Daily Yellowstone journal., 1884-06-18
ODDITIES OF AUTHORS
On Giving Tides 90 the Productions
OF Their Drains.
fCincinnati ENQUIRER. |

OF Their Brains.
(Cincinnati Enquirer.
Though Shakespeare tells us that u
rose would smell o. sweet by any other
name, yet there is no doubt that an at
tractive title goes great way toward
the popularization of o new work. No
author was more keenly alive TO this
than Dickens. His titles ore oil in.
trinsically laughable, grotesque-cari.
catures on o name, as it were: THE
Pickwick Papers, ""Nicholss Nickleby,"
Martin Chuzzlewit," "David Copper.
field, "Dombey and Son" Little Dor
rit" and "Barnaby Rudge' are all
funny titles. Whether it 10 in the
oddity of the names, the queer jargon
of sounds. or the association with formal
ideas. the very title leads .ne to look
for drollery. On the other hand, Ed.
mund Yates titles have horsey and O
sort of nautical turn to them. Yet the
reader is led to expect something on
the Ego" order. Broken to Harness"
Wrecked in Port" Land at Last, I"
and "The Rock Street." smack some
thing of the briny deep. Running the
Gauntlet and kissing the Rod" are
attractive, and have good deal of the
quality called touch and 60.
Some years ago the daughter of
Humphrey Marshall published novel
with the odd title. AS by Fire. and
salt Whitman, the long-haired poet,
selected an equally odd one for his
eccentric prose poetry, Leaves of
,rass," as if the grass had leaves.
Alden. the funny man of The New York
Times, published his editorials under
the title of Domestic Explosives" and
an English writer puts book on the
market, "The Splendid Advantages of
Being Woman" and the first OF num-
Der of essays is upon this subject
Charles Reade's titles have sort o.
sermon in them-have motto cast to
them: Very Hard Cash, ""Never Too
Late to Mend" pleasant reflection to
q man on the gallows or worn-out de-
bauchee on his death-bed; Put Yourself
in His Place" command that one
would prefer to ask whose place before
signifying assent. Hawthorne. Ann
Radcliffe and Edgar Allen Poe, all Sc
lected titles indicative of mystery and
gloom, dark dungeons, haunted houses
and ghosts; "The House OF Seven
Gables" by the former; "Mys-
teries of Udolpho.' Count Al
vonto,' by Miss Radcliffe; The Devil in
the Belfry," Never Bet the Devil
Your Head" Descent into the Mael-
strom," "The Masque of the Red
Death" The Murders of the Rue
Morgue," by Poe. In 1903 pamphlet
appeared with this strange title: THE
Deformitie of Sin Cured, a sermon
preached at st. Michaers, Crooked
Lane, before the prince Of Orange, by
the Rev. J. Crookshanks. Sold by
Matthew Denton ut the Crooked Billet,
near Cripplegate, and by all book
sellers" The words Of the text are
Every crooked path shall be made
straight" The prince before whom it
was delivered was deformed in person
Some of the early theological writers
were famous for allegorical titles, such
as he Heart Of Aaron" THE Bones
of Joseph" "The arden Of Nuts" "A
Fan to Drive Away Flies" The Shop
of the Spiritual Apothecary. Matches
Lighted by Divine Fire." "The Gun oil
Penitsnce," etc. A famous old Puritan,
Sir Humphrey Lind, published book
which Jesuit priest answered by an.
other, entitled "A Pair of Spectacles
for Sir Humphrey Lind, and the old
pilgrim retorted by a Case for Sir
Humphrey Limbs Spectscles.
The title page Of Gascoigne 10 most
quaint: "A hundred sundrie foweres.
bound up in one small poesie, gathered
partly by translation in the tyne and
outlandish gardens of Euripides. Ovid,
Petrarch, Ariosto and others, and partly
by invention out of our own fruitful
orchsrdes in England, yielding sundrie
and divers swete savors OF Stragical,
comical and moral discourses, both
pleasant and profitable 10 the we'll.
smelling noses Of learned readers"
The curious titles are by no means
confined TO authors now little known
and only valuable to the antiquarian.
The oddity of the subjects selected by
some Of the greatest authors would we'll
nigh all . volume. Gray wrote poem,
on the death Of Cat" Pope wrote q
poem on The Rape of Q Lock of Hair,
and Dean Swift had "Meditstions on O
Broomstick." The learned Erasmus
discussed "The Source of Folly and
one Joshua Burnes wrote q poem 70
prove that Solomon was the author oil
Honer's "Iliad," as ridiculous ss Della
Bacon and Judge Nathaniel Holmes
book, in our dav, to prove that Lord
Bacon wrote Shakespeare. In en-.
Gent times Apnleius selected for
subject the classic and refined
Ass, and Homer wrote o poem on
the battle between the Frogs and the
Mice"
Some authors have o fondness for
Scriptural titles, AMI the Psalms have
been cut up by piecemeal and made TO
do service rs titles for tracts and books.
There are "Green Pastures" Still
Water" The alley of the Shadow
OF Death" 4 Table n the Wilderness,
Crumbs OF Comfort" Amounting Oil, ,
The Overlooking Cup" and Good.
ness and Mercy" and 30 on through the
category.
4 good title is o lucky hit, an odd
one sure to attract attention, even II the
reader does not look inside; but plain
straightforward title, disclosing in a
word, line the scope, the intent. the
purpose OF the book, Is always prefer.
able. u the author can compass it. Hit.
ting the nail on the head is better than