HE Council of the Society has been strengthened by the accession of the following names: - Lord Brabourne, Sir Henry Bergne, K.C.M.G., Messrs. Alfred Austin, R. D. Blackmore, James Bryce, W. Martin Conway, P. W. Clayden, Oswald Crawfurd, Marion Crawford, Eric Erichsen, G. R. Sims, and Edmund Yates. these gentlemen Mr. W. Martin Conway joins the Committee of Management.

Of

The Third Annual Dinner of the Society was held on Tuesday, July 8th. The Chair was taken by Prof. Jebb. There were 200 present on the occasion. A full report will be presented with the next number.

A lady who wishes to be anonymous has offered to present to the Committee the sum of £30 annually for three years, to be expended in such a manner as may appear to be for the best interests of Literature. This offer of pecuniary assistance is a new thing of this year. It shows that the work of the Society is being understood and appreciated. Another sign of advancing opinion is that on the foundation of The Author a good many members came forward to give it a start. It is astounding how much may be effected even in such a Society

VOL. I.

as ours by means of the little cheque. We have never yet gone begging, but- —. Meantime, there would be no pecuniary anxieties if we had two thousand members instead of six hundred, and if everybody would remember the modest annual obligation.

Amid the general mingled chorus of denunciation, exasperation, disappointment, satire, and disgust, caused by the loss of the International Copyright Bill, there has hitherto been lacking-what it specially behoves The Author to supply-some recognition of the noble efforts made by the leading men, the men of culture, in the Eastern States. These men have never rested, and are still active, in advocating by every means in their power the passage of the Bill. They include all the authors of America, all the honourable publishers, and a great number of editors. The opponents of the Bill are the ignorant Western farmers, who know nothing about literature, literary property, authors' rights, or anything else except their own local interests. The education of these men is a slow process; they take a great deal of time to grasp new ideas; the existence of authors is not suspected by them; the existence of authors' rights is absolutely unknown to them. But they are gradually being educated.

Let us consider our own case before we throw stones at the Americans. It is now five years since

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this Society began its endeavours to educate the British world into the perception of the fact that there is such a thing as literary property and that it is a very real thing. We are not Western farmers. Yet we have not learned to grasp this one central fact any more than these honest members of Congress. Still the old ideas cling; still those who talk of literary property as if it was a real thing, like turnips, are regarded as madmen. Still the leading articles talk of the dangers and uncertainties of publishing. Still the old belief remains, that authors must take whatever their employers choose to bring them; still that old Bogey, "Risk," is trotted out to frighten us; still men continue to talk about the "generosity" of their publishers-as if writers were beggars, humbly holding out their hands for doles, instead of honest men demanding their just share in the proceeds of the work of their hand and brain. These ideas will slowly pass away. But meantime since they linger in this country, and are every day traded upon for their own purposes by interested persons, we cannot be surprised at an equal ignorance among the narrow-minded and half educated people who form the greater part of Congress.

Consider, again, a special case, recent and treated further on in these columns. There is a certain great Society called the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Its President is the Archbishop of Canterbury: its Vice-Presidents are other Archbishops and Bishops: its Publication Committee are all clergymen.

Now, not one of these illustrious men seems as yet to have grasped the simple truth that an author may be sweated as well as a needlewoman; and that in the purchase of literary property there are elementary laws of morality based on the Eighth Commandment. Not one, so far as I know, up to the present moment of writing, when their Society has been called upon to compare its methods of publishing with these simple principles of truth and equity, and has, so far, by its silence, refused to do so, has boldly declared that he will no longer preside—or vicariously preside-over a great Corporation, which, unless certain ugly allegations can be explained, seems to be little better than a Society of Sweaters for the greater glory of CHRIST.

With this illustration before them can the authors of Great Britain expect from an ignorant Western farmer a keener thirst for righteousness than they have found at home among the Societies of the Anglican Church?

As for what is said on International Copyright by newspapers in the Eastern States, read the enclosed from the New York Evening Post, It

refers to the pirated edition of the "Encyclopædia Britannica."

"A certain man went from Edinburgh to America and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his sheets, and electrotyped him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And a certain Doctor of Divinity passed by on the other side; and when he saw him he went over, and came where he was, and said unto him: 'How is it with thee, my friend?' And he answered him: 'I am in sore distress, for that I have been robbed of nearly all that I possess.' And the Doctor of Divinity spake and said: My heart is heavy for thee, my friend; but hast thou yet anything left?' And he answered him again, saying: 'Yea, the half of what I had is left me; but I am in fear least my enemy return and carry off the rest!' 'Nay,' said the man of God, but if others are to have a cast at thee, I may as well come in for my share; but, for that I have great compassion on thee, I will leave thee a portion of what these wicked men have spared.' And, so saying, he took what pleased him of the man's goods, and having preyed upon him, gave him his blessing and went and prayed in the temple. Likewise a certain Pharisee, who was also a haberdasher and a man of letters, passed that way, voyaging from Washington by way of Philadelphia; and he came and looked on the man and saw that he was helpless, and heard his groans. And he also inquired of him what ailed him; and when he had heard his story he beat his breast and cried aloud: This is flat burglary, to take all that thou hast, and to leave next to nothing for me! Verily, I must protect myself against such wickedness, and must circumvent the doers thereof; since it is expected of me that when circumventing is to be done, I shall be there!' And with that he seized on the balance of the man's stock, and blessed him in the name of his peculiar god, and went his way. But a certain Government having on his breast a breastplate whereon was writ in letters of gold, 'In God We Trust,' came where the man was, and when he saw him, he had com

passion on him, and went to him, and opened his wounds, and rubbed into them salt and vinegar, and set him on a wild ass of the desert, and put a bunch of nettles under the tail of the beast, and cried unto the man: 'Away with thee, thou foreigner! What rights hast thou that I need respect? I care not twopence for thee or thy wrongs; and if ever thou darest come again, I will repay thee!""

In another place will be found a letter from Mr. Bainton on the subject of what he is pleased to call a "stab in the dark." Everybody else thinks that it has been a stab in the open. But never mind.

The point and moral of the correspondence to the readers of The Author should be that in future they should not allow themselves so easily to be drawn. Why should authors alone, of all professions, be asked to explain their methods? Why should they, when they are asked, be so ready to reply? For my own part, I fell into the trap, like my neighbours, but fortunately wriggled out again and did not explain my methods. In future, let us behave with greater reticence. Now what would be thought if some enterprising gentleman were to write to all the barristers in practice in the following terms?

DEAR SIR,

I must speak at last. There comes a time when silence is culpable. I have long considered you the most eloquent orator as well as the most accomplished and learned lawyer that at present adorns the Outer or the Inner Bar. I read nothing at all but your speeches; my wife reads nothing at all but your speeches. She takes them after early dinner, with a nap; moreover, I have for a long time given my mother-in-law, who lives with us, and is now in declining spirits, nothing at all to read but your speeches; my children learn your speeches by heart. My youngest-Teeny Wheeny, three-is now learning her alphabet out of your speeches. They are, in fact, deeply alphabetic. I am going to give a little lecture—just a little lecture -to one or two young people. I wish to call my lecture the "Art of Demosthenes, or the Ciceronian Bag of Tricks." I desire above all things to strengthen it by a description of your own Bag of Tricks, oratorical and legal. Will you therefore kindly tell me where you picked up your method of oratory, and how you manage to seem to know so much law?

Amid the leaves-the leaves of bay-
The leaves they use for crowns-
The author sat, the livelong day,
Above the common clowns;
Well skilled was he the crafty rhyme
And artful plot to mix ;

And in his hand he held, meantime,
His precious Bag of Tricks.

"Oh! Master, Master, greatest, first-"
He heard, and blushed to hear—
All other bards with envy burst-
I've seen 'em-that I swear.
Day in, day out, the week about,

Thy great works through and through, I read and read-I do, indeed;

So do my children too.

"Tell me, sweet author, whom I love-
Ah! head so fitly crowned!
Thy place so rightly set above,

The bay leaves circling round!—
Tell me, sweet author, if thou wilt,
Oh! condescend to tell-
How are thy tales romantic built?

How canst thou rhyme so well? "Thy art, thy secret, and thy craft, Confide-confide to me."

The author smiled-the author laughed; Yet never a word said he. "Oh! by the crown of glory grand

That on thy pale brow sticks-
That crown to feel, he raised his hand
And-dropped his Bag of Tricks !

There is no moral to this fable in the original. But La Fontaine's will do

"Mon bon Monsieur, Apprens que tout flatteur

Vit aux dépens de celui qui l'écoute.'

The Daily News, which has always been on the alert to watch any step in the movement for International Copyright, reports a decision which may lead to very valuable results. It was delivered on June 25th, by Judge Shipman, of the United States Circuit Court. Three suits were begun some time ago by Messrs. A. and C. Black, of Edinburgh, and the Scribners, their American agents, against an American firm which had published a pirated edition of the "Encyclopædia Britannica" from photographic plates, charging infringement of the American copyright laws because the republication contained articles written by Americans and copyrighted in this country by them. The defendants entered demurrers based on the general ground

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that the publishers of the "Encyclopædia Britannica," in employing American authors to treat of American topics and then publishing their articles under copyright, thereby laid a trap for the American public and American publishers, and therefore a court of equity could not interfere to protect such a fraud. Judge Shipman overruled the demurrers, and declared that the assignments in no way permitted other parties parties to infringe authors' copyrights. This decision has been hailed with. delight by the advocates of International Copyright, who regard it as the most serious check the piratical publishers have yet had. There are three photographic editions of the "Encyclopædia Britannica" now selling at about a seventh of the price of the authorized edition. The decision is likely to alarm the publishers, since, if sustained in further judgments, Messrs. A. and C. Black will bring suits against them for heavy damages.

"I have never yet had any disagreement with my publisher," said a well-known man of letters the other day. "Therefore, I have not joined the Society." The remark and the inference alike illustrate a common disposition to look on the Society as one which exists for the purpose of patching up or even of creating quarrels and grievances with publishers. That is not the case, of course, only one is well-nigh tired of repeating the fact. It suits certain persons who regard us with natural hostility to keep this delusion alive. The Society has no quarrel with publishers as such, and never has had any. It maintains continually that the services which publishers render to Literature are solid, and must be substantially paid for. The Society exists, however, mainly for the purpose of maintaining the rights, the sacredness, and the reality of Literary Property. Therefore it fights the battle of all authors, and should be supported by all who approve of its principles.

Briefly, they are these:

(1) Literary property is created by the author, and belongs at the outset to him. (2) Literary property must be held as sacred as any other kind of property.

(3) Literary property is ruled by the demand for

a book just as colliery property means the sale of the output. And as the value of a colliery depends first on the output in tons and their price, so the value of a book can only be estimated with reference to the number of copies sold.

(4) The author must not part with his property without due consideration, nor without understanding exactly what possibilities, as

well as what certainties, he gives and what he receives.

(5) What the author is entitled to, is, after payment of the cost of production and the publisher's agency and labour, all the remaining proceeds. This proportion of the returns is the property which he has to sell for a lump sum down, or to receive year by year. (6) The publisher has to be remunerated for his agency and labour out of the returns of the book in a certain proportion, which should be a fixed proportion recognised by both contracting parties and understood by both.

These principles have long been recognized by the French after a good fight, carried on by the Société des Gens de Lettres, an association of which ours is a successor and an imitator. But how, it may be asked, if publishers will not agree to the adoption, once for all, of an equitable arrangement? It is the task of the Society to create such a consensus of opinion on the subject as will cause all houses which desire to maintain a good name to fall in with the Society's views. It will also cause all authors of ability and reputation to insist upon equitable agreements. How, it may be asked again, about the unfortunate beginners and those who have no name? The scheme to be put forward by the Society will cover their case as well. But they must, first of all, be protected. And for this reason our pages are full of stories of the scoundrels who deceive and rob the literary beginner. Consider. Is there to be no protection for the weak? Is a pickpocket to get off with impunity because he has only stolen a girl's purse? The Council of this Society does not hold that opinion.

There are many who still maintain that sharks and thieves should be free to do as they pleasedevour and destroy-rob and lie with impunity, because ignorant and young literary aspirants ought to take care of themselves, and because most of their work is rubbish. In no branch of the industrial community should thieves be permitted to exist. And even if good quality of work were to be the condition of protection, we should have to protect a whole hundred because one of them an unknown one-may have in him the gift of authorship. As a curious illustration of the growing change in opinion on this subject, it may be mentioned that in one of the most popular penny papers of the day, a paper which circulates by the hundred thousand, there lately appeared an article on "Bogus Publishers," written by one who knows the gentry and has served under them. The article might have been written in this office,