The Sun.
London, England, 1844-11-22 00:00:00

his mouth. He stands in a situation similar to that
of the champion ofEngland in the barbarous age of
pugilistic combats. From the first hour of his pub-
lication to the last day of his fame, he is exposed to
the challenge of every rival who chooses to enter
the field with a view to occupy his place ; and as
the public never fails, sooner or later, to award the
prize to the highest merit, he holds his supremacy
Only while h 9 iq able to distance every competitor.
The law which limits his copyright may despoil him
of his bread, before such a rival has appeared. It
may wrest from him and deliver over to men of infe-
rior capacity, the profits of his genius, at the very
time when these men acknowledge that they cannot,
by the exercise of their own powers, rival him in the
career of public usefulness. If they could do so,
there would be 110 teed of infringing his rights ; for
the publication of a treatise of higher merit would
extinguish hie work, and bring it to an end by natu-
ral dissolution. Even assuming that it might be cen-
turies before a writer appeared capable of producing
such a clear, eloquent, and instructive elucidation of
the principles of mechanical science as the work in
question, this would only present stronger motives to
Dr. Arnott's representatives to enlarge its circula-
tion ; but if they were so insane as not to do so, the
inherent rights of all authors should not be violated
because the representatives of one happened to be mad.
" This argument applies to works of every kind,
the substance of which consists of useful and practical
ideas. The law which regulates patents for mecha-
nical inventions denies to all individuals the exclusive
we of principles ; and, in like manner, no author
claims, or can juetly pretend to, an exclusive right to
particular ideas, facts, notions, or scientific postulates
or inductions. All that he contends for is the right
of property in his own special combinations of the
elements of thought—leaving to all the world the free
privilege of making similar, or better combinations of
them, at their own discretion, and to the buyers the
right of preferring the works which they find to be
most instructive.

" The third class of publications embraces novels
and poetry ; in short, all works of fiction and fancy.
What would a perpetual copyright of such works
imply ? It would confer no exclusive property in the
emotions, incidents, and ideas, which form their sub-
stance ; but solely in the special combination of the
words by which they are expressed. On one occasion
Mrs. Siddons happened to read one of the sublimest
passages of Shakspeare in the presence of the late Mr.
Sotheby, the translator of Oberon and other works.
When she paused, lie exclaimed Fine words! Grand
words!' and, after a few moments, added Now, these
words would not have occurred to me r This remark
renders the thing which would be covered by the
copyright of such works as clear as the noonday sun.
.It: would be, as in the other instances already cited,
only the special combination of words by means of
.which the ideas and emotions are expressed; and the
power of making this combination is a gift so pecu-
liarly individual that no species of property can
surpass it in sacredness. It depends on a particular
`size and combination of cerebral organs, and a par-
ticular temperament, which impart strength, fire, re-
finement, and sublimity, to the products of the pen.
If man can be said to create anything, it is such works
as those of Shakspeare, Milton, Byron, Scott, and
Campbell. These are pure luxuries to the public ;
they cannot justly be viewed as articles of necessity,
because the ideas and sentiments contained in them
may all be applied to general use. It is only the
magnificent forms in which the inspired sons of genius
have embodied them that are claimed as sacred; and
it appears to me to be a mere wanton exercise of
power in the public to appropriate these, while a re-
presentative of the author is to be found alive on earth.
The first and grand motive to the composition of
such works is the conscious delight of creating them ;
the second, the love of fame ; the third, the hope of
doing good, directly or indirectly ; and the last and
least., the expectation of pecuniary profit. Every
age produces its own sons of genius ; and if, by such
incredible suppositions as I have already allowed, the
representations of a Shakspeare or a Milton were to
stop the sale of their works, no substantial interest
of the public would suffer; for, even could the copies
already issued be recalled, new minstrels would arise,
who, writing under the same inspirations, and guided
by the lights of science and of a more advanced phi-
losophy, would, in all probability, sing new songs of
emotion and fancy, not inferior to those of their pre-
decessors in fire, energy, and refinement, while they
might surpass them in purity, truth, and all the
grander elements of thought.
" With all deference, therefore, to the able indi-
viduals who have controverted the title of authors to
a copyright in perpetuity, it appears to me that jus-
tice supports their claim, and that the interests of
society are not exposed to the least danger in grant-
ing am, Ste. " GEO. COMBE."