The Portland daily press., 1891-03-09
the sUPERsENsITIvE,
Mon who Think they are CarIca.
tured by Author and Actor.

tured by Author and Actor.
One of the most popular entertainer
the world has seen suffered greatly. ow
ing to the persistence with which peopI
would see hkenesses to themselves i,
the creations of his fancy. If he chos
tne-name of Brown, Jones or Robinson
Tor oneof his characters, some real cog
nomen wrote to him. complaining bitter
~ against his 'satirizing a class" ant
then pointed out certain of their dis
tnctive peculiarities which were, they
alleged, burlesqued.
On the other hand, if he invented, as
he thought, an uncommon name, some
body wanted to know how it was ne Sc
lected him for ridicule. Why, asked
the indignant writer, did not the enter
tainer choose some common name, such
as Brown. Jones or Robinson, and not
that horne by him? 1t was useless to
To;r,t ont to such people that the enter
tainer had never heard Of their existence
even. Each of them firmly believed that
hewas the original OF certain character.
soThERN AND JoANNEs.
Sothern again; what curious expe-
rience was hist The actor, when play
ing IN America as Fitzaltamont in 'The
Crushed Tragedian." one morning was
called upon by an interviewer" who
told him that a Count Joannes, once an
actor of the old school of which Sothern
made fun, had brought a suit to stop the
performance OF the piece on the ground
that the comedians makeup maligned
him and burlesqued his identity. Soth-
ern thought the affair was a Joke. but
when the reporter assured him IL was
serious he said
"f have to go down to that court to
show cause, by Georgei pity the man
that brings me. l won't let him rest
while his worried life cings to him. He
shall get kilograms and postcards from
this time on forever. Do about it? Why,
shall appear, of course"
Presently another reporter was an
nounced. Sothern again professed never
to have heard of the suit brought against
him.
"How would you fight it if the count
should challenge your" asked the press
man.
II should prefer the date to be the LIST
of April, and although I haven't very
fully considered the question, I think
the weapons should be cannon. Yes, on
reflection, am sure should insist on
those cannon that discharge ITO shots a
minute. He should sit upon one of those
engines and I upon another, and we
should continue to discharge them until
hnx oh he III 4.
count or Sothern."
All this and much more was published
under startling headlines on the follow
ing morning. Count Joannes, however,
was te ubly in earnest, though, of
course, nothing came of his suit except
capital advertisement, of which full
advantage was taken.
ANGERED BY wILKIE COLLINS.
Of modern authors Wilkie Collins de-
cidedly had the most remarkable series
of encounters with the class of people
who identify themselves with purely i'm
aginary personages. ga bourgeoise Of
Paris" he himself has told us, reading
The Woman in White in French
TRANSLATION, wrote to say that he had
flung the book to the other end of the
room on discovering that Fosco was an
absolutely perfect likeness of himself.
He naturally insisted on receiving salts
faction for this insult, leaving the choice
of swords or pistols to me, as the chal-
lenged person. Information on which
he could rely had assured him that med
itated journey to Paris early in the en-
suing week. A hostile meeting might,
in such circumstances, be easily ar
ranged" Arrived in Paris, Willde Col
Inns looked for his honorable opponent in
vain.
Again Mr.. Collins invested charac-
ter who was so careful about the guam
tity of his food that he weighed 1t in
little scales at table. Shortly after the
publication of the novel a gentleman
called upon the author.
"You have no right, sir, to caricature
me~ exclaimed the caller to the aston
ished novelist; 81 weigh my food in Lit.
tie scales, sir. Here they are, SIR I
always carry them about with me by
the advice of my physician; but is that
any reason why should be held up to
ridicnle, sir?"
And the gentleman refused to be paci-
fed, though Mr.. Collins protested that
he had never before heard of such a
habit. On another occasion a reader of
"Armadale" called upon him and up
braided him for putting his house into
print. The description, it is said, was
exact, although the popular writer had
never seen the place