Litchfield enquirer., 1880-04-01
B0URs WHICH WERE NOT THOUGHT
 WORTH THE PRINTING.


 WORTH THE PRINTING.
 Al the world knows the history of :: Jane Eyre" how 1t was written ill the gray old psrsonage under the Yorkshire hiiI, how the ruugh notes. sketched hastily iii pe4cil. were transcribed in neat hand as legible a. pr1ut. and how the manuscript, in its brown pepG wrapper, was se2t of from the small s1zsion- house st Keighley to q apublishe1, only to find its way back again, '.Resurned with thank" ]" til the packet. scored all over with publishers names, and, well-nigh worn ou by its travels, found its way into the hands ,Of MesSzs- Smith 6 Elder, with stamped envelope inside for reply.
 This story of Jane Eyre is, with au- tssovs who cannot ind publisher, ore of the sanding sources of consolation, and it is vesy stElking instance of the loose way ill visch publishers readers now and then look through manuscripts that find their way into tE=5F hands. even if 1t does not prove tha. pGbzIShers like women, though they cant aisG genius cannot divine its existence till al the world point with the hand {: for Smith 4 ELders reader was 50 struck with the tale thzs. Scot as he was, he sat up half of the nlgnr to finish it. But some allowance ought to be made even for the readers for ii must be dull. tedious work to spell out the plot of s ssogy, so ind the proofs of genius in a bOose Elle of manuscript, which you can hard y EPEi45s decipher exceP: with glass; and pezl@Es not always with that. -s - -- s. Y
 Fzncs Jeffrey kneS well the difficulty Of forming an opinion upon an article from reading | in manuscript, that in sending his hrs Ar1scle to the EiiR6urgh ReUieac after he had relinquished the editorship, he stipu- iz-edth2t Mr. Napier should not attempt to re@d H untl he could read 1t in type; and sh< edisE of the Saturday Reoie0, few years ago. used to have every article that seemed &s all worth publishing set up in syT% before he made up his mind whether to accept or reject it.
 Eyeything. as Charles Lamb used to say, i sQ< tO read % rav m manuscript. It is ths H0a Adlzsczllt thing in the world to know how An article wiIl read from looking at it n zzzzsz1pt, 90 difficult that even authors shezsseEves. men Of long and varied experi- eone. men hke Moore and Macaulay, could s<A3Sn form 2a opinion upon their own vr5lngs uutll they saw how they looked in pcz1 Akd when that is the case with the Ez<hOr, how must 1t be with the publisher or kls reader, and with the editor of pubIca- s02. who has to make up his mind about the DGzEs Of half a dozen manuscripts in tAs cOzrse of morning.
 TG. zf1ez all I suspect that very few ar- tc3S and very few books that are worth FE1u-zng are Ios4 10 the world, for the com petition sznOng publishers for manuscripts is O1lly one degree less keen than the compe- tz-sO1 among authors for publishers, and an suEhOr who has anything worth printing is ssAaun long without publisher.
 IhzPPen to know the secret history of book which has long since taken its rank sz81ng the classics of English Iiterature-I mean EOthen-" Ii was written years and year before II was published; written with cx-e and thought; revised in the honest sEG-z Of criticism and kept under lock and key fr long tune. It is a book which, as 1E As workmanship goes exemplifed in a wy striking form Shenstone's rule for good ~-1zing Spontaneous thought, la- bgrea eKaEessSsn,- and there are few books Of 1-zra El1ich equally abound in. adventure, nrl6su1 sketches Of character and personal r1mE1oe h is, as LOckhart well said, an ERchsh classac
 BH w2ssn Alexander Kinglake offered it to She gSubhshers, they refused 1t one and all, rH&Rsss I upon any terms, and the author at 2Es-- au, df concel1 wT1h his manuscript and vss-aszgss x11h himself walked into a book Sahe-7s ,lhop Ia Fad Maj explained the ad- UeIIzETes ed -hs snaau4cr1ya, and made 1t Tsessrs 7s she FIhilsl4er If he thought ii Es--A 1be Frra1lAg- The Era elition lin- efTe6 I-ase on hl> hands til a notice in S'saayzev;g Rssaaz- from tine pen of Lock aIE-z Gabes zzseu1aon UO IL and the printers <izfic1Eg z7sez 1Az- was to keep pace with zAit 5slnsn6 I hosse an not vioiati; g any Sssu155suue sv adding that the publisher, ySE sg Eesz- fOr many years. sent Mir. kmIe41ks cAack for EI0O every Christmas D1E--St4gregSa-