New-York tribune., 1901-02-10
THE LITERARY PATRON.
From The Pail Mall Gazette.

From The Pail Mall Gazette.
Mention Of the poverty of rising authors re-
minds one that it has lately been argued that
the institution of the patron might have TO be
revived for the protection even OF those who
have made their mark. Probably the author
who was neither genius nor dunce-and. af-
ter all. the great majority of the tribe must
always be of this calibre-and who could find a
patron seventy years ago, was quite as well on
he would be now. The only thing he had 20
look to was that he had friends who could really
give him something worth his acceptance
Burns, Of course. received an excisemans place
which. although it may now seem very great
matter. was one much run after by the class
from which he had sprung But 5000 was sub
scribed for Horne Tooke's Diversions Of Pur-
ley while James MIL FOR his not very readable
History Of India was rewarded with place
in the India Office, starting ut $500 and rising
20 -. .OuO year. leslie stephen, who mentions
these sums in his excellent English Util-
tar1ans. See ms inclined % think them made
cuate u the receivers merits. but except for q
fev lucky ones who, pace Sir Walter Besaut, are
earning the salaries of Cabinet Ministers. how
many II thos. who live by their pens can make
such sums uowH
The fact seems 70 be that the patron II old
times generally gave his approval for reasons
which Were not difficult t. discover. and that
either by real merit. or by hattering his prejU-
d ices the writer generally managed 20 bring
him the wares which suited him. But Demos,
though liberal enough when n is pleased. is in
the habit of bestowing his patronage for much
more cryptic reasons one OF his pet theories
Is that statesman is the best authority On
past times. d-lusi0n which dates back cer-
tainly as far as the times OF Ciuizot and Thiers
II doubtless this that caused Mr. Glad
stones lucUbrations upon the UomeriC Age and
the youth Of The world TO be welcomed and Lord
Rosebery's Napoleon" To- sell like hot cakes.
The ministers of all denominations, too. gener-
ally know the foot he halts on as the success OF
many reverend nOvelists goes 10 show. But Il
has been reserved for German savant % show
that, when left himself. he always prefers
certain well defined types ~ story. and Herr
Petsch in his Formeihafte SChlusse i'm Volks-
marchen." has shown US how all these can be
classified. First OF all comes. he says the tale
OF the happy ending" when the good are re-
warded and the wicked punished. the story end
ing At that point II cut Off with a knife.
Then we have the story in which the career Of
the principal persOnages is pursued little fur
ther. Of which the type is And they married
and had many children and lived happily ever
after Then comes the class where the last
which seems TO be little boring And last
the tale told by one Of the rersonaSes acting
in it. the conclusion in that case being often, he
says mere nonsense one has all these
types in novels. and the fact that Herr Petsch
is talking not Il modern fiction. but Of what we
call folklore. makes real difference. Is the
critical faculty really more developed in the
dinary subscriber 10 Nude than in primitive
man?
Apropos II this. the most book ridden country
in the world at present is Japan. She produced
last year 1000 books. Of which 2000 were
novels while we can only boast Of a yearly av-
eraEe u 500. The corruption OF Japan by West
ern institutions certainly goes apace-