Slander on Women.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 74, 31 March 1904, Page 4

Slander on Women.

AITIIOR'S AMI'SINCr ACTION KOK 1/IIJEL. MI'JA IX BLUKTXKSS. liarU words llew about in Mr .Justice Uruntham's court at a recent sitting, the palm tor plain, unvarnished speaking falling, of course, to the learned Judge himself. The matter before the court was a libel action against the Dorset Publishing Company. Limited, who arc the proprietors of the St. .James' Ciazette.

Jt was brought by Mr T. W. 11. Crosland, whom Mr (Jill, K.C. (representing the defence, described as

"himself a purveyor of libels,'' and it concerned a review on Mr Crosland's book "Lovely Woman," which book the Judge in his summing up stigmatised as "itself one of the foulest libels on English womenkind.''

Every one present looked quite pleased and happy while these compliments were flying to and fro, and not least the plaintiff, denuded of his usual beard, but tugging all the while cheerfully at his moustache. The only note of passion was lent to the proceedings by the habitually tranquil Mr Eldon Ilankes, K.C., who appeared for Mr Crosland, and asked more than once iu vibrant uccents "Who is the reviewer?" TIIE OFFENDING COMMENT. That gentleman, who rightly preferred to remain anonymous until the bitter end, appears to have fatleu foul of the following passage in Mr Cropland's book " When I look out upon life in my calmest moments 1 am prone to wish that all women were widows. If they were the amount of human suffering on the earth would, 10 say the least, be sensibly reduced. And when one went a-wooing or a-wedding one would be appreciated at one's worth. "The courting of widows would appear to be a much less nervous matter than the courting of maids. As a rule it is rapider, and more economical. If you say to a widow

"Wilt thou be mine?" after ten minutes' acquaintance she neither faints nor calls for the police." Il>* way of comment upon this passage, the reviewer said "If true, it is of no particular profundity. liut when we think of Mr Crosland, even in "his calmest moments," as a prospective and possibly actual husband, we are inclined to agree that if one woman, at any rate, was a widow, the amount of human suffering on the earth would, to say the least, be sensibly reduced. In his turn Mr Crosland fell foul of this somewhat elaborate little effort of humour. The hand that penned "The Unspeakable Scot" was turned against this offending critic, though in the course of the trial the Judge I read to Mr Crosland, in honeyed accents, the following little passage from the immortal work " Of all the men in the world commend me to the plain blunt critic. He is the salt of the earth, the saviour of his kind."

" Here you have your plain blunt critic," the Judge went on to say seductively, "and now you complain." Mr Crosland did complain—and that bitterly. lie maintained that the suggestion meant to be conveyed by this plain blunt critic" was that he (Mr Crosland) was a bad man, and his wife would be well rid of him when he died. Furthermore, he alleged that the sales of the book had decreased since this attack on it, and he claimed £SOO damages. "PERSPIRING REVIEWER." Mr Eldon Bankes opened the proceedings by a general reference to the article, which appears to have further excited Mr Crosland's ire by describing him as "a person of mus-ic-hall calibre" whose choice of subjects was now restricted to "booze and umbrellas."

After this Mr Crosland mado his way into the witness box, and presently found himself undergoing an examination of "Lovely Waman" at the hands of Mr Gill.

" Why didn't you call it 1 Unlovely Woman' ?" suddenly inquired the Judge after a brief perusal of the book in question. Mr Crosland's answer to this sally was a genial smile. At the moment Mr Bankes was informing him by way of examination in chief that he was literary adviser to the publisher, Mr Grant Richards, and the author of "The Unspeakable Scot." The latter book had been will reviewed in the St. James' Gazette, said Mr Crosland. But before "Lovely Woman" appeared he had had differences with (he manager ol' that newspaper. Mr Gill : " Perspiring revierer" appears to be rather a favourite phrase of yours ? Mr Crosland modestly admitted the soft impeachment, liut added that he had not particularly referred to the reviewer of the St. James' Gazette. WOMEN AND LOYALTY. " Now let us read a few passages," began Mr Gill once more ; and lie led oft with the opening lines of "Lovely Woman" : " Woman, says the Greek philosopher, should be kept in a hutch at the bottom of the garden. It seems puobable that in the beginning Eve was so housed. " And here is some more," Mr Gill choosing another extract " Roughly speaking, Woman is Missy fed up. At twenty she has all the vices that were hers at ten. At ten you found her faithless, spiteful, greedy, merciless, vindictive, impudent, unreasonable, unruly, and illogical. At twenty she is the same girl, only more cunning and a trifle more commercial." " Is that meant to be humorous?" Mr Gill inquired after he had given Mr Crosland sufficient time to digest the passage. But before he had got his answer counsel was out again upon his voyage of discovery. He took this sentence : "The whole trend of experience goes to show that the man whose house Is infested by a woman is the weaker and the less happy on that account."

The Judge : It's a wonder your wife Ims not brought an action against you. WIVES AND WHIPS. Mr 0111 : Jn the next passage you say : "The days when man kept a whip for his wife win.- n dream of happiness." Mr Crosland : Obviously that is humorous. You refer in your book to Miss Helen Thorneycroft Fowler, and of her you write : "I will only say that T wish she had never been born."—l am referring to her only as a writer. U you would read some of her verse* that I quote you will understand. Miss Fowler hns a reputation us a writer?— That depends upon what you call reputation. Then you go on : "Possibly her only two male readers arc tin* inspired Or. Robertson Vie nil and her own pupa, thi* Right Honourable Sir Henry, whom T last beheld on the Calais boat rating buns out of a bag." Why the allusion ?—Well, there is the theory of heredity. But why drag in the buns ?—Well, to my mind it seemed ridiculous. Tf you saw a bishop in the Strand eating sausage rolls you would laugh. Mr (Jill tlien passed to Mr Crosland's chapter on the "bun-shop" girl. "Yon si'cm to hove a g'e.H knowledge of bun shops," he said.— " You must read lhat to understand," was the reply. Mr Ciill : For my sins and because I was paid for it I have read it. Mr Crosland : Many ha\e read it for nothing. The jury were absent over twenty minutes, and then returned with a verdict for the defendants, which was accordingly entered with cosis.