The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-02 00:00:00

A WORD FOR MISS BRADDON.

Those who have read " Lady Audley's Secret"
will not need to be reminded of the important posi
tion which the incident of arson occupies in the
story. The burning of Mr. Meyburn's mill by
" the turn-outs" occupies no such position in Mr.
Fullom's story, and is not the work of any of the
principal actors in it. As for the coincidence of
describing the red light in the sky, we should be
curious to see any piece of descriptive writing into
which a conflagration is introduced, which omits
to notice that circumstance.
But, perhaps, the choieest piece of critical inge-
nuity displayed by Mr. Fullom, in drawing up his
indictment of plagiarism, is the fo' lowing :
MAN OF TIIE WORLD. LADY AIJDLEY'H SECRET.
Danvers prevents Rosalie Lady Audley prevents iier
from denouncing his intended first husband lrom denounc-
marriage with Eleanor, by ing i,econd marriage by
pushing her over the preei- dropping him in the well.
pace (pp. 399, 403, 404).
The reader has only to compare for a moment the
relative situations of the persons alluded to in these
passages, to perceive the absurdity of Mr. Fullom s
charge in this particular.
But the plain fact of the matter is, that there is
no clause in this most impudent indictment which is
not as destitute of foundation as those which we
have quoted. The coincidences and resemblances,
such as they ere, belong altogether to the same cate-
gory as Fluellen's celebrated comparison between
the rivers of Macedon and those of Monmouth, and
if they were to be held to justify plagiarism fur
one moment, it would be impossible for any author
to escape conviction. If Mr. Fullom's case against
Miss Braddon is to hold good, any other novelist
(say Sir Walter Scott or Mr. Charles Dickens) has
an equally good case for complaint. We have only
io draw a few comparisons somewhat in this style,
and the whole case is proved •--
MISS BRADDON. SIR W. SCOTT. MR. C. DICKENS
Tarty Audley is a Rose Bradwar- Dora is a young
young and beauti- dine is a young and and beautiful wo
ful woman, with be titifui woman, man, with fair hair
fair hair and b'ue with fair hair and and blue eyes. and
eyes, and a power blue ryes, and a a power of ,t raet-
of at•raethig the poaerot attracting ing the affection of
affection of those the affection of those about her.
about her. those about her.
SIIdISS BRADDOI6 R. C DICKENS.
Captain Prrdder is a sea- Captain Cntile is a sealer-
faring person, or rough man- ing pe, soP, of rough manners
ners and an amiable disposi- and anh
amiable dispoatiocted
n
Hon (theaigh somewh ,t ad- (thoug some t hat addi
dieted to rum\ and is deeply to rum) audis de-ply attached
attached to Aurora. to Florence Dombey.
Nothing could be easier than to prove accusations
of plagiarism in this way ad infinitum ; but nothing,
our readers admit, could well be more absurd. It
Mr. Fullom's object in putting forward this charge
is to revive the sale of an inconveniently large
" remainder," it is not improbable that the curiosity
which naturally leads people to inquire into such
matters for themselves, will cause his hopes to be
partly realised; but whether this proceeding will
tend to increase his reputation or Letter his position
as a man of letters is another question. To those who
do look into the matter for themselves, we can
confidently appeal for a decision, whether we have
treated Mr. Fullom at all unfairly in pronouncing
his charge to be utterly destitute of foundation. As
for the lady, she has written to the Morning Herald
a brief di•cluiraer of ever baying read one line of
Mr. Fullom's book, and we entirely believe her.
Moreover, we advise her to rest satisfied with her
ignorance—unless, indeed, she chooses to peruse his
pages with a view of studying what to avoid, in
which case they might be of some use. And this
is a branch of knowledge in which Miss Braddon
has yet much to learn.—From the " Critic" for
I April, 1863.

HOLYDAYS AT THE LAW OFFlCES.—Tomorrow
(Friday) the offices of the Common Law Courts will be
closed, and will be re-opened en Wednesday mornivg•