New-York tribune., 1901-04-18
LONDON NOTES.
an OLDTIME PUBLISHER WITHOUT A
TITLE-FARCE SET OFF BY THE ST.
PERNATURAL-TH NEW
ENGLISH ART CLUB.
London, April 10.

a
monument more permanent than brass to the
.-eat men Of the nation yet not be mentioned
IN Who's Who" and be known In death only as
MI George Smith. The founder OF the Die
,jonary Of National Biography" is reported to
have expended out OF his own resources over
s3500OO in completing that monumental work
on scale commensurate with its dignity and
importance The best writers We're employed;
no pains were spared to secure precision and
completeness; a great financial sacrifice was de-
nberately made: and service of inestimable
value rendered to the nation The ruhlic
spirited publisher, who carried out during
protracted period of eighteen years this colossal
undertaking in sixty-three volumes was not
rewarded with either peerage kniehthood mr.
decoration for what Mr.. John Morley has de-
scribed as supreme act of good citizenship
He has died at the age of seventy-seven without
ether dlsuhctlon than the respect and admira-
ton Of the best men of letters who have appre
cated the value of his service to literature and
history. He was content, like Thomas Carlvle
Charles Darwin, John Tyndall. Thomas Huxley
Herbert Spencer. William e Gladstone and John
Bright. to serve his country in the dignity of
democratic simplicity
Mr. George Smith was an oldtime nub,isber
who discovered authors and became their life
long friend One of his earliest achievements
Was the discernment Of superior merit in Char
lotte Brontes manuscript of The Professor
and Of unique genius in Jane Eyre; and one
Of his cherished "reminiscences was his introduc-
lion Of Thackeray to the shy, sensitive author
Leigh Hunt, John Ruskin, the Brownings, Mat
thew Arnold. Anthony Trollope. Mrs. Gaskfll
George Eliot. Charles Darwin Lord Tennyson
Mrs Humphry Ward, Thomas Hardy. Sidney
Lee. Leslie Stephen and George Meredith were
among his intimate friends and his relations |
extended to the court. since he was the publish |
Of the Queens Leaves from the Journal OF |
Our Life in the Highlands" and of Sir Theodore |
Martins Life Of the Prince Consort" He was |
the founder of The Cornhin Magazine and of |
The Pail Mall Gazette" under Mr.. Frederick |
Greenwood's editorship; and his literary friend |
ships with the greatest Englishmen of the time
were supplemented by complete biographical |
record of the famous men and women in ma
tional annals. The goodwill Of men of letters
he coveted and cherished. He was in a real
sense a true patron of good literature. Honors
titles and decorations he held in slight esteem.
The only formal honor which he accepted |
was the Oxford degree of master of arts.
Times have changed since the hacks of Grub
81. made obeisance 10 the publishers as the ar |
biters Of literary destinies. The author now
has behind him of business the literary |
agent who plays off publisher against an
other, and obtains the highest terms for book |
or a title chosen. The successful novelist lives |
well and finds it convenient to have sources of |
credit while he is producing his work; and the |
literary agent is his broker and the publisher is |
his banker, after the contract has been signed. |
More money is lent by publishers TO authors |
than in the Grub-st. time, and without other Sc |
curity than the contract for an unwritten book |
or unfinished manuscript. The publishers |
encourage the practice because it places the au-
thors under obligations TO them and enables
them to control subsequent publications without |
the Intervention of the literary agent The dis
roVery OF a new author does not excite gratitude |
in the breast Of the writer discovered for the |
second work, destined to have large sale on the |
strength of the success OF the first, is marketed |
by the literary agent without - rerence to the |
claims OF the first publisher The oldtime rela- |
tions Of publishers and authors have been trans
formed since Mr.. George Smith went into busi- |
ness in Cornhill and brought out as his first |
venture the eccentric Mr. Eorne's New Spirit |
of the Age" The spirit of still newer age has |
dispensed to large degree with literary de- |
pendence upon capital. The author, indeed is |
disposed at times to put airs and patronize |
his publisher by asking him TO dine with him. by |
proposing him at club, and introducing him in |
his literary and fashionable set,
Mr. Russell vaun's "Nicandra" involves a |
ludicrous of the supernatural and is ac- |
4, curately described mystic farce There are |
"reminiscences of "A Midsummer Nights Dream" |
IN the hurlybury of love at purposes |
and there are faint suggestions of ''Pygmalion |
and Galatea" and of "Niobe' in the plot; but |
the nletauorphosis of snake into a woman of |
subtle fasc nations is simply artificial ex- |
pecient for setting a commonplace household |
by The and bringing carnival of pro- |
mscuous hugging and boisterous fun without |
q nf avir raf N Sica1i
romance. Shakespeare frank enough in |
the farcical movement and underplot Of his |
play, and he introduced classical characters and
names for the artistic effect of contrast with |
the antics of rustics: but he also created a |
House Beautiful in comedy for the fairies and |
mischievous sprites Of the fresde tales of |
Merrie England Mr.. Gilbert in "Pygmalion and |
Gaiatea" and the Paultons in "Niobe" employed |
supernatural motives for purposes Of artistic in
vention With Mr.. Russell Vaun the super |
natural is simply deus machina for bring |
Ing and subsequently winding up roaring |
farce. The snake is let out of the box, and |
everybody under the spell of beautiful woman |
falls desperately in love with the wrong per- |
son. A black pigeon is thrust into the charm |
er's hand, and the snake is again imprisoned |
in the box for the final fall Of the curtain. Be |
tween these mystical metamorphoses there are |
periods of thoughtless mrth.
Such originality as this piece at the Avenue |
Theatre has-and there is little, indeed-lies in
the substitution of the supernatural for the |
ordinary expedients of producing farcical situ-
tion by series of Observation-Disclosures or acci- |
dents Nicandra, once the priestess of Isis and
unduiy fond of pet snakes, was punished by
The wrathful goddess for feeding one with sa-