The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1880-01-31
THE DAILY STAR;
REJECTED MSS.

e0r c0mpllmoHkS, Or Wltn Vh6dQtbU
and thanks." These are
cmter forms. There isne unkindness in
them, Of course. They are mere busi-
ness-like intimations that the contri-
button you have offered is not contri-
butien that will suit the editor of the
Yea have sent the MSS. to.
Yet perhaps there are no more painful,
no more odious, no more disheartening
words in the vocabulary of literature
than these-'R Returned with thank"
even when they are softened with the
editors compliments; and q few editors,
editors who perhaps have vivid recol-
lection of their own sensations in reoeiv-
ing back their rejected MSS, have tried
10 soften the blow to the sensitive minds
by lengthening the form a little. They
regret that your article is not suitable"
to their magazine, or that they have not
space for it, and try In one or two other
ways to save your amour propre in per
forming a duty, which, however per.
formed, must touch you to the quick.
There may, of course, be a dozen
reasons for the rejection of your MS.
The article may be too leng. The sub
ject, however interesting it may be to
you, may not be of sufficient interest to
the public at the moment to make it
worth the editors while to publish the
article. Or it may be upon a subject
which is outside the range Of topics the
editor wishes to deal with. Or-fol
there are many constructions to be put
upon the words-the style in which you
have written may not suit the tone ol
the magazine. You may be a writer Of
brilliant and profound genius, Thack.
cray or Carlyle; but even Thackeray
or Carlyle were a. familiar with these
words Returned with thanks" as the
rest of us. Thackeray's "Yellowplush
Papers" were in their day among the most
sparkling contributions to "Frazer's ma
gazine." But Thaokeray, writing an ar
ticle in the "Edinburg Review" in the
style of the Yellowplush Papers, had to
submit to q revision at the hands of the
editor which made his recollection of the
Edinburgh Review" even with the so
latium Of q handsome cheque, anything
but pleasant. Francis Jeffrey used to
cut snd slash at Carlyle's MSS. dash
out and write in--tin Carlyle must have
been more mortal if he did not use
stronger Language than he put upon
paper, and even after all this Jeffrey APP
parently came to the conclusion
that "Carlyle would not do" for
the "Edinburgh Review" I have
had MSS. returned again and again,
but they have always found a publisher
in the end, and I have an impression,
which is, I,beliexe, shared by many pub
lie writer's, that the best articles are
those that are returned the eftenest. /
know they are sometimes most success
full, and-tooompare small things with
great--that, it is notorious, has been the
case with tive or three historical works
and works of fiction which before they
were published were metaphorically
scored all over by the publishers raa-
ders with these words, "Returned with
thanks" 1t is said that Bret Harte has
never known what it is to have an ar
tiele rejected. that everything he has
written has been taken at once, and that
he SO enjoyshis work that the reading
of his proofs is still to him one of his
greatest pleasures. I can not vouch fer
the story, although it is likely TO be true.
But if it be, ALL can say rs that Bret
Harte's experience stands in marked con.
trast to that Of most men of genius,
There have been men, of course, who
have awoke one morning, like Byron, to
find themselves famous, who have caught
the public ear by their first poem, thei,
first novel, or their first essay, and kept
1t up by the charm of their style and
their power of genius all through the
course of long life.
The present Prime Minister Is one -oi
hese men. His first novel, "Vivian
Grey" took London by storm, and was,
within few days of its publicasion, to
be found in every boudoir, and upon
every drawing-room table. 1t was puffed
in the newspapers, talked about in club
rooms and smoking-rooms, and ran
through succession of six editions in
six months. But AZ rule successful
men of letters owe as much TO "the
magic Of patience" as they owe to the
magic of genius;and even Lord Beacons-
field, with all his success, has had hi
modification as writer no less than at
. Parliamentary debater and statesman.
'-Contarini Fleming" fell stilI-born from
the press, although written, rs the author
still insists, with deep thought and feel
ing; and "The Revolutionary Epick," 9
poem written under the glittering nina.
rets and the cypress-groves of the last
city of the CesaIe to illustrate the rival
principles Of government that were oen.
tending for the mastery of the world
and to take rank with the HAD, with the
Kneid, with the Divine Comedy and
with Paradise lost, was printed only to
line trunks with, till a line or two
happened to be quoted from it in the
House Of Commons thirty years after it,
publication, and Mr.. Disraeli reprinted
It, with few trifing alterations, to vim
dieste his consistency % well as hi
courage.
Sir Walter Scotfs career was one OF
the most brilliant and successful in liter
ature. But even Sir Walter Seett'l
maiden effort, thin quarto volume ol
"Translations from the Ballads of Bur