The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1922-05-14
CHRONICLE AND
COMMENT
BY ARTHUR BARTLETT MAURICE.

bis evaporation. To the Harpers
in July, 1859, he wrote character
istic letter which reads in part:
up to the present moment l have
lad every means to be satisfied with
Messrs. Harper. But this time
cont feel quite satisfied. "A Good
Fight is masterpiece. "A Tale of
Two Cities is not a masterpiece
Yet Messrs. Harper gave $4,000
(f1,000) for it, and to me one
Twentieth of that sum. Now this
might be just in England, but hardly
jist in America, where, as you know
very well, l rank at least three times
higher than l do in this country"
DROBABLY no other individual
i book on the Harper list-or on
the list of any other American pub
Usher, for that matter-has proved
more highly successful than Gen
Lew Wallace's "Ben-Hur." A week
or so ago there was issued a pub
lisher's note to the effect that a
million copies of this book had been
sold. Like several other famous
novels, "Ben-Hur" in manuscript
form is said to have gone the
rounds. The readers report, which
contributed to its acceptance by the
Harpers, throws curious light
upon the difference between the old
manner and the new, and the stilted
tone which was the characteristic
of our literature forty years ago.
For our literature aoGs stilted and
rhetorical and given to the smooth
ering of ideas in many fine sounding
words. The reader of the manu-
script of "Ben-Hur" was DR.. George
Ripley, and his opinion, termed "a
model in its way" is given in full
in THE House of Harper"
IMAGINE a publishers reader of
to-day, intelligent, discriminate
ing and practical, stumbling upon
tn manuscript of "Ben-Hur" and
recognizing its possibilities. The
chances are that he would hurry in
person to the head of the house to
tell of the discovery" If he were
to write it would almost certainly
be in the vernacular; something to
the effect: This is the real stuff"
OF 1T will have the other best sell
ers' backed up against the ropes"
or Go get this guy" But DR.. Rip
ley of the stilted age wa, more
leisurely in his enthusiasm. He
began: "The author of this sacred
romance has acquired considerable
reputation by his imaginative pic
lures from the Mexican mythology
which he Intervene with a gorgeous
narrative of love and passion. He
is an original and powerful writer.
without precedent or prototype. He
belongs to an exceptional sphere of
literature, and scars on too daring
wings into too radiant atmosphere
to be reckoned among the classic.
He flashes like glittering meteor
through the sky, but never shines
Ike one of the serene and eternal
lights of the armament" and so on.
Once they were immensely i'm
pressed by this kind of writing.
We, in our practical age, think it
rather poor English.
THE story of the relations of
L George du Maurier with the
Harpers and of their generous treat
ment in the matter of 'Trilby" and
"The Marian" has been told in
these columns. At the same time
there was yelled allusion to what
is to be read between the lines in
Kipling's "The Three Captains"
Why not tell the latter story? "The
Rhyme of the Three Captains"
ia niliar to all with sound knowl-
edge of Kipling's verse, was pub
lished in 1880, prefaced with the
cryptic line. This ballad refers to