LITERARY GOSSIP.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13336, 30 January 1909, Page 7

LITERARY GOSSIP.

The statement that a further selection of the letters of Queen Victoria is to be issued has aroused much interest and curiosity in the book worltl (says the 'Daily Express"). It is understood that the King is willing to. allow a further selection to be ibsued, which will include correspondence for twenty-five years after the death of the Prince Consort. As the letters deal with matters near to contemporary events, it will bo realised that tho utmost care has to be exorcised in their selection, and for this reason thoy are not likely t> bo ready for publication until 1910.

The following, taken from the London "."uiimiam, Ls of considerable interest here:—Mr John -King, of Norric sorest, J-iiymarket, was summoned ioi soiling to Mr Alexander "William Coote, secretary of the National Vigilance Association, a book entitled "The Yoke,'" anJ containing, it was stated, objectionable matter. There was a seconc summons calling upon Mr Long to show cause why certain copies of thc book snould not be destroyed. Mr Donald Maclean, solicitor, appeared to support tho summons, and Mr Harry Abraham:.was for the defence. Mr Maclean said that a communication had been received from Messrs Abrahams, the solicitors on the other side, in which was at: undertaking that Mr Long would discontinue the sale of the book in an. form in the United Kingdom. Tlie object of the prosecution would thus be achieved, and the first summons withdrawn. There was no personal feeling against Mr Long's firm, and the prosecution recognised the frank and proper way in which the proceedings had been met and the manner in which that gentleman had endeavoured to comply with the law. Mr Abrahams said it was a matter of opinion whether this book came within a decided case on"the subject. He did not, howr-ver, in tho circumstances, show cause against the order, for destruction. The allegations made were not admitted... Mr Denman, the Magistrate, said the first summons was withdrawn, and he should make an I order for the destruction of bogks seized. Tlie defendant had, however, seven days in which to quarrel with the order if he so wished.

We forget what, novelist it was who msde one character say to another. "You'll be a ladyship yourself some day,"' but he (or she) ought to take the gentle hint offered to society novelists by the editor of "Debrett's Peerage. Baronetage. Knightage. and Companionage." "How few,'" says tbe editor, "take the trouble, when introducing titled personages into then books, to verify the proper titles and relationship! If only they would procure a 'Debrettf and consult it before putting pen to paper, they would avoid some of the more glaring errors which may be found in almost any i—■>vel introducing title- into its pages. And these mistakes are not by any means confined to new or onscure authors, those of well-known name being also frequently found tripping. Either the courtesy title does not fit the peerage referred to, or the succession to the title indicated is wholly

impossible; or, again, thc _a:uo acter in tho novel is designated 'by various titles in different part- of the book."

The following advertisement, appealin a "Morning Post" of a recent, dote: —"To Sportsmen.—A Poet ar.d Dramatist, aged 24, unknown, offer* himself as an investment on these, terms: That in consideration of receiving £300 a year (a bare sufficiency to live and work on) for six years he sliall for nine years yield 75 per cont. of all profits earned by his. art ; or other terms might by di_c__sed." How many sportssnen. tired of "backing losers, will hasten to pht their money on this poetical dark horse? (asks the "Daily Mail") J_o must possess a remarkably ingenious soul and an abysmal ignorance of the state oi" what may bo called tho market iv poetry. The reward- of successful dramatists aro known to lx» great, but they are also known to be somewhat difficult to attain ; the reward* of the poet aro probably about- as low, from a financial point of vicr.\ as in any class of literature. It is to ho doubted whether there are half a dozen poets in England who are now making as much as £300 a your out of their poetry, and it would not be surprising to hear th.-.t there were not any. Poetical stock has had a downward tendency for seme years, and has n-cver stood very hk;h in the case of an unknown pnet of twenty-four. Could this modest young gentleman write a poem, as good ns ''Paradise Lost*'? If so. he might «im five pounds, as Milton did. Can be v.rito ns well as Tennyson? If lie can. he mitrht, get £11 for his first published volume, sell 300 copies of his second, and reach the ago of forty-one before he could afford to get married, all of which happene.i to Tennyson. Wordsworth was n poet fairly well known in his time, and still occasionally read. When he was sixtyfivo he told Monro that he had not mado. above i'lOfiO by all his publications up to that time. So. perhaps, after all. this offer is not quite to good as it looks at first signt. and the .sportsmen to whom it is addressed may not come forword with any passionate alacrity. But "other terms might be discussed." Thirty shillings a year for two years might be suggested, with 76 per cent, returnable for fifteen.

"From information received" I gather that very bad times" aro approaching for the average novelist (says an English writer). The big. men, 'of course, aro safe—tho big men aro always safe; but tho smaller writers'aro threatened by tho cloth renrints of popular stories. If you want to buy a novel you will hardly give four-and-six for the. now work of a comparatively unknown writer when you can get on© of Smith's best stories for sevenpence. Very few people havo read all the works of their favourito authors: so. very naturally, they are inclined to take advantage of these cheap reprints in permanent form.

Medicine in fiction often puzzles people other than doctors (remarks ("T.P.rs Weekly.") Which of u_ havo not wondered at the extraordinary recovery of _ho mortally-wounded voting officer as soon a_ a certain precious letter reaches him? Which, of us has not been .piqued with ouriosity in regard to the magio touch of the hospital nurse who does wonderful thin_y with pillows, and seems to have some secret remedy in hor eyes? Aibove all, which of us havo not been awed by tho professional dominance of that s.-ui>erb deus ex machina tho doctor of fiction? What a figure ho is in popular novels with his bowed head and his folded arms, and! his quiet, inscrutable smile,, which can work such quid: changes in as many ipagee. We all know the old, dear dummies who surround the sickbeels of the fiction of thc heart, but a writer in tho "British Medical Journal" has - recently (pointed out that tho "scientific" novelist is sometimes th© worst offender of all. Newspaper medicine,- this writer submits, is usually rather odd, but tho journalist has at all events the excuse of extreme haste for his remarkable medical lore. "No such oxcuso can bo made by the novelist, and yet by somo curious perversity of fate, "whenever a writer qf novels touches medical subjects he generally makes a mess of the matter. Anthony Trollope took the prudent course of trusting wholly to his invention, making no pretence 'to accuracy in technical details or language. Smollett wrote with tho knowledge of a trained man of art. But the ordinary writer of fiction is capable of almost any atrocity." Wtill, nobody, it soems, has been guilty of more atrocities than Emile Zola, whose medical "howlers" have been recently exposed by M. Henri Martineau :—''The fact is that with all his care to 'document' himself, Zola, knowing even less of medicine than some of our modern prophets whose tripnel is in the laboratory, misunderstood his authorities or copied descriptions of disease from books and misapplied thorn, often in the most comical way. M. Martineau tracks him remorselessly through his medical do*cripition:>, and sums up his eon elusions in tho formula that nothing is less scientific than tho scientific novel as conceived and written by Zola."

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle a year ago •"■xch.tnged tho pine-clad heights of Hindhead for the glorious open country which stretches from Crowborough Beacon to the .Stuiox Down*. The house is called "Windlcsham," and it is described by Mrs Tooley in the "Woman at Home." Lady Conan Doyle was tho discoverer of tho charming Totrent. Both Sir Arthur and Lady Conan Doyle are exceedingly fond of pirdening, and in thc course of a year havo mado the .garden of their country home a paradise of flowers. But the novelist, Mrs Tooley says, is "by no means a modern Cincinnatus tending his cabbages and lost to the world; lie and: Lady Conan Doyle average two days in Londoni each week, and are a good deal in society." Conan. Doylo describes himself as unsystematic in his work. "He- has no regular time for writing, but seizes tho mood when it comes, and works tremendously hard while it lasts. His typical day is to write between breakfast and lunch, and spend tho afterncon weeding in the garden",, or playing golf or cricket. After tea he generally writes again until dinner, and in tho evening reads, plays billiards, and listens to liis wife singing. He never dictates nor uses a typewriter, und his MS. is- beautifully written, and. shows very little correction." A Christmas story he recently finished was partly written in pencil in the train. Conan Doylo has now some twenty-six books to his credit.

Mr Robert Ross, who- has concerned himself so busily with, the publication of Mr Oscar Wilde's works in face of considerable difficulty, owing to the author's estate being in bankruptcy was entertained at a dinner in, London recently. He announced that an anonymous donor had for the erection of a monument to the memory of the famous author at Pero La Chaise. Among letters read was one from Mr George Alexander, who. writing of "Lady Windermere's •'Fan" and its author, said:—"l mad© him an offer oi £1000 for that olav. 'Do you really mean to say that you will give mc £1000 for it?' said "ho "I will certainly,' said I. 'Then, dear Alec' as I liavo such complete faith in your judgment, I will not take it, I will £* r-i a ., go S£ Percentage instead'—and j"_ Tho r of th * evening was proposed by Mr H. G. Wells. Mr Ross in reply, said he was informed in 1901 by an official of the Bankruptcy Court that none of Wildes works that ho had left had any hterary or commercial value. But the sales of "De Profuncis at home and abroad' soon helped

to pay off about £6000 of hi_-__bts-lt was Germany and: the- sales -herb that did it.