The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-01-02

ColeridRe had been attacked in the first mum.
Der Of "Maga." and subsequently had boon de-
scribed by Lockhart in a letter to the editor as
mad and unintelligible." Nevertheless. in
1919. William Blackwood offered him O re-
tanning fee. to which he responded in a long
letter of advice touching the right method of
conducting q magazine. He was pulled down.
however. from his high horse without difficulty,
and subsequently, became for a time an occa-
sional contributor. The following extract from
a letter penned in 1880 is worth reproducing.
because 1t shows that Coleridge was much
more conscientious in money matters than
he has sometimes been thought to be:
He tells the publisher that he has do
stroyed an order for ten pounds sterling
Just received from Edinburgh, lit being against
one of my rules to receive payment for work
not delivered having learned from experience
that, by making me feel uneasy and bound. 1t
will be more likely to prevent than to expedite
De Quincey's "Kiosterheim:" III have read
nothing since Quentin Outward which could
purity Of style and idiom in Which the scholar
Is ever implied. and the scholarly never OBJ
s WIGS sir Irs w. Scott es T with all e the s eCantless' u to
affected conversational charm and on.carrying-
aspire d rather ais rt thap to ShsReafT nlle mss short 10 Off, pay" Te
hnmoredly about the Christabelliad' In which
bel" 1t !" Would Sitif Be- STRANGE s"s p he saS Ss Il fnr @an
Of o,Doherty''s lMaeinn's pen nsmei undoubted
6qmor. and general power q mind e on a work r
wholly without worth or character. Let only
s ser and a good psi' laugh Is a good sii thine." % IN
Bulwer's. first contribution to Bldcktrood's
MaGastne had been made In September. 1912.
Blackwood brothers writes that he had called
upon Ip; Bulwer and asked him 4 he had been
feared we would NOT consider it worth while to
give him his terms for a tale, I said. surprising
no difficulty about that. He then said he
thought he had hit upon the most popular sub
nitO IN the first Instance, and afterwaTd
i would be useful to tho tale when pub.
lished as a book: should, think 1000, pounds
outside OF what he can receive upon a novel"
The work OF which tho novelist sGroke with such
published in the magazine some Ave years
afterward: II was: in fact. a new beginning
mSES rs sPnwSs D ,i than B o,nT;fr Il first; and S one
70 DO endowed with. In March. '1s4s, he sent to
tioning that the price snt by him upon the book
was s25 In the serial form; and a lump sum OF
There is no doubt that The Caxtons marked
a striking change from Bulwer's old ro'
Wances. the thle3 or passion and splen-
dor, the mystic, Zanoni. the exquisite Pei
ham, tho coxcomb and tho adventures. A
thread of imitation OF Sterne which suggested
q not ignoble desire to measure himself against
the highest artists in English prose became in.
stantly visible in the tale. and piqued curiosity.
In the winter Of ls49 tho novelist, by this time
Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton. began to discuss the
second book of the Caxton series. that gallery of
scenes and pictures of character and commen.
tary which he afterward called my Novell''
The third number of this series. What win
He DO with 1t =" seems to have interested the
writer mora than AithaF nf ta NOpnnnn-
ions. but he eyinces little power Of self:
Waffle in the story just mentioned with the
appeal to domestic emotions" made In tho
scarcely need, to say, by no means a high opinion
of Tho Lady OF Lyons" but she regards the
character of Waite as full OF real pathOs, humor
and nature,,in short a genuine creation. It is.
perhaps, well enough to add that for tho three
novels IN the Caxton series, including the right
to publish in the magazine. and also to the
profits for five years from republication in book
form. the B~lackwoods paid $4,000 each.