New-York tribune., 1901-01-27
Che Aem'Uork 0ribn11e.
ILLUSTRATED SUPPLEMENT.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 81, 1901.

DIR. :. Weir Mitchelrs story in the January
number of The Century" called "A Comedy OF |
Conscience deals with the predicament OF
young woman who has her purse stolen from
her in a streetcar but finds that the thief has
left Il diamond ring in its place. This has
stirred the memory of a writer in 1.-The Post
Express of Rochester. who points out that a
similar motive is employed in one of the stories
OF Count Carlo GOzZi, that Venetian dramatist
OF the eighteenth century whose autobiography
is one of the most amusing books Of its kind.
The commentator is friendly, however, and
makes no accusation of plagiarism. 1T may
have been suggested by some occurrence in
American city life he says. and of the prob
ability of this we have very favorable opinion.
have known precisely such incident
in real life as DR.. Mitchell uses in his story
The experience befel lady riding in an omni-
bus in a Southern city. Her purse sud
denly abstraeted from the pocket Of her coat
and a diamond ring took its place. She
promptly advertised 1t in the local paper But
the owner never turned up
The literary patron received blow in John
sons famous epistle TO Lord Chesterfield from
which he has never recovered. Though he has
fingered on here and there. he long since ceased
10 be anything like the factor in matters of
culture which he in the days of. say the
Medicis. THE Spectator" aprOpos Of the death
OF the Grand Duke of Saxe-W -Weimar who was
generous patron of music. if not of letters.
attempts no defence Of the type. but on the
other hand asks: lis the dealer in the literary
market place quite so free as he fances? Is the
sacrifice 20 the patron any greater than that 10
the publcT The answer is obvious The
Spectator refers to within its own
knowledge when valuable book was ''trun-
Gated because the publisher assured the author
that the public would never read the more elab-
crate original" The patron is no longer with
us, but the seryility which he sometimes
exacted fourishes still, and is perhaps com
moner to-day than it ever was before. How
many authors there who have not been
compelled 10 do unwilling homage before the
great DagOn Of I'hilistiaT' How many indeed,
\ humorist has lately contributed 10 The !
Academy" parody of the fortunes OF a per
SOnal paragraph. He describes a lazy literary
goSSiper" in the act Of inyenting a "snappy" |
ending for his weekly column. 1t alludes to a |
rumOr that is going about. creditins Mr. Guy |
Boothby with the erection of "A golden bathtub |
in his house. The hunorist follows this rumor |
gravely on its travels, reproducing the para |
graphs in which divers papers on both sides Of |
the Atlahuc nave contributed TO its vitality; I
until at last the original 'gOssiper'' is discoy-
cred giving il a death blow in the form of a |
contradiction having all the air of being made |
with authority" 1t makes funny reading. |
But the daplorable thing is that the picture it |
paints of INSCRIPTIONS mediocrity gaining a |
living by the circulation of misleading title |
tatle, does not seem i'm the least exaggerated. |
We are constantly coming across details of the |
private life of contemporary nOyelsts and
writing men, and women, generally, which are |
no less amazing than Mr.. Boothby's golden (
bathtub, and have probably about as much |
foundation in fact
III. minor nnet does so much TO trouble the