SUCH IS FAME

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 96, 20 October 1934, Page 24

SUCH IS FAME

Sir Bichard Gregory, in the course of his address on the relationship between Literature and Science, at the annual general meeting of the Booksellers' Provident Association, London, interrupted himself once or twice to tell delightful anecdotes; most of them concerne.d the illusory nature of literary fame. A man, said Sir Bichard, bought a house in Yorkshire, in which Charlotte Bronte once lived. After some months he went to the local authorities and complained that American tourists were making his life a nuisance by endlessly inquiring at his front door whether that was the house in which Charlotte Bronte lived. The authorities, to soothe Mm, put up a plaque over the front door: "Charlotte Bronte once lived here."

A year later the man once more went to the authorities, plaintively beseeching them to remove the plaque. "It's the English, people, now," he explained; "they keep coming to me to ask w,ho this Charlotte Bronte was."

Sir Richard also told tho story of the statesman who invited Mr. Humphrey Ward, the husband of the worldfamous Victorian novelist, to dine with him. As an afterthought, and with a large hospitality that did. him credit, the statesman added: "And if there is a Mrs. . Humphrey Ward, bring her along, too."