The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1892-08-21
THE LITERARY WORLD.
xrrsRArURE As A PROFESSION.
what walter Bsssnt Thinks OF tt-Adnm'
Christopher Columbus-Ihe "reat
plsooverer Defended-Sotes.

hedge IL round. some young leho"
In some country paper would write
in disregard of them and would
take the world by storm. 1t is snybodys
professon-no college. institute or academy
can close It's doors-All the world can come
In. Again. in any other profession there Is
q common standard Of good work. In litera-
ture there is kind-without doubt the high
sstLind (which pleases thorehnement Of I'VE
hundred or Eve thousand people VINO pos
sess the highest culture possible. Ihat IS
a very rare kind. There are not dozen
living writers of our language who aul'e
satisfy the standard of this small class. but
there are lower standards -those which APP
peal 10 the better class, the class whose
literary taste Is not 30 Keen 30
subtl a. that Of the first class. yet
IL sound and wholesome. And there are
lower standards and lower stu I'll we
reach the depths Of the penny novelette,
the journal which Is a scrap book, the haIl-
penny sheet Of ballads. Yet It il ali htera-
ture. the Ii erature Of the nation. the hleI-
bture OF the people from highest 70 lowest
At no point on this ladder Of printed sheets
can one stop and say. Here literature
@ndsr The most important function OF
the French Academy has not been 10 MAKE
its dictionary but % maintain literature
the same level as other liberal professions.
10 rank its followers with those WHO iOiloW
scholarship. 10 make ITS leaders Onclaiy
the EQUALS of Judges. barristers, physicians.
When we succeed in getting such an instl-
tuti ia Great Britain we shall take the
first step toward securing Tor literature
general recognition Of its posti as pro-
iession. Other advantages may perhaps
follow this seems % me the urst ana bhe
most important.
Meantime anybody who can may enter
the profession. It's followers are scattered
units there is no cohesion, no combination
among them for their material interests
every man manages his own affairs tor hlm-
sell as bsst he can.
All the other professions have their CEN
tPal college or their institute, which is MAN,
tanned aud endowed for the sole purpose OF
maiL tainipg the interests of its own profess
sion. What has the calling of lettersf Inc
Royal Society Of Literature" is small
decaying association which meets OCCASION
ally for the reading of papers. l suppose us
own members would not claim for 1t that u
does anything or tries to do anything at sil
for literature. The Royal Literary Fund"
believes writers who are IN difficulties; II Is
indeed doing invaluable work but only IN
ahls direction. There is the Society OF
Authors; until the last year or
two it was a very small society. though with
ambitious aims 1t 10 now growing powerful
and its aims are grown more ambitious.
There are even hopes that this society Will
ultimately do for literature what the Inns
Of Court do for law and the College Of Ply
scans does for the medical profession;
that is TO say that II will be powerful enough
30 regulate by fixed principles the manage
ment of literary property; that it will be dis
graceful for a man of Letters not 10 be
member of the society; that by its influence
literature IN every branch will take its
place as q recognized and honorable pro-
fession.
No worker in the world. not even the
needlewoman, is more helpless, more ignO-
rant. more cruelty sweated than the author.
Therefore in a country. like Great Britain,
of trade and business. that is. OF enterprise
struggle and battle: in q country like ours.
where honor OF all kinds is rightly bestowed
upon the victorious, contempt is the lot of
the author. Contempt must, indeed, be the
lot OF those who are never victorious, whose
spoils are always tskenfrom them, who can
not combine, cannot fight, cannot defend
their own property. This contempt of let
tiers Is often Yehemently denied. Yet in
Great Britain IL exists deep down in the
national heart-not contempt for the work
understand; If that were 80, then, indeed
of all mankind we should be the most mis-
cradle. The contempt is for the men who
produce that work. This contempt is de-
MED as often as IL is asserted. That is be-
cruise the contempt for the workman is one
thing and admiration for his work is
another.
There happened five years ago thing
which Americans will hardly believe At
the greatest national function which has
ever been celebrated in England. when we
rejoiced solemnly and thanked God for
reign of fifty years of une1ampled progress
at this function, to which were invited rep
resentatives OF every profession and almost
every calling, there was not invited one
single man or woman of letters as such.
Why Because the official mind in every
country, which always represents meas
uros aud illustrates the Philistinism of
country, has not yet risen 70 the
consideration of literature as pro-
fession, or of historians. essayists,
poets. novslists as persons worth regarding
In America such az omission would be i'm
possible. Why If 1t was made the whole of
the States from Massachusetts, TO the new
est Territory, would raise one conserving
voice OF reprobstion; in France II would be
impossible; in Germany the mere possibility
OF such an insult 70 letters could not be so
much as suggested. In no country could
II be done except in Great Britain. And
here II was done. And here no one per-
ceived the omission. Here. so far as !
-
The contempt for letters could not be more
signally shown more clearly proved. Wal |
Ter Besant in the Forum for August.
Adams "Christopher Columbus"
The late president of Cornell University
prefaces his biography of Columbus by an
ill-advised attack on Washington Irving,
whom he accuses of purposed untruthful- |
ness. In this as in other points he follows,
Hp. L.. E.
example set by MIR. WinsOr i'll his recent
volume on the subject. The ground Of the
attack s Misrepresentation of the meaning
of passage which occurs near the close of
the fifth chapter of the First Book of
Irvings Life of Columbus After giving
some striking instances of attempts
made by certain writers of early days
70 tarnish the glory OF tho great discoyerer
by adducing stories to show that he had de-
nved his ideas about the lands which he
pretended TO discover from tho information
of persons who had previously visited
them stories which were afterwards proved
to have no foundation whateyer-Irying
goes on TO condemn. in terms certainly not
very happy, that pretense of learned re-
search" which originated aud continued 10 |
propagate such ISLANDERS; and he adds very
Justly. Care should be taken to vindicate |
great names from such pernicious erudi- |
ton If DR.. Adams had asked himself the /
simple question. How can an accused person |
be vim dicsted except by showing the falsity |
OF the accusations made against him ~ |
be would have seen that Iryings demand |
was really for careful and truthful investi- |
cation. II should be added that no instance /
has ever been pointed out in any historical /
work OF Irving In which ne has departed in
the slightest degree. either ia statement or
comment from the exact truth as il was /
known when he wrote. In honesty of in
tentlon be Is as unimpeachable "a Gihhnn