Books and Authors Part 7

CONTEMPORARY COPYRIGHTS.

The late Mr. Tegg, the publisher in Cheapside, gave the following list of remunerative payments to distinguished authors in his time; and he is believed to have taken considerable pains to verify the items:

Fragments of History, by Charles Fox, sold by Lord Holland, for 5000 guineas. Fragments of History, by Sir James Mackintosh, 500_l._ Lingard's History of England, 4683_l._ Sir Walter Scott's Bonaparte was sold, with the printed books, for 18,000_l._; the net receipts of copyright on the first two editions only must have been 10,000_l._ Life of Wilberforce, by his sons, 4000 guineas. Life of Byron, by Moore, 4000_l._ Life of Sheridan, by Moore, 2000_l._ Life of Hannah More, 2000_l._ Life of Cowper, by Southey, 1000_l._ Life and Times of George IV., by Lady C. Bury, 1000_l._ Byron's Works, 20,000_l._ Lord of the Isles, half share, 1500_l._ Lalla Rookh, by Moore, 3000_l._ Rejected Addresses, by Smith, 1000_l._ Crabbe's Works, republication of, by Mr.

Murray, 3000_l._ Wordsworth's Works, republication of, by Mr. Moxon, 1050_l._ Bulwer's Rienzi, 1600_l._ Marryat's Novels, 500_l._ to 1500_l._ each. Trollope's Factory Boy, 1800_l._ Hannah More derived 30,000_l._ per annum for her copyrights, during the latter years of her life.

Rundell's Domestic Cookery, 2000_l._ Nicholas Nickleby, 3000_l._ Eustace's Cla.s.sical Tour, 2100_l._ Sir Robert Inglis obtained for the beautiful and interesting widow of Bishop Heber, by the sale of his journal, 5000_l._

MISS BURNEY'S "EVELINA."

The story of _Evelina_ being printed when the auth.o.r.ess was but seventeen years old is proved to have been sheer invention, to trumpet the work into notoriety; since it has no more truth in it than a paid-for newspaper puff. The year of Miss Burney's birth was long involved in studied obscurity, and thus the deception lasted, until one fine day it was ascertained, by reference to the register of the auth.o.r.ess' birth, that she was a woman of six or seven-and-twenty, instead of a "Miss in her teens," when she wrote _Evelina_. The story of her father's utter ignorance of the work being written by her, and recommending her to read it, as an exception to the novel cla.s.s, has also been essentially modified. Miss Burney, (then Madame D'Arblay,) is said to have taken the characters in her novel of _Camilla_ from the family of Mr. Lock, of Norbury Park, who built for Gen. D'Arblay the villa in which the work was written, and which to this day is called "Camilla Lacy." By this novel, Madame D'Arblay is said to have realized 3000 guineas.

EPITAPH ON CHARLES LAMB.

Lamb lies buried in Edmonton churchyard, and the stone bears the following lines to his memory, written by his friend, the Rev. H. F.

Cary, the erudite translator of _Dante_ and _Pindar_:--

"Farewell, dear friend!--that smile, that harmless mirth, No more shall gladden our domestic hearth; That rising tear, with pain forbid to flow-- Better than words--no more a.s.suage our woe.

That hand outstretch'd from small but well-earned store Yield succour to the dest.i.tute no more.

Yet art thou not all lost: through many an age, With sterling sense and humour, shall thy page Win many an English bosom, pleased to see That old and happier vein revived in thee.

This for our earth; and if with friends we share Our joys in heaven, we hope to meet thee there."

Lamb survived his earliest friend and school-fellow, Coleridge, only a few months. One morning he showed to a friend the mourning ring which the author of _Christabelle_ had left him. "Poor fellow!" exclaimed Lamb, "I have never ceased to think of him from the day I first heard of his death." Lamb died in _five days after_--December 27, 1834, in his fifty-ninth year.

"TOM CRINGLE'S LOG."

The author of this very successful work, (originally published in _Blackwood's Magazine_,) was a Mr. Mick Scott, born in Edinburgh in 1789, and educated at the High School. Several years of his life were spent in the West Indies. He ultimately married, returned to his native country, and there embarked in commercial speculations, in the leisure between which he wrote the _Log_. Notwithstanding its popularity in Europe and America, the author preserved his incognito to the last. He survived his publisher for some years, and it was not till Mr. Scott's death that the sons of Mr. Blackwood were aware of his name.

CHANCES FOR THE DRAMA.

The royal patent, by which the performance of the regular drama was restricted to certain theatres, does not appear to have fostered this cla.s.s of writing. Dr. Johnson forced Goldsmith's _She Stoops to Conquer_ into the theatre. Tobin died regretting that he could not succeed in hearing the _Honeymoon_ performed. Lillo produced _George Barnwell_ (an admirably written play) at an irregular theatre, after it had been rejected by the holders of the patents. _Douglas_ was cast on Home's hands. Fielding was introduced as a dramatist at an unlicensed house; and one of Mrs. Inchbald's popular comedies had lain two years neglected, when, by a trifling accident, she was able to obtain the manager's _approval_.

FULLER'S MEMORY.

Marvellous anecdotes are related of Dr. Thomas Fuller's memory. Thus, it is stated that he undertook once, in pa.s.sing to and from Temple Bar to the farthest conduit in Cheapside, to tell at his return every sign as they stood in order on both sides of the way, repeating them either backward or forward. This must have been a great feat, seeing that every house then bore a sign. Yet, Fuller himself decried this kind of thing as a trick, no art. He relates that one (who since wrote a book thereof) told him, before credible people, that he, in Sidney College, had taught him (Fuller) the art of memory. Fuller replied that it was not so, for _he could not remember that he had ever seen him before;_ "which, I conceive," adds Fuller, "was a real refutation;" and we think so, too.

LORD HERVEY'S WIT.

Horace Walpole records Lord Hervey's memorable saying about Lord Burlington's pretty villa at Chiswick, now the Duke of Devons.h.i.+re's, that it was "too small to inhabit, and too large to hang to your watch;"

and Lady Louisa Stuart has preserved a piece of dandyism in eating, which even Beau Brummell might have envied--"When asked at dinner whether he would have some beef, he answered, 'Beef? oh, no! faugh! don't you know I never eat beef, nor horse, nor any of those things?'"--The man that said these things was the successful lover of the prettiest maid of honour to the Princess of Wales--the person held up to everlasting ridicule by Pope--the vice-chamberlain whose attractions engaged the affections of the daughter of the Sovereign he served; and the peer whose wit was such that it "charmed the charming Mary Montague."

ANACREONTIC INVITATION, BY MOORE.

The following, one of the latest productions of the poet Moore, addressed to the Marquis of Lansdowne, shows that though by that time inclining to threescore and ten, he retained all the fire and vivacity of early youth. It is full of those exquisitely apt allusions and felicitous turns of expression in which the English Anacreon excels. It breathes the very spirit of cla.s.sic festivity. Such an invitation to dinner is enough to create an appet.i.te in any lover of poetry:--

"Some think we bards have nothing real-- That poets live among the stars, so Their very dinners are ideal,-- (And heaven knows, too oft they are so:) For instance, that we have, instead Of vulgar chops and stews, and hashes, First course,--a phoenix at the head, Done in its own celestial ashes: At foot, a cygnet, which kept singing All the time its neck was wringing.

Side dishes, thus,--Minerva's owl, Or any such like learned fowl; Doves, such as heaven's poulterer gets When Cupid shoots his mother's pets.

Larks stew'd in morning's roseate breath, Or roasted by a sunbeam's splendour; And nightingales, be-rhymed to death-- Like young pigs whipp'd to make them tender Such fare may suit those bards who're able To banquet at Duke Humphrey's table; But as for me, who've long been taught To eat and drink like other people, And can put up with mutton, bought Where Bromham rears its ancient steeple; If Lansdowne will consent to share My humble feast, though rude the fare Yet, seasoned by that salt he brings From Attica's salinest springs, 'Twill turn to dainties; while the cup, Beneath his influence brightening up, Like that of Baucis, touched by Jove, Will sparkle fit for G.o.ds above!"

THE POETS IN A PUZZLE.

Cottle, in his Life of Coleridge, relates the following amusing incident:--

"I led the horse to the stable, when a fresh perplexity arose. I removed the harness without difficulty; but, after many strenuous attempts, I could not remove the collar. In despair, I called for a.s.sistance, when aid soon drew near. Mr. Wordsworth brought his ingenuity into exercise; but, after several unsuccessful efforts, he relinquished the achievement, as a thing altogether impracticable. Mr. Coleridge now tried his hand, but showed no more grooming skill than his predecessors; for, after twisting the poor horse's neck almost to strangulation and the great danger of his eyes, he gave up the useless task, p.r.o.nouncing that the horse's head must have grown (gout or dropsy?) since the collar was put on; for he said 'it was a downright impossibility for such a huge _os frontis_ to pa.s.s through so narrow a collar!' Just at this instant, a servant-girl came near, and, understanding the cause of our consternation, 'La! master,' said she, 'you don't go about the work in the right way.

You should do like this,' when, turning the collar completely upside down, she slipped it off in a moment, to our great humiliation and wonderment, each satisfied afresh that there were heights of knowledge in the world to which we had not yet attained."

SALE OF MAGAZINES.

Sir John Hawkins, in his "Memoirs of Johnson," ascribes the decline of literature to the ascendancy of frivolous Magazines, between the years 1740 and 1760. He says that they render smatterers conceited, and confer the superficial glitter of knowledge instead of its substance.

Sir Richard Phillips, upwards of forty years a publisher, gives the following evidence as to the sale of the Magazines in his time:--

"For my own part, I know that in 1790, and for many years previously, there were sold of the trifle called the _Town and Country Magazine_, full 15,000 copies per month; and, of another, the _Ladies' Magazine_, from 16,000 to 22,000. Such circ.u.mstances were, therefore, calculated to draw forth the observations of Hawkins. _The Gentleman's Magazine_, in its days of popular extracts, never rose above 10,000; after it became more decidedly antiquarian, it fell in sale, and continued for many years at 3000.

"The veriest trifles, and only such, move the ma.s.s of minds which compose the public. The sale of the _Town and Country Magazine_ was created by a fict.i.tious article, called _Bon-Ton_, in which were given the pretended amours of two personages, imagined to be real, with two sham portraits. The idea was conceived, and, for above twenty years, was executed by Count Carraccioli; but, on his death, about 1792, the article lost its spirit, and within seven years the magazine was discontinued. The _Ladies' Magazine_ was, in like manner, sustained by love-tales and its low price of sixpence, which, till after 1790, was the general price of magazines."

Things have now taken a turn unlooked for in those days. The price of most magazines, it is true, is still more than sixpence--usually a s.h.i.+lling, and at that price the _Cornhill_ in some months reached an impression of 120,000; but the circulation of _Good Words_, at sixpence, has touched 180,000, and continues, we believe, to be over 100,000.

MRS. SOUTHEY.