IS CHARLES READE A PLAGIARIST?

Thames Guardian and Mining Record, Volume I, Issue 20, 30 October 1871, Page 3

IS CHARLES READE A PLAGIARIST?

We take the following from a late American paper : —“ Is Charles Reade a Plagiarist ?—A very curious literary coincidence, if it is not something more, has been discovered by the Newark Courier in Charles Reade’s latest novel, “ A Terrible Temptation.” In the twenty-third chapter of that book is a letter from Charles Bassett, written from the insane asylum, in which Sir Charles mentions the strange notions of one of his fellow-patients, who imagined himself to be attacked by a secret gang, who had a wonderful machine to operate with. The author of the story leads his readers to infer that they are indebted to himself for this strange description of a popular phase of insanity. It appears to be in keeping with the rest of the story, and one is amazed at the strange freaks of Mr. Reade’s fancy. A diagram of the infernal machine—airloom, it is called—is also given, and a detailed description of it is appended. Both the diagram and explanation of it seem to have originated with Mr. Reade, there being not a word to the contrary, either in note or comment. It happens, however, that a book published in London over sixty years ago by Dr. John Haslain, of Bethlehem Hospital, contains the same diagram as Mr. Reade’s book, and the same description, with the exception of a slight, immaterial alteration. The volume contains the stery of a patient who was confined in that hospital, and who, like Mr. Reade’s character, imagined himself under the influence of a nefarious gang, who were employing their air-loom for his detriment. The progress of kiting, lobster-cracking, lengthening the brain, ,and thought-making, is all described at "length, and in exactly the same language as that used by Mr. Reade. This 'paralellism affords one of the most singular illustrations of the curiosities of literature on record. A copy of the work of Dr Haslam is contained in the library of the Insane Asylum at Utica, New York.