New-York tribune., 1896-11-01
LITERARY NOTES.

Mr.. Cuaninghame Graham. In The saturday he-
view" reminds OF piece OF cant wh'cn IL IL
time TO have suppressed. NO one hceu ever "oPo
IN suppress It, of course Conceit never dies. 'ul
at least the peculiar absurdity OF this particular
form of conceit may be pointed out to scorn. we
rotor IN the cant of writing such bad hand.
Mr. Cunninghamc Graham had contributed 10 nc
Saturday" an article In which several "ispii'''
appcarcd He writes to lay 1t ch!cfy upon NY
handwriting which IL Infamous. People 90 ho'
confess to "infamies." az rule. unless they "'o
nroud Of them; and there turks in Mr. Cunning
ha1ne Graham's humility hint Of being so prou'i
of his obscure script that he really cannot contain
himself.
That is the way with many writing man or
v,man Every now and then exactly sIch hoto
n, correction as Mr.. Cunninghamc Grahams mas
,,,corod in one or the other OF the English liter
arv journals We have often noticed thefn ana
cvcry time they provoke feeling that the writer
"a suffering from too much vanity. There never
was such rubbish es the idea that something
clsycr some hing characteristics goes Win III
famous, handwriting. Such handwriting Is TO be
borne with patience by the persons who have 10
read the .e,tcrs or other manuscripts OF great
writer's One can forgive Carlyle. iie probably
could not helm himself Certainly the idea that
he could have been proud OF his h!eroelyphics -
preposterous But the ordinary man who happens
TO write obscuroy ought to try 10 make II clearer
and ought 20 speak Of ii. II he simply must dis
about his precious ser, Win 'H' b'i"''
shame of conscious ignorance. not with the smart
hypocr,sy Of "A being who natters himself that
his defects a. penmau imply merits ms an
author The cant is old Men have prided them
selves In this silly way for ages and ages. no
doubt, But II Is ono Of the grotcaque aNectations
I'm which your budding author OF to-day seems to
particularly revcL
The publishing arm which not long ago received
the following letter from Poet was not able To
undertake the work 20 offered. Perhaps some other
house will be prepared 70 do 50:
For about Is months have made an attampt at
writing Poetry. etc. and now have from 30 To iyj
verses certain suor1is as per Snclo,,d lo' "iso u
,fnoantlrs To- about 40 lines ot about words in
e'o ne Ho npre pIes"f 20 ,nstrs and others Who
ravc rNprcss"d a desire. II Tn Book Form. thcy
original, not even IN part has a s'ntinco ncen
quoted from any ON" only one p'lc. n's oe'h
~ the tilo who was murdered IN a terrible man
n,r Tho writer Is the sole author OF al peiees.
old. 80 f,r h.vo had no rivision Of any pcice,.
what extracts of peces ssn IS IRON nm, ,rG
Tor Information providiug you think favorable OF
o samples " now low to to prGcesp frw w ne @
~ allow mo say I'll have more iciccs th'n enclosed
about coz, of edition Of lo9 copies Of say about
ou, half more than total sent stated In this
letter. Should each pcsce have short Preface.
could you furnish suitable cuts for som" OF the
pcccs about how long after you receive manu-
scripts could hook be ready. about how many
Page. would the above amount In suitable siZo
hook The writer IL poor man financially. and also
as stated limited education Perhaps nav" asked
som. erroneous Questions. II so oV"iloOk.---
I will hc pleased 10 hear from you as soon as
possiblc II you think peces suitable. any informa-
lion or suggestion you may offer shall be thank
fui YOU will notice the tenor OF pcices should have
tendency elevate the mird
Uay. made an attempt To adhere TO the Theme IN
each pecc ! enclose partial list of Titles OF peces
| have.
II favorable how would you wish your pay G. O.
II or would | get 30 much por copy
Trusting 10 receive an early and favorable reply
Respcctlr