The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1880-01-31

can "fight literature" I read nothing
but novels for weeks. / was surrounded
by heaps of rubbish and chat. ] read
all the novels of that person who was
once captain IN the Royal Navy-an
extraordinary ornament he must have
been to it; the man that wrote stories
about dogs that had their tails cut of,
about people in search Of their fathers;
and it seemed to me of all the extraer-
dinary ounces that had figured upon the
planet be must certainly bear the palm
from everyone save the readers of his
books. And thus refreshed I teok heart0f
grace again, applied me to my work and in
course of time 'eThe French Revolution"
Lgot finished-as all things must seaner or
later" The story is / believe, unique in
literature. But even this story with
''The History of the French Revolution"
was only one episode in its history.
1t Was easier to reproduce the lost Ms.
from chaos than to find q publisher fer
it; and in the recently published Let
ters of Mr.. Nacyey Napier" there are
two or thee notes of CarlyleS about his
unsuccessful negotiations with publish
ers-pnblishers in Paternoster Row, pub
fishers in Fleet street, publishers in
Albemarle street. Mr.. Napier gave
Carlyle q letter of introduc-
ton to Mr.. Rees, in the hope that he
might publish the work, and Mr.. Bees
received Carlyle with courtesy. But
that was all. He did not care about his
MS. "The public had ceased to buy
books" Murray was tried again with a
fresh introduction, and Murray for q
time seemed likely to rise to the bait.
But Murray in the end, like Bees, re-
turned the MS. "The Oharon' Of Albe-
marie street burst not riskit in hissutilis
cymba. So it leaped ashore again"
There is tradition in Paternoster
Row that the MS. Of "Lingard's Histo-
ry" had to 60 through similar course of
difficulties before, like Carlyle's, it found
a publisher; and Lingard, Carlyle, and
Motley do not stand alone with their re-
jected MSS. ' a'o 80 .- '".'.~
Lord Macaulay did not publish his
History till his contributions to the
Edinburgh Review" his lays and his
speeches IN the House of iCommom had
made his name known all over the Brit
ish Isles, in America, in every bungalow
in India, in every log hut in the Valley
of the fHawkesbury, and till he knew
perfectly well beforehand that If he
could only realize his ideal, and write
the History of England in the vivid and
picturesque style of his Essays and his
Lays he was sure of achieving the end
he had set his heart upon, that of being
read with as much interest and zest as
one of Dickens novels.
But even Macaulay had a skeleton, a
literary skeleton, in his cupboard TO-
wit, rejected MSS, two or three sets of
them-MSS. which have not been printed
to this day. ,.
And thatwas the case with Brougham.
Brougham insisted that two. of Maoau-
laws articles, an article on the French
Revolution and another on Chatham,
should be put aside in favor Of one of
his own, because, in his opinion, no
writer upon the staff of the Edinburgh
Review was competent to deal with
French politics but himself, and because,
| If his sentences were not in Macaulay's
'snip-snap style, he could produce more
truthful and an equally picturesque ar
tiole. Buteven Brougham in his turn
had to break open packets of MSS. to
find, instead uf proof, one OF those curt
announcements which sound like knell
to all the hopes of a sensitive soul-'Re-
turned with thanks '..
Even Jeffrey-Francis Jeffrey, the ON
niscient and versatile Jeffey--knew
these sensations, and in those rooms In
Buccleugh Place, where Sydney Smith,
Horner, Breugham and Murray met to
talk over the suggestion for establishing
/ the Edinburgh Review" there were
three or four MSS. lying about which
had been sent to all the existing Fmaga.
zines and returned. Jeffrey had six arti.
cles in the first number of the "buff and
II blue" and two or three OF these,
: shrewdly suspect, we're articles that were
\; perfectly familiar with the post-bag o1
the London and Edinburgh coach, and
!. knew what it was TO be tossed about, with
! cigar-ends and Odes to the Spring, in .
waste.paper basket.
\ These illustrations might be multi
Piled ad infinitum. But / must stop
And yet there il one more instanct
which ought to be mentioned, because i,
J, is an instance that carries q moral with il
i to those who think of making literature
, profession. 1refcr TO George Henry
/ Lewes, the founder of the Fortnightly
/ Review. He was one of the mos,
thoughtful and careful of writers, q mar
J, who held that precision of thosght and
expression alone constitute good writing
/ Yet George Henry Lewes had one Of thi
first articles which he sent to the Edin
/ burgh Review returned by the editor Il
be rewritten all through, and the sec
ond edition was 90 far superior to the
first, even in the opinion Of its author
that he never after sent hh
first brouillon to press, but invariably
wrote everything twice and sometimes
i thrice before he thought of submitting L
to an editor. The consequence was, Of
( course, that he seldom had MS. re-
j, turned. He constituted himseH his OWL
editor, and returned his own MSS. 1t il
: an admirable. plan, and if with that plan