The Washington critic., 1888-04-21
THE rAY or AurHoRs.
Prices That Have Been Paid for Besi
Known Hooks.

known Books.
Little is known Of the remuneration |
Of authors, writes William Andrews
in the English magazine, "Illustra-
TONS" until the days of DR.. Samuel
Johnson. Before this time literary
men, as a rule, depended on the gem
erosity of patrons for their means of
support, and, as an acknowledgment
Of their obligations, dedicated their
works to them. The dedications
were frequently made in most fulsome
terms. The position of the writer was
certainly very mean one; indeed, it
might fifty be pronounced degrading;
when he had exhausted his possibili
ties Of patronage he starved. 1t was
Johnson-the giant in the world Of
letters-who broke through the OBJ
iectionable custom and taught the
author TO look to the reading public
for support and not to wealthy
patron.
Oldys, in one of his manuscripts,
says that Hamlet" was sold for e5;
but he does not mention his authority
for the statement. II appears, from
q publication of Robert Greene's, in
1902, the price of a drama was 20
mobiles, or about GO l3s. Id, of current
coin.
Small must have been the literary
pay Of Spenser, Butler, and Otway,
FOR they feared to die for want of the
simple necessaries of life. Milton
sold Paradise Lost for e5 down, TO
be followed by el5 If second and
third large editions were required.
The first edition consisted of 800
copies, and in two years 800 were
sold. The balance was not disposed
Of until five years later. This power
ful poem, when given to the world,
met with
SOME ADVERSE CRITICISM.
The poet Waller wrote Of il thus:
"The old, blind schoomaster, John
Milton, hath published a tedious
poem ON the fall of man; il its length
he not considered merit, it hath no
other"
Gray received only el0 for the
whole of his poems. He presented
the copyright Of his famous "Elegy
Written in a Country Churchyard" TO
Dodsley, feeling that IL was beneath
the dignity of q gentleman to make
money with his pen. The lucky pub
Usher quite agreed with him, and
cleared about el 900 by the publica-
tion.
Pope's translation of Homer yielded
him about eS,000. lie was assisted
in the work by VIM. Broome,
scholar, who was the author Of vol
ume of verse. John Henly thus re-
fers to the circumstance
"Pope came of clean with Homer;
but, they say,
Broome went before and kindly swept
the way"
Gay made el 900 by his "Poems."
He was paid e400 for the "Beggar's 5
Opera" and for the second part,
"Poliy," Gi 900. Rich, the theatri-
cal manager, proiited to far greater
extent from the mBeggar's Opera"
than its author. The contemporary
Jest was that it made Gay rich and
Rich gay.
DR.. Johnson sold the copyright of
Goldsmith's "Nicar of Wakefield
for eco, and he thought that amount
fairly represented the value of the
| NOihs lht Sltul lltNltbSIdDutIi do
Miss Pinkerton called him, placed no
high value on the performance of
his friend, but the publisher found in
the "Nicar of Wakefield a gold
mine. Goldsmith was paid col for
The Traveller" 1t was the work
that established hisreputation.
To cover the cost of his mother s
funeral johnson wrote "Rasselas, "
| Il nf E, f.,, L. 81, 4
his elves of the Poets" for 200
guineas.
The sum of goo was paid to Field
ing for "Tom Jones'" and for
Amelia" II 900.
VERY LARGE AMOUNTS
have been given for biographical
works. Hayley received for his
"Life of Cowper," 1000; and
Southey $1,000 for his life of the
same poet. The life of civilian
Wilberforce" was sold for e4,000;
Bishop Heber's Journals" for
$4,000; General Gordon's Diary
for G5, ,250, and the life of Hannah
More' for $4,000.
The income of Scott was, perhaps,
the largest ever made by authorship,
yet he said that the pursuit Of litera-
ture was good walking-sti but q
bad crutch His reputation was
first made as poet and the following
are particulars of his poetical profits:
"The Lay of the Last Minstrel, "
published in 1903, EGO, Gs.; Ballads
and Lyrical Pieces" published in 1906,
el0O; "Marmion," published 1905,
for this Messrs. Constable offered
1000 guineas soon after the poem
was begun. II proved a very profita-
BILE speculation to its publishers.
During the first month after its APP
pearance, 1000 copies were sold, the
price being Sis. Cd. the quarto vol
ume. Next came the Lady of the
Lake" QSl0), e2,100. This found even
greater favor with the public than its
, predecessors, and with il Scots
poetical fame reached its zenith. A
new poet appeared ON the scene;
it was Byron, and he completely
eclipsed Scott Scott tried, with two
more poems, to win back his lost place
as the popular poet of the period, and
produced "Rokeby" and the Bridal
of Triermain." The latter was issued
anonymously, but both were failures
When Scott saw that his poetry did
not attract many readers he turned
his thoughts and energy into another
channel, and commenced his i'm.
mortal novels. He had by him an
/ unfinished story, the work of former
} years, and he completed it, giving II
: to the world under the title OF
"Waverley." Constable offered e70l
for the copyright--an amount deemed
very large in those days for q
novel to he published without the
name of the author. Seven hundred
= | snNnrninns did mot hnMnNnr- snI