New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1909-08-07
THE SORROWS OF n. Lang
n Plant of Lost Fish, Books and
Manuscript.


There is no sorrow like my sorrow" some
one says; but he did not know mine. on analyz-
ing his statement he would have found that he
merely meant nus: L don't feel any other per-
sons sorrow nearly much as I feel my own"
But my case is quite different Really, no man
Is so unlucky. Last week I went a-fishing with
a lady, her presence merely added TO my mis-
fortunes the impure passions of envy and jeal-
ousy and dislike Of most aniable parsonage.
There were plenty OF trOut-whOppers, and
some feeding. but the wind blew down
stream, so that one could not get the fly over
them. The casting line now tied itself into knots
more than Gordian; now found and stuck in a
crevice in the heel Of my old boot now cracked
on In the middle and vanished. with the fly. into
thin air; now caught In the luxurious heritage
and broke of short. Naturally. ] came home
bTedcHtiis. troutlest for the fish that did rise
never got hold Of the hook. while 1t got hold OF
every other accessible object in the sensible uni
verse.
Meanwhile. 50 bad was my luck. my com
panion. who always has plenty OF H. captured
four brace OF trout and one swallow. which was
not in the least injured. As IL this would not
have maddened the patient patriarch Job. lost
the cover Of my rod and a volume OF The
Authors Favourite Edition OF the Waverley
Novels. thereby spelling the set. The cover was
discovered by my companion after had left IN
gr1ef-her luck is unparaNeled-but who viii re-
store to me The Highland Widow
Mr. Swtnburne thought very highly OF this
rather long short story, and wished 90 give II
another chance. for it never entertained me
greatly. Mr.. Swinburne also thought most nobIy
OF Dickens. and once pitched into me In The
Quarterly Review" for seeing too many spots
warmth and mirth
But Mr.. George Meredith. according to Mr.
Clodd, thought but meanly OF Dickens and espe-
cally OF Mr. Pickwick This fault ought 10 have
been concealed: not TO adore Mr. Pickwick is no
sign OF good heart and head When Father
Faber, on his deathbed. was told that his end
was not so near as he supposed he said Then
bring me 'PickWick the greatest commitment
ever paid to a profane author. and noble testi-
mony TO the serene faith and hope OF the speaker
IL Mr.. Meredith did not think very highly 81
MS rivals-nay. his masters-in the art OF fc-
tion, he did not difIer much from most novelists:
tney are a very Iair people, and seldom speak
well Of each other" The artist In fact has his
own way Of seeing life and rendering H. and NJ
cannot find satisfaction IN the way OF other AZ
lists II is a blessed thing 10 be destitute Ike
Scott. Of the artistic temperament: like Burns
To prefer FergusSou's poems 10 his own shell
ley did not prefer Keats's to his. nor Keats
Shelleys TO his own They both thought that
the other man wrote too much and too fast or
was too eager to rush into print
Like my poetic countrymen I have none OF
these tealOustes. but / do conceive that other
anthropologists. historians. Homeric students
ana spook hunters have much 10 learn. Here
comes In my bad luck. I wrote IN winter an
enormous article 70 show these other men how
me thlng should be done. II was much too long
ana accumulated a quantity OF German learned
notes. Would any one who never 1shed with
vanished clean away
Frenzied research In bureaus drawers. boxes
ana ana other Teceptacies discovered many things
OUT not my lost learning. Like Palissy the Pot
Ter. peTsevered. wrote the whole thing again
with plenty of new lights and new quips 'Fhen
rewrote most OF IL. and put IL together in a
drawer Next day l revised H. IL was sheer
nonsense, Tor many pages in half a dozen places
had mystertously disappeared and had TO be re-
written IL was a case OF Palissy over again
In the case of other literary gents these mis-
fortunes are due TO gross Carelessness ana All
sence OF mind But in my case II Is clear that
there Is conspiracy against me- Strangers
write to me complaining that they are victims
OF conspiracy OF what they call Black Hyp-
hoelsts VINO drlve them frantic by sending dis
agreeable visions and derisfVe te1eDathtr ,,ss
sages from a distance. have hitherto advised
these sufferers 10 consult respectable 'phvsf-
clan But now dare say that they are i'm the
right. - '
Some odious rivals in the anthropological or
carry religious. historical way have set the
fairies at me. who carry of my ny-hook books
papers and all that have. Next DAY san
nnd them tnot the ty-hooks though) spread ont
on my study table. a-winking and bIinkirs. a.
me Or the odious rivals have sent me a s6as
alive haliucination. not to see what is under nv
eyes. They treated Sir Walter Scott In the same
way he often complains Of IL In his Journal
~Waverley' itself disappeared for seven weave
and then turned up in a drawer OF his writing
table. 'iS