The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-20 00:00:00

z.,,, \-!*,-,yrav:i9
emu ,str, .

HER MAJESTY, &e.

OSBORNE, Wednesday.

The Queen drove out yesterday afternoon, ac-
companied by Princess Christian, and her Majcsty
walked and rode in the grounds this 'horning with
Princess Louise.

Prince Christian rodo out yesterday afternoon,
attended by Major-General F. H. Seymour, and
his royal highness walked and drove this morning
with Princess Christian.

Prince Leopold and Prince henry of Prussia
drove out yesterday, attended by Mr. Legg.

The Duchess of Athole has succeeded the March-
ioness of Ely as Lady in Waiting to her Majesty.

The Duke of Hamilton is entertaining the fol-
lowing party at Easton Park, Suffolk :—The Hon. F.
Bertie, Hon. R. Herbert and Mrs. Herbert, Mr. and Mrs.
Granville, Mr. F. Wombwell, Mr. It. Burton, Mr. H. Craw-
shaw, and Lieut.-Colonel Knox, Fusilier Guards. Heavy
bags have been made during the past week in his grace's
coverts.

The Dowager Duchess of Atticle and Miss
Murray Macgregor have left the St. George's Hotel, for
Osborne, Isle of Wight. The Duchess of Newcastle, the
Earl and Countess of Portarlington, the Marchioness of
Hastings, and Lady Constance Marsham have also left the
same establishment.

The Marquis and Marchioness of Salisbury have
been entertaining a select party at Hatfield House, Herts.
It is riot their intention this year to give the ball at Hat-
field.

Sir F. Johnstone, Bart., in consequence of receiv-
ing the information of the death of Mr. Oswald, at Cannes,
has relinquished for the present his hunting at Melton
Mowbray.

LITERATURE.

Abortive Malice.

Under the heading of " Mr. Charles Rcade's
Masterpiece of Plagiary," the Round Table returns
to its attack upon " Griffith Gaunt." It charges
the author of that tale with the most barefaced
plagiarism. It not merely denies in toto his claims
to the merit of originality, but boldly asserts that
he borrows his plot, his ideas, his characters, his
incidents, his very language from other writers,
and those writers his own immediate contemporaries.
To make good this charge it prints in three parallel
columns extracts to which it directs attention as
not merely similar, but, as it asserts, absolutely
identical—three parallel columns of extract -upon
extract from Charles Reade's " Griffith Gaunt,'
published in 1866—from Wilkie Collins's Griffiths'
Story, published in 1859 as a portion of " The
Queen of Hearts,"—and to crown all, from an
anonymous paper, entitled " The Frenchman of
Two Wives," which appeared on Dec. 6, 1856, in No.
350 of Charles Dickens's Household Words. Nowt
having very carefully taken into consideration the
audacious charge thus directed against Mr. Charles
Reade by his enemies of the Round Table, and
and having carefully examined and compared the
parallel columns of extracts with which the Round
Table undertakes to make good its assertions, we
must protest, in the interests of truth and in the
names of Fair Play and Common Honesty, to say
nothing, of Common Decency, that for these shame-
ful charges we cannot perceive in the extracts given
the shadow of a shade of justification. If this be
plagiarism, then can no future writer ever have the
faintest possible chance of making good any claim
to originality. Love and Jealousy had been written
about beforo, and will be written about afterwards,
but for all tliat " Griffith Gaunt" is original, if it IS
nothing else—and that it has other merits besides
that great and conspicuous merit of originality we
ourselves took occasion to indicate, in as plain
language as we could contrive to employ to that
purpose, in our review not long since of Mr. Charles
lleade's last, and in some respect his most remark'
able, contribution to our imaginative literature.