won't like me, they won't. This is piling of it up a little too mountainous, this is.' "At the end of every one of these short sentences he turned upon his heel, and walked the other way; checking himself abruptly when he had finished another short sentence, and turning back again. It is impossible for me to say what terrific meaning was hidden in the words of this brown forester, but I know that the other passengers looked on in a sort of admiring horror, and that presently the boat was put back to the wharf, and as many of the Pioneers as could be coaxed or bullied into going away were got rid of." It was perfectly natural, after this "touch of the earthquake," to desire to see the Shakers, whose peculiar delirium tremens had been reported as unspeakably absurd: but the elders had clearly received a hint of a chield coming, like Captain Grose, to make Notes and print them. "Presently we came to the beginning of the village, and alighting at the door of a house where the Shaker manufactures are sold, and which is the head-quarters of the elders, requested permission to see the Shaker worship. "Pending the conveyance of this request to some person in authority, we walked into a grim room, where several grim hats were hanging on grim pegs, and the time was grimly told by a grim clock, which uttered every tick with a kind of struggle, as if it broke the grim silence reluctantly and under protest. Ranged against the wall were six or eight stiff, high-backed chairs, and they partook so strongly of the general grimness that one would much rather have sat on the floor than incurred the smallest obligation to any of them. Presently there stalked into this apartment a grim old Shaker, with eyes as hard, and dull, and cold, as the great round metal buttons on his coat and waistcoat: a sort of calm goblin. Being informed of our desire, he produced a newspaper wherein the body of elders, whereof he was a member, had advertised but a few days before, that, in consequence of certain unseemly interruptions which their worship had received from strangers, the chapel was closed for the space of one year." The chapel will now be opened: for the chield is in England, and his Notes are not only printed but published, and by this time have been abundantly circulated, read, quoted, and criticised. Many of them, that will be canvassed elsewhere, are here left untouched, for obvious reasons; and various desirable extracts are omitted through want of space; for example, a pretty episode of a little woman with a little baby at St. Louis, and sundry sketches of scenery, character, and manners, as superior as "chicken fixings" to "common doings." We have nevertheless worked out our original intention. The political will discuss the author's notions of the republican institutions; the analytical will scrutinize his philosophy; the critical his style, and the hypocritical his denunciations of cant. Our only aim has been, according to the heading of this article, to give the reader a glimpse of Boz in America. COPYRIGHT AND COPY WRONG. LETTER I. TO THE EDITOR OF THE ATHENÆUM : My dear Sir, I have read with much satisfaction the occasional exposures in your Journal of the glorious uncertainty of the Law of Copyright, and your repeated calls for its revision. It is high time, indeed, that some better system should be established; and I cannot but regret that the legislature of our own country, which patronizes the great cause of liberty all over the world, has not taken the lead in protecting the common rights of Literature. We have a national interest in each; and their lots ought not to be cast asunder. The French, Prussian, and American governments, however, have already got the start of us, and are concerting measures for suppressing those piracies, which have become, like the influenza, so alarmingly prevalent. It would appear, from the facts established, that an English book merely transpires in London, but is published in Paris, Brussels, or New York. 'Tis but to sail, and with to-morrow's sun Mr. Bulwer tells us of a literary gentleman, who felt himself under the necessity of occasionally going abroad to preserve his self-respect; and without some change, an author will equally be obliged to repair to another country to enjoy his circulation. As to the American reprints, I can personally corroborate your assertion, that heretofore a transatlantic bookseller "has taken five hundred copies of a single work," whereas he now orders none, or merely a solitary one, to set up from. This, I hope, . is a matter as important as the little question of etiquette, which according to Mr. Cooper, the fifty millions will have to adjust. Before, however, any international arrangements be entered inte, * it seems only consistent with common sense that we should begin . at home, and first establish what copyright is in Britain, and provide for its protection from native pirates or Book-aneers. I have learned, therefore, with pleasure, that the state of the law is to be brought under the notice of Parliament by Mr. Serjeant Talfourd, who, from his legal experience and literary tastes, is so well qualified for the task. The grievances of authors have neither been loudly nor often urged on Lords or Commons; but their claims have long been lying on the library table, if not on the table of the House,-and methinks their wrongs have only to be properly stated to obtain redress. I augur for them at least a good hearing, for such seldom and -low.toned appeals ought to find their way to organs as "deaf to clamor" as the old citizen of Cheapside, who said that "the more noise there was in the street, the more he didn't hear it.” In the meantime, as an author myself, as well as proprietor of copyrights in "a small way," I make bold to offer my own feel ings and opinions on the subject, with some illustrations from what, although not a decidedly serious writer, I will call my. experiences. And here I may appropriately plead my apology for taking on myself the cause of a fraternity of which I am so humble a member; but, in truth, this very position, which for bids vanity on my own account, favors my pride on that of others, and thus enables me to speak more becomingly of the deserts of my brethren, and the dignity of the craft. Like P. P. the Clerk of the Parish, who with a proper reverence for his calling, confessed an elevation of mind in only considering himself as a shred of the linen vestment of Aaron," I own to an inward exultation at being but a Precentor, as it were, in that worship, which numbers Shakspeare and Milton amongst its priests. Moreover, now that the rank of authors, and the nature and value of literary property, are about to be discussed, and I hope established for ever, it becomes the duty of every literary "Lite an—as much as of a Peer when his Order is in question-to ssert his station, and stand up manfully for the rights, honors, ad privileges of the Profession to which he belongs. The ques ɔn is not a mere sordid one-it is not a simple inquiry in what ay the emoluments of literature may be best secured to the uthor or proprietors of a work; on the contrary, it involves a prinple of grave importance, not only to literary men, but to those ho love letters, and, I will presume to say, to society at large. has a moral as well as commercial bearing; for the Legislature ill not only have to decide directly, by a formal act, whether the terary interest is worthy of a place beside the shipping interest, e landed interest, the funded interest, the manufacturing, and ther public interests, but also it will have indirectly to deter ine whether literary men belong to the privileged class,—the igher, lower, or middle class,-the working class,-productive r unproductive class,—or, in short, to any class at all.* ary men," says Mr. Bulwer, "have not with us any fixed and ettled position as men of letters." We have, like Mr. Cooper's .merican lady, no precedence. We are, in fact, nobodies. Our lace, in turf language, is nowhere. Like certain birds and easts of difficult classification, we go without any at all. We ave no more caste than the Pariahs. We are on a par-acording as we are scientific, theologic, imaginative, dramatic, oetic, historic, instructive, or amusing-with quack doctors, treet-preachers, strollers, ballad-singers, hawkers of last dying peeches, Punch-and-Judies, conjorers, tumblers, and other "diarting vagabonds." We are as the Jews in the East, the Africans in the West, or the gipsies anywhere. We belong to hose to whom nothing can belong. I have even misgivingsheaven help us if an author have a parish! I have serious doubts if a work be a qualification for the workhouse! The aw apparently cannot forget, or forgive, that Homer was a va grant, Shakspeare a deer-stealer, Milton a rebel. Our very cracks tell against us in the statute; Poor Stoneblind, Bill the Poacher, and Radical Jack have been the ruin of our gang. We have neither character to lose nor property to protect. We * At a guess, I should say we were classed, in opposition to a certain literary sect, as Inutilitarians. |