HOW "JOHN INGLESANT" WAS WRITTEN.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9997, 18 March 1910, Page 4

HOW "JOHN INGLESANT" WAS WRITTEN.

Few novels have cost their authors 'such an expenditure of energy as I "John Inglesant," a first edition of which was sold the other day for £32. Mrs Shorthouse, in her life of her husbnad, has explained the circumstances under which it was written. For many years Mr Shorthouse had expressed a desire to write a book; "Then, when he felt that he had collected materials for a work, he said: "I am quite ready to begin a book,' only I want a plot." By and-bye he found out just what he wanted—the story of a knight who, on returning from a crusade, met and forgave the murder of his brother. Round this one incident was woven the story of "John Inglesant.'' Shorthouse worked at intervals for nearly ten years on his novel, which was finished at Llandudno in 1876. It was originally published at the author's expense at a guinea net. The reception accorded to it in the leading reviews being very favourable, Shorthouse sent a copy to [Messrs Smith, Elder and Jo., j inviting them to publish it. They, | however, declinei the offer. Ulti- | mately it fell into the hands of Mrs | Humphry Ward, who in turn lent it | to Mr Alexander Mncmillan, with the r?sult that in 1881 the copyright was purchased by the firm of Macmillan. One of the first to appreciate j the genius of Shorthouse was Mr

Gladstone, who always spoke in the highest terms of "John Ingiesant," and recommended it to all his friends. Another admirer of the novel was Cardinal Manning, who, curiously enough, does not appear to have objected to the author's strictures on the Jesuits iu the earher chapters.