which it was my business to edit; and I can give chapter anil verse for every statement I shall make. The net result is just this : There was once a verb to slitc (now obsolete), past tense slotc, past parti- ciple stiffen. It now remains only in two deriva- tives; one, is, to slit, and the other is to slait or sleat (rhyming with great), or (phonetically) to slate. To slite meant to tear; to slit means much the same. To slait was the causal verb, to cause to tear. It is precisely parallel to bait, the causal of bite. To bait a bull is to set on dogs to bile him. The Anglo-Saxon text I spoke of talks of slatting a bull, or setting on dogs to slite or rend him. That's just what it means, viz., to set on dogs to harass, worry, and the like ; much the same as bait. But to talk of slatting " with slates " is mere igno- rance. Thev would be quite ineffectual as against a bull. Nevertheless, the word slate is ultimately from the same root; but that is a lucre chance, and does not justify the use of a slip-shod expression. By all means let us use good old words, but let us do it intelligently. There would be a mighty fuss if we were to misuse a word of Greek origin; but when it is only good English, why, then——■ Walter W. Skeat. ■  ## p. 107 (#511) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. THE AUTHORS' CLUB. AGREAT many letters have been received on the subject of the proposed club. They will all be placed in the hands of the com- mittee, and will be duly considered by them. One or two contributors are anxious that ladies should be admitted. Well, it must be understood that the Resolutions published in the last number of the Author were preliminary and tentative onlv. Meantime, two or three ladies, Meml>ers of the Society, have written to ask for a reconsideration of this point, but only two or three. Many more have stated their inability to pay a five-guinea sub- scription. Clearly, an ideal club of authors should admit women as well as men. Literature is, above all others, a profession open to both sexes. Yet literary women are even more mercilessly sweated, especially by religious societies, who pretend not to know that this sweating was specially contemplated in framing the Eighth Commandment; and the number of ladies who live by their literary work, and can afford even so reasonable a subscription as five guineas, is very small. A learned Professor, whose works are manv, writes to invite a reconsideration of Clause VIII. He says, " Instead of a ride that all members are to give copies of their works, let it Ik: worded that members be invited to give copies of their works." In any case the rule could not be retrospective, and the ease might arise of a costly work with a limited edition, the presentation of which would be onerous. These notes are only meant to mark the tirst stage. We are still in full vacation, and it is enough that the Authors' Club is no longer a mere suggestion, but has advanced to the stage of practical consideration. The American Club, it may be noted, is not an Authors' Club, but an Authors Club. NOTES AND NEWS. LET the Author, though late, lay a wreath upon the grave of James Russell Lowell, if only as a personal friend of many of our Members, and a strong well-wisher to the Society. As a writer, he was the lineal descendant of the good old English stock; he might have contributed a paper for Addison's Spectator, or, later on, he might have added a chapter to Washington Irving's Sketch Booh. He had nothing in common with the modern writers of his own country—Bret Harte, Mark Twain, Howell, Stockton, and others who have broken off with the old English traditions. Lowell was an Englishman, who was lwrn, and mostly lived, in America. Yet an Englishman who was attached to republican principles, and never ceased to see in his own country the beginnings of every kind of greatness. It will be remembered that he made a speech at one of our dinners, a speech whose common sense, humour, and simple eloquence deeply impressed themselves upon all who heard it. It should be reprinted for our own keeping. He came to that dinner from the couch where he had been confined by gout; it was a greater effort than most of the guests suspected for him to stand up at all. Yet he came out of pure love for literature, and liecause he wanted to encourage those who follow literature to unite for their own advantage, and to form a corporation for their own protection. He could speak. That fact alone placed him above the British author, of whom it may 1m> said, as a general rule, that he cannot speak. There are brilliant exceptions, but, as a rule, the English author cannot speak. The fact is a difficulty which constantly faces us when we meet. The English author cannot speak. If he rises to pro- pose a toast, he says what he has to say without art, without preparation; he stammers, he boggles, he hesitates. Nay, sometimes he refuses abso- lutely to speak. For example: we were once anxious that a certain well-known writer should preside at a certain gathering. We represented to him that it was his proper place, that he ought to be in that chair; that he should claim the prece- dency he had won. He refused; he said that he could not speak. He came to the meeting, but he sat down below with the rank and file. As for the exceptions: Lord Lytton is a statesman, and there- fore accustomed to speaking; Mr. James Bryce is also a statesman; Professor Jebb is, or was, the. Public Orator of Cambridge, and therefore always speaking; Mr. Edmund Yates is well known as one of the best after-dinner speakers that we have; Mr. Hermann Merivale is an eloquent speaker; Mr. George Augustus Sala is full of wit and anec- dote; Professor Michael Foster s[>eaks genially and cordially. There are, of course, many others, but the broad fact remains—the English author cannot speak. Why not? Simply because he will not take the trouble to study the art of elocution, and to practise a little. Authors are always getting up subjects for their own purposes. Sometimes they know a great deal more than the mass of mankind. What an addition to their strength and their influence it would 1k> if they could speak upon their subjects as well as write aliout them! All educated men—that is, all those who ought to lead—should practise the art of speaking. Not to ir 2  ## p. 108 (#512) ############################################ io8 THE AUTHOR. do so is to leave the leading of the people to the uncultivated—the men who can speak, but do not know—who mislead because they do not know. Lord Cranbrook sends to the Times some grace- ful lines written to him by Lowell, apropos of his own lines: Life is a leaf of paper white, Whereon each one of us may write His word or two—then conies the night. They arc called " Cuivis cunque " :— On earth Columbus wrote his name: Montgolfier on the circling air: Lesseps in water did the same: Franklin traced his in living flame: Newton on space's desert bare. Safe with the primal elements Their signatures august remain: While the fierce hurtle of events Whirls us and our ephemeral tents Beyond oblivion's mere disdain. Our names, as what we write are frail, Time spunges out like hopeless scores, Unless for mine it should prevail To turn awhile the faltering scale Of memory, thus to make it yours. Qcivis. Many notices, biographies, and appreciations more or less critical have appeared on James Russell Lowell since his death. That written by Mr. Theodore Watts for the Athenaum of August 22nd, stands out above all those that I have seen. It is simply an excellent paper. It is especially valuable for its analysis of the Puritan element in the man, and of what that Puritan element really means — the teaching of self- restraint and self-governance as opposed to the Pagan instinct of self-indulgence. It is a paper filled with admiration of the man, yet capable of acknowledging weak points in the poet. In spite of the occasional ruggedness of his verse, the world will continue to read Lowell when they have quite forgotten poets of greater dexterity and finer music, and this, for the sake of the things he has to say. Once more our old friend Bogey turns up. The Spectatoi; in a little notice of "The Cost of Pro- duction "—better late than never; it is just in time for the third edition—reproduces this good old fraud "If," it says, " the author of a shilling shocker receives £o on a thousand copies, the publisher receives a little more. Not more, it may lie readily admitted, than is fair, considering the risk." What risk? My dear Spectator, you have been told over and over again that there is very, very seldom any risk, and that there need be none at all. Again, suppose there was risk. What is the pub- lisher's risk compared witli the author's? The author risks his labour, risks months of hard work and time. Is that a less or a greater risk than tin- publisher's £100, which, mind, he docs not pay until the returns of the book come in? Now, tin; author does advance his risk beforehand. As we have pointed out and proved over and over again, the great mass of published books carry no risk. But I suppose it is quite impossible to drown this Bogey in the Bed Sea. It was the Spectator which, after admitting a letter by me, signed, on this very subject—a letter in which I advanced the undeniable fact that nowadays publishers take very, very few risks, and that many publishers simply cannot afford to take any—published a letter which stated that " the man who says that publishers never take risks must be insane." The writer did not sign his name. But observe: his letter conveyed a falsehood: he meant people to believe that I had said that no publishers ever take; any risks. It was not worth while to complain or to explain. At the sauie time two questions arise: (i) Howr far an editor is justi- fied in allowing an anonymous writer to attack a man who openly signs himself? and (2) How far an editor is justified in inserting a letter which is carefully worded so as to convey a falsehood? The season is approaching when the lists of new books will appear. We will then again proceed with the analysis of the new books published, in order to find out what is the proportion of books which ma}' carry risk. Meantime, here is a very good illustration of what they sometimes call risk. A correspondent writes to us: "Among publishers who do sometimes take risks, you must include Mr. A. B. The book called , recently published, was actually bought by him at a good price. He gave £— for it. Yet it was the work of a perfectly unknown writer. If this was not risk, what is?" Very good. Let us see. The publisher bought the book for a certain sum. He then ran it through his magazine. The sum given for the book was about half that which he would have had to pay at the current, rate of payment per page. The other half, which he saved, paid for the printing, paper, and binding of the book. Thus,  ## p. 109 (#513) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. you see, lie brought out the book for nothing, and got all the credit of a publisher who dares to take a new writer in hand and to give him a start. It was good business all round: very good for the new writer, who got a capital start, for which he must thank the publisher; and since, if he turns out well, he will be under an endless debt of gratitude to that publisher, it will prove very good business for him as well. But, you s<«, it is not taking a risk. I wonder if English as well as French hooks are going to be put up for auction in New York. Zola's last work is reported to have l)cen offered in this way and to have been knocked down for £2,000, or £400. This is not much, as it includes the right of selling it in French as well lus in English. If the practice is to lie extended to English books, there will be, I fear, considerable bumbling and considerable shamefaeedness, because there arc writers who wrap up the question of dollars in mystery which magnifies. Certain Americans are said, by the Critic of New York, to be patriotically indignant because Lord Tennyson has been invited to write an ode for the opening of the Chicago Exhibition. The President of the World's Congress Auxiliary thus explains the invitation: "I thought it was not improper to make some allusion to his long and splendid career of half a century as Wordsworth's successor in the office of Poet Laureate of England, and I added the hope that it might please him to send a song to be sung at the opening of the great Exposition. This, to my mind, was certainly a becoming courtesy. It by no means excludes from the list any other poet of the world. It always has been and still is the intention to extend a similar invitation to other adepts in the divine art of poesy." At the same time, one would have thought that the Americans were prepared to ac- knowledge that the greatest living figure in English poetry is Lord Tennyson. The Spectator, I read somewhere, thinks that a great proportion of the upper and middle classes of England never buy a book from one year's end to another. I do not remember the paper saying this. If it did say so—if it does think so— it is quite wrong, as readers of the Author will understand. The investigation which we recently conducted into the extent of the home lxjok trade proved conclusively that the upper and middle class buv books very largely. There are, of course. many houses where the head of the family never reads a book, but even there his wife, his daughters, his sons read and buy. For whom are the six-shilling books published? For the poor? For the lower middle class? And when we read of 10,000, 20,000, copies of a six-shilling liook being sold, who, pray, are the buyers? The lower middle class? Look again at the lwokstall—say, at the Great Western—a line which seems to l>c. used by the upper class more than any other. All day long the books are being taken by passengers. Look at Stoneham's place in the Poultry, in the City, or at Glaishers in the Strand. All day long the passers by are dropping in for books. Not the poor passers by, if you please, but the better sort. The truth is, that people are enabled to read a great deal more than they would otherwise afford to do, by the existence of the cir- culating library; they do not, certainly, buy as much as they should, but Ihey buy a great deal, and they are learning to buy more. The opinion that middle-class people never buy books is one of the numerous conventional opinions which arc a kind of stock-in-trade of journalists who are too lazy or are unable to examine for themselves. The notion that every book involves an awfid risk to publish is another. The Spectator certainly believes that as an article of Christian faith. I wish someone would make a little collection of stock conventional opinions. Mr. H. Schiitz Wilson reminds lovers of Germany and German poets that on .September the 21st, the centenary of the birth of the patriot poet Theodor Korner is to be celebrated. Here is an excellent opportunity for a paper on the young soldier who died fighting in the liefreiungs Krieg. Such a life as that of Korner, with such a death after such achievements, needs to be told for every generation. Especially does his verse need to be re-translated, or in some way brought ljefore the world at a time when people are asking why German is so little read. The fact is certain: German liooks are not asked for in libraries so much as they were 20 years ago, although German is taught in schools more extensively and more thoroughly than at that time. There are several reasons for this falling off. One is a prevalent belief that when one has read half-a-dozen great German writers, there remain no more worth reading. I refer to belles lettres, because German is indispensable to scientific men and scholars. Next, German historians mav be valuable, but they are certainly heavy to read. Thirdly, the reviews which try to follow modern  ## p. 110 (#514) ############################################ I IO THE AUTHOR. German literature do not, somehow, succeed in attracting people to read the books. Perhaps, if some of them were to adopt the plan of recom- mending special books withan account of them, the reader might be stimulated to order them. Lastly, our own literature, with American literature and French literature, is so rich that it takes all our •time to read even the most remarkable books. The administration of the Free Libraries in Paris recently made the deplorable discovery that their readers prefer novels to any other branch of literature. They thereupon instructed the librarians to coax, guide, lead, and persuade the people into more serious reading. The librarians obeyed and exhorted. All the people walked out. The librarians desisted. All the people came back. They are now again diligently engaged in read- ing nothing but novels. Humanity is the same everywhere—both otheial humanity and natural humanity. Official humanity laments the tendency to read novels, because oflieial humanity cannot understand that the average man reads for amuse- ment, and that when he lias done his day's work he does not want to work any longer at anything. Also official humanity has never arrived at the least conception of the fact that fiction is the greatest of all the forces now in existence for refinement of manners and for edu- cation in ideas. Official humanity never gets beyond the copybook maxims. Natural humanity, no doubt, learns these and straightway forgets them. The copybook view of a public library is of a place where the eager youth, longing for art and letters and learning for their own sakes, sits every evening—or, as the schoolboy hath it, swots every evening after a hard 12 hours' day. The simple and unconventional truth is that the average man finds here only a place of amusement which has the advantage of being warm, quiet, light, and costing nothing. The Victorian Exhibition is to have a portrait gallery of 400 distinguished persons, belonging to the present reign, now deceased. Four hundred is a considerable number. Probably the whole of the period covered by Gibbon's " Decline and Fall " does not contain many more, yet here we have 400, all adorning a period of one short half-century, so that we ought to be a proud and happy nation indeed. Nay, since none of the living are included, and there must be a great many more than 400 capable of calling themselves illustrious, the Victorian age is, indeed, in advance of all preceding ages put together. The Victorian literature shows, among the dead: Browning, Landor, Tom Moore, Southev, Words- worth, Carlyle, Dickens, Thackeray, Charles Reade, Wilkie Collins, George Eliot, Charlotte Bronte, Rogers, Grote, Hallam, Mill, Lightfoot, Trench, Stanley, Wilberforce, Liddon, Keble, Newman, Arnold, Darwin, Faraday, Herschel, Lyell, Mur- ehison, Fox Talbot, J. R. Green, Mark Pattison, Mrs. Gaskell, Edward Fitzgerald, Lord Strangford, Edward Palmer, not to speak of a mighty host of men of every science and art who have by their books adorned this great and wonderful Victorian age. It is, of course, absurd to confine the word literature any longer to poetry, fiction, and essays; it now includes every kind of book on every kind of subject — scientific, technical, educational—I think one would only except BraiLshaw, the Army and Navy lists, the Law lists, the Oxford and Cambridge Calendar, Crockford's Clerical Dire torv, and the Report of the S.P.C.K. This splendid growth of science and of letters—the true glory of the Victorian period—will, one hopes, be adequately illustrated bv the portrait gallery. One also hopes that no one will ask the very awkward question of how the Court has been advised to recognize and to honour the men by whom the time and the reign have been made famous. The fashion of advertising publishers' lists at the end of books seems falling into disuse. This is a pity for one reason: namely, that the lists a few years later afford such excellent food for reflection. Here, for instance, is a book issued in the year 188-3 by a publisher who at that time produced much, in quantity at least. At the end is his current list of works. It contains 40 new three- volume novels. Many of these books are by writers then, and now, more or less known, who have continued to write novels, and, therefore, it is pre- sumed have found their practice of the art remune- rative, or at least pleasant. Out of the 40 which were all apparently published in the years 18S2 and |883, there are one or two which had then advanced to a second edition. But not one of the whole 40 has ever made the least impression 011 the mind of the public. Every one of them is stone dead. So that of 40 average novels not one has managed to live in memory or on the bookshelves for eight years. I do not put this forward as a proof that they were all bad. Many novels, of good workmanship are written with no other object than to amuse for the moment. It is, however, pleasing to read some of the extracts from friendly reviewers on these immortal works : — " Fresh, free, powerful "; "The work of a master-hand"; "A romance of the most fascinating description "; "Will be received with delight by all classes": these praises seem, after this short lapse of time, somewhat extravagant. They are better, however,  ## p. 111 (#515) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 111 than the work of the scarifier. The authors should at least be thankful that their critics were easily pleased. The French " Syndicat pour la protect ion de la proprietd litteraire et artistique " has presented a gold medal to Senator Piatt for the part which he has taken "in the triumph of a just cause." Certain American publishers have presented a loving cup to Mr. Robert Underwood Johnson for his exertions in the cause of International Copy- right, and the French Government has conferred upon Messrs. Johnson, Putnam, Adams, and Simonds the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour. What have we done? What had our Government done? Nothing. Yet the benefit conferred upon us by this Act are a thousand times greater than those conferred upon the French. It is useless, I suppose, to think that any English Government will ever act, under any circumstances, as if Literature and Art were things of any value or importance. No other country so deeply indebted to four foreigners as we are to the four gentlemen who have received the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour would neglect them; no other country could afford to be so boorish; in every other country thev would at least l>e offered something equivalent to our knighthood of the Bath. Such an act of courtesy, such a sense of gratitude, we may expect in vain. It is not, however, too late for ourselves to do something. Let us do it, and that at once. The time approaches when we shall be all back in our places; let the first step taken by the Society after the vacation be one of simple justice and acknowledgment of gratitude. The Folk Lore Congress of October promises to be the most literary event of the year. Mr. Andrew Lang, the President, will open it with an address. Mr. Sidney Hart land is tin; Chairman of the Folk- tale Section; Professor John Rhys, of the Mytho- logical Section; Sir Frederick Pollock, of the Institutions Section. At the meeting of the Mytho- logical Section there will be a representation of an old English mumming play, with children's games, sword dances, savage music, and folk songs. The savage music ought to prove very attractive. I hope the Society is increasing in numbers and support. No transactions of any society are half so interesting as those of the Folk Lore. The wonder is that they keep up and show no abate- ment in material or in interest. But the Society deals with an inexhaustible mass of subjects. Con- sider, for instance, how one single fact, the existence of the king of the Arician Grove, has been shown, in "The Golden Bough," to require two great volumes full of illustrations, explanations, and history. This wonderful work, as interesting as any novel, should have been kept for the Folk Lore Congress. A general invitation to the Members of our Society has been received from the Council of the German Authors' Society—iDeutscher Schriftsteller- Verband. The Association holds a Congress at Berlin on September 12th, i3th, and 14th. The programme is a business-like document. The members will be chiefly occupied with various changes in their statutes. With them we are not greatly concerned. Two or three proposal*, how- ever, are interesting:— That the Council shall every year offer a prize for an original novel and one for a drama. That strenuous efforts shall be made to receive the recognition of the State. That all German writers of eminence shall be urged to join the Society. I do not think that any prize which the Society could offer would do much to advance the cause of dramatic or fictional art. We cannot imagine a good writer competing for a prize unless it was a prize in four figures. And there seems to us something ridiculous in the "crowning " of a work by a writer of established reputation. But I have sometimes thought that a gold medal bestowed, not every year, but whenever a really good first work by a young writer appeared—which is not every year—might do something in smoothing the way for that young writer's future success. The German Society has local centres and local committees. Some time ago we asked for and received the names of Members willing to act as honorary secretaries in their own centres. We shall probably ask for their services this Autumn. Will any others willing to help us, should the occasion arise, send up their names? The Germans will vary their dry business with a little festivity. On Sunday they propose to have a dinner and a ball; on Monday they will meet at the opera; on Tuesday they will go for an excursion. If we have a Congress, which has been some time suggested, let us have these good things as well. Walter Besant.  ## p. 112 (#516) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. ON A NEW NOVELIST. UNTIL Mr. Edmund Gosse's delightful intro- duction to "The Footsteps of Fate," of Louis Couperus on the, Dutch Sensitivists, with other ignorant people I had l>een under the impression that Holland possessed a language that was inarticulate, and that the Dutch had found Art their only medium of expression. Their grait traditions of painting, like those of the Flemish, have eclipsed any claims they may have had to a literature.. While the names of the Maris Brothers, Josef Israels, and others are known throughout Europe, the young men of whom Mr. Gosse writes so pleasantly (and, alas, so briefly) are almost unknown in England, except to those enviable persons who can master the northern languages of Europe. Apparently, we have been wronging the Dutch in denying them the parts of speech. They have been having literary revolutions and aesthetic movement*!, and slashing reviews like any other Christian nation. It will, doubtless, shock many respectable English critics when they learn that much of this morbid, unwholesome, intellectual activity is due to a deal of "poisoned honey" stolen from England! Our authors it seems can corrupt another nation no less than the insidious writers of another land are able to do. Now our insular appreciations have been roused by the appearance of two novels in English by a Dutch writer, Maarten Maartens: " The Sin of Joost Avelingh," and "An Old Maid's Love." They are two novels which promise to place their author in the first rank of English novelists now living. I say English, for these are riot translations from the Dutch as some reviewers had supposed, but were written in English—in a style which some of our native writers would do well to emulate. Though it is not given to everyone to form a style so exquisite as that of Maarten Maartens; who, furthermore, is endowed with that rare faculty of writing with felicity in a foreign language—in a manner, that is to say, that will deceive a foreigner. Raging Anglo-Saxons may not find in his books a phrase or idiom not to be found in Beowulf, but for reasonable Englishmen the language is as pure as Buskin's, as English as Thackeray's, as facile as Fronde's. In " The Sin of Joost Avelingh '' the author has, consciously or unconsciously, proposed a conun- drum. It is a story of moral murder, but as to whether Joost was guilty or not, psychologists and theologians might argue till Doomsday. To avoid all sensation, this author deliberately gives the ma]) of the plot in a prologue, and the story is simply a study and development of character. In absolute narrative power it is deficient, as in the pictures of the author's great compatriots we do not look for a story, but for the purely pictorial—characteri- sation, light and shadow, or the incidents of daily life around us. Mutual antipathy like that of Baron van Trotsem and Joost Avelingh, where one's sympathies are enlisted for the antipathy of each for the other though a common combination in life has not often been treated of in fiction. The Baron is not a brute, but a charming old- fashioned Dutch landowner given to drinking and swearing a little too hard, perhaps. Yet his temperament is entirely opposed to that of his nephew Joost, of whom he is the guardian, that their dislike of each other is conceivable and natural. For the murder of his uncle, Joost would have had every excuse. He had refinement, edu- cation, and something of the idealist, things which the Baron considered vices. The misunder- standings of uncle and nephew are told with consummate skill, always bringing out some new trait or idiosyncrasy. Bound the dignified and gracious character of Joost Avelingh, the minor characters group themselves naturally from the members of the Hessel family to the untidy black- guard, Van Asvcld. While the book throughout is a perfect picture of contemporary life and landscape in Holland, it would be mere cavilling to quarrel with the author about the public confession of Joost, but he seems to hold some theories on the ethics of murder which he has not elaborated suffi- ciently to be entirely convincing in either of his stories. In "An Old Maid's Love" we are asked to believe that a respectable and upright, country Dutch lady does not hesitate to murder a French woman with whom her adopted nephew is carrying on a flirtation. Until the attempted murder we are not given to understand that any immoral intercourse has taken place between them. Yet, where is the book in which we could not find something to alter or elaborate? Not even that great trilogy of Shakspeare, Bradshaw, and the Bible would answer the question. "An Old Maid's Love," if not so strong a storv as "Joost Avelingh," shows the great gifts of Maarten Maartens to a better advantage. The characterisation is even more varied, while the humour, which he has to a high degree, is more frequent. By a sentence, a speech, or an incident, the author gives us all the individualities of half-a- dozen people. We know Mynheer Van Donselaar and Jakob te Bekel directly they are introduced to us—a dangerous quality in real life, but in art and fiction an indispensable one. The author does not indulge in stale analysis, nor does he come forward as a kind of chorus to help on the story, or give a lift to characters who cannot explain themselves. There is no tedious word-painting, so dear to the  ## p. 113 (#517) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. "3 second-rate story-teller. Mr. Maarteiis is a master of descriptive writing; but he is always restrained, and never takes up the camel's-hair brush in mistake for the grey goose quill. In brief, let those who still doubt his place among English novelists purchase and read "The Sin of Joost Avelingh" and "An Old Maid's Love." They will at least make the acquaintance of some of the most delightful people in the most reputable Dutch society. The Widow liarsselius has never been excelled even by Dickens, while Mynheer Van Donselaar is the most diverting paterfamilias I ever met. The British matron will find heaps of things in common with Mevrouw van Hessel, a lady who does not think braces lit subjects for conversation, or fit objects for presentation. Those who, like Arnout Oostrum, prefer even lighter company, will meet that dangerous enchantress, Dorine de Mongelas, whose charms melted even the cynical Calvinist pastor, Jakob te Bekel. Like all live people, Dorine is just a little unreal. If ever I meet her again, I must ask her whether she really thought the proprietor of the hotel at Lugano believed that Arnout was her brother. If so, she was not so bad as Miss Varelkamp believed her to be. I shall never forgive the author for having killed the Widow Barsselius. I should like still to have thought of her, quarrelling with Adelaida Vonk, disinheriting Arnout, or altering her will every three or four months, scolding Sussana, and lecturing Dorothy Donselaar. C. P. A DAY AT OLYMPIA. MAY had just set in. The brushwood of the Peloponnesus wore its softest vesture: each fertile valley exhaled the fresh odours of early Spring. As I drove out of Pyrgos in the early sunshine, I saw around me a region richer and more beautiful than any I had hitherto explored in Greece. The road to Olympia at first extended itself across a plain festooned with tender garlands of the vine, where the carefully cultivated fields imparted now an unwonted air of civilisation to this visually wild and barren country, which here never- theless might rival with its vegetation an Italian landscape in the marshes or by the fat city of Bologna. Then, winding over the hills it passed through several hamlets, that clung to the heights like eagle's nests, and breathed beyond reach of malaria from the valleys, the fresh cool breath of the sea. We rested the horses awhile at a wayside inn, where some dozen dark-haired brown-featured peasant* were eating lentil soup and dry bread, for it was the Thursday Wore the Greek Easter. A fierce light darted from their black eyes, as they conversed jauntily among themselves. Caricatures of the reigning family and M. Tricoupis pasted on the walls proclaimed the political sympathies of the usual customers. These pictures very much resembled in their style of draughtsmanship I lie cartoons of United Ireland, and gave another proof of the curious likeness I had discovered in many ways between the people of the Morea and my unconquerable fellow-countrymen of Erin. I had by this time penetrated far into the region of blue mountains, through which the road some- times climbed tortuously, and sometimes flew straight as an arrow along low-lying level meadows radiant with wild flowers in the sunlight, and shrill with the voices of secret fertilizing streams. Thus, having driven in all about 12 miles, I at length reached the plain of Olympia bounded on the south by the famous river Alpheios, and on the west by its tributary the Kladeos, and enclosed by chains of wooded hills which guard from its sight the modern dwellings of men. The first impression on the beholder of this revered site, where our civilization may be said to have parsed the golden days of its youth, is an impression of sublimity, desolation, and repose. For fifteen centuries these grand ruins lay buried in the earth, and are now, thanks to the scholarly disin- terestedness of the great German nation, exhumed to bask once more beneath that same sun, whose white brilliance in the beginning inspired the happy genius of their architects. Not a voice, not a sound disturbs their monumental stillness, save perchance the hum of a solitary bee, as it wanders among the briars and poppies that grow out from the clefts of ancient wall or pavement. Verily here, more than anywhere on earth, a resurrection of old Greek life has been accomplished—life public and patriotic, not private and domestic, as Roman life is revealed to us at Pompeii. For here, as through the rest of the land, there remains no trace of any private dwelling of the Hellenic age. Thus, it seems that the Greek must have been content with a fragile, temporary house, passing most of his time in the sunlight, or among those beautiful public edifices, upon which he chiefly prided himself. In truth, he knew of no existence apart from that of the. State. At Olympia then, in this secluded vale the Hellenic States assembled every four years for the celebration of those sacred games, which compelled their divers peoples to cease from all strife, and united them in one grand body politic, the Greek Race. Here, therefore, we are brought into the dead presence of a civilisation, whose incomiKirable beautv has imralyzed all subsequent rivalry in the realization of the beautiful in life or art. And the incomparable beauty in Greek art still lives. It has  ## p. 114 (#518) ############################################ I [4 THE AUTHOR. re-arisen here with the Hermes of Praxiteles, which stands in the museum hard by, rescued from the long night of centuries. You see it, and are at once convinced that it is the greatest statue in the world, so perfect its type, so faultless its execution. For like all works of the highest class, such as the Laocoon, the ceiling of the Nistine Chapel, the Virgin among the Rocks, its superb qualities at once strike the eve, and ever increase in excellence with prolonged attention. In order to experience these sensations, the original must, of course, be examined. No cast of this great statue throughout Europe adequately reproduces the marvellous modelling of the chest and body, which fashioned in marble, delicate as alabaster, seem to throb with the life of eternal youth. All the intense vitality of Michael Angclo's figure of Night pulsates in the triumphant execution that has here lent substantial being to an ideal type of beauty, loftier, more perfect, than any portrayed in extant representatives of the human form. Beautiful, indeed, is this fleet messenger of Olympos — fresh as a white sunbeam in the morning, piercing the green and sombre shade of the olives, in the philosophic groves of Hellas. There is a subtle charm in a youth's protection of a child, a charm born of the ethereal purity and idealism which gleam through the clean gold light of fairyland. The old Greeks knew this sentiment by their delicate instinct, that fathomed the philo- sophy of the l>eautiful to its secret depths. Thus it is that their most exquisite artist, in his delinea- tion of Hermes with that half affectionate, half amused smile, as of an elder brother, upon the confiding childish Dionvsos, has recorded but one instance of the poetic feeling of his luminous When lH'holding this treasure, preserved for us from the fairest days of Greece, it is impossible not to think of the Apollo of Belvedere, which espe- cially, in the masterful beauty of workmanship on the torso, approaches nearer to this Hermes, than any other statue I have ever seen. The arrival of the Elgin marbles in our midst with their reve- lation of austere idealism and stern execution, led archa'ologists to look somewhat contemptuously upon the Vatican masterpiece, and to censure Winckelmann for his sublime eulogy of its perfec- tions. But the discovery of this incomparable work bv Praxiteles has proved how inspired was the sentiment of the supremely beautiful manifested bv that great Father of Archaeology, whose mag- nificent imagery and glowing eloquence, arc a continual welcome relief to the student, from the colourless and prosaic diction of his learned successors. As I stood in the lonesome plain I pictured to myself what that noble spirit Mould see, if he were to wander through the ruins of Olympia. We read in those volumes of vast information and erudition, published by the German Government, what modern archaeologists have seen. But Winckel- mann would have discovered meanings loftier and truer in the fittest sense. With prophetic insight into the genius of antiquity he would have read the dead features of each monument here, laid bare of its shroud of clay ; and his wistful gaze would have charmed them to answer his soul. From their silent voices would he not have learned a mystical tale of this fair deail region? And then, breaking into periods of sublime impassioned poetry, he would have told of glorious sights, as one who himself had witnessed them, and had risen from the grave to tell. What a description his might have been of the famous Temple of Zeus, that lies shivered by a mighty earthquake 011 the pavement of the Altis, like a huge vase fallen from its pedestal. What interest would he not have given to this shrine of the wondrous chryselephantine Zeus by Pheidias, about which he has written so luminously in his monumental History of Ancient Art? How he would have descanted on those grand pedimental groups by Alcamenes and Paionios, whose sculptures massed in bold outline and splendid proportion lent majesty to the archi- tecture, as a diadem heightens the dignity of a king! What a fascination he would have found in the stones of the old Heraion that guarded for our delight the Hermes of Praxiteles! How subtle woidd have been his appreciation of the colossal "Victory " that alights on the earth with such swift aerial grace! Then standing in the partially exca- vated Stadion, what would have been his emotion, as he thought of the beautiful contests that inspired the matchless art of Greece! These were some of my reflections, as I wandered a livelong day among the ruins of a region where beings once assembled, and sights were witnessed, the fairest our aged world has ever known. The genius of the place stirred strange sensations of contentment within my heart, such as I have never felt in other lands and scenes. For here were enacted those deeds that lent soul to my ideal of plastic perfection. For this reason, other centres of art outside of Greece shine in my imagination with a paler interest; nor indeed am I very curious to travel more, knowing that I can never discover a spot with memories of human beauty so sympathetic, and so sublime. And what made the old Greek civilisation the most beautiful of all civilisations? Was it not their profound love of nature which they shrank from distorting, with a sort of religious awe? Were not all their works designed in obedi- ence to the lessons learned of her? Look at the Parthenon of Athens. Does it not rise from the living rock as a thing of nature itself? hook at  ## p. 115 (#519) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. the people's garments. Are they not absolutely subordinate to the natural human form, and thereby most lit, most rational? Whereas the costume of after ages and modern times, in that it is a dis- tortion of nature, is barbarous ami abominable, and every whit as grotesque an that of the commonest savages who wear rings in their noses, and pad their persons in order to create odious, lM'cause artificial, excrescences. None of the ruins around awake more regretful interest than those of the Palaistra, an army of pale Ionian columns standing in pathetic stateliness, like ghosts of the glorious athletes, who once frequented these halls, and with their fair civilisation have passed for ever from the world. Here, leaning against one of the columns, which doubt- less of yore gave support to many a tired youth after the toils of the contest, I gazed long and earnestly upon the fallen majesty of Olympia. The wrath of the white sun which at mid-day had lit up the broken architecture like blocks of crystal, gradually grew pacified, and over the western hills and distant sea the saffron light of a Greek evening borne on the fluttering wings of a cool breeze, gilded the desolate plain. The genius of the place stirred within my soul a host of images,and strange emotions of joy and [Miin strove for mastery in my heart. I thought of the high deeds that graced these sacred precincts, and of the many beautiful beings who flourished here awhile and faded—exquisite blossoms that bloomed and fell. I thought of each bright fascinating scene here long ago, which thrilled with its poetry the beholder for one rare moment, and then passed away into the inexorable gulf of time, never, never to return. And bitterly I thought of this cruel Time, the destroyer of all our sweetest impressions on earth. Thus haunted with visions of the glorious pictures these silent plains had witnessed in the past, my mind brooded on the antique life of this revered centre of Hellenism, where grew and developed that incomparable natural beamy I lane ever desired to behold—in vain. And, as the moving shadows, amid fitful gusts of the night, spread their dark wings, like angels of death, over the valley, forel>odings of ghostly visitations filled my imagination, and 1 felt as if transported to the golden age of Greece. I gazed at the scene before me in wistful contemplation, until gradually growing in harmony with its sublime associations, I seemed to see the ruins transformed, and the glory of Olympia re-arise from the dust of the years. Then stood the Temple of Zeus and the Heraion once more in antique majesty, and the portico of the echo resounded with the footfall of fluttering crowds. Impatiently their faces turned towards the Sladion, while the variegated and gold- embroidered draperies throbbed in the waning light like the diamond embers of a log-lire beneath the dogs. A joyful shout arose, and from the tunnel of the Stadion came forth the competitors at the boys' Pentathlon, whose voices, as thev talked together, rang like the chiming of silver bells. Anon a great concourse of spectators appeared overhead, which, opening in twain, made way for the youthful victor. He advanced dreamily, as one not realising the splendour of his achievement which Pindar should immortalise in an ode, and slowly descended to the Altis, where, when he paused and looked at his garland, I saw in him a model of the Praxitelcan Hermes. Then white-robed choristers, and youths with festooned flutes, and hoary priests formed themselves in procession before him, and chanting oriental melody they led him towards the Temple of Zeus. And as the victor passed the statue of Victory, raising the wreath of bay leaves from his golden hair, he laid it at her feet, and so passed onward to the temple amid the chorus of quivering basses and sweet-voiced boys. Next, I was surrounded in the Palaistra by athletes, who practised for the contest of the coming day. Presently one of them came and leant against a pillar near to where I was standing. Wearily, with the distant gaze of a figure in a sepulchral relief, he lookeil towards the temple that sheltered the victor, and as he laid his cheek upon the cool marble, his features glowed with pale transparency, like the cameo of a god. I watched him and knew the sorrow that lav on his heart. I read in those sad features the soaring ambition of youth, that builds for itself a palace in a world of phantasm, and is ever thwarted, and vexed, and harassed in the life men call realitv. I saw how that one passion had mastered him and withered all faculty for pleasure; how the sight of this lieautiful ceremony caused him only a keener pain. And sorrowful at the thought that so bright a season as boyhood should thus be changed to bitterness and gloom, I looked with pity upon this youthful toiler, and sighed because of the lot of them that nourish the sublime aspirations of life. A rough hand on my shoulder shattered this fair picture of Olympia. Then I understood I must have slumbered after the heat and fatigue of exploring the ruins, when I saw beside me my guide, who announced that the sun had already set and that now the vallev, as if to defend itself from the encroachments of modern man, exhaled a cold and pestilential dew. With a last regretful look I returned to my carriage, and was borne away swiftly through the gathering shades of night. And as I watched the purple silhouette of the hills against the yellow sky, and breathed the damp air of twilight, I drew my cloak closer around me with a chill sense of loneliness,  ## p. 116 (#520) ############################################ ii6 THE AUTHOR. for I knew that the man who yearns for the ideal of other ages, while lie still walks among his con- temporaries, yet breathes a rarer atmosphere, and dwells in a far-off world. Edward Maktyn. SOME EARLY EXPERIENCES. MY passage into the world of literature was made through the gateway afforded by the "system of prize competitions—a humble enough entrance in very truth, but one which lias undoubtedly been the means of bringing to the front several very good men of letters, whose talents might otherwise have been lost to humanity. My feelings, on seeing my first essay in print, can be better imagined than described. To those of mv readers who have gone through that ex- perience, it were useless to waste words in the telling of so familiar a story. Needless to say, I passed through all the phases of thought usual on such an occasion, from the hilarious exultation of the first sight right down to the dee]) disgust and awful despair felt when, in a more critical moment, my work appeared sadly incomplete and unsatis- factory. Nevertheless, my ambition had now been fired, and, come failure or success, I speedily found myself launched upon the stormy seas of life in the vessel of literary endeavour, struggling for some foothold whereon I might take my stand with others around me wTho were winning fame and fortune by their daring exploits. The only special qualification which I possessed for the work set. before me was some slight ability in the art of composition, coupled perhaps with a fair share of common sense. When I set out on my literary career, some two years ago, I fortunately (lid not do as many others before me had done, give up the employment which had hitherto been my principal means of subsistence, and expect that, by writing an article about once a week, the remuneration received would at once render me perfectly independent of any other support; on the contrary, I knew a little, to begin with, about the great difficulties which had to be contended with, and the very slight acknowledgment which seems the usual remuneration for the work of unknown authors. Consequently, I very wisely decided to retain my ordinary occu- pation, and, for a while at least, to spend only mv leisure time in the new pursuit which I had taken up. One other thing I feel it my duty to mention before proceeding further: From the very begin- ning of mv acquaintanceship with " the black art," I determined that, amateur though I was in otic sense, I should never pay for the insertion of my contributions in any magazine, but would demand to be remunerated for my work in every possible instance. The adoption of this policy may be somewhat unusual, and it will probably be thought by some that such a course of action as I had decided on was essentially grasping, and, therefore, extremely foolish for a mere tyro to take. I feel sure, however, that this resolution is one which should be taken by every literary aspirant to-day; and I trust to be able to prove in this paper the wisdom of mv decision, and the justice of the principle upon which it is based. During the first six months, I wrote about a dozen articles and short stories, and sent them on the rounds. I met with better success than I expected; for, by the end of the time .specified, seven of my contributions had been accepted, published, and paid for. Six of these were ac- cepted by the first editors to whom they were submitted; the seventh was only out twice; but the rest of my dozen were not so eagerly snapped up, some of them being on my hands still. The next 12 months I did very badly indeed, as my leisure time was very fully occupied with other matters than the pursuit of my literary inclinations. I certainly wrote some eight or nine papers on various social and political topics, but only three were destined to secure editorial approbation that year. The others were declined in various fashions; sometimes being returned without comment of any kind, sometimes with a curt note, "Declined with thanks," written or printed on an accompanying slip; and now and again with a letter or memo- randum containing either a short criticism, a word of praise, or a half promise for future offers of work. In October 1890 I received a circular letter pur- porting to lie from the sub-editor of a periodical which I will call the Literary Mantrap. The receipt of this communication was my first direct contact with advertising publishers. I had heard a little about them and their curious methods before, but I now had the pleasure of a more intimate acquaint- ance. The letter before me announced that this Review had been established with a view to obviating the difficulty experienced by unknown writers in obtaining publicity for their literary efforts, and proceeded to further explain the reason for its existence as follows: "It is common know- ledge that much undeveloped talent exists anioug the English-speaking Dices—young writers of talent, and possibly genius, do not find the ordinary and more noted periodicals hospitable to them at  ## p. 117 (#521) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. li7 the commencement of their career, and the best publishing firms arc extremely shy in entertaining proposals emanating from new comers. Hence the urgent necessity for the establishing of a Review— for the purpose of bringing to public notice the productions of unknown writers—conducted upon the only honest and possible basis, viz., co-opera- tion." The "co-operation" referred to is then unblushingly described in manner following, that is to say: "All authors whose contributions are accepted for publication are, therefore, required to pay a sum, ]>ro rata to the amount of matter inserted, to cover the cost of printing, paper, editorial revision, &c. As a set-off against this charge, 5o per cant, will be allowed on all copies of the Review sold by the respective authors, i.e., for every 5o copies sold through his agency, 25s. goes to the author." Now, prettily worded though this communication was, and notwithstanding the fact that it contained much of consolation, and smacked of hope for those whose talents were yet unappreciated by the reading public, I considered its propositions "a bit thick," ami, consequently, declined to be made " fish" for this "net." Had the hook not been so plainly visible, and the bait been less clumsily arranged, I might have very speedily been properly dressed for the carving-knife of the literary chef who headed the establishment. As matters stood, I was not "having any." In December of the same year, a popular weekly journal, belonging to what good churchmen call "The Down-Grade School," and which I shall name, the Religious Republic, attracted mv attention as a likely medium for the publication of some of my work. This paper had a sub-title, which intimated that it existed for the advance- ment of various Christian virtues; so I thought I would be all right in the hands of its editor. I sent him a short paper without any accompanying note, as I did not deem such necessary in this ciisc. On looking through the Christmas number of the journal-a fortnight later, I found that my essay had been utilised as an editorial, and without any indication as to its authorship. I made no com- plaint on that score at the time, but simply wrote stating that 1 was glad to note the acceptance and publication of my contribution, and requesting the editor to inform me, when he sent me a remittance in payment, whether he considered another article which I named would be suitable for his columns, and if I might submit it for his perusal. I waited for a month, but, as no reply or even remittance arrived, I wrote again—this time in terms less likely to be misunderstood. Within four days, what I considered a very curious reply from the editor came to hand. After remarking on the fact that I had sent my contribution without indicating that I expected remuneration for it, and stating that it had, along with hundreds of other communi- cations, passed under editorial notice, and been approved and printed accordingly, this worthy gentleman summed up the case in the following terms: "It appears that you immediately wrote asking for remuneration, and as to sending other contributions. This was regarded as very unusual (!), and so your letters were laid aside. My personal attention being called to the matter, I now wish to say that our rule lias always been to pay for matter when payment is arranged for previously. When articles are sent without any pre-armngement or stipulation, they are used or rejected without any regard to remuneration what- ever. Most persons who are strangers are willing to serve an apprenticeship to our paper before they expect remuneration, &c., &c. Trusting that this explanation may prove satisfactory, I am, yours truly, the Editor." On perusing this hitter, I found two alternative courses open to me: either to quietly submit to the editor's decision and thus forego the just principle which I had determined should guide me in these matters, or to fight the battle out at all costs. The adoption of the first course seemed the best policy to pursue, as the letter lwfore me suggested that if I was willing to work for nothing for a short period, arrangements for remuneration for future contributions could then be made; but I felt that to do this would be to do not only myself, but my fellow-craftsmen an injustice, and I therefore resolved to throw over policy for principle. In my letter in reply, I argued that the fact of my not specially indicating that payment was expected when sending my MS. did not alter the reasonableness or legality of my claim, and pointed out that such a specific statement was not necessary, as unless it was announced to contri- butors that remuneration was not given, a reason- able amount was always payable, and was naturally expected. I submitted that if it was not intended to pay me for my article, it was the editor's duty to inform me |of that fact before such article was published; thus giving me an opportunity to withdraw it if I thought proper. As matters stood, I held that if an article was worth publishing in a journal like the Religious Republic, it was also worth paying for. I pointed out that the allegation that I immediately wrote for remuneration was untrue, and that when my article was published I knew nothing of the "rules " which guided the editor in literary matters, and consequently could not be expected to concur in or agree yvith them so far as they related to my contribution. In conclusion, I asked that the matter might be reconsidered in all its bearings. I waited for over a fortnight, but no reply came to hand. As my claim was evidently being treated  ## p. 118 (#522) ############################################ 118 THE AUTHOR. with contempt, I then gave the editor notice that, unless it was paid within a week, I would proceed to extremities. I told him that I was determined to light this question if necessary, not because of the small amount at stake, but on account of the principle involved. I intimated that I had con- sulted legal authority, and was advised that be wan clearly liable to pay me at the current rate for the article which he had utilised, and that his dealing with it as owner, without previously informing me that he did not intend to pay for it, legailv im- plied a promise on his part to pay me its market value. I hoped, therefore, that he would settle my claim immediately, in order to avoid the disagree- able publicity and other unpleasant consequences which would inevitably ensue on my taking legal proceedings. Within the time mentioned the editorial answer came to hand, and with it the amount of my claim. The editor had evidently found himself in a bad place, and his last letter was, from first to last, a miserable attempt to extricate himself from his difficulties with some show of dignity. He said he was not in the. least disturbed by mv threats, and thought it would do him good to appear in court and say a few words about men like myself who wished to secure a hearing before the public, and then demanded pay for the insertion of their articles! He would like to expose such men to the public! However, he had no time for this unlovely sort of business, and therefore sent the amount asked for in settlement. He intimated that the amount sent wa-s more than the article was worth, "but," he went on, "I suppose you are hard up and I am sending you this as a matter of charity." (How truly Christ-like !) He con- tinued, "Now a word of candid advice. I have been connected with the Press for over 3o years, and have never had dealing before with such a bore. Had you treated the matter in the right spirit you might have secured permanent work on the lieligioxts Republic at a reasonable remune- ration, but (mark how calmly, how deliberately the man lies) I am not in the habit—nor is any editor — of paying contributors for articles until they have won their spurs, unless some prior arrangement is made. Then follows this charming piece of hypocrisy: "I am taking up considerable space in the hope that it may do you some good. You have some ability, but your love of money is the root of your evil." In conclusion, the editor makes another attempt to justify himself, and, at the same time, to insult me, and once more ho fails ignoniiniously: "I hope you will not consider my sending you the money is the result of your threats. I simply have a contempt for your plea on legal grounds, but I am tired of getting letters from you, and suppose you are actually in need or you would not take the course vou are taking." I have taken the trouble to record the last experience very fully, because I now know it to be typical of many more. Since the time when the case described came before me I have often had occasion to remember that publishing is a business which is conducted for the sake of prolit alone, and that in the pursuit of it men's con- sciences are apt to become very elastic indeed. Many a time have I been very forcibly reminded that with many publishers the virtues of philan- thropy, justice, and even common honesty arc practically unknown. I have had dealings with several men—editors as well as publishers—whose ideas of right and wrong had become so hopelessly confused that they would actually steal your goods, and believe in their inmost hearts that by so doing they had done you a great favour. Others, not so well versed in the tricks of their trade, satisfy their consciences by paying merely a nominal acknowledgment for your good services. For some time I worked for a magazine which paid me at the rate of io#. for articles of from 1,000 to l,5oo words. As a proof that they were worth much more a reviewer once said of one of them that my four columns had arrested his attention in a way which even the elaborate criticism of a very popular writer had failed to do, while other papers would copy or take extracts from my articles as they appeared. It is scarcely necessary to say that in due time I "struck" for a higher rate of remuneration, and, as my reasonable demand was refused, I declined to work any longer on the old terms. I was very much shocked and surprised once at the way in which the prize competitions of a "Labour " paper were carried on. I hail written for information as to whether I might send a cer- tain article for the editorial consideration, and also as to the remuneration offered for such work. The reply I received was to the effect that they did not "order" contributions in advance, but I was at liberty to start a competition. I found that this really meant that my article would be published along with many others on the same subject, but that only one would be paid for. Of course I could not, with a good conscience, work under any such conditions, and I therefore declined the offer with thanks. In my reply I endeavoured to point out to the editor the iniquity of the system which he had adopted, and illustrated my argument a.s follows: "If I was successful in the competition which vou propose, I should feel that I had deprived others of their righteous reward; if I was defeated, I would know that I had been robbed of the fruits of my toil. In conclusion, allow me to express my surprise that you—of all men most  ## p. 119 (#523) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 119 enthusiastic in the cause of labour, in endeavouring to gain for the workers 'a fair dav's wage for a fail- day's work '—should stoop to such a method of filling the pages of your paper." Unfortunately, this direct appeal failed to awaken the editorial conscience, and only served to harden his heart. He even went so far as to denounce my strictures as unjust! I never doubted the honesty of his intentions, but" evil is wrought by want of thought as well as want of heart." I still maintain that competitions in literature, conducted in the fashion referred to, are a direct encouragement of literary "blacklegs," who arc willing to work for nothing, and thus take away the bond fide workers' livelihood. I have yet another instance in proof of the theory that editors and publishers are specially subject to jH'culiar temptations, which need all a man's respectability and honesty of purpose to overthrow. In March of this year I received a note from the editor of one of the minor monthly reviews, which was attracting the attention of the reading public at the time, explaining the terms on which he accepted contributions. He intimated that all his contributors had agreed to allow their fees to stand over until profits began to be realised, and that, if I agreed to these terms, he would insert such of my contributions as he found suitable for the magazine. In reply, I stated my acceptance of the terms men- tioned, subject to a satisfactory answer being given to the following queries, which, considering the vague nature of the proposil, I thought it neces- sary to make: "What is the amount which you propose to put to the credit of your contributors in return for each of their contributions; that is to say, what sum will represent the 'fee' to which you refer, when the magazine begins to pay? Will the contributors be paid for their articles in the order of publication? How long do you think it will be before any profits are realised?" The only answer I ever received to these questions was of a very significant character: my MS. was sent lmck, apparently unread, and without a word of comment, by return of post. I am, however, very glad to be able to sav, also from experience, that all editors are not like those whose treatment of their contributors I have just deseriU'd. I have treasured up in my memory a few instances of most kindly actions on the part of editors towards me in my struggle for recognition by the reading public. In one case, on the sus- pension of a weekly magazine to which I had been contributing, the publishers refused to pay the contributors a farthing for their work; but the editor took up their cause, and, after a great deal of trouble, necessitating the employment of a solicitor, succeeded in wresting from these sharks a portion of their ill-gotten gains, with which he settled the righteous claims of those whose labours had created the wealth in the first instance. Many, too, are the eases in which editors, being unable to accept my work, have returned it to me as soon as possible, together with a letter containing a few words of encouragement, a kindly- expressed criticism, or a useful suggestion for improvement. Here, for instance, is a letter which I received some three or four months ago from Mr. Arthur Stannard, who conducts " John Strange Winter's" correspondence in connexion with her new venture :—" The editor has carefully read your article, and much regrets that she cannot make use of it in Golden Gates. She would like to do so (if only because of the beautiful manuscript), but the subject is not treated in a way that appeals to her sympathies, and it may cause undesirable controversy if she puts it in." This sympathetic and kindly treatment has several advantages; it quite takes the sting out of the editorial rejection, costs nothing, and helps to maintain that feeling of interdependence and mutual good will iK'tween author and editor which is so essential a feature of good magazine work. In conclusion, let me say that I trust this faithful record of my adventures "on the troubled sea of letters" will not lie without its effect. If the literary aspirant who reads it is made to think twice before launching out on a similar errand; if those already embarked will take to heart the hints which it contains, and determine to adopt a similar course to that which I have pursued; and if I have suc- ceeded in pointing out to editors and publishers the dangers which beset them on every hand, and they resolve to be more rigid in their attitude towards amateurs, and more tolerant, more charitable, more just towards the true worker, this which I have written will not have been written in vain. C. E. M. ENEMIES OP LITERATURE. WHO are the enemies of Literature 'i Time, fire, indifference, ignorance, bigotry, and such notorieties as the Caliph Omar, the handmaid of John Stuart Mill and of Mr. War- burton. The late Mr. Matthew Arnold woidd have added Puritanism, Lord Grimthorpe would add Popery, and Freethinkers, religion of all kinds; while the talented and popular novelist Ouida would unhesitatingly write the "Society of Authors." Then; are, of course, Optimists who believe tbit the Literary millennium has begun at  ## p. 120 (#524) ############################################ 120 THE AUTHOR. last—that Puritan orgies in the Bodleian—mobs destroying ducal libraries, Popes burning the classics, and reforming Monarchs dispersing monastic collections are things of the past. Puritanism will, perhaps, exercise the principle of selection when it next gets into the Bodleian. The people, already prepared by Mr. William Morris, when it attacks Althorpe, will only convert it into a free lending library or a committee room for the Fabian Society, while its quondam owner will supply, free of charge, a catalogue. The Pope, instead of sending a Jesuit mission to England " to consign to the flames all works of heresy," will giye his emis- saries full power to purchase the minute books of the Church Association and the works of General Booth. He will then be elected an honorary member of the S.P.C.K. for his services to our national religious literature. Authors and pub- lishers will never quarrel about prolits, the former will write for nothing and the latter will publish for love. Filthy lucre shall no longer stain these ancient and honourable professions. It will be a question not of half profits but half expenses; while Ouida, if she is still spared to us, will supply gratis, serial and short stories to all the magazines, including the Author. Drowsy governments, who arc already awakening to a literary sense, will levy a tax on ink to support the profession of letters. Those who are murmuring the words of Shelley (if they have the time) will murmur still—■ "The world's great age begins anew." Society, of course, must lead the way instead of playing baccarat. It will try to answer papers on Bowdler's Shakspere, and on Marlowe, set by extended University lecturers. All this is, of course, only a hasty peep into the future, the pleasant side of the picture, for I confess to taking a more gloomy view. I also take the vulgar view of literature. I think an author or poet has as much right to put a price on his work as a painter does on his picture, a lawyer on his opinion, a doctor on his diagnosis. Literature is a market where bad things and good things are sold. There are pickpockets and pirates walking round like any other market, and critics are strolling in the bazaar. Some are grave, full of good advice (a thing we all dislike), others arc gay and flippant (we like them, however wrong they may be). Then there are those conceited fops who go about talking a jargon no man can under- stand; they deal in catchwords, and their pens are made of slate pencil. Their affected phraseology, hybrid epithets, and ridiculous mannerism is mis- taken for style, their vulgar personalities for scholarly invective. They admire nothing and none, and can abuse their friends with little compunction, thanking God they arc not as other men, Logrollers. These are some of the enemies of literature; the bastard offspring of Gifford and Christopher North. Budding genius, especially when it lakes to authorship, is not to be encouraged, and no one should l>e scared into admiration of a writer, because two or three centuries have praised him; but personal abuse of the dead or living, interlarded with literary shibboleths, is not criticism, and merely degrades a public palate that even relishes the aroma of Mr. Pater's delightful essays. I believe that this writer reminds us how short our time for intellectual excitement is. Then why should we waste this short time in finding out only what is indifferent or bad? And the critics of whom I speak should remember that it is as ea«y to be funnv over Professor Buskin as over the Bible, and that the humour is not of a very fine order in consequence. A certain section of English people go into a far extreme by a kind of stupid conservatism in taste. They believe that English literature began with Spenser, and ended with Byron ; that Shakes- peare never wrote a bad play; that Maeauluy was the only English critic by virtue of his judicial summing-up of the English language. They will give nothing for an idea that was not stale when Charles Land) wa.s in his cradle. They read nothing more modern than "The Excursion," and try to end all discussions by saying that Pope was a greater poet than Shelley. No less dangerous, and more numerous, are those who hanker after annotated Miltons, and read Shakespeare only through the medium of a text-book. They are anxious that everyone should go through a " course of the Poets," asking and answering questions on Robert Browning, and reducing our writers to schoolroom classics. Not content with making boys hate Chaucer as much as Csesar, they want to spoil Lord Tennyson for them too. Shakespeare has been ruined long ago by the Clarendon Press Series, and our modern poets, too, must be sacrificed to the pedagogic fetish. Mr. Kipling will live to see the day when Civil Service candidates may be asked to analyse Mrs. Hunksbee's character, and an Extension lecture on the Ethics of Plain Tales as applied to the Russian question in India. Tom Moore burning the autobiography of Lord Byron is a less melancholy event than a number of half- educated graduates turning English literature into a round game of conundrums. In Constantinople, the dogs who scavenge the streets become such a nuisance that occasional holocausts of those well-intentioned animals are necessary. In England the so-called Purity societies, who institute proceedings against the vendors of Zola are no less harmful. Like the  ## p. 121 (#525) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 121 niun with the muek rake, they draw attention to an evil formerly unapparcnt, and literature ia practically chained by a false morality, the relic of that old Puritanism that purged the Bodleian in the 17th Century. The enemy of literature is with us always, be he Puritan or Prig. CORRESPONDENCE. I. "O Word of Feab." TN last month's Author it is noted that a letter I from the Secretary of the Society may cause an unwilling editor or proprietor to discharge his liabilities. In my ca.se even so slight a measure was unnecessary, and the mere mention of the name of the Society was sufficient. I had three short stories accepted by a certain weekly journal, but when I suggested remuneration, my letters remained un- answered. Finally, I wrote saying that unless I received a prompt and satisfactory reply I should place the matter in the hands of the Society of Authors. It was, clearly, a word to the wise. Almost by return of post came a cheque which— had the Society been non-existent—would have been signed somewhere in the Greek Calends. Ignotus. II. Foreign Reprints. It may interest our fellow Meml>ers of the Society of Authors to learn that the Excise is awakening to their interests. On arriving on the Cornish coast last week in a small schooner from the coast of Spain, the excise officer specially inquired after, and searched for, foreign reprints of Copyright works. I have reached this country by most possible routes, and never before had such an examination made. Naturally, therefore, I was much gratified, and in reply to inquiries I learned that particular directions had been recently issued to the officers with regard to such works. This is the practical and tangible proof of the attention being directed to Copyright since the Society of Authors took the matter up with spirit. W. Anderson Smith. ■ "AT THE AUTHOR'S HEAD. MR. Lewis Morris writes to the Times as follows :— Tlie paragraph which you copy from the Athcnmtm with reference to my ]>oem "A Vision of Saints" is only partially correct. The idea of doing for the Christian legends and records what had been done so often for the mythology of ancient Greece occurred to me very soon after the publication of the "Epic of Hades," when the legend of St. Christopher appeared in Fraser's Magazine, about 10 years ago, and the other stories composing the "Vision of Saints" were written subsequently. Last summer, after the book was finished, Cardinal Manning most kindly suggested that I should write such a book, and I was happy to be able to inform him that I had already done so. The death of Miss Jessie Fothergill is a distinct loss to modern literature. Her best novel, "The First Violin," was very good indeed, without having any pretensions to first-rate work. She belonged to a small class, which seems to be growing, but not very rapidly, of those whose work is natural, wholesome, and pure, without being strong. It is like a school of painters who have at least learned to avoid convention, and who try to paint what they see, and have acquired a creditable amount of dexterity. The Victorian age has, for the first time in literature, produced such a school of novelists. No one perhaps would read their works twice; there is nothing to carry away; there is no character to live in the memory; there are no wise or witty things to quote; one is never moved to tears or laughter; yet their novels are readable, interesting, and cleverly constructed. To such a school belonged Miss Jessie Fothergill. Miss Robina Hardy, a well-known writer of stories connected with Scottish life, is dead. Miss Mary E. Wilkins's "New England Nun" appears in a second English edition. It is pub- lished by Osgood, Mcllvaine, & Co. Very few writers have so rapidly stepped to the front as Miss Mary Wilkins. Her stories have the great charm of sincerity; they are true pictures; they are pathetic in their fidelity; and they represent a set of people who are not in the least like any we know. It remains to lie seen whether she will keep up to her present level, and whether she is capable of a stronger flight.  ## p. 122 (#526) ############################################ I 22 THE AUTHOR. Messrs. Hutchinson are about to issue Vols. II. and III. of "Poets and Poetry of the Century." Among the contributors of critical articles are Mr. Austin Dobson, the Hon. Roden Noel, Mr. Buxtou Forman, Dr. Garnett, and Mr. Mackenzie Bell. The Society has sent round for signature a Petition to the First Lord of the Admiralty for a pension for the widow and the children of James Runciman, one of its Members. The Petition was suggested by Mr. Ruuciman's friend, Mr. W. E. Henley, editor of the National Observer. It is stated that Dr. Ullathorne, late Roman Catholic Bishop of Birmingham, has left behind him an autobiography. Dr. Ullathorne was chaplain to the convict establishment of Sydney during the last years of that horrible institution. This should make his reminiscences more interesting than those of most Catholic priests. Everybody ought to read Mr. Howells' little 1kx>1c called " Criticism and Fiction "; first, because it. is a very clever book, and, secondly, because it illus- trates the real weakness in American literature. This is shown in the fact that a man of Mr. Howells' ability cannot write about literature without con- tinually measuring himself and comparing his stature with that of our English masters, and mis-stating the inches of the latter so as to bring himself the nearer. Thackeray's six feet, for instance, must be brought down to five feet five to get anywhere near the stature of Howells. Mr. Stanley Little contributes an article entitled, "The Future of Landscape Art," to the August number of the Nineteenth Century. Mr. Arthur Dillon will publish a book of verse shortly, which will contain his drama in blank verse: "King Cophetua and the Beggar Maiden." Mr. Rennell Rodd has two volumes in the press, "The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece," and a volume of poems ul>out Greece, entitled "The Violet Crown." Mr. David Stott is the publisher. Mrs. A. Phillips, author of "Benedicta," " Man Proposes," Ac, will produce early in October a romance called "A Rude Awakening." The publishers are Trischler and Co. It is significant of recent controversy that the motto chosen for the title page is from the verses of Mr. T. L. Harris, the poet and "prophet," with whom Laurence Oliphaut's life was so closely connected. All seeming goods that end in self are base: Stay thou, O man : then meet God face to face. Two men were discussing a book that had just been handed to them by the newsboy. First Man: "That's a great l>ook, sir, a masterpiece of work." Second Man: " I wonder how it is selling." First man: "Selling? I never saw anything like it. You see I am the publisher, and ought to know." Second Man: "Your informa- tion delights me. I am the author." First Man (with fallen countenance): "Well, that is, it hasn't had much of a side yet, hut I think it will have. A great deal of risk, you know, getting out this sort of book." ■+•*•■* WOMEN BOOKSELLERS. IN New York City there are at least two women who deal in second-hand books. They are itin- • erants—peddlers, if you like—but dealers in second-hand books, nevertheless, shrewd and enter- prising, with a scent for rarities and bargains as keen as that of a Stevens, Philes, Sabin, or any modern book-hunter regularly established in business. They are characters, too, each in her own way. The older one—and the senior in the business, if we are not mistaken—is a typical bookworm, tall, spare of build, with a piercing, nervous eye. The other is short, stout, and phlegmatic in everything excepting the striking of a bargain. Both have their headquarters in some second-hand bookstore; that is, a place where letters may be addressed to them, and where, they leave an occasional parcel; but their business is done "out of hand," if we may- use the expression in this connexion. Making specialties of certain lines, they keep track of what their customers want, and supply them as they pick 14) bargains and desired volumes. This necessi- tates their being on the wing nearly all the time, so that they would have very little use for a shop of their own. Both realize, a handsome income. Then there is another woman who figures as the "company" of an anything but insignificant second-hand book business in New York, but who  ## p. 123 (#527) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 123 is really the mainspring of the establishment, if buying ami selling the stock, and looking after the finances single-handed, may be considered doing the business. She has an unerring eye for a mre book, and most decidedly " knows beans when the bag is opened." There is still another woman in New York City who is making an experiment in dealing in old art works. Thus far her efforts have met with encouragement if not success; but as she is only a beginner we will not yet count her as belonging to the ranks. In addition to the above, we are safe in saying that there are over a dozen women in the United States who, while not dealers exclusively in second- hand books, deal more or less in them in connexion with the book and stationery stores, of which they are the sole proprietors. We do not feel justified in giving the names of the women alluded to, because we have misgivings as to how they might take to notoriety thrust upon tlieui in this manner. All of them, while eschew- ing consideration for themselves on account of their sex, are extremely modest, but women nevertheless. And women—well, they sometimes will be women, and no one can foresee where it will break out. American Paper. • SOME OP THE INDIGNITIES OF LITERATURE. IT is observable that in all these points we are becoming a little more candid, and in this respect our country is beginning to take the lead. Our leading journals, for instance, are learn- ing to criticise frankly the works of their own contri- butors, a thing formerly unknown in America, as it still seems to be in Europe. This helps greatly to keep up the dignity of the literary profession, though not always the felicity of the individual author. The greatest indignity which he and his vocation have now to suffer, lies in the constant assumption, even by otherwise well-informed people, that it is a profession of tricks and adver- tising devices, and that the main object of the author is not to do good work, but to keep himself as much as possible l>efore the public. The author receives, not merely an annoyance, but a distinct indignity when it is assumed by enter- prising publishers that he is willing to pay money to have his picture appear in their forthcoming work; to buy a l>ook he does not want, liecause his name occurs in it; to supply a new biography of himself for each new cyclopaxlia, as if the old facts were not sufficient, and the public wished him this time to select a new birthday and birth- place for this publication only; to furnish particulars as to his height, weight, and the colour of his hair, with the same particulars as to his wife, children, and grandparents. These discourtesies would not be so bad, were they not based obviously on the assumption that all these requests are a favour to the author himself, and the carrying out of his most cherished desire. It is hard enough to keep one's privacy, amid the publicity of our modern life; but it is still harder to have all preference for privacy dismissed as a base hyprocrisy. It may happen at last that as some one felicitously defined "society people" as including only those whose names one never sees in the "society columns," so we may at some future day. limit the department of celebrated authors to those of whose personality we know almost as little as if they had written the Letters of Junius. New York Independent. PARISIANS AND THEIR FICTION. PARISIANS—if we are to judge from some statistics published—do not take so kindly at present to fiction in book form. Formerly the yellow-covered novel, which costs usually about half- a-erown, or a little more when just issued, was to l>e seen on every table, and in the hands of numerous travellers by boat, rail, or car. There is now, how- ever, a crisis threatened in the lx>ok trade, and novels are at a considerable discount. It is estimated that there are from fifteen to twenty popular authors, whose books fulfil the requirements of the pub- lishers. To attain this end, at least 3o,ooo copies of a work must be sold. Zola and a few others reach this point easily, but it has happened lately that one of the most celebrated of the latter-day fictionists had the misfortune to find that 40,000 copies of his last production were returned to the publishers by the Maison Hachette, which has the monopoly of railway bookstalls. It is stated, furthermore, that one publisher in Paris has on hand three millions of volumes which he cannot sell. The fact is, that the authors themselves are to blame partly for this threatened crisis in the book trade by allowing their works to appear in serial form in newspapers and reviews before linal publication. People read feuilletons as eagerly as ever in France, and, what is more they cut them out and sew them together, so as to avoid having to buy the stories eventually in book form. Pall Mall Gazette.  ## p. 124 (#528) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. NIGHT-TEMPEST. Wild night of mists and driving flakes of foam! The south-west Tyrant of the Deep unbound Rendcth thy breast; with grim discordant sound Piles up the mountainous waters, till thy home (Sands, rocks, and caverns where I love to roam) Seems held by demon voices, which resound From crag to crag, from cliff to cliff, and bound Afar once more across the waste of foam. Storm-ruled and cruel is thy voice, O Night; The breakers boom on yonder sea-girt rock And dark thy mantle hides the sight of Death: From thy black depths, O Night, the tempest's breath Bears wail of souls and one long quivering shock: And onlv thou hast seen, O cruel Night! * JO Thomas Folliott. NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS. Theology. Brook, A. The Creed of the Christian Church. Mowbray. 2S. Canning, A. S. G. Thoughts on Religious History. Eden, Remington, & Co. 5s. Dix, M. The Authority of the Church. W. Gardner. 2.V. 6(/. Hamilton, Kkv. W. F. Words of Peace, Sermons, edited by Kcv. J. A. Alloway, 8vo. \V. H. Allen & Co. 7». 6d. Nye, G. H. F. The Story of the Church of England. Illustrated. Fifth Edition. Griffith, Farran. Cloth, is. Owen, J. W. Common Salvation of Our Lord. I'etherick. 5s. Singer, Rev. S. The Authorized Daily Prayer Hook of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Empire. With a new Translation by the. Published under the Sanction of the Chief Kubhi. Second Edition, carefully revised. Wertheimer Lea, Circus dace, London Wall. Soden, J. J. Six Sermons on the Apostles' Creed. Skeffington. is. 6rf. History and Biography. Baigent, F. J. The Crondal Records : a Collection of Records and Documents relating to the Hundred and Manor of Crondal, in the county of Southampton. Part [., Historical and Manorial. Simpkin, Stationers' Hall Court. Brett (Robert) of Stoke Newington, his Life and Work. By T. W. Belcher. Cheaper Edition, Cr. 8vo. 3.«. 6//., cloth. Home, David Milne. Biographical Sketch, by his Daughter, G. M. H. Cr. 8vo. 3s. 6d., cloth. Johnson, Samuel. Lives of the English Poets (Waller, Milton, and Cowley). Caswell's National Librarv. Cloth, 6d. Leadman, A. D. H. Prcclia Ehoracensia: Battles fought in Yorkshire treated historically and topographically. Bradbury and Agnew. MunCkbb, Franz. Richard Wagner: a Sketch of his Life and Works. Translated from the German by D. Landman, revised by the Author. Illustrations by Heinrich Nisle. Williams and Norgate. 14, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden. 2.1. Newman, Cardinal. Historical Sketches. New Edition. 3 vols. Longmans. 3s. 6d. a vol. Ooilvie, William. Birthright in Land. With Biographical Notes by D. C. Macdonald. Kegan Paul. Saint Amand, J. D. Marie Louise and the Invasion of 1814. Translated by Thomas Serjeant Perry. Hutchinson and Co., 2S, Paternoster Square. 5s. Seaforth A. Nelson. The last Great Naval War: An Historical Retrospect. Cassell. 2*. Wagner, R. A Sketch of his Life and Works. By F. Muncker. Translated by 1). Landman. Williams and Norgate. 2s. Educational. Baumann, Otto. French Sentences and Syntax. Fourth Edition. Crosby Lockwood. Bert, Paul. First Year of Scientific Knowledge. Trans- lated by .Tosephina Clayton (Mine. Paul Bert). Tenth Edition. Relfe, Charterhouse Buildings. C'attanes, G. Italian Header. Nutt. 3s. Chamiiers, G. F. Pictorial Astronomy for General Readers. Whittakcr. 4s. Ciiisholm, G. G., and Liebmann, Prof. Longmans' School Geography for South Africa. Longmans. 3s. 6d. Flugel, Dr. Felix. A Universal English-German and German-English Dictionary. Vol. I. Part 9. Asher, Bedford Street, W.C. Paper covers, 3s. Hartley, C. S. Natural Elocution. Pitman, Paternoster Row. Paper covers, 6d. Hewitt, W. Elementary Science Lessons. Standard III. Longmans, is. bd. Mill, John Stuart. A System of Logic and Principles of Political Economy. People's Edition. Longmans. 3s. 6<i. each. Report of a Visit to several Continental and English Technical Schools. By a Deputation from the Manchester Technical School in June and July, 1891, with Plans. Hey wood, Paternoster Buildings. Paper covers, is. Sidowick, Henry. The Elements of Politics. Mac- millan. 14s. M Waterdale." Fresh Light on the Dynamic Action and Ponderosity of Matter. Chapman and Hall.  ## p. 125 (#529) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. General Literature. Adams, P. Strong as Death, liemingtou. is. Ainsworth, W. H. Windsor Castle. Pocket vols. Koutledge. is. 6d. Andukws, William. Old Church Lore. Simpkin. 6s. Berlyn, Mrs. Alfred (Vera). Vera in Poppy-Land. Illustrated by W. W. liussell. Jarrold, Paternoster Buildings, is. 6d. Bigelow, J. Principles of Strategy, &c. Folio. Unwin. in. Boldrewood, R. A Sydney Side Saxon. Crown 8vo. Macmillau. 3s. 6d. Booth, B. Prom Ocean to Ocean, &c. 8vo. Salvation Army. 3s. 6d. Broughton, K. Alas: a Novel. Bentley. 6s. Campbell, Sir Gilbert. A Fair Freelance: a Story. Koutledge. Campbell, J. G. Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition. Nutt. ios. 6d. Carr, Mr. Comyns. Buried in the Breakers, or Paul Crew's Story. Stott, Oxford Street. Paper covers, is. The Confessions of Vivian Carhuthers: A Tale of Hypnotism. Sutton Drowley, Ludgate Hill. Paper covers, is. Cook, W. The Horse: its Keep, &c. Crown 8vo. Simpkin. is. 6d. Cotes, V. C. Two Girls in a Burge. Crown 8vo. Chatto and Windus. 3s. 6d. Crawford, F. M. The Witch of Prague. 3 vols. Mac- millau. 3is. M. Cunningham, W., D.I). The Path towards Knowledge: Discourses on some Difficulties of the Day. Methuen and Co., 18, Bury Street, W.C. Dickens, C. Bleak House. Pictorial Edition. Chapman and Hall. 3s. 6rf. Great Expectations, &c. Chapman and Hall. Ss. Doudnev, S. Voices in the Starlight. M. Ward. 3s. Downey, E. Captain Lanagan's Log. Ward and Downev. 3s. 6d. Farmer, L. Chronicles of Cardewe Manor. Hutchinson, is. 6d. Fenn, G. M. Princess Fedor's Pledge. Hutchinson, is. 61/. Eli's Children: the Chronicles of an Unhappy Family. Fourth Edition. (Methuen's Novel Series.) Methuen and Co. 3s. 6d. Gould, Nat. Double Event. Koutledge. is. Graham, S. The Sancliffe Mystery, is. Green, E. E. A Holiday in a Manor House. Biggs and Co. is. 6d. Grey, E. Dr. Sinclair's Sister. 3 vols. Bemington. 18s. Hankinson's New Descriptive Guide to Bournemouth and District. (Special Edition for visit of British Medical Association.) Edited by ('live Holland, F.S.A. Bournemouth, T. J. Hankinson." Bound. is. Hudson, W. C. The Man with a Thumb. Cassell and Co. is. Hunuerford, Mus. April's Lady. F. V. White, is. 6d. Jackson, H. K. Stories of Sentiment. E. Stock, is. 6d. James, M. H. Bogie Tales of East Anglia. Pawsey and Hayes, Ancient House, Ipswich. Paper covers, is. Kerr, W. A. Biding for Ladies. Bell. is. Kipling, B. Life's Handicap. Macmillan. 6s. Le Ci.erc, M. E. Mistress Beatrice Cope. Hurst and Blackett. 3s. 6d. Lewin, Walter. Citizenship and its Responsibilities. Bertram Dobell, Charing Cross Road, W.C. Paper covers, 6d. Linton, E. Lynn. An Octave of Friends. Ward and Downey. 6s. Lyall, Edna. Derrick Vaughau, Novelist. (Methuen's Novel Scries.) 3oth Thousand. Methuen and Co. 3s. hi. Lynch, A. Modern Authors: a Review and a Forecast. Ward and Downey. Macleod, Norman, D.I)., Works by. The Old Lieutenant and his Son—The Starling—Reminiscences of a High- land Parish—Character Sketches —Eastward. Burnet, Henrietta Street, Strand. Meredith, L. A. Last Series of Bush Friends in Tas- mania. Folio. Macmillan. Sis. hi. Meredyth, Francis, M.A., &c. "In Base Durance ": Reminiscences of a Prison Chaplain, interspersed with Episodes. Simpkin, Marshal). Molesworth, Mus. The Red Grange. Methuen. ios. 6d. Moore, A. W. Folk-lore of the Isle of Man. Nutt. is. bd. Morris, C. Summer in Kieff. Ward ami Downey, ios. 6d. Ml-I RUE ad, A. J. My Sister Ruth. R.T.S. is. MuRPHY, G. R. The Blakely Tragedy: a Realistic Novel. Sutton Drowley. Paper covers, is. Murray, J. C. Introduction to Ethics. A. Gardner. 6s. hi. Mcrsell, A. The Climber and the Staff. Longlev. 14. bd. Pain, B. In a Canadian Canoe. Henry, is. 6d. Park, A. Sheltered from the Storm, &e. Marshall Bros, zs. Pollock, W. H., and Ross, A. G. Between the Lines: a Story. Methuen. Paper covers, i». Potter, Thomas. Concrete: its I'se in Building. Vol. 1. New edition, entirely re-written. Illustrated, llavp- shire Observer Company, Winchester. Power, T. B. I go in for Black and White. R.T.S. zs. Power, J. A. W. Licensed Victuallers', &c. Manual. Webster and Cable, is. 6d. "A. Ranker." Life in the Royal Navy. With illus- trations. Chamberlain, Lake Road, Landport, Ports- mouth. Paper covers, is. The Registers of the Wallon or Strangers' Church in Canterbury. Edited by Robert Hovenden, F.S.A., l'art I. Volume V. of the publications of the Huguenot Society of London. Printed for the Society by C. T. King, Lymington.  ## p. 126 (#530) ############################################ 1 26 THE AUTHOR. Rhys, K. Greut Cockney Tragedy. Unwiu. 2s. Kouhk, J. J. Story of the Filibusters. Unwin. 5*. Ross, I?'. Yorkshire Family Romance. Simpkin. 6s. Rowlands, John. Ellen Done; or, The Bride of the Ranks of the Dee: a Drama and Soiifrs. Published by the Author at Swansea. Paper covers, is. 6<f. Saunders, T. Bailky. The Schopenhauer Series. Trans- lations from Schopenhauer's Parerga and Paralipomena. Complete in 5 vols., consisting of Religion, a Dialogue, and other Essays; The Art of Literature, and second editions of The Wisdom of Life, Counsels, and Maxims, Studies in Pessimism. Swan Sonnensehein. zs. id. a vol. Sergeant, A. Caspar Brooke's Daughter. 3 vols. Hurst and Blacken. 3 is. 6d. Smart, H. Thrice past the Post. F. V. White, is. 6rf. Smedley, Frank E. Frank Fairlegh. With 30 illus- trations by George Cruikshank. George Routledge. is. Snuffling, E. R. How to organise a Cruise in the Broads. Jarrold. u, 6d. Stk.vf.ns, Thomas. Through Russia on a Mustang. Illustrated. Cassell. 7s. 6</. Tacitus. Annals. Books I. and II. A Translation by W. F. Masom. Clive. »». 6d. TlRKBUCK, W. Dorrie. Crown 8vo. Longmans. 6.«. Tomlin, E. L. Gleanings. Longmans. 4s. 6d. Tonklli, P. Retribution: a Corsiean Vendetta Story. Crown 8vo. Dean. 6s. Tregear, Edward. The Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary. E. A. Petherick, Paternoster Row. Cloth, 11s. j half calf, 3os. Wai.ford, L. B. Mischief of Monica. 3 vols. Longmans. 25s. id. Walkf.k, F. A. Money. Macmillan. 8s. id. —— The Wages Question. Macmillan. 8s. id. Warden, F. A Wilful Ward. nmo. F. V. White. as. 6d. Poetry and the Drama. Dickinson, E. Poums. Ss. Hopps, J. P. Pilgrim Songs, with other Poems. Williams and Norgate. 3s. Mosdell, J. The Village of Mortimer, and other Poems. Reading Observer Printing Works. Scott, Sir Walter. The Vision of Don Roderick and The Field of Waterloo. (Companion Poets Series.) Edited by Henry Morley, LL.D. George Routledge. The Works of Shakspere. Vol. V. of the Mignon Edition. Edited by Charles Knight. Illustrations by Sir John Gilbert, R.A. Routledge. zs. id. Sharp, Amy. Victorian Poets. Methuen. zs. 6d. Tennyson, F. Daphne, and other Poems. Macmillan. 7s. 6d. Tolstoy, Count Lyof. The Fruits of Enlightenment: a Comedy in Four Acts. Translated from the Russian by E. J. Dillon, Ph.D., with Portrait of the Author, and an Introductien by Arthur W. Pinero. Heine- mann. 5s. Watson, William. Wordsworth's Grave, anil other Poems. (Cameo Series.) and Edition. Fisher I'nwin. 3s. 6d. Law. Herbert, T. A. History of the Law of Prescription in England. 8vo. 10s., cloth. The Revised Reports: a Republication of such Cases in the English Courts of Common I<aw and Equity from 1785 as are still of Practical Utility. Edited by Sir F. Pollock, LL.D., assisted by R. Campbell, of Lin- coln's Inn, nnd O. A. Saunders, of the Inner Temple. Vol.1. 1785-1790. Sweet and Maxwell. Statutory Trust Investment Guide. Introduction by K. Marrack. Compiled by F. C. Mathieson and Sons. 11 mo. 4 « . cloth. Science. Atkinson, Philip, A.M., Ph.D. The Elements of Dynamic Electricity and Magnetism. Crosby Loekwood. Campbell, H. Differences in the Nervous Organization of Man anil Woman. Lewis. i5.«. Courmki.lk, Dr. F. de. Hypnotism. Translated by L. Knsor. Routledge. 3s. 6d. Everett, J. D. Illustrations of the C. G. S. System of Units. Macmillan. 5s. Harnvck, A. Study of Elements of the Differential and Integral Calculus. Williams and Norgate. lav. 6<i. Marine Boilers. A Treatise on the Causes, &c. of their Priming. Simpkin. zs. id. Sisley, R. Epidemic Influenza, &c. Longmans. 7s. id. Skelton, H. J. Economics of Iron and Steel. Biggs. 5s. Parliamentary Papers, The Customs: 35th Report of the Commissioners for the year ended 3ist March 1891, z\d. Report of the President of Queen's College, Cork, for the Academic Session, 1890-91, \\d. Comparative Statement of Pauperism for May last, i\d. Return as to the Middlesex Registrars'Fees during 1890, \d. Copy of Board of Inland Revenue Order relating to Excise Licenses for Premises not used exclusively for the Sale of Intoxicating Liquors, \d. Return as to the Bank- ruptcy Estates Treasury Account, \d. Accounts under the Dogs Regulation (Ireland) Act, 1865, id. Return as to the Commutation of Permanent Charges, ^d. Army Medical Department: Report for the year 1889, Vol. XXXI., 5s. Report of the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis for 1890, id. Return as to Local Taxation License Duties and Penalties, i\d. Statement as to Military Savings Banks, $d. Quarterly Return of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, printed by authority of the Registrar-General, yd. Correspond- ence respecting Anti-Foreign Riots in China, 41/. Eighth Report by the Board of Trade under sec. 131 of the Bankruptcy Act, 1883, 6i/. Return as to Evictions in Ireland during the second quarter of 1891, i.jiA Return of Proceedings under the Irish Land Commission during June last, id. The Newfoundland French Treaties Act, 1891, 11/. General Report to the Board of Trade upon Railway Accidents in the United Kingdom during 1890, 3d. Further Papers on the sub-  ## p. 127 (#531) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 127 jcct of Sunday Labour in the Colonies, 2d. Report on the Locust Campaign of 1890 in Cyprus, z\d. Correspond- ence on the case of the ex-Sultan Abdullah of Perak, yd. The Kew Gardens Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information for August, 2d. Declaration between the British and French Governments as to the disposal of the proceeds of wrecks on their respective coasts, jd. Public Records in Ireland: The Twenty-third Report of the Deputy Keeper. Alexander, Thorn, and Co., Dublin, I*, id. Public Records: The Fifty-second Annual Report of the Deputy Keeper, is. l^d. Queen's College, Belfast: The Report of the President for the Session 1890-91. Alexander, Thorn, and Co., Dublin, id. Papers relating to the New Russian Tariff, 2d. 16th Annual Report of the Public Works Loan Board, 1890-91, 1 id. 59th Report from the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland, 1890-91, is. 6d. Standing Orders of the House of Lords relative to Private Rills and Bills for confirming Provisional Orders or Certi- ficates, with instructions as to taxation of costs, and schedule of fees, io\d. Bankruptcy Estates Account, \d. Return as to Trustees Savings' Banks Invest- ments, l\d. 46th Annual Report of the Commis- sioners of Charitable Donations and Bequests in Ireland, 2d. Return as to arrivals of Alien Immi- grants during July, Id. Correspondence relating to Great Britain and Portugal in East Africa, 1.1. 3d. Return as to Railway Servants' Hours of Labour, iorf. Report from the Joint Select Committee of the House of Lords and the House of Commons on the Railway Rates and Charges Provisional Order Bills, with the proceedings of the Committee, b\d. Special Report from the Select Committee on the London Water Commission Bill, with the proceedings of the Com- mittee, Minutes of Evidence, Appendix, and Index, 4s. Foreign Office, Annual Series: Reports for 1890 on the Trade of Nagasaki (Japan), id.; and on the trade of Bulgaria, 3d. Report and Special Report from the Select Committee on Statute Law Revision Bill (H.L.), id. Annual Accounts of the Chamberlain of the City of London, id. Life Assurance Com- panies, 3s. id. Irish Land Commission: Return according to provinces and counties of Judicial Rents, yd. First and Second Reports of the Committee appointed by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland on Lunacy Administration (Ireland), gd. Annual Report of the IiOcal Government Hoard for Ireland, 23. 2d. 13th Report of the General Prisons Board, Ireland, 1890-91, 8rf. 29th Report of the Inspector of Re- formatory and Industrial Schools of Ireland, 4j</. Return as to Naval Courts-Martial and Summary Punishments on Seamen during 1890, 2d. Returns relating to the London County Council, 2d. Accounts relating to the Imperial Defence Act, 1888, \d. Report from the Select Committee of the Lords on the Children's Life Insurance Bill, with proceedings of the Committee, and Minutes of Evidence, 4|rf. General Reports for 1890 on Education in the Southern (i jrf.) and Western (irf.) Divisions of Scotland. Report of the Inspectors of Irish Fisheries on the Sea and Inland Fisheries of Ireland for 1890, it. yd. Return as to Soldiers and Sailors in Civil Employment, \d. Foreign Office, Annual Series: Reports on the trade of Erzeroum, 1889-90 (Turkey), l\d.\ of the Consular District of Gothenburg, 1890 (Sweden), 2d.; on the Foreign Trade of the Argentine Republic for the first quarter of 1891, \d.; on the Trade of Great Britain with Turkey, 1887-90, \d. Reports from Her Majesty's Representatives in Brazil concerning the condition of British Immigrants, %\d. Eyre and Spottiswoode.  ## p. 128 (#532) ############################################ 128 THE AUTHOR. CONDITIONS OP MEMBERSHIP. WARNINGS. The Subscription is One Guinea annually, payable on the ist of January of each year. The sum of Ten Guineas for life membership entitles the subscriber to full meml>ership of the Society. Authors of published works alone are eligible for membership. Those who desire to assist the Society but are not authors can be admitted as Associates, on the same subscription, but can have no voice in the government of the Society. Cheques and Postal Orders should be crossed "The Imperial Bank, Limited, Westminster Branch." Those who wish to be proposed as Members may send their names at any time to the Secretary at the Society's Offices, when they will receive a form for the enumeration of their works. Subscriptions entered after the ist of October will cover the next year. The Secretary may be personally consulted between the hours of i p.m. and 5, except on Saturdays. It is preferable that an appointment should lie made by letter. The Author, the Organ of the Society, can be procured through all newsagents, or from the publishers, Messrs. Eyre and Spottiswoode, East Harding Street, Fetter Lane. A copy will be sent free to any Member of the Society for one twelvemonth, dating from May 1889. It is hoped, however, that most Members will subscribe to the paper. The yearly subscrip- tion is 6s. 6d., including postage, which may lie sent to the Secretary, 4, Portugal Street, W.C. With regard to the reading of MSS. for young writers, the fee for this service is One Guinea. MSS. will be read and reported upon for others t han Members, but Members cannot have their works read for nothing. In all eases where an opinion is desired upon a manuscript, the author should send with it a table of contents. A type-written scenario is also of very great assistance. It must lie understood that such a reader's report, however favourable, does not necessarily assist the author towards publication. Headers of the Author are earnestly desired to make the following warnings as widely known as possible. They are based on the experience of six years' work upon the dangers to which literary property is exposed :— (1.) Never sign any agreement of which the alleged cost of production forms an integral part, unless an opportunity of proving the correctness of the figures is given them. (2.) Never enter into any correspondence with publishers, especially with advertising publishers, who are not recommended In- experienced friends or by this Society. (3.) Never, on any account whatever, bind yourself down for future work to any one firm of publishers. (4.) Never accept any proposal of royalty without consultation with the Society, or, at least, ascertaining exactly what the agreement gives to the author and what to the publisher. (5.) Never accept any offer of money for MSS., without previously taking advice of the Society. (6.) Never accept any pecuniary risk or respon- sibility whatever without advice. (7.) Never, when a MS. has been refused by respectable houses, pay others, whatever promises they may put forward, for the production of the work. (8.) Never sign away American or foreign rights. Keep them. Refuse to sign an agreement containing a clause which reserves them for the publisher. If the publisher insists, take away the MS. and offer it to another. (9.) Never forget that publishing is a business, like any other business, totally unconnected with philanthropy, charity, or pure love of literature. You have to do with business men. Society's Offices:— 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. London: Printed hy Kyuk and SrorriswoODK, Printers to the Queen's most Excellent Majesty. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author, Vol. 02 Issue 04 (September 1891) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 02 Issue 04 (September 1891) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927&amp;view=1up&amp;seq=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1891-09-01-The-Author-2-4 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/254/1891-08-01-The-Author-2-3.pdf cd7947d93b5c19c9438dfe5e54e67042 PDF Text Text �������������������������������� 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 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) 1891-08-01 Volume 2 Issue 3 Pages Page range in volume 65–96 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18910801 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin ZTbe Hutbor* {The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. II.—No. 3.] AUGUST i, 1891. [Price Sixpence. CONTENTS. FAOE The Dinner *9 Overheard— I. At the Black Jack Club So II. From a Letter 81 III. In the Train 81 IV. At the Table 8j Literary Maxims 8a Notes and News 8a The Authors' Club 8s International Copyright— I. The President's Proclamation 86 II. Mr.Secretary Foster's Regulations 87 III. What will happen? 87 IV. Opinion of Sir Horace Davey 89 PAGE International Copyright—continued. V. Opinion of Sir Michael Hicks-Bcach 9° VI. Answer to Questions 9' Correspondence— I. Now Grub Street 1* II. The Rev. William Shakspearfi M III. Presentation Copies °* IV. Payment on Publication 94 V. Insurance 95 VI. Titles US From Grub Street 9S "At the Author's Head" 9S The Author's Bookstall ,6 EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE. ACTION OF LIGHT ON WATER COLOURS—Report to the Science and Art Department of the Committee of Council on Education. (With Diagrams and Plates.) By post, 2*. 11 d. PLIOCENE DEPOSITS OF BRITAIN, THE. By Clement Reid, F.L S., F.G.S. Five Plates (48 cuts), s». id. LONDON AND NEIGHBOURHOOD: Guido to the Geology of. By William Whitakeb, B.A. is. LONDON AND OF PART OF THE THAMES VALLEY', The Geology of. By W. Wiiitaker, B.A.. F.R.S., F.G.S., Assoc. Inst. C.E. Vol. I. DESCRIPTIVE GEOLOGY. 8vo. cloth, 6s. Vol. II. APPENDICES. 8vo., cloth, s». ISLE OF WIGHT, Geology of. By H. W. Bkistow, F.R.S., F.G.S. Second Edition. Revised and enlarged by Clement Rkid. F.G.8., and Aubrey Steahan, M.A., F.G.S. 8vo., cloth, 8i. 6d. COPYRIGHT LAW REFORM: An Exposition of Lord Monkswell's Copyright Bill now before Parliament; with Extracts from the Report nf the Commission of 187R, and an Appendix containing the Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lely, Esq., Barrister-at-Law. is. td. STATE TRIALS, Reports of; New Series. Published nnder the direction ot the State Trials Committee. Edited by John MacDonell, M.A., of the Middle Temple. Barrister-at- Law. Vols. I., II., and III. ready. Price ios. per volume. "It is for the most part an interesting, not to say fascinating, study for anyone, that is to say, who cares about history at nil."—Daily Newt. CHINA (No. 2). Report, by C. W. Campbell, of a Journey in North Corea, in September and October, 1889. A considerable portion of the narrative contains descriptive matter that appeals to the general reader, but there are also many interesting facts bearing upon mining, forestry, agricul- ture, trade, and kindred topics, od. WESTMINSTER ABBEY. Final Report of the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into the present want of space for Monuments in Westminster Abbey; with Appendices. 91/. KEW BULLETIN, 1890. Issued by the Director of Kew Gardens, it. iod. KEW BULLETIN, 1891. Monthly, id. Appendices, id. each. Annual Subscription, including postage, }t. 9<f WEATHER, STUDY AND FORECAST OF. Aids to. By Rev. W. Clement Lev, M.A. i». ROYAL MILITARY EXHIBITION, 1890. Descriptive Catalogue of Musical Instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition. Compiled by Capt. C. R. Day, Oxfordshire Light Infantry, under the orders of Col. Shaw- Hellier, Commandant Royal Military School of Music. The instruments are fully described; they are arranged systemati- cally under their respective families and classes, and a chrono- logical arrangement has, as much as possible, been adhered to. Each family of instrument has been prefaced by a carefully- written Introductory Essay. Musical pitch has not been left unnoticed, and a learned Essay from the pen of a well-known authority upon the subject nppears in the Appendix. The book is illustrated by a series of Twelve Artistically executed Plates in Heliogravure, and with numerous Wood Engravings. The issue is limited to 1,000 copies. 11s. Monthly Lists of Parliamentary Papers upon Application. Quarterly Lists Post Free, id. Miscellaneous List on Application. Every Assistance given to Correspondents; and Books not kept in stock obtained without delay. Remittance should accompany Order. GOVERNMENT AND GENERAL PURLISHERS. EYRE anil SPttTTISffOODE, Her Majesty's Printers, East Harding Street, London, B.C.  ## p. 66 (#470) ############################################# 66 ADVERTISEMENTS. Messrs. METHUEN'S NEW BOOKS. By W. E. NORRIS. JACK'S FATHEB. By W. E. Norhis, Author of "Matrimony," Ac. Crown 8vo. 3*. bd. By M. BETHAM EDWARDS. DISAEMED. By M. Betham Edwards, Author of "Kitty," &c. Crown 8vo. 3*. bd. By EDNA LYALL. DEBBICK VAUQHAN, NOVELIST. By Edna Lyalt, Author of "Donovan." New and Cheaper Edition. Paper cover, is.; limp doth, i». bd. Thirty-first Thousand. By S. BARING GOULD. ABM1NELL: A Social Romance. By S. Baring Gould, Author of " Mehalah." &c. Third and Cheaper Edition. Paper iKMirds, is.; limp cloth, w. bd. By WALTER H. POLLOCK and A. G. ROSS. BETWEEN THE LINES. By Walter H. Pollock and A. G. Boss. Post 8vo. is. By E. McaUEEN GRAY. ELSA: A Novel. By E. McQueen Gray. Crown 8vo. 6s. By W." CLARK RUSSELL. THE LIFE OF ADMIRAL LORD COLLINGWOOD. By W. Clark Russell, Author of "The Wreck of the 'Grosvenor.'" With Illustrations by F. Brangwyn. 8vo. By HANNAH LYNCH. GEORGE MEREDITH: A Study. By Hannah Lynch. With Portrait. Crown «vo. s». A limited Large-Paper Edition, 2i«. By R. PRYCE. THE QUIET MRS. FLEMING. By Richard Pryce. Crown 8vo. 3s. bd. I Ready. By J. B. BURNE, M.A. PARSON AND PEASANT: Chapters of their Natural History. By J. B. Buene, M.A., Rector of Wasing. Crown 8vo. s». [Beady. By E. LYNN LINTON. THE TRUE HISTORY OF JOSHUA DAVIDSON, Christian and Communist. By E. Lynn Linton. Tenth and Cheaper Edition. Post 8vo. is. [Ready. Works by S. BARING GOULD, Author of " Alehalah," Sfc. OLD COUNTRY LIFE. By S. Baring Gould. With Sixty-seven Illustrations by W. Parkinson, F. D. Bedford, and F. Masey. Large Crown 8vo, clotli super extra, top edge gilt, 10*. bd. Th ird Edition. "Old Country Life, as healthy wholesome reading, full of breezy life and movement, full of quaint stories vigorously told, will not be excelled by any book to be published throughout the year. Sound, hearty, and English to the core."—World. HISTORIC ODDITIES AND STRANGE EVENTS. By S. Baking Gould. Fihbt Series. Demy 8vo. io». bd. Second Edition. "A collection of exciting and entertaining chapters. The whole volume is delightful reading."—Times. SECOND SERIES. HISTORIC ODDITIES AND STRANGE EVENTS. Second Series. By S. Barino Golld, Author of "Mehalah." Demy 8vo. ios. bd. [Ready. "A fascinating book."—Leeds Mercury. SONGS OF THE WEST: Traditional Ballads and Songs of the West of England, with their Traditional Melodies. Collected by S. Barino Gould, M.A., and H. Fleetwood SnErPARD, M.A. Arranged for Voice and Piano. In 4 Parts (containing as Songs each), 3s. each nett. Part I.. Third Edition. Part II., Second Edition. Part III., ready. Part IV., ready. 5». "A rich and varied collection of humour, pathos, grace, and poetic fancy."—Saturday Rtvicw. YORKSHIRE ODDITIES AND STRANGE EVENTS. By 8. Barino Gould. New and Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo. **■ f-Voic Ready. METHUEN'S NOVEL SERIES. Three ShiUings and Sixpence. Messrs. MKTHUEN will issue from time to time a Series of copyright Novels, by well-known Authors, handsomely bound, at the ubove popular price. The first volumes (now ready) are: 1. THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. By F. Mabel Robinson. 2. JACQUETTA. By S. Baring Gould. 3. MY LAND OF BEULAH. By Mrs. Lkith Adams. 4. ELI'S CHILDBEN. By G. Manville Fenn. 5. AEMINELL: A Social Bomance. By S. Baring Gould. 6. DEBRICK VAUGHAN, NOVELIST. By Edna I Lyall. With portrait of Author. 7. DISENCHANTMENT. By F. Mabel Bobinson. 8. DISABMED. By M. Betham Edwards. 9. JACK'S FATHER. By W. E. Norris. Other Volumes will he announced in due course. Edited by A. M. M. STEDMAN, M.A. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. A series of short biographies, free from party bias, of the most prominent leaders of religious life and thought in this and the last century. CARDINAL NEWMAN. 1{. H. Hutton. [Jiemlo. JOHN WESLEY. J. H. Overton. \lleady. UNIVERSITY EXTENSION SERIES, Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. Under the above title Messrs. Metihjen have commenced the publication of a series of books on historical, literary, and economic subjects, suitable for extension students and home-reading circles. THE INDUSTRIAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND. By H. DE B. Gibbins, M.A., late Scholar of Wadham College, Oxon., Cobden Prizeman. With Maps aud Plans. [Rcatly. A HISTOBY OF ENGLISH POLITICAL ECONOMY. By L. L. Price, M.A., Fellow of Oriel College, Oxon., Extension Lecturer in Political Economy. [Ready. VICTORIAN POETS. By A. Sharp. [Heady. PROBLEMS OF POVERTY: An Inquiry iuto the Industrial Conditions of the Poor. By J. A. Hobson, M.A., late Scholar of Lincoln Colloge, Oxon., U.K. Lecturer in Economics. [Ready. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. By J. E. Symks, M.A., Principal of University College, Nottingham. [Ifearly Ready. SOCIAL QUESTIONS OF TO-DAY. A series of volumes upon the most important topics of social, economic, and industrial interest—written by the highest authorities on the various subjects. The first two volumes will be— TRADES UNIONISM—New and Old. By G. Howell, M.P. [Ready. THE CO-OPEEATIVE MOVEMENT TO-DAY. By G. J. Holyoake. Crown 8vo. it. bd. [Ready. METHUEN & Co., 18, Bury Street, W.C.  ## p. 67 (#471) ############################################# ADVERTISEMENTS. 67 THE CENTRAL TYPE-WRITING OFFICE, CITY TYPE-WRITING & SHORTHAND OFFICES, (ESTABLISHED 1887,) MANSION HOUSE CHAMBERS, 20, Bucklersbury, London, E.C. 57 & 58, Chancery Lane, W.C. Miss M. E. DUCK and Miss I. B. LOOKER. The Department for Lady Pupils has unremitting attention, us evidenced by the unqualified Success which has attended its management. The Course includes Shorthand, Type-writing, Book-keeping, and Commercial Correspondence, and when Pupils have acquired proficiency— Type-writing and Copying of every Description under- taken for the Literary, Dramatic, Clerical, Legal, and other Professions. Type-writing from Dictation a Specialty. Highest Testimonials for Excellence of Work and Promp- titude from AUTHORS and others. POSITIONS ARE GUARANTEED. PRICE LIST ON APPLICATION-TERMS MODERATE. Particulars on application to— MISS ZFt. V. GILL, m: n. s. g-ixjXj, TYPE-WRITING OFFICES, 6, Adam Street, Strand, W.C, and 5, Air Street, Piccadilly, W. TYPEWRITING OFFICE, ST. PAUL'S CHAMBERS, 19, LUDGATE HILL, E.C. Authors' and Dramatists' Work a Specialty. All kinds of MSS. copied with care. Extra attention given to difficult hand-writing and to papers or lectures on scientific subjects. Type-writing from dictation. Shorthand Notes taken and transcribed. Author's MSS. carefully copied from i*. per I,coo words. One additional copy (carbon) supplied free of charge. FURTHER PARTICULARS ON APPLICATION. Eeferences kindly permitted to many well-known Authors and Publishers. Further particulars on application. TYPE-WRITING. MISSES AIRD & WEDDERSP00N, Authors' MSS. carefully Transcribed. SHORTHAND, TRANSLATING, and TYPEWRITING OFFICES, 4, SUN COURT, CORHBI1L, E.C. Writings by Post receive prompt attention. Translations carefully and correctly made. Shorthand and Typewriting Clerks sent out on short notice. Type- writing of all kinds done with neatness, accuracy, and despatch. Special pains taken with Authors' MSS. Pupils trained in Pitman's System of Shorthand, and in Type- writing. Scientific and Medical Papers a Specialty. MISSES ERWIN, 13, Dorset Street, Portman Sqcare, W. MISSES E. & S. ALLEN, TYPE AND SHORTHAND WRITERS. TRANSLATIONS and Scientific Work a Special Featnre. All applications relating to Advertisements in this Journal should be addressed to the Printers and Publishers, 39, Lombard Street, E.C. Office No. B9 (close to Lift). MISS PATTEN, TYPE-WRITER, 44, Oakley Flats, Oakley Street, Chelsea, S.W. Authors' MSS. carefully copied from Is. per 1,000 Words. One additional Copy (Carbon) supplied Free of Charge. Eeferences kindly permitted to George Augustus Sala. Esq. EYRE & SPOTTISWOODE, Particulars on Application. ASHWORTH I Co., East Harding Street, Fetter Lane, London, E.C. 4, Abchurch Yard, Cannon Street, E.C. +~~* Authors' MSS. type-written from Is. 3d. per 1,000 words. TRANSLATIONS. VOL. TI.  ## p. 68 (#472) ############################################# 68 A D VEll TISEMENTS. The " Swan" is a beautiful Gold Pen joined to a rubber reservoir to hold any kind of ink, which it supplies to the writing point in a continuous flow. It will hold enough ink for two days' constant work, or a week's ordinary writing, and win be refilled with as little trouble as to wind a watch. With the cover over the gold nib it is carried in the pocket like a pencil, to be used anywhere. A purchaser may try a pen a few days, and if by chance the writing point does not suit his hand, exchange it for another without charge, or have his money returned if wanted. There are yarions points to select from, broad, meflmin, awl fine, every handwriting can be suited, and the price of the entire instrument, with filler comulete, post free, is only 10s. 6d. The Gold Pens in the "Swan" are Mabie, Todd, & Co.'s famous make. They are 14-carat tempered gold, very handsome, and positively unaffected by any kind of ink. They are pointed with selected polished iridium. The "Encyclopaedia Britannica" says:—"Iridium is a nearly white metal of high specific gravity, it is almost indestructible, and a beautifully polished surface can be obtained upon it." They will not penetrate the paper, and writer's cramp is unknown among users of Gold Pens. One will OUtwear 90 grOSS Of Steel pens. They are a perfect revelation to those who know nothing about Gold Pens. Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmks has used one of Mabie, Todd, & Co.'s Gold Pens since 185;, and is using the same one (his " old friend ") to-day. Sydney Grcndy, Ksq., says (referring to the Fountain Pen) :—"It is a vast improvement on every Stylograph." MoBEBLY Bell, Ksq., Manager, The Times, says (referring to the Fountain Pen) :—" One pen lasted me for six years." S. I). Waddy, Esq., Q.C., M.P., says (referring to the Fountain Pen) :—" I have used them constantly for some years, and, as far as I can remember, they have never failed me." Send Postal Card for Free Illustrated List (containing interesting Testimonials from the Best People, who have used them for years) to— MABIE, TODD, & BARD. 93,^ 01— - — - ~ LONDOKr, -~  ## p. 69 (#473) ############################################# ^Tbe Butbot\ {The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. II.—No. 3.] AUGUST i, 1891. [Pbice Sixpence. For the Opinions expressed in papers that arc signed the Authors alone are responsible. NOTICE. READERS are requested to observe that during the month of August the secretarial strength at the Office is greatly diminished. It will, therefore, be a great convenience if letters asking for advice or assistance could be kept back until September. Urgent cases, however, will be sent on and attended to as soon as possible. The Office is open as usual for the payment of subscriptions and donations, the entrance of names for membership, and all ordinary office work. Readers of the Author are earnestly' entreated to disseminate as widely as possibly the warnings and advice contained in every number; above all, to enforce everywhere the simple counsel to have nothing whatever to do with any publisher not recommended by a friend who has had personal experience, or by the Society. ♦■»■♦ THE ANNUAL DINNER OF THE INCORPORATED SOCIETY OF AUTHORS HELD AT "THE WHITEHALL ROOMS," HOTEL METROFOLE, ON Thursday, July 16th, 1891, LORD MONKSWELL in the Cuaib. rflHERE were over two hundred members and I guests present at the dinner. The following is the list, but at the last moment two or three found themselves unable to attend ;—. More Adey. George Allen. Miss Grace Allen. E. A. Armstrong. Edwin Lester Arnold. Mrs. Edwin Lester Arnold. James Baker, F.R.G.S. M. Powis Bale. Wolcott Balestier. The Rev. Dr. Barker. Miss Jessie Barker. Arthur W. a, Beckett. Mrs. A. W. h Beckett. Max Beerbohm. Rev. Canon C. D. Bell. Mackenzie Bell. Miss Belloc. Herbert Ben twitch. Sir Henry Bergne, K.C.M.G. Mrs. Oscar Beringcr. Walter Besant. Mrs. Walter Besant. M. Bhowneggree. Augustine Birrell, M.P. William Black. Henry Blackburn. Mrs. Henry Blackburn. J. Arthur Blaikie. Paul Blouet. (" Max O'Rell.") Madame Blouet. Anna, Comtesse do Bremont. A. E. Bridger. Oscar Browning. James Bryce, M.P. Professor C. A. Buchheim, Ph.D. Mrs. Mona Caird. Mrs. Lovett Cameron. J. Dykes Campliell. Thomas Catling. A. Chatto. Edward Clodd. John Coleman. W. Morris Colles. F. Howard Collins. W. M. Conway. . C. H. RadclifTe Cooke, M.P. Miss Cordeux. Miss K. M. Cordeux. (" Daniel Dormer.")  ## p. 70 (#474) ############################################# 7o THE AUTHOR. Mrs. Roalfe Cox. Miss Roalfe Cox. Miss May Cronimelin. John Beattie Crozier. G. D. Dav. C. F. Dowsett. A. Conan Doyle. A. W. Dubourg. George Dumaurier. J. W. Eilinonds. Mrs. Edmonds. Walter L. J. Ellis. Dana Estes. B. L. Farjeon. George Manville Fenn. Basil Field. Mrs. Basil Field. Clyde Fiteh. Percy Fitzgerald. Professor Michael Foster, F.R.S. Dr. Richard Garnett. William A. Gibbs. Rev. Dr. Giusburg. George W. Godfrey. Dr. J. A. Goodchild. Edmund Gosse. Mrs. Edmund Gosse. H. Rider Haggard. Egmont Hake. Professor John W. Hales. Henry Harland. Mrs. Henry Harland. Mrs. George Harley. Henry Harper. Miss Harrison. Bret Harte. Joseph Hatton. E. C. Haynes. Arthur Herbert. John W. Hill. W. Earle Hodgson. Clive Holland. J. W. Houghton. Miss Houghton. Reginald Hughes. Mrs. Reginald Hughes. Rev. William Hunt. Mrs. William Hunt. Mrs. Hutcheson. Professor Huxley. Charles T. C. James. Rev. Theodore Johnson. Frel>endary Harry Jones. H. G. Keene, CLE. Joseph Knight. Mrs. Laffan. (" Mrs. Leith Adams.") Rev. Dr. Lansdell. Lorin Latbrop. Mrs. Lorin Latbrop. Edmund Lee. Sidney Lee. J. M. Lely. Lady William Lennox. Robert Lincoln (the American Minister). J. Stanley Little. Mrs. Carnegie Long. Sidney Low. Mrs. Sidney Low. Justin Huntly McCarthy. Justin McCarthy. Norman McColl. J. W. Mcllvaine. S. B. G. McKinney. Dr. B. E. Martin.' Edward Martin. Brander Matthews. Mrs. Brander Matthews. Atbol Maudslay. M. Mijatovich. Mine. Mijatovich. Professor W. Minto. W. Cosmo Monkhouse. Lord Monkswell. Lewis Morris. George Moore. Rev. W. D. Morrison. Mrs. Chandler Moulton. Henry H. Newill. Professor J. E. Nixon. Miss Oakes. John O'Neill. James R. Osgood. Walter Pater. Arthur Paterson. Dr. William Pole, F.R.S. Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart ., LL.D. Lady Pollock. Walter H. Pollock. Mrs. Walter H. Pollock. Miss Edith Pollock. Reginald S. Poole. Stanley Lane Poole. Norman Porritt. John Rae. W. Fraser Rae. Miss Helen Leah Read. F. W. Robinson. John Robinson. James Rolt. Rol>ert Ross. Miss Elise Ross. Herr von Poorten Schwartz. (Mr. " Maar- ten Maartens.") George Sheldon. Dr. Sisley. Rev. Professor Skeat, Litt.D. Douglas Sladen. G. W. Smalley.  ## p. 71 (#475) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 71 Rev. Dr. Smith. Miss Jane Smith. Mrs. Spender. S. Squire Sprigge. Dr. Balruanno Squire. Sir John Staincr, Mus.D. Professor C. V. Stanford, Mus.D. Mrs. 0. V. Stanford. Miss Stephens. Miss J. Stephens. J. Ashhv Sterrv. C. T. Taylor." Dr. Todhunter. H. D. Traill. Mrs. H. D. Traill. Andrew W. Tuer. Mrs. Alec. Twecdie. Miss Roraola Tynte. Dr. F. Valentine. Dr. Henry Veale. Edric Vredenburg. Charles Dudley Warner. Arthur Warren. A. P. Watt. Alec. Watt, jun. Theodore Watts. William Westall. Miss Beatrice Whitby. Oscar Wilde. W. G. Wills. H. Schiitz Wilson. Colonel Winsloe. At the conclusion of dinner, the toast of Her Majesty the Queen having been heartily responded to— The Chairman.—Mr. Lincoln, Ladies, and Gen- tlemen, I have to announce that I have received a letter from Lord Tennyson, who writes that "In the name of the United Kingdom our Society- congratulates the United States on their great act of justice." I have further to announce that the following gentlemen regret their inability to attend: The Bishops of Gloucester and Oxford, Cardinal Manning, Mr. George Meredith, Mr. Holman Hunt, Sir Edwin Arnold, Mr. Alfred Austin, the Earl of Pembroke, Mr. Austin Dobson, Mr. Hail Caine, Professor Church, and the Master of Balliol. I may also mention that Lord Coleridge told me the other day that it was with great regret that he was compelled to decline an invitation at the instance of Mr. Besant to lie here to-night, l>ecause he was receiving company at home. There is also a letter from Mr. Thomas Hardy. Now, it is my pleasing duty to give you another toast—that of the President of the United Suites of America. The toast of the Queen it is usual to consider needs no preface. I should have adopted the same course with regard to the President of the United States, were it not that I wish to mention that we owe a debt of obligation to the President, because he has without any demur at once acceded to our request to lx> allowed to come under the American Law of Copyright. It seems to me that that shows a kindly feeling on the part of the President of the United States towards England, for he might, I think, have adopted a different course, and I do not know if he had, whether we should have had any reason to complain. He might have said that the Law of Copyright in England is quite unintelligible; that it was doubtful whether the clause with regard to reciprocity in the Americjin Act was complied with. The course that he has adopted shows that he is animated with friendly feelings towards England, and that is why I desire to say a few words to the toast. I give you "The President of the United States of America."—The toast was cordially received. The Chairman.—Ladies and Gentlemen, the toast that I have now the honour to propose is that of our guests, coupled with the name of Mr. Lincoln, the American Minister. I feel that my presence in the chair to-night on this important occasion, and in the midst of such a distinguished company, exhibits the Society of Authors in a very amiable light. It shows that they carry to its extreme limits the virtue of gratitude, for I am here to-night not in respect of any service I have been able to render to the Society of Authors, but only in respect of services attempted to l>e rendered. (No, no.) Now, to-night, it is my pleasing duty to congratulate the citizens of the United States of America, in the person of their Minister, Mr. Lincoln, on the great act of justice they have performed in recognising the rights of British authors. I am sure we must all lie extremelv glad to see Mr. Lincoln among us to-night. Wc all know that Mr. Lincoln is the distinguished son of an illustrious father. The name of Abraham Lincoln ranks in the annals of the United States second only to that of Washington himself, of whom he was a worthy successor in the Presidential Chair. If Mr. Lincoln looks around him, I think he will discover that the company here assembled is worthy of the occasion on which we have met. I should not presume—it would be impertinence for me to do so—to give a list of the distinguished persons present here to-night, but I should like to make one exception, I should like to mention by name one great Englishman,—an Englishman whose name is especially respected and venerated in America, an Englishman whose presence among us to-night is a signal act of favour, inasmuch as for years past he has steadily refused to be present at any banquet except in the immediate circle of his intimate friends—I mean Professor Huxley. One never knows in what - i  ## p. 72 (#476) ############################################# 72 THE AUTHOR. unexpected ways a man of gonitis may not. break out. We have long known Mr. Huxley as an eminent man of science and of letters. We must now regard him in the liglit of a great Biblical scholar; he is, as I understand, devoting his life to the task of reconciling theology with science. If he Bhould fail in the attempt, perhaps he will put the boot on the other leg and try to reconcile science with theology. Well, then, ladies and gentlemen, as I have said, the United States of America have done an act of justice to English authors, and have done this act of justice to their own material disadvantage. We speak the same language as the Americans. To a great extent we read the same books. The names of many American authors are household words in England just as they are in America, and, indeed, some American authors have even become acclimatized among us. And in the same way many English authors arc exceedingly popular in America. The United States of America have long enjoyed what I may call a system of assisted education; that is to say, education assisted by the industry and by the intellect of English writers; but at the same time the Americans have paid their teachers ex- ceedingly little for their lessons, and what little they have paid has hitherto been not a matter of right but a matter of favour. Now, I think, it is no small thing that the American people should have agreed to pay for what they have so long enjoyed without payment. I agree that this is only a matter of justice, but at the same time it is a kind of justice that it requires a good deal of moral courage to carry into execution. It is justice, I may mention, not only to English authors but also to American authors, because for a long time American authors have been subject to what I may call unfair competition on the part of English writers, for English writers have been able to have their works printed in America at what I may call an artificially low cost owing to the absence of Copyright; and now the American and the English writers have a fair field and no favour in a friendly competition one with another. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I approach a somewhat debatable point. We know a great deal has been said about what is called the printing clause in the American Act, that is to say, the clause that requires a book to be printed from type set up in the United States before English writers can get the benefit of American Copyright. I approach this subject with a good deal of diffidence, partly because my friend, Professor Bryce, has said everything about it that I intended to say in last Saturday's number of the Speaker. But as it is just possible that there may be persons here present who did not read the Speaker, perhaps I may be allowed, in a few words, to tell yon what my views are with regard to that clause. I must say that I am Englishman enough to feel annoyance, and indignation even, with my American cousins if I consider that annoyance and indignation is warranted by the facts of the case, but I do not feel that any cause of indignation is given, because the Americans have passed this printing clause. In the first place, I would point out this: that the supporters of the Bill had absolutely no option whatever but to put this clause in. The American Act wiis only passed by the. display of the greatest tact and ability on the part of the promoters of it; and if this sop to American printers had not been put in it is absolutely certain that the Act would never jmiss into law. Well, now, I think that we in England are very well aware of the great pressure and influence that can be brought to bear by any organized men in the kingdom who con- sider that their interests are threatened, and we in England know perfectly well how helpless the general public are in an unequal contest with an organized and powerful and an enraged section of the community. From what I have read it does seem to me that the United States of America is not entirely free from experience of that kind. It is said, I know, that although this clause is a necessary clause that it is a dishonest one, or, at all events, if not dishonest, that it is a shabby piece of legislation. Now, I confess that I am unable to rgree with that opinion. It is perfectly certain that if the American Act had been passed without this clause that the American printing industry would have suffered considerably. It would imme- diately have lost what it now enjoys, the printing of English copyright works; and I agree entirely with Mr. Bryce when he says that the object of this clause in the American Act was merely to put the American printers in the same condition in which they would have been in ha<l the Act not have been passed. I believe that its effect upon English printing will be very slight. It may be that a certain amount of English printing hitherto done here will go to America, but I Ixdieve the chief difference the Act will make is this: that it will lead to a good deal of unnecessary and wasteful printing; that most of the copyright lx>oks for English readers will be printed in England, and most of the copyright books for American readers will be printed in America. And I would point out this: that the printing industry- is, by the nature of things, a growing industry. It must grow because our population is constantly increasing, and because of the spread of education, and any temporary check that may be administered to it by American legislation will, I believe, be only momentary, and will be barely perceptible. Now, I wordd point out that this clause to which so much objection has been taken, both on this i  ## p. 73 (#477) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 73 side and on the other side of the Atlantic, is simply a part of the American system of Protection. Now wc, in England, consider that this system of Pro- tection is unwise, hut we cannot say that for those who believe in it, it is in any respect immoral. We believe that the effect of the clause will be this: it will be to make not only American readers pay toll to American printers, but also every in- dustry throughout the United States. Our con- tention is this: that if the American reader has to pay more for his books, he will have to economise in other directions; that is to say, he will wear his old coats, his old hats, and his old boots longer, and, worst of all, it may be that he will not be able to afford his wife as many dresses as she requires. Americans believe in Protection. If we, like the Americans, believed in Protection, we should be bound to practise it. While we did believe in Protection we did practise it, and we almndoned Protection not because we were more moral than our neighbours, but because we flattered ourselves that we were more enlightened. Now, we further believe that Protection in the United States of America handicaps her very severely in her com- petition with us in the commerce of the world, and regarded simply from the standpoint of material interests, we can afford to regard with equanimity, if not with satisfaction, every fresh development of Protectionist policy in America. I am not going to sivy that there are not some provisions in the American Act that might very well with advantage lx> amended, but I do say this: that, substantially, the Americans have gone as far to meet our views as the supposed interests of their country would allow them to do. I say that in their position, holding their opinions, I believe we should have behaved very much as they have behaved. And, ladies and gentlemen, in conclusion, I hope it will be generally recognised that the Americans have gone as far to meet our wishes as we could reason- ably hope, and I do trust that not a vestige of irritation or annoyance will remain either on our part or on the part of the people of the United States of America to cloud that perfect under- standing that ought to subsist between two peoples so closely allied in blood, and so worthy of one another's friendship. I give you "Our Guests," coupled with the name of Mr. Lincoln. The American Minister (Mr. Lincoln).— Lord Monkswell, Ladies, and Gentlemen, I thank you very heartily and sincerely for the very kind way in which this toast has been received, at least, in so far as it regards myself, for I am only one of the guests of this evening, and others are here who will speak for themselves—as for myself, I am heartily obliged. I hope and trust that you will acquit me of any affectation when I say that it would be very much more agreeable to me if this VOL. II. event which is being celebrated here to-night, and the response of the American minister to this toast, had been in the time of one of my eminent predecessors, whose distinguished career and personal qualities not only allied him to many of those who are here present, but made him their close friend, and whose wit and wisdom have made his name a household word all over the world, and who has used them in the most strenuous way in accomplishing the purpose which has been attained. As his presence here is impossible, it falls upon me to have the pleasure of expressing the honour I feel at this opportunity of meeting this distinguished company, composed of so many of those who are devoting their energies and their talents to the instruction and the literary entertainment of the great English- speaking race; and it is especially pleasant to do so under the circumstances which make this par- ticular dinner of the Author's Society so peculiarly notable. You are signalising here the end of the impatience which has existed for so many years on both sides of the Atlantic, over the delay in esta- blishing what may be called proper relations between the Copyright laws of England and the United States. How far they may have been established may be a question in some minds, but at all events, we all recognise that a correct principle has been reached and settled. It is not at all strange that such impatience has long existed, for while our governments differ in form, yet the duties on the one hand, and the rights and privileges on the other, of the people of both our nations, are nearly identical. They have a common language, and for the most part a common origin, and with an equally advanced civilisation, their modes of thought and aspirations make our races almost the same in the history and contemplation of the world at large. Under those conditions it has seemed to many for a long time, and it has seemed to me among them, that it was almost arbitrary and unreasonable that there should be continued in force a rule of law which denied in each country to the authors of the other, and to them alone of all the people carrying on the numberless active professions and trades of the civilisation of the present day, the property rights which each country gave to its own citizen and resident authors. In saying this of England as well as the United States, I speak of course in view of the fact that it has only just now become certain that a non-resident alien author can obtain the benefit of English Copyright law, and that the first official and conclu- sive declaration to that effect has just within a few weeks been made and drawn forth by the passage of the new American law on this subject. Between our countries, to a far greater degree than l>etween those using different languages, this question of reciprocal Copyright is a practical one and of high F  ## p. 74 (#478) ############################################# 74 THE AUTHOR. importance, and consequently opposing interests are more numerous and more powerful with us than anywhere else. In the very nature of things the adhesion which was reached, by various countries under the provisions of the Berne Convention, were far easier to be attained than the great arrangement which has just been closed between Great Britain and the United States. I am one of those who for a long time have wished such an arrangement to be made. It seems to me a great many years since I signed a petition to that effect. I am neither an author on the one side or a publisher on the other; but it is my misfortune, when I am not doing something else, to be a practising lawyer, and, as a practising lawyer, I have never had any difficulty whatever in feeling the justice of myself being paid for any printed argument that I might make, provided always it was a good one, and this irrespective of the nationality of my client, and what I thought just as regards myself I could hardly think unjust as regarded any other man, whatever his nation or however remote might be his geo- graphical situation, from whose mental labours I had derived profit or pleasure. Besides feeling this sense of justice to authors themselves — I hope it was a sense of justice—I but followed the lead of, I believe, almost every living author of high repute in my own country, in wishing them, and especially their younger brethren who are still struggling to find their proper place in the public estimation, to be relieved from the involuntary, perhaps I should say from the very unwilling, competition of uncompensated foreign authorship, and so that there should be taken away what I consider a very great obstacle in the path of our own home literary progress. But to go into this is to enter upon subjects which are very familiar, and as it is a rule of my profession that all the details of a controversy should be ignored and theoretically forgotten after the controversy has been settled by an agreement, I think it would perhaps suit you, as it will certainly suit me, to follow that rule. This I do not believe to be an occasion to thresh over what is happily now only old straw. It is rather the time and the occasion to exchange felicitations over the harvest which we lx-lieve is to be shared by both our countries. I myself think it idle to inquire, and very much outside of the real question of justice at the bottom, to inquire or to speculate in what proportions the division of that harvest may possibly be made. It seems quite enough to see that you English authors who are here to-night, and I am happy to see one or two of my American friends of the same category, and all their American brethren are hereafter not to see the whole fruits of their labour reaped by other people; and if there was no other benefit to accrue to the public at large from this, than the acquisition of what I hope will be an easier conscience, I think there will be a good deal gained for them as well. But, ladies aud gentlemen, I very heartily believe that this is not all that has l>een provided for, for independently and far beyond such considerations as I have merely mentioned, it should be reineinbered that by these contemporaneous acts of justice to authors, the declaration of the Government of your own country as to the existing law, and the new statute of the United States followed by the proclamation of the President, there has been removed a very just cause of international irritation, and one too, if I I may say so, that is felt most by a very influential class of people in both countries, and by that peculiar class who are best able to make them- selves heard, and make their troubles known. But, in addition to all this, I believe there has been provided a new stimulus to literary effort, which I think will lie felt long and on both sides of the Atlantic, and I am sure, ladies and gentlemen, that you will join me in hoping that in this new phase of our community of interest and anticipation, there may be found a new assurance of an exten- sion in other directions of that goodwill and good understanding which are so important to both our countries, and which I am sure you will agree with me in thinking it is so fitting should exist between us. The Chairman.—Ladies and Gentlemen, I have the honour to propose the next toast—the toast of "The Society of Authors." Now, if I fail, as I am perfectly certain to fail, in doing justice to this toast, I hope I may be recommended to mercy on the ground that it was only yesterday that I received notice that it would be my pleasant duty to propose it. I had supposed, up to that time, that the toast would have been entrusted to one of the distinguished visitors here to-night, but as I am asked to do it, of course I must do the best I can. Now, it seems to me that a combination among authors is one of the most remarkable signs of the times. Not a great many years ago, it would hardly have been believed that authors would have combined together in a Society. It was supposed that they lacked the elements of cohesion, but I am assured that this Society is very flourishing, that it is increasing in numbers every day, and therefore, it is perfectly certain that this opinion that used to be held can be held no longer. It is very desirable that authors should combine together to get as good a remuneration as they are entitled to in respect of their works. The labouring man is always telling us that he does not get the proper proportion of the value that he creates; he is always telling us that the middleman or the capitalist runs away with an undue share of the profits. Now, I suppose there is no industry in this country, in which the value created by authors—the true value is less in i  ## p. 75 (#479) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 7S l>n>i>ortion to what they receive than in the case of literary men—the value is enormous in respect of the very small proportion of the goods of this world thai find their way into tin? pockets of authors. The Society does, I believe, very good work in helping young authors, and I suppose of all the helpless people in the whole world a young author is just about the most helpless, and the most at the mercy of men of business. I have already observed that you, the Society of Authors, have carried gratitude to its extreme limits in suggesting that I should take the chair here to-night. Now I will venture to say with regard to the Society of Authors, that if you have a fault it is that you are too virtuous. You are too guileless; there is too much of the milk of human kindness about you. You are too simple-minded; you trust too much in your simplicity to the justice of your cause. Now, allow me to say that you will never get what I consider to be a really good Law of Copyright passed in England, either by the powers that l>e, or with the powers that may be, without agitation; and, I do not believe that the Society of Authors quite understands either the arts or the necessity of agitation. I do not mean to say, of course, that you should march in procession to the Reform Tree in Hyde Park, with Lord Tennyson and Mr. Besant at your head; I do not even suggest that you should go to Trafalgar Square and wave red flags. But what I do suggest is that you will never get what you want until you use the vast influence that you possess to get the assistance of the newspaper press. You must induce the newspaper press to take up your case unremittingly and enthusiastically, and without that I do not lK-lieve you will get what you want. I think the Society would do well to take to heart the Scrip- tural parable of the importunate widow. It is to be regretted that while we have met here to-night to congratulate America on the skill and success of their own Copyright, that we Englishmen should still have to groan under a Copyright that is unjust, unintelligible, and grotesque, and is condemned by every person who knows anything at all about it. I hope the Society of Authors will take good heart, and that they will leave no stone unturned to obtain what I l>elievc are just rights here. The toast is, "The Society of Authors." Mr. James Bryce, M.P.—Mr. Chairman, Mr. Lincoln, Ladies, and Gentlemen, I have the honour- able duty entrusted to me of proposing the toast of our Benefactors, "the American Copyright League," and I am asked to couple it with the name of Mr. Brander Matthews. Ladies and Gentlemen, we thank the American Copyright League for what they have done for us, and we also salute and congratulate them as the victors in a long and arduous struggle. How long and how arduous that struggle has l>eeu, perhaps very few can under- stand, except those who have from time to time visited America and taken opportunities there of ascertaining how great, were the difficulties which confronted the advocates of International Copy- right. They hod to overcome the difficulties which the extremely technical procedure of the American Congress presents; they had to over- come the argument that the effect of Copyright would l>e to make books dearer to the American public, and they had to cut deeper still, and to defend the nature of literary property itself, and to prove that a man has, and ought to have, the same right of property in, and the same beneficial enjoyment of, his ideas, as he has of the labour of his hands. I remember reading, with a good deal of entertainment, some of the debates that passed in the American House of Representatives, when this Bill was being debated. There was one Member in particular, who did the honour to a book, published upon American institutions by myself, of selecting it as an illustration of the evils which would follow from the recognition of International Copyright. He said, " Here is a l>ook which is published for six dollars; it could be printed, and bound, and brought out in a convenient and elegant form for three dollars; and it is nothing but the ruthless avarice of the author and the publisher that pre- vents this from being done." Now, all these difficulties, and many more difficulties, which it would take too long to enumerate to you, have been overcome by the patience, and the zeal, and the tact, the untiring perseverance and the un- quenchable hopefulness of our friends of the American Copyright League, and we rejoice in their success on account of the admirable earnest- ness and public spirit which they have shown, even more than in respect of the benefits which we hope ■will accrue to British authors; and I want to say in passing, that we ought not to lx> ashamed of expecting benefits for British authors. They are, as they have often told us, a downtrodden and necessitous class, and they an" a class which is debarred from many of the opportunities that other classes enjoy, of raising their remuneration. They consist, I will not say of unskilled labourers, but certainly of unorganised lalxmrers, and, therefore, they are quite unable to get up a strike, and I do not know that any philanthropist has offered to protect them, even by an eight hours' law. But there is a better reason still why those of us who have watched the progress of this cause in America, rejoice over the success of the Copyright League; it is a victory for honesty—it is a victory of enlightened public opinion. It is the greatest testimony that has been given in our time of the power of opinion expressed by a small circle F 2  ## p. 76 (#480) ############################################# 76 THE AUTHOR. of cultivated men, to permeate and leaven the whole people. It was authors themselves that began this movement. I should like; to mention in particular some among those to whom we are indebted (because we ought to seize this opportunity of making up for the lukewarmness of our own press in acknowledging their services) the services of Mr. Lowell, who gave the unrivalled influence of his name and reputation very readily on every occasion. Let me mention also four American writers, probably known to many of you, who have done yeoman service in this contest—Mr. Edward Eggleston, Mr. R. U. Johnson, Mr. R. W. Gilder, and Mr. E. C. Stedman—and I desire to add to these the name of the gentleman who is going to respond, and I believe in whose house it was that the Copyright League was first started, a gentleman who, since that date, has given unfailing attention and earnest labour in endeavouring to promote its objects; I mean Mr. Brander Matthews. Nor would it be right to omit the names of three other gentlemen also, two of them eminent politicians who took up the cause and fought it with much warmth,—both of them authors, as well as politi- cians—Henry Cabot Lodge and Theodore Roose- velt; one of them a publisher, Mr. George Haven Putnam. Well, Gentlemen, there is one point more t > which I must advert in commemorating the services of the Copyright League. It is one to which your attention has already been called in the speech of Mr. Lincoln. This is an Act which rivets the bonds of friendship between the English branch of our people and that now larger branch of our people which inhabits the United States, and we may reflect with some pleasure that it is by literary men more than by anyone else, that the two main branches of the English-speaking race are united and taught to sympathise with one another. It is by our literature that we, the English of to-day, are known in America; it is by our poets and our novelists that our manners, our habits, our daily life is known; and in the same way it is by the authors of America—it is by writers like Mr. Charles Dudley Warner, whom I see here to-night, Mr. Bret Harte, Mr. Howells, Mr. Henry James, Mr. Henry Nelson Page, Miss Jewett, Mrs. Deland, Mr. Harris, Mr. Edward Eggleston, Mr. George Cable, Mrs. Burnett, and many others—it is by them that we in England are taught to know what is the life, what are the thoughts, and beliefs, and aspirations of the Ameri- can branch of our race; and feeling that, I feel that we may see with warm satisfaction the removal of what was a cause of heartburning between English authors and the American people, and an injury to American authors themselves, since it injured their remuneration while it emphasized the political severance of the two counties by preventing an English author from feeling that he was at home wherever the English tongue was spoken. There was a time when we used to boast that the drum of the British army followed the rising sun over the world. We may boast now, and we can boast, in a far higher sense, of the Empire which has been won by the literature of England and America, an Empire which is more wide, and which is far more enduring, because no political dangers can threaten it. And at this moment, when we congratulate American authors on the act of justice and of friendship which they have secured, we may remember not without pride, that a British or an American author now addresses an audience which consists of one-half of civilised mankind, and we may hope that the sense of the power and responsibility which the vastness of that audience carries with it, will stimulate still further the imagination of our authors, and will enlarge the range of their thoughts with the widening process of the suns. Mr. Brander Matthews.—My Lord, Ladies, and Gentlemen, it is greatly to be regretted that this toast could not be responded to by the Presi- dent of the Copyright League, Mr. Lowell, or by either of its Vice-Presidents, Mr. Stedman or Dr. Eggleston, or by its energetic secretary, Mr. Johnson. They could explain to you far better than I can whatever is doubtful and obscure in the Act which has just been passed. Since my arrival in England I have been somewhat suqirised to discover that there are certain English authors who do not understand the American Copyright Law, and there are others who do not believe in it. Their attitude towards the new American Copy- right Law is not unlike that of the American young lady towards the Multiplication Table: she said that " she never could learn the Multiplication Table, and what was more, she did not believe it was so." About 10 years ago, Mr. Gilder, the editor of the Century Magazine, went to Wash- ington to urge a Copyright treaty then under consideration. The Secretary of State heard him with patience, and then said, "Mr. Gilder, I do not hear any loud popular demand for this thing." Now that was true; for 5o years the authors of America had been asking for some kind of Copy- right arrangement with England, but there was not that " loud popular demand for the thing" which a politician could not afford to ignore. There is nothing whatever wanted only by artists, authors, or musicians, which can be got without agitation. If there had been a "loud popular demand" in England for Copyright reform, the Bill which you are advocating would have become law in the present session. I l)elieve if an author wants any- thing from the public he must ask for it boldly and often; it is for that purpose the American Copy-  ## p. 77 (#481) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 77 right League was formed now eight years ago. It was intended to excite sympathy, to focus public opinion; and the authors belonging to the League gave meetings, and lectures, anil dinners; they wrote articles; they issued pamphlets; and they listened to sermons. They enlisted the aid of the journalists, and of the teachers, and of the clergy. It was at their suggestion, and especially by the zeal of Mr. Putnam, that the publishers were organised into an allied league; and yet at the end of five years of hard work all we could do was to report progress. All that time we had been urging a Hill which was a simple authors' Copyright. It granted Copyright to the foreigner without any condition whatever, being in that resjK'Ct like the admirable law which exists in France to-day. Then, at that time we received word that if we were willing to modify our Bill and to make manufacture in the United States a condition of Copyright the journeymen printers of America, a very widely organised and strong body, would lend us their assistance. They promised us also the sympathy and aid of all the allied labour organisa- tions of the United Suites. Well, these were too valuable allies to refuse; and after a very severe debate in the councils of the League we amended our Bill. We laboured for three years longer, the printers gave us loyal assistance, and the Bill baa l>ecome a law. That law is not perfect; I am afraid that there are few perfect laws in either country; but that law will do one thing, it will put a stop to the habit of piracy—which is a survival from our former colonial dependence. I am afraid that now and again an English author will still be pirated in the Uniteil States, just as even now there are American authors pirated every month in England. The Act is imperfect, but it is only a little more imperfect than the existing English Act. We demand manufacture as a condition precedent to Copyright, and you insist on prior publication. Imperfect as the law is, it puts the American and the foreigner on exactly the same level. We have granted to the foreign author what we have granted to the American author— for the American author cannot now have Copy- right unless his book is manufactured in America. In one respect the American law is more liberal to the English than the English law is to the American. Under the new law now the English novelist can reserve his exclusive right to dramatize his story in the United States, a right still denied to vou in this countrv. The laws of both countries are very imperfect, but they are very much letter than they were. When I think of them I am reminded of the remark of the old negro to the parson who was conducting a series of revival meetings. Said the negro to the parson, "You do not know what a power of good your preaching has done us; why in my own family here since we have been sitting under you we have given up evil- speaking and profane swearing, lying, and stealing, and cheating—to a considerable extent." Professor Minto.—My Lord, Ladies, and Gen- tlemen, it was only yesterday I received a summons from Mr. Besant, and an intimation that I was to speak to this toast. I cheerfully responded, because it seems to me to be significant of the generous friendship and esprit dc corps of this Society. I am no longer resident in London, and it is only by accident that I am here to-night, and I believe that is the reason why I have been selected to propose this important toast. The selection is intended a,s a friendly compliment, and looking at it in that light I warmly appreciate the compliment, and I will repress any tendency to reflect whether after all perhaps the choice is not due to the fact that only the guileless person from the country could be, found who was foolish enough to spoil his dinner by afterwards having to make a speech. For- tunately, the toast is safe in any hands, and I must confess that having had only since yesterday to think over the subject, and to collect my ideas, I feel very much more disposed to sit down at once than to inflict any speech upon you. I must say that if I had teen consulted regarding the name of the toast I should have preferred to spenk not of American literature but of American writers of English literature, for English literature is one, and if, as a Scotchman, I may be allowed a theo- logical allusion, I would say that the distinction between American literature and English literature is really not one of "substance " but of " i>ersons." The English and the American literature is the same in substance. The fact is, that American literature has no separate individuality any more than Scotch literature or Irish literature. Swift and Goldsmith are equally classics, so is Sir Walter Scott, and even Burns, although lie wrote a dialect; and I think we may claim a Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poc, with whom Oliver Wendell Holmes and Bret Harte, ought to be amongst the English classics. In saying that American literatim; has no separate individuality I would not be mis- understood to mean that American literature is imitative. But a survey of too years of American literature (with which I do not propose to trouble you) would not bear out the same. The fact is, that it is absurd to say that the influences that operate upon literature as a whole, and in the natural user, had operated on writers on both sides of the Atlantic. Take any period that you like: take the very beginnings of American Hterature, when Charles Ripton Brown wrote. The influence that stirred literature is not by any means through English channels, and the fact is, that writers on both sides have been working to build up the great  ## p. 78 (#482) ############################################# 78 THE AUTHOR. fabric of English literature, giving and taking, and the Americans sometimes giving quite as much as they took. It seems to me that if it is the case that Washington Irving was influenced by Addison and the essayists of the 18th Century, it is not less true, as Mr. Dudley Warner, whose name I have the pleasure of coupling with this toast, will tell you, that Washington Irving had a very great influence upon the literature of this country. I also mentioned the great name of Edgar Allan Poe as the greatest master of one of the new forms of literature, the short story. The question is some- times asked whether America is likely to produce some new type of literature? Well, Sir, new types of literature are not common; they do not flourish on every hedge, and l>efore you can have a good type of literature you must have a man of genius to make it. Now, if the man comes and the hour in America, as the man and the hour came in English literature but once only—the time of Shakspeare—I have not the slightest doubt that the man would be welcomed by the authors of this country, but he will be welcomed not as the maker of a new type of American literature but as the maker of a new type of English literature. We should welcome his work, however racy of the soil it might be, however much it might be filled with what we are disposed to call Americanisms—we should welcome it as an addition to the wealth of the literature of our common tongue. At this late hour, of the evening I will only venture to say this in all seriousness, we have present among us to- night a good many American authors, among them Mr. Warner, a distinguished gentleman, whose name I have to couple with this toast. He is an example of those who make for that solidarity of our literature of which I spoke. I ask you to drink to the health and prosperity of American authors. Mr. Charles Dudley Warner. — My Lord, Ladies, and Gentlemen, I have, in-the first place, the pleasant duty of .thanking the' Society of Authors and the literary people of London who have, been good enough to come here, for the cordial expressions which I have heard with regard to my compatriots who are. present here and else- where. We are not English in America. We are made up of all the peoples' that an inscrutable Providence has given us for purposes I do not quite understand. We mingle there to produce a race, the destiny and quality of which'is practically yet unknown. But underneath all this, the seething struggle which is going on in the United States, the guiding impulse has always been that regard for law and order and Christian civilisation which has had its best exemplification in the Island of Great Britain, and Scotland,-and Ireland. We have besides a training in traditions which are as old as England itself. We have always looked with a great deal of affection, and a good deal of wrath sometimes, towards this side of the Atlantic. We have been trained from age to age in the literature which is common to both countries, and which Professor Bryce likened to the drum which followed the sun round with the English flag. That is all true; and besides, we have the American, the English, the Australian, the Canadian—I think I may say now, the Egyptian — literature; it is all one practically; that is to say, the great English conquering language for our possession; and if the time ever comes which tho prophets ever like to harp upon, from Isaiah down, and the poets like to dwell upon, the great battle of Armageddon, where civilisation and barbarism contend for the mastery in this world, I know that the English flag and the American flag on the same field and the same side of the line, will fall or rise together. I am, my Lord, in a good deal of embarrassment in replying to this toast which is limited, for I have learnt since I have lieen in London, from one of the most authoritative of your English Reviews, that there is no such thing as American literature, and very small prospect, and a widening horizon of there ever being any such thing. Now we had thought in our humble way that there was, that there had been a little something contributed to this great—you do not know what the Mississippi river is—it is a large river—the Mississippi river of literature; and we did not require any argument on our side from anybody on this side to say that we had contributed a little something. It was very much like the gentleman in Cincinnati who met the man from Ohio. I need not explain to you that Ohio is not the capital of Massachusetts. Walking along the street, he saw a gentleman opposite, and he said, "You don't know that man, perhaps?" "No, I do not know him; who is he?" "Well, that is Mr. Cackendorff; he is the ablest lawyer in the State of Ohio." "Well," he said, "I never heard of Mr. Cackendorff, and how do you prove that he is the greatest lawyer in the State of Ohio?" "Oh," he said, " you do1 not have to prove it, he admits it himself." We admit, we know that we have had from time to time in the old times, a little • literature of the • old English flavour, kept perhaps and < imported ■ back and forth,- like the cheese which we make and send over and cure, and bring back and- think it is English cheese; and we have had of late years, since the shekels Of silver have released the American man from localism, sporadically in; the west and in the south and west, and in the middle States now and then, something that had a flavour and type of its own, and -'which, although English in-its form and English in its language, was not Great Britain,  ## p. 79 (#483) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 79 but which was most distinctly American. We thought we had that, and we have not apologised for it or been ashamed of it. There was some time a great English literature not provincial, not insular, the. literature which we all look to. I do not know that it pxists to-day. I have not, in the four weeks I have been in London, been able to read all the smart newspapers of the place, but it seemsto me that perhaps the literature of England is somewhat of a local literature. Your novelist,- your humorous papers, your newspaper press take VP the affairs, t}iat interest the people of these islands. We have also-in America a local litera- ture which interests us. I believe they have in Australia. I am certain they have in Canada. It is just possible, that in these days of extraordinary progress everywhere, literature is getting a little localised, and that it will take another great period of upheaval like that which • preceded the Eliza- lx>tlian literature to make a literature which will go without charge and without tariff or custom house, all over the world. I have some belief in that, because I know very well that the language of England, the English language to-day is the prevailing and the conquering language of the civilised world, and that, in speaking on behalf of the little 62 millions in America, I think the English language never before had such an oppor- tunity to be the language of the world as it has to-day, and that the author in Piccadilly or Pall Mall never before had such a chance as he has to-day to become the all embracing, comprehending author of a great civilised world. I am not making a speech; I want to say about the Copyright Act, however, a word. It is perfectly well known that all the American authors are rich. We have all been made prosperous by 1 o per cent.; the pub- lishers know it; they are all impoverished by our exactions. Now 1 o per cent, on a book has made us rich, and this enormous prospect of 62,000,000 of readers—of cabdrivers and millionaires—is no doubt going to make all the English authors prosperous and rich. I myself rejoice in that prospect for them, because it is merely a matter of arithmetic, that if you sell at a cheap rate of 10 cents a copy 10,000 things you would get about 10 dollars in your pocket. You see how the wealth will flow in. I hope no extravagant ideas will l>e raised in the minds of English authors in regard to this; and I merely throw this out by the way in pissing along. The author all over the world lias never had any great recog- nition; he has been asked to eulogise, to write Laureate odes, occasionally to dine at the lower end of the table. I myself sometimes wonder that the authors do not, as I think Professor Bryce suggested, strike; and I have sometimes wondered what would l>ecome of the rest of the world if we did. What, for instance, would become of my friends the publishers and the printers? What, for instance, would become of all those intelligent, people who give you their impression of what has gone on in the world, and what the world ought to have, and what the general opinion is after they have read the morning papers? I wonder very much what would happen if the literary folk, the unconsidered folk who write in the magazines and in the books, were one day to strike, and say, "For the next year we won't do anything." Privately I do not know that it would be a great misfortune if a book was not published within the next 10 years. But I am simply speaking of the effect on conversation if the literary folk were happening to strike for a year. You have some- times crossed on an Atlantic steamer, and perhaps you would notice that about the second day without any newspapers the conversation lan- guishes, and the people have not anything to talk about. The thing has somehow died out. The ordinary people—and I am quite one of them— have to fill up every morning with something that the editors have said in order to go on with the daily conversation. Now, I am quite serious, however, in standing up for a certain dignity of literature, for I very well know for historical con- siderations that the thing which endures and lasts in all time is that little thing which we call literature. You build your monuments, your warehouses, your railroads, your great factories, your showy palaces for a generation or two, but somewhere in that time, in that period of great prosperity, somebody sings a song or makes a little poem—it may l>e nothing more than a. sheet of paper. There is the pyramid, and there is the Trafalgar Square and New York, and there is San Francisco, teeming with wealth and with ostentation, but when all these things have passed you know very well, you who have collected the little service of Greek and of Roman intelligence, the little, records of thought and motion that some poet has preserved, you very well know that that little thing, that one sheet of paper, something, as I may say, light as air, as a bird's song—I assure you is the thing that you love and that helps the. world when all the rest has faded away like a dream. Mb. Arthub a Beckett.—Ladies and Gentle- men, it is my fate to have to propose the con- cluding toast of this evening. I have to propose the health of our noble Chairman. I think you will agree with me he has performed to-night the duties of his office in a most satisfactory manner. He has other claims upon our respcot, as it was he who undertook the conduct of the Copyright Act through Parliament, and got it as far as Par- liament would allow it to go. It. is not yet beyond  ## p. 80 (#484) ############################################# 8o THE AUTHOR. the second reading, but Lord Monkswell was able to extort a promise from the Lord Chancellor that sooner or later possibly—probably later—the sub- ject would occupy the attention of the Government. As it is very late I would like to bring my speech to a conclusion, although I feel that you would like to hear what I have to say on the Triple Alliance and other subjects. But I would like to tell you one little anecdote in compliment to our brethren, who, I believe, generally finish their speeches with a short story, because it calls attention to the fact that the feeling of fraternity which we experience in England towards our American brethren is growing on the other side of the Atlantic. Not very long ago it was my pleasure to meet a gentleman who, from the manner in which he spoke, except for the American accent, I should have taken to be a native of this land. He told me that there was one omission which he found in England, and it was a serious omission. He was very well satisfied in England, but this omission was in connexion with West- minster Abbey. There was a statue absent from Westminster Abbey which he would like to have seen there. I wondered for the moment what that statue should be. I remembered that all my colleagues here present were living, and he said, "Well, Sir, he is an Englishman who l>elongs to a very good old English family." I was rather surprised at this, because I understood that Americans did not think much of old families, they considered that beneath them. No, those coat of arms he bad often seen about us. "The old English gentleman, the statue of whom I should like to see in Westminster Abbey," he said, "is George Washington." I told him we were making preparations to increase the size of West- minster Abbey, and after the necessary alterations were completed that, no doubt that statue would appear. He went on further, and said, "You should not only have George AVashington but you should have his namesake, because I think that those two Georges have done more, though in different ways, to make the two nations what they now are. The other George is George Farmer, or, as yon call him, ' Farmer George.'" The Chairman.—Ladies and Gentlemen, I shall not make a speech at this late hour in the evening. I can only say this: that it has afforded me very great pleasure to preside, ami I shall lie very glad if the result is to bind more closely the ties of friendship which at present subsist between England and the United States of America. The proceedings then terminated. , OVERHEARD. I. At the Black Jack Club. HE was an elderly gentleman with a red nose, and an irascible manner. It was late— towards midnight—but the room was still full of men. "I have been to the Dinner of the Society of Authors. That's why I am in a dress coat. I don't suppose I have had on evening dress for 20 years and more. Why they asked me I don't know. Why I went I don't know. There wasn't a soul in the place that I knew. Authors! It makes me sick. Waiter, a Scotch and soda. Makes a man sick, I say, to see a couple of hundred men and women dressed up to the eyes, sitting down to a tip-top dinner, with champagne flowing like bitter beer, and a band playing, and noble lords about the tables, calling themselves authors. Authors ! Why, when I was a young man there were authors worth the name. Douglas Jerrold, and Angus Reach, and Brough, and good old Thack—what did you say? Wouldn't have dared to call him Thack? What do you know about it? You weren't born. I say there were authors then, and no mistake, and between 'em all not a single guinea, most days of the week. How should there l>e any? The publishers took all the money, and we scarified 'em with epigrams. That's how we treated 'cm; made their lives a burden to 'em. Look at the fellows now. They can afford to pay a guinea apiece for their dinner. They get up a Society which can afford to ask thirty or forty guests at a guinea apiece, and then they dare, to grumble at their publishers! Even when they can pay a guinea apiece for their dinner! What's the world coming to? Waiter, another Scotch and soda. "They asked me. Why? I don't know; I hate 'em. I hate all the successful men. What have they done to be. successful when I have been all my life a failure? Why should the world run after 'em, and praise 'em, and buy their books? They never ran after mine. Of course, it's the log rolling does it—the disgraceful log rolling. There's that new boy—what's his name? What is there in his things? Nothing. I give you my word— nothing. No imagination, no romance, no dialogue —nothing. All is creeping, real, natural, low. You read a page, and you think it is the real soldier talking. We knew better in our time; no common, vulgar Tommy Atkins for us. But his log rolled, and now he makes money. I daresay he got fifty pounds—I shouldn't wronder— fifty pounds by a single book, though he is but a What's that? Two thousand pounds  ## p. 81 (#485) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 81 by a single book? Two thousand pounds? You don't know, Sir, what you talk about. Nobody ever could make so much money out of a book. Waiter, another Scotch and soda. Well, they didn't ask me to speak, or I could have told them something. Grumbling against their publishers, when they can afford to drive to the place in broughams, and to dress their wives in silk, and to pay a guinea down for a dinner! Grumbling! Why they ought to be on their knees, the tears of gratitude rolling down their cheeks, before these most generous of men. I suppose they asked me l>ecause they wanted to bribe me into silence. Well, they won't succeed. Waiter, another Scotch and soda—big Scotch, little soda. Their champagne was good. But I've got a batch of books on my table at home, and, by gad, I'll scarify 'em. I'll stick in the knife and I'll turn it round. I'll let 'em know that the good old times are not gone. A guinea for a dinner! In our days it was eighteen- pence or two bob at most. And a band to play all the time! Authors! Authors! The good old name is being dragged in the mud. Never mind, I'll scarify 'em."—[Goes home and does.] II. From a Letter. "The Authors' Dinner was just lovely. I went with my husband, and we sat next to quite pleasant people. Everybody had a great card with the names of all the company, so that you only had to run down the list for a name and then look at the table to which it belonged, to see anybody you wanted. Unfortunately, I got the tables wrong, and after gazing upon Mr. Rider Haggard till I knew his features by heart, I found that it was a certain learned professor, and I had to begin all over again. This discovery I only made at the end of the dinner, when it was too late to set things right. Now I shall always think of Mr. llider Haggard J DP as an elderly gentleman with a red face and greyish hair, which I am told is not at all like him. For the same reason, I came away hopelessly mixed with Mr. Walter Pater, Mr. William Black, Professor Huxley, Mr. George Dumaurier, and half-a-dozen others who were there. So that most of the good I got from the dinner was from reading the list. There was a band playing all the time, but softly so as not to disturb the talk. Authors, I was pleased to find, can talk. They talk as fast as they can all the time. After the dinner the speeches began. But very soon the authors rebelled against the speeches. They wouldn't listen. In vain the toastmaster begged for silence. They only talked all the more. It seems a pity that they should have any oratory at all if they dislike it so much. I was told that there was no jealousy of the speakers or wish to be themselves the speakers that made them refuse to listen. English authors won't speak, and can't speak. Many of them, if they thought that they had to speak, would not come. In the same way, they can't listen, and won't listen. We ought to have an Authors' Society in New York, with just such a dinner every year." III. In the Train. The speaker was a gentleman of somewhat seedy exterior. His hat alone proclaimed that things were not going well with him. His eye was restless ami perhaps shifty. "Have I l>een to the Authors' Dinner? No, I haven't. I wouldn't go if I was asked. Authors? Look here now. As to authors. I've long suspected, and now I know. It's all a swindle. There ain't any authors in the Society at all, except one. There ain't any Society. There's only one man. He keeps up the racket for his own purposes: he pretends there's five hundred—six hundred—any- thing you like. Will he publish a list of the Members? Not he. Will he tell us who the Members are? Not he. There ain't any Members at all, I tell you. He persuades a few people to come along and dine together every year. It's very easy. First he gets A to meet B, then C to meet A and B, then D to meet A and B and C, and so on. That's all. That's the way it's done. As for there being any real authors in the Society, or any Society at all, or anything except that one man, I tell you that it's ail bunkum and rubbish. They've got an office? Well, yes, they have. It's a thing, I suppose, that costs about ten pounds a year. And a Journal? Well, yes, they have. There's a thing they call a Journal—circulation about twenty. Office and Journal both paid for by the same man. Well, as you say, I suppose they do put out a balance sheet showing about a thousand a year income. What's easier than to make up a balance sheet? I bring out balance sheets every day for the authors, and I know. You make 'em show anything you please. The Society publishes books?' Suppose they do. Suppose they do bring out books and advertise second editions. What's easier than to call out second edition when you've sold five-and-twenty copies? Don't tell me. I've done it myself—often. Gar—r—r!"  ## p. 82 (#486) ############################################# 82 THE AUTHOR. IV. At a Table'., "This dinner is only a beginning of what such an annual gathering; ought to- l>e. What the Royal1 Academy dinner does for Art, this dinner should do for Literature. That is to say, if it is good for Literature to have princes as guests, then we should have princes; if. it is good for Literature to have ambassadors, presidents of societies and institutions, and great men in other lines, then we should have these illustrious persons. It should be a dinner which confers distinction on the recipient of an invitation. It should lie, like the Academy dinner, one of the great functions of the season. This it can easily l>ecome if literary men and women choose to make it so. The dinner indicates the power which should, and does already, lie behind, con- cealed, but felt—a power which will be always making rough things smooth, and causing the sweater and the shark to have uneasy times, and making it more and more difficult for the old- fashioned Fraud to continue in his fraudulency. The future of the Society opens up the most splendid possibilities. Only let us awaken, little by little, and maintain confidence among literary men, and we shall carry out a programme never dreamed of by the victims of the bad old times." LITERARY MAXIMS. 1. Popularity is a sure sign of popularity. 2. There are only two ways of succeeding: rise high enough or sink low enough. 3. To read a book, it is necessary to look into it: to review, all that may be necessary is to look at it. 4. Any fool can find fault: any knave may destroy. 5. Four stages in Art: the ideal, the idea, the word, and the work. 6. In construction or in .criticism, competency depends on the harmony of the first with the last. 7. Understand before you know: know before you judge. 8. Art, like nature, never shows her best on the surface. 9. The reviewer should never forget, that he is a judge, often a very bad one. 10. It is easy to judge: it is hard to judge justly. 11. Even reviewers have rights: some of them even a sense of right. 12. All the fog is not in the other man's head. 13. If you will write for money, write for the' many. 14. A first failure is not always a sure sign of genius. . 15. To please the public may be gratifying to the soul, but is not always satisfying to the body. 16. Put your heart in your work, if you ha\e got one to put. 17. If you wish to be taken seriously, write satirically. 18. To know everything one must be a young man or a myth. 19. 'Tis a wise author that knows himself after a course of reviews. 20. Remember that all men do not see satire, even with a telescope. 21. Do not read every review of your works: it is healthier for your soul, to respect even your inferiors. 22. In reviewing there is no trial by jury: your peers are too busy, working or loafing, to review anything. 23. To view is to see once: to review is to see twice—or not at all. 24. The value of the collection is not estimable by the size of the congregation. 25. As an art, painting is more popular than preaching. 26. Unpopularity is no sure proof of superiority. 27. When a book is unintelligible to you, this Is invariably due to the author's insanity or im- becility.: tell him so, lest he should feel neglected! Phinlay Glenelg. ♦■»■♦ NOTES AND NEWS. WILL our readers be so good as to consider carefully the suggestions as to the Authors' Club? It is proposed to create what is called a first-class club on the level, say, of the Garrick, the Savile, or the Arts, of which the first condition of membership shall be some connexion with the literary life. Readers of this journal understand by this time that one of the chief objects contemplated by the Society is the union of those who follow Literature, after the manner observed by those who follow the Art of Painting. The Society is such an association, but it is not enough, because it is only in evidence on such occasions as the annual dinner, when about one- fourth of the Members attend. Besides, the Society is necessarily engaged mainly upon the business side of the calling. A club of position and repu- tation would represent the social and successful  ## p. 83 (#487) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 83 side. It would always lx> a standing proof that men of letters can unite together, are independent, and have risen above the contempt which long years of helpless dependence brought upon them. The Club must begin with 5oo Members at least. It is suggested that all Members of the Society shall Ixj always eligible without entrance fee. A form is enclosed which binds the signer to nothing more than sympathy with the object proposed, and his intention to belong, provided he approves of the prospectus when decided. It is not yet decided whether or no to admit ladies to meml>ership. If they are not admitted I hope we may at once proceed to the establishment of the Authors' House, a scheme in which I place great faith. This House would be especially useful to ladies. The Pension List for this present year of grace displays the same disregard of the Resolution of 1837, which has always, year after year, under every Government, marked this little piece of administration. The Resolution provided that pensions to the amount of £1,200 every year might l)c bestowed upon persons distinguished for Litera- ture, Science, and Art. Fifteen pensions are granted this year. Three are given to persons distinguished in Literature and Art. Nine are given to widows or daughters of persons so dis- tinguished. Four are, as I think, wrongfully, and in breach of trust, l>estowed upon ladies whose fathers or husbands were connected with the naval, military, or civil service. The country votes a sum of money for persons distinguished in Litera- ture, Science, and Art. The Government give it away to persons totally unconnected with Literature, Science, and Art. When shall we have this miserable little grant administered as was intended? And when shall we get the Resolution amended so as to make it impossible for these jobs to lie committed? The Annual Dinner, a full report of which is contained in this number, was held on Thursday the 16th. Every single seat in the great room of the Hotel Metropole was taken. There were 216 guests in all, of whom 40 were guests of the Society, and the rest were Memlxrs or Associates. It was cheering to reflect, that this great gathering really, contained no more than the fourth part of our present following. The occasion, too, called forth several letters—notably one of congratulation from our President, Lord Tennyson; one from the Bishop of Oxford; one from Cardinal Manning, through Mr. A. W. a Beckett, speaking of the interest with which he regarded the Society; from Mr. George Meredith, who was prevented from attending; ami many others. There was a general feeling that the Society had never before met together under more promising conditions, or in greater numbers, or, to descend to smaller considera- tions, to a better dinner. The animation of the evening seemed to show that everyl>ody was satisfied with his neighbours—a very satisfactory result of a very anxious distribution of places. Of course there were one or two faces which we missed. Bret Harte, at the last moment, was compelled to stay away. Henry James could not come; we were just too late for T. B. Aldrich. Professor Jebb, Austin Dobson, Edmund Yates, Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Hardy, Hall Caine, Mrs. Oliphant, Mrs. Cashel Hoey, Edna Lyall, and many others could not come. The list of those who were present, however, printed in full with the report, will show that English and American Literature was well represented in all its branches. There have been, on previous occasions, sneers in certain papers at the record of the names, as present, of those who are not so well known as others in the profession. I think that this is a very unworthy line; in literature there are always men and women beginning at the bottom and going up. They are at various stages of the ladder when they come to us; even though they arc only beginning; though a single volume is as yet the whole of their literary baggage, they have a perfect right to belong to us, to call themselves authors, and to come to our dinner. They belong to the calling: they are fellow craftsmen. It is in litera- ture, in short, as with every other profession, there must be in it certain leaders, there must be rank and file; there must be more private soldiers than officers, yet all are fighting men. Four years ago, for instance, I was present at a great dinner—a very great dinner—given in the Hall of the High Court of Justice by the Law Institute to solicitors. There were many hundreds present. I do not rememl)er that anyone, speaking of this dinner, sneered at these hundreds for ljeing obscure, as they certainly were. I make this remark on this year's dinner, because such a sneer coidd hardly be made of such a gathering where there were so many leaders. This is the Holiday Number of the Author. Let us put away all our papers, straighten the stiffened ringers, lay down the pen, and go forth to rest in shady places. For my own part, I make of the ■  ## p. 84 (#488) ############################################# 84 THE AUTHOR. summer holiday an occasion, which only comes once a year, for reading the books which everybody has been talking about. I am not more than five or six years in arrears, and though I despair of ever quite catching up, I daresay there will be no more than five years' books in arrear when the, time conies for putting up the shutters. These can be cremated with me. Some men I can hardly look in the face without a blush; with others, thanks to an occa- sional ramble into the present, I am more easy. Since, for instance, I have read the "World's Desire " I feel more confidence in the presence of its authors. Why has the world taken so little notice of the wonderful allegory in that book? I can boldly meet Thomas Hardy face to face, because I have read the "Group of Noble Dames," and Budyard Kipling, l>ecause I can quote the " Light that Failed." There is nothing so delightful as to be working up arrears; nothing so truly restful as to let other people write for you. For this and other reasons, the August Number of the Author is shorter than its brethren. We have learned, with great regret, the death of Mr. James Runciman at the early age of 38. Mr. Runciman was one of the youngest of our Members, but not one of the least cordial. His early death has prevented him from doing full justice to his great—his very great—abilities. What he did achieve was marked by strength and firmness of drawing, a vivid imagination, and a clear eye. He could write verse with ease and grace; some of his pictures of certain strata of life will certainly last—at least beyond the time of many writers now more popular. Letter from a publisher: "I have offered you so much for your work. This sum buys the entire Copyright. Your request that I should leave you the American rights might have been granted a month ago. Under existing circumstances this is not to be thought of." In other words, what was worth so much when American Copyright was worthless, is worth no more though American Copyright doubles the publishers' returns. This is very remarkable justice. It makes one sigh for Jedburgh justice. The Manchester Guardian reports that a certain religions society has discovered a muddle in their accounts by which debts of "thousands of pounds for advertising" had not been brought forward in the balance sheets, so that the committees were personally liable. This society is not, we do hope and trust, our dear old friend who keeps a Literary Housemaid and sweats its victims with holy zeal. It would lm too dreadful to think that its committee, after such a long and successful course of sweating, should be itself sweated! No! No! The reward of the righteous is not often so thorough and so certain. Of "Literary" Associations, "Authors' Pub- lishing" companies and societies which promise poor, struggling authors help and pay, there is no end. A blight seems to settle, upon these associations. Nevertheless, one is pleased to give such publicity as is possible to nil new societies of the, kind. Here is one, for instance, called "The Authors' Publishing Association." The manager is one T. M. Field, of whom we know nothing, good or bad. His association receives members at 5s. a year, which is indeed cheap. It also runs a little magazine called Literary Land. The May number —containing 16 pages—is before us at this moment, so that it really does exist. Literary workers of all classes are invited to become meml^r?, particu- larly those who seek—but have not yet found—a remunerative return for their labours. This, they may perhaps believe, will be found for them in Literary L.and. Now, if this paper is to go on presenting 16 pages every month to the world it will remunerate—reckoning each article at three pages, and the pay at—is 5s. a page too high?—five authors a month or Co authors a year. If, there- fore, an author is so fortunate as to become one of this 6o he would receive, say, ios. in the year, out of which he would pay 5s. for the magazine and 5»'. for the association. For himself, 5*. will remain —a princely income. I daresay a good many sub- scribers will be found. It .seems hopeless to expect that people who aspire to literary success will bring the commonest rules of arithmetic, reason, and common sense to bear upon their hopes and their calculations. The "association" may mean well and honestly, but let young writers ask what any such association can do for anybody? There is no royal road to success—there are no back stairs to literary fame; every writer must with his own pen fight his own way to the, front. Yet another Society! This time it is the pro- spectus of the "London Copy Society." It has offices, and a secretary, but, as yet, neither directors, bankers, nor solicitors. Its modest capital is £ i ,ooo. It. proposes to become a syndicate for placing things in newspapers both here and in America. People are asked to pay a guinea a year in order to have a chance of being taken by the American and  ## p. 85 (#489) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 85 English journals through this agency. There are already a good many such syndicates in the field, and their experience is always the same, namely, that then! is little difficulty in placing writers of repute, but tliat it is absolutely impossible to place writers who have not yet made their name. Very likely this syndicate sees a way out of this difficulty. • The "Society" will also act as literary agents, and will establish a school for journalism. The subscribers will have to pay for the printing, mani- folding, stereotyping, and postage of their work to the "hundreds of journals" spoken of in the prospectus. Suppose one of them writes a novel. It would cost perhaps £80 to print. Another £20 might easily be spent in sending the work among the "hundreds of journals." Are young literary aspirants prepared to spend £100 on the very, very slender chance of an unknown writer l>eing accepted by the country press? As for the school of journalism, we wait to see who are the Professors and Lecturers in that school. From time to time there are sent to the Office cuttings from certain papers in which the truth, the whole truth, and a great deal more than the truth is frankly and generously told about this Society. In three or four cases we have held a little inquiry into the cause and origin of this generous amplification of the truth. It has been found in all that the paragraphs have been preceded, very strangely, by action on the part of our Secretary. For instance, the editor of the Universal Genius has refused to reply to a contributor nsking payment for a MS. which has appeared in the paper. The contributor, a Member of the Society, brings the case before the Secretary. The Secretary addresses a letter to the Editor. Result: (1) Cheque to the author. (2) Nasty one for the Society in the paper. Again, the editor or proprietor of the Bear Pit refuses to return a MS. sent to him by a writer for publication, or to answer any letters relating to that MS. The writer brings tin; case before the Society. The Secretary addresses a letter to that editor or proprietor. Result: (1) Return of the MS. to the author. (2) Nasty one for the Society in the paper. Moral—Obvious. Readers of Mrs. Oliphant's "Life of Laurence Oliphant" should read Mrs. Phillips' paper on Mr. Harris in the National Review of July. Those who possess the book should cut out the article and bind it up as an appendix, ljecause the article gives the other side of the question as seen by the friends of Mr. Harris. No denial is offered by the writer of the article of the facts as stated by Mrs. Oliphant. They remain, presumably, undeniable. From the point of view of Harris's disciples it is right, I suppose, and only what was to be expected, that a gentleman should be made to sell strawberries in the street, that a lady should be made to tlo menial work, and that a wedded pair should be separated. These things l>elong to spiritual levels, to which I, alas! cannot reach. Heaven itself is out of the reach of most of us, unless we can get to it with our own people and following our own manners and customs. At the same time, the paper of Mrs. Phillips is not only extremely interesting but extremely instructive, if only as showing what qualities there were in Harris which could attract such a man as Laurence Oliphant . And so much, I believe, the author of this beautiful biography would be the first to acknowledge. In every generation there arises a Harris, either in this country, or in America, or somewhere else. To every Harris there comes a Revelation, to every one a school of disciples, and every disciple is convinced that he sees the beginning of the end—and the assurance of the Second Coming of the Lord, when, by the aid of the Harris, all things shall be made straight. Walter Besant. THE AUTHORS' CLUB. AMEETING of the Preliminary Committee was held at the Society's offices on Thursday, July 23rd. Present: Mr. Walter Besant, Mr. Howard Collins, Mr. W. M. Colles, Mr. Oswald Crawfurd, Mr. Egmont Hake, Mr. Arthur Montc- fiore, and Mr. Vagg Walter, as Honorary Secretary ad interim. Mr. Walter reported that he had visited many houses to let in the vicinity of Piccadilly and else- where, anil sub mitted plans and drawings of certain houses which might seem suitable for the Club, with estimates for furniture and installation, and for the day-by-day management of the Club. After conversation it was Resolved to put forth the following Suggestions for the consideration of the Society, and of those who might be desirous of joining the Club, and to invite comment and further suggestions from all interested. 1. That it is desirable to found a Club whose first condition of meml)ership shall be a bona fide connexion with the life of Letters. 2. That, though the rules of the Society of Authors admit into that body as MchiIhts none but those who have actually produced at least one printed and published volume, the Club shall admit not only authors of  ## p. 86 (#490) ############################################# 86 THE AUTHOR. lmoks, but also . dramatists, journalists, authors of papers in reviews and magazines, editors of newspapers, journals, and maga- zines, professors, lecturers, and Fellows of colleges, men of science, scholars, and all gentlemen who in their public or private capacity shall advance the cause of Letters. 3. That since the first and most important side of a Club is its social side, the new Club should lie one in which the social attrac- tions should at least equal those of any other Club in London. 4. That the Club, though unconnected with the Society of Authors, should recognise and develop, as far as possible, the services rendered to the cause of Letters by that Society. 5. That the Club should be one of reasonable charges and reasonable living. 6. That the serious and practical side of the literary life should not be forgotten by the Club, but that, as occasion may arise, meet- ings and debates should be held or papers read on subjects connected with the practical Ride. 7. That ladies should be admitted either on ladies' nights or on ladies' afternoons, or to concerts or entertainments organized by the committee. 8. That Members should present to the library complete copies of their own works. g. That the entrance fee be ten guineas, and the annual subscription be five guineas; but that the first 5oo members be admitted without entrance fee. 10. That Members of the Society of Authors be always admitted without entrance fee. 11. That before proceeding farther, the opinion of the Members of the Society be ascer- tained on the matter, and that a book be opened at the office of the Society for the entrance of names of those who would wish to become original Members. 12. That the money requisite for first expenses be subscribed by the Members in the form of debentures at a certain interest, a method frequently adopted by clubs. 13. That as soon as sufficient names have been enrolled to warrant further proceeding, the preliminary committee should dissolve and be replaced by a Committee of Management elected by the original Members, with power to raise money by debentures, take pre- mises, purchase furniture, draw up rules, call meetings, and in all other ways act at* may be necessary for the foundation of the Club. 14. That the election of Members for the first year at least should be in the hands of the Committee of Management. 15. That these suggestions should be published in the Author, and that Members of the Society should Ik; earnestly requested to contribute their own opinions, addressed to the Secretary of the Society of Authors, 4, . Portugal Street, W.C. ♦■>■♦ INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT. L The President's Proclamation. From the " Times," July 2nd, 1891. Washington, July 1. PRESIDENT Harrison has issued a procla- mation which provides for granting Copy- right in the United States to citizens or subjects of Great Britain, France, Belgium, and Switzerland. The text of the proclamation is as follows :— "Whereas it is provided by Section i3 of the Act of Congress of March 3, 1891, that the said Act shall only apply to a citizen or subject of a foreign State or nation, when such foreign State or nation permits to citizens of the United States the benefit of Copyright on substantially the same basis as to its own citizens, or when such foreign State or nation is a party to an International agreement which provides for reciprocity in the granting of Copyright, by the terms of which agreement, the United States may, at their pleasure, become a party to such agreement; and whereas, satisfactory official assurances have been given in Belgium, France, Great Britain, the British posses- sions, and Switzerland, that the law permits to citizens of the United States the same benefit of Copyright as to their own citizens: Now, therefore, I, as President, do declare and proclaim that the first conditions specified in the said Section i3are now fulfilled in respect to the citizens and subjects of Belgium, France, Great Britain, and Switzer- land." This proclamation is preceded by a recital of the Copyright Act passed by the last Congress, a copy of the circular letter addressed to the United States Ministers abroad, and an able and exhaustive  ## p. 87 (#491) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. report to President Harrison, prepared- by' Mr. Moon, Third Assistant Secretary of State, inter- preting the law, and explaining why the operations of the law are limited to the four countries named in the proclamation, and why nations which are parties to the Berne agreement are excluded from the proclamation on that ground. II. The American Regulations. Washington, July 6. In pursuance of the provisions of the Copyright Act of March 3, 1891, Mr. Foster, Secretary of the Treasury, has prescribed the following regulations: 1. Copyrighted books and articles of importation which are prohibited by section 4956 of the Revised Statutes, as amended by section 8 of the said Act, shall not be admitted to entry. Such books and articles, if imported with the previous consent of the proprietor of the Copyright, shall Ik) seized by the Collector of Customs, who shall take proper steps for the forfeiture of the goods to the United States under section 3o82 of the Revised Statutes. 2. Copyrighted books and articles imported con- trary to the said prohibition without the previous consent of the proprietor of the Copyright, being primarily subject to forfeiture to the proprietor of the Copyright, shall be detained by the collector, who shall forthwith notify such proprietor in order to ascertain whether or not he wishes to institute proceedings for the enforcement of the right to forfeiture. If the proprietor institutes such pro- ceedings, and obtains a decree of forfeiture, the goods shall be delivered to him on payment of the expenses incurred in the detention, storage, and duties accruing thereon. If such proprietor fails to institute proceedings within 60 days from the date of notice, or declaration in writing, he abandons his right to forfeiture, and the collector shall proceed as in the case of articles imported with the previous consent of the proprietor. 3. Copyrighted articles of importation which are not prohibited, but which, by virtue of section 4965 of the Revised Statutes, as amended by section 8 of the said Act, are forfeited to the proprietor of the said Copyright when imported without his previous consent, and, moreover, subject to the forfeiture of Si or §10 per copy, as the case may be, one-half thereof to the said proprietor, and the other half to the United States, shall lie taken possession of by the collector, who shall take the necessary steps for securing to the United States half the sum forfeited, and shall keep the goods in his possession until the decree of forfeiture has been obtained, and half of the sum so forfeited, as well as the duties and charges accruing are paid, whereupon he shall deliver the goods to the proprietor of the Copyright. In case of a failure to obtain a decree of forfeiture, the goods shall be admitted to entry.—Dalziel {The Times Special). HI. What will happen? At last we have it. The next questions are: What we shall do with it? What it will do for us? And how we shall protect ourselves? For, as it needs no prophet to understand, a most determined effort will be made to defraud the author of all the benefits which the Act might have con- ferred upon him, and to convert it into an engine for the further enrichment of the publisher. Successful authors must understand—the sooner the better—that they have now two countries to deal with, and not one; that in many respects the two countries are not alike, but dissimilar; that what pleases one country may not please lx>th; that they have two sets of publishers; that although they must not assume because they have got their work accepted in this country that it will l>e accepted in the other, but they must act as if they were going to be popular in both countries. That is to say, in negotiating for their work they must strictly reserve the American rights as the subject of separate arrangement. Again and again has the Author pointed out to readers, that in all agreements they must put them- selves into the position of business men agreeing for the management of property, and this even though the MS. represents no property at all. The other side is always a business man actuated by no other object than that of doing business, and securing a good property for himself, if possible; if not, on the best terms he can command. If the Author warned and exhorted its readers before the pawing of this Act, it must raise a louder and a more warning voice still. The risk of being plundered is twice as great as before; the property to be defended is twice as great as before. What books will take out Copyright? This is a question of the greatest importance to printers, as well as to authors. At a recent deputation to Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, one of the speakers (see p. 91) assumed that every author would not only want Copyright, but would get it. Indeed! And who is to pay the printer's bill? A very large numl>er of books are published at 1  ## p. 88 (#492) ############################################# 88 THE AUTHOR. the expense of the authors who have nothing, sub- sequently, to show for their money but weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth. Printing is a much more expensive luxury in the States than here. It is supposed, perhaps, that the author will pay the increased bill with the additional expense of freight. Hut there are, it will be said, a great many books which both countries will want. Let us see what these are. First, we may exclude— a. All theological books, sermons, and religious books. Generally speaking, the Americans will at least find their own religious food. /3. All educational books, except a very few. y. All scientific and technical books, except a very few. The Americans will continue to find their own works on science. 8. All three-volume novels. f. Nearly all works connected with the history of this country. £. Works written for a very small circle, such as special monographs, books of scholar- ship, &c. These books will be exported in the same way as at present, in very small quantities, paying a duty. )). All our journals, magazines, and news- papers. What remain? a. A great many novels. jS. A few books of travel, history, biography, science, and poetry. As regards the first, I do not believe that the popular novelist will be set up in America and re-printed here. Why should he be? Consider. It costs, for composition alone, of a one-volume novel from £20 to £:5. It would cost in America from £2o to £35. The extra cost of printing and paper is in proportion. Considering, in addition, all the worry and trouble, the extra cost, the cost of freight, &c, who would incur all this in order to save a ten-pound note in the English edition of a popidar author? It is absurd. Then, if we take an English author who is not popular, are we going to print him in the States, where he is no more popidar than here, at an increased cost, when there is great doubt whether he will repay here the cost of setting him up? If, on the other hand, a popular novelist is pub- lished simultaneously on both sides, it will be as if he were published in two languages; there will be separate composition. We have not considered here the attention which must be paid to the subject of spelling, which is a very important point. In the same way, special books — such as Darwin's books, Herbert Silencer's books, Stanley's Travels, &c.—woidd be set up on both sides, simply because in such a big thing it would not be worth while to save a ten-pound note, at the risk of exasperating one side or the other with the spelling. It certainly appears to the present writer that printers will lose little or nothing by the "manu- facture" clause, and that the whole action of the Loudon Chamber of Commerce has been produced by a panic. The reply of Sir Michael Hicks-Beach to the deputation was damping to their hopes. Probably, he knew pretty well what he was saying. We have ourselves felt the pulse of certain Members of the House, not without influence. It may be taken as perfectly certain and beyond all doubt, that Free Trade Members will move Heaven and Earth against any so-called retaliatory measures. There need be no illusion on this head. Meantime, if it be proved that our people suffer sensibly from the Act, we shall do more by representations made to the United States Government and its people than by any fruitless agitation for Protection. "I would suggest to printers, as a measure of self defence, that they should join with authors and insist upon a clause in authors' agreements, binding the publisher to produce an English-manufactured book. I can assure them beforehand of the sympathy of authors, and of their rooted antipathy to American spelling. All we have to do is to insert that clause. If a book is worth copyrighting in America, it is certainly worth setting up in both countries." In order to get an approximate idea of what new English books are likely to take out Copyright in America, let us run through the lists of the advertisements in the last number of the At/iencettm. It is true that it is a very bad time for new books, and that the list is extremely scanty, but it will serve our purpose to a certain extent. The first, taking the publishers in their order as they appear in the advertisement columns, is the list of Messrs. Osgood, Mellvaine, and Co. Ten books are in this list. Of these, seven appear to be by Americans. There remain three, viz., two by Oscar Wilde and one by Thomas Hardy. Both these books would want Copyright in the States. Next comes the list of Messrs. Methuen. Here are works by Norris, M. Betliam Edwards, Edna Lyall, S. Baring Gould, W. Clark Russell, and Walter Pollock, all of which would take out Copyright. There are four books on social and political economy; two biographies of religious leaders; two books of poems; and a critical study on George Meredith. Result: out of nineteen books, six would be copy-  ## p. 89 (#493) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 89 righted in the States. The list of Smith and Elder shows six books, of which three novels (by Anstey, Norris, and Gissing) and one biography —that of Robert Browning, by Mrs. Sutherland Orr—would be copyrighted. The list of Macmillan contains sixteen books, mostly new editions. I should judge that six of these would be published in the States. Chapman and Hall advertise eleven books. If these were all new books, three would certainly be copyrighted. Of nine books advertised by Bentley, two would certainly be copyrighted. Of fifteen advertised by Hurst and Blackett, I do not think that more than two would find it necessary to be copyrighted. This, however, does not include their " Standard Library " which is also advertised. Longman's list contains eleven books, only two of which seem likely to be in demand in America. Sampson Low's list of five includes two—William Black's last novel and the "Life of Gladstone"—which would certainly be copyrighted. Clowes has a list of law books which we may pass over. Then follow a few books separately advertised. They are seven in miml>er, and one at least—Leland's "Heine" would be copyrighted. Then follows Arrowsmith's list of shilling books, all of which, I suppose, would be copyrighted as they came out. But with old lists we are not concerned. The result is that 25 per cent, would be copyrighted. But then we must remember that a great many of these are new editions of successful books. Let us wait till October, when the great rush of new books appear. Then we shall lx; able to form a closer estimate of the proportion. But—and this is a very important point— nearly all the books selected are in English form, and would always be printed in that form. Moreover, they are for the greater part written by authors of so much eminence that the saving of the initial cost of composition need not be reckoned. Let us next turn to some American paper, and find out, if we can, the kind of book likely to be wanted in both countries. I have before me a number of the New York Nation, which is half literary, half political. The book advertisements are not very numerous, but they are suggestive. Professor Henry Brummond's works are reprinted in full. Mona Caird's new novel "A Romance of theMoors": Jerome's works in full: Mrs. Oliphant's "Life of Laurence Oliphant": the University Extension "Manuals": Russell's "Life of Glad- stone ": Munro's "Grammar of the Homeric Dialect": Frederick Locker Sampson's "Lyra Elegantiarum": Herbert Spencer's "Plea for Lilx-rty '': Oscar Wilde's "Intentions"; appear either in the advertisements or in the book notices. We, do not look in the Nation for lists of novels, but we observe that the Tauchnitz books are adver- tised for sale. I suppose that the result of the new Act will be to stop the sale in America of any new additions to the " Baron's" list. IV. Opinion of Sin Horace Davey. Extract from Cask of Questions put. to Sir Horace Davey, Q.C., and Mr. James Rolt, and their Opinion thereon. 1. Whether section i3 of the American Copy- right Act will lie satisfied as regards Great Britain so as to enable English authors to obtain Copyright in the United States by (a) the present state, of the English law, or (6) the Berne Convention? 2. What may be considered the date of first publication of a book as recognised by the English courts of law, whether the English courts would consider the hour as well as day of publication, and whether any suggestion can be made as to keeping impartial evidence of the date of first publication of an English book? 3. Whether a publication by an American publisher, wrongfully claiming to be proprietor of an English book would prevent the English author from publishing subsequently and obtaining Copyright? 4. How far will English authors be entitled to American Copyright in alterations or revisions of, or additions to, their books previously published in the States under section 5 of the American Bill, and will they be entitled to this Copyright in cases where they have absolutely ]»rted with their English Copyright in such alterations, revisions, or additions, or in the books to which they relate? 5. Whether the publication by an English dramatist in the United States under the present Bill of a drama as to which he has already granted performing rights in the States will interfere with such rights? Opinion. 1. Notwithstanding the decision of the House of Lords under the Statute 8 Anne c. 19 in Jeffreys v. Boosey, 4 H.L.C. 815, we are of opinion that under the present statute the benefit of Copyright in books is conferred on aliens upon substantially the same basis as on British authors (see per Lords Cairns and Westbury in Routledgex. Lowe, L.R. 3 H.L. 100), and that, therefore, section i3 of the American Copyright Act should in respect of books be satisfied as regards Great Britain by the present state of the English law. Whether section i3 of  ## p. 90 (#494) ############################################# 9° THE AUTHOR. the American Copyright Act is satisfied, however, depends on the construction which the President or the American courts may give to that section. It will be observed that the Act applies to Copy- right not only in books but also in engravings, prints, photographs, paintings, Ac. If section i3 be construed as not giving Copyrights of any kind to aliens unless the foreign country gives to citizens of the United States the benefit of Copyright in all these subjects (as we think is the probable con- struction) it must be observed that by 25 & 26 Vict, c. 68. s. 1, Copyright in paintings, drawings, and photographs is confined to British subjects or authors resident in the dominions of the Crown, and therefore in that case section i3 is not satisfied. If, however, the section can be read distributively, we think it is satisfied as regards books within the meaning of 5 & 6 Vict. c. 45, and musical and dramatic compositions. It should also be satisfied by the Berne Convention if adopted by the United States. 2. The date of first publication of a book as recognised by the English courts is, in our opinion, the date upon which the book is first offered to the public generally. The court will not, as a rule, consider fractions of a day, and we see no reason why that rule should be departed from in ascer- taining the date of first publication. We are unable to offer any suggestion as to the manner in which impartial evidence of the date of first publication can be secured. The question is in each case one of fact which must, if necessary, be established by the evidence of the publisher or his agent. 3. We understand this question to refer to obtaining American and not English Copyright, and it therefore depends on the construction which the American courts may place on the American Act. In our opinion the publication referred to in section 3 of the American Act is publication by or with the consent of the person entitled to Copy- right under section 1, and we do not think that an English author would be prevented from obtaining Copyright by a prior wrongful publication made without his authority or consent. Whether publi- cation by a person who had purchased advanced sheets from the author would be wrongful must depend upon the terms on which the sale was made. 4. English authors will, in our opinion, be entitled to American Copyright in alterations, revisions, or additions to their books previously published in the States, unless the additions form part of a series or of a work published in parts in course of publication at the time when the Act takes effect. Where an author has already parted with his English Copyright in such alterations or additions, or in the books to which they relate, he would not, in our opinion, 1*3 entitled to American Copyright unless under some special agreement or reservation in his favour. 5. Publication by an English dramatist in the United States under the present Act would not, in our opinion, interfere with performing rights previously granted by him. The right of repre- sentation in a dramatic work for which Copyright has been obtained is expressly protected by sec- tion 4966 of the revised American statutes, and any performing rights granted by the author would after publication take effect under that provision. Hoiiace Dave v. Lincoln's Inn, J. Bolt. 3oth June 1891. V. Statement by Sib Michael Hicks-Beach. The President of the Board of Trade recently received, on the subject of the recent American Copyright Act, a large and representative deputation from the London Chamber of Commerce, and a great number of Trade Societies. The Members of Parliament present were Sir John Lubbock, Sir Albert Rollit, and Mr. Broadhurst. Sir John Lubbock, in introducing the depu- tation, said that the matter upon which they came before the President of the Board of Trade was one as to which there was no difference of opinion between capital and labour, between employers and employed. It was not a matter which affected one part of the country as against the interests of another part. London and the provinces were all alike interested in the subject. Whilst the depu- tation were glad that English authors should receive the just reward of their labours in America, they thought that might be done without interfering with other very considerable interests which were affected. It was admitted that the American Copy- right Law, as it now stood, would very much dis- courage the production of books, photographs, and works of that character in this country, and tend to carry all that business into America. It was quite necessary, while giving protection to English authors, to do so without affecting other interests, and a Bill had been drafted and carefully con- sidered by the London Chamber of Commerce, with the objects of which they hoped to have the sympathy of the Government. Mr. Clowes (Chairman of the Printing and Allied Trades Association) said the American Copyright Act granted Copyright on the condition that a book was printed from type set up in  ## p. 91 (#495) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. America; consequently, all authors who thought their books worth reading (and what author did not ?) would desire to have them printed in America, so as to receive Copyright there, with the result that a large quantity of work which had hitherto been done in England would in future be done in America, and a large number of operatives in this country would be thrown out of work. In order to prevent that, it was proposed that a short Bill should be passed, granting English Copyright to all books printed within a country belonging to the International Copyright Union. Such a measure would not in any way injure the Americans, it would to a very small extent affect authors, and at the same time it would confer a great benefit upon a large number of persons in this country. They would hesitate to propose such a measure if it would in any way increase the price of teoks; but the cost of printing generally was higher in America than in England, so that no advantage would be gained by the community in England if books were printed in America instead of in England. Many trades were concerned in the manufacture of a book, all of which woidd be injured unless some such measure as that proposed was passed. The trades principally concerned were represented there that day both by employers and employed, and would lay their views before Sir Michael Hicks-Beach. Representatives of various trades spoke. Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, in reply, said:—■ Let me understand clearly what it is that you do propose. I take it that ithis is the practical clause of your Bill: "Any person shall be entitled by the Copyright Act, 5th and 6th Victoria, cap. 45, to Copyright in any book in the English language, photograph, chromo, or lithograph, if it is first or simultaneously published within the British do- minions, and printed from type set within a country belonging to the International Copyright Union, or from plates made therefrom, or from negatives or drawings on stone made therein, or from transfers made therefrom, but not otherwise." Have you taken legal advice whether, supposing that were law at the present moment, the American citizens would be in the same position in England as the subject of England is now in the United States, because that seems to me a very important question? Sir A. Rollit.—The Council of the Chamber of Commerce have not been advised on that point, but it has teen assumed that the object of this Act was so, and that it carried out anil placed the British subject in that position. Sir Michael Hicks-Beach.—You will observe that it is not the same as the American Act. It differs from it. in very many particulars, and that is a point which anybody proposing to introduce such a measure as this should advise himself upon. Sir A. Rollit.—There is no intention to gain an advantage: equality is equity. Sir Michael Hicks-Beach.—You see the im- mediate result would be, that we should lose for our authors the advantage which the American Act would give them. Then there is another question. The American Act has a clause in it prohibiting the importation into the United States of any book or photograph, or plates, &c., with certain ex- ceptions. Now, you have no proposal of that kind- Do you intend it, or not? Because, if you do not intend it, it seems to me that it would be not a very difficult matter entirely to evade the provisions of the Act, and that the reason for the insertion of the clause in the American Act was that they were quite aware of that fact, and advisedly put it in. I thought it right to call your attention to these two points, because they are both important. But perhaps now I may make a few general observations on what the deputation has said. I quite appre- ciate the importance of this deputation, and the varied interests that it represents; and the fact also which has teen alluded to by more than one speaker, that in those industries employers and employed are in this matter of one mind. I do not think that we ought to exaggerate the possible operation of the American Act on the publishing and printing business of this country. I believe that that business may be said to be mainly a news- paper and magazine business; and also there is, of course, all the official and judicial printing, and prospectuses and reports of companies, posters, bills, and all kinds of circulars that come to us by post, all those things, the great mass of printing and publishing in this country, are absolutely outside the operation of the American Copyright Act. What is really in question is the printing and publishing trade so far as books are printed. I think that is so. Mr. Drummond.—Yes, and nothing more. Sir Michael Hicks-Beach.—I am advised that that is not more than 5 per cent, of the printing business. (No, no.) That is the estimate that has teen given to me, and therefore I do not think that we ought to look upon this question as it has teen rather represented by people here, and cer- tainly by people out of doors, as if the whole papermaking industry would be ruined, by any possibility, or the whole publishing trade. No doubt those industries may be affected, but the question is, How much will they be affected? You here think that they will be very largely affected, and other people have taken different views. One or two statements have teen made to-day by speakers who support the view that, they will be  ## p. 92 (#496) ############################################# 92 THE AUTHOR. largely affected. I think that something, at any rate, of the suspension of business and the want of employment should rather point to the fact that people are hesitating what to do, l>eeausc they were uncertain whether the American Act would be applied to English authors or not; and now that that point is settled we shall be better able to see, after the lapse of a reasonable time, what the effect of the American Act will be. I should 1« very sorry to-day to express any definite opinion as to what it may be necessary to do in this matter; but this I must Bay, that I do not think that the time has yet come for legislation. We do not exactly see; we cannot tell what the effect of the Act may be, much less can we tell in what precise point it may pinch us, if it does pinch us at all; and what would be the best, way to deal with this point. I think I put two questions to-day which may give cause for reflection as to the particular proposal that you have made; and I must add that it does raise principles of considerable importance; and although I am far from saying that the Parliament of this country might not be driven by a policy of this kind on the part of foreign countries to do something which may be in contravention of economical principles which have been long held here, yet I think it would be only at the very last resort, and that we should see our way as to the successful issue of any move in that direction before we make up our minds to do it. I do not know that I have anything to add beyond an assurance that I will lay before my colleagues what has passed to-day, anil the whole matter will have our attention, and an)' information bv those present or by any other persons connected with the printing anil publishing trade which may show the effect of the American Act upon that trade will have our most careful consideration. Sir John Lubbock having thanked the right hon. gentleman, the deputation withdrew. The Times, Thursday, July 16th, 1891. VI. Answer to Questions. In answer to Mr. Julian Corbett's two questions in the June numl>er of the Author, I think that, to secure American Copyright, there can be no question that every book, even if containing only a dramatic composition, must be printed from type set within the States. This proviso will be rigidly enforced by the American authorities, and clearly a dramatic composition is a book within the meaning of the Revised Statute. With regard to the second question, the performing right of a copyright dramatic composition is clearly protected. But the common law of the United States, the require- ments of the common law had, therefore, better be still observed just as if the Act had not passed. Dramatists would be acting very foolishly if they neglected to secure the invaluable advantages conferred upon them by American common law. Statute law is not an unmixed blessing, and of this, Title Sixty, Chapter Three, of the Revised Statutes of the United States promises to prove both an example and a warning. X. Y. Z. CORRESPONDENCE. I. New Grub Street. "~\ /I ®* Andrew Lang, writing from Olympian Yl Heights, is a peculiarly irritating person to a poor devil like me, who happens to be making a somewhat lengthy stay in a back slum off New Grub Street. Mr. Lang does not believe that there is such a place as New Grub Street, which Mr. Gissing has drawn with so much fidelity and power; and says that if there were such a place, the inmates thereof should cultivate their sense of humour and liveliness on a little bread and less butter. Now, is it not a little too bad of one who moves presumably in a world of prosperous publishers, omnipotent editors (to most of whose funerals I would cheerfully contribute), and superior litterateurs—to express the opinion that because he knows nothing of the world which Mr. Gissing depicts, he is inclined to think it does not exist? Does Mr. Lang know anything, for instance, about the habits and existence of the unattached journalist? This unhappy being may be in possession of the greatest sobriety, industry, and sense of humour. He may also possess a fair amount of brains, but, like a large number of his companions in New Grub Street, he has not been lucky enough to get on to the regular staff of a paper. The excessive amount of nervous energy and physical exertion that a man in this situation is compelled to expend is out of all proportion to his gain, and results in nine cases out of ten in drink, or a break down in health. To earn, say, £i or £4 a week, he must be ever on the alert to get hold of news, race over London for copy to write up, attend a day of functions without a chance of getting any food, reach home dead weary, only to know that he must write out his notes without delay. And all with the pleasing consciousness that his day's earnings will amount to some 12s., nothing Wing  ## p. 93 (#497) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 93 allowed for shoe leather, ink, or paper. It may be urged that this is an exceptional ease, but it is nothing of the sort, and represents the average unattached journalist, to say nothing of the British Museum literary hack, whose unsuccess is invariably and very unjustly attributed to irregular habits or drink. In addition, what of the horror of a slack season, when nothing is going on except the unhappy journalist's appetite? What of the MSS. rejected, one after another, liecause members of the staff of the paper have forestalled outsiders? What of the unexpected collapse of the "column," which brings in the modest sum of one guinea weekly? What of the man who translates? But Mr. Lang bids us cultivate our sense of humour. Well, we try to, but we do not find that this materially aids us in the payment of our washing bill. And as to the lightheartedness of Miirger's young men, it is delightful; but as their poverty never seems to have stood in the way of their having a bottle of wine when they wanted it, and as they give us no information as to how they eluded their rent day, the ordinary householder who has to pay up punctually finds it all entertaining, but puzzling. If Mr. Lang would like some practical acquaintance with the disagreeable side of ink- spilling, perhaps he would change places with me for a few days. I would not undertake to fill his place, but I venture to think I should find the steering of his ship less arduous and thankless than that of mv own little bark." X. II. The Rev. William Shakspeare. In last number of the Author, a contributor speculates regretfully upon the very different world which we might now enjoy, had Shakspeare devoted his life to theology. For myself, I feel thankful that he did not thus employ his genius. As a professional theologian, several careers were open to him, c.p.:— 1. To win orders in the Anglican Church, publish a profound treatise upon theologv —now read only by a few antiquaries, and die Archbishop of Canterbury. 2. To migrate to the Continent, fall into the hands of the Inquisition, and be now known, in martyrology, as St. William. 3. To 'vert to Rome, be elevated to the Chair of St. Peter, and be known in history as Pope Benvenuto the First. 4. To Iwcome a free-lance, and die an agnostic. No mere man, even Shakspeare, was ever capable of fully " revealing revelation," or even of bringing it permanently nearer to the masses of mankind, and less so, if born in our land three centuries ago. For one thing, no tongue has yet been evolved upon our planet fit to express without ambiguity the thoughts and precepts of the highest minds and purest souls of the human race, and, still lacking this, even Shakspeare cannot dispense with sectarian commentators, to help to reveal his own natural revelation. I venture to affirm that had he essayed a still higher plane of thought, his works would have been even more unintelligible to the "common people." In the process, he might have revealed to us much more of his own inner self than he has ever done; but, failing the pre-existence of a language, ex pressive enough for his genius, for the subject, and for his lowest, disciples, Shakspeare might have become an even wiser man, but we should—as a race—be now the poorer. Thank heaven, say I, that he did not become a " priest"! PlIINLAY Gl.EXELU. I have been trying to imagine William Shakespeare "leaving his mark as a professed theologian" with something approaching a shudder. To wish one " Born for the universe" to " narrow his mind" "and to" churches " give up what was meant for mankind," perhaps even to reach such supreme eminence as would entitle him to declare authoritatively whether side means end, and whether north is identical with west, and why both are important, seems in an artistic sense little less than profane. What more than many things calls for reverence in ShakesjH!ivre is his serene impartiality. He presents us with every kind of human aspect, good and bad, noble and degraded, intellectual and spiritual, devout and doubting, chaste and licentious, gentle and brutal, and he as often as not lets each plead in its own justification. Moreover, he never, in matters supernatural, takes what may lie called a " side," or treats them otherwise than as material for art. So much so, indeed, that we find it difficult, if not impossible, to find out what his own religion, if any, was. Could a clergyman even of the " noble Church of England" consistently have done that? What would poor Jack Falstaff be in the hands of the Right Rev. W. Shakespeare, D.D., S.T.P.? But without that portly knight where, in the name of near three centuries of honest English laughter, should tee be? And would not that delightful little piece of frailty and falsehood, Cressida, have become a  ## p. 94 (#498) ############################################# 94 THE AUTHOR. penitent or an awful example, either of which would hopelessly spoil her? Furthermore, if this be not so, let it be other- wise; that is, let the Rev. W. Shakespeare treat things and persons Shakespearianly (pace the dictionary), and how would the noble Church of England treat him? It happens that there was a great man, not quite contemporary with Shake- speare, whose works we know Shakespeare to have read and seemingly enjoyed, who was "directed to the priestly office " in early life, and occupied it in connexion, I think, with a parish called Meudon at one time; but we do not recollect that his own or any other Church appreciates that Vales as keenly as we could wish. While we are about it, we may as well wish that one C. Marlowe, M.A., of Benet College, had taken orders, and then we should have been spared the distress of reading much of Hero and Leander, to say nothing of the translations from Ovid (inter respectabilcs hand nominandd), and how much happier we should all be then! Seriously, Shakespeare gave us the revelation lie had to give of the lives and minds of men and women, and there is none like it. The revelation of what is above anil beyond men and women is not given to any capacity of reason, however godlike, and, personally, I am thankful to fall back on the fact that Shakespeare was and did what we know he did and was. He knew best. This with all courtesy to the writer, and interest in the writing of " If Shakespeare had lieen Priest." John Hill. III. Presentation Copies. Regarding the presentation of copies of works to newspapers, it has always appeared to me that it is the object of newspapers to chronicle events, and their duty to do so if they would not belie their name. Though, to carry out this object, they go to vast expense in the matters of special correspondents, telegraphic messages, &c, yet, when it comes to reporting on a book or a play or other show, they expect to have the first given to them, and to re- ceive free admission to the latter. Why should this be? Is it not as much a part of their duty to record the production of a book or a play, as a fire or a divorce case? Certainly, to the latter they have free access; but why should books and admis- sions to plays and shows be given to them? It is the duty of newspapers to gather news. Why, then, should publishers and lessees of places of amusement perform part of their duty for them? It is certainly to their advantage to have the things they bring out brought to the knowledge of the public by means of notices in the press; but, if this kind of publicity were as readily given to new in- ventions, it would be regarded as giving them an advertisement. Yet a new invention is as much an event as a new literary work. Why should not newspapers gather their own news, as much in the literary sphere as in others? Why should not they pay for the books they intend to review, and for admission to the plays and shows they intend to notice? Public announcement is usually given previous to the production of plays &c, and some- times of books, which is not the case with many important events instantly reported in the news- papers; and really it looks like begging a news- paper to perform its duty, and rewarding it for doing so, if books and free admissions are given to it. It cannot be that the public convenience is enhanced by books, &c. being given to newspaper proprietors, and though it may be a convenience to publishers and others to send them, it certainly is a convenience to newspaper proprietors to receive them, and for these particular things they should be as desirous to pay as they are for other means of obtaining information of public interest. H. Haes. [The answer to this note seems to be, that unless the Editor were supplied with copies of new books he and all authors would lie at the mercy of the critic, who would go round the world of Letters and the outer offices of publishers, begging and extorting books on the promise of a favourable review. This would be a tyranny unendurable. It may be said that a gentleman could not do such things. If the reviewer had to cadge about in order to find his own copies for review, very few gentlemen would be left in the profession. The extortion of books under promise of a favourable notice is sometimes done even now. Here followeth fact. There was a man, about 20 years ago, a clergyman and the lecturer for a well-known society, who persuaded a certain geographer that he was a great man in the London press, and actually got from him a parcel of atlases, maps, and books on a promise of favourable notices. He wrote no notices and he sold the parcel for £z5.—Editou.] IV. Payment on Publication. "The artists who illustrate the authors' work in magazines are treated with a fairness unknown to the writers—probably because they are firm enough to insist upon it. An article upon which I had spent a fortnight's work, and the material for which cost money as well as time in the  ## p. 95 (#499) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 95 gathering was illustrated by an artist who is a friend of mine, of about an equal standing in his profession—perhaps not an exalted standing—with my own in mine. The drawings were sub- servient to the text, which, indeed, was quite com- plete without them, and they cost the artist less than a week's work. The thing complete, text and drawings, was offered to a magazine, the pro- prietors of which expressed themselves willing to pay £3o for the illustrations and £5 for the text— about 7,000 words—each amount on their "usual scale." The article, therefore, will not appear in that magazine. But my chief object in mentioning the matter is to draw attention to another thing. The proprietors of the magazine were kind enough to warn me that while the drawings would be paid for at once the text "as usual" would only be imiil for on publication—if that were 10 years hence. Of course I know that this is "usual," but why? If the artist is paid for his goods upon delivery why should the author wait until it pleases the purchaser to put his goods to use? If I buy a hat the hatter will not wait for his money until I choose to begin wearing my purchase. Imagine these worthy gentlemen saying to a compositor, "Yes, you have been all the week setting up this article, but you must wait for your wages until we publish it—in a year's time or so." The com- positor's union, of course, would never allow such a " custom of the tra<le" to grow up. Can our union do nothing to get rid of it?" M. V. Insurance. There is a statement in the Author, under the head of "Warning," to the effect that no fire office will insure a MS. I insured the MS. of "Rogers and His Contemporaries" in the Union Office, paying 2s. bd. per cent, on the value, which I fixed. The insurance covered the risk at my own house, at the publishers, and at the printers. P. W. Clatokn. VI. On Titles. "I work for publishers. I have been swindled by some and sweated by others. At the same time the publisher has sometimes just cause for com- plaint. Here is an instance. Books for Christmas are by some firms arranged and edited early in the year. Considerable time, trouble, and money was spent on our lwok with which I was concerned. Copies— 10,000 in numl)cr—were printed by May. The travellers go out about June to sell the book, and are aghast to find that another book with the same title has just been published. In the last twelve months I have known three cases like this." E. [This is a mischance which has happened often enough to authors. The best way out of it is to liave a registry for titles. Another way is to lxi very careful in the invention of a title.—Editor.] FROM GRUB STREET. ONC E upon a time—and it may not Ik; quite a past time—a frog when slated by some ill- conditioned boys, exclaimed, in answer to their plea, that they did it only "for fun," that, "if it was fun for them, it was death for him." And I trust that you will permit me to expand that exclamation a little in answer to Mr. Lang's jaunty remark about its being " ouly a battle with snow- balls at most; that the enemy should learn to keep his temper; and that it does not signify." First, slates are not mere idle snowballs. They kill. They make existence for those for whom it is already sufficiently difficult, more difficult still, or impossible. Secondly, slating in Grub Street is not the unpaid frolic of boys. It is a handsomely paid business. And frog-stoning is deliberately pre- ferred to honester work, because it is paid better. Thirdly, frogs do not lose their temper because slates fly about, but because they hit. Even frogs think they have a right to live, so long as they are not positively noxious. And it seems to them that insult is added to injury when it is pretended that slates thrown for pay, and known to hit in vital parts, are thrown only " for fun." That many frogs have objectionable ways, I frankly admit, and doubtless I am myself of the number. But though objectionable ways may be corrected by responsible criticism, they arc not to be corrected by that irresponsible indulgence of personal likes and dislikes which is Grub Street criticism, and the best-paid trade in the row— unfortunately for— A Frog. «■•■♦ "AT THE AUTHOR'S HEAD." MR. Hall Caine, when he delivered his lectures on the Isle of Man at the Royal Institution, opened an unexpected mine, rich though small. He has now put the lectures together and  ## p. 96 (#500) ############################################# 96 THE AUTHOR. printed them as a book called "The Little Manx Nation," and a very interesting book it is. The lx>ok is divided into three parts—the story of the Manx Kings, the story of the Manx Bishops, and the story of the Manx People. A better book in a small compass we have seldom seen. Mr. W. Morris Codes contributes an article on "London and the Housing of the Working Classes," to the August number of Murrai/s Magazine. A serial story, " Miss Merewether's Money," by Thomas Cobb, author of "On Trust," &c., will commence in the May number of Household Words. Messrs. Ward, Lock, & Co. have in the press a short story, "The House by the Common," by the same author. The first volume of " The Works of Heinrich Heine," translated by Charles Godfrey Leland, has been sent to this office by the publisher (Heine- mann). Charles Leland has long been occupied with this work. He began something like thirty years ago making tentative translations of Heine, who is at once the easiest and the most difficult of all German writers to translate. The first volume includes the "Florentine Nights," the "Memoirs of Herr von Sclmbelewopski, and "Shakespeare's Maidens and Women "—all prose works. Mr. Edric Vredenburg's story "The Haunted House in Berkeley Square," which recently appeared as a serial in the Weekly Times and Echo, has now been published in volume form by Messrs. Trisctiler & Co. Here is activity! By the same author, produced in the same month, the following :— A three-volume novel, viz., "Jardine's Wife." (Trischler.) A one-volume novel, viz., "Was He Justified?" (Griffith, Farran, & Co.) A book of travels, viz., "In the Land of the Lion and the Sun." (Ward and Lock.) A short story, "The Pit Town Coronet." (Trischler.) The author is Mr. C. J. Wills. Mr. J. Stanley Little contributes an article entitled, "Why Great Britain should buy out Portugal in East Africa ?" to the current number of Greater Britain. We have received a copy of "The Devil and the Doctor" from the author. It should have been acknowledged last month, but, with certain other books, was accidently passed over. Perhaps it is not too late to say that this is a book to be read. THE AUTHOR'S BOOKSTALL. Books FOR SAr.E. Poetical Sketches of Scarborough. Illustrated by Engravings of Humorous Subjects. Coloured. Original Boards. By J. Green and T. Rowlandson. Second Edition. i8i3. An Academy for Grown Horsemen, and the Annals of Horsemanship. By Geoffrey Gambado. Illustrated with cuts by Rowlandson, &c. Original Boards. London, 1809. Among the poetry of the year must be mentioned William Sharp's "Sospiri di Roma," which was received in time for notice last month, but was unfortunately mislaid. Readers of poetry will please make a note. We have received and venture to recommend a novel called "Elsn," by E. McQueen Gray (Methuen & Co.). Books FOB Exchange. Four French l>ooks in a good state of preser- vation, with Rolande's label on outside covers :— Horizons Prochains; and, Horizons Celestes. By'M. de Gasparin. Souvenirs d'un Garibaldien. By Caraquel. Garibaldi. By Dumas. Wanted—Matthew Arnold's "Discourses in America "; or his " Dramatic and later Poems." London: Printed by Etbe and Spottiswoode, Printers to the Queen's most Excellent Majesty. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author, Vol. 02 Issue 03 (August 1891) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 02 Issue 03 (August 1891) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927&amp;view=1up&amp;seq=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1891-08-01-The-Author-2-3 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/253/1891-07-01-The-Author-2-2.pdf 5160600480f913985509982105b442f1 PDF Text Text �������������������������������� 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 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) 1891-07-01 Volume 2 Issue 2 Pages Page range in volume 33–64 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18910701 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin <I b e Hutbor. (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. II.—No. 2.] JULY i, 1891. [Price Sixpence. CONTENTS. PAGE "Warning 37 International Copyright — I. Action of Ihe Society 37 II. Note. By R. U. Johnson 3" III. Mr. Putnam'» Hook 39 IV. Extract from thu New York Critic 39 V. Note. By Julian Corbett 40 VI. Queries 4° Some Note* on a Bill. By Rudyard Kipling 40 An Antiquary's Remonstrance 4* Realism in Grub Street. By A. Lang 43 The Turning of the Worm.—A Pablo 44 PAGE Mr. Gladstone on Author and Publisher 45 The Author's Club. By Arthur Moutcllorc 4* Reviews and Reviewers 4° Notes and News. By Walter Besant 4s The Red Mouse. By Charles G. Leland 54 The Book of the Month 5S If Shakspeare had been Priest. By II. Schtttz Wilson .. .. 5» "ContesCrucls" 5° "At the Author's Head *' 01 Similarity of Plot Some Books of the Month '■J "3 EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE. ACTION OF LIGHT ON WATER COLOURS— licport to the Science and Art Department of the Committee of Council on Education. (With Diagrams and Plates.) By post, h. i irf. PLIOCENE DEPOSITS OF BRITAIN, THE. By Cleur.st Rkid, F.LK. V.G 8. Five Plates (48 cuts). 5*. 6d. LONDON AND NEIGHBOURHOOD: Guide to the Gcolosyof. By Williak Whitakkr, B.A. 1*. LONDON AND OF PART OK THE THAMES VALLEY, The Gc logv of. By W. Wiiitakfr. B A.. P.R.S., F.G.8., Assoc. Inst. CE. Vol. I. DESCRIPTIVE GEOLOGY. 8vo. cloth, 6*. Vol. II. APPENDICES. 8vo.. cloth, <». ISLE OF WIGHT, Geolopy of. By H. W. Bbtstow, F.R.S., F.G.S. Second Edition. Revised and enlarged by Cleme>t Rbid. F.G.S., and Aubrey Steahax, M.A.. F.G.S. 8vo., cioth, 8». M. COPYRIGHT LAW REFORM: An Exposition of Lord Monkswell's Copyright Bill now before Parliament: with Extracts from the'Report of the Commission of 1878, and on Appendix containing the Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lelt, Esq., Barrister-at-Law. i». 61I. STATE TRIALS, Reports of; New Series. Published nnder the direction ot the State Trials Committee. Edited by Joun MicDosell, M.A., of the Middle Temple. Barrister-at- Law. Vols. I. and II. ready. Vol. III. in the Press. Price iof. per volume. "It is for the most part interesting, not to say fascinating, study for anyone, that is to say, who cares about history at all."—Vailf CHINA (No. i). Report, by C. W. Campbell, of a Journey in North Corca, in September and Octolier, iHSq. A considerable jiortion of the narrative contains descriptive matter that appeals to the general nnder. but there arc also many interesting facts tearing u|xui mining, forestry, agricul- ture, trade, and kindred topics, qd. WESTMINSTER ABBEY. Final Report of the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into the present want of space for Monuments in Westminster Abbey; with Appendices. qtl. KKW BULLETIN, 1890. Issued by the Director of Kew Gardens. in. io</. KEW BULLETIN, 1891. Monthly, ad. Appendices, id. each. Annual Subscription, including postage, qd. WEATHER, STUDY AND FORECAST OK. Aids to. By Rev. W. Clemext Lev. M.A. i». ROYAL MILITARY EXHIBITION, 1890. Descriptive Catalogue of Musical Instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition. Compiled by Capt. C. R. Day, Oxfordshire Light Infantry, under the orders of Col. Siiaw- Hkllikk, Commandant Royal Military School o! Music. The instruments are fully described; they are arranged systemati- cally under their respective families and classes, and a chrono- logical arrangement has, as much as possible, Itetn adhered to. Each family of instrument has been prefaced by a carefully- written Introductory Essay. Musical pitch has not been left unnoticed, and a learned Essay from the pen of a well-known authority upon the subject appears in the Appendix. The book is illustrated by a series of Twelve Artistically executed Plates in Heliogravure, and with numerous Wood Engravings. The issue is limited to 1,000 copies. ai». Monthly Lists of Parliamentary Papers upon Application. Quarterly Lists Post Free, Miscellaneous List on Application. Every Assistance given to Correspondents j and Books not kept in stock obtained without delay. Remittance should accompany Order. GOVERNMENT AND GENERAL PUBLISHERS. EYRE anil SPOTTISWOODE, Her Jlajesty's Printers, East Harding Slreet, London, E.C.  ## p. 34 (#438) ############################################# 34 A D VE R TI SEMEN TS. THE CENTRAL TYPE-WRITING OFFICE, (ESTABLISHED 1887,) 57 & 58, Chancery Lane, W.C. }Ji iitrinnls: Miss M. E. DUCK and JIiss I. B. LOOKEB. Type-writing and Copying of every Description under- taken for the Literary, Dramatic, Clerical, Legal, and other Professions. Type-writing from Dictation a Specialty. Highest Testimonials for Excellence of Work and Promp- titude from AUTHOBS and others. PRICE LIST OJV APPLICATION-TERMS MODERATE. MISS ZFt. -V. aiLL, TYPE-WRITING OFFICES, 6, Adam Street, Strand, W.C, and 5, Air Street, Piccadilly, W. Authors' and Dramatists' Work a Specialty. All kinds of MSS. copied with care. Extra attention given to diificult hand-writing and to papers or lectures on scientific subjects. Type-writing from dictation. Shorthand Notes taken and transcribed. FURTHER PARTICULARS OX APPLICATION. TYPE-WRITING. Authors' MSS. carefully Transcribed. Writings by Post receive prompt attention. Scientific and Medical Papers a Specialty. MISSES 13, Dorskt Street, Portman Square, W. MISSES E. & S. ALLEN, TYPE AND SHORTHAND WRITERS. TRANSLATIONS and Scientific Work a Special Feature. 39, Lombard Street, E.C. Office Ho. 59 (close to Lift). MISS PATTEN, TYPEWRITES, 44, Oakley Flats, Oakley Street, Chelsea, S.W. —**— Authors' MSS. carefully copied from Is. per 1,000 Words. One additional Copy (Carbon) snpplied Free of Charge. References kindly permitted to George Augustus Sala, Esq. Particulars on Application. ASH WORTH & Co., 4, Abchurch Yard, Cannon Street, E.C. — - - - Authors' MSS. type-written from Is. 3d. per 1,000 words. TRANSLATION'S. CITY TYPE-WRITING & SHORTHAND OFFICES, MANSION HOUSE CHAMBERS, 20, Bucklersbury, London, E.C. The Department for Lady Pupils has unremitting attention, as evidenced by the unqualified Success which has attended its management. The Course includes Shorthand, Type writing, Book-keeping, and Commercial Correspondence, and when Pupils have acquired proficiency— POSITIONS ARE GUARANTEED. Particulars on application to— MARY IFt. PAY. MRS. GII.I., TYPEWRITING OFFICE, ST. PAUL'S CHAMBERS, 19, LUDGATE HILL, E.C. Author's MSS. carefully copied from is. per 1,000 words. One additional copy (carbon) supplied free of charge. References kindly permitted to many well-known Authors and Publishers. Further particulars on application. MISSES AIRD & WEDDERSP00N, SHORTHAND, TRANSLATING, and WP8WRITING OFFICES. 4, SUIT COURT, CORHHIIL, E.C. Translations carefully and correctly made. Shorthand and Typewriting Clerks sent out on short notice. Type- writing of all kinds done with neatness, accuracy, and despatch. Special pains taken with Authors' MSS. Pupils trained in Pitman's System of Shorthand, and in Type- writing. All applications relating to Advertisements in this Journal should be addressed to the Printers and Publishers, EYRE & SP0TT1SW00DE, East Harding Street, Fetter Lane, London, E.C.  ## p. 35 (#439) ############################################# A D VERTISEMENTS. 35 CIk briery of Qutfiors (JfttcorporatrtO* PRESIDENT. The Right Hon. the LORD TENNYSON, D.C.L. Sir Edwin Arnold, K.C.I.E. Alfred Austin. A. W. a Becker. Robert Bateman. Sir Henry Behgnk, K.C.M.O. Walter Besant. Augustine Birrell, M.P. R. I). IIlackmore. Rev. Prok. Bonnet, F.B.S. Lord Hrabourne. James Bryce, M.P. P. W. C'layden. Edward Clodd. W. Martin Conway. Marion Crawford. Oswald Crawkurd, C.M.G. The Earl of Desaet. COUNCIL. A. W. Duhourg. John Eric Erichsen, F.R.S. Prof. Michael Foster, E.R.S. Herbert Gardner, M.P. Richard Garnett, LL.I). Edmund Gosse. H. Rider Haggard. Thomas Hardy. Prof. E. Ray Lankester, E.R.S. J. M. Lely. Rev. W. J. Loftie, F.S.A. F. Max Muller, LL.D. George Meredith. Herman C. Merivale. Rev. C. H. Middleton-Wake, F.L.S. J. C. Parkinson. The Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery. Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., LL.I). Walter Herries Pollock. A. G. Ross. George Augustus Sala. W. Haitiste Scoones. G. R. Sims. J. J. Stevenson. J as. Sully. William Moy Thomas. H. 1). Traill, D.C.L. The Right Hon. the Baron Henry de Worms. Edmund Yates. lion. Counsel—E. M. Undehdown, Q.C. A. W. a Beckett. W. Martin Conway. COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT. Chairman—Walter Besant. Edmund Gosse. J. M. Lely. H. Rider Haggard. Sir Frederick Pollock. A. G. Ross. Solicitors—Messrs. Field, Roscoe, & Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. Secretary—S. Squire Sprigge. OFFICES. 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C. PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 1. The Annual Report. That for .January 1891 can 1m; ha<l on application to the Secretary. 2. The Author. A Monthly Journal devoted especially to the protection and maintenance of Literary Property. Issued to all Menihers. 3. The Grievances Of Authors. (Field & Tuer.) 2s. The Report of three Meetings on the general .subject of Literature and its defence, held at Willis's Rooms, March 1887. 4. Literature and the Pension List. By W. Morris Colles, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry Glaisher, g5, Strand, W.C.) 3*. 5. The History of the Societe des Gens de Lettres. By S. Squire Sprigge, Secretary to the Society, is. 6. The Cost of Production. Li this work specimens are given of the most important forms of type, size of page, Ac, with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds of liooks. 2s. 6d. Out of Print, New Edition now preparing. 7. The Various Methods Of Publication. By S. Sqt'ire Sprigge. In (his work, compiled from the papers in the Society's offices, the various kinds of agreements proposed by Publishers to Authors are examined, and their meaning carefully explained, with an account of the various kinds of fraud which have been made possible by the different clauses in their agreements. Price 3s. Second Edition. 8. Copyright Law Reform. An Exposition of Lord MonkswelPs Copyright Bill now before Parliament With Extracts from the Report of the Commission of 1878, and an Appendix containing the Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lely. Eyre and Spottiswoode. is. 6d. Other works bearing on the Liternri/ Profession trill follow. vol. 11. C a  ## p. 36 (#440) ############################################# ADVER TISEMENTS. The " Swan" is a beautiful Gold Pen joined to a rubber reservoir to hold any kind of ink, which it supplies to the writing point in a continuous flow. It will hold enough ink for two days' constant work, or a week's ordinary writing, and can be refilled with as little trouble as to wind a watch. With the cover over the gold nib it is carried in the pocket like a pencil, to be used anywhere. A purchaser may try a pen a few days, and if by chance the writing point does not suit his hand, exchange it for another without charge, or have his money returned if wanted. There are various points to select from, broad, meflinm, and flue, every handwriting can lie suited, and toe uricc of toe entire instrument, with filler complete, post free, is only iOs. 6d. The Gold Pens in the "Swan" are Mabie, Todd, & Co.'s famous make. They are 14-earat tempered gold, very handsome, and positively unaffected by any kind of ink. They are pointed with selected polished iridium. The " Encyclopaedia Britannica" says:—"Iridium is a nearly white metal of high specific gravity, it is almost indestructible, and a beautifully polished surface can be obtained upon it." They will not penetrate the paper, and writer's cramp is unknown among users of Gold Pens. One will OUtwear 90 grOSS Of Steel pens. They are a perfect revelation to those who know nothing about Gold Pens. l)u. Oliver Wkndki.t. IIolmks has used one of Mabie, Todd, & Co.'s Gold Pens since 1857, and is using the same one (his "old friend ") to-day. Sydney Gulndv, Ksq., says (referring to die Fountain Pen) :—" It is a vast improvement on every Stylograph." Mobekly Hull, Esq., Manager, The Tunes, says (referring to the Fountain Pen):—" One pen lasted me for six years." S. ]). Waddy, Ksq., Q.C., M.P., Bays (referring to the Fountain Pen) :—" I have used them constantly for some years, and, as far as I can remember, they have never failed me." Send Postal Card for Free Illustrated List (containing interesting Testimonials from the Best People, who have used them for years) to— MABIE, TODD, & BARD, E»3, LOXDON.  ## p. 37 (#441) ############################################# TZhe Hutbor* (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. II.—No. 2.] JULY i, 1891. [Price Sixpence. Vol. For the Opinions expressed in papers that arc signed the Authors alone are responsible. ■ WARNING. WE have recently ascertained that the " quire stock " of books, if it should bo destroyed by fire either at the printer's or the pub- lisher's, is practically lost to the author, if he should not have sold it. out and out, in the great majority of cases. In hardly any agreements is provision made for insurance of this stock, and without insurance, or negligence on the part of either publisher or printer, the author must bear the whole loss of fire. Manuscript, we may observe, cannot bo insured at all, no fire office being willing to undertake the risk. We propose to return to this important subject next month, and meanwhile shall be glad to receive any suggestions upon it. INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT. 1. Action of the Society. BY the lime that this number of the Author is in the hands of readers, it, will probably be known whether the American International Copyright Act is hold on the- other side of the Atlantic to include writers of this country or not. It is time, therefore, to place upon record and to make quite plain the action of the Society as regards the position of American authors in Great Britain. This position is perfectly well known. Two Law Lords of the highest eminence held in a certain case that Americans can obtain copyright by simul- taneous publication: two other Law Lords, of perhaps lesser eminence, doubted. Thorp has never been any doubt that by a term of residence on British soil copyright could be secured. The Society two years ago undertook to draft a Bill which should amend and consolidate the Law of Copyright in this country. In this Bill a clause was inserted which would have removed at a single stroke any doubt as to the position of the American thus made as free as ourselves. It was found, however, impossible when the Bill was completed to bring it before the House of Commons with any chance of getting it through. It was therefore resolved to attempt the House of Lords. The Bill was taken in charge by Lord Monkswell, after consultation with our Copyright Commit too. It was read for the first time in November of last year. In April of this year it was road a second time, and after a certain amount of discussion was shelved for the session. Seeing, therefore, the impossibility of getting their Bill through either House, and seeing, further, the necessity of immediate action, in order to give the President of the United States an occasion to refuse the Proclamation so far as this country was concerned, the Committee hold consultations witli various Members of Parliament and American authors and publishers on the whole subject. There appeared several ways out of the diffi- culty :— (1) A single-clause Act of Parliament defining the position of Americans. The objection to this apparently simple measure was the certainty that the opportunity would be seized for proposing retaliatory measures in the interests of printers and paper makers. These measures, proposed perhaps rashly, and before we know whether printers and paper makers will suffer at all, would certainly give rise to great discussion and opposition in the House; they would certainly delay anil perhaps wreck the Bill, in which case our position would In- worse than over.  ## p. 38 (#442) ############################################# 3B THE AUTHOR. (2) An Order in Council. This would take too long to procure, and it was not at all certain that the Government would consent to it. (3) An opinion of the Judicial Committee. To obtain this would probably take too long. (4) An opinion of the Law Officers. The last method appeared to be the readiest and the most likely to produce a satisfactory result. Sir Michael Hicks Beach granted an interview on the subject to Sir Frederick Pollock, the Chairman of the Copyright Committee, and Mr. James Bryce, at which the views of the Committee were submitted. The Government then referred the point to the law officers, including those of the late Govern- ment. It has been announced in the House, in reply to a question by Mr. James Bryce, that these lawyers are all unanimous in their opinion, and that it is a favourable opinion as to the position and rights of American subjects in this country, and that the Foreign Office is in possession of this opinion. Lord Monkswell, whatever may be the result of this action, proposes to press on the Bill at the first opportunity. II. From Mb. R. U. Johnson. The Copyright negotiations are moving more rapidly. As you have doubtless seen, France has already made formal application for admittance to the benefits of our law, accompanying its request with a certificate (1) of its membership in the Berne Convention, and (2) of the fact that Americans have, substantially, the same security under its laws as the citizens of France. It is understood from the State Department (with which 1 am in constant unofficial communication) that the President will admit the existence of the second con- dition as the basis of his proclamation, leaving the value of the first condition in abeyance. We now are expecting that England will make similar appli- cation and certification, and last Tuesday (June 2) our Executive Council (of the Authors' Copyright League) passed resolutions which I have sent to the President, earnestly requesting that he will consider whether the uniform security afforded to American literary projxjrty for many years under British law through simultaneous publication does not furnish the condition precedent of a procla- mation including your authors. Also, another resolution setting forth our opinion that the Berne Convention is such "an international agreement" as that contemplated in Section XIII. of the new Act. We want Great Britain to assume this to be the case by asking for admittance on that ground— even if she be admitted on the other, for we shall then have the moral effect of the support of France and Great Britain in asking that the Berne Con- vention shall be recognised in the cases of the other governments. Now, as to the recognition of the fact that we already have virtually the same rights as you under your law: this very recognition would also have a moral effect in aiding to preserve our status quo Tinder your law. Moreover, a prompt settlement of the question by the admittance of your authors would greatly reinforce the sentiment which must be relied upon to support the Bill here, and to support future amendment of it after it has had a fair working trial. We are urging all these con- siderations upon the State Department. You know what a provincial and uneducated opposition we have had to contend with, and how the question of copyright has been intentionally confused in the public mind here with party questions. Against this feeling (which English criticism of the details of the Bill has heightened) we have had (1) the prestige of success, (2) the recognition of the French Government, and (3) the influence of the Copyright Dinner, which was planned to strengthen copyright sentiment. I have now proposed (4) the striking of a medal in honour of the security offered by the law to literary, artistic, and musical products, and though it is not far enough along to admit of any public mention, 1 think there is no doubt that the project will l>c carried out. Each one of these four events makes it more difficult for our opponents to repeal the law or alter it except as we desire. Now, if we can obtain a prompt arrangement with Great Britain, it will knock out the last of the underpinning of the opposition, which will otherwise say that the Bill is a failure; that "nobody is satisfied wilh it," &c., &c. There are two other ways in which your Govern- ment might have come in for sure recognition as entitled to a proclamation: (1) by the Order in Council extension to us of the Imperial and Colonial Copyright Act, and (2) by new legislation, such as the Monkswell Bill. I learn from Mr. Bryce that the first is impnicticable, and that the second has lx>en postponed to the next session of Parliament, and I judge that he is prodding the Foreign Office to application on the other two grounds. I see nothing else left to do. The President evidently expects foreign Governments to take the initiative, and he will act promptly on their applications. I should be very glad if I could get a reply to this question: Does the English law, in the matter of residence, impose any terms upon Americans not imposed upon yourselves? Note  ## p. 39 (#443) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 39 the query carefully, for it is often being con- founded with the question of whether or not the residence clause is a dead letter. The question in Section XIII. of our law is not What conditions arc imposed I but Is there any discrimination against Americans in imposing them i This may seem impertinently elementary to you, but you will, perhaps, pardon it when I tell you that a number of our men here insist on discussion of our absolute status under your law instead of our relative status; just as they think it pertinent to discuss whether or not we shall attempt to join the Berne Convention, the only question l>eing whether we "may at our pleasure enter" that agreement. Simond's idea was a reciprocity of sentiment—to give the benelits of the Act to any country which had ever offered copyright security to us. In this light, perhaps, our Hill is not so entirely sordid as some of the English manufacturers would have it thought. Bowker has lately been (with Mr. Spofford) in Washington, personally urging our officials to pre- pare for the operation of the law (the Secretary of the Treasury and the Postmaster-General must prepare certain rules), and reinforcing my efforts to hasten the proclamations. Everything seems in good shape now, and no time will be lost at this end of the negotiations. III. Mr. Putnam's Book. Mr. George Putnam has compiled an exceedingly useful volume on the question of Copyright. It contains a useful summary of the Copyright Laws at present in force in the chief countries of the world, as well as a report of the legislation now pending in Great Britain; a sketch of the contest in the United States for 1837 to 1891 in behalf of the International Copyright, and papers on the development of the conception of literary property and on the probable effect of the new American Law. At the present juncture in the history of the law governing literary property, such a contribution possesses the highest interest for all concerned, and all are concerned who either read or write. With Mr. R.R. Bowker's paper on the " Nature and Origin of Copyright," and Mr. Brander Matthews' valuable article on the " Evolution of Copyright," most of our readers are already familiar. But Mr. Putnam has done well to reprint them in the present volume, but for the moment Mr. Putnam's Analysis of the Chase—Breckinridge—Adams—Simonds—Piatt— Copyright Act of 1891 possesses a paramount interest, explaining as it does the conditions of that remarkable measure. Mr. Putnam believes that no material difficulty will be experienced in securing the assistance of American publishers in procuring for less-known British authors their American Copyright. A point of importance which Mr. Putnam makes clear is the position of foreign artisans and designers. "The condition of American manufacture is attached to the Copyright of repro- ductions in the form of chromos, lithographs, and photographs, only it was not made a condition of the more artistic forms of reproduction, and foreign artists therefore are now in a position to control the copyright of their engravings or photogravures of their productions, whether these engravings are manufactured in Europe or the United States." The importance of this is obvious. IV. Fito.M the New Yobk Critic. In his forecast of the working of " Our Inter- national Copyright Law," in the June Forum, Mr. Henry Holt predicts, among other things, that, the habit of paying foreign authors for their work once established, royalties will be freely paid them, in many cases, without copyright. Books which will not at first seem likely to pay for the American type-setting which the law requires, but which, like Mr. Bryce's "American Common- wealth," may become unexpectedly popular, will continue to offer a temptation to pirates, but will be too few to support them, and when the pirates are starved out, respectable American houses will either abstain from competing or will make proper terms with the foreign publisher or author. Another result of the law will be an improvement in the make-up of many new books, which in previously existing circumstances would have to be brought out very cheaply. Since a price must now be demanded which will cover the author's royalty, it will l>e found better to add a little more for good paper and presswork, and to seek a new class of buyers for limited first editions, than to depend wholly on the rare chance of a very wide sale. When a book becomes popular, a cheap edition can always l>e brought out to meet the demand. We may hope, on this account, to compete more extensively than we have hitherto done with French and English editions dc luxe. Our printers, no longer obliged to work for quantity merely, will have a chance to take the lead in artistic printing.  ## p. 40 (#444) ############################################# 40 THE AUTHOR. v. In answer to your invitation for comments on the American Copyright Bill, I beg to note the following point:— ■Sec. 4906 requires the deposit with the Librarian of Congress of "two copies of every such copyright booh, map, chart, dramatic or musical composition, engraving," fyc. The proviso requiring such two copies to be printed, &c. within the United States applies only to a "book, photograph, chromo, or lithograph." Is it then the law— 1. That a book containing only a dramatic com- position need not be printed from American type? 2. That to receive the right of performing a dramatic composition the author has only to register the title, and deposit two copies, which may be in MS., type-written, or printed elsewhere than in the United States? The letter of the Bill seems on these two points to belie its spirit. Julian Cobbett. VI. 1. In what ways is a book published in England now, after the passing of the Act, open to piracy and under-selling from America? 2. Taking all things into consideration (cost of printing and publishing, question of piracy, &c), on which side of the Atlantic is it best to publish, England or America? 3. Supposing an author gave a copy of MS. of an unpublished work to a public library (as British Museum in England, Library of Congress in United States of America, &c.)—notice of intention to copyright being given at the same time—what effect such gift would have on the subsequent copyright of that work? SOME NOTES ON A BILL. 0PERUSE a simple Story—read a parable detached From the vice of vending pullets ere the little beasts arc hatched; A weird, bi-lingual prophecy, with Hying footnotes shored, On the means of slipping sideways from the, World's je-jogglc-board. (') 'Twas (he Broncho (-) among Nations—a severely cultured race, Though their mode of spelling centre proved them clearly off their base— (;)) Passed a Bill of three dimensions—two of which concerned the trade— And one, but this was fiction, books the British Author made. Softly sang the British Author, for a dream was in his brain Of Landaus from Longacre and of houses in Park Lane; But ere he went to Tnttersalls' or changed his modest dwelling He explained, per Western Union, his objections to their spelling. "Oh, my Largest Reading Public," thus the coded cable came, "You drop one (hell) in ' travelling ' and—get there just the same : (') "If to Webster and to Worcester, and your sauce at large I grovel, "It will vulgarize our fiction—taint the Holy British Novel. (') (') An elastic Heat, found in the verandahs of Southern houses. (■) An underbred animal with u swelled head, (riven to jumping nervously 011 inspection. Anglice: "Bounder." (') They are very like tlieir babies, if you notice 'em they cry; If you don't they steal your candy and their teachers call 'em " Spry ;" Their father's name was Washington—mis-statements made him wince— Hut his sons declare on " honor "—there's been no one like him since. (') V. 1. Suppressed by Western I'nion as a casus belli. "Your views of spelling ' honour ' match your notions on the same." (') Now the Holy British Novel—from this verdict none shall warp us— Is the Maiden's Magna Charta and the Matron's Habeas Corpus: For when Maid and Wife have finished with the volume Father paid for— You can read it to the Bahy, This is what all books are made for.  ## p. 41 (#445) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 4i "Yet I'll vitiate the spelling of the Children of my friends, "If you pay me something extra for my labor." (Message ends.) And it filled that Author's system with severe electric shocks When his Largest Heading Public cabled back: "You're on the box. (6) "The fact of being shouted for a dime along the cars "Does not fix you for a planet among Literary Stars; "Nor is it a safe assumption you can tetur continents "When our high-toned Mister H-rp-r (7) sews you up for fiftyleents. "British parsons make us tired—British dukes, our (laughters doubt 'em— "Cuss-words of the British Army, we can mosey on without 'em; "Take a walk and get your hair cut (8)—sit on Mister M-d-e-'s shelves, "If we've got to pay for reading, guess we'll read about ourselves." So they read by free selection on a principle their own— 'Twas the most exhaustive weeding that an inkstained earth had known; And the palpitating cable sizzled madly under sea, "Honour without ' u' I'll stomach; what is Honor without me '?" No, the fame the newsboys give you when they board the C.B.Q. Does not predicate your kiting into honour without u. If you cannot bang the big drum, vou must twang the harp of Tarn (9) With McGinty (ln) and O'Grady (») and the man that struck O'Hara. It was good for Zenas Mather, Independence Psickafoos, Adah Isaacs Menken, Shuswap, Janet, Thackeray, Van Dewze,— They stood pat as home-grown produce, with some seven thousand more They were paid at full face-value—they came in on the ground floor. (,:)) For they wove their country's fiction, triple-ply, of many shades, From the big blue bergs at Sitka to the rotting Everglades; And never since the Pilgrims furled the Mayflower's sea-worn sail, Hail the Bounder among Nations seen herself done out to scale. It was woolly—wild and woolly—it was more than three feet wide, For it ran from Maine to Oregon and out the other side. With one nasal Hallelujah, like a giant Jews' harp drone, The Bounder among Nations claimed a bookcase of her own. (u) Now they're running ninety Shakespeares—all with variegated dictions, They have put the growth of Miltons under interstate restrictions, They brake the CP. freight-cars with the Laureates of the West, And a vigilance committee is sub-editing the rest. They are writing of Proportion, and Reserve, and Racial Feeling, Like an introspective sneak-thief who has just abandoned stealing, And we can't attend to baby, and we can't lie down at night, For those queer self-conscious schoolboys howl: "Git up and see us write." (r') V. 1. "Come off the rocks." Anglice: "You labour under a misapprehension." (') The leading sporting bookmaker of the United States. He does not bet on outsiders. C) Mutilated in transmission. Supposed to indicate esteem and personal interest. (,J) This instrument is distinguished for its enduring silences. ("') Famous for his exploration of the depths of the Ocean. (") He was owed ten dollars—presumably on account of American royalties, for the money was never paid. (''-) The remains of this gentleman would not furnish a biography. i.e.. There was no necessity in their case for abasement. ('') They abandoned watered Herrick, and Elizabethan echoes, They were not stuck on Browning like a horde of homeless geckoes, Twas a second Boston bust-up, but it cost us more than tea, Yot the alphabet of authors they discarded—a to zee. VOL. 11. I)  ## p. 42 (#446) ############################################# 42 THE AUTHOR. But they're learning not to "wiggle " when you photograph their manners; They are guessing at a medium 'twixt "yon skunk !" and matl Hosannas; And the men who know 'em fancy—if the measure they have made lasts— That some day they'll he a Public—not a girl's school swapping Trade-lasts." (ls) Ends my lurid lucid legend, halts my parable divorced From the blame of hunting Navajhoes before your scouts are horsed; Oh, the Author 'a in the puree (l8), and the deuce is in the Bill, But the Holy British Novel—yes—it's wholly British still. Rudyabd Kipling. (1S) Saidie tells Maimie that Huttie's now frock is pretty. Maimie repeats the compliment to Hattie, who tells Maimie that Saidie is "just too sweet to live." This is a trade-last. It is also called criticism. (""') This is the position formerly occupied by the oyster. AN ANTIQUARTS REMONSTRANCE. IVENTURE to think that the Authors' Society is, without intending it, bringing about a great and very mischievous change in the way in which the literary profession lias hitherto been regarded in this country and everywhere else. For instance, the general conception of the author is of a man—or woman—full of ideas, a crank in his views, a fool in business, hasty, unpractical, and liable to be cheated by the first who chooses to undertake that easy job. He has therefore met with universal commiseration, except from those who live upon him. Next, he is regarded as a dependant, a person with no rights at all, obliged to take whatever the "generosity" of the publisher allowed him, subsisting on doles. A Royal Literary Fund has been established for him, and at a great dinner held every year charity is asked for this unfortunate pauper. , He is .there- lore an object of universal contempt. Thirdly, he is supposed to be wholly unable to combine or to act with other persons of the same profession for his own interests. And it is known that he takes the greatest possible joy in jumping upon his brother authors, trampling upon them, and sticking knives into them. He is therefore a by-word and a proverb, and children are taught not to hate each other like authors. Fourthly, if he is a good author, he instructs, amuses, and delights the whole world, so that every- body loves him and admires him and begs him to keep on making the world laugh and cry. In short, the world at the same time loves, reproaches, despises, and commiserates the author. But the Society is changing all that. It persuades authors to act. together for their common interest; it exhorts them to demand justice, not to whine for "generosity"; it exhorts them not to slash and bludgeon each other, but to observe the common rules of good breeding towards each other. If this goes on, the next generation will see the followers of literature as sober in business matters as City men; as respectful (outwardly) to each other as physicians and lawyers; and as much filled with self-respect as either. What will then be the feelings of the world towards the author? Love and admiration may be left, it is true. Respect will have grown up. But contempt, commiseration, and reproach—these will have gone. Now, tin; combination of all these emotions together formed the romantic side of the pro- fession. In this respect—and in this respect alone—the author was like the highway robber. If the romance goes out of literature, may it not become, as some of your correspondents suggest, a simple trade? What is Art without romance? What is romance without illusion? Does not the author feel, while he holds out his hand for the doles of the Literarv Fund and the " generous" . « . . * <• guineas of his publisher, that he is carrying on the best traditions of the profession? While he squirms under "generosity," and writhes under charity, is it not a sufficient balm for him to know that poverty and writhing have been the lot of nearly all who have written? This is one aspect of the ease, which I think the managers of the Society would do well to consider. If the old traditions are to be swept away, let them at least maintain, even at their own expense, a publisher of the old school. Let him continue to cheat in the cost, of production and in the advertise- ments; let him advertise in none but his own publications, and put all the money under that head into Lis own pocket. Let him refuse the author any rights, and exercise a noble "generosity" towards him. An old-fashioned author ought also to be kept at the same time its an illustration— without him the publisher alone would be incom- plete—one l>elonging to the good old times from which we seem now to lie emerging. F. S. A.  ## p. 43 (#447) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. REALISM IN GRUB STREET. GRUB Street is the mother of all of us "(1 (1 literary fellows," whether we dwell on the first floor or in the attics. Even these eminences were not disenchanted, when we were twenty, M. Beranger says; and why should Mr. Gissing try to disenchant the whole eligible district? I woidd be understood to speak with all respect of Mr. Gissing's "New Grub Street"; it is not his fault, but his misfortune, that he sees everything in black. This is the burden of what is queerly called " Realism." One reads in reviews about Mr. Gissing's "poignant realism," but is it real at all? To myself it seems a perverted idealism, idealism on the seamy side. In Grub Street there are many mansions; they are not all full of failure, and envy, and low cunning, and love of money, and hatred of success. In the Author of June, a writer says that he "can testify to the truth" of the "New Grub Street." He is unlucky enough to know people like Mr. Gissing's characters, and the fidelity of the portraits makes him shudder. I also am a dweller in Grub Street, but am so fortunate as not to know anybody who resembles these unhappy rates. I do not know the man of comparative genius, with no health, and with an unsympathetic wife. I do not know the impudent and half-educated speculator in " literature." I do not know—I wish I did—the gentleman who wants to write on Diogenes Laertius, a delightful subject, and I hope, when he does writ** that essay, he will clear up the passage about the Megarian historian and Homer. Willamowitz is too speculative, though decidedly ingenious; but Mr. Yule is not here. I want to talk Diogenes Laertius and kindred pedantries with him in vain. However, it is not to be questioned that persons like Jasper and Mr. Yule and Edwin may exist, or may have existed; so may Lucien de Rul)empre. They may be "real," but then they are not everybody. They are not the whole population of Grub Street. There are good fellows there, poor, plucky, contented. Them, at least, I have known, and no picture of Grub Street is real which leaves them out. In Miss Braddon's excellent story, "The Doctor's Wife," there is a line denizen of Grub Street, Mr. Sigismund Smith, a penny novelist. He has humour, and good humour; he likes his trade, and there are many worse trades. The Muses have not given it to me to write a good penny novel; would that they had. It is an enviable art. What is much of Balzac, but glorified penny novel? Well, nobody calls Miss Braddon a realist, but Sigismund Smith is as "real" as these envious failures, these evil suc- cesses. He is not recognised as real, because he is jolly. There are plenty of jolly people in Grub Street, only Realism averts her blue spectacles from them. As to "scarifying," what nonsense is talked about it! It is only a battle with snowballs at most. Let some gentleman have his fling at me, let me have my fling at him, if I like; "it is such easy writing." Who is a penny the worse? In some paper I read, for example, that Mr. Robert Buchanan has been calling me a Cockney some- where. That, surely, is "scarifying "? Perhaps the snowball would hurt if it hit. But it seems to go a little wide; and, if I choose, I can bowl at Mr. Buchanan's manly legs. Does he plav cricket in a kilt? It seems to me that, in Grab Street, we cry out a great deal for very little hurt. This "scarifying " is not so bad as what Apollo did to Marsyas. Our skins, however thin, are left to decorate our persons. In real life, the unlucky hero of Mr. Gissing would have had a devoted wife, who believed in her husband's genius; but to give him such a wife would not be Realism. It would be romance, or something improper of that kind. There are depths a good deal deeper in Grub Street than Mr. Gis- sing has chosen to sound. He might have been much more realistic, and yet have lieen not untrue, except by the suppression of the other side of the truth. M. Grimaudet, in M. Paul Bourget's new book, is excessively " realistic," but then M. Bourget has introduced lights as well as shadows. Light is quite as real as darkness; sun as shade. La Vic de Boheme is as real as " The New Grab Street," but it has the unpardonable defect of humour, and so it is not realistic. Captain Shandon and Archer are true to life; but they are humorous, so they are not realistic. Again, is it real to say, Mr. A uthor, that literature has "no unwritten laws of decency and politeness "? It has such laws; I hope that we try to obey them; there would be no fun in the game if we did not. They are not uni- versally obeyed. There are Bounders in the land, but we are not all Bounders in Grab Street. Our adverse criticism—the slating with slates—is not all envy. We think things should be done diffe- rently, and say so, with more or less urbanity; usually, perhaps, with less. Urbanity is what we all need. It would be l>etter to fight, like Jem Crawley, " with the gloves." I confess that, some- how, this method seems to irritate the enemy even much more, but that is his fault. He should learn to keep his temper, and to take things in less furious earnest; to remember that, after all, Mr. Toots was right, and "it does not signify." Literary rivalries and hatreds, nbout which so much is said, will lose all that is enjoyable if we do not keep our tempers, and remember that I) 2  ## p. 44 (#448) ############################################# 44 THE AUTHOR. we are only children playing at the game which was old in Hesiod'.s time, at the game in which Callimachus and Apollonius were performers. When one sees the blind ferocity of some players, one is reminded of the Maoris, who were so dis- gusted with a manoeuvre of ours, that they declined to light any more. They made peace; they said we were not the men they took us for. Now here is a view of the "scarifying" business which is just as true as some other excited theories. But you shall not find it in a realistic novel of Grub Street, because it is not grimy. A. Lang. - ——♦■•■» THE TURNING OF THE WORM.-A Fable. "rTTHEN the Worm turned, the bystanders VV laughed and derided the presumption of the creature. This helpless, wretched thing had hitherto been allowed to live on sufferance; he was unprovided with the least means of attack or defence; he would not have been tolerated—for he really was wretchedly shabby to look at—except for the purpose of enriching the soil for his Master, which he did very cleverly, wriggling in and about the clods, converting them into a light and fertile earth, turning them now this side up, now that, for the sun to warm them, insomuch that the most beautiful crops of grain, the choicest fruit in vast quantities, grapes for wine in abundance, grass for cattle, trees for shade, and gardens for flowers were all produced out of the ground by the industry and cleverness of the Worm. Now and then the Master tossed him an apple, or a raw turnip, or something else light and inexpensive. "Oh! most generous patron!" cried the Worm, the tears of gratitude rolling over his brown skin, "How can I thank thee? How serve thee with suflicient zeal? Take all—all—all that I produce." "Such, Worm, is my intention," said the Master. Now, one clay the Worm discovered that he had grown; he had without knowing it, grown quite large; he was no longer a little brown thing, wriggling among the clods; he was quite three feet long, and of a very beautiful variegated colour, and he was conscious that he was possessed of a weapon in the shape of a pair of front teeth very sharp, and poisoned. He pondered over this dis- covery; he even conferred with his brethren, who had undergone a similar transformation, on the subject. But, as yet, they hardly understood the extent of the change or their own power, and went on, although now far more subtle than all the creatures of the held, contentedly on the whole, though not without a question or a growl, slaving for the Master and taking with gratitude, though that was now somewhat modified, whatever apples he chose to bestow upon them. He was now also become so rich through their labours, that he gave them many more apples, but yet their gratitude did not increase; so that it became a proverb with the Masters that the more you give a Worm, the more he wants, and that he would like to take the whole earth. Now, one day, when the time came for a certain Worm to be fed, the Master tossed him, for all his reward, a single apple, and that half rotten. So this Worm lifted his head. Never before had a worm so much as dared to lift his head. And the Master marvelled. "Sir," said the Worm, " who has made all this wealth for you and your family? Who has created this orchard?" "You have, Worm. Hold your tongue, and go on working," said the Master. With that the ungrateful creature sprang upon his Master, and bit him on the ankle, and the bite was like unto a red-hot wire applied to the foot, or like the raging fiery gout in the great toe, or like the accursed twinge of a tooth in mortal pain. So the Master lied, howling. Then the Worm called together all the other Worms who were, like himself, grown into serpents, all long and strong and swift, and each armed with sharp front teeth, and all able and ready to use them. Then the Worms took possession of the orchards, and the gardens, and the fields, and when a Master—now called the Usurper—ventured near the place, he was assailed in such a manner that he was fain to flee. Then there was great agitation among the Masters, and they trembled excessively. But. first they said that the Worm was no Serpent at all, but only a Worm still, and harmless. Yet those who had been bitten shook their heads. Then they said that the Worms were ungrateful. But the world laughed. Then they said that the Worms already devoured the whole produce. But they were themselves so fat that nobody believed them. Long time the struggle lasted between the Master and the Worms. At last the Master sent swine into the. orchard. Everybody knows that serpents cannot hurt, pigs, though they throw all their poison into their bites, but that pigs can, and do, hurt serpents, taking them by the tail, and slowly munching them, ribs and skin and all, till there is nothing left. But the Master made in this case a mistake, because, although his pigs were as swinish in all other respects as any other pigs, and could befoul anything placed before them, they could not eat, destroy, or hurt this kind of serpent. They could only trample the orchard and  ## p. 45 (#449) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 45 the gardens, and they could cover with foul abuse and fouler lies the names of the Serpents, so that, for a time, some people were led to ln-lieve that they were nothing but u wicked and a mischievous crew instead of a most harmless folk, seeking nothing hut common justice and protection for their own. Now, after a long struggle, the Serpent—subtle, wise, and clever — possesses his own. Gardens, orchards, fields—all are his own because he created them. The former Master now looks over the garden wall; and as for the pigs which were to have slain and devoured the Serpents, they are now themselves slain and partly devoured. What is left of them is hanging on the rafters, in shape of fat and brown sides of bacon, large hams, and goodly gammons. ♦•♦*♦— ME. GLADSTONE ON THE AUTHOR AND THE PUBLISHER. WE are indebted to the Critic (New York) for the following. It is extracted from the Xew York Herald, and it is an indication of the growing power of the Press that such a man as Mr. Gladstone should contribute to a foreign paper an article on such a subject, and that such a communication should not even be noticed by our own Press. The remarks about the necessity of taking a partner into the enterprise of publishing a lnjok are perfectly just. Unfortunately they are not new, and they stop at the threshold. They lay down a definition or an axiom and leave it there. Also Mr. Gladstone is a few years behind the time when he speaks of the extremely small numl>cr of publishers. In London alone there are more than 384. This is what he has written for the New York Herald:— "Books are, after all, a product of manufacturing industry; but, among manufactures, theirs is surely the most interesting, and the most peculiar, because it is based upon the reduction of a mental product to a material form, and what was originally intangible and ethereal, in this way, without losing its earlier character, comes to be embraced within the same category as a yard of calico or a bushel of wheat. "But while these have no value except what is exhibited by their outward form, so that the inde- pendent producers of other bushels of wheat or yards of calico meet them in 1 the market' upon equal terms, the producer of the l>ook exhibits to the world a double entity, one material, the other mental; and the author pleads that, as the material thing which we call a l>ook is protected by the law against abstraction, so the thoughts contained in it and wrought by him into a structure more or less elaborate should in like manner be protected from reproduction. For reproduction, from his point of view, is theft. It is offering to the world, for such price as the world lie willing to give, not. only the paper and print which the producer has to buy and pay for, but the composition contained in them, which represents the time and labour, and, there- fore, the food and raiment and lodging and all the lawful expenditure of the author. "On this basis has been erected that curious formation which we call the law of copyright. The conditions of its birth and history have lxjen chequered and abnormal; but the reasonableness of the proposition that mental toil, on taking literary form, should not be deprived of the re- muneration enjoyed by bodily labour, has brought it out into the light of day, and so secured its acceptance .... "But the author, when he has obtained an ack- nowledgment of his right to protection, has not yet surmounted his difficulties. The grower of wheat and the manufacturer of calico produce articles complete in themselves, and only require certain manipulations before reaching the ultimate con- sumer. These processes are performed by a multitude of persons; and the function of the intermediate! distributors, being simple, is performed by large numbers of persons. But the author has given birth to a commodity which is perfectly un- available for the purpose of yielding him support, until he has contracted, as it were, a marriage with a capitalist who will agree to become joint partner of the book, giving it a body where the author has supplied the soul, and thus at length constituting it a marketable and productive commodity. The author cannot himself, as a rule, 1m> the publisher, and publishers are extremely few, so few that, until a very recent date, they might be counted on the lingers. Practically, and as a general rule, the author in relation to his customer is nobody until his initial performance has been capped by the accession of the publisher. Better would be the position of a man who should offer for sale the stock and lock of a rifle without the barrel to complete.''^ A Practical Note. "I have just read your wail over the dust on the rough tops of uncut books. If you wish to clean them, and also to leave them a little rough, take the finest grade of sand-paper and rub them with it. If a piece is tacked on a bit of wood about an inch square at the, end anil three or four inches long, the work can l>e done very rapidly. I have treated uncut books in that way, and find it works admirably." A (JoliliESl'ONI)ENT TO THE New YoRK Critic. +-+~*  ## p. 46 (#450) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. THE AUTHORS' CLUB. AS a large number of your readers are interested in the formation of the Authors' Club, it may be of some service if I give a few particulars of the Authors' Club of New York, gleaned from the beautifully-printed and quaintly-bound little book which that Club issues. Such particulars may be suggestive partly of what to imitate, and partly, owing to your different circumstances, of what it may be necessary to avoid. I should like to state that I am indebted to the courtesy of Mr. J. B. Gilder, of the New York Critic, who has been good enough to procure and send me this interesting little book. I first of all gather that the Authors' Club of New York is what we call, a members' club, and that it is incorporated pursuant to the provisions of an Act of the Legislature of the State of New York. On this side we should find a parallel in a limited liability company. In the certificate of incorporation the particular business of the Club is set out as for literary and library purposes, and for the promotion of social intercourse among authors; and in the "Constitu- tion," under section 2, I find that "the object of the Club shall be the promotion of social intercourse among authors." The membership of the Club is limited to a smaller number than would be desirable, perhaps, in the case of the London Club; the New York maximum lwing 3oo, more than 5o per cent, of which number are required to reside in or within z5 miles of New York city. For the London Club it has, I believe, been suggested that journalism should be a qualification: for the New York Club, on the other hand, "technical books of journalism as such shall not be accounted literature," and " no person shall be eligible to membership who is not the author of a published book proper to literature, or who has not a recognised position in other kinds of distinctively literary work." Thus it will be seen that a large and useful body of literary men—the writers of technical manuals and dictionaries, and those journalists who from day to day or from week to week turn out really sound literary work, would be disqualified if the New York rule were adopted in the case of the London Club. But this, I take it, is not likely to be done. The government of the New York Club is vested in an executive council of nine "trustees," who are chosen by ballot, three of whom annually retire. The trustees elect from their own number a secretary and treasurer, and a librarian; and they appoint all committees except a portion of the Committee on Membership. This Committee on Membership consists of twelve members, and the trustees are disqualified from joining it. The committee fix their own time and place of meeting, and seven members constitute a quorum. Any member who absents himself from three consecutive regularly-called meetings is deemed to have resigned. The committee elects "by ballot, three adverse ballots excluding." Each candidate for membership has to be pro- posed by two members, who are required to present to the committee in writing, and through the secretary, his claims to election. The name of each candidate for election, together with those of his proposer and seconder, is posted for two weeks before he can be balloted for. Here is rather a curious rule: "No member of the Committee on Membership shall propose a candidate." Election to honorary membership of distinguished men of letters of other nations is provided for, but not more than one honorary member resident in the United States can be elected in any one year. Members may introduce one friend to the Club, and the hospitality of the Club may be offered to distinguished gentlemen of any profession. The entrance! fee is §25 = £5, and the annual subscription for those resident in or within 20 miles of New York city is S20 - £4 ; and of those not so resident (onr " country members ") £2. It should be noted that these sums do not represent in the United States anything like the amount they re- present here, but at the same time the expenses of the New York Club are probably not so heavy as those of a London Club would be. In conclusion, I hope that these few notes may be found of interest and use to those who contem- plate with some degree of pleasure and hopefulness, the foundation of an Authors' Club in London for the promotion of social intercourse among those engaged in literary work. Akthub Montefiobe. REVIEWS AND REVIEWERS. I. ALTHOUGH I am an occasional Reviewer as well as Author, I hope you will uot consider the incident I am about to relate a case of "dog biting dog." I may commence by saving I am a scientific writer—or one of those who often try to explain what thev themselves do not understand, as some- one has truly said—and author of a number of  ## p. 47 (#451) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 47 successful books—italics, please Mr. Printer—my vanity lias therefore l>een satiated some time since, and I do not write from the standpoint of a disappointed Author from which Critics are popularly supposed to be made. A few years back, when I published my well- known work on "The Extraction of Caloric from Cucumbers," my publisher sent a copy for review to a paj>er with which we are all well acquainted, viz., the Weekly Mastodon. Shortly after its receipt I was gratified by a very favourable review containing such remarks as the following: "Mr. Jones's book will be found of much value to those interested in cucumbers," "A book we have much pleasure in recommending," <fcc, &e. The success of this book was such that my publisher advised the reprint of the more popular part of it, and its re-issue at a cheaper price. This was done, and it appeared under the title, " Cucum- bers, sliced and otherwise; with Notes on their Affinity for Salmon," by Thomas Cwmrag Jones, Author of, &c, which you may remember made a considerable sensation at the time amongst cucum- ber eaters. A copy of this was also sent to the Mastodon, and you may imagine my horror when a few weeks afterwards I read a review in which the. book was thoroughly well slated, and I was called over the coals in all directions, the notice being fidl of such remarks as the following: "We are astonished that Mr. Jones can recommend eating cucumber with salmon, as he ought to be aware that it is most indigestible," and " Mr. Jones says nothing whatever about oil and vinegar with cucumber, which we consider a very grave omission," &c, &c. In case you should imagine that the above account is " writ sarkastic," as Artemus Ward \ised to say, I beg to assure you the incident absolutely occurred, and is a fair example of a critical journal eating its own words, and damning and praising the same matter. I enclose you the name of the journal, and also of the books con- cerned, not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith, as the newspaper legend has it. Thomas Cwmrag Jones. II. A novel of mine—my first novel—was reviewed by the on its first appearance. The review was the first notice that appeared of the work. To say that they "slated " it is to put the case with ridiculous mildness. It was torn to bits, and a frantic war dance was executed on the muti- lated remains. Imagine my feelings! My first book! My first review! What a beginning! In course of time my publisher produced a cheap edition of the book. I could only pray that the would pass it by in the silence and contempt such a worthless book deserved. Not at all! They renewed it again, but this time they spoke of the work in terms of the highest praise!!! I assure; you that in my opinion that second review of the book was a "thing of beauty and a joy for ever." E. III. "Formerly I hail to do, among other work, the 'reviewing' of the novels for a certain paper. I was allowed a single column, or perhaps a little over. I was paid one guinea for this column. I had to 'review' from eight to a dozen novels in this space. You may imagine the individual attention and the amount of muling I could afford to bestow on each!" P. In other words, this writer, to put his necessities at a very low rate, had to make at least £3oo a year, or six guineas a week. He got his batch of novels every fortnight or so. How long could he afford to give towards the earning of one guinea? One day. One day of, say, eight hours for an average of ten books! Less than one hour each. What judgment, even in a single sentence, could he pass—and write—upon a book in such a space of time? This is an extreme case, but we must take extreme cases into consideration. They are, indeed, the most important as test cases. It may l>c argued that no one has a right to accept work of this kind unless he can perform it properly. Quite so; but this is not an argument calculated to carry weight with the ordinary breadwinner. IV. The following is a collection of judgments on a single book which seem almost unique. The names of the papers were given by the author concerned, but they are suppressed for obvious reasons. An interesting problem arises. Given i5 opinions by as many critics, all different, on a little book, and, remembering that each sentence is the judgment of a truly competent critic, construct the true character of the book. 1." . . . The story is not a clever one, and the writer lacks the gift of making his readers accept the impossible as at least plausible. . . ." 2." . . . Certainly ... a very clever book, one of the cleverest of its kind that has recently appeared." 3." The book is madness run riot, and why the publishers should have endangered  ## p. 48 (#452) ############################################# 48 THE AUTHOR. their reputation by issuing it is as inexplicable as the pages themselves. . . ." 4. "... A tale of absorbing interest. . ." 5." . . . As a story the book is profoundly metaphysical and very dull." 6. " This is a weird and fascinating novel. . . . The story abounds with thrilling enigmas, and a tragedy and a love romance are skilfully interwoven." 7." . . . Metaphysical balderdash. . . ." 8. "A shilling shocker of the most robust tvpc . . . Defects are compensated for by an unlimited flow of blood, curses, and spasmodic ejaculations." g. "... It may l>e summed up in a quota- tion from his own pages: 'In the name of science —bosh ! *" 10." . . . For those fond of the mysterious the book should lie acceptable reading." 11. "After some hours' earnest wrestling with the extraordinary philosophy propounded herein we have 'given it up' just in time to save our reason. . . ." 12. "It has an ingenious, if somewhat extra- vagant, plot of mystery and murder, and though it never takes any very strong hold on the attention —it deals too largely in pure philosophy for that— the mild interest which it does excite is well sustained to the end." 13." . . . Quite out of the usual run of shilling shockers. . . . The writer has talent, but it might l>e better employed." 14." . . . A praiseworthy attempt to make the matter of a shilling shocker less rude—in the old sense of the word—and to give even the railway reader a few sentences which may make him take the trouble of thinking. . . . The writer is evidently a clever student who has drunk deep, if not wisely, at the well of contemporary fiction." 15. "This book is very readable." NOTES AND NEWS. Jf^HE Annual Gathering of the Society will this I year l>egiven in recognition of the International Copyright Bill. It will be held at the White- hall Rooms of the Hotel Metropole on the 16th. Long before the dinner it will be known whether the President has, or lias not, acknowledged that Americans have equal rights with our own people in this country. The function of the 16th, however, will mark our sense of what has been done by Americans. And as for ourselves, we shall very shortly put the position of Americans l>eyond any doubt. The Chairman will be Lord Monkswell, who has done such great, service to the cause of International Copyright by his conduct of the Bill for the Amendment and Consolidation of Copyright. The principal guest will be Mr. Lincoln, the United States Minister to this country. It is greatly hoped that we may have a.s guests a good nunil>er of American men and women of letters, and that we may have to receive them as brilliant a company as can be gathered together. The communication of Mr. Arthur Montefiore will cause inquiries to be made as to the progress of the Authors' Club. We have advanced to this stage: we had got together a provisional com- mittee; we had found a man ready to act as honorary secretary. Then he fell ill, and could do nothing; nor could, for a long time, another man he found. Now we have a candidate for the post, and we hope to begin. If the project proves a success, the club should open about the end of the year. I think I have found out the reason of the astonishing little paragraphs which, from time to time, appear in the papers concerning this Society. Some of them, of course, contain designed and deliberately invented falsehoods. They are inspired by certain friends of ours who find their old games becoming difficult. There is, however, another kind—sometimes they take the form of long articles—which are not malevolent, but ignorant. These are written by men who simply cannot understand that there is any property in Literature. To them the maintenance or defence of literary proj>erty seems a fussy attempt to protect a five- pound note at most—they call it squabbling for guineas; they either believe in the old superstition that authors must be beggars, or they have their own experiences to quote, for they have themselves written books which have brought in nothing—or this five-pound note. Very likely their book was good, but not popular. This kind of writer cannot believe that a book may be both good and popular; and his ignorance makes him a greater enemy of the Society even than the mischievous liar. He has in his mind a round half-dozen of deeply- rooted prejudices. Thus— 1. There is no money in a book, and the publisher must lose by most of his books, and the more he loses the richer he gets. 2. The publisher is constantly playing a kind of baccarat, in which he is always staking immense sums of money, and always losing.  ## p. 49 (#453) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 49 3. The publisher does not care in the least how much he loses. 4. Poetry and Fiction come by nature, and require no training. 5. True self-respect consists in throwing a MS. at the publisher and never afterwards asking what has been done with it in book form. 6. If money is wanted, the author must go hat in blind, and humbly ask for it. Whatever he gets is due to the " generosity " of the publisher. He is not entitled to anything at all. He has no rights; he has no property. How can a guinea or two be called property? Several correspondents have sent me a prospectus entitled "The Authors' Advice Bureau," and have asked advice upon it. We know, at the Society, nothing at all about the name at the end of the prospectus, Mr. H. Douglas Vincent—nothing at all, either for good or ill. He undertakes to read MSS., and to suggest a suitable publisher at the following rates :—is. for 10 pages of foolscap, and 2.v. for 20 pages. For every additional 20 pages, 6d. extra. If he gives, in addition, literary criticism he charges 2s. 6d. for 10 pages, and 3s. 6d. for 20 pages, with is. for every additional 20 pages. Reckoning 35o words to a page of foolscap, this wntleman would give a literary opinion on, and suggt.-'t a publisher for, a three-volume novel of average Ifssgth for the sum of 19s. This might be what advertisers call getting "good value." What advice can be given in such a case? This :— If Mr. H. Douglas Vincent has such experience of publishers as would enable him to advise as to the lx^st house for any particular work, his advice to an ignorant person might be useful. The first thing, therefore, is for him to show that he has Mich experience. If Mr. H. Douglas Vincent is a person of proved lite.-ary ability, an author of repute, a critic of posit'on, his literary opinion might be of the greatest value to a beginner. Let him, therefore, state his qualifications and give references. And let anylnxly who proposes to give him 2S. first ask him for information on these two points. If the replies are satisfactory, we wish Mr. Douglas Vincent every success. Here is a suggested difficulty. "I should like to join your Society, but at the present moment my work is principally taken by Messrs. A. and B. and by a certain religious society. Suppose that they resent my Incoming a Member, and refuse, in consequence, to take my work : what am I to do?" Well, first of all, it is rapidly becoming thoroughly suspected that a publisher who objects to the Society can only belong to the dishonourable Fringe, because the Society aims at nothing but fair agree- ments, fairly carried out; and all that has been done, said, or published by the Society lias been in the advance of that aim; for instance, the Cost of Production and the Methods of Publication. If, then, any publisher should so attempt to punish any such author, let us learn the fact, and we will "govern ourselves accordingly." We are now, as has been already stated more than once, in a position to keep a vast quantity of work out of the hands of persons whose methods will not bear the light of day. This power is a very useful weapon, and is ('very day becoming more powerful. A great deal of wrath lias lieen aroused by a bumble remonstrance made in these columns on certain practices of reviewers. Bludgeons have been waved over the head of the offender; rapiers, flashing horribly, have been stuck into his vital parts. Fortunately, this kind of bludgeon breaks no head, and this kind of rapier does not kill. Therefore, one still lives to repeat the remonstrance as an abstract proposition or two without any names. Tims, our contention was, and is, as follows :— 1. Should such a thing as a good novel ever appear, it is worth at least as much attention, and should command as much separate space as is allotted to, say, the smallest of the many biographies or books of essays to which is now accorded the respect of in- dividual consideration. 2. When a man, holding a great and acknow- ledged position in the world of letters, produces a new book, its apjiearance is a literary event. In any other country this proposition would be commonplace. In ours, unfortunately, it is not. The book, whether good or bad, whether judged unfavourably or not, should be at least treated with the respect due to the literary rank, and the previous work of the author. There are three critics of every book. The author himself, who may be presumed at least to know what he intended; the reviewer, who ought to take the trouble at least to find out so much; and the reading public, who very soon finds out whether it likes the book or not. Whether this third party does or docs not like it, he says so without much searching into the reason why. And the real cause of thu l>ook's success, when it  ## p. 50 (#454) ############################################# 5° THE AUTHOR. docs succeed, is not so much the review, or the inline of the author, but the way in which people talk to each other about the books they read. The free libraries, for instance, are rapidly be- coming in this way, rough-and-ready reviewers; they push the book around; they create the demand. Perhaps they are too often like the gallery at the theatre. Well, the gallery of some houses is now very much what the pit was for- merly: its taste is chastened. Certainly it must be admitted that there are authors who are not greatly asked for by the free libraries—Landor, for instance, De Quineey, Leigh Hunt, Pater, Meredith, Symonds, Lang—to name only a few, and these greatly dissimilar—are seldom read at free libraries. At the same time Marrvat—first favourite—Scott, Dickens, Kingslcy, George Hentv, Kingston, Charlotte Yonge—to name others also greatly dissimilar, yet all wholesome and good—are in very great demand. Of one thing we may be very sure, that if a book is dull, if it treats of unin- teresting subjects, unless it has "grip "—a thing which an essay, or a history, or a treatise may have, as well as a novel or a drama—the readers at the free libraries will have none of it. What part, then, does the reviewer play? It is impossible to estimate too highly the enormous advantage to literature of criticism, compe- tent, free, and unbiassed, such as we might be able to show under happier conditions. Every- one knows critics who thoroughly realize the responsibilities of their work. Everyone knows papers where the work is at least taken in hand seriously, even though the performance is not always up to the editor's own standard. It is, however, absurd to pretend that literature is advanced by the common mass of criticism. I refer the wider to Mr. Saintsbury's pupers on the "Kinds of Criticism" in his "Essays on English Literature" (Percival, 1891) for a state- ment of the. case put at greater length and with more fulness than we can command in these pages. I have quoted already (Author for April 1891) some of the following. It is quoted again because it exactly expresses our case, and exactly justifies our remonstrance. He says (Introduction, p. xxiii) :— "Reviewing is, on the whole, the most difficult kind of newspaper writing, and it is, 011 the whole, the most lightly assigned and the most irresponsibly performed. I have heard of newspapers where the reviews depended almost wholly on the accident of some of the staff taking a holiday, or being laid for a time on the shelf, or being considered not up to other work; of others, though this I own is scarcely credible, where the whole reviewing was farmed out to a manager, to be allotted to such as good to him seemed; of many where the reviews were a sort of exercising ground on which novices were trained, broken-down hacks turned out to grass, and invalids allowed a little gentle exercise." He goes on to say that he knows papers where the best work possible is given to one of the most important kinds of work. Quite so. We also know such papers. Again, Mr. Henry James in the May number of the New Review draws with masterly hand a portrait of the Ideal Critic. Here it is :— "Not only do I not question in literature the high utility of criticism, but I should be tempted to say that the part it plays may l>e the supremely bene- ficent one when it proceeds from deep sources, from the efficient combination of experience and per- ception. In this light one sees the critic as a real helper of mankind, a torch-bearing outrider, the interpreter par excellence. The more we have of such the better, though there will surely always be obstacles enough to our having many. When one thinks of the outfit required for fine work in this spirit, one is ready to pay almost any homage to the intelligence tlnit has put it on; and when one considers the noble figure completely equipped—- armed cap d pie in curiosity and sympathy—one falls in love with one's conception. It certainly represents the knight who has knelt through his long vigil, and who has the piety of his office. For there is something sacrificial in his function, inas- much as he offers himself as a touchstone. To lend himself, to project himself and steep himself, to feel and feel till he understands, and to understand so well that he can say, to have perception at the pitch of passion and expression in the form of talent, to be infinitely curious and incorrigibly patient, with the intensely fixed idea of turning character and genius and history inside out—these are ideas to give an active mind a higher programme and to add the element of artistic beauty to the conception of success. Just in proportion as he is sentient and restless, just in proportion as he vibrates with intellectual experience is the critic a valuable instrument; for in literature, assuredly, criticism is the critic, just as art is the artist; it being assuredly the artist who invented art and the critic who invented criticism, and not the other way round." To draw a practical conclusion from these remarks. The author, through his publisher, presents certain journals with a copy of his book.  ## p. 51 (#455) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 5« He says: "Gentlemen, here is my work. I shall be grently obliged if your reviewer will give the public his opinion on the book. If that opinion is favourable, it will serve me by advancing my name, and by promoting the demand for the volume. If it is unfavourable—although an adverse verdict will afflict me more than words can say—I cannot complain if it is the opinion of a competent critic, not a broken-down hack, or a novice, or an in- valid, or a brutal scarifier, or one whose blackguard and ill-bird delight it is to bludgeon a writer. And if the opinion is that of a competent critic, every word that he says ought to furnish some suggestion or instruction for me in future efforts." If, after this, he finds that his critics are the hacks, the invalids, the novices, and the bludgeon brandishers, is he not, out of self-respect alone, justified in withholding his next book, and all his future books, from papers where these gentry are allowed to prance? This is our conclusion. Journals have no pre- scriptive right to have books sent to them for review. A bad and incomplete review may do a book most serious injury, and can do it no good. Every new weekly journal thinks itself entitled lo copies of every new book. The thing is a tax, which, though lightly felt by the individual author, is very serious to a great publisher, who has to expend many hundreds a year in these presents. Every present should be received as conditional on the execution of a trust, namely, that the book shall be fairly and adequately reviewed. When that trust is broken, the presentation copies should cease. This is our case, and our conclusion. Editors of papers cannot but approve of this jealousy. It may be argued that every author who received an unfavourable verdict would withdraw his books from the journal where it appeared, in a rage. Not so. But even if he did, it would make no difference, because a lmd writer left to silence perishes, and that quite as quickly as a bad writer who is tried at the Court of the Critic and condemned. On the other hand, it will be most useful for reviewers to understand that, like the Judges in the High Court of Justice, they hold their places only during good behaviour; and that their work is itself as liable to criticism as the works of the authors. Our case is in our own hands. In stilting it in the pages of the Author month after month, the volume of correspondence has shown that it is a case in which writers of every kind—not novels only, by any means—are most deeply concerned. The case, I repeat, again and again, is in our own hands. It is a business in which authors may take counsel together, and, I hope, will. Let anyone who has suggestions to offer send them here. One cannot publish everything in our narrow space, but we can read everything. The vacation cometh, and is close at hand. In that holy season we live like gods, anil feel neither wrath nor pity. When that is over, let us take counsel together. In another part of this paper Mr. Andrew Lang offers a few remarks on Mr. Gissing's " Grub Street." So much the better for Mr. Gissing's book, which should become in greater demand, even though the writer says he knows no such residents in Grub Street. He touches also on sundry questions rising out of the book, especially on the great Ai t of Scarifying. "It is only," he says, " a battle with snowballs at most." The ordinary fellow who writes, thin skinned, morbid, sensitive, fails to rise to the height of caring no more for the Scarifier than for the boy who throws a snowball. It is, however, pleasant for him to feel that he ought to receive the blows of the bludgeon, or the rasping of the harrow with so much tranquility. He envies the man who can: for himself, it is beyond him, even if he knows that he shall get the chance of hitting back again—which does not too often happen; he writhes, he groans, he swears. And it is small comfort to him that another man stalks in silent dignity as careless of bludgeon, and nike, and harrow, as if they were no more than light and feathery snowballs. A Game of Snowball. Unmoved he holds his tranquil way, The Philosophic Sage: No whit the worse, though the critics curse, And though the heathen rage. And when they rolled the snowballs round, And hurled them swift and strong, "A merry game !" he said, "The same I could play the whole day long." They lodged a snowball in his neck; One in his left ear lay; As one who shakes the falling flukes He brushed those balls away. And larger rolled those snowballs still And faster still they flew. He only cried: "That ball's a wide! Wait till I shy at you."  ## p. 52 (#456) ############################################# 52 THE AUTHOR. He chose n drift beneath a hedge With icicles fringed and bound: He made a ball of the ice and all And rolled it round and round. The white snow wrapped its icy points And hid its icy heart. He smiled, "For fun, no game is done Till each has played his part." The other laughed and the other cried; He laughed and he cried, and he ran; Until the Sage his snowball shied, Which hit that merry man. Like David's pebble it smote him full: He stopped, he fell—he lav— [said, "Dear Heart! He's dead !" the Philosopher "And all at a game of play!" Mr. Thomas Hardy's " Group of Noble Dames" reads exactly as if the ten stories had l>een taken bodily from the "Cent Nouvellos Nouvelles," and had formed one di.rain in that eolleetion. There is the same simplicity of motive, the same directness in the narrative; no rhetoric is here, no fine description, no subtle analysis. They are not society stories, although the Dames are noble. They deal with men and women living in the country, who belong to no time and all time; and they deal with the simple theme of love, and its complications, and its consequences. Perhaps the most remarkable of the stories is that of the girl who was married at thirteen. I believe there are many—I have long since joined their ranks —who consider Mr. Hardy in many respects the most remarkable of English-speaking novelists. The "Group of Noble Dames" will certainly not diminish that number of disciples, though it is food for men and women rather than for school girls. The book appears to me, in fact, to be what we have elsewhere called a literary event. It ought to be added, that in type, binding, and adornment, the book is admirably presented by Messrs. Osgood & Go. It is rather late to notice on the 1st of July a paper which appeared on the ist of June. But, though in the next generation the Author will l>c a great daily paper, entirely devoted to Art and Letters, and everything of importance will naturally appear in our own columns first, to be humbly copied by the news- papers of general interest afterwards, at present the interval of a month is imposed upon us by the exigency of existing arrangements. The paper I wish to notice is that in the June Fortnightly called "An Election at the English Academy." Apparently we have among us a new satirist, one with a gentle touch and a light hand. Nothing lighter or more certainly imbued with the true satiric vein has appeared for a long time. The supposed English Academicians are actually capable of electing the Archbishop of Canterbury, because he is Archbishop, over the heads of Samuel Bawson Gardiner and Thomas Hardy. That is all. It might be said in one sentence. That the Academy should, or could, do such a thing would be accepted as its final condemnation. But to say so in one sentence would be to imitate the bludgeon practice of certain well-known literary friends. We have been so long accustomed to the exhibition of the bludgeon that we have been in danger of forgetting the rapier. We have been so brutalized by the heavy blows of the common weapon that we have well-nigh forgotten the bright and dexterous play of the nobler steel. May one venture to express a hope that more, a great deal more, may be heard of this new satirist—who comes with a smile in his eyes instead of a frown and a scowl, and bears garlands instead of brickbats, and poises a rapier instead of a cudgel? I observe that one of the critics, in his infinite wisdom, suggests Budvard Kipliug as the author. That seems to me hardly felicitous. John Milton, from internal evidence, would be as likely a name—perhaps more likely. As Charles Lamb would say: "There's a d.. d .. d.. deal of fun in John Milton." Grant Allen, in the same number of the same paper, lifts up his voice on the decadence of English literature and on the limitations of English novel-writing. We are very often reminded of these limitations. Of course they exist; no one can possibly deny that As Mr. Grant Allen truly states, if a man writes for a paper which goes into the middle-class family, the editor will not let him write about things which may be considered immoral by the ordinary paterfamilias—not, how ever, the "dissenting grocer" because that worthy person takes in no such paper. The simple answer is that the novelist who does not like this limitation may go elsewhere. Mr. Grant Allen says it means starvation. Nonsense! Let him try. Let him produce a novel dealing with any and every passion or emotion that he may choose, any problem he pleases to set before his readers of morals, religion, human life, or social relations. One may safely predict, from a writer of his power, that if he dares to lay aside his fears, and to write with freedom, he will obtain a success which will astonish him. Let him forget the dissenting grocer and the sentimental maiden of seventeen—that sweet young thing, indeed, under the awakening influence of Ne.wnham, is so changed that her own mother knows  ## p. 53 (#457) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 53 her no longer. Let him forget Mudie and the e-ditor of the Family Teapot, and let him write fearlessly such a work as he desires to write. Surely the time has come when men should leave off complaining that they are not allowed, and should just dare to do what they think ought to Ik; allowed. In one point, I agree altogether with Mr. Grant Allen. English literature is too much tainted with London fog; it is tilled with London fog. But the same thing might l>e said of French literature and of Paris. The reason, I suppose, is that most writers are attracted to London, and become saturated with its atmosphere, so that all the scenes of the Human Comedy take place on the stage of London. And the actors and actresses are Londoners, and the background is always a London street. If we consider, however, that men and women are mostly much the same whatever their conditions and setting, nothing would be gained, except a little freshness and change of air, by transferring the at tors elsewhere. Is there a new Poet? Is the reproach that- there are no longer any poets under forty years of age, to be at last removed? There is before me a most dainty little volume called "Wordsworth's Grave." It is written by William Watson, and is published by Mr. Fisher Unwin. I venture to think that the contents of this book have in them such a ring of poetry as we have not heard for a long time—the true ring of noble thought embedded in noble rhyme. I believe that this book has been out for some time; the excuse for noticing it here—that I only saw it yesterday—may pass. Let us copy one page :— I hear it vouched the Muse is with us still; If less divinely frenzied than of yore, In lieu of feelings she has wondrous skill To simulate emotion felt no more. Not such the authentic Presence pure that made This valley vocal in the great days gone! In his great days while yet the springtime played About him, and the mighty morning shone. No word-mosaic artificer, he sang A lofty song of lowly weal and dole. Itight from the heart, right to the heart it sprang, Or from the soul leaped instant to the soul. He felt the charm of childhood, grace of youth, Grandeur of age, insisting to be snug. The impassioned argument was simple truth Half wondering at its own melodious tongue. Impassioned? Ay, to the song's ecstatic core! Not far removed were clangour, storm, and fiend: For plenteous health was his, exceeding store Of joy, and an impassioned quietude. Surely we shall bear more of this singer. Someone has lieen proposing in an American paper that authors should pay a little personal attention to the advertising of their books. He proposes that the author should himself prepare his advertisement just as he now writes his preface. Well, that the author should condescend to pay a little attention to the way in which his business is conducted is a proposition in which we may all agree. He should have a voice, and he should exercise that voice, in the selection of the papers in which his book is to be advertised, and the money that may lie judiciously expended in adver- tisements. In the same way he should claim a voice, and should exercise that voice, in every other part of the work. This right, once claimed and exercised, would make publishing a far more careful business than it is at present. It would certainly lead to the restriction of the output, and to a much more careful selection of works to be pub- lished. And this would lie clear gain to literature. But suppose authors were allowed their own way in advertising. They ore not all, it must lie confessed, remarkable for good taste. How would it advance literature, for instance, to see the streets placarded with such advertisements as this? "The Empire Belle! Remember! The Empire Belle does not clean the grates! The Empire Beli.e does not whitewash the ceiling! The Empire Bei.t.e does not fry bacon and eggs! The Empire Belle. By the New Shakespeare! The Empire Belle. By the second Dickens! Now rendv! Price One Shilling only! The Empire Belle for the Million!!!" One or two complaints have been received apropos of a certain paragraph in the June number. The editor has lieen asked whether this paper has religious views to advance. Certainly not. It has none—none whatever—not even a leaning in the direction of a kind of a sort of a something. Therefore the editor hastens to take the sole blame to himself of that paragraph, and begs to express his regret that it passed his short-sighted eyes without being shorn of its adjectives. These adjectives! They are like women, because they make or mar our happiness. Those used in this paragraph may or may not lie true, but they were quite out of place in these columns. If the editor offers to insert a Member's grievance, provided it is not libellous: if the Member semis him a statement, names and all, set forth plainly for everybody to read, and if that statement, sub- mitted to the opinion of a lawyer, is pronounced to be libellous in every paragraph, has that editor any  ## p. 54 (#458) ############################################# 54 THE AUTHOR. right to complain it' that Member sends him letter utter letter crammed with personal abuse? Perhaps not. lie should possess his soul in patience. A Boston firm, Messrs. Ester and Lauriat, are going to produce a phenomenal edition of Scott's novels. A thousand copies will be issued at a price of £24 a set. The illustnitions will consist partly of etchings) by French artists, and partly of photo- graphic views of places made historical by the events of the stories. The street boys of Chicago are become students of Browning. The Boston letter in the Critic says so. A clergyman of that city had been giving, in the basement of his Church, readings to the street gamins who could be induced to enter the doors. He read Uncle Remus and Hans Breitmann, and then ventured on a poem by Browning—one might surmise from the result that it was " The Bide from Ghent to Aix." At the very next meeting the Arabs of the Windy City with one accord, when asked what they wanted to hear, pointed to the works of the classical Browning and exclaimed: "Read more out of that fellow that wrote about the horse-race. He knows some- thing!" Walter Bksant. — — THE RED MOUSE. MANY readers of Goethe's Faust have doubt- less been startled or puzzled at the passage in which the hero while dancing with "a fair girl " leaves her abruptly because— "A red mouse sprang from her mouth." To which Mephistopheles replies by bidding him be thankful that it was not a black one. Not long ago, while reading that most eccentric of works the "Anthropodeintis Plutonicus" of Johannes Praetorius (1666-8), I met with a story which easts some light on the origin of this idea. Tt happened in the time of Praetorius that in a certain castle in Saxony the maids were having what is culled in America "a paring bee," that is, they were paring and cutting up apples for drying. One girl, seated apart from the others, fell asleep with her mouth open, and what was the amazement of all present to see a red mouse creep from her mouth, which made its way to the window whence it went forth. There was present a certain Zoofe, a silly conceited girl, who against the will of all present insisted on rolling over and playing tricks on the sleeping mnid, for the latter was put out of the position in which she fell asleep. After a time the mouse returned, and tried to find the sleeper's mouth but could not, and so it vanished and never returned, nor did the girl, indeed, return to life or waken again. However, it was observed that a certain man in the castle had been greviously tormented with nightmares, and that after this girl's death they came to him no more. There is in South Germany a very widely spread superstition to the effect that the liccr- miitt.er or Gebarmutter (womb or matrix) is an independent being of itself, that is, the life of the body, and that very often when a girl is asleep it leaves her mouth in the form of a crab or toad, goes to some stream, or nibbles a certain plant, and then returns to the mouth of the sleeper who, if she has been ill, is always restored by this singular occurrence. In more than one Icelandic or Norse saga the soul is seen to go as a little smoke or vapour from the mouth of the sleeper and then return. On one occasion the friend of a sleeping hero sees the vapour go down to his feet, cross on a straw a tiny rivulet, and enter the bleached and polished skull of a horse which lay in the grass, in and about which many bluebottle flies were buzzing. After a time the vapour returned and entered the mouth of the sleeper who, awaking, declared that he had had a marvellous dream. For he had crossed on a golden bridge a mighty river, till he came to a marvellous green forest, the trees of which were like giant sword blades; and in the forest was ,1 stupendous palace, all of ivory, which he entered, and there were many knights all clad in burnished blue steel armour, who danced and sang exquisitely; he had never in all his life heard ought like it. And after this he had returned over the golden bridge and the sword-blade forest to his home. Nearly connected with all this is the artistic treatment during the Middle Age of death, and in which the soul is represented as flying out of the mouth sometimes as a dove and sometimes like a little devil. As regards the former, I once had related to me by a Bavarian young lady of good family, a girl of singular and exceptional truth- fulness, allied to common sense and good education, the following :— "I had a younger sister who had been ill for a long time, and who predicted that she would soon die, yet no one would witness her death. And one day as I sat by her, the window being open, some- thing like a white bird or a dove whirred up from her mouth toward the open window and out of it. I followed to look, and saw it soar far away and vanish. When I went back to my sister I found her dead. Her words had lieen fulfilled. No one had seen her die."  ## p. 55 (#459) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 55 That the young ladv absolutely and honestly lielieved she had seen this, I most seriously believe. But what was it. I think in all probability some bird or large white moth by chance in the room, which disturbed, had flown through the window. Excitement, a mind prone to poetry and supersti- tion—and this lady's family were to a very high degree superstitious—and finally the frequent telling the story had all led it to the form in which I have given it. Chaki.es G. Leland. Florence, June 6th, 1891. THE BOOS OP THE MONTH. Mrs. Orr's "Life of Robert Browning."* MRS. Sutherland Orr's "Life of Browning" is pre-eminently judicious. It contains none of that worthless tittle-tattle for which the public have of late years been taught to clamour. We do not learn from it that on such-and-such a day Mr. Browning dined at the house of Mr. So-and-So, where he met Lord , another distinguished jwet, who drank nothing but claret throughout the whole of the dinner. This welcome reticence on the part of Mrs. Orr is partly intentional and partly accidental. While, on the one hand, she lias not failed to keep up the most perfect regard for the subject of her memoir, she has never forgotten that— "He did but sing A song that pleased us from its worth; No public life was bis on earth, Xo blazon'd statesman he, nor king." Petty nnd useless details are carefully avoided throughout the whole of the book. Only the salient facts of the poet's life are given, together with a selection from his letters, and some acute and helpful criticism of his poems. The whole story of Mr. Browning's life is contained in less than 460 octavo j>ages. Mrs. Orr's reticence is, as we have said, partly accidental. She has not l>een able to command so large n mass of materials as is usually placed in the hands of the biographer. In the first place, Browning destroyed a few years before his death, all the letters he wrote to his sister during the time he was in Italy (an intensely interesting collection covering fifty years of his life); and in the next place, he did not, so far as can be ascer- tained, keep any diary. Lastly, it must l>e reineiul>crcd, that there were by no means so many * " Life and Letters of Robert Browning." By Mrs. Sutherland Orr. (London: Smith, Elder, & Co.) reminiscences of him forthcoming as might have been expected. A biography like Fronde's "Carl vie "—to cite the most popular of modern lives—was, under these circumstances, entirely out. of the question. Such biographies are like the gossip of the New Journalism: interesting, but damaging to those discussed. Our readers may remember that it was a remark in Fitzgerald's Memoirs which drew from Mr. Browning the most indignant piece of verse which he ever wrote. But in fairness to Mrs. Orr, it should he said that, however extensive the materials placed in her hands might have been, there need have been no fear of her putting them to any improper use. Every- thing that could possibly be of interest and value would have been given in the book—no more and no less. The work has l>cen blamed on other grounds than that of reticence. Mrs. Orr has been accused of deliberately minimizing the importance of the poet's early connexion in Dissent, This is a point upon which she herself will, no doubt, say something when the fitting moment arrives. Meantime, it may be useful to point out that Mrs. Orr had not the slightest intention of doing anything of the kind suggested. A good many of the facts concerning Browning's early days were obtained by her from his sister, Miss Browning—the facts concerning his religion among them. It is natural, of course, that the Nonconformist papers should desire to make as much as possible of the fact that Browning once attended a dissenting chapel in Camberwell; but, on the other hand, it is equally natural that Mrs. Orr, who had to tell the story of his whole life, and preserve a due sense of literary perspective, should not attach such supreme importance to it. If Nonconformity had anything to do with moulding the poet's mind or his character, the author of his biography ought obviously to have laid stress upon it. But this remains to be proved. Meantime, it will doubtless interest Ur. Robertson Nicoll and other Noncon- formist critics of the book to learn that Browning never lost an opportunity of recommending Mrs. Orr's "Handbook" to his poems, and that he alwavs expressed particular approbation of the manner in which his religious views wire dealt with in that book. Her discussion of these views, whether in the ''Handbook," or in the biography now under consideration, is distinctly non-sectarian in standpoint, but, at the same time, is not " bitterly Agnostic," as has been alleged. Mrs. Orr is not a "bitter Agnostic "; nor, indeed, in the sense usually attached to the word is she on Agnostic at all. Having said thus much by way of introduction, we had l)est at once proceed briefly to sketch Mr. Browning's career as revealed to us in the interesting pages of Mrs. Sutherland Orr's book.  ## p. 56 (#460) ############################################# 56 THE AUTHOR. Bikth and Childhood of the Poet. Robert Browning was born at Camberwell on May 7th, 1812. "He was (says Mrs. On ) a handsome, vigorous, fearless child, and soon developed an unresting activity and fiery temper. He clamoured for occupation from the moment lie could speak. His mother could only keep him quiet when once he had emerged from infancy hy telling him stories— doubtless Hihle stories—while holding him on her knee. . . . . It has often been told how he extemporized verse aloud while walking round and round the dining-room table, supporting himself by his hands, when he was still so small that his head was scarcely above it. He remembered having entertained his mother in the very first walk he was considered old enough to take with her, by a fantastic account of his possessions in houses, &c, of which the topographical details elicited from her the remark, ' Why, sir, you are quite a geographer.' . . . This seems to have been a first real flight of dramatic fancy, confusing his identity for the time being." Earliest Poetical Efforts. Browning wont to several private schools, at every one of which he seems to have distinguished himself. Of course, he l>egnn to write verses at an early age. He also read a great deal. His first volume of poems was entitled " Incondita "—a title which (us Mrs. Orr points out) "conveyed a certain idea of depreciation." He was naturally very anxious to see these verses in print, and his father and mother, "poetry-lovers of the old school," also found in them sufficient merit to justify their publication. No publisher, however, could be found. Happily, both for the poet and for his fond parents, the bogus publisher, with whom we are now so familiar, was in those days non-existent. The only result of their failure to find someone who would issue the volume was that Browning "destroyed the little manuscript in some mingled reaction of disappointment and disgust." In this he acted most wisely. He proved not only that he could write verses, but that he could do what is infinitely more difficult—destroy them when it became necessary to do so. Influence of Keats and Shelley. Browning left school soon after the completion of his fourteenth year, and there came to him almost immediately an influence which moulded to no small extent the whole of his future career. He was passing a bookstall one day, when he saw in a box of second-hand volumes, a little book adver- tised as "Mr. Shelley's Atheistical Poem: very scarce." He went home, and begged his mother to procure liim Shelley's works—a request which she eventually complied with. He next obtained Keats' poems, and the influence of these two writers u|>on his life and poetry soon became very marked. For a time, at any rate, he professed Atheism, and was an ardent vegetarian. He soon grew dissatisfied with his narrow home circle, and yearned for a career. "The fact was," says his sister, in <om- menting upon this period of unrest, "he had outgrown his social surroundings. They were absolutely good, but they were narrow; it could not be otherwise. He chafed under them." All this was, no doubt, necessary to the making of the man and to the shaping of the poet. Literature as a Profession. The time at last came when young Browning definitely decided to adopt literature its a profession. He qualified himself for it by reading and digesting the whole of "Johnson's Dictionary"; a course of preparation which may l>o confidently recommended to every young gentleman about to embark upon a similar career. "Pauline: A Fragment of a Con- fession," was written and published before the poet was 21 years of age. He had an early friend in the Rev. Mr. Fox, a Unitarian Minister, who read his poetical effusions with interest, anil who reviewed them in all the papers and periodicals which could lx* said to be at his command. Most literary men have kindly memories of some such early friend, and by them—if by nobody else—the fol- lowing letter from Browning to Mr. Fox will be read with interest:— "Perhaps, by the aid of the subjoined initials and a little reflection, you may recollect an oddish sort of boy, who had the honour of being introduced to you at Hackney some years back—at that time a sayer of verse and a doer of it, and whose doings you had a little previously commended after a fashion—(whether in earnest or not, God knows): that individual it is who takes the liberty of addressing one whose slight commendation then was more thought of than all the gun, drum, and trumpet of praise would be now, and to submit to you a free-and-easy sort of thing which he wrote some months ago 'On one leg,' and which conies out this week—having either heard or dreamed that you con- tribute to the Westminster." Another "spontaneous appreciatior" of Mr. Browning's genius was John Forster, the accom- plished biographer of Goldsmith and of Charles Dickens. Publication of "Paracelsus." Mr. Browning's next published work was "Paracelsus," which did not give the young poet his just place in popular judgment and public esteem. "But " (as Mrs. Orr remarks) "it compelled his recognition by the leading or rising literary men of the day : and a fuller and more varied social life now opened lx'fore him. The names of Sergeant Talfourd, Home, Leigh Hunt, Barry Cornwall, Monekton Milnes, Eliot Warburton, Dickens, Wordsworth, and Walter Savage Landor represent, with t hat of Forster, some of the acquaintances made, or friendships begun, at this period." It was about this time also, that he met Macready, who subse-  ## p. 57 (#461) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 57 quently produced several of Browning's plays. There was, however, a quarrel in the end, anil the friends became permanently estranged. "Graved inside of it, 'Italy.'" In 1838 Browning made his tirst visit to Italy. To what extent he loved the country may l>e gathered from the following couplet, which occurs in one of his poems :— "Opi'U my heart anil you will see Graved inside of it,' Italy.'" The lines fitly appear upon a tablet affixed to the Razzonico Palazzo at Venice—the house in which the poet died. The inspirations of Asolo and Venice appear in "Pippa Passes" nnd "In a Gondola." More important works followed these poems at a short interval. In 1840 "Sordello" appeaml; and soon afterwards "Bells and Pome- granates." The story of the publication of the latter is pleasantly told bv Mr. Edmund Gosse in his interesting "Personalia"—a work which Mrs. Orr occasionally quotes. "A Lost Leader." Browning next wrote " A Blot in the Scutcheon" —the last play, we fancy, that ever came from his pen —us well as a good deal of miscellaneous verse. Among the latter was " The Lost Leader." Every- one knows these vigorous and beautiful lines :— "Just for a handful of silver lie left us, Just for a riband to stick in his coat." Everyone also has heard at some time or another that they refer to Wordsworth. Browning was often asked the question in so many words. Here is one of his replies :— "I have been asked the question you put to me, I suppose, a score of times: and I can only answer with something of shame and contrition that I undoubtedly had Wordsworth in ray mind—but simply as a 'model'; you know an artist takes one or two striking traits in the features of his 'model,' and uses them to start his fane}' on a flight which may end fur enough from the good man or woman who happens to be 'sitting' for nose and eye. I thought of the great poet's abandonment of Liberalism at an unlucky juncture, and no repaying consequence that I could ever see. But—once call my fancy-portrait Wordsworth—anil how much more one ought to say—how much more would not 1 have attempted to say!" Makriaue with Miss Barrett. The story of Robert Browning's marriage to the greatest woman-poet which this country or this century lias produced forms one of the most fasci- nating chapters of Mrs. Orr's l>ook. Since, how- ever, it has already l)een very freely quoted from, we shall best consult the interests of our readers by passing over it lightly, so as to leave more room for other quotations, which the reviewers in their haste have forgotten to make. The marriage in question was a singularly happy one—indeed, we do not for the moment remember any biography of an English man of letters (except, perhaps, that of Charles Kingsley) which contains a more perfect picture of conjugal bliss. Browning was a devoted husband—during the ij years of his married life he never dined from home but once! — and Mrs. Browning, ill though she was, proved in her way to be an ideal wife. Mrs. Orr says that the poet used to commemorate his marriage by going to the church in which it. hail been solemnized, and kissing the paving-stones in front of the door. He certainly retained his jiassionate devotion for ElizalK'th Barrett up to the day of his death. "() thou soul of my soul! I shall clasp thee again, And with God be tin- rest'." he sings in "Prospice." And just towards the close of his life a stray reference to the woman he had so tenderly loved in the "Memoirs of Edward Fitzgerald "—an unkind reference—raised his indignation to a white heat, and drew from him the most vehement piece of invective that he ever wrote. "There was a moment," says Mrs. Orr, "in which he regretted these lines, and would willingly have withdrawn them. This was the period, unfortunately short, which intervened between his sending them to the Athenaum and their appearance there." That Fitzgerald's remark deeply pained Mr. Browning there can be no doubt. "It affected him with the directness of a sharp physical blow. lie spoke of it, and for hours, even days, was known to feel it as such He only recovered his lwilance in striking the counter-blow." The Brownings is Italy. But we must get on with our story. Browning and his wife s]>cnt the greater portion of their married life in Italy. These years must have been the happiest of the poet's life. He was in a country which he dearly loved: wife and child were by his side: the most congenial company was close at hand. Take the year 1804 for example— the year in which the Brownings spent their first winter in Rome. At this time the Eternal City contained Thackeray, Lockhart, and Frederic Leigh ton. Of Thackeray Mrs. Browning writes as follows :— "If anybody wants small talk by bandfuls, of glittering dust swept out of salons, here's Mr. Thackeray!" And of Lockhart :— "My husband sees a good deal of him—more than I do —because of the access of cold weather lately, which has kept me at home chiefly. Robert went down to the seaside on a day's excursion with him and the Sartorises—and, I hear, found favour in his sight. Said the critic: 11 like Browning—he isn't at all like a damned literary man.' That's a compliment, 1 believe, according to your dic- tionary."  ## p. 58 (#462) ############################################# 58 THE AUTHOR. The Brownings in England. In 1855 the Brownings were in London; and it was at their house—i3, Dorset Street, Portman Square—that Tennyson first read the manuscript of his new poem, " Maud." It was at this time that they first met Buskin. Here is Mrs. Browning's allusion to him :— "We went to Denmark Hill yesterday to have luncheon with them, and see the Turners, which, by the way, are divine. I like Mr. ltuskiii much, and so does ltobert. Very gentle, yet earnest—refined and truthful. I like him very much. We count him one among the valuable acquaintances made this year in England." Mrs. Browning had a hope that her father, who would not forgive her for her marriage, would at least so far relent towards his daughter as to kiss her child. Her prayer to this effect remained, however, unanswered. Death of Mrs. Browning. All earthly happiness has an end. Mrs. Browning died at Casa Guidi, Florence, on the 29th of June 1861, and, for a time at any rate, the light of the poet's life was extinguished. What he felt may he inferred from the following letter to his much-esteemed friend Mr.—now Sir—Frederic Leighton. "It is like your old kindness to write to me, and to say what you do—1 know you feel for me. I can't write about it—but there were many alleviating circumstances that yon shall know one day—there seemed no pain, and (what she would have felt most) the knowledge of separation from us was spared her. I find these things a eomfort indeed. . . Don't fancy I am 'prostrated '; I have enough to do for the boy and myself in carrying out her wishes. He is better than one would have thought, and behaves dearly to me. Everybody has been very kind." The blow was a terrible one; but, as Mrs. Orr truthfully remarks, "Life conquers Death for most of us; whether or not, 'Nature, Art, and Beauty' assist in the conquest. It was bound to conquer in Mr. Browning's case; first, through his many-sided vitality; and, secondly, through the special motive of [living and striving which remained to him in his son." Browning and Carlyle. The limits of our space will not permit us to tell the story of Browning's later years with the fulness which it deserves. But we must not fail to quote Mrs. Orr's reference to Carlyle. Curiously enough, Browning's name does not once appear in Mr. Fronde's Life of the Chelsea Sage. "Yet," as Mrs. Orr tells us,— "He visited him at Chelsea in the last weary days of his long life, as often as their distance from each other and his own engagements allowed. He never ceased to defend him against the charge of unkindness to bis wife, or to believe that in the matter of their domestic nnhappiness, she was the more responsible of the two. Vet Carlyle had never rendered him that service, easy as it appears, which one man of letters most justly values from another: that of proclaiming the admiration which he privately expresses for his works." The closing years of Robert Browning's life had —to put the thing briefly—all that should accom- pany old age—" honour, love, obedience, troops of friends." He died at Venice on December 12th, 1889, and was buried in Westminster Abbey on the last day of the same year. Robert Browning: Some Characteristics. Our extended notice of this important " Book of the Month" will best conclude with some account of Robert Browning the man, founded upon Mrs. Orr's twentieth chapter—an excellent summary— obviously written by a very intimate friend. "The poet (says our author) was strangely constant to habit: what beloved once he loved always, from the dearest man or woman to whom his allegiance had been given, to the humblest piece of furniture with had served him." But his habits were not so strong that they could not be broken if occasion imperatively demanded the taking of such a course. For years he was a devoted follower of Mr. Glad- stone; but, when the time came, he did not hesitate to become a passionate Unionist; although (as Mrs. Orr points out) "the question of our political relations with Ireland weighed less with him than those considerations of law and order, of honesty and humanity, which had been trampled under foot in the name of Home Rule." Like every man who deserves Earth-room he worshipped genius— long years ago when he was in Paris he caused his little son to run up to and touch Beranger, in order that the boy might be able to say in after life that he had at least touched a great man. As a poet he finished his work very carefully; the most conscientious labour being always devoted to form. He never forget that most excellent saying, Nulla dies sine linea, and always counted a day lost on which he had not written something. Like Mr. George Meredith he could throw off impromptu verses, whether serious or comical, with the utmost ease. That he was a brilliant talker goes almost without saying; he was admittedly more a talker than a conversationalist. In a word, Robert Browning, as presented to us in the fascinating pages of Mrs. Sutherland Orr's "Life " is at once a great poet, and an interesting, widely-gifted, and intensely human man. Poetic gifts apart, his character is best described in the words of Hamlet :— "He was a man, take him for all in all, We shall not look upon his like again." Pendennis. ■  ## p. 59 (#463) ############################################# THE A UTHOR. 59 IF SHAKSPEARE HAD BEEN PRIEST. |HEEE is one event which—if it had hap- pened—might have changed the whole, rela- tions of this world to the unseen world. Let us consider what a difference it would have made to the cultured dwellers upon earth if William Shakspeare had elected, or had been called, to become a priest or theologian by preference and by profession. Think what the results must have been if such an intellect had been devoted specially to the service of God, and to the stewardship of the divine mysteries. As layman or as priest in his own day in Italy, in Spain, or France, he—a man of such genius, of such honesty, and one so near to God—would certainly have been burnt j but it is conceivable that he might have been led, it would be to consider too curiously if we should try to think how, to become a clergyman in the noble Church of England of his own great day. A youthful frolic of park-breaking, possibly of deer slaying, determined, mysteriously, Shakspeare's whole career; and what we call chance shaped the ends which he, at 18, had scarcely rough-hewn. Then came the sudden, enforced flight from Strat- ford-on-Avon to the London of Elizabeth, while with this flight was coupled the necessity of earning; and, in this wise, the steps of the glorious youth were directed, by some unseen Power, to the play- house; to acting upon, and then to writing for, the stage. Had Shakspeare been, by the same Power, directed to the priestly office, we should, no doubt, have lost his plays; though the examples of George Herbert and of Herrick show that a man may be at once priest and poet. In his dramas, Shakspeare proved himself to be a profound and lofty theo- logian; and yet we can hardly reconcile ourselves to the mere idea of wanting those plays which we possess so proudly and prize bo highly. On the other hand, we may weigh, with a certain regret, the certainty that, if Shakspeare had given all his powers to theology, the relations between God and man would have stood upon a clearer, nobler, firmer basis; so that the blank of agnosticism, or the sorrows of doubt, would have been the portion only of the ignoble, or the torment merely of the weak- ling. We cannot regret that Shakspeare was led and gifted to do that which he did do; and yet wi! may contemplate, not without a certain vague sorrow, the other thing which also he might have been, and the other services which also he might have rendered to our iufirm and erring race. Shakspeare, as a professed theologian, must have made his mark; and, in addition to ordinary preaching, would certainly, as we may well imagine, have written and have published writings which would have been a revelation of revelation, which would have linked man to his Creator, would have removed many doubts, would have rendered clear divine truth, and would have unfolded to mankind divine wisdom and divine love. But it was otherwise ordained. Our greatest man became poet and playwright. We enjoy and admire him, past all whooping, in that capacity; but, meanwhile, doubt spreads and sorrow deepens; and that revelation, which is but a hint and a glimpse, seems to want the help of his powers to render it full, clear, and dear to suffering, straining men, whose eyes are wasted with looking for the light behind the veil. Behind that veil Shakspeare, more than any other man, could see and could divine. He had insight into divine meanings; and to this man was granted under- standing to conceive, and ability to interpret the Wokd. He understood the relations between Creator and creature, and he could comprehend the supremacy of Good above all the transient shows of Evil. What he saw he could make others see. He could reconcile intellect with spiritualism; and the highest-mounted mind of man would have been the truest representative of the Most High. Priests, as they exist, seem to be generally unable to understand fully, and unworthy to reveal fitly, Him. They scarcely comprehend that God is divine; but Shakspeare, as a priest, would have been of more worth to us than all tin; churches. We bow to the inevitable; but we, the countrymen of Shakspeare, may legitimately speculate—a specu- lation which if fantastic is yet not idle—upon the higher and happier world which might now exist if William Shakspeare, with his almost superhuman intellect and with his infinite tenderness, had been elected to the office of Vatrs, of Prophet as of Poet, and had thus been enabled to unfold to man the mysteries of the universe and the nature of its Creator. H. Schutz Wilson. "CONTES CRUELS." YILLIERS de LTsle Adam represents the dis- tinctly aristocratic element in the school of "Les Poetes Maudits." In him is a com- bination rarely found: the union of satire and romance. The "Contes Cruels" are of three kinds: purely satirical studies, without plot; tales of mystery; and tales combining these characteristics in varying proportions. The volume is conspicuous for its variety, a merit further enhanced by very- great originality. The tales are cruel not in their detail but because of their tone of thought. Witli  ## p. 60 (#464) ############################################# 6o THE AUTHOR. very few exceptions they are full of scarcely con- cealed scorn. Others of the stories may excel in particular points, but the most perfectly pro- portioned, the most successful, arc those that analyse middle-class sentiment and weigh the resj>eetability of the bourgeoisie. The author possesses very strong imagination and great descriptive powers, but the two gifts do not run evenly. The most imaginative of the stories do not make so distinct, an impression as others which are less original. "LTntersigno," a ghost story of the most ordinary type, is perhaps the best-produced story in the collection, and, in spite of the familiarity of the main incidents, one of the most striking. The fact that it suggests com- parison with Thcophile Gautier's "La Morte Amoureuse," and can i>car the comparison, is further evidence of the author's skill. Such stories as "Vera," while they recall the tales of Edgar Allan Poe and are charming in form, are not quite definite enough in idea. Poe is always extra- ordinarily definite and direct in thought; Villiers de L'Isle Adam is vague. "L'Annonciateur" could scarcely be better in description, the im- pression it creates is superb, so superb that it obscures the idea which runs through it dimly glimmering only and scarcely defining impression into thought. For this reason I prefer " Souvenirs Occultes," which produces impressions no less vivid, and expresses a clear idea. The fact is that the more material theme of "Souvenirs Occultes" is more suited to the genius of the author. But these stories are not his most characteristic work, though they are excellent in themselves, and prove that he was capable of wholly divesting his mind of its habitual cynicism. He is most per- fectly represented by " Les Demoiselles de Bien- lilatre," "Deux Augures," and perhaps "Sombre recit conteur plus sombre," which show his different manners in his special field. "Les De- moiselles de Bienfilatre" is a masterpiece. No theme could be more suited to the author than the relativity of Good and Evil; he must have felt so himself, for he returns to it in another storv, "Maryelle." The two Demoiselles de Bienfilatre are engaged in a well-established business. Though somewhat laborious, it is not unlucrative, so that together they arc able to support their aged parents in comfort. Suddenly, as may happen even to the most considerable people, the younger Demoiselle is seized with a caprice, gives up her business, and leaves her unselfish sister to support their parents alone. The patience and shame of this devoted daughter, the heart-broken desolation of the worthy parents, plunged almost into poverty in their honourable old age; how delicately, how sympa- thetically these are described! The dutiful daughter, wearied by her fallen sister's obstinacy, at last takes the elite of her trade and her custom into her confidence. The scandal has spread too far to admit of reticence. Their respectable experience! may be able to suggest some means of reclaiming her to a healthier, a more practical, state of mind. As Mademoiselle de Bienfilatre axnee justly observes, "One is not put into this world only to amuse oneself." She has appealed to the " poor lost girl " by the "memories of her childhood," "by the ties of blood," all in vain. But soil watered witli parental prayers, bedewed by a sister's tears, cannot long nourish the weeds of selfish sentiment. At last the girl's own conscience, formed as it has been in such respect- able surroundings, revolts. She is dying of very shame, " Le moral tuait le physique, la lame usait le fourreau." The Priest arrives, and in the dying prodigal's confession wo learn her sin. "A lover—for pleasure—without payment." This is her crime: she has sold the wares which were her worthy parents' livelihood; she has left her sister to pursue their arduous, if lucrative, calling alone. She has deserted the beaten paths of the pavement, to err in the labyrinth of gratuitous love. It is true that the partner of her crime had desired to marry her. "I want my poor daughter," the old man had said between his sobs. "Monsieur," replied the young man, " I love her; I beg you to give me her hand." "Miserable'." exclaimed Bienfilatre, revolted by this "cynicism." But this folly is past, and she is now repentant, lying, waiting for death. At length her lover, a young artist, enters. He brings her the first-fruits of his talent, money to buy her some necessity in her sickness. She sees the glitter of gold between his fingers, now at last her love has received the imprimatur of society, " The guinea stamp," and she dies in peace. I doubt if the petticoat of that matron, whose1 skirts would envelop the world, has shadowed a more dutiful daughter than Mademoiselle de Bienfilatre uince. I doubt even if that conscience, so singular amongst us for delicacy, could wince at the Quixotic honour of this respectable family. Virginie ct Paul are, as their names imply, very young. And is not "very young" synono- mous with "very innocent," "very thoughtless," "very simple "? When they meet at night, there in the garden of Virginie's Seminaire, to discuss their future happiness, how can we help comparing them to the simple things of nature about them— the calculating ant, the economical bee? Their conversation is as irreproachable as the discussions that follow a lecture on "Courtship" in a British British School. And then when they part, we seem to hear the voices of nature re-echoing their  ## p. 61 (#465) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 61 conversation: the breeze in the garden murmur of "Securities," and the nightingales warbling "Six per Cents." Compared with these two "barbarities," the "cruelty " of "Le plus beau diner du monde " and "Les Brigands" is mere salutary irony. "Lea Brigands" is a grim farce, told with great force and wit. The dead townsmen's logic is delightful. The author's power of satire is sometimes so delicate that it is almost credible that the irresis- tible funniness of "The Duke of Portland" is in- tentional. The peculiar vein of humour on which it touches is, however, unknown in France. Rather, it must be acknowledged, even to the slight detraction of the author's great power, that certain subjects on which the. tale touches are en- dowed with that faculty which draws upon them the blessings of the close of a century, the unfailing gift of In'ing ridiculous. Nevertheless, the secret of the story is revealed in one page with all the simple directness of true tragedy. "Deux Augures"' and " La machine a gloire'' are the most remarkable of the plotless satirieal studies. In "Deux Augures " the requisites for success in journalism are detailed with pitiless accuracy—the mediocrity which excites no envy, and the careless- ness which precludes all thought. "La machine a gloire" is a description of the logical mechanical extension of present dramatic criticism. "Sentimentalisme," "Sombre recit conteur plus sombre," and "Le desir d'etre un homnie," all harp in distinct fashions on the question whether the exercise of the artistic faculties blunt the natural. An incident of cruelty, unsurpassed in refinement, is alluded to in "Sentimentalisme"—the story of the man who made his wife laugh by the death-bed of her dying lover. In "Le desir d'etre un honnne" the author's cynicism rises almost into pathos when he describes the death-bed of the incendiary-actor in his lonely lighthouse, moaning for the sight of but one spectre before he dies," not compre- hending that he was himself the thing he sought." ♦••■» "AT THE AUTHOR'S HEAD." TI^DK biographers of Archbishop Tail have I made no indecent haste to give the details of his life to the world. If their eulogy is, as the Guardian hints, "laid on with a trowel," it must l>c remembered not only that they were the special disciples of the Archbishop, but that during his life he was abused by his own llock with more acrimony than any other man in England. One Church paper even gravely disputed as to whether he had ever been baptised, with the intention of implying that his consecration as Archbishop was invalid. The acrimony of the attacks upon him have created a feeling in his favour. It will be admitted that, as a statesmen, he excelled all the occupants of the See of Canterbury since the Reformation, with the exception of Parker and Laud. Indeed, it is doubtful whether any Arch- bishop, since those two, has had more practical effect in politics. It is remarkable that an event so important in the life of an Archbishop as his Ordination to the priesthood is not even mentioned by his ecclesiastical biographers. Mr. William Wilson has in the press a transla- tion of Ibsen's "Brand" (Methuen & Co.) Mr. Wilson's translations from Balzac formed one of the most interesting of the Camelot Series. "Brand" is, in the opinion of many (not Ibsenites), the Norwegian's finest work. It would l>e im- jKissible to have rendered satisfactorily the j>oetic drama into English verse, and the translator has wisely prepared a prose version. According to Mr. Swinburne, the "Childe Harold" is much better reading in Italian prose than in the original; perhaps "Brand," too, will benefit by the transition. Those who are interested in Italian Art and History should not fail to get the life of "Bartolomeo Colleoni" by Mr. Oscar Browning (printed for the Arundel Society). With so delightful a subject, it would be hard not to be interesting. But Mr. Oscar Browning, whose life of George Elliot proved him an ideal biographer for these days, when time is short, has turned his scholarship and knowledge to good account once more by making history attractive, and archaeology picturesque. A candidate for poetic laurels, is no more. We learn from France, that " the popular English poet MacMillan" has been found dead alone on his yacht, floating about somewhere off the coast of Calvados. Mr. Swinburne, Mr. Edmund Gosse, Sir Edwin Arnold, Mr. Oscar Wilde, Mr. Coventry Patmore, and Mr. Austin Dobson have now the lield to themselves. As for the great dead, if an ungrateful country could find no laurels for his brow, at least it is not too late to lav a wreath of cypress on his tomb. I invite the above brothers of the departed to join in a competition to produce the ode which will no doubt be chanted at his obsequies in Westminster Abbey shortly to be announced. The. Queen will be petitioned to appoint the successful poet heir-apparent to the Laureatcship.  ## p. 62 (#466) ############################################# 62 THE AUTHOR. Mr. Goodman is a bold man. He leaves the last chapter of his story untold and offers prizes to anyone who will write it. Of course the story must Ik! completed its the author intended. It would not he enough to complete it as the reader thinks it might be completed. The denouement of the plot must be such as to follow naturally and to explain every successive step of the history and the situation. The book entitled " What did She see ?" is on all the bookstalls. More attractive than any work of fiction to many readers, will be the Introductory Essay con- tributed by Mr. Andrew Lang to Dr. Oskar Sommer's " Studies on the Sources " of " Le Morte Darthin" by Sir Thomas Mallory, a colossal work now completed. We do not want to be told that Sir Thomas Mallory is a writer brimful of charm and interest and romance, but it is pleasant to have the charm translated into words for us. Thus Mr. Lang sums up pretty well all that we want to say, when he calls it the hook "of all jumbles the most poetic and the most pathetic." Mr. Lang is a critic wrho should lie retained for nothing but advocacy. He should stand perpetually before some great work to explain to those who feel but cannot speak why it is great. He used at one time to assume occasionally the character of the rapier and dagger man. The bludgeon, I believe, he has never condescended to handle. The Burlington Fine Arts has long been known for its delightful little exhibitions. At present there is a collection of book bindings from all the treasuries of the United Kingdom. No art has so improved of late years, but there is still much to reform, and more to sweep away. The catalogue of the present exhibition has two interesting prefaces from the pens of Mr. E. Gordon Duff and Mr. S. J. Prideaux. It is rather late in the day to recommend a work of reference that must already be in everyone's hand—the Annual Index of the Review of Itcvieics. If, however, any of the readers of that most wonderful of the English (I may say of the world's) magazines have not yet purchased the index, they should immediately do so. "The Directory of Secondhand Booksellers," edited by James Clegg, has reached a 3rd edition. The book deserves to be even better known than it is. It contains masses of useful information, con- cerning all matters of literary economy. I should suggest as improvements in subsequent editions, the alteration of the title to one more descriptive of the contents, and the omission of all poems and other useless, if "literary," matter. It is a great pity also that advertisements are bound at intervals into the middle of the book. This most objectionable practice at once suggests inferiority in any publi- cation, a suggestion seldom belied. We are bound to say the Directory is not an example of the truth of this self-evident truth. Mr. Powis Bale, author of "Wood-working Machinery," "Stone-working Machinery," Ac, has produced a new book on "Saw Mills: Their Arrangement and Management" (Crosby, Lock- wood, & Co.). Mr. J. Stanley Little contributes an article entitled, "A Conimonsense View of England's Imperial Destiny" to the current number of Greater Britain. Mr. Joseph Forster, author of "Four Great Teachers," has published a volume entitled, "Some French and Spanish Men of Genius" (Ellis and Elvey). It contains sketches of Marivaux, Voltaire, Bousseau, Diderot, Beaumarchais, Mirabeau, Dautin, Rol>espierre, Beranger, Victor Hugo, Eugene Sue, Zola, Cervantes, Lope de Vega, and Calderon. Good Bye. A Novel. By John Strange Winter, is., paper covers; cloth, I*. 6d. F. V.White & Co. Ready June 15th. A new serial story by John Strange Winter, entitled "Lumley, the Painter," begins in Mrs. Stannard's successful weekly magazine, Golden Gates, on July 25th. It has been written specially for her own paper, and will not appear in any other periodical in this country. Mr. Mackenzie Bell contributes to the Rural World a poem called "Two Lives," which indi- rectly refers to the "Old Age Pensions " scheme. In the Author for June, a case is mentioned where an author got nothing upon the smashing up of a magazine; and the remark is that the author left the MS. too long—a year. How long, asks a correspondent, is a reasonable time between ac- ceptance and appearance of an article? One of mine has been waiting o\ years; in print 8 months (the proofs). Again, how can one withdraw article No. i, which may have been waiting a  ## p. 63 (#467) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. year or more, when No. 2 (sent, later) has appeared in the magazine? One naturally imagines it is unavoidably shunted for a time. On Friday, June 5th, a complimentary dinner was given at the Criterion to Mr. P. W. Robinson, the novelist and editor of Home Chimes, by a number of personal friends and contributors. The chair was taken by Mr. J. K. Jerome, and Mr. J. M. Barrie was Vice-Chairman ; among those present were Mr. Mov Thomas, Mr. Kershaw, Mr. Rol>ert Barr (Luke Sharp), Mr. Theodore Watts, Mr. H. E. Clarke, and Mr. Charles F. Rideal. In the wilderness of the book world there are few wanderers that have not felt the want of a guide. Bibliographies there are in plenty, but most people who have to use them are anything but grateful to their learned and industrious compilers. It is to the ordinary student most helpful to lie presented with an elaborate analysis of the entire literature of a subject. This want promises to lie tilled by the "Guide Book to Books," which has lx>en edited bv Mr. E. B. Sargant and Mr. Bernhard Whishaw, and published by Mr. Frowde. The task of producing a work which shall within the compass of something less than 35o pages, supply a selected catalogue of the lxwks which are of value in each department of knowledge was certainly not an easy one; and the editors may be congratulated on having so capably discharged it. Largely contributed by specialists, the sections of the work possess an interest of their own, since they indicate something like " the best hundred books" in most directions of thought and action by those who are well qualified to express an opinion. The book, of course, tempts criticism. Anything of the character of a selection of the essential literature of each subject must inevitably contain omissions which it is not easy to understand. Still, the work as it stands may safely l>e recommended to the most omnivorous student. SIMILARITY OP PLOT. "TTAVING had occasion to make the ac- I I quaintance, at second hand, of a large nnmlier of novels," writes W. M. G., of Cambridge, Mass., "I have been struck by the want of originality in plot and situation, even in those which, at first glance, are noticeable for the presence of that quality. Of the plot of what work, for instance, docs the reader suppose the following to Ik: a summary :— "' A peculiar father is responsible for the peculiar infancy, education, and subsequent fortunes of the heroine. In despair at the loss of his wife, ho rushes from the worship of love to an opposite extreme, in which he discovers, declares, and would fain propagate a philosophy which shall exclude love, and herewith suffering, from the human race. He is mad enough to try the experiment in sober earnest on his only child.' "Doubtless of the same work as that described thus :— "'The tale is of a man whose whole interest, in existence is so centred in his wife that on her death he becomes a pessimist. Sidney is his only child, and from her infancy he makes it his care to rear her in his own beliefs: chief among them, that love is the most monstrous mistake and irony in the universe, and is to be shunned as the most dreadful pestilence of life.' "It is not, however. The latter quotation related to Mrs. Deland's 'Sidney,' which ran through the Atlantic, in 1890; the first to 'Margaret Jermine,' both novel and criticism having been published in 1886." New York Critic. SOME BOOKS OF THE MONTH. Donald Boss of Heimra. William Black. Sampson Low & Co. Canon Cheyne's Bampton Lectures. Kegan Paul. Sir Henry Thompson's Modern Cremation. Kegan Paid. The Little Manx Nation. Hall Caine. Heine- maun. Laurence Oliphant. Mrs. Oliphant. Blackwood. (Fifth Edition.) St. Katherinc's by the Tower. Walter Besant. Chatto & Windus. Tinkletop's Crime. George R. Sims. Chatto & Windus. Sunny Stories. James Payn. Chatto & Windus. A Leading Lady. Henry Hermann. Chatto & Windus. Robert Browning. Mrs. Sutherland Orr. Smith & Elder. (Second Edition.) London City. Rev. W. J. Loftie. Leadenhall Press. Ibsen's Prose Dramas. William Archer. Walter Scott. Footsteps of Fate. Heinemann. International Library.  ## p. 64 (#468) ############################################# 64 THE AUTHOR. CONDITIONS OP MEMBERSHIP. The Subscription is One Guinea annually, payable on the ist of January of each year. The sum of Ten Guineas for life membership entitles the subscriber to full membership of the Society. Authors of published works alone are eligible for membership. Those who desire to assist the Society but are not authors can be admitted as Associates, on the same subscription, but can have no voice in the government of the Society. Cheques and Postal Orders should be crossed "The Imperial Bank, Limited, Westminster Branch." Those who wish to be proposed as Members may send their names at any time to the Secretary at the Society's Offices, when they will receive a form for the enumeration of their works. Subscriptions entered after the ist of October will cover the next year. The Secretary may be personally consulted between the hours of i p.m. and 5, except on Saturdays. It is preferable that an appointment should lie made by letter. The Author, the Organ of the Society, can lie procured through all newsagents, or from the publishers, Messrs. Eyre and Spottiswoode, East Harding Street, Fetter Lane. A copy will lie sent free to any Member of the Society for one twelvemonth, dating from May 1889. It is hoped, however, that most Members will subscribe to the paper. The yearly subscrip- tion is 6s. 6f/., including postage, which may l)e sent to the Secretary, 4, Portugal Street, W.C. With regard to the reading of MSS. for young writers, the fee for this service is One Guinea. MSS. will lie read and reported upon for others than Members, hut Members cannot have their works read for nothing. In all cases where an opinion is desired 14)011 a manuscript, the author should send with it a table of contents. A type-written scenario is also of very great assistance. It must be understood that such a reader's report, however favourable, does not necessarily assist the author towards publication. WARNINGS. Readers of the Author are earnestly desired to make the following warnings as widely known as possible. They are based on the experience of six years' work upon the dangers to which literary property is exposed :— (1.) Nevek sign any agreement of which the alleged cost of production forms an integral part, unless an opportunity of proving the correctness of the figures is given them. (2.) Never enter into any correspondence with publishers, especially with advertising publishers, who are not recommended by experienced friends or by this Society. (3.) Never, on any account whatever, bind yourself down for future work to any one firm of publishers. (4.) Never accept any proposal of royalty without consultation with the Society, or, at least, ascertaining exactly what the agreement gives to the author and what to the publisher. (5.) Never accept any offer of money for MSS., without previously taking advice of the Society. (6.) Never accept any pecuniary risk or respon- sibility whatever without advice. (7.) Never, when a MS. has been refused by respectable houses, pay others, whatever promises they may put forward, for the production of the work. (8.) Never sign away American or foreign rights. Keep them. Refuse to sign an agreement containing a clause which reserves them for the publisher. If the publisher insists, take away the MS. and offer it to another. (9.) Never forget that publishing is a business, like any other business, totally unconnected with philanthropy, charity, or pure love of literature. You have to do with business men. Society's Offices:— 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. London: Printed by Eyke and Spottiswoode, Printers to the Queen's most Excellent Majesty. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author, Vol. 02 Issue 02 (July 1891) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 02 Issue 02 (July 1891) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927&amp;view=1up&amp;seq=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1891-07-01-The-Author-2-2 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/252/1891-06-01-The-Author-2-1.pdf 8cdfbe557e78c0ea06320f2806e08b51 PDF Text Text �������������������������������� 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 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) 1891-06-01 Volume 2 Issue 1 Pages Page range in volume 1–32 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18910601 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin ## p. 1 (#405) ############################################## Uhc Eutbot\ (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. II.—No. i.] JUNE i, 1891 [Pkice Sixpence. CONTENTS. PAGB • 5 The Author l Second Volume The American Copyright Act— I. Directions for securing Copyright j II. Rolicrt Underwood Johnson. By Edmund Gossc .. 7 III. The Passage ol thu Bill. By Kato Tannatt Woods 9 IV. Note. By C. G. I.cland 9 V. Note. By William Westall 10 VI. Mr. C. J. Longman's Article in the Economic Review 11 VII. Note. By H. Q. Kcene 11 VIII. Note. By B.H. H 11 The Petition to the House of Lords 11 The Second Reading of the Copyright Bill J I'AOK The Cost of a Stamp 3 Notes and News. By Walter Besant 13 In the Days of the Merry Monarch 18 Reviews and Reviewers 19 Library Secrets" Maurice Maeterlinck. By William Wilson 13 Literature in Ireland '4 "A Word from you. Sir" »6 Mr. George Moore and Herr Ibsen a*1 "At the Author's Head" On Some Cases '9 Correspondence 3° EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE. ACTION OF LIGHT ON WATER COLOURS—Report to the Science and Art Department of the Committee of Council on Education. (With Diagrams and Plates.) By post, u. 1 irf. PLIOCENE DEPOSITS OF BRITAIN, THE. By Clbmbst Rbid, F.LS.. F.G.8. Five Plates (48 cuts), j». M. LONDON AND NEIGHBOURHOOD: Guide to the Geology of. Bv William Whitakeb, B.A. it. LONDON AND OF PART OF THE THAMES VALLEY, The Gedogy of. By W. Whitakeb. B.A., P.R.S., F.G.8.. Assoc. Inst. C.E. Vol. I. DESCRIPTIVE GEOLOGY. 8vo. cloth. 6». Vol. II. APPENDICES. 8vo.. cloth, 5*. ISLE OF WIGHT, Geology of. By H. W. Bristow, F.R.S., F.G.S. Second Edition. Revised and enlarged bv Clement Rbip. F.G.8., and Acbbet Stbahak, M.A., F.G.8. 8vo., cloth, 8». W. COPYRIGHT LAW REFORM: an Exposition of Lord Monkswell's Copyright Bill now before Parliament; with Extracts from the Report of the Commis>ion of 1878, and an Appendix containing the Berno Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lblt, Esq., Barrister-at-Law. i«. 6d. STATE TRIALS, Reports of; New Series. Published under the direction nt the State Trials Committee. Edited by Jonx MacDonell. M.A., of the Middle Temple. Barrister-at- Law. Vols. I. and II. ready. Vol. III. in the Press. Price 1 os. per volume. "It is for the most part interesting, not to say fascinating, study for anyone, that is to say, who cares about history at all."—Daily yews. FISHES By By G. C. HANDBOOK OF NEW ZEALAND R. A. A. Siiubrih. Demy 8vo.. cloth, m. ORANGE CULTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Aldbbtoh. Demy 8vo., cloth, m. FOREST FLORA OF NEW ZEALAND. By T. Kikk, F.L.S., late Chief Conservator of State Forests, N.Z.. Ac. Numerous Plates. Fcp.,cloth. i>«. W. KEW BULLETIN, 1890. Issued by the Director of Kew Gardens. m. icxl. KEW BULLETIN, 1891. Monthly, id. Appendices, zd. each. Annual Subscription, including- postage, yt. t>d. WEATHER, STUDY AND FORECAST OF. Aids to. By Rev. W. Clemebt Let. M.A. is. ROYAL MILITARY EXHIBITION, 1890. Descriptive Catalogue of Musical Instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition. Compiled by Copt. C. R. Day, Oxfordshire Light Infantry, under the orders of Col. Siiaw- Wellieb, Commandant Royal Military School of Music. The instruments are fully desenbed; they are arranged systemati- cally under their respective families and classes, nnd n chrono- logical arrangement has, as much as possible, been adhered to. Each family of instrument has been prefaced by a carefully- written Introductory Essay. Musical pitch has not lieen left unnoticed, and a learned Essay from the pen of a well-known authority upon the subject appears in the Appendix. The b"ok will be illustrated by a series of Twelve Artistically executed Plates in Heliogravure, and with numerous Wood Engravings. The issuo will be limited to 1000 copies. [Ready about the middle o/Junr. Monthly Lists of Parliamentary Papers upon Application. Quarterly Lists Post Free, id. Miscellaneous L ist on Application. Every Assistance given to Correspondents; and Books not kept iu stock obtained without delay. Remittance should accompany Order. C.OVERXMEXT AXD GENERA!, publishers. EYRE anil SPOTTISWOODE, ller flajesty's Printers, East Harding Slrrrt, London, E.<\  ## p. 2 (#406) ############################################## ADVERTISEMENTS. Messrs. METHUEN'S NEW BOOKS. PBINCE a vols. GEORGE By S. BARING GOULD. IJKITH: A Story of Dartmoor. By S. Baring Gould, Author of" Mehalah," " Arminell," ftp. 3 vols. [Ready. By HANNAH LYNCH. OF TAB GLADES. Ky Hannah Lynch. [Ready. MEREDITH. A Study. Crown 8vo. 5*. [Ready. By W. CLARK RUSSELL. A MARRIAGE AT SEA. By W. Clark Russell, Author of " Tho Wreck of the Gro<vonor," ftc. 3 vols. [Remly. THE LIFE OF ADMIRAL LORD COLL1NGWOOD. By W. Clark Russell, Author of "The Wreck of the Grosvenor." With ['lustrations by F. Branowtn. 8vo. [Ready. By W. H. POLLOCK. BETWEEN THE LINES. By Waltkr Hurries Pollock. Post 8vo. is. [April. By R. PRYCE. THE QUIET MRS. FLEMING. By Richard Prtob. Crown 8vo. is. td. [Ready. By J. B. BURNE, M.A. PARSON AND PEASANT: Chapters of their Natural History. By J. B. Burnk, M.A., Rector of Wasing. Crown Svo. ss. [Ready. By E. LYNN LINTON. THE TRUE HISTORY OF JOSHUA DAVIDSON, Christian and Communist. By E. Ltsn Linto.v. Tenth and Cheaper Edition. Post 8vo. is. [Ready. Works by S. BARING GOULD, Author of" Mehalah," frc. OLD COUNTRY LIFE. By S. Baring Gould. With Sixty-seven Illustrations by W. Parkinson, P. D. Bedford, and F. Masev. Large Crown 8ro, cloth super extra, top edge gilt, 105. bd. Second Edition. "Old Country Life, as healthy wholesome reading, full of breezy life and movement, full of quaint stories vigorously told, will not lie excelled by any book to bo published throughout tho venr. Sound, hearty, and English to the core."— World. HISTORIC ODDITIES AND STRANGE EVENTS. By S. Hiring Gould. First Series. Demy 8vo. 10s. bd. Second Edition. "A collection of exciting and entertaining chapters. The whole volume is delightful reading."— Times. SECOND SERIES. HISTORIC ODDITIES AND STRANGE EVENTS. Second Series. By S. Baring Gould, Author of "Mehalah." Demy Svo. 10s. td. [Ready. "A fascinating book."—Leeds Mercnry. SONGS OF THE WEST: Traditional Ballads and Songs of the West of England, with their Traditional Melodies. Collected by S. Bering Gould, M.A., and H. Fleetwood Siikitakd, M.A. Arranged for Voire and Piano. In 4 Parts (containing 15 Songs each), is. each nett. Part I., Third Edition. Part II., Second Edition. PartIIL.ready. Part IV., rend]/. $s. "A rich and varied collection of humour, pathos, grace, and poetic faiicv."—Saturday Review. YORKSHIRE ODDITIES AND STRANGE EVENTS. By 8. Baking Gould. New and Cheaper Edition. Crown Svo. bs. [Now Ready. TWO HOOKS FOR BOYS. Cr. Svo. Ss. MASTER ROCKAFELLAR'S VOYAGE. By. W. Clark Russell, Author of "The Wreck of tho Grosvenor," &c. Illustrated by Gordon Browne. SYD HELTON; or, The Hoy who would not go to Sea. By G. Manvii.i.b Fknn, Author of "In the King's Name," ftc. Illustrated by Gordon Browne. TWO BOOKS FOU GIRLS. Cr. Svo. 3s. 6rf. DUMPS. By Mrs. Parr, Author of "Adam and Eve," 'D-irc>thv Fox," Ac. Illustrated liv W. Parkinson. A GIRL OF THE PEOPLE. By L. T. Meade, Author of" Scamp and I," ftc. Illustrated by R. Karnes. METHUEN'S NOVEL SERIES. Three Shillings and Sixpence. Messrs. METHUEN will issue from time to time a Series of copyright Novels, by well-known Authors, handsomely bound, at the above popular price. The first volumes (now ready) are: I. THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. By F. Mabel RODINSON. *. JACQITETTA. By S. Baring Gould. 3. MY LAND OF BEULAH. By Mrs. Lktth Adams. 4. ELI'S CHILDREN. By G. Manville Fenn. 5. ARMINELL: A Social Romance. By S. Baring Gould. 6. DERRICK VAUGHAN, NOVELIST. By Edna Ltall. With portrait of Author. 7. DISENCHANTMENT. By F. Mabel Robinson. 8. DISARMED. By M. Betham Edwards. 9. JACK'S FATHER. By W. E. Norris. Other Volumes will he announced in dne coarse. Edited by A. M. M. STEDMAN, M.A. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. A series of short biographies, free from party bias, of the most prominent leaders of religious life and thought in this and the last century. CARDINAL NEWMAN. R. H. Hutton. [Read;/. JOHN WESLEY. J. H. Overton. [Ready. UNIVERSITY EXTENSION SERIES. Crown Svo. 2s- 6d. Under the above title Messrs. Methuen have commenced the publication of a series of books on historical, literary, and economic subjects, suitable for extension students and home-reading circles. THE INDUSTRIAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND. By II DK B. GtBBINB, M.A., late Scholar of Wadham College, Oxon., Cobden Prizeman. With Maps and Plans. [Ready. A HISTORY OF ENGLISH POLITICAL ECONOMY. By L. L. Price. M.A., Fellow of Oriel College, Oxon., Eitension Lecturer in Political Economy. [Ready. VICTORIAN POETS. By A. Sharp. [Nearly Ready. PROBLEMS OF POVERTY: An Inquiry into the Industrial Conditions of the Poor. By J. A. Hobson, M.A., late Scholar of Lincoln College, Oxon., U. E. Lecturer in Economics. [Ready. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. By J. E. Symks, M.A., Principal of University College, Nottingham. [Nearly Ready. SOCIAL QUESTIONS OF TO-DAY. A series of volumes upon the most important topics of social, economic, and industrial interest—written by the highest authorities on the various subjects. The first two volumes will l>e— TRADES UNIONISM—New and Old. By G. Howem., M.P. {Ready. POVERTY AND PAUPERISM. By Rev. L. R. Phelps, M.A.. Fellow of Oriel College, Oxon. Ml** METHUEN & Co., 18, Bury Street, W.C.  ## p. 3 (#407) ############################################## ADVERTISEMENTS. The Society of Authors (Incorporated). PRESIDENT. The Right Hon. THE LORD TENNYSON, D.C.L. Sir Edwin ARNOLD, K.C.I.E. ALFRED Austin. A. W. À BECKETT. ROBERT BATEMAN. Sir HENRY BERGNE, K.C.M.G. WALTER BESANT. AUGUSTINE BIRRELL, M.P. R. D. BLACKMORE. Rev. Prof. BONNEY, F.R.S. LORD BRABOURNE. JAMES BRYCE, M.P. P. W. CLAYDEN. EDWARD Clodd. W. MARTIN CONWAY. Marion CRAWFORD. Oswald CRAWFURD, C.M.G. THE EARL OF DESART.. A. W. DUBOURG. Joun ERIC ERICHSEN, F.R.S. Prof. MICHAEL FOSTER, F.R.S. HERBERT GARDNER, M.P. RICHARD GARNETT, LL.D. EDMUND Gosse. COUNCIL. H. RIDER HAGGARD. Thomas HARDY. Prof. E. Ray LANKESTER, F.R.S. J. M. LELY. Rev. W. J. LOFTIE, F.S.A. F. Max MÜLLER, LL.D. GEORGE MEREDITH. HERMAN C. MERIVALE. Rev. C. H. MIDDLETON-WAKE, F.L.S. J. C. PARKINSON. THE EARL OF PEMBROKE AND MONTGOMERY. SIR FREDERICK POLLOCK, BART., LL.D. WALTER HERRIES POLLOCK. A. G. Ross. GEORGE AUGUSTUS SALA. W. BAPTISTE SCOONES. G. R. Sims. J. J. STEVENSON. Jas. SULLY. William Moy THOMAS. H. D, TRAILL, D.C.L. The Right Hon. THE BARON HENRY DE WORMS. EDMUND YATES. Hon. Counsel – E. M. UNDERDOWN, Q.C. COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT. Chairman--WALTER BESANT. EDMUND Gosse. 1 J. M. LELY. 1 H. RIDER HAGGARD. | Sir FREDERICK POLLOCK. A. G. Ross. A. W. Å BECKETT. W. Martin CONWAY. Solicitors. Messrs. FIELD, Roscoe, & Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. Secretary-S. SQUIRE SPRIGGE. OFFICES. 4, PORTUGAL STREET, LINCOLN's Inx FIELDS, WC,  ## p. 4 (#408) ############################################## A D VER TISEMEN TS. The " Swan" is a beautiful Gold Pen joined to a rubber reservoir to hold any kind of ink, which it supplies to the writing point in a continuous How. It will hold enough ink for two days' constant work, or a week's ordinary writing, and can be refilled with as little trouble as to wind a watch. With the cover over the gold nib it is carried in the pocket like a pencil, to be used anywhere. A purchaser may try a pen a few days, and if by chance the writing point does not suit his hand, exchange it for another without charge, or have his money returned if wanted. There are yarions points to select from, broad, medium, aud fine, every handwriting can be suited, and the price of the entire instrument, with filler complete, post free, is only 10s. 6d. i, 6ARO NEW YORK fcj^ The Gold Pens in the "Swan" are Mabie, Todd, & Co.'s famous make. They are 14-eanit tempered gold, very handsome, and positively unaffected by any kind of ink. They are pointed with selected polished iridium. The " Encyclopaedia Britannica" says:—" Iridium is a nearly white metal of high specific gravity, it is almost indestructible, and a beautifully polished surface can be obtained upon it." They will not penetrate the paper, and writer's cramp is unknown among users of Gold Pens. One Will OUtwear 90 grOSS Of Steel peilS. They are a perfect revelation to those who know nothing about Gold Pens. I)u. Oliver Wendell Holmes has used one of Mabie, Todd, & Co.'s Gold Pens since 185;, and is using the same 0110 (his "old friend ") to-day. Sydney Grundy, Es<)., says (referring to the Fountain Pen) :—" It is a vast improvement 011 every Stylograph." Moberly Hell, Esq., Manager, The Times, says (referring to the Fountain Pen) :—" One pen lasted me for six years." S. I). Waddv, Ksq., Q.C., M.P., says (referring to the Fountain Pen) :—" I have used them constantly for some years, and, as far as I can remember, they have never failed me." Send Postal Card for Free Illustrated List (containing interesting Testimonials from the Best People, who have used them for years) to— MABIE, TODD, d BARD, 03, CHBAPSIDE, LONDON.  ## p. 5 (#409) ############################################## TZhe Hutbor. (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. II.-No. i.] JUNE i, 1891. [Price Sixpence. THE AUTHOR—Second Volume. "TTT ITH the Second Volume the Author makes a V V few changes, but not many. It will continue to advocate the material interests of litera- ture, not only in order to obtain justice to authors of ull kinds, but in the conviction that the highest and best interests of literature are closely connected with its material interests. A literature whose producers are needy beggars, dependent on the caprice of the man with money, servile because they are poor, un- able to assert their rights, unable to act together, unable to make the world understand that they have any rights, must itself tend to become poor and feeble. That it has shown vigour among ourselves even when authors have been sunk in the lowest depths, proves the strength of a plant which could llourish in a soil so ungrateful. In order to secure the complete independence of the author, it is necessary that the methods of publishing should l>e based upon principles of justice and fairness both to the publisher and the author. That is to say, the services of the former must be fully recognised and remunerated, but on a scale of proportion to be regulated and agreed upon by both sides. In order to arrive at this end, it is necessary that we understand (1) the cost of printing, paper, binding, advertising, &c. involved in the preparation of a MS. for publication; (2) the trade price; and (3) the meaning of royalties as applied to author and to publisher. It is next necessary to understand the arrange- ments commonly proposed in agreements submitted to authors by publishers; what the clauses mean to either side, and especially to the author. These things have been carefully ascertained by the Society, and the results are now published in "The Cost of Production" and "Methods of Publishing." For the first time, authors can learn for them- selves their own business. It will be the duty of the Author to keep this information steadily before the eyes of its readers. VOL. 11. The pages of the Author will also be open to questions of every kind connected with literature. The Editor invites correspondence on the profession of letters in every branch from those who read this paper or are Members of the Society. The following, among others, have promised literary assistance during the year:— Arthur a Beckett. Walter Besant. J. A. Blnikie. J. H. McCarthy. Edward Clodd. W. Morris Colles. Austin Dobson. Edmund Gosse. H. Rider Haggard. H. Hermann. Henry Arthur Jones. Budyard Kipling. Andrew Lang. C. G. Leland. J. M. Lelv. Rev. W. J. Lottie. Cosmo Monkhouse. B. M. Richardson, M.D. F. W. Robinson. Robert Ross. G. R. Sims. S. S. Sprigge. J. Ashby Sterrv. William Westell. "William Wilson." The Author will in future be printed and published by Messrs. Eyre and Spottiswoode, East Harding Street, on the 1st of every month, instead of the 10th. Communications should be addressed to the Editor, Authors' Society, 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. They should reach him not later than the 22nd. THE AMERICAN COPYRIGHT ACT. I. Directions for securing Copyrights Under the Revised Acts of Congress, including the Provisions for Foreign Copyright, by Act of March 3rd, 1891. Printed Title required. 1. A printed copy of the title of the book, map, chart, dramatic or musical composition, engraving, cut, print, photograph, or chromo, or a description a 3  ## p. 6 (#410) ############################################## 6 THE AUTHOR. of the painting, drawing, statue, .statuary, or model or design for a work of the fine arts for which copy- right is desired, must be delivered to the Librarian of Congress or depos-ted in the mail within the United States, prepaid, addressed— Librarian of Congress, Washington, D.C. This must l>e done on or before day of publication in this or any foreign country. "* What style of Print. The printed title required may be a copy of the title page of such publications as have title pages. In other cases, the title must be printed expressly for copyright entry, with name of claimant of copyright. The style of type is immaterial, and the print of a type-writer will be accepted. But a separate title is required for each entry, and each title must be printed on paper as large as commercial note. The title of a periodical must include the date and numl>er, and each number of a periodical requires a separate entry of copyright. Copyright Fees. 2. The legal fee for recording each copyright claim is 5o cents, and for a copy of this record (or certificate of copyright under seal of the office) an additional fee of oo cents is required, making $i in case certificate is wanted, which will be mailed as soon as reached in the records. In the case of publications produced by other citizens or residents of the United States, the fee for recording title is $l, and 5o cents additional for a copy of the record. Certificates covering more than one entry in one certificate are not issued. Two Copies required. 3. Not later than the day of publication of each book or other article, in this country or abroad, two complete copies of the best edition issued must be delivered to perfect the copyright, or deposited in the mail within the United States, addressed— Librarian of Congress, "Washington, D.C. Free by Mail. The freight or postage must be prepaid, or the publications enclosed in parcels covered by printed penalty labels, furnished by the Librarian, in which case they will come free by mail (not express), without limit of weight, according to rulings of the Post Office Department. In the case of books, photographs, chromos, or lithographs, the two copies deposited must lie printed from type set or plates made in the United States, or from negatives or drawings on stone, or transfers therefrom, made within the United States. Penalty. Without the deposit of copies aliove required the copyright is void, and a penalty of $20 is incurred. No copy is required to Ik- deposited elsewhere. The law requires one copy of each new edition wherein any substantial changes are made to be deposited with the Librarian of Congress. Notice of Copyright to be given by Imprint.— Claimant's name to be printed. 4. No copyright is valid unless notice is given by inserting in every copy published, on the title page or the page following, if it be a book; or if a map, chart, musical composition, print, cut, engraving, photograph, painting, drawing, chromo, statue, statuary, or model or design intended to l>e perfected as a work of the fine arts, by inscribing upon some portion thereof, or on the substance on which the same is mounted, the following words, viz.: "Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year , by , in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington," or, at the option of the person entering the copyright, the words: " Copyright, 18 , by ." The law imposes a penalty of $100 upon any person who has not obtained copyright who shall insert the notice "Entered according to Act of Congress," or "Copyright," &c, or words of the same import, in or upon any lx>ok or other article. Translations and Dramas. 5. The copyright law secures to authors or their assigns the exclusive right to translate or to drama- tize their own works. Rights reserved. Since the phrase all rights reserved refers exclu- sively to the right to dramatize or to translate, it has no bearing upon any publications except original works, and will not be entered upon the record in other cases. Duration of Copyright. 6. The original term of copyright runs for twenty-eight years. Within six months liefore the end of that time, the author or designer, or his widow or children, may secure a renewal for the further term of fourteen years, making forty-two years in all. Rcneicals. Applications for renewal must l>e accomjianied by explicit statement of ownership, in the case of  ## p. 7 (#411) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 7 the author, or of relationship, in the case of his heirs, and must state definitely the date and place of entry of the original copyright. Advertisement of renewal is to l>e made within two months of date of renewal certificate in some newspaper for four weeks. Time of Publication. 7. The time within which any work entered for copyright may l>e issued from the press is not omited by any law or regulation, but the courts have held that it should take place within a rea- sonable time. A copyright may be secured for a projected work as well as for a completed one. But the law provides for no caveat, or notice of interference—only for actual entry of title. Assignments. 8. A copyright is assignable in law by any instrument of writing, and such assignment is to be recorded in the office of the Librarian of Congress within 60 days from its date. The fee for this record and certificate is $1, and for a certified copy of any record of assignment $ 1. Copies or Duplicate Certificates. 9. A copy of the record (or duplicate certificate) of any copyright entry will be furnished, under seal of the office, at the rate of 5o cents each. Serials or separate Publications. 10. In the case of lx>oks published in more than one volume, or of periodicals published in numbers, or of engravings, photographs, or other articles pub- lished with variations, a copyright is to be entered for each volume or part of a book, or number of a periodical, or variety, as to style, title, or inscrip- tion, of any other article. But a book published serially in a periodical, under the same general title, requires only one entry. To complete the copyright on such a work, two copies of each serial part, as well as of the complete work (if published separately), should be deposited. Copyright for Works of Art. 11. To secure copyright for a painting, statue, or model or design intended to l>e perfected as a work of the fine arts, a definite description must accompany the application for copyright, and a photograph of the same as large as "cabinet size," mailed to the Librarian of Congress not later than the day of publication of the work or design. The fine arts, for copyright purposes, include only painting and sculpture, and articles of merely ornamental and decorative art are referred to the Patent Office, as subjects for Design Patents. No Labels or Names Copyright. 12. Copyrights cannot be granted upon trade marks, nor upon names of companies or articles, nor upon an idea or device, nor upon prints or labels intended to be used for any article of manu- facture. If protection for such names or labels is desired, application must be made to the Patent Office, where they are registered at a fee of §6 for labels and ?25 for trade marks. Foreign or International Copyright. 13. The provisions as to copyright entry in the United States by foreign authors, &c, by Act of Congress approved March 3rd, 1891 (to take effect July 1st, 1891), are the same as the foregoing. The right of citizens or subjects of a foreign nation to copyright within the United States is not to take effect unless such nation permits to United States citizens the benefit of copyright on the same basis as to its own citizens, or unless such nation is a party to an international agreement providing for reciprocity in copyright, to which the United States may become a party. The Librarian of Congress can enter copyright for foreigners only after a proclamation of the President of the United States, certifying the existence of either of the foregoing conditions. The right of Americans to secure copyright abroad is unchanged by the new law, pending new legislation in foreign countries, or international agreements as to copyright between their govern- ments and that of the United States. Full Name of Proprietor required. 14. Every applicant for a copyright should state distinctly the full name and residence of the claimant, and whether the right is claimed as author, designer, or proprietor. No affidavit or witness to the application is required. Office of tub Librarian of Congress, Washington, 1891. H. Robert Underwood Johnson. It is only natural and proper that English authors should wish to know more about the most ardent and active of those American friends to whom the passing of the Copyright Bill is due. It is no exaggeration, and it conveys no slight to other industrious promoters of the copvriglit movement, to say that, as Secretary of the American Authors' Copyright League and of the Joint Executive Committee or all the organizations  ## p. 8 (#412) ############################################## 8 THE AUTHOR. supporting the Bill, Mr. 11. U. Johnson had more than anyone else to do with the final victory. In signing the Copyright Bill, President Harrison used a large quill taken from an American eagle, procured for that purpose by Mr. Johnson, to whom the pen was then returned with the Presi- dent's compliments. Not many authors possess pens that so well deserve to become heirlooms. Robert Underwood Johnson was born on Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C., January nth, i853. He was named after his great-grandfather, Robert Underwood, one of the early settlers of Washing- ton, and a mathematician of ability. His maternal grandfather was John Underwood of that city, afterward for many years a resident of Wayne County, Indiana, with which Mr. Johnson's paternal grandfather, Dr. Nathan Johnson, was also long identified, having been one of the original Aboli- tionists of Eastern Indiana. On his mother's side the Underwoods and Ingles are of a Calvinistic strain, while on his father's side the Johnsons and Hoges who come from Loudon County, Virginia, are of Quaker stock of a liberal type, and of marked literary tastes. Mr. Johnson's father, the late Honourable Nimrod H. Johnson, in addition to his prominence in Eastern Indiana as an able lawyer and a just and discriminating jurist, was known among his associates for his wide and exact knowledge of history, poetry, fiction, and general literature. To him Mr. Johnson owes his literary temperament and predilections. After an ordinary high school education at Centreville, Indiana, where his boy- hood was passed, Robert matriculated at Earlham College, an institution of the Society of Friends, Richmond, Indiana, in 1867. In 1871, at the age of 18, he was graduated from that institution as Bachelor of Science, to which the college in 1889 added the honorary degree of Ph.D. From college he went immediately into business as clerk in the Western agency of the Scribner educational books at Chicago. After nearly two years of this work (including the year of the great fire) he became connected, in 1873, with the editorial staff of the Century Magazine (then Scribner's Monthly), a connexion which still exists. On the death of the Editor-in-Chief, Dr. J. G. Holland, in 1881, Mr. R. W. Gilder became the Editor, and Mr. Johnson succeeded him as the Associate-Editor. This position he now occupies, with a large measure of responsibility, having also acted virtually as Managing Editor under Dr. Holland for a year in 1879-80, during Mr. Gilder's absence in Europe. In 18 83 Mr. Gilder intrusted to Mr. Johnson and Mr. C. C. Buel, the conduct of the well-known Century War Series, and they had charge of it both in the Magazine and in the enlarged and revised book publication of four volumes " Battles and Leaders of the Civil War," which was begun in 1887 and completed in 1889—Mr. Buel, however, having sole charge of the Magazine papers for a year during Mr. Johnson's absence in Europe in 1885-6. This trip was undertaken with the chief object of becoming acquainted with the best examples of European art and architecture, and included visits to the galleries of London, Paris, Holland, and Italy, and an inspection of the Greek monuments of Athens and Sicily. Mr. Johnson's literary work, in addition to his daily and exacting editorial duties, has been con- fined to editorial and critical articles and to verse. He h:is not yet collected his graceful poems into a volume, but has scattered them in the pages of the Century, Harper's Monthly, St. Nicholas, the Christian Union, the Tribune, and other periodicals. He is a member of the Authors' Club, the Century Club, and the Aldine Club of New York, and of the Civil Service Reform Association, and the Free Art League. Since 1883 he has been actively connected with the International Copyright movement, having been for several years Treasurer of the American Copy- right League, and a member of its executive committee of five. In 1889 he exchanged the treasurership for the more responsible work of Secretary of the League, becoming by this office also Secretary of the Joint Executive Committee (of Authors and Publishers) which was in charge of the campaign for the Copyright Bill. He was active in urging the northward extension of the East River Park, New York, and the creation of the Yosemite National Park, and has recently devoted much attention to the movement in favour of securing a better supervision of the Yosemite Valley, which he visited in June 1889, during a trip of two months to California in the interest of the Century. In a letter just received, Mr. Johnson says: "The problem now is to establish the foundation for the President's proclamation. I have written officially to Mr. Blaine to see that no time is lost, and taking the ground that the Bill must 1k> made operative towards citizens of any country which is a signatory of the Berne Conference, whether that country gives America copyright or not. That was Simonds' intention in drafting that clause of Section XIII., but I fear our Secretary of State will not take that view of reciprocity. On your part, an Order in Council would, of course, put the thing beyond penulventure, and be simpler and easier than the Monkswell Bill, especially as Parlia- ment is likely to be prorogued, and even if it continue there may be a long debate on the Bill. Of course, we cannot with a good grace ask for more than we offer. NoImxIv could complain if we  ## p. 9 (#413) ############################################## THE AUTHOR. 9 got just what we offer, but our step is irretrievable now, and it is your move! As soon as I hear, if I do, what view our State .Department will take, I will let you know. Meanwhile, I should think the Order in Council the proper cue, if practicable, and in either case, prompt action would strengthen us here for a more liberal law in the future." In acknowledgment of his services in the Inter- national Copyright cause, the French Government has just conferred upon him the Cross of the Legion of Honour (Chevalier), and some of his associates in the Copyright cause have presented him with a handsome silver loving cup. E. G. III. The Passing of the Bill. In the midst of manifold business, I venture to send you a hurried and imperfect account of the passage of the Copyright Bill, and the "Ladies' Night of the Authors' Club " in New York. I find by the Author, which was here awaiting my arrival, that someone has kept you informed as to operations in Congress. While I was in Washington a friend in Congress said, "If you people want that Bill to pass, you will have to fight for it, as the printers, litho- graphers, &c, &c, an; lumbering it with all sorts of weights." Several of us went up; and I talked "Bill " most earnestly to members of Congress in the same house with us. Through the kindness of Senator Allen, of Washington (State), I had a seat in the Diplomatic Gallery, where I could see and hear all that was going on. A great many Senators spoke eloquently for the authors, but opposed the Bill, only on account of its clauses created by trade unions, &c. Several senators made fine pleas for us, notably, a young man from Colorado, and I have the pleasure of knowing that at least one vote was changed on my account. Imperfect as it is, it seems to me to be a step forward. We are recognised as authors, we have rights; and men who were ignorant before now know that publishers generally get richer and richer as authors get jworer and poorer. The Western Senators, (as a rule) broad-minded men from broad acres, favoured the Bill or some Bill tending towards justice. As one Senator said, "The printers, publishers, lithographers, &c. all have their unions; they are protected, but who protects the author?" We sat listening with beating hearts longing to correct some errors, and eager to put words of truth in the speakers' mouths. About one o'clock in the morning the roll was called on the vote, and at 1.3o Vol. II. we went home to bed thankful for little, hoping for more. I asked one of the Senators to forward you a copy of the Bill as revised and past. If you did not receive it, please let me know. From Washington I went to New York, to find that the Authors' Club, for the first time in their history, had issued invitations to the ladies, following your good example. I was induced to remain over for it, and was pleased to meet many of our noted and quoted men and women. Rider Haggard had left that day for England, to the regret of many who wished to see him. In conversation with Noah Brooks, Stedman the Poet, Kiehard Henry Stoddard, and others, I spoke of the English Society and its brave work for authors. Mr. Brooks, the President of the Club, did me the honour to say, "That, in his opinion, the three authors who were doing most to give clear, finished, and admirable pictures of New England life and philosophy were your correspondent, Sarah Ome Jeroett, and Mary E. Wilkins," encouraging tri- bute? from a man of Mr. Brook's standing and truthfulness. You speak of our little " Guild." Why not both men and women? Sure enough; but the men have "flocked by themselves," and we must do the best we can. As it is, I find some women averse to any move- ment. They say, "Good writers get all they want"; "There is no need," &c, &c. I cannot take this narrow view, and therefore hope to make our Guild a quiet power for good. You would laugh, I am sure, could you hear the comments on our Society in Loudon. One pub- lisher says, "It is a sort of spite company gotten up by growlers, who cannot sell their work." Another remarks: "I observe by the papers that you are a member of that London Club. I advise you to keep out of it. They are an aggressive lot of men who want the earth." Meantime, I go steadily on doing my work. Kate Tannatt Woods. "Maple Nest," Salem, Mass., April 8th, 1891. IV. The Bill enacts that not later than the day of publication anywhere, there must 1m- two copies of the work in question sent to the Librarian of Congress, and these copies must be printed in America. This is most, harrassing and unjust to foreign authors. It can only 1k> of profit to those who, having a great popular reputation, can secure V.  ## p. 10 (#414) ############################################# 10 THE AUTHOR. beforehand a publisher in America. But all Iwoks which are ventures or risks, or not likely to sell extensively (as, for instance, a young author's first book) cannot be lienefited by the Bill. Should an author publish a book in England alone, and should it by chance turn out to be a success, there is nothing to prevent any American from taking it. There are a great many books which have a great success contrary to all expectations of both publisher and author, as I myself have experienced. There are also a great many l>ooks of immense value to the world which do not sell well. No one book ever had such influence on the American public as the " Political Economy of Henry Carey," yet it was 3o years before the first edition of 1,000 copies was sold; I having bought the very last one. I could enumerate many such works. According to this Bill, there can be no sending from England to America of small amounts of l»ooks—say 25o or 100—that is, if I understand the expression "prohibition of importation" in section 3, which seems to me to be very artfully contrived so as to prevent all such importation, and which certainly will be so carried out—making the position of the foreign author as regards America, on the whole, much worse than it now is. Thus I, personally, have just published a very expensive illustrated work. There is not the slightest pro- bability that any American firm would ever print it, but enough copies can now be sold to America to materially aid the cost. This Bill seems to me utterly adverse to all the best interests of literature. It is founded on the vulgar and ignorant opinion, too prevalent in America, that a book is valuable exactly in propor- tion to its sale. It will deter authors from making efforts or taking risks. It is conceived entirely in a mere tradesman-like spirit. It is really and solely devised to favour publishers as much, and authors as little, as possible. Public opinion in Europe, and the complaints of American authors liave forced the American publishers and public to grant something, and so they give just as little as they possibly can. This Bill will deeply injure the best interests of culture and literature in America. But this will Ih» a matter of no consequence to legislators, who cannot see any difference to the public between the sale of a black letter book and its equal value in black tea. As I said before, this Bill allows the American publishers to wait and see whether books by un- known authors (or idl not copyrighted on a certain day) will succeed, and if they do, he can always reprint them. This is so peculiarly mean and contemptible, and also cruel. It is discouraging to young authors whose first works are always risks. However artfully it may be worded, the intent of this Bill is to allow no books to be sold in the United States unless they shall be printed there. According to section 3 an American publisher by depositing a printed title of any forthcoming English work can effectively stop its sale or its republication in America if he be so minded. That is, he can apply for a copyright, and either make his own terms, having obtained it, or else prevent its appearing altogether. The Bill protects the author as regards printing and publishing, but not against copyrighting his title. And this same infamous injustice exists in England. Thus, I know a publisher in Loudon, who, having advertised a book by a certain title, the title was copyrighted by another man who legally notified the publisher that he must not use his own title. I should say in conclusion, from my very soul, that men who could conceive, carry out, or approve of any such Bill as this, would be capable of anything contemptible or disreputable. It is altogether in the spirit of the great popular theory that the minority or the weak have no rights whatever which the majority or the strong are l>ound to respect. Chaiiles Godfrey Leland. Florence. V. I am not concerned with the purely legal side of the question. I leave that to Sir Frederick Pollock and other lights of the law, by whom it has already teen discussed. I would merely point out that the English publisher of an American book can protect it by the simple expedient of calling it a "copy- right edition." This may imply either that the book was published simultaneously in England and the United States, or that, at the time of its publi- cation, the author was in British territory. Lord Westbury and other authorities have expressed the opinion that observance of the first of the conditions secures the American author in his copyright; all agree that observance of the second does. And who can lie sure that Lord Westbury was mistaken, or that the moment the book was published in London the author was not on the Canadian side of the Niagara or the St. Lawrence, or elsewhere in the Queen's dominions? The question could only be conclusively tested by the production of a rival edition; and where is the publisher who would commit so great a folly? Though he might de- stroy the copyright of the book, he could in no circumstances acquire it for himself, while failure in the action which would doubtless be brought against him would involve payment of his adver- sary's legal costs as well as his own, in addition to  ## p. 11 (#415) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. the cost of producing the rival edition, to say nothing of th«! worry, and the |>ossibility of being cast in damages. But an ounce of practice is tetter than a pound of theory; and, as a matter of fact, I lx-lieve that no American book described on its title page as " copyright" has ever been pirated in this country. "William Westall. VI. Mb. C. J. Longman on the Bill. Mr. C. J. Longman has contributed to the April number of the Economic Review (Percival & Co.) a very cogent article on the American Copyright Bill, which will be read with considerable interest. Mr. Longman points out that those writers whose published works are before the world, but have hitherto, from whatever cause, failed to attract the attention of pirates, will derive no advantage from the Act, and it is no doubt true that the enter- prising American publisher will not feel stimulated to engage in undertakings of this character now that the law makes him pay the authors. It is, as Mr. Longman puts it, impossible to make people read or buy unreadable books by Act of Congress. Mr. Longman thinks that British authors will also find that they liave to compete with books of their own and other authors which have been published previous to the date on which the Act comes into force, which will of course remain on sale at the old price, as the Bill is not retrospective. But as to this, it may be remarked that in the opinion of at least some authorities, copyright editions of all these books will appear, and if so, it is possible that the American public will buy the copyright edition and not the cheap one. As to the effects of the Bill upon British trade, Mr. Longman thinks that American printers are clever enough to adapt their type and methods of spelling to our needs; that plates will be sent over here, and, in some cases, l>ooks sent over in sheets. The loss therefore in his view will fall upon printers and subsidiary trades, as type founders, ink manufacturers, while binders will not be greatly affected. As for the publishing trade, Mr. Longman thinks that it will not be much affected in so far as publishers are concerned with the publication of books. It of course follows that the l>est British houses will open branches in New York or Boston, and Mr. Longman, at any rate, thinks that American publishers have quite as much to fear as British linns. VII. Regarding this Bill solely from my own point of view—that of a writer of historical l>ooksand works of reference not likely to have a rapid or immediate sale—I see no advantage to accrue from the provi- sions. It is unlikely that such books should come to be printed in America, as the publishers would prefer to print in England. Wages, I presume, are less; correction of proofs must be easier and cheaper. Lastly, consideration is due to the eccentric spelling of American printers, which would, in some cases, be a disfigurement of some moment to l>ooks intended to have an educational scope. But these are matters to be profitably discussed in an open meeting of the Society. H. G. Kekne. VIII. The point of faithful reproduction ought to be strenuously urged. If America desires to have English literature, she must accept it in the language in which it is written. The option of acceptance or refusal being in her own hands, she may better express her appreciation of an author's capacity in accepting him as he writes than by doing this violence both to his feelings and reputa- tion that unauthorised and, in many cases, un- educated alterations inflict. I do not know whether others consider this as important a point as I do, but I speak from the experience of comparing some of our standard writers' works with their American editions ; and in such perusal one cannot help recognising the malignant influence a "good book spoilt" would have on a future generation, whose circumstances might put it out of their power to see the work in its original form. B. H. H. PETITION TO THE HOUSE OP LORDS. THE following Petition, signed by Lord Tenny- son, President of the Society, was presented to the House of Lords by Lord Herschell on Monday the 10th of May :— In the House of Lords, Session of 1891. Copyright. To the Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled. The Humble Petition of the President, Fellows, Associates, and Members of the Incorporated Society of Authors— Sheweth as follows :— I. That a Bill entitled "An Act to amend and consolidate the Law relating to Copyright" has B if  ## p. 12 (#416) ############################################# 12 THE AUTHOR. been introduced into and read a first time by your Right Honourable House. 2. That your Petitioners were incorporated on the 20th June 1884 by a Board of Trade License, granted to the Association in pursuance of section 23 of the Companies Act, 1867, under the name of the "Incorporated Society of Authors" for the follow- ing, amongst other, objects: " To represent, further, aid, and assist the objects, and to protect the rights and interests in their works, of authors, and every kind of literary, dramatic, artistic, scientific, tech- nical, educational, and musical works and publica- tions, and the rights and interests in the same of the assigns and representatives of such authors." 3. That the present state of the Law of Copy- right is eminently unsatisfactory and injurious to the interests both of producers of, and dealers in, literary, dramatic, artistic, scientific, technical, educational, and musical works, and of the public in general. The existing law on the subject consists of no less than 18 Acts of Parliament, l>esides Common Law principles. Owing to the manner in which the Acts have been drawn, the law is, in many cases, hardly intelligible, and is full of arbitrary distinctions, for which it is impossible to find a reason. 4. That the provisions of the said Bill have lieen prepared with careful regard to the recommenda- tions of the Copyright Commission of 1878, and with the assistance not only of authors, artists, and musical composers, but of persons well qualified to represent the various business interests concerned in the production of literary, dramatic, artistic, scientific, technical, educational, and musical works. Your Petitioners, therefore, humbly pray that it may please Your Right Honourable House to pass the said Bill into Law. And your Petitioners will ever humbly pray, &c. (Signed) Tennyson, President. COPYRIGHT. The Second Reading of the Bill. OUR Copyright Bill was read a second time in the House of Lords on Monday the 10th of May. Lord Monkswell, to whom the Bill had been entrusted many months ago, but who has never from the first received any encouragement from the Qovernment, did his work bravely and well, and our Society is under a deep obligation to him. In a speech full of facts and illustrations, he directed attention to the amazing confusion of the present law in point of form, to its many admitted defects in point of substance, and to the remarkable unanimity (considering the complications of the subject) with which all interested in the subject have agreed in supporting the amendments of the law which our draftsman had thrown into legal shape. He quoted, of course, again and again from the Report of the Royal Commissioners, three of whom—the Duke of Rutland, Lord Herschell, anil Lord Knutsford—were Members of the House he was addressing, to show on what a strong foundation the Bill had been built up. He duly went through the much-needed amendments—the substitution of "life and 3o years" for the pre- sent awkward term of copyright, the levelling up of artists with authors, the extinction of fraudulent, dramatisation of novels, the enfranchisement of newspapers, and so on. He was strong enough to admit his weak points, such as his inability to find a complete modus vivendi with Canada, whether by a licensing system or otherwise. Finally he, or rather Lord Herschell in his name, called upon the Government either to help him in carrying our Bill through Parliament, or forthwith to come forward with a better Bill of their own. A11 irresistible attack! And what did the Government say to all this? Both Lord Balfour and the Lord Chancellor admitted to the full the case for the Bill, but for some inconceivable reason the Lord Chancellor (who was too prudent to take the responsibility of dividing the House) would consent only to a second reading on condition that the Bill should not be taken any further during the present Session. Difficulties were darkly hinted at, but with the exception of that in connexion with registration, not a single one was specifically mentioned. To 5o clauses, it was said by Lord Balfour, certain draftsmen had objected. Not one of them teas named. On not a single one of the main amend- ments, not even on the proposed new term of "life and 3o years," was a word spoken. The Lord Chancellor merely observed, that if the Bill wont into Committee there would be much con- troversy on many parts of it, and that all such controversy would be renewed when the Bill should come again before the House. Truly, we are entitled to ask, What controversy, and on what parts? Perfect, of course, the Bill is not, but if this is all that can l>e said against it by critics so highly qualified and painstaking as Lord Halsbury and Lord Balfour, it is at least as perfect as any Government measure of the present session. Of course, the matter cannot be allowed to rest. As Lord Herschell finely said in his pointed speech, which will long be remembered by all interested in the subject, the Legislature exists for the purpose of remedying imperfect and mischievous legislation, such as that o:i copyright is universally admitted to be. "As far as indications go, the programme  ## p. 13 (#417) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. of Hit Majesty's Government," observed the noble and learned lord, "is approaching its end. Why should they not take up such a subject as copyright and deal with it? It is a matter of interest to authors and the public alike that the question should be settled, and the law amended. I lielieve a great many of the supposed difficulties will vanish if once a resolute and earnest endeavour be made to grapple with them. What the 5o points of objection to which the noble lord (Lord Balfour) referred an1 I do not know, but for my part I lielieve the real difficulties would be found to be not more than three or four. If once these are settled, there will be no difficulty about a consoli- dation of the law." THE COST OF A STAMP. I. "MT^HE article in the April numl>erof the Author I on the cost of a stamp did not make clear what I think is very desirable to have known: that is, what the law requires in the matter of the stamping of agreements. "I have just signed an agreement to which a sixpenny stamp was affixed. "Is this mode of stamping agreements sufficient? Is it legal? Would documents so stamped be held valid in a court of law? Or ought they to be submitted to and stamped by the authorities of Somerset House? "I am sure that many would like a competent opinion in the matter." A. B. II. Deab Sib, We have received your letter of yesterday and enclosures. We think there can be no doubt as to the meaning of sub-section I. of section i5 of the Revenue Act, 1889, to which attention is called in the article in the April edition of the Author. The sub-section runs: "any contract or agreement made in England or Ireland under seal or under hand only, or made in Scotland for the sale of any equitable estate or interest in any property, or for the pale of any estate or interest in any property .... (with certain exceptions, among which the sale of Copyright or any interest in Copyright is not mentioned) shall 1m> charged with the same ad valorem duty to l>e paid by the purchaser as if it were an actual conveyance on sale of the estate, interest, or property agreed or contracted to be sold." It follows therefore that since the passing of this Act the same ad valorem duty will lie charged on a contract for the sale of Copyright or any interest in it as on a conveyance of Copyright. If this view is right, the 6d. stamp is no longer sufficient, and whether a 6d. adhesive; stamp is used or the document actually stamped at Somerset House, wh( re a 6d. stamp might well be jmssed by inadvertence, the document will Ik? insufficiently stanq>ed, and the excess and £10 penalty and interest will be charged on it l>efore it can be received as evidence in any court of law. The Act, we think, applies not only to agreements to sell some interest in Copyright, but also to many licences to publish; but as the terms of licences vary so much it would be a matter for consideration on each document whether it came within 1 lit* Act. We return you Mr. A.B.'s letter and the Author. Yours truly, Field, Roscoe, & Co. ♦-<>.♦ NOTES AND NEWS. THE Right Honourable Baron Henry de Worms has joined the Council of the Society. Mr. Robert Bateman, in consequence of leaving town, has been unfortunately compelled to resign his post on the Committee. The number of new Members elected since December last—inclusive, because the elections in that month were for 1891—amounts to g5. This must be acknowledged to be very satisfactory. Our numbers, however, ought now to increase at a much more rapid rate. We look for a roll of Members, before the lapse of many years, number- ing thousands. Let it lie remembered that the Society is concerned with every form of literature, and works for Authors in every branch. Let me call attention very particularly to the directions for securing Copyright issued at Congress, ami printed on page 5 of this number of the Author. In March last there was a large rise in the wages of compositors, to be followed, if it has not already been followed, by a rise in the wages of machinists. This fact alters the figures given in the " Cost of Production." Those who can "do sums" may amuse themselves by adding io per cent, to the charges of "composing" and "print- ing." The other figures remain. If authors are  ## p. 14 (#418) ############################################# »4 THE AUTHOR. told, as they have been told, that the prices are incorrect, that the work cannot he done for the money, and so forth, let them understand that this is said with intent. I tested the figures the other day with a well-known London firm, who had not previously seen them. "We will willingly do the work," said their manager, " under your prices." The American Government have sent copies of the new International Copyright Law to all their foreign Ministers, with instructions to bring it to the attention of the respective Governments to which they are accredited. The least that our Government can do is to take care that our own laws satisfy the; conditions on which the privileges of the Act can be granted to ourselves. These conditions are simply the securing to American authors of the same powers of obtaining Copyright as we ourselves enjoy. Practically, these powers are already secured for them, but perhaps the President may require the additional security of removing a certain doubt which now exists. This must be done without the least delay. The following extract from the Times of May the 20th seems very significant. Lord Monkswell's Bill contains no clauses such as that contemplated by the writer to the Solicitor and the Attorney General, but could be added without altering the structure of the Bill. Thk Law op Copyrioiit.—The Attorney-General has replied ns follows to a correspondent with reference to the law of copyright:— " The Attorney-General's Chambers, 2, Pump Court, Temple, E.C., May 15, 189?.—Dear Sir,— The subject to which your letter refers is of great interest. I have always been of opinion that protection should be secured to the results of intellectual labours, whether for the author or the mechanic. You are no doubt aware that the question is one surrounded with difficulty, but I can promise you that it shall not escape my attention in the event of any opportunity arising of furthering that object. —I am, yours faithfully, Richard Wkbsteb." Writing on the same subject, the Solicitor- General says :— "Royal Courts of Justice, May ij, 1891.—Dear Sir,—I have a strong opinion in favour of some steps being taken to protect Knglish labour against such unfair treatment as it is subjected to by the new American copyright law, but I do not feel at liberty to express more than a general opinion on the subject.—Very faithfully yours, Kdward Clarke." Mr. William Black has been good enough to associate myself, among others, with him in the formation of a new publishing firm. It will be established in New York, and its object will be to print and publish books bv English authors in conformity with the new Law of Copyright. This notable scheme has l*?en hatched in silence and secrecy. So silent and secret have been the preliminary steps, that neither Mr. William Black himself nor any one of his associates has even heard of the scheme, which is gravely announced in a New York paper. Now, if such a scheme were attempted it would be founded on the belief that it could do for English authors what American publishers will not do. Perhaps it is quite conceivable that a plan of this kind, launched at. a great expense of capital, could be worked—provided the manager could be found. It is also quite conceivable that a similar scheme could be launched and worked in this country—provided a manager could be found. But such a manager, possessed of abilities capable of conducting such auenterprise successfully, would, probably, very soon find out that he could do better for himself, and would therefore proceed to set up for himself. And unless success was assured from the l>eginiiing, the plan would certainly not enlist the confidence of authors. I think, therefore, that Mr. William Black, like myself, prefers existing arrangements, where agreements are fair to both sides, and fairly carried out. Unfortunately the list of publishers in the " London Directory," as readers of the Author very well know, contains a great many gentry whose agreements are never by any chance fair, and never by any chance fairly carried out. "The Society of Authors, I assure yon, my dear, does no good, no good at all. Only last, week, for instance, a dear young friend of mine, a girl of 17, who had just left school, sent them, for an opinion, a MS. novel which she had written for her own amusement in leisure moments. She spent a whole six weeks upon it, and it was her first attempt. Would you l)elieve it? The reader of the Society sent lmck the papers with the most cruel remarks you ever saw. He said that there was no possibility of considering the piece seriously; he found fault with the plot, and the characters, and the construction, and advised the writer to study the Art of Fiction seriously if she wished to succeed. Absurd! And after that lovely article in the Spectator, which proves that there is no study wanted at all, but that story-making comes by nature, "like the song to the skylark." It was in this case doubly absurd, and it will show how ridiculous the Society is, when I tell you that a most respectable publisher, on receiving the MS. actually offered to bring out and sell 5,ooo copies, and to give her half the profits if she would only advance £100 to begin with. It was the same publisher who once gave my husband £10—a  ## p. 15 (#419) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. whole £10—for the profits on his book. Of course he was most unwilling to rob the poor dear man by taking it. Well, the dear child has jumped at the offer. She is delighted at her good fortune, and counts on making £1,000 at least, and means to devote herself henceforth entirely to literature. Whereas, my dear, if she had listened to that mischievous and meddlesome Society!" "The Society of Authors is a mischievous body, Sir. It does nothing but encourage a parcel of school girls to put their miserable trash into the hands of scoundrels who make them pay for having their books produced. The markets are flooded with trash entirely through the efforts of this Society. Say they do quite the contrary? I don't believe it. I have heard from a very good authority, t he leading partner in Barabbis, Ananias, & Co.— very active new firm—that this is all they even attempt to do." "We consider the Society of Authors a meddle- some body. They may have some good men among their numbers. I don't know. But they are distinctly meddlesome. They actually want authors to know the meaning of their agreements. Why, that's our business. We are the publishers; we act entirely in the author's interests ; why does he want to know the meaning of his agreement? And the actual Cost of Production? Can't he trust us? And the meaning of Royalties? Are they going to destroy all confidence between man and man? Trust my words, Sir, if that Society goes on, Literature is doomed." What a dreadful thing it is to have such a bad character—and to deserve it! Mr. George Gissing ought to be publicly thanked for introducing to the world a form of literary life which has long been known to all who have penetrated into the by-ways and slums of this many-sided calling. He presents to us several well defined and by no means uncommon types. There is the young man of literary aspirations who rashly attempts to make of letters his livelihood, encou- raged by the success of a single first novel. He has no education to speak of; he has no know- ledge of society; he has no personal ex]>erienees; he has no travel. In fact, he is absolutely devoid of any equipment except a true feeling for Art, and a burning desire to succeed. He cannot succeed. It is not jwssible for such a man to succeed. He fails dismally, and he dies. In real life such a man would not die. He would sink lower—lower—until he became the wretched drudge and hack of a penny novelette publisher, which is Malebolge itself. Next, there is the young man who looks about him, sees what will pay, and how men get on in the literary pro- fession. He enters upon his work with the intention of succeeding, and he does succeed. In real life such a man might succeed in the way indicated, but not quite so easily. He Incomes an Editor. Now, one of the chief requisites in a modern Editor is that he should know many men, and belong to certain social circles. This young man, with no social position, would certainly not be made an Editor quite so easily. On the other hand, his career illustrates the advantages to be derived from accepting the existing conditions, and trading upon them. But the truest, saddest figure in the book is that of the old litterateur, a critic of the former school, who hangs on to letters, getting more and more soured every day, having a paper accepted now and then, doing a stroke of work here and another there, living a life of absolute dependence upon publishers and Editors, whose work nobody wants, whose whole history has lieen one of humiliations, disgusts, and dis- appointments, who waits humbly on publishers and hopes for their "generosity." Truly, as his daughter says, his is a loathsome profession. It is the utter degradation of letters; it is Grub Street with us still. But he degrades his profession still more, for he meditates constantly upon the pride of being the Editor of a literary journal, and his only thought, in that capacity, is how he will tear and rend his brother writers. "I will show them," he says, "I will show them how to scarify." Yes, that is still the thought of certain authors. As it was in the days of Churchill, so it is now. Because a man follows the calling of letters, he must, by other followers of that profession, be slated, scarified, torn to pieces. Every other profession has its unwritten laws of decency and politeness. That of literature, none. I do not supj>ose that Mr. Gissing's book can become popular, but from my own knowledge I can testify to its truth. I know them all, personally,—two or three of each—Mr. Yule—Jasper—Edwin—and the fidelity of Mr. Gissing's portraits makes me shudder. Zola has been passed over in favour of "Loti." The choice of the French Academy is surprising and disappointing. For if we grant everything that has been said in favour of Pierre Loti, the fact remains that he is a head and shoulders below Zola. I have purposely abstained from reading Germinal and one or two of Zola's last. But.one A  ## p. 16 (#420) ############################################# i6 THE AUTHOR. can never forget L'Assommoir, a work of sur- prising power and genius. Nor can we forget La Curie, not to speak of those short tales in which he has hardly an equal. When all is said and done about Zola, he will take, I am convinced, a very high place, far higher than the author of the charming Madame Chrysantheme is likely to achieve. The election is not one which can be defended by those who would like to see an Academy in this country. But then we want an Academy of our own, not slavishly copied from the French, and able to steer clear of the shoals and rocks which are always bringing that august vessel into danger and ridicule. An American gentleman is making application to various authors for the manuscript originals of their works. Unpublished MSS., indeed, authors have never shown any unwillingness to part with; but published MSS. !—there is the difference. Very few living writers now can predict with certainty the value of their MSS. in ten, twenty, thirty years'time. Surely it is best to take the chance, refuse to sell the things, and keep them for the lienefit of heirs. If an autograph work be worth anything now, its value will be multiplied by ten in as many years' time, supposing the book to live. Besides, there is the sentiment of the thing. One would like to give to one's heirs the very work in one's own handwriting, out of which some fame, as well as some fortune, has been achieved. Let us keep our MSS., brethren, and lock them up. Ouida has perpetrated a long two-column small print letter in the Times. She is very angry because people syndicate their novels. She is very angry that literary agents are allowed to exist. She is very angry that so many books are published. She is very angry that this Society exists. She is very angry that a certain very clever young writer is acknowledged to 1k> clever. She is very angry that authors find it desirable to look after their property. She is so very, very angry with every- thing, that one suspects the sham indignation of the satirist which compels him—poor man !—to make verses. The genesis of the literary agent is quite natural. Owing to the chaotic condition of publishing, while the publisher depends upon the author for material; and while the author depends upon the publisher for proceeds of his work; the publisher has no recognised principles on which to lmse his proffered agreement, and is therefore in the false position of being taken for a screw or a cheat, when, perhaps, he is only desirous of being fair ami just* The author, owing to the absence of recognized principles, has to go to the publisher and make a targain in ignorance and dependence. This dependence is loathsome and humiliating to him; he hates the conduct of his own business; he considers himself cheated and cajoled — as very often he is. All this would be avoided if authors knew what is meant by cost of pro- duction, trade price, royalties; in fact, what are actually meant by the clauses of the agree- ments they are called upon to sign. So long as secrecy on these points is maintained, there will remain the humiliation of the author in l>cirig dependent on what they call the "generosity" of the publisher. Now the literary agent who takes up the conduct of an author's affairs is, or should l>e, a business man as much as "the publisher. Therefore, when he arranges an agreement, it is one business man making a business agreement with another, both l>eing entirely acquainted with the nature of the transaction in all its details. Such a man is invaluable. To find a good literary agent, and to place all affairs in his hands is a great step towards independence. The next great step will 1m1 when we have at last discovered iv method of publication fair to all sides, recognised and adopted by all sides. Perhaps then the literary agent may no lonjrer l>e wanted. Even then there will be required someone to arrange with Editors for serial rights of novelists. Everybody knows that magazines vary in their payments for serials: those which have but a small circulation cannot pay much: those that circulate largely pay more for one writer than for another. It will always be the work of the literary agent to arrange these things for his clients. I recommend everybody who has any business arrangements of importance to transact them by means of an agent. But—and here the greatest care must be exercised —do not go to any agent unless he is thoroughly well recommended, if possible, by this Society. I do not see that we need use up much space in discussing the other points of this angry lady's letter. She calls this Society a " Caricature of Literature," without explaining how a Society can be a cari- cature. She says that its Members are " makers of books." So they are. So they are. So is Ouida her- self, if she conies to that—she has made 3o l>ooks, I am told. In the same way Mr. Watts is a maker of pictures. She feels that literature must not be a trade. So long as literature in its making is allowed to lie an Art, I care nothing what it is called in its selling. The publisher is a tradesman or a professional man, just as anybody pleases, pro- vided that the poet remains an artist. We will think of Art while we are engaged on Art, and we will think of nothing else. When our work—our  ## p. 17 (#421) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 17 artistic work—is in our hands, completed and ready for issue, we will think of the property that it represents, and we will defend that property, after the example of Dickens, Thaekeroy, George Eliot, Wilkic Collins, Anthony Trollope, Charles Reade, and others, now numbered with the illustrious dead. Evidences are daily poured into the office to prove my statement that in the modern fashion publishers seldom take any risks. I have lx-fore me, for instance, an agreement by which the author in a half profit system is made to take 100 copies at a certain price, viz., the full trade price, without the discount or reduction always given to the trade. This was only a little book. The cost of production was set down at £36, including advertising. The sides are said to have produced £16, and the author is charged £18, showing a loss of £2. This, as everybody will understand, is no loss at all, if for no other reason, because the publisher keeps all the rest of the edition. This is supposed to lx' a good house of the second rank. He sent his article to a certain journal. It had an attractive title; it was on a subject that he thought might also seem attractive; it was signed; he hoped that it would lie accepted, and that its appearance would help his name. The Editor kept the MS. three weeks and sent it Iwick: "Editor very sorry, pressure too great already." On looking at the paper he found it was dirty, and there were marks as of an inky thumb on the back of two pages. "This," he said, " looks as if it had been in the hands of the compositor." He then sent it to a second paper. It came back after three weeks with more marks as of an inky thumb, and with a similar letter: "Thanks. No room." Now, the compositor always has an inky thumb. If it were not for his inky thumb, he would not be a compositor. The writer therefore grew curious, and began to take in these two journals. In a fortnight he was pleased to find his article in each of the papers, unsigned, and under another title. There may be a conclusion to this story. The Automatic Book Company has been long talked alxmt, and is now apparently setting to work seriously. You put in a penny and you take out a l)Ook; when you have read the book you put it back again. This is simple, and I lndieve that everybody would Ik; glad to see it, succeed, but for one reason. The directors propose to till their boxes with none but books published by themselves! The result, therefore, if the Company gets its boxes introduced on railways will be the total destruction of the whole l)ook trade now carried on at the railway bookstalls. This is an enormous trade; it means the diminution of the side of popular liooks by perhaps 3o per cent. This is a lively prospect for authors and publishers alike. But one cannot believe that any railway company will grant such a monopoly. It means a great deal more than if such a monopoly were granted to one great publishing house. For every great publishing house has all its old books to offer. The new Company will have to create its literature, which cannot be done in a year. Fancy reducing the choice of readers from the thousand volumes in all branches of literature that till the stall at a London terminus to half-a-dozen books in so many boxes in the railway carriage! The Reproduction of a Fourteenth Century Poem: an Account of a French Family: a volume of Essays: a Manual on Boating: a Catalogue of Ancient Deeds: a History of Children's Books: a Book on Angling: a Book on the Telescope: a Dictionary of Authors: a new Novel by George Meredith. Now, of all these books, which is the most important? Which is most striking? Which represents the greatest event in the literary history of the week? There can be no doubt of the reply. It is the novel. There can be no doubt, further, of the respect with which—if only for his previous achievements—the book singled out of this list should be received by those, who review as well as those who read. The position of George Meredith is that of the heir apparent to the crown of English Letters. There is no one who can venture to dispute with him that rank. Now, a certain literary paper has selected the bundle of books above named with half-a-dozen other novels for review in the issue of May the 23rd. Of course it gives the first place to George Meredith. Not at all. The first place is given to the Fourteenth Century Poem. Then it gives, at least, a separate notice, a place of honour, to George Meredith. Not at all. It re- views him a.s one of the batch. As for the review itself that is not the question, though the reviewer shows himself utterly out of sympathy with his author from the outset. Fancy, at this time of day, a reviewer of George Meredith writing "In his former l>ooks Mr. Meredith did often succeed in writing clever passages and smart epigrams "! The point is, that in such a paper such a writer should be classed and reviewed with Mr. Ready-to-Halt and Mr. Feeble Mind, and little Miss Buttercup, fresh from school! This comes of the Iwtch prin- ciple. On ]>age 19 another beautiful example will be found of the blessings of the batch method. It will be seen from the communications pub- lished elsewhere in this number, that complaints  ## p. 18 (#422) ############################################# i8 THE AUTHOR. are rife about the reviewing of novels—perhaps, also, about the reviewing of books in other branches of literature, though these have not yet been con- sidered. Among all the complaints that have reached me—many of them only repetitions—I have found none against the daily papers. On looking more closely into the question, it becomes apparent that the best friends of literature, as if they had not enough already on their backs, are quite certainly the daily papers. To have a review in the Times has generally been received as a mark of special honour. It is much to be hoped that this old practice may be continued. Hitherto, it has always l>een considered beneath the dignity of the paper to " slate " a lx>ok or a writer. And it showed the dignity of the paper, that it never took up a book except to do it honour. The Daily News, the Morning Post, the Standard, all keep literature steadily to the front, and all in a spirit of appre- ciation, willing to recognise good work, and fully- aware that bad books die of their own accord. The Telegraph has its book column every week and sometimes oftener. The Daily Chronicle has its literary supplement and its weekly feuilleton. The evening papers seldom appear without a review of some new books. Of provincial jwpers, the Scotsman has long been a stalwart friend of litera- ture by criticism that is for the most part kindly and always sensible. The Bradford Observer contains excellent papers on current literature, and there are many other country papers of great help to letters. In fact, the daily papers, in their readiness to note the book of the clay, their general kindliness and appreciation, are of very much greater im- portance to us than the weeklies. Walter Besant. My name and country were—Why care to know? High was my hirth—What, if it had been low? Glory 1 won, and died—What, if no glory? I now lie here—Who tells to whom my story? Srns. Oinfta jMi—T» o-f ■nvTi; vdrpis hi /*',<—«'{ tt hi rmno; Y.\(i*m V fifM yiwvi—d ya.p dxpavporarov; ZijVa? eVWf&jf "Xiirax f$!o»—(2 yap aSofai?; Kiiy.ai h',h6a$t wr—ti; tiVi Tavra Xeym; PAULUS SlLENTIARIlTS. ■ ♦ ■»■+ Those who are interested in literature for the Blind will please take note that a new magazine called Playtime will be issued by the British and Foreign Blind Association. The magazine is in- tended for blind children. It will be edited by Miss Florence Nevill, and will appear every two months. The address of the Association is 33, Cambridge Square, Hyde Park. IN THE DAYS OF THE MERRY MONARCH. ""Jk IfY Master having now had some expe- Y/l rience in this way of printing, was resolved to play above board, and get some Copy or Copies to print, that he might own; which in short time he did, and glad was he to see his name in print, supposing himself now to be somebody. "My Master having now printed two or three things, did look upon himself as somebody; and though he had not such good success in his last undertakings as before, yet he made a shift to get what they cost him for paper and print, and had many of them still by him to sell when he would, or exchange; but he having but two or three sorts of books, could not do much good upon that: he seeing this, and observing what books sold lx'st, it being at the beginning of the late Wars, found that factious Sermons, and such like things would do the business; he thereupon bestirs himself, and gets acquainted with most of the factious Priests about Town, by often hearing them and frequent- ing their Companies, and having learned to write short-hand, took notes of their Sermons, which he collected together, and now and then he would get them to revise one of them, and print it; by this means spending much time and mony amongst them, he grew very intimate, and was Ix-come the general publisher of most of their Sermons and Controversies. This was that which brought him great gain, in a short time he could vie with the best, what he sold not for mony, he exchanged for books: and now he could command any book in all the Company without money, upon account, as is the Cnstome. His Shop ln-ing well furnished, he gets a Ware-house, where he bestowed his books in quires; and being thus furnished, he was first spoken to by some Country lwoksellers, and then writ to by them and other, for severall l>ooks, so that any thing that he printed he coidd sell off well enough; for having good hap to print some very good selling books, they helped away the other that were not so good, and still were thrust into the parcel among the rest: and now having some good Authors, he would not accept of every one; and as he formerly had sought for, and courted Authors to write lx>oks for him, now they (knowing his way of preferring and selling of l>ooks) followed, and courted him to print their l>ooks. If a stranger came with a Copy to him, though never so good, he would tell them he had books enough already; but however, if they would give him so much money, he would do it, and they should have two, or three, or six books for themselves and friends: many a one did he thus j>erswade out of their  ## p. 19 (#423) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 19 mony, licing desirous to be in print. If he had a desire to have any tiling writ in History, Poetry, or any other Science or Faculty, he had his several Authors, who for a glass of Wine, and now and then a meals Meat and half a Crown, were his humble servants; having no other hire but that, and six or twelve of their books, which they pre- sented to friends or persons of Quality; nay, and when they have had success, if they wanted any more books, they must pay for them: further I have known some of our Trade, that when a poor Author hath written a book, and being acquainted with some Person or persons of Quality whereto he Dedicates and presents it, the Book-seller will go snips and have half shares of what is so given him. There is no Trade that I ever heard of, that gets so much by their Commodity for whatever they print, if it sels, they get eight pence in the shilling: and for those that deal with Country-Chapmen, they put off the bad well enough at one time or another; and if they are very bad, then a new title is printed as if it were a new book; and what with this and changing, they march off in time. He would also frequent the Schools, and by drink- ing with the School-masters, and discoursing of l>ooks ftnd learned men, he would get their cus- tome to serve them with School-books. There was one famous Country-Parson whom he much desired to be acquainted with, and to him he rid, telling him he was troubled in mind, and desired him to satisfie him in a case of Conscience, the which he did; and then for his satisfaction, and to oblige him, he prayed and courted him to see him when he came to London, the which he did, and all this was to get the printing of his books. My Master having had a book written for him by a Poet, the Author (not having the wit to make his liargain, and know what he should have before- hand) when he had finished it, desired payment for his pains: Nay, said my master, you ought rather to pay me for printing it, and making you famous in print. Well then, said the Author, if you will not give me money, I hope you will give me some twoks. How, said my master, give you liooks, what will you have me forswear my Trade, and 1>e a lx>ok-givcr? I am a book-seller, and to you I will sell them assoon as to another, if you will give me money, paper and print costs money, and this was all the Author could have for his pains. My Master is now one of the Grandees of the Company, and that liesides the ordinary way gets hiin something. Not long since, he and others went a searching, and finding an impression of unlicensed l>ooks, seized them, but instead of suppressing and turning them to wast paper, they divided the greatest part of them amongst them- selves, and immediately my Master sent some of them away to all his Chapmen, and the rest we sell in the Shop. It so fell out lately; that a book lieing to lie Printed, my Master repaired to the Author to get the Copy, but another of the same Trade had been then; before, to whom it was in part promised; but however (out of respect to my Master) the other lieing sent for, it was agreed that they should have the printing of it between them; whereupon one printer was iniployed by them both to do the work. My Master soon after sent for the Printer, and tells him, You must do ine a kind- ness: Yes Sir, said the printer. It is this, said my Master, I am to give away to the Authour some Books, wherefore I would have you to print 200 for me above the number, and do not tell my Partner, and I will pay you: Yes, said the Printer, and so he did, and was paid for them accordingly. But the Printer seeing the knavery of his imployers (for the other had been with him; and engaged him to print the same number of 200 over, pre- tending some private use he had for them) he likewise printed 400 over for his own use, and publiquely sold them; and neither of them could or would complain of him to the other, because they knew themselves guilty of the same crime." REVIEWS AND REVIEWERS. I. "TTTHAT a blessed thing it is that Nature, Y V when she invented, manufactured, and patented authors, contrived to make critics out of the chips that were left! Painful as the task is, they never fail to warn the author, in the most impressive manner of the probabilities of failure in what he has undertaken. Sad as the necessity is to their delicate sensibilities, they never hesitate to advertise him of the decline of his powers, and to press upon him the propriety of retiring before he sinks into imbecility." O. W. Holmes. 11. In the year 1889 a novel was produced by an unknown writer. On March 3oth of that year the liook was reviewed — or noticed — in a certain paper, as one of a batch. Evidently the reviewer had read it with pleasure, for after telling the story —which never ought to be done in reviewing a novel—he added these words, " If this is 's first novel, she has done extremely well. . . .; Her characters have the stamp of good breeding,  ## p. 20 (#424) ############################################# 20 THE AUTHOR. her situations are probable, her conversations are natural and lively, and she has a good style." This was very satisfactory for the author, and perhaps caused some readers to ask for the book. This year the lady's publishers brought out a new edition, and on April 18th last another review —or notice—of the work appeared in the same paper. It was reviewed as a new book, an accident which might happen to any reviewer. The review again took the form of telling the story—which as was said above never ought to l>e allowed in reviewing a novel—but this time without any word of comment whatever; and so telling it as, in the opinion of the author and some others, to condemn the book. One may be wrong, but in reading the review there seemed, distinctly audible, a kind of a sniffing. Referring again to an article in the Saturday Review which was noticed in last number of the Author, one reads these lines, " The really curious thing is that the author of this paper should fail to perceive that even the briefest judgment of a competent critic is based upon, and necessarily implies, the study and knowledge of the art which he denies to reviewers." No one had denied "the study and knowledge of the art " to such reviewers. But never mind that. The point is, which of these two opinions is by the competent critic, and which by the other. Because one sniffs and the other praises. Perhaps there is a third way out of it. Critics of equal competency may have reviewed the" book on both occasions, and the second man did not really mean to sniff at the book. He only had a cold. III. "M W is a story of incident, located in Scotland, and somewhat loosely written in three languages—for there is a large admixture of Gaelic, and enough French to show that the author is not too pedantic in his employment of a foreign tongue. The Gaelic is not scrappy, like the. French, but occurs in long conversations, and in many successive pages. It is, moreover, suffi- ciently uncompromising to puzzle a reader." This is taken from a leading Review. Will it l»e. believed that the " Gaelic" is ordinary Lowland Scotch, the language of Walter Scott and Robert Burns? That good old familiar language is so strange to a reviewer in this Journal that he thinks it is Gaelic! As to the French, the author writes that it. is simply confined to half-a-dozen ordinary expressions, such as savoir faire, tout ensemble, Ac. But Gaelic !—Shade of Sir Walter !—Gaelic! IV. May ist. "May I add my mite to the subject, under discussion, i.e., Reviewers and Novels? Last year a novel was published, the joint work of another writer and myself. The reviews were, save for one or two smaller papers, remarkably good, but this is apart from the question. What I would emphasize is this :—At the request of the publishers, there was added a short preface. This preface is sup- posed to have been written by one of the characters in the book, a High Church clergyman, and this is readily understood by anyone who has read either the first or the last chapter, let alone the rest. However, if the preface only is read, the mistake is easily made of supposing him to be instead a 'real live' vicar, and into this innocently laid trap no less than four reviewers, three of them on well- known London papers, fell headlong. Now I know the poor, sad-eyed reviewer is a much-to-be-pilied individual, and I quite acknowledge the book in question was but a little one and only light reading, but editors live to boast of the correctness of their paper, and surely therefore ' The preface of'— only three words—should have been added to the sage remark, 'This book is amusing, or dull, or clever, or utterly impossible, or far-fetched, &c., <fec.' I should not have written this egotistical epistle, however, only 1 am just a little behind the scenes of the. journalistic stage, and I believe and dare avow that this one proven case is only one of many, and also that the preface system of reviewing is not confined to the smaller fry of the sea of literature. And yet not only the public but the authors them- selves are dependent on such reviews for learning the true value of their work—for what author can judge his own writings impartially ?—and they are also exacted to accept such lazy critic's praise or blame as the judgment of Solomon. It is well, surely, to review a few books properly than many carelessly. It is time, surely, there was a school of novelists, if only that young writers might have an opportunity of obtaining fair, truthful, thoughtful, and really helpful criticism, instead of a few hurried words written by guesswork from a short preface. Wishing all success, therefore, to the new school, for which, spite of adverse opinion, I prophecy a future." A. E. S. V. "'An Obscure Novelist's' questions open up fresh ground for research. Are there half-a-dozen papers which can be said to review in the real  ## p. 21 (#425) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 21 sense of the word at all? In the vast majority of eases it seems the correct thing to turn on the latest-acquired printer's devil, or some half-educated hack, whose slipshod English, poverty of ideas, and stark inability to grasp even the most elementary points of the work lieneath his dissecting pen, are things'to shudder at. Hence, I take it, the unanimity wherewith our 'reviewers' invariably set themselves to expose the whole plot, or at any rate enough of it to spoil the reader's interest; that of the male reader at any rate, who does not make a point of looking at the end of a book first. Such a hashed-up resume as can be gleaned from a casual glance into the beginning and end of the book answers every purpose, since it serves to conceal their own complete lack of the critical faculty, and makes 'copy.' The author is credited with characters and scenes he never invented; if there is scope for it, only too frequently, with a geographical ignorance that would disgrace a second form boy, the allotted paragraph is filled up somehow, and our merry 'critic' (?) splashes out of his wallow and shakes himself blithely preparatory to plunging into a fresh one. Another thing. When is fiction going to lie relieved of those most idiotic and utterly unmeaning terms 'hero' and 'heroine '? In the first place, speaking with all due deference, I believe there is no satisfactory definition extant as to what con- stitutes a 'hero' and his feminine counterpart. Certainly, with considerable opportunities of observing human nature, both civilised and savage, in many lands, I have never fallen across any man or woman who came within measurable distance of the popular conception of this nondescript animal. But he is a very marrow-bone to our friend the 'horse-reviewer' who jumps around him, falls upon him, and cracks him, and from his spoils extracts succulent 'copy.' He objects that your 'hero' is not a hero at all. Well, you never intended that he should lie, taking the term to mean an impersonation of perfectibility. And your 'heroine' is faulty and given to failure at the crucial moment. So she is. But you intended her to 1k>. The reviewer, however, cannot, to save his dear life, grasp the fact that the principal male and female characters of the lx>ok need not necessarily lie aspirants to heroic virtues, whatever these may lie, and that if they did happen to realise his idea of heroics they would lie as insipid and wholly uninteresting as perfect people must necessarily prove. 'Our hero'!! In the name of the Prophet, away with this fool of a word!" Another Novelist. VI. "As one of the apparently hated class of reviewers, may I lie allowed to state that I have the honour to review for a weekly journal, which does consider reviewing of some importance, and also, that I take special pains to do my work in a responsible manner? My editor does not wish the liooks to be scamped. He gives me space for extracts, and also I am allowed a free hand. I am not obliged to praise; books by a popular author if I do not consider them worthy of praise, or because the publishers of the books sent in advertise; in the journal for which I write. And I may add, that I have by the letters from authors (absolutely unknown to me personally) who have taken the trouble to write to me through my editor, to thank me for sympa- thetic notices. I always do my best to get a glimpse into an author's mind—if he has one—through his work, and then to give as intelligent a reason as my powers of expression will admit for praise or blame. I should like to quote some of the letters from authors, but it would lie an unjustifiable outbreak of vanity on my part." A Member. VIL "A letter in the Author for February on ' Kinds of Criticism' recalls an experience that is instruc- tive, therefore I sent it to you to use or not, as you please. Some years ago I was in treaty with the editor of a leading paper to become a reviewer on his staff. I had sent some specimens of work, of which he had approved, and was nsked to call at his office by appointment for my instructions. He received me courteously; praised my work; then gave me a three-volume novel he wished me to review at length. As he handed it to me, he said significantly: 'Do you know Mrs.'' (speaking of the writer) ' I hate that woman.' I knew at once what he meant. I was to lie Balaam to this journalistic Balak. Bless his friends and curse his enemies! Unfortunately I possess a conscience. I read the book carefully, and said what I thought, regardless of Balak's hint. The review was favourable on the whole, so much so, that from it the publishers extracted a quotation for advertisement. With this result to myself, however, that I was never again employed by the editor in question, who forgot, moreover, to pay me for the review. He is no longer editing a paper in this world, therefore I may venture to give this experience without provoking him to say of me to some more facile reviewer as he hands my liooks for review: 'I hate that woman '!" B.  ## p. 22 (#426) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. LIBRARY SECRETS. BELONGING to literary metaphysics is that idea of the personality of a house or room. Nathaniel Hawthorne treated this bizarre notion successfully in his wonderful romance of the "House with the Seven Gables," and Edgar Poe even more so in the " Fall of the House of Usher," and while other writers have made inanimate objects breathe, these are the only two English writers who have given to houses what Mr. Pater would call "soul." It is true now that some of our art guilds profess to give this quality of strangeness to furniture directly it leaves the workshop; and nineteenth century decorators claim to leave much of it in our modern rooms along with the paint and ]>aj>er frieze. Mr. James Payn tells of a young shopman who described a sideboard "as not Chippendale, but with a Chippendale feeling," and this expresses the more modern phase of what originally was a very pleasing conceit. Human mind has been compared to a kingdom, and with equal felicity a room may be comjmred to a person. If rooms could talk, how much they would have to tell us! What useful witnesses they would be in the Divorce Court—on a Royal Commission — or when politicians are differing about the words used at an interview. "Walls have ears" is only a metaphor at present, but doubtless some future Edison will discover a machine no less dangerous than the phonograph by which we may recover all the conversations— all the secrets a room has been the involuntary witness of. Philologists have never paid sufficient attention to the word "Room." No other synonym of equal force has been discovered. Apartment— what could ever happen in an apartment? Chamber—that, too, is impossible without some epithet as green, or blue, or red. But Room stands alone; for poets it is particularly useful, as it is one of the few rhymes to gloom. Of all rooms in a house the library should have most to tell us. Unlike its owner it would have read all the books on the shelves, those the casual visitor sees and those he does not see—the books behind the shelves. We are often told that a man's character can bo discovered by his library. I do not think this is always the case. If the books are very beautifully bound in Venetian and Levant, and have the work of Grolier and Derome on their backs, or the delicate tooling of Mr. Zaehnsdorf or Mr. Cobden Sanderson, we may be assured that the owner is either a bibliophile (one who likes books and reads them) or a bibliomaniac (one who likes books but does not read them); if the library had a tongue it would tell us which. If one sees a library full of standard authors, as Shakespeare, Johnson, Pope, Macaulay, all bound in red morocco with gilt edges, one feels sure they an? never read. It is almost fatal to have a standard author well bound; even a large paper copy (edition de luxe) is a little suspicious. But I may be judging others by myself, for I never can read a standard author (in red morocco and gilt edges). I always suspect the owner has bought it because it was the right thing to do. Another sure sign of unread books is a library of first editions. They have been purchased not because the first edition of some author had better type, or passages omitted in subsequent editions, or plates of which the impressions were inferior—but simply because they were first editions. Art critics talk about "art for art's sake," and bibliomaniacs might have a similar cant phrase of "first editions for first editions' sake." I myself have a library skeleton in the shape of a first edition which I bought some years ago, hoping that its value would increase. From time to time I take it the round of the booksellers—but in vain. Nay, the very wretch who sold it to me (he called it a bargain, I remember, and it certainly was for him) now tells me he would not give two shillings for it. I will not reveal the name of the book, for I still live in hope, and I show it to my friends as the greatest treasure in my collection, for I place it back on the shelf on my return from the goblin market of the book-selling trade. Booksellers are only prodigal of digits when selling books. But if my library has its secrets, those of my friends have theirs as well. A literary acquaintance of mine who has made some mark in the world, and writes delicate essays (pastels, he calls them), often talks in public and private about classical literature. When I speak of the achievements of one of our modern English poets, he tells me that Theocritus or Pindar have done the same thing much ln'tter. On his shelves are all the Leipzig series of the Greek poets, and Apollonius Bhodius lies open on the table, but behind the shelves, invisible to vulgar gaze, are Mr. Bonn's translations. I have forgotten all my classics, but I reineml>er in Horace there is a line altout rare sitting behind a horseman; so it is with the library of my friend, "Behind his classics sits blue Bohn." I hold my pence, however, for hare I not the first edition on my conscience? Zola, I am told, has a large circle of admirers in England, yet how many of them are acquainted with him in the original? Mr. Vizetelly's versions of realistic fiction have found a place in many a private library, where they corrupt our educated youth just as much as the bank clerk and  ## p. 23 (#427) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 23 hairdresser. English people lire always attacking translations, because to them they are indebted for any acquaintance with foreign literature. Here again I may be judging others by myself. As I am for being candid, let me hasten to admit that I have as large and goodly a collection of Bohns and Vizetellies as any man living. Bohn has been to me what Mary Stuart was to Mr. Swinburne, "Red star of boyhood's fiery thought." Bohns have solaced, have instructed, have enter- tained me as I feel sure they have many others. What a splendid language our English is, to be sure! There is really no necessity to learn any other. I feel I am a fine example to be held up by those who are for abolishing Greek from the schools and Italian from the Civil Service? examinations. Many a translation of Dante have I reviewed; "Te duce, Longfellow," and have not Messrs. Heinemann and Walter Scott placed Scandinavian literature in my reach? Petronius, Herodotus, Pausanias are no longer closed books for me. Mr. Bohn and his fellow workers, like the angel in Revelation, have broken the seals of a dead language. When I talk of such masterpieces familiar to me only in an English form, that I have pricks of conscience I do not deny. I am consoled, nevertheless, when I think that writers greater than I have secrets no less dark and base. What man of letters reveals his books of reference? True, one novelist, eminent for Scotch local colour, has confided to me that he lias never been north of the Tweed. Nor should I be surprised to learn some day that Mr. Haggard only edited "She," in spite of his assertion to the contrary, that the MSS. are per- fectly genuine, but with the insidious art of the storyteller he palmed them off as his own. In his library perhaps are concealed the letters of Mr. Allan Quatermain. Has Mr. Besant ever teen further east than the Mansion House? Does Mr. Hardy live in Wessex? These are questions likely to raise some future literary controversy. They are now library secrets. Long may they remain so. There are other kinds of books besides works of reference and translations that a man who possesses them would hesitate to show to any but an intimate friend; but I trust no married men own such things. Their price has placed them beyond my modest means, and that original virtue in all of us would have pre- vented my acquiring them had I the chance. I refer to those suspicious little works published in Belgium with delicate etchings on hand-made paper; English volumes (privately printed, 25o copies only) which have on the title-page the legend that they were printed at Benares by the blameless Ethiopian. And those offered at fancy prices, which all tear the title of "Seqient Worship," clothed in the modest language of a scientific brochure. I trust that a very small per-centage of private libraries keep such books as these. Our pure and noble literature has fortunately supplied few examples wherewith to swell such a depraved catalogue. R. R. ~*~^4 MAURICE MAETERLINCK. fl^HAT amalgam of races now called Belgian I has produced a dramatist of great and original power. He writes in French, but his style raises a suspicion even in a foreigner, that it is not his native tongue. Apart from the language, the treatment of his three plays, "La Princesse Maleine," "L'lntruse," and "Les Aveugles," is sufficient proof that he is not a Frenchman. Whatever their merits or their faults, neither are French. They contain, even more than the work of his countrymen Van Beers, Huysmann, and Knopff, an element wholly foreign to French art. No doubt none of this work would liave been produced without French influence, but it all bears a mark of strong native individuality. The three plays which Maeterlinck has already written give him a claim to the highest place among contem- porary dramatists. So much attention has teen devoted to detecting new schools of the drama elsewhere, that it is a surprise to find such a school arising in Belgium. The Flemish races are, however, proving that they possess a reserve of force, revived, but in no sense re-constructed, by foreign example. A special peculiarity in Maeterlinck's work is the important part which he assigns to accessory effects. He animates dead matter, he humanizes his animals by some mysterious power of metem- psychosis, and his atmospheric phenomena are real Powers of the Air. He achieves even more than this, for the visions of his youths, and the dreams of his old men incorporate themselves in sounds and shapes that am be j>erceived by healthier or soberer senses. Out of this very peculiarity arises a rare and immense dramatic merit. With him accessories never usurp a more important place. No one of them is necessary to the construction of the story, but all assist materially to develop it. They explain the situations and emphasize the characterization, but they never distract the atten- tion due to either. In this way Maeterlinck's is art of the highest order, perfectly simple and direct in construction, adorned but never burdened with a wealth of ornament. The special sphere of Maeterlinck's genius is dark- ness, the darkness of hopeless destinies and sightless eyes. So far, he is fatalist, and only so far, for  ## p. 24 (#428) ############################################# 24 THE AUTHOR. his work is wholly free from any trace of didactic fatalism; if he founds a new school it will not be for purposes of instruction. It is noticeable that though darkness and the fears that accompany it till his dramas, he never has recourse to super- natural agencies. The terror which he inspires, he draws, as it were, from the brains of his own characters, and expresses in the forces of nature. For pure concentrated fear I do not know anything more powerful than the death of La Princesse Maleine. You may read the play in a brightly lit room full of people, and tremble over it, when you have read "Melmoth" even, alone and at night. The murder scene recalls and surpasses the most dramatic scene in " Uncle Silas." It is, however, improbable that Maeterlinck knows the too little appreciated novelist Le Fanu. The comparison between them need not be pressed further, for Maeterlinck is superior in almost every point. To attempt any detailed examination of the three plays would be impossible in a short space. It will be sufficient to consider how wonderful is the little scene "L'Intruse." It does not take more time to read than a quarter of an hour, it contains no episode, it is founded on no plot that can be properly so allied, and yet it is absorbingly interesting, full of delicate characterization, and careful, skilful touches. It is not only the creations of the writer's brain that interest you, but the creations of his creatures' brains. This subtle compound influence upon the reader has never been achieved in the same degree of intensity and sustained so long. The blood that Lady Macbeth sees upon her hands does not leave a deeper stain. The whole of " L'Intruse" is full of this influence, the least incident in it becomes prophetic. The old Grandfathers fancies seem even to precreate inci- dents in harmony with his own melancholy, incidents which would not so much be noticed at the time, as remembered afterwards as having accompanied an evening full of very sad memories. There was the wind that came out from the cypress wood, and the trembling in the trees, and the scaring of the swans and the fishes, and the house dog that sat silent in his kennel, and the gardener who stood in the shadow and whetted his scythe, and the door that no one could shut, and the door that opened of itself, and the carpenter to come in the morning, and the dim burning of the half-spent lamp, and the physician waiting until midnight, and at mid- night the hurrying footsteps and the cry of the dumb child, and emphasizing these trivial incidents, re-creating them as omens, the blind fear of the old man. All so perfectly natural and all super- naturalized by his sick fancies. Nor are the two similar characters of the brothers without special merit for delicate distinctive touches. Both are kind-hearted, matter-of-fact men. It is so natural for them to regret the time when the Grandfather was as "reasonable" as they were, and "never said anything extraordinary." The Father is an excellent domestic man who keeps everything in order in the house during his wife's illness. He knows all the freaks of the furniture, and expects the servant to know them too. He sees the lamp filled himself, and professes all the faith of a true housewife in it that " it will burn better presently." We are not surprised that his ultimate conclusion concerning the blind should be "II est certain qu'ils sont a plaindre." The Uncle is rather clever and inclined to be strict, but the gift he most prides himself on is common sense. He cannot endure mystery, he detects it lurking even in the voice. When the Grandfather asks, " What is that at the door?" he says, "You must not ask that in such an extraordinary voice." He has an explanation, good or bad, ready for everything. If there is a sound of mowing it is the gardener, though gardeners do not mow at night. If feet are heard on the stairs he recognises his sister's footstep at once, although she is not there. His standard of appeal is the doctor. He even has a certain sympathy for his sister's monastic order, because "the rule applies to all alike." His worst epithet is " useless," and his sagest counsel "to 1 e reasonable." In his eyes truth and logic are synonyms. No wonder that when the blind Grandfather says, <; I can see clearly there is some- thing "that he answers a little sharply, "Then you can see better than we can." And here we come to another characteristic of Maeterlinck, a hint of secret inevident forces, triumphing out of obscurity. Here, the irrational sight of the blind; the insight of the idiot and the animal, in " La Princesse Maleine "; and the last ray of hope falling on the new-born child, in "Les Aveugles"; these are examples of what I mean. In "Les Aveugles " indeed the climax of the drama is the appeal of the utter powerlessness of the blind, the deaf, the mad, and the dead to a powerlessness seemingly more complete still. In this scene the darkness of Maeterlinck is at its deepest. Short as it is, so much might be said about it, that it is too long to notice here. w. w. ■ ■ LITERATURE IN IRELAND. n^HE miracle performed at the request of I Hezekiah may be daily observed by the traveller from Holyhead to Kingstown. As the shadow of old went back on the dial of the Hebrew King, so apparently Time retreats as the visitor from  ## p. 25 (#429) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 25 England approaches the shores of the Emerald Isle, anil if he is a lover of order, he must in consequenee put back bis watch five-and-twenty minutes. Our relationship to tbe sun is not unlike our condition in other matters. The visitor to Ireland must be prepared to find the inhabitants a little behind the times. It may be that Hibernia has the same complaint to make of Britannia that Diogenes made of Alexander, when he requested that monarch, who stood at the aperture of the philosopher's tub with an offer of gifts, to stand out of his sunshine. To fully realize how small the progress made by Ireland during the centuries which have elapsed since her conquest has been, one has only to turn to Spenser's "View of the Present State of Ireland," the greater part of which description is as true to-day as it was in 1599. Ireland has never enjoyed the "Piping times of peace" in which art flourishes. Like Moloch, she has always been in favour of "Open war." She has cherished so many delusive hopes, nursed so many futile rebellions, and been so much occupied in endeavouring to shake off what her demagogues designate the "yoke" of England, that she has had no time to devote to "the arts of peace." As a natural consequenee, such of her children as loved the paths of wisdom, left behind them the "drums and trampliugs" of petty political struggles, and found in "a land of settled government" the quiet which they sought. Thus it comes that Goldsmith's name is associated more closely with Fleet Street than with Lissoy; Burke and Berkeley and Swift are English rather than Irishmen of Letters; and the names of George Darley and Edward Fitzgerald are almost unknown in their native land; while Moore, "our western bulbul, half Cupid and half tom-tit," is still considered our "sweetest lyrist" although he has been succeeded in his post of Irish Laureate by at least one poet, the latchet of whose shoes he would be unworthy to unloose. Living Irish writers, it would seem, have, like their predecessors, adopted Punch's recipe, and endeavoured to make home happy by leaving it. Many years have elapsed since Mr. Lecky was resident in Ireland. Lesser lights have also departed from amongst us. Lady Wilde, who as Speranza fired many hearts with enthusiasm, lives in a land against which the most impassioned of her lyrics were directed. The author of "Dorian Gray," like another prodigal son has taken his journey into a far country. Rosa Mulholland has also taken flight, and Dr. Tod- hunter sings of Greece in the midst of London. Justin McCarthy, father and son, perhaps live more in London than among their constituents. But some writers still remain with us. Professor Dowden, for whom the Yankees made a bid when they failed to obtain Shakespeare's house, has, we believe, taken out a perpetuity in the Protestant burial ground, a fact which may be fairly con- sidered a sign of his inclination to abide; permanently with us. Dr. Mahaffy's rambles in Greece have evidently not proved sufficiently attractive to tempt him to pitch his tent on the plains of Marathon. Professor Salmon labours alternately at theology and mathematics in the Provost's house, Trinity College. J. B. Bury, "the marvellous boy," has recently electrified scholars by his edition of "The Nemean Odes of Pindar." The author of "The Wearing of the Green" writes three volume novels within sound of the sea at Blackrock; and Katherine Tynan, whose "Louise de la Valliere" and " Shamrocks" are creditable volumes of verse, lives in quiet old Clondalkin. Sir Robert Ball, whose " Story of the Heavens" might lead readers to the rash conclusion that he dwells among the stars, resides at Dunsink; and Edwin Hamilton, the Dublin Aristophanes, lives in one of the houses which overlook— "That vast enclosure, called for brevity ' The Green.'" We can also count among the representatives of literature resident in Ireland the following writers :—J. K. Ingram, best known as the author of the song "Who fears to speak of '98 ?"; R. Percival Graves, the friend of Wordsworth, and biographer of Sir W. Rowan Hamilton; A. P. Graves, author of "The Blarney Ballads" and other volumes of verse; T. Caufield Irwin, the poet; Robert Yelverton Tyrrell, whose translations include a marvellous rendering into Greek of Tennyson's "Lotus Eaters "; G. T. Stokes, whose "Irish Ecclesiastical History " is a standard work; G. F. Armstrong, author of many volumes of verse, of which the most popular is "Tales of Wick- low " ; Mrs. Hartley, better known as May Laff'an; the Hon. Miss Emily Lawless, author of "Hogan, M.P. "; Professor Bastable; Mrs. Cashel Hoey, whose novels have won her an enviable reputation; and W. J. Fitzpatrick, author of "The Sham Squire." We have also Douglas Hyde, whose hatred of " The proud Invader " forbids his signing his name in English; the author of "Molly Bawn" and many other popular novels, who declines to grace the title pages of her books with her name; J. T. Gilbert, the historian of Dublin, and Aubrey de Vere, the veteran poet and his brother, Sir Stephen de Vere, one of the few successful translators of Horace; Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, who was early "forced to roam," and has continued to do so from habit; George Sigerson, author of "Poets of Munster." Hannah Lynch, whose tales have attracted much attention; P. W. Joyce, author of " Irish Names of Places "; T. W. Lyster, translator of Dunster's "Life of Goethe," and J. H. Bernard, translator with  ## p. 26 (#430) ############################################# 26 THE AUTHOR. Dr. Mahaffy of Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason." Mary Fitzpatrick, the novelist, and C. G. O'Brien, author of much pleasing verse. This list of names might include many others of less note, but it has already become too like the catalogue of the ships in the Iliad to tempt any reader to ask for more. It is not to be assumed that because these writers reside in Ireland that therefore their books are published in Dublin or Belfast. With the sole exception of T. Caufield Irwin, all the above- mentioned have publishers in London. The books published in Dublin are either Roman Catholic Books of Devotion or school books. Dublin cannot, like Edinburgh, boast of a Nimmo or a David Douglas, or of such a firm as A. & C. Black. Her chief publishers occasionally publish a "Jus- tice of the Peace" or a "Law of Land Tenure." No work of art ever issues from the University Press. Popular discontent and the turmoil which springs from discontent have banished Art from Ireland. Will Ireland ever be contented? She will, when the old days return, days in which, as Landor says,— "Tara rose so high That her turrets split the sky, And about her courts were seeu Liveried Angels robed in green, Wearing, by Saiut Patrick's bounty, Emcraldn big as half a county." Ramsay Coixes. "A WORD FROM YOU, SIB." EVERY man known to be actively engaged as as a litterateur counts upon receiving half- a-dozen letters every week from people, generally young people, and in most cases young ladies who are ardently desirous of getting their works published. Sometimes they send manu- scripts for perusal, assuming as a perfectly natural thing that a busy man can afford to give a day to everybody who asks; sometimes they ask advice: most often they say that they have sent the work to this person and to that, to the editor of this or that magazine, and that it always comes kick rejected. The reason, they an; persuaded, is not in any defects or faults of the work itself (as will 1h( easily understood when the manuscript has la-en carefully read), but in the difficulty of getting a manuscript read by any publisher or editor what- ever. This being so, all that is wanted is a little personal interest from one who can influence publishers and editors. "A word from you, sir, whose influence is so great, would at once remove all difficulty from my path and ensure the accept- ance of my work." Or, as sometimes happens, the work has been actually issued and has fallen flat. Then the single word of influence is asked to induce editors to give the book a favour- able notice. Nay, if they happen to know or to find out—their ingenuity in finding out these little details is enormous—that a man is a personal friend of any editor, they will even ask him to use his influence with that editor, so that against his honour and his conscience, he shall direct a critic against his honour and his conscience, to write a favourable review of a worthless book. Not only this, but they believe tliat the thing is actually done, and done every day. It is a curious sign of the times that such a Ixdief is prevalent; but there is no doubt about it. A large section of the world has no belief in the honour of any class of mankind at all. They believe that trickery rules everything, from the little suburl>an shop to the editorial chair. It is impossible to answer such people, but those who honestly believe in the inaccessibility of editors and publishers unless persuaded by " a single word from you," may at least be asked to consider that Itooks are not published by caprice, or in order to gratify anyone, or out of kindness, but wholly and solely for mercantile reasons. Fortunately good work of all kinds has its mercantile value. There- fore the only thing to advise is that they should produce good work. The tears and entreaties which accompany many of these letters are most grievous to hear. A girl who is struggling to keep herself, to help others dependent upon her, to whom even the most miserable dole of the most cruel of sweating publishers would la; gratefully received, can only be told the same thing. Poverty will not make a writer. It is not enough to yearn ardently after a little money; if the gift has lx>en denied another way must he found. The "single word from you," even if it could l>e spoken, would not move editor or publisher in the slightest degree, except to wonder how one could l>e such a fool as to utter that single word. The number of those who l)esiege the gates of literature increases daily, and will continue to increase, both here and in America. Indeed, where there are hundreds of pens at their futile work in Great Britain there are thousands in the United States. All we can do is to hope that their disappointment may come speedily and while there is still time for them to turn to other things. ■*-+•+ MB. GEORGE MOORE AND HERR IBSEN. No doubt there is much in dramatic criticism to incline a man of any taste or discrimination to adopt views opposed to the critic's, and no doubt the irrelevancies of professed Anti-ibsenites have produced some able defences of the "master." Perhaps Mr. George Moore's appearance in the Ibsenite camp may be partly explained in this way.  ## p. 27 (#431) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 27 It is, however, disappointing to find a really just and delicate critic drawn from liis judicial attitude. He would be the last to maintain that adverse criticism by Mr. Clement Scott necessarily proves the excellence of a play. He may remember also that the school in whose company he finds himself for the moment, is not wholly unrepresented in bogus prophecy. It is to be hoped, however, that he will yet examine Herr Ibsen's prose dramas for us solely on their dramatic merits, by clearing the ground of moral questions and Ibsenitc controversy. No English critic is more fit to do so. Mr. George Moore will surely allow that Art is essentially absolute and dogmatic in principle, having no knowledge of contradiction. Argument or didacticism therefore, by acknowledging resist- ance to it, violate its elementary laws. That is to say, all works of art which purpose to illustrate theories or drive home arguments are so far bad art, or rather not works of art at all. This fault is what the Ibsenitc school appear to claim as a merit in Herr Ibsen. It appears to assert that Herr Ibsen's prose dramas enunciate a certain philosophy of which it approves. With the quality of this philosophy dramatic criticism has no concern at all, indeed, in so far as a critic praises or blames it he shows himself careless of the canons of Art. He has to decide whether the author is guilty of the merit of didacticism. It would be imi>ertinent to remind Mr. George Moore, but it is necessary to remind many professed Ibsenites, that anti-Christian philosophy is not exempt from the rule against didacticism in Art. What Art abhors is teaching not the lesson, all lessons alike are beyond its sphere. I am not, however, prepared to accept the Ibsenite claim that Ibsen is an intentional moralist, and I imagine that Mr. George Moore does not consider him so either. If he did he would scarcely praise "Hedda Gabler" so highly. The morality enunciated by the Ibsenites as a system, and deduced from Herr Ibsen's plavs, is as obvious, and therefore as inartistic, as the morals drawn by Mr. Barlow for the benefit of Sandford and Merton. The Ibsenite system may present to the vulgar an appearance of profundity, but it is none the less subject to the artistic charge of didacticism on that account. Having regard, however, to the acknowledged power of Herr Ibsen's work, I cannot imagine he would have fallen into so glaring an artistic fault. Is it possible to account for the opinion of his followers regarding him, in this way? I l>elieve that inquisitiveness is the most powerful quality of his mind, and has led him to the perpetual setting of riddles to which he would abhor to receive any answer. Certainty— even probability—represents to his mind a vacuum. Nothing can lx- more foreign to such a mind than an intention to teach, indeed the obviousness of such a charge should have protected from it a dramatist of such subtle effects. To harp on a few strings may at last become wearisome, but it is a fault against taste rather than against the canons of Art. The more serious charge of deliberate didacticism may fairly be shifted upon the commen- taries of his followers. It cannot, however, be concealed that there are other considerable faults in Herr Ibsen's prose dramas. Perhaps the most glaring is the unreality of his protagonists. They are not human; they are not even capable of evoking human sympathy. All they touch in humanity is the inquisitive cells of the brain. They also afford illustrations of theories which can now command approval. It is true that all dramatis persona are but types to Ixi personalized by the actor. Curiously enough, Herr Ibsen leaves less to the actor in this respect than perhaps any other dramatist. But, apart from this necessity of the drama, Herr Ibsen's heroes and heroines are intrinsically unnatural, unreal, and in- consistent. There are exceptions, perhaps Dr. Stohmar is the most like life—but Nora, Hedda Gabler, and Rebckka West are notable examples. Hedda Gabler especially contains no drop of " the milk of human kindness" in her composition. She has no more contact with humanity than the vegetable to which Mr. George Moore implicitly compares her. He admires her as the product of Nature, which never swerves from its own ends. She was, as he says, "born to kill herself." With all deference to his judgment be it said: She is therefore not a subject for dramatic art; a nettle would be as suitable. Some plants indeed, the pansy for instance, are said actually to possess this suicidal property. They poison their own soil and die. The objection to Hedda Gabler is not that she is monstrous; Medea, Lady Macbeth, La Cousine Bette, Melmoth, Frankenstein's Monster, Caliban, are all monstrous, but each has some trait in touch with man; Hedda Gabler has none. She is not even an animal; Brer Rabbit and the pantomime lieasts "are men of like passions to our- selves" compared with her. She is a vegetable fit to sow in one's enemy's garden. Surely an essence of dramatic art is contrast and effort, primarily between the characters, secondarily within them. By praising a mere natural force as a dramatis persona, Mr. George Moore seems to ignore the latter. The triumph of a suicidal tendency is a splendid subject for dramatic art, but there can be no triumph where there is no opposition, and no opposition in "a product of Nature" "born to kill itself," for suicide then Ceases to l>e a tendency and becomes a law. "Man cannot yield even unto death utterly save only by the weakness of the feeble Will." By eliminating  ## p. 28 (#432) ############################################# 28 THE AUTHOR. the Will altogether, Nature is robbed of its triumphs, ami dramatic art rendered almost impossible. J. D. "AT THE AUTHOR'S HEAD." Mr. Meredith's "One of our Conquerors" is hardly a new book by this time. It is naturally one of the great literary events of the year, and it will be the. end of the year before we have found out all its surpassing merits, its wit, and character- isation hidden under that curious club-like style which Mr. Meredith wields like a rapier. Intoler- able in another writer, it seems the only possible expression for one of our greatest living novelists. We could never think of his writing in any other. The critics have already had their say. Let us hope he may be saved from disciples who even now are conspiring. The appearance of Herodotus under the auspices of Sir John Lubbock recalls what many have forgotton, the amusing lists in the Pall Mall Gazette of the Best hundred books, chosen by eminent writers. Herodotus was a very safe one to commence with, as he appeared in nearly all of them. I wonder if the working men, for whom the selection was made, will read each best book as it comes out. Sir John's list was the first and the best in a way. Other authors forgot the object in view, and simply wrote down the books they pre- ferred, with little thought, I fear, of the working man. The Pall Mall Extra is before me, and among books I rind recommended for these " factors" in the British Constitution are the Poems of Hafiz and Sadi—admirable poets let me add, but hardly suitable for the British or even the Persian working man, if there is such a thing. "Eric Brighteyes" will, I think, rank with "Cleopatra " and "She" as among Mr. Haggard's finest works. Perhaps it will not 1m» so popular among boys, who naturally prefer " Mr. Quatermain" and his adventures in Africa. But more critical or older readers will appreciate not only the splendid romance of " Eric," but the really beautiful writing in some of its passages, and which I do not think can be entirely attributed to Icelandic originals (parallel passages of course excepted). Of course the Author has been plagiarizing as usual; though I am the first to denounce him, I shall not be the last. It is the title this time. There are two other Erics I can remember, "Eric; or the Golden Thread" and "Eric; or Little by Little "; flat plagiarism on the title page' In the next century we shall have "Little Eric Brighteyes; or the Golden Thread." Mr. Oscar Wilde's "Intentions" (Osgood and Mellvaine) is not only one of the most amusing and delightful volumes that have come out recently, but is a valuable contribution to English criticism. The general "intention" which Mr. Wilde is anxious to enunciate is that criticism is a creative art, and not a destructive art. Mr. Wilde will, no doubt, learn with regret that he has converted his readers. The estimate of Browning is far the most tempered and critical that has appeared since the poet's death. Certain very young men on the press are naturally annoyed to find that Mr. Saintsbury knew all about Flaubert, and the realists and the naturalists long before they were born, so they have not found his Essays on the French novelists exhilarating. Even the "adorable" Verlaine is not so new as they would have us think. Although the French Academy has not yet recognised the poet of the Decadence, a benefit has l>een given for him at the Vaudeville in Paris. It was an interesting and very miscellaneous perform- ance, attended by an interesting and miscellaneous audience. There is a very marvellous portrait of Verlaine by Eugene Carriere in the Champs de Mars this year. It should be brought to England and exhibited (adults only admitted). At the Academy M. Loti certainly had greater claim than Henri de Bornier, who is to l>e condoled with, however. His play of Mahomet was prohibits! by the Government not long ago, and his election to the Academy might have compensated him for his disappointment. The French Republic is very delicate about the susceptibilities of Mahomedans and Atheists. M. Francois Coppee's Le Pater met with a like fate because it showed Christianity in too favourable a light. Thermidor is the last of the offending plays. Many, I hear, are anxious for the suppression of the Ainmergau Passion Play, as it is calculated to wound the Jewish community in Europe. Of recent verse, "Lapsus Calami," by J. K. S., has already gained a deserved reputation for its author, who comes from a Cambridge college already distinguished for its minor poets—minor only from the quantity, not the quality of their work. "Pearl," an English poem of the Fourteenth Century, edited by Israel Gollancz, is a beautiful  ## p. 29 (#433) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 29 poem, which was worth resuscitating, and not merely a philological conundrum. The name of Mr. Crollanez is a passport for scholarship. "Pearl" is embellished with a delightful frontispiece by Mr. Holman Hunt. Mr. James Baker's "John Westacott" and also his " By the Western Sea " liave both just appeared in a cheap popular edition, and are again receiving exceptional notice from the Press. The author has just returned from a tour in Austria, where he has been completing his studies for the " Great For- gotten Englishman," upon whose life he lately published some articles in the Leisure Hour. The Quarterly Review has been cratostratizing again. Sir John Maundeville is now the victim of its inateh-box. With the aid of Colonel Yule and Mr. Warner it has reduced his claims to existence, to dust and ashes. One of the great trio of credible travellers has been banished into the shades of myth. We do not know how soon Herodotus and Marco Polo nmy follow his flight liefore the impartial light of modern history held aloft by Mr. Froude and Professor Freeman, and the trusty guidance of modern travel, supplied at first-elass prices by Mr. Stanley. Fortunately for Marco Polo, we l>elieve he has a friend at court. As for the Quarterly and Mr. Warner, we can only wish them the success which has crowned the efforts of their Ephesian antitype. Perhaps even they may be contented with a reputation no longer nor more brilliant than the fame of the whilom father of English prose. Dr. Momerie's lecture on the " Corruption of the Church," was given at Prince's Hall on the evening of May 25th. It was the most interesting theolo- gical event of the year. The Hall was well tilled in anticipation of the lecturer's skill in dealing with questions which have to do with advanced thought, already proved by the brilliant sermons delivered by him at the Foundling upon "Church and Creed" and "Inspiration." The lecture of the 20th was introductory, but it will be followed, should the public show interest in the subject, by others to illustrate the mischievous effects of Ecclesiasticism upon Art, Science, Literature, and Social Institu- tions. Dr. Momerie is ready in the future to give these lectures free to working men if they wish to hear him. Apropos to the alwve, it may interest some of our readers to hear that the June number of Messrs. Eglington & Co.'s popular "Men and Women of the Day" contains a portrait of Dr. Momerie by Barnaul, and a short biographical sketch. ON SOME CASES. EVERY case, on being sent in to the Society and read, is either dealt with at once by the Secretary, or, in case of any doubtful point arising out of the facts, the case is sent to the Society's solicitors for advice. The expense of obtaining such advice is, of course, the greatest charge upon the Society's income, but no part of it is expended to greater advantage or with better results. At a late meeting of the Committee, the following resume of recent work was laid before the Committee—it must be observed that the Com- mittee are not usually informed of the names concerned—never, if the author desires secrecy. In that case the Chairman and Secretary only know, or perhaps the Secretary alone. I. 1. A.B., a young author, commissioned another, CD., to revise his work, find a publisher, and see it through the press in consideration of certain payments. A.B. refused to carry out the contract. CD. submitted the case to the Society. It was decided that the contract had not been fairly carried out, and that A.B. should not be called upon to pay. 2. A.B. agreed with CD. (editor of a magazine) to write certain papers on certain terms. The proprietor, though pledged by his editor, refused to pay more than about two-thirds the price agreed. Result: Full payment. 3. A.B. was to receive a certain payment by a certain date. She lived at a considerable distance from London, and had to conduct her business entirely by correspondence. She parted with her MS. on condition of receiving a certain sum at a certain date. When the time came she could get neither money nor any reply to her letters. She referred the case to the Society. Result: Payment in full. 4. A.B. sent MS. to an editor who accepted it, and promised payment on publication. He left it with him for a year, when the editor returned it, stating that the magazine was coming to an end. Had he any right to compensation? Reply : None whatever. He should have taken his MS. out of the hands of the editor long before.  ## p. 30 (#434) ############################################# 3° THE AUTHOR. 5. A.B. (author) v. CD. (publisher). The hook had been published for some time, but no accounts could be obtained. A writ was issued. The l»oks were audited, and the accounts cleared up. 6. A.B. (author) v. CD. (publisher). Author was induced to pay in advance for the production of his book a sum of money repre- sented as half the actual cost. It was in reality about £i5 more than the whole sum actually expended. The Secretary demanded the return of the £i5 and all the copies. This was refused. A writ was issued. Result: Return of £i5 and all the copies. 7. A.B. v. CD. (editor). A disputed claim. A.B. demanded £40. CD. denied the indebtedness. Result: CD. paid £20 in settlement. 8. A publisher, on receiving a MS. sent it to be printed, and issued it without even consulting the author or submitting any agreement with him. Result: An agreement very much better for the author than would have been made but for the fact that the author was able to procure an injunction and bring an action. 9. A.B. (author) v. CD. No accounts to be obtained by letter. Society's solicitor intervened. Result: Accounts rendered. 10. Question submitted— In the case of a royalty system, has the publisher the right to give away books to his private friends (not for press puq>oses) without paying the royalty? Reply: Certainly not. All copies except those sent to press and those presented to author or any- one else by agreement must be regarded as sold. Here is the publisher's little account rendered to himself in the most favourable event, viz., the sale of all copies :— The sale of 2,000 copies at is. lod. produces £2 83 6s. Sd. Cost of production Less author's share Author's royalty Publisher's profit Author's return :— By royalties - Less share of expense Profit £ s. d. 160 0 0 55 0 0 io5 0 0 62 10 0 n5 16 8 £2 83 6 8 £ «. d. ■ 62 10 8 - 55 0 0 • £7 10 8 So that the author by this beautiful arrangement stands to win, under the most favourable circum- stances, the enormous sum of £7 1 os. Sd., while the publisher stands to win £115 16*. Sd. Now woidd the author have signed the agree- ment had he been able to do this little sum? Another case. The publisher says: "I will give you a 10 per cent, royalty unless I sell the book for less than half price, and then I will give you 5 per cent." How does this work out? The book was of a kind sometimes sold for just over half price, and often sold for just under half price. The difference to the publisher might mean a few pence on each volume. To the author it made a difference of I*. In other words, by lowering the price a few pence so as to bring it under the half price, the publisher actually gained money." This the author did not know or he would not have signed the agreement. II. A certain worthy publisher -wrote as follows: "To print and produce 2,000 copies of your work will cost £140. If we add £20 for advertising, that makes £160. Give me £55 towards this initial expenditure and I will give you 12^ per cent, on the nominal price, 5s., for all copies sold." There was another clause about a decreased (!) royalty for copies over and above the 2,000, but let us be content with this. The author accepted the proposal. Needless to say that he did not work out the little sum in multiplication and addition which this proposal presented. Let us do so. The trade price of a 5.?, book is about 2*, lod. III. From the Law Reports. « On April 24th, in the Queen's Bench Divi- sion, before Mr. Justice Smith and Mr. Justice Grantham, judgment was delivered in the case of Maul and another v. Greenings. Mr. Justice Smith said it was a test action to ascertain the true construction of section 6 of the Inter- national Copyright Act of 1886. The county court judge of Brighton found for the defendant, and the -question to lie decided was whether a foreign composer of a piece of music, protected according to the law of the composer's country, but not protected iti the United Kingdom, could claim the protection afforded to foreign composers. *  ## p. 31 (#435) ############################################# THE AUTHOR. 3' by the International Copyright Act as against a bandmaster who had purchased the piece and performed it in public with his liand prior to December 1887, when the Act came into force. He came to the conclusion that although neither the publisher of the piece in the country nor the defendant had any "rights" under the section they had "interests," and, therefore, the learned county court judge was right in entering judgment for the defendant. The appeal must l)e dismissed with costs.—Mr. Justice Grantham concurred.— Appeal dismissed. ■ CORRESPONDENCE. I. IN the March numl)er of the Author, women writers are accused by "No Pay, No Pen " of cheapening the literary market. I wish to point out that it is often difficult to know what it the market price of one's wares. I write a good deal of verse. From one magazine I receive 5*. a poem, from another firm 10*., from another magazine 15*., from yet another £1 is. I believe these all to l>e regular prices, which those particular editors and publishers would not alter to any con- tributor. But after receiving such different rates of pay, when a new employer asks me for my charge, is it not a little difficult to fix this? And perhaps from fear of losing the employment, one may fix the price too low rather than too high. I wish more uniform rates were paid. I like much the idea, in the April numlxr, of the register for translators, verifiers, &c. But could not fellow authors help each other some- times without paving for services? I should l>e glad (living in the country) of someone to look up points in the British Museum occasionally. In return I could do translations. Indeed, I would l>e quite willing (within due bounds) to help a fellow author without return of pay or help. And I think such services would promote a fraternal feeling in our Society. Why, in the proposed register, should not an asterisk be placed against certain names, which should signify, Willing to help a fellow mcml>er gratuitously? ROSSIGNOL. II. In the Author of March I made some remarks re Advertising. I wish to state that I had no intention of making any charge against the firm alluded to, and if what 1 said contained anything that might be supposed to do that, I hereby express my regret. My point was, that where advertisements appear is of great importance to authors. I had and have no animus in the matter. I am informed by the publishers that the amount charged to the book for advertising in the ]>aper supjwsed to lx> referred to was 5*. 3d., therefore I admit that my remarks, so far as that journal is concerned, are pointless, and I hereby withdraw them. Pachyderm. BOOKS FOR SALE. Oxberry's Flowers of Literature, 4 vols. Reflections upon the Politeness of Manners, &c. (1710). New Year's Gift. Alice Watts, 1829. Illus- trated by Cruikshank, &c. Acting Charades. Brothers Mayhew. Illustrated by Haine and Cruikshank. The Dangers of the Deep. Published by Orlando Hodgson. Australian Tales and Sketches. Beaumont and Fletcher. First complete edition. Address—H. G. W. ♦■»■♦ MACHINE-CUT BOOKS. IT is greatly to be wished that the practice, now very little observed, but slightly on the increase, of issuing machine-cut l>ooks will before long Income general. We have inquired carefully into this matter. The cost of machine cutting is infinitesimaUy small. Where we have lieen able to get the cost estimated, a shilling for every hundred copies is the highest amount we have heard named. The average time expended by amateurs on cutting by hand we believe to be 20 minutes per octavo volume of 1000 pages. If any of our readers (always excepting Mr. W. H. Smith's very expert boys) can accomplish the task of cutting more quickly, we shall be glad to hear from them. Moreover, very few amateurs can cut with pro]>er neatness, and efficient paper-cutters are often (as on a railway journey) not to be had by the reader. But stay! Perhaps the present foolish system is kept up for the benefit of those who do not like to have their lx>oks cut quickly for them by other people, but rather cut by themselves only with extreme slowness in order to lengthen out the process of reading. If we hare any such amongst our readers, we should like to hear from them. To reviewers the machine cutting would be an unmixed boon, for a reviewer never, or at least hardly ever, reviews a book which he has not first cut.  ## p. 32 (#436) ############################################# 32 ADVERTISEMENTS. ELECTROTYPES OF ENGRAVINGS FOR SALE A THE attention of Authors, Publishers, and others is directed to the large and varied Collection of Engravings in the possession of Cassell and Com- pany, Limited, from which they offer Electros for Sale. The Collection embraces every class of subject-- History, Topography, Natural History, Scientific, Figure Subjects, &c., &c. produced by the best Artists and Engravers. Call and examine this Collection, or apply for specimens, giving íull particulars of the subjects and sizes required to- CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED, LA BELLE SAUVAGE, LUDGATE HILL, E.C. All applications relating to Advertisements in this Journal should be addressed to the Printers and Publishers, EYRE & SPOTTISWOODE, East Harding Street, Fetter Lane, London, E.C. LONDON: Printed by EYRE and SrottiSWOODE, Printers to the Queen's most Excellent Majesty. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Author, Vol. 02 Issue 01 (June 1891) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 02 Issue 01 (June 1891) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927&amp;view=1up&amp;seq=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1891-06-01-The-Author-2-1 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/4/251/1892-The-Author-2-index.pdf 2a5cb1d1e4f7ea51313fdd5218cb02a8 PDF Text Text ���� 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 Society of Authors Publications Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context publications Publication Date The date of an event (in YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD format) 1892 Volume 2 Publisher(s) When used for publications, publisher of the periodical or book. When used for people, list of publishers they worked with during their lifetime The Society of Authors Alexander P. Watt Location The location of the event or organisation London 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 Index to The Author, Vol. 02 (1892) Subject The topic of the resource Index to <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 02 (1892) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Index Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1892-The-Author-2-index publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/250/1891-04-15-The-Author-1-12.pdf de68232cbe0f53d712dc7bf1fc6179dd PDF Text Text �������������������������������� 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 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) 1891-04-15 Volume 1 Issue 12 Pages Page range in volume 309–334 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18910415 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin Vol. I.–No. 12.] APRIL 15, 1891 . [Price, Sixpence. The Author. THE ORGAN OF THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS (INCORPORATED). CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Published for the Society by ALEXANDER P. WATT, 2, PATERNOSTER SQUARE, LONDON, E.C. 1891.  ## p. 308 (#370) ############################################ ii. : ADVERTISEMENTS. 1 I I I I IN ID I IN THE TEL IE Fl SI ILLER IL TU TA ILU LE VE PROGRES 2 SPIRIT OF THE AGU) PROGRESS IS THU C WE USE E The BAR-LOCK TYPE WRITER. INIMH Hill IP H Lilla be AZER LE V THE BAR-LOCK' TYPE-WRITER Is the ONLY Machine combining the following Advantages PERFECT AND PERMANENT ALIGNMENT. AUTOMATIC LINE SPACING. A DUPLICATE KEY-BOARD. ADJUSTABLE BALL BEARINGS TO THE TYPE-BAR JOINTS. And it is the ONLY Type Writer . HAVING ABSOLUTELY VISIBLE WRITING, Some Type-Writers may have one or two of these Advantages, but no other combines them all. SOLD FOR CASH; ALSO ON THE EASY PAYMENT SYSTEM. THE TYPE-WRITER CO., LTD. 12, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, LONDON, E.C. MANCHESTER: 25, Market Street. LIVERPOOL: 40, North John St. CARDIFF: Exchange Building. GLASGOW : 22, Renfield St. SHEFFIELD : 39, Norfolk St. MELBOURNE: 385, Little Collins St.  ## p. 308 (#371) ############################################ ADVERTISEMENTS. The Society of Authors (Jncorporated), PRESIDENT. The Right Hon. THE LORD TENNYSON, D.C.L. Sir EDWIN ARNOLD, K.C.I. E. ALFRED AUSTIN. A. W. À BECKETT. ROBERT BATEMAN. SIR HENRY BERGNE, K.C.M.G. WALTER BESANT. AUGUSTINE BIRRELL, M.P. R. D. BLACKMORE. Rev. Prof. BONNEY, F.R.S. LORD BRABOURNE. JAMES BRYCE, M.P. P. W. CLAYDEN. EDWARD CLODD. W. MARTIN CONWAY. MARION CRAWFORD. OSWALD CRAWFURD, C.M.G. The Earl OF DESART. A. W. DUBOURG. John Eric ERICHSEN, F.R.S. PROF. MICHAEL FOSTER, F.R.S. HERBERT GARDNER, M.P. RICHARD GARNETT, LL.D. EDMUND GOSSE. COUNCIL. II. Rider HAGGARD. THOMAS HARDY, PROF. E. RAY LANKESTER, F.R.S. J. M. LELY. Rev. W. J. LOFTIE, F.S.A. F. MAX-MÜLLER, LL.D. GEORGE MEREDITH. HERMAN C. MERIVALE. Rev. C. H. MIDDLETON-WAKE, F.L.S. T. C. PARKINSON. THE EARL OF PEMBROKE AND MONTGOMERY. Sir FREDERICK POLLOCK, BART., LL.D. WALTER Herries POLLOCK. A. G. Ross. GEORGE AUGUSTUS SALA. W. BAPTISTE SCOONES. G. R. Sims. J. J. STEVENSON. JAS. SULLY. William Moy THOMAS H. D. TRAILL, D.C.L. EDMUND YATES. Hon. Counsel-E. M. UNDERDOWN, Q.C. COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT. Chairman-WALTER BESANT. ROBERT BATEMAN. A. W. À BECKETT. W. MARTIN COSWAY. EDMUND Gosse. H. RIDER HAGGARD. ! J. M. LELY. SIR FREDERICK POLLOCK. A. G. Ross. | Solicitors. Messrs. FiELI', Roscoe & Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. Secretary-S. SQUIRE SPRIGGE. OFFICES. 4, PORTUGAL STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, W.C. VOL. I. 2 D  ## p. 308 (#372) ############################################ A D VER Tl SEMEN TS. The "Swan" is a beautiful Gold Pen joined to a rubber reservoir to hold any kind of ink, which it supplies to the writing point in a continuous flow. Tt will hold enough ink for two days' constant work, or a week's ordina.-y writing, and can be refilled with as little trouble as to wind a watch. With the cover over the gold nib it is carried in the pocket like a pencil, to be used anywhere. A purchaser nny try a pen a few days, and if by chance the writing point does not suit his hand, exchange it for another without charge, or have his money returned if wanted. There are various points to select from, broad, medium, and fine, every handwriting can be suited, and the price of the entire instrument, with filler complete, post free, is only 10/6. The Gold Pens in the " Swan " are Mabie, Told & Co.'s famous make; they are 14-carat tempered gold, very handsome, and positively unaffected by any kind of ink. They are pointed with selected polished iridium. The " Encyclopedia Britannica" says—"Iridium is a nearly white metal of high specific gravity, it is almost indestructible, and a beautifully polished surface can be obtained upon it." They will not penetrate the paper, and writer's cramp is unknown among users of Gold Pens; one will outwear 90 gross of steel pens. They are a perfect revelation to those who know nothing about Gold Pens. Da. Olivkb \Vkndkll Holmes has used one of Mabie, Todd & Co.'s Gold Pens since 1857, and is using the same one (his " old friend ") to-day. Sydney Gkuxdy, Esq., savs (referring to the Fountain Pen), " It ij a Yast improvement on every Stylograph." Mobekly Bell, Esq., Manager, The Times, s.iys (referring to the Fountain Pen)," One pen lasted me for six years.' S. D, Wadot, Esq., Q.C., M.P , says (referring to the Fountain Pen), " I have used them constantly for some years, ond, as far as I can remember, have never failed me." Send Postal Card for Free Illustrated List (containing: interesting Testimonials from the best people, who have used them for years) to MABIE, TODD I BARD, 93, CHEAPSIDE, LONDON,  ## p. 309 (#373) ############################################ {The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly!) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. I.—No. 12.] APRIL 15, 1891. [Price Sixpence. CONTENTS. Conditions of Membership Warnings Notes and News The American Copyright Bill— I. By E. L. Godkin II. ... A School for Novelists Author v. Editor "1 hey all lived happy ever afterwards M L'fcnfant Prodigue" Correspondence— I. Authors and Reviewers II. Baron 1 auchnitz I'AGE ■ 3°9 - 3°9 .. 310 • 3M . 316 • 3'7 • 3^0 .. 320 ■ 323 • 3»4 ■ 325 Correspondence—continued— III. F rom Chastclard ... IV. Gratuitous Contributions V. "The Last Dream of Julius Roy" VI. The Signed Article VII. Note on a Case VIII. The Cost of a Stamp In Grub Street A Bill to amend title sixty, chapter three, of the Revised Statutes of the United States, relating to copyrights New Books Advertisements 3-5 3-*5 3-'5 326 3-7 3=7 3=9 332 333 CONDITIONS OF MEMBERSHIP. The Subscription is One Guinea annually, payable on the 1st of January of each year. The sum of Ten Guineas for life membership entitles the subscriber to full membership of the S> ciety. Authors of published works alone are eligible for member- ship. Those who desire to assist the Society but are not authors are admitted as Associates, on the same subscription, but have no voice in the government of the Society. Cheques and Postal Oiders should be crossed "The Im- perial Bank, Limited, Westminster Branch." Those who wish to be proposed as members may send their names at any lime to the Secretary at the Society's Offices, when they will receive a form for the enumeration of their works. Subscriptions entered alter the 1st of October will cover the next year. The Secretary may be personally consulted between the hours of I p.m. and 5, except on Saturdays. It is preferable that an appointment should be made by letter. The Author, the Organ of the Society, can be procured through all newsagents, or from the publisher, A. P. Watt, 2, Paternoster Square, E.G. A copy will be sent free to any member of the Society for one twelvemonth, dating from May, 1889. It is hoped, however, that most members will subscribe to the paper. The yearly subscription is 6s. 61/., including postjge, which may be sent to the Secretary, 4, Portugal Street, W.C. With regard to the reading of MSS. for young writers, the fee for this service is one guinea. MSS. will be read and reported upon for others than members, but members cannot have their works read for nothing. In all cases where an opinion is desired upon a manuscript, the author should send with it a table of contents. A type- written scenario is also of very great assistance. It must be understood that such a reader's report, however favourable, does not assist the author towards publication. vol. WARNINGS. Readers of the Author are earnestly desired to make the following warnings as widely known as possible. They are based on the experience of six years' work upon the dangers to which literary property is exposed :— (1) Never to sign any agreement of which the alleged cost of production forms an integral part, unless an opportunity of proving the correctness of the figures is given them. (2) Never to enter into any correspondence with publishers, especially with advertising publishers, who are not recommended by experienced friends, or by this Society. (3) Never, on any account whatever, to bind themselves down for future work to any one firm of publishers. (4) Never to accept any proposal of royalty without con- sultation with the Society, or, at least, ascertaining exactly what the agreement gives to the author ami what to the publisher. (5) Never to accept any offer of money for MSS., with- out previously taking advice of the Society. (6) Never to accept any pecuniary risk or responsibility without advice. (7) Never, when a MS. has l>een refused by respectable houses, to pay others, whatever promises they may put forward, for the production of the work. (8) Never to sign away American or foreign rights. Keep them. Refuse to sign an agreement containing a clause which reserves them for the publisher. If the publisher insists, take away the MS. and offer it to another. (9) Never forget that publishing is a business, like any- other business, totally unconnected with philanthropy, charity, or pure love of literature. You have to do with business men. Society's Offices:— 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. 2 l> 2 A  ## p. 310 (#374) ############################################ 3io THE AUTHOR. NOTES AND NEWS. THE President of the United States signed the International Copyright Bill, the papers say, with a quill taken from an American eagle—an eagle of the bald variety, caught for the occasion, and kindly persuaded to have the feather pulled out of the wing by the united pleadings of the British Lion and the Eagles of France, Germany, Austria and Russia. It was a beautiful quill, though the noble bird appeared to resent the loss of it and the pain caused by its extraction. The cutting of the quill was undertaken by the Secretary of the International Copyright League, Mr. R. Underwood Johnson. After the signature, he received the instrument as a reward for his services. On his return home Mr. Johnson found, we are happy to report, his desk ornamented with flowers and small United States flags—why not the flags of all the world ?—in honour of his success. A copy of the new American Copyright Bill has been sent to every member of the Society, with a request that he will read it and forward any remarks or suggestions on the subject. Some replies have already been sent in, but too late for this number. It would be well if most of us, who are not lawyers, would, before writing on the subject, read Sir Frederick Pollock's article in the current Contem- porary. His last words are a warning :— "Learned friends who may do me the honour to read this paper, will perhaps think that I have in- sisted too much on elementary legal conclusions. But there are amateur lawyers as well as learned and qualified lawyers, and the law of copyright is called a favourite hunting ground of amateurs. When an amateur lawyer once goes a" mare's- nesting among Acts of Parliament, there is no knowing what falls may ensue to him, or anyone who follows him ; and my only fear in this respect is that I may not have been elementary enough." Our members are therefore solemnly warned that we do not ask for the opinions of the amateur lawyer on points of law. M. Zola is the new President of the Soriite des Gens de Lcttres. The accumulated funds of this Society now amount to .£95,000, of which two- thirds are available for pension purposes. When shall we be able to boast of our accumulations? and protection of the material interests of literature, but will become a kind of Academy, admission to which will be a distinction only conferred on those of proved and marked ability. This proposed change, it is said, explains certain exclusions or blackballings which have recently taken place in the Society. One of the rejected candidates was a lady, and at first it was supposed that the Com- mittee wished to exclude women altogether—which, in the words of Euclid, is absurd. Therefore, that could not be the cause of rejection. But, the Debats asks, what power has the Society to change its constitution? It is not a question of titular membership. The Committee are trustees for a great Pension Fund, created for the benefit of all litterateurs. If it becomes an Academy, the Government would have the right of withdrawing this Trust and creating another Society. It is, in fact, as if the Chemical Society should try to make its membership as great a distinction as the Fellowship of the Royal Society, and should refuse to admit any but the most distinguished chemists; or it is as if the Institute of Civil Engineers would have none but the best and most famous engineers. We have ourselves learned so much from the practical common sense of the Socic'te that one is sorry to hear of such a change even in contemplation. As for ourselves, we are the servants of all writers of every degree. Membership is open to any who have published a book. We advance no other object than the pro- tection of our material interests. If this Society should happen to want in the course of the year assistance, unpaid, voluntary, and active, are thereanymembers—orfriendsof members—who would be ready to give it? If so, will they kindly give me their names and tell me what they could do for us? It is the strength of our Association that most of the work hitherto done for it has been done by unpaid members, who have nothing what- ever to gain out of it for themselves. As things look at present, I think that there will very soon be work enough for a good many more volunteers. The Societc des Gens de Let/res according to the Debats, is contemplating a new departure. It will no longer confine its operations to the maintenance Here is a satisfactory testimony to the good results of what seemed to some a barren contro- versy. The writer's name is suppressed for obvious reasons. For one thing he might incur ecclesias- tical censure, or even bell, book, and candle, which would be dreadful. "With regard to the S.P.C.K., against whom you took up the cudgels last year for those who are unable or afraid to do so them- selves, I have reaped the benefit in increased payment for work of mine. This has the, perhaps,  ## p. 311 (#375) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 311 intended effect of preventing my voice from being raised with others." Can the Literary Housemaid of the Church be cleaning and sweeping—it would be the spring cleaning—with the aid, one supposes, of the Literary Cook of the Church, and the Literary Charwoman of the Church? Mr. Edmund Gosse very wisely and opportunely calls attention, in his article in the April Contem- porary, to the distinction between literary merit and pecuniary reward. They are, as we have already insisted more than once in these columns, things which have no necessary relations to each other. The most popular of authors may be the most worthless, so far as regards many essentials of literary style and form. One or two qualities, and these certainly the rarest, the successful man must have. First of all, he must be able to catch and to rivet the attention. If he is a novelist or a dramatist, he must have "grip." Now I think it will be allowed that "grip" is a very valuable quality indeed. But we must altogether put out of our minds the idea that the author who makes a large income is therefore a good writer. I say, altogether, because there is not only no proportion, but there is no possible comparison. For instance —not to touch on living examples—the late Countess of Blessington made for some years a very large income indeed by her novels. Let anyone, now, try to read those terrible works. At the same time it is not in human nature for the popular author not to believe that his head also touches the skies. After all, this only means that persons of cultivation, education, and taste will desire the best literature, and the lower sort the lower literature. Now the lower sort will always be the larger sort. Mr. Gosse further says that he considers the Society of Authors as a firm of solicitors acting solely for literary clients. That seems to me on the whole a very fair definition. But there is this important difference. A firm of solicitors sends in its little bill. The Society of Authors does not. The solicitors interpret, explain, and employ the law for their clients only. The Society of Authors publishes information about law and the breaking of the law for all the world to read. On Friday, April 3rd, a letter appeared in the Times, signed "Ouida," on the justice and necessity of safe-guarding dramatic rights in fiction by Act of Parliament. This letter, a very able, lucid and eloquent exposition of the case, is the thousand and first protest of novelists against the cruel injustice with which their rights are treated. Pro- tests indignant, sarcastic, comic, wrathful, have been uttered by Dickens, by Wilkie Collins, by John Hollingshead, by Charles Reade and I know not by what others. Ouida's is only one more added to the list. They are all read to-day and for- gotten to-morrow. To protest, in fact, does no good at all. There is not, unhappily, in human nature such a passion for justice as regards other people's property as makes them long to be up and acting when a protest against injustice is uttered. As regards their own property, of course, the passion for justice does exist in its most intense form. Every time a slave shrieked under the lash he protested against the injustice of his lot; but his protests did him little good. Nay, they did him harm, because there arises, in time, a contempt for those who can only shriek, but cannot help themselves. Ouida's protest, therefore, considered as a cry of the helpless, is much more likely to do harm than to do good. Meantime—a fact of which she is apparently quite ignorant—the Society, without making any protest at all, has been quietly engaged in taking the first steps towards removing this in- justice. It has drafted a Bill consolidating and amending the Copyright Law in which the dra- matic rights are reserved, defined and protected. This Bill, as our readers know, is in Lord Monks- well's hands, and has already been read once in the House of Lords. Now this is a very apt illustration of what may be done when authors combine. We have a Copyright Committee composed entirely of lawyers. They have done for us what we certainly could never do for ourselves, working separately and by means of protests and letters in the Times. The passing of this Bill, which is in no sense political and attacks no interests, we may regard as merely a matter of time. Another illustration of what may be done when people combine is to be found in the two books of the Society—the "Cost of Production" and the "Methods of Publishing." Hitherto, authors have been kept designedly in the dark as to the actual cost of printing and pro- ducing a book. They have been kept equally in the dark as to the retail prices and the actual pro- ceeds of their books. Therefore they cor.ld not possibly tell what any agreement submitted to them meant. By united action, that is to say, by supporting an office and a staff, whose duty it was to work and to collect information, this has now been done. Henceforth, no author need sign any agreement without understanding exactly what the publisher offers to give him and what he designs to keep for himself. No honourable man can possibly object to this understanding. It is there-  ## p. 312 (#376) ############################################ 312 THE AUTHOR. fore a step in which all honourable publishers as well as all authors must rejoice over. And it is the first fruit of combined action. A lady sends me, as a protest against the book- sellers' opinion that women buy few books except novels, a list of books purchased by herself and her sisters during a few years of residence in the country. The letter is not for publication, but I hope I do not violate confidence if I say that these ladies seem to have read—and bought—all the principal books of the last two or three years, together with a great number of standard books by authors now deceased. There are books of science, books of religion, histories, biographies, belles lettres, poetry, and fiction, the books of the last- named being in a very small minority. The large amount of poetry in the list seems to confirm my belief that we are going to have a return of the popularity of poetry, not of course among the baser sort who have never loved poetry, but among those of cultivation and education. But perhaps these ladies are exceptions even among the higher class. The list gives one a glimpse into a very pleasant and refined interior. Such ladies want no vindi- cation, and such statements as that against which my correspondent enters her protest do not apply to them. We have spoken in the Author of recent American verse, and it was suggested that since there are so many living poets in the States it would be well if some of their work was introduced to English readers who are thirsting for new poets. I am happy to say that something has been already- done in this direction. A dainty volume in brown paper (" Garde Joyeuse," Frank Murray, Derby and Nottingham) has been presented to me. It is a collection of Society verses. They suggest Praed and Austin Dobson, with a reminiscence here and there of Andrew Lang. Many of them are very pretty and dexterous. Perhaps some of our readers would like to make acquaintance with the volume. I am not able to state the price. Here is one little thing, as light as froth, but pretty. It is called " Private Theatricals." You were a haughty beaut)', Polly ( That was in the play), I was the lover melancholy (That was in the play); And when your fan and you receded, And all my passion lay unheeded, If still with tenderer words I pleaded, They were in the play. I met my rival in the gateway (That was in the play), And so we fought a duel straightway (That was in the play); But when Jack hurt my arm unduly, And you rushed over, softened newly, And kissed me, Polly! truly, truly, Was that in the play? The author of this little poem is Miss Louise Imogene Guiney. I should like also to quote Miss Eva L. Ogden's "The Sea," but I think it has already appeared in some English magazine. At least the lines seem familiar to me. I have had a good many communications from novelists on the subject of reviewing quite apart from the subject of the School of Novelists, considered later. It is natural that authors should feel strongly upon the subject. There never was a time when they liked the reviewer, either the one who wields the bludgeon, or the one who carries the rapier, or the man who employs the dissecting scalpel. There- fore one accepts the ordinary grumble as a grumble, and nothing more. Yet there seems a real grievance in the lumping of a dozen or twenty novels into a set to be reviewed in a single coluinn or two columns. This makes it not only impossible to give anything like a review—what may be called a serious review—to a work of art, but it degrades a most important branch of literature thus to treat it as if all the books of this branch are to be thrown together into a heap. Moreover, it is absolutely absurd to expect a man who works for pay to read books of which he has to furnish a dozen reviews every week. The thing is too ridiculous. There are, for instance, papers in which books receive a line and a half or two lines of notice. How much of these books can be read? Now, we cannot possibly make good reviewers out of bad, but we can reconsider the rights and uses of reviews. Certainly the contemptuous "batch" method of reviewing can do no good at all to either authors or publishers or the interests of literature. Perhaps editors only want to have their attention turned to the absurdity. The reviewing of novels in the batch was started at a time when novels were about at their lowest pointof commonplace and conventionality. Fiction is now the most vigorous branch of letters, the most useful, the most instructive, the most influential, in every civilized country throughout the world. It1S monstrous that novels should be still treated as if the best novel was a thing of less importance than the most trifling addition to the many series of  ## p. 313 (#377) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 1 o o 1 T 1 biographies, each of which gets its two columns of notice all to itself. We must not allow this question to rest. The following is a somewhat remarkable question: the Society, so far, has not been able, such is the ignorance of its staff, to furnish an answer. "Mr. A. B. presents his compliments to the Society of Authors, and would feel exceedingly obliged if they would kindly inform him what the cost of an international copyright would be, and also the price of one for Great Britain and the colonies; also how Mr. A. B. could succeed in procuring a copyright when required." It has been brought to the noticeof the Society that under theexistingconditionsof Registration of Copy- right, the following extraordinary position can be arrived at. The instructions for Registration under the Act are, among others, as follows:—No proprietor of copyright can take any proceedings in respect to infringement unless he has previously registered his book, and, secondly, under the head of Foreign Reprints, proprietors of books first composed, or written, or printed, in the United Kingdom, de- siring to prevent the importation of foreign reprints must give notice in writing to the Commissioners of Customs. If, in fact, an author has iiot regis- tered his book, a foreign reprint can be made of it, and introduced into England subject to the pay- ment of the ordinary duty, because the Custom House officials cannot take cognizance of any book that has not been registered. If the book has been registered, reprints are not admitted at all. They may be seized, but such seizure can only be made after registration has been notified at the Custom House. If, in short, the publisher forgets to enter the book at Stationers' Hall, it is possible to be undersold by the legal admission of foreign reprints. In other words, there is often nothing to prevent the ten cent. American edition actually being sold in this country beside the six shilling edition. For instance, a pirated edition of "King Solomon's Mines" would be received as such, but a kindly welcome was accorded to "Jess" at the Cape of Good Hope on account of this little formality being neglected. A certain man—one of letters Three—has been getting money out of kindly people in the city of Philadelphia, U.S.A., by representing himself to be a brother—down on his luck—of a certain man—of letters Many—a resident in the older country. He also said that he was himself a Novelist, a Poet, and an Actor. The first and the last he un- doubtedly is, and he seems to make his gifts of fiction and personation pay better than some of us here at home. The man of letters Many suffered himself to feel a certain annoyance at this incident, because he has no brother in America, nor any brother who is either Novelist, Poet, or Actor. He even went so far as to cable a message calling that man a Fraud, so that his little game is probably quite ruined so far as Philadelphia is concerned. When this was done, he reflected. Perhaps he had been hasty. He considered. The art of Persona- tion has become in the States almost a Fine Art. As in Mark Twain's well-known case of Faded Greatness, the American Fraud has always hitherto been a noble Lord. That he should now become a common Novelist speaks volumes for the increased respect paid to the craft. Professionally speaking, the thing is a compliment. It is, in fact, most grati- fying. Every one who lent a dollar to the Brother, Novelist, Poet, Actor, has taken off his hat and saluted the craft. A curious instance of resemblance so close is to suggest how plagiarism is found in the corres- pondence of last month and this of E. Fairfax Byrrne and Ernest Rhys. There can be no doubt as to the similarity of the two plots. There can be no doubt of the entire independence of their invention. These resemblances are very strange. For myself, I prefer, when I can get them, plots depending on events that really happened. But these are hard to find. Here is another anec- dote of resemblance. A few weeks ago a certain story went the round of some of the papers. It came straight from a far off country. Then the following discoveries were made:—(i) that the leading incident had been invented and used by a novelist quite recently; (2) that the leading in- cident was used in an American magazine ten years ago; (3) that the leading incident was used by Charles Reade fifteen years ago. Now I have not the least doubt that in each one of these cases the invention was entirely original. It is stated by a New York paper, an American correspondent informs us, that ceitain English authors have entered into arrangements for pub- lishing English books in America, and intend "either to lay down plant or to acquire control of an already established business." This is news to all the English authors with whom I have spoken on the matter. No such intention, so far as has yet been learned, exists among English authors.  ## p. 314 (#378) ############################################ 314 THE AUTHOR. The following suggestion is one which should be noted. I think we might very easily form such a branch and that we might carry it on usefully. "There are, as I have reason to know, many persons now engaged upon archaeological or historical work who are quite willing to pay for efficient help in such matters as translations, precis, verification of references, and correction of proofs. On the other hand, there are a great number of literaly men to whom such work would be a godsend. Do you not think that a register—through which the would-be employer could state his wants, and the would-be employed his qualifications—would help to bring the two classes together?" If such a register were to be kept at the Society's office, or published in the columns of the Author, a small charge for each advertisement (or, possibly, for those of employers only) ought to make it self-supporting. The expenses would be only the share of a clerk and the necessity of advertising. We ought not to take money from those who seek employment, but only from those who have employment to give, and from those who through our agency receive employment. And the money so obtained could be a very modest fee. Walter Besant. * THE AMERICAN COPYRIGHT BILL. I. By E. L. Godkin. {Editor of the New York "Nation.") YOUR request that I should express an opinion in your columns on the possibilities of in- fluence on English and American literature, jointly and severally, of the recently passed American Copyright Bill, reminds me forcibly of the warning "not to prophecy unless you know." I think even those whoknow most about past relations of the pub- lishers on each side of the water with the authors on the other, generally feel most diffident about prescribing with any particularity the effects of the Bill. My own notion, which I offer with due modesty, is, that the necessities of the agitation in support of the Bill have led its advocates to over- estimate considerably what it will do in the near future, either for American or British authors as a class desiring pay for their work. It was only by putting the grievous wrongs of American authors prominently in the foreground, that the attention of a considerable portion both of the public and of Members of Congress could be secured. The amour propre, too, of a large body of American authors was flattered by the plea that they were kept out of wide sales and large profits in their own country by the cheap pirated editions of British books. I have myself thought much of this argu- ment, because I have never believed in the exis- tence of a purely mercantile competition between British and American authors, except perhaps in railway trains, or on steamboats. I have never believed that people took an English book of the same class, in preference to an American one, because it cost a little less. Other differences than differ- ence in price have been much more powerful as a general rule in determining the reader's choice. Even novel writers, who are now the largest class of writers in this country, do not compete with each other, as butchers or grocers do, by offering the same goods for less money. Consequently the Copyright Bill, by making British books dearer, will not have the effect on the domestic product which a good many enthusiastic authors think it will have, and this, mutatis mutandis, is true of American books in England. Moreover, if you go over the publishers' lists you will find that the actual injustice inflicted by piracy fell on a very small class in both countries. The number of authors whom it paid to pirate was after all limited, but the number of those who liked to think that the pirates were eager to get at them, or that they were themselves actually suffer- ing in purse or reputation from English or Ameri- can marauding, was large. There is a great deal of human nature in authors. I do not mean by this to underrate the wrong and injustice done by the absence of international copyright. I think the unpunished robbery of ten authors a year is just as great a national dis- grace as the unpunished robbery of one hundred, and the more distinguished and popular an author is, the greater shame it is to rob him. I am simply pointing out that the friends of the Copy- right Bill, naturally and quite justifiably, got all the help they could from every quarter, that is, from people's illusions and vanities, as well as from their sense of justice and right. They had to do so in order to succeed, and are not to be blamed. But the effect was to magnify the pe- cuniary importance of the Bill, that is, to use a slang phrase here, to produce the impression that there was "more money in it" than there really was. I submit these observations as applicable both to England and America. The great value of the Bill, in my own mind, certainly on this side of the water, lies in the aid it will render in elevating literature and authorship as a profession in the eyes of the mass of the J  ## p. 315 (#379) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 3i5 people. Away from the Atlantic Sea Coast the great bulk of the population have never seen an author, or anybody except1 newspaper editors, who makes money by the sale of any species of litera- ture, and, as a rule, they are disposed to estimate a man's intellectual and social value by his capacity for making money. There prevails, therefore, in a large measure, also pity and contempt for the thinking class, the writers, professors, and so forth, who are unable or do not care to share in the great industrial successes of the day. This prejudice was undoubtedly strengthened and deepened by the spectacle of books made cheap by theft, and by finding that very good and prominent men in and out of Congress thought it no harm to steal them. Wares, which the law did not think wonh protection, could not, it seemed, be of very great account. International Copyright will undoubtedly help to elevate the popular mind into a higher ap- preciation of literature as a calling, by recognizing its value as property. The Copyright Bill, too, will probably stimulate authors on each side into seeking a market on the other, and they will thus make themselves better known. That is, they will expose their wares more, and you will in this way become acquainted with more American authors in the region of light literature than you are now, and some of those who are coming forward on this side are very promising. Whether there will ever be anything in either country in the nature of real competition between English and American novelists seems to me doubtful. Readers in every country most enjoy reading about social conditions differing widely from their own. Pictures of English and continental life will always have the charm of variety for Americans. Whether in the long run pictures of American life will held their own in Europe may be questioned. I have always thought society here either too homogeneous, or one might say monotonous, to make America a good place for a novelist to learn or follow his trade in, in com- petition with Europeans. There does not seem to be enough variety of motive, type, and manners here for his purpose, but I may be greatly mistaken in this. But in any case I do not think the Copy- right Bill will affect the result in any way, except, as I have said, by stimulating authors to greater activity in seeking a foreign publisher. The prospect seems to me much more encouraging for American authors in the fields of philosophy, science, law, and political economy. I do not think you know in England what excellent and vigorous work is being done by the younger generation in these fields in this country, and the prospect of a safe English market is certain to increase their industry. The hardship supposed to lie in the clause of the Bill which calls for simultaneous publication in both countries is, I think, greatly overrated. Of course it would be for the English and American author's advantage to be able to wait before taking out his copyright in the foreign country, until his book had made a success in his own. He could then make a better bargain with a foreign pub- lisher. But this is largely one of the hardships of the imagination. An obscure author who prints simultaneously in both countries will have in each the advantage of any subsequent success of his book in the other. If his book is taken up eagerly in England, the effect will at once be felt in his American edition, and vice versa. Moreover, the search for the foreign publisher will, for him, be no more serious than the search for the home pub- lisher. If an obscure Englishman has no friends here to offer his work to the publishers, he will find competent persons to do it, as a matter of business, for a small commission. Organizations for this special business are, I am told, already springing up, and I feel sure that a thirty days' search, conducted simultaneously in both countries, will be just as likely to succeed here as in England. The publisher who has no wish to take advantage of the foreigner's necessities can never hold the field against the publisher who is eager to get into the market with a good thing, when he thinks he has got hold of it, now when the law protects him in the possession of foreign goods. These views are a somewhat promiscuous assort ment. The best thing I can say for them is, that they are probably as good as anybody else's can be as yet, on this topic. I repeat that I think the Copyright Bill is mainly valuable as putting a stop to the demoralizing spectacle of unrestrained, shameless cheating of foreign authors and pub- lishers, practiced even by doctors of divinity and connived at, even encouraged, by the Government, and defended by all sorts of hypocrisy and sophistry. The demurrer in a recent suit over the piracy 01 the " Encyclopedia Britannica," that the plaintiffs were not entitled to protection by Courts of Equity, because they had cunningly and fraudulently inter- polated small quantities of American matter in the book, so as to make it difficult for Americans to exercise their ancient and undoubted right to steal foreign books, showed to what depths of degrada tion and absurdity we were hastening. New York, March $ist, 1891.  ## p. 316 (#380) ############################################ 3i6 THE AUTHOR. II. The enclosed letter unfortunately nrrived too late for last month's Author. It is addressed to Mr. Edmund Gosse by Mr. R. U. Johnson, Secretary of the American Copyright League, to whom it will be found that English authors in the future will owe an immense debt. "March j/n, 1891. "I have only time, in addition to sending the enclosed text of the Copyright Bill as printed in the Tribune, to say that I hope you will use your influence to allay the silly talk of some of the English papers in regard to the Copyright Bill being a 'fraud.' How can a Bill be a fraud which gives unconditional copyright to artistic property, and which gives copyright to literary property on conditions, after all, not onerous? "The abolition of the requirement of the consent of the author in the importation of two copies of the English edition of copyright works in each package, is a decided improvement. I myself voted against that clause when the Bill was framed, believing that the friction it would produce would react against the law. "I am compelled to close this letter abruptly to catch the mail, but I want to say that I believe that you and Mr. Bryce and our most intelligent English friends will not be misled by the clamour of your publishers and distributors of literary property, into forgetting the enormous moral progress, and the great material benefit to your countrymen, which this Bill effects." Mr. Johnson's own opinion upon the Bill is thus stated by a reporter to the New York Tribune:— "Those who think that anything is to be regretted in the changes that have been made in the Copyright Bill since its passage by the House, have probably not s| oken by the book, for in my opinion the friends of copyright have not only succeeded in defeating dangerous amendments which would have taken the heart out of the Bill, but the concessions that have been made have been of such a nature as to be a source of strength to the law in its practical working hereafter. It must first be understood that the non-importation clause was a necessary corollary of the typesetting clause. It was, indeed, the mandatory part of the Bill, and it would have been of no use to assert the 'condition precedent' of manufacture in this country for the purpose of giving the market to American workmen, if the market had been immediately taken away by permitting its invasion by books of English manufacture. Therefore, those who voted for the Sherman amendment and assumed to be in favour of the typesetting clause were in the position of the man who was in favour of the law, but 'agin ' its enforcement. "The chief point of objection on which it was necessary to make confession was in the clause which permitted the importation of only two copies of a foreign book, and required the consent of the owner of the American copyright to this importa- tion. It is likely that had this remained in the Bill there would have been a reaction against the copy- right movement, by reason of the annoyances to which the public might have considered that they were subject by having to obtain written permission to import. The substitute for this clause abolishes the requirement of the owner's permission, and the proposal of this substitute in the Conference Committee was due to a concession on the part of the typographical unions, and was done by them, although somewhat reluctantly, for the purpose of saving the Bill, a service which should not be for- gotten by the friends of the cause. "The Ingalls amendment, which permitted free importation of new.'papers and periodicals, would have simply transferred the piratical establishments from the American to the Canadian side of the border, and all sorts of American books, as well as foreign books, might thus have been freely im- ported in periodical form, either in the form adopted by the so-called 'cheap libraries,' or in magazine form, whole books being included in a magazine. This form of publication in copyright material is seen in Lippincott's Magazine, and there is no reason why under the Ingalls amendment as originally proposed it could not have been easily adopted for piratical works. The Ingalls amend- ment as modified in the present Bill, however, secures the American owner of copyright against such importations of works not authorized by the author. "The conditions of trade will, of course, have hereafter to adjust themselves, but one of the first things in connection with the Bill that seems never to have entered the minds of people, is that now the publishers under the workings of this law can afford to advertise English books more than they have ever clone before, because they can feel sure of the returns to them of the wider market." Among other opinions is that of Mr. Gilder :— "The general effect of the new law will be to impiove the conditions of authorship throughout the world. Its tendency will be to increase all literary values—that is, authors will have a wider market for their wares, and by the removal of the illegitimate side of publishing, the publishing busi- ness will be strengthened and improved, and this  ## p. 317 (#381) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 3'7 will also be a good thing for the producers of literature. I confess, however, that the thing which gives me greatest pleasure is the removal of the stain of literary piracy from the American flag. It is, moreover, without exaggeration, a long step forward in the march of civilization. Would to God that it had come in time to help Scott and Dickens and all the great foreign authors of our century. But the present and the future are ours, and I sincerely believe that no other single device could be so sure of giving an impulse to the literary art. Foreign artists and musical composers, as well as American artists and composers, will also greatly profit from this great victory." The Post of New York last evening published a telegram from Washington, in which the cor- respondent gives an account of an interview with Mr. Spofford, Librarian of Congress, who has charge of the Copyright Department, as to the effect of the new copyright law upon periodical publications. Mr. Spofford said: "An American periodical will not be privileged to copy a story or essay from an English magazine if the magazine has been copyrighted in the United States. An English magazine will be compelled to be reprinted in the United States in order to be copyrighted, and the same rule will be applied to a magazine as a book—in fact, for copyright pur- poses a magazine is a book." Asked whether it would be necessary to copyright English magazines number by number, or whether a whole year's numbers would be included in one entry, Mr. Spofford replied: "Oh, number by number. Section 11 provides that each number of a periodical shall be considered as an independent publication. That suggests at once the question whether, since the term periodical is used in the section concerning independent publications, but omitted in that relating to reprints, the point may not be raised by some English periodical publisher against an application to reprint a clause of his work. It is not improbable that such a fight will be made, though I have my own opinion as to the result." The Americans have done their part of the work as well as they could. Have we done ours? The Society most certainly has, because our Bill, as soon as it has passed, will place Americans on exactly the same footing as Englishmen. But if the Bill does not pass, we shall probably have to wait—see the last section of the Bill (page 332)— for our Copyright until it does. This is very serious. We shall meantime do all we can to promote the passage of the Bill. A SCHOOL FOR NOVELISTS. IS Fiction one of the Fine Arts? In the current number of the New Review I have argued, on that assumption, that it has certain laws and rules and a technique, all of which might be reduced to writing in exactly the same manner as those for the Art of Painting. I then go on to show that these things may be taught, and I try to show that if they were taught our young writers would certainly be spared a good deal of trouble, disappointment, and vexation. Also, I point out that one must have the natural aptitude, or one cannot become a novelist. Such instruction would have to be very general and on broad lines only, or there would be the danger of turning out a tribe of soulless imitators. But the main point on which one insists is that Fiction is an Art. Now I see in a certain paper a letter, from one who says that he is a schoolmaster. He says, also, that boys learn the elements of English composition at school, and asks, "What more have they to learn?" Oh! Foolish and Ignorant per- son! They have to learn an Art—an Art—an Art! As well say that the drawing master's lesson once a week can make a Royal Academician! The writer, however, illustrates the general belief on the subject. Everything else, it is acknow- ledged, has to be learned and studied. The Art of Fiction alone is supposed to come by nature. An Art? They cannot understand how it can be called an Art. This little paper of mine, however, has called forth two papers, one in the Saturday Review and one in the Spectator, which deserve consideration. In support of these contentions of mine, I advanced certain facts—they are facts not to be denied, viz., that young novelists do not learn any- thing from their critics; that the ordinary critic knows nothing about the Art of Fiction ; that a great deal of so-called novel reviewing is scandalous and inadequate; and that there is no reason at all why writers should allow their books to be sent to papers which continue to review them in this scandalous and inadequate fashion. These facts I repeat, and am prepared to main- tain, if necessary, by quotation from the journals which review novels. The Saturday Revieic, which takes up the subject and becomes somewhat heated over it, as if it were itself attacked, treats it personally—which is not fair fighting—and plainly intimates that I am the last person to harbour animosity towards reviewers. First, I harbour none, as I have explained, any more than one harbours animosity towards a blind man in saying that he is blind. The ordinary reviewer of novels, I say, knows nothing of the Art of Fiction. Well,  ## p. 318 (#382) ############################################ 3i8 THE AUTHOR. it is not an answer to say, "A pretty fellow you are, to attack reviewers!" The thing is to con- sider whether the charge is true. And it is not enough to sny that you know this paper and that paper wheie it is not true. We must take all the journals together and consider whether it is true generally. Or the writer may mean that I, who have been'treated more kindly than my deserts perhaps— God knoweth—should feel myself bribed not to re- view reviewers. If not, what does the 3<7/«rrfiry mean? The writer goes on to say, "The really curious thing is that the author of this paper should first think that it is the critic's duty to teach their art to authors whose works he criticizes; and secondly, that he should fail to perceive that even the briefest judgment of a competent critic is based upon, and necessarily implies, the study and knowledge of the art which he denies to reviewers." These lines have no justification whatever. They are a distortion of my words. I nowhere said that such is the critic's duty. I nowhere implied any failure to perceive this simple truth. It is not, in fact, the duty of the critic to teach his authors. It is, however, his duty, before he undertakes to review novels, to learn what are the points of a good novel, and what goes to make a good novel. Further, it is impossible for a competent critic to write a review without teaching his author some- thing. It is equally impossible for an incompetent critic to teach his author anything. Now, then, is it, or is it not, true, that the ordinary review of a novel teaches the author nothing? I will quote presently a few words bear- ing on this subject from a writer who speaks with authority. Again, a competent critic may certainly dismiss a book in a few scornful words—such as those quoted by the Saturday Reviewer. And these, as the writer says, and I nowhere deny, may be just, true, well deserved, and based on sound criticism. The few words are the judgment of the critic. Without explanation they mean no more than what I said; that is, either they mean "I like the work," or, "I do not like the work." A judgment, however, is not a criticism or a review ; it is only a part of a criticism. It is the summary of the matter. Is the reviewer always, then, to give his reasons? That is a matter for him to consider. It may be that his name alone gives weight to his judgment. It may be that he thinks the paper in which it appears gives weight to his judgment. In any case, can he wonder if the author should say, "This man dismisses me with half a dozen scornful words: he gives no reason, argument, or example. This judgment does not advance me in my endeavour after better work: it does my publisher no good; it does literature no good. I will not ask him for another. Why should I ask an opinion of a man who only tells me that my work is worthless and refuses any reasons?" Can the Saturday Review object to the author taking that line? I will now recommend the Saturday Reviewer to read a page or two in Mr. George Salisbury's "Essays in English Literature" (page xxiii). He there says (the italics are ours) :— "That a very large amount of reviewing is determined by doubtless well-meaning incompe- tence, there is no doubt whatever. It is, on the whole, the most difficult kind of newspaper writing, and it is, on the whole, the most lightly assigned and the most irresponsibly performed. I have heard of newspapers where the reviews depended almost wholly on the accident of some of the staff taking a holiday, or being laid for a time on the shelf, or being considered not up to other work; of others, though this, I own, is scarcely credible, where the whole reviewing was farmed out to a manager, to be allotted to devils as good to him seemed; of many where the reviews ivere a sort of exercising ground on which novices were trained, broken down hacks turned out to grass, and invalids allowed a little gentle exercise." He goes on to say that he knows of not a few papers and not a fewreviewers in which and by whom the best work possible is given to one of the most important kinds of work. I do not remember that the Saturday Review expressed, at the time when these words appeared, any objection to this sweeping condemnation of the prevalent modes of reviewing. Yet my charge is a mere trifle compared with it. All I say is, that the ordinary reviewer of fiction—only one branch of literature—does not recognize that he has to do with a Fine Art, does not know that there is an Art of Fiction, and never by any remarks, criticisms, or judgments of his assists the writer. Would the Saturday Review blame the novelist who refused to give his books for review to Mr. Saintsbury's broken down hacks, novices, and invalids? Or to papers where the reviewing is put out to farm? Or to those whose reviewers are considered not fit for any other work? I say that, not only out of self-respect, but out of respect for literature, an author ought to refuse his books to such papers. This the Saturday Review very needlessly calls "boycotting" those papers. It is not a fair use of the word. You do not boy- cott a workman because he works badly. You leave him: you ask someone else to do the work. The Saturday sneers at the proposed School of Fiction. It will, however, come. Of that there is doubt. Let us turn again from the Saturday to  ## p. 319 (#383) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. Mr. Saintsbury. He says (p. xxiii of the same work), "I think that if I were dictator, one of the first non-political things that I should do, would be to make the order of reviewers as close a one, at least, as the Bench of Judges, or the staff of the Mint, or of any public establishment of a similar character." He, you see, would have a College of Reviewers. One of the things they must learn to qualify for the fellowship in that College would be the technique and the laws of the Art of Fiction. Will Mr. Saintsbury allow them, in order to facilitate their studies, to attend my School of Fiction? There is, however, an article in the Spectator which is much more useful for our purposes, be- cause it artlessly and ingenuously illustrates the common attitude of mind towards this Art of Fiction. It is written by a person, apparently a Lady—it might have been written in the Thirties—who believes that there is no Art of Fiction at all—" no such thing, my dear, I do assure you." Indeed, if you come to think of it, "What is there to teach? The most would be to tell a pupil whether he wrote good English, or whether he had a natural aptitude for conveying his ideas to other people. What Mr. Besant is pleased to call technique is not technical or teachable; it is the nice tact, the delicate faculty . . ." and so on—and so on; we know the prattling flow of the brook. "We should say that in writing a novel there was no more technical knowledge involved than that in the power of writing intelligibly "!!! The notes of ad- miration are not in the original. But what a noble sixpennyworth is that which contains such a sen- tence as this! This article ought to glorify and light up the Spectator for a twelvemonth at least. It ought to enlarge its circulation enormously. Not a tea-table in all Islington should be without it. This, you see, is the actual opinion, put more baldly and more plainly than one could have conceived possible, of smug, suburban, Philistinism, wholly ignorant of Art and all its methods. It is the opinion of the class who look at a picture for the story, and think it grew of itself. Construction, grouping, selection, dramatic effects, development of character, the weaving of a plot from a central idea, colour, atmosphere, and all the rest of the technique (not the "nice tact, delicate faculty," and um—um—urn) come by nature and instinct! Remember that what I claimed was that this technique can be taught—not that a novelist can be created. He is born, but I would clear his way for him, so far as teaching and direction can clear a way. This technique consists, according to my Lady Solomon, "in the power of reading and writing." Oh! most wise and learned Judge! Of course these things are acquired, even by the greatest genius, by study, observation, comparison, and practice. At this Society, I am happy to say, we have been enabled, without fuss or parade, to clear the way for a good many young writers who have come to us for help. We have not created novelists, we have not tried to do so, we have only taught them what it is to be a novelist, and we have given them a few elementary lessons. The Spectator asks plaintively what help or in- struction the reviewer can give? Why, since the reviewer denies that there is any Art in Fiction, none—none whatever, Madame. If that is also the belief of those who actually do the reviews for that paper, the sooner we stop sending it novels the better. But I have good reasons for believing that the writer does not represent the views of all the staff. Then it asks what I mean by the "base and ignominious" terms by which many writers are persuaded to publish their works. Oh! This good lady knows nothing—nothing at all! I call it base and ignominious when a writer has been refused by all the honourable Houses, because the work is worthless, to accept the offer of some wretched swindler who persuades him that there are going to be vast profits, makes him pay a lump more than enough to cover the whole cost of production on the pretence that it is a half, or a third; cheats him in advertisements, corrections, and everything, and gives him back nothing but a book ill-printed, on vile paper, ill- bound, sent out to be cut to pieces by the reviewers. These tricks are exposed month after month in the Author; but this writer has never heard of the Author. Is it, or is it not, ignominious to publish under such conditions? One more gem from this wonderful article. "Until now," the writer says, "we have happily believed that the tale of the story-teller and the song of the poet were the results of unpremeditated Art, even as the strains of the skylark." Have you really thought so, Madame? They used to think so sixty years ago in the sweet days of Felicia Hemans and L. E. L., and the bulbul and the gazelle. All spontaneous—all by the light of genius—all by instinct. The poet has no workshop. To him, rhythm, rhyme, metre, form, the rules of verse, the history of verse, the modern conditions of verse, come by nature—all—all—born with him, as the song with the skylark and the quack with the duck. Yes, indeed—indeed. How lovely—how beautiful—how tender—and how TRUE! W. B. *  ## p. 320 (#384) ############################################ 320 THE AUTHOR. AUTHOR V. EDITOR. MR. F. HARRISON'S article in the current number of the Fortnightly Rrciav on "Editorial Horseplay" is particularly entertaining reading. An attack on an editor by one who is at once a serious Radical and a brilliant litterateur will not fail to delight the somewhat bored world of review readers. Mr. Harrison is heated, moreover, and strikes hard, and a display of temper in a languid age is, some will think, exhilarating. We cannot greatly wonder that in most of the comments on the article which we have happened to see, Mr. Harrison should be treated a little jocosely. His proposal to restore the Elgin marbles to Greece looks a wee bit Quixotic, and his wily editor, Mr. James Knowles, has the indisputable advantage of representing British Philistinism shaken with side-splitting laughter at the idea of a preposterous bit of unpatriotism. Yet amusing as is the spectacle, it has a larger and more serious interest too. It raises questions of real moment to all men of letters. For the editor is a publisher, and the proper definition of the relation of the contributor to the editor is now-a-days, when most writers have to win their spurs in the pages of reviews, no less needed for the safeguarding of authors' rights than the settlement of the relation of the writer to the other kind of publisher. The facts seem to be simple enough. Mr. Har- rison, an old member of the Nineteenth Century staff, sent an article to Mr. Knowles advocating the restitution of the Elgin marbles to Greece. This article was duly published. Three months later there appeared in the same journal a reply to Mr. Harrison, having as signature, "The Editor." The article treats Mr. Harrison's project with boisterous ridicule. According to Mr. Harrison it as good as calls him a "platform Pharisee " and other pleasant names of the same kind, and des- cribes his article as "flat misstatement." Mr. Knowles appears to justify this guffaw-like ex- plosion of editorial dignity by saying that Mr. Harrison had consented to having his literary bantling tossed about in this merry fashion, a statement which Mr. Harrison stoutly denies, and which those who know this gentleman's predilec- tions and customary literary manner will probably find it hard to understand. With a charming appear- ance of fair-play Mr. Knowles invites his adversary in the sportive combat to rejoin. At the same time he shrewdly bethinks him of his editorship, and lays it down as a proviso that the rejoinder must meet with his own approval. Mr. Harrison refuses to dance to this editorial piping, and pre- fers to send his reply to the Fortnightly Review. Here he lays on his former editor some pretty hard blows, going so far as to hint pretty distinctly that he does not believe that Mr. Knowles himself penned the facetious periods to which he has sub- scribed his name. We should suppose that even Mr. Knowles will view this insinuation as passing a joke; but there is no knowing. It certainly strikes us, as it strikes Mr. Harrison, that Mr. Knowles is taking a new view of the editorial function. We cheerfully allow the auto cracy of the editor. It is his to accept and to reject as he will. He is at perfect liberty to con- tribute articles to his own journal. But then, "noblesse oblige," and the editor retains his autocracy on the condition that he does not jump down from his judicial bench and join in the fray of his literary litigants. To desiderate the excitement of the contest, and the power of the umpire at the same moment, is soaring too high for mortals. In the contest of the law court, of the political arena, of the field, this is well understood. How is it, one cannot help asking, that a code well recognized by gentlemen in other professions seems still ignored in the literary domain? We are not prepared to go with Mr. Harrison, when, as we understand him, he says that by publishing his article his editor made himself responsible for its general soundness. As we all know, Mr. Knowles has delighted in making his journal a forum for the presentation side by side of the most opposite views. Yet good feeling might well have hindered an editor, even when seized with the mighty impulse of laughter, from holding up his own contributor to the con- tempt of gods and men. Our editors are often men of high culture and courteous feeling, and the present writer owes them much. We must pray that the Society of Authors may succeed in educa- ting the rest up to the same level of excellence. J.S. * "THEY ALL LIVED HAPPY EVER AFTERWARDS." (Kairy Books, passim.) T AM glad to have had this little adven- I ture. It has grieved me much to think that while our literature has been growing so wise and so purpose-full, the fairy story has remained the same pleasant irresponsible thing that it has ever been. Physiology and psychology unroll their cheerful page for the adult, and we learn how a man's liver can be made answerable for the crimes in the first two volumes, and his grandmother's tendencies for  ## p. 321 (#385) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 321 the retribution which comes in the third. But in children's books this marked improvement has not yet taken place. The teachings of science here are still defied, and the results of heredity neglected. Now this should not be, and I see an opportunity to alter it all. My eyes have been opened. These impossible and immoral stories must be re-written from a rational point of view, and endued with something of the enlightened spirit of the age. But to my adventure. * * * * We were walking down the main thoroughfare of the stately city where the heroes of fairy-land go when they are out of print. I do not know how we got there. "Here," said my conductor, indicating a hand- some building, "is the club. Come in and have some coffee. It is rather exclusive, for we only admit genuine figments, as poor old Selkirk will tell you. Though between you and me he was pilled as much for his habit of saying he was monarch of all lie surveyed as for any truth in his career." These remarks made me look at the speaker closely, and I recognized him immediately. The ■high shapeless peaked cap, the short jacket, and open-kneed breeches and buskins, all of goat-skin, betrayed the hero to me. "Robinson !" I exclaimed, "this is indeed a proud moment for me." "It is very good of you to say so," he replied, handing to the porter two pouches of ammunition, a goat-skin umbrella, a fowling-piece, and a parrot—"very good and kind indeed, for I understand that I am not of much account in the world now. I hear, indeed, although I can hardly credit it, that I am not even in the best hundred books." We went upstairs into the smoking room, a magnificently furnished apartment, whose ceilings were covered with carpet, and whose floor was painted like a ceiling. Little brick-coloured engravings stood about the room on tables, and large purple-tinted plates were fastened to the walls, between panels of Lincrusta-Walton work. Also there was gilt about in places where one badly brought up would hardly have expected it. "Copied from your Junior International, I believe," said Crusoe, sniffing perceptibly, "and considered to be the acme of comfort. There are points, you know, about living insulated, with- out upholstery." We had not been seated long, when there entered two superlatively handsome young men, dressed in the extreme of fashion, who appeared to accept as their bare due the homage which was spontaneously tendered to them by all present. Crusoe, among others, rose from his seat and bowed as they came in. "Who are they?" I enquired. "The short one is Prince "(here he whis- pered the name into my ear, cautioning me not to repeat it, as the Prince's name had so far escaped print), "who married Cinderella; his companion is Prince Charming, the husband of the young lady so well-known, and so widely celebrated as the Sleeping Beauty. Shall I introduce you?" "Thank you," said I, "I shall be profoundly obliged for an opportunity of obtaining a personal knowledge of gentlemen whose lot I have envied so often." The demeanour of my new acquaintances, to whom I was immediately made known, surprised me greatly, for the face of each wore a look of permanent dissatisfaction. Yet I had the authority of much uncontradicted tradition for believing that all the future was to have been for them a sojourn in eternal happiness. Was it that as Princes they disdained to manifest any outward appearance of happiness? For I knew that in some circles a settled and serene sulk did duty for "the repose which stamps the caste." Was I face to face with a genuine or a spurious melancholy? I resolved to ask them, and I did. "Really," said Cinderella's husband, "my un- fortunate position is so well known that it were the veriest of affectations to disguise it. I have married in the scullery, and am repenting at leisure. Cinderella," he added, pityingly, "is a good little girl, but entirely without manner. You remember, of course, her bringing up—it is very hard on us, but everybody knows it—and you can scarcely, therefore, wonder at her lack of distinction. Ah! I ought to have married one of her sisters— fine girls, sir, with a style too! Either would have jumped at me." "But," said I, "your wife has the sweetest disposition, and surely that, combined with beauty, should bring happiness to a husband's home." "Maybe," said the Prince, "but she doesn't make me happy. You see, she has no adaptability and no malleability. She has never made any attempt to fill the position in which I have placed her. I grant you that her housekeeping is excellent, but then house-wif'ery is a talent which a princess would do well to go out and bury. It never would be missed." "I think," broke in Prince Charming, "that you are making the worst of your case. At least your wife is an intelligent girl, and you get your meals regularly. How would you like to be tied to such a wife as mine?"  ## p. 322 (#386) ############################################ 322 THE AUTHOR. "Yours, Prince?" I exclaimed, "why, the Sleep- ing Beauty is the loveliest and purest maid in the annals of fiction." "I only wish I had left her as I found her," returned Prince Charming, viciously. "Entre t/ous, my wife is next door to an idiot. She spends the day arranging herself on sofas. A photo- grapher attends to reproduce the results, and I am expected to pass judgment upon each picture, and say if she appears lovelier in this or in that pose, than when she lay asleep among the briars. She has no ideas, no powers of estimation or com- parison, no knowledge whatever of life. What, indeed, can be expected from a girl who has passed all her maiden life asleep? But if I had only thought for a moment, I should have foreseen all this ere I woke her—and I should have retreated on tip-toe." Just then a very pleasing young man came into the room, and looked ingratiatingly about him. He was apparently well-known and popular, for he was greeted with nods and smiles by most of those present. His clothes were magnificent, but his bearing was not aristocratic, and he was treated with none of the external deference which had been offered to the two Princes. "Oh !" said Prince Charming, " I'm off. I can- not stand that fellow." So saying, he rose, as did his companion, and they lounged with linked arms past the new-comer, ostentatiously taking no notice of him. "Who is he, Robinson?" I asked. "It's Aladdin," he replied, "the man who married the Princess Badroulbadour. She's the handsomest and cleverest woman in the place— quite the leader in our best set, and very fond of circus-girls, artists' models, and religious explorers. Would you care to know him?" I nodded, and Crusoe signed to Aladdin to come over and occupy Prince Charming's chair. "Pleased to meet you, sir," said Aladdin, with what may be described as lower middle-class affability. "Was not that Prince Charming who just left you? Horrid supercilious beast! I hope he's not a particular friend of yours." Aladdin's manner of speeding the parting guest was so very familiar to me from club experience in my world, that I was moved to smile, as I answered that I had only made the acquaintance of the two Princes some few minutes before, and that I thought them nice young men. "Well, I don't," he said. "I often wonder why Cinderella puts up with her husband's airs. She's a jolly little thing, and as beautiful as she is good; but he's ashamed to be seen about with her, and Prince Charming openly laments that he didn't leave his wife where he found her, and is always egging the poor girl on to take morphine. Is that your idea of being nice?" "Are you not a little hard upon him?" said I. "You have been so happy yourself in your choice of a consort that perhaps you hardly make due allowance for less fortunate men." "You must be a particular sort of an ass," he replied, bluntly. "Badroulbadour is handsome enough and as clever as paint, but she's not a pleasant wife; everybody knows that. She's a leader of society. That's what she is. We have not dined fete d-tUte for two years. She has political views and social views, and artistic views. She has all sorts of explorers and nigger-drivers about the place. (No offence to you, Crusoe.) She writes for the monthly magazines. Sometimes her grammar gets guyed, but her sentiments are all right, for she lifts them from Confucius. She speaks in public, and will blurt out to a collected crowd things which a man would get kicked for whispering; but she doesn't speak to me except before company and to keep up appearances." I murmured my sympathies as he rose to go. "Concerning marriages," said Crusoe, as he showed me downstairs. "What the wise ends of God's providence are in such a disposition of things I cannot say. There are those who rashly presume to judge by the experience of others. There are those who still more rashly arrive at general conclusions from the consideration of their own private affairs. I am pleased to have met you. If you ever write story books you might omit that tag. It annoys us here terribly." I was glad to leave for I remember that my companion was sometimes a tedious old gentleman. * # * * * Now after this I see before me a future for some- body. It is clear that the fairy story—-as she is wrote—is inconsequent and immoral. It has no message. It is untruthful. The characters them- selves feel it. Will this not be very generally found out? Do you think a fin de siecle Board School child will tolerate such void and formless attempts towards its amusement much longer? And this is the future for somebody :—Let him take these old stories and write them up to date. Let us know the psychological reasons for the failure of the elder two brothers and the unvarying success of the third. This is no accident: it happens too often. It is a mental problem worthy of Maudsley's consideration. Let him paint for us the animal qualities of the Beast cropping up in his descendants, in happy blend with the personal traits of Beauty their mother, and the unamiable characteristics of their aunts. In this way it seems that we might attain to a Literature of searching  ## p. 323 (#387) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 3*3 character-insight, and the coldest scientific ac- curacy, with the extraordinary and pleasing addition of a readable story. Some "damned" English poet might be en- trusted to re-write snatches of nursery rhyme to be used as chapter headings. There is money in this idea. The Society has therefore patented it, and will be happy to entrust the commission to the author who passes first in a competitive examination for the post. Names will now be received by the secretary. The com- pulsory subjects will be :— The works of Zola, Kipling, Tolstoi, Wilde, and Paul Verlaine—in English. Carpenter's " Mental Physiology." Bartlett's "Familiar Quotations." Brewer's " Dictionaries of, &c." In addition the candidates will have to satisfy the examiners in one of the following books :— Hans Andersen's Stories. Grimm's Stories. The Arabian Nights Entertainments, un- bowdlerized. Cobbett's English Grammar. Any Standard French Dictionary. The books will be published by the Society on the half-profit system, and the author will be paid, upon repeated application, whatever sum the Com- mittee think will make him shut his mouth. This sum will be taken to represent his due share, and no further question can be allowed to arise about the matter, as the Committee are not as a body or individually in the habit of having their bare words doubted. * "L'ENFANT PRODIGUE." THERE could not have been a better way of keeping the Feast of Fools than by a visit to "Monsieur Pierrot," at home, at the Prince of Wales' Theatre. The most exquisite gourmet of folly could find no fault with a banquet so rich in rare and delicate food for laughter and unexpected flavouring of grateful bitter herbs. I was not alone in the audience; we went to laugh and criticise, and came away conquered and in tears. We have made the ac- quaintance of a great author. Monsieur Michel Carre" fils has written a most pathetic comedy without words. He has overcome not only a dramatic, but a literary difficulty. The phraseology of lives somewhat sordid, placed midway between poverty and affluence, between ignorance and high cultivation, is so antipathetic to either extreme as to deprive the class using it of their sympathy. In VOL. I. "L'Enfant Prodigue" we see before us mediocrity relieved of all its pettiness, in its dumb human agony. It is the story of the great sorrow of petty comedians, the little tragedy of a family of fools. Until we knew Monsieur Michel Carre, we should have said no one could have done it so well, not even Charles I amb, Gerard de Nerval, Hans An- dersen— only Balzac himself. Again, the play could scarcely be better represented. Monsieur Courtes as Pierrot pcre exhausts my praise. Madame Schmidt as Madame Pierrot is very nearly as powerful. Consider how perfectly they co-operate with the author. In the first act, we have the comely, smiling, indulgent French mother, slightly indifferent to a husband many years older, but utterly devoted to her son. The father is the typical middle-class Frenchman, getting old, narrow- minded, irascible, respectable, and a niggard. The family is prosperous in an unpretending middle-class way; the old man stints his son, and stints his wife and himself in order to save for him. The gay and indulgent mother keeps as a matter of course a cheap commonplace statue of the Virgin as an ornament in the corner of the room. A lamp hangs before it. The family is prosperous; she has let the lamp go out. Notice when the boy has been sent off to bed, how comfortably they settle themselves, how Monsieur Pierrot reads his newspaper; we can follow him through all the items of news. At last he finds a story "un peu piquant." His delight, her propriety and her smile, furtive without the least touch of prudery— how delicately this is acted! At length they fall asleep, gradually, peacefully, the sleep of body and conscience both untroubled by digestion. They wake to find,—what we know (for the moment Monsieur Courtes and Madame Schmidt are on an exact equality with speaking actors), for words here would be impossible. Nothing could be more masterly than the contrast between their simulated, agonizing sleep, and their natural, quiet dozing. Monsieur Courtes is particularly fine. The effect of their awakening we see in the fourth act. The sorrow has inspired their dull mediocrity, the bitter herbs have given a delicate flavour to the common meat, the woman's tears have served as oil to her holy lamp. The com- monplace ornament has become the Mother of Mercy. Both the parents are aged, the mother saddened, the father softened; but he is old Pierrot still. If he were not still a little irascible we should not be afraid to laugh at him without the least sarcasm, and this is the highest, rarest proof of good-will. There is the old hackneyed scene, the unused platter, and the vacant chair; but these respectable "bourgeois," retired clowns, make it heart-rending. The mother, of course, shows plainly 2 E  ## p. 324 (#388) ############################################ 324 THE AUTHOR. that she cannot restrain her tears, the old man affects indifference,—and fills the empty glass. By some strange prophetic instinct he leaves it to restore an unexpected guest. Every movement of Monsieur Courtes's face is a study as Pierrot scolds and comforts his wife. There is no tobacco in his jar; this is a good excuse. The hot atmosphere must be raising the lump in his throat. He feigns anger; he must himself go out in the snow to buy tobacco. When Madame Pierrot is left alone she breaks down utterly, but she has still hope ; she confides in the plaster image, which has attained to the highest eminence of the best art by becoming to her the greatest of realities. While her husband is away she can take out an ordinary cabinet-sized photo- graph and hug it to her breast and dandle it in her arms. All heroines of melodramas do this, but here it is terribly pathetic. We could swear it is blotched and stained with real tears. Then in comes the old man again, still the old Pierrot; he picks up a piece of bread which has fallen on the floor and looks angrily at his wife as he blows the dust off. He won't have waste in his house; then we remember, after all, he is not so well off now. Presently, when old Pierrot is out of the room, the prodigal returns, faint and weary. His mother, of course, has no thought of reproach. She holds him to her breast again, that is enough. She refreshes him with the wine his father could not taste. The father comes back; she nods to the Virgin, alive to her, standing there in the room, to remind her that she must help now, she must make the father forgive. The mother has no thought of any moral law concerning punishment and the fruit of faults. But old Pierrot is a fool, by profession only. He won't take back his son, to rob him and ruin himself a second time. He must make atonement. To the Frenchman whose neighbours have died on their own doorsteps, killed by a foreign invader, ser- vice in the army has a sacred character unintelligible to races only accustomed to aggressive wars. And sowe leave the family, wondering at the fool's wisdom. By dwelling so long on Monsieur and Madame Pierrot, I do not wish to imply dissatisfaction with the acting of the other parts. All are very good. In one gesture of the negro servant, Monsieur Jean Arcueil, as he pauses an instant before he leaves the room, is expressed the whole conversation of the servants' hall in a "bijou residence," whose mistress still retains the characteristics of a pretty washerwoman when she is dressed in silks and satins. Mdlle. Zanfretta makes a lively and clever "Phrynette"; the little touches showing she has after all some sort of fondness for her generous and devoted boy, are very pretty. Monsieur Louis Gouget also makes an excellent baron, once he is le baron Hulot of " La Cousine Bette," to the life. 1 have purposely avoided any special notice of the acting of Miss Jane May. She is so well known and her reputation is so well assured that it is unnecessary to do so. One point, however, she emphasises with peculiar skill, the remorse of little Pierrot even while he is robbing his parents, and his love for his mother. He cannot make up his mind to search his mother for the keys. Again she uses with effect a splendid opportunity. There is a corner of " Phrynette's" boudoir corresponding to the corner in the old home where hung the image and the lamp. Little "Pierrot" is in an agony, instinctively he turns to the image, to find a por- trait of himself. No woman could act the part better than Miss Jane May; most men would not act it half so well; but it is utterly impossible for a woman's figure in man's clothes to look other- wise than anomalous. Nature and the caprice of present custom, and not the fine artistic powers and personal feminine appearance of Miss Jane May, are responsible for the anomaly. Pierrot is not a "joli jeune garcon," but a "gamin maladie." This one fault in the "casting" of the piece is the "poisson d'avril " of the feast. W. W. * CORRESPONDENCE. I. Authors and Reviewers. THE remedy for the state of things com- plained of by "An Obscure Novelist" can only be found in the reform of the review- ing system. At the same time it may be pointed out that the exercise of a little discrimination by the "Obscure Novelist" would have saved him the troubled mind which a very common experience has occasioned. The opinion of the Little Ped- dlington Star is surely not so important to him as the criticism of the Saturday Review. Then he appears to suffer from the delusion that all re- viewers are critics. Let him distinguish. It were unreasonable to look for criticism in a journal where six, or eight, or more novels—good and bad, foreign and English—are "noticed," week after week, in a single brief article that occupies space which would be inadequate to the criticism of a single notable novel. Such a system may commend itself to publishers, and may be very suitable to a trade journal, but it is nothing less than scandalous in a newspaper that professes to review and to represent current English literature. As to those other papers of which "An Obscure Novelist" writes, whose reviews are determined by their advertisements, they can be, and should be, surely left bookless by all authors and publishers.  ## p. 325 (#389) ############################################ THE A UTHOR. 325 The needed reform can be best effected by editors. Unfortunately it appears that it would first be necessary to convince a large number of editors that reviewing is a subject of any im- portance at all. It is notorious that reviewing is regarded in many quarters as a field of experiment for testing the competency of the young hand, or for proving—for the 12th time—the inveterate dis- abilities of the ancient hack. In short, what is, as Mr. Saintsbury forcibly puts it, "on the whole the most difficult kind of newspaper writing" is also "on the whole the most lightly assigned and the most irresponsibly performed." Now if all editors would but devote a fair proportion of their time and energy to these matters, the evils discussed by "An Obscure Novelist" would be greatly diminished. B. II. Baron Tauchnitz. "Can you tell me by what right Tauchnitz pub- lishes cheap editions of English books for con- tinental circulation, and in what respect this differs from piracy? "I have heard or read that Tauchnitz always pays authors pretty liberally, but is he obliged to do so? And why is it that Tauchnitz alone seems to have the privilege of printing cheap editions?" The writer is under a misapprehension. Baron Tauchnitz has no such rights as he supposes. To reprint an English author without his permission would be an act of piracy. Baron Tauchnitz always purchases the right. The reason why he is alone as a publisher of English books for continental cities is simply that, though others have tried to set up in rivalry with him, they have not hitherto suc- ceeded. Messrs. Heinemann, Balestier and Co. are now making another attempt. They are said to have secured a good many leading English authors. It remains to be seen whether their venture will be crowned with success or not. III. From "Chastelard." I have been much puzzled by two allusions in Mr. Swinburne's dramas, and hope that some of the readers of the Author may be able and willing to lighten my darkness. One of these is to be found in Chastelard, Act iii, sc. 1; the hero speaks— "Have you read never in French books the song Called the 'Duke's Song,' some boy made ages back, A song of drag-nets hauled across thwart seas VOL. I. And plucked up with rent sides, and caught therein, A strange-haired woman with sad singing lips, Cold in the cheek like any stray of sea, And sweet to touch? So that men, seeing her face, And how she sighed out little Ahs of pain, And soft cries sobbing sideways from her mouth, Fell in hot love, and having lain with her, Died soon?" Is there any foundation for this? Does such a song as the "Duke's Song" exist? The other allusion is in Rosamond, sc. 3. King Henry says— "I am as he that saith In the great song sick words and sorrowful Of love's hard sweet and hunger of harsh hours." To what "great song" could our Second Henry thus refer? Ramsay Colles. IV. Gratuitous Contributions. Can the gratuitous contributions, complained of in the March number of the Author, explain the proceedings of the publisher with whom the writer of the paragraph, headed "Accepted," has had to do? The remuneration offered was certainly ex- tremely liberal, compared with what "No pay, no pen" speaks of as being "considered in such quarters something magnificent." Has the pub-' lisher in question discovered he can secure contri- butions gratuitously, or at least at half, or quarter, the rate agreed on, and so have broken his contract? Neither Pay nor Fen. IV. "The Last Dream of Julius Roy." Mr. Byrrne shows such a pretty faculty of paraphrase in his version, in last month's Author, of my story, "The Last Dream of Julius Roy," that I am sorry to have to discourage him in the ingenious art of manufacturing resemblances betwixt his own and other people's stories. Until his letter, I had supposed the "Newbery House Magazine " to be a theological review—a very good reason for not going to its pages for fiction. Indeed, I had never seen either the magazine or his story. But the suspicion of plagiarism, like that of heresy, is not easily upset; and, supposing my story to have been written after his had appeared, he would still probably make the most of that contingency. So I hasten to add that 2 K 2  ## p. 326 (#390) ############################################ 326 THE AUTHOR. "The Last Dream of Julius Roy" was written first, early in 1889, had some considerable circulation in MS. during that year, and was eventually sent to the Editor of Macmillan's Magazine before July, 1890, the date when, we are told, the story re- sembling it appeared. I hesitate to turn the tables upon Mr. Byrrne, as an avowed writer of fiction, by suggesting that he may have been among those who read my story in MS. Ernest Rhys. Llantysilio, April 6th, 1891. VI. The Signed Article. Sir,—In response to your invitation appended to the article of " F.," in your last issue, allow me, as an old journalist, who has been engaged in editorial work on daily papers for many years, to say a few words on the above subject. From the point of view taken by the Society of Authors with regard to all such matters there can be no doubt that the signature of newspaper articles would be greatly to the material advantage of the journalist, for it would enhance both his social status and his pecuniary value. Many an able leader writer now unknown would, if he signed his articles, become famous and obtain higher terms for his services. As it is, some few journalists, are well-known by name to the public independ- ently of their avowed literary work, and although their newspaper articles arc not identified as theirs it is a matter of notoriety that they write for certain papers. All these gentlemen are pre- sumably very highly paid, but they have many colleagues of great ability whose names are much less familiar to the public, but who, if they were equally celebrated, could command similar re- muneration. Now it is the special function of the Society to improve the author's position, and so far as the journalist is concerned nothing could be better calculated to effect that end than the removal of the veil which hides not his talent, but his personality from the public. I have in my mind many men, it would be invidious to mention names, who have been labouring for the public for years, turning out day after day brilliant or solid articles, representing an aggregate of brain work, which, if embodied in a book or books, must have rendered them famous and perhaps prosperous. Yet the public never heard of them, and they have remained content in their modest obscurity, sub- sisting on their moderate salaries, and their obituary one of these days will probably be con- tained in a six-line paragraph. Yet all journalists, obviously as a change in the present practice would be for their benefit, are by no means in favour of abolishing the anonymous system. In fact, I rather think that the majority are opposed to such an alteration. They are led to this conclusion by several different consider- ations, but there is one of a practical character, which they generally recognise as presenting an insuperable obstacle to the proposed "reform." All newspaper work must be edited, and it is edited habitually to an extent of which the public are hardly aware. In every well-regulated news- paper office a despotic discipline is exercised, almost as strict as that on board a man-of-war, and no contribution is sacred to the editor. He, or his assistant, alters, corrects, deletes, amplifies, and re-writes as he pleases, and his authority in this respect is never questioned. The contributor knows that his article is anonymous; the editor is responsible for it, not he. Now this editorial supervision would be rendered practically impos- sible if articles were signed. They would not be the work of the writer whose signature was attached to them, and no self-respecting journalist would allow writings to go forth to the world under his name which were not all his own. I have reason to know that there is a very strong feeling among both newspaper proprietors and newspaper writers against the abolition of the anonymous system, and I doubt very much whether, in our time at least, the directors of any great journal will be induced to make the proposed change. It is possible, however, that one of them may be bold enough to try the experiment at any rate to a limited extent, publishing, say, one signed article in the nature of a leader every day, instead of putting it into the form of a "letter to the editor," a practice frequently adopted. I think, in short, that it would be very desirable to effect some modification in the present anony- mous system. Certainly it would be to the advan- tage of the journalist in every way. But that which is desirable is not always practicable, and anything like a general signature of all articles in English journals is, I fear, quite out of the ques- tion. I am, yours, &c, Fleet Street, March 29th. E. J. G. VII. Note on a Case. At County Court recently a singular pub- lishing case came up for hearing. The plaintiffs, Messrs. A. B. and Co., sued Mr. C. D. for nonfulfil- ment of the terms of a contract entered into in February, 1890. It appears that the defendant signed an agreement with the plaintiffs, by which he bound himself to superintend the translation, editing, and general preparation for the press, of a certain well-known series of volumes. The first  ## p. 327 (#391) ############################################ THE A UTHOR. 327 volume of the series was to have been published, if possible, in September last year. Various reasons were brought forward by the defendant's counsel, accounting for the delay in the preparation of the volumes, notably the difficulty of adapting the work to suit English readers and the question of inter- national copyright. The terms of the agreement as stated in court are so peculiar that they are worthy of being recorded in these pages. For translating, editing, and preparing for the press, the defendant was to receive the sum of ^25, each volume to be pub- lished monthly, payable one month after publica- tion. Payment for the first volume, however, it appears, was made in advance. Out of this sum it was suggested by the plaintiffs that the defendant should pay £12 each for the rough translation of the volumes, and about ^5 or £6 for illustrations in each volume. All expenses for corrections (exclusive of printer's errors), exceeding \os. for every 32 pp., were to be borne by the defendant. None of the volumes have less than 250 pp. of over 270 words each. The claim of the plaintiffs was for the return of the volumes lent for the purpose of translation, the ^25 allowed in advance, and £,10 damages, also costs. Judgment for ^25 was given for the plaintiffs, his Honour at the same time expressing sympathy towards the defendant when considering the terms of the agreement. [Editor's Note.—This is a case in which the defendant signed an agreement without considering whether he could carry out the contract. For ^25 he was to arrange the purchase of copyright, pay a translator—say .£12 for sixteen sheets, or 155. a sheet of 4,320 words, that is, id. for every 24 words It is the wage of a road-sweeper. He was alno to spend £6 in illustrations, and to pay corrections. Naturally, hi could not carry out the contract. No doubt he ought to have thought of this before signing it. It seems to us, however, that equity ought to relieve persons from the burden of such contracts as these. It is well for us to know that such contracts as these are still submitted to literary men.] VIII. The Cost of a Stamp. An author accustomed to signing the agreements submitted to him by his publishers in the form which may be called "the ordinary royalty agree- ment," endeavours to embody similar terms in a letter to his publisher, and on sending it to Somerset House to be stamped, is surprised to receive it back with a 10s. stamp impressed on it instead of the 6d. stamp which he has been familiar with upon his usual agreement. His letter runs thus :— "Gentlemen, "In consideration of the prepayment of -—— pounds on account of royalties and of the further royalties hereinafter mentioned, I hereby transfer to you the international copyright and all other rights, if any, in a story written by me entitled ',' without any restrictions whatever as to methods, times, or places of publication or drama- tisation." Then follow the details of royalties to be paid, an undertaking to correct proofs, and the author's signature. There can hardly be any doubt that the reason why the document set out was not stamped with a sixpenny stamp, but at a higher rate, is that it was considered at Somerset House to be, as indeed it apparently is, a conveyance on sale, which is defined in Section 70 of the Stamp Act of 1870 (33 and 34 Vic, cap. 97), to include ' every instrument whereby any property upon the sale thereof is legally or equitably transferred to or vested in the purchaser.' It has therefore been charged with an 'ad valorem duty,' which appears to have been arrived at by a calculation which fixed the value of the property sold at between ^75 und^ioo. It must be recollected, by those who would im- mediately conclude that a document in the form of an agreement would be the better one for authors to use in dealing with their copyright, that it by no means follows that because a piece of paper is only headed, 'Memorandum of agree- ment between A. B. and C. D.,' that it is not an instrument whereby property is legally, or at all events, equitably transferred. That would depend on the construction of the words which treat par- ticularly of the contemplated assignment, and on the contents of the document as a whole. It can safely be presumed that if such a document were handed in at Somerset House with a request that a 6d. stamp might be affixed to it, it would be affixed without demur, while the question whether it was a transfer or not, and if so, whether it was sufficiently stamped, might arise at some future time to perplex and annoy a person claiming under it. "If any person wishes to ascertain beyond doubt the amount of duty with which any executed instrument is chargeable, he may (by Sections 18 and 19 of the above-mentioned Act) require the Commissioners of Inland Revenue to express an opinion as to whether it is chargeable with duty, and to what extent. If they consider that the instrument is chargeable they are bound to assess the duty, and any person who is dissatisfied with the assessment as made, may within twenty-one days after the date of it, and on payment of duty in conformity with it, appeal against it to the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice, and may for that purpose require the Commissioners to  ## p. 328 (#392) ############################################ 328 THE AUTHOR. state and sign a case, setting forth the question upon which their opinion was required and the assessment made by them. "The Commissioners arethen obliged to state and sign acase accordingly, which in due course is agreed before the proper Court, and the person whose instrument was to be stamped may end by taking the matter up to the House of Lords, and obtain- ing their decision upon it. If he succeeds he will get back the amount he has overpaid, and his costs; if he loses, he will have to pay the costs of the Commissioners as well as his own. It must be pointed out that it wou'.d be found impossible to recover money overpaid for duty unless the steps indicated above had been taken, and the Com- missioners formally asked to assess the duty; and it should be borne in mind that although the royalty agreements signed by authors and publishers may be habitually stamped with a sixpenny stamp, it by no means follows that they ought not to be charged with an ad valorem duty instead. An Act of Par- liament passed in 1889 (52, 53 Vic, cap. 42, sec. 15), enncts that 'Any contract or agreement made in England or Ireland under seal or under hand only or made in Scotland ... for the sale of any estate or interest in any property except lands, tenements (and certain other specified species of property which do not include copyrights), shall be charged with the same ad valorem duties to be paid by the purchaser as if it were an actual con- veyance on sale of the estate interest or property agreed or contracted to be sold.' It should be remembered that (under 5 and 6 Vic, cap. 45, sec. 43) the copyright of a book duly entered in the Book of Registry of Stationers' Hall may be assigned by its registered proprietor, by entry in that Book cf Registry, without being subjected to any stamp or duty. An agreement to assign the copyright in a book so entered, or which is intended to be so entered, would presumably require a six- penny stamp only, and one would think that this form of transfer would consequently in many cases be found the cheapest to adopt. E. A. A. * IN GRUB STREET. ALADY'S experience. "I wrote a little book for which I received the sum of £5. It ran up to 10,000 copies at least. It was sold for a few pence only. The publishers refused any further payment on account of its success." Technically, of course, they were quite right. The author had accepted the agreement, and there was nothing more to say. But—mark this—the publishers knew pretty well, beforehand, what the sale would be, because they had previously issued many other books of the same kind. Therefore they knew very nearly what the proceeds would be. I have calculated that the publishers made a profit of about ^70. Now, I repeat, when they gave the author this wretched ^5, they knew that they were going to make this profit. Are we right, in any definition of Sweating, to accord to this Firm the rank and title of Sweaters? And I wonder if anyone can guess the name of this Firm of Sweaters. The Authors' Syndicate is under the voluntary and unpaid management of Mr. W. Morris Colles. The Honorary Treasurer is Mr. Walter Besant. The principle of the Syndicate is quite simple. The author gets all that is received for his work, except a very small percentage to pay for clerking, printing, and postage. Mr. Colles begs all authors to understand that in arranging with the papers the name is the first thing; that until a writer has made himself a name, this form of publication is impossible for him: and that nothing can be done in a hurry, papers being generally engaged a year and more in advance. John Strange Winter is engaged upon a new serial story for Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper. The appearance of her new venture, "Golden Gates," must be recorded as one of the literary events of the month. It is said that 100,000 copies of the first number went off. Mr. Henry Cresswell has in the press a new novel, in three volumes, entitled "The Hermits of Crizebeck," which will be published by Messrs. Hurst and Blackett early in May. At recent book sales, the first edition of Bunyan's Holy War (1682) sold for ^32; the original monthly parts of Vanity Fairfax £21 e,s. ; Walton's Compleat Angler in the original binding (1653) and Cotton's Compleat Angler (1676), first editions, fetched ^310; Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield, first edition (1766), ^35 iar.; Charles Carib's Rosamund Gray and Old Blind Margaret, £,20 \os.; the Poems by Two Brothers went for ;£i7- At Boston the MS. of Poe's Eulalie fetched $225 the other day. At the Women's Press Club at Boston Miss Louise Imogene Guiney showed a ring con- taining fourteen hairs from the head of Keats—the history of that Rape of the Lock is not tendered with the statement.  ## p. 329 (#393) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 329 The Critic of New York tells a tragic story of a lady who grew discontented at the prices she received for her work. It was all signed, but she thought that she ought to be paid more than she got, and she fancied that she was underpaid simply because she was a woman. She therefore tried the dodge of signing with a masculine name, and sent off her next MS. with a nam de plume. She received no answer. Presently, however, she found that her work had been used, and had appeared in the magazine to which she sent it. She wrote at once to the editor, reminding him that she did not work for nothing. He sent her, promptly, a cheque for $2! She had been accus- tomed to receive for her work in own name, and for papers of the same length, at least $35! This experience has made her resolve to remain a woman. An article on Professor Lockyer's "Meteoritic Hypothesis," by Mr. J. E. Gore, F.R.A.S., appears in the Gentleman's Magazine, for April. Some time last year a lady came to this Society with "a case." It was a pretty bad case. She was resident in a colony. She had written a book which she was anxious to publish. She made the acquaintance, in the colony, of a wandering pub- lisher, who undertook her work on conditions. She was to advance him ^100 down with the MS. The copyright was to be his. She was to receive some share—the author says, "as much as he might choose to give me "—of the profits. And—which shows a truly bold spirit—she was to bind herself down to publish whatever other books she might ■write, all her life, on the same terms. The hundred pounds was "towards the expense of publishing." and, of course, it would cover the whole expense. A solicitor pointed out to the lady how disastrous the agreement was, and she came to England and placed the matter in the hands of a London solicitor. .The Society, therefore, could not offer to do anything for her until her own solicitor had acted. It is pleasing to report that he succeeded in getting the agreement cancelled. She then, without consulting the Society, sent her MS. to another publisher, who undertook it on the beautifully simple condition that she should guarantee the sale of 500 copies to begin with. It is not stated what price he charged her. It is possible it was 4s. id. a copy, in which case she would have to pay over a hundred pounds. In other words, she was as badly off with her second publisher as with her first. After these copies she was to receive a royalty of tod. a copy on the remaining 500 copies. There was also an agreement about a cheap edition which does not concern us here. The second part of the case illustrates our reiterated statement about risk. Here we have the publisher guarding himself against risk or possible loss by making the author take as many copies as would pay the whole expense of production to begin with. If he sells the rest of the edition of 1,000 copies, he will realise about ^85, out of which he will have to pay the author £26 16s. 8d., so that on the first edition, unless she gets rid of her 500 copies, she loses about £&o, and he wins £66. Not bad business. But suppose the lady had known, when she signed it, what the agreement meant? And now we may understand one of the reasons why certain publishers so vehemently de- nounce and decry the action of the Society. It is because we do not allow our clients to sign any agreements, if we can prevent them, which they do not understand. * A BILL to amend title sixty, chapter three, of the Revised Statutes of the United States, relating to copyrights. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Repre- sentatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section forty-nine hundred and fifty-two of the Revised Statutes be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows: "Sec. 4952. xThe author, inventor, designer, or proprietor of any book, map, chart, dramatic or musical composition, engraving, cut, print, or photograph or negative thereof, or of a painting, drawing, chromo, statue, statuary, and of models or designs intended to be perfected as works of the fine arts, and the executors, administrators, or assigns of any such person shall, upon com- plying with the provisions of this chapter, have the sole liberty of printing, reprinting, publishing, completing, copying, executing, finishing, and vending the same; and in the case of dramatic composition, of publicly performing or repre- senting it or causing it to be performed or repre- sented by others; and authors or their assigns shall have exclusive right to dramatize and tran- slate any of their works for which copyright shall have been obtained under the laws of the United States." Sec. 2. That section forty-nine hundred and 1 Omits: "Any citizen of the United States or resident therein, who shall be."  ## p. 330 (#394) ############################################ 33° THE AUTHOR. fifty-four of the Revised Statutes be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as fol- lows: "Sec. 4954. The author, inventor, or designer, if he be still living,1 or his widow or children, if he be dead, shall have the same exclusive right continued for the further term of fourteen years, upon recording the title of the work or description of the article so secured a second time, and com- plying with all other regulations in regard to original copyrights, within six months before the expiration of the first term; and such persons shall, within two months from the date of said renewal, cause a copy of the record thereof to be published in one or more newspapers printed in the United States for the space of four weeks." Sec. 3. That section forty-nine hundred and fifty-six of the Revised Statutes of the United States be, and the same is hereby, amended so that it shall read as follows: "Sec. 4956. No person shall be entitled to a copyright unless he shall, on or before the day of publication in this or any foreign country, deliver at the office of the Librarian of Congress, or deposit in the mail within the United States, addressed to the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, District of Columbia, a printed copy of the title of the book, map, chart, dramatic or musical composi- tion, engraving, cut, print, photograph, or chromo, or a description of the painting, drawing, statue, statuary, or a model or design for a work of the fine arts for which he desires a copyright, nor unless he shall also, not later than the day of the publication thereof in this or any foreign country, deliver at the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, District of Columbia, or deposit in the mail within the United States, addressed to the Librarian of Congress, at Washington Dis- trict of Columbia, two copies of such copy- right book,~ maps, chart, dramatic or musical composition, engraving, chromo, cut, print or photo- graph* or in case of a painting, drawing, statue, statuary, model, or design for a work of the fine arts, a photograph of the same: Provided, That in the case of a book, photograph, chromo, or lithograph, the two copies of the same required to be delivered or deposited as above shall be printed from type set within the limits of the United States, or from plates made therefrom, or from negatives, or drawings on stone made within the limits of the United States, or from transfers made therefrom. During the existence of such copyright the impor- 1 Omits: "And a citizen of the United States or resident therein." 5 These words replace the words "or other article." tation into the United States, of any book, chromo, lithograph, or photograph, so copyrighted, or any edition or editions thereof, or any plates of the same not made from type set, negatives or drawings on stone, made within the limits of the United States, shall be, and it is hereby, prohibited, except in the cases specified in paragraphs 512 to 560 inclusive, in sec/ion 2 of the act entitled "An act to reduce the revenue and equalize the duties on imports and fur other purposes," approved Oct. 1, 1890; and except in the case of persons purchasing for use and not for sale, who import, subject to the duty thereon, not more than two copies of such booh at any one time, and except in the case of newspapers and magazines not containing, in whole or in part, matter copy- righted under the provisions of this act, unautho- rized by the author, which are hereby exempted from prohibition of importation: Provided, never- theless, That in the case of foreign languages, of which only translations in English are copyrighted, the prohibition of importation shall apply only to the translations of the sarin; and the importation of the books in the original language shall be per- mitted." Sec. 4. That section forty-nine hundred and fifty-eight of the Revised Statutes be, and the same is hereby, amended so that it will read as follows: "Sec. 4958. The Librarian of Congress shall receive from the persons to whom the services designated are rendered the following fees: "First. For recording the title or description of any copyright book or other article, fifty cents. "Second. For every copy under seal of such record actually given to the person claiming the copyright, or his assigns, fifty cents. "Third. For recording and certifying any in- strument of writing for the assignment of a copy- right, one dollar. "Fourth. For every copy of an assignment, one dollar. '' All fees so received shall be paid into the Treasury of the United States: Provided, That the charge for recording the title or description of any article entered for copyright, the production of a person not a citizen or resident of the United States, shall be one dollar, to be paid as above into the Treasury of the United States, to defray the expenses of lists of copyrighted articles as hereinafter provided for. "And if is hereby made the duty of the Librarian of Congress to furnish to the Secretary of the Treasury copies of the entries of titles of all looks and other articles wherein the copyright has been completed by the deposit of two copies of such book printed from type set within the limits of the United States, in accordance with the provisions of this act  ## p. 331 (#395) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. J J 1 and by the deposit of two copies of such other article made or produced in the United States: and the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby directed to pre- pare and print, at intervals of not more than a week, catalogues of such title-entries for distribution to the collectors of customs of the United States and to the postmasters of all post-offices receiving foreign mails, and such weekly lists, as they are issued, shall be furnished to all parties desiring them, at a sum not exceeding five dollars per annum; and the Secretary and the Poshnaster- General are hereby empowered and required to make and enforce such rules and regulations as shall prevent the importation into the United States, except upon the conditions above specified, of all articles prohibited by this act." Sec. 5. That section forty-nine hundred and fifty-nine of the Revised Statutes be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows: Sec. 4959. The proprietor of every copy- right book or other article shall deliver at the office of the Librarian of Congress, or deposit in the mail, addressed to the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, District of Columbia,1 a copy of every subsequent edition wherein any substantial changes shall be made: Provided, however, That the alterations, revisions, and additions made to books by foreign authors, heretofore published, of which new editions shall appear subsequently to the taking effect of this act, shall be held and deemed capable of being copyrighted as above provided for in this act, unless they form a part of the series in course of publication at the time this act shall fake effect." Sec. 6. That section forty-nine hundred and sixty-three of the Revised Statutes be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows: "Sec 4963. Every person who shall insert or impress such notice, or words of the same purport, in or upon any book, map, chart, dramatic or musical composition, print, cut, engraving, or photograph, or other article, for which he has not obtained a copyright, shall be liable to a penalty of one hundred dollars, recoverable one-half for the person who shall sue for such penalty, and one-half to the use of the United States." Sec 7. That section forty-nine hundred and sixty-four of the Revised Statutes be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows: "Sec 4964. Every person who, after the re- cording of the title of any book and the depositing of two copies of such book, as provided by this Act, shall, contrary to the provisions of this Act, within the term limited, and without the consent of the 'Omils: "within ten days after its publication, two com- plete printed copies thereof, ot the best edition issued, or description or photograph of such article as hereinbefore required, and." proprietor of the copyright first obtained in writing, signed in presence of two or more witnesses, print, publish, dramatize, translate, or import, or knowing the same to be so printed, published, dramatized, translated, or imported, sell or expose to sale any copy of such book shall forfeit every copy thereof to such proprietor, and shall also forfeit and pay such damages as may be recovered in a civil action by such proprietor in any court of competent juris- diction." Sec. 8. That section forty-nine hundred and sixty-five of the Revised Statutes be, and the same is hereby, so amended as to read as follows: "Sec 4965. If any person, after the recording of the title of any map, chart, dramatic or musical composition, print, cut, engraving, or photograph, or chromo, or of the description of any painting, drawing, statue, statuary, or model or design in- tended to be perfected and executed as a work of the fine arts, as provided by this act, shall within the term limited, contrary to the provisions of this act, and without the consent of the proprietor of the copyright first obtained in writing, signed in presence of two or more witnesses, engrave, etch, work, copy, print, publish, dramatize, translate, or import, either in whole, or in part, or by varying the main design with intent to evade the law, or, knowing the same to be so printed, published, dramatized, translated, or imported, should sell or expose to sale any copy of such map or other article as aforesaid, he shall forfeit to the pro- prietor all the plates on which the same shall be copied and every sheet thereof, either copied or printed, and shall further forfeit, one dollar for every sheet of the same found in his posses- sion, either printing, printed, copied, published, imported, or exposed for sale, and in case of a painting, statue, or statuary, he shall forfeit ten dollars for every copy of the same in his pos- session, or by him sold or exposed for sale; one- half thereof to the proprietor and the other half to the use of the United States." Sec 9. That section forty-nine hundred and sixty-seven of the Revised Statutes be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows: "Sec 4967. Every person who shall print or publish any manuscript whatever without the con sent of the author or proprietor first obtained,1 shall be liable to the author or proprietor for all damages occasioned by such injury." Sec 10. That section forty-nine hundred and seventy-one of the Revised Statutes be, and the same is hereby, repealed.2 1 Omits: "if such author or proprietor is a citizen of the United States, or resident therein." a SEC. 4971 is as follows: "Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prohibit the printing, publishing, importation,  ## p. 332 (#396) ############################################ 332 THE AUTHOR. Sec. ii. That for the purpose of this act each volume of a book in two or more volumes, when such volumes are published separately and the first one shall not have been issued before this act shall take effect, and each number of a periodical, shall be considered an independent publication, subject to the form of copyrighting as above. Sec. 12. That this act shall go into effect on the first day of July, anno Domini eighteen hundred and ninety-one. Sec. 13. That this act shall only apply to a citizen or subject of a foreign state or nation when such foreign state or nation permits to citizens of the United States of America the benefit of copyright on substantially the same basis as its own citizens, or when such foreign state or nation is a party to an international agreement which provides for reciprocity in the granting of copyright, by the terms of which agreement the United States of America may, at its pleasure, become a party to such agreement. The existence of either of the conditions aforesaid shall be determined by the President of the United States by proclamation made from time to time as the purposes of this act may require. or sale of any book, map, chart, dramatic or musical com- position, print, cut, engraving, or photograph, written, com- posed, or made by any person not a resident of the United States nor resident therein." NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS. Theology. Carpenter, Dr. W. B. The remanent Elements of Religion: Bampton Lectures. 18S7. 2nd Edition. Macmillan. 6s. Harper, H. A. The Bible and Modern Discoveries. With Map and Illustrations. 4th Edition. Revised, with Notes, Errata, and Appendix. A. P. Watt. Js. 6d. Lux Mundi. A Series of Studies in the Religion of the Incarnation. By Various Writers. Edited by Rev. Charles Gore, M.A. nth Edition. Murray. 14s- Parker, Joseph. People's Bible. Vol. XIV. Ec- clesiastes, The Song of Solomon, Isaiah xxvi. Hazell. 8*. Welldon, Rev. J. E. C. The Fire upon the Altar. Second Series. Js. History and Biography. Anderson, J. H. History of George the Third's Reign. Longmans. 4s. 6d. Bancroft, Mr. and Mrs. On and Off the Stage. New Edition. Bentley. IX, Is. 6d. Claydrn, P. W. England under Lord Beaconsfield. 3rd and Popular Edition. Fisher Unwin. 6s. Freeman, E. A. The History »f Sicily, from the Earliest Times. With Maps. 2 vols. Clarendon Press. 42.C Ken von, Edith C. Centenary Life of John Wesley. W. Scott. 2s. 6d. Lano, Andrew. Northcote, Sir Stafford, first Earl of Iddesleigh. Life, Letters and Diaries. New Edition. With Portrait. Blackwood and Sons. Is. 6d. Le Gali.ienne, R. George Meredith: Some Character- istics. 2nd Edition. E. Mathews. 7*. 6d. Stephen, Leslie, and Lee, S. Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. XXVI. Smith and Elder. 15*. General Literature. Anstey, F. Tourmalin's Time Cheques : a Farcical Extra- vagance. Arrowsmith (Bristol). Simpkin. is. Baring-Gould, S. Urith : a Story of Dartmoor. 3 vols. Methuen. Bksant, Walter. For Faith and Freedom. New Edition. Chatto and Windus. 2s. Boyle, Fred. Her Evil Genius. 3 vols. Chapman and Hall. 31s. 6d. Croker, B. M. Two Masters: a Novel. F. V. White. 2s. 6d. Farjeon, B. L. The Nine of Hearts: a Detective Story. Ward, Lock and Co. 6d. Fenn, G. M. Sawn Off: a Tale of a F'amily Tree. With Portrait of the Author. (Whitefriars Library.) Henry. 2s. 6d. Grace, W. G., and Brownlee, Methven. Cricket. Fully Illustrated. 6s. Gissing, George. New Grub Street. 3 vols. Smith, Elder. Harland, Henry. Mea Culpa: a Woman's Last Word. 3 vols. IIarte, Bret. A Sappho of Green Springs, &c. With Frontispiece and Vignette by Hume Nisbet. Chatto and Windus. 6s. Holmes, Dr. Oliver Wendell. Over the Tea-cups: a Series of Papers of Reminiscences and Characteristic Reflections. 4th Edition. Sampson Low and Co. 6s. James, C. T. C. The Romantic Rigmarole of a Time out of Town. 2s. 6d. Jerome, Jerome K. Diary of a Pilgrimage. With upwards of One Hundred Illustrations by G. C. Fraser. 3s. 6d. Kennard, Mr. E. Landing a Prize: a Novel. 5th Edition. F. V. White. 2s. Kipling, Rudyard. The Light that Failed. Macmillan. 6s. Lowell, T. Russell. Writings. Riverside Edition. (In 10 vois.) Vol. VI. Literary and Political Addresses. 6,-. McCarthy, J. H. Doom: an Atlantic Episode. 5th Edition. Chatto and Windus. is. MacDonald, G. There and Back. 3 vols. Paul, Triibner and Co. 31s. 6d. Macquoid, Katherine S. Cosette. New Edition. Ward and Downey. 3-r. 6d. Marshall, Emma. A Romance of the Isle of Wight. Seeley and Co. is., is. 6d. Martineau, James. Essays, Reviews, and Addresses. Vol. 2. Ecclesiastical History. Longmans, js. 6V. Mitford, Bertram. A Romance of the Cape Frontier. Popular Edition. 3;. 6d. MOORE, G. Impressions and Opinions. Nutt. $s.  ## p. 333 (#397) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. o oo 1 ^ *? Nisbet, Hume. A Colonial Tramp : Travels and Adven- tures in Australia and New Guinea. 2 vols. Ward and Downey, yis. The Black Drop. Trischler. 2s. 6d. OLIPHANT, Mrs. Kirsteen: the Story of a Scotch Family Seventy Years Ago. New Edition. Macmillan. 3-r. 6d. Pater, W. Imaginary Portraits. New Edition. Mac- millan. 6;. Pawn, James. Sunny Stones, and Some Shady Ones. With a Frontispiece by Fred. Barnard. Chatto and Windus. y. 6d. Traed, Mrs. C. Miss Jacobsen's Chance: a Story of Australian Life. New Edition. (Two Shilling Library of Fiction.) Ward and Downey. 2s. The Soul of Countess Adrian. 2s. 6d. Prescott, Rev. P. The Salvation Army: The Secret of Its Success. A Message to the Churches. "Christian The Seal of Fate. Commonwealth Office." is. Pollock, Lady, and Pollock, W. II. Longmans. 6s. Pryce, Richard. The Quiet Mrs. Fleming. Methuen. 3s. 6d. Rae, W. F. An American Duchess. 3 vols. Hurst and Blackett. 3lr. 6d. "Rita." The Laird of Cockpen. 3 vols. F. V. White. 31s. 6d. Schopenhauer, A. Studies in Pessimism: A Series of Essays Selected and Edited by T. Bailey Saunders. 2nd Edition. Sonnenschein. 2s. 6d. The Art of Literature: A Series of Essays. Selected and Translated. With a Preface by T. Bailey Saunders. Sonnenschein. 2s. 6d. Sherard, R. H. The Type-written Letter. Trischler. is. Singleton, J. A Wild Blossom. Griffith, Farran and Co. is. Sully, James. Pessimism: a History and a Criticism. 2nd Edition. With New Preface. I or. 6<t. Warden, Florence. Pretty Miss Smith. Heinemann. 3'. 6d. Whitby, Beatrice. The Awakening of Mary Fenwick: a Novel. New Edition. Hurst and Blackett. 3s. 6J. Winter, John Strange. The Other Man's Wife. 2 vols. F. V. White. 21s. Yonge, Charlotte M. The Little Duke, Richard the Fearless. With Illustrations. New Edition. Mac- millan. y. 6d. Educational. Allcroft, A. H.,and Haydon, J. II. Latin Composition and Syntax. 2nd Edition. (Univ. Coll. Tutorial Series.) Clive. 2s. 6d. Co WHAM, J. II. School Organisation, Hygiene and Discip- line. Designed especially for the Guidance of Teachers in their Professional Training, and for use by Educa- tionists generally. (Cowham's Teacher's and Pupil Teacher's Course.) Westminster School Dtpdt. 3.5. 6J. Dixon, Edward T. The Foundations of Geometry. Deighton Bell and Co. 6s. Famous Golf Links. By Horace Hutchinson, Andrew Lang, H. S. C. Everard, T. Rutherford Clark, &c. With numerous Illustrations by F. P. Hopkins, T. Hodges, H. S. Ring, and from Photographs. Long- mans and Co. 6s. Lange, F. New Analytic Method of Learning Languages. I, Junior German. Hachette. 3s. 6d. Lock, Rkv. J. B. The Trigonometry of One Angle. Macmillan. 2s. 6d. NlXON, J. E. Latin Translations of Prose Extracts. From Authors only. King's Coll., Camb. 2nd Edition. 2s. 6d. net. Soames, L. An Introduction to Phonetics (English, French, and German), With Reading Lessons and Exercises. With a Preface by Dorothea Beale. (In- troductory Science Text Books.) Swan Sonnenschein. 6s. Todhunter, J. The Elements of Euclid: Books I and 2. For the use of Schools and Colleges. With Notes and Exercises. Macmillan. Is. Poetry and the Drama. Aldrich, T. B. The Sisters' Tragedy, and other Poems, Lyrical and Dramatic. Macmillan. y. 6d. Arnold, Sir Edwin. The Light of the World ; or, the Great Consummation. A Poem. 2nd Edition. Long- mans and Co. Js. 6d. Austin, Alfred. The Human Tragedy. 4th Edition. Macmillan. 5.?. Goldsmith, Oliver. Toems and Plays. Edited by Austin Dol*on. With Etchings by John Jellicoe and Her- bert Railton. 2 vols. (Temple Library.) Dent. IOJ. 6d. Music. Jenkins, David. David and Saul. An Oratorio for Soli, Chorus and Orchestra. The Words written by Dr. Brown. Novello. 3.1., 3*. &/. Mackenzie, A. C. Music to " Ravenswood " (Produced at the Lyceum Theatre, Sept., 1890). The Pianoforte Arrangement for Four Hands, by Battison Haynes. Novello. $s. Mundella, Emma. The Victory of Song. Chorus for Female Voices, Violins, Harp, and Pianoforte. The Poem written by Lewis Morris. Paper cover ir., 1st violin, 61/,; 2nd violin, fx/. ; 3rd violin, 6d.; harp, Novello. is. 1. WORK—Always in sight. 'i. SPEED—Highest Record, 1S1 words per minute. AEIttXMEJf T—Perfect and Permanent. 3. TYPE—Instantly interchangeable (21 kinds). mPHENNJOX—Uniform, being independent of touch, -4. PAPER—Takes any width, also 20 yards in length. THE HAMMOND TYPEWRITER CO., 50,QUEEN VICTORIA ST.,E,C.  ## p. 334 (#398) ############################################ 334 ADVERTISEMENTS. INDISPENSABLE TO EVERY AUTHOR. TYPE - WRITING. AUTHORS' MSS. CAREFULLY TRANSCRIBED. Writings by Post receive prompt attention. SCIENTIFIC & MEDICAL PAPERS A SPECIALITY. The Cost of Production. 2nd Edition. Price, 2s. 64. Methods of Publication. 2nd Edition. Price, 3s. H. GLAISHER, Strand, and all Booksellers. MRS. GILL, MISSES ERWIN, TYPE-WRITING OFFICE, 13, DORSET STREET, Portman SQUARE, W. ST. PAUL'S CHAMBERS, 19, LUDGATE HILL, E.C. Authors' MSS. carefully copied from CHARLES DICKENS. I/- per 1,000 words. One additional copy (carbon) supplied free of charge. References kindly permitted to many well-known Authors and The MSS. of Two Important Poems Publishers. Further particulars on application. for Sale. — Apply, TYPE - WRITING & SHORTHAND. A. P. WATT, JO, DARKE, M.T.S., 2, Paternoster Square. LION CHAMBERS, BROAD STREET, “The best of all Journals.” BRISTOL. Published every FRIDAY, price 2d. The advantages of Type-written Manuscript are LEGIBILITY, EDITED BY NEATNESS, Rapidity, and Ease of Manifolding. DR. ANDREW WILSON, F.R.s.e. AUTHORS' MANUSCRIPTS, &c., prepared for the Now is the time to subscribe. A New Vol. commenced Publisher. 4th April, 1890. Companies* Reports and patent agents Specifications Britten up and Post-card for Specimen Copy. Manifolded. LITHOGRAPHY from TYPING done in the best To be had at all Railway Bookstalls and Style. Newsagents, or direct from the Publisher- MEMORY LESSONS IN TYPING GIVEN BY 2, PATERNOSTER SQUARE, LONDON, E.C. POST. WRITE FOR TERMS. ESTABLISHED 1851. BIRKB E C K BANK, SOUTHAMPTON BUILDINGS CHANCERY LANE. TIIREE per CENT. INTEREST allowed on DEPOSITS, repayable on demand. TWO per CENT. INTEREST on CURRENT ACCOUNTS, calculated on minimum monthly balances, when not drawn below £100. STOCKS, SHARES, and ANNUITIES purchased and sold. SAVINGS DEPARTMENT. For the encouragement of Thrift the Bank receives small sums on deposit, and allows Interest, at the rate of THREE per CENT. per Annum, on each completed £1. Accounts are balanced and Interest added on the 31st March annually. FRANCIS RAVENSCROFT, Manager. HOW TO PURCHASE A HOUSE FOR TWO GUINEAS PER MONTH, OR A PLOT OF LAND FOR FIVE SHILLINGS PER MONTH, with immediate possession. Apply at Office of the BIRKBECK FREEHOLD LAND SOCIETY. THE BIRKBECK ALMANACK, with full particulars, post free on application. FRANCIS RAVENSCROFT, .Vanager. Send HE AL TH. A WEEKLY JOURNAL OF SANITARY AND DOMESTIC SCIENCE.  ## p. (#399) ################################################ AD VER TISEMENTS. iii. PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 1. The Annual Report. That for January, 1891, can be had on application to the Secretary. 2. The Author. A Monthly Journal devoted especially to the protection and maintenance of Literary Property. Issued to all members. 3. The Grievances of Authors. (Field & Tuer.) 2s. The Report of three Meetings on the general subject of Literature and its defence, held at Willis's Rooms, March, 1887. 4. Literature and the Pension List. By VV. Morris Colles, Barrister-at- Law. (Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C.) 35. 5. The History of the Societe des Gens de Lettres. By S. Squire Sprigge, Secretary to the Society, is. 6. The Cost of Production. In this work specimens are given of the most important forms of type, size of page, &c, with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds of books. 2s. 6d. 7. The Various Methods of Publication. By S. Squire Sprigge. In this work, compiled from the papers in the Society*s offices, the various kinds of agreements proposed by Publishers to Authors are examined, and their meaning carefully explained, with an account of the various kinds of fraud which have been made possible by the different clauses in their agreements. Price 3s. (A new Edition in the Press.) 8. " Copyright Law Reform. An Exposition of Lord Monkswell's Copyright Bill now before Parliament. With Extracts from the Report of the Commission of 1878, and an Appendix containing the Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lely. Eyre and Spottis- woode. is. 6d. Other works bearing on the Literary Profession will follow.  ## p. (#400) ################################################ iv. AD VER TISEMENTS. TO AUTHORS. IMPORTANT ADYANCE IN THE PRINTING ART. THE LINOTYPE COMPOSING MACHINE. "It is to the Printing Business of the present day what the inventions of Gutenberg and Caxton were to the primitive writing systems of the Fifteenth Century." "A Machine from which I cannot but anticipate effects equally extensive and beneficial to mankind."—The Right Hon. W. E. GLADSTONE, M.P. IThe Siwrtgp G'ompni; (limited) OFFER FOR SUBSCRIPTION £50,000 OF PREFERENCE SHARES OF £5 EACH, BEARING INTEREST AT THE RATE OF SIX PER CENT. PER ANNUM, in addition to a BONUS OF 50 PER CENT, upon all amounts of Two Preference Shares and upwards applied for to be giuen in fully-paid Ordinary £5 Shares thus entitling the holder to a further and future share of contingent profit. The Six per Cent, interest on the Preference Shares is already amply covered by income from Royalties (on Machines now placed and satisfactorily working in various leading newspaper and printing offices) and the capital to be raised from this issue of Preference Shares is for building Machines for which actual signed orders have been obtained by the Company. The field for these Machines is practically unlimited. The Preference Shares are payable in five instalments of £1 each, at intervals of not less than two months between each instalment. Interest at 5 per cent, will be paid on instalments in advance. The Company already possess manufacturing works at Manchester. Forms of Application for Preference Shares (with Bonus), with Copies of Reports, Pamphlets, and other information of the fullest character, can be obtained from the undersigned.— By order of the Board, W. C. THOMASON, Secretary. 6, Serjeants' Inn, Fleet Street, London, E.C., April, 1891. N.B.—Orders to view Linotype Midlines at work will be sent upon application to the Company's Secretary. Printed for the Society, by HARRISON Jfc SON'S, 45, 46, and 47, St. Martin's Lane, in the Parish of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, in the City of Westminster. 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. 01 Issue 12 (April 1891) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 01 Issue 12 (April 1891) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927&amp;view=1up&amp;seq=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1891-04-15-The-Author-1-12 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/249/1891-03-16-The-Author-1-11.pdf d38546ab86bcdd02dfd0ca03ca67641e PDF Text Text ���������������������������������� 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 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) 1891-03-16 Volume 1 Issue 11 Pages Page range in volume 281–308 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18910316 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin Vol. 1.- No. 11] MARCH 16, 1891. [Price, Sixpence. The Author. THE ORGAN OF THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS :: .. (INCORPORATED). CONDUCTED BY WALTER. BESANT. Published for the Society Bë ALEXANDER P. WATT, 2, PATERNOSTER SQUARE, LONDON, E.C. 1891.  ## p. 280 (#336) ############################################ ii. ADVERTISEMENTS. Messrs. METHUEN'S NEW BOOKS. | METHUEN'S NOYEL SERIES. 55. English Leaders of Religion. Side By S. BARING GOULD. URITH : A Story of Dartmoor, By S. BARING GOULD, Author of "Mehalah," "Arminell," &c. 3 vols. (Ready. Three Shillings and Sixpence. By HANNAH LYNCH. Messrs. METHUEN will issue from time to time a Series PRINCE OF THE GLADES. By HANNAH LYNCH, of copyright Novels, by well-known Authors, handsomely 2 vols. (Ready. bound, at the above popular price. The first voluntes (now GEORGE MEREDITH. A Study. Crown 8vo. (May. ready) are : By W. CLARK RUSSELL. F. MABEL ROBINSON. A MARRIAGE AT SEA. By W. CLARK RUSSELL, 1. THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. Author of "The Wreck of the Grosvenor," &c. 2 vols. (Ready, S. BARING GOULD. Author of “Mehalah,” Soc. THE LIFE OF ADMIRAL LORD COLLINGWOOD. . 2. JACQUETTA. By W. CLARK RUSSELL, Author of "The Wreck of the Grosvenor." Mrs. LEITH ADAMS (MRS. DE COURCY LAFFAN). With Ilustrations by F. BRANGWYN. 8vo. (Ready. 3. MY LAND OF BEULAH. By W. H. POLLOCK.. G. MANVILLE FENN. - FERDINAND'S DEVICE. By WALTER HERRIES POLLOCK. Post 8vo. 1S. 4. ELI'S CHILDREN. - (April By R. PRYCE. . S. BARING GOULD. Author of " Mehalah," GoC. THE QUIET MRS. FLEMING. By RICHARD PRYCE. 5. ARMINELL: A Social Romance. Crown 8vo. 3. 6d. . (Ready. EDNA LYALL. Author of " Donovan," Sr. By J. B, BURNE, M.A.. 6. DERRICK VAUGHÁN, NOVELIST. PARSON AND PEASANT : Chapters of their Natural With portrait of Author. History. By J. B. BURNE, M.A., Rector of Wasing. Crown 8vo. F. MABEL ROBINSON. . [Ready. By E. LYNN LINTON. 7. DISENCHANTMENT. THE TRUE HISTORY OF JOSHUA DAVIDSON, Other Volumes will be announced in due course. Christian and Communist. By E. Lynn LINTON. Tenth and Cheaper Edition. Post 8vo. 15. (Ready. Works by S. BARING GOULD, Author of “Mehalah," &c. Edited by A. M. M. STEDMAN, M.A. OLD COUNTRY LIFE. By S. BARING GOULD. With Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. Sixty-seven Illustrations by W. PARKINSON, F. D. BEDFORD, and . F. MASEY. Large Crown 8vo, cloth super extra, top edge gilt, A series of short biographies, free from party bias, of the 1os. 6d. Second Edition. most prominent leaders of religious life and thought in this "Old Country Life, as healthy wholesome reading, full of breezy and the last century. life and movement, full of quaint stories vigorously told, will not be excelled by any book to be published throughout the year. Sound, CARDINAL NEWMAN. R. H. Hutton. (Reair. hearty and English to the core."-World. JOHN WESLEY. J. H. Overion, (Ready HISTORIC ODDITIES AND STRANGE EVENTS. By S. BARING Govlp. FIRST SEries. Demy Svo, ios, 6d. Second Edition. "A collection of exciting and entertaining chapters. The whole volume is delightful reading." -Times. Crown 8vo. 28. 6d. SECOND SERIES. Under the above title Messrs. METHU EN have commenced HISTORIC ODDITIES AND STRANGE EVENTS. the publication of a series of books on historical, literary, SECOND SERIES. By S. BARING GOULD, Author of “Mehalah." ] and economic subjects, suitable for extension students and Demy 8vo. Tos, 6d. (Ready. “A fascinating book."- Leeds Mercury. home-reading circles. SONGS OF THE WEST : Traditional Ballads and Songs THE INDÚSTRIAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND.' By of the West of England, with their Traditional Melodies. Collected H. DE B. GIBBINS, M.A., late Scholar of Wadham College, Oxon., Cobden Prizeman. With Maps and Plans. (Ready. by S. BARING GOULD, M.A., and H. FLEETWOOD SHEPPARD, M.A. Arranged for Voice and Piano. in 4 Parts (containing 25 Songs LA HISTORY OF ENGLISH POLITICAL ECONOMY. each), 3s, each nett. Part I., Third Edition Part II., Second By L. L. PRICE, M.A., Fellow of Oriel College, Oxon., Extension Edition. Part III., ready. Part IV., in preparation. • Lecturer in Political Econoiny. (Ready. "A rich and varied collection of humour, pathos, grace, and poetic | VICTORIAN POETS. By A. SHARP. (Nearly Keady. fancy."-Satunlay Review. PROBLEMS OF POVERTY: An Inquiry into the YORKSHIRE ODDITIES AND STRANGE EVENTS. Industrial Conditions of the Poor. By J. A. HOBSON, M.A., late By S. BARING GOULD. New and Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo, 6s. Scholar of Lincoln College, Oxon., U. E. Lecturer in Economies. [Now Ready. (Ready. | THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. By J. E. Symes, M.A., TWO BOUK'S FOR BOYS. Cr. 8vo. Principal of University College, Nottingham. (Nearly Ready. MASTER ROCKAFELLAR'S VOYAGE. By W. Clark Russell, Author of “The Wreck of the Grosvenor," &c. Tilustrated by GORDON BROWNE. SYD BELTON; or, The Boy who would not go to Sea. 1. A series of volumes upon the most important topics of social, · By G. MANVILLE FENN, Author of “In the King's Namne," &c. economic, and industrial interest-written by the highest Illustrated by GORDON BROWNE. . TWO BOOKS FOR GIRLS. authorities on the various subjects. The first two volumes Cr. 8vo. 35. 6d. will be DUMPS. By Mrs. Parr, Author of "Adam and Eve," TRADES UNIONISM-New and Old. By G. Howell., “ Dorothy Fox," &c. Illustrated by W. PARKINSON. M.P. (Ready. A GIRL OF THE PEOPLE. By L. T. MEADE, Author POVERTY AND PAUPERISM. By Rev. L. R. PHELPS. of “Scamp and I," &c. Illustrated by R. BARNES. M.A., Fellow of Oriel College, Oxon. (4 pril. UNIVERSITY EXTENSION SERIES. SOCIAL QUESTIONS OF TO-DAY. METHUEN & Co., 18, Bury Street, W.C.  ## p. 280 (#337) ############################################ AD VER TISEMENTS. Zhc Society of Butbors (Jncorporateb). PRESIDENT. The Right Hon. the LORD TENNYSON, D.C.L. COUNCIL. Sir Edwin Arnold, K.C1.E. II. Rider Haggard. Alfred Austin. Thomas Hardy. A. W. k Beckett. Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S. Robert Bateman. J. M. Lely. Sir Henry Bergne, K.C.M.G. Rev. W. J. Loftie, F.S.A. Walter Besant. F. Max-Mullbr, LL.D. Augustine Birrell, M.P. George Meredith. R. D. Blackmore. Herman C. Merivale. Rev. Prof. Bonney, F.R.S. Rev. C. H. Middleton-Wake, F.LS. Lord Brabourne. J. C. Parkinson. James Bryce, M.P. The Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery. P. W. Clayden. Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., LL.D. Edward Clodd. Walter Herries Pollock. W. Martin Conway. A. G. Ross. Marion Crawford. George Augustus Sala. Oswald Crawfurd, C.M.G. W. Baptiste Scoones. The Earl of Desart. G. R. Sims. A. W. Dubourg. J. J. Stevenson. John Eric Erichsen, F.R.S. Jas. Sully. Prof. Michael Foster, F.R.S. William Moy Thomas. Herbert Gardner, M.P. H. D. Traill, D.C.L. Richard Garnett, LL.D. Edmund Yates. Edmund Gosse. Hon. Counsel—E. M. Underdown, Q.C. COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT. Chairman—Walter Besant. Robert Bateman. i W. Martin Conway. I H. Rider Haggard. I Sir Frederick Pollock. A. W. a Beckett. | Edmund Gosse. | J. M. Lely. I A. G. Ross. Solicitors. Messrs. Field, Roscoe, & Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. Secretary—S. Squire Sprigge. VOL. I. OFFICES. 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C. 2 A  ## p. 280 (#338) ############################################ AD VER TISEMENTS. The "Swan" is a beautiful Gold Pen joined to a rubber reservoir to hold any kind of ink, which it supplies to the writing point in a continuous flow. It will hold enough ink for two days' constant work, or a week's ordinary writing, and can be refilled with as little trouble as to wind a watch. With the cover over the gold nib it is carried in the pocket like a pencil, to be used anywhere. A purchaser may try a pen a few days, and if by chance the writing point does not suit his hand, exchange it for another without charge, or his money returned if wanted. There are various points to select from, broad, medium, and fine, every handwriting can be suited, and the price of the entire instrument, with filler complete, post free, is only 10/6. The Gold Pens in the " Swan " are Mabie, Todd & Co.'s famous make; they are 14-carat tempered gold, very handsome, and positively unaffected by any kind of ink. They are pointed with selected polished iridium. The "Encyclopaedia Britannica" says—"Iridium is a nearly white metal of high specific gravity, it is almost indestructible, and a beautifully polished surface can be gained upon it." They will not penetrate the paper, and writer's cramp is unknown among users of Gold Pens; one will outwear a gross of steel pens. They are a perfect revelation to those who know nothing about Gold Pens. Dr. Olives Wbsdell Holmes has used one of Mabie, Todd k Co.'s Gold Pens since 1857, and is using the same one (his " old friend ") to-day. Sydney Grundy, Esq., says—" It is a vast improvement on every Stylograph." Moberly Bell, Esq., Manager, The Times, says—" One pen lasted me for six years." S. D. Waddy, Esq., Q.C., M.P., says—" I have used them constantly for some years, and, as far as I can remember, have never failed me." Send Postal Card for Free Illustrated List (containing interesting Testimonials from the best people, who have used them for years) to MABIE, TODD I BARD, 93, CHEAPSIDE, LONDON.  ## p. 281 (#339) ############################################ %\it JCtttljar. (The Organ oj the Incorporated Society of Authors, Monthly.) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. I.—No. ii.] MARCH 16, 1891. [Price Sixpence. CONTENTS. Conditions of Membership Warnings Notes and News A Note on the New Act In the I.ast Ditch Do English People Buy Books 1... Un Debut Dans La Vie The Signed Article In Grub Street ... t The Parnassus Publishing Company Correspondence and Cases The Production of Vouchers On Advertisements fAGE . 281 . 281 .. 38a . 286 . 287 . 288 . 391 • 293 • 294 .. 298 • =99 ■ 399 . 300 Correspondence and Cases—continued— Authors and Reviewers Accepted... Literary Godchildren Gratuitous Contributions A Coincidence? The Authors' Club The Author's Book Stall New Books The Reading of MSS Publications of the Society Advertisements 300 301 301 301 303 303 303 304 3°6 306 307 CONDITIONS OF MEMBERSHIP. The Subscription is One Guinea annually, payable on the 1st of January of each year. The sum of Ten Guineas for life memljership entitles the subscriber to full membership of the Society. Authors of published works alone are eligible for member- ship. Those who desire to assist the Society but are not authors are admitted as Associates, on the same subscription, but have no voice in the government of the Society. Cheques and Postal Oiders should be crossed "The Im- perial Bank, Limited, Westminster Branch." Those who wish to be proposed as members may send their names at any lime to the Secretary at the Society's Offices, when they will receive a form for the enumeration of their works. Subscriptions entered after the 1st of October will cover the next year. The Secretary may be personally consulted between the hours of 1 p.m. and 5, except on Saturdays. It is preferable that an appointment should be made by letter. The Author, the Organ of the Society, can be procured through all newsagents, or from the publisher, A. P. Watt, 2, Paternoster Square, K.C. A copy will be sent free to any member of the Society for one twelvemonth, dating from May, 1889. It is hoped, however, that most members will subscribe to the paper. The yearly subscription is 6s. 6d., including postage, which may be sent to the Secretary, 4, Portugal Street, W.C. With regard to the reading of MSS. for young writers, the fee for this service is one guinea. MSS. will be read and reported upon for others than members, but members cannot have their works read for nothing. In all cases where an opinion is desired upon a manuscript, the author should send with it a table of contents. A type- written scenario is also of very great assistance. It must be understood that such a reader's report, however favourable, does not assist the author towards publication. WARNINGS. Readers of the Author are earnestly desired to make the following warnings as widely known as possible. They are based on the experience of six years' work upon the dangers to which liteiary property is exposed :— (1) Never to sign any agreement of which the alleged cost of production forms an integral part, unless an opportunity of proving the correctness of the figures is given them. (2) Never to enter into any correspondence with publishers, especially with advertising publishers, who are not recommended by experienced friends, or by this Society. (3) Never, on any account whatever, to bind themselves down for future work to any one firm of publishers. (4) Never to accept any proposal of royalty without con- sultation with the Society, or, at least, ascertaining exactly what the agreement gives to the author and what to the publisher. (5) Never to accept any offer of money for MSS., with- out previously taking advice of the Society. (6) Never to accept any pecuniary risk or responsibility without advice. (7) Never, when a MS. has been refused by respectable houses, to pay others, whatever promises they may put forward, for the production of the work. (8) Never to sign away American or foreign rights. Keep them. Refuse to sign an agreement containing a clause which reserves them for the publisher. If the publisher insists, take away the MS. and offer it to another. (9) Never forget that publishing is a business, like any other business, totally unconnected with philanthropy, charity, or pure love of literature. You have to do with business men. Society's Offices:— 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. vol. 1. 2 a 2  ## p. 282 (#340) ############################################ 282 THE AUTHOR. NOTES AND NEWS. —4 THE American Copyright Bill has passed, and unexpectedly. Thus ends, we hope, happily for all concerned, the long and bitter reproach of English authors and the hard battle of American authors. We shall no longer pirate and plunder and prey upon each other as the law permits. Now we begin to look round and to ask—what next? First, let us carefully consider the following question and answer found in the Parliamentary Debates on Saturday, March 7th. "Mr. Vincent asked the following question :— Bearing in mind the renewed declaration of the Prime Minister, on March 4th, to the Associated Chambers of Commerce, that English remonstrance on foreign commercial policy prejudicial to British trade at home or abroad is wholly futile under the present fiscal system, as we have no means of sup- porting the remonstrance, or giving any advantage in return for favourable concessions, what definite domestic action, asdistinguished from remonstrance, with a foreign power Her Majesty's Government proposes to take to prevent injury being done to industry and labour in the United Kingdom, and the probable disemployment of many workpeople concerned in the book trade, to restrain the transfer to America of the productions of the works of British authors desirous of securing American copy- tight by the use in the United States of American type or plates, and simultaneously enjoying copy- right in Great Britain and Ireland. "Mr. W. H. Smith.—We have no official know- ledge of the measure, and only know from the newspapers that it has been passed. It is quite impossible for me to express any opinion respecting its provisions until we see them. I do not know what changes may have been made in the Bill during its passage through Congress, and I am therefore quite unable to indicate what would be the policy or action of the Government with respect to it." 1 Quite so. We do hot know exactly what changes have been made in the Bill during its passage through Congress. Therefore we must wait until we do know. Meantime we have telegraphed for a copy of the Act. A meeting of the Council was called on March 12th, to consider the situation as changed by the passing of the International Copyright Act. The chair was taken by Sir Frederick Pollock. The following Resolutions were proposed and adopted:— (1.) That at this stage of the long struggle for International Copyright carried on in America by the Copyright League and other citizens of the United States, to secure copyright to foreign authors in the States and td remove the long existing hindrance to the natural growth of American literature, the congratulations of the Society be, and hereby are, expressed by the Council now assembled. (2.) That the Secretary be instructed on the arrival of the Act, to have it printed and to send a copy to every member of the Society, inviting their advice, suggestions, or criticisms on the probable working of the Act. (3.) That the Copyright Committee be re- quested to receive these criticisms and to draw up a report on the subject. (4.) That authors be warned meanwhile not to sign any agreements giving up their American rights , and not to accept any offers whatever that may be made until the Act shall be in working order. (5.) That the Society without delay draw up a Petition to the House of Lords, urging the immediate consideration of Lord Monkswell's Bill. —* Here are a few points which may be of use to u& They certainly will not be affected by any amend- ments that may have been carried. It will be news to many, as it was to me, to hear that in many cases it will be unnecessary to take out copyright, and that the practice will still con- tinue of sending over a whole edition in sheets and paying the duty, twenty-five per cent, on the cost of production. Take, for instance, a book which appeals to the scholarly and cultured class only, and therefore cannot possibly have a large sale. An edition of a thousand copies in sheets might Cost, say ;£ioo. The American publisher would pay .£125 for it. He would then produce it just as he does now, on the chance that no one else will pirate it. Why should they? It is too small a market to be interfered with. Or take a book with dainty and beautiful plates. This cannot be pirated because the plates cannot be cheaply and successfully imitated. It must be remembered that in considering whether it would pay to take out copyright, the cost of production in America is a much larger factor than it is in this country— wages are much higher, materials are higher. ♦— To those who expect a magnificent harvest immediately—a warning. Last month there was  ## p. 283 (#341) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 283 an attempt in the Author to show that America is taking rapid strides to the production of nearly all her own literature. Hitherto the great mass of her books have been of English origin. This is now true only of the ten cent novels. These, it is true, are English. But who can believe that the American will prefer to read of English manners and modes depicted in fiction, when he can get his own equally well presented and at the same price? At the same time, should there be any capable of really striking the popular imagination, he will do so in all the English-speaking countries alike. For him—- unless he gives himself away to the first offer— there is indeed hope. How many are there among the living who possess this power? In a few months we shall see. There is another point to be borne in mind. On this a word was said last month. The cheap libraries, even if they are not enlarged, will have another twenty years' run at least. To compete with them is like competing with the works of the dead, which can be issued by anybody and at any price. But they will continue to be enlarged. They will say to the English writers who are not so much in demand in America as to call for a copyrighted edition, "You will get nothing here except from us—we will give you twenty dollars for your rights." That offer will be accepted, and so the ten cent library will be continued. Again, even if a writer is popular, people will ask why they should give a dollar and a half for his new book when they can get all his old books at sixpence. The Anti-Jacobin suggests the danger that English writers may try to pander to American prejudices, manners, and custpms. I do not think this is a real danger, first, because no living English authors have ever remained long enough in the States to learn these prejudices. We know the American who travels on the Continent. We meet the American gentleman in society. But neither the rich American who can travel nor the American gentleman represents the great mass of the American people, who, again, differ widely among each other. There can be little resemblance between the prairie farmer and the New England lawyer—nor between the white folk of North Carolina and the trader of Chicago. Wp cannot pander to ordinary American prejudice, because we do not know anything about it. Lower down will be found a few notes on the practical working of the Bill which will not be affected by any amendments that may have been added. To these notes we add a very serious warning. Let the author be more than commonly careful in his agreements. He must reserve American rights by a special clause. He must take care not to accept the first offer that is made —men are already in the field trying to "rush" the British author, and, if he is wise, he will refuse to treat at all until he has seen how the new Act works. On the evening of the day when President Harrison signed the Bill, he received quite a little shower of letters and telegrams. They were lying on the Presidental pillow when, at midnight, he was about to climb into the gilded tour-poster assigned to the Chosen of the Caucus. One of them, from the shade of John Milton, began as follows: "Grandson of my friend the Regicide," it said, "I have witnessed with joy thine action of this day. Thy Republic at length proves itself a des- cendant of my own. Thou hast shaken off" the Iniquity of a hundred years. Thou hast set free thine own people in doing justice to another nation. Lo! I see in my mind a noble and a puissant nation rousing herself like a strong man after sleep and shaking her invincible locks; a nation npt slow and dull, but of a quick, ingenious, and piercing spirit; acute to invent, subtile and sinewy to dis- course. I see her as an eagle mewing her mighty youth, and kindling her undazzled eyes at the ful) mid-day beam." The rest need riot be quoted. Another was from Charles Dickens. "Fifty years ago," he said, "I beat the air with my fists, fondly thinking that I was fighting an easy battle against ignorance and greed. 'For fifty years the best of your own people have been vainly, until now, fighting that easy battle. You have shared with us our noble inheritance, the literature of the past; but the baser sort among you have stolen the literature of the present. It was unworthy of a nation desirous to be thought great. The loss you have inflicted upon us is that of dollars only. Upon yourselves you have inflicted the starvation of your own literature. Henceforth, however, what is yours is ours, and what is ours is yours. Farewell." There were also telegrams from Charles Reade, Wilkie Collins, Thackeray, George Eliot, and others. They were the same in effect, though the words differed. "We complain no longer," said Charles Reade. "Earthly injustice affects us not. Its memory has no longer any sting. Yet we rejoice that we stood up for honour and equity while we lived. And for those who have followed us, we are glad that your people have at last chosen the better way." These are noticeable communi- cations, and I hear that they are to be preserved in the Washington Library.  ## p. 284 (#342) ############################################ 284 THE AUTHOR. I am very pleased to publish the following com- munication from Professor Middleton, of King's College, Cambridge :— "After the many instructive warnings to authors which you have printed, with regard to what might politely be called the conventional morality of certain publishers, it may be a pleasure to turn to the other side of the picture, and receive a state- ment which will show that there are publishers in Britain whose practice is not only just in the highest sense of the word, but even goes beyond that, and amounts to real generosity. "I had an agreement with a well-known firm that they would publish a book of mine, and pay me for it a certain sum of money down, as soon as the book was printed. "This sum I received, expecting nothing further. "Some time after, without any suggestion of mine, I was informed by my publishers that they proposed to give me half-profits in addition to the lump sum they had paid me for the copyright of my book—a quite voluntary piece of generosity cn their part. Since then I have received, as half- profits, a sum about equal to the original payment for which I had bargained. "That is to say, that in consideration of my book being a success, the publishers have paid me nearly double of what they were bound to do. "Though I have no authority to do so, it can, I hope, offend no one if I mention that the pub- lishers referred to are Messrs. A. and C. Black, of Edinburgh and Soho Square, London." This document should be read prayerfully by certain reverend and revered friends of ours. Religion, we know, is not a thing of works, which are rags. Yet the carnal man remarks with surprise that a thing like this is done by the secular, not the sacred, publisher. Messrs. A. and C. Black were influenced by that spirit of justice which goes beyond the letter of the agreement. Professor Middleton, having signed his agreement, had no further claim, made none, expected nothing more, and entertained no other feeling towards his publishers than that of friendly content. Yet they went beyond their agreement. One is willing to believe that other cases of the kind are not un- known, though they are certainly infrequent. Personally, I would prefer such a system of publishing as would allow both publisher and author to know beforehand in what proportion results would be apportioned, and such a system I hope that we shall arrive at Then indeed will come the Golden Age, and we may all crown ourselves with garlands, take down our harps and sing madrigals by purling brooks, authors and publishers together, while the world looks on envious and admiring. ♦ There was held a dinner, the other day, of Pub- lishers and Booksellers. I hope that, before long, the other branch, perhaps the lower branch, of the Literary Profession—that of the Authors— may be admitted, as a branch, to this gathering. The chair was taken by Mr. John Murray, Junior. A person, whom I once believed to be a friend, brought me, the day after the dinner, a paper containing what purported to be an extract from his speech. I am a credulous creature, and I sent it to press. I have since discovered that I was the victim of a hoax. These words, in fact, did not form part of the speech. Nevertheless, as they seem to me brave and honest words, and such as one would expect from the heir apparent of the House of Murray, I prefer to believe that they were spoken. The following, then, is the forged docu- ment in question:— The Chairman then alluded—it does not appear from the reports that he so much as mentioned the Society—to the Society of Authors. "This associa- tion of writers "—really, he said nothing of the kind—" has of late proved that it aims at becoming a great power in the world of living literature. It has detected and exposed many of the cheats and robberies practised by the dishonest members of our trade: it has caused restitution to be made to many victims; it has diverted a great amount of business into the hands of honourable houses. For these reasons, gentlemen, we have every cause to congratulate ourselves upon its prosperity and activity. We ought to welcome any step which helps to purify the moral atmosphere and maintain the honour of the calling by which we live. Recently the Society has issued two books which are, I venture to say, the most noteworthy things ever done for the higher interests of publisher and author. The first of these, called the ' Methods of Publication,' shows exactly what is meant by every kind of agreement—what the publisher offers the author and the author cedes to the publisher. It also shows the frauds which are commonly practised. This exposure will be new to most of us here present. But it cannot fail to do great good. The next book is called the 'Cost of Production.' By these two books the author is, for the first time, placed in the position of knowing what his agreement means, namely, what risks his publisher runs, if any, what are his reasonable expectations, and how the joint venture is shared. Gentlemen, an honourable man has nothing—he can have nothing—to conceal. We therefore rejoice at the publication of these books, and we congratulate the Society upon the steps it has taken."  ## p. 285 (#343) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 285 The enclosed is a sign of the times. It has been sent to me by one of the promoters of the movement We shall rejoice to learn that the new Association is flourishing. Meantime, why women alone? Why not men and women? "We the undersigned, pledge ourselves as authors who believe in pure literature and high standards of literary work, to co-operate as members of a Society to be known as— "The Authors' Guild of American Women. "We are convinced that union is strength and consultation a source of education; and we hereby pledge ourselves to aid each other in all legitimate channels of work; to exercise our utmost diligence to purify publications; and to insist that literary work performed by women, if worthy of publication, is also worthy of just remuneration." ♦ The following communication needs no com- ment. One might, however, point out to the people concerned, that these things get talked about and do not improve the name of the House concerned. Also, that authors are getting more shy and suspicious every day, and more inclined to inquiry. "In December last, induced by a friend, I sent a MS. to a certain firm of publishers. Hearing nothing about it I wrote in January two letters to them, pointing out that delay would destroy my chance of publication for the season, and requesting their answer or the MS. They did not vouchsafe a word of reply for some weeks, when I received a curt note informing me that my MS. would be returned if I sent stamps for the purpose. I sent stamps, and after two or three days I got back the MS., all crushed, dirtied, and disordered. On putting it to rights I found one section missing, I wrote again, and after another delay of some days, the missing part was sent to me without one word of apology." The preceding case of discourtesy on the part of a publisher is capped by a case of equal dis- courtesy on the part of an editor—a religious paper this. Religion, we know, forgives every kind of sin, which is why sweaters flourish in religious societies and editors of religious papers behave like the gentleman mentioned below, "In September an author sent to this editor an article for his magazine. He was careful to enclose a stamped and addressed envelope in accordance with the directions to contributors. "He waited five months in patience. He then wrote, politely pointing out that he had heard nothing about it. "No reply at all. "He waited nine days and then wrote again, say- ing that if he obtained no reply he should lay the matter before this Society. "The MS. was promptly returned, but without a single word of explanation or commentary." An editor has, no doubt, to wade through a vast quantity of rubbish, but that is no excuse for absolute discourtesy. The preliminary Committee of the Authors' Club has been formed, It will begin to meet at once in order to draw up a working scheme for the foun- dation of the Club on a stable basis. The Authors' House will not be forgotten, should there be found room for it after the establishment of the Club. I beg to announce that I am not a member of this Committee, a statement which will perhaps make it unnecessary henceforth for the irresponsible paragraph writer to call it my club. But I hope they will elect me a member. The little exhibition of bindings of which mention was made last month is at Tregaskis', Holborn. It is now open to the public. All those who care for binding should visit the place before the books are dispersed. I once more invite members of the Society to consider the Author the natural home for all kinds of questions, cases, points, difficulties, anecdotes, &c, connected with literature. I do so because there is a danger that the paper should be regarded as nothing more than the organ of counsel and advice as regards agreements. That—most cer- tainly. But we are not always signing agreements, and in the world of letters there are many interests. ♦ The lovers of the works of Richard Jefferies are rapidly increasing in numbers and in enthusiasm. I am sure that a great many of them are on the lists of the Society—among our 750. Be it known to these that a bust of this great interpreter of Nature has been executed, that the Eishop and Dean of Salisbury has granted permission to place it in the Cathedral—and that the subscriptions still fall short of the amount required. Will every reader of this note—that is, every reader who can appre- ciate the "Pageant of Summer "—send me some- thing towards the completion of this work? I do not beg in the name of Literature generally, of all authors, but only of those who belong with me to the company of those who feel that never did any man write of field and wood, of hillside and of  ## p. 286 (#344) ############################################ 286 THE AUTHOR. hedge, as this man wrote. The treasurer of the fund is Mr. Arthur Kinglake, but I will receive subscriptions and send them on. On Friday last the first performance at the English Free Theatre took place. The piece was Ibsen's " Ghosts." The accounts of the play differ a good deal. If the critic is an ardent Ibsenite he says that it is a most beautiful play. If he is not, he says that it has all the faults which an acting play ought not to have. If he is a disciple he says it is a most wonderful sermon. If he is not, he says that sermons are things which can, and should, be delivered before the whole people with open doors, not with shut doors and in fear of the Lord Chamberlain. One thing is agreed upon by all, that the piece owed whatever success it ob- tained entirely to the acting of one lady. I suppose that Ibsen has some message to deliver or he would not have so many admirers. Meantime, let us for the present suspend our judgment on the new Free Theatre. Walter Besant. * A NOTE ON THE NEW ACT. ON and after July ist, authors, no matter what their nationality, will be able to acquire copyright in the United States, to add sixty millions to their "public." It is simply impossible to exaggerate the importance of such a change, not only to "popular" writers, but to the authors of all standard works. We hope in the next num- berof the Author to give the Revised Statute as it will pass into law. But, meanwhile, sundry considera- tions suggest themselves. The conditions attached to the acquisition of copyright are not a little onerous. Imprimis, it is necessary (i) that before the day of publication (in any country) the applicant should deliver at the office of the Librarian of Congress, &c, a printed copy of the title of the "book, map, chart, dramatic or musical composition, engraving, cut, print, photograph, or chromo, or a description of the painting, drawing, statue, statuary, or a model or the design for a work of the finearts for which he de- sires a copyright"; and (2) "not later than the day of publication" (in any country), deliver at the office of the Librarian of Congress two copies of such copyright " book," &c, or in the case of a painting, &c., a photograph of the same. But in the case of a "book" it is provided (3) that the said copies shall be "printed from type set within the limits of the United States, or from plates made therefrom." This provision was extended by the famous "chromo amendment," so as to require engravings, cuts, prints, photographs or chromo lithographs to be printed from engravings, cuts, negatives, or drawings on stone made within the limits of the United States, or from transfers made therefrom. But, according to Reuter's cablegram of the 2nd inst., this amend- ment was amended by the Conference Committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives so as to confine its operation to "lithographs, chromos, and photographs," all of which, to be the subject of American copyright, must, we take it, have been "produced" within the States. A question at once arises as to the definition put by American law upon the term "book." Does it include, as in England, "every volume, part of a volume, pamphlet, sheet of letterpress, sheet of music, map, chart, or plan separately published "? If so, obviously, the necessity of securing cony- right arises from the commencement of publication. It will be necessary, for instance, in order to obtain American copyright, to duly deliver each and every part of a serial story or work published in parts. But as against this it may surely be argued that the "day of publication" is the day of first publication in complete form. (4) The "person claiming" the copyright, may again, it appears, from Section 4952 of the Revised Statutes, be the "author, inventor, designer, or proprietor of any book," &c.—a sufficiently wide definition. Is it intended that anyone, acquiring priority, should, by going through the necessary formalities, become the owner of the copyright? Or is it necessary that he must acquire rights from the author or his assigns? The effect of the Bill upon the English publishers, printers, compositors, bookbinders, and paper- makers cannot as yet be determined. But the fears which are openly expressed that New York will become the centre of the book trade, are, we believe, exaggerated. If English "stereo" is ex- cluded from the States, in the case of copyright works, it is practically certain that American "stereo" will prove useless in England. The differ- ence in typography alone would prove a fatal objection. The same remark applies to the im- portation of sheets or bound volumes from the States. It may, too, be remarked that in case it should be necessary, there exists a useful machinery under the Merchandize Marks Act. If there is any doubt as to the "country of origin," the Customs author- ities can require this to be declared on every copy. "Printed frpm type set within the limits of the United States " would pot, in England, be a popular line on a title-page, The "cost of production" will, too, thanks to the McKinley tariff, remain much higher in the States than in England, and English papermakers and bookbinders have not much to fear.  ## p. 287 (#345) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 287 IN THE LAST DITCH. "/^VNE of the oddest and most unfortunate I I phenomena in the history of the copy- right discussion," says the New York Nation, "is the appearance every now and then, when the Pirates are ready to throw up their hands and ask for quarter, of some moralist or theologian to cheer them up and encourage them to make some further resistance, by proclaiming that the poor men have done nothing wrong, and that we musi not call them hard names or despitefully use them." The last appearance of the moralist or the- ologian, one is pleased to observe, is that of an Englishman. Not an American at all. An Englishman of letters. A very distinguished man of letters. His name is here suppressed because he does not appear to have sent his protest to any English organ. He has been protesting in an American paper against certain harsh language used towards the House of Representatives for failing to pass the Copyright Bill last session. As regards the bad language, it never did any good to call names, and it never will. Yet we shall always continue to call names because it relieves the feelings. Hear, however, the Nation further in the matter. "But what concerns us now is the reasons Mr. A. gives for deprecating vituperation. One of them is that all property, and especially literary property, is the creation of law, and that copyright is 'a purely artificial privilege,' and that, therefore, it is highly indecent to speak of persons who publish other men's works without paying for them, as 'thieves' or 'pirates.' That this man should offer the world, in such a cause, the plea that property is the creation of law is very curious, because there is hardly a step in the creation of the present English Constitution, from Magna Charta down, which was not a protest, in some shape, against the doctrine that a man's moral right to his goods and chattels is at all dependent on the provision made by law for his protection in the enjoyment of them. The great doctrine that taxation without representation is a thing to be resisted with the sword, if necessary, rests on the very proposition which Mr. A. denies. When Hampden refused to pay the ship-money because he had not voted it through his representatives, seven of the twelve judges decided against him, and his refusal was therefore illegal; but he per- sisted in it, nevertheless, to the death, and all Englishmen now hold his memory in reverence therefor. The amount was trifling, but, as has been finely said, if he had paid it he would have been a slave. "Property, in truth, in its moral aspect, is no more a creation of law than justice is. It was created, as justice was, by the appearance of a second man on the globe. On each of the two there then descended that great moral obligation which the friends of copyright now seek to have embodied in legislation—the obligation not to steal and not to covet his neighbour's goods, his ox or his ass, his man-servant or maid-servant, his wife, 'or any- thing that is his.' This obligation existed before either Parliaments or kings, before even the Ten Commandments. It arose out of the very nature of things. Mr. A. confounds, as do thousands of inferior men, the question of right with the question of security. Law cannot give a man a moral right to the product of his labour, nor can it take it away from him, a good illustration of which rule is to be found in the institution of slavery. The law deprived the negro of all legal rights, but it could not touch any of his moral or natural right.'. What the law does for property is to give it security. It can, by denying security, as in the case of literary property, make it worthless, but it cannot lessen the owner's right to it. It cannot diminish the moral guilt of stealing it from him. What the apologists of Pirates mean, therefore, when they talk of the law as a 'creator of property,' is simply that no man can, without the help of the law, get from property the sum of those pleasures which make it valuable. This may be true, but how can this fact excuse in the forum of morals the man who avails himself of this absence of legal defence to appropriate as much of his neighbour's goods as he takes a fancy to? Is it possible that when Arabs strip travellers in the desert, the offence is not robbery, but a failure of the law to create pro- perty in watches, guns, and camels in that particular region? "Mr. A., in like manner, when he comes to speak of copyright as 'a special privilege,' con- founds plagiarism and piracy. This is the most fertile source of misunderstanding in the whole discussion. What is a plagiarist? It is, says the dictionary, a man 1 who purloins the words, writ- ings, or ideas of another and passes them off as his own.' Now, it is no easy thing to convict a man of this offence unless he makes long textual extracts. The ownership of an idea, and even of forms of expression, is generally very difficult to trace. The same idea often occurs to hundreds of men at the same time, and often finds very similar expression at the hands of hundreds of different authors or writers. Therefore defenders of literary property have never attempted to set up the doctrine of 'property in ideas' which opponents of copyright are so fond of attacking. They have never maintained that it is or ought to  ## p. 288 (#346) ############################################ 288 THE AUTHOR. be unlawful to use a thought uttered by one man for the moral or mental culture of another man, or of forbidding the reproduction, in one man's book or speech, of as many ideas of other men as he can collect or re-cast to suit his purpose. Authors or writers who do this a good deal, un- doubtedly incur discredit by it with their fellows and the general public. It greatly damages a writer's fame to be rightfully accused of want of originality, or of imitation, or of getting materials at second-hand. But no one has ever proposed to punish or restrain this sort of misappropriation by law. No one has ever contended for the infliction on the purloiners of other men's ideas of any penalty but ridicule or disgrace, although their name is legion and their depredations ruthless and notorious; and yet a very large proportion of the Pirates and their apologists expend all their strength in showing that one man may lawfully appropriate another man's ideas for his own use or behoof, or even present them to the world as the product of his own brain, "What the champions of copyright, both national and international, assail is, not the appropriation of one man's ideas for another man's use and behoof, but the sale of one man's ideas and forms of expression in open market by another man in com- petition with the author. This is 'piracy,' This is what we ask to have stopped and punished by law. We do not say to Pirates, You shall not take the Blacks' Encyclopaedia to your home and pre- pare articles and speeches or even books out of its rich stores of information, and, if you are dis- honest enough to do so, give them to the world as your own, or absorb as much of the facts and ideas as your mental powers will permit. What we say is, You shall not, while denying the right of property in it in the hands of the original author or compiler, tseat it as property in your own hands, and offer it for sale in competition with the man whom you are plundering." ■ * DO ENGLISH PEOPLE BUY BOOKS? THE theory that English people never buy books has long been a commonplace with writers of leading articles and press para- graphs. It is one of those fine old truths which are not to be questioned: it is taken as proved. The undoubted fact that novels are published at a price which prohibits their purchase, is held to establish the theory, which is irrefutable from a certain point of view—that naturally taken by one who buys books from him who creates them. Without doubt, while the prices of books were high, and when the book club provided all the new books, very few even of the richer households bought books at all. The book clubs, however, have nearly all vanished; their place has been only partly, not altogether, taken by the Circulating Libraries. The country has become very much richer than it was a half century since; it has also become much more populous: the education of the people has been enormously developed, and the taste for reading has grown with the education of the people. Therefore it would seem as if the circulating libraries alone would hardly suffice for the wants of the reading public, In addition, the last half century has witnessed the growth of the colonial empire from a few hundred thousands to something like twenty millions. And they have no circulating libraries at all. Yet they read. Let us, however, for the moment disregard the colonial demand. What do we see at first sight? Take, first, our own houses. Everybody knows the house where the dining room contains a bookcase filled with books which are never changed and never taken down. Gibbon is there; Robertson is there; probablyBlair'ssermons; HumeandSmollett; a Gazetteer; an edition of the Spectator. Formerly, that is to say, twenty years ago, or so, this book- case contained all the books of the house. Now, however, there are other shelves—a case in the drawing room filled with poetry and pretty editions: a bookcase in the school room, or breakfast room, filled with modern and new books—there will you find Rider Haggard, Stevenson, Lang, Black, Hardy, Blackmore, the newest essayist, not to mention Dickens, Thackeray, George Eliot, Collins, and Reade. There you will find evidence that somebody or other in the house not only knows contemporary literature but buys it, and that plentifully, and with no sparing hand, Again, watch the bookstall at a London railway station. The place is not a stall, it is a great shop filled with new books. Here are all the newest works, the biographies, the dozens of Series, the novels, the essays—everything, Stand beside the place for a quarter of an hour before the departure of the express. Look at the people. They crowd about the stall: they are all buying books. Con- sider that this goes on every hour from morning till night—for twelve hours, or thereabouts, the people flock to this stall and buy books. Consider, further, that there are a dozen such stations in London, and that the same thing goes on at every big town in the United Kingdom. Will you still consider us a nation which does not buy books? But—a point which seems to make against the extension of the book trade—the country book- sellers' shops have certainly decreased in import-  ## p. 289 (#347) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 289 ance and in profits during the last half century. That is quite true. The bookseller of the old county town was a person of great weight and con- sideration. He had down all the new books, the clergy and the reading public of the place looked upon his shop as a place where literary news could be heard and the new books examined. But then there was no other way of getting the literary news. The country papers had none, the London literary papers went but little out of London, the people seldom went to town. They were therefore de- pendent upon the local bookseller, who, as one who studies his market, provided for his customers the things which he knew they would take. Also, a thing of the greatest importance, there was no dis- count of threepence in the shilling, and the published price was high. A bookseller who sold a book for 1 of. 6d. which he had purchased for 7*., managed to do very well. He was a substantial person: on the social ladder he ranked first among the trades- men: he stood next to the solicitor and the doctor. Now, he has to give a discount of three- pence in the shilling. His half-guinea volume is reduced to three and six, which he sells for two and eight, and for which he pays two shillings. Therefore, he is fain to sell, in addition to books, stationery, photographs, albums, fancy things, and perhaps toys. His customers are independent of him; they learn easily from the reviews all that goes on; they order their books from London, or from the railway stall, and they desert the local shop. The book trade, in fact, has increased a thousand- fold, and yet the bookseller has decayed. Consider, next, the publishers' lists. I have before me the Athenaum, which contains, I sup- pose, more book advertisements than any other paper. This single number represents fourteen firms of publishers, most, in fact, of what are called leading publishers. It is by no means the best publishing time of the year. Yet, leaving out the books which are announced only, no price being affixed, we find an astonishing activity. Of biographical works there are 28, ranging in price from 2s. 6d. to £5 55.; of essays there are 29, namely, 9 at 2s. 6d., 3 at 3f. 6d., 3 at 5s., 7 at 6s., 1 at 7*., 1 at 7f. 6d, 1 at 9f., and 4 at iof. 6d. Of fiction there are some 90 works, counting new books and new editions, viz., 17 at 3 if. 6d., 9 at 2 if., 1 at i7f., 24 at 6s., 1 at i2f., 3 at 7f. 6d., 29 at 3f. 6d., 1 at sf., 4 at 2f. 6d., and two or three at 2f. We may pass over art books, histories, and one or two books of travel. If we look at this advertisememt sheet in another three months, most of these books will be changed for others. Now, if you please, for whom are these books published? For the circulating libraries? They may take all the three volume novels. For whom are the other books issued? For the general public. These advertisements represent the sale of, at least, half a million volumes; and, to repeat, the lists will be all changed in three months' time. Is that, then, the whole life's duration of our modern literature? It is of the great majority of books that are published. We remark on the price of these books. The favourite prices are 6s. and 3f. 6d. The books most bought are novels either at that price, or those in the cheaper form at 2f., which are not generally advertised in the Athenaum. And the novels which become popular retain their vitality for many years. Not to speak of Scott, Dickens, or Marryat, any popular novel of the last forty years is popular still. But these, remember, are only the advertisements of a casual week. Consider, one after the other, the general list of a great publisher, that long and encyclopaedic document embracing all subjects, and all authors, dead and living; think of the lists of the religious publishing houses, which cater chiefly for the uncultivated class, and administer doctrine disguised as fiction; think of the immense lists of books by the so-called popular houses, which issue cheap literature. One would like to have an enumeration and an analysis of all the books at this moment offered to the British public by the publishers. Certain it is that no shop could contain a tenth portion. Yet they are in demand—else they would be withdrawn from the list. For whom are these thousands of books published, and year after year reprinted? For this folk who never buy books. In fact, a great change has come over us in this as in every other respect. Increased ease in cir cumstances with an increased taste for letters has caused us to buy books as we never bought them before. We are now buyers on a gigantic scale. Every good book is caught up eagerly. There is no longer the slightest foundation for the old bogie of risk; there is no risk about a good book except the risk of over-printing, which no prudent man will incur; there are novelists, not by ones or twos, but by the score, whose books are in demand unknown even to such admirable writers as, say, Mrs. Gaskell, of thirty years ago. The three volume novel has its run as of old; I have not heard that it is decreasing in demand; but when the cheap edition of it comes out, if it is a favourite, it is bought by the very people who have first read it from the library. Whether we devote as large a proportion of our expenditure to buying books as we should is another question. The mind must be nourished as well as the body; it requires continual reception of new facts, new thoughts, new theories, new lights, new arguments. It requires continually to be refreshed by the exhibition of the old things. In an ordi- nary middleclass household the wife spends ^400 a  ## p. 290 (#348) ############################################ 290 THE AUTHOR. year on her house ; the husband, ,£75 a year on his wine ; the family, jQi 50 a year on clothes ; the same amount on travelling; there is also rent; there are the hundred and fifty little things in which money is wasted all day long. How much is spent on books? Formerly, three guineas a year. That was all. Only three guineas a year for the circu- lating library and for books, nothing, except a birthday present or two, and what the children bought out of their pocket money. But as for any idea that it is the duty of a man of culture to buy his mental food as he buys his meat and bread, that had not dawned upon their minds, nor has it yet, though, for convenience sake, people have begun to buy, and will, before long, buy yet more largely. It will be now understood from these considera- tions why we drew up certain questions and sub- mitted them to certain well-known booksellers in London; our best thanks are due for the courtesy with which these questions have been answered. They were not meant to be inquisitive or prying questions, but general, and directed mainly to finding an answer to the question at the head of this paper. Had not the views already expressed been confirmed, in the main, by these answers, they would not have been advanced. The following, therefore, is summarised from the replies received. Those received from different houses are put together so as to present a con- tinuous opinion. Every well-educated Englishman buys some books. In every house will be found shelves filled with books, chiefly new, and in most houses there is a library, or study, or school room. Students of all kinds have to buy their text books—a large trade ir| itself; most professional men have a taste for reading, and are frequently very good buyers. Schoolboys, besides having to buy school books, and young clerks, are great buyers of the cheap reprints of Lytton, Ainsworth, Dickens, Jules Verne, &c, which are sold at 4^1. a copy. Ladies are not, as a rule, good book buyers, except of books for children, and for household purposes; when they do buy, it is the two shilling novel. Country people and visitors buy a great many books. City men are often large and constant buyers. Some have their favourite authors, and buy everything that bears the name. The ordinary middle-class Englishman, he who lives by his shop, does not, as a rule, buy or read books at all. His daily paper is sufficient for him. Yet he will, on occasion, buy something that strikes his imagination, or that is much talked about. Opinions differ as to the best price for selling a novel. One, for instance, finds that the price of 6s. is paid as readily as that of 35. 6d. Another says that the best way to treat an author is to publish him in uniform binding at 3s. 6d. In the case of a really good and lasting work it seems best to have several editions at 6.?., at 3s. 6d., and at 2s. The 6d. books have an enormous sale. They are generally editions of books whose copy- right is lapsed. There is, therefore, no author to be considered. If 100,000 copies go off, the publisher gets id. a copy, and the bookseller id., and so a handsome profit is realised. There is always a great demand for old works of fiction. Dickens, Thackeray, George Eliot, Scott, Marryat, Charles Kingsley, and Wilkie Collins, still continue in greater popularity than any living writers. The bookseller suffers the living writers to drop out of his shelves, but always keeps them well stocked with these dead writers. Books of travel very quickly die when the first curiosity is satisfied. Yet there are a few excep- tions. Darwin's "Voyage of the Beagle," the "Voyage of the Sunbeam," Waterton's Travels, Cook s Voyages, are always in steady demand. Very few people buy new poetry. Yet for Tennyson, Browning, Swinburne, Edwin Arnold, Mathew Arnold, and Longfellow there is always a steady demand. As regards essays: these vary with the subjects. For steady demand we may mention John Morley's Essays, Charles Lamb, Lubbock's "Pleasures of Life," Carlyle, &c, while for sudden popularity may be cited Augustine Birrell and Jerome. Books of biography possess either a wide interest soon satisfied, as in the life of a man recently dead, or an abiding interest as is shown in the steady demand for the many series now before the world. Books of history are always in demand. The most popular are Macaulay, Green, and Froude. The " Story of the Nations " series is very popular. The most popular American authors are, taking them in order of demand—Mark Twain, Bret Harte. Marion Crawford (if he is to be reckoned an American), and Howells, Henry James, Holmes, Emerson. Foreign books do not compare in popularity with native productions. Daudet, Georges Ohnet, Boisgobey, Gaboriau, Dumas, Eugene Sue, Jules Verne, are largely asked for. The discount of $d. in the is. has been much discussed by the trade. A Booksellers' Associa- tion has been formed to consider this among other matters. They have come to the conclusion that the discount must be retained, but that it must not be increased. As regards the extent of the colonial trade, no statistics have been furnished, and perhaps one cannot expect to arrive at any. But one book- seller pertinently points out that many houses are  ## p. 291 (#349) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 291 engaged in nothing else but the export of books, a fact which proves that the trade is very great. Enough has been adduced to prove that it can no longer be charged against us that we do not buy books. On the contrary, we buy vast quan- tities. Whether we buy as many as we ought, considering the number we read, is another matter. In our next number we may perhaps, by some analysis of publishers' lists, arrive at a closer estimate of the vast national interest of what is familiarly called the Trade. UN DEBUT DANS LA VlE. "OU are now, Martha Londers," said the Matron of the Orphanage, "about to enter upon the duties and responsibilities of life. Your career begins to-day. It depends upon yourself where it ends. It may be that you will rise to be housekeeper in a mansion, or even —such things have happened—to be Matron of an Institution." Martha Londers blushed; that is to say, a naturally rosy face .became fiery red, or even, in spots, purple; then she smiled—with breadth; then her eyes became humid, and a big tear, not of sorrow, but of joyful, emotional hope, swam gently over the amplitude of her cheek; and her nose, naturally broad, widened and glistenedi The occasion was great; the emotion of Martha was natural; for the first time in her life she was going to leave the retreat of the Orphanage, and to enter upon the world. All was before her: she was seventeen years of age, and she was beginning her career as assistant housemaid. What then? Many a field marshal has begun as a common soldier: many an archbishop has risen from the plough. To have one foot upon the ladder, even it be the lowest rung, is something. Martha Londers had two—solid and substantial feet they were—and she felt as if she must rise. "You must be ambitious," continued the Matron. "Remember that your present wages— they will be ten pounds at first"—Martha gasped and choked—" are only a beginning to one who is ambitious. She who means to rise must show her ambition by her work. She must be active, early rising—I think I have detected in you, Martha, a tendency to an inclination to love your bed— thorough and zealous. Let all that you do be well done, thoroughly done—done in earnest—done as if you meant it to be so well done that not even the most scrupulous housewife could detect a fault With these maxims to guide you, Martha Londers, I may safely leave you. To some girls I should add a warning about beauty being only skin deep,"—where, as in Martha's case, it is deeper than that, it sinks below the surface and becomes invisible.—"To you I would only say that temp- tation to all women, beautiful or otherwise, fre- quently assumes the shape of Man. Beware, therefore." "He will be home," said the housemaid, "to morrow morning. The Master's study has been left to the last. You can do it this morning, Martha. As he won't have it touched while he is at home, make a good job of it" It was eight o'clock in the morning. The day was all before her. Martha felt that her work— she had only been- in the house two days—was already appreciated. She had been kindly allowed to scrub the greater part of the house from garret to cellar, and she was now entrusted with the important mission of cleaning up the Master's study. Everybody in the collecting line knows the name of that Master. No man had a safer judg- ment about Aldines and Elzevirs; his collection of Elizabethan poets was almost complete; he knew the prices of books better than Mr. Bain himself; and he could talk by the hour of the prices which books had fetched. Then for bindings, he knew the work of everyone, Maioli, Grolier, Eve, Derome —all—and he possessed specimens which were the envy of all his brother collectors. Again, he had books which belonged to the library of Marie Antoinette, of Madame Du Barry, Madame de Pompadour, and others whose books are valuable for their bindings and their rarity. In fine, the chase of books was the chief occupation of his life. What sayeth "A. L" in his book of the Library? "Pour tout plaisir que Ton goute icy-bas La Grace a Dieu. Mieulx vaut, sans altercas, Chasser bouquin. Nul mat n'en peult s'eh suivre. Or sus au livre; il est le grand appas. Clair est le ciel. Amis, qui veult me suivre En bouquinant?" He was a man—say, rather, a collector—of catholic tastes, not bounded by books alone though his real strength lay in books. He had, for instance, on a great study table beside the catalogues which formed his library of reference, trays of valuable coins; he had Things—he called them Things—in bronze, Things in brass, Things in silver; panels lay about with wood carvings upon them—precious carvings picked up at sales, in brie h. brae shops, Things from city churches which they were pulling down, Things from Egypt, Things from Etruscan tombs, Things from Phoenicia, Things from Tunis, Things from Spain, Things ancient, Things mediaeval. The study, in short, a large and  ## p. 292 (#350) ############################################ 292 THE AUTHOR. handsome room on the first floor of a big house in Fitzjohn's Avenue, was crammed and crowded with old and curious Things. And Martha Londers, bursting with impatience to show her zeal, was turned into this room to clean it up. It was the last day of the Master's summer holiday. He had spent it wholly among the Italian shops. It was never too hot for him, so long as he could sit among the Things. Rome in August was as pleasant as Rome in April, provided there were Things to look at. Where are there no Things in Italy—Land of Things? It was over, and he was on his way home. And Martha Londers was in his study. She had the house all to herself, because the other servants went out for a holiday and left her alone with her work. Alone? No, not alone. There sat on a corner of the highest shelf, invisible to Martha, a Creature which grinned and mocked and laughed, and held its sides and rolled about with laughing. But not aloud—so that Martha neither heard nor saw, but went on with her work. Thorough work; zealous work; work in which not the most scrupulous housewife could find the least fault or omission. Work methodical and complete. Observe that Martha had never before seen a study or a library. There were books for the girls at the Orphanage ; they were distributed for Sunday reading between the three services; but a library she had never before seen. First she surveyed the whole; then she took down a book and found that it was dusty on the top, and that the shelf behind was very dusty. Then she saw that many of the books presented a faded and careworn exterior which she thought she could improve; and she observed with concern that a great quantity of the Things wanted cleaning badly. She went out and returned bearing a mop, a bucket of warm water, some soap, a scrubbing- brush, a knife for scraping, some plate powder, and other ingredients, with the help of which she pur- posed to pass a useful and a pleasant time. As she was alone in the house she sang over her work. At the Orphanage the girls only sang hymns. Martha, therefore, in a contented mur- murous kind of croon, while she scrubbed with zeal, beguiled the time with "Lead, kindly Light." She first removed the books from the top shelf; then, mounted on a chair, she sluiced that shelf with water and scrubbed it with soap, wiping it dry with a towel. It was beautifully clean when she finished it. No one would blame her, of course, because the water dripped through upon the books below, lodged and lurked between their bindings, and splashed their backs. She took out those of the second row, wiped them dry with her towel— everybody knows how a book bound in Russia leather or Morocco is improved by a splash of water and a good rub with a damp towel—and proceeded to sluice and scrub the boards; and so on until the morning was spent—the shelves completely cleaned, and the books, one and all, beautified for ever with her towel. Martha, well content so far, now retired to the kitchen and made a hearty meal off the cold mutton and potatoes provided for her by the cook before she left the house. She then mounted the stairs once more and began the second part of her work, singing again; but she changed her tune and now encouraged herself with "Art thou weary? art thou languid?" All day long the Creature who sat on the highest shelf laughed and rolled about with laughing. But he was invisible to Martha. When, about seven in the evening, she com- pleted her job, she had scraped and polished the bronzes, the coins—for which she used a file—and the old silver; she had "restored" the old leather bindings with a material commonly used for saddles; she had cleaned and wiped the books; some, though very old, had never been cut—this omission she repaired; others, mostly pamphlets, which had ragged edges, she cut even and neat with a pair of scissors; the wood carvings she had scraped when that process seemed necessary, and in all cases had scrubbed so that the panels now looked really beautiful. No one would notice and, indeed, it could not matter, that a few bits had come off—a grape or two, a flower, a flourish, the round knob of a cherub's nose. Finally, the Things looked now so very, very much better for their thorough repair and so different from their former grimy condition that Martha's honest heart swelled with pride and pleasure. What would the Master say when he returned? He would look about him with surprised satisfaction; he would ask what new hand had done this: he would be told that it was the hand of the new under house- maid, Martha Londers; and he would nod his head, promising himself to keep his eye upon Martha. Perhaps he would send for her to express his satis- faction and his approbation. When Martha, on her knees that night, made the usual confession of her sins, she could not help—it was not in human nature—feeling that for once the good deeds outweighed the bad, and left a balance to carry forward. 'Twas a Papistical thought, but she knew not the errors of the Roman Church, and may be excused. The Master, who had been travelling all night, arrived about seven o'clock. Martha observed him with curiosity. He was an elderly mm, somewhere in the fifties or perhaps in the early  ## p. 293 (#351) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 293 sixties; he was red-faced and of a full habit, but he moved with activity—a collector is always active; sometimes, to get before other collectors, he must even run. He entered the house. Martha was dusting the stairs and dropped a curtsey which he noticed with a nod. It will be a nod and a smile to-morrow, Martha thought. He went up stairs—but no—not yet—not into the study. He first had a change in his bed room, and then he descended to the dining room and took breakfast and the morning paper; he then, being fatigued with his night's travelling, fell asleep in his easy chair and so continued until noon or thereabouts. When he awoke he rose, yawned loudly, and walked to the door. Martha was dusting the hall clock. Now, at last, he was going into his own study. He was. As he went up the stairs Martha in her agitation nearly slipped off the chair on which she was standing. She stopped her dusting, and steadied herself to listen. Surely, surely he would notice— he would not fail to notice—the thoroughness of the cleaning, the zeal of the cleaner, the completeness of the job. He must notice it; he must ask who did it; he must be ready to-morrow with a smile of appreciation. What was that? The house trembled from rafter ridge to basement; the walls rocked to and fro; the glass on the side-board vibrated musically but strangely; the pictures rocked and swung; and Martha's heart stood quite still. A roar—a long prolonged roar j another roar; a third, louder and more terrifying. Martha's cheek turned white and her knees trembled beneath her as she stood upon the chair. Then a howl—a prolonged howl as of a wild beast in agony—and then the ringing of the bell—the study bell, as if all the bells in the whole house were ringing at once. Then a hasty footstep upon the landing, and the Master's head, purple, his eyes standing out, his arms outstretched, his fists clenched, showed over the balustrade, while he cursed and swore with such language as Martha had never before heard even from the lowest court, while the Orphans took their walks abroad. Her head reeled; she fell from the chair headlong and lay upon the floor. The housekeeper rushed up the stairs. "Good Lord !" she cried, "what's the matter?" The Master seized her by the arm and dragged her into the study. Now reduced to speechlessness, save for half articulate interjections which betrayed his emotion, he pointed to the trays of coins, to the bronzes, to the old silver, to the books— to the Things. The woman, who knew what Things meant, gazed in stupefaction. The Master roared again. He could now do nothing but roar. Downstairs, in the hall, Martha came to herself and sat up sick with fright. What was the matter? The other servants were gathered at the foot of the stairs listening. Presently, the roaring died away, and the voice of feminine weeping and lamentation, mixed with masculine thunderous rumblings, succeeded. Still the housekeeper came not down, and still they listened awestruck by the unknown disaster. No one took any notice of Martha, though she had got a lump as big as an egg at the back of her head by her fall, and though she was white with terror. For now she understood, somehow or other, that the trouble overhead was connected with herself. At last, the housekeeper came down, her eyes red with tears. "Martha," she said, with an attempt at calmness, "go upstairs and pack your box. Not another hour shall you stay. Go! You shall have your month's wages. Go back to your Orphanage. Tell them that sent you out that you're only fit to scrub the floors of your Asylum. Go! She's ruined," the housekeeper explained, "the whole of the Master's collections—the finest collections in London. Ruined and spoiled them all, she has. That's all. Nothing more. Books and coins, and old silver and all. Go, I say, for fear I take and slap you. Ruined them all. The work of the Master's life ruined, and in a single day by a . . by a . . by a Drab." Martha screamed and fled. "Oh! it's too much—it's too much! Poor dear gentleman! He's quite broken hearted. He can never, never get over it. He's quieted a bit, at last, and he's sittin' on the floor now, with his ruined collections round him." This was Martha Londers' entrance upon her Career. This was the lamentable fashion in which she returned to the Matron that same day, * THE SIGNED ARTICLE. THE proposal of Mr, Atkinson to compel the writers of editorial articles to sigh what they write has not led to the discussion one might have expected. But Mr. George Augustus Sala, in his "Echoes of the Week," had some very interesting remarks on the merits and demerits of the signed article. He says, "I have always been a strenuous advocate of the anony-  ## p. 294 (#352) ############################################ 294 THE AUTHOR. mous in journalism so far as leading articles are concerned." Few people are better qualified to speak with the authority of so experienced a journalist as Mr. Sala. If anything should be anonymous surely it is the leading article, which is supposed to be the expression of the opinion of the whole staff of a paper or party rather than of an individual. Nevertheless there seems to be a tendency now in favour of signed articles, other than editorials in the weeklies, for instance; and the monthly reviews are certainly more read than the stale confections of the Quarterly and Edin- burgh, which, if people ever read at all, they pay little heed to. True, there is a pleasant antiquarian flavour about the notorious reviews on Keats, Byron, Thackeray, Tennyson, and the Brontes. They are relics of the haute ecole of scurrility— that scurrility which, though like everything else, as we are told, is in its decadence, is found not in the new journalism^ but in the newest, the brand-new journalism. While endorsing the opinions of Mr. Sala, it is impossible to agree with Mr. W. H. Smith, that " the liberty of the press," with rare exceptions, is far from being abused. The most disgusting personalities about eminent men are read every day with relish by thousands. We hear what an eminent poet eats for breakfast, what a politician drinks for dinner, the colour of the hair of the eldest daughter of an eminent painter, and the details of an internal disease that a well- known doctor is suffering from. If this is toler- ated would we be any better by knowing who the purveyor of such small talk was? What middle- man of journalism is responsible for jottings from the area, nursery, and servants' hall? No, far better to let him or her remain anonymous. Again, the question of reviewing books is an insurmountable objection to signed articles. Some books are bad, and some we do not like. A reviewer would be plunged into an impossible correspondence, and the editor would come in for his share if a review were signed. Why review books at all? is the question some people ask; but authors, especially young authors, like other human beings, are vain, and prefer to have their works attacked than not noticed at all. Anonymity in an article on some general question by an unknown writer, gives that article a value it might not otherwise possess. It is a distinct blow to learn that some fine piece of criticism is not by a Pater or Saintsbury, or an Andrew Lang, but the first effort of a Mr. Snook, who has just left the University. Then, too, there are many really important things a journalist might say (personality and scurrility barred) that he could not and would not care to say if the article were signed. That is why the Saturday Review contains so much the best reading in the whole of any of the weeklies. The signed article should be left to the monthly reviews, where we can find out what Mr. Gladstone has been reading, and what Mr. Parnell is thinking of. This, we believe, is the public point of view. Many eminent writers take the other side of the question; but in a daily morning paper, at any rate, the only signed contributions should be Reuter's telegrams and the advertisements, so that false news and false witness may be traced to their original source. Perhaps the most offensive type of the brand-new journalism which is always anonymous, is art criticism. Like science, art requires a thorough expert, and while anyone is at liberty to dislike this or that painting, no one should indulge in personal abuse and offensive invective of the painter himself. In all journalism, where some qualification as well as opinion is requisite, it is as well that a name should appear; to use Mr. Atkinson's words, "so that the public may know in each case how much or how little attention is due to each article.'' F. [This is one side of the question. Perhaps some readers might like to add, briefly, their views. —Editor.] * IN GRUB STREET. —»— TH R proprietors of Answers are certainly the most generous patrons of literature. They have forwarded j£i,ooo, I am told, to the widow of a man who was killed on the railway, because he had in his possession a copy of their entertaining periodical when he met his death. The advertisement was certainly a splendid one. The widow of any gentleman found dead with a copy of the Author on his person, will receive either a thousand copies of the current number, or a free copy for life. This generosity should be encouraged in all grades of journalism and letters. The Author, though only costing sixpence, is worth quite a guinea a number. There are many authors who will not sympathise with Ouida's complaint in the Titnes, and who would have considered it rather a compliment than otherwise to have their nom de plume utilised in the interests of commerce. It was an act, however, of flagrant literary piracy, and let us hope that the company will be courteous enough to find some  ## p. 295 (#353) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 295 no less musical and attractive sobriquet as that which at present belongs to a distinguished authoress. Shakespeare's creations have been used to advertise soap and pills, so that Ouida is certainly in excellent company. There is a "melancholy and altogether pathetic interest" attaching to the last story of Mr. Ignatius Donelly's Great Cryptogam, in which a Daniel indeed came to judgment. An American farmer, according to Black and White, had pur- chased his two volumes under the impression that Shakespeare would be exposed; when, how- ever, the tallyman came round for payment he professed himself unconvinced, and returned the books. A law suit followed, and the learned judge, who had something of an Arabian caliph in him, decided that the farmer would have to disprove the cryptogam before he would be exempt from pay- ment. Had it gone the other way, a very dangerous precedent would have been created. For, on the same principle, we might refuse to pay booksellers who supplied us with dull or disappointing works. The biography of John Wesley, by J. H. Overton (Methuen and Co.), is one of the very best of the many lives that have been written, and shows the great preacher in quite a new light. The compli- ments that are being paid by one sect of Christians to another now-a-days are very charming. At the same time it appears strange for the press, com- menting on the Wesley centenary, to say that Wesley " belongs as much to the English Church" as to the Nonconformists. The same thing has been said of Newman lately. Now these two eminent divines made themselves famous, either by leaving the English Church or causing others to leave it. I do not think, therefore, that the Anglican Church can lay much more claim to them than the Roman Communion can Dollinger or Renan. ♦ To return once more to Mr. Andrew Lang's "Essays in Little." The boldest of us may tremble before admitting that we disagree with him. There is no more appreciative writer living, unless it be Mr. Ruskin; then why cannot he see some- thing in the Russian novelists? He is always tilt- ing at them : whether he is speaking of Dumas, Thackeray, or Dickens. Perhaps it is the admirers of Tolstoi that Mr. I^ang objects to. There are three ways of taking Tolstoi: one of them is to read him, the second way is to admire him, and the third way is to abuse him. Mr. Lang has tried a vol. L combination of all three, but surely one may burn incense at the high altar of Shakespeare, let us say, and at the same time have a side chapel for Mr. Andrew Lang. Cannot the same argument be applied to Dumas and Dostoieffsky? In Tolstoi's short stories especially there are moments as good as any in English literature. Speaking of Dickens again, Mr. Andrew Lang is very angry with those people who say they cannot read Dickens, but it is much better to say so than to pretend to an admiration of the "darling of the English people." In one of Mr. James Payn's delightful essays on the sham admiration of literature, he tells several amusing stories thereon, one of a lady who confessed she could not see the fun of John Gilpin, and a gentle- man who preferred the "Earthly Paradise" to "Paradise Lost." Even at the expense of cutting a poor figure, surely it is better to be honest about what you like to read. I much prefer reading, for instance (I know many will, but in secret, agree with me), "Essays in Little" to Milton's reply to Salmasius. The death of Poet Close was a local rather than a national loss. No doubt some future Mr. Andrew Lang will be able to find something as amusing in his work, as Mr. Lang has found in that of Haynes Baily. Like Mr. Martin Tupper, he belonged to the good rather than to the great. The death of Fortune1 du Boisgobey, though hardly noticed in most of the English papers, received an eloquent obituary notice in the pages of the Saturday Revieiv. I confess that I envy those people who were amused by him. I think Hugh Conway told much better stories, and that several other English writers of sensational fiction are better than this French novelist on his own ground. All writers of sensational novels have at one time or another been hard pressed for an idea, and the mysterious disappearance of a lady from the Law Courts the other day is full of suggestion for a capital romance. Some enterprising journal might offer a prize for the best story founded on the incident. It would be very amusing to see how each person worked at the explanation of the mystery. Mr. Egerton Castle, having already distinguished himself as an author, has been winning further laurels at the Lyceum. "Consequences" has 2 13  ## p. 296 (#354) ############################################ 296 THE AUTHOR. reached its second edition, so let us hope it will soon appear in one~ volume. If poetry is in danger, fiction is certainly safe when Mr. Castle has won the public applause. Perhaps he will be generous enough to give us also ere long a second edition of his delightful lecture. The March number of the Fortnightly Revinv which, with the exception of the Author, is the best, I think, of all the monthly periodicals, is particularly interesting. Mr. Swinburne has some splendid stanzas for a statue of Marlowe, and Mr. Meredith continues "One of our Conquerors." Mr. Oscar Wilde gives a very original form of a preface for "Dorian Grey," in which he rebukes his critics in a series of pregnant aphorisms. "Dorian Grey," who shines like an evil thing in a very good story, will shortly appear with more harmonious surroundings than Lippincotfs Maga- zine. Among the many good articles in the Fortnightly, that on "Rossetti and the Moralists" is unfortunate. The writer seems to me to have entirely misconceived Rossetti's genius, and mis- understood the position he occupies in literature and art. Mr. George Moore has reprinted more than a dozen articles. They form a most interesting volume. It would be pleasant to notice many of them at some length. The articles on Balzac, Turgenieff, Verlaine, Rimbault, are highly suggestive, as is indeed all Mr. George Moore's work in this his special field of criticism. With regard to Turgenieff, I have never understood the disproportionate admiration felt for the least re- markable of the new Russian novelists. We have again studies on " Le Reve " and Ibsen's "Ghosts." The " Notes on Ghosts " has come very opportunely before the appearance of the play at the Royalty. If there is anything to be said against Mr. George Moore's book, it is that the egoism which he displays is to be regretted. ♦ Perhaps the article on the new pictures in the National Gallery is rather out of place in a volume on literary subjects, nor can I think that the pictures of Mr. Frith are otherwise than eminently in their place in the British School. Whether that school deserves a place in the Gallery is another matter. Verlaine is one of the most remarkable characters of the second half of the century, reminding us, as we are apt now to forget, that strong and sincere religious belief has always been found compatible with great disorder of life. A considera- tion of his life and works would be a wholesome occupation for " Moralitarians " of all kinds. They cannot do better than begin with Mr. George Moore's study. The "Balzac " is an article first printed in the Fortnightly, "increased to nearly three times its original length," and greatly improved. As a realistic critic of Balzac, Mr. George Moore is far superior in power and appreciation to any other Englishman. His notice of that little appreciated and most powerful etude, "La Vieille Fille," is masterly, and his remarks on "Le Cure" de Tours" entitle him to even higher praise; they are peculiarly terse and elucidating, a really fine example of appreciative criticism. I cannot wholly agree with Mr. George Moore's rubric, "that pro- bably the only way to convey a suggestion of the genius of the great novelist lies through the minor pieces." But certainly the minor pieces have never been sufficiently considered, and " La Vieille Fille" is one of the finest, superior in every respect to the better known" Femme de trente ans." Apropos of Balzac, compilers of anecdotes con- cerning him generally forget the characteristic note of Hans Christian Andersen in his "Mit Livs Eventyr." Describing his visit to Paris in 1843, ne says:—" Balzac, whose acquaintance I made at this time, I first saw in the salon of Madame laComtesse de Bocarmd, as a fashionable, well-dressed personage. His white teeth gleamed between his red lips. He seemed a jovial man, but he did not talk much, at any rate in that circle. A lady who wrote verses fastened herself on to him and me; she drew us aside to a sofa and sat herself down between us. While she was talking with modest hesitation about how small she felt between us, I turned my head and caught sight behind her back of Balzac's laughing, satirical face and half-open mouth, slyly turned towards me. This was our first meeting. One day I was going through the Louvre. There I met a man in face, figure, and gait exactly like Balzac. But the man was dressed in shabby, worn-out clothes—really dirty they were. His shoes were all burst out, his trousers bespattered with dry mud, and his hat all misshapen and cracked. I stopped short; the man smiled at me, then I went on, but he was so incredibly like—I turned back, ran after him, and said, 'It can't be Herr Balzac!' The man laughed, showing his white teeth, and said only, 'Monsieur Balzac started for St. Petersburg this morning.' He pressed my hand, his own was fine and soft, he nodded, and was gone. It must  ## p. 297 (#355) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 297 have been Balzac; perhaps he had been on one of his exploring expeditions among the mysteries of Paris. Or was the man someone else, who, being extremely like Balzac, and having often been taken for him, was amusing himself by mystifying a foreigner? Two days afterwards, when I was talking to Madame Bocarml, she gave me a message of farewell from Balzac—he had gone to St. Petersburg." As we might have expected, a delicate, half- satiric sense of humour was the point of contact between the all-comprehensive Balzac and the charming, childlike Dane. How delighted Balzac would be with the exquisite blending of pathos and humour in the tale, " En Hjertesorg," the grief of a little child who had no trouser button to pay the toll the other children exacted to attend the funeral of a dead pug. Everyone knows the story which Byron told Medwin. Shortly before Shelley's death he had a horrible nightmare. "He thought that a figure wrapped in a mantle came to his bedside and beckoned him; he got up and followed it; when in the hall the phantom lifted up the hood of his cloak, showed Shelley the phantasm of himself, and saying ' Siete satisfatto ?'—vanished. Shelley had been reading a strange drama, which is supposed to have been written by Calderon, entitled, "El embozado, 6 el encapotado." It is so scarce that Washington Irving told me he had sought for it without success in several of the public libraries of Spain." Where did Shelley obtain this play? Was it a Spanish play at all which he had read? Were Byron or Medwin correct? Does Washington Irving throw any further light on the subject? The authorship of Calderon is immaterial; so many plays by other authors were printed as his in his lifetime that it was necessary for him to make a list of his works. This list is known to be incomplete, but the point for remark is that no play entitled "El embozado " or "El encapotado" is mentioned in any of the exhaustive editions of Calderon among plays erroneously attributed to him. The title, again, is not mentioned in the lists of anonymous Spanish dramas. On the other hand there is a play of Agustin Moreto which in certain details suggests that he may have known some such story. The subject is a fasci- nating one, suggesting, as it must have done, one of the finest tales of the greatest of English writers vol. 1. of short tales, and again brought to our memory by the wonderful pen and ink sketch of Rossetti called "How they met themselves." The well- known stories of Theophile Gautier and Robert Louis Stevenson represent a similar but not the same idea; at any rate the point of view from which they regard the idea is different. Can any of our readers give any information concerning the play? Miss E. S. G. Saunders is bringing out a volume entitled, " Thoughts for the present Lectionary; or, the New Christian Year." Mr. Stanley Little contributes an article entitled, "The Camera's Service to Art," to the April number of the Photographic Quarterly. Mr. Hume Nisbet is producing this month, (1) "A Colonial Tramp: Being Adventures through Australasia and New Guinea." 2 vols. 32^. Ward and Downey. (2) "The Black Drop." 2s. 6d. Trischler and Co. (3) The third edition of " Bail Up!" Chatto and Windus. He has also an article on "The Papuan and his Master," in the Fortnightly Review. Under the pseudonym of Evelyn Ballantyne, Mr. Eustace R. Ball has contributed on Continental Music Halls to the March number of the Theatre. An article on " Weighing the Stars," by Mr. J. E. Gore, F.R.A.S., appears in the Gentleman's Magazine for February, and another on "Planetary Nebula;" in the February number of the Monthly Packet. ♦ A new and cheaper edition of Mr. James Sully's "Pessimism," with a review of pessimistic literature up to the present date, has just been issued by the publishers, Messrs. Kegan Paul, Trench and Co. Mr. William Westall has written a one volume story, entitled "Back to Africa: A Confession." It will be published by Ward and Downey in the course of the present month. R. * 2 B 2  ## p. 298 (#356) ############################################ 298 THE AUTHOR. THE PARNASSUS PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION. THE Association consists of one man, Mr. Joseph Haggerston Dalston. With him are associated as many literary aspirants as he can persuade to publish with him at their cost and risk. Here is my experience with Mr. Joseph Hag- gerston Dalston. Some time ago, while I was con- cluding a novel with which I intended to astonish the world, I received a letter from Mr. Dalston, stating that he was an author's agent, and as he enclosed what appeared to be bonA fide testimonials, I replied to his letter. This reply doubtless war- ranted him in assuming my inexperience of business. In subsequent letters he offered to read my story for a fee of one guinea. This, for what he called himself, "an editorial expert whose opinion should be at once authoritative and final," was not expensive. Before closing with his offer, however, I asked for proof that he had that influence with publishers which he claimed. By return came a letter enclosing one of recent date, from a publishing house of the highest standing, which was to the effect that they were very much obliged to him for having brought them the MS. of Mr. •, which they were prepared to publish immediately, paying the author a royalty. This proof seemed to me sufficient, especially when read in connection with the following wail of Mr. Dalston. "Unfortunately, however, even in large London publishing houses of assured authority and repute, few follow religiously the 'reading' of a new MS. by an unknown writer, while so many knmvn (yet not always repeatedly successful) authors are at the ' beck and call' of the majority of the large publishers to go on at any time mechanically writing 'to order'—too often a curse to the 'pot-boiling' reputation of the author, and ergo lesseningly attractive to these authors' favourite readers—a majority of the stupid reading public, too easily and too stupidly satisfied, to the oft-time exclusion of a new writer waiting with better work, but unable to pass with it through the barrier that too often bars the way to talent and genius in other directions than 1 literary land."' The "rough copy" of my manuscript I for- warded to his address for an opinion. Nearly a month elapsed before I obtained any reply, but repeated applications elicited the follow- ing: "Your MS. has really demanded from me more attention and deliberate care than I had at first anticipated. In the first place, I may say, that I did not like your introduction, but the con- cluding chapters minimise my first objection, which we may now let pass. The opening is clever and startling, and prepares the reader's mind with a powerful piquancy for the more attractive artistic 'actualities' so skilfully drawn throughout the book; and the successive chapters increasing, as they do in interest, will hold the reader in sensa- tional subjection—fascinated by that mental mes- merism which enthralls at every turn of your pages. "Splendidly subjective and appalling are Chaps, xxi and xxii. 'The Captain' also is interestingly introduced and cleverly conducted to his doom! "Other chapters teeming with touches of talent will gain 'good words' for your work from the Reading World and Critics, even as fine present- ments of human passion, the littleness of life, and the greatness of death pourtrayed by your pen, inter alia in , , , have never been formed in the one time ever-praised pages of Bulwer! Dickens!! and Wilkie Collins!!! "So swayed in this connexion, then, I hold to the belief that there are 'situations' in your nar- rative that will awaken attention from many who are now steeped in sluggish 'society' stupor, whilst the psychological problems still awaiting solution will invite keener study from the scientist, and 'set the mind thinking'! "The lurid light of English intellectuality, quick- ening in its intensity by recent remarkable revela- tions in the Press, now searchingly turns toward what little is known of lawless life in Africa, that mysterious and uncivilized clime—and in the near future, perhaps, when we can discern more truths —coming to us, though they may, through the thinly-veiled romanticism of another Hanwell— then your and other philanthropic warning words shall stir the public pulse into indignation or re- volt, until the lightning message of rnercy, release, and reform is flashed from England to Mashona!" I am still inclined to think that this gratifying opinion is worth the guinea it cost me, especially when it is compared with the trivial comments of friends who have begged my books, or of critics whom I have feasted, treated, and entertained at a much greater cost. The indefatigable Mr. Dalston did not, however, expect to rest with one guinea, for with the letter which accompanied his opinion, was one with "Suggestions for Publishing," in which I was reminded that, "Looking at the immediate interest that would probably result from bringing out the book at once, it may be considered ex- pedient to publish the book on the author's own account! Mr. Haggerston Dalston, trading as the Mongoose Publishing Co., and publisher of the Muses' Herald, will undertake the work. "The first cost would be ^ioo (the actual cost of producing  ## p. 299 (#357) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 299 the first edition of a book in same form as pro- posed by Mr. Dalston is £23 17-r.), after sending 100 copies for reviews, &c, the sale of 900 books, 1 vol., at 6s. (less discount to trade, &c), would leave about £80 net profit. A smaller size type and vol. would cost £60, first edition, and leave about £40 net profit. The total editions of the first twelve months would probably leave a net profit (if published as suggested) of ,£1,000 to It would be interesting to know the figures upon which the estimated profits are based; there is a preciseness about the £1,575 greatly at variance with the round sum of £100, the estimated cost of production. I did not close with the offer, and directed my man to "place" the story with a good firm of publishers. A few days later he wrote making a further offer to publish on same terms as had been accepted by an author whose agreement (!) he forwarded to me. "You will forward me a cheque for £10, agreeing to pay a further £10 on receipt of proofs, and a final £10 when the book is in your hands, remaining risk and profits will be equally divided between publisher and author." Returning the stamped agreement of the author who had accepted these terms (his book has not yet appeared), 1 again asked Mr. Dalston to get my MS. accepted by a publisher. He wrote me that his offer was not "unworthy of acceptance," seeing that, for the gradual outlay of ^30, an edition of 1,000 copies would have expeditiously followed," then for six weeks failed to reply to any of my letters. "Respecting your MS.," he wrote in the last letter I received from him, "I am greatly dis- appointed at receiving it back from , whose manager I had seen before submitting yours and two other MSS.—all now returned. "When unaccepted, the daily consensus of suc- cessful scribblers seems to be—publish on your own account; but of course, this, as you know, is not an easy matter. However, I shall venture to publish the three MSS. (yours and the com- mercial's, and that written by a doctor's wife) under the following conditions, namely:—£10 in ad- vance, £10 further to be paid to me when proofs are in the hands of author, and £10 when the book is published and distributed, profits after publication to be equally divided between author and publisher." This being a similar offer to the one already proffered and refused, I determined to call upon the man and to secure my MS. The gentleman who is manager of the Mongoose Publishing Company, manager of the Muses' Pub- lishing Association, editor and publisher of the Muses' Herald, must surely be a busy man, yet I had to call many times at the room—it was on the second floor back—before I found the room occu- pied. Mr. Dalston is not a. young man, and he has a pleasing manner of address. He rarely speaks to the point, but abuses in general terms all the pub- lishing houses and their readers, and he never allows you to leave his presence without asking you for a money contribution to one or other of his ventures. As for the contents of his office there were two chairs, a table, a set of pigeon holes and MSS. In fact, the room was entirely furnished with MSS. It was simply full of "copy" piled from floor to ceiling, lying upon chairs and table, and floor, and fender. By a lucky chance my packet was upper- most of a newly made file, and was rescued without difficulty. Mr. Haggerston Dalston is now manager and everything else of a brand new association called the Parnassus Publishing Association. A clean sweep has been made of the MSS., and the name plate at the house and the Muses' Herald being defunct, with the Mongoose Publishing Company, a new plate is in preparation showing that here are the Central Offices (second floor back) of the "Parnassus Publishing Company" and of "Par- nassus Slopes," its magazine. Authors are now being invited by such papers as will take the ad- vertisements, to send their MSS. to the Company, and the old game has begun apain. The bait is the offer of "remunerative openings" and the promise that " suitable MSS.J' are promptly paid for. As for the magazine, every contributor must pay in advance for a whole year—it will probably collapse in a month or two, as happened with "Parnassus Slopes." Then the Company will disappear too. What becomes in the end of all the MSS., nobody knows. Perhaps not one in a thousand is worth anything. Yet that such an end—disappearance in this sink of low cunning—should be the fate of MSS. about which so many glowing hopes were formed, is melancholy indeed. * CORRESPONDENCE AND CASES. ( The Editor is not responsible for the opinions expressed or the statements made by correspondents.) The Production of Vouchers. ACASE has been lately brought before a London Court which promises to become interesting and useful. It was to this effect. A certain publisher transferred his business  ## p. 300 (#358) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. to another firm. Two of the authors whose books he had published on the "half-profit" system, moved by Counsel that the second firm should be called upon to find vouchers for all the items of receipts and expenditure supplied to the authors. Their Counsel argued that the first firm only was responsible for any claims. The judge, however, granted the order asked for, reserving the question of costs. We hope to publish the further history of this case. » On Advertisements. I wish to draw the attention of your readers to two points which are generally lost sight of by an author when signing his contract. When disposing of a book upon the royalty system, one of the usual clauses is, "That all expenses of advertising shall be borne by the said publishers." It is by paying out monies for advertisements in addition to disbursing the cost of production that the publisher earns his right to his lion's share, i.e., the amount of cash that remains after paying the royalty to the author. Now let us suppose the case of an author who is pretty well known and whose three volume novels will be assuredly subscribed, we will say, to be well within the mark, to five hundred copies. If the publisher does not advertise at all he nets the entire difference between the trade price and the cost of production less the author's royalties—upon the five hundred copies. Therefore the less he advertises the better for it. But this is not all, the author who is absolutely in the hands of his publishers in the matter of advertising, often finds his book a sort of Christian thrown to the lions. The reason is not far to seek; somebody has to be "gibbeted," somebody has to be "guyed," and naturally the books that are not advertised go upon the black list, and the reviewer is given a free hand and told to work his wicked will upon them. The result of such "gibbeting" is probably not felt by the author till he comes to dispose of his next venture, say to some other publisher. "Your last book was very severely reviewed, Mr. Nibbs," says the publisher, " and we have sent over to our friends, Messrs. Barabbas, who tell us that only five hundred copies were subscribed." It is thus that an author may lose ground, all for the want of a ha'porth of tar in the shape of having a cut and dried clause as to hoto much is to be spent in advertisements, and where it is to be spent. For novels, at all events, a certain amount of advertisement is necessary; reviews even very favourable reviews, and the mere fact that the book is on Messrs. Smith's and Mudie's lists to be issued to first class subscribers only is not enough to keep the book before the public. Then where advertisements are to appear is m portant. The writer once published an eight and sixpenny book, on the half-profit system, which ran into a second edition. There were no profits, because the book was advertised not wisely, but too well. "If," thought the writer, "that mighty firm went on with a second edition, surely there must be profits, some profits, at all events, upon the first." Not a bit of it; the book was said to be swamped by advertise- ments. The writer went through the list of advertisements, and he found that his book had been advertised in the " Piscatorial Bulletin." He innocently wondered at this selection; when he found who the Bulletin belonged to, his wonder ceased. Perhaps after all the Fishing Fraternity are fond of oriental experiences. Who knows but that they may buy up the whole second edition? Not that the writer cares one brass button, because even if it were so, he feels certain that no half profits would ever accrue to him, because of course they'd be all mopped up by judicious advertise- ments in the " Piscatorial Bulletin," &c. Pachyderm. [The writer will find the subject of advertising treated in Mr. Sprigge's "Methods of Publishing." —Ed.] Authors and Reviewers. There are two questions I should like answered. First—Do reviewers conscientiously read the books with which they deal? Second—Do their criti- cisms honestly reflect the opinions that they have formed? Now any author worthy of the name must value and appreciate criticism which, however adverse, is nevertheless honest, discriminating, and intelli- gent. So far, at any rate, even if no farther, do I consider myself worthy to be called an author. I like being told what points in a work of mine are good, and what are bad. It is an intellectual satisfaction to me, and I feel precisely the same sort of gratitude to any reviewer that an intelligent student of painting or music unquestionably feels towards an able teacher, however severe his stric- tures occasionally may be. But my faith in critics, and consequently my good disposition towards them, have been considerably shaken of late. I find they contradict each other so wildly, that it is impossible for the most humble-minded writer  ## p. 301 (#359) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 301 to learn anything from them; and they occasionally give grave grounds for the suspicion that they have never even read the book they are professing to review. Let me give an instance from my own experience. Two years ago or thereabouts, I published a novel. The book was widely reviewed, and I, a tyro in the art of fiction, felt very curious indeed to see how my first effort would be received by experts. Here are some of the verdicts. The Saturday said it was undeniably a clever book—satirical, humorous, and amusing; appa- rently the work of a man who had observed and thought; an original and readable novel. The AthetuBum said that it was the most com- pletely worthless novel the editor had seen for a long time. The Manchester Examiner said that were the critic compelled to characterise it by one epithet, that epithet would be "vivacious." Unflagging vivacity was its great charm. The Sunday Times, on the other hand, con- demned it as " always dull." The Manchester Examiner, again, praised my "constructive ability"; while— My publisher's reader informed me that a lack of constructive ability was my chief weakness. I might fill two columns of your paper with similar examples. But surely these are enough— enough to bewilder anybody. Am I dull, or am I vivacious? Am I clever, or am I a fool? Is my book original, satirical, humorous, &c, or is it the most completely worthless novel out? Surely I am not unreasonable in asking whom I am to believe. One word more. I spoke to my publishers about one of the notices—a notice which appeared to me gratuitously and unintelligently insolent. "Oh!" replied the worthy man I was addressing, "I think I can explain that. The gentleman who wrote that review of your book threatened to 'slate' whatever we might send him, unless we advertised in his paper. We did not give him an advertise- ment, and you, unfortunately, are made to suffer." Perhaps this may throw some light on my second question. An Obscure Novelist. —»~— Accepted. In January, 1889, a MS. was accepted for a certain periodical. In May the publisher was changed. In July, the new publisher accepted three other MSS. and "also the one sent to the late Editor," the price of the whole being stated by letter. My writing name was published among the other contributors, and I was urged in different ways to help to make the magazine known. None of the MSS. appearing, after eighteen months I wrote to ask the cause, and was coolly informed that the Editor had more MSS. on hand than he could use, and he would return them. I offered to wait, but positively declined to have them back, but by return of post they arrived in a very tattered condition. There was neither "smash " nor "crash " in this case—the periodical is said to be flourishing. M. J. D. S. Literary Godchildren. There is a literary Nemesis when a popular author suffers from the intrusion of the manuscripts of aspirants after fame. But when an unknown writer—who finds a difficulty in having an article accepted, and as great trouble to get paid for it— is troubled for advice and assistance in getting the work of others placed and remunerated—then the Furies are the old women one blames for the mis- management of affairs. Fifteen years ago a friend of mine wrote a play and demanded my opinion of it. I did not dare to give anyexpression of criticism of a tragedy thathe assured me was more tragical than Scott's "Bride of Lam- mermoor," and more impregnated with humour than Schiller's "Wallenstein." I was even able to refuse when I knew that one of the poet's friends said, "No such work of genius had been written since Shakespeare's plays first saw the light." For- tunately, I escaped without much censure in this case. My friend said that he regretted my decision, because he "had a certain amount of respect for my taste." He did not insist on submitting his proofs to me. The next experience was more amusing, if a little more costly. A schoolboy who had got into debt wrote to a member of my family asking for 7*., stating that he was about to write a three volume novel, that he had money owing for a short story, and enclosing some of his essays. The money was sent without any literary advice. And by the next post came a request for 1is. more " to save him from disgrace." Another manuscript was submitted to my judg- ment by a young woman who wished to make a profession of letters. It was clearly written, well paragraphed, and fairly interesting in matter. I had great pleasure in encouraging the writer, and urging her to perseverance. Now, I am glad to write, she is successfully supplementing her income by her pen. The last case is perhaps the most painful. In my desk at this moment there lies a morocco bound volume, in whose pages a beautiful, unfortu- nate girl has written part of her life experience. She  ## p. 302 (#360) ############################################ 302 THE AUTHOR. asks my opinion of her confession. It has origin- ality and observation, but otherwise it is unreadable. The writer is sensitive, and so much spoiled by the flattery of her friends, that it will be puzzling for me to speak the truth without giving some pain. A. Gratuitous Contributions. I lately offered a short story to the editor of a popular magazine. It was accepted, but when I came to ask what was the scale of remuneration for such contributions I was blandly informed that ladies and gentlemen were usually willing to supply the magazine in question with " copy," without hope of any other remuneration than the pleasure and glory of seeing themselves in print! Now this is by no means a rare instance of a practice on the part of authors which I think cannot be better described than as the process of " cutting their own throats." The lamentable weakness with which writers consent to give away the work of such brains as they possess is one to be severely deprecated. It is to my thinking an act of arrant folly, injurious not only to those who indulge in it, but to others. I can, in fact, conceive nothing more mischievous, as lowering the price of literature in the market, than this habit, widely spread as it is, of gorging the pages of periodical publications with gratuitous con- tributions to the exclusion of matter that would otherwise be paid for. For is it to be expected that the proprietor of a magazine would pay for the stories, articles, &c, offered to him by some writers when he is able to get any quantity of such com- positions from others at no cost whatever? The scale of pay allowed by many magazines is poor enough as it is. It is not uncommon for certain very well-known periodicals to offer such miserable remuneration as 2s. and 2s. 6d. a page, while 5*. a page is considered in such quarters as something magnificent in its liberality. I have really been surprised to find how strictly moderate are the views on the subject of payment entertained by the conductors of magazines which might be expected to offer at any rate something like ade- quate compensation for one's time and trouble. The reason of this parsimony is of course "gratuit- ous contributions." It is poor stuff for the most part, no doubt, that is thus given away, but it seems to be good enough for the editor's purpose. But, I contend, everything, whether good, bad or indifferent, should have its price. It is not to be expected that the magazines should be filled in every page, every month, with first-class literature. Many of these periodicals are circulated among a class of readers who are not over particular as to the quality of the wares supplied to them, just as in other markets people are content with cheap and inferior articles. Yet everything is surely worth something, if it can be sold, and every story, or other lucubration, which is worth printing ought to be worth paying for. I am afraid it must be said that ladies are the worst offenders in this particular. I do not greatly blame them. They have, as a rule, little experience or knowledge of the business side of literature, and though some of them dream of making fortunes by their pens, too many, with an excess of diffidence, think they can hardly aspire so high as to be paid like what they call "a regular author." It is these amateurs who cheapen the literary market, and many of them are worth a price, even though it be a small one. Let them at any rate not be content with the mere acceptance of their stories and sketches, but ask for pay, and, when refused, with- draw their contributions and send them elsewhere. Many an article which would be eagerly taken by one of those editors who never pay when they can help it, would be found acceptable by others of more liberal habit. At the worst, failing to get their contributions into the paying magazines, they could fall back upon the non-paying ones. These last only deserve to have the very dregs of the scribbling art. I therefore raise my voice in earnest protest against this pernicious custom of offering contri- butions for nothing, or allowing them to be pub- lished without any remuneration whatever. The Society of Authors, I think, could do no greater service to the cause at least of periodical literature than by making it as widely known as possible that all contributors to magazines, &c, will be duly paid for if only the contributors are firm enough to refuse to write for nothing. If such an appeal did not put a stop to this practice it might at least diminish the mischief arising from it. Pray then advise all authors, amateur and otherwise, whenever it is proposed to print their contributions for noth- ing, to return the reply so often received by some of them—" declined with thanks." No Pay, No Pen. —*— A Coincidence? Will you allow me to draw attention to a case of curious similarity between two stories—the one by Mr. Ernest Rhys, entitled "The Last Drearn of Julius Roy," which appeared in Macmillan's Maga- zine last month, and the other signed by my name, which appeared in the Newbery House Magazine  ## p. 303 (#361) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 3°3 of July, 1890, and which was entitled, "A Great Success"? I sketch the outline of the two stories in parallel columns :— Mr. Ernest Rhys's story. My story. "A GREAT SUCCESS." THE LAST DREAM OF TULIUS ROY." July, 1890. An author after a long life of failure starts from Trafalgar Square in a condition of ab- normal excitement, and rushes down the .Strand, intent upon lunching at a Tavern, Fleet Street being suggested. He orders a lunch which for him is unusually sumptuous. He has been full of unreal inflated hope, but overhears a con- versation in which he realises for the first time the abject - ness of his own failure. He has had ale with his lunch. He throws his arms over the table, lays his head on them, falls asleep and dreams. The dream takes the form of his own troubled experience. Again he is "hurrying through the streets of the great city." He is on his way to the palace of Fame. There is a gate which has to be passed through; before he gets in he has to present a gift. This gift he holds in his hand, but it dwindles and vanishes. He falls before the door at last, defeated and in despair. Then the dream changes; the door is unexpectedly opened by an unseen hand, and he beholds a face known yet unknown, which smiles upon him. The poor author enters in to find the aspiration of his life satisfied in ways not looked for by him. When found by the people of the Tavern, he is dead. February, 1891. An author after ten years of failure, starts from Trafal- gar Square, goes to Pall Mall to put on a dress coat, and finally returns in an abnormal state of excitement on his way to a Tavern ("The Three Friars") in Fleet Street, to have supper there. He orders an unusually sumptuous me al He has been realising the abjectness of his own failure, but on his way he meets with his old love, who gives him a flower, and he i« now in a state of wild, unreal hope. He has wine with his supper, and he throws his arms over the table, falls asleep, and dreams. The dream takes the form of his own troubled experience. He is "being whirled rapidly through the streets of a dark and unknown city," in a car- riage with the beloved woman by his side. He gets to a place which is a Theatre, and sees a phantasm of himself on the stage struggling in vain to pass in at a Gate; the phantasm falls down at last before the Gate, baffled and defeated. He goes on to the Stage to look after his own Phantasm. He himself knocks at the Gate, and it is thrown open, and the beloved woman stands before him smiling. Then he receives in unex- pected ways the desire of his life. When the waiter comes to rouse him, he is dead. E. Fairfax Byrrne. The Authors' Club. I am in favour of an Authors' Club. I think it would be greatly to the advantage of authors to come together oftener than once a year at a big dinner, and to have more frequent opportunity of exchanging ideas and "comparing notes." Of this I can give an illustration. Two years ago at our annual dinner, I sat next to a brother novelist, whose acquaintance I then made for the first time. That morning I had received from the vol. 1. editor of a weekly magazine of whose financial position I knew nothing, a request to write a Christmas story for him. Thinking my neighbour might be better informed, I inquired whether he had ever done ought for the periodical in question. "Yes," says he, "I did a Christmas story for it last year but one, and I have not got paid for it yet." On this hint I acted; when I answered the editor's letter, I named my price, and made it a condition that I should be paid on his receipt of my MS. With this condition he did not see fit to comply, and I did not see fit to write the story. Again, the other day I chanced to meet a member of the Society of Authors at the office in Portugal Street, to whom I mentioned that I had been requested to write a story for a well known magazine. "Be sure you make a bargain before- hand," he observed, "or you will get a good deal less than you expect." On this hint also I acted. I named my price, and was offered half—which I did not accept. Observe that in neither of these cases did the editor make any mention of terms. That, presumably, was to be left an open question, and would have proved a troublesome one for me, a trouble from which I was saved by being a member of the Society of Authors. The chief difficulty in the formation of an Authors Club' seems to me to lie in the defini- tion of "author." Will every man and woman who has written a trashy novel or volume of poetry, and paid for its production, be eligible for admission? And if not, where will you draw the line? W. [The line must be drawn by the Committee or the managing body of the Club.—Editor.] THE AUTHOR'S BOOK STALL. [This column is open for lists of books wanted, books offered for exchange and books offered for sale. Initials must be given for reference, not for publication, and the editor will place correspondents in communication with each other. Books must not be sent to the office of the Society. Letters enclosing list may be addressed "X,"care of the Editor. It must be understood that no responsibility rests with the Editor or with the officers of the Society.] Books for Sale. Atalanta in Calydon. Original Edition. Leckie's Leader of Public Opinion in Ireland. Berzelin's Jahresbericht der Chemie. Complete set. vols. Address "E.A. 2 C 27  ## p. 304 (#362) ############################################ 3°4 THE AUTHOR. Henry Irving Shakspeare. 8 vols. Edition de luxe, un- cut, in original cases. 11 guineas. The Odyssey. Translated by William Morris. I edition. 2 vols. Viollet le Due. Dictionnaire. Mobilier Francais. 6 vols. Half calf gilt edges. Ionica I and II. The very rare first edition with author's corrections; handsomely bound. Aucassin and Nicollette. Translated by Andrew Lang. (Nutt.) Cupid and Psyche. With an Introduction by Andrew Lang. (Nutt.) La Morte D'Arthur. H.O.Sumner. (Nutt.) 2 vols. Musa Protova. A. H. Bullen. Privately printed; small paper. Lyrics of the Elizabethan Age. A. II. Bullen. Small paper. (Nimmo.) For Exchange. The English in Ireland. By J. A. Froude. Library Edition. 3 vols. Exchange for Cabinet Edition of Froude's History of England. Address1' E. A." Morris' Vision of Saints, for Epic of Hades. Kingsley's At Last. Trollope's Decade of Italian Women. Emerson's Representative Men. Lufcadic Hearn's Two Years in the French West Indies. M. Life and Letters of the Princess Alice. List for Sale or Exchange. Bell's Chaucer. 1782. Lord Lytton's Poems and Dramatic Works. 1853. Original Edition. Life of Conde\ By Lord Mahon. 1846. Massinger's Plays. Edited by W. Gifford. 1853. Schiller's Werke. 10 vols. Very handsomely half-bound. Stuttgart. 1844. Oeuvres de Moliere. 6 vols. With old engravings; au 13 de Republique. Paris. Chansons de Victor Hugo. 1865. Would Lend. Works of Peter Pinder. Vol. II. London. 1816. Stories of Apparitions (Duchess of Mazarine, Mrs. Veal &c. Title lost, old.) Pritchard's Heroines of Welsh I listory. Address G. M. Williams, Aberclydack, Nr. Brecon. NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS. Theology. BELL, C. D. The Archbishop's Judgment on the Ritual Case. With some Thoughts on Public Worship: a Sermon Preached in St. Matthew's Church. Cosserts Cheltenham). Simpkin. yl. Brooke, Rev. Stopford A. The Fight of Faith: Ser- mons Preached on Various Occasions. 6th Edition. Paul, Triibner and Co. 5J. Carpenter, W. Boyd. The Permanent Elements of Re- ligion: Eight Lectures Preached Iwfore the University of Oxford in the Year 1887, on the Foundation of the late Rev. John Bampton. 2nd Edition. Macmillan. 6j. Fowle, Rev. Edmund. We Praise Thee, O God: The Choir Boy's Little Book. Skeffington. 6d. Gore, Charles. Lux Mundi : a Series of Studies in the Religion of the Incarnation. Edited by. nth Edition. Murray. 14J. Jeaffreson, H. H. Magnificat: a Course of Sermons. Paul, Triibner and Co. 2s. 6d. Pollock, T. S. Vaughton's Hole: Twenty-five Years in It. Mowbray, is. Stearns, L. F. The Evidence of Christian Experience: Being the Ely Lectures for 1890. Nisbet. 75. 6d. Wesley, John. The Father of Methodism; or, Life of Rev. John Wesley. Written for Children by Nehemiah Curnock. Centenary Edition. Wesleyan Conference Office. 6d., gd., is. By J. H. Overton. Portrait. {English Leaders of Religion.) Methuen. 2s. (ul. By Francis Kevan. 5th Edition. (True Stories of God's Servants.) J. Holness. zs.bd. History and Biography. Cruickshank, George. Memoir. By Frederic G. Stephens; and an Essay on the Genius of George Cruickshank by W. M. Thackeray. (Great Artists.) Low. 3-r. 6d. Drake, Sir Francis. By Julian Corbett. Portrait. (English Men of Action.) Macmillan. is. 6d. Ericsson, John. The Life of. By W. C. Church. With 50 Illustrations. Low. 2 vols. 24X. Gladstone, W. E. Life of. By George Barnett Smith. 12th Edition. Ward, Lock and Co. 3/. 6d. Grace, W. G. A Biography. By W. Methven Brownlee. Together with a Life-like Portrait and a "Treatise on Cricket " by W. G. Grace. Holland, C. Gleanings from a Ministry of 50 years. E. Stock. 5s. Kingsford, William. The History of Canada. Vol. IV. 1756-1763. With Maps. Paul, Triibner and Co. 15-t. Thackeray, W. M. Life of. By Herman Merivale and Frank T. Marzials. (Great Writers.) W. Scott. is., 2s. 6</. General Literature. Allfn, Grant The Tents of Shem: a Novel. New Edition. Cliatto and Windus. 2s. Besant, Walter. To Call Her Mine, &c. New Edition. With 9, Illustrations by A. Foreslier. Chatto and Windus. 3^. 6V/. Black, Willi am. Stand Fast, Craig Royston! 3rd Edition. 3 vols. Low. 31*. 6d. Buchheim, C. A. Materials for German Prose Composi- tion. 14th Edition. With a List of Subjects for Original Composition. Bell and Sons. 4!. 6d. Caine, Hall. The Bondman: a New Saga. New Edition. Heinemann. 3*. 6d. Cameron, Mrs. Lovett. This Wicked World: a Novel. 4th Edition. F. V. White, is., is. 6d.  ## p. 305 (#363) ############################################ THE A UTIIOR. 3«5 3 vols. 2nd Edition. Castle, Egerton. Consequences. Bentley. 31*. 6d. Cobb, T. On Trust. 3 vols. Hurst and Blackett. 31s. 6 J. S. M. Beyond Cloudland. Cheap Gardner. 5*. The Freaks of Lady Fortune. F. V. Crawley-Boevf.y, Edition. Ale Crommelin, May. White. 2s. 6d. Fakjeon, B. L. The Mystery of M. Felix : a Novel. New Edition. F. V. White. 2s. 6d. Garnier, R. M. Land Agency. With Illustrations. "Estate Gazette " Office. lot. Gibney, Somerville. The Maid of London Bridge. A Story of the Time of Kett's Rebellion. Illustrated. Jarrold and Sons. y. 6d. Graham, Scott. A Bolt from the Blue. Sampson Low. 31s. 6d. Haggard, H. R. Cleopatra. New Edition. Longman and Co. y. 6d. The Witch's Head. With 16 full page Illustrations by Charles Kerr. New Edition. Spencer Blackett. y- 6,1. Hardy, T. Two on a Tcwer: a Romance. New Edition. Low. 2S., 2S. 6d. Harte, Bret. A Sappho of Green Springs, &c. With Frontispiece and Vignette by Hume Nisbet. Chatto and Windus. 3*. 6d. James, Henry. The Tragic Muse. New Edition. Mac- millan. 3*. (xi. Keary, C. F, The Vikings in Western Christendom. A.D. 789 to A. D. 888. Fisher Unwin. 15s. Xenyon, Edith C. Little Knight. Chambers, is. Kipling, Rudyard. Wee Willie Winkle, and other Stories. Low. 3*. 6d. Knowles, R. B. S. Glencoonoge. 3 vols. Blackwood and Sons. 25.1. 6.7. Lang, Andrew. Essays in Little. With Portrait of the Author. (Whitefriars Library of Wit and Humour.) Henry and Co. 2s. 6d. Lamb's Adventures with Ulysses. With an Introduc- tion by Edward Arnold, is. 6d., 2s. 6d. Leland, C. G. Gypsy Sorcery and Fortune Telling. Illustrated by numerous Incantations, Specimens of Medical Magic, Anecdotes and Tales. Copiously Illustrated by the Author. Fisher Unwin. ids. Lovell, Arthur. The Ideal of Man. Chapman and Hall. y. 6d. Lowell, J. Russell. Political Essays and Writings. VoL V. Macmillan. 6;. McCarthy, Justin, M.P. Sir Robert reel. Being the 3rd vol. in the Queen's Prime Ministers Series. Edited by Stuart J. Reid, with Photogravure Portrait. Samp- son Low. y. 6d. Doom : an Atlantic Episode. New Edition. Chatto and Windus. is. Mitford, Bertram. A Romance of the Cape Frontier. Popular Edition. Heinemann. y. (xi. Murray, D. Christie, and Herman, Henry. He Fell among Thieves. 2 vols. Macmillan. 12s. NlSBET, Hume. A Colonial Tramp: Adventures through Australia and New Guinea. 2 vols. Illustrated by the Author. Ward and Downey. 30s. The Black Drop. Trischler and Co. 2s. (xi. Bail Up! 3rd Edition. Chatto and Windus. 3-r. (xi. The Papuan and his Master. (Fortnightly Rcviezu.) Oliphant, Mrs. Janet. 3 vols. Hurst and Blackett. 31s. 6d. Payn, James. The Burnt Million. New Edition. Chatto and Windus. 3.5. 6d. Pryce, R. Just Impediment. 2 vols. Ward and Downey. 2ls. Quiet Mrs. Fleming. Melhuen. ior. 6./. St. Reade, Mrs. R. H. The Goldsmith's Ward: a Tale of London City in the Fifteenth Century. With 27 Illus- trations. Chapman and Hall. 6s. Robinson, F. W. Her Love and His Life. 3 vols. Hurst and Blackett. 31J. 6d. - No Man's Friend. Hutchinson. 2s. 6d. Aubyn, A. A Fellow of Trinity. New Edition. With a Note by Oliver Wendell Holmes and a Frontispiece. Chatto and Windus. y. 6d. Thomas, Annie. That Affair. 3 vols. F. V. White. Vacher, F. Le Dragon Rouge: a short Story. 2nd Edition. Simpkin. 2s. (xi. Whitby, Beatrice. The Awakening of Mary Fenwick. Hurst and Blackett. 6s. Wills, C. J. John Squire's Secret. 5 vols. Ward and Downey. 31 J. 6d. Woods, Katharine. A Web of Gold. Cassell. 6r. Poetry and the Drama. Arnold, Sir Edwin. The Light of the World ; or, The Great Consummation. Longmans. 7/. 6<z*. Austin, Alfred. Savonarola. A Tragedy. Macmillan. Austin, Alfred. Prince Lucifer. 3rd Edition. Mac- millan. 5*. Gibbs, W. A. What Next? or, The Power of Gold. A Glimpse of the World as it will be. Portrait. J. Boul- ton. is. Ibsen, Henrik. Hedda Gabler. A Drama in Four Acts. Translated from the Norwegian by Edmund Gosse. Portrait. Heinemann. $s. Mackail, J. W. Select Epigrams from the Greek An- thology. 2nd Edition, with a Revised Text, Intro- duction, Translation and Notes. Longmans. 16s. Shelley, P. B. Poetical Works. Edited by Edward Dowden. Macmillan. 7s. 6d. Stevenson, A. L. Raymond: a Story in Verse of London and Monte Carlo. Paul, Triibner and Co. 3^. 6d. Stevenson, R. L. Ballads. Chatto and Windus. 6s. Tennyson. The Coming of Arthur and the Passing of Arthur. With Introduction and Notes by F. J. Rowe. Macmillan. 2s. Art and Architecture. Jopi.ing, Louise. Hints to Amateurs: a Handbook on Art. Chapman and Hall, it, 6d. Loftie, W. J. Landseer and Animal Painting in England. With Reproductions of Celebrated Pictures by George Morland, Sir E. Landseer, H. W. B. Davis, Briton Riviere, and Walter Hunt. Practical Hints for Draw- ing and Painting Animals by Stephen T. Dadd. (Vere Foster's Water Colour Series.) Blackie and Sons. Is. (xi. Rhead, G. WOOLLISCROFT. Etching. With Illustrations by the Author. (Darton's Manuals for Home Work.) Gardner, Darton and Co. is. 6d. Slater, J. H. Engravings and their Value : a Guide Tor the Print Collector. L. W. Gill. 7s. 6d.  ## p. 306 (#364) ############################################ 306 THE AUTHOR. Educational. Berkeley. Selections from Berkeley. With Introduction and Notes for the use of Students in the Universities, by Alexander C. Fraser. 4th Edition, Revised. Claren- don Press. 8/. 6d. Dixon, Edward T. The Foundations of Geometry. Deighton Bell and Co. Sidgwick, A. Greek Sentence Construction. Percival and Co. is. 6,1 STEDMAN, A. M. M. First Latin Lessons. With Vocabu- lary. New and Enlarged Edition. Methuen. 2s. Music. Barrett, William Alexander. English Folk Songs. Collected, arranged, and provided with Symphonies and Accompaniments for the Pianoforte. Novello. 2s. 6d. Sizer, Kate T., and Kern, K. A. The Concert at Home: a Collection of Two-Part Songs for Schools and for General Use by Young People. Curwen. 2s. Law. Holland, S. L. The Juryman's Handbook. E. Wilson and Co. is. Lely, J. M. Copyright Law Reform : an Exposition of Lord Monkswell's Copyright Bill now before Parliament. With Extracts from the Report of the Commission of 1878, and an Appendix containing the Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. Eyre and Spottis- woode. is. 6rf. * THE READING OF MANUSCRIPTS. WE beg to call attention to the following, which we reprint from the report of 1890 :— Regulations concerning the Reading of Manuscripts. The fee for this service will for the future be one guinea, unless any special reason be present for making it higher or lower. The amount must then be left to the Secretary's discretion. For this sum a report will be given upon MSS. of the usual 3 vol. length, or upon collections of stories making in the aggregate a work of that length. In every case the fee and stamps for return postage must accompany the MSS. The fee will be given entirely to the Reader. The Reader will not attempt to give an opinion upon works of a technical character. It is requested that a label may be sent with the MSS., having upon it the Author's name, the nom- de-plume (if any) under which the work is written, and the address to which the MSS. is to be returned. This communication will be held as confidential. PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY- 1. The Annual Report. That for January, 1891, can be had on application to the Secretary. 2. The Author. A Monthly Journal devoted especially to the protection and maintenance of Literary Property. Issued to all members. 3. The Grievances of Authors. (Field & Tuer.) 2s. The Report of three Meetings on the general subject of Literature and its defence, held at Willis's Rooms, March, 1887. 4. Literature and the Pension List. By W. Morris Colles, Barrister-at-Law. (Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C.) 3-f. 5. The History of the Soctetd des Gens de Lettres. By S. Squire Sprigge, Secretary to the Society, is. 6. The Cost of Production. In this work specimens are given of the most important forms of type, size of page, &c, with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds of books. 2s. 6d. 7. The Various Methods of Publication. By S. Squire Sprigge. In this work, compiled from the papers in the Society's offices, the various kinds of agreements proposed by Publishers to Authors are examined, and their meaning carefully ex- plained, with an account of the various kinds of fraud which have been made possible by the different clauses in their agreements. Price 3*. (A new Edition in the Press.) 8. Copyright Law Reform. An Exposition of Lord Monkswell's Copyright Bill now before Parliament. With Extracts from the Report of the Commission of 1878, and an Appendix containing the Berne Convention and the American Copyright Bill. By J. M. Lely. Eyre and Spottis- woode. is. 6d. Other works bearing on the Literary Profession will follow.  ## p. 307 (#365) ############################################ AD VER TISEMENTS. 307 Telegrams a Cablegrams: LONGEVITY. LONDON. TO AUTHORS. In view of the passing of the Copyright Bill in America, allow me to draw your attention to the fact that this measure, by securing Copyright to you there, will greatly increase the value of your future work, provided proper arrangements are made on your behalf in the United States. As you are no doubt aware, I have for many years acted as the Literary Agent, and conducted the entire commercial dealings, of many of the most eminent British Authors. I have friendly business relations with all the leading Publishers, both in this country and in America, and am, therefore, in the best position to take advantage of the present state of affairs, and obtain in both countries the very best terms for Authors. As Author's Agent—and, I may say, the first and only one to act in this capacity—I make it my study to advance the Author's interests, my remuneration being a commission on the amount received through my exertions. Should you decide to place your future work in my hands, I shall be glad to put my services at your disposal, and do my best in your interest. Among the Authors who have entrusted me with the negotiation of their literary business are:— The Right Hon. the Earl of Lytton, G.C.B., &c. George McDonald, LL.D. D. Christie Murray. Mrs. Oi.iphant. W. Clark Russell. Stanley J. Weyman. &c, Sec, &c. Grant Allen. Walter Eesant. William Black. Mrs. W. K. Clifford. Author of " Mrs. Keith's Crime." The Ven. Archdeacon Farrar. F. Anstey Guthrie. Capt. A. C. P. Haggard. H. Rider Haggard. Bret Harte. H. Herman. Henry James. Rudyard Kipling. Mrs. Lynn Linton. Edna Lyall. 2, Paternoster Square, London, E.C. \th March, 1891. A. P. WATT. 1. WORIt—Always in sight. 2. SPEED—Highest Record, 181 words per minute. ALItfSMEJT-Perfect and Permanent. 3. TYPE—Instantly interchangeable (21 kinds). , IBUPlHaMHMMf— Uniform, being independent of touch. 4. PAPER—Takes any width, also 20 yards in length. THE HAMMOND TYPEWRITER CO., 50,QUEEN VICTORIA ST., E.C.  ## p. 308 (#366) ############################################ 308 ADVERTISEMENTS. TYPE-WRITING. I MISS ETHEL DICKENS, TYPE-WRITING OFFICE, AUTHORS' MSS. CAREFULLY TRANSCRIBED. 26, WELLINGTON STREET, STRAND Writings by Post receive prompt attention. (Over the Ofice of “ All the Year Round”). SCIENTIFIC & MEDICAL PAPERS A SPECIALITY. MSS. copied. Price List on application. EDITED BY A New Vol. commenced MRS. GILL, MISSES ERWIN, TYPE-WRITING OFFICE, 13, DORSET STREET, PORTMAN SQUARE, W. ST. PAUL'S CHAMBERS, 19, LUDGATE HILL, E.C. Authors' MSS. carefully copied from CHARLES DICKENS. I/- per 1,000 words. One additional copy (carbon) supplied free of charge. References kindly permitted to many The MSS. of Two Important Poems well-known Authors and Publishers. Further particulars on application. for Sale.—Apply, TYPE - WRITING & SHORTHAND. A. P. WATT, 2, Paternoster Square. JO. DARKE, M.T.S., LION – CHAMBERS, * BROAD – STREET, “The best of all Journals." BRISTOL. Published every FRIDAY, price 2d. The advantages of Type-written Manuscript are LEGIBILITY, NEATNESS, RAPIDITY, and EASE of Manifolding. DR. ANDREW WILSON, F.R.S.E. Now is the time to subscribe. AUTHORS' MANUSCRIPTS, &c., prepared for the Publisher. 4th April, 1890. Companies* Reports and patent agents Specifications Written up and Post-card for Specimen Copy. Manifolded. LITHOGRAPHY froin TYPING done in the best To be had at all Railway Bookstalls and Style. Newsagents, or direct from the Publisher- MEMORY LESSONS IN TYPING GIVEN BY 2, PATERNOSTER SQUARE, LONDON, E.C. POST. WRITE FOR TERMS. ESTABLISHED 1851. BIR KBE C K BANK, SOUTHAMPTON BUILDINGS, CHANCERY LANE. THREE per CENT. INTEREST allowed on DEPOSITS, repayable on demand. TWO per CENT. INTEREST on CURRENT ACCOUNTS, calculated on minimum monthly balances, when not drawn below £100. STOCKS, SHARES, and ANNUITIES purchased and sold. SAVINGS DEPARTMENT. For the encouragement of Thrift the Bank receives small sums on deposit, and allows Interest, at the rate of THREE per CENT. per Annum, on each completed £i. Accounts are balanced and Interest added on the 31st March annually. FRANCIS RAVENSCROFT, Manager. W TO PURCHASE A HOUSE FOR TWO GUINEAS PER MONTH, OR A PLOT OF LAND FOR FIVE SHILLINGS PER MONTH, with immediate possession. Apply at Office of the BIRKBECK FREEHOLD LAND SOCIETY. THE BIRKBECK ALMANACK, with full particulars, post free on application. FRANCIS RAVENSCROFT, Manager. Send H E AIT HI. A WEEKLY JOURNAL OF SANITARY AND DOMESTIC SCIENCE,  ## p. 308 (#367) ############################################ ADVERTISEMENTS 1 I SA THANHH VERWALTAFUGEGUIDELIAM INHA W THE HAIN HET PIRIT OF 110 WE USE & The BAR-LOCK TYPE WRITER. / PROGRESS IS THE 27 HARIA Hull HUH! HOME A DMIN THE BAR-LOCK' TYPE-WRITER Is the only Machine combining the following Advantages PERFECT AND PERMANENT ALIGNMENT. AUTOMATIC LINE SPACING. A DUPLICATE KEY-BOARD. ADJUSTABLE BALL BEARINGS TO THE TYPE-BAR JOINTS. And it is the ONLY Type IVriter HAVING ABSOLUTELY VISIBLE WRITING, Some Type-Writers may have one or two of these Advantages, but no other combines them all. SOLD FOR CASH; ALSO ON THE EASY PAYMENT SYSTEM. THE TYPE-WRITER CO., LTD., 12, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, LONDON, E.C. MANCHESTER: 25, Market Street. LIVERPOOL: 40, North John St. CARDIFF: Exchange Building. GLASGOW : 22, Renfield St. SHEFFIELD: 39, Norfolk St. MELBOURNE: 385, Little Collins St.  ## p. 308 (#368) ############################################ ADVERTISEMENTS. NEW MODEL REMINGTON STANDARD TYPEWRITER. For Fifteen Years the Standard, and to - day the most perfect development of the writing machine, embodying the latest and highest achievements of inventive and mechanical skill. We add to the Remington every improvement that study and capital can secure. EMINGTON STANDARD TYPEWRITERN WYCKOFF, SEAMANS & BENEDICT, Principal Office- LONDON: 100, GRACECHURCH STREET, E.C. (CORNER OF LEADENHALL STREET). Branch Offices, LIVERPOOL: CENTRAL BUILDINGS, NORTH JOHN STREET. BIRMINGHAM : 23, MARTINEAU STREET, MANCHESTER : 8, MOULT STREET. Printed for the Society, by HARRISON & SONS, 45, 46, and 47, St. Martin's Lane, in the Parish of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, in the City of Westminster. 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. 01 Issue 11 (March 1891) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 01 Issue 11 (March 1891) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927&amp;view=1up&amp;seq=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1891-03-16-The-Author-1-11 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/248/1891-02-16-The-Author-1-10.pdf 37586831f263dcbbf0203ac7c4463ce5 PDF Text Text ���������������������������������� 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 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) 1891-02-16 Volume 1 Issue 10 Pages Page range in volume 251–280 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18910216 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin Vol. 1.- No. 10) FEBRUARY 16, 1891. [Price, Sixpence. The Author. THE ORGAN OF THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS (INCORPORATED). CONDUCTED BY .: WALTER BESANT Published for the Society by ALEXANDER P. WATT, 2, PATERNOSTER SQUARE, LONDON, E.C. 1891.  ## p. 250 (#302) ############################################ ADVERTISEMENTS. I IS KUKUN I IN HABERLLONGERPREGLERGIU HUMU PROGRESS SH an SPIRIT OF THE AGU The .ES WE USE BAR-LOCK TYPE WRITER. PROGRESS IS THE 0 THE 'BAR-LOCK' TYPE-WRITER Is the ONLY Machine combining the following Advantages- PERFECT AND PERMANENT ALIGNMENT. AUTOMATIC LINE SPACING. A DUPLICATE KEY-BOARD. ADJUSTABLE BALL BEARINGS TO THE TYPE-BAR JOINTS. And it is the ONLY Type Writer HAVING ABSOLUTELY VISIBLE WRITING, Sime Type-Writers may have ore or two of these Advantages, but no other combines them all. SOLD FOR CASH; ALSO ON THE EASY PAYMENT SYSTEM. THE TYPE-WRITER CO., LTD., 12, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, LONDON, E.C. MANCHESTER : 25, Market Street. LIVERPOOL: 40, North John St. CARDIFF: Exchange Building. GLASGOW : 22, Renfield St. SHEFFIELD: 39, Norfolk St. MELBOURNE: 385, Little Collins St.  ## p. 251 (#303) ############################################ (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly?) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. I.—No. 10.] FEBRUARY 16, 1891. [Price Sixpence. CONTENTS. Conditions of Membership Warnings News and Notes "Ionica Recent American Literature How wc lost the Itook of Jashcr .. On Committee A Hard Case PACK I'ACE 251 A Note on Ibsen 268 251 In Grub Street ... 270 252 The Cost of Production »7» '57 Correspondence 274 257 The Author's Hook Stall 276 '59 New Books 277 263 The Reading of MSS 278 267 Advertisements 279 CONDITIONS OF MEMBERSHIP. The Subscription is One Guinea annually, payable on the 1st of January of each year. The sum of Ten Guineas for life meml>ersnip entitles the subscriber to full membership of the Society. Authors of published works alone are eligible for member- ship. Those who desire to assist the Society but are not authors are admitted as Associates, on the same suliscription, but have no voice in the government of the Society. Cheques and Postal Otders should be crossed "The Im- perial liank, Limited, Westminster Branch." Those who wish to be proposed as members may send their names at any lime to the Secretary at the Society's Offices, when they will receive a form for the enumeration of their works. Subscriptions entered after the 1st of Ociober w ill cover the next year. The Secretary may be personally consulted between the hours of I p.m. and 5, except on Saturdays. It is preferable that an appointment should be made by letter. The Author, the Organ of the Society, can be procured through all newsagents, or from the publisher, A. P. Watt, 2, Paternoster Square, E.G. A copy will be sent free to any member of the Society for one twelvemonth, dating from May, 1889. It is hoped, however, that most members will subscribe to the paper. The yearly subscription is 6s. 6d., including postage, which may be sent to the Secretary, 4, Portugal Street, W.G. With regard to the reading of MSS. for young writers, the fee for this service is one guinea. MSS. will be read and reported upon for others than menil>ers, but members cannot have their works read for nothing. In all cases where an opinion is desired upon a manuscript, the author should send with it a table of contents. A type- written scenario is also of very great assistance. It must be understood that such a reader's report, however favourable, does not assist the author towards publication. VOL. I. WARNINGS. Readers of the Author are earnestly desired to make the following warnings as widely known as possible. They are based on the experience of six years' work upon the dangers to which literary property is exposed :— (1) Never to sign any agreement of which the alleged cost of production forms an integral part, unless an opportunity of proving the correctness of the figures is given them. (2) Never to enter into any correspondence with publishers, especially with advertising publishers, who are not recommended by experienced friends, or by this Society. (3) Never, on any account whatever, to bind themselves down for future work to any one firm of publishers. (4) Never to accept any proposal of royalty without con- sultation with the Sociely, or, at least, ascertaining exactly what the agreement gives to the author and w hat to the publisher. (5) Never to accept any offer of money for MSS., with- out previously taking advice of the Society. (6) Never to accept any pecuniary risk or responsibility without advice. (7) Never, when a MS. has been refused by respectable houses, to pay others, whatever promises they may put forward, for the production of the work. (8) Never to sign away American or foreign rights. Keep them. Kefuse to sign an agreement containing a clause which reserves them for the publisher. If the publisher insists, take away the MS. and ofTer it to another. (9) Never forget that publishing is a business, like any other business, totally unconnected with philanthropy, charity, or pure love of literature. You have to do with business men. Society's Offices:— 4, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields.  ## p. 252 (#304) ############################################ 252 THE A UTHOR. NOTES AND NEWS. THE International Copyright Act has not passed the United States Senate after all. So that we have had all our congratula- tions over American honesty for nothing. Also all our outcry over the deadly injury the Bill was going to inflict upon the British printer for nothing. Why did it fail to pass? My own ignorant belief is that the Senate made a discovery. They learned that the Bill w^ould not inflict any injury on any Briton at all, but quite the reverse. They, there- fore, in their well-established friendship to this country, resolved not to pass the Bill. An American friend tells me that their action was probably due to bribery. Fancy our own feelings if Lord Monkswell's Bill should be defeated through the bribery of his brother Peers! Is it to be Club or House? A large number of replies have been received to the request for information as to the advisability of starting one or other of these institutions. An analysis of the replies gives the following result—up to this date :— For the Club, 60 per cent. For the House, 30 ,, ,, For neither, 8 „ ,, For both, 2 „ „ More than one-third of those who have voted for the House were ladies; more than five-sixths of those who have voted for a Club were men. The ladies who voted for a Club did not raise a word against the admission of men, but many of the men, speaking for a club, urged strongly upon us the necessity of excluding the ladies. The. reasons for giving the preference to the House were in each case almost the same: that such a place would give an opportunity for quiet work not enjoyed at home. Many seemed to believe that a Club could be started successfully later on, using the organization and machinery already in employ for the management of the House. Those who have voted in favour of the Club haveall been actuated by the ideathat anything which promotes good fellowship and unity between authors must, if able to work at all, work for good. What next? The next thing is to form a Com- mittee, to draw up the constitution of the club, and to leave the Committee to take all the steps necessary. This will be done as quickly as possible, and I hope that by next month we shall be able to announce that the Club is actually in a fair way to be started. One rule will be rigid. No one will be admitted who is not author of some book or a professional journalist. Let us learn how the Americans pay honour to their men of letters. On Monday last the President issued the following order :— "Executive Mansion, Washington, "■January ig//i, 1891. "The death of George Bancroft, which occurred in the City of Washington on Saturday, January 17, at 3.40 o'clock p.m., removes from among the living one of the most distinguished Americans. As an expression of the public loss and sorrow, the flags of all the executive departments at Washing- ton, and of the public buildings in the cities through which the funeral party is to pass, will be placed at half-mast to-morrow, and until the body of this eminent statesman, scholar and historian shall rest in the State that gave him to his country and to the world." The Secretary of the Navy also ordered that the Navy Department be draped in mourning for thirty days, and that all business be suspended therein on the day of the funeral; and, in the Senate, Mr. Hoar moved that the adjournment be till 12 o'clock on Tuesday, in order to give Senators who desired to attend the funeral an opportunity to do so. He said that Mr. Bancroft's name had been honoured by the Senate in a way in which no other name had been, by special permission that he should be admitted to the floor of the Senate at all times. The motion was adopted. Of course we do the thing just as well in this country, though people forget and grumble. Looking back to the Times of December 26th, 1863, for instance, I read— "The following order has been issued by command of the Queen :— "'The death of William Makepeace Thackeray, which occurred on the 24th, removes from among the living one of the most distinguished English- men. His name will for ever be associated with the nineteenth century as that of its noblest novelist. This great man, cut off at the early age of 52, was about to be raised to the highest honours of the Peerage as Duke of Kensington Gardens. His daughters are authorized to receive the rank and courtesy title of a Duke's daughter. As an expression of the public loss and sorrow the flags of all the Executive Departments at London, and of the public buildings, will be placed at half-mast to-morrow until the funeral is over.' "'All the Departments will be draped in mourn- ing for thirty days, and business will be suspended on the day of the funeral.' In both Houses a  ## p. 253 (#305) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 253 resolution was unanimously adopted to adjourn over the day of the funeral." It is pleasant to be able to prove, though people have such short memories, that this country is not behind America in the recognition of her great men. We may remind our readers also of the Court and general mourning ordered through- out the country on the lamented death of Carlyle, and of the honours which were heaped upon Robert Browning, alive and dead. And we must not forget the extraordinary care always taken by the First Lord of the Treasury, whether it be Mr. VV. H. Smith or Mr. W. E. Gladstone, not to allow any outsider to have any share in the grant annually made for Literature, Science and Art. Here, indeed, we do claim superiority over our cousins, for they have no Civil List, while we grant ^1,200 a year to those whose work advances humanity, and we never, r.ever, never suffer one penny of this to be jobbed away on any considera- tion whatever. Is verse in danger? The question was asked by Mr. Edmund Gosse in the Forum for January. This American magazine, which always contains some articles of suggestion or instruction, is published in this country by Mr. Edward Arnold, of Warwick Lane. The question is asked and answered, and it ought to cause other answers and yet others, because no question is more important in its bearings in the future of literature. "Sculptors, singers, painters must always exist; but need we have poets any longer since the world has dis- covered how to say all it wants to say in prose? Will anyone who has anything of importance to communicate be likely, in the future, to express it through the medium of metrical language?" The writer points to the reprinting and the reviving of the dead and gone poets as an illustration that poetry may have done its work. Pope succeeded so well because his predecessors were already forgotten; but we no longer allow the dead to lie in their graves. We drag them out and clothe them with new print, and paper, and bindings rich and rare. "How," asks the writer, "in this great throng of resuscitated souls is the modern poet to exist?" Well, I do not think that the resuscitated souls have much to do with the threatened decay in poetry. As a fact, we have not a single poet under forty. This is very serious, but the same thing might have been said before the advent of Wordsworth, while Mr. Gosse himself evidently feels that it is impossible for the world to be carried on without new poetry. He indicates the kinds of verse which may be expected. "Poetry, if it exists at all, will deal, and probably to a greater degree than ever before, with those more frail and ephemeral shades of emotion which prose scarcely ventures to describe . . . . The most realistic novel, the closest psychological analysis in prose, does no more than skim the surface of the soul; verse has the privi- lege of descending into its depths. In the future, lyrical poetry will probably grow less musical and less conventional at the risk of being less popular. It will interpret that prose does not suggest." And further on he predicts that the verse of the future will be essentially democratic. It will, perhaps, present short and highly finished studies in narra- tive like those of Copp£e. It may abandon the extreme refinement of its extreme mechanism. It will seek to give pleasure less by the manner than by the matter. "But," he concludes, "whatever the issue may be we may be confident that the art will retain that poignant charm over undeveloped minds, and that exquisite fascination which for so many successive generations have made poetry the wisest and the fairest prose of youth." ♦ Poetry will not willingly be allowed to die in the States. This conclusion is drawn, perhaps hastily, from the encouragement offered to poets by the Charles E. Hires Co., Philadelphia. They offer a prize of $50 cash for the best poem on their Beer, their Root Beer. It is not stated that English poets are excluded from this interesting competition. We await the result, the immortal result, the Eulogy of Root Beer, with impatience. There has been a little controversy in the Illustrated London Naus concerning the proposed Authors' Club. It consisted of two short papers, which may be read by the curious in that excellent journal. It has now been supplemented by an account of the New York Authors' Club, of which I venture to reprint a portion :— "When I first mounted the stairs, I heard the comforting rattle of plates and cutlery, and found the hungry authors rapidly disposing of a substan- tial meal. The operation was so thorough and convincing that when an athletic friend of mine, with a far-famed appetite, came bounding in an hour late, one glance sufficed to prove to him that Mother Hubbard's historic cupboard was not more completely bare than the American authors' board. During the evening I had an opportunity of observing some notable members of the club. I was most anxious to see the American humourist in undress, so to speak, to find out how much of vol. 1. X 2  ## p. 254 (#306) ############################################ 254 THE AUTHOR. him was natural and how much professional, and whether the habit of producing everlasting fun had left in him any deep furrows of care. Some of the best-known humourists in America are rarely heard of on this side of the ocean. They write chiefly in the newspapers. They take care that the news of the day shall not distress you too sorely. The American citizen might learn from his morning sheet that some awful disaster had happened to the nation, but he would be soothed, if not consoled, by a piece of sprightly humour in the next column. It is this agreeable dispensation, I think, which keeps most Americans alive amid the rush and the turmoil and the extravagant nervous pressure of their existence. One of the most distinguished of these newspaper humourists is the gentleman who calls himself Bill Nye. I had often laughed to the point of suffocation over his writings, and I could not help picturing him as a small man with a large comical head and a perpetual twinkle in a particularly knowing eye, and a conversational manner perhaps a little too obtrusively merry for the repose which distinguishes the library of the Athenaeum Club. I felt ex- tremely apologetic when I found that Bill Nye was a tall man, perfectly bald, with a quiet pensive smile and a pleasant unaffected speech, which might have led the stranger to put him down as a genial professor who had written a good deal for encyclopaedias. "What struck me chiefly was that, with the exception of an excellent man who favoured me in a corner and at some length with his theory of international copyright, nobody talked about hobbies. There were no literary arguments. The prophetic sketch in these columns of the people who would bore one another in an Authors' Club has no counterpart in my remembrances of these American authors. They were not pedantic, prosy, or eager to carry the talk about shop over their particular little counters. I think there is, on the whole, an easier current of life in American clubs of all kinds than in our own. There is certainly a more genial intercourse and a greater disposition to entertain the stranger. I have in my mind now one of the best storytellers I ever met—an engineer, a painter, a writer, a traveller in many lands. If these lines should catch his vision, I hope he will take them as an assurance that I still cherish those anecdotes of Colonel Carter, of Cartersville, which he used to tell me with infinite humour, and which I see he has moulded into admirably artistic form in Harpers Magazine. I cannot imagine any asso- ciation of authors animated by a better esprit de corps than I found in this New York club, or freer from those angles of the literary character which pome of us seem to dread. Perhaps I shall com- mend the American authors all the more strongly to some English writers when I say that a very wealthy man was once blackballed at the Authors' Club in New York, because it was held to be no place for millionaires." A correspondent sends the following suggestion. He may be wrong—if so, one would be glad to learn what the advertiser really did intend by his proposal to act as an intermediary where none is wanted :— "In the January number of the Author, you appear to be somewhat puzzled about the following advertisement:— 'AUTHORS.—Introductions to publishers and editors, by journalist of standing; com- mission only on MS. sold; exceptional chance.—H. D. F., Office.' "I know nothing of the source of the advertise ment, but to me it is, on the face of it, clearly a dodge of the bogus publisher to get hold of the names and addresses of amateur authors. "A member of your Society who answered it, you say, received no reply. Had a score of your members answered it, they would not probably have received a single reply among them. The object—or rather the immediate object—of the advertiser has been attained when he has secured the names and addresses of a large number of persons who have literary aspirations, and these persons at a later date—when they have forgotten all about the above advertisement—will, in all probability, be bombarded with prospectuses of an amateur magazine, or an amateur literary society, or polite invitations to send in their 'MSS.' of novels, tales, poems, and travels' to a bogus publisher, who speaks of dazzling things in the shape of fame and fortune to be won. "' However did they get hold of my address?' wonders the literary novice when he receives such a document, and, perchance, vaguely begins to think that he must be getting known in literary circles. I fancy I have made it clear how both his name and address are procured. Whatever else the bogus publisher is, he is not a fool, and he well knows the value (wholly spurious, of course) that the amateur author attaches to 'introductions to publishers and editors.'" A question asked by Mr. James Baker at the meeting of January 15th, raises a difficult and interesting point. He asked how far literary "notes," which frequently embody matters of lasting value, are to be protected by the new Copy-  ## p. 255 (#307) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 255 right Bill. That these notes may be, and some- The second prejudice is based on the first. It times are, property of considerable value, is shown is the error which we have attacked again and by the fact that Mr. James Payn, whose weekly again, that publishing is a highly speculative and notes constitute one of the principal attractions of risky business. On the contrary, no publisher the paper in which they appear, has thought well to need even run any risk at all; and in point reprint them in a volume, which has been eagerly* of fact very few publishers do. I have already taken up. It is also proved by the fact that Mr. proved this by an analysis of the advertising George Augustus Sala has done the same thing, columns, and I shall continue, from time to time, Now such notes ought certainly to be protected, to prove the fact in the same way. and I hope this point will be borne in mind when the Bill goes into Committee. » — Mr. Baker also suggests that at the Annual Meeting members should discuss points rising out of the Report. The Chairman did invite dis- cussion at the last meeting—and there was some, but such discussion can be only valuable when none are allowed to speak except members who have given due notice and have prepared themselves beforehand, and have followed the action of the committee, and so placed themselves in a position to judge the questions from many points of view. Such discussions are apt to be desultory and to go away from the question before the meeting. For instance, at one of our meetings in Willis s Rooms, there a few years ago, when Lord Lytton invited discussion on the principles which should guide the management of literary property, one man got up and asked the meeting if his publisher was a liar for sending him certain accounts? As if such a very important question could be asked without examining the accounts! Another got up to say that there was no such thing as a 5*. book. And a third rose to deny a statement made in the paper that had just been read that an ordinary 6s. novel could be produced, in numbers, at is. If, however, we were to lay down certain definite points for discussion, if these were announced before- hand, such a conference, it is conceivable, might produce great good if only by clearing the air of prejudice and error. For instance, there are two prejudices which seem to defy any amount of argument. The first is the belief that the English people are not buyers of books, but that they get all their literature from the circulating library. I confess to having held this view myself until recently. Now, we have recently undertaken a little investigation, as yet incomplete, into the present condition of the book trade, which seems to dissipate this view pretty completely. The fact is that within certain limits there are no greater buyers of books than the inhabitants of Great Britain and her colonies. Mr. J. M. Lely, Barrister-at-Law, and member of our Committee, has completed a popular analysis of the new Copyright Bill, with explana- tions of the clauses and their bearing. We have arranged with him to add this pamphlet to our list of publications. It will therefore be accessible to members of the Society at the cost of is. 6d. —♦— The following note may possibly have been sent to many other readers of this paper :— "Sir,—I am collecting the opinions of men eminent in the various departments of Ait and Science on the question, 'Is Life Worth Living?' and should esteem it a very great favour if you would kindly send me a few lines, giving your opinion on the matter." Nobody should take any notice of such com- munications as the above. If the writer is really desirous of finding out what the person addressed thinks on any subject, he should consult the published works of that person. If, as is most likely, he wants an autograph, or if.he is only trying to "draw" the man, he should certainly be snubbed with silence. ♦ People in the literary line mostly know other people who are not. They also know young people who would like to be. They are, therefore, earnestly and urgently entreated and implored to spread abroad the following simple truths :— 1. MSS. must not be sent to literary people with a request that they will read them and write an opinion. They really must not. 2. Authors must not be asked to "use their powerful influence" with publishers. They have no influence. If the best author in the world were to kneel and supplicate the most friendly publisher in the world, he would not persuade that publisher to issue unsaleable work.  ## p. 256 (#308) ############################################ 256 THE AUTHOR. In a certain secondhand bookshop where there are generally things worth seeing, there is nowtobe seen, nearly complete, a collection quite unique of its kind. They have had the same book bound by all the best bookbinders in Europe, each in his own best style. The result is a collection illustra- ting the finest kinds of binding procurable at this time. When it is complete it will be exhibited either in the shop or in some more public place. There will be various opinions on the various bindings: for my own part, I think that we can hold our own in London. The book chosen is the "Water Babies," but of course it is not half good enough for such binding. One can picture the poet gazing in despair upon this work, and wondering in sadness whether he will ever be able to write up to such a binding. Mr. Rider Haggard on his arrival in New York, was interviewed. He cannot escape the common lot. But he seems to have suffered more than is usual at the hands of his persecutors. Eight or ten news- paper men surrounded him and all asked him questions at once. The following are selected by the Neiv York Times as specimens of the inter- rogatory. The interview took place, it must be remembered, immediately after landing. "How do you like New York?" "Where are you going to when you leave here, and what for?" "How old are you?" "What is your opinion about the elevated rail- way?" "Were you born in Africa?" "Do you consider that you have exhausted Africa?" "How about Rudyard Kipling and India?" "Do you consider that Kipling has exhausted India?" "How do you work? Dictate it? Work nights?" "Do you make your plots before you write your stories, or do you write your stories first?" The last question reminds one of the inquirer who asked the cook whether she made her pud- dings first and boiled them afterwards, or whether she boiled them first, and made them afterwards. It also reminds one of King George the Third's difficulty about the apple dumpling. Many are the writers who send their MSS. for perusal by busy men. Few indeed are so con- siderate as the one who sent me the other day a letter, asking me to read his work, and in order to save trouble, enclosed a letter of refusal for my signature. This letter I subjoin as an example to all other young men and maidens who want to get their MSS. read. May one remind them that 'one never hears of young students, say in mathematics, inviting a mathematician to teach them by correspondence? The letter is everything that could be desired. London, February, 1891. Sir,—I have received your letter, but I must decline, though reluctantly, to entertain the appli- cation. It would give me great pleasure to assist any worthy aspirant to literary honours, but the many demands upon my time forbid me to comply with all requests of this kind, of which I receive many. In fact, I strongly advise you not to sub- scribe to a ticket in the literary lottery, for it offers few prizes and many blanks, and especially is the department of poetry open to this objection. With every hope for your success if you should persist in your endeavours, I beg to remain, yours faithfully, « The ten years' Retrospect of American Literature noticed below may be supplemented by a reference to a new periodical issued by Mr. Edward Arnold, pub- lisher, of Warwick Square. It is a monthly list of American and French books. The selected list of American books published during the last quarter is not very attractive. One would suggest that such a work as "Our Early Presidents, their Wives and Children," hardly appeals to the Englishman, to whom the past Presidents of the United States are mere names and shadows. The Notes and Notices are very meagre. A list of "Standard" American Literature includes, like the selected list, a great quantity of work that can never be popular here, e.g., the biographies of American statesmen, books on the Civil War, &c. It is curious to note when one passes from American to French literature how much broader is the field of letters. We do not find Frenchmen occupying their time with lives of men or histories of places whose interest is purely local and ephemeral. There is the note of world-wide and human interest in a French list which is strangely absent from the American literature—perhaps also though in less degree, from our own. The first number of the " List " will doubtless be improved upon, as the editor enlarges his experience. It should, however, fill a gap in the service of current literature.  ## p. 257 (#309) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 257 The death is announced of Alice Bronte, sister of Patrick Bronte, and aunt to the three Bronte girls. She was ninety-five years of age and was never married. I have just seen a photograph of her, taken shortly before her death. The face singularly reminds one of Charlotte, though Alice was, in her youth, a most beautiful girl, which, I fear, was never the case with any of her nieces. She was six feet high, as strong as any three men. and possessed all her faculties to the very end. The Rev. Dr. William Wright, of the Bible Society, who knew her well, is about to write a short account of her. She lived all her years in the North of Ireland. Who would have dreamed that there would be living an ancient lady, the survivor of the generation before Charlotte, Emily and Anne? The three sisters were born in the years 1816, 1818 and 1820, respectively. Charlotte died at thirty-nine, her two sisters at thirty. They might all three be living still, old, but not so very old, and youthful, compared with Alice. What sort of work would they have done had they lived? I think that one remembers "Shirley" with greater readiness than any other of the Bronte novels. Perhaps their works have been partly kept alive by the biography of Mrs. Gaskell, certainly one of the best and most life-like portraits ever drawn. The world was touched with the picture of the three girls in their far-off country parsonage close to the wild moor, with neither neighbours nor friends, with a morose father and a drunken brother. "Jane Eyre " and "Wuthering Heights " would have lived, I suppose, whether Mrs. Gaskell had written that book or not, but they would not have lived with a vitality so intense. My opinion as to the fading vitality of certain writers mentioned in the last number of the Author, has been disputed in various quarters. Yet I adhere to my opinion. We may reprint Hogg, and we may put him on our shelves, but we have ceased to read him in the sense in which we read Browning; we look at him sometimes for curiosity, or we may seek out favourite pieces, but he is no longer a poet of our time, or of all time. Scholars and students, of course, will read all the writers whom I named—has not Mr. Saintsbury made a book about them? Yet, they no longer attract the omnivorous young—which is a very good and fair test of vitality—and their best things are in the Anthologies and Golden Treasuries. Walter Besant. "IONICA." THE question whether good verse can still become popular might be practically answered by the success or the failure of "Ionica." Rarely, indeed, does a volume of verses appear in which the workmanship is so delicate, the thought so refined, the phrases so subtle, the flow and ring of the lines so full of music. The book, a dainty volume, is published by Mr. George Allen of Bell Court, beside the Inns of Court, at the Sign of the Ruskin Arms. The song printed below, by permission of the author, is written for Mendelssohn's music generally known as " O wert thou in the cauld, cauld blast?" I. Oh! earlier shall the rosebuds blow, In after years, those happier years, And children weep when we lie low, Far fewer tears—far softer tears. Oh! true shall boyish laughter ring, Like tinkling chimes, in kinder times, And merrier shall the maiden sing, And I not there—and I not there. in. Like lightning in the summer night Their mirth shall be, so quick and free, And oh! the flash of their delight, 1 shall not see—I may not see. IV. In deeper dream, with wider range, Those eyes shall shine, but not on mine, Unmoved, unblest by worldly change, The dead must rest, the dead shall rest. * RECENT AMERICAN LITERATURE. THE very few Englishmen who read the literary papers of the United States have long been aware that the output of original literature of all kinds has become almost as great there as in this country, and that in spite of the competition with cheap reprints of British books. A short analysis of the last ten years' American literature, published in the New York Critic of January 17th, presents an instructive and extremely interesting view of the whole subject. Death his removed the great figures of Emerson, Longfellow,  ## p. 258 (#310) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. and Bancroft, while the surviving leaders, Holmes, Whittier, Whitman, and Lowell, have passed into more or less complete retirement. The loss of leaders has not yet been replaced. In America, as everywhere else, there is a lack of acknowledged leaders; the general standard has been greatly raised; the number of those who write has been largely increased—never have there been so many writers able to write well—but those who used to dominate the literary world hardly exist any longer. In poetry, the total disappearance of the first rank is especially deplored. There have been published during the last decade, verses from Lowell, Holmes, Whittier, Stoddard, W. W. Story, William Winter, and Aldrich, names all known to English readers. In addition, the names are mentioned of Edgar Eawcett, Francis Saltus, George Woodberry, Richard Gilder, Mrs. Whitney, Mrs. Deland, Edith Thompson, Mrs. Moulton (a head and shoulders above most of those enumerated), H. B. Carpenter, S. H. Nichol, Mrs. Jackson, E. R. Sill, Miss Dickenson, Emma Lazarus, Sydney Lanier, H. C. Bunner, Edward Martin, Herbert Nurse, F. D. Newman, and Clinton Scollard, called the best of the younger men. Now of these twenty minor poets there are three names—Mrs. Moulton, Sydney Lanier, and Emma Lazarus— whose verses are known in this country. Would it not be well if some of our critics would make a voyage of discovery in this land of sweet singers and bring home some of their songs? And would it be possible to make so long a list of minor poets in this country? It is in fiction, however, that the emotion and thought of the time have in America, as every- where, found adequate expression. Democracy, becoming self-conscious, has felt ever-increasing interest in familiar human life. The growth of the sentiment of sympathy has stimulated curiosity and interest in the daily lives of our neighbours. The scientific spirit of the day has popularized the love of accurate description. The great Russian novelists have moved some and the French school has moved others. There is an enormous demand for short stories in papers and magazines, par- ticularly such stories as those on phases in American life. We know the names that come first in such a list—Howells and James. Besides these are mentioned as in the same line, Fawcett, Mrs. Burnett, and Miss Baylor. There has been an especially noteworthy development in the direction of local colour and local types. Some of the works of this kind we know, others are not familiar to us. For instance, Louisiana has George Cable; Tennessee, Miss Murfill; the hill folk of Virginia, Miss Baylor and Edward Eggleston; Georgia, Johnston's Dukesborough stories; the negroes, Harris, Nelson Page, and Edwards; Kansas, Howe; New England, Miss Williams and Miss Jewett; the Cape Cod folk, Miss McLean; the Jews of New York, Henry Harland; the Western boy, Mark Twain. Considering that all this is the outcome of ten years, the advance seems very remarkable. Then there are books which are successful, one knows not why, such as Wallace's "Ben Hur, a Tale of the Christ"; which are successful, one does know why, such as "Mr. Barnes of New York"; which are successful because they deal with questions of the day, such as "John Ward, Preacher," and "Looking Backward"; which are successful be- cause they appeal to serious and common-place people who understand nothing but calmly moving stories with a happy ending. The spirit of Thoreau is continued by John Burroughs, Dr. C. C. Abbott, Theodore Roosevelt, and Mrs. Custer, while Lufcadic Hearn's " Two Years in the French West Indies" is spoken of with the highest praise. Reminiscence and biography are plentifully represented by the names of Grant, Sheridan, Sher- man, Jefferson Davis, Hugh McCullock, Blaine, by the lives of Lincoln, Emerson, Longfellow, Bryant, Molley, Hawthorne, Poe, Dana, Garrison, Agassiz, Ericsen, Henry Ward Beecher, and others. In history the last ten years show the completion of Bancroft-Parkman's "Montcalm and Wolfe," McMaster's "History of the People," and other works. Let us pass over political economy, literary criticism, art criticism, philosophy, law, education, and science. Enough has been said to show what we are too ready to forget, or to ignore, that there exists across the Atlantic a literature which is comparable with our own in every respect. If they have no poets who can stand beside Tenny- son, Browning, or Swinburne; if they have no novelists in the same line with Thackeray, Dickens, George Eliot, George Meredith; they have many who can meet the novelists who come after these great names. If they have no historian who can be ranked with Stubbs, Green, or Freeman, they have many who are equal to those who stand in the second line, while in science and philosophy they are rapidly stepping to the front. One branch is unnoticed by the reviewer of this decade. It is the branch of scholarship. In that department Great Britain still seems to hold her own. Mean- while, as an unexpected record of unexampled development, this little paper in the Critic, from which we have taken these remarks, is instructive and suggestive.  ## p. 259 (#311) ############################################ THE AUTHOk. 259 It suggests, especially, this very important fact. With the enormous development of their own literature it will become increasingly rare for the Americans to want the new books of our produc- tion. When, if ever, an International Copyright Bill is passed, those fortunate authors, American or British, who are in demand on both sides, will be few indeed. It will be mortifying when we have got all we have clamoured for to be told that our wares are not wanted. But this seems quite likely to happen. * HOW WE LOST THE BOOK OF JASHER. EVERYONE who knows anything about art, archaeology, or science has heard of the famous FitzTaylor Museum at Ox- bridge. And even outsiders who care for none of these things have heard of the quarrels and in- ternal dissensions that have, from time to time, disturbed that academic calm which ought to reign within the walls of a museum. The il- lustrious founder, to whose munificence we owe this justly famous institution, provided in his will for the support of four curators, who were to govern the two separate departments of science and art, and the University has been in the habit of making grants of money from time to time to these separate departments for the acquisition of scientific or archaeological curiosities and MSS. I suppose there was something wrong in the system, but whatever it may be it led to those notorious jealousies and disputes. At the time I am writing the principal curators of the art section were Professor Girdelstone and Mr. Monteagle, of Princes College, while I myself looked after the scientific welfare of the museum with Lowestoft as my understudy—he was practically a nonenity, but an authority on lepidoptera. Now whenever a grant was made to the left wing of the building, as I call it, I always used to say that science was being sacrificed to archaeology. I mocked at the illuminated MSS. over which Girdelstone grew en- thusiastic and the musty theological folios which Monteagle had purchased. They heaped abuse upon me, of course, when my turn came, and cracked many a quip on my splendid skeleton of the ichthyosaurus, the only known specimen from Greenland. At one time the strife broke into print, and the London press animadverted on our conduct. It became a positive scandal. We were advised, I remember, to wash our dirty linen at home, and though I have often wondered why the press should act as a voluntary laundress on such occasions, I suppose the remark is a just one. There came a day when we took the advice of the press, and from then until now science and art have gone hand in hand at the University of Oxbridge. How the breach was healed forms the subject of the present leaf from my memoir. America, it has been wisely said, is the great land of fraud. It is the Egypt of the modern world. From America came spiritualists, from America bogus goods, cheap ideas and pirated editions, and from America, I have every reason to believe, came Dr. Groschen. It is true that he spoke American with an English accent at times, at others, English with a German. But if his ancestors came from the Rhine, that he received his education on the other side of the Atlantic I have no doubt. Why he came to Oxbridge I cannot say. He appeared quite suddenly, like a comet. He brought introduc- tions from various parts of the world, from the English embassy at Constantinople, from the British and German Schools of Archaeology at Athens, from certain French Egyptologists at Alexandria, and a holograph letter from Arch- bishop Sarpedon, Patriarch of Hermaphroditopolis, Curator of the MSS. in the monastery of St. Basil, at Mount Olympus. It was this last that endeared him, I believe, to the High Church party in Oxbridge. Dr. Groschen was already the talk of the University, the lion of the hour, before I met him, and there was already a rumour of an honorary degree before I even saw him in the flesh, at the high table of my college, as guest of the Master. If Dr. Groschen did not inspire me with any confidence, I cannot say that he excited any feeling of distrust. He was a small, blond, commonplace looking little man, very neat in his attire, without the alchemical look of most archaeologists. Had I known then, as I know now, that he presented his first credentials to Professor Girdelstone, I might have suspected him. Of course I took it for granted they were friends. When the University was ringing with praises of the generosity of Dr. Groschen in transferring his splendid collection of Greek inscriptions to the FitzTaylor Museum, I rejoiced; the next grant would be devoted to science, in consideration of the already crowded galleries of the Art and Archaeology section. I only pitied the fatuity of the authorities for being grateful. Dr. Groschen had now wound himself into everybody's good  ## p. 260 (#312) ############################################ 260 THE AUTHOR. wishes, and the University degree had been conferred. He had been offered a fine set of rooms in a college famous for culture. He was a well known figure on the Q.P. But he was not always with us; he went to Greece or the East sometimes, for the purpose, it was said, of adding to the Groschen collection, now the glory of the FitzTaylor. It was after one of these prolonged periods of absence that he wrote to Girdelstone privately, that he had made a great discovery, and on his return brought with him, he said, some MSS. which had been unearthed in the monastic library of St. Basil, where he bought them for an enormous sum from Sarpedon, the Patriarch of Hermaphroditopolis, and that he was willing to sell them to "some public institution" for very little over the original price. Girdelstone told several of us in confidence. It was public news next day. Scholars grew excited; there had been hints at the recovery of a lost MS., "which was to add to our knowledge of the antique world and materially alter accepted views of the early state of Roman and Greek society." On hearing the news I smiled. "Someinstitution,"that was suspicious—MSS.—they meant forgery. It was described as a palimpsest MS., consisting of fifty or sixty leaves of papyrus. On one side was a portion of the last book of Jasher, of a date not later than the fourth century, on the other in ancient characters that too notorious work of Aulus Gellius, which Suetonius tells us that Tiberius ordered to be burned—De moribus Romanorum. But why should I go over old history? Every one remembers the excitement that the discovery caused—the leaders inthe Times and {he AI hen a urn, the doubts of the sceptical, the enthusiasm of the archaeologists, the jealousy of the Berlin authorities, the offers from all the libraries of Europe, the aspersions of the British Museum. "Why," asked indignant critics, "did Dr. Groschen offer his MS. to the authorities at Oxbridge?" "Because Oxbridge had been the first to recognise his genius," was the crushing reply. And Professor Girdelstone said that should the FitzTaylor fail to acquire the MS. by any false economy on the part of the University authorities, the prestige of the museum would be gone. But this is all old history. I only remind the reader of what he knows already. I had begun to bring all my powers, and the force of the scientific world in Oxbridge, to bear in opposition to the purchase of the MS. I had pulled every wire I knew, and execration was heaped on me as a vandal, though I only said that the University money should be devoted to other channels than the purchase of MSS. I was doing all this, when I was startled by the intelligence that Dr. Groschen had suddenly come to the conclusion that his find was after all only a forgery. The book of Jasher, he now said, was a four- teenth century Byzantine forgery, and heascribed the date at the very earliest to the reign of Alexis Com- nenus. Theologians became fierce on the subject. They had seen the MS. ; they knew it was genuine. And when Dr. Groschen began to have doubts as to Aulus Gellius, suggesting that this part of the MS. was a sixteenth century fabrication, the classical world morally and physically rose and denounced him. Dr. Groschen, who had some- thing of the early Christian in his character, bore this shower of opprobrium like a martyr. "I may be mistaken," he said, "but I believe I have been deceived. I have been taken in before, and I should not like the MS. offered to any library until two of the very highest experts had decided as to its authenticity." People by this time had learnt to regard Dr. Groschen himself as quite the highest expert in the world. They thought he was out of his senses, though the press commended him for his honesty, and one journal, which had been loudest in declaring its authenticity, said it was glad Dr. Groschen had seen the forgery that it had already anticipated. Dr. Groschen was furthermore asked what experts he would submit his MS. to, and by whose decision he would abide. After some delay and correspondence, he could think of only two—Professor Girdelstone and Mr. Mont- eagle. "They had had great opportunities," he said, "of judging on such matters. Their erudi- tion was of a steadier and more solid nature than his own." Then the world and Oxbridge joined again in a chorus of praise. What could be more honest, more straightforward, than to submit the MS. to a final examination at the hands of the two curators of the FitzTaylor, who were to' have the first refusal of the MS. if it was considered authentic? If it was a forgery, and they decided on purchasing, they had themselves to thank. No museum was ever before given such an opportunity. Professor Girdelstone and his colleague soon came to a conclusion. They decided that there could be no doubt as to the authenticity of the Aulus Gellius. In portions it was true that between the lines certain Greek characters almost obliterated were visible, but this threw no slur on the MS. itself. As to the book of Jasher they gave no decisive opinion, and it is still an open question; but they expressed their belief that the Aulus Gellius was alone worth the price asked for it by Dr. Groschen. It only remained now for the University to advance a sum to the FitzTaylor for the purchase of this treasure. The curators, rather prematurely perhaps, wrote  ## p. 261 (#313) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 261 privately to Dr. Groschen making him an offer for his MS., and paid him half the amount out of their own pockets, so as to close the bargain once and for all. The delay of the University in making the grant caused a good deal of apprehension in the hearts of Professor Girdelstone and Mr. Mont- eagle, and they feared that the enormous sums offered by the Berlin Museum would tempt even the single-minded Dr. Groschen, even though he had the interests of the FitzTaylor so much at heart. These suspicions were unfounded as they were ungenerous. The German savant was contented with his degree and college rooms, and showed no hurry for the remainder of the sum to be paid. One night when I was seated in my rooms beside the fire preparing lectures on the ichthyo- saurus, to quote the poet, "I heard a rapping at my chamber door." It was a hurried jerky rap. I shouted, "Come in," the door burst open, and on the threshold I saw Monteagle with a white face, on which the beads of perspiration glittered. At first I thought it was the rain which had drenched his cap and gown, but in a moment I saw that the perspiration was the result of terror or anxiety (cf. my lectures on Mental Equilibrium). Monteagle and I in our undergraduate days had been friends, but like many University friendships, ours had proved evanescent; our paths had lain in different directions. He had chosen archaeology. We had failed to convert one another to each other's views, and when he became a member of " The Disciples," a mystic Oxbridge society, the fissure between us widened to a gulf. We nodded when we met, but that was all. With Girdelstone I was not on speak- ing terms. So when I found Monteagle on my threshold I confess I was startled. "May I come in?" he asked. "Certainly, certainly," I said, cordially. "But what is the matter?" "Good God! Newall," he cried, "that MS. after all is a forgery." This expression I thought unbecoming in a "Disciple," but I only smiled and said, "Really? You think so?" Monteagle then made reference to our old friendship, our unfortunate dissension. He asked for my help, and then really excited my pity. He poured into my ear a tale of woe. Some member of the High Church party in Oxbridge had been to Greece in order to attend a Conference at Cyprus on the union of the Greek and Anglican Churches. While there he had met Sarpedon, Patriarch of Hermaphroditopolis, and in course of conversation told him of the renowned Dr. Gros- chen. Sarpedon had become distant at mention of the doctor's name. He denied all knowledge of the famous letter of introduction, and said the only thing he knew of the Professor was that he was usually supposed to have been the thief who had made off with a large chest of parchments from the monastery of St. Basil. The Greek Patriarch refused to give any further information. The English clergyman had reported this privately to Girdelstone. Dr. Groschen's other letters were examined, and had been found to be all fabrications. The book of Jasher and Aulus Gellius had been submitted to a like scrutiny, and Girdelstone and Monteagle had reluctantly come to the conclusion that they were also vulgar and palpable forgeries. At the end of his story Monteagle almost burst into tears. I endeavoured to cheer him, although I was shrieking with laughter at the whole situation. Of course it was dreadful for him. If he exposed Dr. Groschen, his own reputation as an expert would be gone, and the doctor already had half the money, which Girdelstone and he had paid in advance. Monteagle was so agitated that it was with difficulty I could get his story out of him, and to this day I have never quite learned the truth. Controlling my laughter, I sent a note round to Professor Girdelstone, asking him to come to my rooms. In about ten minutes he appeared, looking as draggled and sheepish as poor Monteagle. In his bosom he carried the fateful MS., which I had never seen before. If it was a forgery (and I am not sure now that it was) it was certainly a master- piece. From what Girdelstone said to me then and since, I think that the Aulus Gellius portion was genuine enough, and the book of Jasher the invention of Groschen; however, it will never be discovered if one or neither were genuine. Mont- eagle thought the ink that was used was a compound of tea and charcoal, but both he and Girdelstone were too suspicious to believe even each other by this time. I tried to console them, and promised all help in my power. They were rather startled and alarmed when I laid out my basis of operations. In the first place, I was to withdraw all opposition to the purchase of the MS. Girdelstone and Mont- eagle, meanwhile, were to set about having the Aulus Gellius printed and facsimiled; for I thought it was a pity such work should be lost to the world. The facsimile was only to be announced, but the publishing by the University press to be got in hand at once. The text of Aulus Gellius can still be obtained, and a translation of those portions which can be rendered into English forms a volume of Mr. Bohn's excellent classical library, which will satisfy the curious who are unacquainted with Latin. Professor Girdelstone  ## p. 262 (#314) ############################################ 262 THE AUTHOR. was to write a preface in very guarded terms. This will be familiar to all classical scholars. It was with great difficulty that I could persuade Girdelstone and Monteagle, who had come to me, their enemy, and in distress, of the sincerity of my actions, but the poor fellows were ready to catch at any straw for hope from exposure, and they listened to every word I said. As the whole University knew I was not on speaking terms with Girdelstone, I told him to adopt a Nicodemus-like attitude, and to come to me in the night-time, when we could hold consultation. To the outer world, during these anxious evenings, when my oak was sported, and I would see no one, I was supposed to be pre- paring my great syllabus of lectures on the ichthyo- saurus. I only communicated to my fellow curators my plans bit by bit, for I thought it would be better for their nerves. I made Monteagle send round a notice to the press :—" That the MS. about to become the property of the University Museum was being edited and published and facsimiled, and at the earliest possible date it would be on view in the Galleries where Dr. Groschen's collec- tions are now exhibited." This was to quiet the complaints that already were being made by scholars and commentators of the difficulty of examining the MSS. The importunities of several religious societies to get a sight of the book of Jasher became intolerable. The Dean of Boking, an old friend of Girdelstone's, came from the north on purpose to examine the new found work. With permission he intended, he said, to write a small brochure for the S.P.C.K. on the book of Jasher: I believe that he also had some curiosity as to the Aulus Gellius, but here I may be wronging him. The subterfuges, lies, and devices to which we re- sorted were not very creditable to ourselves. Girdel- stone gave him a dinner, and Monteagle and I persuaded the Senate to confer on him an honorary degree. We amused him with advance sheets of the commentary, and with assurances that he would be the first to examine the MS. He was quite a month at Oxbridge, but at last was called on business to the north by some lucky domestic family bereavement. Our next difficulty was the news that Sarpcdon, Patriarch of Hermaphroditopolis, was about to visit England to attend an Anglican Synod. I thought Girdelstone would go off his head, and Monteagle's hair had already become grey in the last few days. Sarpedon was sure to be invited to Oxbridge. He would meet Dr. Groschen, and then expose him. Our fears, 1 soon found out, were shared by the German saiant, who left shortly after the news of the advent of Sarpedon, on one of those mysterious visits to the East. I saw that our action at once must be prompt, or Girdelstone and Monteagle would be lost. They were horrified when I told them I proposed placing the MS. to public view in the museum on the following day. A large plate glass case had been made by my orders, and Girdelstone and Monteagle, who obeyed me like lambs, deposited their precious burden as I told them in the Groschen Hall of the Fitz- Taylor. The crush that afternoon was terrible. All the University came to peer into the glass case at the new acquisition. I must tell you that Dr. Groschen's antiquities had been placed temporarily in a fire-proof erection built of wood and tin, at the back of the museum, while they were waiting for room in the body of the museum. This erection was connected with the building by a long stone gallery along which were placed plaster casts. I mingled with the crowd, and heard the remarks, but I advised Girdelstone and Monteagle to keep out of the way, as it would only upset them. Various dons came up and chaffed me about the opposition I had made to the MS. being pur- chased, and a little man of dark, sallow com- plexion came up and asked me if I was Professor Girdelstone. I said I had not the honour. He was a Bohemian, and wanted to obtain leave to examine the MS. I gave him my card, and asked him to call on me, when I would arrange a day. He told me he was a Lutheran pastor from Bohemia. I was the last to leave the museum that day. I was often kept In the library long after four, when the museum usually closed, and so T dismissed the attendants when they had locked up everything with the exception of a small door in the stone gallery which I usually used on such occasions. I waited till six in the evening, and as I went out I opened near this door a sash window and removed the iron shutters. After dinner I went round to Monteagle's rooms. He and Girdelstone were sitting in a despondent way on each side of the fire, sipping weak coffee and nibbling Albert biscuits. They were startled at my entrance. "What have you decided?" asked Girdelstone, hoarsely. "All is arranged. Monteagle and I will set fire to the museum to night," I said, quietly. Girdelstone buried his face in his hands and began to sob. "Anything but that—anything but that!" he cried. And Monteagle turned a little pale. At first they protested, but I overcame their scruples by saying they might get out of the mess how they liked. 1 advised Girdelstone to go to bed and plead illness for the next few days, for he really wanted rest. At eleven o'clock that night Mont- eagle and myself crossed the meadows at the back of our college, and by a circuitous route reached  ## p. 263 (#315) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 263 r the grounds surrounding the museum, which were planted with rhododendrons and other shrubs. It was pouring with rain, unfortunately not favourable for our enterprise. I had brought with me a small box of combustibles from the Univer- sity Laboratories, and a dark lantern. When we climbed over the low wall not far from the stone gallery I saw to my horror a light emerging from the Groschen Hall. Monteagle, who is fearfully superstitious, began chattering his teeth. When we reached the small door I saw that it was open. A thief had evidently forestalled us. Monteagle sug- gested going back, and leaving the thief to make off with the MS.; but I would not hear of such a proposal. The door opening to the Groschen Hall at the end of the gallery was open, and beyond, a man— who had his back towards us, and who I at once recognised as the little Lutheran—was busily engaged in picking the lock of the case where were deposited the book of Jasher and Aulus Gellius. Telling Monteagle to guard the door, I approached very softly, keeping behind the plaster casts. I was within a yard of the man before he heard my boots creak. Then he turned round, and I found myself face to face with Dr. Groschen. I have never seen such a look of terror on anyone's face before. "You scoundrel!" I cried, collecting myself, "drop those things at once !" and I made for him with my fist. He dodged me. I ran after him; but he threaded his way like a rat through the statues and cases of antiquities, and bolted down the passage out of the door, where he upset Monteagle and the lantern, and disappeared in the darkness and rain. I then returned to the scene of his labours. Monteagle was too frightened, as the museum had rather a ghostly appearance by the light of the feeble oil lamp. There was some dry sacking in a small cupboard. I had deposited it there for the purpose. This I ignited along with some native curiosities of straw and skin and wickerwork. There were also some new unpacked cases of casts which the attendants had left there in the afternoon, which materially assisted the conflagra- tion. It was an impressive scene as the flames played round the pedestals of the torsos, statues, and cases, but I only waited for a few moments to see that my work was complete. I shut the door between the gallery and the hall, so as to avoid the possibility of the fire spreading to the rest of the building. I seized Monteagle by the arm and hurried him through the rhododendrons, over the wall, into the meadows stretching down to the river I turned back once, and just caught a glimpse of red flame bursting through the windows. Having seen Mont- eagle half way back to the college, I returned to see if any alarm had been given. Some passers by had already noticed it, and a small crowd had collected in front. A fire engine had been sent for, while a local pump had almost been set going. I returned to my college gate, where I found the porter was standing, believing I had been in Trinity all the evening. "The FitzTaylor is burning," he said. "I have been looking out for you, sir." • * * There is nothing more to tell. To this day no one suspects but that the fire was the work of an incendiary, jealous of Dr. Groschen's discovery. The Professor has returned from the East, but lives in great retirement, and his friends say that he has never quite recovered the shock occasioned by the loss of his collection. The rest of the museum was uninjured. The death of Sarpedon, Patriarch of Hermaph- roditopolis, at Naples, was a sudden and melan- choly catastrophe, which people say affected Dr. Groschen more than the fire. Strangely enough, as he had just been dining with the Doctor the evening before, for they had met at Naples pur- posely. Sometimes I ask myself if I did right in setting fire to the museum. It was, you see, for the sake of others, not myself, and Monteagle was an old friend. * ON COMMITTEE. OUR Copyright Sub-Committee has been busy at the close of its successful career. On January 29th a meeting was held of the General Committee and also of the Copyright Sub-Committee to consider the report made by the Fine Art Committee of the London Chamber of Commerce upon the Fine Art Sections of our Bill. The London Chamber of Commerce had evidently given every attention to our Bill in detail, and their criticism was considered most valuable to us. As far as our Sub-Committee considered themselves able to do so, without violating the spirit of the Bill, or making propositions in opposition to the recommendations of the Royal Commission of 1878, the practical suggestions of the London Chamber of Commerce have been adopted. For the information of those of our  ## p. 264 (#316) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. members who possess copies of the Bill, these suggestions are appended, with the reply of our Committee to them. The London Chamber of Commerce (Incorporated). Fine Art Section. Report of the Special Copyright Sub-Committee. Your Committee were appointed to examine the terms of the Copyright Bill of the Society of Authors, and "report to the Section how far it includes, and in what way it differs, from the 1885 Bill, intended to be supported by the Section." Your Committee have held four meetings, and have carefully con- sidered the two Bills with a view to ascertaining the difference between them, and submit as an appendix an analysis which has been prepared by one of their number, Mr. Boydell Graves. Speaking generally, the Committee found that the Bill of the Society of Authors embraces many of the points specially dealt with in the Bill of 1885 ; but in regard to the Penal clauses, they recommend that the Society of Authors Bill should be amended in the direction of approximating the penalties imposed more nearly to those laid down in the Bill of" 1885, which are more stringent in the latter than in the former. The Committee, how- ever, are of opinion that it should be possible so to amend the Bill of the Society of Authors as to meet the views of all who are interested in fine art copyright, whether as artists or publishers. They submit, therefore, the following recommendations for acceptance by the Section. Taking Part III of the Bill, which deals separately with copyright in works of fine art and photographs, and following the order in which the Bill is drafted, the Committee recommend that the words, "offer for sale," should be omitted from the definition of "publication," on the ground that it is the custom among artistic publishers to take subscribers' names for an engraving not only during the progress of such work, but even prior to its commencement. The omission of the words in question would prevent the publisher from being made liable for publication before the actual issue of the work. The definition of " replica" is unsatisfactory, in so far as a replica is laid down as a work which may be executed by a person other than the artist himself. The objection of the Committee would be met, however, by the omission of the words "caused by him to be executed." The Committee were unanimous in agreeing that a replica must be executed by a painter himself, in the same material, approximating to the same size as the original, and that it should be considered as being an authorized copy if not wholly or mainly done by the artist's own hand. In other words, it might be desirable to define a replica as a work executed by the artist himself, or, if commenced by another person, completed under his own hand. The definition of " sale" was not considered by the Committee to sufficiently cover the giving and acceptance of a commission to and by the artist. They suggest the following addition to the defini- tions in Part III: "'Commission,' when used with reference to a work of fine art, shall mean an order to execute the same for a valuable considera- tion." Sections 36 and 40 of the Society of Authors Bill only propose to confer copyright for a period of thirty years after the death of the artist. The Committee strongly urge that the period should be extended to fifty years to paintings (as in the 18S5 Bill where applicable to engravings), and as pro- posed in the case of " books" in the present Society of Authors Eill, and as already conferred in Germany. In no case, the Committee consider, should copyright expire in less than a period of fifty years after the first sale or registration of a work. Respecting Section 38, the Committee suggest no amendment, provided the Section is read in connection with and governed by the definition of replica as proposed by them. It was pointed out to the Committee by one of its artist members that no fainter would care to give up his right to execute a water colour copy of an oil painting, and that such water colour copy could in no wise be mistaken for the original or a replica thereof. In Section 48, Sub-Section (3), which deals with the delivery of copies to the owners of copyright in certain cases of infringement, the Committee recommend that the words "or take other pro- ceedings" be added after the word "action," as it would not in all cases be necessary to have recourse to the law courts. As regards the reproduction of copyright works, specially dealt with in Section 47, the Committee are of opinion that in cases where a picture has been bought with the copyright it should, if repro- duced, be reproduced in its entirety, and the law should not allow of a part being taken out of it, so that it could be made into a separate picture, with- out the permission of the artist being given. They therefore recommend the addition of the following or similar provisions to Sub-Section C of Section 47: "Without the consent in writing of the author of the work or his assigns to such alterations, addi- tions, or subtractions." Part IV of the Bill deals with foreign and  ## p. 265 (#317) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 265 colonial copyright, and, with respect to its pro- visions, the Committee offer no remarks. The Committee raise no objection to Part V as drafted, provided it is made clear that the in- clusion of paintings and works of sculpture from Section 85 (in which it is laid down that only the registered owner of a copyright shall be recognized as such), is due to the fact that the registration of such works is not compulsory. As regards Part VI of the Bill, which relates to Penalties and Procedure, the Committee are strongly of opinion that the limitation of the time during which actions or other proceedings for in- fringement of copyright may be maintained, should be extended, and that Sub-Section 2 of Section 87 should be modified, so that an action could be brought within twelve months after the offence had come to the knowledge of the copyright owner, and not twelve months after the same is com- mitted, as proposed in the draft. The Committee observe that the Society of Authors Bill does not contain the stipulation in the Bill of 1885 (Section 17),—that any peace officer shall have power to search in the daytime any house, shop, or other place where it may be reasonably suspected that pirated works are kept for sale. They recommend that Section 18 of the 1885 Bill should be embodied in the present measure, subject to verbal alteration of the mar- ginal reference, so as to read, "power to search premises used for business purposes." With reference to Section 89, Sub-Section B, governing power to seize unlawful copies when hawked about for sale, the Committee recommend the introduction of a similar provision to that con- tained in the Bill of 1885, Clause 18, so that illegal copies could be taken before a Court of Summary Jurisdiction, and, upon proof, that any such copy, repetition, or imitation was unlawfully made, such copy, repetition, or imitation shall be forfeited, and delivered up to the owner of the copyright as his property. (Clause 17 of the 1885 Bill.) This additional clause will involve the omission from the Bill of the Society of Authors of the words, "with a view to obtaining an order for its delivery to the proprietor of the copyright." As regards Section 91, relative to the right of a copyright owner to apply in a summary manner in cases of infringement to a Court of Summary Jurisdiction in that part of the British dominions "where the wrong has been committed, or where the person who has been guilty of the infringement dwells," the Committee strongly recommend that an effort should be made in order that an action might also be tried in the place where the aggrieved person resides. They further urge that fines should be cumulative, and applicable to each separate offence, as set forth in the Bill of 1885, inasmuch as it would otherwise appear to be possible for a person to infringe copyright and produce any num- ber of copies, for which he would only be fined Five Pounds. , The Committee generally approve of the re- maining parts of the Bill, and would draw special attention to the method of registration proposed, which provides for the gradual transfer from the Stationers' Company of the powers and duties at present vested in them to a new Government Department, in connection with, and probably in the same building as, the Registration of Trade Marks and Designs, under the control of the Board of Trade. The Committee, in conclusion, recommend that in the event of their functions being continued by the Fine Art Section, they should have power to arrange with the Society of Authors and the draughtsman of the Bill for an interview, to dis- cuss some slight verbal modifications which they consider necessary to make the meaning of the Bill absolutely clear, and otherwise to meet the views of copyright owners in fine art as embodied in the Bill of 1885. Arthur Lucas (Chairman). Wyke Bayliss. Boydell Graves. Heywood Hardy. Charles Dowdeswell. December, 1890. Reply from the Sub-Committee on Copyright. A Committee Meeting composed of members of the General Committee of the Society of Authors, and of the Sub-Committee on Copyright, was held on the 29th January last, to consider the report and the suggestions contained therein of the Fine Art Section Committee of the London Chamber of Commerce. The Committee have instructed me to offer their best thanks to the Committee of the Fine Art Secjion for the valuable suggestions contained in their report, and also for their offer to meet the Committee of the Society of Authors to discuss the Copyright Bill. The Committee having carefully considered in detail the suggestions and proposed amendments, do not think that any good purpose would be served by further discussion of the Bill as a whole,  ## p. 266 (#318) ############################################ 266 THE AUTHOR. but I am instructed to inform you that my Com- mittee have, in consequence of your Report, re- commended certain alterations to Lord Monkswell (who now has charge of the Bill), and that they feel assured that his lordship will consent to introduce such alterations into the Bill at the proper time. As regards the penal clauses suggested in the report, my Committee are quite in sympathy with your Committee, but from intimations received from various sources they are convinced that it would not be advisable to introduce the proposed clauses, at least at present, as such a course might tend to imperil the progress of the Bill. It is hardly necessary to add that if, and when the Bill reaches the Committee stage, the Society will offer no opposition to any such amendments, as you suggest, being made. I append below somewhat in detail the comments made and conclusions arrived at by my Committee upon the report of your Committee. With regard to :— Publication.—It was agreed to amend the definition so as to read as follows :—" The first Act of offering, advertising, &c. . . . as ready for sale to the public." This will meet the point raised by your report. Replica.—My Committee think that the exi- gencies of the case will be sufficiently met by adding the words "under his immediate supervision" after the word "executed." Sale.—The word sale was- not intended to cover the giving and acceptance of a com- mission to and by the artist. A commission is merely an agreement for sale, and the word " sale" as defined covers it as soon as the work is done. The period of copyright in paintings.—My Committee would point out that the period of copyright proposed in the case of books is for life and thirty years. It is desired to give an uniform term for all classes of work, and therefore it is proposed to give the same period in the case of paintings as in books set. The term of life and thirty years was expressly adopted by the Royal Commis- sioners as being that adopted by Germany (see paragraph 40 of their Report). The right of an artist to execute a water-colour copy of an oil painting.—Section 38 of the Bill does not in any way affect this right. (See the definition of Replica.) Section 48, Sufi-Section (3).—My Committee would point out that the parties can always agree to refer to arbitration if they wish. They do not perceive what other proceed- ings are referred to. Section 47, Sufi-Section (C).—The objection to Section 47 appears to be that it does not expressly provide against an original work which has been added to or subtracted from being sold as unaltered. In order to meet this objection it is proposed to add in Sub- Section (D), line 21 of paragraph 20, after the word "alterations" the words "addi- tions or subtractions." The clause will, of course, only apply to cases where the altera- tions, &c, are made without the author's consent, and it does not seem necessary to add the words suggested in your report. Section 85.—The reason given for the omission of paintings and sculpture from Section 85 is that mentioned in the Report, but it seems quite unnecessery to refer to it specifically in the section. Sec/ion 87, Sufi-Section 2.—The proposed amendment would be contrary to the general principles of statutes of limitation. Section 17, 1885 Bill.—As originally drafted, the Society of Authors Bill had this section inserted, but on mature deliberation the Committee rejected it as too severe. (See also paragraph 175 of the Report of the Royal Commissioners as to this section.) Section 89, Sub-Section B.—Sections 88 and 89, taken together, appear to provide all that is necessary with regard to the forfeiture of illegal copies. Section 91.—The proposed amendment is con- trary to the general principles of procedure. Fines being made cumulative, this proce- dure is only intended for small and trivial offences. Where the offence is more serious, the ordinary action for damages for infringement can be brought. On February 5th a meeting was held to confer with representatives of the Copyright Association and of the Newspaper Society [informal]. Mr. F. R. Daldy, the Honorary Secretary of the Copyright Association, and a member of the Royal Com mission of 1878, made an exhaustive report to us of the views of his body on the Bill. It will be suffi- cient here to say that our Sub-Committee recognized the great value attaching to his suggestions, and that alteration in accordance with them will in some cases be made. The Secretary will be happy to supply any member with a copy of the Bill upon receipt of •j^d. in stamps.  ## p. 267 (#319) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 267 A HARD CASE. VIII. WE have on the last three occasions given examples of what may be termed more or less constitutional methods of "best- ing" the author. But lest anyone should think sanguinely that the day of gross malpractice has gone by, we recur to the exploits of the " half-profit" publisher, and give an account of one of the recent cases that has come into the office. It was not a "half-profit " case, for the publisher only proposed to receive one-third of the profits, but the methods employed for obtaining money from the author were the old ones, first made familiar to us by the "half-profit" practitioner. The following were the terms agreed upon between author and publisher, and for once in a way they were placed upon paper, and correctly witnessed and stamped. (1) . The first edition was to consist of 1,000 copies, to be bound up as required, and sold at a guinea each. (2) . The remainder-stock could not be sold without the permission of the author. (3) . Author was to pay ^120—^60 on signing agreement, and ^60 on receiving final proofs. (4) . Author was to pay for corrections. (5) . Author was to pay £10 towards advertise- ment. (6) . Author was to receive two-thirds, and pub- lisher one-third of any profits. (7) . Half-yearly accounts were to be rendered. To this there was appended a formal authoriza- tion to the author to inspect the publisher's books. This seemed at first sight a very satisfactory agreement, and by comparison with a great many half-profit agreements it must be conceded at once that it was satisfactory. By comparison with some of this particular firm's agreements which we have had an opportunity of perusing, it was mo3t satis- factory. The contract was a formal instrument, duly and properly stamped. The expenses of advertise- ment were limited, instead of being left unreservedly to the prodigality of the agent, while control over the destinies of the remainder-stock was very pro- perly retained. One omission only was made, but that omission was so important that it has ruined an otherwise fair and equitable contract. The author has omitted to ask for details concerning the cost of production, towards which he is to contribute ,£120, also ^10, and also the cost of "author's corrections," to an unlimited extent. He appears never to have asked himself why ^120, more than £20 or £220, but simply to have agreed to vol. 1. pay the sum asked of him. If authors are so simple, can it be wondered that the publishing trade is here and there, if not everywhere, invaded by persons who make it a business to take advan- tage of such simplicity. It is this extraordinary incapacity for under- standing that there is no mystery attached to publishing, that creates the class of bogus-pub- lishers. In every other sort of business short of the confidence trick, if a man's agent opened the proceedings by asking for a sum down, he would as a matter course be expected to show why, and state what he was going to do with it. This curious trustfulness in the integrity of strangers who tout for business by advertisement, is, we believe, almost peculiar to the relations between young authors and dishonest publishers, and between the male and female clients of the matrimonial journals. However, the point did not occur to the author, and the agreement was signed. The next thing that occurred in the transaction could have been foretold by anyone of the least experience in these matters. A demand for more money was made. The sum asked for was £40, and it was demanded for purposes of advertise- ment. In our humble opinion, to make this demand on the grounds that more money was required for advertisement was by no means astute, as it was flying so dead in the face of a special clause in the agreement that the most easy- going of authors might be expected to resent such treatment. It is clear that the weak spot in the agreement was the fourth clause, under which the author expressed his willingness to pay for correc- tions, if only the publisher would kindly name the price, and it is as a charge for "author's correc- tions " that this further demand should have been made. It is to this shortsightedness on the part of the publisher that we owe our ability to tell this story, for the author proceeded to take advice as to the propriety of paying any more money. Of course he was not liable in any way, and from the first he very properly refused to send it. But that proceeding placed him in the usual predica- ment, a predicament in which this half-profit pub- lisher has doubtless placed others of his clients. If the author did send the money he felt himself to be swindled—at any rate he felt that his agree- ment specially limiting his liability for advertise- ment to ^10 was very little protection to him; if he did not send it, the publisher would not advertise his book (in a letter they intimated as much), and the ,£130 already spent on its produc- tion would be lost, or to a great extent lost. Should he yield, or should he hold out? As for advice that should bring a man peacefully Y  ## p. 268 (#320) ############################################ 268 THE AUTHOR. out of such a predicament—none could be given. He had signed a bad agreement, and if the result of doing so proved to be bad for him, he had only himself or his advisers to blame. It was too late to do anything to remedy the fact that he had signed the contract. A copy of the book was lent to the Society of Authors, and we had a careful estimate of the cost of production made. We found that it would have cost about £100 to produce 1,000 copies of the book and bind 250 of them, but from previous experience we were inclined to believe that so large a number of copies were not bound. That is to say, the publisher, according to our computations, made £$0 or so before he started to sell the book. Then he proposed to make ^40 more. "Which he would have done, we at least believe it," if he had made the demand on the ground of "author's corrections." But his clumsiness lost him the money. His proposal not being accepted, he decided to remain content with his position, that of a small and safe profit duly received. The author, on the other hand, had spent ^130. Of this sum we have not heard how much has been recovered as profits, in accordance with the accounts, no doubt rendered half-yearly, as exacted from the publisher by the agreement. This author has no practical remedy. It seems to us impossible that he can ever get back his money by the sales of his book, while the pub- lisher has very little motive in selling the book. Probably there are not many copies bound, and he would have to bind them at his own expense before he could sell them. He has already made a little money, and he is content that things should remain as they are, though he probably still regrets the loss of that £\o "for advertisement." And in the publisher's apathy as to the sale of the book lies the explanation of all the trouble No doubt the author thought that a publisher who proposed to receive one-third of the profits was also pro- posing to accept at least one-third of the risks. No doubt he thought that the publisher would work to secure his own third and therefore the author's two-thirds simultaneously. But the pub- lisher—to give him his due—has nowhere suggested that he was advancing a penny out of his own pocket. He said he should like ^120, and he got it, but he has told no lies about it. He has never represented, at least in the papers that have reached the Society, that he wanted this sum because the whole cost was going to be ^180, of which he would pay £,(>o. Nor has he attempted to account for the demand of ^r2o by some humbugging schedule of "estimated cost," in which all the items are double as expensive as they should be. His method has been more simple. He said, I want ,£120—£bo now and _^6o later—and he got it. Authors cannot be too strongly advised to have nothing todo with advertisingpublishers, unlessafter consultation with the Society, to make no money payments whatever until they understand what they are going to get in return, and to sign no agreements save under the advice of those who understand. * A NOTE ON IBSEN. —♦— MR. GOSSE'S translation of Herr Ibsen's last drama will be welcome to his English followers and to others interested in Scandinavian literature. Herr Ibsen is to be con- gratulated both on the ability of his translator and on having for once escaped from his professional disciples. "Hedda Gabler," or to call her by her husband's scarcely more euphonious name, "Fru Tesman," comes as a relief from Herr Ibsen's other heroines. She descends upon us as a refreshing douche of unredeemed criminality. At last we feel quite at home after our wanderings up and down the cross currents of Ibsenitish morals. I have always hoped to find in Herr Ibsen some sort of system after all, and now my hope is fortified. "There is no point to which, I trow, Norwegian Bishops cannot go," in the opinion of their illustrious countryman, but he surely has a code of morals for the guidance of the enlightened sex. In "Hedda Gabler" one seems to descry something like a first prohibitory commandment. Insolence, desertion, adultery, and incest are misfortunes in females attributable, no doubt, to "some externally false conditions of society which have turned to bitterness that which should have been rich and full for its use." These indiscretions are feminine perquisites, legitimate weapons against the tyranny of natural affections; but women should not shed blood. We all of us are glad to subscribe to any recom- mendation issued by the exiled prophet of Dresden, now that we have found one. "Thou shalt— except of course in certain cases—do no murder." 'The new representation of the " Doll's House" does not throw any very great light on the play. The character of Fru Linden has been developed, and the character of Thorvald is interpreted probably more to the liking of those " bearded ladies " who form so large a part of the audience. These fair  ## p. 269 (#321) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 269 creatures—for we do not allude to their chins— will rejoice in any emphasis given to the prejudices of their master against his own characters. It is just to Herr Ibsen to remark that these prejudices exist rather in his followers than in his own work. None of his characters have been so mis- represented as the unfortunate, kind, conceited, natural Thorvald, the only human being in this house of moral puppets. If a man has a wife and children to support, and they are dependant on his reputation, he is not necessarily a selfish brute, or a sneaking, sententious hypocrite because he is anxious to preserve it. An actor who so represents Thorvald misses the delicacy of the writer's characterization. Neither is it a mark of gross egotism for a man to regard another's affection for himself as likely to be a stronger motive with him, or her, than his own fancies, but frequently the contrary. It is interesting to note that Herr Ibsen's minor characters and incidents are generally drawn with more truth and vividness than those possessing more dramatic interest. His pictures of everyday life are peculiarly natural, his departures from these spheres frequently lead him into the region of monstrosities too often trivial and mesguins, like Nora, sometimes splendid like Peer Gynt, rarely sublime like Brand, but all unreal as dreams. The eccentricity of his genius does not, as might have been expected, enable him to represent truth outside the narrow circle of frequent occurrence. Perhaps his floating standard of morality is a sign rather than a cause of this weakness. He appears not to accept any principle whatever as sufficiently certain to serve him as a standard for the creation of beings at the same time unusual and natural. His skill and observation enable him to describe truthfully only what is familiar to him in detail. Herr Ibsen has been well called "the Prophet of the Eternal Interrogative." He advocates no system of religion, sociology, or morality; he is more than neutral; he is neuter ; he seldom trusts himself even to deny. It must be remembered that it is the Ibsenites, not their master, who are responsible for the amalgam of sentiments to which they give his name. Few comedies have approached nearer to farces than the unconscious comedy played by Ibsenism in England. But there is matter for regret in this fact. The solemnity with which Herr Ibsen's disciples here have accepted his queries as oracles has nearly ruined the high reputation which he deserves. He is best known by his weakest work, his prose dramas, but it would be unfair to judge the author of "Peer Gynt " and "Brand" until these really great creations are better known. The exquisite fancy of " Peer Gynt," its exuberance and vol. 1. ingenuity, its quaint humour, its bold originality and delicate beauty are alone enough to rank its author among the greatest geniuses Europe has produced this century. The pathos of humour has never been carried so far as in the scene at the death-bed of Peer's mother, with so much success. The incident of the Strange Passenger represents the subtlest moral facts in a peculiarly original form. The well known story of the Disguised Angel in the Gesta Romanorum is scarcely more remarkable. The scenes in Norway, Africa, and on the high seas are equally excellent. As far as foreigners can judge, the form of the verse is always agreeable and in some passages deserves much higher praise. If Peer Gynt himself is intended to represents young Norway no doubt the drama is all the more interesting to Scandinavians on that account. The rest of the world may perhaps take some interest in young Norway for the sake of "Peer Gynt." "Brand " is difficult to speak of concisely, its faults are so obvious and its meaning so profound. It is only too evident that large parts of it had better have been omitted or written in prose. There is but one character, the giant who gives his name to the drama; the Baillie is a mere abstrac- tion of the commonplace, and Agnes a foil to enhance the characteristics of the hero. Perhaps the strongest element in the play is its pathos, but it is a pity that the climax in this respect is reached too soon. For the incident itself no praise is too high. The sorrow of maternity has seldom been more tenderly and more tragically represented. The character of Brand will probably elicit very little sympathy; his enormous faults and his heroic virtues are those peculiarly antipathetic to present opinion. Can there be anything more terrible in its simple directness, its hideous baldness, than the story of the disillusion of Brand's childhood? He is almost a baby, his father dies, he creeps into the room where he lies dead, he wonders most at his hands so thin and pale in the taper light, he hears footsteps on the stairs, he hides in a corner; a woman enters, she pulls the pillow from the dead man's head, she searches hither and thither, gropes about; she rummaages and rifles the dead miser of his treasure, she mutters " More, more!" and gasps, as she can find no more, "It is not much!" This woman is his mother, the dead man's wife, she who finds later that her son's heart is flint. W. \V. Y 2  ## p. 270 (#322) ############################################ 270 THE AUTHOR. IN GRUB STREET. SIR EDWIN ARNOLD'S new poem, "The Light of the World; or, the Great Consummation," is published on the 15th inst. by Messrs. Longmans. It is a volume of about 300 pages, and is dedicated to the Queen. It consists of an introduction in rhymed couplets entitled "At Bethlehem," and the rest of the poem is for the most part in blank verse, the titles of the six books into which it is divided being "Mary Magdalene," ".The Magus," "The Alabaster Box," "The Parables at Tyre," "The Love of God and Man," and "The Great Consummation." The poem tells the story of Christ chiefly through the medium of a dialogue between Mary Magdalene and one of the Magi, a Buddhist who has returned to hear the wondrous tale of which rumours had come to his ears. The holy history is invested with a peculiar charm by the fancy and vivid word painting in which it is here reset, and its moral is then conveyed in the words of the Magus. "I <16 perceive—since Age, which dims the eye, Opens the inward vision—there shall spread News of these high 'Good Tidings '; growing gleams Of this strange Star are followed to the fold. I do discern that, forth from this fair Life, And this meek Death, and thine arisen Christ, Measureless things are wrought; a Thought-Dawn born Which shall not cease to broaden, till its beam Makes more of knowledge for a gathered World, Completing what our Buddha left unsaid; Carpeting bright his noble Eight-fold Way With fragrant blooms of all-renouncing love, And bringing high Nirvana nearer hope, Easier and plainer." The volume has been in print for several months, but its publication has been delayed in order to secure the copyright in the United States. "Essays in Little," by Andrew Lang (Henry and Co.) is the first of a series of books whose avowed aim is "to smooth the wrinkles from the brow of care, and to dislodge the sneer from the cynic's lip." An admirable aim, truly. I cannot say whether my own lip has lost its habitual sneer, or my brow its care-worn furrow by the perusal of the volume. If not, that is my own fault, because the book has all the author's well-known charm of style. It is a collection of critical essays on the works of a dozen writers. Among these are Louis Stevenson and Rudyard Kipling. When Mr. Lang makes up his mind to like a man, he likes him through and through. And he says so, whether he is accused of log-rolling or not. I accept all that he says about Rudyard Kipling—and I would "go one better" for that infant phenomenon. I dare say I should accept all that he says about Louis Stevenson if I were a Scot. But I cannct agree with Mr. Lang that the "absence of the petticoats" is a thing to be admired in Stevenson's works. I am old-fashioned enough to love the frou-frou, and to find the study of a woman much more delightful than that of a man. "London, Past and Present," by Henry Wheat- ley (Murray). This great work, in three large volumes, is based upon Peter Cunningham, who was based on Strype, who was based on Stow, who was the father of all such as write on London. It is alphabetical, like Peter Cunningham's book, and it is exactly twice as long. When one has said this, and has also added that Mr. Wheatley is well known for the carefulness and thoroughness of his work, one has said enough to show that no library which contains any work on London should be without these volumes. *— An interesting book entitled "Canada First," with an introduction by Mr. Goldwin Smith, has just been issued by Hunter and Rose of Toronto. The book is especially welcome at this time when Canadian politics are occupying everyone's atten- tion. It consists of a number of reprints from political articles, contributed to the press by the late Mr. William Forster, once a prominent figure in the national movement of the Colony. Every one interested in the history of "Greater Britain" should purchase this excellent little volume. Many of Mr. Forster's opinions will naturally challenge a certain amount of discussion, which therefore only increases the interest of the work. *— Mr. Bailey Saunders will bring out immediately with Messrs. Swan, Sonnenschein and Co. the fifth volume of his selection from the essays of Schopenhauer. It will be entitled "The Art of Literature," and will deal with Authorship, Style, Criticism, Reputation, Genius, and kindred subjects. • Mr. James Sully is giving to the public a new and cheaper edition of "Pessimism: a History and a Criticism." A review of pessimistic litera- ture up to date is appended. The publishers are Messrs. Kegan Paul, Trtibner and Co. A change has been made in the new edition of Mr. Alfred Austin's collected works now being  ## p. 271 (#323) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 271 issued in monthly parts by Marmillan and Co. The volumes will now appear in the following order :— "The Tower of Babel." "Savonarola." "Prince Lucifer." "The Human Tragedy." "Lyrical Poems." "Short Narrative Poems." The "Satires " will not appear in this edition. The "Savonarola," dedicated to Henry Irving, has been out about ten days. M. W. A. Gibbs has in the press a work en- titled "The Power of Gold." In the preface, an advanced copy of which he forwards us, he shows his sympathy with some aspect of socialism, and promises to indicate in the pages of his book "the splendid powers and possibilities of rightly used gold." In order to make the short notices of new books under the heading of "In Grub Street" more complete and effective, it is suggested by one of those who contribute these columns that members should send their new books to the Society either for presentation or to be returned. If this is done the book shall be noticed if possible. I have long wondered why, in the general emancipation and advance of women, no woman, or only one here and there, has attempted the stage. It is a difficult fortress to besiege, but once captured, there is no richer prize either for fame or fortune. One more exception is to be made on February 20th, when Miss Mary Rowsell will produce, at Terry's Theatre, a comedietta entitled "Richard's Play." Let us hope that it may prove successful, if only in order to encourage other ladies to follow her example. The announcement of the discovery of the lost works of Aristotle followed curiously enough on the proposal to abolish Greek from our public schools. The excitement among scholars of course has been great; but if Mr. Weldon ever carries his point, fifty years hence the public will care little for such things. Should any of the lost works of antiquity be recovered then, a small notice of half a dozen lines will chronicle the fact, that a "discovery which will interest our antiquarian readers, has been made, of the Prometheus Unbound of /F.schylus, among the ledgers of the British Museum. This does not reflect much credit on the authorities, who may have mislaid more valuable MSS. in the last few years." And no one will then grudge the Times the merit of being first in the field. ♦— The discovery has been received with great caution and qualified enthusiasm by the press. Some papers thought that the very fact of the Times standing as godmother to the MS. was alone suspicious. Grub Street wits hint that Mr. Haggard has been hoaxing again, and that Mr. Andrew Lang must have a hand in it. Others cannot conceal their disappointment "after a perusal of its con- tents." Before the publication! And one paper came to the original conclusion that history often repeats itself. Expert journals hint at rank forgery; but of course this is to be expected. Such deceptions have been numerous, and there were some time ago many who believed that the annals of Tacitus were a sixteenth century fabrication fa whole work has been written to prove it), and that the Paston Letters were a latterday forgery. Forgery or not, Aristotle will provide new food for the commentators. In the history of books one marvels not so much at the number that have been lost, but the number that have been spared or escaped the ravages of Puritans, Mohammedans, and early Christians, or the achievements of such as Mr. Warburton's cook. England has sinned as no other modern nation has done in the official destruction of books. When the officers of Henry VIII were destroying the splendid monastic libraries, the unenlightened Popes and Cardinals in Italy were collecting MSS. from all parts of the world, and when the Puritans were hashing up the "Popish" works in the Bodleian and elsewhere, Mazarin was forming his suptrb library. The passion for manuscript hunting now of course is confined to a limited few, but it was once as general in Europe as the present struggle for old masters. Black and White and the Anti-Jacobin are the two events in the journalistic world of late, and come to console us for the death of the Universal Rei'iew. People have begun to prophesy evil for the Graphic and Illustrated on the ground that there is no room for the three sixpenny illustrated weeklies. There was a similar prophecy when the Graphic was started twenty years ago. Black and White will neither affect nor be affected by either of the other illustrated papers, but will create its own audience and its own clientele. It is on totally different lints.  ## p. 272 (#324) ############################################ 272 THE AUTHOR. Newspapers are not like hotels, and the survival of the fittest is a law from which journals are exempt. The editor was wise in not bringing out a flashy number for the first issue, as then the critics would have said "it would be impossible to keep it up for long.' So far Black and White has fulfilled its promise, while it has left what few new journals leave—room for improvement. Members ot the White Rose League will have discovered already that the Anli-Jacobin was not started to counterblast their tenets or to dance on the sleeping Whirlwind. The confusion of Jacob/V and Jacob/'/V is as common an error as the confu- sion of poor Frankenstein and his monster. Every one will wish success to Mr. Greenwood's new ven- ture. To his able editorial management we owe the old Pall Mall Gazette and the present St. fames's, and there seems no reason why the Anti- Jacobin should not have as long and as glorious a career. Mr. Barker has brought out another collection of amusing stories about schoolboys and girls. He might give our masters a turn next time. There are plenty of capital stories against dominies extant. I was told the other day that a boy who was always censured for his essays on the ground that there were no original ideas in them, at last resorted to cribbing, and copied George Osborne's theme from Vanity Fair, when the master allowed him to choose his subject. He gained the prize at the end of the term. One often hears again that English Literature at schools is entirely neglected. Here is a specimen of what took place at one of our seminaries. There was a detestable practice apparently of making boys put verse into English prose (no verse worth anything is capable of such transformation). The master had written up Wordsworth's famous stanzas, "The Solitary Reaper," and after every boy had tried his best and failed, he gave them a model version. The lines, as every one knows, are as follows :— "Will no one tell me what she sings? Perhaps the plantive numbers How For old, unhappy, far-off things And battles long ago. Or is it some more humble lay, Familiar matter of to-day, Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain, That has been and may be again?" They were rendered into the following :— "Will no one," I again inquired, "tell me what the girl is singing and the name of the composer of the piece?" But no one seemed either able or willing to afford me any information. "Perhaps," I ventured to suggest, encouraged by the plaintive character of both words and music, "perhaps it is an original composition of the fair performer's relating I know not what unhappy incident in her own past, some strugg'e bravely contested and triumphantly concluded. Or is it," I went on, "some misfortune of yesterday, such as comes into the life of many of us—some grief or even some advantage likely to recur in the course of a larger experience?" In the first number of Black and White there was an amusing, but not a new, anecdote about a journalist who asked his fellow craftsmen, before he was hanged, not to say that he ' was launched into eternity." I remember seeing a very amusing specimen of fine writing in an American paper. A correspondent from Naples was describing a recently uncovered fresco of Europa and the bull. His enthusiasm carried him as far as Europa nearly. This was his opening description: "Europa, clutch- ing with her manual limb the aureated horn of her Tauric Jovine lover," &c. * "THE COST OF PRODUCTION. * [Second Edition.] AT last this much promised pamphlet is ready. The numerous delays in its appearance have been unavoidable, which means that the compilers have constantly been forced by the pressure of work for the Society in other directions to lay this aside, even when it was quite near completion. We can only hope that our members will find the information profitable, now that it is placed within their reach. No pains have been spared to make it trustworthy. The plan of the pamphlet remains the same as before, but a preliminary explanation of the terms which occur in the book—and which also occur in publishers' bills—has been added. Thispreliminary explanation considers the publishers' charges under all the usual heads, i.e., composition, printing, paper, stereotyping, binding, and advertisement, but it does not include mention of the charges for "author's corrections," for "publisher's lists," for "reader's fee," for "fees for revision," or "preparation for the press," or for "assurance against fire," or for "warehousing." * "The Cost of Production." 2nd Edition, enlarged and revised. Published by Henry Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C 2s. bd.  ## p. 273 (#325) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 273 Of these six last charges there is nothing to be said, except that in no way and under no circum- stances should the author ever pay them, if they are "sprung upon" him. It might be worth while for an author to have his book prepared for the press for him, or revised in some way—many authors, for instance, have their index made for them—but he should certainly be told about the matter beforehand, and allowed to make his own arrangements. He might employ the gentleman dasignated by the publishers, or he might not, but at least he must know who he is paying, and what he is getting for his money. It is ridiculous to attempt to make the author bear any of the other charges. Yet we have in this office seen number- less bills and publishers' accounts in which some or all of these items have been set down as part of the expense of the production of a book. We remember in one case, where the author had paid £27 separate as half the cost of production of a tiny paper-covered book, that we had occasion to take l;gal measures to obtain a true account of the cost. The composition, printing, paper, and binding cime to about £12. There was certain alleged expenditure on advertisement, of which no proof was offered. But yet the account against the book made quite a brave appearance, so swollen was it by the irregular items we have just mentioned. The actual ,£54 necessary to justify £27 being charged as half the cost of production was not reached, but quite a bold bid was made for it. Yet ^12, plus somesmall unknown amount of advertise- ment expenditure, was all that had really been spent. In all cases where an attempt is made by a half- profit publisher to exact payment for "reader's fees," "revision," "warehousing," &c, the author is advised to refuse, and refuse utterly to sanction such charges—unless of course he has previously signed some agreement preventing him from objecting. The question of "author's corrections" is different. It is undoubted that in some cases a charge must be made. It is the practice of many authors to cut their proofs about, and make alterations and additions or subtractions, resulting in a serious increase of labour to the printers. This kind of thing must be paid for. But the present system of obtaining payment for it seems to be to charge all authors, whether they have rightly incurred the charge or no, something for "corrections," if it is only for the correction of the printer's own errors. Thus it is secured that publishers as a whole shall not lose, because some people cannot make up their minds what they are going to say, until they have seen it in print. This is ridiculous. If an author is in any way concerned in the cost of production, he is advised to keep by him his first proofs until the publisher's bill comes in. If he is then charged a large sum for corrections, larger than seems to be warranted by the amount of alterations due to his errors or changes of mind, he should refuse to pay, until he knows how and why it is he asked to pay so much. This, again, is supposing that he has not agreed beforehand to pay whatever is asked of him. "Author's corrections " is a vexed question. Something sometimes ought to be paid, but everybody ought not to be made to pay as a matter of course. "One word to those who say that the cost of production has nothing to do with them. It has to do with all authors under every method of publishing, for it must be the one fixed thing which dictates equitable terms. An author may not care to know it—that is a very comprehensible condition—but it must, or at any rate it ought to, affect his remuneration. It costs as much, and no more, to produce a bad book as a good book, a popular author's book or an unknown amateur's book. The results of the probable and possible variations in sale must be provided for in the agreement. "The copyright of a book should only be ceded to a publisher for a sum, when the author knows how much the publ'sher has yet to spend, and how much he will probably obtain. "Its connection with the half-profit system is obvious. "These figures prove its connection with the royalty system of publishing. Ten thousand copies of a 6s. book will cost ,£400 to produce and adver- tise. This is a very liberal estimate indetd (v. page 28). They will sell for ,£1,750. There will then be .£1,350 for author and publisher to divide. Here is how this sum is divided, according to the royalty the author gets :— Per Cent. Royally 5 .0 ■5 20 35 30 35 £ 1,050 300 £ £ £ C £ 300 1,050 Publisher 1,200 150 900 750 , 600 600 | 750 450 Author 45° 900 The agreement should provide for the fortunate issue as much as for the unfortunate. "Of course, the man who is going to publish at his own expense should know what that expense will be. Equally, the divine and the poet should know how much the publisher's expense is really going to be before they guarantee to be respon- sible for the sale of a large number of copies at the trade price."  ## p. 274 (#326) ############################################ 274 THE AUTHOR, The compilers beg to offer their best thanks to the numerous correspondents whose corrections and questions have guided them in preparing the second edition. . CORRESPONDENCE. I. On Plagiarism. PLAGIARISM, the most odious, the most injurious of charges to which authors are exposed, has recently been placed in a novel light by Mr. Louis Stevenson and others ; according to them to coincidence, and the unconscious machination of the mind, must be ascribed much of the supposed plagiarism. I believe they are right, in the main, in their contentions. But other factors, besides the aforementioned, work from time to time against authors and with damaging effect. The following incident may interest some of your readers. In 1884, I published, anonymously, a small volume on a technical subject. The book was written in a spirit of literary pugilism, showing but scant regard for persons or Institutions. For these reasons I expected no consideration from critics, and those attacked. Numerous reviews appeared within a few weeks after the publication of the book, and much to my surprise all were of a most favourable nature. The laudatory spell was presently broken by a powerfully written letter, emanating from high quarters, and addressed to a service paper, of which I am an occasional contributor. I replied in a leader; the war raged for some time, and contributed not a little to the success of my book. This suc- cess encouraged me to publish a more ambitious work of a similar nature; in fact, an expansion of the first. Immediately after the appearance of this book a scurrilous attack was made upon it in a paper owned by my publishers. My critic did not confine himself to literary and technical criticisms, in fact he barely attempted that feat, and simply charged me with barefaced plagiarism. Three or four other papers followed in the same strain, and the book was promptly killed. I complained bitterly to my publishers, and insisted upon being confron'ed with my detractor. After some delay an interview took place at the publishers' office. "I do not complain of your criticism on my book, unfair and totally irrelevant as I consider most of it, but I should like to know what right you think you possess of accusing me of plagiarism, without even naming the sources from which I plagiarized?" I asked my detractor. "I regret," said the latter, "that you have com- pelled me to perform a very disagreeable_jtask. Will you be so good as to read those passages, and examine these cuttings from the Service Gazette,' handing me a small volume and some newspaper cuttings. "Do you think we could see Mr. Brown, the senior partner?" I asked. Ere long Mr. Brown made his appearance. "Will you kindly tell us who is the author of this little work?" handing him the aforementioned small volume. "Why you, of course!" Tableau! "Those articles were written by me," I said to my detractor, who promised to make the amende Iwnour- ab/e, but never did. I related this incident to the editor of a monthly magazine, of which I was a contributor. "Why X ... is the man whose articles on the continental events of '66 you cut to pieces. Don't you recollect?" observed rny editor friend. "I recollect writing you a couple of private letters, not intended for publication, in which I drew your attention to numerous historical inac- curacies, and other serious blunders, contained in those articles, the author of which was till this moment unknown to me; in fact, I believed them to be from your pen." "Yes, but X . . . saw those letters !" replied the editor. "Can you tell me whether X ... is connected with ?" naming the other papers in which my book had been assailed. "Yes, I think he is," was the reply. So much for plagiarism, and so much for reviewers. The indiscretion of an editor, and the vindictiveness of a literary hack, exposed me to an odious accusa- tion, and to heavy pecuniary losses. Could such a dishonourable act have been committed with impunity by a member of any other profession? I venture to think not. The culprit would have been arraigned before a tribune of his brother pro- fessionals, and made to answer for his misdeeds. Is it too much to hope that the Society of Authors will some day wield a similar power, and establish something like an esprit de corps amongst authors? H. N.  ## p. 275 (#327) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 2/5 II. "The Kinds of Criticism." To the Editor of the Author. Sir,—I have read with lively interest your admir- able article in last month's Author on reviewing. Perhaps all of your readers have suffered some time or other from careless, or what is worse, ignorant criticism, while many have been misled into getting bad books by the puffing notices which are so common. On the other hand there is infinitely more conscientious reviewing done than either authors or the public dream of, while the sensitive vanity of some writers is so great that nothing short of unmixed eulogium will satisfy them. The subject is one which has for many years occupied my mind, and I will now set down a few practical suggestions upon it. 1. All books sent for review should be cut. 2. The reviewer should be helped in his work by the preface, which should always be dated. 3. As far as practicable, the reviewer should be unknown to the reviewed. 4. The number of pages and the price of a book should be stated in the review. 5. In advertisements, extracts from the writer's own preface should be preferred to extracts from reviews. 6. A book should either be reviewed within six months from its receipt, or returned. 7. The plot of a novel should never be disclosed in the review of it. 8. Though the reviewer should be set right by the author on clear mistakes, the general criticism of a review is to be deprecated. 9. There is something to be said for a practice of the author sending with his book a "draft review." 10. There is something to be said for a practice of the author sending a small fee. I need hardly say that I make the two last suggestions with the greatest fear and trembling, and hasten to subscribe myself A Reviewer and Reviewed of nearly twenty years standing. [Note.—One would like to know exactly what there is to be said for the last two suggestions.—Editor.] III. Prize Competitions. May I draw the attention of the Author to the recent conduct of a well-known weekly paper with regard to its prize competitions? The paper in vol. 1. question has a large circulation, principally due, I should think, to these competitions. Some weeks ago it, the , offered a prize for the best Sonnet to the New Year, for which prize there were some dozen or so of competitors Now it is reasonable to suppose that some out of this number, however limited their capacity, must have been conversant with the rules of this style of composition, yet the prize was divided between two sets of verses that failed to comply with these rules. The first prize-winner made a comparatively trivial deviation from them, but at the same time one that took away a good deal of the difficulties of composition that other competitors were, no doubt, handicapped by. The verses of the second prize-winner were not even limited to fourteen lines, and bore no re- semblance to a sonnet in any way. A third sonnet was printed, which was correct, but to this no prize was given. (I was a competitor myself, but out of the running altogether, as my sonnet was not even acknowledged with the names of the other com- petitors.) It did not seem to me fair that a prize which was offered for a sonnet should be given to any other species of composition, and the fact pointed to igno- rance or incompetency on the part of the judges of the competition. So I wrote a civil letter to the editor, merely pointing out that the prize-winners had not complied with the rules, and suggesting that the prize should be given to the writer of the third poem, which was, strictly speaking, a sonnet. I enclosed a stamped envelope for reply, but no notice was taken of my letter. During the summer I won two prizes in the competitions, which I was directed to claim, but no notice was taken for some time of my letters doing so. Finally, the money was sent to me, but not the full amount. I did not remonstrate at the time, but now that another competition does not seem to have been properly conducted, I wish very much to have the Author's opinion on the matter. Apparently, the numerous prize competitions help to sell the paper, and are looked on by young writers as an opening for their efforts; but it seems to me that if all reasonable complaints are to be suppressed altogether, or treated with contempt, the sooner the whole system of prize competitions is put a stop to the better. X. Y [The case is quoted not because prize competitions are a very important branch of letters, but to show the trickery which goes on unrestrained by any fear of public opinion. The winner should have instantly claimed the full amount ol his prize, and enforced the claim, if necessary, by legal action.—Editor.] z  ## p. 276 (#328) ############################################ 276 THE AUTHOR: IV. An Artistic Journal. In 1888 I was asked to become one on the staff of presumably the same artistic journal men- tioned among cases in last issue. I wrote three papers by especial request, and was at some trouble in procuring illustrations. The first paper was issued in six months after the journal appeared, the second after two years, and the third, for which a royal lady was solicited for her portrait, which she kindly sent ine, has not appeared at all, nor has any notice been taken about it, although the journal has been "smashed" for some months. As it was expressly written for this journal it would be useless to me, so I have not written to demand its return; but it comes surely under goods bought, but not paid for. The American periodicals for which I have written are more honourable and satisfactory, for they send a cheque the moment the paper is accepted. * THE AUTHOR'S BOOK STALL. [This column is open for lists of books wanted, books offered for exchange and books offered for sale. Initials must be given for reference, not for publication, and the editor will place correspondents in communication with each other. Books must not be sent to t/ie office of the Society. Letters enclosing list may be addressed " X," care of the Editor. It must be understood that no responsibility rests with the Editor or with the officers of the Society.] Books for Sale. Tennyson's Poems. Moxon. 1856. Keats' Poems. Moxon. 1855. Palgrave's Golden Treasury of Songs and Lyrics. 1S62. Uncle Tom's Cabin, illustrated, with frontispiece, " Phiz." Massingf.r's Plays. Edited by Gifford. 1S53. Reprint of James I's Bible. Oxford. 1833. Campbell s Pleasures of Hope. Illustrated by Birkct Foster and Harrison Weir. 1853. Poesies de Marie de France. 1820. Delphine, Madame de Stael. 6 vols. 1S09. Address "F.Af." ♦ For Exchange. Provincial Coins. 12 numbers of plates. Lettere e dissertazioni Numismatiche de Dominio Sestini. Firenze. 1818. Vols. V, VI, VII, IX. Rariora Maximi Moduli Numismatica selecta ex bibliothcca Casp. Car. pegnae. Amsterdam. 1686. Oct: Falconerii de Nummo Apamensi. Koma. 1667. Greek and Roman History illustrated by coins and medals. By O. Walker. 1692. Delia raritd dellc Medaglic Antiche. N. Scotti. Firenze. 1819. De la rarete et du prix des Medailles romaines. Par Mionnet. Paris. 1815. An historical account of English money. By Stephen Martin- Leake. 2nd Edition. London. 1745. An Essay on the Coins of Conobelin. By Samuel Pegge. London. 1766. Medallic History of Carausius. By William Stukeley. Book II. London. 1759. Thesaurus Numismatum e Musaeo Caroli Patini. Paris. 1672. Two Dissertations upon the Mint and Coins of the Episcopal Palatinate of Durham. By Mark Noble. Birmingham. 1780. Act: Numismat: Imp: Romanorum a Vaillantio edita supplementum a Jos: Khell. Vindobona. 1767. Numismata Imperatorum Joan Vaillant. Amsterdam. 1700. Dissertationes de prcestantia et usu Numismatum nntiquorum, 2 vols. Ezechiel Spanheim Elzever. Amsterdam. 1671. Dis corso di M. Sebastiano Erizzo sopra le mcdaglie antiche in Vinegia. Varisco. 1571. Imperatorum Romanorum Numismata a Pompeio Magno ad Horaclium ab Adolfo Occonc, exhibita cara F. M. Bargi. Mediolani. 1683. Copic d'un manuscrit original donne a M. Durau le 23 Juillet, 1733. Par M. l'escatory qui lui assura pour lors-que e'etait le Vade mecum de M. Vaillant. Apparently un- finished. Byron. Childe Harold. 2nd Edition. 1812. Manfred. Paper covers. 1817. Works. 6 vols. 1829. Vol. VII of Works. 1819. Carmina Quadressimalia. 2nd Edition. 174!. Lusus Westmonasteriensis. 1730. Metastasio Opere seelte. 2 vols. 1S06. Southey. Madoc. 1805. Curse of Kehama. 1810. Tale of Paraguay. 1825. Siege of Corinth and Parisina. 1816. Works. 2 vols. 3rd Edition. 1799. Scott. Doom of Devorgil and Auchindrane. Oiiginal boards. 1830. Shakespeare. Pope's. 6 vols. 1728. Bell's. Vol. I. 1774. Sharpe's. 9 vols. 1803. Wordsworth. Yarrow re-visited. 1835. YOUNG. Complaint. 2 vols. 1743. Night Thoughts. 1787. Dickens. Mystery of Edwin Drood. Fragment in 6nio. in original paper covers. 1S70. Lever. Charles O'Malley. Illustrated by Phiz. Vol. II. 1841. Our Mess. Vol. Ill, i.e., Tom Burke of Ours. Vol. II. Illustrated by Phiz. 1S44. Scott. (Euvres de. Vols. X, XXV. Rise and Progress of Society of Ancient Britons. 1717. Mrs. Cockburn's Works. 2 vols. 1751. Scott. Paul's Letters. 1S1S. Senaior. Calrendon's Parliamentary Chronicle. 10 vols, in 9, beginning November, 1790. Address" M.A." Lockyer's Meteoritic Hypothesis, yfcr Miss Clarke's System of the Star?, or Peck's Popular Handbook of Astro- nomy. J. E. Gore's Astronomical Lessons, for Serviss's Astronomy with an Opera-Glass. Glazebrook's Physical Optics, for Proctor's Our Place among Infinities, or Mysteries of Time and Space. Address "A.F."  ## p. 277 (#329) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 277 Books Wanted. Poetry for Children (in two i6mo. volumes), by the Author of "Mrs. Leicester's School," 1809. Also any books, tracts, pamphlets, or prints illustrating early English railway engines, carriages, &c. Address Andrew IV. Tuer, 18, Notling Hill Square, W. Scott's Poems. 12 vols. Uniform with Waverley Novels and Prose Works. Hallam. Literature of Europe. Lacroix. Science et Lettres au Moyen Age. 1st Edition. Good copy. Science and Letters, &c. English trans- lation. Any edition. Gentleman's Magazine. 1748, 1786, 1787, 1791. Part 2. Household Words. Vols. IV, V, VI. Nineteenth Century. September, 1878. Blackwood. October, 1849 ; July, 1851; February, 1852; July, 1864; Octolier, November, December, 1067. All the Year Round. September, October, November, December, 1867. Sidney Smith. Sermons. Vol. I. 1809. Disraeli. Tancred. Vol. I. 1847. Victor Hugo. L'Homme qui rit. Vol. II. 2nd Edition. Heaumont and Fletcher. Vols. I, II, III. 1711. Joseph Glanville. Anything. Address "M.A." * NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS. Theology. Body, Rev. G. The School of Calvary, a Course of Lent Lectures, p. 6d. Garland, Rev. G. V. Practical Teaching of the Apoca- lypse. Longmans and Co. \(>s. Hall, N. Gethsemane; or, Leaves of Healing from the Garden of Grief, y. Hermon, Rev. G. E. Addresses on the Seven Words from the Cross. 2s. Jeaffreson, H. II. Magnificat: a Course of Sermons. 2s. 6d. Liddon, II. P. Advent in St. Paul's. Cheaper Edition. Longmans and Co. 5s. Sermons preached before the University of Oxford. Cheaper Edition. y. Muller, F. Max. Physical Religion. (Gifford's Lectures, 1890.) Longmans and Co. lor. 6d. Newman, Cardinal. Discussions and Arguments on various subjects; An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent. Cheap Edition, y. 6d. each. Parochial and Plain Sermons. Cheap Edition, $s. 6d. each. Rawi.inson, G. Ezra and Nehemiah, Their Lives and Times. James Nesbit and Co. is. 6d. Taylor, W. M. The Miracles of our Saviour expounded and Illustrated. Hodder and Stoughton. "js. 6d. History and Biography. Brown, Horatio F. The Venetian Printing Press. An Historical Study based upon Documents for the most hitherto unpublished. 22 Facsimiles of Early ting. J. Nimmo. 49*. Campbell, John, M.A., LL.D. The Hittites, their In- scriptions and their History. J. Nimmo. 2 vols. 21s. Chetwynd, Sir G. Racing Reminiscences and Experi- ences of the Turf. Longmans and Co. 2 vols. 21s. Clinch, G. Marylcbone and St. Pancras, their History Celebrities, &c. Truslove and Shirley. 2lr. 12*. Ericsoon, John. Life of. By W. C. Church. Sampson Low. 2 vols. 2 is. Inderwick, F. A. The Interregnum, (a.d. 1648-1660). Studies of the Commonwealth Legislation. Sampson Low and Co. I ox. 6d. Lieven, Princess, and Earl Grey's Correspondence. Edited and Translated by Guy Le Strange. Bcntley and Co. Vol. III. 15*. Marie de Medices. Life of. By J. Pardoe. Bentley and Co. 3 vols. 42x. Martin, B. E. In the Footprints of Charles Lamb. Bentley and Co. ioj. 6d. Weitemeyer, H. Denmark, its History and Topography, Language, Literature, &c. Edited by. 12s. td. Williams, Montague, Q.C. Later Leaves, being further Reminiscences. Macmillan and Co. 15/. General Literature. Arnold, E. L. The Wonderful Adventures of I hra the Phoenician. Chatto and Windus. 3 vols. 31*. 6d. Baddeley, W. St. Clair. Love's Vintage. Sampson Low and Co. 5*. Bale, M. Powis. A Handbook for Steam Users. Longmans and Co. 2s. 6d. Barrie, J. M. My Lady Nicotine. Hodder and Stoughton. 2nd Edition. 6s. When a Man's Single: a Tale of Literary Life. Hodder and Stoughton. 3rd Edition. 6s. Buckland, A. Greetingsand Farewells, School Addresses. 3s. 6d. Bynner, E. L. The Begum's Daughter. Sampson Low and Co. dr. Cameron, Mrs. L. This Wicked World. 2s. Castle, Egerton. Consequences. Bentley and Son. 3 vols. Chetwynd, Hon. Mrs. H. W. Criss Cross-Lovers. White and Co. 3 vols. Corbet, R. St. J. Uncle Dumpie's Merrie Months. 2s. 6d. Crommelin, M. The Freaks of Lady Fortune. 2s. 6d. Dane, P. Pauper and Felon, y. 6d. Daudet, A. One of the Forty. Translated by A. W. and M. de G. Verrall. 2s. Davidson, G. C. Paul Creighton. 6s. Ford, R. Thistlebank: a Book of Scotch Humour and Character. 5^. Forde, G. Rupert Alison; or, Broken Lights. Hurst and Blackett. 3 vols. 3W. 6d. Froude, J. A. Short Studies on Great Subjects. Cheap Edition. 4 vols. y. 6d. each. Gale, F. The Dream that Cheated, y. 6d. Gerard, E. A Secret Mission. Blackwood. 2 vols. I7r. Green, E. E. Miss Meyrick's Niece. 2s. Haggard, H. R. Cleopatra. Longmans and Co. Cheap Edition. 3*. 6d. Hardy, T. Desperate Remedies. 2s. Two on a Tower. Cheap Edition. 2f. Hart, Mabel. Two English Girls. Hurst and Blackett. 1 vol. y. 6d. Hume, F. The Man with a Secret. 2s. 6d. Hutchinson, H. G. That Fiddler Fellow. Arnold. 6s. Keary, C. F. The Vikings in Western Christendom. A.D. 789-888. Fisher L'nwin. 15/. Kevill-Davies, A. An American Widow. 3 vols. ys. 6d. prut Prin  ## p. 278 (#330) ############################################ 2 78 THE A UTHOR. Kipling, R. Wee Willie Winkle, Under the Deodars, and Phantom Rickshaw. 3/. 6d. Littlfjohn, J. The Flowing Tide: a Political Novel. Killby. lor. 6d. Lowell, J. R. Writings. Macmillan and Co. Vol. V. Malkt, Lucas. The Wages of Sin. Sonnenschein. 3 vols. Mitchell, Elizabeth H. Forty Days in the Holy Land. Illustrated. Kegan Paul. 6s. Morley, J. Studies in Literature. Macmillan and Co. Nomad. Holly. 2 vols. 21s. Norris, W. E. Marcia: a New Novel. J. Murray. 2nd Edition. 3 vols. 31*. 6d. Osborne, Rev. Lord S. G. The Letters of S. G.O. to the Times. Edited by A. White. Griffith, Karran and Co. 2 vols. 42.r. Phillpott, E. The End of a Life. p. 6d. Pryce, R. The Quiet Mrs. Fleming, y. 6J. Robinson, F. W. Her Love and His Life. Hurst and Blackett. 3 vols. 31s. 6d. Ross, J. D. Round Burns' Grave, y. 6d. Rowsei.l, M. C. Home Plays. New and Revised Edition. Samuel French, 6d. Serao, M. Fantasy: a Novel. Translated from the Italian by II. Harland and P. Sylvester. Introduction by Edmund Gosse. Win. Heinemann. 2/. 6d. Smart, H. Without Love or License. Chatto and Windus. 3*. Od. Yonge, C. M. Two Penniless Princesses. Macmillan. 2 vols. 12s. Poetry. Austin, Alfred. The Poetical Works of. Macmillan. 5 vols. 5^. each. Heney, T. In the Middle Harbour and other Verses. 3*- 6d- Ibsen, H. Heddar Gabler, Skuespil i Fire Akter. Trans- lated by Edmund Gosse. Heinemann and Co. 5*. Leyton, F. The Shadows of the Lake and other Poems. 5'- Piatt, J. J. A Return to Paradise. 4s. 6d. Rossetti, Dante Gabriel. Poetical Works. Edited with Preface by W. M. Rossetti. 6s. Shelley's "Adonais." Edited with Introduction and Notes by W. M. Rossetti. Clarendon Press. 51. Tennyson's Coming of Arthur and the Passing of Arthur, with Introduction and Notes by F. J. Rowe. Mac- millan and Co. 2s. Music. MACFARREN, G. A. His Life, Works, and Influence. By H. C. Banister. Bell and Sons. iar. 6d. I'roiit, Ebenf.zf.r, B.A. Harmony; Its Theory and Practice. 3rd Edition. Augener. 5-f. Rif.mann, Dr. H. Catechism of Musical Instruments. (Guide to Instrumentation.) Augener. zs. Fine Art. Cooper, T. Sidney, R.A. My Life. Bentley and Co. 2 vols. 30J. Cundai.l, F. Landscapeand Pastoral Painters of Holland. Sampson Low and Co. 3J. 6d. . Dawson, Henry. Landscape Painter, Life of. Compiled and Edited by A. Dawson. 2ls. Lankester, Ray. Zoological Articles. Reprinted from "Encyclopedia Britannica." A. and C. Black. I2J-. 6d. Loftie, W. J. Landscer and Animal Painting in England. (Vcre Foster's Water Colour Scries). Blackie and Son. Js. 6d. Middi.eton, Professor J. II. The Engraved Gems of Classical Times. 12s. 6d. Slater, J. H. Engravings and Their Value. 7s. 6d. THE READING OF MANUSCRIPTS. w E beg to call attention to the following, which we reprint from the report of 1890:— Regulations concerning the Reading of Manuscripts. The fee for this service will for the future be one guinea, unless any special reason be present for making it higher or lower. The amount must then be left to the Secretary's discretion. For this sum a report will be given upon MSS. of the usual 3 vol. length, or upon collections of stories making in the aggregate a work of that length. In every case the fee and stamps for return postage must accompany the MSS. The fee will be given entirely to the Reader. The Reader will not attempt to give an opinion upon works of a technical character. It is requested that a label may be sent with the MSS., having upon it the Author's name, the nom- de-plume (if any) under which the work is written, and the address to which the MSS. is to be returned. This communication will be held as confidential.  ## p. 279 (#331) ############################################ ADVERTISEMENTS. 279 LEADING POINTS. 1. WORK-Always in sight. 2. SPEED-Highest Record, 181 words per minute. ALIGNMENT-Perfect and Permanent. 3. TYPE-Instantly interchangeable (21 kinds). IMPRESSION_Uniform, being independent of touch. 4. PAPER-Takes any width, also 20 yards in length. WE THE HAMMOND TYPEWRITER CO., 50, QUEEN VICTORIA ST., E.C. PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 1. The Annual Report. That for January, 1891, can be had on application to the Secretary. 2. The Author. A Monthly Journal devoted especially to the protection and maintenance of Literary Property. Issued to all members. 3. The Grievances of Authors. (Field & Tuer.) 25. The Report of three Meetings on the general subject of Literature and its defence, held at Willis's Rooms, March, 1887. 4. Literature and the Pension List. By W. Morris Colles, Barrister-at-Law. Glaisher, 95, Strand, W.C.) 35. (Henry 5. The History of the Société des Gens de Lettres. By S. SQUIRE SPRIGGE, Secretary to the Society. Is. 6. The Cost of Production. In this work specimens are given of the niost important forms of type, size of page, &c., with estimates showing what it costs to produce the more common kinds of books. 25. 6d. 7. The Various Methods of Publication. By S. SQUIRE SPRIGGE. In this work, compiled from the papers in the Society's offices, the various kinds of agreements proposed by Publishers to Authors are examined, and their meaning carefully explained, with an account of the various kinds of fraud which have been made possible by the different clauses in their agreements. Price 3s. (A new Edition in the Press.) Other works bearing on the Literary Profession will follow.  ## p. 280 (#332) ############################################ 2 SO AD VER TISEMENTS. TYPE-WRITING. AUTHORS' MSS. CAREFULLY TRANSCRIBED. Writings by Post receiue prompt attention. SCIENTIFIC & MEDICAL PAPERS A SPECIALITY. MISSES ERWIN, 13, DORSET STREET, PORTMAN SQUARE, W. MISS GILL, TYPE WRITING OFFICES, 6, ADAM STREET, "The best of all Journals." Published every FRIDA Y, price 2d. I>K. Edited by ANDREW WILSON Now s the time to subscribe. A New Vol. commenced 4th April, 1890. Send Post-card for Specimen Copy. To be had at all Railway Pookstalls and Newsagents, or direct from the Publisher— 2, PATERNOSTER SQUARE, LONDON, E.C, MISS ETHEL DICKENS, TYPE-WRITING OFFICE, 26, WELLINGTON STREET, STRAND (Over the Office of "All the Year Round" ). MSS. copied. Price List on application. TYPE WRITING OFFICE, ST. PAUL'S CHAMBERS, 19, LUDGATE HILL, E.C. Authors' MSS. carefully copied from 1/- per 1,000 words. One additional copy (carbon) supplied free of charge. References kindly permitted to many well-known Authors and Publishers. Further particulars on application. TYPE-WRITING & SHORTHAND. JO. DARKE, M.T.S., LION * CHAMBERS, ♦ BROAD ♦ STREET, BRISTOL. The advantages of Type-written Manuscript are Legibility, Neatness, Rapidity, and Ease of Manifolding. AUTHORS' MANUSCRIPTS, Sea., prepared for the Publisher. Companies* (Reporfs ano $afenf (Jfcgenfs* Specifications Stiffen up ano (JJlamfofoeo. LITHOGRAPHY from TYPING done in the best Style. MEMORY LESSONS IN TYPING GIVEN BY POST. WRITE FOR TERMS. ESTABLISHED 1851. B X3 G K IB A SOUTHAMPTON BUILDINGS, CHANCERY LANE. THREE per CENT. INTEREST allowed on DEPOSITS, repayable on demand. TWO per CENT. INTEREST on CURRENT ACCOUNTS, calculated on minimum monthly balances, when not drawn below j£ioo. STOCKS, SHARES, and ANNUITIES purchased and sold. SAVIHTGrS ID BPABTM EWT. For the encouragement of Thrift the Bank receives small sums on deposit, and allows Interest, at the rate of THREE per CENT, per Annum, on each completed £i. Accounts are balanced and Interest addetl on the 31st March annually. FRANCIS RAVENSCROFT, Manager. TJOW TO PURCHASE A HOUSE FOR TWO GUINEAS PER MONTH, OR ** A PLOT OF LAND FOR FIVE SHILLINGS PER MONTH, with immediate possession. Apply at Office of the Birkbeck Freehold Land Society. THE BIRKBECK ALMANACK, with full particulars, post free on application. FRANCIS RAVENSCROFT, Manager.  ## p. 280 (#333) ############################################ ADVERTISEMENTS The Society of Authors (Jncorporated). PRESIDENT. The Right Hon. The LORD TENNYSON, D.C.L. Sir Edwin ARNOLD, K.C.S.I. ALFRED AUSTIN. ROBERT BATEMAN. SIR HENRY BERGNE, K.C.M.G. WALTER BESANT. AUGUSTINE Birrell, M.P. R. D. BLACKMORE. Rev. PROF. BONNEY, F.R.S. LORD BRABOURNE. JAMES BRYCE, M.P. P. W. CLAYDEN. EDWARD CLODD. W. MARTIN CONWAY. MARION CRAWFORD. OSWALD CRAWFURD, C.M.G. THE Earl of DESART. A. W. DUBOURG. JOHN Eric ERICHSEN, F.R.S. PROF. MICHAEL FOSTER, F.R.S. HERBERT GARDNER, M.P. RICHARD GARNETT, LL.D. EDMUND GOSSE. COUNCIL. II. RIDER HAGGARD.. THOMAS HARDY. PROF. E. RAY LANKESTER, F.R.S. J. M. LELY, Rev. W. J. LOFTIE, F.S.A. F. MAX-MÜLLER, LL.D. GEORGE MEREDITH. HERMAN C. MERIVALE. 1. C. PARKINSON. THE EARL OF PEMBROKE AND MONTGOMERY. Sir FREDERICK POLLOCK, BART., LL.D. WALTER HERRIES POLLOCK. A. G. Ross. GEORGE AUGUSTUS SALA. W. BAPTISTE Scoones. G. R. SIms. J. J. STEVENSON. JAS. Sully. William Moy THOMAS. H. D. Traill, D.C.L. EDMUND YATES. Hon. Counsel-E, M. UNDERDOWN, Q.C. Auditor-Rev. C. H. MIDDLETON-WAKE, F.L.S. COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT. Chairman-Walter BESANT. EDMUND Gosse. H. Rider HAGGARD. A. G. Ross, ROBERT BATEMAN. · W. MARTIN CONWAY. J. M. LELY. SIR FREDERICK POLLOCK. Solicitors. Messrs. Field, Roscoe, & Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. Secretary-S. SQUIRE SPRIGGE. OFFICES. 4, PORTUGAL STREET, LINCOLN'S INN Fields, W.C.  ## p. 280 (#334) ############################################ ADVERTISEMENTS. NEW MODEL REMINGTON STANDARD TYPEWRITER. . For Fifteen years the Standard, and to-day the most perfect development of the writing machine, embodying the latest and highest achievements of inventive and mechanical skill. We add to the Remington every improvement that study and capital can secure. AN . HIS REMINGTON STANTIVARD TYPENAIRS 11 WYCKOFF, SEAMANS & BENEDICT, Principal Office - LONDON : 100, GRACECHURCH STREET, E.C. (CORNER OF LEADENHALL STREET). Branch Offices- LIVERPOOL: CENTRAL BUILDINGS, NORTH JOHN STREET. BIRMINGHAM: 23, MARTINEAU STREET, MANCHESTER : 8, MOULT STREET, Printed for the Society, by HARRISON & SONS, 45. 46, and 47, St. Martin's Lane, in the Parish of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, in the City of Westminster. 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. 01 Issue 10 (February 1891) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 01 Issue 10 (February 1891) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927&amp;view=1up&amp;seq=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1891-02-16-The-Author-1-10 publications The Author https://historysoa.com/files/original/5/247/1891-01-15-The-Author-1-9.pdf 4637fd7b4c91e1ecc44b51c1ced4b2f8 PDF Text Text �������������������������������� 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 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) 1891-01-15 Volume 1 Issue 9 Pages Page range in volume 223–250 Ngram Date Version of the date in YYYYMMDD format for use by the Ngram plugin 18910115 Ngram Text Version of the text with no HTML formatting for use by the Ngram plugin Vol. I.–No. 9] - JANUARY 15, 1891. [Price, Sixpence. The Author. THE ORGAN OF THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS (INCORPORATED). CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Qublished for the Society by ALEXANDER P. WATT, 2, PATERNOSTER SQUARE, LONDON, E.C. 1891.  ## p. 222 (#270) ############################################ ii. ADVERTISEMENTS. Messrs. METHTJEN'S NEW BOOKS. By S. BARING GOULD. URITH : A Story of Dartmoor. By S. Baring Goui.d, Author of " Mchalah," "Arminell," &c. 3 vols. \Xearly Ready. By HANNAH LYNCH. PRINCE OF THE GLADES. By Hannah Lynch. 2 vols. [Ifmrfy Ready. By W. CLARK RUSSELL. A MARRIAGE AT SEA. By W. Clark Russell, Author of **'l'hc Wreck of the Grosvenor," &c. 2 vols. [Nearly Ready. THE LIFE OF ADMIRAL LORD COLLINGWOOD. By W. Clark Russell, Author of "The Wreck of ihe Grosvenor." With Illustrations by K. Brangwyn. 8vo. [Nearly Heady. By W. H. POLLOCK. FERDINAND'S DEVICE. By Walticr Hkrriks Pollock. Post 8vo. is. {February. By R. PRYCE. THE QUIET MRS. FLEMING. By Richard Pryce. Crown 8v0. 3*. 6d. [February. By J. B. BURNE, M.A. PARSON AND PEASANT: Chapters of their Natural History. By J. B. Bl rne, M.A., Rector of Wasing. Crown 8vo. $s. [Ready, By E. LYNN LINTON. THE TRUE HISTORY OF JOSHUA DAVIDSON, Christian and Communist. By E. Lynn Linton. Tenth and Cheaper Edition. Post Svo. is. [Ready. Works by S. BARING GOULD, Author of 11 Mchalah" &c. OLD COUNTRY LIFE. By S. Baring Gould. With Sixty—even Illustrations by W. Parkinson, F. D. Bkoi okd, and P. Masey. I-arge Crown 8vo, cloth super extra, top edge gilt, tcu. 6d. Second Edition. l* Old Country Life, as healthy wholesome reading, full of breezy life and movement, full of quaint stories vigorously told, will not be excelled by any book to be published throughout the year. Sound, hearty, and Englt*.h to the core."— World. HISTORIC ODDITIES AND STRANGE EVENTS. By S. Baking Gould. First Series. Demy 8vo, 10s. 6</. Seeond Edition. "A collection of exciting and entertaining chapters. The whole volume is delightful reading."— Times. SECOND SERIES. HISTORIC ODDITIES AND STRANGE EVENTS. Second Series. By S. Baking Gould, Author of " Mehalah." Demy 8vo. 10s. 6d. [Ready. "A fascinating book."—Leeds Mercury. SONGS OF THE WEST: Traditional Ballads and Songs of the West of England, with their Traditional Melodies. Collected by S. Baring Gould, M.A., and H. Fleetwood Shki'i aru, M.A. Arranged for Voice and Piano. In 4 Parts (containing 25 Songs each), 3*. each nett. Part /., Third Edition. Part //., Second Edition. Part ///., ready. Pari IV., in preparation. "A rich and varied collection of humour, pathos, grace, and poetic fancy."—Saturday Review. YORKSHIRE ODDITIES AND STRANGE EVENTS. By S. Baring Gould. New and Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo, 6s. [Noio Ready. TWO BOOKS FOR BOYS. Cr. Svo. $s. MASTER ROCKAFELLAR'S VOYAGE. By W. Clark Russki.i., Author of "The Wreck of the Grosvenor," &c. Illustrated by Gordon Browne. SVD BELTON ; or, The Boy who would not go to Sea. fly G. Manville Fenn, Author of "In the King's Name," &c. Illustrated by Gordon Browne. TWO BOOKS FOR GIRLS. Cr. Svo. 3s. 6d. DUMPS. By Mrs. Tarr, Author of "Adam and Eve," "Dorothy Fox," &c. Illustrated by W. Parkinson. A GIRL OF THE PEOPLE. By L. T. Meade, Author of "Scamp and I," &c. Illustrated by R. Barnes. METHUEN'S NOYEL SERIES. Three Shillings and Sixpence. Messrs. METHUEN will issue from time to time a Series of copyright Novels, by well-known Authors, handsomely bound, at the above popular price. The first volumes (now ready) are: F. MABEL ROBINSON. 1. THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. S. BARING GOULD. Author of " Mehalah;' 2. JACQUETTA. Mrs. LEITH ADAMS (mrs. de courcy i.aifan). 3. MY LAND OF BEULAH. G. MANVILLE FENN. 4. ELI'S CHILDREN. S. BARING GOULD. Auihor of "Mchalah," 5. ARMINELL : A Social Romance. EDNA LYALL. Author of " Donovan," &*c. 6. DERRICK VAUGHAN, NOVELIST. With portrait of Author. F. MABEL ROBINSON. 7. DISENCHANTMENT. Other Volumes will be announced in due course. j£noltsb Xcaoevs of IReligion. Edited by A. M. M. STEDMAN, M.A. Crown 8vo. 2s. od. A series of short biographies, five from party bias, of the most prominent leaders of religious life and thought in this and the last century. CARDINAL NEWMAN. R. //. Huttott. [Ready. ! JOHN WESLEY. /. H. Overton. [Nearly Ready. UNIVERSITY EXTENSION SERIES. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. Under the above title Messrs. METHUEK have commenced the publication of a series of books on historical, literary, and economic subjects, suitable for extension students and home-reading circles. THE INDUSTRIAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND. By H. de B. GntniNS, M.A., late Scholar of Wadham College, Oson., Cobden Prizeman. With Maps and Plans. [Ready- A HISTORY OF ENGLISH POLITICAL ECONOMY. By L. L. Price, M.A., Fellow of Oriel College, Oxon., Extension Lecturer in Political Economy. [A'ear/y Ready. VICTORIAN POETS. By A. Sharp. [Nearly RcaJv. PROBLEMS OF POVERTY: An Inquiry into the Industrial Conditions of the Poor. By J. A. Hoiisotf, M.A., late Scholar of Lincoln College, Oxon., U. E. Lecturer in Economics. \Ncarty Ready. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. By J. E. Symbs, M.A., Principal of University College, Nottingham. \Ktarly Ready. SOCIAL QUESTIONS OF TQ-DAY. A series of volumes upon the most important topics of social, economic, and industrial interest—written by the highest authorities on the various subjects. The first two volumes will be— TRADES UNIONISM-New and Old. By G. Howell, M.P. XFebruary. POVERTY AND PAUPERISM. By Rer. L. R. Phelps, M.A., Fellow of Oriel College, Oxon. {March- METHUEN & Co., 18, Bury Street, W.C.  ## p. 223 (#271) ############################################ (The Organ of the Incorporated Society of Authors. Monthly?) CONDUCTED BY WALTER BESANT. Vol. I.—No. 9.] JANUARY 15, 1891. [Price Sixpence. CONTENT S; PAGE PACK Conditions of Membership 223 Balzac and his English Critics 24> Warnings 223 Tarstow, Denver & Co., Limited »43 News and Notes 224 Ah English Academy 244 International Copyright ■ »9 The Exchange of Books • • 245 The American Copyright Act 333 In Grub Street =45 A Proprietor-Editor "35 Cases *»7 "The Kinds of Criticism" ■• "38 New Books and New Editions :.. '48 On some Parallel Passages 240 Advertisements ... 250 CONDITIONS OF MEMBERSHIP. WARNINGS; The Subscription is One Guinea anriually, payable on the 1st of January of each year. The sum of Ten Guineas for life membership entitles the subscriber to full membership of the Society. Authors of published works alone are eligible for member- ship. Those who desire to assist the Society but are not authors are admitted as Associates, on the same subscription; but have no voice in the government of the Society. Cheques and Postal Oiders should be crossed "The Im- perial Bank, Limited, Westminster Branch." Those who Wish to be proposed as members may serlH their names at any time to the Secretary at the Society's Offices, when they will receive a form for the enumeration of their works. Subscriptions entered after the 1st of Oc'ober will cover the next year. The Secretary may be personally consulted between the hours of I p.m. and 5. except on Saturdays. It is preferable that an appointment should be made by letter. The Author, the Organ of the Society, can be procured through all newsagents, or from the publisher, A. P. Walt, 2, Paternoster Square, E.C. A copy will l)c sent free to any member of the Society fo.r one twelvemonth, dating from May, 1889. It is hoped, however, that most members will subscribe to the paper. The yearly subscription is 6s. 6it., including postage, which may be sent to the Secretory, 4, Portugal Street, W.C. With regard to the reading of MSS. for young writers, the fee for this service is one guinea. MSS. will be read and reported upon for others than members, but members cannot have their works read for nothing. In all cases where an opinion is desired upon a manuscript, the author should send with it a table of contents. A type- written scenario is also of very great assistance. It must be understood that such a reader's report, however favourable, does not assist the author towards publication. VOL. I. Readers of the Author are earnestly desired to make the following warnings as widely known as possible. They are based on the experience of six years' work upon the dangers to which literary property is exposed :— (1) Never to sign any agreement of which the alleged cost of production forms an integral part, unless an opportuniiy of proving the correctness of the figures is given them. (2) Never to enter into any correspondence with publishers, especially wiih advertising publishers, who are not recommended by experienced friends, or by this Society. (3) Never; on any account whatever, to bind themselves down for future work to any one firm of publishers. (4) Never to accept any proposal of royalty without con- sultation with the Socie'y, or, at least, ascertaining exactly what the agreement gives to the author and what to ihe publisher. (5) Never to accept any offer of money for MSS., with- out previously taking advice of the Society. (6) Never to accept any pecuniary risk or responsibility without advice. (7) Never, when a MS. has been refused by respectable houses, to pay others, whatever promises they may put forward, for the production of the work. (8) Never to sign away American or foreign rights. Keep them. Refuse to sign an agreement containing a clause which reserves them for the publisher. If the publisher insists, take away the MS. and offer it to another. (9) Never forget that publishing is a business, like any- other business, totally unconnected with philanthropy, charity, or pure love of literature. You have to do with business men.  ## p. 224 (#272) ############################################ 224 THE AUTHOR. NEWS AND NOTES. THE New York Nation, speaking of the Copy- right Bill, remarks on the curious ideas which have been shown to prevail as to literary property. "They are ideas which one naturally expects to meet with among those who have never known anybody who possessed literary property, or made any money out of it. The notion that there can be property in the expression of ideas, has owed its acceptance in every country to familiarity with the spectacle of authors receiving money from publishers." Exactly the same ignor- ance has long prevailed in this country. People understand property in a book: but property in what makes a book, the soul of the book, they cannot understand. Nor, too often, can he who infused that soul into paper and press understand' it. There are many, very many, still who are willing to take whatever is offered, in absolute disregard of what the honest merchant who buys it is going to make out of it. The spectacle which we desire to present to the world is not that of authors " receiving money," like a dole, and greedily stipulating and sticking out for more, but that of authors negotiating, on business principles, for the transfer, or arranging for the management of property as real as a mine or an estate. The proposed memorial to the late Rev. Henry White has met with a ready response. The sum of £goo has been collected. A stained glass window is to be placed in the Savoy Chapel and a mosaic in the Chapel of King's College, London. The rest of the money will be expended in the en- dowment of cots in the children's ward of King's College Hospital. The memory of such a man as Henry White, who wrote but little, necessarily passes away when his friends are dead. It is well that something should survive to show that there once lived this man whom all men loved. I have received a good many letters concerning the suggested Authors' Club or Authors' House, but I want more, and I keep the question open for another month. Meantime will those who have as yet expressed no opinion be good enough to let me have their views? The case is now fairly before us. We understand what such an institution may do for the cause of literature, and what may be its dangers and difficulties. If either is resolved upon there will be wanted a volunteer Committee of management or, at least, s< me who are ready to do the work of starting the preliminary organization. Will those who are willing to help in this way send in their names? The Spectator offers certain facts of interest to some of our readers. They concern the produc- tion of Christmas gift-books. Twenty years ago, the writer states, that paper noticed eighty volumes of the kind, and devoted seven columns to the task. Ten years ago a hundred and eight were reviewed in thirteen columns. This year there are more than a hundred and fifty brought out by fifty pub- lishers. In twenty years, therefore, the output of gift-books at Christmas has been doubled. The population has increased by twenty per cent, in the same time, which accounts for some of the in- crease. Education, not only of the Board School kind, but of the more liberal kind, has been enor- mously extended, so that the sons of that class which formerly attended wretched private schools now go to great schools like St. Paul's or the City of London, where they get as good an education as if they were at Harrow or Rugby. And the education of girls has widened even more astonish- ingly. This accounts for another part of the in- crease. The Spectator thinks that the middle-class Englishman never buys books except to give away, and that the increase in the number of Christmas gift-books shows the increase of the custom of giving books which are cheap and pretty, and look costly. Well, there is something in the theory. But it is not completely true. The ordinary professional man does not buy books. That is true. Why? Be- cause he doesn't want to read. When he is not at work it is after dinner, when he talks or he takes his pipe. Very often he works every evening, and has no time at all for reading. A doctor in practice, for instance, has very little time in- deed for reading. But his household have; and his boys and girls buy as many books as they can afford. In fact, this common belief that books are not bought by English people is based on nothing more than the two facts that men in active work have very little time for reading, and that their means are too slender to admit of doing much more than subscribe to the library. But, by hook or by crook, the younger ones do get books. Look at a school-boy's shelves. And see the people buying books at the stalls. I will try to get some statistics, if I can, on the people who buy books as a contri- bution to social manners. The Spectator has likewise in purblind fashion begun to teach us what Christmas books ought to be. Now Christmas books mean books printed and published about Christmas time. Five and twenty years ago they meant books or stories con- nected, in some way or other, with the Festival of Joy and Good Tidings and Gargantuan Feeding. That time has gone by. He who writes a tale tq  ## p. 225 (#273) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 225 be published for Christmas no longer troubles himself the least about Yule Tide and the feasting. In fact, I think the feasting itself is decreasing every year. For my own part I have had a hand in about fifteen Christmas stories. They have been published in October, and they have no more to do with the Feast of Christmas than with the Feast of Lanterns. The better the story, the more highly finished as a work of art, the better Christmas book it makes. Mr. George Saintsbury's book, or rather the first chapter of it, has been considered in another place. Here is a remark somewhat after the comparative method which he advocates. He has treated not of the greatest men—Scott, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Byron, find no place in his book—but of those who standnextto the greatest. Among them, forinstance, are Crabbe, Hogg, Sydney Smith, Hazlitt, Moore, Leigh Hunt, Peacock, De Quincey, Praed, Lock- hart, and Borrow. These are all very respectable names; they stand very nearly in the first line; one doubts whether we could now find, taking England and America together, a living eleven capable of standing up to this dead eleven. Yet, though we seem to know so much about them, how little do we really know of their work and their personality? Who now regardeth Crabbe? who readeth Hogg? A few lines from the former, a few verses from the latter, are all we know. Moore is read no longer. Leigh Hunt is fading into oblivion surely and swiftly; De Quincey, for a few things that he did, still lives; Praed, for the same reason, still lives; Hazlitt no longer lives in the common mind; Peacock belongs to the library of the student; Borrow has a few lovers here and there; Lockhart, save for his Life of Scott—a large saving—is no more than a name. In fact, the list teaches that a very limited immortality is the in- evitable lot of all but one or two. He, however, who has succeeded in catching the ear of the world and pleasing or helping along his own genera- tion just for his own life, ought to be contented, because he has really achieved a great thing. He who, like Praed, succeeds in getting the world to put one single poem in that Treasury of Literature, which will last so long as the present speech is maintained, has accomplished a most wonderful feat. He is truly blessed of the gods. But for most writers, even of those who seem well to the front in their generation, a strictly limited immor- tality is their portion. And this we should do well to remember. The death of M. Octave Feuillet removes one of the foremost figures in French literature. I VOL. I. suppose that everybody has read the "Vicomte de Camors" and the "Roman d'un jeune homme pauvre." Not so many have read his "Honneur d'artiste," the "Histoire de Sibylle," or "La Morte." But there is hardly any artist in fiction of whom a young writer could learn more. A careful study of his methods should be a liberal education in the art. May we venture to recom- mend it to some of our young writers? —♦ Another death, that of Kinglake, removes a veteran of letters. I suppose his " History of the Crimean War" is a great work, but I have never read it. The reason is that as a lad I suffered, . with all the other young men of the time, such agonies of impotent rage at the sufferings of our soldiers in that terrible Crimean winter, when they were mocked with green coffee berries, boots made of brown paper, putrid tins of beef, and all the rest of it, that I have never ventured to open the book or to read over again the dismal and maddening story. Kinglake to me was always Eothen King- lake. Mr. Louis Stevenson (see Author, November, 1890, p. 166) furnished good and sufficient reasons why one must not too hastily bring charges of plagiarism against a novelist. Mr. Hall Caine, in a story given in the PallMall Gazette oi December 22nd, 1890, gives another warning against hasty charges of this kind. He tells how, when a boy, he saw, sitting in a chamber of an Infirmary, a young woman with bandaged eyes waiting for some one. She had recently been operated upon for cataract; she was ordered to keep on her bandages for a fortnight under penalty of permanent blind- ness; she was waiting for her child, born before the operation, whom she had, therefore, not yet seen. Twenty years later, he wrote a novel with exactly that situation. But he made the mother brave the consequences. In order to see her child she tears off the bandage. Now exactly the same situation was used by the French novelist, Leon Lespes, in a novel written sometime in the thirties or the forties. At the first discovery every one holds up his hands. Plain plagiarism! Shame! Yet with what a plain tale is the resemblance proved to be no plagiarism at all! This was pure accident. Such a thing might happen to anyone who observes a fact and makes it into a dramatic situation. Another danger is that of using the same materials and authorities as another novelist. Suppose, for instance, that two s a  ## p. 226 (#274) ############################################ 226 THE AUTHOR. men were at the same time engaged upon separate works, turning on the manners and customs of the early sixteenth century. They would both go to Erasmus—they must. Once there were two novelists engaged jointly upon a romance of the middle of the last century. They agreed upon sending their heroine to Tunbridge Wells. It was not until they had paid a longish visit to the place, and after all the contemporary literature and gossip about Tunbridge had been studied, that they remembered that Thackeray had already made Tunbridge Wells his own. They therefore re- treated and found another place, and began' again. But suppose it had not beeri Thackeray, but another and sbme obscure and unsuccessfiil writer who had thus treated of the place—there would have beeri a fine opportunity for a cry of plagiar- ism. BecaiiSe, you see, there is only one "crib," or set of cribs, for Tunbridge Wells in 1750, and whether it is Thdckeray or Ignotus who wants to use that place at that tinie, he must Use that set Of cribs and ndrie other. "AUTHORS.—Introductionstopublishersand editors, by journalist of standing; commis- sion only on MS. sold; exceptional chance; _H. D. F., Office." The above advertisement has appeared in an evening paper. A member of the Society answered it, stating that he was a writer of some success, but would be pleased to extend his connection among editors of magazines. He received no reply. It is difficult to understand what the advertiser means. As everyone knows perfectly well, an introduction to editors and publishers is never wanted and is of no use. They are almost the only people in the world who want no introduction: Any respectable solicitor requires one with a new client. The best editor in the world wants none. A perfect stranger may go to him and will be received with cordiality if he has anything good to offer. Hdw, then, can a writer be benefited by the "journalist of standing"? Considering this question and waiting for an answer from the advertiser, we advise readers to send their MSS. themselves to editors until they get a satis- factory reply Another advertisement inviting authors to send MSS. to the advertiser which appeared in a leading paper early in October, attracted many. The advertiser called once only, a few days after the insertion of his invitation. He took away a bundle of MSS. and returned no more. Meantime one of those who answered the advertisement, after writing again and again to the advertiser, and failing to get any reply, appealed to the Society. Other com- plaints reaching the Secretary of MSS. having been sent and kept without any reply, the case was laid before the manager of the paper, who delivered up to the office all the MSS. lying in his office. These have been returned to the authors. The others which had been carried away, have since been returned, and an explanation has been offered. From a correspondent:—"Talking of misprints the following occurred to me in my journalistic experience. I had written the familiar proverb, 'Take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves.' The sporting compositor turned it out—' Take care of the fence, and the hounds will take care of themselves.' It is not only smart, but true." The Times arindunces that the Handbook to the Public Records, upon which Mr. Scargill Bird, the Superintendent to the Search Department at the Public Record Office; has been engaged for some years in compiling, is now finally revised and ready for press, and may be expected shortly. The work is an elaborate catalogue raisonnec of the Public Records: The "National Cyclopaedia of American Bio- graphy " is published by James T. White and Co. It contains the autobiographies of "prominent" citizens of the big Republic, such as mayors and other great men, authors included. Each notice contains a portrait and an autograph; and, in some cases, a picture of the great man's residence: The portraits are little things, costing two or three dollars a-piece. The following is an extract from a letter addressed by the enterprising publishers to an American author, who has forwarded it to us. It will, perhaps, furnish a hint to other enterprising gentlemen on this side the ocean. Every sug- gestion by which authors may be tricked is gladly welcomed by British, as well as by American, enterprise. "We are asked to embellish these biographies with vignette portraits, like those shown ; and they are in such request, we are obliged to restrict them to only the more prominent persons. "We feel that your position and work in the world entitles you to this portrait. There are 6,000 representative persons living who should have portraits, which would require an outlay that no publisher would be justified in assuming. This expense, however, distributed pro rata is so small and we feel that its addition to the biography is so  ## p. 227 (#275) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 227 great, that no one can afford to have it omitted. They cost $70 each. A photo process plate, such as can only be printed on special coated paper, cannot be used. This is an etching drawn by a portrait artist of the highest ability, and engraved, so as to retain its vigour and delicacy through large editions. This is what gives the life to the portrait, &c." Such an appeal to vanity, patriotism, justice, and cheapness all combined must be irresistible. There are actually 6,000 "representative" Americans— happy country to possess 6,000great men!—one in every 10,000 souls, one in every 6,oco adults, one in every 3.000 men, one in every 1,000 educated men! If all these, except a remnant, pay up the S70 for what costs $2, there is a little trifle of $400,000 profit for the enterprising publisher. Well, we give it away. Millions in it. But the Author only lives to benefit his fellow creatures. A paper calling itself an agreement has just been placed in my hands by one of the parties concerned. It is a lady. She did not sign the document until she had asked the advice of her bankers, who jhem: selves, she states, also took advice. This is much as if she had asked the opinion of the grocer, who had diffidently taken counsel with his friend the butcher. The result is pleasing, and reflects the highest credit on fhe general intelligence of the bankers and their advisers. (1.) The author paid ^58 towards the production of a work which'would cost about £$0. (2.) She agreed to pay whatever the honest pub- lisher should please to charge for correc- tions. (3.) She agreed to give him a free hand to adver- tise anywhere—in his own lists at a pound a word if he chooses—up to £20. (4.) She agreed to give the man "half the profits." Half the profits! This is a beautiful example of trading on the ignorance of the author. Half the profits! For here is the account as it is pretty certain to be rendered. It must be remembered that, as stated above, the actual cost of prpducing the work will be about £$0. The extreme case of selling off the whole edition is taken. £ s. a. Cost of production, stated at 58 o o Corrections (say) ... <.. 717 6 Advertising ... ... ... 20 o o 500 copies—■ 400 sold, producing 60 press 20 author 20 in stock 500 Loss £ s. d. 70 o o J5 «? £85 17 6 So that on the most favourable chance there can be no profits, and must be a loss. But the loss will very likely be a great deal more. Probably, an account more like the follow- ing will be submitted :— Cost of production Corrections (or any other fancy amount) Advertising (or any other fancy amount) £ 75 11 30 s. d. o o IS 8 6 o 500 copies— 20 sold, producing 60 press 420 in stock 500 Loss... £"6 15 8 £ s- d. 3 10 o ... 113 5 8 £"6 '5 8 This, however, is how the transaction will figure up in the publisher's private book :— £ s. d. Actual cost of production ... ... 4c o o Corrections (say) ... ... ... 1104 Advertising (say) ... ... ... 5 o o Profit to publisher ... ... ... 74 o o By payment of author Ditto for corrections ... Ditto for advertising ... By sale of (say 200 copies) ,£120 10 o £ s. d. ... 58 o o 7 10 o 20 o o •• 35 0 0 £l20 IO O £»5 17 6 This is what one gets by taking advice of people who know nothing whatever about the subject.  ## p. 228 (#276) ############################################ 228 THE AUTHOR. We are constantly being asked what royalties mean when they are offered in agreements. Now, in the June number of the Author we gave a distinct statement of what is really meant by the various kinds of royalties offered; a six shilling novel of average length being taken as the basis of calculation. Let us repeat what was there proved. It was shown that a ten per cent, royalty gives the following proportions :—■ For the first edition of 1,000 copies—■ Publisher: Author : : 3:2; For the second edition of 3,000 copies— Publisher : Author : : 3:1; and so on, for which we refer the reader to that num- ber. A practical though rough and imperfect way of testing a royalty is this. For a first edition of a thousand the cost of production may be taken at one-sixth the published price, viz. :—at is. for a 6s. book. The retail price may be taken at T7j, or, to be very liberal to the publisher, at ^. For a second edition of large numbers, the cost of production is about ith the published price: the retail price remains at -^j. These figures can be very easily applied by the reader when his next agreement is offered for signature. After two hundred and fifty years the countrymen of Drummond of Hawthornden are about to erect a tomb over the neglected grave of their poet. It will be the tomb which he himself asked his friend the Earl of Stirling, to place over him. Alexis, when thou shalt hear wandering Fame, Tell, Death hath triumphed o'er my mortal spoils, And that on earth I am but a sad name, If thou e'er held me dear, by all our love, By all that bliss, those joys, Heaven here us gave, I conjure thee, and by the Maids of Jove, To grave this short remembrance on my grave: "Here Damon lies, whose songs did sometimes grace The murmuring Esk. May Hoses shade the place I" I wonder how many living folk have read Drummond. A few of his verses are well known because they are preserved in that collection which is in most English houses, the "Golden Treasury." Readers who feel moved—may many be moved !— to contribute to this monument, may note that Mr. A. P. Purvis, Esk Town, Lasswade, is the Hon. Sec, to whom their tribute may be paid. The Com- mittee is entirely composed of Scottish gentlemen. Among them I see the name of Mr. Andrew Lang —but they will allow the Southron to assist. We have read with amazement certain remarks made in the English Court of Justice by a certain person learned in the law concerning a great French writer. The person learned in the law, going outside his case, which had nothing to do with the works of this great French writer, but only with certain pictures professing to illustrate these works, called the said great French writer a "filthy-minded old monk, who is only considered a classic because he has been dead three hundred years." It is not likely that among the readers of this paper there can be any who want a defence of Rabelais. If to speak words of wisdom for the instruction of humanity for all time is the work one expects of a filthy-minded monk, then is the said person learned in the law a critic who may be followed. If it is a decent thing for an advocate to go beyond his case in order to throw mud at an author whom he.does not understand, then is the above-named person learned in the law a* model for all advocates. To those who do understand this great master, it seems a de- plorable thing that such words should be uttered of such a man by a member of that profession which is generally believed to be not only learned in the law, but cultivated above and beyond all other professions. As regards the pictures, they seem to have been seized with all the zeal which might be expected. Eleven of those seized were ordered by the magistrate to be returned immedi- ately. No one, meantime, has so much as raised the question, how far they really illustrate the work. I have myself been twice to the Gallery, and I dare say I shall go again. Some of the drawings are extremely clever, and some, but not many, seem really to have caught the spirit of the writer. Some clothe his robust pages with pruriency. 4 This is the busiest time of the year as regards publications. It is therefore a favourable time for pursuing our researches into the extent of the alleged "risks" run by those whose business it is to produce new books. My allegation is that publishers very seldom run any risk at all—in the matter of belles lettres, of course. I know very little about the risks, if any, incurred in technical, scientific, legal, or medical works. These, how- ever, are not advertised in the Times. The sheet of the Times before me contains four columns of advertisements, two of which are restricted to books published during the last three months. Let us take these two. The following is the analysis :— (1.) Nine books. Of these five are novels by  ## p. 229 (#277) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 229 tried and proved writers; three are on special subjects which appeal to large classss and are by writers whose names command respect; one is a book of travels in a country of which people are never tired of hearing. Result: no risk. (2.) Five books: one a second edition. One a new volume of a successful series. Three on subjects and by writers about whom there can be no doubt. Result: no risk. (3.) Six books. All novels. All by proved writers. No risk. (4.) Eight books. Two books of travel certain to be greatly in demand. Two novels by well-known writers. A book of poems with a well-known name. A book of essays by a name of world-wide celebrity. A large and expensive historical book. Result: one book—the last—which may carry risk with it. (5.) Seven books. One of biography, certain to command an audience. One an addition to a greatly successful series. One of popular science. One a novel by a proved writer. Two books of verse, evidently paid for by the authors. One a translation which seems also paid for. If not, risky, but of little importance. (6.) Seven books. All religious. All by well- known men. No risk. (7.) One book. By a writer of surprising success. No risk. (8.) Eight books. Six books on Art. Two by very well-known writers. No risk. (9.) Five books. One, a novel by a new hand; might seem risky. But it is a reprint, and has already been proved in serial form. No risk. (10.) Fifteen books. A varied list. The sub- ject and writers prove that the books are certain to command success. No risk. (11.) Seven books. Four of tbem are technical, The remaining three are by authors whose names stand very high indeed. No risk. (12.) Five books. Four by very well-known and successful writers. The fifth a well- advised venture. Risk, unless the author takes it, in one case. Thus, out of eighty-three new books and among thirteen publishers we can discover two books only in which there is any risk. These are those who are considered first class publishers. The books are published on a half-profit system and a royalty system. A few, but very few, are bought. But it must be understood that the practice of buying books is rapidly going out. Let us understand, however, what is meant exactly by saying that there is no risk. This: that the publisher, being a sensible man of business, very seldom pays for producing a book unless he sees his way very clearly to at least such a sale as will give him back his money with some return for his own profit. The obituary of the year includes among those who attained literary distinction the names of Cardinal Newman, of whom 1 am inclined to believe that his hymns will give him an abiding place in the English memory long after his Apologia and other works have been forgotten. His great age, his scholarly reputation, his individual character and his position in the Church to which he seceded, all helped to exaggerate at his death his literary rank Dr. Dollinger, Professor Delitsch, the Archbishop of York, the Dean of St. Paul's, Dr. Littledale, Canon Liddon, Canon Molesworth, the Rev. Henry White, and Dr. Adler, are among the divines deceased; Sir Richard Burton, Pro- fessor Thorold Rogers, Professor Sellar, Dr. Schlie- mann, among the scholars and archaeologists; Lord Carnarvon, Lord Rosslyn, Sir Louis Malet, Dion Eoucicault, Alphonse Karr, Octave Feuillet, Chatrian, Adolphe Belot, Charles Gibbon, Gustave Revilliot of Geneva, George Hooper, represent the losses in general literature. There are also many names of scientific and medical writers. No great English writer has passed away during the last twelve months. The paper of the month is "The Light that Failed," in Lippincott. Walter Besant. * INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT. I. [The following account of the passage of the Copyright Bill by the House was written by the Secretary of the American Copyright League for the New York Critic.] The passage of the International Copyright Bill by the House of Representatives on the 3rd inst. was by no means wholly unexpected to the Com- mittee representing the Leagues, most of whom know what laborious work has been done in the "campaign of education " that has been carried on since the defeat of May 2nd. This campaign, which resulted in a change of 72 votes, began on the morning after that disaster, when the printed arguments of the friends of the bill were placed in the boxes of members on the theory that then if  ## p. 230 (#278) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. ever they would be sure to receive attention. From that day to this, in the face of the hopeless- ness of some of the most prominent friends of the cause, there has been no intermission in the effort to reach the House with argument, and with evidences that the best sentiment of the country demands the bill. Time would fail to tell here the details of the summer campaign, and of the un- expected dangers which had to be guarded against. These must be reserved for the official report of the year's work. It is probably unnecessary after the vote of December 3rd to apologize to those who in August thought that the summons of the Secretary to another struggle was only another cry of wolf. The vote qf last week was to me unexpected only to the extent of a week's margin. It was easy to see upon my arrival ip Washington on Sunday night that the work of the Committee during the recess and especially since the election was bearing fruits. Interviews on Sunday night, on Monday and on Tuesday morning showed a determination on the part of leading friends of the bill to put it through promptly. To avoid con- sideration of a bill virtually at the head of Com- mittee business, would have indicated a hostility on the part of the leaders of the majority which did not exist. On the contrary, it was evident that while the measure was in no sense a partisan one, the LI. Congress could not afford to leave as part of its record the official license of literary piracy. This consideration assured the bill its chance, but not its success, which came from an accession of individual votes on each side of the Chamber. On Tuesday at 11.30, when it was known that the "morning hour" was to be restored that day, pimphlets and petitions of {he League were placed in the boxes of tho^e members whose attitude was not known to be fr.endly, all of whom had received at their homes since the election the arguments issued by the American Copyright League, and those of Mr Putnam, the indefatigable Secretary of the Publishers' League, together with letters supplementing personal appeals. The vote on the question of consideration, 132 to 74, though npt a test vote, was most encouraging, but, in view of the information of the Committee, not surprising. The unworthy tactics of the enemy in filibustering against the Eighth Commandment were maintained with more acerbity than skill or intelligence, and in some cases without sincere conviction. (It is reported that even Mr. Springer, who added to the di-grace of Illinois by leading the opposition, has acknowledged since the vote that the bill was a good one.) These tactics were, however, a gross parliamentary mistake, since they gave Mr. Simonds the best of reasons for moving the previous ques- tion, which was ordered late in the day in a thin house by 106 to 73. This was a test vote and was accepted as conclusive proof that the final vote would occur on the next day, and that it would be largely favourable. It was the opinion of our Congressional friends that the fight was won. On Wednesday morning Dr. Eggleston, Mr. W. W. Appleton and Mr. Scribner arrived, and the work of soliciting votes was renewed. Dr. Eggle- ston, whose laborious work in the cause at Washing- ton two years ago and last year will be remembered, and the state of whose health had deprived the Committee of his services during the summer campaign, though still suffering from illness, could not keep out of the fight. Wednesday's work on the floor was like nothing so much as a fine con- test at football. The copyright wedge was again formed with Captain Simonds in the angle with the ball (i.e., the bill), and with a strong rush line, an 1 with Butterworth as right tackle, and Breckinridge as left tackle, the steady and persistent advance was continued until the goal was reached The great moral victory thus accomplished is belittled by attempting to assign personal credits for it. It is, first of all, a victory for honest public sentiment, and in this part of the contest the press of the country, with one notorious exception, has done an enormous service, in which the Washing- ton correspondents almost without an exception have joined. The laborious service in past years of a few energetic and devoted men must not be forgotten, foremost of whom, for the length and efficiency of his pioneer work, was George Parsons Lathrop. Secondly, it is a victory for a clean campaign of argument, and should inspirit advo- cates of other just causes to depend upon frank approach to Representatives on that plane rather than upon any other. Thirdly, with all the effort that has been put forth in various quarters by authors, by publishers, by the Typothetae, and' others, it would be idle to deny that the chief factor in the fight has been the organizations of the typographers, who, beginning by working for their own interest, have become warm advocates of copyright as a principle. But, as I write, the bill is not yet through the Senate, though it is difficult to entertain the idea of its defeat there for any reason. The remem- brance of Jonathan Chace's wise and gentle championship of it in that body is itself a tower of strength. The calamity it would be to civilization were the newspapers of March 4th, 1891, to announce that the reform had gone by default, ought to stir every reader of these lines to write at once to his two Senators to urge upon them right of way for the copyright bill. Robert Undekwoud Johnson.  ## p. 231 (#279) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 231 n. The following is from an American correspon- dent, one of the inner ring in the cause of Copy- right :— "The fight has been short and sharp, and deci- sive; and on the lines laid out by the Copyright Committee. ... It was important to impress on the leaders of the Republican side, who were friendly to us, the fact that this was their last chance of having the Copyright Bill put to their credit. The late elections made them particularly impres- sionable on the side of public opinion, and since the vote of May 2nd we have poured in upon them evidences of the popular strength of the cause. I am not saying that their course was dictated wholly by policy. I believe the organization of our sup- port has been so thorough that had the elections been otherwise the Bill would have passed at this Session. But the Republicans' calamity was our opportunity. Lodge and McKinley have been especially helpful in getting a day. ... It was a pretty fight—much like a football fight under the Rugby Rules. Our men formed a wedge with Simonds with the ball (i.e., the Bill) inside the angle, and they moved steadily forward with each defeat of the evening's five dilatory votes, reaching the ordering of the question after three hours and a-half of filibustering, which gave Simonds the pre- text he wanted for that motion. The first day ended with the success of that vote, making it sure that the Bill would pass the next day. The intermis- sion was like the quarter-hour before the second half at football. After twenty minutes' debate on either side, our wedge again began its advance, un- checked by five dilatory motions, with the result, as you know, of the passage of the Bill by 139 to 95." Ill The American Copyright Act is already producing a shower of letters and articles, which one watches, day by day, hoping for instruction and dreading mischief. Nothing more mischievous and dan- gerous could have been devised than this rushing into print of terrified printers, self-advertising pub- lishers and others, crying out before they are hurt. The only word of wisdom was from Professor Max Miiller. Said the Professor, "Sit down and hold your tongues." All the writers seemed agreed that a deadly blow is about be dealt at English printers. For my own part, I do not believe in the deadliness of the blow, nor, in fact, in any blow at all. At the same time, I think that there is some doubt as to the ultimate effect of the Bill, whether we are justified in clamouring for a clause granting copyright to books in the English lan- guage, only on the condition that a copy printed in this country is deposited—not in Stationers' Hall —but in a Government office created for this pur- pose, is a doubtful question. There are one or two points on the general question which I submit for consideration. 1. We read everywhere that the pirates are smitten with confusion and dispersed. Are they? First of all, they have a stock of hundreds of volumes containing all the literature of Great Britain from the beginning. It will take a very- long time to get through this stock,, and, in fact, no living man will see the end of it, because the copyright is always expiring of modern literature, which then becomes everybody's property. 2. Secondly, suppose, as will certainly happen, that the people hitherto called pirates want to pub- lish new works by British authors. They will not be able to get the best new books because they cannot afford to pay for them. But they will get the second and third-rate books because they will offer a five-pound note for the copyright. Now the author, if he can get nothing better, will generally take a five-pound note. If the history of many cheap editions was known, we should find that many very well known books had been bought up for cheap rights at absurd sums. I once saw a little document—some years ago—showing such a negotiation, between two publishers, over a quantity 0/ copyrights. Among them the copyright of a certain work by a very popular novelist, now deceased, was actually disposed of for five pounds. Therefore, the cheap libraries will have little diffi- culty in keeping up, and the Americans will go on having their cheap literature. 3. Will our own books be printed in the first place in America? I think not. When a book is going to be successful why trouble about the cost of composition? It is a trifle; so many sheets at three-and-twenty shillings—say—it is nothing compared with the manifest advantages of double printing. 4. Then there is the spelling. Lives there a caitiff Briton so vile as to allow, if he can prevent it, his work to appear in his own country, in the vulgar and debased spelling which they have adopted in the States? Let us remember that this is a spelling which destroys the history of our language as told by the growth of our words; that it ruins the familiar appearance of our classics; and that it was only adopted in a spirit of spitefulness against Great Britain. In small things as well as in great, the magnanimous great Republic lias always, it seems to me, been spiteful against the Mother Country. Are we prepared to adopt traveler, theater, favor, and the 01 her abominations? Never.  ## p. 232 (#280) ############################################ 232 THE AUTHOR. 5. "But," it is argued, "we must not treat America as we treat France. This is not a question of free trade or protection. We must consider the absolute mischief which may be done to us by the free importation to our shores of printed sheets with their bad spelling and ugly type, and the loss ihey will cause to the printers. They are afraid of us. If they wish to preserve their trade and their spelling they are right, because we print and we spell better and more cheaply than they do. They cannot complain if we guard ourselves. It is not retaliation—it is simple self-defence if we grant copyright only to books in the English language, composed in this country, and registered at a Government office provided for the purpose." This is what is said: The danger is said to be two- fold (1) that American editions will be printed by American printers. Well, if so we are no worse off than before. (2) That American printed books will flood our market. They cannot, I believe, for the reasons above stated. Still, no one knows exactly what is going to happen, and we had better wait and look on awhile, and not suffer ourselves to be excited about possibilities. 6. The letters all pretend to treat the question as an authors' question. This is very humorous. How long will it be before authors will be per- suaded into signing away their American rights as well as all their other rights? And even in cases when a royalty is the basis of agreement. How much more is it a publishers' than an authors' question? Yet Mr. Arnold Forster, who is Secretary, I believe, of Cassell's Company, talks without'a smile of authors foregoing some of their profits as if—poor wretches !—they had much to forego. The recent Farrar-Cassell case let a little daylight into many things. Let us, however, endea- vour to make this an authors' question by keeping American rights in our own hands. Let us do all we can in this direction; but in many cases—perhaps in most—it will become a publishers' question. W. B. IV. The following from a correspondent. "What effect will the American Bill produce? In other words what kinds of literature will be affected by the Bill, and to what extent? First let us con- sider what English books are produced in America at the present moment. According to the Nation of December nth, 1890, the number of books produced during the preceding week was seventy- two. Of these, twenty-eight seem—because one is not sure about two or three—to be written or compiled by Americans. The rest, forty-four in number, are of "foreign," i.e., chiefly English origin. Of these, twenty-one are works of fiction, but three are French or German, and four are reprints. Remain, out of seventy-two books, four- teen—or about one in five—novels written by living English writers. Twenty-three remain to be accounted for. Books of religion, travel, Greek and Roman literature, and general literature, fill up the list. Now, ten of the novels are published at 25 or 50 cents. This price will certainly become impossible unless the reign of the penny novelette is to begin in America. Therefore, out of the ten, only those authors who enjoy any popularity in America will profit by the Bill. In other words, it will only be worth while to produce those works for which there is certain to be some demand. It has to be proved what English authors are in demand. Next, for the first time the American author will be enabled to compete for popularity with the Englishman. If one may judge from certain indications, he will prove a very formidable competitor indeed, both in America and in the country. Therefore, while the success- ful novelist will—unless he allows his publishers to seize the whole increase—very largely im- prove his position, it will become doubly—trebly, nay, ten times as difficult to gain the ear of the two worlds. And some of those who believe that because they have been reprinted in a cheap series, they are therefore popular, will be dis- appointed. "Will better work in fiction be produced—work of better and truer art? I am convinced that this will be one effect of International Copyright. That is to say, those who now rely solely on the strength of situations and the interest of a plot will go on disregarding style and finish. As for construction and dramatic effect they have it already, or they could not succeed at all. But those who aim higher will meet with encouragement from both sides of the Atlantic, wherever there are people of culture able to value style and finish. The success of those writers—headed by George Mere- dith—who, an artist in the highest sense, shows that there are wide circles open to them wherever the common language is spoken." V. The probable passing of the Bill necessitates an- other warning which has been added to the list. No one must now sign any agreement which does not specially reserve American rights. No one as yet knows what these may be worth, but it is at least safe to suppose that a successful book on this side of the Atlantic will be also successful on the other side. Let us, at any rate, assume that it will be successful, and safeguard our chances accordingly.  ## p. 233 (#281) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 233 THE AMERICAN COPYRIGHT ACT. 51s/ Congress, 2nd Session. H. R. 10881. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. December 3, 1890. Head twice and ordered to lie on the table. AN ACT to amend title sixty, chapter three, of the Revised Statutes of the United States, relating to Copyrights. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United Stales of America in Congress assembled, That section forty-nine hundred and fifty-two of the Revised Statutes be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows:— "Sec 4952. The author, inventor, designer, or proprietor of any book, map, chart, dramatic or musical composition, engraving, cut, print, or photograph or negative thereof, or of a painting, drawing, chromo, statue, statuary, and of models or designs intended to be per- fected as works of the fine arts, and the executors, administrators, or assigns of any such person shall, upon complying with the provisions of this chapter, have the sole liberty of printing, reprinting, publishing, com- pleting, copying, executing, finishing, and vending the same; and, in the case of dramatic composition, of publicly performing or repre- senting it or causing it to be performed or represented by others; and authors or their assigns shall have exclusive right to dramatise and translate any of their works for which copyright shall have been obtained under the laws of the United States." Sec 2. That section forty-nine hundred and fifty-four of the Revised Statutes be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows: "Sec. 4954. The author, inventor, or designer, if he be still living, or his widow or children, if he be dead, shall have the same exclusive right continued for the further term of fourteen years, upon recording the title of the work or description of the article so secured a second time, and complying with all other regulations in regard to original copyrights, within six months before the ex- piration of the first term ; and such persons shall, within two months from the date of said renewal, cause a copy of the record thereof to be published in one or more newspapers printed in the United States for the space of four weeks." Sec. 3. That section forty-nine hundred and fifty-six of the Revised Statutes of the United States be, and the same is hereby, amended so that it shall read as follows: "Sec. 4956. No person shall be entitled to a copyright unless he shall, on or before the day of publication in this or any foreign country, deliver at the office of the Librarian of Congress, or deposit in the mail within the United States, addressed to the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, District of Columbia, a printed copy of the title of the book, map, chart, dramatic or musical com- position, engraving, cut, print, photograph, or chromo, or a description of the painting, drawing, statue, statuary, or a model or design for a work of the fine arts for which he desires a copyright, nor unless he shall also, not later than the day of publication thereof in this or any foreign country, deliver at the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, District of Columbia, or deposit in the mail within the United States, addressed to the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, District of Columbia, two copies of such copyright book, map, chart, dramatic or musical composition, engraving, chromo, cut, print, or photograph, or in case of a painting, drawing, statue, statuary, model, or design for a work of the fine arts, a photograph of same: Provided, That in the case of a book the two copies of the same required to be delivered or deposited as above shall be printed from type set within the limits of the United States, or from plates made therefrom. During the existence of such copyright the importation into the United States of any book so copyrighted, or any edition or editions thereof, or any plates of the same not made from type set within the limits of the United States, shall be, and it is hereby, prohibited, except in the cases specified in section twenty- five hundred and five of the Revised Statutes of the United States, and except in the case of persons purchasing for use and not for sale, who import not more than two copies of such  ## p. 234 (#282) ############################################ 234 THE AUTHOR. book at any one time in each of which cases the written consent of the proprietor of the copyright, signed in the presence of two wit- nesses, shall be furnished with each impor- tation: And provided, That any publisher of a newspaper or magazine may, without such consent, import for his own use but not for sale not more than two copies of any news- paper or magazine published in a foreign country. Frovided, nevertheless, That in the case of books in foreign languages, of which only translations in English are copyrighted, the prohibition of importation shall apply only to the translations of the same, and the importation of the books in the original lan- guage shall be permitted." Sec. 4. That section forty-nine hundred and fifty-eight of the Revised Statutes be, and the same is hereby, amended so that it will read as follows: "Sec. 4958. The Librarian of Congress shall receive from the persons to whom the services designated are rendered the following fees: "First. For recording the title qr descrip- tion of any copyright book or pther article, fifty cents. "Second. For every copy under seal of such record actually given to the person claiming the copyright, or his assigns, fifty cents. "Third. For recording and certifying any instrument of writing for the assignment of a copyright, one dollar. "Fourth. For every copy of an assignment, one dollar. "All fees so received shall be paid into the Treasury of the United States: Provided, That the charge for recording the title of description of any article entered for copyright, the production of a person not a citizen or resident of the United States, shall be one dollar, to be paid as above into the Treasury of the United States, to defray the expenses of lists of copyrighted articles as hereinafter provided for. "And it is hereby made the duty of the Librarian of Congress to furnish to the Secretary of the Treasury copies of the entries of titles of all books and other articles wherein the copyright has been completed by the de- posit of two copies of such book printed from type set within the limits of the United States, in accordance with the provisions of this Act and by the deposit of two copies of such other article made or produced in the United States; and the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby directed to prepare and print, at intervals of not more than a week, catalogues of such title-entries for distribution to the collectors of customs of the United States and to the postmasters of all post-offices receiving foreign mails, and such weekly lists, as they are issued, shall be furnished to all parties desiring them, at a sum not exceeding five dollars per annum; and the Secretary and the Postmaster-General are hereby empowered and required to make and enforce such rules and regulations as shall prevent the importation into the United States, except upon the conditions above specified, of all articles copyrighted under this Act during the term of the copyright." Sec. 5. That section forty-nine hundred and fifty-nine of the Revised Statutes be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows: •'Sec. 4959. The proprietor of every copy- right book or other article shall deliver at the offipe of thp Librarian of Congress, or deposit in the mail, addressed to the Librarian of Con gress, at Washington, District of Columbia, a copy of every subsequent edition wherein any substantial changes shall be made: Pro- vided, however, That the alterations, revisions, and additions made to books by foreign authors, heretofore published, of which new additions shall appear subsequently to the taking effect of this Act, shall be held and deemed capable of being popyrighted as above provided for in this Act, unless they form a part Qf the serjes in cqurse of publication at the time this Act shall take effect." Sec. 6. That section forty-nine hundred and sixty-three of the Revised Statutes be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows: "Sec. 49Q3. Every person who shall insert or impress such notice, or words of the same purport, in or upon any book, map, chart, dramatic or musical composition, print, cut, engraving, or photograph, or other article, for which he has not obtained a copyright, shall be liable to a penalty of one hundred dollars, recoverable one-half for the person who shall sue fpr such penalty, and one-half to the use of the United States." Sec. 7. That section forty-nine hundred and sixty-four of the Revised Statutes be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows: "Sec. 4964. Every person who, after the recording of the title of any book and the depositing of two copies of such book, as provided by this Act, shall, within the term limited, and without the consent of the pro prietor of the copyright first obtained in writing, signed in presence of two or more witnesses, print, publish, dramatise, translate, or import, or knowing the same to be so  ## p. 235 (#283) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 235 printed, published, dramatised, translated, or imported, shall sell or expose to sale any copy of such book, shall forfeit every copy thereof to such proprietor, and shall also forfeit and pay such damages as may be recoverad in a civil action by such proprietor in any coUrt 6f competent jurisdiction." Sec 8. That section' forty-nine hundred and sixty-five of the Revised Statutes be, and the same is hereby, so aniended as to read as follows: "Sec. 4965. If any person, after the record- ing of the title of any map, chart, dramatic or musical composition, print, cut, engraving, or photograph, or chronio, or of the description of any painting; drawing, statiie, statuary, or model or design intended to be perfected and executed as a work of the fine arts, as pro- vided by this Act, shall within the term limited, and without the consent of the proprietor of the copyright first obtained in writing, signed in presence of two or more witnesses, engrave, etch, work, copy, print, publish, dramatise, translate, or import, either in whole or in part, or by varying the main design with intent to evade the law, or, knowing the same to be so printed, published, dramatised, translated, or imported, shall sell or expose to sale any copy of such map or other article as aforesaid, he shall forfeit to the proprietor all the plates on which the same shall he copied and every sheet thereof, either copied or printed, arid shall further forfeit one dollar for every sheet of the same found in his possession, either printing, printed, copied, published, imported, or exposed for sale, and in case of a painting, statue, or statuary, he shall forfeit ten dollars for every copy of the same in his possession, or by him sold or exposed for sale; one-half thereof to the proprietor and the other half to the use of the United States." Sec. 9. That section fdrty-niHe hundred arid sixty-seven of the Revised Statutes be, arid the same is hereby, arhended so as to read as follows: "Sec: 4967. Every person who shall print or publish any rrianUscript whatever without the consent of the author or proprietor first obtained, shall be liable to the author or pro- prietor for all damages occasioned by such injury." Sec. 10. That section forty-nine hundred and seventy-one of the Revised Statutes be, and the same is hereby, Repealed. Sec. 11. That for the purpose of this Act each volume of a book in two or more volumes, when such volumes are published separately and the first one shall not have been issued before this Act shall take effect, and each number of a periodical shall be considered an independent publication, subject to the form of copyrighting as above. Sec. 12. That this Act shall go into effect on the first day of July, anno domini eighteen hundred and ninety-one. Sec: 13. That this Act shall only apply to a citizen of a foreign state or nation when such foreign state or nation permits to citizens of the United States of America the benefit of copyright on substantially the same basis as its own citizens; or when such foreign state or nation permits to citizens of the United States of Arherica copyright privileges substaritially similar to those provided for in this Act; or when such foreign state or nation is a party to ah international agreement which provides for reciprocity in the grant of copyright, by the terms of which agreement the United States of America may at its pleasure become a party to such agreement. The existence of either of these conditions shall be determined by the opinion of the Attofney;General of the United States, whenever ah occasion for such a determination arises. Passed the House of Representatives December 3. '890- Attest: Ebwii. McPherson, Clerk. A PROPRIETOR-EDITOR. HIS methods of gaining a livelihood were simple enough in conception, though somewhat tortuous in their working. He did not seem rich, or even to have escaped far from the clutch of actual poverty, yet, alter his way, He had solved the problem of '"the struggle for life," and had learned how to pass easelul days supported by other folks' weaknesses. He was the Proprietor-Editor of a Society journal, printed on the finest hand-woven paper, and embellished with occasional illustrations. It was, according to its own head-lines (which ought to have known), the chosen organ of "haul ton" yet had but a limited sale, and I was not the only one of the Proprietor-Editor's acquaintances who had vaguely wondered how such an expensively produced and vilely written paper could possibly be made to produce any profits for anybody. And now I know, and the gorgeous simplicity of it all fills me with admiration. The Proprietor-Editor and I were fellow-members of a small club, where the food was excellent and the conditions of membership lax, and it was in the smoking room of this institution, and under the  ## p. 236 (#284) ############################################ 236 THE AUTHOR. stimulus of his afternoon whiskey, that he made the following proposal to me. "I see," said he, "that you come here a great deal. You are not busy? Looking for a job, perhaps? How would Babylon suit you? I'm giving it up." I inquired why: also how much the post was worth: and thirdly in whose gift it lay. It may have been that the Proprietor-Editor's whiskey was more potent than usual, it may have been that I seemed to him a complacent, nay, almost an unscrupulous sort of person ; it may have been that he held in light esteem the morals of all the members of our club, but—for this reason or for that—he unbosomed himself to me. "My dear fellow—to answer your questions— the post is in my gift, as you call it. I am not giving it away, however, but I'll sell it to you. It's worth whatever you like to make it worth. I call it a thousand a year. I'm leaving because I want peace. The thing is getting a bit blown on. But you'll be fresh, and you're younger, and it won't worry you. I've got a brother-in-law in the City, a biggish man at the wholesale furnishing game, who wants a partner, and I'm going to him. He thinks my literary attainments will be useful in the catalogues. You know! Calling a little cup- board 'a rose-wood cabinet with inlaid top and claw pedestal (Empire),' &c. I'm getting an old man and I want peace—and literary people are such quarrelsome folk. Now I'll sell you the property right out—prospects and liabilities, copyrights, and office furniture" "Inlaid, with claw pedestal (Empire)," I mur- mured. "And accepted MSS.," he continued, dis- regarding the interruption, "for the totally inadequate sum of five hundred pounds. Say the word, and your fortune's made, and we'll have a split whiskey in honour of the event." I begged for details. "I have always thought," he went on unctuously, "that those for whose chief benefit and amuse- ment a paper is carried on, should be the people who should pay for it. Now the people for whose chief benefit my magazine has been circulated are the advertisers; this is obvious, and I have always taken steps, therefore, to ensure that they should be practically grateful. Again, those who derive the greatest pleasure from reading my journal are the people who write it, therefore I leave my con- tributors to take their pay out in pure, healthy pleasure. I allow no sordid money question to come between me and those whom I am anxious to serve." "You do not pay for contributions, you mean." "Young fellow," he responded, perhaps a little thickly, "I pay nobody. But I like you. There's no literary rot about you, and I'll show you how to be an editor like me." Here he settled himself luxuriously in his chair, and let his admiring eyes rove up and down his podgey little person, from the heavy gold chain across his waistcoat to the new patent toe on the fender. He was not a proud man, but he felt that I must be consumed with envy at his distinguished position in the world of letters. "I pay nobody," he repeated, "but printers are not so easily to be got over; they are generally one's chief trouble. I have had three since I started the paper. The first man I paid, regularly. That was for a very little time, for I had very little money, and I didn't know the ropes as I do now. Then I printed on the nod for two or three months—till he began to get anxious. Then I sent him a cheque for the whole and a bit over. And that's the last that I ever paid him. He allowed me a year's credit after that, as my behaviour seemed so handsome, and at the end of that time he got nasty, so I left him. He came round to me and talked big. He said he should make it warm for me in the court. 'Stop,' says I, 'what's your game? My blood or my money?' 'Why, your money, you little brute,' says he—he was a very violent man. 'Then you'd better sit down,' said I, 'and have a whiskey and soda and talk it over. You might be able to help me get it for you.' He was agreeable, and I put it to him that he must do nothing to spoil my credit, as I could not undertake to pay two printers at once. But I promised to pay him, if he would give me such an introduction to some other printer that I could again get credit. He thought for a bit and then he said, 'Well, you might do worse, and I'll give you a line of introduction,' and would you believe it, the fool sent me to my own brother. Of course that was sheer luck, and you mustn't expect to have that sort of luck often. He said, 'I'm sending you to another confounded Israelite, and I wish him joy of you,' and he wrote a flaming letter about my commercial habits, integrity, and the rest, and directed it to Messrs. Silverton and Co., my brother Isaac's trading name. And I stopped with my brother for one year, and paid him every week ready money for printing. I couldn't even get a week's credit out of him. 'The first day your money isn't here on Tuesday morning by twelve, I stop work on the paper,' said he, 'and it won't come out. If you're ten minutes late with the money, I stop the job.' He's a hard man is Isaac, and he had all this down on paper. One day I was half-an-hour late, I think. 'I won't go to press,' says he, 'unless you give me a five pound note as a bonus.' To his own brother! I had to give it him though. I  ## p. 237 (#285) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 237 could not afford to break with him just then. But he's a hard man is Isaac. Don't you print with him. "In the course of a month or so my old printer began to ask. about his account. I was pretty civil with him. I told him I thought it best to pay a bit in ready money at first, so as to establish a credit and get the work done cheaply. He agreed, for he remembered how he had been done clean that way himself. At last he got savage; then he got threatening; then he sent trie a lawyer's letter, and then a writ. I paid no atten- tion till it got to terra-cotta, and then I spoke to my brother Isaac, and he took a hand. 'Did you write this here introduction to me?' says he to the poor chap. 'Yes,' says the man. 'I have always found Mr. Reuben a most satisfactory and punctual man to deal with,' quoted my brother. 'Here, you bring ) our action, and I'll bring mine at the same time.' We heard no more of him. "Then my brother says, 'This is too warm. I'll give you a letter of introduction to the beast who undersold me about the Penny Pilferer. He can come to see by my books what regular pay you are, and I'll show him the good recom- mendation you brought with you to me. It's a pity that such a document should not be used somewhere outside the family circle. You ought to get a year's credit at least out of him—and that's all I can do for you.' I've been with that chap ever since; I haven't paid him a cent yet. But I shall have to do so soon, and that's why I'm leaving." He paused. "Splendid!" said I. "Now about the contri- butors." "Oh, them!" he continued, slightingly, "we generally go in for women, you know. Their cackle is much neater than men's, and their writing is much better. They don't want so much tnone), and it's easier to get them for nothing at all. Most of my magazine is done by my staff—er— my sub-editor does it with scissors and paste. A lady clerk runs about and takes notes of functions; she bribes pew-openers and makes up to house- maids, and so we get our original matter. I—er— write the city article. An outside broker gives me the information, and one of his clerks answers the financial correspondence. I don't pay them; they do it for love of letters, I suppose, and it's nothing to me if their sisters, and their cousins, and their aunts unload on my public. There remains the feuilleton. I advertise for this. One three-and- sixpenny advertisement will generally bring in over fifty MSS., and the stamps which accompany them are always handy for the office." "But how about returning the MSS.?" "I never return MSS. I may want 'em." "But," said I, in my innocence, "you'll have to pay for them, if you obtain contributions like that." "Oh ! shall I ?" said he, finely contemptuous at the idea. "Oh! shall I? I pay nobody, as I began by informing you, until I cannot help it, and there are not many of these people who force me to extremes. Some wait on for months without saying anything. Some begin writing letters to me from the first. Some are polite, some are more threatening; but I answer none, at any rate for months. That alone chokes off two-thirds of them. It almost always finishes the women. I write to a few of the men, under certain circumstances, and tell them that their previous communication was mislaid, that the Proprietor-Editor is now out of town, but that he will certainly write to them immediately on his return. That keeps them going for another two months. Then, if they still keep bothering, I say the paper will shortly change hands, when definite conclusions concerning the return or retention of MSS. will be come to in every case. You would hardly believe it, but that chokes off a good half of the few that remain. This is how it works out. Say forty-five people answer the advertisement, which brings in 30^ worth of stamps at once, and that goes a long way in an office where you don't answer letters till you've got to. Of these two or three people never write at all about the matter, and we never hear of them again. They are the totally inexperienced, and become subscribers to my paper for years, so as to watch the columns for their contributions. They believe that to be the usual method of pro cedure. All the rest will write once or twice at least, and thirty or so will write regularly once a week for two or three months, sometimes, I am glad to say, enclosing more stamps for replies; a dozen of these will still keep on writing after the patience of the rest has been exhausted, and these are the people who may have to be told about the con- templated sale of the property, or the absence of the Proprietor-Editor, before they get thoroughly tired. With the remaining six or so I have to deal further. They will generally call and talk about law, and want to know what I am going to do. They are usually men with sticks. I look at those MSS. They are in all likelihood the only ones by practised hands, being written by authors who have experience of the silly way in which other journals are worked, and expect me to behave likewise. If any of these stories suit my purpose I have them printed, and that's a very practical answer to any questionings about what I am going to do. When they write for payment I say nothing. Then they write urgently, and I say, 'At the end  ## p. 238 (#286) ############################################ 238 THE AUTHOR. of our financial quarter, we shall have the pleasure of sending you our cheque in payment of your con- tributions to Babylon at scale prices.' The date you see is pretty vague, and that keeps them quiet for another three months. It is probably now over a year since they answered my advertisement. If they continue to worry I pay them at the rate of half-a-crown a column, and that terminates the transaction, fori can always swear that is my 'scale price.' And that's how to get original contribu- tions. It's simple, certain and cheap, and if you don't mind abu ive letters (I don't) there's not a word to be said against it. But it is easier to work the oracle with women than with men." "And suppose they call and kick up a row?" "My dear sir, I use the strong arm' of the law. I send for a policeman, and have them turned out. Of course my methods occasionally lead to un- pleasantness. For instance, I wouldn't go to the Aborigines Club, even if I could get a story from Mr. Rudyard Kipling for nothing, by doing so. I daren't; I should be kicked. But then I don't want to go. The whiskey's better here, and I hate literary people. Sometimes, when things are very stormy in the office, I take a trip until the storm has blown over. I find such a change very pleasant and by no means expensive. "And now I'll tell you how I work the adver- tisers. I mark out a little tour, and then I write to the best hotels in the places, and inform the owners that the editor and owner of Babylon, 'an influential weekly journal of fact, fiction, society, sport, and finance,' proposes to stay a few days at their hotel, and will feel better able to recommend the establishment if a liberal reduction in the tariff is extended to him. Nearly all the answers I receive are favourable. I go, and I am treated en prince. When I leave I suggest to the pro- prietor that his bill, 'really a small one consider- ing the admirable character of the service and the luxury of the appointments,' should be met by a column or so of advertisement in my valu- able paper. The proprietor almost always ac- quiesces, in which case we part the best of friends. If he doesn't, well, 1 have to pay, and then I don't say anything about his rubbishing public-house in Babylon. He daren't ask me why, for of course I should come the honest, and say that I found nothing in his establishment worth noticing. It would look at once as if he had tried to nobble a fine and independent editor. Oh! it's quite cheap. Before I start I go round among the general advertisers, and get any little thing I want —an umbrella, a Gladstone bag, a travelling lamp, or a rug; these generous fellows are always ready to supply me, knowing that if they do not some one else will, and will get the gratuitous puffs. This kind of thing, you know :—' If any of my readers think of going north in this bitter weather I would advise them to pay a visit to Messrs. So-and-So's stores, and inspect their admirable stock of travel- ling rugs, with patent lined pockets, and reversible india-rubber covering.' It's quite easy to do, and I daresay you could learn to write them quite quickly if you gave your mind to it. The plan, you see, supplies me with subject for paragraphs as well as creature comforts. Quite cheap, as I say, and also quite simple. I believe it's what they call the new journalism. I don't read much my- self, but I see that expression cropping up now and then, and I fancy that's what must be meant by it Well, sir, what do you say to becoming the new editor of Babylon?" He stopped, with closing eyes. "I don't think it's a deal," said I. "Well," he said slowly and sleepily, as he put his glass down empty for the last time before he dozed off, "you know your own business best, but it seems to me that I am selling you a valuable position, and business enough to support it, for a ridicu- lously small sum. I have also told you how to work it, instead of leaving you to find out for yourself. But I daresay you feel you are not fitted for the post." * "THE KINDS OF CRITICISM." "■ "HE full and proper office of the critic can I never be discharged except by those -*- who remember that 'critic' means judge. Expressions of personal liking, though they can hardly be kept but of criticism, are not by them- selves judgment. The famous 'J'aime mieux Alfred de Mussei,' is not criticism . . . There must be, at least, some attempt to take in and render the whole virtue of the subjects considered, some effort to compare them with their likes in other as well as the same languages, some en- deavour to class and value them. And as a con- dition preliminary, there must, I think, be a not inconsiderable study of widely differing periods, forms, manners, of litera'ure itself. The test question, as I should put it of the value of criticism is, 'What idea of the original could this critic give to a tolerahly instructed person who did not know that original?' And again, how far has this critic seen steadily and seen whole, the subject which he has set himself to consider? How far has he referred the main peculiarities of that subject to their proximate causes and effects? How far has he attempted to place, and succeeded in placing, the subject in the general history of literature, i"  ## p. 239 (#287) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 239 the particular history of his own language, in the collection of authors of its own department?" These excellent and weighty words form part of an introduction to a book which, in its own depart- ment, that of pure criticism, promises to be the book of the year—Mr. George Saintsbury's "Essays in English Literature, 1780-1860" (Percival and Co.)- This introduction is called "The Kinds of Criticism." It is, in itself, a short Treatise on the Art of Criticism, and it should be printed separately and placed in the hands of everyone who pretends to become a reviewer. It may be, as Mr. Andrew Lang suggests, that critics and reviewers have nothing to do with each other essentially, though accidentally the discharge of their functions may he combined in the same person. Yet even a reviewer can do himself no harm in learning the functions of a critic. How then shall the young man become a critic? First, Mr. Saintsbury tells him, by reading; by wide and careful reading. Not that reading will make a critic, but few are the critics who can be made without it. "For my part," says the author, "I should not dare to continue criticising so much as a circulating library novel"—but there are novels and novels—a man may do worse than criticise a Meredith, and he, too, is "circulated "—" if I did not perpetually pay my respects to the classics of many literatures." In short, the critic, truly equipped, must start from a wide comparative study of different languages and literatures. This is the first principle, the only road to criticism. If we accept it, we understand at once the reason, first, why there are so few critics, and secondly, why women are seldom good critics. For the different literatures must include Greek, Latin, French, and should include German and Italian as well, not to speak of the Hebrew literature, which even Mr. Saintsbury's critic must be gener- ally content to have in translation. Very well, thus prepared, the critic "must constantly refer back his sensations of agreement and disagreement, of liking arid disliking, in the comparative fashion. Let Englishmen be compared with Englishmen of other times to bring out this set of differences, with foreigners of modern tiroes to bring out that, with Greeks and Romans to bring out the other. Let poets of old days be compared with poets of new, classics with romantics, rhymed with unrhymed. . . . 'Compare, always com- pare,' is the first axiom of criticism." After these rules follows another equally useful. "Always make sure, as far as you possibly can, that what you like and dislike is the literary, and not the extra-literary character, of the matter under examination." And yet another. "Never be content without VOL. I. at least endeavouring to connect cause and effect- in some way, without giving something like a reason for the faith that is in you." The readers of the Author are, one and all, deeply interested in the elevation and maintenance of the standard of criticism. The literature of every age, in fact, in great measure depends upon the standard set up by the critics. Where criticism is low and ignorant of better things, unable even to appreciate effort in the true direction, the writers sink with their judges. For true criticism, a point not insisted by Mr. Saintsbury, does not destroy, but builds up: it does not deride ; it instructs. Why is it, for instance, that the modern taste for the best and highest poetry is so much belter than their taste for the higher work in fiction or in the drama? That it is so is proved, first by the excellent critical work on poetry, which is given to the world in the magazines of the day; next by the Browning Societies, which show, if they show nothing else, an intense and widespread love for great verse. One reason lies, one is tempted to believe, in the ineffable incompetence of the ordinary reviews of fiction. The young writer finds no instruction in the reviews which he reads. He never even looks for any; he is content if he gets off without a contemptuous jeer. He knows that he is making an essay towards a fine Art, but he has no guides; those who should lead him are dumb; they do not even understand that they have a fine Art to deal with; his judges do not know the rules of the Art; they do not know that there are any rules; nay, too often they cannot understand that there is any artistic work at all to be reviewed. As a natural consequence the great mass of the fiction put forth is without form and void. Of the ordinary criticism as applied to fiction we will perhaps speak on a future occasion. It is enough here to claim for criticism at its best its educational importance. Mr. Saintsbury's views of the ordinary reviewer are stated with great clearness. "That a very large amount of reviewing is determined by doubt- less well-meaning incompetence, there is no doubt whatever. It is, on the whole, the most difficult kind of newspaper writing, and it is, on the whole, the most lightly assigned and the most irresponsibly performed. I have heard of newspapers where the reviews depended almost wholly on the accident of some of the staff taking a holiday, or being laid up for a time on the shelf, or being considered not up to other work; of others—though this, I own, is scarcely credible—when the whole reviewing was farmed out to a manager, to be allotted to devils as good to him seemed; of many where the reviews were a sort of exercising ground on which novices were trained, broken down hacks turned out to grass, and invalids allowed a little gentle exercise. I  ## p. 240 (#288) ############################################ 240 THE AUTHOR. • . . . Of common mistakes on the subject which are not merely silly crazes, such as the log rolling craze and the five-pound note craze, and the like; the worst known to him, though it is shared by some who should know better, is that a specialist is the best reviewer. I do not say that he is always the worst, but that is about as far as my charity, informed by much experience, can go." The present writer has also heard of newspapers when the books are all bundled off together to one man, who turns them off in little paragraphs of half-a-dozen lines each at eighteenpence a book. And yet authors and publishers are such fools as to send their books to such a paper and to expose themselves to such treatment. For one thing, let us take comfort. Books are abused by many reviewers for many reasons. They are never abused—Mr. Saintsbury maintains—for the good things in them. This brief resume of a highly important and op- portune paper must not be supposed to be tendered as an adequate criticism. It is tendered as an introduction and as an invitation. The former is likely to make readers of the Author uneasy on the subject of criticism—perhaps to awaken their con- sciences as to their own sins, because we have reviewers, if not critics among us: the latter as an invitation to get the book for themselves and to read carefully point by point what a good critic should be. * ON SOME PARALLEL PASSAGES. IT has for many years been to me a source of wonder that the many annotators of the text of Shelley's poems should not have noticed that in the fifth song of "St. Irvyne" the poet appropriates, with the alteration of but two insig- nificant words, a complete line from Beattie's "Minstrel," viz.:— "O when shall it dawn on the night of the grave." This line, familiar to all readers of poetry, Shelley transferred bodily to the song above mentioned, where it appears as— "Ah ! when shall day dawn on the night of the grave." A new edition of Shelley's poems is daily expected, annotated by one of his ablest biographers, and it may be that this edition will contain a note on this passage, but no such note is to be found in any existing edition. Readers of Mr. W. M. Rossctti's exhaustive memoir of Blake will doubtless remember that Milton frequently appeared in Blake's visions, and held converse on matters celestial and terrestrial with the imaginative poet-painter. On one occasion, Blake said, speaking of these visits, "He came to ask a favour of me; said he had committed an error in ' Paradise Lost,' which he wanted me to correct in a poem or picture. But I declined; I said I had my own duties to perform." Other remarks made by Milton during these visitations have not been recorded by Blake, but a student of both poets may be forgiven for fancying that Milton would have been justified in asking Blake in what moment of forgetfulness he had written in "The Keys of the Gates of Paradise," the lines— "On the shadows of the moon Climbing through night's highest noon," lines so closely akin to— "To behold the wandering moon Riding near her highest noon," which form one of the many beauties of "II Penseroso"; or why, when penning " King Edward III," he had put into the mouth of his bishop the words— "... the arts of peace are great, And no less glorious than those of war," thereby making him echo sentiments to be found in a celebrated sonnet addressed to the Lord General Cromwell, May, 1652, in which the writer declares that— "Peace hath her victories No less renowned than War."* Landor occasionally complained of the manner in which his poems were treated, and certainly in one remarkable instance two brother bards attempted to beautify their work with a sea-shell stolen from his grottos; a shell which lost all its murmurous melody and glimmering beauty in their hands, and justified his remarks upon their action. But Landor was himself on one occasion a defaulter. The reader of his poem "The Phocceans," a poem published with others in 1802, will find the follow- ing lines— "In his own image the Creator made, His own pure sunbeam quicken'd thee, O man! Thou breathing dial! since thy day began The present hour was always tiiarht with shade!" * Were Landor alive, not the least delightful of his "Imaginary Conversations " would be a dialogue between these two great poets. We learn from that priceless l>ook, Forster's " Life of Landor," that the old lion in his declining days, "picked up some of the writings of Blake, and was strangely fascinated by them," and had this conversation been added to the long list of treasures received from the same hand, the anachronism of making the dead and living ]X>et meet would have been as justifiable as was that which was justified for all time in the poem wherein Landor made Laertes and Homer meet, and bade Homer sing once more.  ## p. 241 (#289) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 241 and if iie turns to Wordsworth's "An Evening Walk," written 1789, published 1793, he will find the same imagery— "Alas! the idle tale of man is found Depicted in the dial's moral round; Hope with reflection blends her social rays , To gild the golden tablet of his days; Vet still, the sport of some malignant power, He knows but from its shade the present hour." I.andor's version is undeniably the finer both in composition and sentiment. Blanco White's sonnet, "Mysterious Night," first printed in 1828, has recently been paraphrased in one of Walt Whitman's prose poems. In his "Night on the Prairies," he says—■ "I was thinking the day most splendid till I saw what the not-day exhibited, I was thinking the globe enough till there sprang out so noiseless around me myriads of other globes. And he adds after quiet contemplation of the stars— "0 I see noiv that life cannot exhibit all to me, as the day cannot, I see that I am to "wait for "what will be exhibited by deith." The "rawest as well as the ripest student" of English literature will at once recognise in these lines the sentiments expressed in White's solitary sonnet of which the concluding lines are— "Who could have thought such darkness lay concealed Within thy beams, O Sun ! or who could find, Whilst flow'r and leaf and insect stood revealed, 7'hat to such countless orbs thou mad*st us blind! Why do vie then shun Death with anxious strife? If Light can thus deceive, wherefore not Life?" In that glorious poem, Charles Wells's "Joseph and his Brethren," which owes its rescue from " the waste-paper basket of forgetfulness," to the energetic action of Mr. Swinburne, will be found lines bearing a perilous resemblance to familiar verses by Words- worth, viz.—' "To me a simple flower is cloth'd with thoughts That lead the mind to Heaven." words which at once recall the concluding lines of the great "Ode "— "To me the meanest flower that blows can give Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears." Wells's drama did not appear until twenty years after the publication of \\ ordsworth's "Ode." At the risk of multiplying examples ad nauseam I may add that in Mr. Alfred Austin's "Tower of Babel," Act ii, scene 1, a philosopher named Sidon gives expression to sentiments closely resembling those of King Lear. The gods say Sidon deals hardly with men— vol I ". . . . they make sport of us, Treating us much as boys treat cockroaches They prick us just to see what we will do." Lear, it will be remembered, exclaimed— "As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; They kill us for their sport." A much more grim reflection upon "the unjust justice of omnipotence." Richard W. Colles. * BALZAC AND HIS ENGLISH CRITICS. THE primacy of Balzac in French fiction has at length been acknowledged by English - speaking critics. The recognition of his universal supremacy is approaching, but it seems that it will be long before his proper place as a philosopher and a seer of rare inspiration will be allowed him. It is, however, an encouraging sign that his critics agree on one point, that any attempt at general criticism of his whole work and especially of La Com^die Humaine, is futile, and that any review must be but the slightest sketch. Each new attempt confirms the opinion that we must confine ourselves to commentary alone. It is well for us that Balzac counts among his critics some of the most eminent living writers of English. I cannot, however, consider the clever essays of Mr. Henry James and Mr. Leslie Stephen nor yet of the gifted author of a recent article in the Quarterly, as representing him with great fidelity. Mr. W. S. Lilly unfortunately spoils an otherwise appreciative notice by a most irrelevant inquiry into Balzac's interior religion. Mr. Parsons has written a very trustworthy general review in the Atlantic Monthly, careful and accurate, and free from obtrusive originality. Mr. Thomas Hake has a trustworthy article, "A Realist at Work," in Belgravia. Of more particular articles Mr. Philip Kent's "Balzac's views of the Artistic Tempera- ment," is excellent, and Mr. George Moore's "Some of Balzac's Minor Pieces," if a little dis- connected, is interesting and enthusiastic. The criticisms which I know in English are usually to be relied on for justice of criticism, in inverse ratio to the cleverness with which they are written. It is a remarkable tribute to the breadth and depth of Balzac's intellect that his critics can always find predominant in his works those traits which they are individually disposed to notice. In this he is like the Bible, to which every sect which has arisen since the canon was formed appeals for confirmation T 2  ## p. 242 (#290) ############################################ 242 THE AUTHOR. of its peculiar doctrines. On these controverted points I believe his critics misrepresent him most. Mr. Leslie Stephen denies that Balzac possessed a knowledge of the human heart, on the ground that such knowledge does not exist. He considers individuality so strong in every man that it prevents a writer from embodying feeling outside his own potential experience. He explains Balzac's thou- sand creations as the reflection of the thousand facets of his many-sided self. On the other hand, an evident altruist writing lately in Lippincotfs Magazine, considers that there is no such thing as individuality, and implies that Mr. Leslie Stephen lacked experience because he recognizes it. The fact that Balzac has been largely introduced into England by the school which claims him as their founder—the realistic school divided between M. Zola and M. Bourget—is misleading. He is accredited with the philosophy, as well as the method, of his followers. He is deprived of one of his strongest claims to supremacy in his art, the union of idealism in conception with extraordinary realism in expression. Sheer realism is incompatible with art; it must logically lead to the gross bad taste which disfigures M. Zola's powerful work, the monotonous vivisection of M. Bourget, or the intolerable dulness of their lesser pupils. Literature is limited in its possible subjects; to pass these limitations is to fail as M. Zola has failed, by excess in one direction, and less gifted followers of Mr. Henry James may fail in another. The idealist, misled by Balzac's minuteness, pre- judges that his philosophy is materialistic. The realist has an evident undercurrent of distrust for the idealism which to him is antipathetic and spiritualises his master's creations. The optimist objects to La Comedie Humaine as a wicked parody of the world he reveres. Mr. Leslie Stephen has said, "We don't often catch sight in his pages of God frowning or the devil grinning; his world seems to be pretty well forgotten by the one, and its inhabitants quite able to dispense with the services of the other." The same may be said with equal truth of English society at the present time, for even if the morality of romantic fiction requires it, in actual life at least, a god has no need to advertise, and a devil is too discreet to display his tail. The immorality ascribed to Balzac is in reality that subtlest and most powerful form of morality which teaches by suggestion without di- dacticism. It is strange that his Christian critics should be shocked because he represents evil as apparently getting the best of the bargain of life, and the children of this world, in their generation, wiser than the children of Light. It is also strange that idealists should accuse him of realism when the actor he so often brings to the stake is the perfect wise man. But, on the other hand, it has been more truly said that Balzac is so moral as to be sometimes untrue. In this cross fire of criticism one position has not, I think, been taken, that the object Balzac set before him was itself immoral, that a detailed history of contemporary society is a story too horrible to be told. On this point he might possibly be held to fail as a moralist. Perfect attainment of an end in view is recognized as so high an excellence in art, and Balzac has achieved so much that the morality of his aim is little questioned The historical nature of his work is accepted at the outset, but there are very few critics who do not forget it in the course of their arguments. To keep this steadily in view is essential to rendering him justice, and to obtaining a full appreciation of his marvellous work. It is noticeable that he calls the subdivisions of the scenes not "romans" or "contes," but "e'tudes." The truth of his characters has been attacked, contemporaries adverse to him confirm it, and it would not be difficult to surpass his most terrible examples of iniquity by quoting actual events occurring daily in London. It is quite true that the abnormal is not the ideal. But considering that romance deals with the less rather than the more usual event—with the marriape or murder of its heroes rather than with their downsitting and up- rising. And considering the greater effect that dramatic situations leave upon the mind and memory, it will be found that the proportion borne by the abnormal in La Comedie Humaine is none too great for artistic effect, and establishes no presumption that Balzac misunderstood the nature of the ideal. There is a tendency among brilliant critics to criticise adversely separate studies of the Comedie Humaine, and to apply their criticism to the whole. In this way Balzac is censured for long and elabo- rate details concerning characters of "minor impor- tance. There is truth in the censure; no doubt the artistic value of some of the studies is lessened by digressions, but it must be remembered that the minor character so minutely described in one is usually destined to be the hero of another. To appreciate this arrangement the studies should be read in their internal chronological order, beginning with "Le Martyr Calviniste," and ending with "Comedians sans le savoir." It is impossible to criticise one study rightly without a knowledge of the rest. To discuss the morality of Balzac in detail would require a volume. Mr. Swinburne alone, in a note to his Essay on William Blake, fully appreciates his power as a "master of morals." I believe that he exercises this power at least equally with Shakes-  ## p. 243 (#291) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 243 peare, not by interpretation, but as a pure artist by implication; this question the high authority of Mr. Swinburne has decided to the contrary. One study by Balzac is so well known and has been so much criticised that I may perhaps notice a very common misapprehension concerning it. The blind devotion of Pere Goriot is almost always regarded as ignoble, and Pere Goriot as a libel on the heroic character of King Lear. But the short account of his life before the drama begins, gives a clue not sufficiently considered. Pere Goriot is a man of vile character; he has practised the most despicable trade; he has grown rich by usurious corn-dealing in time of famine. He has fattened on the starvation of the poor. He is not a Jew spoiling the Egyptians, but a Frenchman of the people preying on the keen hunger of his own brothers. He has no religion, no education, no morality. But in him is one—instinct perhaps— not wholly evil, his utter devotion to his daughters. (If this had been Shakespeare's work this point would long ago have been seized on and belauded as "a touch of nature " of extraordinary beauty.) Le Pere Goriot's nature is too contracted, too frozen into its separate cells by long habit, for the good to leaven it perceptibly. He is a low type of nature incapable of rising (as all nature is incapable) above its own sphere, but the one good quality does raise him to the extreme bounds of his sphere, and he dies by so cruel a martyrdom that we are ready to forget his infamous greed. He is a character with one talent, and he uses it. Pere Goriot is not likely to attract the optimist; however, there is nature and idealism in the sketch of him all the same. A certain "snobbishness" and want of taste has been charged against Balzac, because his leaders of society are guilty of impertinences and want of refined feeling. The usually adverse Sainte Beuve testifies that these characters are extraordinarily like contemporary life at the time, and then Balzac does not necessarily approve of what he describes. In many of the cases specially noticed, his critics are deceived by his power of concealment. It is to fall into the error of which he is accused, to imagine that perfection in etiquette or a prominent position in society ensure perfect gentleness of mind. Lastly, the monarchismand Catholicism of Balzac are said to be mere affectations. Passages are quoted to prove this. The Abbe, tutor to de Marsay in "Ferragus," is even regarded as a type of Balzac's priest. Even that most brilliant and convincing of critics, Mr. Henry James, cannot make us consider this quite fair. Balzac has explicitly declared that he wrote as a monarchist and a Catholic. There are strong expressions of reverence in his writing for both the throne and the Church; no word is found disrespectful to religion or the family. If the philosophy of Louis Lambert is incompatible with Christian Philosophy, which I am not prepared to maintain, it is purely specu- lative, and has not the evidential value of distinct purpose. As a race devoted to licence in politics and religion, we may regret the lack of it in so compre- hensivea mind as Balzac's; but by isolating passages in his writing and reading in our own meanings at variance with his expressed purpose, we shall neither do justice to their artistic merit nor arrive at a true knowledge of their philosophy. William Wilson. * TARSTOW, DENVER AND COM- PANY, LIMITED. THE author is getting on. Here we have before us the most practical realisation of our statements that literary property is real, and should meet with the same business-like treatment that other forms of property meet with as a matter of course. For is not Tarstow, Denver and Company, Limited, a business-like affair with a business-like prospectus, and a capital of jQ 10,000 to be divided in orthodox manner into Deferred, Preferred, and Founders' Shares, and are not its objects the publication of the works of one novelist and the arrangement of a literary syndicate for the supply to newspapers and maga- zines of novels and other material? When we look back upon our own earlier circu- lars and remember how hopeless, in days gone by, it would have seemed to us to attempt to persuade anyone that there might be as much money in a good novel as in a good pill, and that the business treatment of each might, with advantage, be made more similar; when we recall our own interest in a syndicate for the supply of newspapers, and our own idea—still present to us—of some profit- sharing scheme for the benefit of our members, it seems almost cantankerous to reflect upon Tarstow, Denver and Company, Limited, in terms of anything short of praise. Yet, from the perusal of the prospectus, we are constrained to prophesy badly for the future of this concern. The following are the chief advantages offered to the shareholders :— (1) The copyrights of the "J.E.M." guide- books. (2) The profits of a syndicate for the supply of novels and other literary matter by well  ## p. 244 (#292) ############################################ 244 THE AUTHOR. known authors to newspapers and maga- zines. (3) The copyrights of twelve romances. We should like to say a few words about each. (1) The money value of the copyrights of the J.E.M. guide-books has been estimated by a person of experience, and we are bound to presume that he had before him all the necessary data, but we do not find that a statement made in the prospectus is borne out either by the literary agent's estimate or our own personal experience as to the value of different forms of literary property. It is said in the prospectus that guide-books pay almost better than any other class of books. On this we have to remark first, that in some cases the receipts obtained from the sale of guide-books are 1 irge, these are the cases where the expense to be incurred to make the production accurate and up to date, will be proportionately large; and secondly, that the number of guide-books which achieve substantial success is very small in comparison with the numbers issued. For each of which reasons we demur at the statement that they form a valuable class of books. If anyone has private information concerning the sale of the J.E.M. guide-books, such a person can act on his judgment, but to the ordinary public this would not be a safe guide on this subject. (2) There are large profits to be made by the syndicating of the works of certain authors, but not by the syndicating of the works of the writer in general. Now Tarstow, Denver and Company, Limited, has, we gather from the prospectus, arisen from the ashes of " The Authors' Co-operative Pub- lishing Company, Limited," and this latter Company published a list of certain of their clients whose work was available for syndicating purposes. In the absence from Tarstow, Denver and Company's prospectus of all mention of the well-known names upon whom it is proposed to rely, it is difficult not to come to the conclusion that the authors whose works are to be syndicated are those mentioned in the Authors' Co-operative Publishing Company, Limited's list. Now this list did not consist of well-known authors. There were in it one or two good names and one or two more or less familiar names, but, as a whole, the gentlemen and ladies who were ready to supply work in serial form through the agency of the Authors' Co-operative Publishing Company, Limited, were not well- known authors. If it is to these authors that the prospectus of Tarstow, Denver and Company, Limited, refers, then, having recollection of the great practical difficulty in finding a serial market for any but the work of the very best known people, we respectfully submit that the chances of large profits to the shareholders are very poor. (3) The Company are to acquire the copy- rights of twelve romances by a certain author. Here we are face to face with a difficulty. Romances are a valuable property, and do not require either the accurate attention or the careful revision, editing, and bringing up to date which must be so annoying to the author of a guide-book; but it is with romances as it is with guide-books—if they are not good the public won't have them, and if they are not by a well-known name the public won't look at them. To which class do these twelve romances belong :—to either? to neither? to both? We do not speak in the least bit other than most courteously, but if the author writes under the name given in the circular he has not a well-known name; and to the best of our belief has not under that name given to the public as yet a good book. If, however, he writes under a nom-de-plume it is a different case entirely, and he may be the popular author of admirable romances; but then how does he come to have twelve on hand? We make bold to say that Miss Braddon and Mrs. Oliphant never yet got so far ahead of their market and their printer. The directors ought to take the investor more into their confi- dence, but in the absence of information on the subject we must examine this matter for ourselves. Either this author has tried to dispose of these romances in book form, and has not met with encouragement from the purblind publisher, and in that case we make bold to say that these copyrights are not worth buying or he has pur- posely kept his work back from a large and eager public, so that its value might be enhanced by the delay. In this latter case it would seem that he might be disposing of his copyrights cheaply, and that his best method of repaying himself for his work would be to take his payment in shares. If he has not wanted the publishers' money why should he want the money of Tarstow, Denver and Company, Limited? But, after all, these matters would become clear if we knew the names of the twelve romances and the places where they could be read in serial form. The investor is left too much in the dark. The Society of Authors would only too gladly recognize with cordiality the success of any scheme of any sort whereby authors, their agents, their employers, and their public could be brought to look upon literary work as property to be dealt with according to the usual rules prevalent in the disposal of other forms of property, but it cannot be conceded that Tarstow, Denver and Company Limited, hold forth—on examination of their prospectus—much chance of pecuniary benefit to the investor.  ## p. 245 (#293) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 245 AN ENGLISH ACADEMY. THE pressure on our space does not allow of a long letter from Mr. J. McGrigor Allan being printed in full. He quotes Bulwer Lytton on the Royal Society; but the Royal Society of 1891 is a very different institution from that of 1827. Also the same authority on the French Academy and on the Royal Academy. He con- cludes :—" Human nature and English character have not changed since Bulwer wrote. We know exactly what to expect, if an Academy of Letters should be established. It would be powerfully influenced—if not leavened, and actually governed by Royalty, Aristocracy, and the Clergy. The Republic of Letters would be heavily handicapped. A British Forty of Bishops, Historians, Poets, Essayists, Moral Philosophers, Philologists, and Scientists might not deign to recognise even a first- rate novelist as a man, or woman of letters. To many such, a popular novelist would hardly be known by report. Horace Walpole relates that Bishop Warburton recommended 'Tristram Shandy' to the Bench of Bishops, saying that the author was the English Rabelais. They had never heard of such a writer! An Oxford Professor thought Thackeray's 'Vanity Fair' a religious work! In a Literary Academy, Clerical influence would be against novelists. Novels are denounced from the pulpit. Yet wise preachers recommended Richardson's novels. The most philosophical of French novelists, Balzac, was not a member of the Academy. If I am correct in thinking that an English Literary Academy (while welcoming princes and dukes) would hardly admit a Walter Scott, Literature would lose far more than it would gain, by establishing an English Academy of Letters." * THE EXCHANGE OF BOOKS. IN the Author tor June of last year, a suggestion was made that we might organize a kind of Book Exchange. It was there pointed out that some men are constantly obliged to buy books for some special purpose which they do not want any more, and would be glad to exchange. Others there are who are always wanting to complete their sets, improve their collections, get first editions, all kinds of things. Why, it was asked, cannot the Author give us space to advertise these wants and wares? Why not? If the idea seems practical, and one which might be taken up with advantage, let it be carried out. Will those who are ready to make trial send me their lists? They should be two-fold, thus— c. Books wanted. 2. Books to exchange or to sell. The price should be stated. Names, but not for publication, should accom- pany the list. * IN GRUB STREET. AUTHORS may be interested to know that the movement set on foot at Mr. Henry Blackburn's Art School in Victoria Street, to give information as to the best way to draw for reproduction in the press, is now thoroughly estab- lished. A considerable number of students have qualified themselves according to their ability, for drawing for the press, and more than one author of note has mastered the technique of book illustration. But Mr. Henry Blackburn's greatest prize in his school is a real life "art-critic." "At last," he says, "there will be one reviewer capable of speaking of the modern 'processes' from personal knowledge." The firm of Field and Tuer is dissolved, Mr. Field retiring. Mr. Andrew W. Tuer will continue the publishing and printing businesses, &c, undo the style of the Leadenhall Press. Messrs. Bentley have just issued a novel by Mr. Egerton Castle, under the title of "Consequences." Mr. Castle is well-known as a skilful swordsman and also as a writer on swordsmanship. His "Masters of Fence" is highly thought of by the comparatively small circle of readers competent to express an opinion; such a work and his biblio- graphy of fencing appended to Mr. W. H. Pollock and Mr. Grove's " Fencing" volume of the Bad- minton Library showed that a master of fence may be at the same time an antiquarian and a scholar. Readers who had the good fortune to light on a short story which Mr. Castle contributed some time ago to the Cornhill will not be surprised if he wins laurels on a larger field. Mr. Lockwood, speaking the other day on literature at the Graphic dinner, expressed himself profoundly sensible of the truth of the proverb, that " the pen is mightier than the sword." His experience of the sword, however, he went on to confess, was limited. It seems he had to wear one once at a Mansion House Dinner.  ## p. 246 (#294) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. It would be invidious to inquire as regards :he obituary of the rear 18^0. 'whether the year has given us as much as it has taken away. Half-a- dozen future geniuses may have been bom. and it would be premature to prophesy irr.rnGruiliry cr oblivion for this or that work. Many may have h/een overestimated, many great bocks may have been passed over. Even ailowir.g for this, however, it cannot be said to have been an annus miraiuis. Of course everyone has been occupied with mere important subjects than literature. Cannibalism, libel actions, divorce suits, ecclesiastical persecu- tion, and a thousand other burning topics have taken up everyone's time. Curiously enough poetry has come out the best Setting aside the work of those already famous, there has been some excellent verses from recent hands this last year. Much of it should find a place in some future England's Helicon. To find the annus mirabilis of English literature one must go back to the fifties. Take 1855. In tliat excellent catalogue of Mr. Henry Morley's, "A Sketch of English Literature,'' he gives, among others, the following as all issued in this remarkable year: Robert Browning, "Men and Women"; Alfred Tennyson, "Maud"; Dickens, "Little Dorrit"; Thackeray, "The Rose and the Ring"; Charles Kingsley, "Westward Hoi"; George Meredith, "shaving of Shagpat"; Leigh Hunt, "Old Court Suburb"; Anthony Trollope, "The Warden"; Matthew Arnold. "Poems"; and the Saturday Review was established. '58, '59, '62, '64, wctc also extraordinary for the number and excel- lence of great works. The Saturday Review was a contribution to literature no less than journalism. As a Radical remarked the other day, the Times and the Saturday Review are the two best papers in the world. The public have a right, perhaps, to expect some- thing ever new and delightful from the author of "A Daughter of Heth"; yet the most sanguine may well be enthusiastic over Mr. Black's latest novel, " Stand Fast, Craig Royston." Though pub- lished at the end of the year, it is rather the book of the New Year. It will be admitted that even Mr. Black has never achieved such a masterly piece of characterisation as that of old George Bethune. One of the great merits of the book is its modernity. You feel you have met the sort of people Mr. Black describes; they are not stuffed dolls dressed in nineteenth century clothes, with conversation culled from primaeval Ollendorf. Mr. Harris, the millionaire socialist, is highly humorous, hut of minor characters the best is Mr. Courtney Fox, London Correspondent of the Edinburgh Chrcnidt. whose sentiments about the nor.hem capital I must confess to sharing. Messrs. Macmillan have just issued a pocket volume of the complete works of Lord Tennyson. Of course the double co'amn was a necessity, but why should the exterior be made to resemble a prayer bock? Surely it was not an intentional resemblance to defy detection when the Idylls of the King are preferable to a dull sermon. I su: 70-e there are people who carry favourite books about in their pockets wherever they go, but one only hears of them in romance. Except on a railway jcumey it is the last place I should put a bock. For the prevailing passion of compressing great authors into the smallest space I have very little sympathy, unless it is to take them to church. Mr. Walter Scott, by the way, is to be congratulated on having erased the hideous red border on the pages of his Canterbury Poets, which disfigured the early volumes; it gave a very Common Prayer Book air to a number of not very religious bards. The new edition of the "Earthly Paradise" in one volume has long been among the traditional felt wants. Mr. William Morris is certainly the third among the sons of light now living. His many admirers cannot but regret his desertion of the Muses for very ephemeral socialistic literature, whose chief object is to promote an earthly other place. Once I was talking to a follower and admirer of Mr. William Morris, who was deeply read in the master's works; but he objected to the "Earthly Paradise" for two reasons. One was that there was too much about kings, the other, a certain passage in which farm labourers were called by what he thought an offensive name. It is in one of those beautiful interludes for each month. I believe it refers to the Roman earth- works at Dorchester, near Oxford, cut up by the plough :— "Across the gap made by our English kinds, Ami(l>t the Roman's handiwork, behold Far oft the long roofed church." If my friend had only read Mr. Freeman's works, he would have known all about hinds, and moots, and gemots, which to the uninitiated do sound offensive. The Daily News of the 5th inst. devoted an interesting leader to one of the most interesting of new reprints. Etonians and Cambridge men, as well as book collectors, have long treasured the two small thin volumes of "Ionica," by Mr. William  ## p. 247 (#295) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. Cory, and fortunate possessors of these have always recognised in him one of the most original of modern poets, as indeed he was the most rare. At the sale of the late Provost of King's Library a copy went for as much as three guineas. In the anthology of " Living English Poets," the author was represented by " Mimnermus in Church," but until Mr. George Allen's republication there has been no second edition. The wonderful rendering of the lines of Callimachus from the Greek Anthology has long been in verbal circulation, but I do not think it has ever been reprinted. There are many poems that are new in this volume, but this will not detract from the first edition, so that bibliophils need not despair. I believe a first edition only becomes precious when a second has been issued. There was more of fulfilment than promise in "Ionica," and the new poems show no sign of falling off. Some American, I hear, is buying up all the edition de luxe of the Henry Irving Shakespeare; as a speculation, I suppose. It has not gone very well so far, but this should make it valuable, and would please political economists if no one else. Among many other reprints is the " Hypnoto- machia Poliphili," which comes out under the auspices of Mr. Andrew Lang, in the "Tudor Library," and therefore everyone who is able will purchase; those who are unable will sell all they have to do so. Does the study of Greek, even of the most superficial nature, benefit a man? Those schools with modern and classic sides surely will meet the views of the cheap science and Stratford-atte- P.owe-French advocates. John Bright is always held up as a master of English, as one who knew no Greek, who preferred Thucydides in translation to the original (with which he was un- acquainted). But it is not by selecting individual exceptions that the case is proved. Everyone can- not know Greek, but if it becomes a speciality it will not have the influence it has had hitherto. As Mr. Oscar Wilde said, Bohn's cribs would be a much better instance than john Bright against the retention of Greek as a compulsory subject. It might be a case for an academy to decide. A new novel by John Strange Winter will be commenced in Lloyd's weekly newspaper, on February ist. It is a tale of the Divorce Court. VOL. I. A new novel by Bertram Mitford, author of " The Fire Trumpet," is announced by Messrs. Sutton and Drowley, under the terrific title of "The Weird of Murderer's Hollow." * CASES. I. "T" AST January a certain artistic journal was I taken over by a well-known London pub- ■*—' lisher, re-named, and re-issued with a flourish of trumpets in the shape of a list of contri- butors, containing some of our best known writers and artists. Thinking this a sufficient guarantee, I sent a MS. with ten or twelve tone drawings (I had already contributed to the journal under its old name). Some time in the early days of 1890 I heard unpleasant rumours, and to make sure I wrote to the editor, and stating my price, asked for its return, if unavailable. In May he replied that the sum was too high, that he did not wish 'to beat me down' if I could place it elsewhere, but that if 'you care to let me have it, I shall be glad to hear your lowest price, and perhaps we may come to terms.' My price being at the usual rate, I replied that as I could not take less, I should be glad to have the MS. back. Sum- mer came; I went abroad, and only in October did I hear that the review had collapsed. I there- upon wrote to the publisher for my MS. (a friend had received hers), and he replied that my letter had been sent on to the late editor. Hearing nothing, I wrote again with the same results. What is to be done? Is the publisher liable? MSS. may get mislaid, but drawings do not easily, and they make pretty scrap books." II. Another case. "MS. accepted and price stated by letter. Review ceases to exist. Editor wishes to return them because they are no longer of any use (one was waiting eighteen months before the crash came, for its turn). Is this just? Supposing I order coals in June, and in December I take to gas stoves, am I honest in refusing to pay for the coals, and will the merchant come and fetch them if I say I have no longer any use for them? Probably I should be marched to the County Court under such conditions. Why then should not editors and publishers be made to pay for goods they have distinctly bought at a specified u  ## p. 248 (#296) ############################################ 248 THE AUTHOR. price? In the discussion which took place in the Times touching publishers and authors, we were told that as the former bore the losses, they were entitled to the profits. But here are cases in which the publishers and proprietors take the profits, and the authors bear the loss, pecuniary and otherwise, as well as of their absolute property. It is not the author's fault if an editor accepts more MSS. than he can use before the smash comes; and they seem to me to be the only sort of dry goods which a purchaser can send back after eighteen months' possession. In the discussion referred to, one of the writers spoke of its being "charity" to give an author more money than he agreed to take, supposing his work prove a success; but he omitted to state whether he considered it to be mean, to say the least, to refuse to pay what had been arranged, because the periodical comes to an end. It is no question of extra payment under certain conditions, but of the sum promised months ago. We hear a great deal of abuse of American procedure; I can only say, that in my limited experience, I have always been treated justly, and in a gentlemanly manner, by Americans. The cases I have cited are purely British." X. Y. Z. NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS. Theology. III. We have at different times received numerous complaints from our members, and from authors outside our ranks, that the behaviour of the pro- prietors or editors of certain magazines is not only wanting in courtesy—which may be nothing in business, but in honesty—which is a great deal. We have before us information as to the pay- ments usually made by all sorts of serials, daily, weekly, and monthly, high-class, middle and low, to their contributors, and the result has been that we know which are the just and courteous, which are the grave offenders, and which are the merely unmannerly and unbusinesslike. If anybody is anxious to know what his or her chance may be of getting paid for contributions to any particular paper, and how long they may have to wait for the money, the information can in most cases be obtained from our Secretary, whose communications will in all necessary cases be of a strictly libellous character. BETTANV, G. T. The World's Religions. 7s. 6J. Carlyle, Rev. G. Moses and the Profits, 2s. 6d. DlMOCK, Rev. N. The Doctrine of the Death of Christ in Relation to the Sin of Man. 7s. 6d. Dixon, R. W. History of Church of England. Vol. IV. 16 j. Fouard (Abbe Constant). The Christ the Son of God. Translated by Griffith. Introduction by Cardinal Manning. 2 vols. 14*. Girdleston, R. B. Foundations of the Bible, Studies in Old Testament Criticism. 3*. 6d. Kennedy, J. H. Natural Theology and Modern Thought. 5-f< Leckie, J. Life and Religion. 6s. Newell, E. J. St. Patrick, his Life and Teaching. 2S. 6d. Owen, J. W. The Letter of the Larger Hope. 2s. 6d. Rankin, J. The Creed in Scotland. W. Blackwood. ■js. (xi. Wright, Rev. C. II. II. Introduction to the Old Tesia- mcnt. 2j. 6tf. History and Biography. CLINCH, G. Marylelione and St. Pancras, their History, Celebrities, &c. Truslove and Shirley. 21s. and 12s. Freytag, G. Reminiscences of my Life. 2 vols. i8j. Gibbon, E. Memoirs. Edited by II. Morley. (Carisbrook Library.) 2/. 6d. HUGHES, G. M. History of Windsor Forest, Sunning Hill, and the Great Park. 42s. Jackson, L. Ten Centuries of European Progress. 12s. 6d. Jameson, J. S. Story of Rear Column of Emin Pasha's Relief Expedition. Edited by Mrs. Jameson, ids. MaZZINI, J. Life and Writings. Vol. III. 4.1-. 6d. McAritiur, Sir W. A Biography. By T. McCullagh. Js. 6d. Olii'HANT, Mrs. Royal Edinburgh, her Saints, Kings, and Scholars. Illustrations by George Reid, R.S.A. Macmillan. 21s. STEPHEN, L.,and Lee, S. Dictionary of National Biography. Edited by. Vol. XXV. 15-f. Thornton, P. M. The Stuart Dynasty. Popular Edition. Wrights, H. C. Stories in American History. 3*. 6d. General Literature. Andrews, W. Old-Time Punishments. Hull, Andrews; London, Simpkin, Marshall and Co. 6s. Baker, Lady. Letters to my Girl Friends. Wells Gardner. 6s. Batty, J. The Spirit and Influence of Chivalry, y. 6a. Besant, Walter. To Call her Mine. With 8 Illustra- tions by A. Forestier. Chatto and Windus. 3*. 6t(. Black, William. Stand Fast, Craig Royston! Sampson Low and Co. 3 vols. y. 6</.  ## p. 249 (#297) ############################################ THE AUTHOR. 249 BRAMSTON, M. Dangerous Jewels. National Society. V- Silver Star Valley. National Society. 3/. Boyessf.n, H. H. Against Heavy Odds : a Tale of Norse Heroism. $s. Burnand, F. C. Happy Thoughts and More Happy Thoughts. 5-f. Carew, F. W. No. 747, being the Autobiography of a Gipsy. Js. 6d. Cobb, T. On Trust. Hurst and Blackett. 3 vols. 3U. 6d. Collins, E. L. Hatlasseh; or, From Captivity to the Persian Throne. Illustrated. T. Fisher Unwin. 6j. Crawford, F. M. Sanl' Ilario. Macmillan and Co. Cheap Edition. 35. 6d. Cremer, G. H. A Vision of Empires. 7/. 6d. Davibs, R. D. Talks with Men, Women, and Children. 2nd Series. 6s. 6d. Dickens, C. Little Dorrit. Crown Edition. 5/. Dixie, Lady F. Aniwee; or, the Warrior Queen. $s. Dowi.ing, R. The Ciimson Chair, and other Stories. 6s. Edwards, Mrs. S. The Secret of the Princess. Bentley and Son. 2 vols. 21s. Emerson, P. II., and Goodali., T. F. Wild Life on a Tidal Water. Sampson Low. £3 y. and £1 151. Evelyn, J. A Baffled Vengeance: a Tale. y. 6d. Goodchild, J. A. My Friends at Sant' Ampelio. Kegan Paul. 7s. 6d. Haggard, H. Rider, and Lang, Andrew. The World's Desire. Longman and Co. 1 vol. 6s. Heimburg, W. Was she his Wife? From the German. By II. Wolff. 6*. Hutcheson, M. Sjiia: a Shadow of the Nile. y. 6d. Low, Frances H. The Air Child and other New Fairy Tales. Griffith, Farran, and Co. Martineau, J. Essays, Reviews, and Addresses. Long- man and Co. Vol. I. Js. 6d. Mitchell, Elizabeth Harcourt. Forty Days in the Holy Land. Illustrated. Kegan Paul. 6s. Murray, D. C, and Herman, II. The Bishop's Bible. Chatto and Windus. 3s. 6d. Nevill, F. The Victory of Love. Kegan Paul. 3.;. 6J. Nisbet, Hume. "Bail-up." With Frontispiece and Vig- nette by the Author. Chatto and Windus. 2nd Edition. y. 6d. Norris, W. E. Marcia. J. Murray. 2nd Edition. 3 vols. 31/. 6d. Oliphant, Mrs. Kirsteen : the Story of a Scotch Family Seventy Years Ago. Macmillan. 3 vols. y. 6d. PEARDr F. Mary. To Horse and Away. National Society. p. 6d. Scapegrave Dick. National Society. 31. 6d. "Percy Pomo." Dick Darley's School Days. 5*. Perry, N. Another Flock* if Girls. Js. 6d. Price, Eleanor. The Little One. R. Bentley and Son. 2 vols. Ranking, B. M. Thorkell. 6/. Reade, Mrs. R. H. The Goldsmith's Ward: a Tale of London City in Fifteenth Century. Chapman and Hall. 6s. Robinson, F. Mabel. Disenchantment; an Every-Day Story, Methuen and Co. y. 6d. ROWSELL, Mary C. Home Plays. New and Revised Edition. Samuel French. 6d. Saintsbury, G. Essays in English Literature. 7.r. 61/. Schreiner, O. Dreams. Portrait. T. Fisher Unwin. 6s. Scrivener, S. C. Our Fields and Cities; or, Misdirected Industry. T. Fislier Unwin. y. 6d. Sister Eva. Scenes in the Life of a Nurse, is. Spence, Very Rev. H. D. M. Dreamland in History. 2U. Stuart, Esmk. Kestell of Greystone. Hurst and Blacken. 3 vols. Carried Off. National Society. 3^. Tytler, Sarah. Duchess Frances: a Novel. Sampson Low. 6s. Wentwortii, W. Kiboo Ganey; or, the Lost Chief of tin- Copper Mountain. 2s. 6d. Wright, II. C. Stories in English Literature. 2s. 6,1. YONGE, C. M. A Reputed Changeling. Macmillan and Co. Cheap Edition. y. 6d. The Two Penniless Princesses: a Story of the Time of James I of Scotland. Macmillan. 2 vols. 12s. Poetry. Austin, Alfred. The Poetical Works of. Macmillan. 5 vols. $s. each. Bi.aikie, J. A. Love's Victory. Lyrical Poems. 5 c Burnand, F. C, and Others. Short Plays for Drawing Room Performance. 2s. 6d. O'DONNEtx, J. F. Poems. With Introduction by R. Dowling. 5^. Palgrave, F. T. Golden Treasury. Macmillan and C". 10s. 6d., 21s. PtTRARCA, F. Selections from the Canzoniere of. Trans- lated by Cyfraill. 3*. 6d. Shelley, P. B. Poetical Works. Edited by G. Dowden. 7s. 6d. Stevenson, R. L. Ballads. Chatto and Windus. 6s. Tennyson, Lord, D.C.L. The Poetical Works of. Pocket Edition. Macmillan. 7s. 6d. Whitby, Chari.es Joseph. The Love Songs of Barbara: a Poem in Ten Cantos. Elliot Stock, y. 6J. Music. I.athom, M. The Renaissance of Music. 6s. Morris, Lydia T. Famous Musical Composers, Bio- graphies of Eminent Musicians, Portraits. T. Fisher Unwin. 6s. Rubinstein, Anton. Autobiography of. Translated from the Russian by A. Delano, y. Science. Braithwaite, Dr. Retrospect of Medicine. Vol. CD. 6s. 6<i. Gore, J. E. Astronomical Lessons. Roper and Drowley. y. 6d. Gowan, T. W. The Honey Bee: its Natural History. 2s. 6d. Green, E. F., and Severn, W. D. Handbook to Dr. Koch's Treatment, y. 6d. Renan, E. The Future of Science. Translated from the French. Chapman and Hall. l&s.  ## p. 250 (#298) ############################################ 250 ADVERTISEMENTS. TYPE - WRITING. I MISS ETHEL DICKENS, TYPE-WRITING OFFICE, AUTKORS' MSS. CAREFULLY TRANSCRIBED, 26, WELLINGTON STREET, STRAND Writings by Post receive prompt attention. I (Over the Office of " All the Year Round"). SCIENTIFIC & MEDICAL PAPERS A SPECIALITY. MSS. copied. Price List on application. MRS. GILL, MISSES ERWIN, TYPE-WRITING OFFICE, 13, DORSET STREET, PortMAN SQUARE, W. ST. PAUL'S CHAMBERS, 19, LUDGATE HILL, E.C. MISS GILL, TYPE-WRITING OFFICES 6, ADAM STREET, STRAND, W.C. Authors' MSS. carefully copied from I/- per 1,000 words. One additional copy (carbon) supplied free of charge. References kindly permitted to many well-known Authors and Publishers. Further particulars on application. TYPE - WRITING & SHORTHAND. JO. DARKE, M.T.S., LION • CHAMBERS, * BROAD – STREET, BRISTOL. “ The best of all Journals.” Published every FRIDAY, price 2d. The advantages of Type-written Manuscript are LEG IBILITY, NEATNESS, RAPIDITY, and EASE of Manifolding. HI. EDITED BY DR. ANDREW WILSON, F.R.S.E. Now is the time to subscribe. New Vol. commenced 4th April, 1890. T T A Send Post-card for Specimen Copy. AUTHORS' MANUSCRIPTS, &c., prepared for the Publisher Companies* Reports and patent agents Specifications Dritten up and · Manifolded. LITHOGRAPHY froin TYPING done in the best. Style. MEMORY LESSONS IN TYPING GIVEN BY POST. WRITE FOR TERMS. ET E To be had at all Railway Bookstalls and Newsagents, or direct from the Publisher- 2, PATERNOSTER SQUARE, LONDON, E.C, A WEEKLY JOURNAL OF SANITARY AND DOMESTIC SCIENCE. ESTABLISHED 1851. BIRKBE CK BANK, SOUTHAMPTON BUILDINGS CHANCERY LANE. TIIREE per CENT. INTEREST allowed on DEPOSITS, repayable on demand. TWO per CENT. INTEREST on CURRENT ACCOUNTS, calculated on minimum monthly balances, when not drawn below £100. STOCKS, SHARES, and ANNUITIES purchased and sold. SAVINGS DEPARTMENT. For the encouragement of Thrift the Bank receives small sums on deposit, and allows Interest, at the rate of THREE per CENT. per Annum, on each completed £1. Accounts are balanced and Interest added on the 31st March annually. FRANCIS RAVENSCROFT, Manager. OW TO PURCHASE A HOUSE FOR TWO GUINEAS PER MONTH, OR A PLOT OF LAND FOR FIVE SHILLINGS PER MONTH, with immediate possession. Apply at Office of the BIRKBECK FREEHOLD Land Society. TIIE BIRKBECK ALMANACK, with full particulars, post free on application. FRANCIS RAVENSCROFT, Manager.  ## p. 250 (#299) ############################################ ADVERTISEMENTS IL ETTEI - IR EA HRH PRAPERERIAN AA PROGRESS WA WE USE SPIRIT OF THE AGU (PROGRESS IS THE e The BAR-LOCK TYPE MARTIN WRITER. THE BAR-LOCK' TYPE-WRITER 1. Is the ONLY Machine combining the following Advantages PERFECT AND PERMANENT ALIGNMENT. i AUTOMATIC LINE SPACING. A DUPLICATE KEY-BOARD. ADJUSTABLE BALL BEARINGS TO THE TYPE-BAR JOINTS. And it is the ONLY Type Writer HAVING ABSOLUTELY VISIBLE WRITING, Some Type-Writers may have one or two of these Advantages, but no other combines them all. SOLD FOR CASH ; ALSO ON THE EASY PAYMENT SYSTEM. THE TYPE-WRITER CO., LTD., 12, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, LONDON, E.C. MANCHESTER : 25, Market Street. LIVERPOOL: 40, North John St. CARDIFF : Exchange Building. GLASGOW : 22, Renfield St. SHEFFIELD: 39, Norfolk St. MELBOURNE: 385, Little Collins St.  ## p. 250 (#300) ############################################ ADVERTISEMENTS. - NEW MODEL REMINGTON STANDARD TYPEWRITER V w ONS SSN WN For Fifteen Years the Standard, and to - day the most perfect development of the writing machine, embodying the latest and highest achievements of inventive and mechanical skill. We add to the Remington every improvement that study and capital can secure. TER TE REXINGTON STANDARD TYPEWRITEEN WYCKOFF, SEAMANS & BENEDICT, Principal Office- LONDON: 100, GRACECHURCH STREET, E.C. (CORNER OF LEADENHALL STREET). Branch Offices- LIVERPOOL: CENTRAL BUILDINGS, NORTH JOHN STREET. BIRMINGHAM: 23, MARTINEAU STREET, MANCHESTER: 8, MOULT STREET. Printed for the Society, by HARRISON & SONS, 45, 46, and 47, St. Martin's Lane, in the Parish of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, in the City of Westminster. 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. 01 Issue 09 (January 1891) Subject The topic of the resource <em>The Author</em>, Vol. 01 Issue 09 (January 1891) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927&amp;view=1up&amp;seq=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031017927</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Publication Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1891-01-15-The-Author-1-9 publications The Author