Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1899-09-23

Sir Walter Besant IL writer OF
novels, and good ones. too lie was
weary the other day when he read Of
the decay Of fetlon." but no says;
Comfort came 10 me In another fash
Ion. quite Unexpectedly I opened a
novel, turned accidentally TO the end.
found there a collection Of advertise
ments and press notices OF other novels
published by the same publisher.
read these press notices. Presently n
wnve or loyful emotion swept over me
and carried me out Of myself. The
illuhtrlouh one who spoke, discovered
was nll wrong. he knows nothing about
H. There " no deluEo at all. only "a
gentle but Irresistible upward rise Of
the tide, Fiction u safe. fiction never
was safer; noveliata at their highest
point or greatness, the novel never WIS
Ercater I win prove II 90 you. ( will
kNe you some % the opinions of tho
press u)'A. D. n IN the front rank "
novclluts, he " a Rembrandt among
novellats, Ills book viii take IT, place
by the side Of the Hebrew histories ln
the Appcryphn.' For this book the
most fastidloua critic would give len
sNehange a wilderness " tho doclduous
trash which publishers call nctlon.
Here Il another author. lie ranks with
Dumas. Here " another. A WELL
known critic SAYS 81 him that he has
produced that rnrcat ~ rare things. "a
book Another says that this Is the
hert book of the year a book 20 road,
20 Keep, To ponder over, To remember
OF another author. he IL compared by
one writer with bcfoe and by another
with Swift Here u another writer who
has also produced the best book OF the
yvar, he n compared with MolHsonnier.
OF ntill nnothvg We are told that We
are not likely 10 see It's rival IN our
time. Need we 70 on7 There are more.
Hut these extracts are enough TO show
that fiction IL Htlll-und more than ever
tho honor and the glory OF our cuun-
Wy, What can he Haid In greater
praise OF man than 10 compare him
with swift pefoc and Melssonnicr. To
acknowledge that ho has written that
rarcst q all r1ru things, "a book; or
that hi work viii stand ln future beside
the Hebrew histories I'm the Apocrypha7
Nothing 30 good. ~ npprcclatlvr. was
ever said " Scott, Dickens. Thnckeray,
or George Eliot Therefore our mod,
crn novcllsiH are greatly superior 20
those who have gone before. and when
Exalted Ones ln public speeches de-
plore the decay of fiction they know not
what they talk about Courage. there
fore, my friends, Lat Us once more lIft
up our hearts"
Against unconscious plagiarism. IN
writing and speaking there % no p1a-
slble way 81 guarding. In his 'Romin-
iscenccs' Justin Mccarthy tells how be-
once electrified the House uf Commons
by words which Dc had uuCpusciously
appropriated and honestly believed were
his own. lie had been making "a speech
on some Irish question. and declared
that certain course would win Tor %
man IKE Gladstone "a triumph worth
dying Tor,
Then" snys Mr. Mccarthy. broke
away and concluded with the eloquent
words, ma more, n would be- worth
having lived for Now" continues Mr..
mccarthy. 81 have boldly called these
words eloquent, and so they were, and
may say ~ without any modest acru.
pies Tor unfortunately tho eloquent
words were not mine" Mr. Gladstone
replied AZ once, and, while he dealt
severely with Mr., McCnrthys nrgu-
lneht ne made a gracious ulluHIou to
the words which had closed tho rpeoch
Mr. Mccarthy naturally felt delighted
ana proud, ana u was not until ufter
some days had passed that the truth
came into his mind. The words OF his
maj imprisoned burst of eloaupnre
eame from the mouth VI Cluvcrhouss. In
NMter SCOTS 'Old Mortality"
hurrlcdly turned to tho particular
noeh,, Nnd-yes, there they We're. the
wp.ns or brnhnm OF Clnycrhouse. which
han peen hoaung IN my memory for /
~ H4t KNOW now many years, and at
taat located ~ Just at the very wrong
Hnohl ana were innocenuy given out
Wy me AZ mat mpments Inspiration"
MIS- Voynleh' whose novel. '"The Cad.