LITERARY NOTES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4142, 30 June 1874, Page 3

LITERARY NOTES.

CHARLES DICKENS. Charles Dickens —how did ho die ? This question is imt a contemporary, and answered thus :—The life of Charles Dickens teems with interest ; his death gives a most salutary lesson. An eminent medical writer gives a short summary of the various shocks to the system of Dickens, which naturally weakened him and predisposed his frame to affliction, and gives the most conclusive evidence that paralysis, which ended the great lillcraicur’s earthly career, was duo almost exclusively to that very act of his life which drew admiring thousands to listen to tho delineations in person of tho leading characters of his published works. On leaving the platform after reading “ Copperfield,” so laborious, earnest, and pathetic were the exertions made by Dickens, his whole soul being thrown into the work, that the pulsations of his heart numbered 9G, being 24 in excess of the .ordinary pulse, 72 ; after “ Marigold,” 99 ; “ Sikes and Nancy,” 118 ; “ Oliver Twist,” 124. Thus, while his audiences were rejoicing over his talented histrionic display, tho efforts of tho reader himself were driving nails into his coffin, breaking down the delicate walls of tho nervous system of the brain, flooding that great organ with an inundation of fluid, which doomed tho birth-place of Pickwick and a host of other interesting characters of English fictitious history. ROBERT AND WILLIAM CHAMBERS, Mr. Bathgate, R.M., has been giving a lecture in Dunedin on “Old Times in Scotland.” In the course of tho lecture, which was of an interesting and genial character, he gave a history of the life of William Chambers —the founder of Chambers'B Journal —dwelling on his frugality, economy, industry, and enterprise. In speaking of William Chambers’s youth, he said :—Chambers repaired to his i shop to open it at half-past seven, and continued

hard at work until nine at night—a period of nearly fourteen hours. No early-closing movement in those days, or eight hours’ labor. Eivo years of this servitude passed away, and after that William resolved to call no man master. He took a small shop in Leith Walk—a mean brick edifice—without counters or furniture, at a yearly rent of £lO. He remembered the story of Lackington, the famous London bookseller, who began business in 177-1 with five pounds worth of books on a stall, and retired in less than twenty years, when his profits amounted to £SOOO a year. He resolved to display his wares on a stall outside his shop, and he adopted Laokington’s motto, “ Small profits, bound ■by industry, and clasped by economy.” Colonial booksellers go upon another tack, and charge from 30 to 100 per cent, profit. They have not yet discovered, either here or in other Colonial towns, that it would be better to double their sales by charging a less profit. There is a fortune yet to be made by the first cheap Colonial bookseller. After from three to four years’ existence in the Walk, higher ventures were made, and in the spring of 1823 William removed to a good shop in Broughton street. Robert had advanced to India Place. They now rose rapidly. Robert's early effort, the publication of the “ The Traditions of Edinburgh,” attracted great attention, and this led to introductions to the learned society of Modem Athens But the great hit was the projection of Chambers’s Edinburgh Journal in 1532, by William. Prom the first the three-halfpenny sheet was an unqualified success, and tile circulation rose to thousands. Robert, seeing its success, left the editorship of the Edinburgh, Advertiser, and joined his brother in the world-renowned firm of W. and 11. Chambers. They had then a shop in North Hanover Street. Considerable mechanical difficulty was experienced in supplying the demand. John Johnstone, a fine old man, the husband of the authoress of “ Clan Albyn,” was the printer. Relays of men working at hand-presses in various parts of the City could not overtake the work. Sets of stereotype plates wex-e at length sent weekly to London, and after three years the circulation rose to 60,000. Eortune now dawned brightly nn r the brothers, and they advanced in the social scale, recovering the ground they had lost through the adversity of their father. They finally established themselves in spacious premises in High Street, where, with twelve printing machines at work, and a complete staff of able literary assistants, a whole host of printers, engravers, binders, stereotypers, and other laborers, they issued to the world a daily stream of 50,000 sheets in various departments of literature —all, be it remarked, of the very highest order. In the conduct of that business the brothers laid down three rules, which were inflexibly maintained : Never to take credit ; never ,to give a bill, and never to discount one ; as well as never to undertake any enterprise for which means were not prepared. I suggest these rules for the consideration of Colonial merchants and tradesmen. An adherence to them would save much racking anxiety, and prevent much insolvency and loss. Of course it is not every young Scotchman who finally rises to the lofty jxositiou of William Chambers ; but in his life of strict frugality, active industry, and patient endurance, he is the representative of many poor lads who have risen to comfort, if not affluence.