The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1894-04-22
BRTRF LITERARY NOTES.
Regarding People Whose Names Are "a
milIar.

Mr.. Warner criticIses fault In Amerl-
ca. and indeed, i'm nearly all literature OF
the day. as follows:
perhaps the special sin and weak
ness of American literature is That IL
exhibits effort, weak fever TO be orlgi-
nal and striking. Most OF what is ealleu
magazine poetry struts, as do most OF our
statues which are set up in public places.
"Of all writer's of English, Chaucer IS
most free from self-conscious cry. Not
the greater genius, Shakespeare himself,
was free of occasional strain, OF rhetori-
cal soaring into regions dim with haze.
To Chaucer was given the calm clear
vision Of Hellenic eyes. There Is not
a line Of his that is not as clear as the
morning crow of chanticleer when all
,.e air Is still and crystalline. so com
mon now in verse, and even In prose,
a-e the graspings for the vague and the
fantastic strain, so accustomed are We
to the lack of the sweet propr:ety OF
measured phrase, that Chaucer seems,
in the apprt hension of many writer's,
unlterary. THIS Inisconception is IS bad
for literature as the Befnini notion OF
sculpture WAS for art. And 1t is not ex-
cused by the idea that modern life IS
more complex than life formerly, and
that its expression must necessarily be
vague and misty. Life is ricner ana
more complex. it may be, and the OPP
portunity Of the poet and the novelist is
greater Than ever. but human nature Is
not changed. and art is bound by the
old laws of sanity and moderation"
Mr. Julian Hawthorne, IN n paper en-
| the Library of Congress, in the Aprii
| I.ippincotts, records this conversation
with Mir. Spofford: " DO tile dollars for
| legitimate copyrights belong 10 the Ii
| brary?' oh. no: they all 50 10 the Treas
| FRY; about a hundred and ffCy, more OF
! less, every day. We don't get 4 cent oil
| them You said just now hat there
| could not be copyright IN a name. lou
don't mean, / suppose. thar The name OF
title of book Is not copyright? i
can't publish a novel, for instance. which
| has the same title as another noVcl!
The law is said Mr.. Spofford. emphati-
| cally that the substance, the literary
contents, of a book or publication may
be protected by copyright, hut not ~
name-not the title. You may call YOU
| next book Vanity Fair or The QulcK o.
the Dead If you please, the law VII
| have nothing To say % you; though, as
matter of expcdiency. it H. well nos u
duplicate titles. only you must be care
full not TO put the original s'oIy' what
ever it may be, between the covers
1t is whispered around mar bf' s,
Walker, editor OF the Cosmopolitan 'i"o
| azine, has Socialistic views ,rat "s,,'
with those Of william Dean i""e"H
However that may be. lie Is lotsihs U
the front with his magazine, and is rscos
nized as most original. lie came IRON
Denver. and invested big money In nj
magazine enterprise. His fortune wa
made in real estate in Denver. lie know
a great deal about farming In the west
Walter Savage I.andor's VIVA al re
sole Is at present the properly Oh ~
Yorker, who has in preparation TWO 'dl
lets. TO be placed on the house, one 10 III
memory Of Boccaccio. who laid the seen
OF the "Decamerone" in the neishporhoo'
the other 10 the memory Of Landor
Lord Houghton has accepted inc pres
dency Of the Bronte Society formed IL
the purpose OF establishing museum I
! Bronte relics at Haworth. Considerir
, that Jane Eyre was published near
! half a century ago-in lS41-the fame
. the Bronte sisters seems likely TO ia
| for generations.