FORCED MASTERPIECFS AGAIN.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1581, 26 October 1912, Page 9

FORCED MASTERPIECFS AGAIN.

There is a tradition that a joker once wrote out "Paradise Regained" and offered it as a novelty to various magazines, only to have.it returned with various comments of a derogatory kind; now, it seems, editors are being bothered by contributions wjiich have distinguished names attached to them and aro not writ-' ten by the distinguished persons. To-day it .13. Mr. Putt Eidgo who is wronged in tills way, another day it was Mr. G. E. Sims, presently it may be even more famous ones. It wpuld be unfair to say that the authors who can bo personated m this way must be wanting in distinction, and it would not be quite fair to denounce tho editors who do not prevent the personation as-utterly incompetent; yet it'is one of those cases in which both sides can hardly be dismissed without a fm "•• A s the dramatic critic "says in ■■' l'anny;s First Play," "If it's a good author its a good play; if it's a bad author its a bad play." And it seems bard luck, indeed, for the editors if thoy cannot have any positive help from reputations; perhaps they might defend themselves by some, such practical plea as that the man oi au established reputation has a right to be heard and it is not part of their business even to protect him from himself It is disquieting to think of what the reeults might bo if all magazine articles and stones had to: bo sent in anonyraouslv and judged strictly on their merits, and of the affronts that would be suffered— frequently without public protest—by famous authors, statesmen, or divines. There is a vast amount of writing that is much on 'a level, and it is something of a chance that part of it is gathered under well-known names and part of it eped to limbo. A name is the simplest means of identification in literature, and then comes a peculiarity; a good many editors and others cannot make much of character alone; But general anonymity is> impossible nowadays; if it wero attempted,by. outside compulsion we should take refuge in cryptograms if sheer style would- not protect us.—"Manchester Guardian.'.'' . .