Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser. — 1871-03-04 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

CIA. body, and thagtthing, foir some Other body,- and that he is prepared to write anything for anybody for a consideration. Such 1 stories, even orally circulated, undermine the reputation and lessen the influence of many a reputable man, and it was on this system of defamation that Mr Friswell proceeded when he charged Mr Sala with being so "utterly careless of his own reputation, of the dignity of letters, of what is due to himself, that he can self his pen to describe a Jew clothier's, an advertising furniture dealer's, a Liverpool draper's. a Manchester hatter's, or a St. Paul's Churchyard i II bonnet shop." Now, this s all utterly untrue of Mr Sala. He never, as he stated on his oath, applied his pen to any such pprposes ; neither did he prosti. tute it, as circumstantially alleged in the libel, to "his Excellency, Mr Edward. Lloyd, of Salisbury Square," by writing "certain romances of the Mrs Itadqliffe school, which our beet novelists of to-day havet copied, such as Ada the Betrayed, or, the • Murder of the Old Smithy,' 'Julia the Deserted,' and the like. These penny romances were not vicious, though morbidly exciting. One called Sweeny Todd; or, the glory of the people,' related how a certain barber in Fleet-street cut the throats of his customers, and then sunk them down a trap to the kitchen, , where they were made into, and whence they issued I as, mutton pies." Not that there are not men who disgrace literature and the press by doing such things. It is impossible to deny that a "Liverpool draper" or a "Manchester hatter" may obtain the literary services of literary magnates, or what are considereel as such, at even a low figure; but these free lances of the pen are to be found, not amongst the reckless, dashing, independent writers, but amongst the sleek hypocrites, the sanctimonious twaddlers, the godly pietists, who have their tongues at command for deception, and the white of their eyes for imprecation. Even the unmitigated Bohemian is, with all llis erratic habits, infinitely preferable to the canting hirelings who hold up their hands (greasy with corruptionriii horror at the baw mention of the names of men who wouldr"sacrillie life before they would degrade their profession by`ttescending to a meanness or accepting a bribe. Charges involving such imitations as these are easily disposed of by men like Mr Sala; and were the petty and malignant warfare waged by the envious and disappointed against the careless and successful confined to this, a few such lessons as the Court of Queen's Bench, London, gave, the other day, would speedily put an end to it. For the injured can not only nail the lie in its entirety, and stamp the liar with the brand of falsehood, but, on disproval of the allegations preferred, and in contemplation of the position assailed, say—  " I rest Well satisfied in myself, being assured That extraordinary virtues, when they soar Too high a pitah for common sights to judge of, Lorlog their proper splendour, are condeinn'd For NW remarkable vices."  There is, however, a system of slander pursued in the case of Mr Sala„and in that of less eminent men, which it is not 4o easy to meet or crush. We allude to that by which insinuation and suggestion, and retailed gossip, and petty incidents, and suspicious circumstances are made to take the place of broad and open imputation—in fact, to that easy mode with charitable people adopt, of whispering away a man's character, with the smile of pity playing hypocritically against the serpent's hiss. Mr Friswell has not thought it beneath him to descend to this ignominious and contemptible artifice of paltry spite.,He should have been above the mean resource, even in the petulance of his spite; and he should have left this role to its worthy inaugurators—the steady hypocrites, unsteady moralists, who never practice what they preach. And here it occurs to us to ask, is it not wonderful what a peculiarly prying interest the world at large takes in the private affairs of public men? Mr Smith, who is never sober, launches out into gross invectives against a noted journalist or politician, if he only sees him entering a restaurant; and some orthodox clergyman, who can dispose of his punch with questionable rapidity, is ready to join him in maudlin moralisation over the objectionable poiiion of the human race. If the tables were only turned; if authors and writers were only to tell what they know and what they have seen; if they were ungenerous enough to lift the veil and exhibit their calumniators in their true colours, what sad revelations  i, and JI ' Bnt 1  and Stig.  —authors to G. A. merci