LIGHT ON JOHNSON.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 633, 9 October 1909, Page 9

LIGHT ON JOHNSON.

■_ Mr. Aleyn Reade, it is announced, 'is to publish a, series-.of volumes, on obscure-, passages in' the life: of Dr.. Johnson. .Thore arc many . such . obscure; passages. Some' occur -in • • that period of his life that preceded the meeting with": Boswell. The circumstances and duration of his stay at Oxford are obscurc, and the year 1745 is so. blank, that some' have, even speculated', that -so; staunch ,a .Jacobite. - may i liavo been,trailing a pike in the.Northern "Rising." On his early struggle; ins London wo shall pro-' bablj; never have; much light, but will have to remain- content ' with' Mac&ulay's conjecture, that during, that period he :was tried"by .the. bitterest calamities, by the. want of meat, -of fire, and of clothes, by the importunity of. creditors, by the: insolence: of,booksellers,' by the .' derision .of' fools,','.by -the, insincerity.' of . patrons/- by; that bread - which, is : the bitterest of .all'. fobd, by. . those stairs' w-hich are the most toilsome:-of: all .paths, ;by.'that, hope deferred makes the heart/. 6ick." , .More-' over,' eyen, during/his acquaintance witt'Johnson', -Boswell must have missed, much .which may have, 'been collected, by- others.: ... It; is always.'a surprise to-.a reader of , , the , great "Life"' to;,find on; examination .-hojr "few the occasions were'when-Johnson and, Boswell mot ,{ind how/short the. meetings were.. During his absences he had. assistants taking notes-for him . which' ;i .he; edited ; and , inserted. . > Unpublished notes -by others: may bo '.lying perdu. /iFinally, although' Boswell make a cat ~of his tiger, . he' may : have omitted - .incidents. • that added''nor dignity to :his hero. Here,, for', ex. ample :are ;tjro anecdotes relating; to '-his'; visit to ' Aberdeen . and .'-. still, floating. ;in- the atmosphere'of that city, - which,' if. true, must, hayo been: known to.jßosiToll and yet do. not appear in; Kis .-'pages.''-At dinner one ..night .the hostess said,'' "Dr.. Johnson,. let, me send you a little .hotch-potch."' "No, madam," Johnson rejoined explosively; /'hotch-potch, is. a food for:hogs" Whereupon.the lady quietly repeated, ■ "Do let-mo send you some, Dr. Johnson.','v On another occasion lie had to pass, between a workman_ and the will, which lie was "harling"—"harling" .being a process by' which, :a solution of wnitowash, .lime, and gravel is. yiolently'discharged' at a wall. "I hope, .my good"man," said Johnson,'no' doubt pompously -enough, "I am not in your way?" "Na, na, the man, "I just: hopo yon bo na in'your'ain,way.". JThese.anecdotes are accepted locally as veracious, although one feels'; that.Uhe,,first:! would, haye.'been. easy to invent,-and that, in-the'case.'of the second, ono who had been told that a man with'a physiquo like his was; fitter for a -porter's , knot than literary work, 'who hadthreshed . Osbourne the publisher, and who had laid: up a stout oaken,cudgel for the shoulders of. Ossian Macpherson would even'at the age of 61 have given' the" workman, a demonstration-in: fisti- ' cuffs.—"Manchester; Guardian.": , . :> i -The English';-maTl ', b'ringc. 'n'ews of •, the dealt of- George, Manville■ Fepn, ■' the. author of so many .storiisifor-; boys,. «t .the ago 'of, 75.:. At ; one tirrw' dramatic fxiii" thp "EoKo.". Hp

was editor of "Casscli's Magazine" for 60'i\eyears, and editor and proprietor of "Once a Week." How ho (mind time for nil this and tlio production simultaneously of over a hundred novels and boys' stories is gne of'those things which some of the younger generation will find it. difficult to understand; and the wonder will grow when one adds that h:s short stories and other fugitive contributions to magazines' numbered over a thousand. Mr. Fcnn's eldest son, Frederick, is-the author of several popular plays, and his father no doubt often had occasion to. recall nn experieuco which befell him many years ago. He was in the B-eform Club at the time, when lie" noticed one of his fellow-members, a personal friend, looking somewhat perturbed and, restless, withthe'result that be inquired what was the ■matter. "Well," was the' reply, "the fact is my son has got a piay coming out to-night, and I fear 'it will'be a ghastly failnre. He can -write pretty little pieces when he likes; but this • one is a nonsensical sort of'. thing, and I am suro that it won't go at all. How--over; I suppose I must go and seo it." The son's name was William Sehwenk Gilbert, and the play was "Trial by Jury.""

. Mr. John Murray, publisher,' writing in the' "World," says:— ; > . "A publisher cannot- insure .the, success of every-book lie publishes, nor is ho always for ' lack . of. success. ; Some few authors think he is, and the following warning is so frequently lieoded that I have for many years kept'it in'pript-to send to some writers —in anticipation. Authors are earnestly requested not to place too mufch confidence in the obiter.dipta.of friends who have no stake in''the production -and success of their books. Such episodes as the following .are of constant occurrence. An author's friends 'urge him to publish his book"; while it is l in course of, preparation they express a. longing desire for its appearance; after it is published they meet ths author, and, in answer to inqniries for.-, their ;opiriion„ say, "Is it really, out? I :am sure it. has" not been properly advertised, as I have never heard.of it"; and the author, left with an unpleasant'.impression that his book is being neglected,, blames his publisher, ft must be remembered that the utmost possible amount which can. be realised by the sale ;of-an ' edition is strictly ; limited, while the amount. which may. be spent on adver ? tising .is unlimited.. .'.Unless , expenditure on this : head is very carefully administered, it may easily ■ absorb, not only the possible profits,' .'but .1 even. the whole proceeds of the sale.of a book.''

One of the most remarkable works recently published ron t'titi Continent is "Deutschland und Eifgland," by .Herr Karl Bleibtreu, and it is especially notable for the tribute it. pays not only to English literature, but to the reading hunger,-of .the British people. In spite of the modern German "devotion to culture, , Herr Bleibtreu places the English as the first reading: .people;/>in . the■ ..world.. The literary culture of the Englishman,.he says, ! inasmuch as that term covers knowledge of his own literature, stands- higher-than that of-the Continent. :The Briton r,eads evervwherc. With him reading is a necessary "of lffe," like; eating and drinking. In literature Herr Bleibtreu finds that Great Britain beats all the records of the past and the present.- .In richness in all fields of/knowledge ..he,, plates it .before' the';Greok,! and ho adds: "A .nation which leaves such,a . literature behind'-as a reflection'/ of its. genius ' has'a-right to-pride; Such a .nation is truly tho first." Tho'Englishman will probably i add (comments an English paper) that lw hopes' it will■ be-long' before tho greatness of-its litsrn ture 'will bo based, solely, on. tho achievements of the past. .Tlie. output now is greater than ever, before; and it -will bo strange if from all the chaff there , cannot be winnowed something that in'the judgment of ages still to come will be worthy to stand alongside the -best tl. earlier days.

'Miss- Holen : Mathers (Mrs. Henry Reeves), who. has announced her intention of writing no more novels, has * only ono complaint m respect of her, career. Shei. was such a youngster. : wheri she scored -iher .first;-success that people never will .believe that, she is not, older, than she, reallT is. .' .When '.'.'Comin': thro', the Eye" was published,, she was only just out of her .'teens.' 1 But/ she/had .been-: writing .then, since she:was nine years: old,-,and.;at..thirteen' 1 had composed a'poem which, won'itlie. praises-_of Eosetti. Her best book, sh'o thinks,'is "Comin* thro'.the Eye," and it has been ;her most successful one. Thomas Hardy once'told her. that wherever he \Vent ho was always sure of finding i'.his book and tho Bible.- Tho composition oi .Comin' thrp'"tlie'Eye" was "a secret, from the rbst ;of its. aiitidr's family.'. She "wrote'it. on scraps of' higgledypiggledy : together;- /'But/she'- must have had. a second for, rwheni slie had got half ttro book? .-'.-much ,in- ; love with hcr ; voff manusferiptl -egce wa» • uhlilt#i'ttatsui»essf?l' au■thors; she'/met., with no .'rebuff. , The; work wart- accepted 'there arid then,; ,and'. tho"second hahf remained to ..be writtei\., ..That did not trouble its author. : 'Sho wrote' at top speed, and- very. soon , people were showering congratulations . upon-. Miss: Ehoda Broughton i on her supposed authorship of the new . novel.

;Thci" dedtJii; p;;-yeriT;-of '.tjvp,' the .'.shmo ■ h&faeas'-; himself-,■•' Barii)|V Goiild-an, of .readiDgAhis own-,'oltiituary noticed Td'.writerhovrevcr, of.;a person.; who. is . living a' 3. if ho were dead ;is not 'sq uncommon as to: (Write of a dead person as if-trning.' Yet that is what-the August number ofr. the ."Book .Monthly" ; doe?. m ,tho> case of Mr;;. Harriet Beecher Stowe*. ' "Some people," :ihe writer'uf . f he paragraph says, '-' are probably under ' the impression :that Mrs. Harriet Beecher S,towe;'.the'author of 'Uncle Tom's (Jabin,' is dead and gone." That, however, it is only' a vulgar .prejudice, butt shei 'is really old.. -She is 1 now so old' a woman .that', she has jnst been; celebrating, ■amid nrnny.'congratulations from' her; countrymen and' countrywomen, .the ninety-eighth anniversary". of her birth.'" ' The minority who believe {fiat she is dead in good .earnest are, nevertheless, in,the. right/ She died, at Hartford, Connecticut,' July 1, 1896, and her life has. been written by Mrs.: J. T. Field. The same mist tike had 'been mado by an, American naper. In -the Now Ydrk "Publishers'. Weekly" it.,v;as airwonnced recently that "Mrs.. Harriet Beecher Slinwe' on June H celebrated the ninety-cighiih anniversary of her birth." : In tho next isssie: however. there appears this important motliflcation of ,the statement:—'Of course, Harriet - B'eeCher Stowe was- present only in spiiit when her. was celebrated on June 14—her body haying been ;laid to these thirteen, years. We mako this -correction for the benefit; of .those who - may B-avo been misled- bv our last week iitto. thinking that Mrp. .Stowe was still living.'"- Probably the writer in the "Book Monthly" was one of those so misled.>'